March Update

After my parents left which was the day after Zanna's birthday, sickness fell upon our household. Now this year was definitely better than last year as far as sickness ( and snow for that matter) but we did not remain unscathed. Zanna struggled with a tummy bug (ie. the runs) for a week not eating much and very tired. This was followed by just one miserable day for me followed by 3 miserable days for Wayne (we all had something different) followed by a horrible 5 days for Will. The timing was bad (when is it good). We had Seminary students come up and help our church with evangelism, door to door and an outreach event. We were set to host the young couple from Hong Kong - he was attending the Seminary for a year- she was 6 months pregnant. On the eve of their arrival, Wayne was finally feeling better. It was after they arrived that Will took a turn for the worse. It was not my finest mommy moments as I struggled to clean up after Will and constantly Clorox the bathroom he was sharing with previously mentioned houseguests that include a pregnant women.  We did survive and get better and I can only pray that our lovely guests kept their good health after the visit. 

Despite all that excitement, it was a wonderful experience having the Sem students here along with Professor Sorum and Pastor Yu - a Chinese pastor in Milwaukee. Our outreach event was a success in that the gospel was shared with people that had not heard before Jesus' love for them. Many more blessings came from their visit. We enjoyed having CiCi and Angus stay with us and learn more about Hong Kong. We come from such different cultures but are united in our faith. 
Here in Ottawa March brings March Break. So like the local schools we took a week break during that time. The kids and I went to several library things in the area including a train exhibit and a presentation of Ray's Reptiles. Zanna got to go to that one too and touched every reptile offered to her. She sat in Will's lap the whole time and he held her hand while in the other hand was a tarantula! One of the Moms approached me later and had to tell me how sweet the two kids were and what good care they take of each other - a good moment!!
Last Tuesday I organized a trip to the Log Farm for some of my homeschool friends at a local sugar bush. If you are not from this area you may have no idea what I'm talking about. We didn't actually go into any bushes - rather it's a bunch of maple trees tapped for maple syrup. Neighboring province Quebec makes up to 80% or so of the world's maple syrup and this area of Ontario does it's fare share too. It's the thing to do around here - go to a sugar bush and observe the process of taking maple sap and boiling it down to make syrup. Then if you really do it right afterwards you pig out on pancakes and syrup. The weather was great for being outside and the sap was running. We got muddy but had fun! 

Last but not least, I am ending the month in potty training hell. No, I don't believe I am exaggerating. I have given up since November - this topic really stresses me out and I don't like it AT ALL. Now that she's 3 I thought we'd give it another shot. So starting yesterday I took all the diapers and hid them. I told her the diaper fairy took them and she'll have to go on the potty. I put a dress on her with no bottoms in the morning. I walked around with my timer set to go off every 15 minutes so then she'd sit on the potty. It went pretty well actually. There were times she would go before the timer went off due to that fact that I was pumping her full of juice water. I would have hooked her up to an IV if I thought it would have helped. She was so full of liquid that when she jumped up and down we could here it sloshing around in her stomach. She thought it was pee in there! She did have an accident later in the day when she was watching TV and not paying attention. My issue now is the poop. When I put underwear on her she'll go in there and not on the potty. I don't want her to be constipated but she has yet to do it where she's supposed to.  If anyone has any ideas now would be the time to share. I admit that I am scarred from my experience with Will - when he was being trained he had a hard time with the poop thing and when he and I were visiting my parents he smeared his poop all over their office  - carpet, walls and Pier 1 wicker furniture. Oh, I should add their dog helped. It was awful, I was horrified. Even to this day he'll hold it in and stop up the toilets when  a weeks worth of poo breaks loose. Sorry to gross anyone out.  This is what has been on my mind. Very sad. Any ideas would be appreciated!