Ouchies

I presently have 3 ouchies...not good...I don't like pain. I'll start with the one that happened first...

Yes, that's my knee. Tucker says my knees are fat now that I've had kids, but nevertheless, it's my knee. It's not only fat in this picture, it hurts. I was running and was looking off at a house with people (that we know of course...this is Saline after all) in front of it. In the middle of the sidewalk was a huge pinecone. I unfortunately stepped on the pinecone with my left foot since I wasn't looking at where I was going, which made that foot fall to my ankle...yeah...a really bad twist. At that point I just went down. I caught myself with my hands and my right knee. Ouch. Funny thing is it didn't really hurt that bad after the first few minutes. So, oh so smart me decided that I could keep running...so I did...for about another mile. Well, that night my ankle was huge and hur-ting. Anyhoo, it's getting better, but you know...still an ouchie.

Secondly, my sweet little Asa poo bit me...while nursing. All of you mothers out there can sympathize/empathize and say "ouchie" right along with me. All of you fathers can just add this to the list of why you can be glad that you don't have to participate firsthand in the pregnancy/childbirth/nursing thing. :) Anyhoo, there is an open wound and it is not healed. Therefore, everytime I nurse...well, let's just say "OUCH!!"

Thirdly, my throat is killing me. Now, that probably helps me considering that I also can't run right now...not really wanting to eat that much either, so that's good. But, you know...hopefully my throat will get better soon.

Alright, I'm done writing about all my ailments. Woe is me! :)

Crunch Time

Well, many miles, many visits with friends, and 5 pounds later (yeah, I had Tex-Mex at least once a day on our 6-day trip), we are back home again. Here is what we'll be doing (listed in no particular order) in the remainder of our time here in Saline (3 more weeks):

1. Speaking engagements: We will be speaking at several different churches about where we are going and what we'll be doing there. Joel will also be speaking at the Senior Banquet here at Saline High School.
2. Eating as much home cooking as we can...without being gluttonous we hope.
3. Running: I love to run around here since it's so dadgum beautiful. I've always loved to exercise...this will fill our need for getting as much of this scenery as we can while we can, and also hopefully keep us fit considering #2. :)
4. packing: Joel went and got the crates that we will be using to ship our things to Brazil yesterday. We are now working to finish going through our things and pack them all up. We ship the 30th of this month, so we only have about a week to get it all done.
5. Spending time with family and friends of course. I can't believe it will be 3 whole years until we see them again (the ones that don't come to visit us in Brazil that is). We've got lots of gatherings planned.

Although we are very busy and almost every day/night is filled, we are also trying to just bask in the beauty of this place. I LOVE THE LAKE!! Have I ever told you that? :) Usually the place I run is on the dam. It is beautiful.

And, we are trying to just spend time as a family too...just us and the kids. We pray that the kids will have enough security in me and Joel that no matter where we are (in our travels), things will remain "normal." Obviously that means that we are also remembering to make it a priority that we "remain in Him."

Now I'm off to pack up the crates.

Let The Travelling Begin

Well, it has started. We are officially gypsies once again. We had a good 3 months of being settled. Now...well, let's just say the "settled" thing is over.

We are in Kilgore now...at the same house where we stayed for a couple of months waiting for Asa to come. We got to East Texas yesterday for lunch. We met with some friends from college (my college)...Cristie and Stephanie. It was great to see them and catch up...hadn't seen them in over a year. Cristie has an 8 yr. old that I hadn't seen since he was less than a year old.

We left Cristie's house and went to visit with the Graves'. Always a GREAT time with them and their chi'rens. LOVE them so much!

We went "home" to the Brockway's guest house, showered, and slept.

Got up, got dressed, went to church. We got prayed over and "sent out" by Church on the Rock today. It was so great. It was super encouraging and all of the most special people to us came up, laid hands on us, and prayed with Pastor Chuck and Diana. Nicole (Graves) came up to me when we were on our way back to our seats. She had started crying during the prayer time and she said, "Well, that made it real." Yes, it did. It gets more and more real with each passing day. Well, it's always been real to me, but I guess that as it becomes more real to the people around me, it makes it even more real to me since they are a bit "sobered" and come to the realization that they aren't going to see us for a while. Anywho...

After church we went to Papacita's for lunch with O.L., Amy Slaback, Jeremy Cammack, Robbie Neubecker, Katie Iverson, Mikayla (girl from the youth group), and Ernie and Trudy Williams. We have such GREAT FRIENDS that we are so thankful for. And...Mmmm...love those chips. :)

We left there and went to Ernie and Trudy's house and stayed there until after 10pm. LOVE that family too. They are so great...they are like an orphanage for "older" kids, i.e. young adults who find themselves in transition. Their house is just one of those places that anyone and everyone would feel "at home" in. We love you Ernie and Trudy! By the way, they are the ones that adopted our cat, Sassy, when we left last summer. Sassy is all grown up now and will be having babies of her own in the next couple of weeks. It was great to see Sassy cat again (and her poochy belly).

So, yes...this begins another travel phase. We will be in Ft. Worth area until Tuesday night. Tomorrow we will be meeting a couple who just came back from being missionaries with Asas de Socorro (the organization we are going to be a part of). We are so excited to get to talk with them. Also, we will meet up with a few other friends before we get back to Kilgore late Tues. night. More meetings on Wednesday (too many to fit in actually). Then back home to Saline on Thursday morning. Whew.

Once we get back to Saline, we are all booked up with speaking engagements and meeting up with friends and family. Not to mention the fact that we have to have everything ready for shipment to Brazil by the 30th.

We bought airline tickets last week, so it's official. We leave Saline May 14th. We'll fly to Oregon for a wedding...stay in Oregon with Joel's aunt and uncle for a week. Then we'll fly from Oregon to Boston where we will be spending time with Joel's family until June 12th. That is the date we will fly to Brazil...to live...only to come back for a visit in 3 years. Craziness. So exciting! Just soaking up every minute of being here in the midst of the busyness. But, for now...

We have to be in Ft. Worth tomorrow by noon. So, off to bed I go.

Easter Snap

All of our cold weather clothes were packed and ready for shipment. Should've known better than that. It is quite common "in these parts" for there to be another random cold spell around this time of year. It almost always comes on Easter weekend. It's what we call the "Easter Snap." I don't know if everyone has this term or if it's a Southern thing, but we definitely had an Easter Snap this year. Brrr! Needless to say, the cute little sundresses and sandals will have to wait. Jogging suits and long johns were the Easter outfits of choice this year.

We had a great weekend. Here are some shots...lots of them.


Time to decorate Easter eggs. We had never done this before with the kids since we've never lived where we've actually done the Easter egg hunts. We had a ton of fun. It's been years since I've done that...the kids liked it too. :)





Grady was very meticulous as usual and did a really good job transferring the eggs very carefully.














Asa getting in on some egg action in the only way she knows how.
We went to an Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning at Old Saline Baptist Church. It was alot of fun. They even had someone dressed up as an Easter bunny and also had one of those big blow up things that you jump in. And...gifts galore and pizza and soft drinks for everyone. They went all out and it sure was fun. Here the kids are waiting to go outside to hunt the eggs.

After the hunt, the whole family had bar-b-que at Granny's house. Here is Asa laughing with Granny.
Grady, Hadley, Kiley, and Skylar having fun playing in Granny's kitchen.
Easter baskets...they each got a new Bible storybook and of course a chocolate bunny (they got the Peter Rabbit kind).
Giving the kids their baskets. I had been to sunrise service...cold...it was in the 30s, but it sure was pretty. They have it on the lake. I had never been before even though I lived here all my life. So, I decided to go this time. The kids were very excited about their baskets.
Cousins...Kiley, Grady, Hadley, Eli, and Skylar. We always go over to the lake after church on Easter for a picnic and Easter egg hunt. On Easter snap years, the picnic has to be moved inside to Aunt Cheryl's house...but, as long as we're at the lake. :)
Hunting.
Grady, Kiley, and Eli. Isn't that a great backdrop for an Easter egg hunt?
One of the advantages to hunting with real eggs vs. the plastic ones.
You always have a snack readily available.
Riding Shelby's mechanical bull.
Hadley getting in on it.
The afternoon siesta. Colby and Tucker passed out in the back...Grady (acting as a pillow) and Joel just watching some "Home Improvement." :)







Sister kisses.
Aren't they beautiful? Another thing that happened in the past few days...Asa was 6 months old on Tuesday! She is all over the place, scooting all around, and is very close to crawling I think. She does the thing where she gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. So cute.

I am happy to report that after a few days of cold weather it is now back up into the 70s...woohoo.

Hope you had a great Easter too!

Refreshed and Renewed

Amazing how time with God can cure anything and everything.

I'm not one to pretend like things are honky dory when they aren't. Some people (missionaries in particular can fall into this trap) just go on not ever mentioning when they are struggling. I am positive and full of faith, but at the same time I don't live in denial. And besides, we are supposed to bear one another's burdens, right? Thanks for your prayers toward me at 2am on Saturday morning. :)

That verse I referenced...Joel's grandparents say that they are sure he was talking about child-training when he wrote that. I fully agree. :) At the time of my post I was not thinking about child-training though. It was all about the adults in my life and my prayers and faith for them. Anyhow, can't go into detail, but just know that all is well for me again...no longer weary.

Good thing too...we are on the go so much these days. Just wanted to post super quickly to give you an update. Now I'm out the door.

Pictures from the weekend to come...

Weary

You know that verse that says something about not growing weary in doing what is good? I'm very weary. Please pray for me.

Still Here

Just wanted to let you all know that I haven't kicked the bucket or anything. We've just been really busy doing family things. Good stuff. I will post more later when I get a chance.

In the meantime, for you faithful blog viewers, I will give you a little heads-up. The February pictures are now up on our website, although I was just glancing at a few of them and we will have to re-publish them at some point...there are a ton of typos. Oopsies. I was in a hurry and also preoccupied when I was doing the captions, as you can tell. Anyhow, go to the website and look at pictures while you wait for me to say something here. Go...skeedaddle: www.EbersoleOnline.com.