Rough Week, Round 2...

Well, Well, Well...

I thought that all the crazy junk that happened last week was going to transition us into a much easier week, especially since our weekend was pretty good, but I didn't find that to the be the case.

Now, also let me say that our weekend WAS really good, but we did have a few hiccups along the way, too. First of all, Ashlynn came home on Thursday evening and said that she needed a violin by Monday. Well, okay...we actually had intended to buy one when we got here, but frankly, with all the crazy stuff I had going on, looking for a music shop had fallen to the bottom of my priority list. So, on Friday, I managed to look up the recommended music store on the school website. I wrote down the address, and then while I was sitting in the school parking lot waiting to pick up the kids, I decided I'd punch it into the GPS and see just how close it was to the school. The GPS showed it was only about fifteen minutes north of the school! For a fleeting moment, I ALMOST gathered enough courage to try to find this by myself. But, then I snapped back to reality and decided it would be best for all five of us if I just waited until Saturday. So...

On Saturday morning, we all slept in a bit, then got ready and headed out to find the music store. Since I had already punched in the address for the store, I knew all we had to do was find the "previous location" and head there. So, off we go. And, it couldn't have been a more beautiful day or a more beautiful drive! So, we got to our "destination," and there was no music store. We turned around and drove by where (according to our GPS) the music store was supposed to be. Again, no music store. Now what?

Well, we decided to drive BACK to our house and ask our neighbors about the music store that they go to. (It was in a different town, but we thought we would try it.) Just for kicks, though, we thought we'd try looking up the actual website of this crazy store to see if it had any driving directions on it. No driving directions, but we did find an address. And, the address we found didn't match the one that we had originally punched into the GPS! So, we decided to try one more time to find this place. Off we go again for a beautiful drive on a still beautiful day. This time, we managed to find the store!!

And, it was only one street over from where we were the first time. Good grief.

Anyway, we managed to go in, listen to a couple of violins and purchase the one we liked. The people were very nice and helpful and Ashlynn was thrilled, so we considered that trip a success!!

Then, we decided we were going to try to find the Media Markt (similar to Best Buy) to try to find a gadget that would help us transfer all the information from the hard drive of our fried desktop computer to our laptop. So...since my new phone is working and all, I felt so incredibly tech savvy, because it was now possible for me to look up the address of this Media Markt while we were on the way! Yay! So, I found the address and punched it in the GPS.

We made it easily to the town of Den Haag, and then we made it to Media Markt...or so the GPS said. Ironically, we never saw the actual Media Markt store. What we did find, though, was China Town. I didn't even know there was a China Town in the middle of Den Haag, but yessiree there is. Who knew? Anyway, there were people e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e. *AND* there was no where to pull over *OR* turn around or EVEN park. So, again, we weren't sure what to do, so we kept driving on through and eventually decided to head home. Fortunately, we decided to run by the grocery store on the way home, and there just happened to be a Dynabyte (similar to Radio Shack) close by. We ran in just to see if they might happen to have what we needed, and they DID!! SCORE!!

Maybe one day we'll actually find the Media Markt.

So, on Sunday, we went to church where we met a family from Hendersonville, Tennessee!! They were super nice, and it was so nice to hear another true southern accent! I also found out that while there is not a Bible Study Fellowship group that I can join here, there is a Community Bible Study group, which is very similar. I was thrilled to get this news!!

After church, we went home and got to talk to lots of people! It seemed as though just as we were hanging up with one person, another would call. It was SO great!!

Anyway, that night...in fact, it was after midnight, and I was skyping with my friend Dana, Chris and I heard a loud strange noise coming from the kids' rooms. I hung up and ran upstairs to find Chris and Ashlynn in her bathroom. We thought at first that she was throwing up. But, after she calmed down, she explained that she was coughing and she couldn't breathe, so she was calling for help. Anyway, I ended up sleeping with her the rest of the night (and the following night) just to make sure she was okay. So, the next morning I went in to the school to tell the nurse, just so she could keep an eye on her. She, of course, told me I needed to go ahead and get her in to a doctor, just to have her checked out. Then, she gave me a list of doctors with addresses and phone numbers.

So, I left the nurse's office and headed up to the guidance counselor's office, just so she could keep an eye on her *AND* to give her a head's up about it. (The entire fifth grade (and 14 teachers, including the principal!) is about to leave next week for a project trip for three nights, and I wanted her to know what was going on.) She told me the same thing about getting her in to see a doctor, but she recommended I go to an International Group in Den Haag. In fact, she said, "If I were you, I'd grab a buddy and try to drive down there to see how difficult it is to find, and then you'll be familiar with it when it's time to take her."

What?!

So, now what?

Fortunately, my new friend Mandy happened to come along with me, and she offered to ride along for the new adventure.

Not knowing what to do, we went to my car, and I began to call the list of doctors. One by one I was told(in broken english) that they were full. So, then I called the International place. Uuugh...I did NOT want to drive down there and then deal with the parking that I had heard was a nightmare.

I got through and got an appointment for the next afternoon. So, Mandy and I began our adventure trying to find this crazy place. I punched in the address in my GPS and began to drive. You can't even begin to understand how stressed out I was. My crazy GPS took us down all kinds of crazy streets, down the coast and behind trams. We finally found it, and I was SO incredibly proud of myself!!

BUT, then we couldn't find anywhere to park...that seems to be the case everywhere here. Anyway, we finally gave up after circling around a couple of times. I punched my home address into the GPS, and I thought I was in the right lane to begin the trek home, but the GPS decided to take me a different way that was equally as stressful, but now not even remotely familiar. Uuuugh.

We finally made it home, but I was so overwhelmed and confused I had NO idea what to do or where to go!

So, I called my Dutch friend Riemke. She truly is a lifesaver!

Okay, I know you're tired of reading this, and it is almost 11:00PM, and I'm tired, so hopefully, I'll give you the rest of the story tomorrow.

*yawn*

good-night