The Animals of Africa

Kruger Park should be one of the seven wonders of the world. It is truly amazing to drive around and pull your car right next to the real, live, African Animal Kingdom. We took over 300 pictures during the 2 weeks, so here is just the smallest glimpse! (Sorry, it is still a lot, but they are wonderful!) Little Boy Heaven!! He LOVED the animals to say the least.

This was my first summer trip to Kruger. There were baby animals everywhere! It was so sweet to watch how the animals protected their little ones.
There were about 20 hippos in the water that we could see from the bridge. They apparently only get out during the night when they move to a different watering hole. (Hint: they look like large rocks.)

We had a lot of fun watching hundreds of monkeys play and eat our peanuts.

The baby monkeys and Callin both love piggy back rides.

It looked like pride rock- so we just had to take one more picture. Oh, and The Lion King soundtrack was in all of our heads the whole-time! (A wemowhet, a wemowhet...)
Yeah, not really supposed to get out of the car, but don't worry, we lived to download!

A morning ride with a guide. He taught us a lot about what the different plants can be used for. I think we would be ready to survive in the bush after that. He lets us try a small red bitter fruit. Doug was the only asking for seconds.
1 of the 2 leopards we saw.

Splish splash I was taking a bath!

Rhino

Just 5 of the 5 million impala in the park!
The zebra (pronounced with a short e instead of a long e if you are in Africa.)
Sunsets in Africa...my favorite!!!

The Year in Review

Our version of "Chicken Soup with Rice"

In January its lots of fun
to live in AZ in the sun.
In Mom & Dad’s house, we did reside
Enjoy it once, enjoy it twice
Enjoying friends & family was so nice.

In February Callin started
crawling, every minute he darted
Into this and that he was
Work load doubled, first tooth bubbled
Eight month olds can sure get in trouble!

In March and April Dougie traveled
It was Baylor Medicine he dazzled
Ophthalmology tech he was employed
Non-stop eye balls this, corneas that
Those who listened were quite annoyed.

In May we headed to Cedar City
Doug and Cal were the cheering committee
As Annie dressed up in black robes
Graduation, Celebration
For a Masters in Education

In June our baby boy turned one.
On his feet, he could not be outrun.
The trip to Rocky Point was great
Lots of sand, sunsets grand
Soon time with family will be in high demand.

In July we sailed away
Doug thoroughly enjoyed the buffet
33 Smoots were found aboard.
Then we sailed some more, to a shore
Found just outside the Houston door.

In August & September it started looking hazy
Annie found single parenting quite crazy.
Doug, well he’s in he-e-ven.
Anatomy, YES! Histology- Fun!
When did you say, school will be done?

October passed with quite some speed.
Annie still makes time to read.
Teaching preschool, is lots of fun!
Miracles, we were blessed.
Callin Douglas is the best!

In November it will be
A celebration with friends and family
Blessings in abundance – wow!
Grateful once, grateful twice.
Grateful for our life with spice.

In December we will go away
To Africa for a stay
Papa, Grammy & Lindy we will greet
Elephants- wow, real lions – holy cow.
Are you sure its time to come home now?

Merry once, Merry twice

All seasons of the year are nice

For living a life full of spice!

If at first you don't succeed

After having the stool slip out from under him time after time, he did figure out how to open the drawer all the way AND stand on the stool by himself. It was too funny not to capture his struggles. And I have to say- hip hip hooray to my new camera that actually captured the moment I wanted not a full 45 seconds later.

This mess was exactly the reason I was not eager for him to accomplish this feat.

You Better Believe It

From hurricanes to snow- we have really enjoyed the unique year the weather in Houston has brought us!

We had our white Christmas after all. Too bad it didn't stick around longer than 1 night.

Thanksgiving Week!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. Doug's sister, Lauren and her family joined us from Dallas to celebrate the week. We had a great time spending time with them. Stephen emailed me a list of some of his favorite memories from the week. I will include some of my personal favorite from his list.

1- Clogged toilet 2- Excrement on the carpet 5- Locked bathroom 6- Zoo 7- Basketball 8- Turkey Bowl 9- Turkey Trot 10- The short-cut 12- Settlers 13- Wikipedia 14- Callin running down the street while looking over his shoulder 16- Medical Terms 19- Perfectly moist Turkey 20- Perfect sliced Turkey 21- Apple and Mousse Pie 22- Pumpkin Cake 24- Missionaries 26- Galleria Mall.

I was super nervous about making my first turkey. Thank you to all those whom I pestered w/ phone calls. Thanks to Lauren and Tricia, the meal turned out delicious!

We feed 10 at dinner and then had 4 more stragglers show up a couple of hours later fresh off the plane from Mexico! Just kidding Low's, we are so glad you could join us!

Ella

Doug's little brother CJ's best buddie (did you follow that??) is serving in our area Vietnamese speaking. We were lucky to have Elder Thein and his 2 companions join us for the afternoon.

This cute moment happened while we were all busy cleaning up.

Grant Low, Cal, Ella, Kayla.

We were able to connect w/ Doug's family on Skype in Boston and Gilbert.

At the zoo

The weekend before at the Pearland High School Football game- quite the experience. Let's just say that here in Texas, there is not much that is more important than high school football! (And yes, it can get that cold in Texas.)

Tricia and Chase

My cute cute preschool students! I hope you like the Indie-Pilgrim mix-and- match costumes! Hey, anything goes in fashion these days, right?

These are a few...

of my favorite things! My days are running out. I started this post before Thanksgiving, so I can post it. And I still have a gazillion things to be grateful for. Here are a few more to add to the list.

1. Books. I get A LOT of entertainment out of reading. It is definitely my favorite past time and I wish I could spend several hours every day snuggling up to a good book. I am currently reading, "The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." I know it is quite a mouth full, but I am loving it.

Somehow along the lines of literature is...a quick picture from the midnight showing of Twilight. It turned out to be the best attended "ward" activity. Has anyone else seen it? I personally thought it was great- it was the same fun storyline but with an editor. The book has way too much unedited fluff and the movie hit all the highlights with a great vampire family!

2. My blender. Cal and I love our daily shakes and smoothies.

3. My feather pillows!...all 3 of them.

4. Technology. Blogs, email, phones, cameras. That's about all I can do.

5. Baby Einstein movies! I have faithfully tried to interest Cal since he was a wee lad. I know, I know I have a degree in Early Childhood Education and a masters for crying out loud. I know what "they" say. However, I am about to journey BY MY SELF with my 18 month old on a 17 hour flight (plus all the other legs.) And this week he finally did it! He likes to choose a red, green, blue, or yellow chair to sit in. He finds a couple of trains to put on the table in front of him. And he will actually watch the movie. Every time the train comes on he gets very excited and says"Choo choo" the whole time. Some times he has to come and find me and tell me "choo choo." He is done after about 10 or 15 minutes, but I am always amazed at what I was able to accomplish!

6. Pajama pants.

7. For the years my mom made me do things I didn't like. One, I LOVE playing the piano now. The past several months I have started practicing again. Doug and I are always competing for time on the piano after dinner. And two, I never was or really don't see my self ever becoming a great seamstress, but I finished Callin's curtins a couple of days ago and had to be grateful for my mom for teaching me basic skills like sewing a straight line!

8. My jogging stroller.

Parenthood

I received a call from my mom this morning...just to chat. That doesn't happen all that often due to her living in a distant third world country, hosting dinners day after day for the masses, trying to keep 80 boys healthy and safe, along with all the other millions of little jobs a mission mom has to do. I am so grateful for my parents. They are the best of the best. Only 24 more days until we get to fly half way around the world for our first Christmas in Mozambique! (And Callin's first time to meet his Grandpa.) This Thanksgiving, we are definetly very grateful for Gramie and Papa!
Being a mother is definitely the most rewarding 'hat' I have worn. I think it has to do with the fact that you can't take it off- ever...For instance just TODAY I was a mom at 12:04am when the humidifier was too loud and the blaring green light was scary. I was a mom at 2:30am when a little foot got caught in the crib bars (I have been meaning to sew on the missing ties for over a month now and get the bumper back up.) I was a mom at 4:00pm when Callin terrorized my preschool room pulling all the stapled things off the wall. I was a mom at 5:30pm when I discovered something brown oozing its way up my sons back all over his shirt. I was a mom at 6:00pm when Callin pulled off half of the keys off of the computer. (Daily occurance.) I know you are all thinking I am not the best mom you have heard of by now...But on a more positive note I was proud to be a mom at 3:15 pm when Callin helped me sweep up the pine needles on the sidewalk. Or at 6:45pm when Callin found a Pass Along Card with a picture of Christ on it and said, "Je-ze" for the first time. Or at 7:30pm when I sat with Cal and he actually let me snuggle him in the rocking chair for 30 minutes singing songs, reading Good Night Moon for the 10th time today.

Some of you have heard about Callin's recent "swim" in the lake. After discovering he was missing from the park, I found my little guy floating face UP as still as can be in a near by lake. We have not a doubt in the world that he was not alone in that lake. Since then, I have treasured ALL my motherhood moments- whether they be tiring, stinky, or hectic. I am so grateful that Callin has guardian angels who attend to him all through out the day and night. I am so grateful to have the most amazing opportunity to be a mother. Callin is such a gem! There couldn't be a happier mother! I am extremly grateful for the joys of motherhood and for my precious son!