Positive and Negative Things

There are several things I want to blog about, some of them just mundane little things from our family life, so I decided to do this itemized update post. I'm sure I won't remember everything I wanted to share and I may need an addendum later :)

Shall we begin with the positives?

- My parents arrived from China last Monday night. In spite of the jet lag, they're fine and they just loved their trip. They've been showing us photos and telling us stories of China all week long. They visited Shanghai, where a Brazilian family, friends of ours, live; Beijing; Beihai, where my brother lives; Guilin and Yangshuo, which are in my brother's province; Hong Kong and Macau. I'll try to post some pictures if you're interested. There are way too many of them, so it'll be hard to pick the best ones. Let me know if there are specific things you'd like to see.

- We're feeling at peace with our decisions of getting away from the problem at church and giving up the house. We know that we're going to avoid much stress and heartbreak in spite of the fact that in the case of the house it's a great disappointment. This morning my husband was even saying that that house had several things he didn't like. Oh, and yesterday I looked at the home inspection photos for the first time -- it's good to think about a home's defects when you're not going to buy it anymore!

-I'm excited for all the conferences that I'll be attending this summer: one this week and two in Brazil at the end of July. Of course I have to write the papers, but I'm not too worried about that (the ones in Brazil are from my dissertation). I think I'll tell you all about this week's paper later. I was going to give you the title, but then you could Google it and see my full name in the conference site -- how silly I am! :) Well, I'll think about this and get back to you...

- My passport and Linton's arrived yesterday (yes, on Sunday, it was an Express mail envelope) from the NY Brazilian consulate, so we're all set to travel. I also found out that I don't need to schedule an appointment at the consulate, so things may just work out perfectly for this trip!! Last week I heard on NPR that it was taking 14 weeks or more for American passports to be ready and I mentioned it offhandedly to my husband, who got all stressed out thinking that Linton's American passport had already expired. I started hyperventilating just thinking about it, but thankfully it was not, it expires in November, what a relief!!


Negatives:

- For well over a month now our youngest son Linton has entered a "vicious cycle" of constipation and withholding his stool. What a nightmare this is. We saw the pediatrician a month ago because he had an infected nail that was about to fall out and we mentioned the problem. He told us to give him mineral oil and fiber supplements, but these aren't working well. He goes on his own only once a week, at most, the other time or two we have to use a suppository. He's due for a well baby visit on the 21st, but I'm almost calling them to see him earlier... I feel bad because we let him get into this vicious cycle... His diet is rich in fiber, he eats beans, whole grains, tons of broccoli, plenty of fruit... He's just been like this since he was a baby and was only on breast-milk. Even then sometimes he wouldn't have a bowel movement for almost a week! If you have any advice to share, I'd love it.

- The process of my husband's visa may take a little longer because the people who are going to sign the recommendation letters written by the lawyers need to agree to do it to help him out. He was extremely stressed out last Friday when the first referee thought that the letter was badly written. This fact actually prompted his decision to give up the house. The good thing is that now we're not overly worried about this problem anymore because we're not pressed for time for the house buying.

Last week when I thought of writing this post my list of negatives was really really long, but now it has definitely shrunk quite a bit with the developments of the last few days!! I'm relieved and thankful for that. I'm working on some other posts, OK? And I know it's time to post some photos as well :). I think I'm also posting a video or two from yesterday, what about that?