I can't believe it has been two weeks since I posted anything. There hasn't been anything going on here to report about, nothing exciting any way.

We have all been sick with colds. Kaitlyn came down with it first and was only sick for a day with a fever. She stayed home one day from school, but returned after one day of rest. She spent the day on the couch watching Scooby-Doo movies and napping. Dave came down with it next. He came home from work with a fever and spent the next day resting. He still has a stuffy nose, but returned to work after one day of rest. Pam came down with it on Saturday, the worse case so far. She has run a fever and spent several days sleeping off and on. The cold has settled in her chest and she now has a cough that will be with her for awhile, she sounds like she's been smoking a pack a day for the past twenty years. Wendy came down with the cold next and last, she is resting and seems to not have had a fever.

Kaitlyn has joined the Drama Club after school. She is so excited about being in a play. The play will be "Sleeping Beauty" and will be put on the first of April. She will find out in two weeks what part she will be playing. She has been such a drama queen the past couple of years so this will be good for her. Maybe it will be an outlet for all of her energy! She is so cute!!

We did receive our household goods two weeks ago!! We were so excited to finally have all of our things so that we won't be so bored. We were disappointed to see that some of our souveniours from Italy had been damaged, but most everthing else was intact. Wendy has been amazing by helping, doing most of the unpacking. It seemed like Christmas in September. We have been getting some things ready to ship back to the US. Wendy will be returning to the US and all of her things and Aimee's (since she won't be able to join us after her mission) will be shipped back to the US.

Not much this week

This last week was pretty boring. We did venture down to Chievers Air Base to the commissary. Did I ever mention that it's an hour away from our home? Well, it is. It makes for a very long day. But we managed to follow our neighbor down so that we could stock up on American products and the food we love. Wendy and Kaitlyn went with us this time and were able to see that when we said it was a long drive we weren't kidding!!! We did some shopping in the PX, I needed to get a 220 volt crock pot for dinner on Sunday. Then lunch, yummy Kababs that we loved in Italy, didn't taste the same but the concept was. It was still yummy!! The commissary is pretty small, but it supplies us with our much needed favorite foods and our comfort foods. The family that we followed down left during lunch because we told them we could find our way home. The commissary has six, that's 6, registers, two of which are the self check registers. We watched the baggers while we waited in line and decided that we would bag our own. The cashier was suprised by my skill and quickness, I bagged groceries at our commissary at Holloman Air Force Base for several years as a teenager. I have skills!!! We had all our groceries bagged and on the cart before the kid could even get back from his last take out!!! Yes, I am that good!!! Any way, we left the commissary and proceeded to head for home. We live on the East side of Brussels. We ended up on the WEST side!!!! How we missed a turn is beyond me. I was so frustrated and agitated that when we got home and the groceries put away, I needed a nap!! My idea was that we should level Belgium, rebuild the roads on a grid pattern and then tell the people that they could put their buildings where ever they wanted as long as it was on the grid lines!!! Dave didn't think that was such a good idea since Belgium was here before we were. ;0)

Sunday was an interesting day as well. Church usually starts at 10am, but today was different, we started at 1pm because the other stake had stake conference and our building is said to be the largest in the Belgium. The building is actually a meeting house, not a converted house like in Italy. When we arrived at church, a half hour before beginning, there were still people from the other stake milling around visiting. It had rained all night and was still raining. The trees are starting to change colors a little and the leaves are falling in some areas, so there were leaves all over the church floor. Dave found a broom and proceeded to sweep up the leaves and vaccuum the chapel before our meetings were to begin. I had to teach Relief Society and I was extremely nervous since I have not taught adults ever in church!!! I guess I did alright, but I don't think they will be asking me again, which is okay with me.

School for Kaitlyn has been good. She is doing well and looking forward to next week when Drama Club begins after school on Tuesdays.

August 31 to September 5, 2010

Me and my honey!!

geese and ducks every where we looked

My girls, Wendy and Kaitlyn

the day was kind of smoggy, so the colors weren't as vivid as usual.

Another week has come and gone. I don't know that anyone is reading about our adventures, but it's okay because I am journaling more for our children now then for anyone else. This last week was pretty uneventful for the most part.

Last Monday was Kaitlyn's first day of school and the week went pretty quickly for her. She has a small class of 22 students. She has made a few friends and loves going to school. She is very excited about art and host nation classes. Host nation class is about the nation in which we live, she will be learning French and Dutch during this class. She is very excited about that. PE is on Mondays so I suspect Mondays will be a hard day to get her to go to school because she doesn't care for PE. But then again maybe this teacher is better than the teachers she has had in the past.

Thursday we were able to navigate our way to the Army Garrison where the clinic is so that we could get Kaitlyn's shots and allergy paperwork signed by the doctor. The clinic is extremely small and it took us three hours to get done with everything that should've only taken an hour at most. Oh well, it's done and she's good for a few years. She is a big baby! She cried and made herself sick. I don't remember the other girls being that over wrought about getting shots.

Saturday brought a lazy day for us. We went to the HUGE park in Tervuren. There are birds EVERY where. The lake I believe is man-made and full of ducks, geese, and some demon bird that we can't figure out. People walk and bicycle around the lake. It is a beautiful park, full of shade and lots of grass. Of course, close to the lake where all the birds hang out is full of "bird poop."

While we were driving around getting to different places this week we discovered something odd...there are NO stop signs!!! There are stop lights, but no stop SIGNS. You must always yield to the right no matter what. We thought Italian drivers were crazy, the Belgians are ten times worse!!

Sunday was another interesting day in church....everything was in FRENCH!! I don't understand a word, it's a good thing we have translators.

Today, Monday, Labor Day is a day off for the Americans, but all the stores in town are open. It's awesome. Dave is home from work, Kaitlyn is home from school and we get to do a little sightseeing maybe. I think we are going to go to the park this afternoon, just because we can.

The geese were going nuts about something, so we tried to get a video of them squackin'.

FAMILY A Proclomation to the World

I came across this blog, http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/ , and they are celebrating Family in September. What a GREAT idea!!! So I thought I would blog about family, my family, during the month of September. It's based on THE FAMILY A PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD published for the world in 1995 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's an amazing document!! I love it!! Our family has tried to live by its precepts and ideas the whole time we have been married, 23 years. The things that I write during this month are my feelings, opinions, and thoughts.





"Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children."





When we were talking about getting married we discussed how we were raised. We decided that once children started arriving in our family I would stay home to take care of them and give them the love and attention that they deserved. We had a few years where I went to work and our family fell apart. It was a disaster!! When I stay home and am there for the girls when they leave and get home from school, work, or out with friends, I feel happy and satisfied. Our family works that way. I'm there to help with homework, when they aren't smarter than me, teach them homemaking skills that I learned from my Mom and Grandmas. Now that the girls are getting older and starting to leave home, I hope that we have taught them well. I hope I have taught them to love being a Mom, a stay at home Mom.





Being a Stay At Home Mom, SAHM, seems to be a job that is looked down upon in society today. That bothers me. I see children who are left to there own devices each day, have everything they want without having to work for it themselves. I see families that are split apart, Mom lives in one house with the children and Dad gets weekend visits. Moms that work hard and are too tired to be Moms. Children having children because they are craving the love and attention that they themselves never received.





I LOVE being a SAHM. I got to teach my children to walk, talk, cook, clean, play. I didn't miss their first steps, first words, first tooth, first day of school. I saw the first real smile, got to feed them each meal, cuddle to read a good book. I got to go to each Parent Teacher Conference, volunteer at their school, help with homework, kiss the boo-boos away. I got to hear about their fears, joys, sorrows, heartbreaks, first dates.





Don't get me wrong, I understand that sometimes Moms have to work outside their homes because of divorce, disabilities, or because of a death of their spouse. But is it always necessary? Is it because the family wants more toys to occupy their time? Is it to pay off those overextended credit cards? We've managed fine on one income, a lot of families we know manage on one income so that Mom can stay at home. I've seen a lot of families ruined because of too much 'stuff' because Mom went to work.





I'm so thankful that I have a husband who works hard, sometimes long hours, and sometimes two jobs, to support our family. I've also seen him passed over for promotions because the boss has to fill a quota because a woman applied for the job. I've seen him discouraged because the other person had a better figure when he had more experience and education and seniority. My husband is a wonderful provider, he takes care of us, provides the needs of our family, and supports us all in the things that we do. He appreciates us as much as we appreciate him.