Call me "David" because I conquered Goliath...

Yesterday was a busy, busy day for us. First, we woke up a little late. Israel is officially nocturnal and it will just have to be that way until we get back to Mexico. OK, back to our day. We went to have our son & Olivia's picture taken for their upcoming 7th birthday. It was in the middle of Sarah's twin's 2nd b-day photo shoot, so we left right after my boy & Olivia had their pictures made. Then we were off to get a quick bite (so we thought) at Chick-fil-A. When we walked in we were surprised to see our old friend, Randy Roddy, there. We ate lunch with him and towards the end his wife came over to visit, also.

Then we were off to Derrick's grandparent's house. If you don't know his grandparents, I'm sorry...I just can't explain them in one blog. They are a riot and you never know what to expect from them. Anyway, the kids had a blast, even though Grandma couldn't hear a word they said and I kept having to yell what they were saying in her ear. The kids also took turns playing their almost century-old piano that has NEVER been tuned, yet it gets played every Christmas like it's in tune. Speaking of Christmas, I got a picture of our son infront of the Christmas tree that has been up in their house since Derrick put it up in December of 2001. Yes folks, NEVER TAKEN DOWN in 7 years.

After that we were off to Aunt Helen's house. That is Grandma's sister, Derrick's great-Aunt. She is super sweet and a lot more low-key that her sister. Her & Grandma have been huge supporters of our ministry and we appreciate the heritage and blessing that they bring on us, our children, and our children's children. OK, off the bunny trail and back to Aunt Helen. The kids had fun playing with her remote control lights. My son also found a remote to the door bell and started playing tricks on us. It was funny. The kids had a blast with Aunt Helen and so did we!

From there we went to my Mom's house. The kids changed clothes & shoes because WE WERE GOING TO SIX FLAGS!!! The kids had never been and Derrick & I hadn't been since right before I got pregnant with #2; so 5 years ago. First off, Derrick & I rode the Scorcher. It was fabulous! Then Derrick took our oldest to ride the Mind Bender. He told me that he had one hand on the rail and the other on his Daddy's arm. After eating we went to Thomas town and let the kids ride the train. Since Mom wasn't riding anything we decided that she would stay there in Thomas town with the kids while D & I rode a ride. That ride would be GOLIATH!!! Holy Cow! I haven't been that nervous about riding a roller coaster in my life. It was intense. After that we decided that we would check out the Batman Ride. There was nobody in line and we literally walked right on to the ride...gotta love Coke night. After that ride, and my 3rd time feeling light-headed that night, I came to the conclusion that I'm old. My body has had 3 kids and will probably produce another one some day. Things have changed. My mind is saying, "no problem, it's so much fun." My body is saying, "What the crap are you doing to me?" Nonetheless, I felt like a kid again and it was a blast. Our daughter got to meet Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck. Our oldest also rode the Scream Machine and played a dart/balloon game where he popped 4 balloons in a row and won prizes for himself and for his sister. PLUS, 3 college guys won some stuffed lizards that they didn't want and they offered them to the kids. They were super-excited about that. To top the night off, Mom, D, & the 2 older kids went on the Monster Plantation. Nothing but the classics. We had a fabulous night with Mom and Six Flags!

Now I am trying to pack our stuff back up and decide what might have to stay until we come back for Thanksgiving. Tough stuff.

I have pictures but I'm not on my computer. Maybe I'll do pics later. We have tons from Grandpa & Grandma Blasczyk's and Aunt Helen's.

My man is coming home today...

I will see my wonderful husband this evening!!! I'm so excited! Our friend, Andy (FIREmexico team leader), will be staying with us here for an extra day to do some well-needed and well-deserved fishing. I am going to give Derrick the password to my blog and let him write some stories from his trip to Peru. Be on the look out.

I spent the weekend at Mom's. In the middle of it I had lunch with Dad & Judy at Olive Garden. It was a fun weekend with delicious food. I also went shopping at Old Navy and spent some left over gift certificates. So now that you know the oh-so exciting details of my Labor Day weekend, you can go back to enjoying your day.

Lessons learned...

For those of you that are not aware, which is most of you, there are some railroad tracks that lead into Douglasville. The main intersection where you cross the tracks is a pretty steep hill. That is why there are signs EVERY WHERE saying that tractor trailers cannot cross there. Many o'driver do not pay attention and think that they can cross anyway. Then they get stuck, traffic gets backed up and everyone has to find another way around them while people work to get them off of the tracks.

Yesterday, this such event occurred. But this guy wasn't so lucky to stop traffic while they cleared him off. A train decided to clear him off of the tracks. We pulled up right after it happened. Being the good person that I am, I took pictures while sitting in traffic.





It was a trailer that transports new cars. There's one of those new cars in the grass.



See his cab up there facing the other direction? If you look closely, you can see a red car stuck under the nose of the train.



See, I really am a freak. I went back the other direction to get more pictures.



There's the trailer wrapped around the train.

If this isn't a lesson in railroad crossing safety, I don't know what is. The driver got out in time and he is safe. But I'm sure his career as a truck driver is ruined.


Thursday night we all spent the night with the Noles'. They watched the older 2 while I went to see "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" with ManEater. If you have seen the first one, then the second one is a must see. And if you've never desired to go to Greece, then watch those movies and get back to me. It's at the top of my list now. OK, back to my kids at the Noles'...since Sarah has 6 kids, it really is a "Jon & Kate" type house. The kids were watching "High School Musical 2" when I arrived with the baby. There were a lot of kids dancing & singing in that living room. Speaking of my bff, My "Anne", she has a blog. Check it out!!!

I'm at my Mom's house now. I am having lunch with Dad & Judy tomorrow. It will be my 3rd, yes 3rd, time at Olive Garden. Am I complaining? NOPE! :-)

I miss my husband. And even worse, I missed a late night call from him last night. I was zonked and my Mom wasn't able to wake me up for it. Oh well. Maybe tonight.

Update in pictures...

Our oldest and Solomon are checking each other out.





Grandma and the kids.




PaPa Brooks and the kids.





Aunt Katie got the prize with the baby's smile! The 2 older kids love hanging out with Aunt Katie and messing around in her room.





Gabby and our baby falling in love with each other. Did I mention that Gabs & her family are moving down with us in January (wink, wink)? I think our baby is already smitten on his future babysitter.





Cassie & I! I love her so much. She has discipled me in so many ways...both taught & caught. I've learned so much about being a Mom from her. I met Cassie right around the time that I met Derrick. I spent many Friday nights at her house just watching her with her kids, listening to what the Lord has taught her, and eating some delicious food. I can't wait for us to be together in Mexico.



Seriously, I don't think that Guadalajara knows what it has coming to it with Derrick & Ben together. I think Caleb has learned a little too much from his Dad.



Ben trying to imitate our baby's cheeks. And doing a pretty good job I think.


Update on Peru: Derrick arrived last night in Peru. Today they had a fun day and went to the beach. As a spur of the moment deal, Derrick & Scott went surfing! How cool is that? I can't wait to see pictures. Derrick said that it was the most intense aerobic workout that he's ever done. I'm so jealous because I really want to learn how to surf. Now that my hubby knows how maybe he can teach me :-). I'll update more as I get more info. throughout the week.

Revelations & Vanity...

This visit to the States has been a little different than the ones before. It seems like I have truly forgotten a few "American" things and I'm just taken back a little bit. I still want to automatically throw my toilet paper in the trash instead of flushing it. My kids will always throw it away. I can't teach them otherwise, so if we come to your house and that happens, SORRY. I love how there are like 20 brands of shampoo & body wash to choose from. I love that I can order a pizza over the phone and not have to ask the person on the other line to repeat everything.



One of the biggest changes is in my mentality of America and the "American dream". I used to always want a decent-sized, 3 bedroom house with a playroom and a huge back yard. Even though I knew that God had called us to Mexico, I still wanted it maybe someday. Derrick, our little girl and I were driving to Kroger after getting her ears pierced. We were driving along a road that we have driven many times and I have loved the houses on this road for many years. This time, as we drove along, I didn't desire these houses. I didn't pass by them and imagine what they look like on the inside and what our family would look and live like in those houses. I no longer have that craving to live in the States under the title of "living the American dream". My "American dream" is to be where ever God wants me. Now if that is back here in the States, then that is where I want to be. For now it is in Mexico and I am happy to serve Jesus there. I have so many friends, many of them are bloggers on here, that are serving Jesus right where He wants them, here in the US. Ministry is not about where you live it's about doing what you feel that God wants you to do and obeying Him. So instead of calling it my "American dream", I will call it my destiny. I want to live out the destiny that God has for me. He knows me way better than I know myself so I think that He knows way better where is the best place for me to live.



Enough rambling...I'm sick from living in no central A/C & no humidity to now living in A/C and humidity. It's like when the weather changes and you get sick. My climate & altitude has changed and I am sick. I don't like taking medicine, especially since I'm nursing. But I'm going to try something to help me sleep. OH, and the following are pics of our daughter's ear piercing adventure. She had one ear done at a time and she didn't even flinch, thank you Jesus!!





Here she is getting ready. She's holding the Claire's bear and stroking the tag between her fingers. That what she does w/ her animals at home to calm herself.



The second ear. Didn't flinch and didn't even whine. Maybe she has a high tolerance for pain thanks to her older brother.




Tah-dah!!! That was the extent of her unhappiness. But let me just tell you, she walked with increased confidence and a hip-shaking strut when we left the store.

Cousin time...

Cousins that are all about a week or so apart.

Baby trying to eat Paige's hand.


Now he's trying to eat David's hand.


I ate Steak N Shake last night...good for the taste buds but NOT on the stomach. Hence I had a grilled chicken sandwich today when we ate at Mom's office. My Mom works at Coca-Cola. We went into the company store. There is a big, plastic polar bear in there and when you sit on it, it growls and makes a noise like it's popping open a Coke and gulping it. After the bear growled about 5 times our daughter turned around to it and said, "Could you please stop growling?" She was drop-dead serious, as usual. Once again, as always with her, there are no words...

We are in GA...

We arrived last night in GA! Most people thought that we weren't coming until today. So it was nice to surprise people, especially my "Anne". We had a wonderful time at church. Our baby made the rounds and I'm not too sure that he knew what hit him. It's fun & different at the same time to go to church and see so many new people.

Now I am at my Mom's house. Me and the kids CRASHED a couple of hours ago. The kids are still napping. It was a long day yesterday. I'll explain later. Just giving a quick update. OH, and I've eaten Chick-fil-A, had a Cherry Coke, and seen family & Sarah!

From My Anne...

My Anne (SarahBeth) sent this to me via email and I decided to do it via blog.


Four Things About Me:

A) FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER:
3rd level laundry room, Superama (kinda like Wal-Mart), the Lee's house, Oxxo (kinda like QT)

B) FOUR PEOPLE THAT EMAIL ME REGULARLY:
Mom, SarahBeth, Carrie Pruett, Facebook

C) FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
(see post below) Quiznos, Chick-fil-A, Pizza, My father-in-law's steaks

D) FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
In Georgia, Hawaii, Paris, Prince Edward Island

E) FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND:
This is a retarded question. Oh the pressure that can be put on people to respond. And then what if they don't respond, then you feel like a boob for thinking that your friends would respond but didn't.

F) FOUR MOVIES I WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
"Anne" Trilogy, Groundhog Day (no pun intended), Pirates of the Caribbean, About a Boy

These are a few of my favorite things...

All of these things above will be thoroughly enjoyed while I am in the States!!!

We're Coming to America...

We received Israel's birth certificate on Friday. Derrick talked to the U.S. Consulate today and we should be getting his passport this week. So if we get our permission slip to leave the country (we have to have permission because our ministry visas are in process) then we should see some of you wonderful people from this Sunday to Sept. 8th!!!! There's only a handful of people that have met our baby...Grandparents (minus my step-dad), Pastor Dwayne, Bruce, & Jon. I'm so excited for our baby to meet ALL of the family and friends that are our family, too.

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UPDATE: About an hour after I wrote this we received the baby's passport. Now we're just waiting for our permission! Thanks for all of your prayers. I am aching to see my family & friends!