Friday, January 8, 2010
Monday, December 28, 2009
Christmas
The annual picture on the stairs before opening stockings bears the face of one precious addition to the family and four veteran stocking openers!
Christmas at our house this year seemed to sneak up on us for a few reasons. The obvious reason is that we were in Rwanda and Ethiopia for over two weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then, as we were gearing up for our "normal" Christmas routine, we received weather forecasts that caused major changes in travel plans. We expedited our family Christmas and left for Gram and Papa Spore's house well ahead of schedule. While our schedule was different than planned, we had a wonderful time with our families. Introducing Cooper to some of his aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins for the first time was such a special time.
Christmas at our house this year seemed to sneak up on us for a few reasons. The obvious reason is that we were in Rwanda and Ethiopia for over two weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then, as we were gearing up for our "normal" Christmas routine, we received weather forecasts that caused major changes in travel plans. We expedited our family Christmas and left for Gram and Papa Spore's house well ahead of schedule. While our schedule was different than planned, we had a wonderful time with our families. Introducing Cooper to some of his aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins for the first time was such a special time. We are in awe of God's blessing on our lives as we trace His hand this year. What a blessing to see his faithfulness to our family in brand new ways! May we continue to lean on Him in good times as well as hard times.
Merry Christmas to you from the Spore Seven!
Friday, December 18, 2009
It is 5:30 am, and, for the first time since arriving home, I think I could have possibly slept an hour longer. Jet lag has affected me much more than Chad (who is out running and doing kettle bells at the gym). With Cooper being really sick the first few days, he would wake up in the wee hours of the morning. We would finally get his itching under control and get him back to sleep, and my body would tell me it was time to get up. It's amazing all one can accomplish from the hours of 4am-6:30am...and how little after 7pm....ZZZZZZ!
Speaking of Cooper, I feel remiss in not having posted more pictures by now. The above pic was taken in Ethiopia. I actually have taken very few since getting home. Until yesterday, there hasn't been much laughter or many smiles. Chicken pox have a way of doing that to a kid, I think. Two nights ago, Chad and I were at our wits end trying to make him comfortable. We have never seen a person writhe in pain and itchiness the way he was. He was exhausted but could not sleep, trying to scratch all the places that itched like a crazy person. We resorted to an oatmeal bath in the kitchen sink. Mind you, Cooper screams when we bathe him. This was obviously our last ditch effort in helping him. True to form, he screamed for the first seven minutes of the bath. Then he learned how to splash...and seemed much happier. We covered every square inch of him in calamine lotion, and he slept fitfully for a few hours. I am so happy to say he has slept through the night IN HIS CRIB two nights in a row! He is now one big scab.:)
In other news, C girl turned six on Monday! We had a birthday party Sunday afternoon here at our house. It was a wonderful day to spend with family (who all had chicken pox as children).
H and C had their Christmas concert last night at school. H was chosen to play Santa Claus and did a spectacular job. She even made her voice really low...I think she had some people fooled about her identity! C did a great job of singing enthusiastically, as seen in the picture below.
We are so happy these days, looking forward to all the fun the next couple weeks will bring, enjoying the fun today brings.
Speaking of Cooper, I feel remiss in not having posted more pictures by now. The above pic was taken in Ethiopia. I actually have taken very few since getting home. Until yesterday, there hasn't been much laughter or many smiles. Chicken pox have a way of doing that to a kid, I think. Two nights ago, Chad and I were at our wits end trying to make him comfortable. We have never seen a person writhe in pain and itchiness the way he was. He was exhausted but could not sleep, trying to scratch all the places that itched like a crazy person. We resorted to an oatmeal bath in the kitchen sink. Mind you, Cooper screams when we bathe him. This was obviously our last ditch effort in helping him. True to form, he screamed for the first seven minutes of the bath. Then he learned how to splash...and seemed much happier. We covered every square inch of him in calamine lotion, and he slept fitfully for a few hours. I am so happy to say he has slept through the night IN HIS CRIB two nights in a row! He is now one big scab.:)
In other news, C girl turned six on Monday! We had a birthday party Sunday afternoon here at our house. It was a wonderful day to spend with family (who all had chicken pox as children).H and C had their Christmas concert last night at school. H was chosen to play Santa Claus and did a spectacular job. She even made her voice really low...I think she had some people fooled about her identity! C did a great job of singing enthusiastically, as seen in the picture below.We are so happy these days, looking forward to all the fun the next couple weeks will bring, enjoying the fun today brings.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Home!
Home is really, truly, the best place on earth. We arrived here last night after way too many hours of travel.
Our airport reunion was such a happy time! Chad's sister, Heather, took lots of photos of our airport saga, but I don't have access to them at the moment. I'll leave the details to your imaginations, but there were a lot of wet eyes! The kids were all standing at the edge of the security area, and when H saw us, he took off running across the line, right into my arms. Many embraces and photos later, we went with both sets of our parents, Meg and TJ, and Grandmas Spore and Machovec to a restaurant along I-80. With threats of freezing rain and very droopy eyelids, I drove the two hours to our home. It is wonderful to be here!
Cooper woke up in the night with some crazy bumps all over his body. Upon further examination, our diagnosis is chicken pox. He is really doing well, though....not scratching, no fever.....maybe a light case? He looks like a little polka-dotted guy because of all the calamine lotion I have dabbed on his sores. Please pray with me that Chad doesn't get chicken pox. He's never had them and has not had the vaccine. I think Cooper will be on the mend soon. It was a bummer to head to church without him and Chad this morning.
There is so much to be said about our trip that I haven't had a chance to say. My eyelids are totally drooping as we speak, so more details will have to wait. BTW, have I mentioned we are so happy to be HOME?!
Our airport reunion was such a happy time! Chad's sister, Heather, took lots of photos of our airport saga, but I don't have access to them at the moment. I'll leave the details to your imaginations, but there were a lot of wet eyes! The kids were all standing at the edge of the security area, and when H saw us, he took off running across the line, right into my arms. Many embraces and photos later, we went with both sets of our parents, Meg and TJ, and Grandmas Spore and Machovec to a restaurant along I-80. With threats of freezing rain and very droopy eyelids, I drove the two hours to our home. It is wonderful to be here!
Cooper woke up in the night with some crazy bumps all over his body. Upon further examination, our diagnosis is chicken pox. He is really doing well, though....not scratching, no fever.....maybe a light case? He looks like a little polka-dotted guy because of all the calamine lotion I have dabbed on his sores. Please pray with me that Chad doesn't get chicken pox. He's never had them and has not had the vaccine. I think Cooper will be on the mend soon. It was a bummer to head to church without him and Chad this morning.
There is so much to be said about our trip that I haven't had a chance to say. My eyelids are totally drooping as we speak, so more details will have to wait. BTW, have I mentioned we are so happy to be HOME?!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Update from Ethiopia
Sorry it has been so long since my last post. We have had a lot of trouble loading our blog here in Ethiopia, so we probably won't be posting any more pictures until we get home.
Our three days here so far have been eventful. We really thought we would not be able to fly home this Friday, and we were pretty disappointed. C's 6th birthday is Monday, and it looked like we were not going to get home until one week from today! God moved a major mountain yesterday, and we found out we could book our tickets for Friday night!!! Our travel agent had tickets on hold for us until last night, and we found out in the early evening we should be able to get Cooper's visa on Friday! We are soooooo thankful!!!!!
We are headed to lunch, a lion zoo, and shopping this afternoon. T, our guide, is an exceptional English speaker and Christian man. He has done such a great job showing us around all the places we have needed to go.
Sounds like everyone at home is getting lots of snow. I never thought I'd say this, but I sure am ready to don my winter coat! Home sounds like paradise right now. I'll try to update again when the connection allows.
Love,
Heidi
Our three days here so far have been eventful. We really thought we would not be able to fly home this Friday, and we were pretty disappointed. C's 6th birthday is Monday, and it looked like we were not going to get home until one week from today! God moved a major mountain yesterday, and we found out we could book our tickets for Friday night!!! Our travel agent had tickets on hold for us until last night, and we found out in the early evening we should be able to get Cooper's visa on Friday! We are soooooo thankful!!!!!
We are headed to lunch, a lion zoo, and shopping this afternoon. T, our guide, is an exceptional English speaker and Christian man. He has done such a great job showing us around all the places we have needed to go.
Sounds like everyone at home is getting lots of snow. I never thought I'd say this, but I sure am ready to don my winter coat! Home sounds like paradise right now. I'll try to update again when the connection allows.
Love,
Heidi
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Addis Ababa
We are now in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Through a series of flight change attempts for our whole travel group, somehow we were the only family that got confirmed for last night's flight from Kigali. Our dear traveling buddies, the Bowers and Smiths, will be coming tonight. We miss them!
We are safe, and we will write more later!
We are safe, and we will write more later!
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