The Sweet Road

The Next Little Peanut

 

Nate and I were shocked to discover a few weeks ago that Baby #4 will be making its way into our lives in August. Totally, absolutely shocked. Even though I'd always wanted four kids, we didn't expect to have a new baby so soon, especially because we had all these well-laid plans for the next few months, the most significant of which was that we'd move to Santiago in July 2010 so we could finally be where the pilgrims were and push forward with our hostel plans. 

Now that I'm having a fourth (and last!) c-section in August, we need to seriously re-think moving in July, which leads to a very weighty decision: do we move earlier, say in late May or early June? That would comprehend Nate commuting up to Coruña every day with the boys until their school year finishes on June 22, me finding new doctors in Santiago with only 2 months to go before the baby comes (and I had to wait a month already to get in to see the doctor here in Coruña), settling into a new neighborhood and new community, and finding a new school that could take all three of our kids for the fall. 

OR, do we stay in Coruña one more year so that I can stick with the doctors here, so that we'll have the support of our church community and friends after the baby is born, and so that the kids will have the benefit of going to the same school in the fall while they're adjusting to a new brother or sister? The one major con of this plan would be that if we were to stay in Coruña another year, our target date of opening a hostel in April 2011 would probably be delayed. So right now our decision seems to be between keeping our family life simple and stable in the face of a higher-risk pregnancy (because of my age - almost 35! so old! and the fact that it will be my fourth c-section) or keeping our hostel plans moving forward. It's a very hard call on this end of things, so we're praying and seeking the Lord's clear guidance in this decision. 

These are the thoughts that have been swirling through our minds ever since we found out we were pregnant. The thing is that the Lord continues to remind us that He's in control of everything and knows exactly what He's doing. The day I finally bought my pregnancy test (after denying for about 10 days that I could possibly be pregnant), I was driving home and right in front of me was a huge rainbow. I felt the Lord saying, "Even if you're pregnant, it's all right. I'm right here with you," and it was very moving for me. And then in the ensuing weeks, when the reality of having another baby in August started to hit, the verse that came to mind the most was, "The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes" (Psalm 118:23). If you read the verse in context it has nothing to do with babies, but it's been really comforting and reminds me that the Lord is the author of this little life, and that He was pleased to have us conceive even though we weren't trying.

The Lord has also been reminding us that not only is He the author of this baby's life, but He's also the sustainer. You can see in the ultrasound above that there's something weird going on my uterus. I have a healthy gestational sac with a healthy, 10-week-old baby inside, but to the bottom-left of that first sac is an empty space that shouldn't be there. Yesterday when I had the ultrasound, I could not - even though I tried my darndest - understand what the Spanish technician was saying to me about that empty space. I could tell he was concerned and that it was an abnormality, but I couldn't catch the term for what he thought it was. Later on, when Nate saw the ultrasound image, he said it almost looked like an empty, second gestational sac. I did some research and it looks like if that's the case, it should resolve on its own in a few weeks; however, my chance of miscarriage is also slightly higher because my body may want to expel the second sac. I'm supposed to take it easy for the next few weeks, and my next ultrasound will be in two weeks. I get nervous thinking about the possibility of a miscarriage, but if the Lord defied our wisdom and plans in having us get pregnant now, He for sure can sustain this life even though there are funny things happening. 

You can see that these past few weeks have been a roller-coaster of thoughts and emotions! And even though this post shares some of the harder, more tedious things that we're thinking, I want to say that we are happy, and we are excited to meet the new little one in August. When we've decided on what to do as far as moving to Santiago, and then when the baby finally comes, we'll look back and say, "Wow, that timing was perfect! I'm so glad it happened this way." We're not at that point yet, but we really look forward to when we can say that! 

So...take care in there, little peanut! We're thrilled to have you join our family in just a short 6.5 months!

Ryan is 5

Happy 5th birthday, Ryan!

Ryan has really grown up in the past year as he finds out more and more what he likes and dislikes, grows in his Spanish skills, and learns how to use his words instead of making baby noises (namely, whining). These days when we drop him off at school, we like to watch him through the window as he helps take down chairs from the table and sets up the room. He's discovered that he loves to be helpful, and he exercises this gift as much as possible, which is wonderful for us parents to see! He's also discovered that he loves going shopping, and many times when I drive out to one of the bigger supermarkets, he's right there with me, helping me persevere in finding ginger and asking nicely if he can have a special treat. 

And Ryan still says stuff almost every day that makes us laugh. It's amazing how little kids' minds work, isn't it? Today we were walking to a pizza restaurant to celebrate Ryan's birthday and Brennan gave me a bright-yellow, vibrant dandelion. Ryan immediately got concerned, though, and told me, "Mommy, throw it away, throw it away! Bees live in it, there are bees on it!" It's not the season for bees, so of course there were no bees on it, but he kept at it, even until after we'd arrived at the restaurant, and was so insistent that I had to throw it away because there were bees living in it that I finally did just to soothe his little soul.

We also celebrated today by baking him brownies and giving him some presents: some Legos, Super Mario Galaxy, a CD player, and a Transformer. The best present of all for Ryan, though, was that he passed his milk allergy challenge at the allergist's a month ago. We were all so happy for him, that he could now eat yogurt, ice cream, and cow's milk without any problems. 

Two other things to mention to commemorate Ryan's 5th birthday: 1) the teachers at the boys' school were on strike today so Ryan got to stay home all day on his birthday; and 2) we sang "Cumpleaños feliz, cumpleaños feliz, te deseamos todos, cumpleaños feliz" to Ryan right before he opened his presents, and then we sang "Happy Birthday" right before we cut into the brownies. Nate and I totally forgot the words to "Happy Birthday," though, because we've become so used to singing it in Spanish, not English! So we sang, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you" and then we both stopped ourselves before singing, "te deseamos todos" and just completely blanked as to what the next line in English was. Craziness!

We love you, Ryan! We're so proud of the little man you're becoming, and we love seeing your unique gifts shine through your gregarious, ebullient personality. Here's to your next year!

Why does it take a natural disaster to make me care?

I have to admit that before the earthquake struck Haiti last Tuesday, I hadn't given the country a single thought in ages. Now, though, with the news everywhere showing such moving and tragic stories from the aftermath, my heart has opened up to this country and to the people there. The problem is, why didn't I care about them before? Now I keep hearing things like, "Haiti was already so impoverished, but with the earthquake things are even more desperate." Maybe I knew that before, that the Haitians were poor - so many people are, around the world. But it didn't touch me at all.

The amazing thing is what happened right after the earthquake. We saw the world mobilize to help: rescue teams were there within hours, bringing tons of equipment, manpower, and supplies to help relieve suffering and find survivors. People have been donating money generously, praying for the people of Haiti like they perhaps never did before, and letting their hearts be moved with the images of survivors trying to find family members. I admire us, that as a people we can pour out love and support to people we don't even know when something terrible happens.

But - and I am the worst one in this area so I'm definitely not trying to get onto any high horse - why does it take an earthquake to move me to generous charity, prayer, and compassion? What other countries are now like Haiti was before the earthquake? Am I placidly letting its people starve, only to have an earthquake or typhoon publicize how dire the need is before I'm moved to take action? Why, when an earthquake strikes, does it only take hours for countries to move people, equipment, and supplies to the scene, when the people of Haiti have been in dire straits for years? Why do we just accept that in some countries people are just surviving, living in abject poverty, and we turn our eyes away from them until they're struck with a disaster that splashes them all over the news and makes it cool to care for them? Where's the rescue of people, even before a huge earthquake hits?

These are questions the Lord convicted me with just a few minutes ago, and I definitely don't have the answers. Part of me doesn't even want to wrestle with the questions, because the answers will demand action and sacrifice from me, and from us as a family. But, the question keeps haunting me: Where's the rescue of people, even before the earthquake hits?

Please, struggle with me to help answer this question! It's a burning question now, and knowing me, it won't be that urgent in a few weeks when the earthquake of Haiti has faded into recent memory.

Faith-Based Travels by Nicole Jeffery

Most of you have traveled before, whether on a road trip to a different state in the US or overseas to a foreign country. However much time you've spent away from home, you may have discovered that you feel different when you travel - your emotions are heightened, you're tired, you may be lonely at times, and you either have an exciting sense of adventure (going on your honeymoon) or an increasing dread (all flights are canceled for the next two days), depending on what's happening in the moment. Some of you may have traveled for more than a few weeks at a time, whether on a short-term missions trip or a year-long working holiday.

This is a great book that just came out this past December. Nicole Jeffery is Australian, and like most Australians we've met, she has taken some time to travel  around and experience different cultures and countries. She's now written this devotional for people who want to stay connected to the Lord while traveling, and she includes chapters in the book such as "Spiritual Journey," "Accountability," "God's Guidance," "Loneliness," and "Re-entry." There are 60 daily devotional entries in all, which would have been perfect for us when we were backpacking through Europe with Wheaton College's Youth Hostel Ministry.

After we attended the backpacker's ministries conference in Amsterdam, Nicole sent the conference attendees a survey that we could fill out if we were interested in sharing experiences of past travels and any practical traveling tips. She collected these stories and tips and some of them made it into her book. So it turns out that I'm actually a contributor to this devotional. Nicole used one of my stories on Day 21, under the category "The Living Word of God." I've never contributed to a book before, but I'm so proud to be a part of this one: its layout is attractive, its travel tips are really practical, and the devotionals themselves are compelling and perfectly tailored to someone who is traveling. Nicole really did a great job! I encourage you to check out the book if you or anyone you know is ever about to take a journey for a couple of weeks or longer. Right now Amazon doesn't have it, but you can view it on Nicole's publisher's website, Ark House Press.

Love and Dirty Faces

Kathryn ate breakfast later than the boys this morning, and she wanted me to sit with her so she wouldn't be in the kitchen alone. I sat down next to her and she ate her bran flakes. I kept trying to catch her face in my hands and kiss it because I thought she was just so dang cute in her morning giddiness. I did let her eat, too, of course, but I got to plant some kisses on her cheeks and playfully pat her tiny button nose. We had a fun time of chattering and connecting, as much as one can connect with a 2-year-old.

The entire time, Kathryn had a really dirty face. She had just woken up, and you parents and non-parents can guess the stuff that was there - anything that could be there after a night of sleep, especially with a pacifier having been in her mouth all night, was there. I'll spare you more details, especially since writing it out in technical terms will gross me out! Let's just say her face was super dirty. I saw it all - all the grime - and knew that I would clean it up later, but I still wanted to kiss her precious little face and express my motherly love to her. 

I began thinking that the Lord's love for us is similar to what I was feeling for Kathryn - just as I could see the dirt on Kathryn's face but I still wanted to hold her face and smooch it, God all-out pursues us even though He knows all the sin we have in our lives. He sees all the dirt, yet He still loves us passionately and wants to connect with us, because we're His precious creations. Also,  just like Kathryn didn't need to clean herself up before she could spend time with me, we don't need to get our act together before coming to the Lord. He tells us to come to Him as we are - weak, strong, sad, happy, struggling, or doing well. And just as I took it upon myself to clean up the dirt from her face, the Lord took it upon Himself to clean up our sin and forgive us for the wrong that we do - if only we would stand there willingly, like Kathryn, and trust in Him to do His perfecting work. Pretty amazing!

A Whirlwind Tour of our Break So Far 2009

I can't explain my recent absence from this blog except to say that we got a Wii for Christmas...and I've been totally addicted to Wii Bowling. Some nights I'll ask myself if I should blog or if I should bowl and the answer has always been to bowl - after all, it's exercise! But today it's finally time to catch up a bit here, and wow, it's really been a while.

Tomorrow is January 6, which is a big day here in Spain - it's Three Kings' Day, and it's the day when the Spaniards typically exchange presents. The kids' last day of school was Dec. 22, and they don't go back until Jan. 11, so in total we'll have had about a 3-week break. We've had some good family time and some good connect time with friends, and I wanted to share some highlights of our family's 3rd Christmas in Spain:

This first one isn't really a highlight, but I still wanted to share it. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked into the living room a couple of weeks ago and saw Kathryn perched like this:

We visited the town of Muxía on December 23. We did this same day trip last December 23, and it was great to kick off our Christmas break with it again. The kids loved running down the marina:

 

Here's the picture of the kids that we took last year at Muxía:

Here's our picture from this year, at the same spot. They've grown up, haven't they? And Kathryn now actually has girly hair!

Kathryn got impatient and wouldn't sit still anymore:

Up on the hill overlooking the town:

Last year's picture of Kathryn and me walking down the hill:

 

This year's picture:

We opened up all of our presents on Christmas day, and for Brennan and Ryan it was a Wii and Lego Christmas. All of our relatives in the US decided to give us cash this year to spend on the kids' gifts, so we pooled it and bought the boys tons of Legos, the Wii and some cool video games like MarioKart and Lego Star Wars. Kathryn has been loving babies recently, so she got a bunch of doll accessories (her favorite is the stroller) and some play food. With all of these new gifts, the kids have hardly been bored, which has been nice since we've spent a lot of time at home.

The funniest thing about opening presents was that poor Kathryn was totally swamped - she would open one gift, open it up to play with it, and then within a few minutes it would be her turn to open up her next present. Then she would open up that one to play with it, and then soon she would get another one...she couldn't keep up and was totally overwhelmed. At one point she was happily playing with something and I gave her yet another gift and she shook her head and said, "No more! No more!!" You can kind of see her semi-indignant look here:

Nate also shaved his head the day after Christmas. He'd been growing out his hair for the past year-and-a-half, and he couldn't wait to have it be out of his eyes. Here's our friend Humberto rocking on the Wii next to a cleaned-up Nate:

We've been seeing our friends here and there, too, and these get-togethers have been great times of connection. While we've enjoyed our time together as a family, we've also had times of cabin fever and boredom, so it's been nice to expand our social circle a couple of times a week.

So with this update finally done (between our household duties, taking care of the kids, getting some work done, and playing on the Wii, it took me three days to write this post), all that's left to say is a very Happy New Year! Feliz Año Nuevo!

Welcome to Struggleville*

My friend Rachel keeps telling me she's jealous of where we live, that she's so green with envy that she has considered not reading my blog altogether. The other day I got a note from her saying that she's still reading, even though she's still jealous. She cracks me up.

The truth is that I blog about our pretty surroundings and our travels so much because, in a sense, I take refuge in them. Our past two years here have been so topsy-turvy and humbling that it's nice to just have nature be nature and to get out and feel "myself" among it; I get to re-calibrate my identity in reference to the larger world and not just to the little area of Spain in which we live. Traveling to other towns, too, is something Nate and I loved doing back in the States and we're glad we can take advantage of chances (the many, many holidays) to get out and see new places. I think if we stayed at home, especially during our long breaks from school, we'd really feel our loneliness! So we do what we can to get the kids out and feed our sense of adventure and exploration.

However, this life is not always beautiful nature and stunning historic cities. I've shared before about the struggles of being an immigrant (please check out my category on "Immigrant Life" to the left), and in this series of posts I'm going to share some recent snapshots of our everyday world, where we're humbled constantly and our emotional resilience is always being tested. For instance:

A few weeks ago the PTA held a meeting for Brennan's after-school soccer activity. They wanted to know which of the parents would be interested in having their children play in a soccer tournament. They had no other information except that games would be on Saturdays, twice a month. I asked once, "But do you know if they're playing teams that all will have older kids? Or will there be teams where kids are our kids' age?" Last year Brennan's team played in this very same tournament, only their team was the only one that had kids ages 3 to 6, while all the other teams had kids ages 7 and above, and the goal differential at the end of the tournament was 95-1 against our kids. It was horrible.

The PTA didn't know the answer, but they went around asking if parents were interested in signing up their children. Finally they got to me and asked if I was interested in Brennan participating. I said maybe, but re-iterated that if they could please find out if our kids would be playing against older kids, that would be great information to have.  The PTA guy said something that I didn't catch, and when I asked, "Cómo?" (What??), he looked away at the other parents and they all had a laugh. Then he turned to me again and said, "Nothing, nothing, don't worry."  I thought, "I think they're all laughing at me!" But I had no clue what he had said, unfortunately, so I couldn't be sure. I felt a bit humiliated and shaken-up, though, and walked home and told Nate what had happened. He said, "Well, maybe he had used some kind of Spanish expression that everyone else knew, and when you asked him, `Cómo?', he wasn't sure how to explain it to you so that's why they all laughed??" Hmmmm. Maybe. All I knew was that I would have to shake it off and dive right back into the world outside the next day. 

So, Rachel, don't be jealous - people are laughing at me over here!

*Welcome to Struggleville is a song by Bill Mallonee and the Vigilantes of Love

The Portuguese View on Pecans

When we were in training with International Teams, Jim Miller was assigned to us as our adviser. His wife, Lina, also on staff with IT, had lived in Spain as a missionary and she gave us a piece of advice: "When you move to Spain, be sure to hire someone to clean for you. People will watch you and see that you probably live a bit more comfortably than they do, since you're from the US and have a higher standard of living, so if you can hire one of the locals to clean for you it will be viewed as you blessing the community." We'd never thought of that, but we thought it was a good idea, and it stuck with us.

When we chose to rent our apartment, the landlord had already hired Jilda (pronounced "Ilda") to clean the apartment to get it ready for us to move into. It turned out she lived in our building, and so when our friend Nancy suggested that we should hire Jilda to clean for us once a week, we remembered what Lina had said and we did it.

Jilda is a 60-year-old Portuguese woman who moved here with her husband and daughter's family about 4 years ago. She is so sweet, and really loves Kathryn - if she hears Kathryn crying after waking up from a nap she'll actually go into her room and get her. She's also an amazing cleaner - she is great at what she does and always leaves our place spotless after only two hours. She's taught us that you can take something so mundane as cleaning and take it to a higher, excellent level. Jilda and her husband seem to be always working to make ends meet, though. Her husband works in a wood-cutting factory and they're counting the days (1 year) until he can retire. Until then they both work and work, barely resting. One day I asked her if she had to work so much, if she could drop one of her jobs. She told me she couldn't drop anything, that it was expensive to live here and they needed all the money they could make.

Anyway, this Friday she came over to clean as usual, and we chatted for a bit in the kitchen while she worked. Then I went to wake up Kathryn and get her ready to go outside. At one point I came back to the kitchen, and Jilda had cracked open one of the whole pecans that were sitting on the table and she was eating it. She said, "I had to try one of these, because in Portugal they feed these to the pigs. I'd never eaten one before, and always wondered what they were, and then I saw it on your table and thought, `They're eating this! But back home only the pigs eat these!'  So I got one. I like it! It's just the same as a walnut! I was wondering why you guys would buy these if you didn't have pigs!" It was such a funny conversation!

The most interesting thing to me was that these pecans had been imported from South Africa to the grocery store and were not a common item that you could find everywhere here (even though they were relatively cheap at this one store). I told this story to Nate, and I was musing on the difficulty of finding pecans here and yet they're feeding pecans to pigs in Portugal, and he said, "Maybe they grow them in Portugal." Me: "Yeah, but then why can't we buy them here? Why are the Spaniards importing them all the way from South Africa and not Portugal?" Nate: "Because in Portugal they're feeding them to the pigs."

It hit us that there's an entire market of human pecan-eaters that the Portuguese could totally exploit in Spain! If you like to talk about market gaps and business opportunities, here's a great one. Although, actually what Nate then said was, "This is the stuff you should blog about. Who cares about our hotel room in Andalucía? People in Portugal are feeding pecans to their pigs!"

And now I'm laughing that I've written the word "pig" in this entry now 7 times - that hasn't happened before and probably never will again. It's probably a good indicator that it's time for bed. Good night! :)

Andalucía: Fairplay and Arcos de la Frontera

On Friday, November 20, we drove out of Andalucía and made our way back to La Coruña. It had been so nice to get away for a few days, but it was time to come back and see our kids, as well as relieve Sarah, Jerry, and Nancy: they'd been busy! And the next day we were going to celebrate Thanksgiving together, which meant we all had a lot of work ahead of us.

In the morning, we took some pictures of our hotel room at the Fairplay Golf Hotel and Spa. We really enjoyed our stay here, and felt cared-for by all of the staff. It was in a central location to many key cities, tourist sites, and beaches, but when we wanted to just spend time at the hotel and rest there were plenty of nooks and crannies to hang out. So, all in all, we would really recommend this hotel if you were ever looking for a place to stay in Andalucía. As for us, we may not ever stay in such a nice hotel again, and we wanted to remember the luxury and the feel of it all. Emanuel and Kelly, these pictures are for you!

We had a one-bedroom suite, and this was the living room:

 

The Spanish "king-size bed" - in reality, it was two twin beds pushed together:

The warm and inviting bathroom:

Beautiful Andalucía, as seen from the terrace leading off of the room:

Another view, this time from a separate courtyard:

 

Goodbye, lovely Fairplay. We'll miss you and all the relaxing we did while we were with you!

 During our drive to the next stop, we saw a field of windmills:

In Andalucía they grow cork! As we drove around this week, we saw stripped cork trees like this one below.  "Once the trees are about 25 years old the cork is stripped from the trunks every nine years. The trees live for about 200 years," says Wikipedia. Wow.

 

Our next stop was Arcos de la Frontera, another "White Hill Town" that the Spaniards built on a cliff to defend themselves from the Moors. Tourbook author Rick Steves recommended a visit here, and since it was on our way out of Andalucía, we stopped for an hour. By the way, Rick Steves is hilarious! We never realized it until we read his Spain 2008 book for this trip. His dry humor cracked us up, for example: "Though it tries, Arcos doesn't have much to offer other than its basic whitewashed self. The locally produced English guidebook on Arcos waxes poetic and at length about very little. You can arrive late and leave early and still see it all." Oh my.  Arcos was definitely dramatic and worth the visit, though. We loved how the city spilled off the hill to the right:
 

We drove to the outskirts of the old town and found parking, and then got out and walked around. Not driving into the old town turned out to be a good decision because...

....the streets were so narrow, it was ridonculous! It's amazing that the locals actually drive on these:

 

Using barrels as tables throughout the city:

One old church in Arcos:

Nate liked the mix of the red, modern motorscooter side-by-side with the medieval church:

 

The second church in Arcos. Apparently these two churches (this one, and the one above) fought over which one would be officially recognized by the Pope in the 1700's. This one won:

 

The view from the square in front of the church. Stunning:

 

Our last, final stop in Andalucía was for lunch in Santa Olalla del Cala. We picked the city randomly, mainly because we we were hungry, and were pleasantly surprised to see that it had a castle. That never happens to us.

 

And then it was all driving until we arrived, relaxed and a bit exhilarated, back home in La Coruña. That night brought 2 bedwettings from Ryan, and the next day - our Thanksgiving dinner with our American friends - Kathryn pooped in her pants three times (she'd been saving it for us!). Ryan would wet his bed the next 4 nights in a row as well. But, of course, it was great to see the kids even if we didn't sleep much after we got home. Overall, we just felt so grateful to the Lord for giving us an awesome 10-year anniversary gift, and to the others who had made it possible. 

Andalucía: Cádiz

Today was our last full day in Andalucía, and we visited Cádiz, which Wikipedia says is the most ancient city still standing in Western Europe. First, though, we ate lunch at La Brasserie, which was the laid-back lunch restaurant in the hotel. All throughout the week, we saw groups of Germans everywhere (everyone in the picture below is German!). It seemed so fun, to be able to travel to an all-inclusive hotel with your friends. Or maybe they all met here at the hotel and then just hung out? Whichever it was, they all seemed like a fun bunch of people. The lady in the white golf cap and dark hair even had us all sing "Happy Birthday" to her husband as a surprise to him.

The desserts were wonderful - they came in tiny portions, so you could sample two or three if you wanted to.

Before heading to Cádiz, we took some pictures of our hotel. It was built in the same style as the other "white hill towns of Andalucía," and we just thought it was beautiful. In this picture, you can see the windows for La Brasserie right behind the pool:

The hotel's golf course:

The view from the hotel's front door on a sunny day:

Then we were off to Cádiz. Here are the gates looming up as we entered the old part of town:

We walked through a park in the middle of the old town and found a massive tree:

There were colorful orange trees everywhere:
 

And different kinds of cactus. We definitely don't see these in our rainy province of Galicia:

 

Cádiz's new town, as seen from the old town:

The jewel of Cádiz, the cathedral, built over a period of 116 years:

The cathedral's front view:

Too bad we were so stuffed from lunch (and I had had three of those tiny desserts) that we couldn't take advantage of this rare find:

Like Gibraltar, Cádiz was also already decorated for Christmas:

Many coastal towns in Spain have a walkway, usually called the Paseo Marítimo, along the ocean. To end our time in Cádiz, we watched the sunset from its Paseo Marítimo:

Then it was back to our hotel. We had dinner and then walked through the courtyard to reach our hotel room. Nate's always in search for a good night shot, and he took this one in the courtyard: 

Little did we know it, but this would be our last solid night of sleep for a few days. Good thing we slept well!