One Krafty Family & a Pug

After all this time of waiting to unpack the misplaced camera cord, Walmart had a $12 solution. Taa daa To recap: We moved in to D.C. from TX on Saturday, DH preached for the first time Sunday, and headed to Guatemala on Monday morning. The pink slip notice was issued within 7 hours of labcorps shipment and was caught in the the company's spam filter. He was in the plane flying during our missed appointment and praying they'd give him a make-up appointment that week and they did. We had a fun lil group meeting Jackie at the airport...complete with the running through a field of daisies scene, balloons, and a welcome home poster. Our first week was rough. Very rough. I'd submit us for a World's Worst Homecoming Week award and expect an honorable mention.

Jackie and I were fine.,,.it was the chaos surrounding us. DH out of commission with a stomach thing which turned into puking for Jonathan and NO, NONE, NADA coping skills after the traumatic move, Daddy gone, puking, refusing to sleep, and a new sister that pinches him. Did I say NO COPING SKILLS? A soft breeze could start a tantrum. Really. Jackie, traumatized herself, was a cutie, but I couldn't set her down for 10 seconds. You can imagine my level of guilt to set her down to scream to deal with my son's screaming that was partly expected, partly lack of emotional maturity/insecurity, part naughty/defiance. It just was so over the top--a psychology major could write a dissertation on all the emotional components playing out at once. Not to mention, my own residual feelings of loss over my mom's death when I was in college since she "should" have been there to welcome her grand-daughter named after her and my dad who died last year. I cried out for help and my sister-in-law (avi8torwife) was driving to the airport within 3 hours. Bless her heart! Jon Jon started to recalibrate and peace was restored to our home. Mai (springbean) came over after the virus passed and helped me unpack another half a dozen boxes including the baby toys in boxes labeled "open first before Jackie comes home" at the back of the garage under a massive pile. :roll:

Jackie is darling, of course. She wasn't quite crawling and I enjoyed 11 days of that--today she crawled across a room, down a hall, into the bathroom where I was. :ohmy:

Time to childproof! She now has a valid left-right pattern across the room. She's using Ma ma and Da da for us, "esta" to point out things, waves adios and plays "donde Jackie" (peek a boo). She's just 10.5 months but is solidly fitting in 18 mos clothes on top. She's short & solid like her Mommy! She's not aggressive, per se, but she pinches really hard, pulls hair, digs her nails into your face, pokes eye balls, head butts, and licks you when you hold her. She bit the snot outta my thigh, drawing several drops of blood through my flannel jammies.

If you think of us to pray, please pray for Jonathan to take her baby behaviors in a stride since they are bound to get worse before better as we head towards toddler-ville. Pray for our new ministry to a church that has not had a pastor in 3 years. They are dear people and helped negotiate a nice house to rent. After weeks, under-writers have still not made a decision about our private health insurance application--I'm so nervous we'll get turned down and have to reapply somewhere else. I thought getting insurance was just a sign on the dotted line sorta thing, but boy was I wrong. My feet are swelling up most nights so I can't fit in my shoes and hobble around. It's painful and makes getting anything productive done after the kids go to bed impossible. (Jenny suggested high blood pressure, but I'm nearly perfect on two dif machines.) Maybe God is protecting me by forcing me to sit and ice my feet, knowing that the house will eventually get unpacked and organized. I'm not quite "over" whelmed like last week...but life is still crazier than I can handle without God...if not over-whelmed...am I just whelmed? *knee slapper* Sense of humor still there--that's a good sign. Needless to say, God is good. My cup runneth over.

Mom can't stop smiling!