Moving On

After much prayer and discussion, John has decided to take a job in another city. We feel like this is a great new challenge for John and our family. So on June 15th we leave and move just a tad bit north.

As I have started to process this move I have thought a lot about the city we have lived in for 7 years. (It would have been 8 in August.) A lot has happened in my life since I moved here. It was here that I learned how to be a wife. We were only married a year in the States before we moved here. It was here that I became a mother of three. We have developed some very deep and lasting friendships here. We have set up our roots here. So to say goodbye is going to be really hard. I have come to love this city and really know it. So to start all over again is a little scary to me. I will no longer be one of the people you call and ask where you can buy such and such. Instead I will be the one calling others to ask where to get stuff.

Over the next couple of months we are going to be busy preparing for our move and finishing homeschool. So, right now the move seems so surreal to me. I have told some of my friends that I feel like when we get all settled in and I hang my last picture on the wall in my new place I will sit down and cry. Reality will set in that we have really moved and we aren't just on vacation.

We have already started to say goodbye to some of our friends. This Friday our friends the Smith's head to America for some rest. They will not return until after we move to our new city. We had begun a tradition with them to eat together every Sunday night. Last night was our last Sunday night meal together. Although we will still get to see them about once or twice a year it was sad to say goodbye. Below we are all at one of our favorite restaurants.



This is how we went out to eat every Sunday night. Jeremy was kind to tote some of my family on his three wheel bike.



In other random news. Kayleigh's cast was slowly coming unraveled because she would slide on her bottom across the floor. So John found on Chinese E-bay some cast tape that we could wrap it in. He bought her the color pink which she loved!

My Life Right Now

This is a picture of Zeb playing with my baby ergo carrier. He thought it would be funny to carry his animals around in it. As you can see he doesn't quite have the straps buckled right. I think my kids have thought to play with this carrier because these days I am using it a lot! I used to only use my double stroller on the days that Zeb went to pre-school. He would be tired and didn't want to make the walk home so I would put Layla on one side and Zeb on the other. Kayleigh would of course walk. Well now that Kayleigh's leg is in a cast. She rides in one side and Zeb rides in the other. Layla now rides in the baby ergo carrier. By the time I get home with all three of them, pushing two and carrying one. I am pouring in sweat! I figured out the other day that I am pushing/carrying about 115 pounds! No wonder I am sweating when I walk in the door.



This time in our lives has taught me a lot more patience! I did not realize how much Kayleigh helped me around the house until she can't any more. If she needed something while eating at the table she would get up and get it herself or even get something for one of her siblings. I could call to her while changing Layla's diaper to bring me something. She was a HUGE help with Layla in so many ways. Now I am back to helping her go to the bathroom. Giving her a bath is a challenge all in itself. When this is all over I don't want to take my little helper for grant it. Things have gotten much better though. She is now scooting around on her bottom to get around the house. She even crawls sometimes.

Her little friends have been so kind to her. Her friend Lily brought her tons of games that she could play with while lying on the couch. They have also been so creative with her when we go outside to play so she wouldn't feel left out. I am sure that God is teaching Kayleigh, John and me something through all this.

This post is for my mom.

My mom brought these outfits for Kayleigh and Layla when she came to visit in January. Last night we went out to eat with some friends that were visiting from America. John took this picture and I thought it turned out great!

Kayleigh's first cast, and hopefully the last!

The Friday before we left for Thailand Kayleigh and Zeb were running around by bedroom chasing each other. Kayleigh slipped on some clothes on the floor and fell down. She cried A LOT! Since she takes after her mother and has a very low tolerance for pain we didn't think much of it. However, she refused to walk on it at all. We thought she was over reacting. Saturday came and went and still she refused to walk on it. We even had a going away party for Josh and Danielle with tons of her little friends and she refused to get up and walk. That is when the red flag came up for me. I decided to take her to get a x-ray on Sunday since were were leaving for Thailand the next day. The technician said she had a fracture on her tibia. I felt really really bad that we had been trying to make her walk on her leg and thought she was over reacting. I immediately called the American pediatrician that I know and asked what we should do. He said since we were already going to Thailand to take her with us to get a cast/walking boot put on it. John began the process of trying to get Kayleigh on our flight. The flight was totally booked and several flights for the next few days were also booked. So we called the doctor back and he said she could just get it put in a cast here. Since we were out of time he put a brace on her leg, to hold her leg in place, until we could get back from Thailand to get a cast put on it. 

So yesterday John took her to the hospital. When she walked in the door I must say I was little surprised at how primitive the cast looked. They only put a cast on the bottom of her foot and the back of her leg and then wrapped the rest of it with gauze. I'm not convinced this cast is gong to last 6 weeks on a 5 year old. I promised her that her friends could sign it so yesterday we went to the courtyard with a huge pack of markers and everyone started signing away. Below is a picture of our crew signing it. 

The bad news: they don't make crutches for little kids here. So we are going to have to carry her around the house and put her in a stroller if we go anywhere outside our home. I'm not really looking forward to that.

Feeling Really Blessed

While we were in Thailand with my parents I had an ultra sound done on my thyroid. Something came back suspicious so the doctor recommended I get a biopsy done. I found this news out the afternoon before we were supposed to fly out the next morning. John was already some where on the road in Laos and I didn't have the first clue how to change my parents and my kids flights to stay longer in Thailand. We opted to come on back home and decided we would take another trip to Thailand within the month to get my biopsy done.  

I have to admit, the possibility that I could have cancer has been weighing heavily on my mind. My sister had thyroid cancer several years back so I knew it could totally be possible that I could have it too. Not to mention the unbelievable family history I have of people with cancer. I have played all the scenarios in my mind but really knew I shouldn't even go there until I knew the results. So John and I headed back to Thailand a couple of days ago for the biopsy. We left the kids with our friend Laura and took the fastest trip we could. I am so happy to report that the test came back negative. I don't have cancer! I feel so blessed by the Lord.  He truly is the great healer and provider.

The trip was so fast that we were only in Thailand for less than 24 hours. After going to the hospital for my test we had a couple of hours to kill before heading back to the airport. We decided to hit up Krispy Kreme! It was so very good. 

 

When we got home we found out the kids had done great with Laura. She even had time to put Layla's hair in pig tails!

I believe the pig tails had been in her hair a couple of days because this is what her hair looked like after we took out her pig tails.