Boyd Bear Tracks

Some of you have wanted to see our house (mostly grandparents :-)). So, I thought I would include some pictures.

Eliana's room is pretty bright! Jon said it fits her personality :-). You can see the offending shelf (that fell on her earlier), and the load of stuffed animals. She's a girl after my own heart!! Actually, some of her stuffed animals were mine; plus, that's not all of them. There's a pile of stuffed animals in another room too. We weren't going to bring them all, but they were good packing material! She would want me to point out to you "my ABCs" (her name). She was all excited to show it off the other missionaries when they came over.

I haven't really done much decorating in Lucas' room. If I ever find my glow-in-the-dark star stickers I may add those to his wall. Maybe we can make some papier-mâché planets and make the solar system in his room :-)!

At first they didn't like sleeping alone in their own rooms, but now I think they like their personal space. Lucas is so proud of his shelf full of toys. He actually likes to organize it! I think it's because then he can find everything.

I've been discovering the work involved with a pet! Boomer has been sick (he's been to the vet about 4 times in the last week!). Now he's on like 5 prescribed things (including medicine, vitamins, special food and pedialyte). He's really skinny because he's been having diarrhea and hasn't been absorbing nutrients. Poor puppy! Poor me too! The other night I got up every hour to take him out to the bathroom! Although, I shouldn't complain. At least he let me know and didn't just mess his kennel.

He's doing really well with the kids. I think he's learned he can't growl or nip at them. Ellie even picks him up (not always gently :-( ) and he endures it! Another good thing is that he's learned to stay happily in his kennel (without crying a lot). That's a blessing, especially at night when I'm trying to get the kids to sleep.

This morning we had a small crisis! Somehow, Ellie got her head stuck in the chair and we couldn't get it out! I don't know how she did it! Anyway, we ended up slipping her body through the opposite way instead of trying to jam her head out. It worked; although, she was a little traumatized. Hopefully, she won't pull a stunt like that again!

Lucas' stunt (since we're on crisis stories) happened last Sunday. Jon and I were out back trying to set up a blockade so the dog couldn't get through. Ellie was out there too. Lucas happily wandered inside and shut the door. Unfortunately, he also pushed the button and locked it! I had just put a child lock on the door so the kids couldn't get out. We do have an extra key, but it was in Jon's LOCKED office! So, we tried to coach Lucas on how to open the door. He kept saying he couldn't turn it and I thought we were going to have to break a window. Finally, he was able to turn the knob a little bit and the door unlocked. He was a little traumatized (I think he thought he'd be separated from us forever)!

So, now you know all the fun stuff we've been doing! :-) Today we're going to Chia again to help with the youth group. It will be a long day! Last time we left at 2 p.m. and didn't get home until about 7:30 p.m.! The kids had fun though (it was at a park).

Oh, and I got my driver's license so now I've driven three times! The car is a stick-shift (which I have never really learned to drive). Jon said I was doing really well :-)! I have "killed it" a couple of times. It's hard because first and third gear are so close together. When I shift from second to first (or so I think) I usually end up in third and the car dies :-(. I'm slowly getting better. I haven't really driven in traffic though. There would be too many things to think about at this point (shifting, motorcycles and bikes sneaking through, people running across the road, buses stopping abruptly to pick up passengers, being in the right gear, rolling back into the car behind me, etc. :-)). So, by the time we leave here I'll be an expert stick-shift driver (I think :-)).