SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED!

There is no way in the world that I have the brain capacity or time to go over everything that's happened since my last entry on May 30 (!!!). That was a long time ago, ya'll. So, I'll hit the highlights...

June 5 - hit the ground in the US of A. I had a stomach bug for the first full week, but thankfully, I recovered.

June was spent going to the beach with one side of my family, going to MS with Brad's family, and doing a lot of fun things with the other side of my family.

Then July 1. Oh goodness. July 1 was a big day.

I'd been sick for a while. Brad insisted I go see my ENT (I'm quite the faithful patient, much to my chagrin.) I'd had a few suspicions that things in my female parts might not be exactly normal. So I told the ENT that there was the tiniest chance that I might be pregnant because, I mean, really, it was tiny. Miniscule. He diagnosed me with a severe sinus infection that ended up needing 2 rounds of 10-day antibiotics. On the way home, I stopped at the dollar general to buy me a $1 pregnancy test because THERE'S NO WAY I'm pregnant.

((Side note: Remember all the infertility I did to get pregnant with Lucy and Will??? Well, we hadn't done ANY of it this time around. I mean, nothing. So see why I'm convinced that there's NO WAY I'm pregnant?!?!))

I was laid up on the couch sick to my stomach and doped up on antibiotics all afternoon. My BFF/former nurse says, "if you're so sick and from it's pregnancy hormones, it would definitely show up on a home test by now." AGHH.

Here's the scene: Brad is napping in the chair. Kids are...I don't even remember where they were...but they weren't downstairs with us. I peel myself up off the couch and head into the bathroom. I very reluctantly pee on the little stick. Before I even put said stick down on the counter it's positive. YA'LL! How is this possible?!?!?! I couldn't believe it. I cried. I stood in the hall bathroom of the house I grew up in and cried like a baby. (Just keeping it real - we were DONE with babies. We brought 3 suitcases of baby stuff back to the USA to SELL!)

Eventually, I stopped crying and walked out of the bathroom and over to Brad. Somehow I woke him up and showed him the test. And honestly, it's all a blur after that. I know I called everyone - my mom, my dad, my 3 BFFs. We waited to tell Brad's family the next day when we drove up to TN.

I'm happy to tell you that now - at this current moment - I'm very excited about this baby boy that's growing so wonderfully in my stomach. I'm 16 weeks along now. (Wow, that whole thing was 10 weeks ago?!?!) This baby boy is keeping me sick and again, I have more random infections that I didn't even realize I had. Ahhh...the joys of pregnancy.

July passed in a "morning" sickness haze. (It should be called ALL DAY SICKNESS.) We spent the month in TN/North AL with my in-laws and my MIL cooked such amazing food that I'm certain I gained 10 pounds - despite my sickness.

In August, we headed back down to central AL and stayed at my mom and step-dad's house on Lay Lake. I think I'm made for lake living. Seriously.

We did a genetic test to make sure everything with baby was okay. (It's a blood test now and doesn't affect baby at all!) Praise God, everything came back normal and we found out - for the first time ever before the delivery day - that we're having a BOY! Honestly, my mind settled a lot after finding out it's a boy, since Baby Boy and Will will be only 3 years apart in age, they can share a room! Yay! We don't have to find a new house!

August was good. Busy. Spending time with as many people as possible, eating copious amounts of Chick-Fil-A and pork, speaking at a lot of churches, singing at a lot of churches, meeting our new nephew Colton, and the inevitable good-byes.

Now, we're back "home." Kids have started school. Brad is in full swing with business start-up. I'm still sick a lot, but happy that it's now in my own home. I sure do miss my mom and dad, though! And I know the kiddos do, too. Living half-way around the world can be hard sometimes.

Baby Boy is set to join us in mid-February. I'm thankful again that the Lord has made me pregnant over the winter time. It's so dang hot here right now that I cannot imagine being biggo, gigantic pregnant in 100+ degree heat for months on end! I'd have to hibernate! All my local friends are super pumped and I know this will be quite a cultural experience much different from St. Vincent's this go-around. I just keep telling myself that people have babies here every day. And God is in control.

At 6 weeks.

At 16 weeks.

The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

Extrovert/Introvert or How to Care for Us in America

Growing up, I was 100% extrovert. Anyone who knew me for more than 5 minutes would have agreed. My very best friend wasn't as extroverted as I was, but she was my very best friend and she gave me way more grace than I deserved to bounce from here to there, doing whatever whim suited my fancy. I think she would consider herself an extrovert, too, but it was not near to the extreme that I was.

This lasted through college, for sure.

I married an extrovert. More of the same for those short 2 years we lived in AL.

Then we moved to TZ. I had a new job teaching international kids and we were surrounded by a completely different culture and I wasn't quite as confident as I had been in the good ole US of A. I started noticing that I just wanted to hang out at home A LOT more than I ever had as a kid/teen. By the end of the work week, I was wiped out and even though our friends usually wanted to hang out on Friday nights, I told Brad that I just couldn't handle it and so I stayed in.

I told myself that this change in my "hanging out" habits was because I was so tired and because I didn't click with this group of friends as well as I'd previously clicked with friends.

2 years in TZ and this didn't change. I stayed home a lot. Brad went out during the day with friends while I was at school. Our jobs demanded that we be out in the community a lot and really, by the end of the day, we were both pooped.

We moved back to AL and things were different. Brad and I both loved hanging out with our closest friends, but neither of us wanted to hang out just for the sake of "hanging out" with just anyone. Our extroversion changed to being energized only by certain people. We were the directors of a young married Sunday School class and we hung out with them, sure, but not as their peers. I mean, I did babysit a few of them when they were little! We had quite an age difference. But we still hung out with our closest friends A LOT.

Then came Lucy and another trans-continental move. This time, to a country where there are significant gender divides and a gigantic language barrier. Brad and I both noticed that our extroversion was again dwindling. We were studying Arabic - which, by the way, is super dee duper hard - and we only had a small hand full of close friends, who happened to be studying Arabic as well and were super tired just like us. This led to a lot of hanging out at home, just the 3 of us.

We had become fast friends with Mr. & Mrs. G. Brad and Mr. G are like twins separated at birth, but me and Mrs. G were polar opposites on SO many things. (I'm confident she'd agree!) She is my first friend that I really noticed was an extreme introvert. Our first year as friends was ....ok.... In the 2nd year, we decided to become accountability partners and by the grace of our amazing God, he continued to draw us closer and closer together until we were 2 years into Language school and it was time to move to our respective countries and the thought of separating was like a knife in the gut! (I have a vivid memory of me talking to Mrs. G about us moving and her sticking her fingers in her ears and loudly yelling LALALALALA!)

I learned a lot about myself through Mrs. G. And a lot about her (and introverts in general). I think that this graphic is a wonderful description and man, I sure wish I'd been given this before I met Mrs. G! We could've avoided a lot of awkwardness on the front end...

But then there is me. I'm still loud a lot of the time. I'm still energized by being around people. I still like to have attention. But at the same time, I've changed. Maybe it's maturity? Maybe it's this job. Probably a bit of both.

See, our job is to be out in the community, making relationships, talking to strangers, sharing our lives with them. Having to be "ON" so much when we are out in the community just exhausts you by the end of the day and you just want something easy at night - and since we don't live close to any of our best friends,  that usually means just me and Brad.

Brad has taught me a lot about the value of family and the value of slowing down to enjoy family - something that I deeply regret from when I was younger. (Love you, sisters!) And this job has taught me about the importance of having that special friend that you can confide in and share with and cry with and laugh hysterically with. I'm blessed that I still have my very best friend from when I was a kid - back in America - and our really close friends from our time after TZ are still our closest friends - back in America - and Mr. & Mrs. G are still our besties on this side of the ocean - in another country. And SO many other super close friends along the way...Mr & Mrs McQ, Mr & Mrs O, Mr & Mrs R,  Mr & Mrs W, M family, to name a few.

Being in another country, surrounded by people who are so completely different from you on the very basic level, can be lonely. I never thought I'd be someone who struggled with loneliness! And praise God, at the times when I've felt the loneliest, He has always provided a new, bosom friend. He's taught me a lot about trusting Him and casting all my cares on Him because He cares for me! And I've really come to appreciate friendships. I value my friends. I value my family. Much more than I ever did before!

I love my husband, but goodness, sometimes the extrovert in my just LONGS for people! All the things they say about extroverts are still 100% true about me. I think my tastes in people have just been refined as I've gotten older.

So. America. We're coming at ya in a few days. Brad and I love people! We love YOU! And we want you to treat us just like you would treat someone who's been in America, right there, living life next door to you. We're capable of talking about the same things! We want to know how your kids are and what's your favorite TV show and the best new restaurant in town. We want to be included.  Why else do you think we're on "social" media all the time?!?! We are, after all, still extroverts.... 

.....we just happen to live in another country most of the time! :)

He is Faithful!

“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. “ Psalm 69:13

Today, I’m encouraged and rejoicing in our God who answers! In my Bible, I wrote next to this verse: “my prayer, Lord. I am waiting for you to show me if we will have another baby or not. Let me always wait IN YOU & FOR YOU - in your time. Give me your peace. March 17, 2012”

8 weeks later, we found out we were pregnant with our precious miracle baby Will. (the amazing story of God’s grace is here)

I rejoice in knowing that He hears us. I rejoice in knowing that He is glorified when our hearts are focused on Him! I rejoice in Him, even when I don’t SEE tangible results, because I’ve read and I know that He is faithful over and over and over again! He never promises me I’ll see anything here on Earth. But He does promise me that He’s faithful.

And that encourages me. I prayed for SO long for children. (Of course, it seemed like a lot longer than it was!) And I know that all of us are praying daily for the salvation of our loved ones!

My friend Kaye pointed out an amazing passage in Luke 11:5-10 that encourages us to do just that - KEEP ON!

He’s SO good, yall!

“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

It Happened Today...

The moment I've been dreading for a while now.

It happened to Lucy a month before she turned 2. But Will has been holding out.

He is much more advanced than Lucy was at the same age in language, but in movements...well, he's still my baby boy. Short stumpy legs. Big round belly. Just LOOKS like a baby.

He actually looks the same this year as he did last year at this time!

Above is May 2014, 1 year and 4 months.

Below is May 2015, 2 years and 4 months.

Ok. So his legs are longer. And his arms are longer. But they're still chunky. And squishy. And oh, so kissable. 

We planned to hold out as long as possible, since this boy only stops when he's caged or sick. And we sure didn't think his legs were long enough. 

But this morning, as I was cooking pancakes, I heard his little voice. Only after I went upstairs 30 minutes later and realized that Brad was still in bed and hadn't moved, did I realize the inevitable:

HE CLIMBED OUT OF HIS BABY BED!!!

This afternoon, this happened:

So far, nap time was without a nap. And despite one venture downstairs to see what was going on, he stayed in his room the whole time. 

We'll see what the night brings....

Vacation!

We went on a nice family vacation a few weeks ago to see some of our best friends in a neighboring country. They graciously opened their home to us for a whole week! We ate our way through their city, enjoyed a day at Ikea, had a date night, played all day long (8 hours!) at a waterpark, had Krispy Kreme twice (!!!), played lots of games, and laughed SO MUCH! We love these friends so much! It was a blessing and if Will had slept better, we could've stayed a week longer! 

 We took their oldest daughter to Ikea with us. Lucy and Grace played in the FREE play area, and then we got lunch and ice cream. Lucy and Grace were pros at eating their ice cream cones...

 Will....not so much. He enjoyed the licking for a minute or so, but then turned it sideways and took a huge bite out of the middle of the cone! Not sure if you know this or not, but that makes a BIG MESS. He loved it, though!

We just love Ikea. SO kid friendly!

These may be 2 of the finest Daddies on the planet, yall! Seriously.

Will loves cars!

I had to drag him out of it to leave - after he'd been playing in it for about 30 minutes!

And these precious princesses got to play dress up INSIDE the store! This toy store has a special dress up room for little girls.

All the girlies, after a long day at the water park!

This girl.
I have no idea what her face and this pose are all about! 

I had to ask her to smile!

Sweet Grace wanted her picture taken, too!

A little while later, a new dress...

The daddies took the big girls to play, and the mommies took the babies to a coffee shop. Nice trade off! Will went back and forth with his car along this ledge.

Then Will and Sophia had their first date :)

Later that afternoon, while I was in a last ditch shopping effort to find new shoes for Lucy, Brad and the kids plopped down in the middle of the mall to enjoy some cheesecake.

Lucy got some new skates!

On our last night, we went to a yummy Mexican restaurant.

On the drive home, we were in a huge sandstorm for about 3 ½ of the 5 hours! It was intense!

We had an amazing trip! I didn't even get any pictures of their 1 month old! He's so sweet! 

2 Weeks in!

I gave my first pop quizzes today.

The kids know who I am.

My classroom is decorated, well, sort of. 

I guess I'm an English Language Support teacher, which is what they are calling me.

They call me Mrs. Alison. 

It's weird to me and I keep having to correct myself from saying Mrs. Haynes.

 Lucy LOVES me being at "her" school. I pick her up every afternoon and bring her to my classroom.  She draws on the board and I think she likes going to the "big kid" side of the school.

 

 Still working on my bulletin boards. ESL isn't the most exciting subject, so filling it up with verbs and such isn't too thrilling.

 I have students that need phonics help. 

I have students who need spelling help.

All of my students need grammar help.

In case you're wondering, English is HARD! Be glad that it's your first language! I sure am!

 In other news, this precious girl got PUPIL OF THE WEEK this week! She was SO excited! I said, "I'm so proud of you!" And she said, "I'm so proud of me, too!" Her teacher told me that she did a happy dance all day long. 

(side note...the British vocabulary makes communicating some things difficult, i.e. 

"pupil of the week" instead of "student of the week,"  

"timetable" instead of "schedule")

Sawadi Beach Trip

Back in January, Brad was helping a co-worker out with lots of tourist groups. One of their trips was to go to this beach and go kayaking. Brad went several times and we decided to tag along one time. 

The tide goes WAY out, so they had to drag the kayaks a long way. 

Lucy got to go kayaking with her Daddy and the tourist group. 

Such a great Daddy! 

Will and I stayed back and explored the beach. 

See the cars WAY back in the back of this picture? 

The kiddos were cold when they got back from the kayak trip. 

After kayaking and beaching, we headed over to hike up to this amazing tower. 

It was quite a hike! 

 We were halfway there, but still a long way away from the tower!

 We made it!

 The tide goes so far out that it creates a land bridge you can drive across.

I climbed up onto the very top of the tower, through a tiny opening. 

Nice flyaway hair, Alison... 

 Always posing.

We're not sure what this tower is or why it's there...not much signage in our country...but it is a beautiful hike! 

 Driving back over the land bridge before the tide comes in...