Tuesday, August 24, 2010

DR: Makarios Video

Don't have to much to say right now, but here is a video from our trip. Does not show all that happened, but just small taste of the trip. Hadn't planned on taking video, so didn't record a lot and they are random clips put together. I just started taking vid with my phone and ended up taking just enough footage. Will be back with pics as soon as I can. Feel free to comment, e-mail me or call if you have any questions about the trip! This week is going to be busy...after that, I will try to post once a day and recount the trip.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Back From Puerto Plata, DR

First, go back a couple of pages to see some "new" posts. Holly blogged them a couple weeks ago and had asked me to proof read, but was bogged down with work and preparations  for our mission trip. They are all posted now.

A more current update, I got back in town safe and sound last Saturday. Had the most amazing week of my life in the Dominican Republic. God truly, truly is good. I am still processing everything that went on that week. I will be back as soon as I can to share the experience with y'all...but for now, this one picture does a pretty good job of summing up the week.


Photo by Kortni Wright, copyright 2010

Friday, August 13, 2010

Santiago, DR

Left Austin at 9:55 to DFW to Miami and we finally made it to
Santiago. We will be here for a night and in the morning head out to
Puerto Plata and our real host home. Can't thank all of you enough.
Overhelmed with the insane amount of support for this trip. Our host
home for tonight has wi-fi, so i was able to talk my beautiful wife
through text messages and see pics of my azing boys. Don't think I
will be online after this. The island looked a lot more tropical than
I expected. Alright, keep us in your prayers!!

Here are some pics of the sky/ocean near the DR and of our hosts'
place. They had sandwiches, chips and stuff waiting for us. It was
delish!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Sweet, sweet, Jeremy.

Recently we started noticing that Jeremy was pulling away from us emotionally. I thought at first his personality was changing, and I was sad but thought it was his way of becoming more independent. Then Frank mentioned that he didn't think Jeremy liked him much, and my response was "he doesn't like me much either". That was when we realized something was wrong. Our sweet, silly, full of JOY Jeremy was different. He was not making eye contact as much, and was not accepting hugs or kisses. He has been refusing hugs and kisses for a few weeks, we were not forcing them, but then he started pulling away more. We were not connecting at all. He seemed like he wasn't happy. He didn't laugh or smile much. (except with Jordan) He kept a grumpy look on his face most of the time.

Everyone that knows us, knows that we adore our boys. I spend all day loving them and reading to them and playing with them, but Jeremy needed more. Jordan on the other hand has never had trouble getting loving when he needed it. He will run give our legs hugs several times a day. If that's not enough he says "up please" and hugs us around the neck as long as he needs.

So I started watching Jeremy closely. I noticed that he always has his eyes on me even if he was playing. When I am reading to them and he gets up and leaves he needs me to keep eye contact with him. So that is why I have started always looking at him and smiling at him no matter what I am doing (glad I have the books memorized) so that he had that connection even when we weren't touching. Then I started just grabbing him every few min to hug and kiss and love on. He was grumpy with the hugs the first day, pushing me away and fussing, but soon started leaning in to them. The second day of this he hugged my legs twice on his own and was accepting kisses and hugs happily. That night we heard him laugh hysterically for the first time in weeks. He started smiling at us on his own and making eye contact constantly. Several people noticed the difference in him that day. Yesterday he pulled me to the floor gave me a huge juicy kiss and hugged me hard. He seems much less frustrated and able to handle stress much better, and has not bitten once.

He is now back to his goofy, silly, joyful little boy self. Smiling all the time.

The decline into himself was so slow, but coming back was almost overnight. THANK GOD! We now know that he pulls away when he is sad or hurt (emotionally) and we need to go to him. We need to constantly seek him out and cuddle with him especially when he is grumpy and pushing us away. I am so thankful we figured this out as soon as we did. I hope to teach him he is safe to seek comfort when he is sad or hurt. Thank you God for opening our eyes, and showing us what to do. We are still in shock and saddened by how close we came to loosing our joyful little boy. I will now be more aware of every change. This is a hard scary job. Glad we have God to guide us.

You learn something new every day.

Kirsten came over on Thursday to play and I learned something about Jordan while she was here. The boys were in their highchairs snacking while I was busy making the rest of lunch. The rule while eating is don't throw your food and don't feed the dogs. As far as I knew they had learned this well. Kirsten let me know that I was dead wrong. Every once in a while Kirsten would crack up. I finally asked her what was so funny and she said that Jordan was keeping an eye on me and every time I turned my back he would feed a dog. Little stinker. Then when I sat down to eat with them every time I took a bite she would laugh. He would sneek the dogs food every time I turned to take a bite. Guess Id better keep a better eye on them.

Stars

We stayed in my high school room in El Paso and the glow in the dark stars are still there and glowing. The boys loved them so when we got home, thanks to Daddy, we discovered glow in the dark stars in the boys room. They are so excited to see the stars every nap and night time. Makes going to bed even easier.

17-18th months

Wow its been 18 months and the 17th-18th months may have been the most fun so far. The boys have exploded in language, motor skills and personality. We may be in trouble. They can say anything they want now. Just a few examples are "Where are you?" Jordan says this whenever hes looking for something. He wanders the house yelling "Where are you?" They say "Help please, up please, more please, Bible, bubbles, nubbie and 1,2,3 go" They know tons of animal noises, signs and names. The other day when we pulled up to HEB Jordan yelled HEB. :) Not sure if that one was a fluke or not, but the other day he said it again when there was an HEB commercial on. They are saying things I didn't know they knew. Just now Jordan went over to the rocker, pushed it and said "rock, rock". When did he learn that?

They are so funny and starting to be a challenge now. The discipline starts now so we can never be tired or lazy. Jeremy started angry biting in El Paso and thinks time out is funny so that's going to be a challenge. Its hard to always have a consequence ready so were trying to plan ahead. We will let you know how that goes in about 20 years :) My goal is for my mom to see a difference in their obedience in a month..... I love a challenge. eek!

I am starting to have to carry a note book around to right down all the funny things they do. Today Jordan was walking on my wet floor. I told him to be careful the floor was wet, so he took baby steps and waddled all over my wet floor. Smart, silly boy.

*This was blogged back in July, we are just late going live with it