Well here I am on a beautiful Sunday morning sitting at home with a sleeping baby and a sick toddler when I would much rather be in church. Oh, the perils of motherhood! The 4th was pretty uneventful for us, after a nice cookout at friends house we came home to put the kiddos to sleep. Josiah did not want to go to the fireworks and actually slept through most of the firework noise. However, when the finale woke him up he felt feverish. After 2 doses of Motrin throughout the night we decided to look in his throat this morning. Despite not complaining of any sore throat or neck pain or ear pain it appears that he has strep throat! I know I comment a lot on how active Josiah is, so it is really weird to see him just laying on the couch resting or sitting still and not talking through a 30 minute video(yes, I let him watch videos when he is sick).
Another thing I have noticed about him this past week is that although he is in the 'why' stage of development, he doesn't has why. This smarty does not ask why we ask him to do or not do something, instead he infers an answer and then phrases it in a question. For example, when I tell him not to throw blocks at Lydia he does not ask 'why', but instead says 'because it could hurt her?' What kind of kid does this!! I also counted a 14 word sentence the other day! Lydia is crawling fast as lightening and is on the verge of standing by herself. It is only a matter of time before I have two children to run after!

Adjustments

Many people have asked about how our trip went, so here is a quick snapshot. The trip as a whole was great, while we had our stressful times, overall a positive experience for Jeneson and I as a couple and for us as a family. Are we glad that we did it? Certainly!!! Would we do it again? Yes, but not for that length of time. It was a good length of time for the first trip because we felt that we really needed it to be that long so that we could transition from that 'guest here for a couple of weeks' mode to truly being a part of the whole family. The first 6 weeks were pretty rough and a couple of times one or both of us wanted to throw in the towel and come back home, airline penalties be dammed! We also learned that we both are stubborn and can persevere. I am praying that this experience will help us out in the future on the mission field.

We have been back at home for about 1 month now and are pretty much back to our normal level of craziness. The kids have adjusted better than we had anticipated and they are both back on a regular sleep schedule and sleeping through the night. Josiah now has a big boy bed (a twin bed) and Lydia is in the crib. They are still trying to work out all the kinks of the two of them sleeping in the same room, or should I say one trying to sleep while the other is protesting sleep. We are loving going for walks and to the park almost every day, although it would be nice if it wouldn't rain so much.

Jeneson was really blessed to be able to go back to his old job without any problems and started back on June 1st. I think he is glad to be working again and getting out of the house on a daily basis. I'm still staying at home with the kids and debating on going back to work. I would love to work, because I like what I do, want to keep up my skills and could use some time away from the house, but the logistics of childcare keep my feet dragging. Ideally, I would like to work in an urgent care or one of the clinics in Walgreens/CVS but trying to find child care for two kids on an irregular basis by someone whom I trust will be difficult. So, for the time being I am at home and working on mission stuff in my spare time.

The first week in June we travelled to Buffalo, NY to meet with the mission board who accepted us as missionary candidates. At this time everything is pointing us to Sierra Leone with the goal of being there in 1 to 1 1/2 years. Now for the not so fun part of support raising. The numbers that were discussed while we were in NY were daunting to say the least, but I know that God will provide for us whether it is $1 or a million dollars. The CIA factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/SL.html) gives a great, although depressing, snapshot of Sierra Leone. I will share more about SL and what Global Outreach Missions is doing there in future posts. Now onto other work while the kids are asleep.

We're baaaaaack!!!

Yeah, after 20+ hours of travel time we are finally back on US soil. We got home on Wednesday afternoon and since then have been catching up with family, unpacking and trying to overcome jet lag and an almost 12 hour time difference from what we were used to. The kids did OK on the planes except Lydia not wanting to sleep on the flight from London to Chicago, but all that does not matter now because we are home. I'm going to keep this one short and sweet b/c I am posting it from the local library as our internet has not become reactivated yet. Feel free to drop us a line on e-mail or give us a call, we would love to hear from you. Maybe by next week we will be up for visiting all our friends who we greatly missed.

16 (almost 15) days and counting

The countdown begins again. As you can tell by the title, both Jeneson and I are very anxious to finally get back home. It has been great being here and a wonderful experience for all of us on so many different levels, but now we are in the home stretch (pun intended). I am so glad that Jeneson has gotten to spend some good quality time with his parents and that they have really gotten to know the kids. I am sooo grateful for the time that I have been able to spend with my family here and with Minie and Mom in the kitchen and learning how to cook some good Indian food. Josiah will certainly miss his Appachin and Ammachi along with Minie Aunty, Jenny & Jonnathan. Our goal this last couple of weeks is to get some video of the kids, especially Lydia, with all the family. In these last two weeks we just have some last minute shopping to do and to get some family photos taken. we look forward to seeing you all when we return. HOpe you all enjoyed all the pics of Goa.

Goa pictures

Beach bums

Well, we have been beach bums for the past week and a half during our vacation to Goa. The resort has been beautiful and they did not even give us any hassle for changing our room after 3 days. Our first room was beautiful, but it was pool side and they have entertainment every night from 7:30pm - 10:30 pm. Not the most ideal when you have 2 kiddos that go to bed between 7 & 8. Our new room is away from the pool, nice and quite and on the second floor, so we can open our curtains to a beautiful field area with coconut trees and birds.

We have developed a good routine here. After waking up at about 6:30 we go to breakfast at 7:30; the omelet station is delicious. Then we head back to the room for the sun screen application and one of us heads to either the pool or beach with Josiah while the other one hangs out in the room while Lydia takes her nap. Josiah loves swimming in the pool and at the beach will spend a couple of hours playing in the sand and jumping in the waves. After playtime comes a lunch of PB sandwiches and bananas; some would call us cheap, but I just say that we like peanut butter. I try to coordinate so that we can all get an afternoon nap together, it is absolute bliss when it all works out. Then we head out to the beach for dinner at one of the many delicious (and cheap) beach shacks and a nice walk before heading home for bed. Ah, the life of the unemployed on vacation in Goa. We head back to Mumbai on Wednesday and then just 3 short weeks until we are back on US soil. We have had a great time in India, but are looking forward to getting back home. I think we will be in for a shock when we have to get back into the routine of work and stuff. More later, including pics.

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