Dancing Queen

Actually, I should title this, "Mama Ia" as Karis is pretty obsessed with ABBA and most specificaly Mama Mia. It all started because my sister and I took her with us to see the movie in August. Ever since she has been requesting, "Mama Ia" so she can "dance". In hopes to save us from too many hours of ABBA we enrolled her in a pre-ballet class! It is just 30 minutes, 1 day a week and she loves it. And although I initially thought I was wasting money with the ballet outfit that she will outgrow in just a few months she wears it so much around the house that I think we have gotten our money out of it!

No baby yet...

So my official due date was October 14. It is now October 20 and still no baby.... aghh!! On the one hand I am not particularly keen on inducing and definitely don't want a c-section but I was really, really hoping for the little guy to make an appearance on his own but so far he has not cooperated! We do have an induction set for Thursday night unlsess something happens in the interim! We would appreciate your prayers.

Hyena Sighting!

Clearly this is out of chronological order! A hyena sighting in Temple, Texas would be really exciting! However, I was reminded of the hyena last night driving on a road in Temple where we used to see coyotes. So just a few nights before we left Malawi we were driving home from Bible Study about 10 at night and did see a hyena!! It was a pretty big one and right on the side of the road. This is not totally unusual as people do see them every once and a while and John had seen one once before but it was still pretty cool! As with everywhere the city is getting built up so the areas of "wild" are getting less and less - not sure if that means more hyenas will be seen as they have less natural habitat to stay in or what. Anyway, it was pretty interesting and I must admit I had never been so thankful for the 6 foot walls around our compound! I realize hyenas are like most wild animlas - they would just assume leave you alone but I read a short story about a rabid hyena and that was enough to make me paranoid! John, of course, (and rightly) thinks I am silly for this paranoia!!

Sewing project!

I know, I know! I have not updated our blog in months! So instead of trying to get "caught up" as planned I am just going to start back with a random post. I am almost done with what I hope and think is a successful sewing project! I decided the baby's crib needed a bed skirt and although I found really cute curtains and a bumper from Ikea they do not make the bed skirt or diaper stacker so I had the bright idea that I could make it myself! It has taken a phone call to both my sister and my mom and actually reading the sewing machine manual to figure out how to "gather" but I now have 3 of the 4 ruffled sides sewed on and so far so good!!

Sewing actually makes me appreciate people when they say they can't cook. In general I tend to feel like there is nothing to cooking - you just read the recipe and do what it says! But that is because I cook enough to understand the instructions! Quite often when I read pattern instructions I understand the words but still have no idea what they mean!!!

and despite the success of the bed skirt I am leaning toward skipping the diaper stacker all together or buying one... or talking my mom into making one when she is here for Christmas... that might be the best idea yet:)