Back in the swing of things!!

We are all home and accounted for. YAY!!! Ryan returned from Afca- as Chelsea says, on Sunday and it was so good to see him. We missed him terribly- 2 weeks is a long time to be away. I am so glad our families kept me busy and having fun that I didn't have too much time to think about missing him.....


Chelsea and I left on Sunday the 13th with Ryan's parents to go to Houston for a couple days. Chelsea was kind of under the weather but she was quite a tropper. Then on Monday she developed spots- starting with just a couple that looked like bug bites- but they ended up covering her entire body. Luckily, we were able to get her to a clinic, after waiting 3 hours, and the diagnosis was that she was allergic to her own virus. The other news was that is could get worse and she could potentially have to be hopitalized in the next couple days. Great!!! Chelsea and I had plane tickets for Wednesday morning to FL. It ended up being fine.... After some medicine the spots got lighter and lighter and the medicine also helped her sleep exceptionally well. I have considered giving it to her again...just kidding!!!



We arrived in FL on Wednesday around lunchtime and had a very eventful trip even though Chelsea and I were stuffy and coughing. We saw family, rode a horse, played with worms, frogs, catepillars, a mouse, fished, made muffins, swung with Grammy, rode the tracker which Chelsea still reminds me is "LOUD" swam, played with friends-Jadyn, Chase and Olivia, and went on several walks to the mailbox. Chelsea definately proved to be an outdoors girl and unafraid of all the creepycrawly bugs Mommy doesn't like. I couldn't believe how brave she was getting on the horse...She acted like she had done it all her life, waving to the other horses, and trying to get the horse to giddy up faster. She has no fear...maybe like Daddy.


One eventful moment happened the last night we were there. Mom was holding Chelsea so I could get the suitcases downstairs to finish packing. Chelsea fell asleep on her shoulder and when Mom laid her down Chelsea woke up. She screamed and cried and I told Mom to just leave her in the pack & play and close the door. We waited upstairs and then I hear this loud boom and the crying gets closer. Mom says," She's out!" Both of us race toward the bedroom and meet Chelsea at the door. This is the first time she has ever climbed out of the pack and play.... All the what ifs began racing through my mind. What if we wern't upstairs and she had tried to come down the stairs? What if she had fallen and hit her head or worse? YIKES!!! Besides that our trip was a lot of fun.

make sure to go to www.dropshots.com/clark122399 and view the video of her horse ride. (The last video is the best of them.)

When we flew back on Wednesday, we went to Incredible Pizza where Chelsea rode rides, played games and jumped in a bounce house. Then we went to Toys'R'Us where Gran and Grandpa picked out a new house for Chelsea to play with at their house. We also got a sand and water table for our house. We still hadn't unloaded all of our luggage so we called Uncle Donnie to help bring all the toys home. The guys put the house together so Chelsea could enjoy it that night. It is a precious house with a front porch bench and a phone that rings and door bell that works:) Super cute. On Thursday, we went to Kemah and fed stingrays, giant catfish, birds, ate at the Aquirium and played in the shooting water...(definately Chelsea's favorite) She was quite wore out at the end of the day.

Friday we headed home just in time for the neighborhood garage sale on Saturday. Actually I didn't even know it was happening but I still had stuff in our garage from the last garage sale already priced so we made almost $100. The Clarks were a huge help and I was able to get some things done around the house while they watched Chelsea. By this time I was really really missing Ryan.

I went to get Ryan from the airport on Sunday afternoon and waited for what seemed like forever for them to get through customs. It was so good to see him!!! I am so glad he is home. We still haven't gotten to see all the pictures from the trip and I continue to hear new stories everyday. One of the coolest things that happened was Ryan got to meet our adopted child from Africa, Mercy. He said she was shy but opened up after a little while. They got to eat lunch together and he gave her the gift we had picked out for her. We sent 2 dolls, one white, to remind her there was a little girl named Chelsea who was praying for her and one African that looked like her. We also sent some hairbows and ribbons. While he was chatting with her he bought her a scarf from one of the shops. She was so surprised that he let her pick whichever one she wanted. That same day in Holiday Bible School Mercy accepted Jesus. When Ryan told me that my eyes filled with tears. We have been praying for her for quite some time and I am so glad Ryan was there to share in that precious moment.

Ryan had off Monday and Tuesday so we have been able to spend some quality time together as a family and enjoy being together.

Yesterday after Chelsea woke up from her nap, Ryan went in to find her with one foot on the top of the crib and the other off the mattress. He yelled and it must have scared her but she got down. Last night we went to get the rail to convert the bed to a toddler bed. She went down with no problem and slept all night-until 5:45 this morning. YEA!! This afternoon is another story. She has figured out how to crawl out of the bed, which is fine but when I laid her down for a nap she decided to get up. I picked her up and laid her back down despite her loud protests. She climbed out again. This time I held the doorknob so she couldn't open the door. She laid in front of the door and I didn't hear anymore crying. Then I got worried. What if she had passed out from crying? What if she was too close to the wall and rolled over and hit her head? So stupid me I open the door. She stands up, crying again. I picked her up and told her I loved her and she needed to sleep in her big girl bed. I carried her to the bed and laid her down. She let out a whimper and must have fallen alseep before I closed the door again. I guess naptime is going to be a challenge this week. Hopefully bedtime won't be too bad.

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for our family during this difficult time. We appreciate your cards, emails and support. We are comforted that we will see Granny Darby again but the days ahead will certainly be difficult without her.

Chelsea is saying and doing so many new things daily. I need to be more faithful to blog about them. I am truly blessed.