Finally.. an update!

I HAVE GOTTEN SO BAD AT KEEPING THIS BLOG UPDATED! I truly apologize! I will give a short update and then hopefully can be caught up enough to start writing weekly or at least monthly again!

Sadie is practically crawling. I think she will get it before the month is over. The poor girl has a paranoid mommy though, I know she would already be crawling if I left her on the floor more. There are just so many BUGS AND DIRT. ha She will get it eventually. She got her two bottom teeth in April and is cutting her top two now, sits up and pulls herself to a standing position, sleeps like a champ, sweats like a champ, and she just smiles all the time. She is such.a.joy!

TRAVELING.. We are always on the road. With all our churches that we work with being spread out on both sides of Nicaragua we are always going to and from. Poor Sadie has finally decided after almost 9 months of it, that she doesn't enjoy the carseat all that much (so that makes things interesting). Ryan has the preachers reading "Multiply" by Frances Chan and It has been going really well so far! Praise.

We had three awesome teams in March and were very busy! At the end of May our interns arrived and now we are waiting on our second team for the summer to arrive tomorrow!

April 10th was the first big earthquake. For the 3 weeks we had been under either "extreme alert" or "red alert". Schools were out and people in the capitol had been sleeping outside. We had two large earthquakes back to back that were over a 6 and since then had hundreds of tremors each day and a larger one between 4.5-5.5 each day up until the beginning of May. During that time they had worried us with the idea of a "bigger one coming"(supposedly Managua is due for another huge earthquake) and also that all these fault lines are near the volcanos so there has also been fear of eruptions. We are no longer in any sort of alert, students are back in school, and things have been much calmer for the past month and a half or so!

May 5-12 we were blessed with a little trip to the states to have a vacation with both sides of the family in Gatlinburg! During this time we were blessed to announce to our family our VERY BIG and unexpected surprise.. We are expecting again.. Yes, you read that correctly, Sadie is going to be a big sister. NO this was not planned, far from it actually. But we are blessed and thankful none the less. And since this big announcement we found out that Its a ....... GIRL! Sadie is getting a best little friend.

Thank you for always praying for us. I am so thankful for this time in our lives and for God's plan. Please be praying for us through this next big transition and for God to show us where to go next.

I leave you with some photos :)

With daddy on the hammock at home

Hanging out with the grandpas on the porch at the cabin!

At Cade's Cove in Gatlinburg! 

Pride and Joy

Well I have been terrible at keeping up with my blog in the past few months but I sure am loving my little excuse. Sadie has been gracing us with her sweet presence for 7 weeks now. She really is the best thing and I have loved getting to spend absolutely every second with her. I also love that Ryan and I are able to work together down here so she gets to be with him just about as much as she is with me. She has picked up talking in the past week and it is just the sweetest thing. Ryan will talk back to her and she gets so excited and they will just have the longest conversations about nothing. ha She is such a happy little girl. My favorite time of day is when she wakes up to eat in the mornings because she is SO happy. She coo's and smiles and kicks and doesn't have a care in the world. 

She weighed 11.5 lbs and was 23.5 inches long when we went to her 1 month check up. She has grown a lot since then and I am looking forward to knowing how much in just two weeks at her two month check up! 

Ryan has been getting back in to working with the preachers for the past few weeks. We are definitely getting so ready for some time off with family and friends though. We can't wait to introduce Sadie to heating and air-conditioning, snowflakes, christmas trees, being wrapped up and cozy, and all of her special family! It is going to be a great month. A year has just been too long to be away from home. We are so thankful for this trip! We will be in the USA two weeks from today and we are just so thrilled to share her with our friends and family. The phrase "pride and joy" makes so much sense to me now.

God is good. 

Here are few pictures of some of the special visitors we have had in the past weeks. 

Ryan's parents! 

My parents! 

 Sergio, Daysi and kids, Ingrid and Exequiel!

Espertaco's sweet little ones!

Yale and Brittany

Nidia 1 and 2!

The Tans and the Stones!

Eliana and Sadie are already good buddies!

Our sweet babies matching! 

And to finish. This is Sadie loving her big pile of clean clothes! 

 

 

October 8th, 2013 The Birth of Sadie

October 8th, 2013..

This is how the second best day of my life went..

I feel like it should start with the fact that I had Braxton hicks contractions for the 3 weeks prior to Sadie's arrival. Because we had a 2 hour drive to our doctor/hospital and I was nervous about not knowing what to expect, I will admit that I jumped the gun once or twice. Unfortunately for Ryan, he had to deal with me crying wolf. So, we burned a lot of rubber during the last month of my pregnancy.

On October 3rd we had a check up with our doctor so we did our routine 2 hour drive that we were getting way too familiar with. We learned that I was 70% effaced and had no dilation. I will admit that I was disappointed. I was so ready to see her at that point after a few false alarms and felt like I was progressing so slowly (which I know is normal for first time babes). I was just sure that because I was having pretty consistent pre labor contractions that I would have been further along than that. So, as we started our trip back to Leon our car started acting up and broke down quickly after. To make this part of the story short I will just say that we ended up taking Sadie home on Tuesday in a tiny rental car.

The weekend passes.. and slowly the due date creeps up.. I wake up on October 8th, exactly 40 weeks pregnant, to what I thought was possibly my water breaking.. but it wasn't near as much as I was expecting so I was very skeptical and will admit flipping out. I woke Ryan up and he had to tell me to calm down a few times as I called my aunt, who is a nurse,  to ask her what I should do. I really really didn't want to go all the way to the doctor again for him to tell me that I had just peed on myself (tmi) but my instinct was telling me to go. My aunt said to go and get it checked out because it was better to be safe than sorry. We didn't tell anyone because again, I didn't want to have to call and say, "Just kidding, I just can't control my bladder anymore." So we packed up, climbed in to the tiny rental car  and left for the doctors office at about 6:45 am. The car seat was hooked up in the back of the little car and I had to get Ryan to pull over and unbuckle the car seat and turn it sideways because my knees were squished against the dash and I couldn't touch the floor. The beginning to an interesting day :)

We went in to our appointment around 9:00 am. I was 90 percent effaced and 1 cm dilated. She was still looking good and had a great heart beat. So he checked me to see about my amniotic fluid. Turns out I was right and we made the best decision on going to the doc. My amniotic fluid was leaking from the top and so it was a very slow leak but could cause infection and be dangerous for the baby so he said that I would have to be induced that day (It was such a surreal feeling when I finally realize that I WAS having that baby within hours). So Ryan and I got in the car, excited but nervous, and went to grab a snack and then head to the hospital. On the ride over we kept looking at each other and smiling in disbelief. We couldn't believe the long anticipated day was here. We were not going to go home without a baby.

By 11:00 am I was started on a slow drip of oxytocin which he turned up every hour. We excitedly got settled in and immediately started face-timing family to let them know what was going on. Ryan and I went in to the hospital expecting a long day of face-timing family and playing netflix movies before my labor contractions kicked in but apparently when we pay for our doctors services in Nicaragua we really get his undivided attention. He came in around 12:30 and sat down next to Ryan and didn't leave us all day. ha So he got to meet our parents via computer and as the contraction pains started to kick in I had Ryan and my doctor sitting on the couch just watching me in the quiet... It was as awkward as it sounds! Starting around 2:00 pm my doctor started asking me to rate my contraction pains from a 1-10. By 4:30 they had gotten to about a 5-6 so he checked to see where I was at. I was 3 cm dilated and still 90% effaced. While he was checking me he saw that my cervix was not in line.. Kindly he decided he would take care of that really quick and just took it and wiggled it to where it needed to be (the first time that day I could say "that was the worse pain I have ever felt"). AWFUL. After that he broke my water the rest of the way to get the process to speed up some. Ryan then proceeds to tell me, "that was the coolest thing I have ever seen". ha He should have been a doctor. Breaking my water did the trick because those 5-6 level pains almost immediately jumped to a 7-8. At this point I was beginning to realize what everyone meant when they said I would not be able to talk through my contractions. I was miserable but still trying to stick it out with out an epidural. I had a very loving husband who did everything he could to ease the pain. He is a keeper.

At 7:30 P.M. Doc decided to check the progress once more. I was 100% effaced and just 5 cm dilated. When I heard this I thought I was going to go crazy. I was just sure that I was going to be so much further than that. At this point my doctor had started his really obnoxious piece of advice that he shared with me all night, "Summer, don't make noise. If you are making a noise you aren't breathing correctly".. He would yell it at me as I was making some pretty funny noises during contractions. This is when I started to dislike him. ;) He repeated that to me the rest of the night during each contraction. NOT what you want to hear ha. After finding out I had only progressed by 2 cm and my doctor then proceeding to tell me that I shouldn't be having her any later than 2:00 A.M. I decided I couldn't take the pain I was in for 7 more hours. So I told him I was interested in an epidural.. At this point, I learned that in Nicaragua they do not have an anesthesiologist at the hospital but one is "on call". So he steps outside to give him a call and comes back in to tell me that he did not answer but he should be calling back soon and I should be able to have one no later than 9:00 P.M. I try to act calm but it just wasn't happening. PANIC PAIN PANIC PAIN repeat. An hour later he has called 2 others and no one has answered. I really didn't think I was going to make it through that pain for 5 more hours. He checks me at 9:00 and I am expecting him to say I was 6-7 cm dilated. Turns out those horrible contractions I was having were it! I made a HUGE jump from 7:30-9:00 and was 9 cm dilated. He said, "Well, we need to go to the delivery room now! It is time". What a relief. I think I even smiled for a second.

 I switched beds (not fun) and they rolled me in to the delivery room. My doctor changed his clothes and got everything around me ready which seemed like it took 20 minutes and during this time was yelling "Summer, don't push!", mothers who have done this before know how difficult this is. He tells Ryan that my uterus is not in the right position so he has him lean on my stomach and center it (not cool). Doctor finally tells me to push and I give it all I've got. Ryan calmly leans over and tells me I am doing great with the biggest smile (I am blessed). For .03485 seconds I forgot the pain and smiled again. Two pushes later she is out. Dr. Juan Carlos says "Welcome to Nicaragua, Sadie" and lays her on my chest. Immediately all pain left and my heart filled with joy. I have never felt so much love and pride well up so quickly as I did in that moment. I am now thankful for the circumstances that occurred and that I was able to experience everything naturally. What a beautiful little baby girl. What a gift from above.


It was such a beautiful day. Everything went so smoothly. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Ryan was so calm, patient, and kind. Our doctors and nurses took such good care of us. Sadie was perfect in every way. I am so thankful for such a wonderful experience with my best friend. God has blessed our little family so much. I have never been so proud or full of love for my incredible husband(he's a great daddy), my beautiful daughter angel, and my Lord who blessed us with this miracle.

My awesome Doctor, Juan Carlos!

The best moment. 

8.4 lbs 20 in. 

Best friends already

Our Family! 

Thanks for reading! We are so thankful for all the love and support we have received since we moved to Nicaragua but especially in the last 10 months. There were concerns about having sweet Sadie here but thanks to prayers and a wonderful medical staff sweet Sadie came in to this world in perfect health. God is so good! 

SHE'S HERE!!!

Our sweet girl was born on October 8th, 2013 at 9:27 pm at the Hospital Metropolitano Vivian Pellas in Managua, Nicaragua. She weighed a fluffy 8.4 lbs and 20.5 inches long. She was just perfect in every way and we are incredibly blessed.

More details to come but until then here are some photos of our little one:

A short update on the Bush familia

Life lately..

Seriously, I have been so terrible at keeping up with my blog this year. I know I am about to have a baby and that it is crazy for me to think I might have more time to write but here's to hoping.

Since coming back from Florida we have moved in to a new house that we LOVE. It is so fun. It is a fixer upper which has Ryan so excited that he always has something to work on at home. We are saving so much money here but still have 5 bedrooms. We were very blessed with this find. We also have a front AND a back yard. This is very rare in Nicaragua and we are thankful that we might have some calmer dogs thanks to this.

Some fun facts about our house..
We are also officially completely air condition-less and we are surviving just fine. We are going to appreciate a Tennessee Christmas even more this year.
We sleep with the windows open and have enjoyed falling asleep to the (slightly) cool breeze and the sound of the rain.
We have 3 coconut trees and I have already enjoyed some cold coconut milk.
The house came with hammock hooks. It has been fun living in a real Nica style home.
And best of all ... We live in harmony with the iguana, the gecko, and the fly.

(Back side of house) 

It has been fun :) We are almost settled. Got a few more things to bring from the old house this week and then we will be all in. This house is PERFECT for hosting small groups/families/friends so please feel free to come and stay with us!

Sadie's room is finished and looking sweet. She has an "elegant" little bug net over her bed for all you worry warts out there :)

A little update on Sadie..
I am 38 weeks pregnant tomorrow.
We had our full-term appointment last week and she is looking great! Approx. 7.3 lbs and getting ready to greet us.
I have been really blessed with a pretty easy breezy pregnancy. The last few weeks I have started to get anxious and have some pretty bad back pain and Braxton hicks but other than that its going really well. I really don't enjoy the Braxton Hicks probably for the same reason all other first time moms don't.... I.do.not.know.what I am waiting for so every time I have one I get excited. BUT I know she will be here no matter what in less than a month now so that is very very exciting!
Speaking of these false contractions.. I just had another.. Can't wait for the real deal :)

Funny addition: Ryan had a dream that I was pregnant which is why I took a pregnancy test... Posititve.
Ryan had a dream that we were having a girl (even though at the time he was hoping for a boy) and was just sure of it after that.. Doc said it was a girl a week later. About a month ago he had a dream about the birth.. In the dream he asked me the date (weird) and it was September 27. That is this Friday. We may have to start calling him prophet Ryan. :) Either way, no matter what day, I just want her to get here so we can give her lots and lots of love.

Ryan has been going around to all the churches and meeting with the preachers about their goals and ministry plans for the next year. He has also been letting them know that Sadie girl will be here any day now and that he will be at home for a few weeks with me at least.

We are blessed. It has been a good month. It also helps knowing we have a sweet little angel on the way, our parents will be here in 3 weeks, and we go home in two months for a visit.

God is good. Please keep us in your prayers.. The big day is approaching.

Pray that my contractions are strong early on so that we get on the road at a decent hour ( 2 hour drive)
 and please pray that our sweet girl is in good health and that all goes well on that special day!

Florida Baby Shower

This summer a dear friend told me that since I was not going to be able to be in her wedding (due to being extremely pregnant) she wanted to fly me in to Florida so that I could be with her for one of her bridal showers and also so that her and my friends could give me a little baby shower. 

Awesome right?!

It took me a while to finally accept her generous offer because I hated to leave Ryan at such a difficult time for us both down here. Felt as though it wouldn't be fair but being the kind wonderful husband that he is, he insisted. So promising that I wouldn't eat at all our favorite restaurants while I was down there, I agreed :) 

So she got me a ticket and I arrived at the Panama City airport on thursday afternoon August 1st where my mother and sister were jumping up and down as I rode down the escalator to get my luggage. Not only had we not seen each other in 7 months but it also provided the opportunity for them to actually see me pregnant! It was a blast. 

(Taken at the airport) Sadie and Aunt Mils first time together ;)

Also on this trip we were blessed by our friends the Harris/Lunn's for allowing us to stay at their condo for the weekend and we got to spend a lot of time with them as well! Eden Lunn has been one of my longest best friends since 3rd grade where we met at Camp Wiregrass but this was the first time we got to spend a weekend together with our mothers. Thankful that we now can ALL be life long friends :)

Thursday after mom and sister picked me up we went to the condo and just got to hang out together and soak up some time together. Morgan brought by some groceries and Chic-fil-a for dinner (YUM!) and we all just got to spend some quality time together and I got to stretch out my legs after a long day of travel. 

Friday mom, Amelia, and I got to do a little shopping and laying out. Very relaxing and fun to just be able to spend time with them. That night friends started arriving and it was such an exciting night! First of all we got to go to my favorite restaurant Boondocks with friends Eden and Mrs. Vonda (Alabama) where Whitney (South Carolina) met us. During our delicious dinner someone snuck up behind me and covered my eyes... To my complete surprise it was my sweet mother in law (North Carolina) and two of my SIL's. I was so excited and shocked because I didn't think they were going to be able to make such a long trip for such a short weekend. Lots of happy tears... After dinner we went back to the condo where we all were chatting and I was actually laying in the floor trying to get Sadie to kick for her aunts (she is stubborn or shy haha) when we got a knock on the door... Another AWESOME surprise, Anna and Seth (Oklahoma) were at the door. Anna tricked me and it was another great treat. It was a LOT of excitement for one day and I am so grateful for the way it turned out and that they were able to come! 

Saturday morning mom, Amelia, and I went to a beautiful bridal shower for Morgan. It was so great to be a part of such a special time for her. I am thrilled to see her so happy and know she is going to make her fiance very happy as well! 

Me, Morgan, mom, and Amelia at Morgan's shower

After the shower we went back to the condo and down at the beach were 4 more of my dearest friends (Ginny, Rachel, Marcy, and Bethany) from college who came all the way from Tennessee for ONE night to help give a beautiful baby shower. They seriously are the BEST EVER. 

Saturday night at 7 was the shower. IT. WAS. BEAUTIFUL. I just couldn't believe how pretty it was. Sadie and I felt like royalty. It was so much fun. Very much pinterest quality ;) Here are some pictures that Whitney took of the shower. 

The beach in the background!

Amazing cake!

Mom, me, and Amelia

Me, Kelsie, Tammy (Ryan's mom), and Kellie!

SO happy to see them. 

Sadie is a lucky lady to have such sweet grandmas!

And me... I am one very very blessed lady to have such wonderful friends and family. I could never put in to words how special this day made me feel. Thank you all for making your long hikes to be there!

Ridiculously beautiful baby shower wasn't it? What a blessing. I am forever grateful for the love shown to Ryan, Sadie, and I. 

Sunday... OH Sunday. EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER. It had been 7 months since I had sat through a worship service in English. Exactly 30 Sundays of church in Spanish. I was very blessed to spend my first sunday back at my families old church in Panama City, Palo Alto. I was already really missing Ryan and wishing he could have been there (even more so after his family surprised us and Seth being there too..so being blessed by a Sunday worship in English just didn't even feel right without him). So anyways, Sunday, I cried. THE WHOLE time. I could not stop. I mean like ugly face, shoulder shaking, sweat and tears from start to finish. I knew I missed it but had no idea the affect it was going to have on me. I loved soaking in every minute of the beautiful angelical voices and the prayers. All of it. At the end the elders came and prayed over me and for our work in Nicaragua and for the birth of Sadie girl. So naturally I triple lost it. The ability to worship with my brothers and sisters in my native tongue will never be taken advantage of again. It was a blessing beyond measure. 

I love learning Spanish but it is going to be a long time before Ryan and I don't feel like sitting through church in Nicaragua isn't a "job" because it is just so difficult to follow or to even know everything you are singing.. Anyways, needless to say this was definitely one of the greatest parts of my trip. I will always be so thankful for the family from Palo Alto. They have been a wonderful continuous support for both Ryan and I while we have been down here and I hope one day soon Ryan can come and visit there with me. 

For the rest of the trip I was able to visit and catch up with family, old friends, and relax with some people that I love so dearly and have missed. I am thankful that this opportunity was provided for me. God is so very very good.

Summer 2013

Well...

It has been too long. I should be ashamed of myself for writing such a post as my last one and then waiting nearly two months to write another-- But good news.. things are getting better.

We had a very busy summer between our 4 interns and then having guests and/or groups here the entire months of June and July. I think all together Ryan and I had about 4 days alone this summer. It was a crazy, eventful, and blessed summer indeed. There was good and there was bad of course, but having friends, family, and group visits to look forward to helped a lot.

We have had quite a few faith shaking things happen this summer that have really taught us to turn to God and each other more. We are so very thankful for the special people in our lives who always encourage us and support us in so many ways.

I am going to post a few pictures from our summer with groups, guests, and interns. Thanks always for keeping up with us.

Ryan getting some baby practice in with Fernando

Two awesome people down here that we are blessed to work with, Sergio and Daysi!

Me and some special ladies at the ladies conference at Primero de Mayo.

One of our interns, Nathan C, getting down with a sweet lady at the Nursing home.

Jen Sav speaking at the ladies conference they put on during their week down here. 

David, a guy with the Georgia team in El Ojoche.

Our friends, Craig and Abbi came to visit! 

Our interns for the summer. 

Nathan C, Erin, Nathan F, and Kristi!

two of my dearest friends came in July, Rachel and Ginny!

and the last team of the summer, fhu girls basketball came and did a camp in Xiloa! 

This was a surprise I was blessed with the first week of August. I will post another blog giving all the details about this wonderful short trip to Florida! 

And last but not least, my wonderful friend Kenzie came to visit us this month. Poor thing got a little gypped on all the fun stuff because Ryan had just gotten over bronchitis and I am starting to be a little more uncomfortable in the heat.. but she was a trooper and I loved getting to spend the week with her! 

I hope to post two more blogs this weekend about my trip to Florida and about Sadie Ellen but I first wanted to do this short little update on our summer. 

I will be using this next week to try and make up for my lack of blogging this summer. 

Dios te bendiga

-Summer