A Little Trip

A friend of ours, Luke, is here to work with us for a year. Two weeks ago he caught a cold. The cold turned into pneumonia. The pneumonia turned pretty aggressive and has landed him in the hospital for the last 8 days. On Saturday we moved him from the public hospital in our local city to the public hospital in Melilla, Spain (just a few hours away from us).

Yesterday I brought the 4 kids over to Melilla to be with Joey, see "Mr. Luke" (as the boys call him) and soak in a little bit of the Christmas atmosphere that is so prevalent in Spain. Praise the Lord Mr. Luke is starting to get better and able to relax in the hospital (as relaxing as hospitals are :-s). We have so far enjoyed being tourists and looking at all the lights and decorations.

This morning we had yummy coffee and pastries, then came back to the hotel room to play cars. Its amazing what a little masking tape can imagination can do to a tile floor. Joey is spending time with Mr. Luke (the kids can't go in the hospital) then later we're going to do a bit of window shopping and enjoy the park. Not a bad way to spend the week before Christmas.

Only a Week

A Car, A Helicopter and Some Jets

Living in a country full of people who don't actually know when their birthday is, let alone celebrate said birthday has resulted in a deep desire to go all out for our celebrations. Both Joey and I grew up with Moms who did a great job of making the whole day special so it was easy to extend the excitement to the next generation. One tradition I started this year was to give a new shirt to wear on the birthday. It is opened with breakfast and thankfully my boys LOVED getting a new shirt. I was able to make them all this year and had a blast creating something I knew they would like. We also try and make elaborate cakes. Josiah requested a "Ferry Boat", Benson wanted an airplane and William was up for whatever so he got a fish. I love getting to help them have fun birthdays.

In other news. Isabelle is now 3 months old and getting cuter everyday. She is starting to be a lot more fun too. The boys love to give her kisses and get excited when she makes any noise. They are quick to translate whatever noise she made into a commentary on our present activity. They kill me.

We had a great time at Thanksgiving, celebrating with our Moroccan family. They are good sports eating our traditional meal. They even seem to like some of the dishes we present. It was hard to be away from family, but if I'm going to be away, this is where I want to be.

As soon as Thanksgiving was over we busted out the fake Christmas tree and got to decorating. The boys had a great time making it look festive. There were a few moments of distress because the tree wasn't nearly as big or nice as Grammy and Gramps' but we were able to enjoy the blessing of having a tree at all. Something about it glittering in the corner makes my heart happy and full of peace. I love Christmas.

William has taken to reading any cooking magazine he can get his hands on. Seriously, he goes to the bookshelf and chooses the "Cooks" magazine almost every time. He'll look at it for a while too. 
Maybe he'll grow up to be our charming chef? 

Last but not least, I made this yesterday. I found it on pintrest. I love it. Its just a little orange cut in half and peeled so that it makes a bowl. You cut a star out of the top and fill the bottom with a bit of olive oil. The stem of the orange acts as a wick. And away you go, little orange candles for your Christmas celebration. So fun. And who says there is nothing good on pintrest? 

How Is It Already Mid-November?!

After volunteer teams left I thought things would slow down, but I was wrong, life has pretty much kept running right along leaving me far behind...guess thats what happens when you get older :-) 

 Isabelle is growing and such a blessing. I love this picture of her. I think she is the perfect human representation of a Dr. Seuss character with her spiky hair and big forehead. Either that or a hedgehog its hard to decide. Yesterday she laid in her bed watching her mobile for over an hour, not making a peep, happy as a clam. Can you say easy?! I am trying not to dread what the future might hold if she's this good as a baby :-S

 Our internet works sometimes if you stand in the kitchen and hold it out the window. Ya, fun.

Josiah and Benson are getting over the flu. William has chicken pox. Poor kids, its about as much fun as standing in the kitchen trying to check email. I'm guessing the other three will also catch chicken pox here in the next week or so. Party time at our house. Speaking of parties, all three boys celebrated their birthdays in the past few weeks. I'll try and post pictures in a few days. Until then I'll be snuggling with my sick little men. Poor little kiddos. 

The Many Faces of Izzy

Home

I've been home now for just under two weeks. It is so nice to be back. So nice to be surrounded by the familiar. Before we headed to Spain I had become annoyed and bothered by everything having to do with this country. People, food, culture, Islam, etc. It all just left a bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to get out and I wasn't sure I really wanted to come back. All I needed though was a little perspective and a nice big reminder of why I love this country, why I love these people and why this is my home as much as the states is. Six weeks in Spain provided all of that and I am happy to say my heart is content once again.

**When I got home our final volunteer team was here. They had already completed a weeks stay with us and were getting ready to start their second week. It made for a crazy arrival and the necessity of jumping in with both feet. I had also planned to start both English school and Arabic school with the boys on the first Monday of October. Since our stay in Spain was longer than expected that meant I had just a few short days to get everything in order. Thankfully I had been able to get everything ready on the computer before hand and thankfully the boys are enjoying school again this year. It makes everything so much easier when they are happy.

**The house we stayed at in Spain was up for sale so the owners didn't have much in terms of furniture or decoration. It left me anxious to de-clutter our house. I've been working on it since getting back. Slowly but surely trying to put things away, get rid of things we don't need and create more storage. We're still in process but I'll try and remember to show you once things are presentable.

**Isabelle has been liking Morocco and has been growing quickly. Joey and I are realistic parents and therefore recognize that while she is still a cutie she has been going through some pretty "ugly" moments. Joey has been trying to capture them on camera, for blackmails sake. That future husband is going to love these :-)

**Here is Morocco they have a tradition of having a baby naming party roughly 8 days after the baby's birth. Since we weren't here we thought we'd pass on the party. However everyone told us we should have one anyway. So Joey bought a sheep, ordered 40 whole chickens, 80 loaves of bread and bought 30 bottles of soda. We gathered the people and had a traditional Moroccan party. The food was amazing and the mint tea wonderful. Its a good thing too since that is all that happens at a Moroccan party :-) Food and tea, is there anything else?! We are still trying to settle on a good Moroccan name for Izzy. Everyone seems to be familiar with the name, but no one can seem to remember it. Thankfully we don't have to throw another naming party! I am still trying to recover from the original:)

**Isabelle's Great Aunt Jeanne sent her this beautiful dress and it worked out perfectly for the party. I confess it felt a bit strange to be putting a dress on a little baby, but she was SO adorable I quickly got over it. She loved the dress (I assume) and couldn't stop moving around which made photos difficult, but we got a few ok ones. 

 

Its been a full, and joyful two weeks. Now it is time to settle back into life and enjoy every minute that we've been given in this place. As of this moment I couldn't be more grateful and excited about that opportunity. 

Seven

Seven Years Ago Today

As happy as ever...

Happy Anniversary Love.

One Month Old

Time flies when you're having fun.

Waiting

I'll just go ahead and be honest. I hate waiting, and I generally suck at it. Now I don't like to be surprised, I'd rather have the anticipation, but if that said anticipation is too long. Forget it. I'm a mess. And frankly, a not very nice mess. 

Well, I've been waiting now in Spain for almost 4 weeks. Almost a month. On the scale of long anticipations this is off the charts. A month. sheesh. Waiting for what you ask? Isabelle's passport so we can leave this place and go home. Home to Morocco. Its not like I wasn't aware that this might take this long. We were warned. The past two countries where we had our past two boys (Josiah was born in the states, its pretty straight forward there). Anyway the past two countries were fast. Less than 10 days. And people were helpful. So I wasn't worried. I thought it would be the same. No. Not in Spain. So here we sit and wait. 

I must also be honest and admit that I am learning a lot while I am here. Learning to let strangers help me and to rest even though my pride says "you're fine". I am realizing how so many people around the world feel - they can't leave their country. They can't get a passport. They do not have freedom. Freedom, it is a very special and wonderful thing. I've gotten somethings done while I'm here. I've discovered pintrest while sitting for hours on the internet. I've crochet two pairs of baby booties. I've organized and sorted some of my life - well mentally at least. 

And most precious of all I've spent time with my new little princess. She is something special. Something beautiful. I still can't believe it all. You'd think the fourth would be different. That it would be "old" even. But there is something magical and wonderful about a new life. Something I can't put into words. I am so blessed to sit and hold this little being. 

So, I will just keep waiting and doing by best to learn the lessons God wants to teach me through this time. And I will praise him for the gift of this new life. A gift that was worth the wait.

.

Introducing Isabelle

 Born August 22, 2011 at 10:35am in Marbella, Spain. She was 6 lbs, 14 oz and 19 inches long. The name "Isabelle" is the Spanish form of Elizabeth and means "God's Promise". Already she has blessed our lives and found a place in her brothers hearts.

The delivery went well. After having 4 c-secions in 4 different countries I have fun comparing the similarities and differences between each experience. This experience was great and although a bit harder than past, I can't complain regarding the care and "service" at the hospital. Our room was beautiful and the view something people would want for their living rooms. I think my anesthesiologist this time around was my favorite so far. He was always there to pat my cheeks and say something in Spanish, followed by a word or two of English, all meant to keep me calm and happy. He made sure that Joey got to see Isabelle right away and that they didn't take her to the nursery too quickly.

We are now back at the home of a friend where we will stay until we get the passport for little "Izzy". It is crazy to think that we are now a family of 6! And even crazier that God has blessed us with a little girl!! Now its time to recover and figure out what to do with all that pink :-)

The Past Few Weeks

Here are a few pictures from our past few weeks of vacation:

 This picture of my guys is one of my favorites. One of the fun parts of Ramadan is we get to watch satellite TV and catch up on some fun English shows.

 We got some swords that are also squirt guns that are great for the beach. Joey likes the way they make me look like a ninja sticking out of my backpack. Actually I am a ninja, but that's top secret.

 Lunch on the beach.

 One of our trips to the beach we ran into these special guys. A few kids got stung, but survived. Joey started going jellyfish hunting with the kids. They had a blast throwing rocks at them later so they wouldn't attack any more innocent children. boys.

 Breakfast of Champions: Petit Pans with Chocolate.

 Aren't they the cutest?! If this was a video you could hear Josiah making stuff up about bugs and animals. He's so good at making stuff up you want to believe whatever he tells you. Reminds me of someone else I know :-)

This is a shirt I made with the Silhouette SD Joey got me for my birthday. I love this machine, I'll have to write a real post about it someday, right now I'm still trying to figure out what all it does and having lots of fun doing it. My husband seriously is the best.

So that's a bit of what we've been up to on vacation. That and getting ready for #4. Its hard to believe that in a week we'll be sitting in a Spanish hospital holding our newest blessing - Lord willing. I'm feeling good, getting anxious from time to time, but mostly looking forward to meeting this little one. Thankfully this week should fly by :-)

Rama-cation

The beginning of the Muslim holy month, Ramadan, begins a month long vacation for us from construction and volunteer teams. There are still little things we do, lots of friends to visit with and opportunities to break the fast each night with neighbors and others. Mostly though we stay home and enjoy family time. It is one of my favorite times of year. 

To kick off the month we started with, breakfast in our man dresses.

Practicing letters on the internet. www.starfall.com is where its at.

I started cleaning and organizing various rooms that have been neglected over the past months. In the process I found this. A whole loaf of bread, hard and crusty. Notice the top has been eaten off of. Only one little person could be the culprit. William, the bread thief. He is always going into the kitchen (there are three to choose from around here) and grabbing any bread type item he can then proceeding to walk through the house eating what he wants and finally depositing said bread item wherever he is when he finishes. Like say the craft/toy room :-S

After making a big dent on the craft/toy room yesterday, I decided that today I should probably get ready for #4 who is set to arrive in less than 20 days!

A couple months ago I had turned one of our suitcases into a bassinet. I was able to use old foam we had lying around, some old sheets and then one of the many suitcases you collect when you travel. It turned out great and will be perfect for heading to Spain to actually have this kid. Everything folds inside with room for clothes and baby stuff. Who says you have to spend money on things for babies? Our garages and storage spaces are FULL of stuff for kids!

So now #4 has a spot all set out. Once we know what this kiddo is we can add the appropriate color scheme. 20 days, wow! Hard to believe. I am so thankful to have this Rama-cation to get ready for all the changes coming in about a month!

A Gift for #4

The boys are getting pretty excited about meeting Baby #4. I'm not sure if its the actual meeting of the baby or the fact that we get to take a "ferry boat" across to Spain in order to meet #4. Either way teaching them to be patient requires some creativity. So I decided they could help me make a gift that we could put together and give to #4.

I saw online ways to use egg cartons to make fancy little mobiles for babies. I thought the boys would like all the painting and putting together, but I didn't want it too complicated so I adjusted as I could. It was definitely a lesson in just going with it since they're so little and couldn't make things as perfectly as I might have. They did great and loved getting to help.

I started with left over egg cartons and cut them into individual squares. Then we set up the paints and the boys got to painting. 

 

I loved watching the boys paint. They were so serious and wanted it to look nice. They didn't really know what I was up to, but they were having fun. Check out the awesome tablecloth. It makes the pictures a bit hard to see, but I think it rocks. Sorry, couldn't resist.

The next day after the egg cartons had dried we used thumb tacks to poke holes in the top of each carton.

After the holes were poked I put a piece of yarn through each and attached a little bead so it wouldn't pull back through. 

Then I hung each carton from a hanger I had cut and painted. Sorry I forgot to take pictures, I'm not an official craft blogger you know :-) Once each one was hung from the hanger we had a mobile ready to hang above #4's bed. The boys tested it out and liked it so much I might make three more for each of them! 

Poor William wanted to participate so badly, but the proximity of craft table and couch was too great a risk. Maybe in a few years he can jump into our craft times.