updates!

Hi, dear friends and family. It's me again...sniff. As my sweet friend, Angela said it is my second night of putting the boys to bed by myself. I didn't sleep too well last night. I was up forever worrying, praying, trying my darndest to figure out the time difference, worrying and praying some more....I finally heard from Ben this morning through email. As of 8:30am my time, he was safe in Istanbul (that was 4:30pm his time) and was exhausted! He was having trouble using the phone card so I haven't heard his voice yet (sigh). He and his two traveling mates were staying in a hotel tonight (turkey time) and about right now he is on his third plane ride to some other city where they take the train to Fevzipasa (fun to say!) where he'll stay. I haven't heard from him since this morning so I am hoping and praying that he is okay!

You may be hearing from me a lot these days. What else am I supposed to do in the long, long quiet evenings??!! Well, I do have a few projects I want to work on...my quilt, catching up on scrapbooking, learning how to crochet....any more ideas??

The boys were so good today, except for "minor" 2 hour tantrum from Z...gotta break that screaming habit! Samuel was an angel! He got 2 stickers on his chart and we took a special trip to Target (have I mentioned my love for Target??) where he got to spend a bday gift card and pick out a special present. He is now the proud new owner of yet another Thomas train...Neville, or "Nebille" as he says. He then got another present in the mail from Aunt D., a hooked on phonics computer! Maybe he'll be reading by the end of the summer!! Anyways, he asked a few times about daddy and kept saying, "Is Daddy digging in the dirt wif a shovel, mommy?" He was such a blessing to me today.

And tonight two wonderful friends came over to keep me company, one of which who's hubby went away for 6 weeks for army training. We're going to be buddies this summer! We had a good night...homemade pizza (turned out pretty darn well if I don't say so myself!!) and amazing brownies (gotta love Ghirardelli chocolate!)...Bless you, Abby and Emily!!

So, keep praying for Ben as he's still traveling. I will update more when I hear that he FINALLY made it to his end destination....

For now, I'll leave you with a picture of little Samuel almost exactly 3 years ago....