Update attempt

I've written many blog posts in my head, with titles like "Taking on Water" after a series of hard days, then "Flickering Light at End of Tunnel" after a good day. It feels hard to summarize life right now. My best effort is perhaps this word picture:

Life feels like an experience I had on a recent trip to Kerala here. I'm standing chest-deep in the ocean with a moderate tide, holding Matthew who doesn't yet know how to swim. There's a happy point far enough out at which you can stand without getting knocked over and it's not yet too deep. Some of the time I can feel the sand beneath my feet and I jump up to hold us both above the oncoming wave (days like this I can answer an email or make a phone call). Some of the time the waves are bigger than I expect and I can't keep my footing... but the hardest part is I struggle desperately to make sure Matthew (read: Sarah, Hannah, Matthew, Shae, myself) stays above the water or at least isn't under the water for too long. That's the part that feels panicky/scary.

The good news is that we have help, Sarah's reflux has mellowed some with the meds (less frequent/intense crying times) and others are able to soothe her now. The hardest part is going on 10 weeks of significant sleep deprivation. Her longest stretch is still 7-10pm or so and then 2 or 3 hr stretches after that. We're trying lots of things but no magic bullet yet.

We are grateful for your words of encouragement and prayers. Please pray for Hannah and Matthew, too; their usually normal sibling rivalry has degenerated into a real meanness and physicality of late--signs of the stress that we all feel.

We have some good things coming up. Shae looks forward to a 2-week trip/trek in northern India with Mark B., and I am excited for my friend Sarah B's visit during his absence.

No promises about timeline, but hope to post some photos soon.

Two weeks later...

Haven't blogged much of late. Not much to report, except that Matthew is completely recovered from his stomach ailment--thanks to God! Still don't know what caused it. A 7-day course of a probiotic with zinc seemed to help a great deal. He's regained his hearty appetite and all weight lost. :) He recently said to me, "I like everything that is food."

I am, in Matthew's words, "as big as a horse". 10 days until "due" date. Eager to meet this little one!

Hannah is loving her summer art camp that includes folk tales, art from around the world, and pottery. Though it looks like tomorrow will bring a trip to the dr for pink eye instead of art camp...

We've been really blessed by a family here on a 3-month stint. We connected via email (I responded to the mom's note on an expat list) and agreed them to "sponsor" their 3-year-old son to participate in H & M's school summer camp. All that this entailed was a call to the office saying that they were "friends". I remember the hot, lonely months of last summer when my kids weren't enrolled in anything because we weren't sponsored or were the wrong ages. I thought I was being helpful to a fellow expat from the US by "sponsoring" her son, but I can't tell you what a HUGE help her family has been to mine! Matthew and their son have become fast friends. They arrived with their college-age man-nanny who has taken the boys on many outings and even babysat for my OB appts. What an expected gift! God is creative.