February 29, 2012
Goodness gracious! I am so behind on journals! We have had the BEST month too! I wish I would have been writing every day because it seems like every day has been full of wonderful things! First, Valentines Day was great! We had a fun breakfast with cinnamon rolls (which is a treat for us) and heart shaped jello! Yes, you can have jello for breakfast! I made over 150 cupcakes for things this past weekend; some for a banquet, some for our church lunch, some for Micah’s school, and some for the teachers at Windermere. I am all cupcaked out! Today Ryan had the senior girls suprise me by singing a song to me and giving me a teddy bear! They sang “you are so beautiful” which they had to learn just for the occasion! They did a great job! Micah’s class had a party too. And Micah got to take his guitar and play it for his class, which he had been looking forward to since Christmas! They had dress-up day, and they were all super cute! The rest of my Valentines gifts from Ryan came a little late, on Agape. But they were worth the wait! He got me a hat! Yeah! On Valentines night we had a bonfire with the students. Micah was really tired though so I stayed back with him and Ryan was with the kids. They had a fun time! But, that meant that we missed a Valentines evening together, so the next night he and I watched the movie “Leap Year” together, and we both loved it! It’s such a great movie! Ryan didn’t teach at church Wednesday night, so we spent the night as a family night. We really had a Valentines week! It was great!
So after that, our director, Bob Johnson, came to visit. We had a great visit with him! He was here for a week and got to experience school, and Eleuthera life. It was a huge encouragement to have him here! He was able to be here for my birthday too! Ryan preached at church in Governors on my birthday, and while he tried to keep it short, it didn’t work. Micah lasted about an hour, but the other hour and a half was a struggle. We ended up sitting in the van while it rained a few times when I had to discipline him. It was not fun! We had planned on going to Sky Beach and swimming after that, but it rained and rained and was chilly and cool, so swimming was not an option. We did have a great lunch at Sky Beach though and we all came home and took naps, which was pretty great too! Ryan also made me an ice cream cake, so that evening we had cake together. It was my 30th birthday. I am not very excited about turning 30, but I am so thankful for the life the Lord has given me. They have been 30 great years! I’m excited about seeing what the Lord does in the next 30!
Update on Micah….he is still so wonderful! He’s just such a joy to us! Lately though he has been sneaking things – the other morning I woke up and MIcah was out in the kitchen. I didn’t pay too much attention. I was sitting on the couch, and soon MIcah walked up to me with a sad little face, and… a big glump of marshmallow on his cheek! He looked at me and said in a sad voice “mommy, I was trying to sneak marshmallows on you.” It was like he knew he sinned, and he felt so guilty that he had to confess. To tell you the truth, it was so cute, and so funny, and I had to pick up a pillow and cover my face while I laughed!!!! When I regained my composer, I took down the pillow and we had a long talk about stealing and sin and guilt and forgiveness, and it ended up being a great talk. But I did catch him another time getting into the marshmallows. And another he found a sucker somewhere and ate it in the middle of the night! I found a sucker stick, a rapper, and chewed gum on the floor in the morning. Thank you, Lord, for not letting him choke in the middle of the night!
I have also come to the realization that Micah is exactly like Ryan. Now I knew this before. He is like him in so many ways! But he is getting bigger now, and he is able to do more, and he is getting more and more like him every day! He was playing with a fried the other day outside, and he has a little toy tractor that he rides around on. I heard them playing, and when I looked around the corner, I saw him riding his tractor super fast down the hill on the driveway of the school!!!! It’s a steep hill!!! Especially for a three year old, and especially when there are cars going up and down the hill all day long!!! Of course I walked over and told him not to do that anymore, and when I explained why, he said “but mommy, if a car comes I will just steer over to the side.” He thinks he’s a teenager already! I need a lot of prayers as he grows up! When we were at the lighthouse he was climbing all the rocks high by himself! And he tightropes on the edges of the drop offs here on campus! He’s a boy for sure!
Another highlight of February was MFI. They brought a plane full of supplies including a big boy bed for Micah! He finally got his twin bed, and he loves it! First thing he did was jump in it! I was worried that he would fall off of it in the middle of the night, but he hasn’t. In fact, I think something clicked in his brain and all at once he does a great job at staying in the middle of the bed! I asked him one morning if he has ever almost fallen off of it, and he said “no mommy, I stay in the middle.” I am proud of him, he’s getting so big! MFI also brought a few dressers to replace our broken ones. I proud of myself because I put them together all by myself. It took forever, but I finally got them done!
– Emily
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February 11, 2012
We had such a fun time camping yesterday and today! It was the first camping trip that Micah remembers, and he had lots of fun! Micah had been so excited since yesterday morning. I picked him up after school yesterday and we came back and packed everything up and left for Lighthouse Beach. We got there with just enough light to build a fire and set everything up! We slept in our van, which was perfect for us! We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, and even had Valentines Hearts! Micah built his own “fire” too! He found lots of “toys” on the beach, which were really empty plastic bottles that had washed up on shore. He has a great imagination though so any bottle could become anything to him! After our campfire we went out to look at the stars. They were BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! I am just amazed that the Lord put them there and made them so beautiful! God is just soooo AMAZING! I stood there awstruck at His wonder! Micah was a little scared because it was so dark, so the star watching didn’t last too long, but it was amazing! When we got back to the van Micah was so very excited to sleep in the van! We read some camping stories and played UNO, then went to sleep. The weather was great! We had the back windows cracked and there was a cool breeze coming in. Micah slept in the hole between the two front seats, but several times throughout the night he crept up in the middle of us. It was so great! We could look right out the window at the stars! When the moon rose it was beautiful too! When morning came Micah and I played on the beach for a long time. And we swung on the swing and explored all around. And MIcah was a chef and made me pizza and hot chocolate and sand juice =) And Tag chased crabs into the water. It was so funny to watch! He almost got his nose clipped a few times. We all went exploring and went up to the lighthouse and played on the beach for a long time. We had so much fun! When we woke up in the morning it was cloudy which kept the morning cool, but then the sun came out just in time for us to spent the rest of the morning playing. We also made a MAN, WOMAN, CHILD movie, which we had lots of fun making! We packed everything up in the early afternoon and headed back home for baths and naps. The Lord blessed us with a GREAT camping trip! We decided we need to make it an annual Valentines trip!
– Emily
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February 9, 2012
Sandy and I spent the whole evening making tons of cupcakes for a Valentines Dinner! We also make grouper fingers and peas and rice though, and they turned out great! Yeah! I finally mastered peas and rice! This is a big accomplishment for me!
– Emily
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February 8, 2012
I don’t have a lots to report for today. That’s good though I think. I am so thankful for the “normal” days like today. I taught today all day, and then picked up Micah and the evening was pretty normal too. Ryan taught at church, and I put Micah to bed a little early because he has a cough. Nothing too bad, just a little cough mostly in the mornings. I really love our life! God has blessed us so much! Everyday I ask the Lord what we did to deserve to be able to live and serve Him here. Every day He reminds me that everything He has given us is because HE is good and merciful and gracious. The fact is that we don’t deserve anything He has given us. I’m so thankful!
– Emily
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February 7, 2012
Today was the BEST day! I got to spend the whole day with Micah! The day started with Dragon chase, which was Micah chasing me around the house pretending to be a dragon. It was AWESOME! I love having a little boy! He’s the best! In the afternoon it started to rain, and I needed to go to the store, but I decided that it would be more fun for us to play in the rain. It poured and poured! We played out in the rain for over an hour! We stomped in puddles and ran under the “waterfalls” and made stone soup. Then we came in and made hot coco and got all warm and cuddly! Then God put a beautiful rainbow in the sky, so we chased it! It ended on Windermere Island though. Micah searched for the “horse” which meant the unicorn. It made me smile. We had a fun talk about God’s faithfulness and how He always keeps His promises. It was just the best day! In the evening I read him a book and put him to bed early. We had such a fun mommy-son day!
– Emily
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February 6, 2012
Back to school! Mondays are shorter days for us which is nice, but today I was busy all day! I worked on our MFI list today and finally finished it! And I taught and did lunch and snack shop twice. And dinner tonight too, then Ryan and I got to Skype with Ryan and Melissa, which was really fun! We are looking forward to them coming here!!!!
– Emily
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February 5, 2012
Ryan and I led worship in church today. We attempted some Bahamian songs, complete with Ryan’s accordion! Micah did ok in church, it’s still exhausting for me though. Today was the Super Bowl too, and instead of watching we took naps. Well, at least Micah and I did. Ryan prepared for chapel and watched the game.
– Emily
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February 4, 2012
Today was the first Saturday that we didn’t play tennis, which was sad. We did however go on a family date to Tippys! We got there early and walked on the bead until we got caught in the rain, so we ran as fast As we could to the nearest cabana and played in the sand under there until the rain passed. It was fun! Getting caught in the rain made me thirsty for a piña colada so at dinner I got a virgin piña colada! It wash special night! We dont get the chance to go out like that very often ,and it was a fun family time together. The Lord has been so faithful to us! I’m so thankful that He put us here! I got to decorate the snack shop for Valentines Day today too, which was fun. I like doing snack shop for the kids. It gives me the chance to get to know them more and interact on a less formal plain than classes. It’s also a good way to keep up with a lot of things going on in their lives. For some reason you can always tell if someone is having a bad day when they come to snack shop.
– Emily
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February 3, 2012
Micah and I made a groundhog craft that I found on Pinterest today! We had fun! And we colored together for a long time. He drew a picture of an astronaut that is so good! And he drew a picture of Aunt ReRe too that makes me smile. He went to school today, and i missed him. I had a busy day though. I taught the whole day and did lunch at the snack shop. I was ready to pick up Micah and couldn’t wait for one of his hugs! He still runs to me when i pick him up and yells “mommy!” I love it!
So tonight I dyed my hair and it turned purple and gray and blue and silver……not good! I’m not sure what I am going to do about that. I may be going to Spanish Wells tomorrow! =)
– Emily
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February 2, 2012
Micah went around saying “Happy Hog’s Day” all day today! It was funny! We read our Groundhog’s day book and tomorrow we are going to make a craft that I found on Pinterest. I loved showing Micah the pictures of the groundhog. He laughed so hard! He thought it looked so funny! I was glad to hear that there will be 6 more weeks of winter. I love winter in the Bahamas!
MIcah had lots of homework tonight so Sandy and I bribed him to do it with chips. I don’t think that’s very good parenting, but it worked! He got a chip every time he finished a page =)
– Emily
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February 1, 2012
Welcome February! What a great month! Despite my exhaustion today, I’m glad it’s February. I think though that I am getting old. The teenagers keep saying “lol” and “smiley” instead of actually laughing out loud and smiling. I have to admit that it’s a little annoying to hear people say “lol” all day. It makes me sad a little too. I think it’s better just to laugh =)
– Emily
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