Monday Night Update...

A lot has happened since I last updated the blog, even though it has only been a short time...

Brynn's ER Visit: Yes, you are reading that correctly. My daughter was taken to the emergency room in, New York or Amish Country. That is correct, we passed two horse and buggies outside of the hospital.  Brynn woke up with a low-grade fever on Sunday morning, which is no reason for concern. We gave her some Tylenol and kept her inside most of the day. Come 5 o'clock, however, things go SOUTH. Brynn's temperature jumps to 105.7 or Sarah Meltdown Stage. She does not go berserk screaming, but runs around the room for no rhyme or reason with Brynn in her arms. I get her calmed down and go to retrieve the nurse with our group. Her husband drives us to the closest ER (30 minutes away). We get to see much of upstate New York, but not by choice. The hospital staff was fabulous. We were in and out in an hour. The doctor seems to think Brynn has an upper-respiratory infection which led to an ear infection from the plane ride. We got her some medicine (antibiotic). Today, she has done very well. She has not shown any symptoms other than a fever. Tonight, her fever spiked, but she did not go lifeless, drank plenty of fluids and ate some food. Her nose has started to run, so we think it might be passing!!

Ultimate Frisbee: I have been able to throw the Frisbee over the past few days. I am able to relive some of my glory days from Montevallo by wowing onlookers with my flick, hammer and overhead flicks. I played in a game on Saturday night and was in the process of dominating before AGE came a calling. After about an hour of play, I was dropped to the ground by calf cramps. I have never cramped in my life! Needless to say, my Frisbee career has come and gone.

Classes: We have had our first full day of classes. Sarah was excused to take care of our daughter. This morning started with devotion and praise, followed by an introduction to the two-week process. We also participated in an activity which divided us into groups. Our group was assigned a way to act (one group was laid back, one group had a servant mentality, one group was military oriented and another group was extremely outgoing and touchy). It gave us a good view of the different cultures that we will be exposed to in our classrooms and communities. This afternoon, we were given our results to the MBSTI personality test. A really old lady, who is an expert in the field, explained her views on the test from a God-centered view. It was awesome. She has been married to her complete opposite for 51 years.

Favorite Quote of the trip: "It is your job as parents to mold your child's personality, not change their personality."

Favorite Lesson Learned of the trip: Negative Attribution Theory-People automatically attribute negatives responses to anything new that comes into their lives. For example, if you are in Tuscaloosa and see someone dressed differently than the norm, then you automatically think something negative about them. I need to work on this as I enter a new country with all sorts of different people.

Until later,

The Perdues are out!