Always.

Time for a baby update :)

How far along? : 23w 2d

Total weight gain: Around 15 pounds maybe? But David says I am all belly 🙂

How big is baby?: At our appointment last week Reese measured 17cm from crown to rump, so he is getting nice and tall. We are so proud! We had a long discussion over what side of the family he will take after, if my side then he will be a tall and really big boy!

Sleep?: Meh, I have noticed that when I am awake he is awake. I wonder if this means we will have a completely nocturnal baby.

How are you feeling physically? Ok. I have a dr. appointment today to deal with some consistent cramping. Hopefully it is just RLP and nothing else. Will update if there is any news to tell.  Update: Just got back from the dr. He felt around my belly and when he touched the left side it was so painful! He was concerned that it may be some kind of placental abruption, so that was terrifying. Also it is the side that I have the ovarian cyst on so off we went for another ultrasound. Everything is fine with Reese and my ueterus and Placenta are in tact. The dr. thinks it is either in my colon or the ovarian cyst, and that we should keep an eye on it. But for now we should just manage the pain with some tylenol. It has been getting better over the last few days. The absolute best part was when he put the wand on my belly we caught Reese giving a really big yawn. The dr. said he looked tired, no wonder he was up all night kicking me in the bladder 🙂

How are you feeling emotionally?: Content. I am nervous about getting his room finished, and having everything we need. I am so happy that we are having a little boy. I still find myself surprised when I realize that it actually happened. We are having a baby. I am humbled by this gift God has given us. Sad when I think about the fact that none of our family is close. David feels this way too. I think it is one event that is really difficult to go through away from family. It will be so strange that none of our family will actually see me pregnant, it will just be “hi! Now we have a baby!” And so excited to be going through this with David. He has been amazing.

Movement?: Yes! Daily now. It is funny though, he will kick and punch and roll and as soon as David comes over he freezes. I think maybe Reese hears David’s voice and then goes really still to try and listen to his daddy’s voice. Or he is just being ornery.

Food cravings?: Cucumbers and tomatoes. Salt.

What I’m looking forward to: I still haven’t felt any baby hiccups yet. I am looking forward to that!

Next Appointment: The next routine app is on Oct 22, then we go every two weeks! And then today for the cramping issues.

Stretch marks? Nope. My belly is itchy though.

Gender: Still a boy. We did have a little scare at the last app though. Reese was just very sleepy I guess. I jokingly said “it is still a boy right?” and the dr went quiet. Then he searched for a long time. David and I kept looking at each other. Then at last he found the boy parts. In my head I was preparing myself to leave with an Eliana in my belly, and to go to the store and return the blue blanket I bought.

Belly button in or out? In, but shrinking. It freaks David out.

Weekly wisdom: “The longer you wait for something the more you will appreciate it when you get it. Because anything worth having is definately worth waiting for.”

Also remember to check out the baby website that David has been working on. It has pictures, the collection of pregnancy blogs, and our registry is on there.

Ricardo in America!

One of our students, Ricardo, has left Namibia for the USA. He has needed an eye surgery for the last few years now. He needs a partial eye transplant, as his left eye is slowly losing sight. An American donor had said that he would pay for the surgery to be done in Namibia, but it has taken almost two years of going in circles trying to find a dr. who could do the surgery. Finally it was decided that it would be easier to just take him to America and have it done there. After the surgery he will be staying with the Miller family in Boston, they visited CHS earlier this year, and he will be going to school with their boys.

We had a small farewell party for him at the YWAM base with the rest of his class. The kids seemed happy and excited for him, but also sad. Especially Chris seemed like he did not know how to deal with the fact that his best friend was leaving. Pray for him as he goes on this journey, and for the Miller family, and also for the kids that have been left behind.

Scorpion on the Dune.

We spotted this critter while we were on Dune 7, (a few weeks ago) David and Marye were sand boarding and I was walking up the dune I saw this little guy digging a hole. Later we found out that they are extremely poisonous! When I looked at the pictures later I saw some venom dripping out of the stinger, yikes! He kept making clicking noises too. I took the pictures of him under the rock, and then David took the ones of him up close. It kept running up to the camera! I am happy we have not found any of these in our yard, and most of the ones we have found on the YWAM base are brown and not poisonous. So don’t let this scare you off!

Cross Cultural Guesstures :)

Today David played Guesstures in his Discipleship class. It was pretty funny, but also very interesting. It is amazing to see how the kids act out the words on the cards. At first I thought is was going to be a disaster when I saw how the kids were acting out the words. It seemed like “physical gibberish” to me, but the kids were getting it!
It was interesting to see the Namibian culture come through so strong on such a simple game. To my eyes “cat” looked like a dying chicken, “eating” looked like rapid face punching, “monkey” looked like a chicken dance, but “pound” was one of my favorites. The kid acting out “pound” was acting like he was pounding maize with a wooden maize pounder Of course here pound does not mean weight but making dinner. I would have failed if I was trying to mime pound.
David and I did each take a turn. It was not pretty. I mimed “mail box” but the kids stared at me with confused faces. Afterwards I realized it is because they don’t have mail service here, only PO boxes. I bet most of our kids have never even seen a mail box, or received a letter. And I know that they have never sent a letter. It seemed to take the kids much longer to guess words we were miming, if at all.

I learned today how important it is to understand a culture to properly communicate a message. I was not able to communicate mailbox as it is not part of the kids lives. In the same way we are here to communicate the love of a heavenly Father to people who have mostly not even known they fathers, and most of them who have know fathers know them as violent drunks.

I think I am shown to that God’s plan is perfect. If we came blazing into Namibia ready to plant churches without knowing the basic culture of people who live here we would have failed! So even if some days we feel frustrated by not being in a place of planting churches yet, we are in a season of preparation right now. And it is probably some of the most important preparation we will ever have. Please pray for us this week, to learn all we need to in this time, and grow where we need to!

First day of the last term.

Today has been full! We got up early this morning to meet with Brian and Pam Kinghorn, the directors of YWAM Namibia, to discuss our future in Namibia. I know I keep giving hints as to what that will be, but I don’t want to announce anything before we know for sure, so sorry but soon!

We then came over to the school where I have spent the day doing little things that come up on the first day of school, including first aid 🙂 David has been teaching P.E non stop today. From 10 until 2:30 he has back to back P.E classes. I do not envy him! It is so hot outside, and as it is the first day of school the kids have been quite, um, energetic.
 
We will have a staff meeting at the end of the school day, that usually lasts until 4 or 5pm and then we have to make a mad dash to the ministry of education to pick up some paper work. (Apparently all our teachers have to take a state wide English test tomorrow.) And yes, we were only told this today, it is a 3 hour exam, so now we are scrambling to try and find something to do with a 100 kids while their teachers are being tested. All and all a normal day around the school.

Reese has been kicking a lot today, I think he likes me being a little more active. Also a lady in the community when seeing my baby bump jumped up and down, giggled, and then ran over and kissed my belly. She is known to have a drinking problem, but I think she was quite sober today. It has been fun to see how people react to the news of us having a baby. I am already praying for God to use Reese as a way to open doors in the community and in the hearts of the people here.
I left my camera at home today, oops, so no pictures, but at least you have some idea of what we have done today.
As always we need and appreciate your constant prayers!

monday, MONDAY!

We are back in school, this week is teacher training and preparation and the kids will be back next week. This year has just flown by! As we start the last term of the year the weather is warming up, and we are getting ready to graduate the first grade 7 class from CHS.
Be in prayer for the new term, and keep your eyes on this space for more updates about the new term!