20 weeks

Halfway there! (well, over half if you count that I will deliver no later than 39 wks.)

I had lost about seven lbs with morning sickness and have gained those back, so sitting at zero weight gain overall. Would like to say I'm eating healthier than I am, but when hunger cravings take over watch out! E and I did some damage at Taco Bell yesterday. Although I think his skinny 40 lb frame ate more than me.

I'm feeling really good though. Today I organized the basement and E's room, so safe to say I'm in nesting mode.

I have felt a little bit of movement, but no definite kicks yet. Just maybe a somersault or two.

Two more days and we'll have our sonogram. I'm excited to pick out paint colors and decorate the baby's room next!

we wish you a holly jolly jingle bell rockin' around the red-nosed christmas!

my child is a caroling fool. he loves his christmas songs.


this year his favorite to sing is a kidzbop song called Go Go Christmas. here he is practicing at home and the live show (complete with yawn as it was the last song of the set.)


however my personal fave of the evening was Holly Jolly Christmas. they're just so dang cute.


so much to be happy about and look foward to. my growing belly, friends having babies and one getting hitched, a winter escape to Florida, and most importantly a happy and healthy family.


so from our family to yours, We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

sticker shock

we were all prepared to suck it up and pay the $224/wk day care rate for the new baby. until last night when i found out the price is going up to $249/wk! when you add on $85/wk for E, that's over $1300 a month! that's more than our mortgage. really?!

reality check time. it's the last thing i wanted to do, but i think we're going to have to shop for a new day care for the baby. we love E's school and teachers so much, but we have to eat too.

i've already ran through the ridiculous mom guilt thoughts of "what if the next one isn't as smart as the first one all because i was too cheap" but i am already pushing that aside. he/she* will just have different school experiences. not better or worse, just different.

as luke says, we'll make it work. we always do.


*we find out if it's pink or blue a week from today! i'm almost scared to call the in-laws if it's blue, but i'm excited either way.

thankful

a year ago this thanksgiving weekend was the last time i saw my friend molly, which just makes me all the more thankful for all the blessings i still have in my life.

the love and support from my best friend and partner in crime. my healthy, smart, loving child. a healthy pregnancy and the new baby to follow. a supportive and loving family. cuddling with my choco-dog in our warm house when the wind is blowing cold outside. going to a job i love where i get to work with some of my best friends. having enough money to live without so much as to take it all for granted.

e asked me the other day if we were rich. i told him we were rich in love and happiness. and that's the best kind of rich.

hooked on phonics

i'm currently amazed by my baby boy's love of letters. he has started taking an interest in what words say and can tell you the first letter of most words when you say them. instead of drawings now, he covers sheets of paper in letters.

he can spell all the kids' names in his class, although he often forgets and says cooper starts with a "p". so i lovingly call him pooper now. of course his favorite name to spell is e-t-h-a-n!

he can also spell october because they spell the month each morning in class. it was halloween when he first amazed us will spelling it, so i guess it takes approximately 25 times of repetition for it to stick.

the other evening he was working on his bicycle and i over heard him rambling "z. zeeee. zebra. z." other times it's "g. geeeee. guh. g." you get the picture. he over-pronounces every letter, which is fine except for "r." he says "ARRrrghh" instead. i'm worried he'll grow up to be the contestant on wheel of fortune who asks for an "AR-ruh."

[that is my life's dream to someday be a wheel contestant.. and not freeze up. i kick some bootie at home.]

so proud of my smart boy! ms. tara is a wonderful pre-k teacher and it really shows. crazy to think he only has about six more months before he'll start kindergarten summer school!

the greatest lyrics ever written

Loving County
by Charlie Robison


i loved a girl
she lived out in Pecos
pretty as she could be
and i worked the rigs
on out in Odessa
to give her whatever she needs

but that girl she runs
with an oil company bum
'cause a diamond was not on her hand
but he left her soon
'neath the big Loving moon
to go out and x-ray the land

now i sit in my car
at the new rainbow bar
downtown
and the frost on the windshield
shines towards the sky
like a thousand tiny diamonds in the lights of Loving County

well i walked in that bar
and i drank myself crazy
thinkin' about her and that man
when in walked a woman
lookin' richer than sin
and ten years worth of work on her hand

well i followed her home
and when she was alone
i put my gun to her head
and i don't recall
what happened next at all
but now that rich woman she's dead

now i drive down the highway
ten miles from my sweet baby's arms
and the moon is so bright
it don't look like night
and the diamond how it sparkles in the lights of Loving County

well she opened that door
and i knelt on the floor
and i put that ring in her hand
and she said i do
and she'd leave with me soon
to the rigs out in south Alabam'

well i told her to hide
that ring there inside
and wait till the timin' was good
and i drove back home
and i was alone
cause i thought that she understood

the next night an old friend
just called me to wish us both well
said he'd seen her downtown
sashay'n around
and her diamond how it sparkled in the lights of Loving County

well that sheriff he found
me out wonder'n all around
el paso the very next day
you see i'd lost my mind
on that broken white line
before i even reached Balmaray

now she's in ft. worth
and she's just givin' birth
to the son of that oil company man
and they buried that sheriffs poor old dead wife
with the ring that i stole on her hand

sometimes they let me
look up at that east Texas sky
and the rain on the pines
oh lord how it shines
like my darlin's little diamond in the lights of Loving County

rejoining the living

Happy November! You know what else is happy? I am 12 weeks along today. That means Hellooo second trimester! Hello to feeling better and having more energy. Hello to growing belly and being that much closer to May.

Yesterday was Halloween and I did some light yardwork during the day and still managed a couple hours worth of trick-or-treating with the Dread Pirate Ethan. Arrgghhh! It's good to be back!

gummi bear

at the end of september we were in illinois for a family visit. pony rides, combine rides.. it was a good time. but for some reason i kept falling asleep and was so tired. then the moment i saw a big pot of boiling chicken and almost gagged i had a sneaking suspicion about something. it was all i could do to survive the five-hour car ride home the next day.


had to drag myself to work on monday and was pretty sure i knew what was going on.


took the test tuesday morning. and my suspicions were right. i am preg-o!

we told E that evening. he had been asking God for a baby brother or sister in his night-night prayers for about a year now. he was all smiles when we told him the news and kept staring at my belly. in his excitement, he managed to tell the whole day care the next day. a little earlier than we thought we'd spread the news (i was only 6 weeks!) but it was all to people who would understand no matter what happened.

we waited a couple weeks for my ultrasound, and then we got to see what we created: a little gummi bear! saw and heard the heartbeat and it was the most beautiful sound!


later that day i told my coworkers. it was getting hard to hide the nausea, heartburn, and general lack of appetite. i had quit walking to the grocery store every day for lunch and was starting to turn some heads with my cheerios for lunch. mm.. cheerios. i basically just eat cereal, crackers, bread and fruit. meat repulses me. i drink a lot of milk, water, and apple juice. thankfully wine and coffee repulse me right now too. wow. who woulda thunk? it's amazing how nature works.


i read the sicker you are, the healthier the baby. focusing on that has gotten me through the last few weeks of feeling like poo. i am starting to feel a little better i think. that, or i am just dealing with it better. i sleep a lot. like 9 hrs through the week and 12 hrs on the weekend. i love sleep. as long as i'm laying in bed, i feel normal. as soon as i get up, i feel bad and all out of sorts. makes it super hard to get up in the morning.

this weekend was supposed to be my annual wine and cheese party. i just can't stay up that late anymore, so i cancelled it. instead, luke and i had a date night where we got pedicures and i ate pumpkin pie for dinner. (what baby wants, baby gets.) i'm about 10 weeks now and looking forward to feeling little kicks.

4x4

a snapshot of E at 4 years and 4 months!

favorite colors: red and blue

favorite foods: applesauce, mashed potatoes & gravy, and bacon

favorite drinks: chocolate milk and lemonade

best friends at school: "best buddy" andrew and rhys - both since infant room at school.

teacher: ms. tara (pre-k)

new tricks: swimming "under sea" (a few strokes), working the remote, hitting the baseball onto the roof

current sayings:

"you're my best mama" just to be nice, or followed by "mama you're pretty" if he wants something.

"i don't know blah blah"

"blablacagaga" is his favorite made-up word

"hold the phone"

"what in the world?"

"c'mon brother" (referring to padre)

favorite song: rain is a good thing

favorite tv show: old tom & jerry reruns. thankfully we have dvr now so we can record them the only time they come on - at 1:30 in the morning.

favorite books: tow-mater and lightning mcqueen "el machismo", froggy rides a bike, and all curious george

daily chore: feed padre in the evenings. and he does with little protest!

that's the scoop on my baby boy! he just keeps getting funnier and cuter - i don't know how it's possible! :)

redneck summer in review

to recap:

royals vs. cardinals game. a father's day tradition!

daddy hungry!

new duo-griller for 4th of july's beer chicken.

redneck luau IV.

the tripods reunite for one more luau.

visiting friends in springfield. and bonus! a quick trip to silver dollar city...

what? no mickey mouse?

... and all the cheese you can sample at osceola cheese factory!

this doesn't count mom!

watching the shanks at castaways marina.

race for the cure. grammy didn't intend on the entire 5k, but began at the wrong start line. she did it though!

the .2 of a mile that e actually walked. the rest? piggyback.

fishing trip to truman lake. bugs and mold in room and pontoon almost sank twice (like water over the front and everything!) but we still had a great time!

e constructing his beer-can castle

this about concludes our redneck summer in review.

red dirt

we love our red dirt music and texas singer/songwriters. our faves do not come up to kc very often, so we're forced to jump in the car and chase them all over south missouri, kansas, and oklahoma. we've yet to hit up a texas concert, but i'm sure it's in the not-too-distant future. would love to see a show at billy bob's or gruene hall.

the best venues have been wormy dog in okc, snorty horse (the old springfield, mo location), and knuckleheads in kc.

the worst? the grenada in lawrence (thanks to the uber-trashed college kids only there for the free beer from their bartender friends) and some random ass park outside of tulsa to see brandon jenkins play in his hometown. it's all part of the experience folks.

what's not to love? music written from the gut, cheap (or free) tix, small yet rowdy crowds, smoky honky tonks, and the best part.. you can get up close and personal!

my future ex-husband: charlie robison at wormy dog

pat green and cory morrow at the grenada. love me some pat f-in green.

tonight we're off to see randy rogers band! for free! i love this stuff!

fall cravings

just a few more weekends of summer fun left. and i couldn't be happier about that. don't get me wrong, i enjoy summertime and last winter was dreadful, but i am having serious cravings for all things fall right now.

we have fully taken advantage of our hot summer days. we've been to the ballpark twice, the water park, grammy's pool, through numerous sprinklers and spraygrounds. we've played golf, tennis, baseball, bouncyball, ran 5ks. we've grilled almost every other night, made sangria and margaritas, shucked corn from the farmer's market. just last night we sat outside at smithville lake marina and watched my brother play in his band. and now we're getting ready to go to truman lake on a family fishing trip. it's been a great summer.

but we're hot and sunburned, and had all the hot dogs we can handle. i'm ready to dye the highlights out of my hair, grab my hoodie and some hot apple cider, and head on out to the pumpkin patch.

picking apples in grammy's backyard

mo wine please

one of our favorite things to do is explore local missouri (and a few kansas) wineries. i like how you can get to know the winemakers, see the facilities, and get generous free samplings at the places around here. most are actually kid-friendly, but it really makes for a better date outing without the munchkin.





wineries we've visited:

jowler creek - a newer winery off the beaten path, but i'm so glad we found it after two tries. it's owned by a nice young couple with two little ones, so they are very kid-friendly. jowler creek wine is my favorite missouri wine because they really know what they're doing. she grew up in sideways country in california and took viticulture classes in college; he grew up a farmer. match made in winery heaven. try the critter cuvée and butterfly blush.

=> side note: work actually took me once to solvang (one of the sideways towns) where i was able to do a tasting at lucas & lewellen. luke broke my glass from there, so he needs to take me back someday to replace it, right?

riverwood - my second favorite, riverwood is in an old schoolhouse next to some bluffs and railroad tracks north of weston. very nice people here too. love their blush of innocence.

fence stile - we ventured to this newer winery out in the sticks of excelsior springs during a nascar rain delay. we took e along, and after he got carsick on the rolling hills, the lady pouring wine offered him some nice sparkling grape juice which he drank down in two gulps. very pretty and quiet, with a pond next to their grapevines.

pirtle - in an old church in weston, pirtle has been around for as long as my wine memory goes back. a picnic basket and bottle in their shady garden makes for the perfect date. this is where i first fell in love with missouri wineries. their chardonel is the best.

holy-field - a nice kansas family winery that's been around for a while. we try to stop by whenever we visit legends at village west or kansas speedway. love the sunset blush.

wine barn - a newer kansas winery owned by two neighboring couples. sal was our wineaux for the day. huge free tasting (see below), and sal will pour you some more from his private stock if you chat him up. we went home with an armload of bottles.

still on the "to-taste" list:

van till farms

inland sea

hermann wine trail

and many more..

maybe someday we'll make it to napa or tuscany, but for now i'm happy to have my missouri wines.

tommy

do you ever run into a certain someone all. the. time? maybe it's someone you know, maybe it's a stranger.



well i keep running into this guy and it's starting to drive me crazy. i don't know him, but i'm fairly certain we went to college together.



the first time i ran into him was several years ago. i was in a gym class in my office building and we were running in the stairwell. he was coming down as i was going up and i said, "isn't your name tommy?" he just said no, looked at me weird and continued on his way. well what i should've said was "didn't you go to truman?" because that's where i know him from - i think.



the awkwardness continued since several times after that when i'd run into him in the building. awkward because he'll just stare at me. i'll give a friendly smile, but nothing in return. no smile, no hello, just a stare.



then it progressed to day care. apparently we have the same work schedule because he would drop off his kid at day care the same time i drop off e, i would follow him to work, into the same parking garage and into adjacent office buildings. some evenings we would drive back together. this is ridiculous.



i got used to walking past him about once a week over the lunch hour.



then i take a vacation day to see top chef on tour when it came the kc and there he was again!



then i saw him on the trail by my house. i said hello this time with nothing in return. maybe he has social anxiety?



then about two weeks ago i saw him at the grocery store. that day i was not in the mood. i had no makeup on and hadn't washed my hair in two days. we go to grab our carts at the same time and intersect about five times down the produce aisle. i say screw it and head straight for dairy. didn't work. i see him about six more times before i can check out and get the hell out of there.



saw him yesterday at lunch. saw him this morning in the parking garage. not a smile, not a hello.



one of these days i swear i'm just going to say "dude, really, we see each other everywhere."



guess it could be worse. could be someone you drunkenly made out with at a party. or an old boss. or both. guess i'm glad i have my tommy.

roots

on friday i went to my boss's father's funeral. his eulogy spoke of him coming over from germany when he was 16 to escape the horrors of a nazi regime. wow!

it got me to thinking.. where am i from anyway??

dad always said he was german, making up words that sounded somewhat german, and mom never really knew, so i decided to get the free trial at ancestry.com and see what i could find out.

i trace my mom's side first. i don't get far with her dad's name, so i follow her grandma's maiden name: belden. turns out my people really do not like to move around much. i keep linking through sets of parents..

1900s - Kansas.

1800 - Kansas.. but wait! they moved from Pennsylvania! oh yeah, last time I checked Pennsylvania is not that exciting. but it's East Coast right? that means we're traveling across the ocean soon.

nope, the 1700s bring Connecticut.

1600s? yep, Connecticut. ok, what year was America discovered? good lord. and then it happens..

in 1591 my great-x10-grandfather was born in.. England! Richard Belding (no, not this Richard Belding) was born in Yorkshire and arrived in Connecticut in 1634. He was one of the first settlers from England, and the son of a Knight, Sir Francis George Baildon. ok, now we're getting somewhere.

other branches on my mom's side led to a few more from England, a couple from Ireland, and a whole pocket of Swedes. pretty cool that most were original settlers to New England.

along the way there's a bit of incestuousness, but it was just her step-brother so i guess we'll let it slide? so the tree didn't fork with old Polly Lynch.

ok, now on to the mother (or father) load. dad always said we were German. now let's find out. again with hundreds of years in Missouri and Tennessee.

seriously, we love the midwest.

then.. Canada?? no wait. that can't be right. before that they came from.. the Netherlands! i'm Dutch?! hm, not what i always imagined growing up, but dad also told me that i was born with a tail and they had to cut it off. in other words, he was full of a lot of stories. can't fib an old fibber, he'd always say.

but best that i can tell, Johann Heinrich Stophel was born in 1718 in Europe. he would be my great x4 grandfather. i think he also went by J. Henry Stoffel, who came to Pennsylvania on the ship Halifax on Sept 28, 1753. i first thought he was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but that appears to be just where the ship originated from. the more i think about it, it is likely that he was born in Germany and migrated through the Netherlands. so maybe dad was right after all!

the chain after Johann goes: Jacob Stoffle (1776-MD - also listed as an Ontario, Canada settler), Owen Morgan Stoffle (1819-TN), Daniel C Stoffle (1864-MO), Jewell Jesse Stoffle (1894-MO), and then dad, William Jewell Stoffle (1923-MO).

i'm not sure how accurate everything is, but it's safe to say i come from a long line of colonial settlers turned farmers.

and once we land in a spot, we like to put down roots.

au maroc!

On May 30 our group of 15 departed for our adventure. We were supposed to be a group of 16, but one girl arrived at the airport, all packed and ready to go, and said she wasn’t going. It wasn’t nerves.. something had happened. But she didn’t want to say what. Rather odd, but nothing I could do to make her go.

So off we go to Morocco!

But first, let’s sit on the tarmac at JFK for two hours. We arrived at our layover in Rome just in time to miss our connection, which was a blessing in disguise. We got rebooked for 9pm and it was currently 9am. Hm, what to do? Sounds like Rome-in-a-day to me!

We hopped a shuttle and before we knew it we were at the Colosseum. It was hard for me to wrap my brain around it. I had prepared myself for hearing people speaking Arabic and calls to prayer and instead I am lugging my carry-on amidst a flood of tourists in Italy. It was a welcome surprise though. Last time I was in Rome was with Molly in Spring 1998. I got a little emotional at the Trevi Fountain. For some reason that sticks out in my mind – us throwing our liras in the water and making wishes.

2010:

1998:

Rome was so much more crowded this time around. I don’t remember nearly as many people 12 years ago. But we had a blast. And walked so much I got blisters on my pinky toes. Saw the Pantheon, St Peter’s Basilica, ate pizza at a trattoria, and stopped for gelato. Where was it we were headed again?

Oh yes, Morocco.

A little after midnight on the morning of June 1 we arrived! Finally! We were welcomed by our wonderful guide Seddik. After checking in at the Idou Anfa Hotel, I managed to get a few hours of sleep. Our first day we had a quick tour of Casablanca. First stop was the Hassan II Mosque. It’s actually fairly new. The king wanted to give Casa a point of interest.

We walked through the Central Market, where the locals buy their food. The fresh veggies were beautiful and the seafood was so fresh – if only I had a kitchen nearby!

I bought some spices and was amazed at how welcoming the vendors were. Not pushy like I had been warned. It was a good warm-up to haggling in the big market at Marrakech. Very few spoke English, so I had to pull out my French from the depths of my 30-something-year-old brain. At the beginning I couldn’t remember the basics, like how do you say trash can? Oh yes, la poubelle. But I was conjugating verbs in no time!

Lunch was at the beautiful La Fibule on the coast of the Atlantic. Amazing food and we had our first of what would be many Moroccan salads, tajines and mint teas.

This was one of my favorite tajines, with lamb, prunes, and almonds.

And the fruit! Oh wow, the fruit!

That afternoon we started our service project in conjunction with Amis des Ecoles. We worked at a school in Casablanca, the Ecole Idriseri Fille Borgogne, helping set up their new library and clearing out their gardens. The school is in a fairly affluent area, but the kids who go there are from the slums. Usually Amis des Ecoles works with rural schools, but wanted to lend a hand to this urban school. Ftooma and Nihad were there to help us with the library project. Many books had been donated to the library and we were there to wrap them in plastic. The garden crew cleared one garden and planted some bushes the first afternoon.

The next day we returned to the school to finish our projects. This time I braved the heat and worked in the garden. The heat ended up not being too bad without any humidity. After clearing the weeds away I found this beautiful huge grape vine. I wish I could have brought some of it home with me. Just before lunch all the kids lined up to receive their books. The books were written by the publisher, Amina, who was there with us. They are Moroccan tales which have – for the most part – never been written down. My favorite is about when a child loses a baby tooth, the child throws it up to the sun and makes a wish. Makes much more sense than the tooth fairy. Each girl received one book in Arabic or French, one package of biscuits and a few pieces of candy. It was such a big deal and we were just as thrilled as the kids.

After having my baby, it is so easy to see my own child in the faces of other children. I thought about how often E gets leftover books in his cubby after book fairs at school. He’s always excited, but I need to remind him to be even more grateful for what he has.

There was a little confusion on whether or not we were going back that afternoon. The director of the school said they were closing, but later I found out a few of the volunteers had stayed so we went back. The children were all gone and it was very quiet. A strange “journalist” came by to take photos and interview us, but I just had a bad feeling in my stomach about him. He talked a big game, claiming he can “build someone up or tear them down.” If the best journalist is a 10, then he’s a 15. Turns out he’s a blogger! I was worried he would be political, but he actually posted a nice article about us. Sorry, no link for fear of tracking.

From the school, we decided to hit up the beach. We walk down there as a group, and the people in front start to slow down to a stop. The stragglers catch up and see what stopped the others in their tracks. The beach had literally thousands of people. And no women in sight. No one was lounging or sitting, everyone standing, walking, or playing soccer. It was a strange sight. And immediately we all became self conscious. We braved the stares on the long walk to the water. I took on the mom role and held everyone’s stuff as they all went in the water. Most of the girls ended up leaving their clothes on over their bathing suits. I put my feet in, but that was plenty for me. Some of the group went pretty far in the water, and all I wanted them to do was hurry back so we could get out of there. All around was a strange smell and strange feeling to the air. I finally found a beach I didn’t like.

That evening we cleaned up for dinner at Amal’s house, the founder of Amis des Ecoles. What a beautiful home! She lives in an area of Casablanca appropriately named “California.” She gave a presentation on her work in a small rural community named Tata and then we enjoyed the most wonderful dinner. Tajine, couscous, pastilla, an array of Moroccan salads, and the most amazing spring rolls I’ve ever eaten! She had guests there from Philly – one of which was a movie star and had a hit song in Germany (thanks to our German delegate for figuring that one out!)

After Amal’s we had promised Yassine, a former chapter member and youth conference delegate, we would stop by his house as well. Wow, the word house is an understatement. The rooms had beautiful mosaic tiles and chandeliers and carved wood ceilings.

The back yard held an infinity pool and outdoor fireplace and sitting area. We enjoyed mint tea around the pool and made a massage train. Now that’s living!

It’s now June 3 and I’ve had four nights of 3-4 hours of sleep. I’m getting too old for this. Contacts are not happy with me.

But it’s time to head to the mountains for a little R & R – maybe?

We meet the reps from the High Atlas Foundation, Abderrahim and Nabila, at lunch in Marrakech and follow them the rest of the way up to Tassa Ouirgane. Well, almost. We get stopped just outside of the village waiting on permission from the government to enter the village. While waiting, we have some more mint tea and several of the delegates get their head wrapped in turbans. Still waiting, we head up to a nearby village where all the girls got some henna and some did a little shopping. Vendors were a little more aggressive here, but mostly friendly. My henna caused a bit of a blister rash, but hopefully nothing too severe.

Finally we are granted permission to enter the village and the bus takes us as far as it can. Then it’s up to a little Mitsubishi pickup to get us the rest of the way. Abbe and I thought we were on a suicide mission off the side of the mountain, but we were just turning into the drive at Dar Tassa, our guest house. So glad there was a road there!

Due to our delay we just ate dinner and had a relaxing evening. The view was just gorgeous from our home in the mountains. The welcoming goat milk did a number on my tummy, so I stayed behind with the other leader Brandon – also feeling the goat milk – as the others went on a night walk. Finally, a full night’s sleep! I love the mountains!

The next morning we went on a 2.5-hour hike around the valley and mountains, through the orchards and mountain stream, and along the man-made canals. It was a challenge but I loved it!

Our Berber guide quietly led the way with his walking stick.

We had two delegates experience panic attacks, but we all made it through to the end. My favorite part was walking in the cool stream.

A view of where most of the group slept at Dar Tassa.

That afternoon we had our community meetings, one with the women and a separate meeting with the men. I was with the women. They were very hesitant to even hold the marker since they didn’t know how to read or write. We encouraged them, and they finally began to sketch out their community. Through Community Mapping and PairWise ranking methods, the women identified their main priorities as a teacher and a hospital. The men decided on water and a bull. The women’s meeting had to be cut short because they had to go work. (the men went on for a couple more hours!)

After the meeting, one woman invited us to her home for tea. It was our one chance to see inside a home of the very private Berbers. It was bigger than I expected, and very clean. You can tell they have a lot of pride in what they own and keep it looking very nice. There was minimal furniture and these little plastic trees with artificial flowers all over them. We later learned that this was the craftwork of the woman’s daughter. We sat in one room with only rugs on the floor, and the woman brought in a small table for the tea and nuts. Along with her and her daughter were an elderly neighbor and a young cousin. None of them spoke English or even French, so we communicated through Nabila who spoke Arabic.

Tassa Ouirgane was the first time I heard the call to prayer. It must have been too loud in the busy city of Casablanca for me to hear. It was almost chilling. And very surreal. I loved the prayers. Each one was a little different, and they went out over a loud speaker and echoed off the mountains.

The mountains were my most and least favorite part of Morocco. When we had nowhere to be and were totally on someone else's schedule – or lack thereof – I was able to relax and enjoy the experience and the beautiful surroundings. But when it was time for us to get to the main road and we had no vehicle to take us and we’re hiking in the hot sun instead of packing, then I started to get stressed a little. Abderrahim had made me change my watch to “Berber time” and the schedule didn’t give us enough time with the change to catch our bus. But he came through and found us a van from the market to take us to the main road – almost on time.

I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing I couldn’t see where we were going and how fast. Finally we stop and the doors open and HEYYY! It’s Seddik!

We’re off to Marrakech!

We arrived at our beautiful hotel in Marrakech – Salam Tichka – and had a few hours to relax and enjoy the pool. Then it was off to the Djemaa el Fna market where Seddik gave us a quick tour of the food vendors and where to shop. The group was first surrounded by the snake charmers putting snakes around everyone’s necks. Then came the monkeys. You won’t find a picture of me with a snake or monkey however. I was doing my best to go unnoticed. After that strange welcome the market was actually quite nice. We found a restaurant with a bird’s eye view of the market where we could have a nice and fairly quiet dinner. I was amazed at the motorcycles and cars and bikes speeding through the crowd of people.

After dinner we walked down a path and found a couple of very friendly vendors who sold us some plates at a great price. Soon it was time to return to the bus, but we were missing a few. Turns out they were still on Berber time. The best part is, Seddik says that Berber time doesn’t even exist!

The next morning we visited Dar El Bir Wal Ihsan, which is basically a VoTech school for the underprivileged. It was actually pretty inspiring they way they have shops and apartments out front to make money to pay for the orphanage and school. They also have space for the elderly, who go to get their hair cut, etc. at the school. They have created their own self-sustaining community!

An impromtu sing-along/dance party:

We had lunch with the students. No plates, no silverware, and no English. Maybe the most interesting salad I had ever seen. Veggies surrounding a rice/corn/tuna mixture covered in mayo and ketchup.

The next course was curried chicken and olives. So good! Even my vegan delegate couldn’t resist that chicken!

After we left the school, we did a quick visit to Medersa ben Youssef, and then back to lounging by the pool. I love Marrakech!

Our wonderful guide Seddik:

The lovely Salam Tichka Hotel:

That night we returned again to the market to finish our shopping and had a fun dinner with hat spinners, lute players, candle balancers, and belly dancers! The spice vendors and orange juice vendors had beautiful carts, but were pretty aggressive. I paid three times too much for my OJ. It was all part of the fun though!

The next day we took the bus back to Casablanca and had dinner before catching our 2am flight. Everything was going so smoothly.. what could possibly go wrong now?

Then it happened.

Jenny had been feeling ill all day, but we had written it off as traveler’s diarrhea. But by dinner time she was having severe pains in her abdomen and we called a doctor to the restaurant. He was worried it might be her appendix so off we went to the hospital, called Clinique Anchfaa. Luckily we still had Seddik with us.

At first the hospital didn’t seem too bad. Small and dimly lit with pink walls. The doctors (the one we called and the one at the hospital) did a sort of sonogram on her stomach. They were speaking Arabic, but in broken French and English told us that her appendix was very large and about to burst. They wanted to perform surgery immediately to take it out. I was on the phone with both of her parents – who were amazingly calm – and they told me that they had this insurance where a medical jet with doctors on board would fly in and rescue us. It turned out like any other insurance company and wanted to pass the buck to someone else. Morocco isn’t the easiest place to access and the doctor was telling them they needed to operate so the insurance thought she should stay there for the surgery. But that was not going to happen after I witnessed the insertion of the IV.

I held Jenny’s hand as she looked at me and screamed as if she were in labor. Two nurses and the surgeon took turns jamming the large IV needle into her hand and digging around looking for a vein. You could see the needle under the skin moving around. It was awful. I was going back and forth telling Jenny it was ok and trying to comfort her and telling the doctor that this was ridiculous and it should not take this many tries. Finally relief came when the only woman nurse got the needle in on the first try.

Luckily Jenny’s father is a surgeon as well and said that even if her appendix ruptures, she has 24 hours to have surgery and survive. The surgeon put on quite a show for me speaking to “someone” on the phone about how many years experience he had and it was just terrible we didn’t want to operate. Once Jenny signed the refusal of surgery form the doctor left. So now we’re left in an empty hospital and no magical jet to rescue us. Her parents decided (and I agreed) she at least needed to get to Rome.

Here’s the kicker: Seddik now informs me that while they are looking at the sonogram they were saying in Arabic that they could not find anything wrong and it looked normal. They wanted to operate for the money! He would have told me sooner had we decided to go ahead with the operation. But still.. Jenny is not well. At least the pain meds kicked in and we were just left with dizziness and nausea.

So off we go – with Seddik – to the airport to try to catch our flight with the group. We have about two hours until our flight leaves. One the way there, I am calling on my angels – Dad and Molly – to help us get home. It is comforting to know I have at least a couple up there who will always be pulling for me.

We arrive at the airport and I tell Jenny she needs to look lively so the airline doesn’t think she’s sick and ban her from flying. We start to walk through the initial screeners and Jenny says “I can’t do it, I can’t do it” and faints right under the screener-thing! The security guy calls the doctor to come down. Wow – we’re not making our flight at this rate!

Before the doctor arrives Seddik says to me, “Well, she had food poisoning, and is just very tired and drained.” I agree to go along with the story and tell Jenny the details of the fish she ate yesterday, etc. The doctor arrives and we tell him our fib. He agrees that it is very common and she needs to take two Imodium.

Success!

Now we just need to get our girl on the plane. But she’s white as a sheet, can’t keep her eyes open, and almost faints every time she tries to stand up. It was like a bad sequel to Weekend at Bernie’s. We need a wheelchair. You would’ve thought that we asked to have a horse-drawn golden wagon take her to the gate. There are four golf carts lined up, but the drivers have all gone home and they don’t have the keys (keep in mind it is about 1:30am). Jenny sleeps on a golf cart while we wait. And wait. I change my shoes thinking, “Ok, here are my lucky shoes I’m putting on.” No wheelchair. I go downstairs to the bathroom thinking, “Ok now there will be a wheelchair when I come up.”

Hey, that one actually worked! As I get off the escalator I see a golf cart coming down the hall. We get loaded up and they argue for a while about whose responsibility it is to drive us around, and finally we’re off to catch our plane. We get through security and there is a wheelchair waiting on the other side. Jenny is riding up the escalator with her eyes closed and at the top I see her boyfriend Troy standing there with a teddy bear (which they later named Seddik). Jenny looked up and was too weak to smile, but I about lost it! This could be a Lifetime movie, people! Brandon and Elisabeth, a nursing student, were there too and my eyes welled up just seeing them. “Just nice to see a friendly face.”

We were able to make our flight, but only because Morocco decided to have a daylight savings time change and not tell the rest of the world about it. Our printout from the travel agent said 2:20am, but the flight really left at 3:20am. Whew – what a long day.

I was giddy once we boarded the plane. There were moments that I thought we were going to be stranded in Morocco (Seddik was scheduled to fly to France at 8am!) We made it to Rome, and Jenny wasn’t in any pain, just dizzy and nauseated. So we boarded for JFK, where her mom met her at the gate and flew home with her.

When Jenny arrived home, her mom took her to the hospital and the CT scan show that her appendix was perfectly fine. She was severely dehydrated and had an inflamed colon thanks to a parasite. But she is home now and as good as new. Hurray!

Home sweet home.

June 8th I arrived – on time – in Kansas City to my favorite boys greeting me. E had his hair buzzed and the huge knot on his head was healing from his bike wreck. (Ms. Shannon at day care said “oh, she’s never leaving again” when he walked in with that huge knot.)

No regrets about leaving and appreciative to have been offered such a wonderful opportunity. But so happy to be home. Back to grilling. Back to sitting in lawn chairs on the driveway watching E ride his bike. Back to my family. I’ll have so many stories to tell E as he grows up. About how much we appreciate the food we have to eat and the toys he has to play with. About what life is like outside of our happy home.

>> For another viewpoint, read my co-leader's take on the trip here.

an adventure

i'm getting ready to embark on a great adventure. wow - those words terrify me anymore. back in my high school and college days, i was up for any adventure any time. dc, france, london - you name it. but i've become a homebody and somewhat of a worrier in my old age. i know it's because i've got so much to lose now. i'm so focused on living every moment to the fullest, it pains me to leave my family and my home for two weeks.

but that's what i'm getting ready to do. it's a work trip. but not just any work trip. most people go on a work trip and have to sit in a hotel conference room or an office building for the entire time and don't get to see the sights (if there are even any sights to see). i'm lucky enough that i get to see all the sights and then some! i have the privilege of leading 14 college students on a trek to Morocco. we'll be in Casablanca, Marrakech, and a small village in the High Atlas Mountains. omg.

i just finished packing. i think. now it's time for the OCD triple-check. i'm doing my best to focus on one thing at a time. baby steps. if i think too far ahead my stomach curls up into a knot and i freeze into place.

i'm so glad E has a more than capable daddy so i don't have to worry about their well-being while i'm gone. i found one of those modern-day men who can cook, read bedtime stories, grocery shop, and all that good stuff.

so here i go.
on a true adventure.
wish me luck!

artwork

E has really been into drawing and painting these past few months. here are some of his latest creations.

this one was right after we got back from cancun in march. it's the ocean and the beach.

he loves to cover full sheets of paper in bright colors. that's gotta be a good sign, right?

here's one he painted for rebecca's baby. it's a bridge over a river. i like the way he blends the colors.

he can write his name forwards...

and backwards (this is a little creepy.. REDRUM style!)

i love my little man's creations. can't wait to see what he comes up with next!