TFTC...

...means Thanks For The Cache...

Zeke and Dan have a new hobby. It's geocaching. If you don't know about it and you have a GPS that does coordinates, go to www.geocaching.com and check it out. People hide little things around the world and you go and find them using global coordinates. There are even quite a few where we live. The boys (and Kaiyah, though she wasn't as excited about it as Zeke) went today and found two of them. Both were just a little camera film case with a list inside to sign. It was fun and to Zeke, it's as if he's treasure hunting. Here are a couple of pictures from today's outing...

Zeke holding the list.

A few other things that were inside the container, along with my dirty hand.

Date Night

While Renee was here, she offered to keep the kids and let Dan and I go out for the evening. We had a great time! We went and walked (briefly, it was really hot) along the boardwalk by the sea. Yes, we're pretty cool with our shadow art.We walked through a little park beside the sea in an area we had never been to before. They had all these leaning trees. We're not sure why they were leaning, but it made for a good photo op.Then we headed to a mall we hadn't been to before and ate dinner.
We got a 3 minute massage in one of the massage chairs sitting around the mall.
Then we ended the evening watching "Knight and Day". We both enjoyed it. During the night Dan mentioned that when they were young, his parents would go on a date ever month on the day of their anniversary. We realized that it was the 15th of the month which is our anniversary. It's sometimes hard to get away on a date when you have 3 little kids and live a million miles away from free babysitters in the form of Grandparents. We just may have to adopt this tradition to make sure too much time doesn't pass before we have another one of these nights!

Toilet Paper

We needed toilet paper the other day and Dan came home with this:

I'm so proud :)

Introducing Sierra

We have a bad case of the 3rd child over here. Sierra turned 3 weeks old on Friday and we've yet to post a blog about her! So, allow me to introduce Sierra Nicole! She is a precious baby and we have loved every minute over these past few weeks. When she cries, you know there is a problem. She's an amazing sleeper. Since birth she has frequently slept 5 hours at a time at night. Last night she went 7 hours. There is something to be said for having a big baby! She is very laid back. Loves to be held and cuddled, but is fine just laying in her bed looking around. Zeke and Kaiyah love her. They've both been sick this week and have been very sad that they haven't been allowed to kiss and love on her as much. We're so thankful to God for blessing our family with our sweet baby girl.

Current Happenings . . .

Tami is now the most pregnant she has ever been, and not all that appreciative of the experience. At our last doctor's appointment (on Thursday) the doctor indicated that he is planning to deliver the baby this coming week. No day was mentioned, but Tami's mom gets here Thursday morning, so we're thinking if Sierra doesn't choose to come before then, Friday morning might be a good day to have a baby. On a side note, if she is born on Friday, she'll share a birthday with her cousin Averi!

Dan is enjoying the world cup. He has a friend coming over to watch the USA vs. England game tonight. He has been having a friendly banter about the game with a British guy who's villa we are renting in September for our FIRST REAL family vacation! We've taken several 1-2 night trips before, and of course trips to visit family which we love, but we've never just gotten away for an entire week! We're pretty excited. This place is a 4 bedroom villa with a BBQ grill (which is a real treat for us). There is a big swimming pool, plus 3 different beaches all close by. Also, we'll only be 30 minutes from Ephesus which Tami and the kids have still never been to! Very exciting!

The kids are doing great. Last night they were watching TV together and Tami looked over to see Zeke laying there stroking Kaiyah's hair. Too sweet. Hopefully a little video clip will follow sometime soon. Also the other day Dan took the kids to the park and for ice cream. Kaiyah ended up dropping her ice cream on the ground and started to cry. Zeke said, "Don't cry Kaiyah, you can share mine." We love this sibling relationship and pray that the addition of Sierra will just continue to strengthen this.

Shower

Last week some sweet friends threw a surprise baby shower for Sierra. With it being a surprise, I didn't have my camera, but some of the others at the shower took a couple of pictures. Even though we don't need a lot with still having all of Kaiyah's things to use, it was really nice just to have a little celebration of this sweet baby's up-and-coming birth! Plus, they made a diaper cake. I've never had a diaper cake and I think they are pretty cool!

Thank goodness for technology . . .

At the end of your pregnancy here you do these test to monitor if you're having contractions and how the baby is handling them (or at least that is what we think they monitor!). Anyways, you have to be strapped to a machine for 20 minutes, so we've been allowing the kids to watch their cartoons on our ipods. This is a picture from Tuesday's appointment. Today we only had one ipod with us so they shared. It was cute and Dan took a picture, but, alas, his camera is out with him today! Tuesday I was apparently having regular, light contractions. Today there was nothing. So, I guess we wait a little longer . . .

Misadventures

We don't tend to be a family full of excitement and misadventure, but we seem to have gotten our fair share in the past 24 hours. Tami was getting ready to head out the door to meet some friends when there was a shriek from Kaiyah in the back room. In the midst of the crying we heard Zeke say, "I'm so sorry Kaiyah." 2 seconds later we hear Zeke began to cry hysterically. Dan ran to the back room and quickly started yelling for Tami. Zeke had sprayed an air freshener first into Kaiyah's eyes and then into his own. We quickly rinsed their eyes out with water, and all seems to be okay.

Tami went on to her friend's home. This particular friend lives on the 12th floor of an apartment building. 5 ladies jumped in the elevator to head to lunch. 3 of the ladies are as pregnant as Tami. Some how, the elevator broke on the way down. They aren't sure how far they actually fell, as it all happened quickly, but they landed somewhere between the 2nd and 1st floor. After being stuck there for a few minutes, someone came to the rescue and helped them crawl out of the elevator. Everyone was fine, just some stiff necks and sore backs and a little shaky from the experience.

THEN, Kaiyah was jumping on the trampoline and fell off and hit her head on the radiator. There was a huge bump that immediately appeared on the back of her head. We kept her up from her nap for an hour and she appears to be okay. Hopefully the next 24 hours will be a little more peaceful.

Children's Day Parade

A few weeks ago they celebrated Children's Day here. All the school kids get a day off school, many of the shops hand out little treats to the kids, and there are parades all over the city. Early that morning, our neighbors came by and asked if we wanted to go with them to a parade. 20 minutes later we were on our way. We got there about 30 minutes after the parade was supposed to start. There were many different groups of school children standing on the stadium field waiting to perform. An hour later, they finally started marching around the outside of the field. Our neighbor turned to us and said, "It's all the same, are you ready to leave!" Zeke wasn't so ready to leave, since there was finally something to watch, but lunch and playing at a park quickly made up for it!

Play Place

This is blog catch up time. Several weeks ago, some friends invited us to go to this play place they had found out about. It's across the bridge, so not very close to where we live, but the kids had a great time. We'll have to make the trek out there from time to time.

Warm Weather Fun

Spring is finally here . . . we think. The weather has tricked us several times already, but yesterday we were able to get out and enjoy the sunshine at a park with some beautiful flowers! We thought we were going to have the park to ourselves, but about the time we all climbed out of the car, bus after bus of school children showed up to have a picnic! We still had a good time, Zeke and Kaiyah just got a little more help on the playground then they would have preferred!

Easter...

Well, it's a little later than promised, but it's here. If you missed the kids getting ready video on their blog, be sure to check it out.

We had a fun Easter Day. We went to church for a Sunrise Service at 7:30, followed by breakfast, following, followed by a 9:30 worship service, followed by an Easter Egg hunt for the kids, followed by lunch, followed by an Easter egg hunt at home.

It was a busy day, but lots of fun.

Here are a couple of pictures. To see more, including one of a cat attacking Kaiyah, click here.

Date Night

Well, currently Dan and Kaiyah have very bad colds, and Zeke is starting to sound like he has one coming on. I'm doing my best not to catch it. However, yesterday we had already arranged to have some girls come and babysit the kids so that we could go on a date. Because dates are so few and far between, my husband was a trooper and didn't back out on me. We went to Chili's to eat and then had written down the name of a nearby movie theater that had a movie we were interested in seeing. The movie theater was in an "apartment complex." That should have told us something. The man at the restaurant said it was just around the corner, so we started walking there. A ways down the road we stopped and asked another man, and he said "Oh yes, just 200 meters down the road." So on we walked. Eventually we asked another man who said "Oh, just 300 meters down the road." Ha! When we discovered the apartment complex we immediately guessed the movie tickets would be more than we cared to pay for them! The fact that there was a grocery store, starbucks, spa etc. confirmed this all for us. So, we decided to just catch a random bus instead and see where we ended up. It actually took us to a familiar area of town where we went into a nice coffee house and ordered "Hot chocolate with a stick" thinking it would be hot chocolate with a cookie or something sticking out of it. Instead, they brought us a glass of luke-warm milk (they forgot about us for awhile, so I think that explains the luke-warm part) with a chunk of chocolate on the end of a plastic stick. We had to stir our stick around until the chocolate melted creating hot chocolate! It was fun just for the experience, but probably not good enough to order again! Anyways, we had a fun time, and are thankful to once again find a couple of girls that our kids love to hang out with!

Sierra (26 weeks)

I went for my glucose test today. I will find out the results of that tomorrow. But, we actually got to see sweet Sierra's little face. Zeke, was of course all questions, wondering what every button on the machine did and how it all worked. Kaiyah spent her time trying to distract Daddy from that other baby by rubbing her nose against his and trying to play games with him. Sierra, slept blissfully through the whole experience. When we first started looking at her she had both hands AND feet up in front of her face. By the end, she was holding on to her umbilical cord for dear life! Haha. We are at 26 weeks, but she is currently measuring around 28 weeks, so maybe we will be blessed by another early arrival. She weighed in at 1126 grams (around 2.5 pounds)! We hope you enjoy seeing this sweet little face as much as we did!

Sierra Nicole

Yes, that is what we've decided to name baby #3. Since naming her, we have heard of two others named Sierra Nicole, but no other name has really grabbed our attention, so I guess there will be at least three of them in this world!

We had a doctor visit today. This was the first one we took the kids to. I'm not sure how impressed they were with the ultrasound of their baby sister, but they definitely appreciated the chocolate the doctor gave them following the visit! We have a couple of pictures to share with you. They aren't all that great, but at least they are of body parts appropriate to ooh and aah about. She appears to have the same nose as Zeke and Kaiyah do! We are excited! Just 16 more weeks or so . . . .(Profile)
(hand)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have a Valentine's tradition two years running of eating fondue, both cheese and chocolate. This year it was very very good. Before fondue, though, we started the morning with some pink Valentine's Day biscuits. They were quite good, and though we were a little afraid they would taste like food coloring, they really didn't. Here are some pictures from our day.

Baby #3

Baby #3 has gotten little time in the blogging world. There are several reasons for this. One, when you have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, you just don't have as much time to dream and plan for child number 3. Second, when you live in 130 sq. ft. apartment, you don't have the space to dream and plan for child number 3. Third, when she has a sister exactly 2 years older, there is no NEED to plan for child number 3. And fourthly, we are finding we were extremely spoiled with all the ultrasound pictures we got with Kaiyah. With this baby, we've been given two ultrasound pictures. One of a limb of some sort. Another, a picture of her tooshy. Neither picture inspire a blog post for all the world to see. However, being almost 21 weeks, this little one has started to make her presence known. She is moving around a lot, and she frequently has hiccups. I think the more I feel her, the more I have started to dream about what she is going to be like and look like. It's always exciting to bring a new little one into the world and discover their special gifts and personalities.

Although we don't need to buy hardly anything for this little one, I did indulge in one purchase based on the recommendation of a friend. We are often on the go, and with a crowded house, nap times are likely to occur in various locations. We have a portacrib, but let's be real. Portacribs are only seriously portable for the middle class American that has the luxury of driving wherever they go. For those of us who take trams and buses and mini buses to get where we go, dragging a portacrib with you is out of the question. So, we purchased something called a peapod baby sleep tent. We just received it this week, so the kids and I decided to open it up and check it out. It's nice and compact folded up, but man, I was not prepared for how big it was when we opened it up! Nor was Kaiyah prepared for the knock in the face she got when it sprung open. Oops. Anyways, has anyone out there used on of these before? I am looking forward to seeing how useful it really ends up being!

(Folded up in it's case. Includes an inflatable mattress as well as a pump)
(Opened up and ready for use. Two willing kids to test it out!)(The excited siblings wearing their cute BIG brother/BIG sister jammies!)

Happy Birthday Dan!

Tomorrow is Dan's birthday! Months before I ever met Dan, his family had been telling me all about him. I, naturally, thought there would never be anything to it since he lived in Brazil and I lived in Oklahoma. The very first time I ever saw Dan I remember thinking to myself, "Well, if anything were to ever happen, it would have to be God." A little over 4 years into marriage, I still feel that way. I feel so lucky and blessed to have such an amazing husband to share life with day-in and day-out. God truly does give us far more then we could ever ask or imagine. It's been 4 and a half years since Dan asked me to marry him. In those 4 and a half years, we planned a wedding, got married, Dan finished school, we changed jobs, moved overseas, studied two languages, and have 2 kids with the 3rd on the way. If you look at any list of high stress factors, I think we've probably got the majority of them covered. They say that who you really are comes out in stressful situations. If that is true, then I am here to vouch that either my husband doesn't get stressed at all (which I think is probably partially true) or he is just an amazing person who is equally great during all seasons of life (which I know is true). I've learned a lot from being married to Dan. He is the type of guy who doesn't try to lead by asserting his role as husband, but just by living how he knows he is supposed to live. There are many situations where his example has pricked my conscience pretty deep. There are two things that really stand out to me that I have seen continually in Dan's life, and have learned from. The first is a humble spirit. I don't think I've met anyone more humble then my husband. What Dan does with his life is never about getting the acclamation or praise for it, but always out of a genuine love for others and desire to serve them. Dan is also so generous and giving. As middle class Americans, it's hard to ever truly give sacrificially. But I have learned a lot from Dan in this area. I am so thankful for my sweet husband! Happy Birthday Dan!

Peanuts . . .

So, for most of my adult life I have had frequent headaches. My mom has always had a lot of headaches as well, and claims that they are sinus headaches, so I just assumed that mine were the same. Recently, however, I was talking to a friend who knows a lot about migraines and she mentioned that many migraines are caused by certain foods. There is a big, long list of foods that sometimes cause headaches, and different people react differently, so she started naming off some of the foods. Well, peanuts/peanut butter was high on her list. For those of you who know me very well, you know I love peanut butter. My friend suggested I write a cookbook entitled 101 ways to use peanut butter. I like the idea! Anyways, I eat peanut butter in some form almost every day. So, about a month ago I started an experiment. I stopped eating peanut butter. The first 2 weeks I still had headaches on occasion, but during the last two weeks I didn't have a single headache! That is a miracle for me. On Wednesdays I help cook food for folks that don't have a lot. We have a lot of Africans that come, so this past Wednesday I made an African dish that is made out of peanut butter. Umm, ummm good! 24 hours later I had my first headache in 2 weeks. Crazy. Well, I just thought it was all very interesting, and if any of you out there suffer from headaches, you should scan the internet and see if some of the foods you eat on a regular basis are known to cause them!

Along the same topic . . . living overseas has inspired me to try making many things at home that I would not otherwise try. My kids are following in my shoes, and love peanut butter. This week for the first time I made peanut butter. It's so easy. It's so much healthier then the sugary stuff we have to buy here. AND, for around $2.00 I made the same amount that I would pay $6.00 or more for in the store! I think I would have to add a cup of sugar to it for Dan to eat it, but Zeke seems to like it just fine!

Scenes from our life

It is very easy to take life and all the sights and sounds around you for granted. We've lived here just over 2 years now, and things feel so normal that we don't always stop to take in what we're seeing. I was looking through some of Dan's photography and thought I would post a few pictures of the things we see on a regular basis.This is the view from our balcony. Dan took this picture a few mornings ago. It is pretty crazy how many people and homes this picture represents.

This guy is roasting and selling chestnuts. This is VERY common this time of year. Dan and I personally think there is a reason the song only talks about roasting chestnuts and not eating them, but some family members have tried them during their visits and said they liked them.

We cross this bridge many times a week, and it is almost always filled with men fishing for sardines.

Anyways, these are just a few sights we experience on a regular basis. Maybe I'll try to post stuff like this more regularly.