MISC.

Here are a few things I want to tell you before I crawl in bed only to wake up in 5 hours!

• Our dog got a hair cut today. You must go right now to Aaron’s blog and see before and after pics. Hilarious!
• I read one of the BEST books I have ever read in the car yesterday on the way down here. Same kind of different as me – unbelievable book! Go right now to your local library and check it out. I did the “ugly cry” for 50 pages yesterday and Aaron thought his wife had lost it and Cayden drew a picture of his mommy crying while he doodled in the backseat!
• Tomorrow we leave the house at 3:45 AM – yes you read that right. what the heck???
• Tomorrow we step foot in Haiti. Aaron will see the Haitians playing their music outside right before you step into the airport and head through customs.
• In two days I’ll see my kids again and Aaron will meet his kids for the first time.
• In two days I’ll see Licia! Yippee! Love that woman!
• Tomorrow I’ll meet Tara!! Yippee!! Love that woman and we’ve never met!!!

Hopefully one of us will be able to post from Haiti!!!

sonel.

Remember Sonel? He is a cutie pie of a little boy that lives at the Rescue Center in Haiti where our kids are. He’ll be flying to the states on April 29th and will be having surgery on his feet. Pray for his journey to America. Lori will be bringing him and I am so happy for him. His host mom has set up a blog so that we can follow this little boys journey. Please visit often and send some encouragement her way! Click here for the blog to follow Sonel’s journey.

We’re in IBESR!!!

It is 5:15 am (way too early for anyone to be awake) and we are about to get two sleepy boys out of bed and put them in the car for a LONG drive to the great state of TEXAS.  I must share some great news with you that I got this morning …. we’re in!!!!  YES you heard me right …. we have entered IBESR.  This makes me VERY  happy.  Not sure exactly when we entered, probably some time last week.  I’ll update when I know an exact date. 

Here are the magic numbers:  16521 & 16522

Move those papers!!!!!  (say that in the voice of Ty Pennington on House Makeover!!!)

MOVE THOSE PAPERS!!!!

why Monday?

Why must every place I need to go today have to be closed on Monday’s?  Seriously why not Tuesday’s?

Just like me to wait until the last minute to do stuff though.

Deacon’s barber – closed today.  What is two more weeks with crazy big hair?

Driver’s license place to renew – closed today.  My license will expire on 5/6 while I’m in Haiti.  Not like I didn’t get a letter from them 2 months ago reminding me of this!

the begining stages of packing

The packing has begun at our house.  For me packing for a big trip like this takes time.  I have to lay it all out in different sections and then survey it and then decide how it will all go in and where it will all go.  You have to take into consideration weight when packing for these trips too.  All the heavy stuff can not go in one bag or you can’t get much in that one.  Aaron is the best at putting it all in.

Basically I will lay it all out and then let Aaron put it all together!  He does that well.  Then we weigh it and move on to the next suit case.    Tonight is the lay out all out night.  Tomorrow Aaron and I will put it all together!  Then Tuesday we drive to Texas all day long.  Wed we recoup and spend the night with the Ivey’s and Thursday our flight leaves Houston at 6 AM!!!

Here’s what we’re working with here:

• 3 boxes of cereal for the Livesay family
• 2 boxes of oatmeal for the Livesay family (not even sure if they like oatmeal, but someone gave this to me)
• a box of saltines for the Livesay family – maybe they can pass these out to prego women there
• 3 boxes of instant breakfast – never saw a gallon of milk when i was in Haiti, not sure this will work out
• way too many pounds of Starbucks coffee
• 7 cans of cashews
• 13 bars of soap
• 2 cans of coffee creamer
• 3 boxes of brownies
• 5 boxes of wipes
• 2 gauze bandage rolls
• 3 boxes of bandaids
• 20 tubes of hydrocortisone cream
• 20 pack of batteries
• 2 bottles of asprin
• 2 boxes of rolaids
• 2 bottles of nasal spray
• 7 tubes of anti-bacterial/antiseptic cream
• 3 bottles of hydrogen peroxide
• 3 bottles of rubbing alcohol
• 3 tubes of triple antibiotic ointment
• 4 tubes of diaper rash cream
• 2 tubes of antifungal cream
• 3 jars of infant gas relief
• 1 infant motrin drops
• 2 bottles of children’s pain reliever
• 3 sets of gifts for Amos and Story’s nannies – purse, lipstick, hand lotion, toothbrush/toothpaste set, 3 bars of soap
• 30 pairs of sunglasses for kids in Rescue Center
• color pages for the kids in the Rescue Center
• 12 bottles of bubbles for Livesay kids and kids in Rescue Center
• 4 sticker activity books for my buddies Carmelo, Trey & Henley
• 2 pairs of shoes for Amos
• colors and coloring book for Amos
• toothbrush and toothpaste for Amos
• sunglasses for Amos
• new DIEGO backpack for Amos 
• clothes for Amos & super cute clothes for Story!
• good smelly lotion for Amos & Story
• toys for Amos & Story
• Ribbies clippies for Story
• johnny jumper for Story
• 8 boxes of rice cereal with bannanas for Story

Think we’ll get it all in?  I’ll let you know what doesn’t make the final cut…..

Haiti last minute requests

Licia posted some last minute requests for stuff that she would like to get down on the container that will be going out in May.  If any of you would like to donate anything leave me a comment and I’ll get in touch with you.  You can ship any of these things to them stateside.  Leave a comment if you want the address.

Here are her needs:

Personal Needs:

7 pillows

children’s clothes hangers (6 dozen)

king size sheets (for Enoch and I)

twin size sheets (for the boys)

spring curtain rods

italian seasoning, Nature’s seasons, Mrs. Dash

Rescue Center:

TV and VCR or DVD player-this would be to play videos for the kids

crib sheets

plastic pants to put over cloth diapers

infant formula (any kind)

I have room for a few of these things if you can get them to me before I leave.  We’re leaving TN at 5AM on Tuesday and leave for PAP early on Thursday morning.  I have room for plastic pants, crib sheets, seasonings, and two sets of sheets.  Let me know if you can do any of this.

If anyone wanted to donate a tv but couldn’t ship it you could send a Wal Mart or Target gift card and they could go and get one. 

5 days …

top 5 things today ….

1 more night before our open house

2 more loads of laundry today

3 is how old Amos will be next month

4 is how many kids we’ll have under one roof eventually

5 more days until I’m in Haiti!

Three cups of Tea

I finished THREE CUPS OF TEA yesterday.  I would have to say that although the book was hard for me at first I really enjoyed it and glad I stuck it out.  I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in social justice, education, and a great story of someone doing great things around the world.

Greg Mortneson ended up in a remote village after failing to climb the K2 and promised them he would come back and build them a school.  Something we take for granted, they didn’t even have a simple school to educate their children.  His journey in the book was amazing.  He built schools through Pakistan and Afghanistan and even endured a kidnapping and heavy questioning after 9/11.  A great story of a true hero.

A  simple theme throughout the book was the value of education.  Education is key to fighting poverty and terrorism in our world.  Education for a boy and especially a girl  in that particular area, can open up the whole world to them and allow them to experience life how they would have never had the chance to before an education.

I have now checked out a new book at the library and am excited about working my way through this one.  I have heard about this book from numerous people.  Yesterday Matt suggested it and since I didn’t have my book list with me at the library I remembered this book and checked it out.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.

Happy 30th!

Aaron did something amazing this week!  He threw me a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY party!!!  My birthday is actually not until May 6th, so he completely surprised me!  I’ll be in Haiti for my birthday, which is kinda fun, but I also didn’t want a surprise party in Haiti.

Aaron had me completely surprised.  I had NO clue.  Not one clue!  He was so good at all his planning and working around me always snooping in his life.  He even had a different email address created so that I wouldn’t find a trace of anything.  I even picked the restaurant we went to last night.  I booked the babysitter.  I told her what time to come.  I picked the date night.  No way I would have ever thought.  He made it feel as though it was just a normal date night for us.  He did make me fix my hair even though I didn’t want to.  I sure am glad I did now though!

So we go into the restaurant that I had picked out for dinner and the lady leads us into a room.  When I opened the door there were 20 of my closest friends there and they were all smiling and saying “surprise”!  I was so shocked.  I was so honored.  I felt so special and loved that I went into the “ugly cry”.

I was so shocked to see two of my friends that are so dear to my heart there.  Rachel lives in FL and Amy lives in TX and they both came in for my party.  Wow! I was so honored and so happy to see them both.  I love them both so much and love any time I get to spend with them.

I love friendships!  My friend Amy got me a beautiful bracelet that says “BELIEVE IN MIRACLES”  I love it and it might be my favorite new thing.

My friend Amy helped Aaron out with lots of random facts and stories about me from high school.  They were funny memories and we had fun laughing about them.

Aaron gave everybody a “jamie face” and one side said true and the other side said false.  He would ask questions and then everyone would either hold up the true side or the false side.  Very fun game and wonderful idea.  He is so brilliant and creative. 

The party was so much fun and I had so much fun.  I have told Aaron numerous times today that I wish it could have lasted longer.  It was fun to hang with friends.  Fun to eat great food and enjoy great wine.

Aaron I love you and am so happy to turn 30 with you!  Thanks for a fabulous party and thanks for my fabulous friends who wrote wonderful things about me in the scrap book.

6 more days

The countdown has begun.  We are under a week of count down now.  In 6 days we’ll be landing in Haiti and in 7 days I’ll be holding my sweet children in my arms and introducing them to their daddy for the first time.  Can you even begin to imagine meeting your child for the first time ever?

Here’s who I’m looking forward to seeing …..

We have raised $350 from the paypal donations.  Awesome!  We’ll take that money and buy food for people in Haiti.  We hope to truly bless some people with food while we are there.  We have also collected lots of supplies for the clinic where the Livesay’s are and for them personally.  We’re bringing them some good cofffee and cashews and candy and fun stuff that they can’t get at their local Wal-Mart.    We’ll get to meet Dr. Jen and Tess when we are there too.

We fly in on May 1st and the next day head out to where Licia is to see our kids.  Lori won’t be there b/c she’ll be in the states with her hubby.  Hopefully we can do some stuff around there with the kids in the Rescue Center.

It’s almost May 1st!!!  Between now and then Aaron will fly to Austin and back, we’ll have an open house, I’ll pack suitcases for Aaron and I to go to Haiti and for the boys to go to TX and stay with grandparents, I’ll hopefully make it to Tina’s bible study, and have lunch with the Shingleton’s on Sunday while the house is showing.  I’ll also try to mow the lawn once before we leave and clean the house so that while we’re gone it can show and hopefully sell!  6 more days!