Our November and December are quickly becoming frighteningly busy. The next 7 weeks will fly by.
Troy has had a couple of photography opportunities of late and is currently out doing his fourth shoot of the week. I found it humorous that he made mention of being glad he did "not have to do pets" when Jimmy and Laura, friends of ours, showed up as his second shoot in a row with a dog in tow. He is a pet photographer. Don't let him tell you otherwise. :)
My little sister is coming to TX (the best state in the universe) on Friday to join us in San Antonio. I think she is undecided on whether she will run the full or half marathon. Some people just decide those things on the fly. But only because they are freaks. I'm excited to head south on Saturday morning with Britt, Chris, and my best friend Tina. We will all be at the start line Sunday morning.
Troy will manage personalities in Waco and celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary without me on Sunday. I imagine he'll celebrate by gazing lovingly upon our children,
We seem to be having vehicle and electricity problems no matter what country we are in, and regardless of how much state pride we have. In Texas something new breaks on the 'Suburden' each day. The muffler is long gone, the brakes are questionable. As door handles continually break, we'll soon be entering and exiting the truck Dukes of Hazzard style. A line from the electric box to the dryer shorted out and Paige's room seems to have curious and unpredictable sparking issues. No dryer for a week was inconsequential ten years ago; today it is borderline earth-shattering. Small children could be consumed by the pile of laundry that has accumulated over the last 7 days. Meanwhile, back in Haiti there is no EDH power running to our house (they cut it - we owe them big money) and our only vehicle has been beat up a bit and is not currently operational. We're curious how our kids will do walking 9ish miles to school on January 4th. Walking will be much quicker than navigating that PAP traffic anyway, so there is that.
On the bright side, at least we're experiencing some consistency in our two worlds.
We bought paint to touch up the damage the precious little cherubs have done to the walls of our borrowed Waco home. We've also begun to research the best carpet cleaning companies in central TX to have them set aside a week or so in December to try to work carpet miracles. We've made lists of the end tables and lamps that require repairs thanks to the boys. We've also prayed that no one reading this blog attends the church that owns this home. [If you do, please consider these descriptions of your house exaggerated strictly for the purposes of entertainment ... And more importantly - please don't stop by unannounced.] ;)
If you've asked me about visiting us in January and I've not replied, this is the paragraph in which I plan to be brutally honest while attempting not to offend you. Here goes: We are certain that the first month+ back will be a major transition for all of us. There will be tears, melt-downs, adjustments, and tantrums. Plus the kids could experience some challenges too. We need to get our house and truck running again and get settled into school and a new more challenging daily routine of life ... For example, last November we woke up looking like this some mornings ... and we still have these neighbors to learn to love again.
We once loved them enough to write jingles about them, so there is hope!
Because of those and other things, we are reserving January for adjustment and have decided not to commit to much more than that. Dokte Jen will be living with us and she is the only person that gets to see the inner-workings of a family this size adjusting from a life of ease and convenience back to roosters, mosquitoes, rodents and road-rage. She has lived with us before so she knows what she is in store for come January.
I need to find some quarters and the little girls and head out to dry some laundry now. Will you please watch for some amazing Medika Mamba recovery/success stories here tomorrow? We humbly ask you to consider sponsoring us for the race on Sunday in order to help a severely malnourished child recover and find hope.
Thank-you!
tara
