Please pray

My "little" sister, Lynette, and her husband, Rusty, live in Thailand. I got a call at work today that she just had her baby. I would guess she was about 29 weeks along. Rusty is in Chicago - he came back for a couple of friends' weddings, so he was not able to be with her - and from what I gather, that's tearing him up. They're talking about air lifting the baby to Bangkok. I'm worried sick for her and the baby, and I feel so helpless. I just can't stop crying for them. Please pray.

Regifting Robin

Someone forwarded me this link at work.

It's pretty amazing, and I am stumped as to how it works. If you figure it out, please let me know!

short (random) update

Yesterday was a busy day between a dentist appointment, taking my car to the mechanic, work, etc. A highlight of my day was my 22-week doctor's appointment. My doctor assured me that we are having a girl. Apparently I had read a little too much (doubt) into the wording the tech used when she told us, "looks like a sissy." I've been feeling the baby move for awhile now, but in the past couple of weeks, I've really enjoyed feeling more definite movement. This week, she has been waking me in the 4 or 5 o'clock hour with all that moving around.

Yesterday, we also enjoyed Ted and Sue coming down to spend the evening with us. They started the evening by meeting Tyler at preschool. They got to meet the director, teacher and got a tour of his room. We enjoy hearing what he remembers from his day, which always includes the snack, and seeing what piece of artwork he has completed. Tyler continues to love going to preschool, which has been wonderful. It sure makes it fun to send him, instead of anxiety provoking!

Tyler has really enjoyed playing with two neighbor sisters, Baeleigh (8)and Braden (11)lately. Today, I was working on the yard, then cleaning the house. I kept catching Tyler standing in our yard or on the porch gazing longingly toward their house. He said several times that he hoped they would notice him, but they hadn't yet. I urged him to yell to them or go over and ask them to play, but he was too shy. So, when they came over to ask him to play, he jumped at the chance.

We've had a nice start to our holiday weekend.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Tyler's first day of preschool at Little Lambs Preschool. His teacher is Ms. Julie. "L's" are hard for Tyler to say, so I enjoy hearing him saying her name.

He was so excited for today to come. On the way home, he was telling me about how he feels "jealous" of the leader - who "always gets to be in the front" and also gets to "go with Ms. Julie to the snack room." I explained that he'll get a chance to be the leader some day too. He said, "but Ms. Julie said she'd be the leader all day."

He even showed Wayne and I a little dance, The Boogie Walk, that he learned today. I'm so glad he had a great day. :)

owls

I know this picture will be hard to see well, but I finally decided on a nursery accent. Today, I ordered some removable wall appliques. I think they're fun...and I remember that owls intrigued Tyler when he was little. Probably because of their big eyes. Now if I can just get Wayne to give those walls a fresh coat of paint first... :)

Liz

Thanks to the tip by my cousin, Melissa, you can follow this link to see a video (scroll down to "Pogo Fanatic)" of my cousin Liz.
She did this tongue in cheek video for a college class a few years ago.


Liz makes me laugh. :)

On the way home tonight...

"Mommy, when I grow up, I'm going to be a good daddy."
"Yes you will be a good daddy, Tyler."
"But how will I get married to do dat?... I'll either be a daddy or an ice cream truck driver."
"Oh yeah? How will you know which one you want to be?"
"I don't know."
"You could be both."
"aaah...I just don't feel like it."

backyard

The mimosa tree we planted two years ago for Tyler's birthday has finally bloomed its first blooms.

Wayne took these pictures from a ladder. The tree is finally taller than we are! :)

He took pictures of our Thai peppers especially for Lynette and Rusty. Do they actually have these in Thailand?

baby

Last Thursday was the sonogram and we were happy to hear that all appears to be well. The baby was in a ball, with its feet up by its head, thus making some things difficult to get a good look at. The gender, for example, seemed a little tricky to tell. The tech told us, "Looks like a sissy. Think pink." So, we're tentatively planning on a little girl!! This brings a mixture of excitement and anxiety. I'm not really around little girls as all of my close friends have little boys and I work primarily with elementary age boys. So, girls seem like a mystery to me. On the other hand, I'm pretty excited about this (possible) new adventure into the world of baby girls.


Yesterday, Tyler put his hand on my stomach. I asked if he knew what was in there, and he said, "a baby sister." I asked what he thinks we ought to name her.

He thought a minute and responded,
"Flower... Salt... Fuchsia."

I smiled and asked if he knows what fuchsia is. He laughed and said, "it's a crayon color!!" Ha. Who knew.

He said that these were all the girl names he knew.

After which, he came up with lots more silly "names." SpongeBob Squarepants, Pink, Apple, and Tyler Wayne Stuckey to name a few. He was really cracking himself up at this point. Too bad there weren't any other 4 year-olds around who could really appreciate his sense of humor. :)

Delaware

Last Thursday, July 30, we woke a little before 4 am to catch a 5:30 am flight to Baltimore, Maryland. Despite us all being a little weary, Tyler was still pretty excited about flying to go visit his cousins.


We had a delay on our connecting flight, but made it in with no other glitches. Tim and the two older boys picked us up at the airport.

Tyler and Gabe sat together and immediately started chatting it up. It was nice for Tyler to have someone who shares a mutual love of 4 year-old jokes and conversation. (Example: Why did the chicken cross the road? Why? Because it was a rubber band. Wha ha ha ha ha ha). They pretty much kept one another entertained during our entire 6-day stay.



Tim and Carrie kept us entertained with lots to do. Included in this was visiting the church, Cannon Mennonite, where Tim is the pastor. They also invited Hesston College friends, Weston & Stephanie Yutzy and family, over for dinner one evening. Their two boys joined right in with the boyish fun.

It was good to reconnect with Tim and Carrie and the boys. We had yet to meet baby Zion, who is already 10 months-old. He is quite the little cutie pie. Israel also won our hearts over. He was usually looking to make sure he knew where Wayne was at. He would just sit and chat with us, which was quite endearing. It was also fun to watch Gabe and Tyler play and entertain one another. The first night, we tried letting them sleep together. There was just way too much gabbing going on. :)

Our first full day there, we spent a good part of the afternoon at the pool of a nice family who attends their church.



We spent two days going to the Delaware shore, Cape Henlopen. It was beautiful. The first day, we spent on a very quiet, low area. There were lots of living creatures. We found a large crab, and later witnessed it being a seagull's lunch. There were lots of horseshoe crab shells washed up, tons of snails and little hermit crabs, and lots of fish. (And probably a lot more that we just didn't know about). We visited the nature center, where we could see and touch more of the sea life from that area.

Wayne found this nice-sized conch.

The second day, we spent on the other side where the water was cooler and we had waves. Gabriel LOVED running and splashing in it. Tyler and Israel preferred to examine the intriguing little clams that buried themselves after every wave uncovered them. Tim found a mole crab and Wayne spotted some jellyfish.

Baby Zion, lounging in the sun.

Israel loving it. While he hated sand in his shoes, and being in deep water, the beach's large sandbox was pretty entertaining for him.

When Tyler was irritated with Israel or sometimes who knew why, he would glare at Israel like this. Poor Israel.

On the flight home, we were delayed so long in Baltimore, that we missed our connecting flight by about an hour. Here we are, worn out and waiting for the hotel shuttle.

Tyler wanted to take a picture of me.