The week in pictures

Our breezy cool January has turned into "Hotter Than Texas in August" February. The only difference is that in Texas people have air conditioners. I think it's like a State law or something. There is no such nonsense here, and thus we are struggling to get anything accomplished when really we just want to hide out in our bedroom (the only AC'd room in the house!) In the last 24 hours we have gone through SIX liters of juice... good thing our orange trees are producing like crazy right now and my friend loaned me her juicer! (The oranges here are like sweet limes, so the "orange juice" is like a cross between Tang and limeade - really refreshing on a hot day!)

Anyways... some of the scenes of the last week (minus the sweating!)

Ezra has been completely addicted to puzzles this week... he literally has spent all morning every morning putting together puzzles. Here he's dressed like a pirate...


Caleb has started writing like crazy! It's like something clicked in his little mind and he's always asking how to spell words and practicing writing every one's names...


Elijah... really cool science experiments this week for science co-op day. Getting ready to launch "rocket balloons."


Blowing on his windmill...


The highlight of my week was the Valentine's Banquet at the school.... Every year the seniors at the MK school do a big dinner for Valentine's. It's a fundraiser for their senior trip and gives the missionaries a "nice" place to have a Valentine's date... the other option being Pizza Hut. :) We've gone 3 years now and always have a blast.... they cook really nice food and bring in treats from America like decaf coffee (yes, with all the millions of coffee beans grown here, you can't get decaf!) and Hershey Kisses. :)

Valentine's Fun

So look how on the ball I am now... it's not even Valentine's in the States and I'm already blogging about our Valentine's day here. :):)

We had a really fun day. We set little Valentine's cards out this morning at the boys' spots with Kinder eggs that we found at the import store. I LOVE Kinder eggs and think it's stupid they're illegal in America. They're European... chocolate egg shell (kinda like an Easter egg) that you break open and has a small toy inside that you have to assemble yourself... kinda a puzzle. (Which is why they don't let them in the States - huge choking hazard I suppose). It was the boys' first Kinder eggs and they LOVED them. Was so much fun to see them so excited.

This evening we had some friends come over and we made heart shaped pizzas. The boys usually make their own little pizzas when I make pizza (which is often as I could eat pizza for every meal for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy) :) but their little friends had never made their own... they had a blast!




We finished the evening off with heart shaped cookie cake. Was such a fun night!

And yes, I get that it was totally not a romantic day in the slightest... but Brant and I are going out this weekend on a date. :) The seniors at the MK school always put on a big Valentine banquet every year - it's a fundraiser for their senior trip and a fun way for people in the community to have a nice spot for Valentine's. Just in the last year or two some decent restaurants have opened on our island, but the seniors' banquet is still the nicest meal you can get on island... and they decorate the school and set up little tables for two with candles and fancy linens so it is a lot of fun.

Catching up

Going to dump a whole bunch of photos on you... sorry. I know not everyone out there is concerned that I never posted pictures of Elijah's 7th birthday (or Caleb's, or Christmas, or Ezra's.... you get the point, I am really behind) but I know there are some grandma's out there who would rather see some pictures of my cute little boys than hear my thoughts on life. :)

So.... starting with the most distant.... Elijah's birthday (last October!) The Batman/Pool party....



The pinata was a bit hit (ha! literally!) BUT Brant had to teach the kids how to do it! None of them had ever done a pinata before! And the little ones were too scared to do it.... and you should have seen the kids getting the candy at the end... they would each get a handful and then say "that's enough, I don't need anymore" It was hilarious!





Caleb's 5th birthday.... the end of November. He had a "Water Party" in our backyard with his little friends from preschool.






Maybe out of laziness on my part, but the birthday's are a bit streamlined around here.... the boys have always gotten the same party theme at each age.... they all had "Dump Truck/Construction" first birthday parties.... 3 year olds get a "Race Car" birthday; 5 year olds get a "Water Party; I guess 7 year olds will get a "Super Hero's" birthday... but we'll see. :) It isn't pure lack of creativity on my part... kinda goes with what little boys are interested in at different ages.

And Ezra's 3rd birthday - the end of January. We had planned to have another family come over for dinner and games - a "Cars" party. :) They have a little boy Ezra's age and we figured that was enough "party" for a 3 year old; but Elijah and Caleb got colds and we didn't want to share, so we spent a quiet day at home. But the boys had a blast anyways. The middle picture is Elijah explaining a "treasure map" he made that explained where he had hid Ezra's present (a collection of pictures he had colored for Ezra). The day after Ezra's "real" birthday we went as a family to the video arcade and then the pizza restaurant. Was a blast.

Deep thoughts from yesterday

We hosted preschool at our house. One of the little American boys said to one of the little Dutch girls, "I have a hard time understanding you because we're not from the same village."

We bought our plane tickets from here to the capital city.... I had just "happened" to check the airlines' website to check itineraries and get a general idea on prices and about fell out of my chair at the promo they had going. When Brant went to pay for the tickets at the airport, he said the ticket lady was visibly shocked when she saw the price. Thankful for how God provides!

We had the boys fill their own water bottles last night after dinner. Every night it's been one of my "chores" to rinse their bottles and refill them and stick them in the fridge for the next day. As Elijah was finishing dinner, Brant told him to rinse his own bottle and refill it and stick it in the fridge. Caleb did likewise. Revolutionary! I am loving my ten extra minutes a day. :)

We got an email from friends who are missionaries in Africa. Their little girl fell at the playground, crushed her wrist, and broke a bone in her forearm, which tore through the muscle and severed an artery. And just like that they are back in America (well, actually had several days of preliminary treatments trying to get her stable enough to travel) ...headed for countless surgeries and reconstructions to try to repair the damage from a simple accident. Reminder for us that we are not here one second longer than the Lord wants us to be here. And we do not live here one second without God's protection and grace.

Yesterday

Yesterday morning the boys were outside playing... and may or may not have gotten Brant's machete out of his workshop.... and I may or may not have turned a blind eye, because like going bare foot, playing with sharp objects (and fire, but that's a whole other post) is part of MK life. And 10 minutes later I hear Elijah screaming bloody murder and I go tearing through the house to see him come in from outside with blood all over his hands.... We got his thumb all bandaged up and are praying tetanus doesn't set in. :) It was actually just a tiny cut, but Elijah can be a BIT dramatic sometimes. And lots of blood can be pretty dramatic too.

But before you think I am a horrible mother, just know that you are not alone... my national neighbor friends think the same thing. If I had been a good mother I would have let him start playing with a machete when he was 2 or 3 and by age 7 he would know how to handle one and wouldn't be cutting himself!

Our machete got a lot of use yesterday. Brant was coming in from the backyard last night when he saw a HUGE snake (well, maybe only about a foot long) coiled up on our screen door... we sprayed it with bug spray (which also works well on rats and geckos) and instead of dying, the sucker dropped to the ground and slide under the back door... into the house! Brant grabbed the machete and chased it and started hacking it to pieces. You know what machete on tile floor sounds like?

I should sell an album entitled "Sounds of the Missionary Life"
Track 1 "Christmas Hut Music at 4 am"
Track 2 "New Year's Eve Firecrackers = WW III"
Track 3 "Tropical Thunderstorm on a Tin Roof"
Track 4 "Machete Cutting on Tile Floors"

Thoughts on new year's, shirts, and socks

I love the start of a new year.... the feeling that I am staring into a big, vast blankness called "the future 12 months" and wondering what events will fill those months, and knowing that only the Lord knows. I think it's a mercy that we don't always know what the future holds - hard sometimes, to wrestle with unresolved issues and heavy burdens, but thankful that we can be without the sorrows that sometimes await.

This time last year our big pressing issues were our housing (we were being kicked out of our house in June) and how to pay for our visas (due in July to the tune of over $15,000). I remember last January being so weighted down by the "how are we ever going to get through this year?" thoughts. But here we sit, a year later, in a beautiful house overlooking the whole valley, with our visas in hand (and money still in the bank!) and more pineapples than we could ever eat. :) So God reminded us again in 2011 that He always provides.

God also provided a lot of opportunities to trust Him this last year - with Penny's death and questions of "What should we have done differently?" and Paul's death and lots of tears and pain. Opportunities to trust Him through very bitter conflict with co-workers and learning to forgive... and forgive... and forgive... and wait and trust for resolution and peace.

This coming year brings our return to America after three (at times very long!) years away. Lots of fears about fitting back in and how the boys will transition and how we will ever afford un-government subsided gasoline prices. :) Lots of questions about our future ministry plans and where the Lord is leading us. Lots of excitement over the anticipation of walking down the aisles of WalMart, eating macaroni and cheese and tacos and sub sandwiches, catching up with friends and family and worshipping in our home churches.

I tried to come up with some great New Year's Resolutions for the year. Brant thinks resolutions are stupid, so he was absolutely no help. One of my favorite blog writers suggested "No buying any new clothes for a year" but I kinda think this is not the year to try that, as we are already scheduling a trip to WalMart to pick up new underwear on our way home from the airport. :) Another friend has the goal of reading a book every week (really fun, but not practical for a mom of 3 little boys). Another to take a picture of her life every single day.... which might be fun except it's already nine days in and I haven't taken a single picture since Christmas Day.

Okay, a few pictures so this isn't too heavy of a post. The first of the boys on Christmas morning. Can you tell they were a TAD excited?


This one is one we took of Caleb to send in with his school application for the school the boys will attend in the States in the fall. We went through all of our pictures from this past year and could not find a. single. picture. of either Caleb or Elijah wearing a shirt other than a few family pics. Seriously, they are going to go through major culture shock when we got back to America and my laundry load is going to double. So we made Caleb put a shirt on a took a few pictures of him. :) We sent the school a picture of Elijah with no shirt on.... climbing up this huge rock barefooted. It's a great pic and we really didn't think it was honest that we send a picture of him looking like a normal American kid with shoes and a shirt when he never wears either. :) We actually put on his application that one of the areas we were concerned with in him attending the school was he will have to be so dressed up for school all the time - I don't think he's worn socks 5 times in the last 3 years. I think it's a MK rule that MKs don't ever wear shoes and only wear shirts if they are girls. :) Seriously, at the high school graduation last spring most of the kids walked into the auditorium barefooted!


We actually didn't send this one. We sent one where he is looking at the camera and smiling like a normal kid. Boy, will they be surprised! :):)

Murder threats, princess cakes and Merry Christmases

So it's December 27. Christmas is officially over for another year and we're alternating between crazy tired, cranky "when can normal life resume?" and post-Christmas happy contented little boys who play for hours on end with their new treasures.

One of the hard parts about life here around the holidays is trying to find the balance between celebrating our own American traditions and embracing the traditions and culture around us - which usually means forgoing our traditions. For the past few years, I'll admit - we've shut our curtains, locked our doors and tried to stay in a tiny American cocoon for Christmas week. But the kids are getting older and we're getting more involved in our local church, so we decided this year we would jump in and celebrate with our national brothers and sisters.

So Christmas Eve found us at church. The service was to start at 5 pm, but knowing the local views on time, we planned to leave our house at 5.... which still put us at the church before the pastors showed up! :) By the time the service started, the boys were a bit on meltdown - we were supposed to eat after the service, but since it didn't start til almost 7, we were all starving and had already raided the snacks I had packed. :)

The kids had a service at the same time the adults did. I'm not quite sure what happened in the adult service, but I can tell you there were about 150 little kids crammed in a tiny room and the speaker told the story of Herod chasing Baby Jesus and trying to kill Him! There were no angels or shepherds guarding their flocks; no Baby in the manger. Mary and Joseph were hiding Jesus, running from soldiers, scared to death. Every other word was "murder," "death," or "die." The kids' eyes were wide and horrified. You know, I don't think it really put anyone in a Christmas mood. :) I took the liberty of "translating" the story a bit differently for the boys - threw in the manger and animals and hay and left out "kill" and "die."

After the Bible story we had Birthday Cake for Jesus... I think. It was a huge white frosting tiered thing... similar to a wedding cake.... with Disney princess figurines all over it. I kid you not. There was Snow White and Sleeping Beauty and a few others I didn't recognize because we don't do princesses in our house. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. We sang their version of "Happy Birthday" to Jesus but the words translate somewhat "May you live long this year" which I also didn't think was real appropriate to sing to an Eternal God, but I figure He got the gist. :)

The evening wasn't a total bust though. There were snacks for the boys and they left happy. :) We rushed through baths and threw down a piece of pizza and tried to get them in bed before 9.... so much for "early to bed so Santa can come"!!!

Christmas Day we had a beautiful day at home. I was so thankful. The boys were so excited about all their presents... very simple, small stuff - I think they each had about 5 or 6 things to open, so it didn't take us too long, but was so much fun. We didn't have a present for Ezra so Brant made a chalkboard - cut a thin piece of plywood and painted it with chalkboard paint and then cut a rag for an eraser and got a box of chalk. I think the whole project cost us about $2. He LOVED it. He was screaming so excited drawing and erasing as fast as he could - drawing and erasing, drawing and erasing. Both Brant and I almost cried - it was one of those "perfect gift" moments and was so much fun to see him so excited.

Gift giving is a very touchy subject among missionaries. We are very blessed to have family and friends who send us packages so the boys get import toys for presents and we usually have candy canes and other seasonal treats. But many of our friends don't get presents and packages from out of country, so we have to be very careful when talking with our friends. So right before our friends came for dinner Christmas Day evening, the boys packed up their new toys and put them away.... we celebrated in the evening with a new family from another mission organization. Was fun in a "nice to meet you; have a Merry Christmas" kind of way. :):)

Was such a fun day and we are so blessed to have healthy kids, a nice home, fun presents, and friends to enjoy life with. Very blessed. We all went to bed happy and slept well.

Monday is "Christmas Day 2." I kid you not. It says that on the calendar and is an official holiday. Actually not a bad idea, though I'm not sure it would fly in America with all the after Christmas sales starting in earnest. :) On "Christmas Day 2" you spend the day going around town visiting friends and associates. Every house is EXACTLY the same... really no creativity at all going on here. The kids are given Strawberry Fanta to drink. The adults are served Coke. Room temperature. There are little round plastic boxes of store bought cookies on a table in the middle of the room and you have to eat at least one of each kind. No one has ovens here and buying store bought cookies is a sign of wealth, so even if you are starving the rest of the year, you serve store bought cookies - the wealthier the house, the more containers of cookies. You stay for an hour at each house; eat cookies, drink Coke, chit chat. Then the boys are given a treat to take on the road and you start all over at the next house. Needless to say, we were so sick by the end of the day! But the boys were in heaven... or a sugar induced high, I'm not quite sure which. :)

Again, this was the first year we spent the day visiting. It actually was quite fun and a good reminder that we have built some good relationships with nationals. Most of the people we visited aren't believers and so good to be able to deepen relationships and share our life with them. We visited some people from our old neighborhood and Penny's family and took bags of food - oil, salt, powdered milk, bread, etc.... which is totally not cultural at all, but something we wanted to do to bless them.

To top it all off, today was a wedding! (Yes, we are totally exhausted!) Our pastor at our national church got married... but that is a whole other story in itself! Think bride prices and sermons on why women are worth more than outboard motors... Maybe I'll get around to telling it someday when I stop laughing. :)

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!