Coucoumellisms

Jean-Alexandre - 11 1/2 years Dominic - 7 years Maryssa - 5 1/2 years These were taken in early October. And here, why not one of Gabriel and Toby too... this one was taken in mid-November Toby - 1 1/2 years and Gabriel - 3 years (wearing the Dora and Boots shirt I made for his birthday) (Dominic is also wearing a shirt I made, I originally made it for Jean-Alexandre, who at the time really liked wild African animals, and chose that material himself.)

Are you ready for Advent?!!! This is our Advent wreath. (With one candle burning, you see?) I have also decorated the entrance with (fake) evergreen boughs (twisted around the bannister of the stairs) and pink and purple ribbons. The wreath has some extra "greenery" stuck into it, (with the silver tips) which makes it look even nicer, so I want to go and get something from the dollar store maybe to put in the entranceway too. The only flower/greenery stuff I have is really christmassy with a lot of red in it. I want to try to stay away from red as much as possible until Christmas. We have our manger scene set up on the piano as well (minus baby Jesus of course). Our stockings have been hung by the fire to be filled up during the whole time of advent. I want to try to do some more crafts with the kids than I have in the past, so they can fill up each others' stockings. I wonder what kind of easy craft I could do with Gabriel? He's only three.

http://ga0.org/campaign/khadama/i8dwx82h5i3bi8? On November 6, a 14-year-old girl named Khadama was rescued from slavery in the African country of Mauritania. But less than 12 hours after she reported her physical abuse to authorities, police returned her to her owner, who wasn't even questioned. To make matters worse, Khadama's 12-year old niece M'barka was arrested and imprisioned by the Mauritanian police. M'barka, also held as a slave and impregnated after being raped by her slave holder's nephew, is being held for "sexual misconduct," while the nephew is free to go without questioning. I Abolish - The Anti-Slavery Portal

I have created a partial map of what I have explored so far on this island. I have not gone much farther than this, so I do not know what the other side of the island looks like, just enough to know that it is an island.

I went past the monkeys the other day and decided to explore a bit up above where the cliffs start to form again. I was walking through the trees, and suddenly came to where there was a circle of bare earth under the trees. It must have been a meter and a half in diameter or so, and no vegetation grew in it at all. I thought that was a little strange and walked around the circle a bit and then stepped into it. I looked up through the tops of the trees at the blue sky overhead. Birds sang, insects hummed, a butterfly fluttered past. I stepped out of the circle and suddenly, I was no longer on my island. Like a ghost stepping through a wall, in an instant I found myself in the presence of a black and white, two-dimensional stick man. Stick-Paul comes from a two-dimensional universe and has been visiting our three-dimensional universe. Stick-Paul is a poet who has a way with words I can only envy and not hope to emulate. His manager is somewhat aloof, but actually quite sympathetic. I rea...

Well, I have just taken myself right back off the synthroid, because the more research I did, the wierder I thought it was that they had even put me on it, since I had no real symptoms except for a bit of fatigue which could be easily explained away by many other factors (such as Marc coming home at 2:30 in the morning from work, waking me up and me not getting back to sleep right away, but still having to get up at 6:30 to get the kids off to school.), not to mention the fact that I AM pregnant after all! Not only had I no symptoms, I was still within the normal range. Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) is secreted by the body to stimulate the thyroid gland to produce thyroid hormones, the level will go up if your thyroid is not producing enough. The level of TSH can be measured in the blood when they do a blood test. They do routine testing of all pregnant women here. (Was never tested before.) Anywhere from a .2 to a 5.5 can be normal for a person. I didn't know what my lev...

For English Translation, See Below: Une conversation typique avec Marc: Jeanne: Est-ce qu'on a encore le poêle de camping? Marc: Pourquoi? La sage-femme en a de besoin? Jeanne: oui, en cas de panne d'électricité, la sage-femme a besoin d'avoir un moyen pour faire bouillir de l'eau. Alors il faut avoir le poêle de camping (qui fonctionne) à porté de main. Ce qu'on a j'imagine que ça doit faire l'affaire? Marc: Bien non. il est au charbon. Il y a le BBQ. Jeanne: Wow, et on va rentrer le barbeque à la maison? Marc: Je ne crois pas non. Jeanne: Ça prend une chambre à coucher non-encombrée aussi... Elle dit que ça lui prend un bureau ou une table libre pour mettre les affaires si elles en ont besoin, ou pour travailler avec le bébé dessus... etc... Marc: de notre chambre... Jeanne: oui. Marc: Notre lit sera tout sale après. Jeanne: Elle m'a donné une liste de choses à faire ou à acheter pour préparer la maison et le lit. Dont des choses à faire pour imperméa...

I have built a tiny chapel in the woods. A quiet place to meditate. I face the east and pray. Noone interupts me. I sit and meditate. Noone cares because their plans are interupted by my insistance on spending time with God. At some point in my life I became blind to consequences. I chose to ignore obvious outcomes of my decisions. I suffered for it later. Here I purge that suffering. I have built my chapel on the side of the sleeping volcano, but only a few paces up. I have yet to explore the top of this mountain. Perhaps some day I will fly with the birds up there? A few minutes restores me, refreshes me. I must go more often.

There is just something about taking tiny little clothes out of boxes, washing them, and folding them into neat piles to be put away once again, into drawers, awaiting use. (sighhhhh) One forgets how cute tiny clothes can be...

Went to see some old friends of Marc's yesterday evening. I had never met them yet, but Marc knew them at least 13 years ago. They are both polish. We had a good time (and Maryssa wanted to go back this morning, and Dominic wanted to stay the night last night). It was so nice, because at one point A. was saying how hard it is to find a woman these days (especially a young woman) who is willing to have five children with you, and basically saying that I was a lucky find for Marc, that he had such a beautiful family, that he was rich that way, that such a woman, (one open to having that many children) was a woman of value, etc, etc. How nice to hear!!! What was even nicer was that there was no opinion offered on how many children we should have, when we should stop, or if we should stop or keep on going, etc.... I hate it when people come out and tell me "I hope this is your last one!" I feel slightly uncomfortable when people get all surprised and say how "coura...

I arrived at my hut yesterday, after a long walk on the beach, with a few fish in one hand and a bunch of bananas in the other, to find El Alejandro sitting on the crude bench in front of my door with a smug smile on his face. It appears that El Alejandro noticed all the cracks in my walls and set about filling them all in. He also fixed the roof while he was at it. The result is a stauncher, more esthetically pleasing wall. I was very happy. It is so nice to come across true generosity in this world, pure and free, nothing expected in return. I invited him to supper of course and we talked of greek mythology and Jane Goodall while I prepared the fish. Today is a bit cooler, with strong winds rolling in off the ocean. I close my eyes as I sit on the bench in front of my hut and enjoy the caress of the wind on my face. It has been so long since anyone caressed my face or played with my hair. I enjoy the wind even more knowing that if I want to escape it, it will no longer v...

Livre de la Sagesse 13,1-9. Ils sont foncièrement insensés, tous ces hommes qui en sont venus à ignorer Dieu : à partir de ce qu'ils voient de bon, ils n'ont pas été capables de connaître Celui qui est ; en examinant ses oeuvres, ils n'ont pas reconnu l'Artisan. Mais c'est le feu, le vent, la brise légère, la ronde des étoiles, la violence des flots, les luminaires du ciel, gouverneurs du monde, qu'ils ont regardés comme des dieux. S'ils les ont pris pour des dieux à cause de la beauté qui les a charmés, ils doivent savoir combien le Maître de ces choses leur est supérieur, car l'Auteur même de la beauté est leur créateur. Et s'ils les ont pris pour des dieux à cause de la puissance et de l'efficacité qui les ont frappés, ils doivent comprendre à partir de ces choses combien Celui qui les a faites est plus puissant. Car la grandeur et la beauté des créatures font, par analogie, découvrir leur Auteur. Et pourtant, ces hommes ne mériten...

Although the doctor didn't actually tell me I had this, one of the girls on Mothering with Grace who has it and was prescribed the same thing as me, told me this is what it was. Hypothyroidism is a slowing down of the thyroid gland. (It doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone anymore). This seems to be a mostly irreversible ailment, although I am still hoping. Some of the symptoms include: - Fatigue - Weakness - Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight - Coarse, dry hair - Dry, rough pale skin - Hair loss - Cold intolerance (can't tolerate the cold like those around you) - Muscle cramps and frequent muscle aches - Constipation - Depression - Irritability - Memory loss - Abnormal menstrual cycles - Decreased libido I don't know when this might have happened, but I suppose it might be with this pregnancy? I am still hoping that it might just be a pregnancy induced thing like gestational diabetes or something, but I haven't found anything on that, so I don...

Was reading through a web site yesterday, written by a girl who is a bit too new-agey for my taste, but never-the-less comes up with some very good points, (if you overlook the new-aginess). It is all about us as women being quite capable of giving birth by ourselves and being able to trust our own bodies if we are left alone to do so, and are not afraid to trust them. Of course, part of that is being informed about our bodies as well, but part of it is also acting on instinct. Instinct can often be a good thing. Part of the site is this article on Pregnancy and the New religion of Medicine , which I thought rather interesting. Basically she says that any person who does not partake in this new religion, (consulting "their doctors before they do anything... from taking a walk around the block to putting their children to bed at night") is ridiculed, harassed and even threatened with legal action. Pregnant women are expected to go to doctors for prenatal care. They are told t...

Went to see the gynecologist this morning and the blood tests I took last week had come back. Everything was fine except that one indicated my thyroid gland was functioning a little off. So she prescribed medication to keep it under control. I would have prefered to just eat kelp or something instead, but even the health food lady prefered me to go with the gynecologist since I was pregnant. So starting tommorrow morning, I have one pill a day to eat. Now that I think of it, I DO have a sore throat, although I had thought that it was just due to the slight cold I had a couple of weeks ago. The lady at the health food store also asked me if I had been more tired than usual and I said yes. In the last week, when evening comes around, I am QUITE ready to go to bed. Apparently this is another symptom. I didn't know. I also LOST a few grams since last week, which surprised me, because at about this time one gains a lot more quickly than at the beginning of a pregnancy, (about a ...

That Song That song is playing on the radio again, The one that makes me think of you. Driving with the windows wide open, Eating dust to avoid the heat. The air was heavy with the scent of flowers, My hair got tangled in the wind. You played that song again and again, 'Til I wondered; will the tape last long? Here I sit in my air-conditioned car, My hair combed just right, no dust in sight, No flowers either, just that song, The one that makes me think of you.

Here's my belly. Ok, so it's taken from the front, and you can barely even tell I'm pregnant except for the slight roundness,... (well compared to reality anyway, I guess you can tell after all.) Maybe it's the semi-psychedelic shirt doing some optical illusion? But imagine I'm turning around now. My belly actually protudes a good 8 inches past where my waist would normally be. Maybe I should take one from the side now? Naaah, better to have you all think that I just have a small belly and that I'm likely to find my regular shape within days of giving birth. (Wink, wink.) (And the chances of that happening are?...)

La muerte atroz de Silvano Flores, a manos de "Sapriza" y "Kururu Pire" Del Diario ABC Color , Asunción, Paraguay Silvano Flores fue degollado frente a sus hijos. La "hazaña" fue ejecutada por dos de las estrellas de Investigaciones: Camilo Almada Morel, alias "Sapriza" y Lucilo Benítez, alias "Kururu pire". Estuvieron acompañados de una decena de hombres de igual naturaleza. Fue en abril de 1976. El stronismo se propuso entonces acabar con las Ligas Agrarias Cristianas y con cualquier otro intento de promoción social que no estuviera bajo su mando. La viuda y los hijos de Flores, a igual que los otros expositores, contaron una parte de lo que Stroessner era capaz de hacer. La comunidad de Santa Rosa y todas las demás donde activaban las Ligas Agrarias Cristianas conocieron sobradamente a Silvano Flores por su entrega a la organización. Se dedicaba a la plantación de arroz y de otros productos para la venta y el consumo famil...

Martín Rolón está desaparecido desde el Jueves Santo de 1976 (Del diario ABC Color , Asunción, Paraguay) En la apertura de la audiencia pública, monseñor Melanio Medina dijo el viernes último, en San Juan Bautista, que la Comisión de Verdad y Justicia, de la que es titular, busca saber qué fue lo que pasó en nuestro pasado reciente, evitar el olvido y sensibilizar a las entidades públicas y sociales para que se construya una cultura de la paz y de concordia entre paraguayos. "La verdad os hará libres", sentencia la Biblia, pero según Voltaire, primero tenemos que ser libres para decir la verdad. En los tiempos terribles del stronismo, los miembros de las Ligas Agrarias Cristianas -a igual que muchos otros ciudadanos- vivían encadenados a un modelo político represivo. Por ello nunca pudieron alzar la voz para denunciar a sus torturadores, a los asesinos de sus padres o de sus hijos, a los saqueadores, a los violadores. Recién ahora es posible que las víctimas de un...

I was quite busy yesterday. I hadn't put up any decorations at all, (even though originally I had planned to put some up a few weeks in advance, in hopes of attracting little goblins) so I was left running around trying to find pumpkins (there were apparently none left!) and some extension cords to light orange lights in the back near the park. I wanted people in the residential area, (anyone that might be walking about) behind us to see that they could cross the park and come through the gate to our house. (We are not actually on any of the streets in that residential area, instead we are on a secondary route, so while we are close, we are not necessarily in the neighbourhood.) Anyway, it was all in vain, because I had to leave to pick up Marc at 10 to six. His bus was later than expected, (6:20) and he was supposed to leave again right away and go to Ceridian, to help some of those programmers out (the ones replacing him), they ARE paying him to do this. So noone was here t...

Hurricane Nameless has blasted through here and upended everything. Actually no, I exagerate, but it seems that way. In reality, the monkeys visited my cabin in my absence, and seem to have had a bit of fun. Also I hadn't cleaned up yet from my last visit with Gollum. Gollum can be a rather messy eater, (and he prefers his fish raw, blechhh) but also, sometimes he brings things with him, which he forgets behind, things I don't necessarily need or want in my way. So then I have to place them somewhere, out of my way, until he finally deems to take them away or make use of them. I shall go now and clean the place out. I believe that should put me in a fairly good mood.