Friday, April 30, 2010

KIDS and other stuff

April 23, 2010

CHESS - Today Ryan participated in a chess tournament with about 10 other kids. In the first round Ryan played one of his best friends and beat him in fools mate (a trick Jeff taught him that takes only 3 moves to win)! Ryan ended up winning the whole thing and a $10 gift certificate to Baskin Robins (he didn’t know what BR was).

SMOKING – Joshua saw our friend smoking and said to me, “Mom, don’t worry, she’ll be dead in no time.”

SHOPPING – Ginny and I were in Wal-Mart and passed the very cute baby girl clothes. Ginny asked if we could pick out something for the new baby. “Sure,” I responded. So we spent the next few minutes mixing and matching outfits. Once we had picked out three outfits Ginny said, “Now all we need to get are shoes for her.” A daughter after my own heart…..

HAIRCUT – Tyler decided to cut Micah’s hair (this is his second time to do it) and he got it good. We told Micah, “Next time Tyler wants to cut your hair, you tell him NO.” Tyler added, “If I try to make you bald, Micah, then you just call me a meany and I’ll try to stop.”





SENDING CHURCH – Jeff and I met with the missions pastor shortly after we arrived in country 9 months ago and filled out an application with the hopes of making Belton/Temple our home base and Temple Bible Church our home church. Last week we met with a missions committee and this past week we met with the elders. PRAISE be to God….we are not “churchless” anymore! May 2nd we will be presented to the church body as their missionaries.

NEW TRICKS – While visiting cousins in San Antonio, Jeremy, who is in his early 20s seemed to have fun rough housing with the boys. He showed them how to making farting sounds with their legs. Joshua’s eyes got so big and I knew what he was thinking (He can already do this with his under arms). Sure enough, the following week Joshua practiced and practiced and practiced. He has finally perfected the art.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

BLUEBONNETS (Texas State Flower/weed)

Friday, April 2, 2010

Our dear friends, David and Whitney Scott gave us a wonderful gift – they took our picture! David was Jeff's youth intern way back when and then they were ACU together. Dave and Jeff were groomsmen in each others weddings.

They are such gifted photographers and had such patience with our big family. Micah would not cooperate and cried every time Dave or Whit came close with their camera (despite our bribes of McDonalds) . The setting was beautiful – among the bluebonnets – but the mosquitoes were vicious at sundown. Praise God for photoshop – I think at one point Micah had 3 big red bites on his face.

Take a look at the pictures at:
www.seemyprints.com
type in Jeff McKissick, then choose "Jeff McKissick" from the name list provided and then enter jeff.mckissick@sim.org and the password is "Paraguay".

And the read what they wrote on their blog about that session at:
http://scottphotographyblog.org/2010/04/19/take-a-little-texas-when-you-go/

Thursday, April 22, 2010

San Antonio

April 17, 2010 - Saturday morning we drove two hours to New Braunfels for Joshua’s first Tang Soo Do (karate) tournament! He did great and won two silver medals – one for his form (dragon form) and the second for free sparing. Joshua was pretty proud of himself too.

Late Saturday afternoon we went to the Alamo in downtown San Antonio. Then we met up with some friends (who we knew in Harlingen) and had a wonderful dinner. After dinner we went to Jeff’s cousins for the night.

April 18, 2010 – Sunday we went to church with Jeff’s cousin, his wife and their two grown kids. Sunday afternoon Jeff shared with a group of about 30 about the ministry in Paraguay. This was a fun group because it included an ex- Paraguayan missionary couple, an ex-peace corp worker who served in Paraguay, Paraguayan nationals, and a couple who have a strong desire to serve in Paraguay.

April 19, 2010 – Monday afternoon Jeff shared with a residency in San Antonio while the kids and I spent the afternoon at the park. We arrived back in Belton in time for Tyler’s soccer game (they won!).

Joshua


Texas State Capitol in Austin


The Alamo in San Antonio

Monday, April 19, 2010

E KOMO MAI O HAWAI’I (welcome to Hawaii)

April 7-14, 2010

Jeff and I were so blessed to be able to spend a week on the big island of Hawaii! The first three days we stayed at a hotel where Jeff attended an ultrasound conference. While he was in class, I relaxed on the beach or by the pool. It was a beautiful hotel with a beautiful view. We slept with the porch doors open and fell asleep to the sound of the waves. We woke up early each morning and walked along the beach. It doesn’t get any more romantic than that!

The next few days we stayed in a house in Kona. I lived in Kona from age 2-12 and had not been back in 20 years. Jeff was gracious enough to listen as I walked down memory lane a lot. We ate dinner at one of my favorite childhood restaurants and then sat along the sea wall one evening. We walked around my old neighborhood and even knocked on the door of my old house (no one was there, but we did peek in the windows). We visited the YWAM base where my dad worked and where I spent most of my elementary years. I have lots of fun memories from my decade in Hawaii and I absolutely loved showing the island to Jeff.

We did several touristy things too. We took a boat to Kealakekua Bay (where Captain James Cook was killed) and snorkeled. We drove completely around the island stopping at Volcanoes National Park, Hilo, a couple waterfalls, and the beautiful Waipi’o Valley. We attended a lu’au and walked all over town trying to find Jeff the perfect Aloha shirt. I loved all the yummy seafood - breaded scallops, calamari, shrimp, ahi, salmon, unagi (eel), and swordfish and the fresh fruits.

A HUGE “thanks” goes out to Jeff’s parents for watching the kids and allowing Jeff and I to have our first nights without children since Ryan was born 101/2 years ago.



Thursday, April 15, 2010

It's a.....


Girl!

GREAT WALL


Ryan's home school co-op project - (some of) The Great Wall of China made out of graham crackers.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

BABY BELLY (22 weeks)

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Overnight, it seems, my belly has just erupted! I can barely fit into any of my regular clothes and just today I forced myself to stand on a scale…I’ve gained 15 pounds already! I wasn’t this big this soon with Micah or Tyler…I checked….I was 29 weeks when I had gained 15lbs during Micah’s pregnancy and 32 weeks when I was 15lbs during Tyler’s. YIKES! I know you’re supposed to gain weight while pregnant, but at this rate, I won’t be able to fit on the airplane going back to Paraguay!

Last night I FINALLY felt the baby move! I love that feeling! Jeff was able to feel the baby move too. Jeff was also able to hear the heartbeat with the stethoscope. It was strong and loud.

A couple more weeks and we’ll have our first sonogram and find out if it is a boy or girl, a healthy baby, or twins (that would be one way to explain the weight gain…..McDonalds hamburgers might be the other explanation!). I can’t wait to see the little one!


22 weeks, 4 days