Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

(Lil H on left, Lil N on right)

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends back home. We miss all of you and wish we could be spending the holidays with you.

Luckily, we've made some good friends over here and that's helping us not to be too lonely. And we've been quite busy already this holiday season. The compound had a Christmas party for the children. There were crafts, games, food, songs, and Santa Claus. The girls sported their new Blinking Rudolph shirts that Grandma sent. The shirts (and girls) were quite the hit.

Here are some action shots of them playing the game that was arranged for them. Santa's helper would give them a piece of paper with a picture on it, and they had to go search for the match to it. The girls had a lot of fun doing it.

(Lil H)

(Lil N)

But the biggest hit of the night by far was Santa Claus. He looks very good this year. :-) The girls and I had been talking about him all week and I thought they were ready for him. Lil N was still a little uneasy about him.

But Lil H was all about sitting in his lap and talking to him. He had to put her down to move on to the next child. Apparently she had lots to tell him.

Merry Christmas (continued)

We also got to make gingerbread houses this year. It was the first time for all of us. There was a lot more eating than making....but it was a lot of fun.

(Lil H and Mr. D)

(Lil N and Mrs. D)

Here are the finished products.

Merry Christmas!!

A New Friend, A New Skill

We met a new friend in the compound. Her name is Jessica, and she is a month younger than the girls. She is from New Zealand and has blonde hair and blues eyes as well. On their first meeting, the girls played extremely well with her. And Jessica's "Mum" is organizing a playgroup in the compound which we are VERY excited about.

Anyway, Jessica has two 1-year old cats that allow her to carry them around. Lil N was intrigued by this and started picking up Jessica's cats as well. I could see the wheels turning in Lil N's head and sure enough she went home and tried her new skill out. Needless to say, Oreo is not happy about it. :-)

Here's Some Holiday Cheer

Lil N and Lil H putting on a show. All I'm saying is that they get their dance moves from their dad......

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Halloween/Fall Festival Pics

Here are some new pics. Our neighborhood had its Halloween/Fall Festival celebration on November 1st.

Here are the girls trying to tell me what they wanted to dress up as. I'm hoping the brooms were supposed to be their horses and they were wanting to be cowgirls. ;-)





By the way, take a look at their shirts above. It's kind of hard to see unless you click on the pic and make it larger, but Lil N's (left) says "Mom's Lil Wildcat" and Lil H's says "Dad's Lil Rebel". Oh, so true!!

And here is what they dressed up as -- possibly the only highlight to this Aggie season. (And I have no idea what was going on with Lil N's tongue in this pic!)




And here is a pic with Mr. D and his girls.



And then the girls saying "Let's go get some candy!"


Yes, that is a Starbucks bag with a pumpkin glued to it. I don't think we even bought them plastic pumpkins yet back home. And I definitely didn't think that far ahead to have any shipped to us. Most of the kids just had plastic store bags so we were at least more creative with ours.


Happy November!!

Sissy Cuckoo

This is Lil H giving Lil N a hug, and then Lil N takes off running, and then...

Little Rascals

I noticed that blogger now has a way to post videos. So here is my first try at it. This is what I caught the girls doing the other day. Looks like fun!

What's Going On

Here's an update on what's going on with us:
Girls are finally on some type of a sleep schedule now. Naps have disappeared completely. They usually go to bed around 7:30 or 8 at night. They are each sleeping in their own "big bed", but still in the same room. A gate at their bedroom doorway is what finally worked for us to keep the little night prowlers in their room. I'm sure they could climb over it if they wanted to, but they haven't attempted it yet.

We are also in the middle of potty training. Many hours of my day are spent in the bathroom. Lil H is getting the hang of it. I just have to watch her when she starts playing with her toys since she gets distracted easily and forgets that she doesn't have a diaper on anymore. Lil N is doing better than she was last week. But she isn't all excited about it like Lil H so she takes a lot more work on my part. But hopefully, they will both have the hang of it in the next week or two.

Mr. D was off work the last couple of days. We just got through Ramadan which is the holy month for the Muslims. During Ramadan, Muslims fast all day. So there are no food businesses open for us Westerners during the day -- bummer!! And we were warned to stay off the roads as it neared sunset because their fast breaks at sunset so everyone is driving real crazy because they haven't eaten all day and they are in a hurry to get home so they can eat. LOL. No problem for me... I don't like to be out on the road any way -- even when they haven't been fasting all day. So after Ramadan, comes Eid. That is the Islamic holiday after Ramadan celebrating the breaking of the fast. So Mr. D was off of work for that holiday -- well, he was off of "paid" work. He mentioned several times that staying home with the girls was definitely work and he thought he was ready to get back to "paid" work.

We went to the beach this past weekend with some friends. That is always a lot of fun. There were a lot of locals at the beach because of the holiday. Mr. D got to play cricket with them which he thought was a lot of fun. Here is a picture: He was a natural at it of course. He got a great hit on his first at bat.

Wordless Wednesday

Surprising News!!

No, I'm not pregnant....

but I am married! (again)

Okay, legally we were still married, but other than the two kids and the adoring affection we show for each other all the time (yeah, right!) Mr. D's hand did not reflect the marriage.

But after 3 months of being lost, the wedding band has been found. Mr. D found it today at work in a box filled with computer equipment. He went looking for a monitor and came back with a wedding band instead.

Hooray!!

And then there were two....

Just as we had gotten LilH on somewhat of a sleep schedule in the big bed, LilN decided she wanted out of her crib too. So after a few days of trying out different sleeping arrangements for the two (they don't seem to sleep well together in the big bed), LilH has decided she likes sleeping on her crib mattress on the floor, and LilN changes her mind between the big bed and her crib. Hopefully, LilN will make up her mind soon.

We also started potty training today. LilH has been the most interested and the most successful today -- which is surprising to me since LilN had gone poo twice in the potty before we left for Texas. But LilN doesn't seem to be interested in it anymore. Potty training one at a time might be easier anyway.

Crib Escapee -- Still At Large

So it's happened.... and probably at the worst possible time. LilH has discovered that she can crawl out of her crib. I say the worst possible time because we are still trying to get them back to sleeping during the Doha night, and not the Texas night.

I'm up for any suggestions. I followed my sleep habits book the first few nights: "gently" pick up the child, do not look at her, do not talk to her, and place her back in the crib. (I love how they use the word "gently" because they know how you really want to pick her up and put her back in there -- especially at midnight when its the umpteenth time that you've done it.) And let me just say, Mr. D and I have followed that advice for over 200 times. Still not working.

So yesterday I asked her if she wanted to sleep in the big bed. She said yes, so we fixed that all up for her. She slept in it for one nap. But then last night she wouldn't stay in the bed. Mr. D and I threw out the "gentle" approach, but that didn't work either. She roamed around upstairs to the wee hours of the night. Mr. D actually found her on the couch at midnight. And I just found her again walking around at 5:45 a.m.

We've bribed her. We've talked with her. But no luck...

So what do we do? She's not asking to come into bed with us -- not yet anyway --but she won't stay in her crib, the big bed or in her room. It totally freaks out LilN when she sees big sis leave the room. And it doesn't help that big sis closes the door behind her so LilN is in a closed-door room. Do we just let her roam and let her fall asleep wherever? Do we lock her in the room? What has worked for you?

Settling Back In

At the request of my mom, I'm blogging today to let everyone know that we are okay and "moving around." We are back in Doha, but our bodies still think we are in Texas. The time zone change coming back is brutal. It was so smooth and easy when we got back to Texas, I foolishly thought it would be somewhat easy when we came back.

For Mr. D and me, it could be easy.... just stay awake during the day and take some Tylenol PM if needed at night. But when you have little ones, you can't do that -- a Tylenol PM zombie state does you no good when they need you for something. The first night, I figured we were all exhausted so just do what it takes to get some sleep. We made several trips to the girls' room to rock them back to sleep and LilN ended up in bed with us. Poor Mr. D had to go to work the first day back, and the girls and I slept in until 12:30 p.m. Little did we know, that was the good night. Since then, the girls have gone to sleep between 8 - 9 p.m. only to wake up around 11 p.m. or midnight. They scream and cry until we come in there, and then play in their cribs when we do agree to sit in there with them, and then they fall asleep around 5 a.m. (hmmm... that would be 9 p.m. back in Texas -- pretty much the time they were going to bed back there) The first day, I pushed through the fatigue and woke them up at 8 a.m. I then put them down for a quick nap around 1 p.m. They cried unless I stayed in the room with them, so I sat on the bed until they fell asleep. But I accidentally fell asleep in the bed, and 3 1/2 hours later, I woke up. Apparently, I can't function well on a few hours of sleep either. So it has been hard getting on track since. Tonight we gave them a little benadryl to help them sleep. And if it works, I will be taking Tylenol PM tomorrow night. I'm writing this blog at 3 a.m. here so I'm obviously not on schedule yet either.

Hopefully soon, I will be able to post some pics from our trip back home. We had a lot of fun getting to see everyone.

And We're Off !!

Off to Texas we go!!! Hooray!!

***********************************************************
4 Round trip tickets from Doha through Germany to Texas:
$5,200

Transport service to the Doha Airport (extra charge for minivan): 85 Qatari Riyals

18 hours on a plane with two 2-year olds:
PRICELESS ( in more ways than one!)


***********************************************************
Please say a prayer for us to have a safe flight home.

It's Thursday....

Nothing much to report. Lil H's new favorite saying is "No way." Not exactly something you want to hear everytime you tell a kid to do something. It's hard not to laugh, but it's becoming easier. :-)

Here is a recent picture of the girls. Lil H is on the left, Lil N on the right.

First Poo in the Potty

Let me preface this by saying that 3 years ago I couldn't imagine talking about this, much less sharing this story with anyone else, but in our present day, it's reason to celebrate -- my how times have changed.

Today, Lil N went poo in the potty for the first time. It's a long story why she was even on the potty trying to go poo so I will spare you the details. But the main point is that she did it. We're still going to hold off on "serious" potty training for a couple of months, but we're excited that the first poo in the potty has been accomplished. Big sis cheered her on and Lil N definitely knew she had done something great. She was just as excited as Mom and Dad.

Way to go Lil N!

NEWS FLASH: Hurricanes Blow Through Villa in Qatar

It only took 5 minutes for Hurricanes H and N to destroy this area.

Tiny Words Thursday

Update: Add "uv you mommy" to the list. Hooray! :-)

I've been trying to keep track of what all the girls are saying and wanted to get it written down somewhere. So here are some of the words/phrases that I've heard this week:

momma
mommy
daddy
bye bye
oh no -- with a complete "end of the world" type expression
yeah
no
uh oh
poo poo
oh doodles -- oh toodles from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
poople -- the color purple which is what color everything is
shawk -- the word shark, even is said with a distressed voice
mo -- more
i sorry
ball
whale
doe no -- don't know
amen
bess you -- bless you
witch
suck -- stuck, we'll have to work on getting that "t" sound made :-)
where did daddy go?
wheresit -- where is it?
sicker -- sticker
rabby -- rabbit
puppy
kitty
wa wa -- water
me
mine
me did it
baby
uh no an no --another one
sissy
go daddy go
come on mommy
shoes
there it is
here you go

And of course they have their own language between them. We're just trying to join in on their conversation! Still can't get "I love you" out of them. :-(

Monday, Monday....

Update: We still haven't found the wedding band. We're hopeful that it might just show up somewhere in the house, but we've both looked everywhere we can think of.

Well, it's Monday. I never liked Mondays much. But today started out okay. Straight up 7 a.m. I awoke to our precious angels laughing in the other room. It's always nice to start the day with laughter. When I walked into their room, I was greeted with the light being on and a little sly smile from Lil H. Yes, she finally figured out that she could reach the switch from her bed and turn the light on. So now we'll have to move her bed elsewhere. No big deal, we knew it would happen sooner or later.

I called Mr. D to tell him the news, and his first words to me were "Oh, tell me you found it". I said "No... I didn't know we were looking for something." Well, his wedding band has gone missing. He never takes it off so it isn't like he has misplaced it. It has somehow managed to slip off somewhere. I've looked everywhere I can think of... dresser drawers, the trash, the dishwasher, the refrigerator, the bed, in cereal boxes...everywhere. I'm hoping it will turn up somewhere at work. But most likely, it's gone. Alone in a strange land... how sad. Maybe this story will have a happy ending. We'll see.

Happy Father's Day! Happy Daddy's Day!

Warm wishes to all the dads out there but especially to our dad here. Mr. D has often said that his best part of the day is coming home and having both girls run up to him and give him hugs.

I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful husband and father to the girls. He has always done more than his share of helping with them. Even if we didn't have two of them --which kind of forces him to help a lot of times-- I know that he still would be just as helpful.

And of course the girls just love him to death and think their Daddy is so "Hot Diggity!"

We love you!!

Mrs. D, Lil H, and Lil N

Sad Saturday

We are sad to see one of our dear friends leave Doha today. She is headed back home to work for Texas A&M in College Station. She's been a wonderful friend to us for many years. And I know she'll be a wonderful friend for many more years to come. The girls just adore her. We are sad to see her go but know we will see her again -- hopefully real soon. Her husband is still here two doors down from us so that will be one of the ways we will keep up with her.

We'll miss you Les!

Wordless Wednesday

Little Swimmers

The past few weeks the girls have been experimenting with what they can do in the pool. It used to be that they would just hang out in their little floatie ring, or hang on to one of us. But at the kiddie pool, we noticed them starting to go under the water a little bit. Of course, they would quickly pop right back up since they could stand in the kiddie pool. Then suddenly they seemed to have no fear of the pool. At our friend's pool -- which is not a kiddie pool -- one second they would be sitting on the step in the pool, and the next second they would just calmly slip off the step and under the water they went. But they would never panic (unlike Mom)... they would just hang out under the water a little bit. This went on for a few days and you could tell that they were basically practicing holding their breath and just trying to figure out what the pool was all about. Well, finally they figured out that they can do something under the water. Now, they will go under the water and either push off from the side or the bottom of the pool and then start moving their arms and kicking their feet. They are swimming!!

It was like the light bulb just went off. Neither Mr. D nor I thought they would even understand the concept of swimming so we haven't really been trying to teach them. But they figured it out themselves. Smart little boogers.... Of course, they have a long way to go until they become junior life guards or anything. But we were just amazed that all of a sudden they started doing it. Here are a few pictures. Check these girls out!!







Every swimmer needs some goggles. So off to Toys R Us we went. Here are the only ones that would fit them. The girls took a break from swimming just long enough for me to take a pic. Lil H is in the dolphin goggles and Lil N in the ducks.

Shhhh! Don't tell anybody...

Last night, we went to a dinner party and dined on something we aren't supposed to be able to get here. It had a head and a curly tail and was threaded on a stick propped up over a fire. Imagine a Hawaiian luau if you will. The meat was so good. I wasn't even a big fan of "this meat" back home, but as it always seems to be, once you're told you can't have something, you suddenly end up really wanting it.

The dinner party was lots of fun, and we had a good time with all of our friends. Although it kept us all out a little too late... 9:30 p.m. That may not sound late to some, but usually our girls are in bed between 7:30 - 8:00 p.m. They went into delirious mode about 9:00 p.m. and were acting so silly, deliriously silly!

And again, we heard from everyone "Oh, they will sleep well for you tonight." and "They will sleep late in the morning." WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! I keep telling everyone that they are going to wake up by 7:30 a.m. no matter what. They will either wake up well rested or cranky. Throughout the night, Haley woke up crying around 1:30 a.m. and Natalie followed around 5:30 a.m. So we are all a little tired this morning. And the poor maids were out on my front porch waiting on us when I got up at 7:20 a.m. At least they looked well rested! I opened the door and they both chuckled -- most likely because I was in my PJ's with my sleep mask pulled up on my head. I chuckled later too when I looked at myself in the mirror.

So a nap is definitely in order today. We will probably all have sweet dreams about the next time we will get "that meat." Boy, it was good!

Friday Funny

You can take the girl out of Texas, but not the Texas out of the girl.

Yes, we are still here....

For some reason, I'm finding it very hard to post to the blog. The girls are transitioning into a new nap schedule. Actually, I think they are trying to transition out of taking a nap, but I'm fighting it. So anyway, I'm a bit off schedule so my blogging is apparently taking the hit.

Nothing too much to report.... Lil N and me caught a stomach bug this past weekend so we are getting over that. Mr. D and Lil H escaped its wrath somehow.

Bye Bye Binkies! The girls have gone without pacifiers for about 3 weeks now. We tried snipping the ends off of the pacifier a little each night, but they still were using them as if they weren't snipped. I finally told them that they were broken, and that they should go throw them in the trash. So they did! The first night when Lil N realized there was no pacifier and I reminded her that it was broken and that she had thrown it away -- the look of sheer panic on her face was priceless, but a little sad too.:-( And now naptime and bedtime are much more challenging without them. It used to be that the girls would lay right down when we put them in the bed, but now they scream bloody murder -- a lot of "MOMMY! MOMMY!" like something is really wrong. I think there was even a "DADDY! DADDY!" thrown in last night. Hopefully, it will get better soon.

I got my hair cut for the first time in almost 6 months a couple of weeks ago. The lady actually came to my house and we cut it in the kitchen. How convenient is that!! Probably around 5 to 6 inches gone. My head feels much lighter now. :-)

That's all for now. Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet niece, Brooke! Love you!!

Friday Funny

Not exactly something you see in Texas everyday....

Wordless Wednesday

"Summer"izing Sunday

Sorry it has been a while. Here is a quick summary of what has been going on. NOTHING! Well, not too much anyway. It's been too HOT to do anything. Mr. D has been working a lot. The girls and I have been hanging out in the villa mostly. It's already reached 100 degrees so that limits most of our daytime activities. (It only drops down to the 80's for the evenings -- so not much relief there either.) We stay indoors mostly. We try to go to the pool about every other day.

We did make a trip to the beach yesterday with some other families from the compound. That was a lot of fun. The girls love being in the water and playing in the sand. They even brought some sea shells home that they collected. Thank goodness for the sunblock, tarps, and umbrellas everyone brought or we would have all been burnt to a crisp.

Today, our compound's water supply has apparently been shut down. We had to learn about this from our neighbors. Don't know why or how long it will be shut down, but hopefully tomorrow it will be back up and going. Each villa has its own water tank so we have some water available to us for the time being, but we just don't know how much we have left in the tank. So we will use sparingly until we hear all is okay.

Mr. D and I went out with some friends the other night and had seafood at one of the hotels that sits on the waterfront. The seafood was awesome. We had grilled shrimp, fried shrimp, fried calamari, grilled red snapper, and lobster. It was all wonderful. Mr. D even ate some local dish of grape leaves I think. He took one bite and was done. That was all I needed to see. I passed on it.

Other than that, not too much to report. We are just trying to survive the heat. It's only going to get hotter, so we hear...

A special HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish to my sweet niece Kaycee. Love you!!! Uncle D says you are still sassy!

Wordless Wednesday

Just a few words.... Thank you everyone for all the great advice. Today has been much better -- the girls have been better, and I've been better. Maybe I just needed to vent about it and get it out of my system.

Last night the girls ate beefaroni, corn, bananas and an oreo cookie. It was all a hit -- even the cleanup was fun!

Terrible Two's-Day

WARNING: Serious Mommy Rambling Ahead

Oh, how quickly things change. Just a few days ago, it was Sweet Sunday. And now here we are being terrible 2's. Do they somehow know they are supposed to become difficult once they turn 2? I need serious mommy help!! One of them is refusing to eat her main course. She'll eat all fruits and vegetables, but not the meat -- not willingly anyway. She will put it in her mouth and chew, but won't swallow it for a very long time. Yesterday, it took 1 hour (and I'm not exaggerating) for her to eat one little chicken tender. After much reasoning and a lot of yelling, I finally dropped my face into my hands and said a quick prayer for patience. When I looked up, both of them had their hands over their face, apparently thinking we were playing peek-a-boo. So that lightened the moment somewhat... but still didn't do much for my patience. Mr. D has suggested me not feeding her until she is really hungry, but is that the right thing to do?? Just start skipping meals??

The new favorite word is "NO!". "No" to this, "No" to that. Perhaps that one is my fault. Too many "No's" coming out of my mouth. But that's my job to instruct them on what they can and can't do -- right? Oh, and the independence they are starting to show. I'm not allowed to help them do anything... yet they can't do it themselves, but they are going to fuss about it until it gets done -- completely frustrating. I'm thinking about just leaving the room when that happens. And them not listening to simple commands, like "come here" -- the fact that I have to tell them to do something multiple times before they will actually do it, that can't be good...

And potty training...I actually thought we would start training this week. That lasted for about 3 hours. It amazes me that they know how to do everything possible regarding using the potty, ie. put the lid up and down, sit on it, flush it, unroll all the toilet paper, but yet give you the deer in the headlights look when you try to explain to them what they are really supposed to be doing. So I will wait a few months before trying that again. I have to get a better plan anyway. Maybe training one at a time would be better. Looking for mommy suggestions there too!!

So I've purchased some large wooden utensils -- and not for the purpose of cooking! I figure I've got to get these attitudes under control and fast. I've been reading "Shepherding a Child's Heart" which a friend suggested and it says that my children are supposed to obey me, and if they don't, God commands me to discipline them. So a little discipline it will be... for me growing up, it was belts and peach switches, but I figure a wooden spoon can have the same effect too.

Sweet Sunday

A sweet moment in the D's villa...

Friday Funny

Okay, at first glance.... what's so funny about this? Let me give you the story.

We were making a trip to the doctor at the night clinic which is at Hamad Hospital. This is the Rheumatologist that we go and see. The clinic starts seeing patients at 6 p.m., but you have to get there to stand in line at 5 p.m. so that you can be near the front of the line when the registration window opens up at 5:30 p.m. (And "stand in line" is being generous, it's more like jockey for position among 20 other women and force your way up to the window with registration form and money in hand.) If you do that, then your overall clinic visit will only be about 3 hours... Yes, I miss our doctors back home.

Anyway, we decided to go by KFC and grab some dinner so that Mr. D and the girls would have something to munch on outside the hospital while I went inside and stood in line. We usually just let the girls eat from our plates since they don't eat that much, but at the last minute, we decided to get them 2 kids meals with the thought they would each have a new toy to play with during the clinic visit. Low and behold, these things are what they handed to us as the toys that came with the kids meals. We weren't even sure what they were at first. I thought maybe some new-age space toy, but they were so heavy it didn't seem safe. Turns out they are drink dispensers. We're still a little bit baffled about the whole thing!

Wordless Wednesday

Eye Exams

Today we went to the Eye Dr. for Lil H's first eye exam. Because of the JRA and the fact that the girls are ANA positive, they are at risk for an eye disease. We will have to have eye checkups every 3 months for the next few years.

Lil H screamed, kicked and cried. It took 3 of us to try and keep her still. But the Dr. says all looks okay. We went ahead and had Lil N's eyes checked as well just so they could both be on the same schedule. This being her 4th time to do it, she is quite the pro. She puts her little head right into the contraption thingy and waits for the Dr. to look at her. Hopefully Big Sis will get the hang of it soon. We will definitely have Lil N go first next time so that Lil H can see how easy it can be. :-) Thankfully all looked well with both girls' eyes.

Thank you for your continued prayers and your notes of encouragement. We really appreciate it.

Update on Lil H

** Update: Pediatrician believes that it is the start of JRA. Rheumatologist won't confirm JRA until 6 weeks of swelling. Either way, Lil H is doing okay right now. She isn't showing any signs of discomfort like her sister did. We will visit the Rheumatologist next month for a follow-up appointment.


The nurse called tonight and told us that her ANA test was positive. We most likely will talk with the pediatrician tomorrow. We are extremely sad right now, but will continue to pray that God will guide us through this trial. Thank you again for all of your prayers.

Wordless Wednesday

Ten on Tuesday

Mr. D and I just took a weekend trip to Dubai. We left the girls with our friends -- 3 different families pitched in to take care of them. It was the first time for us to leave them overnight -- and we left the country when we finally did it!!

Here are 10 things we did in Dubai:

1. Slept in!!
2. Toured the city in a double-decker bus
3. Shopped at the gold souk -- came out of there with some sunglasses, and not made of gold :-)
4. Took a dinner cruise on a dhow boat
5. Met a wonderful couple from England
6. Dined on Steak and Shrimp
7. Slept in again!!
8. Walked and shopped the largest mall in the Middle East -- The Mall of the Emirates
9. Watched people snow ski -- yes, SNOW ski. The mall has an indoor ski slope.
10. Missed the girls terribly

Birthday Party Pics

Lil H and Lil N turned 2 !! Here are some pics from the party.

Update on Lil H

Lil H is doing better. The swelling in her ankle has gone down somewhat, and she seems to be walking better. The test results for the ANA test are still not in though. We should hopefully get those results early next week. Thank you for all your prayers.

Wordless Wednesday

Prayer Request

As most of you know, Lil N was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis last fall. She had steroid injections before we made the trip to Qatar and has been doing wonderful ever since. We continue to pray that God will take the arthritis from her body and that once the steroid injections wear off, she will be fully healed.

Unfortunately, Lil H has begun having some problems. I noticed about a week and a half ago that she was not walking so smoothly in the morning. However, a blister on her foot from a new shoe allowed me to hopefully believe that was what was bothering her. She showed no signs of being uncomfortable or in pain, just walking a little abruptly. On Sunday, I finally decided to make an appointment with the doctor after examining her ankle. It was very swollen and puffy. We left for the doctor Monday morning and the day included seeing 2 different doctors, X-rays, and blood samples 3 times! The Pediatrician initially thought bacterial infection or septic arthritis; however, all her blood work came back normal. Somewhat baffled, the Pediatrician called Lil N's Rheumatologist here and requested that he aspirate Lil H's ankle so that we could learn more from the liquid that had built up around it. We met with the Rheumatologist last night and he did not think aspiration was necessary and thinks it looks more like tenosynovitis. Tenosynovitis is the inflammation of the fluid-filled sheath that surrounds a tendon. It is sometimes caused by rheumatism or arthritis and may be caused by infection. We are obviously hoping that this was caused by an infection, and not anything dealing with rheumatism or arthritis. One important blood test that we do not have back yet is the ANA test. With Lil N, this test was positive. We need Lil H's to come back negative, or it is almost a sure sign that she will have problems with arthritis too. We should have the results of that test in a week or so. For now, Lil H has been prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine. The doctor says that if this is tenosynovitis, then it should go away in 2-6 weeks. Please pray for both Lil H and Lil N that God will give them comfort and restore their health.

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

Ten on Tuesday

Because of the lack of pork in Doha, and the fact that the beef is just a little different ( I think they get it from Australia), you eat chicken -- a LOT of chicken. Here are the ten ways that we've had chicken since we've been here:

1. Chicken Meat Loaf
2. Chicken Shawarma
3. Fried Chicken / Chicken Strips
4. Chicken Spaghetti
5. Chicken Tortilla Soup
6. BBQ Chicken
7. Chicken Almondine
8. Baked Chicken
9. Grilled Chicken
10. Chicken Tacos

Now that's a lot of chicken!

Wordless Wednesday