Last post......

So, this will be my last post for more than a week. I have been feeling very anxious about this trip and woke up very nervous this morning. Not sure why. I have calmed down tremendously, and have even gotten a couple of emails from some sweet people who have reassured me they will be praying for our team.

There are 50 of us going and we will be traveling on a bus for 10 hours to a village named Quilali. It is on the border of Honduras. Chad has been uneasy about me going (mainly because I don't think he wants to be left alone with 2 wild boys all week) and has checked our phone service and has even arranged it to where I will be able to send a maximum of 50 text messages throughout the week. He has even checked the coverage of the village where we will be (yes, this is my husband for you) and has been told that I will have coverage on my phone.

I would ask for prayers for our team. It's a very unusual situation we will be in seeing as how this village is a little better off than most in that country. It will definitely be an experience.

When I return, it will be immediately back to the back-to-school schedule. Getting the kids to bed on time, waking Brennan up and getting him moving in the morning. Making 3 or 4 lunches in the morning, and sitting in the car rider line. I am ready to get back on schedule, but that first week or 2 is always a bummer trying to get back on track. But then the fair, football season, Halloween, and then Thanksgiving will be here before we can blink.

It's Elvis!

I went to see Elvis last night. *sigh* It was great. He was such a great performer. The documentary was really well put together, and it featured an interview with Priscilla Presley before the actual documentary started. Even though she is entirely made of plastic, she had really great things to say about Elvis. I would go back and watch it all over again.

I have been laying off of couponing this week and last because Chad says I have been saving TOO much money.....(in other words I am getting carried away with my new hobby.)

I went to finish the last of my Nicaragua shopping last night and did NO couponing. (I hope Chad realizes how hard this was for me. I almost went into withdrawals.) But, I had no coupons for the things I needed.... like Dramamine. Who would have thought 8 pills would cost so much? Even at Wal-Mart!

But, we did need diapers before I left on the trip so Chad wouldn't have to worry about one extra thing. CVS had their big boxes of Pampers on sale for $21.99. If you bought a box of the Pampers for $21.99, you automatically got $10 in CVS extra care bucks (which is basically store credit that you can use on ANYTHING in the store.... I'm slowly learning.) I had a manufacturer coupon for $1.50 off any size of Pampers, plus I had $5 in CVS extra care bucks. So, I paid $15 for a big box of diapers, and got $10 back in store credit. So, I pretty much paid $5 for a box of diapers if you include the $10 I got back to spend in the store.

I also got a $4 off coupon for giving them my email address. One thing about CVS is, they are expensive, but when they have sales and rewards, they make them good!!!

I just hope I can lay off couponing until I leave. It's so hard because a lot of my coupons will be expired by the time I get back from Nicaragua, and to me that is basically like throwing away money. But, I guess we don't really NEED all these things I have coupons for........... Do they have a "Couponing Anonymous" group??? Hello, my name is Mandy, and I'm a coupon-aholic.

But on a very, VERY serious note..... I got a text message from our church last night asking for prayers for the Shaw family. Hal and Jennifer Shaw. They attend Pinelake Baptist Church and Hal ran over their 2 year old daughter yesterday and she died. I CANNOT even begin to imagine what they are going through and will have to deal with emotionally for the rest of their lives. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about something like that happening. With Ethan being that same age, I just can't get it out of my head. My heart hurts for them so bad. I know when I got home last night, I hugged Ethan extra special hard. And I will again today.

I want to be pain free!

So one concern for my trip that I would ask some prayers for: My back and my side have really been giving it to me yesterday and today. I have finally been able to describe the pain in my right side-- it's like this: When I was pregnant with Brennan, I gained so much weight and stretched so fast that my ligaments were having a hard time adjusting to the speed of my pregnancy weight gain. I literally would cry myself to sleep at night sometimes because the pain was unbearable and there is a very limited amount I could do since I was pregnant. But, I talked to the doctor at the time about the pain I was having since it was my first pregnancy and it concerned me. He reassured me that it was "growing pains." This is exactly what I compare the pain to. But it is just on my right side. Some days are worse than others. If it's not my side, it's my back. I wondered out loud to Chad if maybe I were gaining weight and my ligaments were stretching again. But, he said even if I was gaining weight, it would be a lot slower than when I was pregnant. So, that couldn't be the culprit. Keep in mind, however, Chad is a C.P.A. and not a doctor. But, I didn't have those same pains when I was pregnant with Ethan, either. So maybe he is right.

I just don't want to be in pain next week while I'm gone. I want to have a good time and not have to worry about where my Motrin is. We are trying to put me on some new insurance through Chad's job now that he works for the state, but just like anything else, it takes forever. So, I guess I will have to wait a little longer before going to the doctor. Just say a few prayers for me to be pain free next week. Thank you.

I am counting down the days until my trip. I keep thinking I have everything I need only to remember something I forgot. I have shopping lists in every purse, bag, and wallet I own.

I really dread packing only because last year I barely squeaked by with my check-in baggage being under 50 pounds. I know what to take and NOT take as opposed to last year, when I was new and trying to take other people's advice who had been before. I just think it's a rip-off that the airlines charge for a bag that is over 50 pounds.

I have downloaded some music on my iPhone for the 8 hour bus ride from the mission home to the village. There is only so much reading I can do on unpaved roads and bumpy buses. Dramamine may be my best friend on the 2 bus traveling days.

Now I just have to find some small gifts for my prayer partner who happens to be male and from a completely different part of the United States.

Sunday night was very touching. The team going from our church got called up front and all 10 of us sat in chairs and almost the entire congregation surrounded us and prayed out loud for us. Some prayed individually over each of us. It put me in the right spirit. That is, until I picked up Ethan from the nursery and found out he had been bitten by another kid (one reason my children don't go to daycare) and then both my kids were acting like they were about to go home to a zoo or a barn. My kids make me crazy sometimes, but I sure am going to miss them next week.

Ethan's hair.

So, I have told Chad AND my mother that I give them full permission to cut Ethan's hair while I am gone to Nicaragua. I just can't bring myself to do it. Yes, I am getting very tired of people telling me what a pretty little girl I have everywhere I go, regardless of the fact he is dressed in boy attire from head to toe. If he was a SHE, then I would have some bows in HER hair. But, he is a BOY with lots of curls. I love his curls. But now Chad is ready to cut it. I told them if they don't do it while I'm gone, then I just won't be able to bring myself to do it. I will cry a river. Last year while I was in Nicaragua, he learned to walk. So, could a haircut while I'm away really be that traumatic????

Our Nicaragua trip.

This is an email that was forwarded to me this morning about our trip to Nicaragua. I am mainly posting it for my mother's benefit and for Chad's benefit. But, you can also help by praying specifically for the things mentioned. (About the flushing toilets, we had received another email that said nothing but FLUSHING TOILETS in bright, bold letters.)

Obviously, I have heard from Darrel about our village and that is where I received the good news about the flushing toilets. As I told someone earlier, it is amazing how much better knowing we will have flushing toilets can make you feel! Darrel was in Quilali yesterday and was able to give me a good overview of the village and I want to share some of that with you because I want you to know how to pray for our week of service. This is going to be a different week from any other we have experienced and it is interesting to see how God is at work in this.

One of the Nicaraguan BMDMI employees has befriended a man that is well connected in the Sandinista government and he has been able to help BMDMI with a couple of administrative issues. His help has been timely and very much appreciated. The only thing he has asked in return is that BMDMI send a team to Quilali. This will not be a typical village as we have seen in the past. By Nicaraguan standards, this village is very well off. As a matter of fact, there is a medical clinic in town that has eleven doctors and twenty nurses! We have never seen anything remotely approaching that before. Darrel is very involved with this and, contrary to the original plan, is planning on going with us as well to make sure everything works as it should. I have posted part of his email below so you can see what he told me.

I emphasized yesterday at the meeting with the local leaders that we expected the poorest people with the greatest needs to come to our clinic. I told them how to develop their list and that we needed the Zone leaders at registration to identify their people. One of the leaders is a Christian and he told the rest that you are bringing not just medical help but spiritual as well. There are several evangelical churches in this town including a Baptist church. If it weren't for the fact that the mystery man helped us so profoundly, we wouldn't ask you to go to a village that appears prosperous. Still, even with this appearance, I know that the people are hurting economically and certainly spiritually. All things said, I believe that this is exactly where the Lord wants your Team to go. Thank you for being willing to go.

I want you to know this so you will know how to pray for our week. It is going to be a different week but I have yet to see God let us down and I know that he has a reason for sending us to this village just as he’s had a reason to send us to every other village we have been to. It is going to be different but I know that it is going to be good. There are people there who need the Lord and through the work of the Holy Spirit, they will have the opportunity to know him and accept him as their Lord and Savior because of your work there. I cannot express to you how much I am looking forward to serving with each of you in Quilali. Next Saturday can’t get here quick enough for me.

Mark