8 months and still kicking!!!

OK, OK, OK-- so I just got an e-mail from a friend accusing me of trying to "hide" my belly from sight... it's really not true!!! I just end up taking most of the pictures that go on this blogsite, and then when I have taken a picture, I've been sitting down most of the time. But, to satisfy my friend Kim and anyone else who may be curious, here's a look at the nearly-8-month pregnant Jessica (mind you, this picture was taken at midnight, so I may not look so bright-eyed, but at least you can SEE my belly, KIM!) with little wiggly squirmy Maranatha inside, almost ready to come out!A funny pregnancy story: the other day, my friend Gauhara and I were at a large store that has many small shops, each run by different people, and we had an interesting multi-lingual experience. Since we've lived in this city, we've learned that there are multiple languages spoken here: three of them are Mandarin, Uyghur (pronounced wee-ger), and Kazakh. Shopkeeper #1 spoke Uyghur & Mandarin, shopkeeper #2 spoke Mandarin and was also 8 months pregnant, Gauhara speaks English & a little Kazakh (which is similar enough to Uyghur to be able to communicate the basics) & I speak English and a VERY little Mandarin (enough to talk about due dates, ages of children, etc.).

This was nearly a Tower of Babel experience.

Shopkeeper #2 and I were talking in Mandarin about our pending arrivals & pregnancies, Gauhara & shopkeeper #1 were talking in Uyghur/Kazakh about our pregnancies, the two shopkeepers were talking to each other in Mandarin about what they were finding out from each of us, and Gauhara & I were talking in English about what we thought the other two were asking & saying! What a wild conversation! Only in Central Asia!