3 Weekends

The past 3 weekends have been super busy! (I know, most everyone who reads this could say the same thing. And thankfully, we're NOT in any contest! Can you imagine how stressful that contest would be?)

3 weekends ago, we traveled back to our former, modern big city and visited several friends there. It was amazing to see them and reminisce. I really miss those ladies and cannot wait until we are residents of the same city again! We also had a meeting with our boss and our boss's boss and even one more level of high boss! Sounds like that could pile on the stress, right? Wrong! It was an amazing meeting and we got lots of questions answered! I was able to talk one-on-one with our boss's boss about our future after language school and I was very encouraged! Praise the Lord for good, straight-forward communication!

2 weekends ago, I was blessed to go to a women's conference in a nearby country. I drove myself there, so of course, I enjoyed 2+ hours of uninterrupted worship time at the top of my lungs! Correction, it wasn't uninterrupted because at one of the 3 border crossings/checkpoints, I got hit on! Crazy! And totally "haram" (forbidden in Arabic). Good thing was, I was talking in only Arabic with the policeman, but bad thing was that I had to ask him what he was saying 3 times before I realized he was saying "Can I have your number? I'll give you mine in case you have any trouble." Aghh! No thanks! And I speedily drove away! Anywho...

The conference was 49 women from around this neck of the woods and many wonderful volunteer ladies who came to dote on us, pamper us, and most importantly bathe us in prayer! It was the most amazing conference I've ever been to! I got a back massage, a pedicure, ate amazing food - and lost 2.5 pounds while I was there!, got some very special gifts/door prizes from the USA, spent wonderful time with my roomie, got to know some amazing women who are in the same phase of life as me, and spent focused time in prayer with many of those women...I can't even count how many times I was prayed over individually! The power of prayer and the power that comes when 2 or more are gathered together in His name is overwhelming! I literally cannot wait to be standing around the throne worshiping with the full body of Christ!!!!!

I was supposed to pick up my pal Emily and her 2 gals and her babysitter after the conference, but it was decided that for security, they couldn't come. Boo. BUT, I did get some uninterrupted worship time on the drive back that I wouldn't have gotten with 4 extra folks in the car! :) No pickup lines from any policemen on the way home! Thank you, Jesus!

Last weekend, we drove back up to the big D to visit with the above-mentioned friends. Emily's family lives in a different part of the Big D than we'd ever been to. Wow. That's about all I can say to accurately describe where they live. It's this amazing suburb that's got green grass all over the place! And landscaping to make your jaw drop! We were so blessed to be taken in by this family for the weekend! And the house was full of 14 people...6 kiddos & 8 adults! That's a house full! Emily's fam has an amazing back yard and Lucy was able to roam in and out of the house - like most "normal" kiddos back in the USA. It was an amazing time!

This is Lucy's gangsta look. We ate at a Mexican restaurant and they gave the 3 kiddos these orange hats that say "El Chico" on them. Couldn't resist this photo opp!

Here's Lucy with Hazel (blonde with curls) and Annabel (total opposite). Yes, those 2 are sisters. From the same, very different looking parents. Wanna know what their parents look like, well, look at the kiddos! :) You get the picture!

Here's the amazing yard...

And the view of the baseball field. We sat behind the dugout, though, so we didn't see the beautiful skyline. But that was ok. :)

We also visited the tallest building in the WORLD! The elevator goes up to the 124th floor - which isn't even the top - in about 60 seconds. We got some great pictures! Please notice that when you look down, it looks like a model of a city instead of an actual city! Craziness. Unfortunately, Lucy was in a typical 2-year-old mood for the whole of this venture. She just cried and cried. I thought she was getting sick, as one of the other kiddos with us was sick, but turns out, she was just being 2. Nice.

Here we are waiting to get on the very fast elevator! That's a model of the building behind us.

The huge structure on the L of the picture is the biggest mall in this country! Maybe even in this part of the world! Seriously. We went into a part of the mall on this trip that we'd never seen before...a whole other food court! (We often compare the Big D to Texas...you know, everything's bigger and better there...)

We did have a few minutes of respite from the terrible 2s. She ran around this huge column and played peek-a-boo with Brad for a short while.

On our way back to Emily's fam's house, we had this noise in the car. Now, I'm very good at describing noises in the car. Seriously. The guy at the Saturn dealership told me that years ago. So, it sounded like the tire to me. We were driving along, actually talking about how easy it is in America for a girl to get someone to help her on the road if she has a problem with her car and then BAM! And screaming. And pulling to the side of the road. Yep, we had a blowout. And No, the screaming wasn't coming from any of the 3 under 3-year-olds in the car... it was coming from my friend Emily! Ha! She screamed for about 45 seconds...and then burst into laughter after that. As we all did! And her babysitter, Kylie, was telling her to "shhh" while she was screaming! Kylie really should now and forevermore be called "Super Kylie" cause she rocks!!! Brad was amazing. He changed the tire. Emily and I got out of the car and waved our white arms at the speedily oncoming traffic to protect Brad as he's changing the tire. The tire was completely shredded! (Em got a picture...I'm waiting on it!) And then we headed back.

Saturday morning, we went to a little league baseball game! WOW! It was the most "normal" I've felt while outside in a long, long time! I wore a t-shirt! I rolled my jeans to capri-length and I even got sun on my arms! There was amazing green grass and while the skyline of the Big D was in the background looking one direction, we looked the other way the whole time and I forgot, even if just for that 1 hour, where I was.

*Side note. I totally love what we do. I love where we are right now in our lives. I wouldn't change a thing. But, it's super nice to have a weekend of "being normal Americans" once in a while! And even refreshing!*

Thrown in there were some quite difficult weeks of language learning, a birthday party for one of Lucy's sweet friends, Morgan who turned 4, several trips to the park...you know, everyday life.

Lucy and Micah - Morgan's brother - squished into the swing together. They are SO cute together!

And here we are. Back to language school everyday. I think I'm getting a sinus infection, but I'm taking lots of Vitamin C every day and getting lots of rest. Hopefully, it'll clear up before we have our WEEK OFF FROM SCHOOL NEXT WEEK!!! YAY!!!!

Please look at this huge gecko I saw in our bathroom on Sunday! Massive! Like the ones we used to have at our house in TZ!

OH, we had Lucy's 2 year checkup yesterday. She did wonderfully! She's 29 lbs, almost 3 ft tall (2.985 feet)...75% for height, weight, and head circumference! Besides a little dry skin, she's perfectly healthy! Praise the Lord!