Fun times... from awhile ago

(I started this post a long time ago and unfortunately never got the chance to finish it... so here it is. Hopefully I will do some more catching up soon.)

To try to catch up on all the things we have been up to, I will just quickly highlight some of the things that we have done the past couple of months.


At the end of August we went with some friends to the Chemnitz Stadtfest. (City Festival) Karen Neel, Sven, Kai and Sophia went to a concert by "Die Prinzen". The rest of us (Mark and Karen and me, Heidi and Clint) walked around and found all the good food and looked around at the different booths. It's (kind of) comparable to the State Fair back in OK. You usually go there to get the really good food. :)


At the beginning of September we had a Baseball game in the park and invited all of our LST contacts to it. We had a good turnout and had a lot of fun playing. It always amazes me to see people stopping as they are walking by and watching us like they have never seen this sport played in real life before (many haven't).


Our friends Alex and Barbara had their baby boy, Ruben. Here is a picture of the guys and Heidi.



Here are the girls and Ruben.

Trip to the States

Monday, November 3rd- Arrive in OKC

Wednesday, November 5th- Friday, November 7th- Travel to Snyder, TX to visit family

Sunday, November 9th- Attending Soldier Creek Church of Christ (Current supporting congregation)- morning worship

Attending South Yukon Church of Christ- evening worship

Wednesday, November 12th- Attending South Yukon Church of Christ for evening worship

Sunday, November 16th- Attending Soldier Creek Church of Christ- morning worship

Attending Memorial Rd. Church of Christ- evening worship

7:00 p.m.- Come and go get-together for all those that would like to visit with us. Contact us for the address.

Wednesday, November 19th- Attending Memorial Rd. Church of Christ- evening worship

Thursday, November 20th- Flying from OKC to Ohio

Sunday, November 23rd- Attending Louisville Church of Christ- morning worship

Saturday, November 29th- Flying from Ohio to Germany

Sunday, November 30th- Arriving in Germany

If you would like to contact us while we are in the States you can e-mail or send us a comment here.

The Bridge

I just watched this video and thought it was so good, I wanted to share it on my blog.

Click here:

The Bridge

Corn Labyrinth

There were some things I wanted to blog about but never got a chance... here is one of them.

Back in August Clint saw an ad in the paper about a cornfield labyrinth. He has seen the ad for the past few years and wanted to go every year. So, this time he asked me about going and we decided to go one Saturday. Our friend Sophia went with us and it was a lot of fun!


Here we are taking a fun group picture! We even found a baby corn for Heidi, but she was more interested in mine. :)


The straw man said to go this way...

Inside the labyrinth there were tasks that we could do. There were several stations that we were supposed to find. Some had questions that we could answer about ostriches and write the answer on the paper we were given at the entrance. (There was also an ostrich farm next to the corn field.) There were stations where we found stamps to use on our papers and when we found all of them, it made a picture of an ostrich. Also, there were stations with different kinds of eggs in them. We had to write down what kind of egg it was. There were eggs from ostriches, emus, chickens, etc. It was fun to try to find all the stations. I think it took us about 1 1/2- 2 hours to find everything and make our way out of the labyrinth! That also included taking a break to feed Heidi and change her diaper. :)


This picture was taken from a tower in the middle of the labyrinth. We climbed up to the top in hopes that we could find our way out, but we couldn't really see the paths at all. The corn was about 10 feet tall!


Also outside of the labyrinth was a flower garden. There were sunflowers, gladiolas, and dahlias. You can also cut some yourself there to take home and I wanted to, but I think by the time we were done with the labyrinth we were all ready to go home. So I just took some pictures and we left. I was pretty happy about this picture of a sunflower that I took. I thought it was really pretty.



HEIDI UPDATE:

Heidi is now showing us her new tricks every day! She waves all the time now. She even shows that she is responding to "Bye" or "Bye-bye" and even today we were at a cafe and a woman left and said "Auf Wiedersehen" in general to everyone sitting in the cafe and she waved at her! (Just for anyone who is interested that is a typical custom here to say hello and goodbye to everyone who is there, even if they are strangers.) Also, I think yesterday for the first time I noticed that she has been clapping her hands! Karen Neel has been singing a song to her that goes like this: "Clap, clap, clap your hands. Clap your hands together." It repeats a couple of times. I started singing that today and she started clapping! She is such a cutie! I hope to get a video of it soon. Tomorrow she will be 9 months old! How can that be?!

Oops!

I was just trying to update my links to the blogs I read to the left and I accidentally deleted it! So, if you read this blog on a regular basis and have a blog, or have our blog linked to your blog, please make a comment and I will get you put back on my links! So sorry! I don't think I had those links saved anywhere else so I need your help. :(

Heidi news

Yesterday we went to the doctor for Heidi's checkup. She now weighs 17 lbs. 2 oz. The doctor was happy with her development. :)

Also, yesterday for the first time she waved goodbye! I have seen her wave her arm about like that before, but it was never in context like that and I didn't know if she had done it intentionally to say goodbye. But yesterday Karen Neel was over here talking to us and then when she left she waved goodbye to Heidi and Heidi waved back! She did it several times in a row and later we tried to get her to do it again and she did! She is such a smart girl! :)

Back from our travels

Well, once again there has been a big lapse in my blogging. We just got back on Wednesday evening from Austria. The week before last Clint went to a men's retreat in Neckarzimmern, Germany. He had a really good time, but Heidi and I missed him so much! He left on Monday, September 22nd and got back on Friday, September 26th. Then, on Saturday the 27th, we all left on the train from Chemnitz at 6:13 a.m. to go to Dresden. From there, Clint sent me and Heidi off with Karen A. and the ladies from Dresden to go to Filzmoos, Austria for the ladies' retreat. Clint knew he would miss us a lot and of course we would miss him, but we decided it would be best for me to take Heidi with me so that Clint could get some things done at home. I am so glad she did come with me. I would have missed her too much! She was such a good girl and traveled really well! Everyone was amazed at what a happy little girl she is all the time and how well she did with all the traveling. It was a little difficult with Heidi, her stroller and my huge suitcase with all of our stuff in it, but with all the other ladies there, it was a big help! Thanks ladies (especially Karen A.) for helping me!! I felt so bad that Karen ended up dragging my suitcase (which was huge and sooo heavy) around most of the day. But we got there safely and got to enjoy the week there with all the other ladies. I am so glad that I went again. It is something I look forward to every year. The area is just so beautiful and the fellowship with the women is so great. I will have to post pictures later because I really have a lot of things to be doing now, but wanted to just do a quick update.

Last Thursday, Clint met me in Filzmoos. He drove the car down and then on Friday morning, after the retreat was over we drove to Vienna to visit Jake and Amanda Haskew. We had a great time getting caught up with them and seeing what their lives are like there. It was so fun to hang out with them and we did see a little bit of the city but our main goal was to spend time with them and we had a great time doing it! Plus, we were so spoiled by Amanda's great cooking! I will post more later with pictures about our time there.

Today, we are getting a group of 18 students from the OC Vienna Studies Program. We will be keeping 5 girls in our house. It will be a busy but good weekend. I will post about how it all goes later.

Have a great weekend!

I'm published! :)

Ok, so it's not really that big a deal at all, but a photo that I took in Salzburg last September was published on a website called Schmap. It basically gives information about different cities, maps, and points of interest. Being a musician, I wanted to see Mozart's birth house while I was there so I took some pictures. I got a message on my Flickr site that asked for permission to publish it on their site. Here is the link: Schmap!!

Canoe Trip

A few weekends ago we were invited by our friend Sophia to go on a canoe trip with her and several other friends. Karen Neel offered to watch Heidi while we went and then they came up later to Sophia's family's garden near where we did the canoe trip. We grilled and had a delicious dinner together. It was a lot of fun! I haven't done anything like that in such a long time, but it was fun to get out and do something with our friends.


Group picture at the halfway point where we took a break and then later headed back to the canoe rental place. From left to right: Linda, Stefan, Marion, Ralf, Katrin, Elke, Sophia, Clint, me!


Heidi played at the garden with Sophia's dad and grandpa.


Sophia's dad helped Clint get the grill started.


Enjoying time together waiting for the food!


Sophia's dad blew bubbles for Heidi!

Good vacation... and lots of other stuff

Well, now that it's been a month since we went on vacation I am finally updating. However, I don't have a lot of time so it will be short. We had a great time in Bremen. We stayed with Mark and Karen and got to spend a lot of time with them as well as see the city.


This is a statue of The Bremen Town Musicians (Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten). It is a fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm.


This is Karen & Mark Abercrombie with Clint and Heidi in front of the Rathaus (Town Hall).


Beautiful flowers in Central Park Wallanlagen (I think that is the name) in front of a Windmill



Here's the Windmill which is a restaurant

Actually, before we went on vacation we celebrated our 3 year anniversary! We went to lunch together and then we had family photos taken. The new picture at the top is one of our new ones.





Heidi is doing great, she is always doing something new! I have a feeling she will be crawling soon! She is at least rolling everywhere for the time being. Well, she doesn't really get far, but she sure does move a lot these days! I can't believe she's 7 months old!

New Look

Heidi shows off her flexibility


I decided to go for a new look on the blog. I have been wanting to do something for a really long time, but never could figure out how to do it on my own. I came across a blog today where you can get free templates and it was very simple to do! I am just not in the know about all of that stuff to do it myself. :) Anyway, I hope you like it!

I got my haircut. I like it. It's quite a bit shorter and layered. It had been too long since I had it cut last. It was very relaxing to go in and have it done. I always forget how nice it is to have your hair washed and cut and fixed by someone else. Clint watched Heidi for me while I went. He's such a sweetie. ;)

We went downtown to do some shopping today. I got Heidi a bathing suit the other day and today I got one for me. Maybe we will go swimming on our vacation. I guess I forgot to write about that. We are going to Bremen on Friday. We have been wanting to take a break and go somewhere we had never been for a few days, but didn't know where to go. Then, the Abercrombies offered to let us stay with them. So we are taking them up on that. We plan on being there until Tuesday. I think it should be nice. I think we will stop at Braunschweig on the way there.

Heidi had Obstbrei for the first time today. She liked it and ate all of it. I'm not sure what the difference is between that and Fruchtbrei because as far as I know they both just are mixed fruit. I guess they have different types of fruit in them. Yesterday she was sitting up and playing and she basically got down to her tummy by herself... except I did have to help her get her leg out from under her. But it was pretty funny to see. She was trying so hard to reach a toy that was too far away and ended up on her tummy.


Heidi showing off her pretty dress from Aunt Amy! (I think that's who it's from?!)


The same weekend we saw Clyde and Gwen, Steve Allison from Abilene, TX came to Dresden. We weren't actually able to see him in Dresden, but he and Steve and Hannah Martin drove to Chemnitz and we got to have lunch with them.

Random Rambles

Heidi's sitting up!

In my efforts to keep this updated, as well as to write down all of Heidi's accomplishments, this post might be a lot of rambling... sorry. :)

Written on: August 1st-
This week Heidi has really been able to sit up well on her own. Today, with a pillow behind her, I didn't even have to hold her up while she played. She really loves doing razzes (I think that is what it's called) where she blows her lips together and usually sticks out her tongue at the same time and spit flies everywhere. :) She really squeals at such a high pitch when she is tired. Today she was very tired, possibly from the heat. It was almost 90 degrees today. The last couple of days she has been lifting her bottom off the floor when she's lying on her back. So far she still doesn't like Zucchini and corn but pretty much likes everything else she has eaten. Those are: Carrots, carrots and potatoes, pumpkin, apples and bananas, apples and pears, rice cereal, rice cereal with fruit, rice cereal with apple juice, mixed veggies and mixed fruit.

Written today: August 2nd-
Today I noticed her doing the dadadada syllables again. I know she has done it before but she hasn't done it consistently. Unfortunately, I didn't write it down and don't remember the first time she did it. :( That is why I'm going to try to write it down on here so that I can have it on record. Plus my goal is to get all this info in her baby book! She's been kind of cranky the past couple of days. I still wonder if it is because of the heat. She hasn't eaten all of her food at each eating session. But she did eat all her rice cereal and apple juice. We don't think she likes the Bebivita brand of baby food. She has eaten the mixed veggies in other brands and liked it a lot, but we tried it in the Bebivita and she didn't seem to like it as much... I don't know why. So I guess we will stay away from that.

Well, I hope all of this info isn't too incredibly boring to read. Sorry! This is our life! :)


Heidi's room is looking good!


Heidi playing in her new room


Fun in the new room

Trying to blog again...

I think it is always hard to get started again after I have not blogged for awhile. I will try to write more often, though.

We are pretty exhausted from everything that has been going on, but I think we have almost reached a point where we can finally rest! Hopefully we will be turning in our keys to the apartment on Tuesday and be done with that. Of course, we still have to unpack and get settled in the house. But, I think that part is easier than packing. Plus, we can take our time and get it done when we want to.



Here's a picture of Heidi from this month when we were still in the apartment. She is sitting in her new Bumbo seat. She really likes it a lot! She actually is now able to sit up on her own pretty well. We have to watch her and sit with her to catch her when she falls over though. She is still a little wobbly. Our baby is getting so big!



This is the last picture of our team before the Sullivans left. Heidi decided to hide in this picture. :) This picture was taken in the dining room of the house in case anyone wondered.



Clyde and Gwen were in Dresden for a few weeks and we got to see them a couple of times. The first time they were in Chemnitz to go to dinner at the Lewis' house. Here Heidi got to meet Clyde for the first time.



Here Heidi is with Gwen in Dresden. Who knew this lady would be so fun?! (That's what I think she's saying with her face right here.) :)



We borrowed this bouncy swing thing from Guido and Silke and Heidi loves it! You can't tell much from the picture, but this is her bedroom. There are still boxes and things sitting around though. I will take pictures when we get it all set up.



Here is a picture of the kids last week during Bible class on Sunday morning. They were talking about the creation and the kids got their faces painted with different things that God created.



Snickers is our inherited dog. :) Here she is sleeping on Clint's gym bag. She slept there all night. The next day when Clint went to the gym he said it smelled like dog... ewww! We need to give her a bath!

These were just a few things from July. I hope to keep updating on a regular basis!

Moving Process

This is just going to be a really short update to let everyone know that we are alive. Sorry for the long silence. Here is a short list of things that are going on with us:

We have partially moved over to the Sullivan's house. Not all of our things are here, but we have been sleeping here since Friday night. We have until the 31st to move the rest of our things out and clean and give the keys up.

Tomorrow the Sullivans are leaving. They will be in Oklahoma for a year as the visiting missionaries at Oklahoma Christian University. We will miss them so much. Their house will feel empty without them. :(

Heidi will be 6 months old on Sunday. Where has the time gone????

My parents went to Texas this weekend to put my grandmother in assisted living. I haven't been able to talk to them yet so I don't know if they already got her settled in or if it all worked out, but please pray for them and for my granddad as it will be a big change and difficult.

Sorry this is so short and there are no pictures. But as soon as I can get my computer situated over here and on the wireless network I can update you more about Heidi and everything that is going on.

Trying to keep up

Well, I have found it difficult lately to stay on top of, well, just about everything. This is a busy time for us with the LST Program and the OC campaign here. I have found it hard to keep things in order at home, blog, e-mail and get our newsletter etc. done as well as take care of Heidi. Of course she takes the priority and so that takes up most of my time and then I am scrambling to try to get the house in order, etc. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm sure I will get used to the whole routine eventually, but right now it is a struggle. I felt like I was actually handling it all quite well for a while there, but since the summer activities have started it has been harder.

I took Heidi to the dr. again yesterday. She got another shot. She only has 2 more and then we don't have to go back again until she is 1! Wow, that will be nice to not have to go every 2 weeks.
She weighs 13 lbs. 4 1/2 oz. She has been eating carrots (baby food of course) and enjoying it and of course making a mess! :) She finally got her feet to her mouth recently. That is pretty funny to see. She seems to like to cuddle with something when she's going to sleep sometimes. So I have given her a little teddy/ blankie thing a couple of times.

Another thing that we need to be doing at the moment is packing up our apartment to move to the Sullivan's. We have to be out by the end of July so we really need to get going on it. However, I just don't know when we are going to have the time to do it! At least after next week when the LST team leaves we can start moving things over there. Please pray for us in this big transition. It will be wonderful having a lot more space for this year but I think it will also feel strange living in someone else's house... especially since the Sullivan's will be gone. :( I'm not really looking forward to that part.


Here is a video of one of the first times Heidi rolled to her side. Do you prefer seeing it clearly but in a smaller size or larger and a little fuzzy? Let me know!


Heidi laughing at Mommy's game. Here is a video in the larger size, but it's a little blurry.



In May we had our monthly Fellowship Singing in Chemnitz. All the churches of Christ in Saxony joined us and we learned new songs from the song book and just enjoyed praising God together!

4 months

Heidi is officially 4 months old. She now weighs 13 lbs. 0.82 oz. She started eating rice cereal last week and seems to like it a lot. She's doing pretty well with it even though she does get it all over her face and usually spits a lot out while trying to eat it. :) It's pretty cute. I will put up pics and videos soon. LST is going well. The girls are having a good time with all their readers and the parties are going very well too. We have had a pretty good turnout and everyone seems to enjoy them. Tonight we are having a party with the theme of "Birthday". It should be fun!

I will post some pics of things that have gone on this month:


This is our friend Sophia who did our photos. We went to her birthday party at the beginning of the month.


We had a Liederabend (Literally translated: Song evening) We had about 95 people there, 55 of which were guests)

Here are a couple of short clips from the Liederabend:

Happy Sunday!

Hi everyone! Just thought I would write a short update. We are doing well. Heidi is as much of a joy as ever. Actually, she becomes more and more of a joy everyday! On Friday Heidi rolled from her back to her tummy by herself for the first time! She did it a couple of times. She is really starting to move around a lot. We have to keep an eye on her because if we put her down on her play mat then she usually ends up in a different place than we put her! She has been reaching and grabbing objects very well. She has been holding her legs up a lot and now trying and succeeding in grabbing her feet. I think yesterday she managed to get her sock off and we looked over and saw that she had her sock in her hand and proceeded to put it in her mouth! Ha ha! Maybe I can lose the last 10 pregnancy pounds now that I will be chasing her around soon. :) I do have a video of her rolling over (I think it was the second time. Unfortunately didn't get the first time on video). I don't have the video uploaded yet, but I will post it as soon as possible. Check out our links to the right. There are new photos and videos. I have recently discovered the new option of posting videos on Flickr so I have put several on there. I think they seem to be a bit clearer than when I post on You Tube. What do others prefer? I will post a cute video here below of Heidi!

Aaaaand they're off!!!

The summer activities have officially begun here in Chemntiz. Our LST Team arrived on Tuesday and on Wednesday we had an information meeting at a hotel down the street from our house to let people know about the Let's Start Talking Program. It is an English conversation program in which students read text one-on-one from the Bible with a student from the USA. Our team is from Oklahoma Christian University. We have 4 girls this year. They are: Mandy Holmes, Morgan Nash, Sarah Byrd and Sarah Gogarty. Once again I was reminded how small the world is when Mandy told me she used to live in Yukon but moved when she was 6. I remember her family, but I barely recognized her since it had been so long! Anyway, the girls have each about 6-7 students that they are reading with mostly on a weekly basis, although some students are reading more often than that. We are really excited about this program and hope that it goes well!



In Heidi news :) she went to the doctor again yesterday and got another immunization shot. She did well again although she did cry a little more than past times. But she is ok and hasn't had any side effects or anything. She now weighs 5490 g (12 lb 1 1/2 oz) and is still 61 cm (24 in). Exciting news: Heidi rolled from her back to her side on Tuesday! She has been doing it a lot lately now! Pretty soon she is going to be rolling all over the place! We definitely have to keep an eye on her now as she never ends up in the same spot we put her in when we pick her up. :) She also seems to really be enjoying finding her voice. She loves "singing" and "talking" in really high tones! Could we have another soprano on our hands??!! We took family photos and 3 mo. pictures of Heidi. I'm sure you have already noticed the new pic on our profile. Also, the doctor said yesterday that as soon as we run out of the formula that we have been feeding her (1st level) we will start feeding her the 2nd level and also begin feeding her some rice cereal! We will definitely have to get a video of that! I will leave you with some of our beautiful pictures that our friend Sophia did for us!










Here is a video that was taken on April 3rd. She was just beginning to really find her hands and play with them more by grabbing things pretty well.

Everhart Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family history - Vintage pics

Trip to Gemünden

The trip to Gemünden went well. Clint's course was really challenging, but good. Heidi traveled well and of course everyone loved her! Here is a group picture of everyone that was there during the week.


(I was taking the picture)

Of course there were others there on the weekend. Pam and I left on Wednesday to head back to Chemnitz. I'm really glad we got to go for a little bit though. I ended up helping Joy in the kitchen a lot when Heidi was sleeping or being entertained otherwise. :)

We got to take a couple of walks when Clint had free time and I took some walks with Heidi by myself as well.



Also, I got a pretty cute video of Heidi while we were there.



We took Heidi to get her second immunization shot and she did really well again. She cried only for a few seconds again and then was calm. She also now weighs 10 lbs. 15 oz.!

Disadvantage to bottle feeding

I have come to accept that Heidi will be fed by the bottle, but there are still some disadvantages to it. For example, when she wakes up in the middle of the night and is hungry, she wants food and wants it now! However, it takes time to mix up the formula and to heat it up. So, this is usually what she looks like when she's waiting for her bottle:



Even though it is sad, there is still something so cute about her cry. Especially when she gives those pathetic little whimpers. She does that especially when she's getting tired.

Thankfully, her crying stops immediately as soon as we give her her bottle.



Of course there are many advantages to bottle feeding. One of them is that Clint can feed Heidi and have that bonding experience with her. :)

New Photos and Videos

This is just an update to say that I have posted new pictures and videos. All you have to do is go to the side bar and scroll down until you see them. If you click on the picture it will bring up the photos and the video you choose.

In other news... we went to the pediatrician and weighed Heidi again today. She now weighs 9 lb. 13 oz.! She is definitely filling out since she has been on the bottle. That just reassures me that our decision was the right one. She's getting some cute chubby cheeks! :) Also, she had her first immunization shot today. I figured she would scream her head off, but she only cried for a minute and then was smiling again and happy. I was amazed! What a good little girl we have! :)

I guess since I am already at it and posting some news I will post a pic of Heidi on Easter Sunday. We had to bundle up that day because it snowed all day long here. So much for the beginning of Spring! But, it was actually nice since we haven't really had a normal winter here. That is about the most snow we have had all winter.


Doesn't she have the sweetest smile?


The pretty blanket behind her was made lovingly by her *Aunt* April (one of my best friends). Thanks April! :)


Heidi wearing an outfit that her cousin Lydia couldn't wear anymore. Thanks for sending it Jonathan and Lana! She looks cute in it!


Mommy and Heidi



Heidi is trying really hard to use her hands more these days. She is doing pretty well. She picked up a toy all by herself for the first time the other day! Of course I put it on her tummy for her, but she was able to grab it herself.

Uploaded Videos

Here are the last videos I have uploaded. Enjoy!

A much happier update

I'm blessed. I just felt the need to say that. Things have been rough for a few weeks, but they are getting better and I have a great family and wonderful friends that have been there for me. I have a God who has protected me and given me strength. What more could I ask for?

I wanted to also add to the last post that we have some great friends who are like a second family to us here. We are so thankful and blessed that they have been so willing to help us, support us and do anything for us in this time of difficulty. Thank you Karen, Larry and Pam!

I went to the hospital yesterday for my daily cleaning and re-bandaging. The doctor said that it looks really good and is not nearly as deep as it had been. I don't even have to go back to have it cleaned again! I need to go into my other doctor on Tuesday to get it checked out, but other than that I can clean it myself at home and it should heal up nicely. I was so relieved to hear that!

Clint is taking a course called ETM (Evangelism, Teaching and Media). Next Sunday he is going to an intensive week at a church retreat area in Gemünden, near Frankfurt. Because he will be there the entire week and he didn't want to miss the whole week with his girls, Heidi and I will be going from Sunday to Wednesday and riding back with Pam. He will come back the following Sunday.

I know I haven't been very good about updating photos and videos. Just so everyone knows, not all our videos will be great and exciting, but I know our family really wants to see Heidi as much as possible so this is for them! I will post a few of my latest favorite pictures and a video.


Heidi making her dancing debut at the dinner for our older members.


Family photo!


What a big smile!

P.S.

I left out a MAJOR detail...

I have the most amazing husband who is also a wonderful Daddy! He has been so great to take care of me, come visit me, be there for me when I came out of surgery, bringing Heidi to see me, and taking care of Heidi all at the same time.

He has been so great and I am so thankful to God to have him in my life!

Thank you sweetheart! I love you!

Home

Some of you may not know what has been going on the past week so I will fill you in...

In the last post I mentioned that I was fighting an infection that just was not clearing up. Well, it got worse. It started out as Mastitis, which is very common in women who just had babies. It usually happens when a milk duct gets blocked. It ended up turning into an infection. I went to the doctor and got antibiotics to get it taken care of. Actually, back up... the very first sign that I had an infection (I had a fever), I actually went to the emergency room (Feb. 23) because I knew how dangerous it could be. It had recently happened to my sister-in-law so I really didn't want the same thing to happen to me. After going to the ER, my midwife even came to the house and helped me with it that week and it actually got a lot better. It was almost completely gone. Then a couple of days later I got another blockage! So I tried really hard to get rid of it before it got worse, but it didn't get better. That is when I went to the doctor and got the antibiotics.

After a long Friday afternoon (March 7) of trying to find a doctor that was open I finally discovered my gynecologist was open and went to him. (Sorry if any of this is TMI (too much information)) :) Anyway, he gave me an antibiotic, I went to the pharmacy to pick it up and went home. As soon as I got home I saw that on the box it said Penicillin. "Oh no!!!!" I was so mad because I am allergic to Penicillin. I called my doctor back to tell him about it. He said it wasn't straight Penicillin and it was the only antibiotic that was safe for Heidi so he suggested that I try it anyway and let him know right away if I had any problems. I took it for 6 days and had no reactions to it that I noticed until the 6th day (March 13th). I started noticing a rash all over my body. During this time the infection did not get better, but worse. I also noticed my body getting very very sore to the point where I could hardly move my arms let alone pick up Heidi. It was so awful.

On Thursday, the 13th I went back to my doctor and told him it was not better. He then gave me his apologies that it had not worked and sent me to the hospital. He said I would probably have to have an intravenous antibiotic and the two choices would be either: one that Heidi couldn't have and I would have to stop nursing, or one that would reduce the milk and could leave me with not being able to nurse her anyway. Great choices, huh? He also said I would probably have to be there a couple of days. With this great news, Clint and I went home to eat lunch and to pack a bag for me and for Heidi, in the hopes that she could stay with me.

When we got to the hospital, after getting sent from one floor to the next, one nurse to the next doctor, it was finally decided that the infection had become an abscess and the only thing they could do for it to heal was to operate. They told me to come back on Friday and they would make an incision to drain the abscess.

The operation went well and I got to come home from the hospital today. The only thing is that they had to leave the wound open and clean it out everyday until it begins to grow back together and heal on its own. (Sorry for all the gory details) Anyway, so all I need to do now is to rest and go back to the hospital everyday for them to clean it and change the bandages for awhile.

It's really not as bad or painful as it sounds though. Thankfully the incision they made was really small and when they clean it, it doesn't hurt that bad. The only thing that has still bothered me has been my arms. They still hurt sometimes, but I can tell that it is also getting better. Hopefully this will all be cleared up soon.

I just wanted to thank everyone who knew what was going on and was praying for me. I also appreciate the continual prayers that are being said for me.

Oh, I almost forgot to write about the worst part of all of this. The doctors all strongly suggested that I stop nursing her immediately. They all felt it was the only option. Although, I know that there are other options out there, Clint and I decided that with all the problems I have had up to now with nursing, that it just is the best decision for us. Even the day before I went to the hospital we went to the pediatrician and she said that she wasn't gaining enough weight and that I needed to supplement with formula anyway. As of the last time we weighed her she was just 8 lb. 6 oz. which isn't much at almost 2 months considering she weighed 7 lb. 11 oz. at birth.

Anyway, to sum it all up, we felt that maybe this is just the best thing to do... plus all the doctors really wanted me to stop nursing anyway. I am still really sad about it though and have pretty much cried everyday since I found out. Well, today I haven't, which brings me to my next thought.

The more I was upset about everything that has been going on the more I prayed about it and thought about it. I came to the conclusion that it all was something I could not control... I did everything I could do by going to the doctor to get it taken care of as soon as possible and all the doctors did what they could do too. The only one who can control it is God and so I have been praying that I can let go of it to Him and He can heal me and take care of Heidi and keep her healthy even though she has to take the bottle now. I know that a lot of babies have to bottle feed and they are healthy so I just have to leave it up to God now and not worry about it.

Well, I'm sorry that this is so long, but I guess I just wanted to updated everyone and ask for prayers for me and for Heidi now. I love you all!

Short Update

For those of you who haven't noticed it yet, there is now a link on the right hand side underneath the link to our Flickr pictures. There you can see videos that we have uploaded to You Tube. Check them out! We will try to keep them updated.

Just for a short update of what is going on right now...

Heidi is doing great. Her face is getting much better. She had a problem with acne and dry skin but the cream we are using seems to help a lot. She still has gas pains a lot and it seems to really bother her, but we are hoping this will be over soon?? She does fairly well with sleeping at night. There have been some bad nights off and on, but I think she is slowly getting more adjusted. She is such a joy and is smiling more and more (pics and videos to come soon, hopefully!) and sometimes we think she is on the verge of trying to laugh. She has started cooing and it is so sweet to hear. She's really a doll!

I've been better... Right now I am on antibiotics for an infection, but it doesn't seem to be clearing up quite yet. It is really frustrating and so I could really use your prayers on this. I go back to the doctor tomorrow, so we will see what he says.

The Decline of the Dollar

I just read an excellent blog written by a woman who not only was a missionary in Europe herself, but now works for Missions Resource Network in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area. If you are interested at all in knowing how the decline of the dollar affects us here in our work, please read this. She states perfectly how difficult it is and exactly what people can do to help us and others like us in this situation. Thank you for your prayers in this situation.