General Update And Our Special Wednesdays

Hi loved ones! Since we're snowed in tonight (I was supposed to go out), I have time to blog! Praise God, we are all doing as well as we could have hoped, despite the frequent exhaustion at the end of each day...

Key highlights regarding the big changes we are experiencing:

1. I'm loving my new job! It is a perfect fit for me. The work is very interesting, my colleagues are great, the commute is so easy, and the 4 day schedule is working out perfectly for our family. My main work right now is very similar to what I used to do, providing technical assistance in Research and Evaluation for a Behaviour Change Communication Public Health Program in Zambia. I have never worked for Zambia before and it's been very interesting to learn about that country in Southern Africa.

2. Daniel is doing well at school, though he was very sick the previous week with a high fever that lasted 5 days. So going back to school after all those days at home took some adjustments but now he is doing better (he is still shy when we drop him off in the mornings but is always reluctant to go home in the afternoons!). Also, many of his "older" friends - those who are already 3 - moved to a different classroom and Daniel was sad to see them go... But he is now happy with those friends that stayed and is getting to know the new ones.

3. Jonny had his first MBA class last night! He is taking two classes the next 8 weeks: "Business Communications" and "Accounting and Financial Reporting." He already has assignments due each week, so the workload is large. He has 6 hours of class per week (currently Tuesday and Thursday nights), which means that he should expect to study 12 to 18 hours per week at home (2 - 3 hours per hour of class). What this means is that he will have to study most evenings and on Saturdays. We decided that Sundays will be our family day off -- to go to church and enjoy being together. It's a big change but we will be taking one day at a time and are trusting God to guide us on how to fit everything in and continue connected as a couple and family.

Special Wednesdays: My "date day" with Daniel

I was so happy that my new supervisor agreed with my proposed schedule to be off on Wednesdays. It works perfectly because after just 2 days, I get lots of quality time with Daniel, before working another 2 days and then there is the weekend. It is a good break for us both from work and school.

I have been very intentional to make our Wednesdays together special and so I have been planning different activities for us to do together. I have been calling it our "date day" so that Daniel also knows it's a special day with his "mamae." We are likely to be going to the Gymnastics Open Gym session we used to go to last year, as Daniel loves it and they only have it during the week.

Here are some photos of Daniel the last time we went. To my surprise, he spent most of the time there jumping into the "foam pit" over and over again! He barely spent time on the trampoline this time. The foam pit is great but it's hard work to get out of  (last time we went, around May of last year, he couldn't get out of the pit alone) but Daniel just kept jumping and climbing out for about 40 minutes. I thought he was so brave to jump from so high too, but he wasn't afraid at all and just loved it! Before each time he jumped, he wanted me to say "One, two, three, go!" or "Ready, set, go!"

(Sorry most of the photos are not correctly oriented -- I can't get them to turn around.)

Better get to bed now! Tomorrow we are likely to be snowed in, so we hope to play outside! This will be the first proper snow fall that we had all winter, so we are excited about it - and hope to post photos soon too!

Good night loved ones!

Daniel's First Trip To The Dentist!

Hi loved ones! Just a quick update tonight since time is short, but all is going great with my new job! People have been so welcoming and the work is very interesting. An unexpected blessing is that several people like to get together for lunch everyday so I have been enjoying that too!

We have all been battling colds recently and Daniel had a very high fever last night, but he is doing better today. We pray that we will get through this winter season without too many more illnesses.

Another first for Daniel happened last week:  he had his first ever dentist appointment (age 2 and 10 months) and we are so relieved that it went very well! Though it has been getting easier, it has generally not been easy for us to brush Daniel's teeth. And we were getting concerned with some tartar building up and so decided to take him to a paediatric dentist. They were fantastic! They made him feel very comfortable, Daniel fully cooperated with them, and the dentist was able to clean his teeth and let us know that his teeth are healthy and that there are no cavities - what a relief!

Jonny took Daniel and took some photos with his mobile phone -- he forgot the camera. So though the photos aren't great, you can get a general feel of how it all went!

This is the waiting area - with lots of toys and Daniel loved it!

And then, look how comfortable he was in the dental chair!

We were so proud of him and so relieved it went well! From now on, he will go every 6 months to get his teeth cleaned and checked.

New Year, New Beginnings

The New Year is here and with it, our family will soon be experiencing many new things.

Tomorrow I start my new job and I am excited and just a little nervous, wondering what it will be like. God has been so gracious to provide me with a new job, it all happened very quickly and unexpectedly. I worked at my previous organization for almost 7 years but commuting an average of 1 and a half hours each way to work or working in isolation from home was really starting to get to me...  So after I got back from Europe, I did a quick internet search and was amazed to find a job that fits my interests, qualifications and experience perfectly, less than 20 minutes from my house. I decided to apply for the job and 2 days later, a 5 week process of interviews and negotiations started which ended with me accepting a new job offer and resigning from my previous organization. Little did I know during this process that God was leading me to change jobs for much greater reasons... I wish I could write down all the details of what happened but due to confidentiality issues, it's suffice to say that if I hadn't resigned, it was likely that in the near future, I would have been out of a job because of serious organizational problems I was unaware of until the day I resigned. God protected me from that situation and when I realized what He had done, I was just amazed at how my Heavenly Father takes care of me in such a personal and direct way! Thank you Lord!

So tomorrow our family will be starting a new phase, with me working 4 days a week instead of 3, but much closer to home, with a team of researchers (something I have greatly missed), still in the area of International Public Health Research...

Daniel will continue at his current pre-school but will change to one much closer to my new job at the end of June. I also thank God for helping us find Daniel a new school so quickly  -- this time I only had to look at 6 schools instead of 12 to find one we were happy with! :)

The other big change that is coming soon, is that Jonny will start an MBA program, part-time, at the end of January. He will be studying two nights per week for the next 3 years -- though it is a flexible program and he can do it in up to 6 years if he needs to. This will be a very big change for us and we will have to be very careful of how we manage our time, but we both feel this is the time and right thing for him to do. The MBA will provide him with the opportunity to change careers -- still stay in science but leave the laboratory and instead, work more as a technical consultant and in scientific investments. He is so excited about this which is a joy to see!

So all in all, we will be experiencing some very big changes in 2011! We are trusting God in all of this and are at peace about it all. We ask you, dear loved ones, as we come to your mind, to pray for us. We are praying to adjust well to these changes, to experience joy and peace, and to know how to manage our time, so that our family does not suffer from the extra commitments. Most importantly, we pray that we would continue to grow closer to God and seek Him more through all we experience in this New Year.

I hope to continue updating this blog, but it may not be as frequent as I would love to, due to us adjusting to these changes. I expect to be extra tired in the evenings for a while! I have enjoyed blogging more frequently this past week and a half but it's because I have been on holiday. :) But tomorrow, I new phase begins, so we will see what that will look like...

WE ARE EXCITED!

(Note: The photos in this blog were taken in Giverny, France, during our visit to Monet's Garden, this past September, 2010. It was one of the most beautiful gardens we have ever seen! Just amazing and a visit we will treasure forever.)

Pure Cuteness!

...tonight after bath.

Happy New Year!

It's New Years Eve!

And we were so blessed to spend the evening with our dear friends Jim, Jean and Carole. They prepared a lovely dinner for us and we enjoyed being together, catching up, with lots of love and laughter.

(Maezinha, they used the tablecloth you bought them and said they use it often!)

Jim and Jean will be celebrating 50 years of marriage on July 16th, 2011 (exactly a day after our wedding anniversary)! Their marriage is an example to us and to many who know them...

Daniel, as always, loved his cup of tea...

And then he became the running fireman, running through the house!

A group photo to remind us of a lovely New Years Eve together!

We love you Purcells!!!

*****

To all loved ones around the world, Happy New Year! Our wishes for you in 2011 are perfectly summed up in Numbers 6:24-26:

"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

Special Times in December 2010

We've had some special times this past December which we would like to remember:

1. Enya's 3rd Birthday party - we all had a blast!

2. We hosted a "thank-you Christmas dinner" for the sweetest girls who babysit Daniel often. There are 5 girls from our church that regularly take turns to babysit Daniel for us so that we can participate in church evening meetings and the occasional date night out. They do this as a service to us, for free, and are so loving towards Daniel. We are SO thankful for these girls, they are such a blessing! Unfortunately 2 of the girls were not able to make the dinner but we got some cute photos with 3 of them:

From top to bottom: Lauren, Allison and Ashley

3. Toddlers racing:Marcus, Daniel and Lucas!

4. I only got one photo that night, but we had a pyjamas Christmas party at our church and it was great fun! More sweet girls that I love in this photo (from left to right: me, April, Michelle and Melissa --Melissa is one of the other babysitters who couldn't make the dinner):

5. Jonny enjoyed taking Daniel on the Carousel for the first time (for Jonny):

6. Lots of cute smiles...

Daniel post haircut (I still cut both of my boys' hairs!). Also, this photo shows all the stickers Daniel has been collecting from the potty training that is going very well! He has started wearing underwear at home and seems to be getting it - and most importantly, motivated to do it most of the time! I think we should have a big boy very soon!

7. And finally just today, we got babies Sadie and Maya together again (daughters of my friends Corrinne and Heather)! They are both almost 5 months old and less than 2 weeks apart -- so cute!