We had a wonderful trip and got home at 2:30 this morning. Hannah is still at my parent’s in Texas and will be flying home with my mom on Friday. I miss my little girl, but it’s nice to have some recovery time before jumping right back in to being a mom. Baby boy is keeping me in my mom phase enough for now. Traveling to Mexico was fine, but I feel like Baby Boy grew a ton over the week, and traveling home was not comfortable at all. I’m glad we don’t have any big plans until the holidays, ’cause I’m planning on staying put for a little while. My ankles and legs were so swollen by the time we got home this morning that my socks had cut in to them. Ouch! After getting a few hours of sleep they were still a little swollen, but my afternoon nap helped a ton!

Tim and I stayed in an amazing house while in Mexico, with our friend Zoe from Texas. Our hostess Diana was amazing, I really enjoyed getting to know and spend time with her. You can find Diana in the picture to the left of me in the pink striped shirt. She came to the church every day to help out with VBS, and was at almost every event we had. The Pastor of the church was wonderful. You can see his heart for his congregation and community, and it shines through his wife too.

I’m thankful that during the trip I didn’t compare what we were doing in Mexico to what we did in Haiti. On our first full day in Mexico we had a women’s tea and had a time of worship through music which brought me back to my love of Mexico, the culture, and how God has used Mexico in my life. I love the discipleship training we got in Haiti and our debriefing every day. And both of those things make it hard for me to compare the two trips. I’m curious about what a trip to Mexico with AIM would be like. Today though I have been comparing our time in Haiti and our time in Mexico and how everything went, especially the attitudes of the people on the trip. I probably wont end up blogging about it, but picking some people’s brains instead.

I’m still way behind on blogging, not blogging about specific events that took place in Haiti yet. I need to do that and now blog about Mexico. It’ll take time, but I’ll get some done.

I didn’t have time to do a real post, so here’s some quick thoughts on my iPod touch before I go to bed for a couple hours, and then head out for Mexico.

We’re meeting at the church at 1:30am to leave by 2am to get to the airport with everyone in plenty of time. We have a one hour layover in Houston where my parents will hopefully be through security and at our gate to pick up Hannah, then off to the gate for our flight to Mexico where we’ll meet Zoe and take off!

Prayer requests:
safe travel to the airport, flying and driving to Morelos, Mexico.
Tim’s health, that his throat will heal quickly from the antibiotics and his cough will go away so he can sleep well.
Healing for me. Today I started getting a sharp pain in my tailbone with every step I take, which kept getting worst and worst as the day went on. I think I figured out why the pain started, because Thursday I sliced my heal pretty good, which hurt to walk on, so I haven’t put much pressure on my right foot since then, and the pain I have in my tail bone now is on the left side probably from all the pressure I’ve been putting on it.
For Hannah to travel well and do well leaving with my parents.
For Tim and I not to miss Hannah too much, and be able to focus on what God wants us to do in Mexico.
That our hearts and those we come in contact will be open to the love and work of Christ.
That my parents will get through security in the morning to get Hannah.
That Zoe will jump right in and become a natural part of our group.
That we all keep God’s plans first and remember that we are going to Mexico to share Christ, and put our personal agendas aside.

Here’s a list of everyone going to pray for:
Zoe, our friend from Texas
Steve
Jennie
Libby
Dave
Brook
Kristi
Tayler
Tony
Lee
Colin
Nathan
Mickey
Liz
Patti
Tim
Dana

Oh, and keep my mom and dad in your prayers, that they will have the energy to keep up with their very active granddaughter.

We have 5 more full days until we leave for Mexico, and I still haven’t given an update on our vacation time in Texas with the Waymans and Wisconsin with the Schmoyers. That’s still probably going to have to wait, especially now that I’m realizing we leave in only 5 days, that doesn’t seem long at all to get everything in place!

We sent our support letters for financial help and prayers. Please start praying now if you haven’t already! Last night we had our last meeting before heading out to Mexico. I left feeling better, but feeling like there are some loose ends that still need to be tied up. I started working on some of them last night after Hannah and Tim had gone to bed. I can’t remember when the last time was that I was the last one up, but only ’til 11, Tim hasn’t been feeling well, so that’s how he beat me to bed. Pray for his health, he’s functional, but still not feeling well, and we need him well for the trip.

Specific prayers…

I need to call my health insurance and see if I am covered in Mexico, if not then I need to get some traveler’s health insurance. Anyone have any recommendations you’ve used? Our travel agent said he would get some info to me yesterday about it, but I’m still empty handed and thinking I’ll do something on my own. I’ve never gotten health insurance for a missions trip before, but I’m thinking since I’ll be 10 weeks out from Baby Boy’s due date, this might be the time to look in to it.

Tim’s health. He’s had a sore throat, and yesterday had the chills when our house was hot. He’s just not himself.

Organization for everyone leading different areas of ministry we are doing in Mexico, that everything will come together and we will all trust God to do that, and not depend on our own strength, ’cause that just wont work.

Communication. We have some more questions that need to be answered by our contact person for the missions trip. Pray that we get those answers tomorrow (Thursday) so that will ease our minds and we can better plan what money we will need while in Mexico. Also that transportation from the airport in Mexico City to where we are staying will get organized and figured out if it’s not already… we’re not sure.

Relaxation and joy. Pray that we will all be at ease with what God has planned before, during and after this trip. God knows all that is going to happen, and has everything under control. We just need to relax and enjoy God’s amazing plans.

Rest for me. I’ve already been totally exhausted in this 3rd trimester. I think it’s been a mix between staying home with Hannah all day, nesting getting ready for Baby Boy and getting things prepared for Mexico. Luckily I’ve been able to take a good nap every day in the morning when Hannah goes down for hers. I do need to start making myself go to sleep earlier at night. Like, I should be in bed right now.

Praises!!!…

I heard back from the doctor’s office and I do not have gestational diabetes, and don’t have to go in for the 3 hour glucose test to figure that out! That is such a huge sigh of relief. I had to go though the 3 hour test with Hannah, and didn’t have gestational diabetes with her either, but luckily this time they were able to tell from the 1 hour test I took. Yay!

I was able to get through to Continental Airlines and put Hannah on my ticket flying from MSP to IAH as a lap child so my parents will have an easier time getting through security to pick her up to spend the week with them while we’re gone.

Ooookay, that’s it for now.

Thanks for the prayers.

We have been really busy with vacations and life is staying busy for the rest of the month and then some. We were in Texas for a week, came home for 3 days and left for Wisconsin for a week. I’ll post pictures later about those trips. Tomorrow we’re celebrating the 4th with Tim’s siblings down near the cities, then we have 2 weeks before we leave for Mexico. As much as I’ve enjoyed this summer so far, I’m looking forward to settling down.

Baby Boy should be about 2.5 pounds right now, and that feels about right. He is an active baby, and Tim and I enjoy feeling his kicks. I did a small baby registry at Target for Baby Boy. I’m not sure what the rules are with baby showers and gifts when you have 2 babies so close in age, but I figured since we’re having a boy this time I’d go ahead and register. It was more for fun for me. The main thing I’m wanting is the Baby Trend Double Sit and Stand stroller. We have one on the registry. I’ve been keeping my eye on craigslist for one, but so far no luck on buying one there. I was very tempted to put stuff on the registry that we’ll need for Hannah like a new carseat and at some point a little potty, and booster chair for the table, but I held back.

Hannah is doing great. She has weaned herself off of the bottle before 11 months. After putting up with several fits while I try to give her a bed time bottle, then putting her milk into a sippy cup instead and having a happy girl, we’ve switched completely to sippy cups. Hannah is now a fast crawler and loves to walk with her toy or holding on to someone’s hands. I spent some time searching on craigslist for walking wings to help her learn to walk and save my back now that I’m already in the 3rd trimester with Baby Boy. I can’t believe how soon we’ll be a family of 4!