update

I'm finding it harder and harder to keep my blog updated. Sorry to those who check it regularly (Mom...). Here is a recap of life as of late...

- N is currently at his very last wrestling tournament. I will make it there later this morning after dropping M off at her musical rehearsal (B is at a retreat this weekend, so I am chauffeuring all by myself). He made it through the entire season w/o being pinned, which, according to his coach, is a huge accomplishment, considering he has never wrestled before. Every meet he wrestles twice; first one counts, second one is an exhibition. He has lost the first ones, but won several of his second ones. This past week, he even pinned another guy! Wooohoooooo! So exciting! We were thankful he was never presented with the dilemma of wrestling a girl (yes, there are teams that have girls, and no, N would not wrestle one if he had the opportunity. We are in agreement that he would forfeit instead).
- M is in full steam on her rehearsals for The Resurrection, a musical she will be in in April. She auditioned in January, got a part as a townsperson/angel, and has had 3/wk rehearsals since Feb. Rehearsals will really pick up in the next couple of weeks. She loves every minute of it and can't wait for dress rehearsals.
- Just found out this week that N will need braces. He was the one out of four that we thought was in the clear. Nope. All of our kids have beautiful teeth, but pretty obvious jaw issues. Do we take them for a second opinion? Do we take our chances and not do braces? We have no dental insurance, and no extra monthly cash. BUT, we do have a great Provider, so if braces they need, we trust that He will provide a way to pay for FOUR kids to have them!
- We officially leave for Swaziland in less than a week. Friday morning, N and I will be jetting off for 20 hours of flight time (3 to Washington D.C., 17 to Johannesburg). I am not looking forward to that, but N is. He can't wait for 17 hours of movies and video games on demand. Ugh. This is shaping up to be a tough week and a half. Our team is very small (8 people, 2 are under 14) and we have so very much to do! I am currently putting the finishing touches on the VBS plans, and trying to figure out how to do VBS with 5 people (the others will be doing other things) and 160 children! I'm trying desperately to leave my expectations in Colorado, and go with a very flexible and open mind. Whatever happens, happens. I keep telling myself that whatever we do will be a blessing to the Swazi people, and they don't have preconceived ideas of what VBS will be like. I can't wait to go back and hold the children, and to look the gogo's (grandmothers raising the orphans) in the eyes and love on them and encourage them to keep on keeping on! I am supposed to have internet connection where we are staying, so I hope to blog every couple of days about our trip, so keep checking back!

That's all for now. Too much to keep in my brain as I make arrangements for the kids while I'm gone, try to finish up everything for work, make dinners to freeze, etc. A person can get overwhelmed if she thinks too hard!