April

Yes, I know. It’s almost June. And here I am just now writing about April. I considered just never writing this post, because most of April was spent in my bed, on the couch or on the bathroom floor.

However, there were some awesome parts of the month that I just had to throw together in my little online journal. I will also just throw my April book reviews in at the end of this post, since I didn’t read very many and I’m a whole month behind on blogging.

I’m starting to feel a little bit better. I still have about five bad days a week, but those two good days I am finally feeling “normal”. Hopefully by the end of this month those good days will outnumber the bad. Yikes, this has been a rough pregnancy!

We started off April with Heavenly’s Spring Break. We were all sick the whole week and it was such a bummer break. Oh well.

My parents came to visit shortly thereafter. We waited to tell them about the pregnancy until they were here. I made t-shirts for all of the kids that had their birth years on it. I needed an announcement that would be able to include Heavenly while not referencing “baby #3” (because we obviously already have three kids, even if only temporarily). I put the shirts into a box and told Heavenly that I had a riddle for her to solve. We told my parents that she needed help solving the riddle and then handed the box over. She pulled out the shirt saying “06”, then “14” (cue Grandma figuring it out), then “16”, then “18”. Heavenly and my Dad were still trying to figure out “the riddle”, so we dropped some hints and Heavenly yells “YOU ARE PREGNANT?!?!?!?!?!?!” It was cute.

Later that week my parents took the kids for a whole 24 hours while Theo and I got away to Cincinnati.

Meanwhile, the kids got to go for a hike, get ice cream and have a blast with Meemaw and Pepaw.

I was worried about how they would do, but they all did awesome! Heavenly loves my parents and is always on her best behavior when they are around. Tera was mad we came home, and Kiah did just fine!

My parents stayed for another week, and then we had another special visitor! My best friend from high school, Tam, flew all the way from DC just to visit! While she was in town, we decided to throw together a little Niger reunion for everyone who lives in this area. It was a blast! I was SO sick in all of these pictures, and everything just seems like a total blur.

I didn’t take a single picture with Tam…total fail. Like I said, I was feeling so sick and my mind completely leaves me when I’m so sick. Thankfully, my Mom took this picture!

Tam spent so much time with my children, it was a precious gift.

The weather was still really chilly during April! It’s funny looking back on this picture on this 90 degree May morning, realizing that it was less than four weeks ago that we were still wearing WINTER coats #ohio

All fall and winter, this wall was tipping precariously and we knew it needed to come down. Theo finally had a few days off, and we worked to rip that thing down! First try: Tera.

No luck there, so Daddy stepped in.

Boom!

Theo has been doing a LOT of yard work since then, and our lawn is starting to look so much better!

The other big event that took place in April was my twin nephews turning ONE! How is it possible they are already one? I have no idea, but the kids and I decided to make the trek up to Michigan to celebrate with Dan and Kelly!

Their birthday party was at a park with an awesome playground. It was a little bit overcast, but one of the first days that it was warm enough to even be outside! It was right on the edge of this river and my little man was very fond of running to the edge of the water. The geese there were very tame, but unfortunately, not very nice. TWICE during the birthday party Tera ran up behind a goose and GRABBED IT. Those geese weigh at least as much as her and have beaks of steel, so it was a heart attack for all the adults both times. I think both times she thought the goose would fly away, and when she got close enough to touch it…she did. Thankfully neither one actually attacked her.

Happy Birthday, Levi and Everett!

Mmmmmm CUPCAKES!

Opening presents.

Everett (I think?) would CRY every time he got to open a present and they would take the present away to open a new one. Haha. Poor kid.

Their quilts hand sewn by Grandma!

Tera gave them some books for their birthday and she was very excited to read to the twins right on the spot!

Finally, we wrapped up April making our exciting announcement!

In reality, most of the pictures I took looked more like this. HAHA.

And now onto my April book reviews!

Jane, Unlimited 

Uh. I can’t even remember what this book was about. I gave it three stars on Goodreads. It confused me and was rather boring. It took me a while to figure out that the story was told from the same characters perspective, but each section was based on the author making a different choice. For example, in one section she follows the man up the stairs and then unfolds the mystery about the man. In the next section, instead of following the man, she follows the dog and discovers an alternate world. It was like choose your own adventure, only you have no control over the weird things that happen. Again, it was rather boring and pretty confusing.

Garden of the Lost and Abandoned 

This book was SO GOOD. I really, really enjoyed reading it. It is about a woman who works as a journalist, but she always seems to find the lost and abandoned people and writes about them in her column. She often finds street children and writes about them in hopes that their family will find them in a culture with no “missing persons” system. The book beautifully unfolds what it looks like to live and serve in a culture of poverty. And yet, the book is not written from a Western perspective, with the white Westerners coming in and saving those poor people. Instead, it keeps the rich culture intact and demands respect for the beautiful people who live in the culture. SUCH A GOOD BOOK.

The Book on Rental Property Investing 

Theo made me read this book. Haha. It’s not really my style, but I did it because I love him and it is what he is passionate about. Overall, if you are at all interested in rental property investing, this is the book to read! Even though it wasn’t my cup of tea, it was still a fascinating read and I did learn a lot. It is engaging and well-written and isn’t as boring as you might think. I will admit that I skimmed some of the chapters on finances and working with the bank, but I did read all the details about how to manage the properties and what is important to look for in buying a rental property. Are rental properties in our future? Theo sure hopes so! It would be a fun adventure, huh?

I am Malala 

For some reason I accidentally picked up the Young Readers Edition of this book. I’m not sure if there was a lot cut out or if a lot of it was toned down, but I did enjoy the story overall. It was a powerful story of a young girl and her family caught in the grips of the Taliban with seemingly no way out. Malala and her family stand up for the rights of girls education and because of it, Malala is targeted and nearly killed by the Taliban. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs some more information about what it is like to be a Muslim or live in the Middle East. Our Western news focuses so much on the Taliban and other terrible people that we forget that there are also real, live, beautiful people also caught in the fight. This story was incredible and I think I will be reading it aloud to Heavenly this summer!