My little girls

Three + weeks...

It has been a bit over three weeks since we got home. Some days I feel full of energy and projects and ready to take on this place and finally make it "home", some other days I would be the happiest just sleeping! I don't think I'm loosing more sleep than I lost with Elena, the big difference is that I can't bring myself to "sleep when my baby sleeps" as I did the first time around because I have a darling little girl who needs me too and I rather be awake for her than missing out on her day because of catching some z's. So, here I am... trying to make the best of what I have before me, living one day at a time.

On my days of energy nothing seems to phase me, on my tired days anything and everything can. One of the things I find myself dealing with this time is the usual question posed, mostly by strangers: "Is she a good baby?" What is one supposed to answer? "oh, no... she's awful, she wakes me up when I'd like to sleep" Are you kidding me? A baby does what a baby is supposed to do... some sleep a little longer, some cry a little less but I do not think you can label them of "good" or "bad" because of that. Now, I know there is probably nothing ill meant by the question, but it really gets to me... some days more than others. At any rate, regardless how little sleep I may get, regardless how long my baby may cry and regardless how little my babies like slings, swings, carriers and any other contraption designed to hold them while mom does something else, I always think they are a wonderful, awesome blessing and I never grow tired of admiring and loving them... I think I'm biased!

Another before & after

Before...


After... (notice we moved the fridge)
Another angle from the kitchen... (this is were the fridge was originally)
Pardon the mess... we´re still working but you can appreciate the major changes!

We're still here...

Life is busy yet I'm still "required" to lie low, so all my "to do's" are being accomplished at an amazingly slow pace. I'm not complaining though... I know it is just a season and it will be over sooner than later and I really want to enjoy my newborn!

The kitchen is almost finished. At least everything has been moved down and our meals are being had there. We still need to work on the organizing of everything in and around it and finishing touches to make it feel "mine" but that will probably take a bit of time. One or two details a day is all I have managed so far but I'm happy. I'll post before and after pics soon.

Elena's bangs were getting into her eyes again... I braced myself and came to terms with the fact that we won't be able to have someone experienced, let alone professional, take care of it. So yesterday before giving her a bath I thought I'd try to trim it myself. After all, how hard could it be if I stuck to just trimming very, very little to get it off her eyes. Got myself a pair of sharp scissors (or so I thought), combed her wet bangs and got to it... except I forgot my sweet girl is no lifeless doll and she moved at the wrong time. Well, now my little toddler's bangs are ridiculously short, I feel so badly!!! Oh well, live and learn... if you see her, please don't comment on her bangs, I feel so awful and am still so emotional that you might see me burst into tears at any comment... he,he,he...

Hole in the wall!!

This is one I never thought I´d be happy to say: "We have a hole in the wall!!! Hooray!!"

If you could visualize this, you are standing in front of the "hole in the wall" that connects now the downstairs apartment to the upstairs we´ve been living in. It leads into the main bedroom of the apartment, which we will obviously be loosing but have a vision to turn into a dining room some time in the future. From this standpoint, our main entrance would be to your left and the stairs to go upstairs would be to your right.

And this:

is our very own back porch!!! Hopefully tomorrow we´ll have a "cleaning day" with some wonderful friends who´ll come and help us and if everything goes well, we may be moving the kitchen down as well. That will free up space up here amazingly and will also keep this apartment so much cooler.

We are a happy bunch!

Pics.

Sunday morning...

We went to church this morning. It seemed to me as the most natural thing to do until I was getting off the car and received this comment from a gentleman: "Are you kidding me? You just had a baby!" then he said, "when we had babies my wife would be completely off her feet for over a week or so!" Since I wasn´t planning on engaging in a physical activity per se, I hadn´t seen the need to stay home. Going to church, in my book, engages you in a spiritual activity more than anything. Of course, there are physical expressions that, more likely than not, will accompany your worship and your participation in service, but those aren´t mandatory and you may do without them if you must. I had the choice between sitting in my living room couch by myself this morning lamenting how little I slept last night and having my own pity party or sitting in the sanctuary surrounding myself with worship and the Word. My options made it easy.

Now, I understand that there are times when you absolutely need to stay home and I don´t intend to bring about any condemnation upon those who feel they must stay home at times when I would chose the opposite. We are all "wired" differently, even in the spiritual. In my own personal experience, church is always the last thing I "drop". It is not because I am the Assoc. Pastor´s wife, it is because I benefit from church. Throughout my life, even when I was "just one more face" in a crowd of thousands I have always been ministered to in the corporate setting. God has always spoken to me personally and directly through the Word preached from the altar. I have always found release, healing, and victory through corporate worship. I have witnessed the power of corporate prayer. I have been nurtured spiritually through the Word. During the most difficult and challenging times in my life, I have found God in church. I can still find Him at home, but there is something powerful about the congregation... about meeting with the faithful and pressing into the presence of God together.

So, on a day like today when I finally managed to go to sleep at 6.00 a.m., nursed all night long, and ended up with two little ones on the bed with us in order to be able to sleep a little after 6 the last thing my body wants to do is get up, get ready and get going. But on a day like today when I am so much more vulnerable than ever to find reasons to feel sorry for myself, church will be the very last thing I´ll drop! In the altar I was refreshed, worship reminded me that I am so very blessed and the Word encouraged me to find the rest of the Lord!

Another quick one...

Let's see... it has been exactly one week and I could write very long about my week but I'll summarize it for you in a few highlights and pics.

• Came home on Monday

• Have enjoyed the most wonderful variety of fabulous meals. What a blessing to have a church family!

• Tuesday, while enjoying a great dinner we were all sitting at the table. Most of us eating and one tiny one nursing =0) Ben was opening the bottle of hot sauce to add to his meal and when he opened the bottle it shot a squirt of hot sauce straight in Elena's face. Now, luckily it was on the side of her head, part of her cheek and her ear, but knowing how hot that sauce was chaos broke loose! I had a nursing baby on my lap and couldn't really move fast enough; my mom was trapped between the table and the wall so her reaction was hindered as well. Ben rushed to get her and tried to start cleaning it off in the kitchen sink. The whole thing got Elena startled and, sure enough, she rubbed her eye! Next thing you know, nursing baby was quickly released into "Pita's" (Elena's name for my mom) arms and Papi and Elena were under the shower as we tried to flush the stuff off her eye. It was quite an ordeal but we calmed her (and ourselves) down and the meal was too good to not go back to it (thanks Maureen!).

• I feel like I've been nursing 23 hours a day and only managed 10 minutes of sleep!

• Elena is so sweet to her little sister! We are so blessed to see such a loving attitude towards her as so many changes have been happening. It is so wonderful to see them together and realize how much Elena has grown and now fills the hat of "big sister".

• Today, our downstairs apartment has been vacated and we are ready to move in! Tomorrow I'll walk the place writing a list of all the cleaning that needs to be done and hopefully recruit the help of some friends who have kindly offered their time for a cleaning day this week. Ben has begun to evaluate the opening of the wall/doorway to connect both apartments and we are looking forward to moving our living areas down there ASAP... it is so much cooler down there and just having the added space will also give us a sense of freshness and feel most definitely cooler!

Off to try to get some rest! Once again, I´m having problems with the posting of pics. I don´t know why, but my time here now is too limited to try to figure it out... sorry, I´ll try again later!

A new family...

We are home! After the longest imaginable "first stage" of labor, the rest of it went pretty quickly. We arrived at the hospital with contractions every 3 to 5 minutes at 4 p.m. By 6 p.m. I didn´t want to leave the tub as contractions were almost a minute apart. Now considering my first experience (8 hours of "transition"), that didn´t necessarily stroke me as good news. However, our nurse came in with the news that my doctor was there and was offering to examine me and, if everything was ok, go ahead and break my water. Everything was good and perfect, water was broken at around 7 p.m. and Adriana saw the light at 7.30 p.m.! I´ll post more later but thought you might enjoy a few more pics.

First pictures as a Family...

I meant to post more pics. but, as it is, it has already taken me a day to manage to upload these two... Sorry... will try later!

She has arrived!

Adriana Hope Levendusky
7/22/2006
7 pounds, 4 ounces
18.5 inches

All is well with mom and baby!

- Ben

Not here yet...

Our baby, that is... as you all know, my due date was on Monday and we're still counting days. I'm at peace, though, at least as much as I can be considering how hard it is to live normal life with such an impending event! But I am learning and eager to "walk the line". I'm not trying to undermine the challenges of being "in-labor-but-not-really". I can't deny the challenges of having contractions on and off and wondering if this "bout" of contractions will finally kick things into high gear and going to bed just to wake up later and realize that "we're still here". However, I don't want to walk through this aimless and hopelessly feeling sorry for myself and the overall discomfort I face. I know that He has a reason for everything and I so much want to grasp everything there is in this process to draw me closer to Him. I have learned so much of His love through the love of those around me from my husband and my mom to everyone at church. Everyone has been so gracious and supportive. We haven't had to cook a meal for the past couple days as people are already bringing us food. As eager as I am to meet this little person I don't want to rush the process God is using to make me grow. I will continue to update you as I am able to do and soon enough you'll hear the news!

News reports

This will most surely be my last posting until after the baby is born. I will be 40 weeks tomorrow and I can definitely tell that things will "kick in" sooner than later though, as you may know, there is no telling exactly when. So our bags are packed and we´re ready to go but we are making the most of the last moments/days of this pregnancy as well.

Friday night, my mom and I were settling for a night of P&P and Ben was leaving for youth group. About five minutes after he had gone, I heard him coming back up the stairs carrying something... Much to our delight, this is what had just been delivered:

We were thrilled! Thank you, you, and you! What a wonderful and precious gift to bless this baby with! I love you!

It turns out that all the time I had been going on and on about not having yet a bassinet, my husband was in on the surprise and this moses basket was being expected! Now we are indeed ready for this baby to come!

To add to our news, our downstairs neighbors have found an apartment to move into and will be moved out by Aug. 01. Now, I was hoping to have this happened before the baby came, but once we knew it was going to take them a bit longer I had resigned myself to the idea of not having the apartament available until after mid August.

Now, as I said earlier, I won´t be posting anymore until our new baby comes. Please keep us in your prayers as it could be anything from a few hours to a few days for the arrival! I will try to post as soon as we have news!

One more week

We've made it one more week. My mom arrives tonight and I'm happy and excited. It will be hard to be all crammed up in this little apartment but we will make it work. Our downstairs neighbors haven't found a place to move yet so in a week or two it will be five of us in this little space. My gracious husband has been so understanding of my culture, our need of proximity and the loss of privacy that comes with the territory! I know for a fact not everyone would understand, let alone appreciate having their mother-in-law move in for such extended periods of time. Guatemalan people don't know about doulas, it is usually customary for one of the mothers to move in with the new family to help with the new baby and all the household tasks. When this doesn't happen, it is usually because they live close enough to each other that mom shows up on a daily basis. Blending in the privacy of my husband's culture with the lack thereof of mine has been interesting. But as many other things we have faced in creating our own "home" culture we work at it one day at a time and understand that God is in the midst of the making of our home.

At any rate, we will continue to keep you posted about our new little Levendusky timely!

Quick Update

For those of you whose only means of information about our family is this space in the web and who are wondering about us, let me update you: we don't have a baby yet, I am still very pregnant and we expect to stay like this for at least one more week. My due date is not until the 17th and the doctor has warned me not to be surprised if we go a couple days later because all along this baby seems to be smaller than their "age". We are happily enjoying these last few days. VBS is obviously over, the Mexico team is half way through their trip and my mom is expected to arrive on Monday night. Some pics. for your enjoyment (hopefully)

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Para aquéllos cuyo único medio de información de nuestra familia es este espacio en la red y que se están preguntando cómo estamos, déjenme actualizarlos: todavía no tenemos bebé, todavía estoy esperando y "esperamos" permanecer asi por lo menos una semana más. Mi fecha estimada para dar a luz es el 17 y el doctor me ha advertido no sorprenderme si nos pasamos un par de días porque este/a bebé parece estar un poco más pequeño que su "edad". Estamos felizmente disfrutando de estos últimos días. Obviamente la Escuela Bíblica de Vacaciones ya termino, el equipo que viajó a México está a medio viaje y mi mamá viene el lunes en la noche. Le pongo unas fotos para que disfruten (ojalá)

Our little girl...

Nuestra niñita...

This is our doctor...

Este es nuestro doctor...

My husband as he was dressed up as a firefighter during VBS...

Mi esposo vestido de bombero para la escuela de vacaciones...

In the process of being dressed up...

En el proceso de disfrazarlo...

38 weeks pregnant...

38 semanas de embarazo...

En la recta final... (Please scroll down for English)

Estamos en plena Escuela Bíblica de Vacaciones y ha sido todo un éxito pero demanda mucho de nosotros. No estoy involucrada de manera que requiera que esté allí todo el tiempo, pero Ben si tiene que estar allí todo el tiempo y si nosotras no nos le pegamos y tratamos de estar donde él esté casi no lo vemos. Asi que tratamos de mantener el ritmo con él tanto como podemos dado que estoy en la semana 37 de este embarazo. Aunque no hay razón alguna para pensar que voy a tener al bebé antes de tiempo, puedo sentir que mi cuerpo se está preparando para el trabajo de parto. Asi que hoy, Elena y yo nos perdimos de la Escuelita y nos quedamos en casa a "descansar". Mientras hice todo intento posible de ignorar todo lo que había que hacer para poder descansar estuve pensando en el inminente acontecimiento. No puedo decir que estoy ansiosa de llegar a la hora del parto (es decir del trabajo de parto en sí mismo)... Estoy MUY ansiosa de conocer a esta personita, de averiguar si es niño o niña, ver su carita, tenerlo/a en mis brazos y recibirlo/a en nuestras vidas. Sin embargo el trabajo de parto es esa "zona nebulosa" que debo atravesar para poder llegar a tan deseado evento y mientras mi cuerpo se empieza a preparar para enfrentarlo me doy cuenta de que mi espíritu y mi corazón también necesitan estar listos. Mi cuerpo sabe por instinto qué hacer y lo hará con o sin mi ayuda, pero ese no es el caso con mi corazón y mi espíritu. A esos los tengo que preparar yo misma.

No tengo manera de controlar las circunstancias del trabajo de parto, es decir cuánto tiempo dure, cuándo empiece, etc. He aprendido que esas cosas están más allá de mi control y que mi Padre no permitirá en mi vida algo que no vaya a obrar para bien. Lo que sí puedo controlar es mi actitud... mi corazón y mi espíritu están sujetos a mí y a lo que yo escoja que los influya. La intensidad del dolor, la duración de las etapas, la hora a la que vaya al hospital y todos esos factores no tienen que determinar si tengo un trabajo de parto "bueno" o "malo". Ni siquiera deberían intimidarme o ponerme nerviosa o ansiosa. Viendo las cosas desde una perspectiva más grande hay tanto más que los días u horas que tendré que atravesar para permitir que esta pequeña vida vea la luz. De hecho, la Escuelita de Vacaciones me ha estado ayudando, aunque no lo crean... estos son los versículos de cada día:

• Lunes: "Asi que, como tenemos tal esperanza, actuamos con plena confianza." (2 Cor. 3:12) Pablo está hablando sobre nuestra esperanza de la gloria del Nuevo Pacto en comparación con la gloria del anterior. Permítanme, por favor, algo de libertad para aplicarlo en mi beneficio: Traer a un nuevo ser al mundo es un evento glorioso, sin embargo palidece ante la gloria del sacrificio perfecto que me ha dado vida eterna. Mi esperanza es en Él, en la vida gloriosa que Él me da y no puedo siquiera empezar a imaginarme lo que Él tuvo que sufrir para que yo tuviera esa vida. A la luz de eso, ¿cómo puede ser mi trabajo de parto intolerable? ¿Cómo puede mi "sacrificio" para dar a luz y luego nutrir a este bebé durante noches y días interminables siquiera compararse con Su máximo sacrificio por mí? ¡Debo tener plena confianza porque tengo tal esperanza!
• Martes: "Dios hacía milagros extraordinarios por medio de Pablo" (Hechos 19:11) Mi Dios es el mismo Dios que Pablo tenía y Él ha escogido hacer un milargo extraordinario a través de estas vasijas. ¡Dios permitió que Su poder creador se ejerciera a través nuestro para traer una nueva vida! Él es el creador de la vida y solamente Él sabe por qué el proceso puede ser tan insoportable pero, ¡yo sé que Él sabe mucho más que yo y está haciendo un milagro extraordinario a través mío!
• Miércoles: "El Dios al que servimos puede librarnos." (Daniel 3:17) Una vez más, Él se asegurará de que logre hacerlo, independientemente de cuán largo sea el proceso.

La semana todavía no se termina y a mí todavía me quedan unas cuantas semanas más de embarazo, pero si Él me ama (yo sé que sí me ama) y si creo que Él nos da la gracia que necesitamos para cada día (cosa que creo con todo mi corazón) entonces, ¡sólo me queda no perder mi enfoque!

The Last Stretch

We´re in the middle of VBS and it has been very successful, but it is very demanding. I am not involved in a way that requires me to be there all the time, but it does demand a lot of time from Ben and if we don´t tag along and try to be where he is we barely see him. So we try to keep up as much as we can given that I am on the 37th week of this pregnancy. Though there is no indication that I may go early, I can tell my body is gearing up for labor. So today, Elena and I missed VBS and stayed home to "rest". As I purposedly ignored all that needed to be done so I could actually get some rest I kept thinking about the imminent event. I can´t say I am looking forward to it ("it" being labor in and of itself)... I AM very much looking forward to meeting this little person, finding out whether it´s a boy or a girl, seeing their little face, holding them and welcoming them into our lives. Yet labor is that "twilight zone" I must go through to get to the desired event and as my body starts warming up for it I realize my spirit and my heart need to be ready as well. Now, my body instinctively knows what to do and will do it with or without my prompting but that is not the case with my heart and spirit. Those I do need to prompt and prepare myself.

I have no way of controlling the circumstances of labor, that is, how long it will be, when it will start, etc. I have learned that those things are beyond my control and that my Father will not allow in my life something that will not work for good. What I can control though is my attitude towards it... my heart and my spirit are subject to me and whatever I choose to let them be influenced by. The intensity of the pain, the length of the stages, the time I go to the hospital and all those factors do not have to determine if I have a "good" or "bad" labor. They shouldn´t even intimidate me or make me nervous or anxious about it. In the greater scheme of things there is so much more than the days or hours I will have to endure to allow this little life to see the light. Actually, VBS has been helping me, believe it or not... these have been the daily verses for VBS:

• Monday: "Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold." (2 Cor. 3:12) Paul is talking about our hope for the glory of the new covenant in comparison to the glory of the previous one. Please, allow me some freedom in applying it to my own benefit: Bringing a new being into this world is a glorious event yet it fades away in the glory of the perfect sacrifice that brought me everlasting life. My hope is in Him, in the glorious life He gives me and I can´t even begin to imagine what He endured for me to have such life. In that light, can my labor be too unbearable? Can my "sacrifice" in giving birth and then mothering this baby through endless days and nights remotely begin to compare to His ultimate sacrifice for me? I must be bold for I have such a hope!
• Tuesday: "God did extraordinary miracles through Paul" (Acts 19:11) My God is the same God that Paul had and He has chosen to perform an extraordinary miracle through these vessels. He allowed for His creative power to be executed through us to bring about a life! He is the creator of life and He only knows why the process can be so excrutiating but I know that He does know so much more than I do and He is doing an extraordinary micracle through me!
• Wednesday: "The God we serve is able to save us, and He will rescue us" (Daniel 3:17) Once again, He WILL see me through, regardless of how long the process!

The week is not over and I still have a few more weeks to go, but if He loves me (which I know He does) and if I believe that He gives us grace for each day (which I do believe) then I just need to stay focused!

pictures

Check out our flickr for new pics.

Revisen nuestro sitio en flickr para ver fotos recientes.

Feet

Ben took Elena for a walk yesterday as he has been doing lately. We put her on the back pack carrier we got him for father's day and they walk up to Mom and Dad L's. Once they get there they call me and I go pick them up. We visit with them for a little while and then we come back home. Don't ask me why, I didn't put any shoes on her yesterday. I guess because I wasn't expecting her to walk herself but just to ride along her Papi's back. Long story short, once at Mom and Dad's she wanted to go outside and play. It may not be a big deal to the normal, regular, northern New Yorker but as it turns out it is a dilemma for me. Since I want to bless my daughter and there was no justified reason to keep her from enjoying the outdoors I allowed her to go out on her bare little feet and she had a blast, but as we were wiping her feet to strap her back in the van and get going I began to think about my peeve. Dirty feet bother me. It's that simple.

As a little girl I would long to get muddy and dirty but would never handle to stay like that for too long. Soon after the fun was over I'd head into the house and either shower or wash my feet. You will hardly ever find me walking barefeet even in my own apartament. I can't stand dust or dirt, wet or dry and I most definitely can't walk on grass. Consequently, my family's feet need to follow my own personal standards.

Be it because I am a "city girl" or because I am a Guatemalan or simply because I am particular about certain things (say OCD), for as long as I remember feet speak about their "bearer" as do hands and overall appearance. For some reason dirty feet have always spoken to me about negligence, carelessness and even a lack of self respect. Relax, though, before you start thinking that every time I see you I'm trying to judge your feet... I've come a long way. First of all I know that now I live in the country and everything is more laid back, and then, even if it weren't it is none of my business to decide what kind of person you are because you happen to have enjoyed feeling the grass between your toes! It would be as unfair as you expecting me to do it just because you do. At any rate, all that to say I would never stop my children from enjoying their environment just because of a foolish peeve, but I will make sure those little feet are clean as immediately as possible!

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Ben llevó a Elena en su caminata como ha estado haciéndolo últimamente. La ponemos en el cargador-mochila que le regalamos para el día del Padre y se van caminando hasta la casa de mis suegros. Una vez allí, me llaman y yo voy a recogerlos. Visitamos a mis suegros unos minutos y luego volvemos a casa. No me pregunten por qué, pero ayer no le puse zapatos a Elena. Supongo que porque ella no iba a caminar sino sólo a dar el paseo en la espalda de Papi. Para no hacer muy larga la historia, una vez donde mis suegros ella quería salir a jugar afuera. Para el neoyorquino del norte común y corriente esto no es fuera de lo común pero sí resulta ser un dilema para mí. Dado que quería bendecir a mi hija y que no tenía una razón justificada para no permitirle salir a jugar, le permití salir a jugar con sus piecitos descalzos y ella se lo disfrutó al máximo pero mientras le limpiábamos los pies para meterla al carro me puse a pensar en la razón de mi molestia. Los pies sucios me molestan. Es así de simple.

De pequeña anhelaba meterme en el lodo y en charcos pero nunca aguanté estar así mucho tiempo. Tan pronto como se terminaba la diversión me iba a bañar o al menos a lavar los pies. Difícilmente me encontrarán caminando descalza aún en mi propio apartamento. No aguanto tener polvo o tierra, seco o mojado en los pies y definitivamente no puedo caminar sobre la grama. En consecuencia, los pies de mi familia deben seguir los mismos estándares.

Será porque soy citadina, porque soy guatemalteca o sencillamente porque soy peculiar sobre ciertas cosas (o quizás Obsesivo-compulsiva) pero desde que tengo memoria los pies hablan de sus "portadores" tanto como las manos o la apariencia en general. Por alguna razón cuando alguien tiene los pies sucios me sugiere dejadez, descuido y hasta falta de respeto hacia sí mismos. Pero no se me achicopalen, antes de que empiecen a pensar que cada vez que los veo les juzgo los pies... he madurado mucho! Primero que nada, sé que ahora vivo en un ambiente más campestre y que todo es más relajado, y de todas formas, si no fuera asi, ¡no es asunto mío decidir qué tipo de persona es cada quien porque disfruten de sentir la grama entre los dedos de los pies! Sería tan injusto de mi parte como sería que ustedes esperaran que yo disfrutara caminar descalza en la tierra sólo porque uds. lo disfrutan. De cualquier modo, luego de todo esto, no pienso detener a mis hijos de disfrutar de lo que los rodea por una tonta molestia mía, ¡pero sí me voy a asegurar de que esos piecitos se limpien inmediatamente!

Days like today...

I find that days like today are a little hard to handle for me. I get up with the idea of all the things I want to accomplish in this little space we call "home" and end up quite disappointed when I realize my plans were more ambitious than my body would perform. I find it encouraging though, to realize that I am not the only one who deals with these kinds of days as there are friends who struggle with similar situations. Yes, I am particular about the way I´d like things to look around here and it has been a while since I managed to get them that way. I like my sinks, tub and toilett to --literally--shine... no, they´re not. I like to go into a room and have it smell clean... no, they´re not. I dislike, very much to have dirty dishes in the sink, especially since that is the first thing anyone who comes in sees, more often than not there are dirty dishes in the sink, on the ctove top and on the counter. And though I find it hard to be a happy person when I haven´t accomplished to have my house looking the way I want, I am making myself learn to live with it. My list for today? It was:

• clean the living room floor
• bring the twin bed in
• run a few loads of laundry
• clean the tub
• clean the bathroom and kitchen floors
• re-organize clothes in the bedroom to bring out newborn clothes
• plus the usual daily running of the apartament
• etc.

What did I accomplish? Well, the bed is in and that would be pretty much it. My back was hurting to much to manage doing much more... oh well.

"Yapping"

There are so many things going through my mind lately and I don't seem to be able to put my thoughts in order, so bear with me while I just "yap" my way through this entry...

• It is funny how sometimes I seem to forget how good a "real" shower can be, especially at this stage of pregnancy! Twice this week Ben has been home and I have gone in the shower without having a little one toddling in the bathroom, wanting to get in with me or without having to come out quickly before she gets into trouble. Needless to say, I took a very, very, very long shower!!!
• We bought a dresser (hooray!) no bassinet yet, but as soon as we bring this dresser home I'll at least be able to start figuring out how to organize our clothes in the room and open space for the newborn clothes.
• Mom L. has offered to give us a twin bed that we will be bringing in soon to accomodate my mom who is scheduled to come on July 10th.
• I am now a "Permanent Resident" of the U.S. (I was a resident before, but under a "conditional" status). This comes as a relief because we filed the paperwork in January, as required, 90 days before my conditional status expired. However this seemed to be a longer process and not knowing exactly what it would entail, we wanted to have it out of the way before the baby came. We were notified yesterday that our paperwork has been approved and already did everything else we needed to do so I am good to go.
• We found out I would be elegible to start the naturalization process in January 2007 if we want to. The naturalization process is what one needs to do in order to become a citizen. This is a surprise because we thought all along I wouldn't be elegible until after 5 years of residency but it turns out that it is only after 3 years in my case. Still don't know if we'll do it right away, especially since it feels as though we just paid a lot of money to have to come up with another big check right away, but it is good to know we have done everything right.

I guess that about sums up some of my mind's latest ramblings...

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Tengo tantas cosas en la mente últimamente y no parece que logre ordenar mis pensamientos, asi que tendrán que tenerme paciencia mientras hablo de todo un poco en este blog...

• Es gracioso que a veces se me olvida lo bueno que puede ser un buen baño, es decir, uno de verdad, especialmente a estas alturas del embarazo. Dos veces esta semana Ben estaba en casa y me he podido bañar sin tener que controlar a una niñita que está traveseando lo que encuentra en el baño, tratando de meterse en la regadera conmigo o sin tener que salirme rápido para que no se meta en problemas. ¡No hace falta decir que me tome todo el tiempo del mundo!
• Compramos un gabetero (¡yey!!!), todavía no tenemos cunita de recién nacido pero tan pronto tengamos el gabetero en casa, podré empezar a organizar la ropa de manera que pueda abrirle espacio a la ropa de recién nacido.
• Mi suegra nos ofreció una cama imperial que tiene en su casa y que estaremos ubicando para recibir a mi mamá que está por venir el 10 de julio.
• Ahora soy "Residente Permanente" de los E.U. todo este tiempo había sido "Residente Condicional". Esto viene a ser un alivio pues metimos toda la papelería como correspondía en enero, 90 días antes de que se venciera mi estatus condicional. Sin embargo este fue un proceso más largo y puesto que no sabíamos exactamente qué se requeriría, queríamos tenerlo finalizado antes de que nazca el bebé. Ayer recibimos la notificación de la aprobación de la papelería asi que de una vez hicimos lo que necesitábamos hacer para terminarlo todo de una vez.
• Nos enteramos ayer que en enero de 2007 seré elegible para echar a andar el proceso de naturalización. El proceso de naturalización es lo que uno necesita hacer si quiere hacerse ciudadano de este país. Nos sorprendió porque todo este tiempo pensamos que necesitaba ser residente 5 años antes de ser elegible, pero resulta que en mi caso sólo son tres años. No sabemos todavía si lo haremos inmediatamente pues sentimos que recién acabamos de pagar un montón de dinero por este trámite como para ahora tener que sacarnos otro cheque de la manga para este otro, pero es bueno saber que hemos hecho todo bien.

Al momento estas son todas las cosas que ocupan mi mente...

94 years!!!

With tiny little eyes that can´t see very well but have seen decades of history go by and silver threads that could tell countless stories of a lifetime she reached her 94th birthday this week. Happy Birthday Mamita!
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Con pequeños ojos que ya no ven bien pero que han visto pasar décadas de historia y con hilos de plata que contarían historias sin fin de toda una vida, alcanzó su cumpleaños no. 94 esta semana. ¡Feliz cumpleaños Mamita!

What do you do?

For those who don´t know, we have been looking into buying the apartment house we have been living in for the past year. It has four apartments of which we´ve been renting one of the upstairs apartments. Now, of course, one of the reasons we began looking into acquiring some property was so that we could expand and have at least one more bedroom for Elena and the new baby. We realized it was a great idea to join together two of the apartments and it just so happens that it can very conveniently be done by opening a doorway downstairs thus communicating our current upstairs apartment with one downstairs. In doing this we´ll be able to take out this kitchen, turn it into a family room and opening up the "living room" to turn into a big kids´ bedroom. Downstairs we´ll have an eat-in kitchen, a living room, bathroom and though we will be giving up a bedroom with the opening of the doorway, we still can use the space for office or sitting space and we still have a small room that we will leave for a guest room. Now all of this has looked awesome as we´ve planned and dreamed about it but as we have "gotten the ball rolling" our neighbors have been notified of the upcoming change and we have had to do the unthinkable... we needed to evict one of the downstairs apartments. And so, today my dear husband stumbled upon the neighbor in question who has been given the "heads up". Of course, we haven´t "officially" evicted them and as of now we aren´t expecting them to leave until August 01 but as excited as we are for the prospect and possibilities of expanding into the new space we feel awful for having had to ask them to leave. Please help us pray that they will soon find the most awesome and perfect abode!

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Para quienes no lo saben, hemos estado viendo las posibilidades de comprar esta casa en donde hemos estado alquilando un apartamento por poco más de un año. Una de las razones por las que empezamos a considerar adquirir una propiedad es la necesidad que tenemos de espacio para poder tener por lo menos un cuarto más para Elena y el bebé. Nos dimos cuenta de que era una muy buena idea juntar dos apartamentos y resulta que sale muy conveniente abrir una entrada abajo para unir nuestro apartamento y uno de los del primer piso. Al hace esto, vamos a sacar la cocina de aquí y convertir el espacio en sala familiar, y podremos convertir la "sala" de aqui en un cuarto para los niños. Abajo tendremos una cocina-comedor, sala, baño y, aunque vamos a perder un dormitorio con la apertura de esa entrada, todavía podremos usar ese espacio para una oficina o salita y nos queda un dormitorio pequeño que usaremos para visitas. Todo esto se ve fabuloso mientras lo hemos ido planeando pero al echar a andar los planes nuestros vecinos ya fueron informados de los próximos cambios y eso nos lleva a nosotros a hacer lo impensable... necesitamos desalojar uno de los apartamentos de abajo. Y es así como hoy, mi dulce esposo, se encontró con el vecino en cuestión y le tuvo que "anticipar" los planes. Por supuesto, no los hemos desalojado "oficialmente" y no esperamos que se vayan antes del 01 de agosto pero mientras nos entusiasma mucho ver las posibilidades que tendremos delante nos sentimos horriblemente de tener que sacarlos. ¡Por favor ayúdennos a orar para que ellos encuentren pronto el más fabuloso y sorprendente lugar para ellos!

Nesting?

I´m 6 weeks away from my due date and God-only-knows how far away from getting to meet this new little person. We still don´t have a few things that I´d really like to have right now, nor have we taken care of other things that I´d very much like to see taken care of sooner than later, but I am resting assured in God´s perfect timing. Yesterday we went out to shop for a few needed things and we finally found a bassinet that we liked... we didn´t buy it. Don´t ask me why, we just didn´t seem to be able to decide to buy it so we don´t have it. I´ve cleared the space for it in the room quite a few times and it inevitably gets cluttered again. I haven´t even thought of unburying from out of our closet all the newborn clothes because we don´t really have any room for them and I haven´t figured out what we will do to make it work. I know I still have a little over a month but I guess that nesting instinct is kicking in because I seem to have this urgency to get things done... even things that we hadn´t considered doing are suddenly becoming so important and urgent to me. Oh well, there will be time for all those things at some point, I´m sure!

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Estoy más o menos a 6 semanas de mi fecha estimada de parto y sólo Dios sabe a cuánto tiempo exactamente de conocer a esta nueva personita. Todavía no tenemos unas cuantas cosas que realmente quisiera tener, tampoco hemos terminado otras tantas que quiero terminar lo más pronto posible pero estoy descansando confiada en el tiempo perfecto de Dios. Ayer fuimos a comprar unas cosas que necesitábamos y finalmente encontramos una cunita de recién nacido que nos gustó... no la compramos. No me pregunten por qué, pero por alguna razón no pudimos tomar la decisión de comprarla asi que no la tenemos. He ordenado el cuarto y desocupado el espacio donde deberá ir tantas veces e inevitablemente termina otra vez lleno de chunches. Ni siquiera he pensado en desenterrar la ropita de recién nacido de nuestro closet porque realmente no tenemos espacio para ponerla y todavía no se me ha ocurrido qué hacer para solucionarlo. Sé que todavía tengo poco más de un mes pero creo que el instinto de "anidar" me está pegando fuerte porque súbitamente tengo esta urgencia de terminar cosas... tengo urgencia hasta de hacer cosas que ni siquiera habíamos considerado pero que de repente me urge hacer. En fin... ¡No dudo que tendremos tiempo para todo eso en algún momento!

A mix?

If you combine this little boy (center, of course!)















With this little girl...






















This is the result!

What do you think?

Memorial Day

Well, our Memorial Day was interesting... We decided to have breakfast at the Coffee Cabin and then set up our chairs on the curb to watch the "parade". It took us about 40 minutes to get ready to leave. Then it was about 20 to get there. We took our time with breakfast, so that was maybe about 35 mins. We sat to watch the parade and it didn´t last more than 10 or 15 minutes!!! It was the shortest parade ever!!! Oh well, we still had fun. Enjoy some pics.!

Our pensive little girl waiting for her breakfast.

Una nena pensativa esperando su desayuno.

Elena and Abby enjoyed the short lived event.

Elena y Abby disfrutaron del pequeño desfile.


We watched the parade with the Moores.

Vimos el desfile con los Moore.

The front of the Coffee Cabin, Jeremy & Dee´s new endeavor.

El frente de la cafetería de Jeremy & Dee.

Hiccups

As I sit here my belly jumps up and down and I realize my baby has the hiccups. In the meantime I have a little girl playing with her new tea set and I listen in on what she´s doing... she has the hiccups too! What a funny thing!

The other day I heard this said on TV, it was in passing, so I´m not even sure what show it was or what it was about but I gather it was someone talking to a mom and though this is not verbatim, it kind of went like this:

"You are their mom. You are their hero. You are the one who gets up
before them and gets this whole wonderful world started for them!"

Now I agree with the little discourse and it sounded even better when I heard it. However, this mom doesn´t seem to manage to get up before them and get their world started. I am just so tired! I can fall asleep anytime, anywhere. The way I see it right now, it only promises to get worse as this baby comes into our lives and we go through the nightime feedings. Oh well, at least I am trying to make the duration and end of the day as pleasant as possible!
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Hipo
Me siento a escribir y siento mi estómago saltar de arriba a abajo intermitentemente y me doy cuenta de que mi bebé tiene hipo. Al mismo tiempo tengo a una nenita jugando en el suelo con el set de té que le acaban de regalar y presto un poco más de atención a lo que está haciendo... ¡Ella también tiene hipo! ¡Qué gracioso!

El otro día oí esto en la televisión, fue en un cambio de canales, asi que no sé ni qué clase de programa era ni cual era el tema del programa, pero por lo menos sé que le hablaban a una mamá. No lo estoy citando literalmente, pero iba algo así:

"Tú eres su mamá. Tú eres su heroína. Tú eres la que se levanta todas las mañanas antes que ellos y echa a andar este maravilloso mundo para ellos."

Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con el pequeño discurso y sonaba mucho mejor cuando lo oí originalmente. Sin embargo, esta mamá no logra levantarse antes que ellos y eharles a andar el día. ¡Estoy tan cansada! Me puedo dormir a cualquier hora y en cualquier lugar. Y como lo veo desde aquí, está a punto de ponerse más difícil una vez que este bebito/a se nos una y empiecen las noches de desvelo. ¡En fin, por lo menos estoy tratando de hacerles la duración y el final del día tan placenteros como puedo!

A few pics.

Not much time to write... enjoy the pics.!
No tengo mucho tiempo de escribir... ¡Disfruten las fotos!


She really liked the dog and enjoyed playing with him a lot!
¡Le gustó mucho jugar con el perro!

The dog would humor her by picking up the balls she threw at him.

El perro la alentaba recogiendo todas las bolas que ella le tiraba.

Kept chasing him around and everyone (especially Mom L.) kept saying we need to get her a dog... not happening soon, though! =0)

Lo perseguía por todas partes y todo el mundo (especialmente Mom L.) nos decían que tenemos que conseguirle un perro... ¡eso no sucederá pronto! =0)

Dog kept faithfully bringing the (wet, slimy and slippery) ball to her to keep their game up...

El perro fielmente le seguía trayendo la bola (mojada, babeada y resbalosa) para seguir el juego...

Can you tell we just said "no" to something?

¿Es obvio que le acabamos de decir que "no"?

The Prize is Home

We are home!!! After:

• Putting a little over 900 miles on our van
• Meeting wonderful extended relatives and watching the most interesting dynamics of 8 siblings all together for the first time in many years.
• A little girl´s discovery of mud puddles.
• Being refreshed by fellowship with my precious very own Northernmost NY family.
• A little girl´s first "haircut".
• A little girl´s first tumble down the stairs (not more than five steps of thick carpeted stairs but stairs, nonetheless!).
• Multiple failed attempts for such little girl to stay in the nursery thus having spent a whole conference in and out of the service.
• A wonderful time with a brother, his wife and precious little ones who were more than excited to share and play with our little girl
• and a couple of Elmo´s videos later (which we played unrelentlesstly today on the road so as to stop as little as possible and get home quicker),

...we are home. Bags are unpacked, laundry is going, little girl has had a bath and now we are ready to rest. Tomorrow, all the zillion projects I left will be picked up, more projects will be added to the list as I got ideas on the road, and life will be resumed. I´ll post pictures later.

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¡Ya llegamos! Después de:

• Agregarle más o menos 900 millas a la camioneta.
• Conocer a familiares maravillosos y observar la interesante interacción de 8 hermanos reunidos por primera vez en muchos, muchos años.
• Que una niñita descubriera la exitencia de los charcos y el lodo.
• Encontrar refrigerio en compartir con mi preciosa familia de la parte más al norte de NY.
• El primer "corte de pelo" de una niñita.
• La primera caída de las gradas de una niñita (fueron sólo como 5 gradas que tienen alfombra bien gruesa, ¡pero gradas al fin y al cabo).
• Incontables intentos fallidos de que la misma niñita se quedara en la sala cuna, resultando en haber pasado toda una conferencia entrando y saliendo del servicio.
• Haber disfrutado de un hermano, su esposa y sus preciosos niños más que felices de compartir y jugar con nuestra niñita.
• y después de un par de videos de Elmo (que pusimos incansablemente todo el camino hoy en el afán de no tener que parar mucho y llegar más rápido a casa),

...estamos en casa. Ya desempaqué, empecé a lavar la ropa del viaje, le di un baño a la niñita y estamos listos para descansar. Mañana retomaré el millón de proyectos que dejé a medias, añadiré a la lista otro millón más que se me ocurrieron durante el viaje y continuaremos con nuestra vida. Más adelante publicaré fotos.

Invasion Mexico

Our church is sending a team of 22 people to a short missions trip with Clint Rogers Ministries, where he has been working for a year now. The trip is scheduled for July, so.... No, we can't go! They're supposed to be coming back barely a week before my due date! So my involvement is limited to the things I can do from home and I've done absolutely ALL that I have been able to get into! It is such an enjoyment! Tickets have been bought, hotel reservations made in Phoenix, and my part of the little "Trip Manual" has been put together and will be given to the team today! As I have made phone calls, sent emails, written information, etc. I have envisioned the members of the team in Obregon, Mexico and through every part of the trip... Who knows, maybe next year there will be a trip for us! For now, my part is limited to paper and "behind the scenes" work and I am happy to do all that I can!

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Nuestra iglesia va a enviar a un grupo de 22 personas a un viaje corto de misiones con Clint Rogers Ministries, donde él ha estado trabajando por casi un año. El viaje está programado para julio, asi que... ¡No, no podemos ir! La fecha del regreso del grupo es apenas una semana antes de la fecha en que esperamos vere venir a este bebito/a. Asi que mi participación está limitada a las cosas que puedo hacer desde casa y he hecho absolutamente TODO lo que he podido hacer. ¡Lo he disfrutado tanto! Los boletos están comprados, las reservaciones de hotel en Phoenix están hechas y mi parte del "Manual de Viaje" está redactada y lista para entregársele al equipo hoy. Al hacer llamadas, enviar correos, escribir información, etc. me he imaginado a los miembros del equipo en Obregón, México y por cada parte del viaje... ¡Quién sabe, a lo mejor el otro año haya un viaje para nosotros! Por ahora, mi parte se limita a trabajo en papel y "tras bambalinas" y me alegrahacer lo que pueda!

Back to life!

I am feeling much better now! The doctor did put me on antibiotics because it had been too long to be sick, but it did work and I am back to life. Now, to catch up on all the chores that were overlooked/neglected for the past few weeks and to pack for a longed for trip!!

As to the pics., if anyone has been in the office at church, you know how tiny it is and how three people are very much a crowd in that office, yet I still can´t explain how she got away with this... I guess there was no other way to know what an ink pad tasted like!

Dreams

There was once a 12-year-old girl who would always sit in her room to do her homework. Out of all the 9 subjects she usually had homework for she would usually leave all her English subjects last. See, her approach to life has been that of getting done with the yucky first and then be left with the more enjoyable and pleasurable things. So Math (Spanish) would go first... those were long and dreary hours! Her afternoons of homework would journey through Arithmetic (English) and Reading, Spelling, Grammar and Social Studies (English). One afternoon, her afternoon routine was interrupted by her uncle. He was a pastor who had just received a team of missionaries from the U.S. and had clearly overestimated his own language abilities. In desperation, he sought out the 12-year-old to see if she could help him communicate with the team. In her own young language she managed to convey the message and something clicked in her mind... what a wonderful thing to do! What an amazing thing to be a bridge between two people, between two cultures. From that day on her future was set, she would do everything in her power to do just that for a living. When people asked what she would do when she grew up, she´d quickly respond "I´m going to be a translator", never even imagining the power that remark had on her future.

The dream that was once conceived in the heart of a 12-year-old, in her parent´s dining room has taken her to places she never even imagined. But most importantly, that very dream has been the thread God used to bring her life together.

Today I sit here in awe, marveled at how amazingly perfect God's plans are for us even when we have no clue what we are walking towards. As I prepared for a profession, God paved the way for the rest of my life and for that "hinted" dream I had as a young girl I now have a wonderful family!

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Hubo una vez una niña de 12 años que solía hacer sus deberes por las tardes. De las 9 materias de las que tenía tareas siempre dejaba de último las que disfrutaba más, las de Inglés. De hecho, ese ha sido su enfoque en la vida, hacer lo desagradable primero y lo que más disfruta después. Empezaba con Mate. en español... ¡las horas más largas de su tarde! Y el resto de su travesía la llevaba por Arithmetic, Grammar, Reading y Social Studies. Una tarde su rutina se vio interrumpida por un tío que tenía un grupo de misioneros de visita y que no podía comunicarse con ellos tan bien como quería. Supongo que en un momento de desesperación los llevó a casa de esta niña que en su infantil lenguaje logró aclararles algunos detalles. Esa tarde algo hizo "click" en su mente... ¡Qué interestante ser un puente de comunicación entre dos culturas, dos personas, dos mundos! De allí en adelante su futuro estaba decidido... cuando alguien le preguntaba qué sería cuando fuera grande su respuesta era "Traductora" sin siquiera imaginar la trascendencia de ese comentario.

El sueño que se concibió en la mesa del comedor de sus papás la ha llevado a lugares que ella jamás imaginó. Lo más importante es que ese mismo sueño ha sido el hilo que Dios usó para hilvanar su futuro.

Hoy me siento aquí y me maravillo de la perfección de los planes de Dios para nuestra vida aún cuando nosotros no tenemos la menor idea de la dirección que llevamos. Al prepararme para una profesión, Dios marcó el camino del resto de mi vida y por ese sueño de "inspiración divina" que tuve de niña ¡hoy tengo una familia maravillosa!

Mid-week

It is the middle of the week and I'm still fighting this thing. I think all my efforts have begun to pay off, though and I think I see light at the end of this tunnel. All the steam, solutions, drops, lemon water (thanks Darlene), etc., etc., etc. finally seem to be working. I have my doctor's appointment today and hopefully by the end of the week life will go back to normal... Whatever "normal" may be... he,he,he.

I am working on translating a book that will keep me busier than usual, but I am enjoying the work.

Next week we will be heading out of town and making a few stops, we are looking forward to these days away as we will be meeting with loved ones that I long so much to see and we will be meeting (I, for the first time) some of Ben's extended family too.

Another possibility has opened up for us to live in a more spacious situation. Though I am not in liberty to share details yet I will appreciate all your prayers as we continue to seek God's best will for those involved. We are not only trying to "work something out" but we are dealing with very dear friends that we want to bless as well through this process, whatever the outcome.

On a general note, my heart is full as I consider how blessed I am with the love of a perfect and loving Father, a wonderful husband, the cutest little girl on earth and a very lively baby constantly reminding me of how beautiful life is even in the blur of all this congestion!

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Estamos a media semana y sigo con mi batalla. Creo que todos mis esfuerzos han empezado a rendir fruto y que ya podré ver la luz al final de este túnel. Todo el vapor, soluciones, gotas, agua con jugo de lima (gracias, Darlene), etc., etc., etc. finalmente parecen estar empezando a funcionar. Tengo cita con el doctor hoy y primero Dios para el final de la semana todo vuelva a la normalidad... si es que podemos llamar "normalidad" al ritmo que llevamos actualmente... ji,ji,ji.

Estoy trabajando en la traducción de un libro que me mantendrá un poco más ocupada de lo normal, pero estoy disfrutando el trabajo.

La otra semana estaremos saliendo por unos días y haremos varias paradas, estamos anticipando estos días ya que visitaremos seres queridos que anhelo mucho ver y nos estaremos reuniendo (yo por primera vez) con familiares de Ben también.

Se nos ha presentado otra posibilidad de vivir en condiciones más espaciosas. Aunque no estoy en libertad de compartir los detalles todavía, apreciaremos todas sus oraciones mientras buscamos la perfecta voluntad del Señor para todos los involucrados. No solamente estamos tratando de "hacer funcionar" algo sino que también estamos "negociando" con amigos muy queridos que queremos bendecir en este proceso, cualquiera que sea el resultado.

¡En general, mi corazón rebosa al considerar lo bendecida que soy al contar con el amor de un Padre perfecto y amante, un esposo maravilloso, la nenita más linda que puede existir y un(a) bebé muy avivado(a) que me recuerdan constantemente lo hermosa que puede ser la vida aún en medio de esta nebulosa de congestión!

Weekend

I'm really, really tired. My weekend went by in a blur of breathing over boiling pots of water, aspiring saline solution and even putting drops in my ears... that is how congested I am. On the upside, if my sinuses don't clear up after so much steam at least my face pores will! At any rate I will see the doctor on Wednesday when I'll either be cured or worse! Oh well... Ben has kept things running as much as possible considering the usual busy-ness of the weekends and we were blessed to have someone bring us dinner on Saturday which was plenty to have again yesterday. My few hours at home have been spent trying to figure out what to do to relieve the discomfort. It is a beautiful day outside and I am not myself... as much as I want to bring Elena out to enjoy the day my face, literally, hurts to the touch and I can't do it... that is annoying. But as I said, I shall soon be better and in the meantime I am forced to keep everything low key. I appreciate all the encouragement that I've received the past few days, I appreciate every one of you who has taken the time to pray for us and drop us a phone call or a few lines of encouragement. Please know that though my energy and patience are running low due to my physical current discomfort my faith is still resting in the only One who can really bring comfort to my heart. I have learned to understand that He will, indeed, provide for our every need and that if anything hasn't yet been provided it must be that I don't really need it as much as I think I do. Thanks for your prayers, please keep them going as they will undoubtedly help keep me going! Love to all!

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Estoy muy, muy cansada. Mi fin de semana se me fue en una nebulosa de estar respirando sobre ollas de agua hirviendo, aspirando solución salina y hasta echándome gotas en los oídos porque así de congestionada estoy. Por lo menos sé que si no se me alivia la sinusitis, tendré el cutis limpio después de tanto vapor. Tengo cita con el doctor el miércoles y para entonces espero estar curada o peor... en fin. Ben ha tratado de mantener el flujo normal del apartamento tanto como ha sido posible considerando lo ocupados que son los fines de semana para nosotros, pero tuvimos la bendición de que alguien nos trajo cena el sábado en la noche que nos alcanzó para la comida de ayer. Mis pocas horas en casa se me han ido tratando de aliviar los malestares de una u otra manera. Es un día precioso y yo no estoy en mi humor normal... tanto como quisiera sacar a Elena a disfrutar del día, literalmente me duele la cara con sólo tocarla y eso sí es un poco desesperante. Pero como dije antes, pronto estaré mejor y para mientras me veo obligada a mantenerme tranquila. Muchas gracias por todo el apoyo que he recibido en estos últimos días, sepan que aprecio cada oración que han hecho por nosotros, cada llamada y cada línea de ánimo que nos han llegado. Por favor sepan que aunque mi paciencia y mi energía están escasas gracias a la incomodidad física que enfrento mi fe sigue descansando en el Único que puede traer paz a mi corazón. He aprendido que Él, en realidad, provee para toda mi necesidad y que si algo no ha sido provisto es porque probablemente no lo necesito tanto como creía. Gracias por sus oraciones, por favor manténganlas fluyendo pues sin duda alguna me mantendrán a mí mientras me mejoro. ¡Con mucho amor a todos!

It´s been a few days

I know it´s been a few days since I last wrote... sorry, we´ve just been so busy that by the time I sit in front of the computer my mind is blank. There is so much going on between doctors appointments for both Elena and myself (just regular checkups), trying to book flights for the team that will be going down to Mexico for a missions trip in July, an added weekend service on Saturday nights at church, daring mice who venture into our living room when we are trying to have some quality family down time (yes, another one!) and some translation projects that came my way that I really want to finish soon as I am still hopeful we will have to do some kind of moving before the baby comes and I don´t want to have pending projects (especially because I am getting paid for these!). If you chose to pay me a surprise visit today you would think that I don´t bother bending down and picking up all the scattered items (toys, tupperware, clothes, shoes, etc.) that don´t belong on the floor... the truth is: I don´t! These past few days after my last cold my sinuses are SO congested that every attempt at bending down makes my head hurt and feel as though I´m under water. So, for now, only what I can manage to make Elena pick up gets picked up from the floor and then we wait for Papi. But I am still choosing to believe that my Father sees the whole picture and that this little episode where the wheels of my cart seem to be stuck in drying concrete is nothing more than just another opportunity to trust Him with all my heart and grow in Him.

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Sé que han pasado varios días desde la última vez que escribí... lo siento. Sencillamente hemos estado tan ocupados que cuando me logro sentar frente a la computadora tengo la mente en blanco. Tenemos tanto qué hacer entre citas de doctores para Elena y para mí (chequeos regulares), tratar de reservar vuelos para los 21 miembros de la iglesia que irán de viaje misionero a México en julio, un servicio extra que empezamos en la iglesia los sábados en la noche, osados ratones que se atreven a salir hasta nuestra sala cuando estamos tratando de pasar tiempo de calidad como familia (¡sí, otro más!), y algunos proyectos de traducción que se me han atravesado que realmente quiero terminar pronto pues todavía tengo la esperanza de que de alguna manera nos mudemos antes de que nazca este bebito/a y no quiero tener proyectos a medias (especialmente porque me están pagando por éstos). Si alguien de ustedes escogiera darme una visita sorpresa en estos días pensarían que ni me molesto en agacharme a recoger todos los objetos regados por el suelo del apartamento (juguetes, trastos de tupperware, ropa, zapatos, etc.) que no pertenecen allí, la verdad es que no... no me molesto en recoger nada. Estos últimos días después del último catarro que me dió quedé con una sinusitis que cada vez que trato de agacharme me duele tanto la cabeza y siento como que estuviera debajo del agua. Así que, por el momento, se recoge lo que logro hacer que Elena recoja y lo demás se queda en el suelo esperando que llegue Papi. Pero todavía escojo creer que mi Padre tiene la visión completa de lo que está pasando en mi vida y que este pequeño episodio donde parece que tengo atascadas las carretas en cemento no es más que otra oportunidad para creer confiar en Él con todo mi corazón y crecer en Él.

Precious Moments

I had a very restless night. Although Elena slept through the night without a problem (for the first time in weeks!) I just wasn´t feeling well. This morning though, I was awoken by a little head that managed to find a comfortable spot on my pillow and quickly wrapped her little arms around my head. Between little squeezes and kisses she brought me back to consciousness (much to my regret as I was finally sleeping comfortably after tossing and turning all night long!) and upon opening my eyes the sweetest little smily face was looking at me! Now, who can resist that? And to think that that´s exactly the way God takes delight on us...

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Pasé una noche muy inquieta. A pesar de que Elena durmió toda la noche sin problema (¡por primera vez en semanas!) yo no me sentía bien y no pude dormir. Sin embargo, esta mañana me despertó una cabecita que se acomodó en mi almohada y rápidamente cubrió mi cabeza con sus bracitos. Entre apretoncitos y besos me trajo de vuelta a la realidad (para mi tristeza porque al fin había logrado dormir un poco después de dar vueltas toda la noche) y al abrir mis ojos la sonrisita más dulce iluminaba su pequeña carita viéndome. ¿Quién se puede resistir a algo así? Y pensar que es así exactamente como Dios se deleita en nosotros...

Miscelaneous...

• It is amazing how everything can become so quickly undone and pile up after just a couple days of not feeling well. I guess I shouldn´t be surprised that my little toddler has this amazing ability to pull out all kinds of things from all kinds of places and we end up living with kitchen things that show up in the bedroom, toys that end up in the bathroom and kitchen cabinets and little clothes scattered all around the apartment. But, I´m sick again! I have actually lost count on the times that I´ve gotten colds since this pregnancy began, but I can guarantee that I have had more than ever in my life! I probably get sick every two to three weeks... oh well, this too shall pass! I´ll just have to rest it out and pick up the pieces at the end!
• On another note, once again, God has proven Himself faithful in spite of my days of doubt and desperation. We don´t have a house yet but after doing our taxes and a special offering that was designated to us at church this Sunday we have enough to pay off a small debt, get closing costs started AND buy our new baby´s things we may need. How often do I forget that He really knows what He´s doing!
• A question for all the more experienced Moms out there: When and how did you start potty training? My sweet man asked me that the other day and I hadn´t even thought of it! Not that I think Elena is ready yet, but it doesn´t hurt to start asking the experts!

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• Es increíble lo rápido que todo se descompone y se amontona después de un par de días de no sentirme muy bien. Supongo que no debería de sorprenderme que mi nenita tenga la increíble habilidad de sacar todo tipo de cosas de todo tipo de lugares y terminamos viviendo con cosas de la cocina en el dormitorio, juguetes que aparecen en el baño y gabinetes de cocina y ropita regada por todo el apartamento. Pero, ¡estoy enferma otra vez! Ya perdí la cuenta de cuántas gripas me han dado desde que empezó este embarazo pero puedo garantizarles que me han dado más en este embarazo que nunca en mi vida. Probablemente me he enfermado cada dos o tres semanas. En fin... esto pasará también. ¡Qué me queda más que descansarlo y recoger los pedazos cuando me recupere!
• Por otro lado, una vez más Dios ha demostrado su fidelidad a pesar de mis momentos de duda y desesperación. Todavía no tenemos casa pero después de llenar los formularios de impuestos y de una ofrenda especial que entró designada para nosotros el domingo en la iglesia, tenemos suficiente para cancelar una pequeña deuda, echar a andar los costos de cierre de una casa y comprar las cosas que necesitaremos para este nuevo bebé. ¡Con qué frecuencia olvido que Él en realidad sabe lo que está haciendo!!
• Una pregunta para todas las mamás experimentadas: ¿Cuándo y cómo empezaron a entrenar a sus bebés para usar el baño? Mi esposito me preguntó el otro día y yo no tengo la menor idea, ni siquiera había pensado en eso. No es que crea que Elena esté lista todavía pero, ¡no es mala idea empezar a preguntarle a las expertas!

Happy Resurrection Day!!! (Late!!)

I have been trying to post these pictures since Sunday but kept having problems to publish it. Sorry it's so late but enjoy!! Two cute cousins sharing toys!
Our whole family just before service on Sunday
Trying to fix Elena's hair
Pretty girl!!!
Isn't she cute??

Update...

Well, it is 11 p.m., we have no mouse although he has dared to show himself three more times already and we even had the assitance of one of our college students who came for the evening. We have a very awake little girl who woke up in one of those unsuccessful attempts to catch the creature and what looks like a very long night ahead of us as I don't think any of us will be sleeping peacefully until we catch the little thing!

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Son las 11 p.m. no hemos agarrado al ratón aunque se ha atrevido a mostrarse tres veces más y hasta tuvimos la ayuda de uno de nuestros estudiantes universitarios que vino a pasar la tarde. Tenemos una niñita muy despierta que se despertó con toda la conmoción en uno de esos infructuosos intentos de atrapar al roedor y nos queda lo que parece una larga noche por delante porque no creo que podamos dormir en paz hasta que no agarremos al animal!

Sneaky!!

Elena and I went down for a nap to give Papi some quiet while he finished our taxes. Suddenly the noise of moving furniture, toys thrown around and my otherwise-ever-joyful husband´s groans of frustration woke me up. I came out of the room puzzled as I saw him pushing the couch forward, then back again, then the toy box and after my long quizzical look finally sunk in and he told me what was going on: "A baby mouse!", he exclaimed, followed by "watch out for him going back into the kitchen!" Our attempt at catching the little thing were futile... the sneaky little creature is sooo small (maybe two inches long, tail included)! And the funny thing is that it is so cute! We (I should say "he") set up a trap and tried covering the hole where we know he went in to make sure we wouldn´t be seeing more of him. It is Ben´s day off so we decided to eat our lunch salads in the living room while watching a movie with Elena. About 20 minutes into the movie I hear Ben say: "You´ve got to be kidding me!" as he paused the movie. Yeah, the mouse was out again, this time venturing into OUR BEDROOM!!! We kept our eyes open to no avail, so he just set yet another trap under the bed, and as we´re getting ready to sit back down we see this little gray thingy disappear behind the computer. Chairs are being thrown around, coffee table pushed out of the way, flashlight pointing in all directions, and yet more traps are set behind the couch and in the laundry room. We thought we had all the "exits" covered and we never saw him go back into the kitchen, so we were probably fine. Ben goes in the kitchen to get another drink for Elena and guess who´s back trying to make it into his hole again!!! We haven´t caught the thing yet but we think we have set an effective system of traps, and we are ready with anything we can throw at the creature if we should see it again. We´ll keep you posted.

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Elena y yo nos acostamos a dormir una siesta para permitirle a Papi unos minutos de silencio mientras terminaba de trabajar en nuestros impuestos. De repente me despertó el ruido de muebles y juguetes que parecían estar siendo arrojados por todo el apartamento y los gruñidos frustrados de mi normalmente gozoso esposo. Salí del dormitorio llena de curiosidad mientras lo veía mover el sillón para adelante, después para atrás, después el baúl de juguetes y cuando finalmente se dio cuenta de mi mirada perpleja decidió ponerme al tanto de la situación y dijo: "¡Es un ratón bebé!", seguido de "¡fijate que no pasé para la cocina!" Nuestros intentos de atrapar al animalito fueron fallidos, la criatura es taaaan chiquitita (como dos pulgadas de largo, con todo y cola). ¡Y lo más gracioso es que es tan lindo! Pusimos una trampa (o mejor dicho "él puso una trampa") y tratamos de cubrir el hoyo por donde vimos que se metió para asegurar no volver a verlo otra vez. Como es el día libre de Ben decidimos comernos nuestro almuerzo de ensalada en la sala mientras mirábamos una película con Elena. A unos 20 minutos de haber empezado la película escucho a Ben exclamar: "¡No puede ser!", mientras paraba la película. Sí, el ratón había salido otra vez. ¡Esta vez iba para NUESTRO DORMITORIO!! Mantuvimos los ojos abiertos sin éxito alguno así que él puso otra trampa debajo de la cama y cuando nos disponíamos a continuar viendo la película vemos esta cosita gris salir del cuarto y atravesarse la sala justo detrás de la computadora. Aventamos las sillas por allá, empujamos la mesita de centro, la linterna apuntaba a todo rincón imaginable y pusimos más trampas detrás del sillón y en la lavandería. Pensamos que teníamos todas las "salidas" cubiertas y nunca lo vimos volver a la cocina así que creímos estar bien. Ben fue a la cocina a traer algo de tomar para Elena, ¡y adivinen quién está en plena cocina tratando de volver a meterse en su hoyo! No hemos agarrado al animal todavía y pusimos todo un sistema efectivo de trampas y estamos listos para tirarle lo que encontremos si lo volvemos a ver. ¡Los mantendremos al tanto!

Being Content

"O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. 6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. 7 I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. 8 I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. 10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:5-11, NKJV)

I am closing in on the third trimester of this pregnancy and though we have not given up hope, we have come to realize that we may very well have this baby while still living in this apartment. We know that miracles are not miracles unless they look like miracles so we know that as long as I´m not in labor we could still move. However we also need to be ready to be content if it were in God´s plan that we stayed here for a little longer. Don´t get me wrong, we are very happy living here. There are many advantages to our location and the apartment in and of itself has made us very comfortable as well. The major down side to it, which is at the same time the main reason why we need to move, is that we only have one bedroom. It is challenging enough to have company staying with us because they need to sleep in the living room and we need to go through the living room from our bedroom in order to go to the bathroom and/or the kitchen. Our next concern is that Elena still wakes up at night and very often, if she really wakes up we can fight for a couple hours to try to help her go back to sleep and we can´t imagine how to deal with that while having a nursing newborn in the same room. We know there is grace for the day and if that day comes we will have the grace, wisdom and strength to pull it through, and we are not the first ones to go through a season like this. If any of you, my friends and readers, have faced a similar situation please share your insight with us as we are very much welcoming tidbits of wisdom that can help us make it work smoothly if we need to! And do keep us in your prayers so we keep our eyes fixed in Him and learn to delight in His loving plans for our life while we await the fulfillment of His promises!

Not forgotten

I don´t have much time, but I have not forgotten you, so be entertained with some pics. of what went on in our kitchen in a few minutes of silence...

Catching up

Was it a week ago that I last posted? Oh my! I hadn't even realized it! Let me see, I'll give you a brief update:

• The long night I told you about was followed by yet a longer one with a sick little one... the first time up we washed all the sheets in her crib, her pjs, and she was put in the tub. The second time up Mami ended up in the shower with her, but the third one (at 3.30 a.m.) we had to wash all the sheets on our bed! Some nasty tummy bug has been going around and we couldn't escape it. She is doing much better now, though.
• Friday night we had special meetings begin in our church. Our guest speaker was Dr. Mike Brown and as timely as God always is, it was exactly what we needed.
• Saturday morning we, literally, showed our faces at the pastors' breakfast and left for Syracuse as Ben was scheduled to deliver a workshop at the Basic conference. After visiting with some family and friends we headed back here and made it just in time to the night meeting with Dr. Brown.
• Sunday we did two more meetings and we are wiped in our bodies but renewed in our spirits!
• Now after having begun to put away winter clothes, outgrown clothes, sort through hand-me-downs for Elena, going through her bout of sickness, and the weather getting cold again let's just say I don't even remember what the floor of our bedroom actually looks like! I have tons of laundry to catch up with and a floor to re-discover so I should go off to my duties!

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¿Ya pasó una semana desde mi última publicación? Vaya que se me ha ido el tiempo rápidamente... voy a tratar de ponerlos al día:

• La larga noche de la que les hablé esta última vez tuvo como secuela otra aún más larga con una chiquita enferma... la primera vez que nos despertamos tuvimos que lavar todas las sábanas de su cuna, su ropa de dormir y meterla a la bañera. La segunda vez que nos despertó Mami tuvo que meterse a la regadera con ella. La tercera vez que nos despertó (como a las 3.30 a.m.) hubo que lavar todas las sábanas de nuestra cama. Anda un virus estomacal pululando por allí y no pudimos hacernos el quite. Ya ella está mejor ahora, gracias a Dios.
• El viernes empezamos reuniones especiales en la iglesia con el Dr. Mike Brown y con la puntualidad que caracteriza a nuestro Dios, era justo lo que necesitábamos escuchar.
• El sábado, literalmente, hicimos acto de presencia en un desayuno de pastores y salimos para Syracuse donde mi esposo estaba programado para dar un taller en la conferencia de Basic. Luego de su taller pasamos un rato con familia y amigos y volvimos a salir para acá. Llegamos exactamente a la hora que empezaba la reunión de esa noche.
• El domingo tuvimos dos reuniones más y estamos exhaustos físicamente pero renovados en nuestro espíritu.
• Ahora, después de haber empezado a guardar toda la ropa de invierno, guardar la ropa que ya no le queda a Elena, abrir un par de cajas de ropa para Elena que nos pasaron un par de amistades, atravesar el virus que la tuvo malita y que el clima se volvió a enfriar... lo resumiré diciendo que no me recuerdo cómo es el suelo de nuestro dormitorio. ¡Tengo toneladas de ropa que lavar y un suelo que re-descubrir, asi que los dejo por ahora!