Senor Delgato and Troupe

Time Flies

2010-04-13T00:37:00.002+03:00

It's amazing how life continues to twist and turn. A year ago I still blogged, was on Facebook ALL the time, emailed, read and watched tons of movies. Now, well you can see that it's been months since my last blog and I rarely and on FB. I find that my interests are always changing. New hobbies replace old ones and life barely slows down long enough to find a rhythm. It makes me wonder "what will I spend my time doing a year from now?" Of all the things I could choose to do with my time, what will take my interest.

On a different note. We are alive, temporarily down with sickness, and kept busy with our "farm". i would say that we have reached a happy state, at least the happiest, most content state yet of our nearly 12 years of marriage. It's good! It's good to be alive!

Holidays

2009-12-06T08:45:00.003+03:00

It has felt like Christmas vacation for a month. I've enjoyed steaming cups of hot cocoa and all the delicous pies of Thanksgiving. Now I'm ready for cookies. Tonight was our ward Christmas party. I had a nice sampling of cookies and and gearing up for a bake fest either this week or next. I can hardly wait!

Nathan has now been home a full month, adding to the Christmas feeling. Everyday is a holiday for us. We do some school then clean up and go out or watch movies. The past few weeks we've been studying about goats. This week we'll be goat proofing the fences and building a shelter. Hopefully by the end of December we'll have goats. It may seem crazy, but my farm girl roots have been showing and I want to surround myself with barnyard animals. Chickens will be coming in the spring.

I'm rambling on, but thought I'd update the world. We are alive and well.

Back in the USA

2009-10-03T09:00:00.003+03:00

It feels good to be sitting up late at night, typing on my own computer, sitting in my livingroom in the good old USA. It's true, we're back. Well atleast most of us are. Nathan is in the final weeks of his sojourn abroad. Sometime this month he'll come home to stay.

It's been a crazy 4 years out of the country, but I'm glad we went. We had great experiences and met some of the best people. But I'm glad to be home. The kids are loving it here, lots of time to play with cousins. I'm enjoying family as well. My Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law and I have been canning up a storm. I probably have enough fruit to last all year plus some. It's great.

Thats all for now. I haven't even been to my blog site for months. This little late night post will hopefully jolt me into writing a bit more.

Our Little Guy

2009-04-10T21:44:00.002+03:00

He is a bried clip of our little cutie. I did this with the camera while trying to still hold him, so it isn't the greatest footage in the world. I will try to get something of Hannah and Ethan up here as well. This is my first try with the video so I wanted to see how it works.

Finally, a post about Gabe

2009-03-31T16:48:00.003+03:00

So here is our little guy. His official name is Gabriel Seth Potter. However we will most likely call him Gabe. He entered the world on March 18 at about 2:23 PM. He was born at 37 weeks 2 days. A solid 8-10 later than the older children. He weighed 6 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. His good weight and later stage of development did not stop him from having a rough first week. His lungs had not developed to the correct stage and he was not breathing properly. At first the doctor thought he was just not expanding his lungs enough to get the oxygen, but further testing showed he was not producing serfactant (sp) enough to trade out the oxygen for the carbon dioxide, he was getting too high levels of the bad stuff built up. Anyways, after various breathing aparatus, including full ventilation, his lungs kicked in and he can breathe just fine.

It was a stressfull week for all of us. Gabe couldn't be released from the hospital, even after he could breathe, until he could then eat and breathe succesfully. That was a problem as the criteria was really strict. He had to eat 37 ml of milk and he had to do it in 15 minutes every 2 hours. If he did not drink the milk it was then force fed through a feeding tube. That would be a "failed" feeding. Very frustrating for us as he began to fail feedings because he was sleeping. However we had a great doctor who listened to our concerns. He accepted Nathans proposal that he be allowed to eat on demand. As long as he woke up every 2-3 hours on his own, and absolutely didn't go over 4 hours, and he drank a certain amount within 24 hours, he would pass the eating test. He ofcourse did fine. Once he was allowed to eat when he was hungry, he woke up every 3 hours and ate more than he previously had. So it all worked out and he can home on his one week birthday.

He is proving to be a good little baby. He wakes almost like clock work every 3 hours and eats. He fusses only when he is hungy has a messy diaper or is working out gas. The kids are absolutely in love with him. They think he is the greatest thing ever. Hannah would hold him all the time if I let her. Ethan adores his cute face, hands and feet. Both of the kids wanted to see his feet right away. Hannah just says "He's so cute" about 50 -100 times a day. Nate has all but banned her from saying it in his presence.

Any way, as I type the little one is making himself known. He is awake now so I guess this post is long enough.

Family Photos

2009-03-15T15:18:00.003+03:00

Okay, I'm back to the picture I can't rotate. Very annoying. But this is me and my sweetheart. Notice he has grown a beard. I wanted it a little longer but last time he went to the barber they cut it down too close.

Me, Hannah and Ethan

The family.

Another one of the family.

Big Mama and the little ones

2009-03-15T15:02:00.003+03:00

Me and the kids. I figured I better get some pictures up while I am still pregnant

I have tried to upload these a few times and they always come sideways even though I rotated them and saved them. So crane you heads and see my little boy, soon to be oldest son.

And of course Hannah

This is so lame to put these up like this, but here I am sticking out at 36 weeks.

Baby Update 35 weeks

2009-03-02T11:39:00.003+03:00

It's been a busy month for us. I have successfully reached 35 weeks and am having no real problems. I have to take it pretty easy still, but that's fine. I was looking back to when Hannah was born, I believe she was born about 35 1/2 weeks and Ethan was born at 36. Yesterday we went for an ultrasound and the baby already weighs in at about 5 lb 10 oz. That is bigger than Hannah was at birth. So I am pleased with everything that is happening with the baby.

We are all ready though to go to the hospital just in case. The suitcase has been packed for a couple of months, and recently repacked to verify what actually is in it. The crib is made up, diapers are out and all the cute little things washed and ready to wear. A few days ago the ladies at church gave me a great baby shower. So we have added a play mat, bouncy chair, and other great things for our new little one. I have to make perhaps one more trip to Baby Shop for some odds and ends, but nothing that is critical. So give us just two more weeks and we will be very happy to have this baby come. Some days it seems like I may still come early, but when I start getting worried things calm down.

Double Rescue

2009-02-10T08:53:00.002+03:00

Well my book is at the printers. YEAH! It will still be a few months before it is formally released. But if you want to get a look at the cover and read the back go to this link

http://www.pdbookstore.com/comfiles/pages/JennyPotter.shtml

I have a lot of publicity work to do before the official release. I'm not really sure what the heck I am going to do here from Qatar and am not in the financial position to throw the money at it that the publisher wants, but I will work on something. If any of you know any one famous I can solicit a review from, PLEASE let me know. Even if the are only regionally well known in your area it will help.

In the future radio interviews with Christian stations, writeups in your local newspaper. ANYTHING AT ALL that wont cost me thousands of dollars and you have my eternal gratitude.

The Miracle Continues

2009-01-24T18:54:00.003+03:00

This week we have really seen again just how blessed we are. Friday towards the end of church I was feeling pretty terrible. Nate drove me home as quick as possible, but I was already having contractions. I continued to have gentle contractions every 3 minutes for the next 2 hours. I did my warm bath and tylonal routine, but no relief. Nate gave me a blessing and we packed a hospital bag and went to the ER. In the blessing the Lord reconfirmed that all would be well and I would carry this baby to full term.

At the hospital I was placed under observation. We were at the hospital less than 2 hours. My contractions completely stopped on there own, no medice. My cervix did not change. This is the first time that contractions this consistent ever stopped without medical intervention and without changing my cervix. This is one more example that Heavenly Father is providing healing to me with this baby. It is quite amazing to experience this.

Our family feels greatly blessed. We are so excited about this baby, he must be someone pretty special!

My house shines!

2009-01-21T11:42:00.002+03:00

In my last post I said Sonia had arrived. Can I say, cleaner than my mom! That is an achievement. My very clean friend came over and she felt like the house sparkled, she fairly glowed at the cleanliness of the place.

For my Middle East friends, you will appreciate her history. Seven years experience working for arabs in Saudi, Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar. An extremely energetic lady who just doesn't stop.

The kids like her and it is always nice to have another person to play games.

YEAH FOR US! I have NOT done any work since she came, except cook the meals. That alone is a feat for me now a days. So we are really thankfull.

The house help

2009-01-17T09:37:00.002+03:00

Well Sonya has begun employment in our home. We went yesterday morning and picked her up from the home of her previous employer. It really couldn't have happened at a better time. I'm finding it quite difficult to get any house work done, including dishes. Nate informed me a few hours before church that we would be having dinner guests. Without Sonya the guests wouldn't have had anything clean to eat with. She was doing the dishes while I was preparing the meal. Normally after cooking I am in no shape to do the clean up. (One of the reasons the dishes have been piling up.) It was nice to leave things in order before bed. The kids benefitted greatly too. They've been wanting pancakes and I've been telling them they had to wait for Sonya to come. I haven't been keeping myself in clean pans. So this morning they got their pancakes. I will also be able to cook lunch and dinner as again, there will be clean pots and pans to use.

This is going to be a different relationship than with Dina, that I can tell. Dina we miss greatly. She fit right into our family and has a place as a member of it. Sonya is going to be a great maid, but I have a feeling the relationship will not mature too much beyond that. She will be capable though and right now that is what we need. When Dina came into our lives I needed the friendship just as much as I needed the house clean. She needed the friendship as well so it worked out well.

Nate did a very good job the first day of keeping out of the way. We had tried to tell Sonya not to go overboard. No need to do it all the first day. But she got into the swing of things in the kitchen and I couldn't get her to take a break from it. Nate commented "I just need to remind myself that it is like having your mother in the house." No disrespect meant Mother. Only that you like to stay busy and can't look at the work and not do it. Sonya will be like that I am sure.

Now we need to make sure all the "I's" are dotted and the "T's" crossed concerning her visa. For the most part I think it is done. Nate needs to do some running around to make sure all the correct documents have been transfered from the old sponsor to him. Oh how fun for him.

All else seems to be well. On a side note. For all those that I told that Sonya was LDS (aka Mormon like ourselves) we were wrong. She is Catholic. How that little error happened make Nate and I laugh heartily when we were alone. Sonya was hired without a second thought because we thought she said she was LDS from Davao. I was certain we would know people in common. A classic example of communication breakdown due to English as a second language. She was trying to tell us she was the eldest, as in oldest sibling. However in the context of the conversation her "eldest" in unclear english sounded just like "LDS" and it fit into the conversation so well we both thought that was the reference she was making. It didn't cross our minds to ask for clarification because it sounded so plausable. (I thought we it was really clear in our interview, now some of her confusion makes sense.) In retrospect I told Nathan that I believe the Lord allowed us to hear this and think this as it assured us a maid at a good rate and good timing. He knew more than we just how necessary it would become for us to have someone in the home.

Alls well that ends well as they say.

Christmas Day

2009-01-06T16:34:00.002+03:00

Christmas was a lot of fun at our house. Santa left behind some magic snow, it doesn't melt! Hannah had too much fun throwing it up in the air and letting it snow on her. It was something of a mess but she had fun.

I think this is about how I looked too. But I will spare all of you the pain to you eyes. Christmas morning was lots of fun. The kids loved all their presents. Nate and I would have liked to sleep a little longer, but Ethan was up just after 6 am. Hannah had to be woken up. She had a really hard time falling asleep and had stayed up late.

In the afternoon we went to friends for dinner. That was fun as well. My friend is English and we had a traditional English meal which differs some from our American dinner. We did have a Christmas pudding complete with brandy poured over the top then lit on fire. Any desert that you can light on fire is just plain cool. The pudding itself has a very strong flavor, somewhat of an aquired taste. Not too bad, but I could only eat a small amount.

The holidays were really busy this year. Lots of Christmas activities to keep us going. I'm glad though they are over as we need the rest. But I am glad we all had a good time. Hope you all have a great new year too.

Hmmm?

2008-12-11T18:58:00.002+03:00

Hannah enjoys dressing Ethan in her clothes. In this photo Ethan is dressed up to play Hannah's daughter. I wonder, do I have anything to worry about? Perhaps a drag queen in the making? Or do the fingers in the nose and the kung fu kick he tried a moment earlier clear him. Last time Hannah dressed him up, she even put girl panties on him! This time she let him retain that much masculinity.

After he was dressed up he came into the living room talking in a high pitched voice and pretending to open the girl presents under the tree. I don't think though he'd be too excited about the contents! I'm sure the boy presents would have him back in jeans about as fast as he possible could do so.

Pictures from decorating

2008-12-05T09:41:00.002+03:00

What a cute Christmas tree.

This is one of systems Hannah had of taking many decorations at once to the top of the tree. She would string up about six or seven balls.

This the other method I refered to in my last post. Sting the balls on the ladder. Very effective. They had a great time.

Christmas tree

2008-12-05T09:28:00.002+03:00

Hannah and Ethan masterminded the Christmas tree this year. Hannah was very clever about it. She would connect the christmas balls together by there hooks, climb the ladder and procede to hang them one by one. Her other method involved hanging them in a row on the ladder and thm reaching down and getting them. She was very organized.

Really Nathan and I did next to nothing, a few lights and tinsel. Hannah and Ethan took charge. They had a great time, now of course they want Christmas to arrive a lot sooner than it will.

Family posting

2008-12-04T08:53:00.003+03:00

About a week ago Hannah lost her first top tooth. She's having a lot of fun with it. She keeps putting her tounge in the whole and saying "look at me Mom, I have a pink tooth". There is just something a little more significant about loosing the top teeth vs the bottom ones. The visual mark is much more pronounced.

Ethan is going through his own changes as well. He keeps getting bigger and more grown up. He and Hannah are the best of friends and play so well together, a great help to me in that regards.

Both of the kids are so excited about our coming baby. I have lots of baby movement now, and if I pay close attention I can see my belly wiggle with the baby. The kids want to see and the the other day I tried to lay as still as I could. I think Hannah actually did see a movement. Ethan ofcourse thinks the natural rise and fall of me breathing is a kick. It isn't but it didn't diminish his excitement.

We all trooped to the doctors office again yesterday. They do a short ultrasound for the heartbeat each visit. So the kids were able to see the baby again. It was Nates first time to go with me so he saw the little one too. He is a definate boy, showing off his wares rather obviously. So no doubts as to his gender. I think that makes the planning of things for me so much easier.

All else is well. The weather is getting cold. You may all laugh, but it feels cold to me. I'm sure it is in the 60's but when yu are used to 90+ this is what winter is. I had goose bumps when out and about yesterday.

Baby Update

2008-11-22T17:42:00.002+03:00

On Thursday we had the big ultrasound. It was so much fun. Hannah and Ethan were able to join me and see the little guy. He wasn't laying in a position where we were able to see his face much, but at one point you could see he was sucking his thumb and playing with his fingers. Very adorable! For the most part he had his head snuggled into the placenta and was quite content there. We did see all his arms, legs, toes and fingers and that is fun too.

If you haven't picked up on the gender, it's a boy! Everyone is excited to have him come. Nathan was our resident expert and called the gender. I was dreaming little girls but felt it may be a boy. Hannah was hoping for a girl, but doesn't seem at all dissapointed that she is having a brother. Ethan doesn't care either way, as long as I have another baby of the opposite gender later. His master plan calls for one of each, not at the same time though.

For those of you who know my sister Heather. She is also pregnant! She married last March and they decided over the summer to start a family. She is about 9 weeks now and feeling it. She has not been feeling well. I keep telling her it will mostly pass and get better and to just hang in there. Our babies will be about 3 months apart, very exciting! I am glad that my children will have a cousin from my family. Now when we go to see my Mom there will be someone to play with in the future!

The Beach

2008-11-16T16:43:00.002+03:00

Hannah loves running into the water. As you can see it is very shallow and calm in the Gulf.

Ethan likes to play in the sand. He won't venture in very far. Even if I am with him, he runs to the shore as fast as he can most of the time.

Both kids love going to the beach. The weather this time of the year is beautiful. When we have time the beach is where we want to be.

I wish that I could have done this as a kid. This day we spent two hours in the late afternoon relaxing at the beach. It is a 45 minute drive from our house so we don't go as often as I would like. But hopefully we can go once a week or so while the weather is good.

Halloween

2008-11-16T16:33:00.003+03:00

Hannah was a chef and Ethan was Superman. They had a great time.

Nathan was the master carver of this Jack-O-Lantern. He and the kids designed it.

Rumblings and mumblings

2008-11-06T16:07:00.003+03:00

The moving is done and we are just about settled. There are pictures to put up on the walls and a few miscellaneous boxes of junk. Other than that it is done. I have a few really good friends that went above and beyond and helped me get it all done.

It is so nice to be in the new place. It is much bigger. From room to room it is also quieter. We can watch tv at night and the kids cannot hear it in their room. Once doors are closed it is hard to hear anything else in the house.

All else is well. The kids are meeting some new friends. The neighbors upstairs have three children, 2 are older than mine and one is younger. They go up to play sometimes and once the kids came here. They are Sudanese and their english isn't very strong. But they seem to all have a good time anyway. Hannah hasn't learned their names yet, but I'm sure she will.

I have discovered one of the reasons that Mothers are encouraged to stay home. It is during the day that my children and I really "talk". I am often amazed at the subjects that come up. We have talked about crazy things like why do we have blood and how are bodies will be changed after the resurrection to really important subjects such as how repentance works. We often discuss gospel topics of a wide range. If I were not home a lot of these opportunities would be missed. If my children went out of the house for school the same would be true. Many of the school lessons we have lend themselves to discussions as well.

I must say I am gratefull to have this blessing. I haven't always felt it a blessing as an outside job would be a lot easier most of the time. But it is worth it to do this work. I feel the love my kids have for me and see how strong our bond is. When they aren't driving be batty we are having a great go of it :)

The Big Move

2008-10-28T11:41:00.002+03:00

It seems that we were able to find a suitable new apartment after all. We made the deciosion late Friday night on the new villa we will be living in. It is the ground floor and much roomier than our current second floor. Saturday we looked it over again with the landlord to see what needed to be done. Sunday and Monday we packed. Monday evening we moved everything in. Now it is Tuesday. Both housed are a bit of a hazardous area, but I'm sure by the end of the week the new house will feel like a home and the old house will be completely empty.

I'll be offline a few days while we get internet installed at the new house. I'll catch you all up next week on anything else going on in our lives.

Family Happenings

2008-10-22T16:01:00.003+03:00

As fate would have it, Dina will not be coming. Things have a way of changing and I'm sure this is for the best too. Actually, Nate and I both had a "feeling" about this a while ago. I am feeling great and doing well, so we are going to try to go it alone for now. I have been doing housework, laundry, school, and still doing fun things with friends. I figure if I ever want the "farm" I better get used to being self sufficient. Of course we won't push things too far. If my body says things need to change, we will do things differently. So family and friends don't need to panic that I'm over doing it. I rest plenty.

I do however finally have a working vehicle. This has made the greatest difference for me. Now I am free to run about when I want to. This week alone I have gone out more than I usually do in six weeks. It's been fun if not a bit exhausting. It feels good to be busy again, its been too long a time that I've holed up in my house without interacting. So this is one great change!

School is getting better. Hannah is catching on more to the rythm of classes. Ethan is somewhat of a distraction. We're working with it though. He has his own school work which he enjoys. I guess I could say life is good. Everyone is pretty happy. What more can I really ask for!

PS. Correction to my last blog. Nate did do dishes with me! So he doesn't draw the line there. He is deffinately stepping up to the plate with this baby!

Dissapointed

2008-10-17T08:22:00.002+03:00

Well Dina was supposed to arrive last night on the 16th, that wasn't able to happen. She was stopped in immigration in the Philippines. We thought we had all our paperwork in order. But, as is too often the case with immigration everywhere, there was a new rule that our friends here hadn't heard of yet. We have one more paper to get. It will take us another week to process that and then she can come.

I feel bad for Dina, it was a long hard day for her by the time we found out what was going on. She battled the best she could. In the end she had to go home. But we'll get it all sorted out. Hannah and Ethan were especialy disappointed, Hannah had a cry.

In the mean time it was a good lesson learned for us. Next time we will do our research better. However, Nate has been rising to the occasion lately. He has done more housework this past week than in the past few years! Well maybe not quite that long, but he is being very helpfull. So I will still get things picked up and vacumming done while Dina is not here. I can't vouch for help with the dishes though. I believe he draws a line there :)

Getting Practice

2008-10-13T20:14:00.002+03:00

A friend of mine came over with her 2 1/2 month old baby boy. Hannah had the chance to hold him and feed him a bottle all by herself. She did a great job and enjoyed it immensly. She's been wanting to hold and feed a baby for quite some time. Ethan also "held" the baby, though with much more help and a much briefer session.

Great practise for next year!

More Soccer

2008-10-09T15:09:00.001+03:00

Here are a few pictures of Hannah that dropped off the last soccer blog. She had possesion of the ball a few times which was pretty exciting. It is nice to see her putting in the effort to go after the ball and not be too shy.

2008-10-09T14:43:00.002+03:00

Soccer has been a lot of fun for all of us. Here are a few pictures of both Hannah and Ethan. Hannah is the flying ponytail. That is how I could always identify her on the field. Ethan is ofcourse the little cutie with the big cutie :) Nate is a good coach, and he is able to run around a little better than I can.

The first week we did soccer Hannah was in an older age group for 6 & 7 year olds. Mostly boys who have played a few years and were too aggressiver for her. She was too intimidated to join in. The last week we went I asked if she could join the 5 year olds, much more her playing style. She ran her heart out.

My Bedroom Back

2008-10-06T18:46:00.002+03:00

Yesterday I was the energizer bunny. I had loads of energy. Even at night when I really was exhausted my legs still wanted to keep moving. I had one of those "it can't go another minute" moments. I know I am supposed to take it easy, but sometimes it just can't be helped. We have a little apartment and have been sharing a room with our kids for about 9 months. We did this so we could use their bedroom as a kitchen rather than use the room we were using as a kitchen. Our previous kitchen was at the top of a long flight of communal stairs in our villa. It is now a storage/laundry room.

Anyways, there never really was enough room for the bunk beds in our room. Separating our beds was a set of wardrobes for privacy. I always had to squeeze one way or another to get by either to make the kids beds or open my closet. Nathan has been sick of it longer than I have, but yesterday was the last of my tolerance for the situation. I pushed, pulled, heaved and hoved. Now the kids live in the new kitchen/their old bedroom. I had been using about a third of the room as a school room, no longer. Their bunk beds are pushed up against the corner wall. Their closet is butted up against the foot of the bed. Then I strung a sheet to make a privacy curtain between the kitchen and their beds.

Our bedroom now feels enormous, even though I added two pieces of living room furniture, a desk and soft chair. The living room now hosts school. It feels a little larger since I removed the desk and chair.

Of course the entire house was trashed after the rearrange. Everything under a bed, on top of a wardrobe, and hiding elsewhere had to be shoveled up into the living room. I did manage to get it all cleaned and put away today. So for a few weeks at least I will feel like the house isn't crowding in on me.

It really was a fun project. Every once in a while a woman just needs to tear into the house and cause a little havoc.

Reading Marathon

2008-10-03T20:39:00.002+03:00

This week I hare reread the Little House on the Praire books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. (Minus one book I have lost) I have to admit, when I read these books I realize what a life of leisure I enjoy. I know they are childrens stories, but they hold a wealth of information about Pioneer and Homesteading life. I am amazed at the amount of work Pa and Ma Ingalls did each day to make sure the family had food and clothing. Once upon a time in my life my own mother worked long hard hours to do the laundry and put up food for the family, but those days are long gone.

What really impresses me the most is the family attitude toward work. Laura doesn't shirk an unpleasant task but meets it head on. They take joy in their work and go it with a cheerful attitude.

I have a long way to go to get up of the couch and dig into the messy house around me. If you have never read Laura Ingalls Wilder books, do so. They are delightfully written and charming tales from an era of American Histoy that really is foreign to us now.

One thing as I read I found very distrubing. Everyone pretty much hated the Indians. The prevailing attitude of the day regarded the phrase "the only good Indian is a dead one". How a society can reach that collective opinion about another group of people constantly amazes me. yet I know today the same types of statements are made around the world by various groups. Sad and distrubing is the words I have for such sentiment.

Hospital visit

2008-09-29T08:30:00.002+03:00

It has begun, at least to a certain extent. Saturday I discovered I was spotting. I went directly to the hospital, as this has never happened to me before. I am glad to say that everything is fine. I had to stay in hospital about 30 hours for observation. Most of that 30 hours was actually waiting for an ultrasound and a doctor to view it and release me. I am not bleeding anymore. I do have a low laying placenta, probably why I saw some blood. But it is not severe and will likely self correct as my uterus expands later in pregnancy. I do need to take it easy though, go figure. That isn't anything I haven't heard before. But it all ended well and I am home. It was actually a good time to get a feel for hospitalization here and the process before some really serious happens. All in all the hospital we've chosen seems pretty good, even if a bit busy and slow to action.

Ramadan Timings

2008-09-21T11:10:00.002+03:00

Last night we went on a family date to the mall. The entire purpose of going was to visit Virgin Book store. We arrived at the mall shortly after 5:30. During Ramadan that is a great time to go places as the majority of the population is home breaking their fast. The down side is that a lot of shops are closed. We shopped and puttered around a long time waiting for our store to open, which wasn't until 7:30. My thought is this, the shop keepers know that all the none fasting shoppers WANT to be shopping while everyone is home eating. Breaking the fast is abut 5:30, so what is the point ion staying closed until so late. We still had a good time at the mall and I did buy a couple of books. I then proceed to stay up VERY late reading the book I had bought. The joys of Ramadan. Nothing is really available when it is convenient.

My Hooligans

2008-09-19T20:44:00.004+03:00

Hannah LOVES to play dress up. She prefers playing princess, but if that isn't available dressing up Ethan as a girl seems to do the trick. This picture was probably May of this year.

This is the living room of our little apartment. We have a bedroom, bathroom, sudo kitchen ( no running water) that is also our school room. Upstairs we have another room for laundry, storage, and at one time I used it for a kitchen. Big time inconvenient as you actually are leaving our living area to get to it.

2008-09-19T20:44:00.003+03:00

We don't have many kids in our neighborhood to play with. Here is a picture of Hannah and Ethan with their friends Osama and Arwa. Osama and Arwa live next door and are the main playmates for our kids.

In the Beginning

2008-09-19T10:18:00.003+03:00

I figured it is time to start blogging. I enjoy keeping up with my friends through their blogs and guess it is possible others may want to know what we are up to. Pretty much this will be my blog, I can't imagine Nate actually getting into this at all.

As for what we are up to, we still live in Doha, Qatar. So far we are doing well. The kids and I are trying to find things to fill our time. This week I enrolled the kids in a soccer program. It starts in about a week. I hope it goes well.

I'm about 11-12 weeks pregnant. I'll post updates to that as time goes along. I have found a really good doctor and things are going well so far. Time will tell.

Since this is my first posting I'll leave things at this. I'll figure out more things to write about another time.