A Few Pictures

I just wanted to put up a few family pictures that we've been taking over the past couple of weeks:

My whole family

We outnumber the boys

Andrew's family minus me (I'm taking the picture)

Delay...

Thursday has come and Thursday has gone we are still here in the great state of Georgia.  I have yet to post about this because I think I have just now accepted it as reality.  Since we left Virginia, I have unfortunately been having some stomach issues.  I didn't think much about it at first, I figured it would just clear up pretty quickly on its own.  It didn't.  Thinking it might be just a side-effect of my TB meds, I called the nurse.  After conferring with the doctor, they said they did not believe that to be the case and I needed to go see a doctor asap.  8:30 the next morning I was in the doctors office.  After almost three hours of sitting, answering questions and getting poked with needles, I came out with three new prescriptions and no answers.  I started taking the new medicine on Friday and by Monday there was absolutely no change.  I called my doctor here and they gave me a million run-arounds and a second prescription for the exact same thing she has already prescribed to me (the pharmacy wouldn't let me fill it again so soon).  We had to call the doctor in Va again to give them the update, which was basically no change.  That's when it all happened...she said that even if I got completely better by that evening (Tuesday) my stomach would not be in good enough condition to move overseas on Thursday.  We needed to see a specialist before we could get medical clearance to travel.

Wednesday morning we were sitting in a specialists office basically demanding they let us in.  They did :)  He too had no ideas, so after telling me to come off the TB meds and eleven vials of blood later, we went home to wait it out.  We should hear back from him tomorrow, but in the meantime, I do feel a good bit better.  Not 100% yet, but I can tell there has been some improvement.  Who knows...maybe this time next week we'll be overseas :)

The First of Many...

Well, the time for our departure is quickly approaching.  We will leave all that we know and love here and head off on the adventure of a lifetime, for a lifetime.  Today is Monday and our flight leaves Thursday evening.  For the most part, we have what few belongings we have left sorted into what is going, what is staying and what will probably not fit so hopefully someone will bring it out to us when they come visit.  We are filled with so many different emotions at the prospect of leaving.  Andrew's brother and sister-in-law have been in Georgia for the weekend spending time with us.  This afternoon we had the first of many hard good-byes.  We are so grateful for this time to spend with family before we leave.  It is so very difficult to say good-bye to loved ones, we have to constantly remind ourselves that it is all worth it in His name.  Andrew's parents have flown out to spend our last week here with us.  I am so grateful that they made the trip out.  It is an enormous encouragement to both me and Drew to have their love and support.  In the midst of this difficult time, it gives us such a peace and calm knowing that both sets of parents and families completely love us and support us.  Most importantly though, they know, love and desire Glory for the Name that is above all names.

We still have a lot of preparation ahead of us before we leave on Thursday.  While we have most of our things sorted, we have not even begun to put those things into bags yet.  I believe we will get to take a total of seven bags with us when we go.  It sounds like a lot, but I'm sure once we start actually putting our stuff in them they will quickly fill up.  I am a bad packer.  It's not that I am bad at getting things to fit (I think I'm actually quite good at Tetris), it's that the packing part is where I get the most stressed out.  There's just something about putting your things in a suitcase that makes it all so real.  You have to sit there and watch it all go in.  More and more of your stuff going into the suitcase and less and less of your stuff sitting on the floor in your house.  I am definitely going to need a lot of "morals" for this packing process.

Thanks for keeping up with us!  I will try to keep you updated with our process and travels as we go along.  I apologize that in my stress I often do not communicate as much as I should :)

"Saba"!!!

Just a quick update....An-do and I are baby sitting Zeke for a few hours this morning and he has finally figured out a name for me!!  He now calls me "Saba."  I like it, I think it's close to Sabre which is fun, like a Sabre Tooth Tiger.

Just another Transition

We are back home in Georgia.  After two months in the beautiful state of Virginia, we are back in the Peach state.  There is a reason our blog is called "Our Journey Around the World,"  because we are constantly in a state of movement and transition. (at least so it seems)  Our time in Virginia was very good.  We enjoyed it very much.  We met a lot of people that we became fast friends with and that we were very sad to say good-bye too.

I must apologize for not blogging as much while we were in Va.  We did not have easy access to the internet, but I aim to keep everyone updated, and hopefully our internet access with be conducive to that.

When we arrived home this morning, my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and new little niece came over.  I got to see little Madie Ruth for the first time!!  She was so cute.  I am sure that she has grown so much since she was born, but she still seemed so little to me.  Of course our nephew, Zeke, was ecstatic to see "An-do."  It is amazing how fast those little guys grow up!  "An-do" is by far Zeke's favorite person in the world aside from his grandma (aka "Mamu").  He doesn't even have a clue that I have a name...this morning he was being cute and going around the room looking at everyone and saying hello to them by name.  He looked at his dad, "hey daddy,"  looked at Carrie, "hey mommy,"  looked at Drew, "hey An-do,"  he looked at me, paused and a confused look came on his face and he said, "hey An-do."  Oh well...he's too cute and I guess I'm okay with the fact that Andrew is his favorite (as long as I end up being Madie's favorite).

PPD and TB

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that during our last immunization clinic we had TB skin tests done.  Well, my PPD test did react positively:

(My TB Skin test over two weeks later)

Don't worry, I don't actually have TB.  A positive reading simply means that I have been exposed to TB.  In reality, this should not be that surprising.  I figured it up with some other people, and I have traveled to about 15 countries, and that within the last ten years.  With all this traveling, it is no surprise that I have come into contact with someone who had active TB.  I was not that nervous about testing positive.  I figured if I did have TB, Andrew would have tested positive on his PPD test also, but he was as negative as you can get.  A couple of hours after Andrew received his test, you could not even see it anymore.  But, just as a precaution, I had to get a chest x-ray.  All my results came back completely normal.  So what now?  Here comes the fun part :)  I have to take a pill everyday for 9 months:

I don't simply just have to take this pill, but I have to take this pill on an empty stomach.  At least two hours after eating and one hour before eating.  For those of you who know me well, I do not often have an empty stomach :)  I have discovered that the best thing for me to do is take this pill an hour before breakfast.  Also for those who know me well, I need to eat breakfast first thing in the morning when I wake up.  Therefore, I set my alarm clock an hour before I need to get up.  It goes off, I wake up, take my pill and go immediately back to sleep for another hour :)  So far it's been working out pretty good.  I've been taking this pill for three days now :)  The good thing about all this is that if everything works properly and I take my pills like I should, I will never get TB (as far as I understand).  Even if I am exposed again, and I will never have to take another PPD test because I will always react positively.  I am pretty grateful for that last part, because those skin tests hurt pretty bad.

Well, thanks for listening to my rambling...I hope you enjoyed it!

Cousins are like Siblings

This past weekend we had the opportunity to visit my cousin, Laura, and her family in Lynchburg.  Laura and I were always very close growing up.  In elementary school most of the adults/teachers couldn't remember our names because we were always together.  I have such great memories of us building forts out in the woods or "tree houses" on the swing set in Laura's backyard.  I remember in college, rolling out of bed and meeting Laura to walk down to the cafeteria to eat breakfast together.  While she is technically my cousin, Laura has always been more like a sister for me.  For a majority of our lives, we have lived no further than two miles apart...that is until we grew up and became adults ourselves.

The cutest little Jack in the world :)

Granted...not the best picture in the world, but it shows the love none the less.  Love you Laura, you're the best cousin in the whole wide world!!!