A-okay

Just a quick note to say "Thank you for praying". My latest blood tests came back and the glucose test was fine, so I'm A-okay.

The little guy (which she emphatically confirmed today as a boy) is doing well. Right on target for size and estimated weight. He's trying to make himself known to all around me. Today, I was in the middle of a conversation with a lady in our office, when he kicked my right side reallllly hard. I apparently made a rather painful face as a result.

Is there a boy's name out there that means "constantly kicking" or "constantly moving"? We may need to consider it for an option. ;)

Memories of Grandparents

Last Friday, I had a craving for sausage and biscuits.  Jana and I have made biscuits in Germany, so that was not a problem.  One would think that sausage is not an issue either.  However, breakfast sausage patties, similar to an Owens or Jimmy Dean, does not exist.  Since we have the Internet, that is not too difficult to remedy.  All you need is some pork, some spices, and a little know-how and you to can make sausage a Good Eats *.

While the biscuits were in the oven and the sausage was cooking in a pan, Jana and I were both transported to our grandparents houses from our childhood.  For me, I could imagine being at Maw-Maw and Pops, eagerly awaiting my sausage and biscuits.  Now, I am a bit strange (maybe) in that I put mustard and mayo on mine.  I am going to blame Ben, since he typically set the precedent for things like that.

It was fantastic!  We both have many good memories of our grandparents but nothing brings them back like a good smell or taste.  That just makes it much more vivid.

We miss our grandparents, but we are happy we can remember them!!

Thad

* The only reason I put that line in is that we got the sausage recipe from the Good Eats (Alton Brown) episode "A Beautiful Grind" (http://goodeatsfanpage.com/Season7/Sausage/SausageTrans.htm).  The biscuit recipe comes from Alton Brown's cookbook "I'm Just Here for More Food" and is the recipe "Phase III Biscuit."

Good News..."Bad News"...

Good News...last week, my Hemoglobin levels rose...woohoo! Today, Dr. T called to give me the results from my Ferritin test. Apparently, I have stored up enough iron that I can stop taking the supplements! I was not expecting that!! So, Dr. T said that she will continue keeping an eye on it, and if it goes low again, I will go back on the supplements just as this past time.

"Bad" News...my glucose screening came back a little high, so I have to go in for the 'real' test tomorrow. Not looking forward to it!! I can't eat anything before, and I have to sit at the Doctor's office for 2 hours, and have my blood taken 3 times!! Bummer.

More news later, once the results from tomorrow come back.

Tolkien - Faithless

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Afternoon Tea

One day this week, I was able to come home a bit early.  Upon arriving home, I noticed that Jana was having a "low iron" day.  As you may have seen from our latest email, Jana is very low on energy, not just from the pregnancy, but also from her blood disorder which is made worse by the pregnancy.  On this day, Jana was particularly tired.

I looked in the kitchen for what we could snack on to give her energy.  Noticing the time, I realized that an afternoon tea was perfect.  Since the ingredients were available, I made scones!  We made some Earl Gray French Blue, Jana's favorite, and enjoyed fresh, warm scones.

Sorry, I cannot share through the web, so enjoy the picture!

Happy 8!!!

I just thought you could take a moment with me and celebrate the occurence of a moment of 8s! If you did not notice, at this moment it is the 8th second of the 8th minute of the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th year of 2000.

Enjoy the day!

Guide to Praying for Europe

A Praying for Europe (Western, Eastern, and Russia) website was recently launched by our Global Media Outreach team. It is concise and easy to navigate, with individual country pages allowing you to ‘record’ that you have prayed for a particular country. If interested, you can also sign up to receive an E-Newsletter.

Please join us in praying for the countries throughout Europe:
http://prayeurope.com

Praying for Jana and Baby

After writing our latest letter, a medical concern came to light that we were not able to ‘squeeze’ into the prayer requests. Without going into minute medical details, basically Jana’s hemoglobin levels dropped to an alarming low (due to her blood disorder, Thalassemia Minor, they tend to be naturally low). A praise that surrounds this concern is that she now has three doctors (including a blood specialist) keeping an eye on her.

Continue reading "Praying for Jana and Baby"

Please see Newsletters

Continue reading "Please see Newsletters"

Laugh Out Loud - Culture Check

Cultural check: When recently having dinner with friends, we had a startling realization of living cross-culturally. Sitting on a terrace in Germany, hosted by our Finnish friends, eating a delicious imported Scottish Salmon prepared with some spices from India...Fins really know their fish, savoring a dessert of ice cream topped with an Estonian liqueur (not Jana’s of course!), and to top it all off — they played country music especially for us!

July 2008

Planning

To view letter in PDF format, click here

Continue reading "July 2008"