Sat., Feb. 23 - Thu., Feb. 28

Hello! Here I am checking in to let you know we're well. :) ...Don't want anyone worrying, since I haven't blogged in a number of days.

Casa Grande was great last weekend. It was a FULL-full weekend, granted, but exciting. There is far too much to say that I shouldn't post on-line, so ... you know abou that.... One that surprised us is how excited Jeremy and I were at how much we like the city of Casa Grande!! It feels to us a lot more 'homey' than the metropolis of Tucson.

This week has been a tough one. It's a bunch more stuff I shouldn't post.... Suffice it to say that Jeremy did deem it appropriate on Monday evening to go ahead and let the church leadership here know that he is actively seeking employment elsewhere and they are free to go ahead and begin actively seeking someone to take Jeremy's place, should they wish to do so. There have been lots of tears and sadness this week, from the congregation as they have learned that we are, for sure, heading out when the Lord provides the opportunity. However, it is a blessing to know for certain that our work here is done; we have done everything we can do, in the current situation, to be a blessing to this congregation, so we will now move on so that someone else can, Lord willing, come in and continue working to equip and build up the body here per Eph. 4:11-12.

The week has been kind-of 'normal' other than that. I grocery shopped, though it took two days to get the job done. (Don't ask.) Elaine took us out to eat twice in the first couple days after we got home (She received auto insurance settlement $$ last week.). We had a C.A.R.E. Group meeting on Tuesday; that night I had a pleasant and beneficial long, late-night phone call with Stephanie.

Yesterday Justus was SICK-sick! He threw up at least 7 times that we counted; no one else is sick so we are suspicious that somewhere along the line he encountered some food poisoning of some kind, though we are at a loss to identify the cause.... gr The biggest mess was after supper; he started throwing up when he was almost to the top of the stairs, and made it to the bathroom (bless his heart) before, "There was just too much and I couldn't hold it in 'til I got to the toilet." The door, the floor, the cabinet doors, the rug, the toilet seat cover, the wall behind the toilet, the shower curtain, et. al. aye-yie-yie. Needless to say, N, J, and I stayed home from Bible class last night, but ... that meant we missed a surprise visit from the Downeys, old friends of ours from NE. :( At least Jeremy and Elaine got to have a nice visit with them. Wednesday night's fun included two late-night phone calls, the first with my sis [ :)) ], the second with Travis ... which, thankfully, was shorter than the first one!! :)

There has been much laundry washed in recent days. I made Banana Bread yesterday afternoon, and we had Breakfast Burritos for supper; you know how I like to do do breakfast for supper ... but don't think to do it as often as we would probably enjoy, actually.

Jeremy took half of today off, which is always so nice. One thing he did was take the divider out of the kennel so Chewie can have the space he needs; he is certainly big enough now to not potty in the end of the kennel in which he's not sleeping. This afternoon I built Taco Salad to take to the east side for Bible study with Tommy & Shavon; there was something so super-delicious about the Taco Salad I made tonight, and there was NO MSG in it. :) lol The salsa I made last night (Breakfast Burritos/Taco Salad) was a super-great batch, but also I think it made a remarkable difference that I squeezed almost all the juice of one lemon into the pot of 3 pounds of browned hamburger, along with my little recipe I've created to substitute for a taco spice packet. Even the children were talking about how great the meal was. Of course, that was the Balderramas first time putting homemade Ranch Dressing on Taco Salad, so that's always a big, surprising **hit** for people when they first try it!! lol

Today I am the one feeling sickly ... well, actually I have not felt good ever since Sunday in Casa Grande. It's a sore throat that feels distinctly related to the continuing ear issues. I did some online research today and discovered that after an ear infection (All articles assume the ear infection is in a young child unless I specifically request Google to bring up info about adults' ear infections.) it is common for fluid to remain in the middle ear for up to a month after the infection is actually gone, and it can cause discomfort and some hearing obstruction (both of which I am experiencing) as it slowly drains down the eustachian tubes and down the throat. I wonder if that is the cause of this sore throat.... It makes sense, I think. It's annoying and drains my energy, hence no blogs in a while.

Natasha and Justus have been reading, playing outside, playing Guitar Hero, GREATLY enjoying a "Desert Life" video we borrowed from the library, helping out with their routines and Household Service tasks, the dogs, and Natasha is sifting through the items in her room deciding which things she is through with. See, the Homeowner's Association is hosting a neighborhood-wide garage sale the Saturday of Mar. 15. We have decided to put out quite a lot of things we are ready to be through with ... and have been for a while now but haven't made the time to deal with them. It will be the first garage sale I have ever participated in, but I feel like we can justify the effort and time because most of the leg-work will be done for us and there should be a large amount of 'traffic' that morning. N crafted a bunch of price tags and has already priced about 15 items from her room!! I am proud of her for deciding to be through with things she no longer uses!! It is harder for her than for the rest of us to let go of things; she may be a 'hoarder' at heart, so I guess it's good that we do some "flings" (Flylady term for getting rid of things we no longer 'love' or use.) on a number of days throughout each year; it can help N get used to the idea that she doesn't have to keep E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. :)

One of these days I will get some more pictures posted!! [But, of course I forgot to take it to Casa Grande ... although I am proud to say that is the ONLY thing I forgot!] The pictures are the best part, I know, but they're a far bigger challenge to me than is typing out a bunch of words.... blah, blah, blah. Thanks for understanding.... :)