DanandDalaina.com

Yuk. That just about sums up the past 5 days. It started with me being sick. Then Dan, then Moses. And now the twins. We all have something. Dan and I and the babies have the runs. Moses and Ben and I have/had fevers. Jake and I are excessively tired. I and possibly the kids are really achy.... Notice I, of course, have all of it. The running theory is that I got two things at once and passed on one or the other to everyone else. Unfortunately, when adults are sick, they want to rest more, and when kids are sick they have a harder time sleeping. Not a good combination. 
This morning we were looking forward to the return of Nancy, our AMAZING housekeeper, after a looong weekend. She showed up and told me she was sick too. I sent her home.
Fortunately, we all seem to be much better tonight (Which is why I even feel up to writing this), but man it would be nice to have someone to just watch the kids for an hour so we could get a breather. Or someone to bring us food. Anyway, the potty calls again.

Yesterday was Dan and my 5 year anniversary. Last night while we were enjoying a bottle of red wine and some swiss chocolate that we had been hoarding, we discussed what an insane 5 years it has been. It doesn't seem possible that in 5 years we have experienced so much together:
-Dan's last year and graduation from Moody
-A summer internship in Peru
-Being appointed missionaries with PIONEERS
-A cross country move from Chicago to California
-Dalaina's last year and graduation from Biola
-Pregnancy and birth of Moses
- Surprise pregnancy and birth of Ben & Jake along with 6 weeks of bedrest
-Move to Peru and starting our missionary careers
Throw in 8 different jobs and 2 kness surgeries, and you can see it has been a little nuts in the May household! But it has been good, fun even. I doubt that we would change it even if we could. Although I am hoping that the next five years are a little more boring...

Yesterday I sent Dan out to buy a bunch of avocados. We are having a BBQ for our team on Monday when Scott and Nichole come out of the jungle. I want to make guacamole. So he came back with a crate of 20 huge avocados, and I was almost afraid to ask how much they were. In Cali, they would have been $20 - $60 depending on the season. He told me they were $6. I am so excited because now I fully plan on eating guacamole all the time.
Speaking of produce, I am starting to make my own babyfood. It is so stinking cheap to buy fresh fruit and veggies, it seems wrong not to let the babies get the good stuff too. Thus far I have made squash, papaya, pear, and mango. Just steam (if needed), puree, and freeze in ice cube trays. When it's frozen, you just dump the frozen cubes into a ziplock and take out what you need to zap in the microwave. The babies love pear and mango, haven't tried the squash yet, and HATE the papaya. I've given it to them a few times and each time they act like they are going to die. It's pretty hilarious with all the gagging, sputtering, and spitting. Ben hates apples too, Jake tolerates them. Ben LOVES pineapple, Jake is indifferent. Moses just wants cookies.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommies and mommies-to-be. I hope you all have a special day remembering the importance of our role. As a fairly new mom myself, I have come to believe that parenting must be something like marriage in the sense that it is ridiculously hard but also ridiculously rewarding. Recently I have been frustrated as I’ve tried to spend time with Jesus as it seems like each time I am interrupted by one of my three boys. But I was reminded through a Beth Moore study that Jesus faced similar frustrations. In Mark, Jesus went up early in the morning to get some quiet time with the Father. Soon his disciples came looking for him and told him that there was a crowd looking for him. My response would have been more like “Super (dripping with sarcasm). I am doing holy things right now. They can just wait until I am done.” But what Jesus did was get up and say, “Let’s go. This is what I came here to do.” It’s comforting to know that Jesus had similar frustrations and humbling to realize that my response to my kids is so dramatically different to what it should be. I am learning to respond instead with love and remembering that for this time in my life, this (mommyhood) is what I am here to do. My hope is that through these situations I will actually become more like Jesus and THAT will make me a better mom!  

 So before Dan and I got married, we set our wedding date, and I asked Dan if he was ok with my birthday and our anniversary being in the same month. He said that since my b-day was on the 2nd and our anniversary wasn't until the 22nd, it would be fine. Neither of us thought about the fact that Mother's Day is in between the two. Now Dan stresses out every May trying to figure out what to do for the sucession of days he is supposed to come up with something creative and thoughtful.
I found Dan the other day in the living room, online, looking for an appropriate gift. Finally, he looked up and told me that he just didn't know what to do, and, by the way, he hated this month. I told him that I didn't really need a gift per se. The whole point was that on my birthday, I wanted to feel that he was happy that I was born (and that I am fabulous). On Mother's Day, I wanted to feel that he was happy that I was the mother of his boys (and that I am doing a fabulous job). And on our anniversary, I wanted to feel that he was happy that he married me (and that I am a fabulously sexy wife). I let him know that there were any number of ways to do this. So on my birthday, we went out to dinner, and he agreed to let me get new window treatments made for ALL of my windows. Today, he went to town and bought a pane of glass for a big picture of the twins that I wanted on the wall, and at the moment is painting a frame for me. These are gifts for mother's day. I am waiting to see what we decide to do for our anniversary, but I know he will come up with something. Although, to be honest, I would be totally content with a really sappy love letter and a night alone together. 
May is Dan's dreaded month, but I love it because not only am I reminded that I am loved, but also I remember how much I love and how thankful I am for my family, kids, and, most of all, Dan.