We had 4 men from Fort Smith, AR visit last week and had a great time. Scott we knew quite well from some training time we had together back in 2007. The other 3 guys we met in February over an amazing bbq pork lunch!!!! When our interactions with outside visitors are as limited as they are, we quickly become good friends.
They were a fun group of guys; quick to keep us laughing.
They were welcomed with a team ice cream gathering.
And they in turn passed out special gifts to each kid.
What fun surprises.
We enjoyed a dinner together at a new restaurant down by the River. I’m excited by the possibility of a caravot at a house we are hoping to move to; an elevated table that you sit on floor pillows on and enjoy the fresh outside air. I guess we’ve gotten used to sitting on the floor, as their legs were feeling pretty cramped by this point in the trip.
Thank you guys for coming! And thank you to your families for letting you be gone, especially on Mother’s Day. Thanks too for the mound of goodies you brought for us! Our hearts were encouraged and lifted by our time with you!
Austin is mid-trip on his third trip over the mountains to the capitol since we've arrived. This trip Ethan and I made some pigs in the blanket to send along with him. In the baking process we had the following conversation:
E: "Mom, where did you learn to make these?"
Me: "My mommy taught me. She used to make these and send them in my lunches to school."
As we rolled out cinnamon rolls with the remaining dough:
E: "Mom, where did you learn to make cinnamon rolls?"
Me: "My mommy taught me. In the summers I would make them and sell them at the guest house for people who were traveling through town."
After the cinnamon rolls cooled, I took a pan of them (in a fancy local ziplock) over to our neighboor to thank them for letting us use their water to fill our tank. They sheepishly took them as I went on and on about how worried I was to be without water and how much it helps me, with 3 small children, to have water. (I laid it on thick.)
The next morning, I woke up to find our lower cistern overflowing and Austin's rigged "sprinkler hose" attached to the overflow spout couldn't keep up. I chuckled to myself when I thought "where did I learn that trick? (warm baked goods and an appreciate attitude.)
You guessed it . . . my mom! Can't count the number of times she took bannana muffins or poppy seed bread down to the phone company or water company and things would get fixed! It works in Central Asia too.
Thanks Mom, for all you have taught me! I'm so grateful for you. Happy Mother's Day (a little early!)
Wednesday night, we convinced Ethan to let Daddy try and pull his VERY wiggly tooth. One of his adult teeth was already poking up behind it and needing some extra room! The drama quickly subsided and he was excited to put them, in a bag, under his pillow for the tooth fairy to reward!
Here he is, celebrating his prizes! It's about $1.25 each (not that we were that planful about the exact amount. Infact, we forgot about it until Austin was up to quiet Elli back down in the middle of the night. Wouldn't that have been disappointing?)
He sure seems like a big boy with his cute new little grin. It catches me by surprise when he smiles back at me with his little gap on the bottom. But then again, those big blue, almond shape eyes . . . .
they haven't changed much, have they?! (photo by Nate Sapp)
We had a sweet Easter with our friends back in the Valley. We showed up for fellowship at 9, though it didn't begin until closer to 10 (just too many little preparations to get started on time.) And then I think we left close to 7 p.m. Just a lot of time catching up and being together.
We had 2 egg hunts; one for the 3 and younger crowd and then the 5 to 16 group. The kids played under the sprinkler, since it was 95F; I'm kind of scared at what the summer may be.
Of course we had our fun baking creations. Rhubarb is out at the bazaar, so I tried my hand at a Strawberry Rhubarb pie. I've never worked with rhubarb. It's amazingly stringy, but cooks well. Strawberrys aren't here yet, but I had a jar of Strawberry jam I made in May 2009. With some alterations to the recipe, I think it turned out well.
All in all a great day of celebrating Him!!! Hope it was for you as well.
I feel like I should have posted long before now . . . sorry that I haven't. We've been in our city for almost a week and a half. We showed up and the electricity went out. Or at least almost! Since we've arrived, they have been seriously rationing our power. I guess there wasn't much snow this last winter, which means there hasn't been much melt off to fill the dam to then power the country (via hydroelectric power). Everyday the "schedule" has been different. So that leaves you to wonder, "is there really a schedule, or is that my Western mind stretching for something structured and predictable. But even in "the dark" it has been good to be back. It has just meant getting set back up is taking a little longer, and several more steps, than we anticipated.
All that to say, conserving the computer battery and tackeling the list of electricity necessary tasks has kept me from blogging. And in all honesty fun times and some overwhelming ones too have also contributed to the silence.
Some pictures to catch you up:
When I caught them playing! They sure love each other and have such fun together.
My little "duck hunter." It's hard to believe he's almost 7 months.
That's right, we have 2 very loose teeth. (Notice Elli giving her support and encouragement?) Trying to pull them by headlamp. Not quiet ready . . . but soon! Maybe the cast will come off and the teeth will fall out all at once. What kind of fairy would that be? A casted tooth fairy?
As of Saturday, 2 of the families on our team have come into the capitol for a homeschool testing/conference. But that has meant we've gotten to have time together! We had a basic meal together and it was SO good to be back with those we love and have missed.
This was the line waiting to wash hands for dinner!
It’s almost comical to see how jet lag impacts each of us individually.Some I’ve been able to capture on camera, but others I have not.I thought you’d get a kick out of it too.
Ethan: He is driven to clean!I think it’s honestly more the unsettledness of life that brings this urge on, not so much jet lag.He actually has recovered the fastest of all of us.He plays hard all day with the little boys that live at the Guest house.And his absolute abhorrence of naps has helped him kick jet lag!
Elli: When she’s loopy tired, she’s a LOT more talkative!Didn’t know it was possible, but it’s true.And the things she says are so funny.The expressions are all there, but the thoughts she has crack us up.One of the first nights, she was sitting at the table and said “Now that we’re in [Aobistan], I’ve learned to say “noooo.”All in English, she dragged out that “nooo” with all kinds of personality.The rest of us died laughing.Friday, I put her down for her afternoon nap, from which I then had to wake her up from with all my will.We had decided, pre nap, to have popcorn and apples (our family fun night tradition) that afternoon, since we were eating dinner with friends that night.In hopes of helping her wake up, I offered her very favorite treat/tradition.To which she replied, “I hate popcorn and apples, I just want to sleep!”
We finally convinced her to get up and she was eager to take her popcorn outside and share!
Elias: There is nothing more pitiful than a baby on jetlag!I’ve had to wake him up from multiple naps and his poor little eyes, glazed over, ask me “Mommy, what have you done to me?”He’s been waking up, ready to play, at around 3 a.m.Our electricity has been going out at night, so that means playing with either Mommy or Daddy by candlelight.
Austin: his strategy the first few days, when your body just wants to sleep and you can barely function, was to “position himself to wake up.”So I would find him sitting in a chair in the entryway while the kids ran in and out.He was crashed out but knew that he would have to wake up sooner rather than later.Our first night in country, he nodded off to sleep mid-story while we were eating dinner with friends.
Jenni: I don’t know if I’ve ever longed so intently for my bed before.Something just comes over me and all I want to do is lay down.I walk by my bed and it is as if it has a magnetic pull on me.One day, overcome with tiredness, I laid down on the floor in the middle of the dining room and fell asleep.When Ethan asked to project something, I had to honestly reply “Mommy’s too tired to think about projects!”
We are slowly getting through it. The big kids have slept through the night the last two nights, so for that I am GRATEFUL!
