Answered!

Thank you all sooo much for praying!  Last night Maya woke up briefly around 10:45 and we let her cry it out at that point, then she slept the rest of the night!  HOORAY!  We are both so very grateful for all of you who have lifted us up as we've been readjusting to life over here.  We couldn't make it here without your prayers and support.

Jet Lag

I feel compelled to ask for your prayers.  Maya is not handling transition well.  New food, new language, new climate, new people, new home/bed/room. . . Not to mention, she has jet lag.  She cannot express herself in words, and we cannot explain all of these changes to her.  She can't wake up and look at the clock and realize it is not time to be awake, and go back to sleep.  Every night since we got back has been hours of wrestling and fighting sleep and lots of crying and lots of wringing of hands and wondering what in the world do we do.  We know she is feeling insecure and her little world has just been turned upside down (again).  We know she needs extra TLC from us at this time.  What we don't know is just how much to give and when to say, "No, tonight you will cry it out in your crib and we will not wrestle you until 1 or 2 in the morning."  We know this too shall pass, we're just trying to know the "right" thing to do with her and it's hard to know when to accomadate and when to stick to the schedule and force her to adjust.  We're also very tired from the jet lag and feeling a bit desperate.  While I listened to her screaming tonight, for just a moment, I daydreamed about spanking her.  This is not a healthy place.  Please lift us up, and especially lift Maya. 

First Impressions

This is my stream of consciousness-tyle first impressions back home.
These people are so beautiful! 
In America we kind of hide our poverty.  You cannot avoid it here.  It clamors at you.
The food is awesome and I missed it.
Maya wins the popularity contest without trying.  Even when she's grouchy and fussy people eat her up here.
It is noisy here (and I love it).
Maya does not love the noise yet.  Especially at bedtime and the early call to prayer.
These folks LOVE fireworks and will use any excuse to celebrate LOUDLY!
Maya does like fireworks.  Nary a tear was shed even though New Year's Eve was nearly as loud as the 4th of July in the U.S.
Constant hot water, smart phones with internet access, moisture barriers in homes, central heat and air--such luxury we take for granted in the States.
My home does not seem as homey as I remember it.
This place drives me to need Jesus more and I love that.
My brain has been rotting for 6  months and Arabic is slow to come to mind.
It took me about the first 4 months in the U.S. to stop doubting myself every time I flushed t.p.--and now I keep forgetting that you CANNOT flush it here!
It is hard to explain to a one year old that she is suffering from jet lag and that she is simply very tired and that it will go away soon.
I am glad to be back in the land where we actually use those appendages attached to our butts for getting around town. (i.e. walking, if that wasn't obvious)

More to come on our wonderful celebrations of Christmas and special final time with family before coming back.  We have so much to be grateful for.  Our flight back was not without drama, but in spite of bad weather, a forced four hour wait on the tarmac, missed flights, and desperate airport running (while carrying a car seat, two carry-on's a purse a diaper bag and pushing a stroller) we ended up making our long flight to London and then were re-routed there through an extra country and then on to our final destination.  Something like 32 hours, I think, but Maya was wonderful and we had plenty of room on the long flight and understanding people around us.  This was crazy--we ran into folks that we know in the airport!! I can't remember which one, but we were in Europe, for sure. Are you kidding?  What an encouragement--these are the kinds of folks who can challenge and encourage you in a five minute airport conversation--thank you Lord for that gift!  At one particularly challenging moment of Maya-wrestling I was about to reach the end of my rope.  I may have started crying.  She was probably fighting sleep and wailing.  I glanced out the plane window and was instantly amazed at the number of stars I could see.  It was truly infinite.  Unbelievable.  Gorgeous.  Then we witnessed a few moments later the most amazing lightning storm (the one that kept us on the tarmac for four hours earlier).  It was like a light show/lazer show/fireworks show all rolled into one.  And it had the majesty and handiwork of God written all over it.  Kind of like a few days earlier when it snowed on Christmas morning.  In Mississippi.  I feel very blessed for the way the Creator of the Universe has taken time to speak encouragement straight to my soul in all of these ways recently.  He is speaking, if only I have the ears to hear and the eyes to see. . . He is so kind.  I do not deserve and could never earn the favor He shows me.  I am so grateful.

New Camera

Well, I have an amazing new camera thanks to the deep generosity of family, and it's sooo fun! Having a baby has made me really long for a good camera to capture this sweet girl that is just constantly changing and growing. Earlier this week I was packing up Maya's clothes and found a sweet hand-me-down dress that I couldn't resist putting her into. So we had a little Christmas photo shoot.

Happy Birthday Maya!

What a fun way to spend a birthday--being smothered with love by two big cousins!

the cake crew hard at work decorating cupcakes

Lisa baked the cupcake-shaped cake and Liv and I frosted it.

Liv and I made the cupcake flags a few weeks back.

Annalie preparing to eat her work of art

Nana made all the super-sweet cupcake decorations (we recycled a cupcake gift bag from the Target dollar spot!).
First taste of sugar!
the post cake sugar daze. . .

the special gifts

We got you your first Bible for your first birthday, and when we wouldn't let you hold it, you threw a fit. Guess somebody needs to start reading that Bible right away. . .

Thank you to precious friends and family who sent gifts and blessings and communicated your love for the little cupcake! Also a big thanks to my fantastic brother and sister in law, Jason and Lisa, who hosted the whole shin dig in their beautiful home! What a sweet gift to be able to celebrate Maya's first year with so many of our family members!

Happy Birthday!

11 Months Old

Can you believe it? This little squash is just one month from her first birthday! These pictures were taken around her 11 month birthday. We are gearing up for a super fun cupcake-themed birthday party for her on December 4th. I truly can't believe it was only a year ago when we were wondering when she would be born, what she would look like, etc. It seems like she has been a part of our family forever. What in the world did we do with all of the free time we had before we had a baby? And what did we do to entertain ourselves? She keeps us busy and keeps us laughing.

Maya has a few new tricks:

She says, "Mmmmhh" when you give her a bite of food.

She has learned how to clap!

When you ask her what a puppy says, she makes a little barking sound.

Last, but not least, If you click your tongue at her, she clicks back.

There's No Place Like Home

We had a fun time dressing up on Sunday and going to my parents' church activity, "Trunk or Treat". Folks hand out candy from their trunks and truck beds, the church rents some inflatables, they grill hot dogs and try to get kids from the neighborhood to come out. I love the idea. And I love to dress up. At some point during my childhood, mom decided that we weren't going to celebrate Halloween anymore. I understand, and as a parent, at some point I'll probably decide the same thing. But this year, something came over me. I was overwhelmed by glee and excitement about making a costume. I have never dressed up as any of the Wizard of Oz characters, even though I grew up in Kansas, so this year, I dressed up as Dorothy and I dressed matt up as the Scarecrow. I even toyed around with the idea of dressing Maya up as Toto, but regained my sanity and let her be the flower that I had the hand-me-down costume for. To make my (awesome) shoes, I got a cheap pair at the thrift store, sanded them, painted them with acrylic paint (several coats), then put glue on them and doused them in glitter. We didn't manage to get very many pictures, and the ones we have seem to be the result of some strange photography experimentation on the part of my mom (appearing here as Raggedy Anne), but you get the idea. I should sell my outfit on ebay--it turned out sweet!