We're connected!

Hello everyone (to those of you who still check this thing)! We are excited, because as of just this morning, we now have full internet access from our apartment! (Not to mention a working phone too!) We have come to discover how much we rely on internet to stay connected with family and friends around the world, and it's such a luxury to have it now in our apartment. So, sorry for the lack of communication the past few weeks and months... we'll try to do better now!

I've missed quite a few birthdays the last couple of weeks! (Seems like February is a month for birthdays in both David's family and mine!) Just wanted to say a late "Happy Birthday" to David's mom and brother on Feb. 6th, my brother Jeff on Feb. 9th, and brother-in-law Kevin on Feb. 11th! Oh, and cousin Nathan's birthday is today! Happy Birthday everyone! We thought of you, even though we didn't let you know!

No... no baby yet. We are still "patiently" waiting! My parents are planning on coming to visit us this Sunday, so we are looking forward to that. I'm sure Aria and Nina will love spending some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa!

Even though I REALLY want this baby to come, I was very thankful last evening that the baby was still inside. Right before David and I went to bed, poor Nina got 'sick'. We had heard that the stomach flu was going around here, but thankfully, it had not visitted us yet. This morning, Nina seems to be doing fine, just tired. So, we hope that it's all over with and no one else gets sick. (Can't imagine having sick kids with my parents visitting and a new baby arriving any time!)

We have been trying to get all our paperwork ready to apply for a 3 year visa once we return to T-land (hopefully in March!). This includes lots of medical exams and blood work (such as an AIDs test, TB test, etc.). Our children need to go through all this testing as well (including our baby once s/he arrives). I am NOT looking forward to putting them through all the needles and such, but I guess it needs to be done. I have also been fingerprinted several times in order to receive my police record from the States. That has proven to be a little more complicated than we thought, and we hope that we will receive this report (otherwise we won’t be able to apply). Even though we go through all the paperwork and needles, we still aren’t sure we will even be able to apply once returning to T-land, as only a certain amount of people can receive this visa, and perhaps we will be too late to apply. (I know, this all sounds very confusing.. and it is!) Even though all this can tend to make us a little apprehensive, we keep reminding ourselves to ‘rest’, because it is all out of our hands… but in Someone else’s.

Well, we will try to stay better connected... and be sure we will let you know when our baby arrives!

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!