Camper Mishap!

Well folks, I believe yesterday marked my first BIG blooper as a mommy. Sure I have had silly stuff happen like almost letting Ava roll off a bed, forgetting to feed my child lunch ( I know I am terrible, hey the child does not have a "hearty" appetite), and so forth. But yesterday was my biggest mommy oops thus far.

As you all have been updated recently on our living arrangements, we are living in a camper right! Well, yesterday the trash needed changing, because in this little of an environment, a semi-full trash can start smelling as if you are standing in a dump. So anyhow, I sack up the garbage and take it outside to the sidewalk to be taken to the dumpster later. Well, I figured this was only going to take a few seconds maybe 30 sec. max, so I leave Ava in the camper happily playing with her toys.

Upon arriving back at the camper I was greeted by a door that had been LOCKED by my precious daughter! I stood outside the camper trying to make sure what had just happened had really happened, and within a few seconds I realized it had indeed. My two year old child is in the camper unattended and I have absolutely no way in. This is not like living in a house, there is ONE door and no possible way of finding an unlocked window and climbing in. OH MY GOODNESS what am I going to do. I am outside with no keys and no phone and most importantly no Ava.

I begin to talk to Ava trough the door trying to get her to unlock the door. I am pretty sure she had no idea how to undo what she had just done. At first she thought we were playing a game, but she soon realized mommy is outside and cannot get back in. She begins to cry and keeps asking me to open the door. Yes my heart is breaking at this point, and the thought of any kind of discipline that Ava was going to receive for doing this went out the window, all I wanted to do is hug my sweet little Ava.

I talked to Ava for a few moments, long enough to calm her down a bit, because I was going to have to go get help.

I ran to the camp office and told the sweet little lady what had happened. I was not sure what I needed, a locksmith which, who knows how long that would take or the fire dept. I know they are always available to get kids out of locked cars, but what about campers. And in the back of my mind I am thinking, oh great CPS is going to show up and question me why I left my 2 yr old alone. Yes, by this time the waterworks were flowing.

The sweet lady tells me you go back to the camper and I will send one of the guys ( meaning the maintenance ) people down there.

So back to the camper I go.

I stand outside the door, calling for Ava once more, making sure she is alright. ......And I got NO response ........By this time I want to just start crying that real deep panic cry. But I tell myself that I have to stay calm. I begin praying for God to protect Ava and keep her from any harm, and for him to help us find a way out of what has become a TERRIBLE situation.

After a few minutes I hear the most precious sound, the pitter pat of her little feet. Once again, she was back at the door and she was fine. She was talking to me asking me " Mommy what doing?" .....Well sweet child I am standing in the blistering heat because you decided to lock me out! Of coarse that is not what I said. I just began talking to her to keep her happy, so she would not get scared again.

After a few minutes "Josh" shows up. He is one of the guys that works out here.

He has tools to pick the lock, ......but then he asks me....do you have a laundry shute in the camper??? ....And a light came on....yes we do!!

He says "well lets take a look at that first!"

The laundry shute is under the cabinet under the vanity sink, that opens to the storage compartment under the camper......the opening is about a 12 "x 12" hole. I am looking at this tiny hole thinking ......there are parts of me alone that will not fit through there, there is no way.

But then I look at Josh....he is a tiny guy.

To end this long story.... yes Josh climbs through the TINY hole and rescues my sweet Ava. My heart is forever grateful for little Josh.

I embraced Ava with a hug, and I didn't want to let go. I think she was as equally glad to see me.

After this happened I could not help but think about our heavenly father. I thought about that as long as we stay in his presence and in his arms we are protected from a lot junk. When we are living our lives just as we please, and we "lock"him out of our lives, we are opening ourselves up to a lot of dangerous opportunity for sin.

"...He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. " Ps 23: 3b

"You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance." Ps 32: 7


Just as Ava was in the camper all alone at 2 years old, she was very vulnerable to something bad happening to her. When I am with her I can help protect her from most things. ( i know I cannot protect her from everything )

I am grateful today that all is well, and Ava and I were both given a learning opportunity yesterday. Ava got a lesson on why not to lock doors, and I was reminded of the provision of protection from sin that Christ gives us when we are walking with him. Praise God!

Today is Ava's B-day!

I can't believe our sweet Ava Joy is TWO today! It has been such a blessing to our hearts to be parents to this sweet little girl.

Ava,
We love you so very much! We hope you have a very special day.

Words cannot describe the amount of JOY you have brought to me and daddy!

You make parenting easy! You have such a sweet and sensitive spirit, it does not take much to show you the error of your ways.

Our prayer is that you will grow into a God fearing, God loving and God serving woman.

Today we are remembering holding you as a tiny little baby!

We love you!

Love,
Momma and Daddy

Our new journey!

Hello to all who have not given up on the Aldape's and our lack of posting! Our lives have been in quit a whirlwind the last few weeks. ......BUT I am pleased to say that the winds are now settling and we are embarking on a new journey! I have received many e mails and calls about what we are up to, so I figured I would fill everyone in!

On June the 15th David started the Houston Fire Academy! He has since almost completed the EMT part and will be EMT certified soon. He is finishing his rotations and will take his National Board on Aug 26. After that he will start the Fire School part which is much longer! I am so proud of all that he has done and accomplished withing the last few weeks.

Since the Houston Fire Academy is obviously in Houston, this meant a very long commute for David, or us figuring something else out. Initially we were going to sell our home in Bryan and completely uproot and move to Houston, but we decided against that for many reasons. One being, we would like to come back to our home when he is out of the academy. Without knowing what the economy is going to do. having a home right now is a very good thing.

The first two weeks of the academy David commuted from Bryan to Houston Monday-Thursday. These were very long days for him. He left the house around 3:30 AM and did not get home till around 8 PM. He was such a trooper and never complained. I knew that this was not a good situation for him. He had lots of material to study and this provided him with NO time for that, on top of NO family time.

So back to the drawnig board we went. We did lots and lots of praying and seeking the Lords will for our family. We knew that David was suppose to be in the Academy, we just needed to find a way to make this work for our family.

With in a week we put the house on the market for lease and my sister and her husband generously provided David with a fifth wheel camper to live in. Thank you guys sooo much.

This meant that David was in Houston Mon -Thurs WITHOUT US, while Ava and I waited for renters!

With in another week we had found renters! God is soooo good.

We found renters on July 11 and they wanted to move in July 30th! Yikes! This meant lots to do!

Thanks to my mom and Dad, and Davids dad coming to help, we got all packed up and moved out. The packing fell mostly on my shoulders since David was tied up with the academy. For two weeks I was working full time, packing, taking care of a two year old, dealing with many things with the leasing agency, dealing with getting a new home insurance policy since our home was now a rental property, and much much more. Alas, by July 30th it was all DONE! My parents were amazing. My mom came almost every day after work and helped me pack, while my dad came and did whatever I told him to do! ( in a very nice way of coarse!) I cannot thank them enough.

Okay...now to more current!.....What does all of that mean for us now.........Well as of yesterday Thursday Aug 6th, I completed my last week of work as a full time dental hygienist. My boss graciously let me cut back to 2 days a week. I will work Mon and Tues. ( and stay with my parents) and then Ava and I will join David at the camper the remainder of the week. This way I still have my job when we move back home! ( a part time job that is!)

The Lord has been so good to us during this time of what felt like "trial and error." It is amazing what He can do when you just have faith and leave it up to him.

I am sooo excited to start this new journey with David and Ava. I am looking forward to being able to be at home more to serve David and Ava. I have waited a long time for this. More to come on that issue later ( working vs not working ) I need to get my feelings and emotions all together about this. I have a HUGE testimony to share regarding working outside the home that I would love to pass along to others.

I will try to post pictures of our new home..... the camper! It really is a nice cozy place. The best thing about it is we always have family time because it is so small! HAHA ....Really it is not bad at all! ....In the mean time I have a sweet little girl that is waking up from her nap an dying to go swimming! .... Oh yeah, we have a pool here at the RV park!

Again thanks to all who helped physically and through prayers during all of this!