Varying Degrees of Honestly

Well we developed these "honestly" levels yesterday, in light of losing a wallet in a taxi.

Good Samaritan

Finds the wallet and feels compelled to find the owner, leaving all the cash and credit cards.

Whisper of a Conscience

Finds a wallet looks through it, takes the money as a "reward"and then returns it.

No Conscience

Finds the wallet, upon opening it treats himself to the cash and goes on a little shopping spree.


So what ended up happening with our lost wallet?
Well we are very glad to tell you that the wallet was returned using the whisper of a conscience level of honesty. We were just thrilled to get it back that we had to laugh at the honestly of this guy who returned it.

Thoughts about the Hospital

Well we feel very thankful to be in a city that has amazing medical care. There were times during our little stay where Marvin and I looked around and thought, "Where are we?" It was surreal at times but the staff was great and we even made a few friends in the process. I went back today to have another stress test done and saw several nurses who cared for me. I hope by the time we have this little guy we might be able to say a few things to them.

Here's a picture of the room we stayed at. Thankfully we bought a couple of new pillows just in time. My body pillow was one of the first items I requested Marvin to bring from home. The little hospital pillow does nothing for a pregnant woman. There was even a little chair that folded out into a bed so Marvin could sleep right in the room. They even came every day to take his meal order. Unfortunately we always gave him a blank stare when he spoke to us, but he did his job and brought him something, and it was actually really good.

Marvin couldn't resist the sight of me trying to function with tubes in both hands. I really think that the IVs were the worst part of the hospital stay. My hands still hurt. I am very glad to be free of them right now.

Lastly here are my belly imprints. It was funny because they would die off a little but then it was time to hook the monitor back up again, so it made it easy for the nurse to find the right spot.

Overall it was a pleasant experience, for a hospital stay. We are so thankful that we left without having a baby quite yet. The air conditioning was a nice perk of our stay, but I would much rather be sweating like crazy than have our little guy make his debut right now.

Marvin has been wonderful helping me out with basic things like, getting up from the couch, etc since being home. I always knew I had a great husband but now he is just blowing me away once again. So we will take things one day at a time right now and celebrate each day our little guy stays inside.

The New Place

We are pretty excited about our new little place that we were able to rent before our quick exit last week. So how about a little tour?


This is our entryway and on the left side of the picture you can see there is a closet! I couldn't believe it a real closet! They are hard to come by in our part of the world, so this is an extra bonus of our new flat. There is also a padded door which will help keep sound and cold air out of our apartment.



Next let's enter our living room. Yes this flat come equipped with local decor. I think I becoming used to this type of decorating because when I saw the rug on the wall I had a moment when I actually thought, "Hey that would go great with our couch." We will see if the rug stays or goes.

Part of this massive wall unit will help meet our furniture needs in our bedroom. Locals will probablly think we are crazy for separating such a beauty but unlike locals we would feel better about having our unmentionables tucked away in our bedroom rather than in our living room.

You have now entered our bedroom. I am still trying to figure out how to make this room look a little less pink. Any suggestions?

This will be our little guy's room and will give us a snug little bed for a guest or a couch to sit and read a few books on.

Here will be the office, it's an enclosed balcony off of the living room. It is a perfect place to put a computer and a will give my introverted husband a little space to himself when he needs it.

Our kitchen is a bit tight on space but after an IKEA run today I think I found something that will help us fit everything into this small space. It's hard to believe but we will fit a stove, fridge and washing machine all in this small space. The door leads out to the balcony which has a bit more storage and a window which opens out to a few clothes lines for drying clothes during the warm months.

Last but not least our bathroom. It leaves a little to be desired, but it has a good faucet and with a little bit of decorating won't be so bad. Unfortunately we don't have a picture of our toliet room, fully equipped with a red toilet and car stickers along the wall, sweet! Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get stickers off of walls without goo gone?

We are really looking forward to getting to live here and feel it will be a great first home for our little guy. Out of all the apartments we looked at this one caught our attention. We are certainly glad not to have to go through the remodeling process again as there are only a few finishing touches here and there that need to be done. It seems like it will be forever until we get to move in, but in the meantime we will look forward to living here.

First Picture

Here is the first picture of our little guy.

In the top picture he is facing us and his little arm is up by his head.

The second picture you can see more facial features. We were very excited to finally get to see him on an ultrasound.

5 Wonderful Years

Yesterday Marvin and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. It is hard to believe that time has gone by that quickly. Anyone who is married can attest that it only gets better. I didn't quite understand that concept 5 years ago, but it is so fun to look back and see how closer we have grown together. It is fun to think that 5 years ago I didn't know about his sleepy "it's time to get up" sigh/stretch, or the way his eyes get big and smiles every time I make bread or his favorite foods, I didn't know that I would almost get goose bumps when I catch him staring at me and my pregnant belly. There are so many little things like that that make 5 years so much sweeter than the day we got married. We are so thankful to be able to journey together and I am so honored to have Marvin as my husband.

Every year we try to do something out of the ordinary for our anniversary. This year we decided to go swimming, it’s out of the ordinary here unless you want to go to the river. Some friends went to a pool at a hotel outside of our town last year and said it was awesome. So since it has been incredibly hot we thought that would be a great place to spend the afternoon. For a few hours we escaped Nineveh and entered an entirely different world. We had fun relaxing in the water and enjoying being outdoors for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Later we headed to one of our favorite restaurants in town that has little huts where you can eat at in the summer. It proved to be a great relaxing evening and we even had live entertainment that wasn't too bad. It was a perfect way to celebrate 5 years! We can't wait to see what is in store for us these next 5 years. Thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way.

Almost our Backyard

Last week we were able to go with the FOCUS team to a mountainous region about an 1 hour and a half away from where we live. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day, it was sunny and the temperature in the mountains was perfect. Our journey took us to the Blue Lakes, yes they are really blue, through a tunnel in the mountains, to the remains of a 13th century fortress located in the mountains, and we ended the day with a dip in some hot springs.

The entire drive the hills and mountains were breathtaking. The mountains in this region are jagged, rocky and many times include an insane incline. We saw a few cliffs that were literally just dropped off at 180 degrees. We also learned that the tunnel is new and we were able to walk on the old road on the side of the mountain, no guard rails just fear keeping you alert and attentive. I am very glad they build the tunnel; I think all of us would be a little nervous if we had to actually drive on this road.

The fortresses that we saw were build high on each side of the valley; enemies would be attacked from both sides of the valley. The holes in the towers were where they would shoot out of. This structure we assume is an old barracks as it is located right next to the tower. It is pretty cool to see how the walls are still in tact and we had fun imagining who lived there. You can see that there are a lot of rocks on multiple levels of this hill; we are assuming that there were multiple story buildings all along this hillside (our architecture student pointed this out.)

As you can see it was quite a hike up to this tower, and believe it or not I made it all the way up to the tower and was one of the first people to do so! (This was all thanks to my amazing husband who found an easier route up this hill.) After we started our ascend, the thought accured to me that this would probably be against all doctors orders, but we made it safely. The funny part is I actually tripped when we were on smooth ground, nothing was in my path I just fell right on my knee. I was pretty bummed because I ripped my jeans. Go figure I find a way to injure myself walking like normal! Well at least I only landed on my knee, PTL. It was a great trip and we are thankful to be reminded of the beauty that surrounds us.

First we had to cross the river on an old rusty bridge and we began to make our way up to the tower.
Marvin couldn't resist taking a few river shots.

The Accend

This little structure was right next to the tower, You can still see divided room.

Close up on Tower #1

Tower #2

View from Tower #2 The other side of the valley

Checking out the View at the Blue Lakes after our picnic lunch.

Who needs the Market

We love summer produce here, watermelons are starting to make their appearance, which makes me very happy. Last year I think I ate my weight in watermelon. I had it for breakfast lunch and dinner. It was my main dish for every meal last year. I don't think it would be wise to repeat this again this year, since I am needing the growing guy in my belly, but you better believe we will buy our share of watermelons this year.

Marvin just came inside from the garden and brought all of these wonderful garden treats. We love fresh produce and are super excited about fresh green beans again. We are taking advantage of this last summer of having a garden and so far everything looks great and we are looking forward to enjoying all of this produce.

4th of July Treats

Every now and then I get inspired to try to make something new, so with Cherries in season I thought I would try my luck at a few cherry desserts to help us celebrate the 4th of July. The pie turned out great, but the cherries bubbled over the blue on the flag, Marvin called it our rustic flag, either way it was tastey. I pitted 2 Kilograms of cherries, which is a little shy of 5lbs, in a few days to help make these little treats and I also froze enough homeade cherry pie filling to make 2 pies at a later date. YEAH! So dad, I hope you enjoyed a cherry pie this year. I was thinking of you as I made it.

The Bump-23 Weeks

Sorry it has taken us so long to post a picture of my growing bump. It seemed like whenever we had a camera I was wearing a shirt that didn't show it off, so we finally took one the other day. Right now I am in the 6th month and can't believe we are over half way there. We aren't sure if he is going to come earlier than expected, as both ultrasounds we had done a couple of weeks ago estimated that I was a week to two weeks farther along, but who knows if that is accurate. My doctor wants another ultrasound done the middle of August, so hopefully we will get more information then. We are just trying to decided if we need to leave the country earlier than planned right now.

My Favorite Birthday

Well I am finally 26! It has been my favorite age ever since I was a child. I am not sure where the fascination came from but maybe it has to do with being born on the 26th of June. Who knows?!?!

Well it was a great day. I have to tell you I have the greatest husband who made the day so special, starting with making me breakfast and picking me some fresh AMAZING strawberries from the garden, they were heavenly!

We went out to eat for lunch and stopped at the grocery store and found we now can get hamburger and hot dog buns! I was pretty excited as we were having a cookout that night to celebrate. Sweet little surprises!

Our team fixed an amazing dinner with lots of my favorites. Thanks mom for sending the Jell-O, the rainbow salad was awesome!

The whole evening was topped off by a few fireworks Marvin bought, something people here do for their birthdays. It was such an amazing day and I already love being 26!

Ultrasound Hunt

We were wanting to find out the sex of the baby, and were very disappointed to find out that the man who is suppose to be the best was out of town for a month, so we decided to go to another place to see what they said. We were literally in and out of this office within 5 minutes. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t even get to see the baby or get a picture, but after a while I decided it was better to know that everything was okay than to have a picture.

We were a little leery about this woman’s accuracy because it didn’t take very long, so we called one of our language teachers and she helped us find a place in town that could give us a second opinion. What this involved was a massive city wide search. Every place we went either didn’t have a machine or the doctor was out of town. We finally found a place but the doctor was in surgery so we had to come back later that day. It was a frustrating cultural day for us, but at the same time the results were the same, so we feel confident telling you that we are having a boy and that everything looks fine!

We hope to have one more ultra sound done before the baby is born, so if anything changes we will let you know.

Baby Shower Blessings

First we have to say we have the greatest team in the world as well as dear freinds in the states. The last week we were blessed by two different showers. The first shower was a dual shower with our other colleagues and the whole gang got to be there, little boys included, they were definately appeased by getting to eat brownies.

Our second shower was given to us via the wonderful world of skype. We were so loved to see some dear friends, and it was like we were sitting in their living room talking with them, the whole time I just wanted to reach out and give them all a big hug.

Thank you all so much for how you all loved on us. We thank you for the much needed baby things and for your thoughtfulness. You all the greatest. We miss you guys so much.

Marvin & Erica

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

We were at the park with our friends and they were raving at how beautiful the dandelions were right now, both kinds the yellow ones and the white ones. He even went so far to suggest that the city should use them in their flower beds around town. The whole time Marvin was thinking how much everyone in America dreads these pretty yellow flowers appearing in their yard.

Finished Upstairs

Well Marvin and I are pretty tired of remodeling right now and the last couple of days seemed to stress us out big time. I really am a patient person, but I wanted to literally hit one of the repairmen when he tried to tell me it was so simple to have a roll of linoleum in the middle of the kitchen floor. All you have to do is roll it to one side to get into the freezer and to the other side to get into the cabinets. I don’t know if it was the pregnancy hormones or what, but I seriously wanted to hit him.

So despite all this let’s focus on what is finished the upstairs, hip, hip, horray!!! I decided to snap a few photos of the finished rooms, which is harder to do than you think. These are the best shots that I managed to take, but at least you can see the wall paper. I keep telling myself that sometime soon the downstairs will look like this too.

Yard Work

Marvin has done a great job planting our garden and getting a few beds landscaped in the yard. This year Marvin planted broccoli (it’s been so long since we have had fresh broccoli!), spinach, corn, potatoes, carrots, peppers, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, we are trying watermelon again even though locals tell us it doesn’t grow here. We can’t wait to be able to eat some tasty treats from our garden. Marvin has done a great job taking care of the garden and it is looking great this year. Our strawberry patch is looking promising this year, and I can’t wait. I keep looking out our bedroom window each morning to see which one will ripen first. There is nothing better than a fresh strawberry straight from the garden. Marvin however needed some mulch for our pepper plants and tomato plants and he kept eyeing some overgrown grass in the ditch by our house, so he finally worked up the nerve to go cut some. We laughed at his gypsy move as we often see gypsies with their horse and cart in public areas that need to be mowed just helping their self to the grass.

Marvin has had his work cut out for him pulling weeds. Any free time he gets he is outside pulling weeds from the grass, and there isn’t just a few every now and then they are very prevalent. He has been making headway though and the end is in sight. Unfortunately he spent a little too many hours in the sun and turned a little lobsterish, but it seems the redness keeps going down, which is makes life more comfortable for him.

Perhaps....

Perhaps is my new favorite word in this language, it seems to help when the odd suggestions keep rolling in. For example I was at language the other day and my teacher asked me if the morning sickness had stopped. When I told her it had she informed me of why I was so sick. Apparently there was something bad in my digestive organs and so when the new food mixed with the bad things in there I threw up. This is when I used my favorite word “Perhaps.” I seriously had to try to not laugh, she was very serious. I then told her that I read it was hormones and now they are different since the placenta is working. I am sure she had the reaction to my explanation.

A day in the Park

It seems like smells really get to me now, but I am happy to say, I can now make it to the market without a Kleenex held up to my nose most of the time. So Marvin and I decided it was high time for a date out of the house. The beautiful weather lately inspired us to take a stroll through the park, something that most of the locals do regularly. It was such a busy day as everyone was out and about enjoying the beautiful weather. I also was very excited about stopping to get a fountain drink at the Coke Can Stand. Fountain drinks are hard to come by in our next of the woods, but during the summer there are there stands that are in the shape of a Coke Can that sell fountain drinks. It is a real treat every now and then, and saved me several times when I was standing out in the heat waiting on public transportation home, so I was super excited to see that a few had opened.

So Marvin and I were enjoying our fountain drinks when our friends Ute and May called to see if we wanted to go to the park with them, so we met up with them and took a long stroll through the park. We first took a turn on the turtle paced Farris wheel and then decided to take the lift up to a hill that overlooks town. After we finished the lift we walked along the river to the last lake in the park and got our share of views of men in their underwear/speedos. Apparently that is how you swim here. We finished out evening with kebabs near the lake and as we were making our way to a main street to catch a taxi we saw our first wild hedgehog. The poor thing was so afraid and wouldn’t unroll itself no matter how quiet we were, so we gave up and finally made it home at 9:30 to enjoy some strawberry shortcake! It was a great date!

Views from the Fortress

The Kitchen Hill

Over the last month the kitchen floor has been swelling. For some reason when they lay linoleum they don't rip out the old floor first they just lay the new linoleum on top of the floor and don't even glue it down. While this seemed strange to us when they first did it we didn't question it. Then a few weeks later the middle of our kitchen began to rise creating a big bump in the middle of the floor. Marvin and I think that there must have been water in the wood that was always there, but with the air circulation it was able to dry the boards out without them warping, once covered with linoleum there was no circulation and thus the bump developed.

The first picture you can see which boards where warping as they look them out so we weren't tripping over them. However they semi took up the linoleum, and left this roll in the floor that we now have to dodge when we are using the kitchen. The problem with this little roll is we can't just roll it up to one side, as we either can't get to the cabinets or open the freezer, so it remains in the center of the room. I about face planted into it the other night when I woke up so hungry and sleepily made my way to the kitchen for some milk. Apparently that isn't a good idea when you are extremely tired and there is a roll of linoleum in the middle of the floor.

Marvin and I decided it would make a great hill for matchbox cars races, or even a good step aerobics step, so that you can get some exercise while cooking. Unfortunately those are a thing of the past and they will have to rip up the floor and lay a piece of plywood/particle board down to fix the problem. This means that they have to take everything out of the kitchen once again. What a nightmare. The last picture is of the dining room where they ripped the floor boards out and while they were out getting buying the board for the floor I snapped a picture.

Bathroom Upheaval

Our friend "Sledge" was back to rip out all the tiles in the bathroom floor and he finally finished last weekend, so they started mudding the walls to prepare them for the tile work that will take place. As they were working they noticed a problem with the sewer line and began to investigate it. What they found was that the line did a little squiggly action for some reason and was starting to corrode, so in order to fix it they had to tear out the floor to replace the entire sewer lines, which lead to a huge pile of rubble in the bathroom floor. All of us were very perplexed at why they would put a sewer pipe that had so many turns, but like a lot of things here they just don't make any sense.

A little Randomness

All the apple trees are blooming in our village right now and we have a few blooms on our strawberry plants so summer is very near. Even though we have had beautiful weather apparently it still is not sandal season, as I was scolded yesterday for not having my feet covered. Apparently all the locals know when it is time to change to the next shoe; they just don't let us in on this secret. It is funny because I saw a lady who was probably around 50 wearing fishnet stockings and sandals and apparently that is okay but just bare toes is a thing to be concerned about right now.

So the upstairs bathroom has been finished for over a week, and there is still water dripping from the lines of the toilet. Even if we turn the water off a drip persists, and our small bucket quickly filled up, so my brilliant husband constructed a water drainage system into a large bucket using a plastic Pepsi bottle, but when we forget to turn off the water, we have a wet mess on the floor. I forgot to turn off the water today and when we came home I was greeted to water everywhere in the bathroom. GRRR!!!! We hope the remodeling crew comes tomorrow to fix this problem.

The hot water heater is out of the downstairs bathroom, along with all tile that was on the wall, the toilet, bathtub, sink, and heater. So hopefully the tile work can begin this week and we will be closer to the end of this remodeling process. With the hotwater heater out we are having to boil water for dishes. I am sure the repairmen think it is crazy that we are using plastic plates at home, but I am all for the least amount of dishes right now without hot water.

Marvin got a few strange looks when he hooked up the sprinkler he bought. I haven't seen any sprinklers anywhere here, people just stand around with a hose and water everything.

I was on my way to class the other day and took the 18 to get there, which goes down a busy street and I saw a dog pooping in the middle of the road. I can honestly say I have never seen that before.

I also went to the doctor Friday and she asked me how I was feeling and then got out this needle like blunt object and told me to stick out my hand and she proceeded to poke my hand and told me to tell her if it hurt. It did so I told her it hurt and she asked me to point where it hurt, so I just picked a spot because it hurt in a lot of places and she looked at my hand and said yes it is your liver. Then she poked the other hand, and I wasn't going to tell her it hurt because I was afraid she might do to me next. So the conclusion of this little test was that only the right side of my liver has the problem. WHAT?!? Then she used this small needle object and poked my ear, and then massaged them and told me that I needed to do this every day. She also had my lie on my stomach and then popped my back and massaged my shoulder. The only good things that came out of this visit was she weighed me and measured my stomach. I left there thinking, did I just pay her to massage my ears and poke my hand? But she's the best we have in town, it's kind of scary!

You still can't tell I am pregnant and I am in my 16th week. Every night before bed I ask Marvin if he can tell yet, and usually he says stop arching your back. One of these days he is going to say yes and I won't even be arching my back. I am starting to feel better, or so I hope. Monday and on have been sick free days, PTL.

City League Basketball

Marvin was so excited when he was asked to play on a city league basketball team. He loves any chance he gets to play ball. Surprisingly a group of old guys with bellies won the league tournament today. If you just looked at them you would never know that they could play basketball, but everything they shoot goes in, it literally is amazing. He enjoyed playing with a few people who actually know a thing or two about basketball and he finished the season today with his big appearance in the all star game.