Flashback: Fun with Rice

I was sorting through some digital pictures today and ran across these gems. [By the way, does anyone else have a hard time keeping up with their digital pictures? I used to have a method of downloading them onto our computer, sorted by date, and then after a period of time, burning them onto CDs so as to have external record of them in case our computer ever crashed, but I'm about a year behind. Is there a better way? Help, anyone?!]

A few months ago, before our trip down south, it was my turn to host the playdate with Clara Anne and Chloe's friends Emma and Samantha. One of the activities that we did was supposed to help them understand the concept of 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 whole. I had a large container of raw rice and four baby food jars with the measurements marked around them with rubber bands. We then were going to fill our baby food jars up to the measurements and talk about the difference between them; i.e. is 1/2 more or less than 1/4? Well, that was the idea anyway.

The girls immediately had a great time putting their hands into the rice and using small cups and funnels to pour it into the jars. Invariably (I expected this) some rice was spilled. They didn't care whatsoever about the measurement markings on the jars, they were just totally enthralled with the feel of the rice, the fun sounds it made as it filled up the jars, and then the especially fun sounds it made as it hit the floor.

Knowing that only more and more rice would end up on the floor, we didn't really make any effort to sweep up as the activity was going on. But occasionally as the girls would fill their jars we would pour it back into the bowl; they seemed to not even notice and just kept on busily filling the jars. A few times we swept the rice that spilled on the table back into the bowl as well, but sort of early on we gave up the "floor rice" as a lost cause.

As time went on there became even less of an effort to keep the rice in the jars, in the bowls, or even on the table. One child (I can't remember who) asked to take off their socks and walk around on the rice-y floor. The rest, of course, had to follow suit, and then pretty soon there was a general desire (among the children!) to take off shirts and pants as well. The rice became sand on the seashore and the girls rolled around in it, tossed it in the air, got it into every nook and cranny, laughed and laughed, and just generally had a splendid time, as these pictures will attest.

So there you go--the next time your kids are bored, try playing with some raw rice! Next on our plans? I heard someone say something about flour . . .

A Quick Trip and a Settled Peace

Many of you know that John and I had been seriously considering arranging for the birth of our third daughter here in our Asian country. Typically, we would fly out to Thailand for this birth, but we felt that going so far away, and needing to be gone so long, would really be a detriment to our work and family life this spring. The rule on the airline we use is that a pregnant woman cannot fly past 36 weeks, and so we would have had to leave a month before my due date, putting us in Thailand with basically nothing to do but wait for the baby. Then after the baby is born, we would need to apply for her paperwork (birth certificate, passport, and visa) before we could travel again--probably another 3-4 weeks.

The idea of packing up and moving our whole family for two months did not sound very fun, especially since a lot of that time would just be somewhat aimless waiting. (Of course there are ways to redeem the time, but being away from our work and in a totally different culture and using a different language makes us feel even further away from where we are called.) As well, since everything went so well with Clara Anne and Chloe's births, and this pregnancy has proceeded normally with nothing unusual, the "giving birth in country" option was looking better and better.

I also felt relieved that I was able to get such a thorough check-up in Hong Kong just a few weeks ago. If there had been anything, even a small thing, that looked suspicious with the baby (like evidence of a slight heart murmur or a cleft lip or something), we would have immediately changed our delivery plans. But thankfully, the baby looks to be very healthy, active, and a good size--no forseeable problems whatsoever.

But then, last Friday happened. Last Friday was the day that I took Chloe in for her brief visit to the doctor, getting her urine checked etc. My experience at the hospital was less than ideal--a doctor who seemed like she was bored with it all and would rather have been anywhere else, a waiting area with kids peeing on the floor, the cleaning ladies swishing dirty water around in pointless effort, and in general, a very dismal and depressing place.

While we were waiting the girls were eating some raisins and Clara Anne dropped one on the floor. "DON'T touch that!" I practically leapt up to prevent her from picking it up and eating it off that very unsanitary floor. I tried to keep them from touching anything, actually, since it just gave me the shivers to think about what germs were floating around there.

That experience really made me wonder, "what in the world am I doing planning to give birth to a baby in a place like this!" True, the hospital we would go to is affilated with an International Clinic, with (hopefully) more international standards of cleanliness, but I started to think again about all of the unknowns in this situation. Nursing care in this country is almost non-existent (usually families hire a helper or stay themselves with a loved one in order to help the patient to the bathroom, provide meals for the patient, etc) and so I found myself thinking about basic questions like "who will check me to see if I'm fully dilated?" and "Will there be someone to bathe the baby after she is born?" And, I admit it, I started to worry a little bit.

Enter John. He encouraged me to sit down with him last Sunday evening and organize our birth plan, as well as talk through all of the questions that still remained about giving birth in this very different culture. We came up with a list of probably 50 questions that we wanted to ask the doctor, whom we had met briefly once. Topping the list was "So can you get special permission for John to be with me during the entire labor and deliver?" as well as "What do you think will necessitate a C-section?" [My helper estimated that 90-95% of women in this country have c-sections, which I truly want to avoid if at all possible.]

We then realized that if things didn't, in fact, work out in this neighboring city with the International Clinic, we would have little time to plan a trip to Thailand unless we did it soon. (I'm already 33 weeks!) So on Sunday night we made some plans, on Monday morning we made some calls and bought train tickets, and on Tuesday we made the trip! The city is nearby, 2.5 hours by a fast train, and so we took the train there in the morning, had lunch with a friend who lives there, and met the doctor at 2pm. We were finished at the hospital at 3:30 and had time for a brief stop at Starbucks and McDonald's for some early supper, then were back on the train again at 5pm and home by 8. Amazing!

What was the result, you say? Well, everything went VERY well at the hospital. The main factor in our favor is that the doctor is very excited about having me, the foreigner, give birth under her care, and so she did numerous things throughout the time we were with her to show that. She introduced me to the head of the department, she got me in to see the labor and delivery rooms which are normally off-limits; she took me to a private place to do a brief exam of the baby (usually everyone stands in line and then crowds around in one room during examinations--no privacy at all), and best of all, she basically agreed to everything we had on our birth plan. There were only a few small sticking points and they weren't the essentials.

I think it really helped that this is my third baby. John did a lot of the talking/negotiating, and he kept saying "well, in the first two births it was like this . . . " and so we have experience on our side. It also helped that this doctor is very interested in western ways, and really wanted to accomodate us wherever she could. She had worked with some western doctors before and so I think she sees this as a great opportunity to actually help someone give birth "the western way."

All this to say that we left the hospital feeling very encouraged and with a settled peace that this is where we are supposed to go for the birth of our daughter. Many other factors worked out as well, such as our friend in that city arranging a business trip so that we could stay in his apartment rather than live in a hotel. The neighborhood where he and his wife live is very convenient for shopping and getting around, which is an added plus. Also, we are planning to take Lou, our helper, with us for the three weeks or so that we'll be gone. She'll stay in a cheap hotel nearby, and be available to cook lunch each day, clean, and watch the girls occasionally, all things that get harder and harder for a very pregnant mama to do! This nearby city is on the coast, so we can take long walks down by the sea and of course, visit Starbucks frequently! We will be able to function in Asianese, we won't need to travel internationally, and all in all, I think it's going to be a great situation.

So we returned home Tuesday evening (Lou had stayed with our girls all day) to find that (in John's words), our trip was smashingly successful whereas the girls' day at home was just . . . smashing. They had not behaved terribly well for Lou--didn't take naps, fought over toys, Clara Anne colored on the wall with a marker, they ate practically every snack available in the house (the final count was 9 containers of yogurt and 7 individual boxes of raisins), and Chloe got a huge purple goose egg on her forehead from running into a doorway while chasing Clara Anne who had snatched her toy.

BUT, on the flip side, everyone was alive, Lou was glad when I said she didn't have to come in until 11 the next morning, and Clara Anne got plenty of consequences for her misbehavior. If you remember, Lou is single and really hadn't had much exposure to kids until she started working for me. We had worked her into watching the girls slowly, an hour here or an hour there, but Tuesday was definitely a test for her! All day . . . and I'm sorry to say that I think Clara Anne took advantage of the fact that we were gone and so was somewhat manipulative and naughty. The language barrier doesn't help, but we certainly need to keep working on this with Clara Anne.

All I can say is, it certainly was easier to make Tuesday's trip without carting two small children everywhere! We are thankful for the new high-speed train that makes this journey, previously 5-6 hours, only 2.5, making it possible for us to go there and back in the same day. Now our plan is to travel to this city on April 7 and wait for the baby (due April 23) and then leave fairly soon after the baby is born, as soon as I feel recovered enough to make the short trip.

We are thankful! I feel strangely energetic this week after having the burden of that big decision off my shoulders. Obviously, there are always risks associated with childbirth, but I feel confident and peaceful that we have made the right decision without putting the baby at undue risk.

And if you made it to the end of this very long post, you've done well! Here's a recent pic to enjoy as a reward! It was taken last week when Chloe wasn't feeling so well, but the girls were both enjoying playing the piano "like Mommy" and singing along. Sweet songbirds!

Herself Again

Well, I'm finally logging in today to share the happy news that Chloe is pretty much entirely over her sickness. After consulting with our American doctor online, we ended up getting a urine sample from her and taking her to a local hospital to get that checked as well as her lungs checked. The doctor there thought that Chloe had a bacterial infection in her throat (her tonsils were inflamed and swollen). That diagnosis certainly fit her persistent fever, thirst, and reluctance to eat. Our American doctor thought it might or might not be an actual bacterial infection; he felt the safest route was to put her on a five day treatment of antibiotics to make sure. We started on Sunday and she is really and truly feeling better. It's so good to see her smile again! She's been happily bopping around the house these last days, full of energy and of course, fighting with Clara Anne. But we're happy to have her acting like herself again! This week was too busy to resume the potty training, and John has some important meetings at the beginning of next week, so perhaps later next week we'll try it again. A few more days of diapers won't hurt anybody!

Thanks to all of you who were thinking of Chloe last week. I am thankful for such a gracious answer to prayer!

What's for Supper?

Cinnamon Breakfast Biscuits!

Yes, that's right, at our house (like mine growing up), breakfast is an excellent option for supper. I know some men are "meat-and-potatoes" men and like that for supper every night, but John has never been opposed to some tasty breakfast food at 5:30pm. My mom often served cornbread with sausages and eggs, or pancakes, or French toast, or a breakfast casserole for supper, so I've continued the tradition. I got this recipe for Cinnamon Breakfast Biscuits from my friend Rachel, and it is a true Winner! They are tender, moist, and lovely--try them yourself and see! Tonight they'll be served with some cheesy scrambled eggs, ham, and some leftover baked potatoes that I'll dice and fry up.

You will need:
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup wheat bran (or just use two cups of flour)
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, margarine, or shortening (I've only ever made them with butter)
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup mixed dried fruit bits (be creative--I've used locally available dried pineapple, minced small, with great success!)
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp orange juice or milk

Combine dry ingredients and mix well. Cut in the butter. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture, and add milk and fruit bits. Stir just until moistened. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Knead 10-12 strokes or until nearly smooth. Lightly roll dough out to a 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured biscuit cutter. Place biscuits 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together powdered sugar and enough OJ or milk to make the icing. Drizzle over biscuits, or leave plain and dip, as you like. Serve warm.

It's the Fourth Day!

***Disclaimer--potty training update to follow! Read at your own risk!!!***

Remember how I said I would give Chloe four days to see how she did with this potty-training business? Well, Thursday afternoon has arrived and the week did not exactly go as planned. Chloe was very excited about the training on Monday (especially the treats!), and did quite well in learning how to pull her pants up and down, sitting on the potty willingly, and in general obeying my instructions. She had fun reading books with me and getting a treat (a goldfish cracker) every 5-10 minutes if her panties were dry! Monday afternoon she slept late and woke up cranky from her nap. I sort of dismissed it as "potty-training stress" and so we took a break after supper so she could relax and play for a bit before bedtime.

Tuesday came, and Chloe seemed less interested, and more clingy to me. She actually had her first success on the potty in the morning, but seemed really scared by the process of releasing on the potty. When it happened (somewhat inadvertently) she got fairly upset. In the course of the morning she wanted to sit on my lap a lot and be held, and I discovered that she felt a bit on the warm side. I tested her fever, and sure enough, it was up just over 100 degrees. We gave her some tylenol, which she loves, and she seemed to perk up. Tuesday night after supper she had more success on the potty, though again was fairly upset about it. We tried our best to cheer for her, give her treats, etc, but she just cried! The only thing that really made her happy was getting to empty the potty chair and flush the toilet.

Wednesday started out great--she got up in the morning and immediately released on the potty! Yay Chloe! She then had a couple of accidents mid-morning, where I saw some progress because the second time she had an accident she tried immediately to get to the potty and pull her pants down, even though it was too late. Her fever and lethargy continued, though; she was content to sit in my lap and listen to music, and even fell asleep for half an hour during the morning! She had more success on the potty just before naptime, but that was to be the last success of the day. After her nap she kept her panties dry, but wouldn't use the potty and in fact seemed to really not be feeling well. We had bathtime last night and it is entirely possible that the bathwater wasn't so clean towards the end of the time!

This morning she woke up at 4:30, crying and HOT to the touch. I gave her yet more tylenol and held her as she fell asleep again. She was truly not herself, and by now I was getting a bit worried. Normally a fever (especially without any other symptoms) runs itself out in a day or two, but now we're on Day 3 of fever with basically no abatement. She has felt better for brief periods when the medicine takes effect, but then the fever flares again and she gets listless and clingy. I've been in touch with an American doctor friend whom I hope can advise me; I looked in all my books and am not exactly sure what to make of her symptoms. Needless to say, we stopped the potty-training practice today and will wait until she feels better again to attempt it. Poor Chloe! It's been a stressful week for her! She fell asleep in her high chair at lunch--what a pitiful sight!

Though this week held a few surprises, I think a good foundation was laid. Hopefully when Chloe feels better, she'll have some renewed enthusiasm for "being a big girl." Clara Anne has been so sweet about it all, offering to demonstrate whenever needed! John took Clara Anne and a myriad of toys and books into his office space (our living room) with him each morning this week so that I could focus on Chloe, and Clara Anne did an excellent job of playing by herself. She is proud that she is done with that training and can be a good example to Chloe.

Hang in there, Chloe! You're on your way!

Chloe's Next Adventure

Now that we're home from our trip, and this entire country has just celebrated the lunar New Year, there's been time for me to think a bit about what the new year will bring. As a family, this is a time of lots of big questions being up in the air. Many of you know that John has been working to investigate the possibilities of starting an English training center here in our city. He's done quite a bit of thinking and planning, and hopefully during the month of March we should have some more answers about whether that venture looks feasible or not. But in the meantime, we have been waiting to move to a new apartment until some of these business questions are answered. We really can't move until we know more about what his future job will be, and especially where it will be. As well, we still have a number of weeks before the new baby will arrive. (I'm about 31 weeks now.) Somehow in my mind, I thought that after we got back from our trip I would be really busy packing up, looking at decorating a new apartment, etc etc, but instead I have to be patient for several more weeks before anything will happen.

So this past week I realized that I have a very nice window of time here to help Chloe on a new adventure: potty training. She has been showing interest for a long time now (remember her first spoken sentence had to do with bodily functions!) and has even attempted to use the big person's potty by herself in recent weeks! She often tells me when she has to go or has just gone, and she truly seems to get the idea of what other big people do in the bathroom. She also seems to already be a "holder" like Clara Anne was--sometimes I'll check her diaper mid-day and it is either totally dry or barely wet. All this combined to make me think, wow, maybe she's ready! It would be great to have her out of diapers before another little one comes along! And we won't be leaving home for another 7-8 weeks, so she would have time to get established in her new habit before other major transitions happen in our family.

Saturday morning found us searching through our boxes of girl's clothes, looking for the training pants. [Long time readers of my blog will remember how these pants were attempted to be mailed to me from the States, but then the package was marked as a terrorist threat and returned to the States, and finally mailed again sucessfully! Who knew that pink and white, thick cotton undies were so dangerous!] We did find them (of course they were in the very last box) and also a stash of unused Pull-Ups, so I think we are ready to go! I read through some materials to refresh my memory on the game plan of training, and made sure my cupboards were stocked with plenty of tasty snacks and drinks. We've been really talking up the transition to Chloe, how exciting it is that she is a big girl now, letting her hold the panties, letting her sit on the potty seat, etc. We shall see what Monday brings! My goal is to give her four days of training, and if she just isn't getting it at all, we'll put it on hold for awhile. But if she is making some progress and catching on I think this will be a great time to help her accomplish this significant new life skill. Clara Anne is excited to help demonstrate, as well!

I don't feel the same fear and trepidation that I did before training Clara Anne, partially because there's not as much of a time pressure. With Clara Anne, we were going to be traveling about 2 months later to southeast Asia, and then back to the States, and so if I didn't train her then she would have been almost 3 rather than 23 months when I trained her. So with Chloe, there's less pressure--if she doesn't get it, we'll still wait awhile, but only 6-8 months as opposed to a whole year. We'll just see how it goes! I'm sure it will be interesting!

The next few days will be busy, but hopefully my next update will have some news on Chloe's progress. She's a big girl now!

And the final round . . .

In the last post, there were some pictures of us on a beach with lots of other tourists. Well, we also had the opportunity to take a day trip out to some more remote, outlying islands. We wanted to get away from the crowds and do some snorkeling as well as enjoy some more natural, unspoiled beauty. After a turbulent speedboat ride (I never knew how huge and choppy those ocean waves were! Chloe cried and Clara Anne threw up!), we persevered and landed on this deserted island. John and our friend Karl went out snorkeling right away, though Clara Anne wanted to join them! "Look Mommy, I can put it on by myself! Well, sort of . . . "
There were tons of seashells, coral, sand crabs, and other interesting things on the shore. Chloe had a great time picking things up and examining them! The sun was intense--I left her sundress on over her swimsuit for most of the day.

The boat had to put down anchor a little ways out and then we waded in to the shore. It was really enjoyable and peaceful to be in a totally undeveloped place! We truly relaxed.

Simply gorgeous. Being out in the midst of the vast ocean reminded me of so many Scriptures and truths about the immensity of our God, His power and greatness. What a mighty God we serve!

The snorkeling in this area was very good. I had a hard time getting started, fearing water in my face or nose and feeling a bit tentative with the equipment. But once I learned to relax and trust, I enjoyed getting a glimpse of the underwater life! Unlike at a zoo, fish don't seem to notice that you're there and so we were able to observe many kinds of tropical fish and some beautiful coral without feeling like we were disturbing them. Our friends Karl and Chris played with the girls so that John and I could snorkel hand-in-hand. What an experience! (I almost forgot I was pregnant in the buoyancy of the salt water!)

Here's the whole family before we headed for home again. (That's the closest you'll get to seeing me in my bathing suit!)

Just a few more pool pictures--Chloe finally got brave enough by the end of our time to get into the water on her own. Look at that mischievous smile!

Clara Anne's motto: "You can never have too many floaties!"

And a couple of pictures from our way home. We stopped in Hong Kong for a few days and enjoyed a trip to Fat Angelo's Italian Restaurant. Wow, they take their name seriously! Look at my belly after just one meal! :)

And, one final trip to Toys R'Us. They had a huge Lightning McQueen on display and so both of the girls were excited to get their pictures taken with it! We had more fun just looking and playing around the store than buying things--we only ended up with a small car for each of the girls. Good thing too, since our luggage was already bursting at the seams!

I hope you enjoyed the photo journey through some of our vacation times! Needless to say, after being gone for almost a month, we are very happy to be back at home and settling into normal life and routines again. My girls have taken long naps every day this week, I'm fighting off a cold, and in general we are all recovering from a month on the road. It's always fun to travel, but home is just that much sweeter when the traveling is done. We're thankful for safety over many miles and glad to be home, sweet home!

Vacation photos, Take 2!

We had fun taking a day trip from where we were staying out to a more remote, tropical island. Actually, we thought it was more remote . . . until we saw the other hordes of tourists getting on the same ferry as us! Remote, but developed, would be a way to describe this lovely island location. Here our friend Chris is holding Clara Anne on the ferry boat ride over. Chris was such a good auntie to Clara Anne and Chloe the whole week we spent together. They had fun playing a little hide-n-seek game!

We ended up sharing the beach with a lot of Asian tourists who were fascinated with Clara Anne and Chloe. The girls didn't mind, though--they just got right to work digging and playing.

This time John built the girls their own small pool--the sand was too fine and wet to make a castle. The girls thought it was Great!

Look, Mommy, underneath that white sand is a layer of gray muck! Fun times!

Chloe loved having her "own" place to play.

Mid-afternoon, a storm started to roll in. The sky turned dark and threatened rain--it was beautiful.

Only a few swimmers left out in the swimming area! Plus the tide was going out, so the water had receded dramatically already.

None of this fazed the girls! Once you're at the beach and wet already, a few raindrops don't matter at all! The weather quickly blew through and we all "washed off" the sand in the ocean before packing up and heading home. Just call us beach bums!

Believe it or not, I have at least one more round of pictures to post . . . so many times on vacation I get caught up having such a good time and forget to take pictures. But this time I was determined to snap a lot, so I still have some to more to share with you. Until next time . . .

A Feast of Vacation Photos!

Sorry for the long overdue update! Our vacation time was wonderful, and now we are in the midst of a week and a half of meetings. I have just a moment and thought I would put some photos up for your enjoyment!

First, here we are in the airport in Hong Kong, enroute to places further south. Can you believe there are now several Krispy Kreme donut shops around HK? And three in the airport itself? We didn't waste any time having a snack. Yum! (The girls were too busy eating to smile for the camera!

We ate our first Hong Kong supper at a favorite place, Nomad's. John and I ate many meals here during the month we spent waiting for Clara Anne to be born, and then we celebrated our anniversary here, taking along tiny Clara Anne, just three days after she was born! It's a special place for our family! The dinner was delicious, as usual.

Here are some pictures from our first of several trips to the beach. Clara Anne loved the ocean waves, jumped right in, and enjoyed letting them make her bob up and down.

Chloe was more content to play in the sand (including eating a significant amount). I had packed a picnic lunch and though her hands were sandier and sandier, she didn't seem to care that her hands were dirty. She kept dropping raisins in the sand, picking them up (along with lots of sand), and then eating them!

John and the girls had fun building a sand castle. Fun times!



This is the pool attached to the place we stayed. I think there were some days we barely got out of our swimsuits! Clara Anne especially really enjoyed the water this year, and with her floaties on, was pretty much independent.

Pool time fun!

More vacation photos to come! Stay tuned. . .

We're in the Pink!

It's a girl! Today was the day of the happy scan, and the doctor knew within a moment or two of beginning the ultrasound that the baby is a girl. So much for maternal instincts, right?! (I had been thinking all along that it was a boy!) Anyway, we're excited and glad to know that everything looks very good with our little girl--the doctor was able to examine her in great detail and pronounced her very healthy. He did mention that she looks very long; but then again, she has a tall daddy!

John is really outnumbered now; we were laughing together today thinking about when all of the girls will go through puberty and their emotions and hormones will kick into high gear. Estrogen overload! In the current future, I guess that single-over-double bunk bed that we were looking at will really come in handy. All three girls may be able to share a room when the baby gets big enough.

I was also able to get some other medical issues taken care of today (tested for gestational diabetes, given the Rhogam injection, other bloodwork done, etc) and then all four of us visited the dentist this afternoon. Everyone did fine in the dentist's chair except Chloe--the dentist insisted on holding her and she was scared and screamed. He was concerned about her because of her paci use--said that she has developed an open space in her bite from the pacifier often taking that space. He recommended that we take the paci away sooner rather than later. Part of my maternal protectiveness thought, "well, that's fine, maybe after our big trip. Or, after the new baby. Or, you know, sometime in the next year."

However, he must have been a prophet. I tucked the paci away and we packed up to leave the dentist office, got on the subway for the umpteenth time today, and headed back to the center of town to visit Ikea and have dinner. And somewhere, I do not for the life of me know where, the paci got lost. It could have been Ikea. It could have been on the MTR (the subway). It could have been on the very crowded city streets. It could have been in the McDonald's. It could have been anywhere in the Toys 'R Us. All I know is that when John said to me in the Toys 'R Us, "Hey Rachel, can you get out Chloe's paci?" which I had earlier confidently reassured him was in my bag, it was nowhere to be found.

Now if there was a place to lose a paci, Toys 'R Us is the place since they actually sell pacifiers there. But none (I repeat: NONE) of the pacis they sold were the right size and shape; they were all too small. So we gave up the search and decided to head for home with two girls who were very tired of being out and about anyway. Poor Chloe, she's going to have to adjust to life without her precious paci, cold turkey. She fussed a bit at bedtime tonight, but I hope will be able to forget it soon. I guess Someone else decided for me that it was time to be done with it! We'll hope the next week goes ok!

There's the news from our house! We need to leave for the airport at 8am tomorrow so I'd better get to bed. Good night!

On our way to the Sunny South!

Yes, it's 4am. I couldn't sleep. I woke up, thinking about our lovely trip ahead, and just couldn't get back to sleep, so I thought I'd share a bit with you all.

We leave later this morning for lovely, warm weather, quite a bit farther south of here. It's been c-c-c-cold here lately, with temps in the teens and twenties, and lots of snow flurries. My kitchen, which does not have a radiator but does have three walls of very poorly sealed windows, has been literally like an icebox. I left a fruit salad out there on the counter the other night (the kitchen door closed to keep the cold from leaking to the rest of the house), and discovered the next morning that bits of fruit had frozen and then turned to mush as they thawed. Though it is strawberry season here (they're grown in greenhouses), they've been unavailable at our street markets because of the cold--they just freeze too fast. We are thankful for our government-regulated heat which has still done a pretty good job of combatting the cold. Some winters we've felt way too warm in our apartment, but this year has been just about right. One downfall--usually I hang our laundry in a sunporch (also unheated) off the girls' room, but with the cold, we've had to resort to spreading it out over our furniture to get things to dry.

So, we're looking forward to a chance to thaw a bit. We will stop first to see the doctor who assisted me when Clara Anne was born, to check up on the baby and hopefully find out the gender! I keep thinking of this baby as a boy, but we shall see! Then we'll go on even further south to a land of sea, sun and sand, spending a week of vacation with some dear friends and then about 2 weeks of meetings. International travel with very young children is always interesting, but this trip is certainly more low-key than the one we were making (back to the US) last year about this time. My sweet Asianese friends have been concerned about me traveling, being pregnant and with the two children and all (travel with small children is just something they do not do) but I told them it's nothing compared to getting ready to fly across the ocean!

It's been fun to see Clara Anne's reaction to our plans this year. She is SO excited to go swimming, to go to a big toy store (there's a Toys R'Us in our future), and to go swimming. Did I mention the swimming? She was very concerned that we remember to take her swimsuit and her floaties. The pool time will be abundant so that will really be fun for both of the girls.

So, we're packed and ready, only a few details to finish up in the morning. My helper is going to be staying at our house off and on while we're gone, so that will be great. I told her I was going to leave the breakfast dishes for her to finish up! She's really looking forward to the break, too, I know, so it'll be a blessing for her to have some time off.

Well, I guess I should go back to bed and try to catch a few more winks. 4am is way too early to start the day, eager anticipation notwithstanding! Check back in the next day or two--I do hope to put up a post when we find out whether pink or blue is coming our way. Traveling adventures, here we come!

This is only a test . . .

There are some circumstances which seem, to me, like a true test of motherhood. People often think of giving birth as a huge test. In fact, it is, but for me, the reality and difficulty of those birthing moments are already in the more distant past. Certainly those were interesting and challenging moments, but they were over fairly quickly and soon (mostly) forgotten. More difficult, I think, are the ins and outs of daily mothering. Early mothering involves a lot of sameness of every day's basic tasks, and then the need to repeat those tasks again and again and again. Now I am at the stage where some of those basic tasks are being taken over by my children--Clara Anne can dress herself, brush her own teeth (after I apply the toothpaste), take herself to the bathroom, etc. But I am finding there are still some tests to this whole motherhood business.

The most glaring example recently has been in Clara Anne's own attitude towards discipline. Recently we have seen some moments of terrific stubbornness from her, almost unbelievable determinedness of will, as she has sought to test us and see exactly where the boundaries lie. We have tried our very best to administer discipline with love and grace, and build the bonds of the relationship as much as possible. But lately this testing, instead of coming out in one or two dramatic incidents, has been more of a daily, hourly, moment by moment resisting. This morning I had planned a special shopping trip where just Clara Anne and I were going to go. She was excited about it, but then dawdled, and delayed, and fussed about having to wear tights under her jeans (it's been really cold here), and wanted to wear two different colors of socks to which I said no, and on and on until finally the getting dressed process had frittered away so much time that we didn't have enough time to go and get back before lunch. Not being able to go on the special outing was a direct result of her not obeying quickly the first time I gave her commands. She was sad, and I was sad, since I wanted to take her, but there was nothing else to be done.

On one hand, I feel a bit frustrated at her constant testing of me. I admit that it is hard to keep my cool when I feel like my every simple command (Clara Anne, do not take that away from Chloe. Clara Anne, come here, etc.) is ignored, questioned, or only complied with grudgingly. On the other hand, it seems to be a totally natural and expected part of childhood, especially considering that every child has a sinful heart. As I lamented my fatigue over the constant battle the other day with John, he said oh-so-very-directly, "Did you really expect anything else, Rachel?" Ouch. But he's right; it's par for the course.

I've recently been enjoying a brief time of prayer right after lunch, when the girls sit down with Lou, my helper, and do a little language study in the form of an Asianese Dora video. I retreat to the bedroom and have a half an hour of precious time. Today as I went into that time I was feeling truly in need of an encouraging word, and of course the Word did not disappoint. I'm following a one year plan of reading through the Scripture, and today's reading came, in part, from Psalm 11 where it clearly says, "The Lord will test the righteous . . . " (italics mine). I felt that was a confirmation to me, saying "Rachel, this is a test, but this is only a test. Rely upon Me and I will help you!" I needed that! Whether this testing goes on for another day, or two, or a week, or two, or longer, (maybe years), I need to stay faithful to Him, loving and gracious towards my daughters, and relying on His strength for it all. A big task--a true test!

The task of training and raising children, shaping their characters for eternity, pales in comparison to the other test of motherhood that I've experienced lately--that is, cleaning up throw-up. Now there's a test! Chloe woke us this morning at 5:30 crying, and had thrown up in her crib, though miraculously missed the important items (her blanket, her stuffed Mater that she sleeps with, and her doll Zipporah). Somehow, the words of my friend Danna still ring true: "Before I became a mom, I used to think that changing diapers was so gross. But now, if my child is about to throw up, I cup my hands in front of her!" Such is the paradigm shift of becoming mothers! But, you know that you are truly a mother when you get in there and do what needs to be done, cleaning up the mess. I can say that I successfully passed that test! The rest still remains to be seen . . . but with every new day, there is fresh grace, and fresh hope. So it is with all of us on the spiritual journey. May we all persevere and someday hear the words, "Well Done, my good and faithful servant!"

Round 2

Here are the last two pictures I didn't have time to upload the other night! Chloe managed to get a couple of cute pictures, too. That's our cute Chloe girl!

New Pictures!

Today we were able to pick up the professional photos that I had done in honor of Clara Anne's third birthday! I used the opportunity to have some taken of Chloe as well, and of the two girls together. They turned out nicely, I think! It was our best photo session so far. This time, I was not afraid to tell the studio people when I didn't like something, or ask them to change a background or remove a (chintzy) prop, so that was a great improvement over my previous experiences at this place. I also had shamelessly bribed Clara Anne with a trip to KFC afterwards if she was a good girl and smiled for her photos. She was therefore quite cooperative and we were able to finish the picture-taking in under an hour!

I love this first one--she looks like a little classical musician with her velvet hat and the violin they gave her to hold!

A sweet smile from a sweet girl.
In her special Christmas dress, a gift from Grandpa and Grandma Roelofs. (She was fascinated with all of the fake gifts underneath this tree and kept trying to open them! Oops!)

Sister sweetness!I love the expressions on both of their faces in this one.
This was taken early on, when Chloe didn't know if she liked the idea of having her picture taken in this strange place with lots of people looking at her! (Being foreigners, we seem to attract a crowd wherever we go, and this was no exception--there was a family waiting to have their pictures taken and it seemed like they had nothing better to do than stare at us!) But I loved how Clara Anne was trying to comfort Chloe--she seems to have a compassionate heart (sometimes!).

Christmas girls! I have a few of Chloe alone, but they'll have to wait for another time--blogger is working slowly and I need to get to bed! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

One Picture Says it All!

So yesterday, I was busy in the kitchen with my helper and Clara Anne and Chloe were playing happily in their room for awhile. Soon Clara Anne came out, dressed in this getup. She had on her Dora undershirt, one green sock and one pink sock, pulled up to the knees, of course, and was wearing her Dora swimsuit. She ran out to me and announced excitedly, "Look, Mommy! I look like Snow White!" Umm . . . right, Clara Anne. Maybe it was the ruffle on the swimsuit?! And what does the fishing pole have to do with it, you ask? I have no idea! That's our Clara Anne!

Chloe Speaks!

Well, actually, it didn't happen overnight. For quite awhile now, we have been wondering when Chloe was going to manage to form some recognizable words. She's had the "m" sound down for quite awhile, and used it for an occasional "Mah-mah!" or "moe, moe, moe" which meant more. But other than that, though she was and continues to be very vocal, she just isn't saying many clear words. I will admit that I was a little concerned because by 18 months (Chloe's age now) Clara Anne was saying a lot--a lot of nouns, especially, and using simple words and phrases to communicate. However some of my friends who are more experienced parents reminded me that every child is different, and Chloe will speak when she is good and ready.

We are seeing some progress. This morning after her bath Chloe saw the lotion bottle in my hand and said very distinctly, "lotion!" However, getting her to repeat something is nearly impossible--she just closes her mouth and gives us a silly smile. Of course, the minute I stop "trying" to get her to say something she is babbling on in her own language, exclaiming over this and that. For someone who doesn't say much that is recognizable, she surely can be loud!

Recently, though, I was so proud to hear Chloe put together her first simple sentence. Whenever you think about your child's first words, you always envision something sweet and wonderful like, "I love you, Mama." Is this what Chloe came up with? Not quite. She came toddling in to where I was working in the kitchen one day a week or two ago, tugged on my pants and said, "Mama, poo-poo." I checked and sure enough, she had spoken correctly. She then tugged on her own pants and looked at me expectantly.

So there you go--not exactly romantic, but functional nonetheless! She actually used language to communicate one of her needs. Now if only she would figure out that language really can help her, and it's not such a bad thing to join the speaking world! In the meantime, we'll enjoy all of the many and varied vocalizations of Chloespeak until she learns to speak English. Patience, patience!

So It's Not Figgy Pudding . . .

But this recipe for Rice Pudding is a real winner! Yes, I know some people consider pudding of any type dessert, but you can think of this like a super-easy and tasty breakfast food, making your typical breakfast cereal pale in comparison. It's got the basics--a healthy grain, milk, and is lightly sweet, similar to other breakfast foods we like. Not to mention for us here in Asia-land, breakfast foods (westerner-friendly, that is--I'm not counting left-over stir fry or rice porridge with pickled vegetables) can be difficult to come by. Our local mega grocery stores have been out of cereals for weeks now, so improvisation is necessary. As an added plus, this pudding is a great use for leftover rice, something we often have in our frig. So try out this simple recipe and maybe your kids will ask for thirds, like mine did this morning!

Rice Pudding

2 1/4 cups (approx) cooked rice (Alternatively, cook 3/4 cups rice in 1 1/2 cups water until water is absorbed) ** Do not use instant or converted rice--it will not absorb the milk properly!
1/2 cup sugar (more or less, to taste)
4 cups whole milk
1 cinnamon stick (if desired)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine the rice, milk, sugar, and cinnamon stick (if using) in a saucepan. Bring the milk to a simmer and cook gently for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toward the end of the cooking time stir more frequently--the pudding is done when the rice and milk have amalgamated (there's a word for the day!) into a thick porridge. Do not overcook or the pudding will be solid, rather than creamy, when cooled. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon, if desired. Serve warm or refrigerate--it can also be eaten straight from the frig! Enjoy!

Happy 2008! (Only a Few Days Late!)

Happy New Year, everyone! Despite my best intentions, we're already almost a week into the new year by the time I am posting some fun pictures of our New Year's Eve party. We got together with some American friends and ate delicious food (wow, there's been a lot of that going on lately), played games--the kids too--and laughed and talked until late in the night. Actually it was the wee hours of the early morning. We put our kids down for bed at their normal hour (8pm) at our friend's house so that we adults could enjoy some time together, too. So since the kids were sleeping soundly, we just stayed, and stayed, and stayed! John and I set a record for being out late--I think we arrived home about 3:45am and got the girls back to bed in their own beds again about 4. Thankfully they then slept until 10! Or at least, it was 10:04 on my bedside clock when Clara Anne's calls of "Mommy! Mo-o-o-ommy!" finally penetrated my sleepy haze. Staying up that late was a really fun thing to do--once a year, maybe. Otherwise the recovery time is just not practical!

So here's some picture highlights of our party: First, Clara Anne and Chloe, my purple girls, all bundled up to go outside. It's been pretty cold lately!

Chloe and I next to our friend's lovely Christmas tree. Like my paisley prego pants??

A fun activity for the kids--stringing popcorn necklaces. They really enjoyed this as well as a Dora Dominoes game and a Colors game.

Each family also enjoyed a very special activity--making S'mores (over the gas flame of the stove), made extra-special by the fact that the graham crackers and the marshmallows have to be imported. Chloe enjoyed hers, down to the last bite!

We adults played a really fun game (after the kids went to bed) called "Apples to Apples" where we all got to know one another a bit more and laughed a lot in the process. Then we ate some more dessert (Apple Crisp, chocolate-dipped strawberries, and Hello Dollies) and laughed some more. I am thankful for these friendships and for a special evening together!

So, another year has passed. 2007 was a year of travel, transition, and many, many blessings, like spending time with so many friends and family members, seeing our girls grow and mature, and learning that our third baby was on the way! We are thankful for the mercies we've been shown, and are looking forward to a new year of His continued work. May you also see Him at work in your lives in this coming year! And whenever the calendar turns, I think--maybe this will be the year of His return! Amen, let it be so! But as we wait, Happy 2008 everyone!

Anniversary Fun!

On December 28, John and I celebrated our Eleventh Wedding Anniversary! It sort of snuck up on us this year, with everything going on around Christmas, but we managed to arrange an evening out all the same. For the first time, we left our girls for a significant portion of time with our house helper, Lou. She was so good to be willing to stay into the evening so that we could go out during the girls' nap and stay out for dinner. Our plan was to return home in time to put the girls to bed ourselves.

We decided to keep up the tradition and go bowling on our anniversary. It seems like every anniversary we've spent in Asia we have gone bowling! So there you go, in the absence of Bed and Breakfasts, we've had to get a bit creative in our choice of entertainment. The bowling alley here (the only one I know of in a city of 6 million people) is almost like bowling in America, since the bowling alley seems to be lock, stock and barrel imported from the States. It's really fun! John and I enjoy the competition, as well. I knew that my I could hold my own during the first game, but that later on, as I got tired, it would be harder. Sure enough, my predictions were correct. Here's the scorecard (all electronic) after our first game:

Fun times, even for a 6 month prego!

After John smoked me all three games, we decided to try our hands at a few other games that were in this bowling alley. We had the most fun playing this street basketball game. The machine had previously had a high record of 250--here we blew it out of the water at 292!
We then discovered that if we scored above a certain point level, it would give us yet another round, so we were able to smash our previous record and set the new high at 337! We had great fun playing this together! It was 11-year teamwork at its best.
We finished by eating at one of the nicer hotels in town that has a great evening buffet. We returned home to find everything in good order except one very notable exception: I had foolishly left on a low, accessible table Chloe's baby book, which I had been working on. It had just needed a few finishing touches and I was in the midst of it when it was time for John and I to go. Chloe found this book, and while Lou was getting supper on the table, Chloe went through and began to systematically tear pictures out and then began tearing pages out, as well as tearing those pages to bits. Lou was so apologetic, but it wasn't her fault. Chloe has had issues with tearing paper before, and though I was very sad that she had found this book, it was partly my fault as well. When we came home and confronted Chloe with the evidence, she looked extremely guilty and refused to meet our eyes. Finally after some time she said "yes" when we asked her if she did it. Her own sin convicted her! John spent about 2 hours that evening piecing things back together and then taping and taping and taping. About 8-10 pages were affected, and 4-5 of those look really tacky, but it will be a memory for her when she is older, right?

All in all, it was a lovely anniversary. We really had fun on our date out, enjoyed our dinner, and it was good to just spend some time with the two of us alone. PTL for 11 years of marriage!