A precious gift on a frustrating day

I have been going through spurts where I'll be wide awake in the morning, eager to jump out of bed and spend some quiet moments with the Lord while the rest of the house lay sleeping. And other mornings...I am just dead to the world. Exhausted beyond belief. And getting up early and spending some devotional time with Jesus seems physically impossible.

But I have noticed, on the mornings when I am wide awake at an unreasonably early hour, it wasn't me that woke myself up. And it's those mornings that I know..."okay Lord, you got me up, you must have something to share with me. I'm gonna go downstairs and spend my morning talking it out with You."

And sure enough. Every morning that that happens, the Lord has something important to share with me. And this morning....He did as well. I woke up too early. Earlier than I would have thought for going to bed so late. But I knew that the Lord was calling me. So I crept downstairs and spent some time with him. The minutes ticked by and just as I was wrapping up my quite time I heard Isaak call to me from upstairs....

"Melissa! Look in your email! Jeff sent the pictures!"

I smiled. Jubilant. Racing to the screen. I have been waiting for this day. It might seem silly, but I had really been praying that the Lord would send us pictures of our house in Africa. I am a very visual person. And I had lots of reasons that I wanted to see it, but mostly, I just wanted to see the place that the Lord picked out for us. The home He has lovingly selected and set aside for us to live in these next two years. I just wanted to see it. But after many many delays in that department as well, we came to peace that we may not see it until we got in country. And that was fine. It really was. I certainly wasn't going to make a stink if we didn't get to see it before hand. I knew it was there. I knew that we had a home. And I was content to pray for it and over it sight unseen.

But what an unexpectedly sweet gift to get today. He just so delights in blessing our socks off. He so delights in blessing us with extra little gifts, simply because He loves us and delights in us. He knows every little nook and cranny of my heart. He knows all the little things that make my heart do back flips. And this morning, waiting in my inbox, was such a gift.

Oh, I can't describe how happy I was to see our house. And I love the Lord's perfect timing. He knew more than I just how much I would need to see these pictures after this morning.....

Because this morning we all had back to back to back doctor's appointments. Appointments to get prescribed anti-malaria medication. This was what I thought would be the last in a long line of appointments already had.

But no.

-After nearly three hours at the clinic we were told that we all need to come back yet again for additional appointments to get on malaria meds.

-We were told that the two times we have been cleared medically, was not enough, and now our paperwork is being submitted yet again for clearance.

-All those vaccinations we've had. Not enough. We have to come back for even more sticks.

I think we're done, and then discover that there are ten more hoops to jump through. And this is just medically.

When I look back on all we've gone through, and then forward at all that still needs to be done to get to Africa....it seems like too much.

I wanted to hang my head in defeat.

And then, He was there. Reminding me....

"Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart." -2 Cor. 4:1

This was the theme verse for the women's retreat I went on back in March. And I can't even describe how much God has used these words to encourage me. To refocus me. To bring my eyes back on Him. It's been way to easy to fix my eyes on my circumstances of late. To dwell in frustration and discouragement. And then today, when frustration surfaced again and threatened to strangle my hope away, He was there, bringing His words back to me. Cheering me on, "do not lose heart, I have a place prepared for you, I have called you to this ministry."

And then there I was. Standing in my home....in Africa. Everything else faded away. I was reminded that this, all this is temporary. God has a place prepared for us. He has a ministry in store for us. All these seemingly never ending hoops, will eventually get jumped through. But until they do....He has blessed us with a visual reminder of what's to come. A visual reminder of where we're going. A visual reminder to help take our eyes off of our frustrating present circumstances and fix them back on the Lord. To give Him thanks for what He's already done, and what is to come.

He has prepared a place for us. He has hand selected it. And it is here that we will live and serve Him. It is here that I pray others will find comfort and fellowship. It is here that I pray others will know His love. It is here that I pray we can bring Him glory and "declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful Light." -1 Pt. 2:9

It is in this home, and in this country, that we have this ministry. And I will not lose heart. 

Puddle love

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful." E.E. Cummings

Happy day.

How bad can malaria be? I mean really.

Oye.

I've been researching anti-malaria meds all.day.long. Reading medical reports. Comparing side effects. And after a mind-numbingly frustrating day....I have come to a conclusion.

I would rather take my chances getting MALARIA itself than take any of those FA-REAKY medications!!

I mean, a girl that starts throwin' dirt on her own grave when she stubs her toe because she thinks that the toe stubbing incident has caused a blood clot when she feels a mystery pain coming from her calf area...should not be allowed to research anti-malaria meds.

Too.may.side.effects.

And I know me.

I will get every single one.

I mean, how the crap am I suppose to know if the irregular itching is from the medication, or some new weird invisible African creature that has taken up residence in my sheets??

How I am suppose to know if the vomiting is from the medication or the contaminated water I will inevitably drink?

How am I suppose to know that the swelling of the lining of my mouth is from the malaria meds or.....nope....it will probably just be from that.

Or the peeling of the skin?
Or the hair loss?
Or the psychotic hallucinations??
Or the purple hives?
Or the sun bruising?

What the crap is sun bruising?!?! 

I feel like I'm about to have a Sydaleigh episode and start screaming at the doctor on Thursday, " I won't take it! I won't take it! You can't make me!"

You know how they (they being everyone) tells you not to resort to Dr. Google when researching a health problem......

Google..."eye twitching causes"
Results...eye cancer. 
....because it will always turn out that one of your symptoms is cancer! 

Well....never frequent an anti-malaria discussion board because all everyone talks about is how they almost died from severe medication side effects...and how they got cancer from it! (okay, maybe not that last part).

If you ask me malaria is lookin' better and better compared to this medication. I mean, get malaria for a week....or imagine I'm being eaten alive by flesh eating ants? 

I may just take my chances with the malaria thank you very much.

This totally bites.
(ha ha...get it...bites...mosquitoes...malaria...flesh eating ants....never mind.....I'm going to go finish re-reading Twilight for the fourth time...oh...again...bites....vampires. Dang man. I'm on a roll tonight!)

That was a colorful morning

I could start off by being all sarcastic and saying how "fun" that was....by holy.freakin'.aye....that was down right horrible.

HORRIBLE!!

I took the girls to go get their yellow fever vaccinations this morning. The last in a long line of vaccines needed to go to Africa. We prepped them this morning. Making sure to tell them that they were only getting one this time, instead of the four and six they had a few weeks ago.

We thought that we were being really good parents and that telling them beforehand would help ease they anxiety about getting the shot....knowing that it was only one. Ya know, trying to play up the positive to help downplay that fact that they were getting stick'd.

Yeah, right. That didn't go exactly as I envisioned in my head. And by exactly....I mean, not.at.all. Somehow I convinced myself that after getting four and six shots at once my kids would be a pro at this. I mean, one shot, meh, that's nothing! What's one measily shot? Come on?! We got this!

Uhhh.....apparently that awesome pep talk was only awesome and peppy to me.

Unfortunately my kids aren't so easily duped.

When it came time for our shots... I knew were were doomed when I had to go first, and had to get five. That was five times that they had to stand there...watching....every.single.needle penetrate my arm.

Gawsh. That didn't exactly help with the anxiety I was trying to keep at bay.

I tried to keep them calm and laugh through it all....but I could see the fear. I could see it. Eyes wide. Growing wider with each jab of the needle.

Marvelly was next and of course she cried at her turn, but, she's four, and small, and I can hold her down still pretty easily. It was over before she could officially decide to hate me forever.

Sydaleigh on the other hand. Yeah. That girl is gettin' big. And fast. And when it came time for her shot....I could quickly see her calculating, "what am I gonna do? what am I gonna do??"

And then all of a sudden she entered that "fight or flight" response. She first decided to take flight and tried to escape by holding herself up in a corner, but when she saw she had nowhere to go and I was comin' for her....she quickly turned to fight mode.

Lets just say it took all the strength just to get her on that table...and then it took all the strength I had just to keep her on that table. And then it took all the strength I had not to crack a smile, or cry, ( it was a crazy moment, I didn't know how to respond) when she started screaming.....

"LET GO OF ME! YOU ARE SO MEAN! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME!  LET ME GO!! DON'T YOU STICK ME! YOU ARE SO MEAN!!"

Oh my gosh. I.was.mortified. She was so dang loud you could in all likelihood hear her upstairs in the dental clinic. I had to apologize to the parents in the waiting room as we left for freaking out their kids, who were now bug eyed or crying because it sounded like Sydaleigh was being tortured from back there!

All of that and it's not even Friday. What a morning.

I will say though....that yes, my girl may be prone to dramatics...but if she was being graded on a scale from 1-10 on how awesome you can freak out over a shot...my girl woulda totally beat out everyone else!! I mean, that was like, a 12. For reals. It was impressive. Completely mortifying, yes. But impressive. 

If I hadn't been so horrified I would of been proud.

Spring showers

"If you want the rainbow, you've got to put up with a little rain."-Dolly Parton

12 weeks and counting....

It seemed like I had less time than that.

When I sat down to tally up how much time we have left in the United Sates...I thought we were down to 10 weeks. Joyfully and impatiently I realized we have 12.

Joyfully, because I am not anywhere near ready to go.
Impatiently, because I am ready to go. 

It's an annoying combination.

Wanting to leave because I am ready, and wanting to stay because I am not. I don't know how I keep track of my life some days. Geesh. I'm all over the place right now.

Each day Isaak comes home with a volume of new papers that need reading. Papers on Burkina Faso, his new job, expectations, recommended packing lists, etiquette, security, history. Each day I get emails from DIA and the U.S. Embassy in Burkina packed with even more information...classes, training dates, notifications, rec center updates, recommended household help needing employment. This doesn't included the new books that Isaak brings home weekly that need reading ranging from The Fate of Africa ( a 700 page beast of a book that is highly recommended reading) to Service Etiquette, to The Do's and Taboos Around the World and more.

This morning I picked up my ever growing list that stays next to my bed and started organizing what to bring in our luggage, (further categorized into checked and carry on), our quick ship items, our consumable items, and our regular overseas shipment.

I then turned the page and added fifty more things I remembered we needed to purchase before we leave and checked off the five items we bought.

I turned the page again and checked off my To-Do list, "Dental apt. for me" and then added three more dental appointments I still have to have done.

I just got off the phone with the base clinic trying to schedule an appointment to get the family on anti-malaria meds but in order to do so we need to fill out two more forms for each girl, then get them in for an appointment, then bring their paperwork to a special office, then come back to the clinic for another appointment to actually receive the meds.

This only scratches the surface.

My head is spinning. Everday I wake up and I'm assaulted with things that need to be done. I look around the house and know that I need to start organizing our belongings because we are scheduling the first set of movers to come the beginning of July to pack and ship our Africa stuff. But, as I stated above, there are four, no, more like five sets of packing and shipping that have to take place for this move. The four listed above, then there's the whole packing of our long term storage items too. But since the movers are coming early for our Africa stuff I have to figure out what we want to bring with us, but still keep in mind what we need to live off of for the remainder of our time in D.C.....like, everything.

I can't even say that I'm overwhelmed. To be overwhelmed I think one's brain still needs to be functioning to determine that it has reached it's max.

I am happy to announce....my brain is beyond functioning at this point! I think it's just a blob of mush hanging out up there in my head. New information comes, and instead of getting overwhelmed it just sucks up the info, "*slurp* goodbye," and it disappears into the black hole that is my brain.

So, twelve weeks are good.

I need twelve more weeks.

Now, I need to go hem eight dresses so I can cross that off my list.

Mother's Day

In celebration of Mother's Day yesterday I asked if we could skip church and go hang out down at a cool nearby park together. It was one of the most peaceful mother's days I've had. The weather was gorgeous. Great company. Stress free.

It was nice.

At the park we spent most of out time down by a creek throwing rocks in the water. My girls could spend an entire day throwing stones in the water and never get bored. And I'd be just as happy sitting there watching them. They love to hunt for rocks and just something about throwing them into the water and seeing it splash brings them great joy. Oh, Isaak loves it too. He likes to flex his bulging biceps and make manly grunting noises when he throws a big rock into the water.

That's my man. :~)

Me and my little munchkin.

Me and my big girl.

It's because of those two cuties I even get to celebrate this day.

I discovered a new species of bug while at the water. Well, new to me. Some strange looking bug like creature that just floats on top of the water. I found them to be quite fascinating.

After a long time by the creek we went to go say hello to the geese and turtles.

But after getting hissed at repeatedly by the momma, we decided to just go look at the turtles.

After the park we came home and had dinner. Isaak bought me a little cake, because he knows that I believe every special occasion should be celebrated with cake. And Isaak and the girls made homemade fat free ice cream to go along with it. Super yummy.

Good day. I love those little ladies. Parenting them ain't easy, but it sure is worth it. God did good blessing my life with them. And I am eternally grateful for the honor of being their momma.

Desiring God

I watched this video this morning. And had a good cry while eating my breakfast. Such a beautiful love story between three people....Ian, Larissa, and Jesus. This challenges me greatly. Love it.

This Momentary Marriage: The Story of Ian and Larissa

Hold the press!!!

I am trying to extend my taste palette prior to moving to Africa, so I've been trying to eat foods that I don't normally eat or haven't liked in the past. SO, in my attempt to embrace the spirit of adventure with eating, I have decided to start eating..... 

AVOCADOS AND BLUEBERRIES!!!!!

I know! Pretty crazy of me. 

I didn't know I had it in me to be such an adventurous eater. And Isaak, Isaak has started eating a couple of bites each day, each day.....of....wait for it....wait for it....

YOGURT!!!

I mean, a couple of bites every day of yogurt! Way.to.go my man!! Yeah! We are truly living on the wild side now!

All I've got to say is, watch out world...the Brooks' eatin' is gettin' crazy up in here!!

Mount Vernon

Today we visited Mount Vernon....home of our very first president Mr. George Washington. It was one of the most splendid places I have visited since moving to D.C. I already want to go back...at least twenty more times before we leave here. Even with the swarms of school kids...it was peaceful. There's just something so very special about this place that just beckons you to come, and stroll, and breathe deeply.

The home was magnificent and grand. But I don't need a home this big someday. I wouldn't mind, however; having all that land. Oh, to just walk and dream and explore and work...and just be, on your own special land, would be very nice. 

(no, all those people up by the house in the picture with the girls didn't spontaneously vaporize when I went to take the above picture. I had to personally vaporize 52 people to clear them from my peaceful shot of the mansion. They were ruining the mood of my tranquil, chaos free environment. :~) )

A view of the Potomac from George's back veranda. Yeah, I could pretty much never move from this spot and be okay. A rocking chair and the water. That's my kind of livin'.

The girls busied themselves with their favorite Panter friends and frolicked down George's back lawn...sliding down the steep hill on their bee-hinds and getting covered in dirt.

They chased farm animals and watched them be.

They enjoyed themselves greatly. To be able to run and play and scream and chase animals makes for happy girls.

 

My content kind of smile exactly Nora.   

The estate not only has a wide expanse of grounds, but has a fantastic museum with an awesome children's area, complete with 18th century clothing, baby dolls, a doll house of Mount Vernon with furnishings and dolls, and books and coloring, and just, a lot.                 

Sydaleigh and Marvelly in the 1700's. They'd totally fit right in. :~)

Our little group all dressed up. We've got some dainty little ladies and some pretty darling strapping young soldiers.

Ah. It was fantastic. We had a blast. I loved that place. I really have got to get back before we leave because in addition to all the grounds we didn't even cover today...they have a National Treasure 2 tour happening in the basement of the mansion. Gah! National Treasure is one (one of fifty, but still one of them) my favorite movies EVER!! Must.go.back!!

She's lost another one!

Sydaleigh has had a seriously wiggly tooth for weeks now, and the darn thing just.kept.hanging on. No matter what she ate or how much she wiggled it...it just wouldn't fall out. So, I picked up corn on the cob for dinner tonight and I was sure that her tooth would come out while eating it. But nope. It stayed put, that stubborn thing. So a few minutes after laying down for bed Sydaleigh comes downstairs complaining about her tooth, desperate for it to be out, and asked if we could pull it out for her. I lead her to Isaak, as I'm not about to pull out any teeth. And after a minute or so, he plucked that sucker out...and Sydaleigh was one happy girl!!

Oh happy day! My girl has lost another tooth!!

It's rainin' Disney

Disney was having a big ole sale. And, we are not a family that can resist Disney sale goodness.

So, we bought a whole bunch to bring to Africa and bless a bunch of kids. We believe in spreading Disney love to every corner of the earth. Jesus' love too. Hopefully they'll come to love both. :~) *grin*

Wetlands excursion

D.C. is pretty awesome.

In the midst of this sprawling metropolis area with highways and cars zooming every which way, helicopters and airplanes always buzzing up ahead, and some 5.5 million people clamoring about, there are little pockets of oasis' like this....

Yesterday me and Holly took the girls to the Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria and it was a nice little escape from the chaos of where we live. I think we passed maybe seven other people on the trails while we were here. That is unheard of here! It was glorious!

The girls started off by going on a scavenger hunt and finding all sorts of goodies.

And then we got busy discovering all the cool stuff that hangs out in a wetlands/foresty area.

We found a snake and some frogs which the girls just went ga-ga over.

And then we hit up the boardwalk through the wetlands.

All those poor nature photographers out there trying to stealthly photograph the wildlife without disturbing them....and here comes our six girls, barreling down the boardwalk..."WHAAA!!!! A bird! A bird!" And off it flies. It was great. I love kids and their enthusiasm. :~) They had the best time watching the cranes and turtles and ducks doing their thing.

We had a picnic in the woods and were careful not to touch any plants, seen as how I am not a plant person at all and I can't tell the difference between poison oak and a venus flytrap...I find it better if we touch nothing.

Ahhh...it was great to be out in nature for an afternoon. The girls ran for nearly the whole two miles we walked. (and didn't complain about being tired one time! Wha what?!) They are already asking to go back so I think we may have found a new little favorite spot here.

 Fun day. Just what we needed. Can't wait to go back!

Wedding weekend extravagannza in Richmond, VA

This past weekend we drove a whopping two hours (eh hem...two hours!) to Richmond, VA to see a boat load of family and watch my cousin Jacob and Heather get married. I think this is the first time in ten years that we've been the ones who actually drove the shortest distance to get somewhere! It was awesome! And just to make the drive down even easier, Uncle Jelly Bean and Taunt Rose (aka...Jordan and Becca) stopped at our house on their way through D.C. to ride with us.

We stayed at cousin Jaclyn, Keith and little Elsie Lou's fantastic house with Jordan and Becca...and had THE.BEST.TIME! It was one fun filled weekend!

The girls busied themselves playing restaurant with the 10,000 pieces of food Jaclyn has! It was like a real grocery store up in her living room!

We took turns riding on Keith's four wheeler and listened to Becca scream like a banshee all through the neighborhood! Bah ha ha!!
 

We grilled out with most of the family that was in town Friday night plus some neighbors for good measure.

There were chickens and dogs and hammocks that we found most entertaining...

After a late night on Friday, Saturday rolled in with bright blue skies that looked quite promising for an outdoor wedding.

We arrived at the park just before 1pm. And those blue skies I mentioned started morphing into an ominous gray and black scene upstairs. BUT! Never to be caught unprepared :~) ....we busted out the four umbrellas we brought...just in case!

While we eagerly awaited for the bride to arrive the kiddos busied themselves down near the pond, and we sat and schmoozed and went the rounds taking pictures and saying how lovely everyone looked.

 

Marvelly with Aunt Abby, Mimi, and her new best friend in her Great Aunt Patrice. Love that lady. :~) She's like a second mom to me.

and after a few minutes delay, Heather arrived and the wedding began. We "oohed" and "aahed" and said to each other, "Hey, look at that. It's raining. But only over the pond! Sweet! Glad we dodged that bullet!"

Mmm hmmm. That rain cloud that was oh so conveniently positioned over the pond and made us all think we'd avoid getting caught in the rain.....only stayed there for about 3 minutes. And then it hovered over to our little party and dumped down all the rain it had stashed up inside. This makes the second Saturday in.a.row I've been outside in the rain!

Luckily...because we're uber planner aheaders.....we had those four umbrellas. So, we stayed fairly dry. As well as the three lucky recipients of our other umbrellas. My mom....not so much. Her coat was soaked.

The wedding party....not so much. They were pretty soaked.

But I love love love how Uncle Chris just sat there. Eyes focused on the ceremony. No umbrella. Didn't take off his jacket to cover his head. He just sat there. In the rain. And proudly watched his boy get married. I love that uncle of mine. :~)

And come to find out....Jacob and Heather's first kiss, happened in the rain. And on top of their wedding cake was a bride and groom under an umbrella.What a fitting way to have your first kiss as husband and wife...in the rain, under an umbrella. Cool how that happened. :~)

Oh yeah! Soaked and proud!

Oh...what's so funny? 

Yeaaaaaah. That would be my brother. Sticking a pretzel up his nose. And then eating it. And, ya know, we're a family that finds stuff like that absolutely hilarious.

And then Marvelly saw the reaction that Jordan got when doing that, so she then tried to stick the pretzel in her nose from her mouth too. We have some really good role models in the family. :~)

And then shortly after Sydaleigh dared Jordan and Isaak to eat a rose petal. And they did. And then regretted it because rose petals are bitter and nasty!!

What's that Uncle Chris? Did you say Heather should lick the frosting out of Jacob's beard? Ugh. I think somebody had a little too much orange cup there. :~)

Oh yeah. Time to break it down on the dance floor!

My Mom hears music and she just has to let loose. She can't be stopped! She's got the music in her!

On Sunday before we left Jaclyn's we paid our new favorite friends one last visit....

Sydaleigh named "her" chicken Kelly. And Marvelly named hers Squishy. I see chickens in our future I think.....they really took a liking to them.

I don't particularly share that same sentiment, but if I can get some free eggs out of it...I could do chickens.

I haven't been to Uncle Ray's and Aunt Joys house in, probably over ten years. It was good to be back. I loved coming here as a kid. And my girls had a blast here just like I used to...

The guys took the little girls out on Uncle Ray's four wheelers.

the girls played in the humungo play house, swinged, explored the yard, chalked up the sidewalks and made fun memories with their cousins, just like I did here with mine. :~)

a random few of our motley crew.

"Oh no! I'm getting weak! I.can't.stand.any.more."

"I need a Marvelly hug to revive me and give me strength."

"Oooh! I'm better now! Your hug saved me!"-Aunt Abby. My girls seriously have the greatest and silliest aunt's...E-VER!!! Tee hee!

I've got one heck of a family. We know how to have a good time, that's for sure. We had a great time with them all over the weekend.

unforgettable memories.....

-Aunt Cindy walking around during the bridal processional yelling "Cameron! Cameron! Where's Cameron?!"
-everyone who stood up in the back under the trees to take cover from the rain and started having their own little party....during the ceremony. Ahhh, I love that as Gerards we're so self absorbed it doesn't even occur to us that others (Becca!) might be bothered by our loud talking and laughing during the exchange of wedding vows! I'm sure whatever was being discussed was of greater importance than the wedding. :~)
-that poor little pink chic...and all else concerning that shall remain undisclosed.
-brown stealth
-boogers in the carpet
-streaking in the hotel
-"so I saw this on Pinterest...."
-sitting around Uncle Ray's table and listening to him tell us again how he burned down the cabin....and the forest directly surrounding it.
-and laughing till I.could.not.breathe with Jaclyn, Keith, Isaak, Jordan and Becca Saturday night.