Whew!

A few days have passed in a flurry of excitement... Well, perhaps not quite excitement, but most definitely in a flurry! It snowed all day yesterday. Josh and Claire came into our room at about 6:30am all in a flutter: "Mom!!! Come and see out the window!! It's Christmas!!!!!" Of course, all that was out there was the slightest dusting of snow, but they were excited nonetheless. Josh really wanted it to snow before we left the country, so he got his wish. He kept asking me, "Mom, is it Christmas now? Can it be Christmas in Africa if there's no snow?" Poor kid. He's finally starting to understand holidays, and we get to mess it all up for him. I promise, though, that as soon as we get our stuff, we are going to throw the best darn Christmas he's ever seen! Complete with all the trimmings! (Well, maybe not all, but it's going to be cool!!) I'm sad that we don't get to decorate for it and enjoy it, too, but it will be ok. "I will survive!"

Yesterday the kids got to spend the entire day at a friends' house! I was there, too, though. My visiting teachers threw a little brunch for the sisters they visit, and so we went over. The only problem, though, was that I had no car. Devin is driving to work these days, so I'm stranded. Luckily, one of my visiting teachers has a big van, and she came and picked us up! So, it was a nice visit. We ended up staying all day, though, because after the brunch, Andrew took a nap, then she watched the kids while I went in for my root canal. She even let me drive her van to the dentist! Now there's a great visiting teacher! :) I don't think I'll ever be able to thank her enough! Devin was supposed to get a ride, but it fell through at the last moment, so thanks to my visiting teacher, I was still able to get out and get to my appointment. So nice!

I was supposed to go to an enrichment activity last night, but didn't end up going. I left my house at about quarter to 7pm, because I had some errands to run. Well, it was snowing pretty hard, but as an Idaho girl, that doesn't phase me. What does, though, are the idiots on the road here! I think about 40 emergency vehicles passed me on my travels through the streets of Fairfax. Made it so I couldn't go quite as quickly...and I was only going about 10mph as it was! Oh well. I did end up having a few troubles with breaks and getting stuck, and the last time was a doozy! So, since there was absolutely no one around, and no cell phone on my person (since we are probably the only people in the world who refuse to have them...), I just prayed with all my heart saying that if I could just get out, I would go straight home and not go to the activity at all! Lo and behold, I had absolutely no problems after that. Well, I couldn't argue with that one, so I went home, and enjoyed a nice evening with my husband...watching Pride and Prejudiced (the A&E version with Colin Firth...and no, we didn't watch the entire thing)! :)

Our other days have been spent working on the house. I want to be out of here by noon on Saturday!! So I really just want to do only a little vacuuming on Saturday morning and call it good. I doubt that will happen, but it would certainly be nice!

Josh and Claire have been somewhat bored, and have been practicing their headstands:

Isn't that hilarious?!?!? And Andrew is still happy!!


We've played a lot of games and enjoyed all the extra space. I am wondering what our house will be like in Africa. I've seen pictures of it, but, of course, that doesn't give the exact feel of it, just an idea. I'm looking forward to all the extra space, though. I think it will be fun!