Ethan's newest Theological query

"Mom, how can God see us if He doesn't have a head?"

"And how can He hear me if He doesn't have ears?"

The spiritual wrestlings of my 4 year old.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family! We sure had a fun time. We were able to talk to both of our families, which is always hard but special. And then we celebrated with our friends (the only other Americans in town). We had all the season's flavors; stuffing, sweet potato casserole (made with pumpkin), awesome green beans with precious bacon, jello, mashed potatoes, etc.

We put 2 tables together to accomodate everything!


Our skinny little bird. And they don't come pumped up with all the yummy fluid either, but we were grateful to have a Turkey!

Our 2 cream cheese creations that we were proud of. T made 2 cheese balls from her own cream cheese and we had a successful Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake for dessert. Though the top got a little brown, the rest of it was super yummy!

This was the craft activity I had planned for while Elli was napping. But the kids were content to play instead. So it became the day after Thanksgiving activity. After the lid to one of my 2L jars of applesauce blew, I was willing to try it. Equal parts applesauce and cinnamon, cut them out with cookie cutters, dry for 3 days and you have some great smelling Christmas ornaments. One of the girls crafting with us had the idea to decorate them with beads. We'll see how it all drys. I love the 4 year old boy touch Ethan added to his gingerbread man, Santa and angel! Thanks Sarah for sharing your crafting idea!

And of course our fun festivities hair do! Mama's lovin' the curls!

Moving it inside

The weather is starting to get colder and that means more of life and play time is done inside. Sometimes inside doesn't feel that much warmer, so we find ourselves wanting to stay under our covers as long as possible. A couple of days ago Ethan came running to report (characteristic of a 4 year old boy) "Mommy when I pee, it smokes." I guess our bathroom's a little cold!

Anyway, here are some pictures of my kids playing inside.

Lots of forts and reading books. There were several really long days and I can guarantee you this mama will be ready for Spring.


This is the "cape club" that spontaneously happened one afternoon in our long veranda. One benefit of living like we do is that my kids get exposure playing with lots of various age friends. Right now Ethan's best buds are 6 and 10 years old.

They're curls!

Today I had the notion to do something with my little princess's fuzzy bed-head before we went to fellowship. I had to cox here with lots of "oh, so pretty!"

These are the curls that are starting to appear on her little head, with the help of some of mommy's curl activator.

And here's how it dried. There would have been curls on top too, but in the process of getting dressed and styling a very uncooperative little girl, we went with a "straight in the front" kind of look. I'm so excited.

Back online!

That's right. Today, Jacob-jan came, after almost daily (sometimes multiple times/day) phone calls for almost 3 weeks. He not only fixed my computer issue but also installed our wireless modem we bought when in the capitol. We are excited, and it comes at just the right time; when so many other things seem extra needy and unmanageable.

So I'm going to post all the back-posts I've been waiting to post. Go back and read them (don't miss the last 2 from October). I'm not "a-type" about much, but I try and keep things somewhat chronological on my blog. I guess it's because in this chapter of life, this is as close as I'm getting to journaling or scrapbooking. So gotta keep it in order.

Happy reading!

Birthday Fair

At noon today we were invited to a birthday party to be held this evening. The oldest son at our homestay (and Austin's friend) is turning 39.

And what do you get for a 39 year old man in Aobistan.

What better than manly cologne?

Here's my man modeling it for you.

"Cook"

"Cook," "help" these are some of Elli's favorite things to say lately. Of course she's never as much help as she wants to be, because she has a mind of her own on how she'll cook.

I set her up with a pot of dry beans and rice, thinking it would keep her entertained. Of course the rice and beans ended up throughout the house with carrots, garlic and Legos added to them.

Cream Cheese Sucess

Just a quick update:

I've made cream cheese frosting!


Pumpkin spice bars with cream cheese frosting. So yummy! So I've started a large batch of cream cheese for a Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake for Thanksgiving!

Missing my computer!

If you are curious where I've been, our family is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Thus the lapse in blog or email communication. Since returning from the capitol, Austin has again been connecting his computer up to a desktop monitor. Much like he had to this time last year. My computer, however, is no longer functioning properly on the internet and we can't figure out why. Jacob-jan, the computer/internet guy who now plays Settlers of Catan, is not answering our phone calls. So frustrating. I have so many things to tell/show you . . . we've been in our house a week; we have a door and a new bathroom floor; upon our arrival home we were heartily greeted by visitors; our fall festivities; and many more stories and pictures. You can ask that Jacob-jan answers his phone and knows how to fix my computer. While you're asking, you could even ask for Austin's monitor to start working again.

Hopefully bright pictures and comical third world stories will be meeting you the next time you check our blog. Until then, I've started reading "The Shack" in my normal blogging moments. :) Miss you!

A swing upgrade

One of our biggest finds while we were shopping in the capitol was a swing for Elli. So she's successfully upgraded from this

to this

She loves it, even though it's really cold out. Austin's planning to re-hang Ethan's swing from the grapevine trellace. And Ethan can't wait. He's excited to be able to swing even higher.

Back home with visitors!

November 2nd we moved back home! So grateful to be back in a space that we know and have really made our own. Crazy enough, I did the math, and in the month of October we slept in our own beds 7 nights. I think that caught us by surprise; we didn't plan to be out of pocket that much. So it felt really good to be home.

A local friend and I worked hard all day to get the fine layers of dust off of EVERYTHING in our home. We ended up rolling up our longest piece of carpet, to shake out the dust outside just before it started to rain. Austin worked most of the day to get our heaters up and running so that we could heat our house up. By mid-afternoon, I'll be honest, I was dreaming of sweatpants and a quite night settling back in to life at home.

But that would be way too predictable for the life we are coming to know here. At 4:30, 4 women from our homestay family showed up with a big bag of something. We went through the long line of greetings and "why weren't you there?" before they let me know they had come to use our shower. The weather has gotten colder and the community shower is starting to get really crowded.

"Why of course, come in" we replied. First I had to explain that our water has a strong bleach smell, as Austin cleaned out the water tank while we were living somewhere else. The bleach was fully diluted, it just smelled like you'd been swimming after your shower.

"No problem", they said.
"We've also been gone for 2 weeks and I haven't used the shower yet. It should be fine, but I don't know. Our electricity has been off for the last 3 days, so the hot water tank may not be completely full either," I explained.
"No problem" was again their reply.
So we got them set up in our bedroom and bathroom. Austin took apart one of the heaters he had just put together, so that the bathroom would be warmer for them. I taught them how to use a shower and explained how to regulate the temperature of the water.
"Oh, I forgot my conditioner, do you have some?" Kaleen asked.
"No problem," and I showed her where it was. It wasn't what she was used to, so I served her up a small bowl of my homemade yogurt instead.

By 6p.m. the first 2 women were back in the bathroom bathing, while I served tea and the left over oatmeal bread and apple butter from our family fall celebration. By 6:45 they were finishing up and complaining that the water had gotten cold. The entire water heater had been drained.

"Let's eat dinner and maybe it will fill back up in the meantime" I proposed.

Luckily I had made a chicken noodle casserole ahead of time, to make our first night back home a little easier. Little did I know how grateful I would be for it. Served with local presentation, we had chicken noodle casserole and steamed pumpkin. Some liked it and others didn't, but they were very gracious.

On low electricity the hot water heater wasn't even half full yet. So I began boiling water to take back to the final 2 women who were now patiently waiting. After 8 trips (of my 3 largest pots/trip) the ladies had all the water they needed and were finishing up.

By 9 p.m. Austin was delivering them home. Needless to say, we fell into bed that night with a good case of the giggles. What a crazy night. And to be back in our beds with tired bodies after a long day, we slept really well!

Fall Fun

Fridays are typically our family fun night, which most often involves popcorn and a Cosby show. Instead of Friday, we had family fun night on Saturday night. Halloween night. Our only other American friends hadn't returned from the capitol, so it was truly a family night. How do you explain people (adult and children alike) dressing up in crazy outfits and begging for candy from their neighbors. It just doesn't translate cross culturally. Needless to say we didn't dress up or go trick-o-treating. We had a fun "harvest night" at home instead.

We had cream of pumpkin soup, homemade oatmeal bread, apple butter and hot apple cider. After dinner we carved a pumpkin together. The skin of our pumpkins is green.

Rather than a candle, the kids got the biggest kick out of using Daddy's head lamp, on the red setting, to light their jack-o-lantern.

It sure was a fun night together. It was a fun day too. All day, as I prepped for our evening's festivities, I thought of where we were at this time last year. Physically yes, but even more so emotionally. We were looking forward to a trip out of town to go trick-o-treating with a large group of Americans.

Ethan and I were working on our Thomas the Tank engine costume. But also everyday we were getting security reports. Much to my little 3 year old's disappointment, Halloween plans fell through at the last minute due to awful threats on the road we were to travel on.

As I thought and pondered all day, I thanked Father for how He has lead and cared for us. For letting us know the places and people we have. And for today, having a day of peace in our home. Though I know I am not owed it and I never want to take it forgranted.