The past few weeks have been filled with fun celebrations! We celebrated Thanksgiving, Melinda had her doula graduation, the Viva School ended their year with a party, and we got to see baby P at the first appointment! There is also Christmas decorating beginning, which will help us realize that it is the Christmas season. The warm weather really throws us off with what month it is.
Although we did not find a turkey to have for Thanksgiving, we improvised and had turkey slices on rolls. We made our traditional deviled eggs, pickle&onion wraps, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green bean casserole. Seth also grilled some sausages. Inge shared a neat table cloth idea with me on Facebook and we totally decided to start the tradition with our family! Each year at Thanksgiving, you have all guests sign their name and then you have memories of each person you shared Thanksgiving with for the years to come. Being able to go swimming was also something new for us, which the children loved!
Doula graduation was very nice! Everyone of us passed our exam, so it was definitely a time of celebrating! It was such a blessing to walk this journey with Jess…..doula sisters forever, no matter the distance! Now I get to begin the journey of promoting myself as a doula! Texas friends, please spread the word with your pregnant friends.
The Viva School ended their year with a fun Christmas party! Through wonderful sponsors, each child received a new wrapped gift to take home! The children were so sweet and patient as each child was called up to receive a gift! Our children were a big help in sorting the gifts and loading and unloading them (over 500!)
On December 3rd, we had our first appointment with the midwife. My doula instructor recommended a birth center about 40 minutes away. What a beautiful location! You should check it out, City View Birthing Retreat. I will definitely recommend anyone in the area to go here for their prenatal care! The staff are personable and sweet and the views are amazing! The appointment went great and we even got to get a peak at baby P! We have about a 80-20 ratio of guessing whether baby is girl or boy…girl is winning. I think we will have another ultrasound in February, which hopefully we’ll get a peak between the legs!
We leave tomorrow for Zambia, for our last visa renewal! We will stay in Livingstone as Seth and the children did last time. We will be there for 6 nights this time, as Melinda’s visa renewal date is a little later than the rest of the family. The children are excited to see the Victoria Falls again. We should also be able to get in a little more site seeing of the town as our stay is longer than their last one. Please be in prayer for our travels, our safety in Zambia, and that we are able to get our visa stamps with no complications.
pawloskifamily 
Love you all safe travels prayers.