Last Culver BBQ

Tonight was the kick-off BBQ for the Culver Olympics. In two weeks, the college students will move out of the dorm, and we will sort through all of our belongings and make final preparations for our move to India. At this point, it all feels very overwhelming, so we are just taking it one day at a time. It was a lot of fun to have our guys together in the lobby tonight (it was too cold to go outside). Here are a few pictures...

Cousin Abigail

Here's a cute picture of Abby, our niece, who was visiting from Washington this weekend. She's Chris and Cherie's little girl, and she will be a big sister in August when her baby brother, Micah, is scheduled to arrive!

Baby Skin Update

Addie is doing much better this week. I ended up staying home with her on Monday, and by Monday night her rash had nearly cleared up. Her skin is still rough - almost like she has goose bumps all the time. Today after her bath I slathered lotion all over her, so that is helping. We're also being very cautious about how much time she spends outside.

Baby Skin

Today is Sunday and I am stuck at home once again. Ryan is leading worship this weekend for the College Church Youth Discipleship Retreat at a monastery, and won't be home until this afternoon. And unfortunately, Addie has developed some strange rash all over her body.
Yesterday was a beautiful day here. The sun was out and the afternoon high was 83 degrees! I went to a baby shower for a friend, and one of our favorite college girls came over to babysit the Lauren, Brenna, and Addie. Around noon, she took them over to the NNU boys baseball game. Being such a great sitter, she put sunscreen on all of them - even in Addie's hair.
The girls continued to play into the afternoon. Since it was so warm, they mostly colored and dug in the dirt under the giant gum tree. Addie wore a hat most of the time, but continued to wear her jeans and a long sleeved shirt. At one point, late in the afternoon, Addie got into some lotion under the bathroom sink. It was body lotion but it contained Alpha Hydroxy, and I think she ended up rubbing it all over her face.

When we got to dinner last night, Addie's face was red and splotchy. I washed it with cold water, and gave her a wet napkin to hold on it. A couple of times she pointed to her face and said, "Hot!" After dinner we went over to my friend's, Candice, house and visited inside for about an hour. When we got home, I put Addie in a cool bath, washed her up, put Curel (fragrance free) lotion on her and put her in bed.
All this to say that when she woke up this morning she had a head to toe rash! Her eyelids are swollen, and she has a lacy rash on her face, arms, legs, belly, and back. The pattern of the rash is really strange too. It looks like the result of sun exposure - but only if she had been wearing a very low necked, short sleeved shirt and shorts. Which is strange, since she had long pants and a long sleeve shirt on until dinner - and she didn't play outside after that.

I don't know, but it was enough to keep us all home from church today. I gave Addie some Benadryl to help relieve any itching. Hopefully it will help. And until the rash clears up, she will be playing inside.

Certificate of Merit

Lauren played today in the Certificate of Merit piano event. She had to take a theory exam and play several different things in front of a judge - including two songs, five finger patterns, and a sight reading piece. Her piano teacher called tonight to tell us that Lauren passed her exam, and received the highest possible scores for her playing. Way to go Lauren! She was also selected to play in the Honors Recital in Boise at the end of April. I think it may work out for Ryan's mom to be at this recital, which would be very special.

Most exciting of all (according to Lauren) is that her piano teacher, Cheryl Beymer, is going to put Lauren's picture in the local newspaper detailing her accomplishment!

It's the little things...

This weekend Ryan watched the girls for a little bit while I went to a couple of stores to spend some of my birthday money. It turned out that one store was having a sale on socks, so I bought a few. These are my favorite. They are made mostly of wool, which I think will come in very handy on cold, rainy nights at Hebron! Now all I need are some fleece pants and a hot water bottle!

On a side note, I also found some like-new blanket sleepers for Addie at a second hand store that were size 3 - should be perfect.

Lodging at Hebron

Today I was reading the blog of someone who spent last fall at Hebron School as a volunteer, and I came across this picture. At Hebron, they provide single staff members with studio apartments - called bed-sits, and that is what is pictured. I imagine that our flat (apartment) will look very similar to this one (just with a couple more bedrooms)!

Easter Baptism

On Easter Sunday our three girls were baptised! It was a very special event, as Lauren and Brenna were baptised because they wanted to let everyone know that they want to live their lives like Christ.

We also presented Addie for Infant Baptism. What you can't tell from the picture of Addie being prayed for is that she had her eyes closed during the entire prayer - it was precious!

It was wonderful to have my parents and uncle with us on Easter (they are all from Colorado), but we wished that Ryan's parents could have joined us as well. We are really looking forward to visiting with them this summer before we travel to India.