Kaiyah Michelle Shackelford!!!!!!!

Hey! Kaiyah's here! She was born on May 29th at 11:55 p.m., 8 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches long. It's less than 24 hours later and we're already at home. Who whould have thought it? Tami and Kaiyah are healthy and we're all very excited and I know you want to see pictures, so here they are!

In the hospital.

Back at home.

Mommy's first picture with her.

Daddy's first picture with her.

First family picture. Zeke was ready to go play with toys.

The view from our hospital room. It's not as exciting, but it was pretty.

Because of the new addition to the family, Zeke has decided to share his blog with her. You can find it now at shackkids.blogspot.com or look on the side of this page.

For more Kaiyah and family pictures, click here.

OUCH!!!

Don't worry, it's just strawberry juice. We went to the market today to buy strawberries b/c they are going out of season soon and we wanted some to put in our freezer. We bought 8 kilos, which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you stop to think about it, it comes to about 17.5 pounds, which Dan spent the better part of the evening cutting up. We should have plenty of strawberries for awhile now!

The stems of 17.5 lbs. of strawberries.
17.5 lbs. of strawberries in our freezer.
Zeke helping out.

Stovetop Popcorn...

Well, in our country, there's no such thing as microwave popcorn, so we haven't actually eaten any popcorn since we've been here. Last week, however, we bought some normal popcorn and figured out how to pop it on the stove. Today, we had our first stovetop popcorn and it turned out quite good.

Kaiyah's Room!

So, Tami has been having contractions off and on all day today. Likely they are nothing, but at least it has provided the needed motivation to get some things done. We've washed all the baby clothes and worked on finishing up her room. Dan is still in the process of hanging a fan in there, but here are some pictures of the rest of the room! Thanks everyone who helped gather up all the stuff and get it here!

Illness abounds...

Well, we've had quite the run of bad health in our house. It all started when Tami got sick almost a month ago with what we thought was a common cold. It spread to Dan and Zeke last week and when it didn't seem to be getting any better, Tami and Zeke went to the doctor. Below is a picture of all of our drugs. The pink bottle in the back corner is rose water, a home remedy for lung congestion in our part of the world. We didn't honestly drink it enough to know if it did it's job or not. Anyway, we think maybe we're turning a corner on the illness thing, and it couldn't be a moment too soon...

Ephesus...

Our good friend, Jeff Brawner, came to visit us for a few days. He and Dan went to Ephesus for a day, taking an overnight bus there and another one back. Some of the transportation was a hastle, but it was well worth it. The first a picture of the Amphitheatre in Ephesus, where the Ephesians gathered to run Paul out of town in Acts 19 because he was threatening the business of the idol-makers for Artemis worshippers.

The second picture is what is left standing of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. That's Jeff and Dan standing in front of the only remaining column. If you want to see more pictures, including some statues of Artemis, the false god of the Ephesians, click here.

Mini-vacation...

We got away for a couple of nights earlier this week to a little beach town outside our city. It was great getting away for a little peace and quiet. We had a lot of fun. The main reason we picked the hotel that we did was because it had an indoor swimming pool. Here's a picture of it.

Needless to say, we didn't go swimming! It appeared the town hadn't really opened up for tourist season yet, so we enjoyed being the only ones at our hotel and having the beaches pretty much to ourselves. We even got to build a sand "cat".

If you'd like to see more pictures from our vacation, you can click on either of the following links.

Photo Album One

Photo Album Two

And the One Shall Become Two...

Not a good motto for marriage, but an excellent one for Zeke's (and Dan's) blanket.

For those of you who know the saga of the blanket, we finally cut it in two. It started this morning when we were getting ready to leave the house and Zeke was wanting to take his blanket with him. Dan went with him and got one of his smaller blankets out of his bedroom. Zeke looked at Dan, handed him the blanket, and pointed to the big blanket on the bed. Tami said, "Do you want to cut it?" Dan said, "I guess so," and half an hour later, we had two blankets, the smaller of which was patched enough to make it through the day trip. Zeke was really happy to have a smaller version of his previously ginormous blanket. He was walking around the apartment smiling and rubbing it on his face.

When we got back, Dan went to a store near our apartment and got a big needle and some thick thread to sew it up well. Zeke didn't want to wait on Dan to finish, but he eventually did, and though it's no professional stitch job, we think it'll hold it together through the washing machine.

Afterward, Dan and Zeke each had their own blanket, but Zeke didn't particularly want to share. We're working on that.

March Madness...

Here's a little vintage Zeke Tigers collage in honor of Memphis's first trip to the Final Four since 1985, after an impressive 18 point win over the Texas Longhorns (which made Tami very happy, being the Sooner that she is).

Dan has really enjoyed watching all the tournament games online, thanks to CBSSportsline.com. It's worked out well, too, though, because most of the games have been on in the middle of the night here, so he's been able to watch a lot of them. It will be nice, however, to get back to 7-8 hours of sleep a night.

GO TIGERS GO!

Baby Kaiyah 29 Weeks...

Happy Easter!!!

So, we haven't established Easter traditions in our family yet because Dan was gone on Easter last year and the year before, we can't remember what we did. We did get up and go to the sunrise service at our church. Other than that, we didn't really have plans, so we looked on the internet and found out that apparently you're supposed to eat lamb on Easter, so we went and got some lamb chops and ate them with roasted potatoes and zucchini. We decided it was a very good tradition and one we'll likely repeat next year.

BEFORE

AFTER

Tami's first hair dresser experience!

So, I've been needing to go and get a hair cut. Several weeks ago I spotted a couple of hair places near our home and last Friday I carefully role played with my tutor how to communicate what I wanted. I've been studying the words I needed, and today was the BIG day. When Dan got home from school, off I went! Well, the two places I spotted were closed. As I stood there looking, a lady walked by, so I told her I was looking for a hair dresser. There was a photography studio between the two hair dresser places and she informed me that there was a hair dresser above the photography studio. So, I went up and asked how much it would cost and they said it would be the equivalent to $5.00. Perfect! I carefully used all my new vocabulary skills to explain that I just wanted a little bit cut off the end. She asked if I wanted any layers (another one of my new vocab words). Well, a friend had warned me that they are a little layer happy here, so I said no, but maybe just a few in the front. She washed my hair, and then got ready to cut. She showed me how much she was going to cut off and it was about an inch so I said that was great! Well, before I knew it she has busted out this razor. Yes, she took about an inch off the very bottom layer but all the others lost 4, 5, 6 inches. Hee, hee. Luckily, I haven't been very hormonal today so it made me laugh rather than cry. I look quite European now with my layered hair cut! Here are pictures for your viewing pleasure!!!!

Grilling...

For Dan's birthday I bought him a little charcoal grill to use on our patio. We've used it several times in the past two months. Last night we were going to grill some chicken. Dan had a nice little fire going, when we got a knock on our door. It was the apartment manager saying that we aren't allowed to grill "because the smell of the smoke bothered other people around us." Go figure. In a country where 90% of the population smokes cigarettes, and it's the smell of the smoke that is keeping us from from our grilled chicken. Hmm.

The Islands...

There is a set of islands just off the coast of our city. We went there the other day with some friends who were in town. It was a beautiful day for it and Zeke had lots of fun chasing after pigeons, seagulls, dogs, and cats. Here are a few of the pictures. If you'd like to see the rest, click here.

Tami, 6 1/2 months pregnant

Well, sometime in the past 6 weeks since we posted the last picture, the baby has decided to make her up-and-coming arrival much more evident! This stage is still fun, but I quite clearly remember that it's all down hill from here: aching backs, sleepless nights, toilet stops every five minutes . . . But there are some perks. For instance, even when Zeke isn't with me on the tram, people still get up and give me their seat!!!! Hey, take the pleasures where you can get them, right?

You Mean You Have to Pay for Gas?

So, when we moved in, we were under the impression that all the bills would automatically come to us under our landlord's name and we would just go pay it, which is what happened with most of them. Well, we hadn't really thought about it, but we hadn't paid a gas bill since we moved in about 4 months ago. We found that out today when we came home to see that red thing on our gas line out in the hall (see picture below), which means that they came and cut off our gas. Turns out we were supposed to go and register with the company so they could start billing to our address. Somehow we either weren't told that or didn't understand that (probably the latter), so tonight we are without gas, which means no heat, no stove, and no hot water. Fortunately, it's been in the 60's here this week, so we don't need the heat. Cold showers here are REALLY cold, though. Anyway, Dan's supposed to go tomorrow morning with the landlord to get it all straightened out, so hopefully this time tomorrow, we'll be enjoying warm showers.

Guessing Game...

"What's that on your peanut butter sandwich?" you ask. Why, it's strawberry jelly, of course! Yeah, we recently found out that if you don't want to pay $7 or so for a jar of strawberry jelly, it comes with real whole strawberries (not even pieces). However, since we learned this, we've found a strawberry marmelade that looks promising, though we haven't tried it yet. Highlights from this picture: First, you can get pretty good peanut butter here. Second, you can get sliced bread here. (This is actually very special thing in many parts of the world.) Third, and possibly the most exciting, you can get bugles here!

Snowy Days!!!

We had a good bit of snow over the weekend and we took Zeke out to play in it this morning. He had a lot of fun, but we probably had even more fun. We built a snowman and Dan threw snowballs at some of the local kids. Here are a few of the pictures. If you want to see more, click here.

Skype is Fun!!!

So using Skype way over here on the other side of the world allows us to talk with family and friends back home. It even lets us see those who have webcams. Dan's sister, Elizabeth, just got one, so here's a video of her entertaining Zeke (and the rest of us for that matter).

Incidentally if any of you are on Skype and would like to connect with us, let us know. Enjoy the video.

If you'd like to visit Elizabeth's blog and tell her how much you liked it, click here.

Bean Bag Chairs...

One of the best presents we got when Zeke was born was from Dan's grandmother. It was a garage sale bargain of $2.00. A bean bag chair! You can use a bean bag chair for so many things. The baby can sleep in it, eat in it, watch TV in it, take pictures in it...the list is unending. So, when we moved across the waters, it was a sad day to have to leave the bean bag chair behind. Now, with the prospect of a new arrival, Tami was wishing she could have that $2.00 bean bag shipped over. Instead, Dan, being the wonderful husband that he is, found a shop that makes bean bag chairs. We are so excited! Granted, this one isn't a $2.00 bargain. Nonetheless, it is likely to be worth every penny. Here are some pictures of us breaking it in...