Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Little Blessings....

I love the little blessings of God. He is so good. Today I called to make an appointment for our vaccinations at the only clinic in town that does not charge for an office visit, only to find out that they do not vaccinate kids. Bummer. But they gave me the name of another clinic. Well, they do charge for their visit, but their vaccines are WAY cheaper! With the dr visit included it will cost us $60.oo less than the other clinic. God is good!

We also have recieved a HUGE blessing. Our sister church in Lathrop, Missouri has blessed us with $1000.00 toward out tickets. PRAISE THE LORD!!

Tomorrow the kids will get their Menegoccocial immunization at the dr office. My poor babies. I hate to see then poked. But I would rather them suffer a little pain now than alot of pain later! Please pray for them. Especially Son, because as we all know, he HATES shots!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Update....

God is good. When you are in His will, He is faithful to provide for all your needs. One full month has gone by, and we have made quite a headway.

We have about 1/2 of the clothes we need (we have to buy things now, as it's pretty hard to find summer clothes in the middle of winter). We've been picking things up on clearance, and have ran into some really great deals!

We have the kids passports (they came back quickly!), and are scheduled for yellow fever shots this coming Thursday. Jody has been working really hard on a side job, and has made enough money to cover all the shots we have left. Thank you Lord for your provision!!

Money for ticket is slowly coming in as well. God is faithful, and I know that He will provide for all our needs.

There is one small set back....newsletters. I have been working on getting them out since June!! All the printing, addressing, stuffing and , envelope licking.....oh, it is not my favorite task! I was going to outsource it to the printers, but my loving sister said she would help, and she has been a great help, but the pile is still there.... Next month, they are going to the printers!

Meanwhile, "real life" goes on. Son had an appointment with the speech therapist this week. He has a slight speech impediment. His DR just wanted it checked out, to see if it would need therapy or work itself out as he gets older. Well, it turns out that my baby is an excellent talker! He is 4 yrs 2 months, and his speech is at the age of 5 yrs 4 months. The DR said there is no need for therapy and that he is very smart. She said that his language was advanced as well. She didn't do a language evaluation, because she said she could tell that he would score off the charts! I was very proud of him. I was also very proud of Daughter who sat quiet while brother got to answer all the questions. Something that I know was very hard for her to do. She is my little social butterfly and loves to talk. I could tell it was killing her not to be able to add her two cents!

Daughter and Son just finished Bible Soccer (Day) Camp. They had a blast!

We have our trailer up and are getting it all cleaned out and ready for this weekend's church camp out. We look forward to this trip all year. It's going to be great!

Work is in full swing for the season....it seems the more I cut back, the more I get sucked back in....but that's OK....things will be back to normal in about six weeks.

Next week, it will be time for school again. We took things slow last year, so we need to get a head star this year. We will finish kindergarten by Christmas break, and then start first grade. At least Daughter will. Son will still be in kindergarten, but if you ask him, he will tell you he's in sixth grade. :-)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Shots Phase One

Oh, what a dramatic day! Today, Son had her five-year-old annual check up. She is in good health, of course, but part of her check up was giving a urine sample. All I gotta say is have you ever tried to get a 5 yr old girl to "go" in a cup? She told me "Mommy! I am supposed to go in the toilet, not a cup!" Son said, "I'll do it!" I don't know if he was trying to be helpful, or was just facinated with the idea of having something new to "aim" at.

Daughter was due for two shots. She is a very brave girl, and didn't even cry! She is now finished with all her childhood immunizations. Yay!

While we were there, the Doctor reviewed Son's immunization records, and decided Son should have his last two shots, the same Daughter had, so that he will have the complete Polio and DTP series before we go to Ghana. He said we could do it now or later. I opted for now. Son is NOT a fan of shots, so we might as well get it over with.

I told Son that he was going to get two shots, and that this was for Africa. Once he got these two he would only have to do three more, and then he would not have to have any more shots until he was a grown-up. AND, if he was really brave, we would go to McDonalds for lunch. My speech was not enough to comfort him. As soon as he saw the nurse come, he took off down the hall. I caught him, and laid him on the table. I had to hold his whole upper body and arms down---it took me laying over him and holding his hands to keep him from getting up. The nurse had to sit on his feet (after two kicks from Son) to get him to hold still so she could give him the shots in the thigh. He is crying, face beat red, and screaming, "Don't make me do this! Mommy, why are you doing this to me!" Ten seconds later, the shots are done, and after about two minutes, he has calmed down. The dramatic ordeal is over, and he is rambling about which Happy Meal toy he hopes he gets.

Both kids have three more shots to get, which will all be at diffrent times and places, so we get to do this all over again three more times in the next six months!

A really big answer to prayer came today, regarding recommended vaccines. One of the recommended vaccines for travel to Ghana is Meningococcal. This vaccine is normally given as a childhood immunization at the age of twelve, but can be given as young as two. At the travel clinic the shot is $220.00 per person, and not covered by insurance. Their Doctor said that he would give it to them, which means that it will be covered by our insurance. He said he could also write their perscription for Malaria pills, saving us another $20.00. Praise the Lord!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

One week later and a little bit closer...

It is one week later, and we are slowly beginning to check off the to do list.

One major check this week was that the kid's passport applications are finally in. What an ordeal!! It required a full morning off work for Jody (both parents must be present to get a minor child a passport), two hours with both kids in the post office, and a failed attempt to get a good passport photo for each kid. But, we survived, and two hundred dollars later.....we should have thier passports in four to six weeks....

Aside from all the preparations, life does goe on. It has been a busy week, the kids are still in school (I know...it's July, but we took alot of breaks...), and things at work are starting to pick up for the season. Plus it was the forth! We had a really good holiday. We celebrated with our friends in Vancouver on the 3rd, and then on the 4th, we spent the evening at home with our kids in the back yard, making smores and watching all our neighbors' fireworks displays.