I thought they would give me a little time to adjust...

But no! I got called into the Primary Presidency only a month after our return to the States. Welcome back, huh!!

Between Primary meetings, morning preschool, afternoon Kindergarten, a 3rd grader/cub scouter, and dragging a baby along to all of the above....I am simply BEAT by the end of each day!! Is this really what American life is like? Did I just forget how crazy it is??? How do all of you do it?

The adjustment to being back Stateside has been EXTREMELY difficult to say the least. Everyone expects us to be "normal" now that we're back....and I feel FAR from it! In Manila, I only had to worry about the basics...that in and of itself was stressful enough in a third-world country! But here, I feel like everyone has so many expectations of me. They expect me to be "normal", and I'm not. They expect me to be able to do everything, and I can't. They expect me to just fit right back into an American lifestyle, and I definitely don't!

Don't get me wrong, I am definitely glad that we took the giant leap of faith (and it WAS giant!) and went overseas...I learned and experienced more than I ever could have imagined!! I grew immensely! I am just a totally different person now...and I'm not sure where I fit into this fast-paced American lifestyle anymore. Since being back, our life hasn't slowed down enough for me to wrap my head around any of it. It's almost like I have to re-learn how to be American again. That probably sounds odd to most of you, but I'm sure my fellow Expats can relate! Re-adjusting is hard!!! Now I know why returned missionaries are so "weird" for awhile when they come home! Adjusting is a long difficult process for anyone....but try having 4 kids in tow while doing it! I can tell you from experience that having a baby in a third world country has got noth'in on this adjustment stuff!!! They say it takes a good year to feel "normal"....and I definitely believe them! The funny part is that we had to take hours and hours of classes to prepare to go overseas, but no one prepares you to come home! Kinda ironic, don't ya think?!

On the upside, I can tell you that I am LOVING doing my own housework (minus the toilets of course)!!

House update:

Our hurricane ravaged house FINALLY got fixed (3 adjusters and many hours of hounding the insurance company later). Having an insurance claim is definitely a FULL-TIME JOB!! As it turns out, we had the insurance company with one of the worst track records on paying out claims. So I'm going to save you all the trouble of having to go through this yourself and tell you NOT to go with All State!! You've seen their ads: "You're in good hands with All State"....WHATEVER!!! Our roofers told us that All State is the absolute worst when it comes to claims. They also said that State Farm and Farmers are some of the best insurance companies to work with as far as claims, and they close the claims the fastest. And I'll tell ya...saving a little on your insurance premium each month by going with another company IS NOT worth it! After this ordeal, I'd much rather pay a little higher premium to know that if something does happen, I've got a good insurance company behind me! At any rate, the house is fixed and we sold it to our house-sitters. We closed the day before Thanksgiving....what a GREAT Thanksgiving present!!! After buying 4 houses and selling 3 of them in under 6 years....I hope I can safely say that we are staying put for a good LONG time!!!

I know I've been MIA, but there's a really good explanation...

We've moved back to the States!!! It was a VERY unexpected move (since we had unofficially extended our contract in Manila to a 3rd year and didn't expect to come back until Fall of '09). It has also been a very L..O..N..G move! We flew to the States in August for Parker's baptism, and while we were there Brett got the unanticipated job offer. So we left the kids with grandma and grandpa (except for the baby of course), and Brett and I headed back to Manila to sell practically all our belongings there and pack up what little we could bring home. It was an exhausting process, and I'm afraid it hasn't slowed down much at all since then!

While we were flying home for our last time from Manila, we watched helplessly from the Tokyo airport as hurricane Ike headed straight for our house in Texas. We got word a few days later from the couple living in our home that the roof was completely damaged and had leaked water in nearly every room of the house. So not only did we have 3 moves to deal with (from Manila, from Texas, and our stuff from our families houses), but we also had to deal with trying to get our Houston house fixed to sell. It has been a nightmare to say the least!! We have been through 3 adjusters so far, and 2 months later it still isn't fixed and there is a blue tarp still on the roof. Ugghhh!!

And I thought moving to a third-world country was hard.....

Parker's Baptism

We took our home-leave trip to the States in August so that our families could be at Parker's baptism. It was a great day with lots of family around to celebrate with Parker! Here's a few pics:

We were also able to attend Brett's nephew's wedding while we were there. The girls got to hand out mints. Their grandma did a great job on their dresses!! I think they felt like real princesses!

Some anniversary present...and I mean that!

Happy Anniversary to us!! Nine years! Wow...that flew by!

Let me share with you the !!WONDERFUL!! present Brett gave me....

Yep, that's right....it's a bag of baby carrots!! Now all of you back in the States probably think this is the world's worst anniversary present--one that my husband just picked up at the grocery store on his way home from work. Am I right...come on, you know you're thinking it! :o) However, if you've ever lived outside of the U.S. I'm sure you'll understand my complete and utter happiness at getting baby carrots for my anniversary present!!! Baby carrots are such a normal thing back home, but in our nearly 2 years living in the Philippines, I have NEVER seen them here!!!! A friend told me once that she found them here, and I have been looking and looking ever since...with no luck. But let me tell you, this is proof to me that Heavenly Father knows us intimately! I'm sure you're dying to know how a bag of baby carrots is proof of a loving Father in Heaven---so I'm gonna tell ya. Here it goes:

I spent our anniversary in the hospital today...having about a million x-rays and CT scans....not to mention all the ultrasounds and exams I had done on the 4th of July last Saturday at the same hospital! And tests here are NOT like in the States....you wait FOREVER here!!! And I do mean FOREVER!!! Let's just say it hasn't been a fun few days for me. And now after all the tests, I found out today that I have to have surgery tomorrow. Happy Anniversary to me!! To tell you the truth, I am actually relieved because I finally know the reason I have been feeling so awful for the past few weeks. The only problem is: I'm in a third world country. Surgery is not exactly on my list of things to do while living here....but then again, neither was having a baby. But I survived that, and I'm sure I'll survive this as well!

Anyway, back to the reason that I know Heavenly Father knows me so well: Because He knows that I have been looking and looking for baby carrots....He knows that I have had an awful few days....He knows that finding carrots would make me super happy....and He knew that Brett needed to find baby carrots TODAY to help me deal with this surgery. Amazing, isn't it!!! Even though I'm stuck in some pretty crazy circumstances at the moment, I can't help but feel blessed!

3 months old

Playing catch-up

My oh my, at the end of the school year you get behind pretty darn fast!! So it's time to play catch-up....

First, we had Addie's birthday. Here's a little video from her preschool class--if you're interested, that is (its mostly for the grandmas!). Sorry it's so grainy and jumpy...I must have been a little too excited that day! :o)

Then, Parker passed his test for his yellow belt in Judo:

On the same day he also hit his first home run ever in baseball....WAY TO GO, PARKER!!! What a GREAT day!


And then there was MEMORIAL DAY:

We were sure missing being back in the States and being able to BBQ, so we decided to head out to the ceremony at the U.S. Cemetery (for the soldiers who died defending the Philippines against the Japanese...and those who died during the Bataan Death March). There are over 17,000 soldiers buried there. It's a beautiful place! There were both Filipino and American soldiers there who actually fought against the Japanese. It really makes you proud to be an American.

Logan in his Jumper

Hide n Seek

fHave you ever had the urge to hide from your family? I'm not ashamed to admit that I HAVE (You know you have too)! I have even been known to play hide n seek with my kids for the sole purpose of getting a few minutes alone to myself while hiding in a VERY hard to find spot!! If you haven't tried it, you really should!

And that's exactly what I did yesterday...without even meaning to! It was one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days...and in a foreign country it's even worse!! I had gone to the pantry to find something to make for dinner. I stood there with the door open for quite some time, then a thought popped into my head, "If you close the door no one will look for you in here." So that's exactly what I did! I pulled up the big bucket o' crackers and sat down. It's surprising how peaceful a pantry can be! I got a bit of lite reading done while looking at the back of my canned goods for new recipes, and I took stock of what we had and what we needed. I must say, I quite enjoyed myself! I even got about 30 minutes of time to myself. So I think I'll hide in the pantry more often!! You should try it too!

Note to self: Hide a bag of cookies in the pantry to munch on next time.

Disclaimer for CPS: Husband was home during said hiding attempt--no child was ever left alone or unattended.

2 months