Day 2 Nepali Trip

Greg:
Well, you would think with an entire day of travel we wouldn't have time to miss you....you would be wrong. The girls were very excited to visit Grandma and Grandpa that they woke up at 6:15 a.m. and got into bed with me. Their excitement soon gave way to drowsiness and it was difficult to get them out of bed just 15 minutes later! Once they were up, they were ready very quickly and carried their backpacks around the house for 2 hours. Candie drove us to the airport, and both the girls were so good during the first leg of the trip. They forgot the headphones to the DVD player so they had to cram in close to hear their movie. Southwest was great, and I "borrowed" some of your drink coupons! The second leg they were OK, but there was a little bickering. I started the Ann Coulter book and was laughing out loud! Hopefully I was annoying some nearby libs! We were happy to land and the girls were running ahead of me to reach Grandma. The drive to my parents house seemed longer than usual, but it was probably due to the 6 hours on an airplane. I know, suck it up! You could do that on your head after the day(s) of travel you just completed. I was thrilled to see your first post on the CalledtoNepal blog. I almost felt like it was a message just for me, but I especially enjoyed the shout out. We will continue to check your blog every day waiting for any news. I don't do well with a communication blackout. You know I need to talk to you every few hours! Every time you cross my mind (yes it's practically every 5 minutes) I say prayers for you. The people of Nepal are blessed to have you serving them. We are so proud of you. We miss you incredibly, but know we are doing OK so far. I will try to take some pictures of the girlies to post while you are gone. Hope you get a chance to check them out, Arabic internet connection and all!

LL

Day 1 of Nepal Trip

The posts for the next 14 days will be a running commentary to Greg so he can see all he missed while he was on his mission trip to Nepal.

Here we are on Day 1 of your trip. At this point you only left the country about 5 minutes ago, and I am missing you terribly. I can't believe I missed the only call I will probably receive for the next 14 days. I am so angry! I took the girls for a run along the canal and saw your call when I returned. You see? Exercise is horrible! I was hoping you would call back before your 9 p.m. EDT flight out of JFK, but no such luck. I am not expecting a call from your next stop in Dubai tomorrow. I hope you are comfortable on your journey.

Today was ordinary. After we dropped you off at 0-dark-hundred, we took a nap until 7:30 a.m. Work was quiet without you there, but the girls were amazingly good tucked away in your office watching movies. I bought them lunch at Chick-fil-A as a treat for their good behavior, which they ate back at the house. We took our 3-mile run and then returned the movies to Blockbuster. On the way, the odometer flipped 51,000 miles (I am probably more interested in that fact than you). Now I am finishing up your postcards and will start packing soon. I should have had packing night with you on Saturday.

What a treat, you just called! I was misinformed about your flight departure time so I was expecting a communication blackout for the next 14 days. It was so good to hear your voice, my love love. Of course, the girls were all excited and then sad again. I am chasing those blues away with some chores and they are currently vacuuming. I will try to get everyone to bed early so we can get up early and have a relaxed morning before our flight. I will think of you every minute, and check your blog for updates. I hope you can get internet access in Nepal so we can hear updates about your trip.

Until tomorrow's post, I miss and love you!

My Mom's Birthday

Happy Birthday to my Mom! I wish we were there with you today. In normal circumstances we would celebrate with you, but today because you are under the weather we would take care of you. When the girls and I visit in a couple of weeks, we will celebrate like you are 29! First we will cook you breakfast in bed. Probably nothing too elaborate because little hands make big messes in the kitchen. Then we will take a walk in the meadow down the street. We will watch the girls running down the path collecting flowers or rocks. I can imagine how beautiful the meadow will be with the fall leaves just starting to make their annual appearance. Where would you like to go for lunch? I think we should try to find a place with a little outdoor patio to sit and enjoy our meal. After lunch, we could spend the day shopping. I would prefer to go to the Christmas Tree Shops, but this is your day and I know you will want to buy things for the girls. So I promise, no nagging you about buying them things! After a day of shopping, I will make you dinner. We will invite Kelly and the boys over and you can be surrounded by the four most important little people in your world. Then we will eat cake. Nubian roll, of course!

I love you Mom! Until our fun day, I will post this picture of the girlies for you to enjoy. It's obviously out of date because of Emily's long hair, but they are just as cute!

Gabrielle is learning to read!

Here is a video of Gabrielle reading the first book she learned. Most of the words were her sight words, and she figured out the rest by sounding out the letters and matching them with the pictures on the page. We are so proud of our big Kindergarten girl!

Her Smile is Back

On Thursday we had a little scare with Gabrielle (again). She had a cavity filled, and almost four hours later I noticed something wrong with her face. When she would talk or smile, the left side of her face wouldn't move. I brought her right back to the dentist and he told me that there was an 80 percent chance that the paralysis would wear off in 24 hours. If not, the nerve would regenerate in two months. Thank you Lord for answering our prayer and that this one time, Gabrielle did not beat the odds and the novacane wore off by the next morning. Her dentist called to tell me that he had researched facial paralysis, and there was not one documented case of this occurring when the novacane was given in the top teeth. Of course, if it was going to happen, it was going to happen to Shi Shi! Here is a picture of her beautiful smile. I was obviously too upset to take a picture while her face was partially paralyzed. Greg was upset that I didn't get a picture.....that's a dad for you!

Sedona Pictures

Sedona

Question: What do you get when you cross a couple with two children who haven't been away for more than a year, and their very hectic upcoming schedule? Answer: A needed weekend get-away in Sedona! That's right, Greg and I were able to leave the girls with their grandparents while we headed north to a slighter cooler city. We took the Jeep and did some off-roading and some hiking. A highlight of our trip was an afternoon shower that created waterfalls over some Indian ruins we were hiking. All in all, it was relaxing and very nice to be able to finish an entire conversation without the interruptions from two very cute little girls!