Haiku

I have a book called Cat Haiku by Deborah Coates. As any good cat-lover would, I enjoy reading from this book occasionally and thinking about my cat, Jasper, and his poor lost sister, Savy. Here is one of my favorites:

You Call and I hear.

But I am a jungle cat

And will not answer.

New Baby

Yesterday at 2pm, Lilly Cruz McCall was born in Bolivia to Hannah and Charles. Charles is John's brother. Annelise has a cousin! We are very excited for them and are looking forward to meeting Lilly in May or June. Another fun surprise is that yesterday was John's mother's birthday too so she gets to share it with her new granddaughter. They don't have pictures up yet, but they will post them on their blog soon. Follow the link for "Charles and Hannah" on the right.


Lilly Cruz McCall
Born at 2pm on Jan. 9, 2007
Weight 6 lbs 5 oz
Both mother and baby are doing well.

Praise God!

Since I don't have any pictures of the new baby, here is another one of Annelise.

Not Enough

At the end of our Christmas vacation, John and I were very happy to have dinner with our friends Bob, Judi and Abigail Podgurski in Albuquerque, NM the night before we flew home. We met the Pod's while living in Colorado and love every minute we get to spend with them. Although our dinner was short and weepy (with a very tired and sick Annelise), it was nice to see them again. Bob did inform me that I do not blog enough. I don't have as much time now that Annelise doesn't sleep as often, and when she does I usually want to lie down too. But, it is true. I don't blog enough. Well, Bob, this one's for you.

Caleb is due in 2 months and I feel like it is coming very quickly. We are going to try to put him and Annelise in the same room once he starts sleeping through the night (which I hope will be very soon). John doesn't really like this plan, but it is so nice for me to have this extra room for the computer and for company. I use it a lot and don't want to give it up since the kids won't know the difference anyway. If sharing a room doesn't work out, I will give in and let each one have his own room. I am really hoping it works though. After all, years ago, that is what everyone did. Kids shared a room. Why can't it work today?

John's brother and his wife are expecting their first child any day now. It is a girl and we are so excited for them. They are in Bolivia right now but will move back to the states at the end of May. It will be so nice for Annelise (and Caleb) to have a cousin!

I think Caleb is a little uncomfortable. He squirms all the time and kicks me a lot. Maybe he will come a little early.

Photos:

1-Annelise after church with a fun pine cone.

2-John made a big pile of leaves that Annelise enjoyed playing in with Terra.

3-At the NC zoo with my parents a few days before Thanksgiving. I sure do look small in that photo. I don't feel that small anymore.

Cruise

John and I had a wonderful vacation in the Caribbean. Many unexpected things happened, but we always enjoyed each other's company and really enjoyed the food and snorkeling. The night we left was the first eventful night. While we were enjoying our first dinner, the director announced that the captain was going to turn the boat around and head back towards Miami so a passenger could be airlifted to a hospital. (After the cruise was over, we heard that the person died in the hospital.) The second mishap was on St. Thomas where we were supposed to dock at the pier, but the Harbormaster had overbooked the harbor so we dropped anchor very far away and had to borrow tender boats from another cruise ship to get to and from St. Thomas. Many people were very upset about that because they had to wait a very long time to get onto the island. John and I had gotten up very early and were on the first boat to the island. The final major event happened early Sat. Morning (on my birthday). I looked out the window at about 3am and noticed that we weren't moving. A searchlight was shining out over the water. John and I prayed then went to the pool deck to see if anyone else was awake and knew what had happened. A crew member had fallen overboard. Off in the distance we saw the light on a life jacket flashing. As we got closer we saw it was empty. Someone informed us that the person had been rescued. As soon as the person fell overboard, the captain was informed and it took 3 miles to slow the ship down to release a rescue boat. I am amazed that they found the person. It is a big ocean and is very very dark at night.

Besides those 3 things, we had a nice time. We watched some movies, spent a little time at the pool (but not too much time because it was always crowded), walked out on the lower decks and felt the spray from the waves as we cut through the water, and watched live shows. My favorite activity on board was our dance class. It was short, but it was fun. We learned very basic cha cha steps.

As we walked into our room for the very first time, we saw that, instead of seeing the darkness of an interior stateroom that we had paid for, we had a big room with a big window. That was very exciting.

I have posted some photos in the photo album on the column to the right. Just follow the link. Some pictures are still in the camera so they will have to come later. I took out photos of the ship because I don't know if I am legally allowed to post those. If you really want to see some, let me know and I will e-mail them. I don't have many of the boat. Most photos are of our fun time snorkeling on St. Thomas. That was our favorite thing about the cruise.