An update on life and the El Salvador trip :)

A month.  It's been a whole MONTH since I last blogged.  And it's been a crazy busy month.  :)

First, we started school.  :D  I took lots of pictures on my mom's camera, but I'm so technologically challenged, it might be awhile before I get them on here...

So...here's the only pic I took on my phone!  ;-)

 
Isn't she a cutie?? 

The kids like school.  I'm still working on getting them to do schoolwork without complaining when they don't feel like it.  We're getting better about finding a routine, and the kids learned firsthand that when emergencies pop up, schoolwork still has to be completed.  Monday, Lex ended up with double ear infections and we made a trip to the doctor's office.  Even when we were home,  she was crying and clingy and we didn't get much work done. So yesterday's load was a little heavier than normal.

We also got Andrew his first pair of glasses!!  I think he looks SO handsome!

He's needed them for awhile, much longer than I thought.  For those familiar with prescription numbers, Andrew has one eye that's a -2, and his other eye is -5.  Since his eyes are so different, he's probably been using the stronger eye almost exclusively.  Hopefully the corrected vision will help strengthen his weaker eye, but he may need a patch over his good one to force his "blurry eye" to see on it's own.  Poor buddy.  :(  But he likes his new glasses, that are styled like a race car.  :)  We had to special order them, and thankfully they were still covered under our insurance.  He was not happy about glasses, but race car glasses??  He made an exception.  :)

Another thing I've been busy with is preparing the house for winter.  I pulled out all of our winter clothes, assesed what we have and have been adding what we don't have.  It's a task I have a lot of fun with.  :)  Aimee likes to help, too.  Yesterday she asked me repeatedly if she could be done with school so she could "clean her room."  She wants my copy of Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook, and reads it for pleasure.  Lol.  Crazy girl.  :)

In searching through clothes for this winter, I pulled out all of my 3T clothing for Lexi.  She'll be 3 in December, so she should be growing into it soon.  Somehow, I came up a little short in outfits for her, so I took advantage of a Target sale.  Lexi LOVES kitties, polka dots, and the color purple.  They had outfits in all 3!!  And even though I say it too much, I'll say it again...my baby is a peanut.  I'm very thankful for this, but it's kind of funny.

This is Lexi in 3T pants...

 They hardly stay up, 'cuz she's so thin.  I don't know what we'll do when she's finally potty trained and no longer has a diaper to hold her pants up!!

This is a pair of 2T pants I purchased by mistake...

I ended up keeping them.  :)  I'm sure they won't fit for long, but I can't believe how long the 3T's are!!

My El Salvador trip is coming up fast, too.  I just realized this morning that it's less than 2 months away.  I am SO NERVOUS.  I think the hardest part by far will be leaving my kiddos at home for that long.  Aimee's already cried buckets of tears over it.  I've never been away from them for more than a few days, and the trip is 9 days long.  I've been preparing them that they will kiss me goodnight on Sunday, and they probably won't see me until the next Wednesday.  Of course, the younger ones don't understand time like that.  But they understand it's long.  :(  I love me babies so much.  It will be hard to be gone for so long.

And as for the funding of the trip...THANK YOU to those wonderful people out there who have donated!!  I've received about $600 in donations towards the trip, some anonymous (so know that I am grateful to your generosity, even if I can't mail you a thank you!!!!) and some from people I'm blessed to call "friend."  I have 2 1/2 weeks left before the final payment is due, and I still owe $485.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sweating a little bit (lol), but I'm trusting in God to provide.  He ALWAYS provides, and I know He called me on this trip and assured me He would provide.  It might make me a little nervous, but He's still got it in His hands!!  :D  I will definitely be posting a blog once my trip is paid off, and when I return I will post all about it.  If I can, I'll post while I'm there, but again...technologically challenged.  ;-) 

As I end this post, I just want to say one little thing...I don't know how things come out in my posts to those who read them.  I always assume things come out exactly like I meant it.  :)  But I just want to say, in case it hasn't come across in full, that this El Salvador trip has been a HUGE act of faith, in so many ways. 

First and foremost, I can't afford to go.  At all.  Only by the intervention of the Lord has this trip been funded.  I love any opportunity to bring the Lord Glory and to be used by Him, but this is definitely one of those times when my faith was tested and stretched.  I actually panicked at one point and said I wasn't going and that it had "become impossible."  I'm not proud of it, but I did it, when I had lost my income.  And then I put my faith in Him and His promises and His reassurance that He would provide.  Nothing is impossible for God, even if it seems impossible to us.  :) And He has been providing!!  The $485 in the next 17 days seems like a lot, but I know it will be provided.  God is amazing.  And I love being a part of the Lord at work.  :)

I also need to have faith in leaving my children.  Not only will it be incredibly hard (I don't even know if I'll get to call home...), but my plan for their care taking has fallen through a little bit.  I had planned on the kids staying with Nana and Papa, but Nana is now working part time.  We're happy for Nana's new job.  :)  But I'm leaving in less than two months and my "have to have a plan" personality is a little uncomfortable with this plan being up in the air a little bit.  :)  But again, God had this all in His hands from the beginning and I need to trust in Him...

So...that's most of our life right now.  I'm hoping to get back to blogging, because I've come to enjoy it.  :)  I have several trips planned for the kids, too, and I want to start posting about those.  I really need to figure out the camera.  :-P

Have a blessed day!  :)