My Martha Moment

Do you remember my desperate plea for vision about my entry hallway?

Does that jog your memory?

Well, I'll be honest, I was really discouraged by the comments that were posted. My initial reaction . . . "do they not realize I can get NONE of those things here or that the wall under the windows is not really a wall but just a thin piece of fiberboard?" But then Melissa comment about what we could get in Ancient City raised the bar a little and got me started thinking . . . "maybe I can make it a challenge and see how I can make it work!"

So it's been a fun 2 months of challenge and I wanted to share my finished product!

I looked hard for the "bamboo blinds" and really wanted to make that happen. I found a Russian owned store (so funny, I spoke "Aobistani" and she wrote the prices on paper as she could only speak Russian). She had 1, 1 meter long blind for $35. And no other available. So I opted with my own creation.

It's a white fabric (that they use) with pvc pipe to make it hang straight. My original plan was to be able to pull them up and hide them under the valance, but the valance doesn't cover the ends like I was hoping. I guess that is what happens when you sew without a pattern. You make it up as it goes. But it has totally changed the room. It's not near as hot or intense and we hang out a lot in this space. My plan is to fill the window sill with potted plants. I bought my first one from a little Russian widow (this one spoke "Aobistani") and hope to go back and buy more.

I loved the suggestion for seats under the window with space for storage. Austin was a little overwhelmed by the thought of building them himself; as we were still working on running water into our house. I was so excited when I found a kitchen set, with benches that had storage under the seat, at a furniture store in our town. So that was my anniversary gift. It has a corner seat, so the whole piece can fit in the corner of a kitchen/dining area, but we don't have corners where it can be used. I have extra fabric from the curtains and I'm thinking about re-covering them (with a plastic cover on top of that), so we'll see what happens with that.

But we sure are loving the new space to live in and having tall chairs to sit on!

If anything, this process has shown me that I have friends who really believe in me. Thanks for the insight and for calling me to a challenge that was really fun and encouraging to see it happen. I guess I'll be careful what I ask for in the future! :) You're welcome to come over for tea/lemonade anytime!

Meet Meshad

At the influence of his 8 year old buddy, Silas, Ethan has gotten into catching and keeping bugs as pets. The other day he found this caterpillar and we are going on day 4 of sucessfully keeping him alive in an RC bottle.

We asked Ethan what he was going to name his new pet and he said "Meshad." Meshad translates "you will become." Austin and I thought it was quite profound of a name for a caterpillar that could become a butterfly.

Here are some shots of Ethan and Elli giving Meshad a little exercise in their sandbox. Austin built this sandbox for Ethan's birthday. It's 2x2 m. and even has little seats for "princesses" to sit on. :) Our sand is black here, but the kids sure love to play in it.

Back to School

The hustle and bustle of back to school is evident even in our Valley. School starts on September 1st and tables of notebooks, school uniforms, new socks, etc. fill the bazaar. But the white bows have struck my fancy this fall; something I see atop every little school aged girl as they walk to and from school. But something that you don't see in the states. No new crayons, markers or lunch boxes in our bazaar . . . just rows and rows of hair bows.

I thought you'd enjoy seeing different ways that little girls wear their bows.

On braids, pigtails, and the basic pony tail.

It's hard to imagine what we have to look forward to with little Elli. Isn't it? But I have a feeling, when the time comes, she'll be all about it!

Elli in the Mirror

Elli has discovered her very own mirror.

That's right, there is a reflective strip on the fridge door and it's just her height. Sorry I couldn't get a better picture, but she loves to stand in front of the "mirror" and fix her hair! I love my clever little princess!

Growing Pains

Though my kiddos play great together, there are times when Elli's destructive curiosity frustrates her brother's growing love for building things. Though he still plays with the "big Lego's," he is growing more and more creative and comfortable with the "little Lego's." So in hopes of family peace we've created a building nook where Elli can't reach.

Ethan sits in the windowsill of their room to build and display his structures. The trunks won't always be there, but for the time being they prove a handy Elli barricade!

So Ethan builds to his hearts content and family harmony is maintained for a little while longer!

Kitty Rescue-a creative answer

I'm learning about myself that I have a very strong hatred for mice/rats. And honestly, it probably ventures into an irrational fear. And unfortunately, our kitchen seems to be a favorite spot for the local mice population. We have patched up two holes in our walls and just found a third one several days ago. Not shortly there after, Austin ventured into the kitchen one evening and actually saw the cheeky mouse (or rat depending on which of us you ask) cruising around our kitchen. So then it was three nights of peanut butter laden traps. We've learned that they are quite clever little buggers, so packing tape, ever so lightly over the peanut butter keeps them there long enough to pop the trap.

Day three we did catch the foot long (tail included) mouse/rat (again depending on who you talk to). And later that day we were greeted by a welcome sound in our attic. The roofs here are only closed on one side. So a mommy cat had made her way into our attic from the back side and found a cozy corner, over our kitchen, to nestle down with her young kitties. For at least two days we heard fervent "mewing" above our eating table and kitchen. But in my mind, that's God's creative answer for ridding our home of mice.

But several days into our kitty refuge, Austin came home to some incessant meowing. We decided one of the kitties had fallen into the wall from his attic home.

Austin pried back the wall to let the kitty free. That little black thing is it's paw popping through.


We put the kitty in a box and tried to offer him some milk (to convince him to stay in our attic) and then returned him to his mommy.

Unfortunately the kitties have moved on to a new refuge and 2 nights ago we heard the mice again in our kitchen. So it's back to poison and prayer. But for the few days we had them, they sure were a welcome guest!

It'll melt your heart

Yesterday, after rest time (and while Elli was still asleep) Ethan and I were in the kitchen. I was cutting up his fruit snack and he was waiting on our little kitchen bench/steps.
"Mommy," he said.
"Yes buddy?"
"Can I just give you some lovin'?"
Of course I heartily complied and we just hugged on the bench for a good long time. I love this boy and all his heart! And yesterday, he sure captured mine!

Found the Markers

Yesterday, Elli found big brother's markers. I don't remember Ethan being so artistic at this age, but then I guess we didn't have markers around until he was older. The perks of being the second born; earlier access.

Brother made sure to complete the applications with some "lipstick" and the Central Asian darkened eyebrows.

After she quit giggling, her question was "pretty, pretty?" This is her new giggle as of the last several days. Also very culturally appropriate; keeping her mouth covered. I'm not quite sure where she learned it, but it's pretty cute.

Sundays with Alan

Alan Jackson . . . isn't that the country singer with the hit "5 o'clock somewhere" that is played on every country radio station at some point on a Friday broadcast? Did you know he also has a hymns album? I didn't either, until we sang along with him on Sunday morning; a recording, not live of course. At the time it didn't seem too strange until I got home and started thinking about who are "lead worshiper" was for the day. Sure made me miss my like-hearted 3rd service friends at River!!! I think it's time for me to break out the guitar and hone my very basic cords. Otherwise we may have sing-along with Alan every week!

We have running water!

There it is!!! Perched a top our grape vine trelace (an Austin original idea) and plumbing water, by way of a pump, to our house!

These are the 2 guys that helped Austin make it happen! They have come out from the capitol to help fix up 3 (possibly 4) of our houses and the new office. They worked at our house a total of 3 1/2 days. I cooked all of their meals, exhausting my national menus. (Thanks Aunt Marj for the Taco Soup recipe. They loved it and it came as a nice break halfway through.) They slept 3 nights at our house and even joined us for pancake breakfast on our anniversary morning!

Ethan loved every minute of having the guys with us. He loved to help them and they graciously let him. Here he's helping mix the concrete. Behind him is the cistern where the water comes into our yard. A pump now pumps that into the tank which then is plumbed to bring water into our house.

It is funny how each kid clicked with a different guy. This was Elli's favorite. She knows him by name and is quick to run to him to great him whenever she sees him. A father of 3 sons, I think Elli's convinced him that a daughter is worth having!

This is when you realize your house is really just mud with a nice coat of paint over top! They pounded a hole through the wall to bring in the water pipe. So even though it looks like a nice western home on the outside . . . it's just a good paint job! :)

Look at those cabinets!!! We found them in a furniture store here and were doubtful they would all fit in my little kitchen (if you don't remember how small my kitchen is see previous post:http://amersheks.blogspot.com/2009/06/we-have-home.html ). They all fit and actually make the kitchen feel so much bigger. It is so wonderful to have a place for things. I've put off buying dishes (plates/bowls/silverware) until I had somewhere to put them. So I'm excited to go shopping for my own.

A double sink, can you believe it!!!! Friends found it at a random furniture store in the capitol. It is so wonderful and makes me feel like I'm washing dishes in America! And I love my dish drainer. So as not to take up counter space, it is hung on the wall. I didn't think I'd like it as much as a similar style I had in Ancient City, but it is proving to work better than I expected.

Austin built this step stool to make passage in and out of our veranda (through the kitchen window) a little easier. He designed it to be wide enough for Ethan and Elli to sit on for snack time and it works great. Underneath you see a second pump we had to install to get the water pressure strong enough to use a hot water heater. Unfortunately that means our bathroom water usage is dependent on the electricity being on (which in the winter is only 2-3 hours/day) but we are loving the showers right now!

Why some days I feel like Laura Engles Wilder

I’ve kind of lost track of all the new things that I’ve learned to do here. There are some days it feels like I’m always learning something and then there are some days when I can’t believe how quickly crazy things have become normal. I didn’t want to inundate you with a blog for each new thing, so I’ve been saving up. And I’ve decided that there are some elements of my new life here that at the end of the day make me feel like Laura Ingles Wilder.

I’ve learned to grind my own meat. Praise the Lord for good tools like the 220V Kitchen Aid with meat grinding attachment that I inherited from my mom and an awesome de-boning knife my husband bought for me in Dubai before we moved here. It actually turned out pretty good, other than the splatterings of meat and fat that I wore all over my front.

I’ve now made 4 different kinds of jam; strawberry, blackberry, apricot and triple berry. I think this one (triple berry) is the prettiest of the 4 with all the rich colors. It is also my favorite berry jam, not too sweet and not too tart. I’d like to try several other kinds of jam, but have used up all the Sure Jell packets currently in my possession. If the packages laden with it make it here we’ll keep a jammin’!

This is how we do milk. A very eccentric little old lady from a neighboring village brings us fresh milk in her old 2 L plastic bottles. I heat it to 262F to kill whatever really bad things that is supposed to kill, and then quickly cool it back down to room temperature. I strain all of it when it's done cooling, to remove random hairs, chunks, etc. With some of the milk and a hearty dollop of sour cream for my start, I make some really yummy yogurt for breakfast. I wrap the warm milk/sour cream mix in a towel and it shares self space in my closet for about 8 hours. Our family loves yogurt with either fresh fruit or jam mixed in!

With the fresh fruit that is now in abundance, I've also learned how to make "compote;" fresh juice that I've canned to drink in the winter. I've made sour cherry (delicious family favorite), apricot and yellow plum. It's a process of a 2 liter jar 1/3 full of clean fresh fruit, 1 cup of sugar and then boiling water poured over top. They can using a tool to crimp the lid down over top of the jar and then it is stored upside down for 2 days. By that time it has sucked down and sealed. Unfortunately my first 2 batches turned into wine which I then had to dump down our squatty potty. So sad after all that work! I've learned better how to sterilize and firmly seal the jars. So hopefully I won't be flushing an more work down the toilet.

And then there is the bucketing of water. With the red buckets in the background, my hubby and I have bucketed every drop of water we've used to wash clothes, shower, clean, wash dishes, etc. for the last 3 months. Will I miss these buckets when the water starts running from my faucet? Doubtful! :) Though they have provided a free and very effective upper body workout!

Party Pics

We just celebrated Ezra's (Ezie) birthday. And having the camera out for pictures of the party, yielded some fun pictures of my kiddos I wanted to share.

This is Ezra, Ethan's closest English speaking friend. Ezra just turned 7, so they are 3 years apart. It is quite a gap, but amazingly they play really well together.

Since watching "The Incredibles," Ethan has been begging for a super hero costume. So for Ezie's birthday, I made the boys matching super E capes. Both capes have a large E sewn on the back.

A fun game of balloon toss. Ethan, at least 4 years younger than his partner, didn't want to back up for fear of the balloon popping. We're working on catching and throwing!

Elli LOVES babies. Everywhere we go, she's pointing out "nini" (baby). And she loves to bring a nini with her. If you enlarge the picture you can see the little curls that appear to be coming in on the back of her head! So fun!

Elli's other love . . . watermelon. She'd eat her weight in it, if I let her.