At Home in the Mountains

Yellow Elephant cake made by Tammy. When I asked Maddy what color of birthday cake she wanted she said, "Yellow birthday cake." She said this every time I asked over several days so this is what we came up with. That is what we did this weekend. This weekend we had Maddy's birthday party. Aaron surprised me, Tammy, and Maddy by getting my mom and dad, Cindy and Bethany, and Mema to all come for the birthday celebration. I really can't think of a time I've been more surprised in my life. Aaron had told me he was going to pick up pizza for supper on Thursday night because it had been a busy week. Thinking nothing more of this than he was getting much more thoughtful about helping with meal planning I agreed. We were getting really hungry waiting for pizza and I was on the floor entertaining Maddy with some games on my phone. Aaron walked in with the pizza and said, "Happy Birthday!" in a really loud voice. I looked up, kind of annoyed that he was making...

Yesterday we went to Scottish Rite for Maddy's 6 month follow up appointment. Two big things came out of her check up. The first thing is that she will be having surgery on her legs soon to lengthen the tendons behind her knees. The surgery is called bilateral hamstring release. Depending on how things go they may only do the right knee and go back to do the left knee later. After her surgery she will be in casts for 6-8 weeks. Then she will get a new kind of KAFO with hinges that will allow her more mobility in walking. So of course were are asking everyone to be in prayer over her surgery as well as the recovery time afterwards. I don't think she's going to enjoy having big, bulky casts on her legs that make it hard to move around. The second thing that happened is that Maddy got a K walker. I am ridiculously pumped about this thing, but it seriously is great. The best part is that Maddy loved it right away. The therapist brought it in for her to try out. I didn't p...

A picture Tam took of Maddy at DBU yesterday. Today is the big day! Aaron comes home! We are all so ready. Maddy finally slept like normal last night. I did not sleep well from excitement I think. Aaron called from the Detroit airport. They made it through customs and were eating at Chili's. So he is back in the states and waiting to catch the plane back to Dallas in a couple hours. I am so excited to see him, the pictures, souvenirs, for Maddy to see him. It is going to be great. I did the big group grading thing at DBU today. Actually it wasn't too bad. I felt like a total newbie but I think that I was pretty fair in how I assessed the papers I read. I had about 3 students that didn't pass. :( Fortunately I think their problems can be easily fixed and that if they do what I tell them, they will do well on the final. I'm glad I started in the Spring semester and had a light introduction to grading day. This afternoon, we are going to try to hit the Grapevine Mills...

Actually this is what he said: Happy birthday wishes from Kenya !!!!! I'm in the Kenyan airport now.  We go to Detroit fist and then to Dallas .  I will call once in Detroit . So Aaron is on the plane as I type this. The Kenya adventure is coming to a close. It still blows my mind that he is on his way back...left at 3ish our time...but will not be home until 5:30 p.m. tomorrow. Last night Rachel and Tammy helped me finish painting. I rented an 8 foot ladder to do the areas next to the ceiling. I got it at Home Depot. They guy that rented it to me thought I was a crazy person I think. I made him help me shove it in the Rodeo. It barely fit but we got it in there. It was almost not tall enough to get the job done but we made it work. On the really high places, Tammy did the painting since she is a bit taller than I am and it worked out great. It looks so good. It was a lot of work but I'm glad that I did it. Here are some pics of the final results: Living room. I think...

  From Aaron: We are at Sweetwater and went on the safari.  I was able to see lots of stuff.  We even went on a nature trail to see hippos...that was really cool.  We also were able to stop at place where they have a half blind Black Rhino...I was able to feed him!!!  It was really really cool.   I did get to talk with Geof today so it looks like we are going to meet him tomorrow in Nirobi.  I am looking forward to that and hope it works out! It won't be long until I am on the 18 hour flight back home! Okay, so it doesn't trump a safari, but March Madness is here! I've got my bracket filled out and I'm ready to go. I love that March Madness coincides with my birthday. It makes it a little more exciting. Hopefully I can catch some of the games between chores this afternoon.  This morning Maddy went and played with her friend Camryn. We haven't seen Camryn and her mom, Sarah, in a long time so it was nice to catch up with them. Camryn had ...

 Here is what Aaron did today:   We saw our last community.  This is a coffee producing community and we were able to see how they process the coffee...it is out of season right now so we only saw the place but it was very interesting.  We also spent a lot of time at schools (2 primary and one high school).   I played soccer at the HS and I am dead!!  Frank and I were the only two that played.  I really enjoy Frank, he is a great and very funny guy. I sent Geof a FB message and he sent me his phone number.  It looks like I might get to see him on Friday!!!!  I am so excited if that happens.  It will be so awesome to see my Kenyan Brother.  Tomorrow we leave for Sweetwater, Kenya.  This is were we do our safari and I think you could probably google it on the internet.  I hear it is suppose to be pretty amazing. HEre is the link to the place we were at tonight.  http://www.410bridge.org/change-kenya/where-we-se...

  The latest from Aaron: We are now at a new place and new hotel.  It is much more the htel I would expect...very small rooms and oldish...sort of Mexico-ish. Today was very interesting.  We got to see how a water project has transformed a certain community.  They use to walk this crazy hill 8-10 per day!!!!  We went down to the river and they brought pales and I carried one back to the top.  They then led me to a hutforherwater.  She was very weak bc she was HIV positive....had been raped and had a kid from it.  I was able to go into the hut and they wanted me to take a pic and send it back.  Chuck said they would work it out, so remind me to send it!!! We finally slept well last night. Maddy had a terrible time getting to bed but once she did, we slept like rocks. The funny thing is that I feel more tired than I have all week. ha! Thanks time change + not sleeping kid + husband being gone.  I got the living room wall painted last...