Speaking and sharing

Our Charlotte experience is slightly surreal, in that we're bouncing around from one meal, or meeting, or coffee to another - while enjoying somewhat of a celebrity status.  The nice thing about coming to Charlotte once every two years is that everyone is ALWAYS excited to see you.  We've been very encouraged and loved by our friends.

We also have had a few more formal speaking engagements to share about Prague and Faith Community Church.  Last week was a dessert function at the Macurda's house to meet and greet, fellowship, and hear from Shanna and me about Prague.  And yesterday I visited Hope Community Church, one of our supporting churches, to share for a few minutes in their service.

It's been good to see old friends but also meet new people at these events.  Some have signed up for our prayer email updates, and others have wanted to support us financially.

We've got 10 more days before we head out to Raleigh and then the beach, so we're trying to see as many more people as possible!

Piper update

Piper is also going to physical therapy for her little head - she even has exercises that she's supposed to do!  Basically one side of her neck is much stronger than the other, probably caused by her positioning in utero.  It's something that we wouldn't have recognized, but the doctor showed us how she normally positions herself and cocks her head to one side more than another.

As a result, there's a little flat spot on the back of her head - not severe, but just out of the safe range according to the doctor.  The helmet should help round that out a bit (and prevent long-term potential problems in her jaw and eyes), and the exercises will strengthen the weaker side.

She's a little trooper!

Fun times

Here are some of our kids' adventures in Charlotte...

The dentist is fun?

In other medical news, Lucy and Clark went to the dentist this week too.  No problems there - in fact, they had a blast!  Dr. Brittan is our hero.

Helmet Baby

Our big family news is that Piper will soon be the proud owner of her very own cranial helmet.  The pediatrician recommended that she have her head checked by a specialist, who did feel she was a good candidate for one.  (Most Americans these days are quite familiar with them - Czechs?  I don't think so...)

She had her "fitting" yesterday and did amazingly well.  No tears, except at the very end when they took the molding off.  

We chose a pink one (of course) and it should arrive in the next 2 weeks - she'll have to wear it for about 2 months.  We're preparing ourselves for the zillions of questions we'll get back in Prague about it, but hey - opportunities to talk, right?

Phew

OK, where to start.  It's been a great week or so with lots going on - so much that we haven't had time to update this thing.  Here are some highlights:

- After July 4th in Richmond, we went to church with mom and dad.  I wore a tie for the first time in about 18 months - Lucy asked, "Daddy, what's that?"

- Mom and Dad watched all 3 kids (bravo!) for 2 nights while Shanna and I got away to Charlottesville.  We stayed at the Boar's Head Inn and slept and slept and slept.  Sheer bliss.

- We got back to Richmond and left the next day for Charlotte, where we are now.  We're staying with Chuck and Kim and their awesome kids - Ian, Ally, and Everett.  I'd be happy to arrange marriages for our kids right now with them.

- We've seen lots of friends already: pool party (rained out) our first day, a wedding on Saturday night for old Bible study friends, and church yesterday at Uptown.  Then a pizza party last night for all our old Bible study gang.  They've all grown up, many have gotten married and had kids - it's great to see.

- We forgot that it rains in Charlotte in the summer every day at precisely 4:36 pm.  Massive thunderstorms.

- Reverse culture shock #1 - Lucy asked Shanna for a coin to throw in the fountain.  Shanna said, "I only have a couple of pennies."  Lucy: "What's a penny?"

Pictures to come soon, I promise.

More 4th pictures

The perfect 4th of July

We've managed to celebrate July 4th with some fairly American traditions in Prague the past couple of years (except last year when it was too COLD and we flew kites instead), but this year we're actually in America so it was done right. For the Davis family that means hanging out at Uncle Tom and Aunt Margaret's house, a.k.a. "Camp Qualla." (They live on Qualla Rd.)Margaret and Tom have a great house, which seems to become greater each time we go. The main feature is a massive slip-n-slide which Tom built to run into their pond. Almost all the Davises participated, including Lucy and Clark. Dad laughed violently.

Click To Play

Click To Play

We had burgers and watermelon, baked beans and chips, imported Stella Artois beer, and ice cream sandwiches.

Lucy and Clark loved playing in the pond, trying to catch fish, tadpoles, and baby frogs. At one point Lucy asked if we could live there. Clark and 23-year-old cousin Sarah became fast friends. And Piper was cute. Here's Clark with a baby frog...

As we pulled away to drive home, Tom let off some fireworks to finish the day. Definitely the best 4th in awhile.

Made it

We made it to Richmond late last night, I mean early this morning... oh, who knows what time it is?!? The trip was gloriously uneventful, especially compared with our last trip to the States when 75% of us threw up on the plane and 0% of our bags made it to America. Piper slept like a champ, and the older ones (including me) managed to behave well.

Papa and Yaya were there to greet us in Richmond - it's great to see them! We're looking forward to our first week here - we have several fun family events lined up already, and we'll add pictures once we get a new camera (our old one has served us well for 5 years but is dying a quick death and makes all our pictures look like etch-a-sketches).

Lucy's last day of school

Lucy also had her last day of school on Thursday last week. They had a big party in their class, ate some yummy food, and took lots of pictures. Almost all of Lucy's friends are coming back next year for Year 1 (i.e. Kindergarten), and 16 new kids too. Next year Lucy's teacher is going to be Mr. Haig, and we're very excited - he's a goofy Scottish guy. Lucy's good friends Vivi, Filip, and Sophia are in her class... and Clark will be just down the hall!