The Dora Invasion

Last fall, when Emma came into Clara Anne's life, she brought the love of Dora with her. At that time Clara Anne had only a very faint idea about Dora, but then we received a Dora sweatshirt and pants outfit that Clara Anne was suddenly excited to wear. Combine that with Emma's various Dora items and Clara Anne was hooked, though until we came back to the States I think she had seen a Dora DVD exactly twice.

But since we've been back, I'm afraid to say that Dora has explored her way into every nook and cranny of our home. It started innocently enough; maybe some of you remember the saga of the Dora toddler bed we ordered, which Clara Anne has been sleeping on since the beginning of February. Then back in the States, we added a few small items--first it was the fun Dora toothbrush and Dora band-aids that I found at the dollar store, then it was the Dora panties that were such a treat to wear, then it was the Dora sneakers that I saw at the consignment shop.

It didn't help that soon after we arrived, Clara Anne discovered that Dora was on TV every morning at 10:30, so she persistently asked to watch it. If I let her, she would get so excited as the theme music would start and then lose interest as the show progressed. But every day, without fail, Clara Anne would ask for Dora, wondering when she could watch the show again!

We took another significant step in Dora-izing when we stopped briefly at the kids' consignment store again and saw a super-fun new toy: a Dora pop-up tent. The price was right ($10) and so we decided to go for it. The store owner told us it had only been in the store 3 hours! Amazing! Clara Anne was SO excited when she saw it and even at this moment, I am a little embarassed to admit that Clara Anne is wearing Dora pajamas, sleeping in the Dora bed, with the Dora tent over her head, after brushing her teeth with the Dora toothbrush. Oh my!

The kicker is that yesterday we actually bought a Dora DVD. I never thought it would happen.

The crazy part of all of this is that Clara Anne has not asked for any of this stuff, but John and I seem to love to buy it all for her! We seem to have no self-control! It reminds me that the Word is true..."If you who are evil love to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give you good gifts..."

So the Dora invasion continues. We're not too upset though; just going to have to keep a handle on that TV watching. Enjoy Dora while you can, Clara Anne!

Recent Reflections

Greetings to you all from the bustling metropolis of Winthrop, Minnesota! Just kidding--Winthrop is probably just over 1000 people, but it does happen to be the home of John's sister Mary. We have had a whirlwind week with some memorable moments and are glad to have made it here to visit briefly. Here's some highlights of the last week:

Enjoying some 80-degree weather in Rock Valley--in March!! It was such a treat to simply step outside, into my parent's lovely backyard, toss the Frisbee around, and let the girls play and run on the grass. Though, strangely enough, grass was such a new sensation for Clara Anne that she insisted on putting her shoes back on. Chloe had a great time playing on a blanket on the grass in the sunshine. John also took Clara Anne to play at the new kid's playground equipment at the public park, and so we have added some new words to Clara Anne's vocabulary, like "slide" "merry-go-round" and "swings." Fun times in the glorious weather!

My brother Mark and his wife Beth stopped through Rock Valley on their way to a week of vacation with Beth's parents. Clara Anne was so excited to play with her cousins again, and we let her stay up late and savor every moment. Then John and I did a little savoring of our own and stayed up late talking with Mark and Beth. Time shared together is more precious than sleep! What a blessing!

Last Saturday we had dinner and stayed over with some great friends who have five children. Clara Anne and Chloe felt right at home, right away! I helped to prepare some food in an authentic Asian style; it was so fun to eat with chopsticks again! We had a wonderful time sharing together and again went without some sleep in order to prolong the conversations. Unfortunately, when we went to bed around two am we disturbed Chloe who then woke up and played until . . . 5am. Yikes! I never knew she could play in her crib that long! Does she do this every night and I just don't realize it since we're not usually in the same room?! The worst part was that we had to get up at 7am to get ready to lead a service--John sharing the message and me leading all the music. Thankfully, when we are weak, He is strong! The service went well and we enjoyed our time with the brothers and sisters. They also had a fabulous potluck for us afterwards, with my favorite: roast beef and mashed potatoes! Yummy!

Monday evening marked an historic moment when Mom and I put the final page in the scrapbook. WHEW! I just hope my mom will still enjoy scrapbooking after this project--it sure felt like work to me! We basically worked on it every spare moment for a week. PTL it's finished! It had to get done because on Tuesday we needed to do some shopping and on Wednesday morning we drove up to John's mom's home to visit for a few days. So it got done at the last moment, hallelujah!

After a relaxing time at John's mom's home the last two days, we drove today to Mary's house. Tomorrow we will see John's sister Sarah and his brother Andy and family. We have been keeping quite the pace!

This post wasn't very interesting thematically, perhaps, but it gives you a glimpse of our recent activities. I would like to ask you to keep on remembering our kids as we take them through so many transitions. Clara Anne, recently in tired moments, keeps asking to "go home." I was showing John's mom some pictures yesterday of our home in Asia and when Clara Anne saw them, she immediately recognized them and said, "I need go home. Help, please. I want to go home." I am honestly not sure how to deal with this other than to "talk up" the things we are going to do next and reassure her that we are going to stay here for awhile. Plus, after this weekend, we go back to Rock Valley for one night and then drive all the way to Richmond, VA. Lots of transitions ahead! We all need some supernatural grace! Thanks for thinking of us!

Pictures next time . . .

Scrapbooking Mania!

John has been out of town most of this past week (he returned yesterday, hallelujah! We ALL missed him greatly!). While he was away speaking every night, staying very busy, my mom and I have been on a mission: scrapbooking. John and I planned to do a scrapbook of our last three years in Asia, and had all the pictures chosen and all of the pages planned (mostly) before we even arrived back in the US. Our goal was to do the scrapbook the first week or two so that we would have it at the ready for friends and family to see what our life has been like these last three years!

However, just a few little things interfered with the scrapbook mission: jet lag, getting unpacked, having some special responsibilities already the first weekend we were back, etc. So the scrapbook got put off. Finally, when John left on his trip I knew it was now or never.

Thankfully, my mom is a scrapbooker extraordinaire. She has created many amazingly beautiful and meaningful books, especially as she has gotten more "into it" in the past few years. She has supplies galore and a real knack for choosing paper colors to make photos come alive. Since I hadn't done any scrapbooking for three years, I was out of touch with all of the new techniques, papers, designs, etc. that are now being used--but she is familiar with it all! So I am so thankful that she has been helping me this week.

My days have looked like this: get up, get the girls up. Breakfast. Clara Anne and Chloe play while I try to do a little scrapbooking. Put Chloe down for her nap. Continue scrapbooking. Give Clara Anne a little attention while also trying to scrapbook. Lunch. Put both girls down for their naps. Continue scrapbooking. Late afternoon, spend some time with the girls while giving my mom further direction in the scrapbook project. Supper. Bedtime routines with the girls. More scrapbooking until 11:30 or 12am. Sleep. Repeat cycle.

I told my mom this morning that I hope she still enjoys scrapbooking after this marathon project of 60 pages! Even now, we are on page 45 and so we have just a few days left to finish it before John and I begin some more traveling. We hope that many of you will be able to see the scrapbook before the summer is out! It looks quite nice so far, I think, but we still have a ways to go.

So there's my excuse for no blogging earlier this week! I even feel a bit guilty now for dashing off this post--so I'd better go and get back to my scrapbooking!

Um, really?

Clara Anne and I have been having a good time looking out the windows at Grandpa and Grandma's house. They have a lovely breakfast nook facing east with lots of windows, and there are numerous tall windows in the living room so that you feel like you are sitting outside, almost. There are some neighborhood cats that wander through occasionally, and lots of birds (including a beautiful blue jay that likes to eat the cat food my dad sets out) and a few squirrels too. So we're always on the watch for what we might see out the windows.

Yesterday morning at breakfast Clara Anne suddenly pointed and said "MAMA! I see a penguin!" Not wanting to stifle her creativity, I merely said, "where, Clara Anne?" "RIGHT THERE!" she exclaimed in a super-excited voice. She pointed out the window and I said, "Clara Anne, I don't see it. Where did you say it was?" "Right there, Mommy! Penguin! Right there!"

Ok, Clara Anne. If you say so. What's next? Elephants in the back yard? :)

Photofest!

As promised, here are some photos from recent weeks, in reverse chronological order (since that is how blogger is working for me tonight!): the one above is the girls having fun opening presents, a few months late! They had a great time! Below: unpacking--what a mess! It took us awhile to get all of that organized!

On our travel day, having Starbucks after checking in. I think it was about 4:30 am. The girls, however, didn't care a whit--they just thought it was time to get up when we woke them up (at 1am!). Here they look perfectly happy. Too bad that didn't last the entire 20+ hours of travel!

On the plane--we were so glad to have four seats and the whole middle row to ourselves. Chloe even sat in her own seat sometimes!

In Bangkok we visited an amazing acquarium, can you see the fish swimming behind John and Clara Anne? "Fish, fish!" Clara Anne kept saying.

One of the loveliest pools that we've been to in Thailand--it's gorgeous, as you can see! We went swimming several times a day. Clara Anne did great with her floaties on and even loved jumping into the water by herself!

Our sweet Chloe girl loves the water too!

A more panoramic view of the pool.

John and I, oceanside! We had lots of opportunities to sink our feet in sand during the month of February--I loved it!

My dad has lots of great pictures from our homecoming but they're not digital, so I will have to find a way to convert them to share with you all. And our camera battery was dead the last few days, so I don't have many of Clara Anne and Chloe with Grandpa and Grandma. I'll have to remedy that this next week! Hope you enjoyed the photofest!

English Explosion

Now that we're back in America, hearing English all the time, Clara Anne has had a language explosion. She has started to speak more and more in complete sentences, as well as incorporating lots of short phrases and colloquialisms into her speech. Here's a recent sampling:

"See that, Mama? I scratched it. It itched. See this one? I scratched it." spoken in reference to several mosquito bites received on our vacation that are still lingering

"Mama, wash my hands please." after washing. . . "That's better."

"Go punish Doll. Too crabby and fussed and whined. Naughty Doll."

"I'm all done. Tummy full. Get down, please."

"Play toys little bit more." in reference to being told she needed to get ready for bed

"OH, MY, MOMMY! THANK YOU!" when she saw the new Dora panties we bought for her

My favorite moment from today was when Clara Anne had been reading some books with Grandpa, and blanket was right near by. It was almost naptime, and instead of wanting to get into bed, she just spread her blanket over Grandpa's chest, settled herself on his lap, and snuggled in. I was sorry to have to disturb her!

Chloe got a new toy yesterday--a small activity table that she can stand next to and play with the items on the top. I found it for $5 at a kid's consignment store! She is having a great time with it and played/stood for quite awhile today. I hope it tired her out since last night she woke up numerous times and cried. I think she still is truly confused about day and night. Since we've been back, I've had to wake her almost every time from her daytime naps but she wakes herself up numerous times at night. I realized how spoiled I've been with her usual pattern of sleeping through the night! But we hope those days will come again as soon as she figures things out a little more. Today I kept her up more and didn't let her sleep as long, so we'll hope that tonight is better. I didn't anticipate that it would take so long for her to adjust!

Ok, I know I promised pictures last time but I have not yet uploaded them to my laptop, sorry! John is busy working on the laptop (I'm on my parent's PC) so it will have to be next time. Sorry about that!

Small Town, USA

It has been so nice settling into my hometown of Rock Valley, Iowa, again. Rock Valley is truly a small town. When I say small, I mean it--about 2,700 people, one main street, and one stoplight (not counting the four way stop on the corner intersecting Hwy. 18). Rock Valley is also unique in that the majority of people who live here are of Dutch descent. In recent years, the Hispanic population has grown (so much so that there is an authentic Mexican restaurant and grocery now on Main Street!) but most people have Dutch roots. And in case you didn't know, Dutch people are known for being extremely neat and clean, along with being quite frugal and thus, prosperous. So in Rock Valley, all the homes are neat and clean. The lawns are all beautifully manicured. Even the farms are beautiful to behold--the outbuildings kept up, the animals all in their proper places, everything painted and orderly.

You can imagine that for us, coming from an Asian megacity, with its noise and pollution and dirt and people people people, Rock Valley is a refreshing change. Not only is the town neat and well-kept in general, the people are really great. The vast majority are Christians: probably 80% of the town is in one of the many churches on Sunday mornings. People here really care about their neighbors. Everyone knows everyone, and usually that's a good thing! Case in point--last week John took my dad out to run a few errands and it took them forever, simply because everywhere they went people were asking my dad about his health and reassuring him of their prayers. Since then I've been out and about a bit and just about everyone knows me and knew that I was about to come back to Rock Valley for a while.

Now when I was in high school, this close-knit community started to feel like it was closing in on me. I longed to break free, to be known as my own person and not just by my family's reputations. I wanted to experience more of the world and have exciting adventures. Well, I certainly have done that! It's been interesting to see that now, coming back again, Rock Valley is suddenly quite appealing again. I can see why so many families think it's a great place to raise a family!

On Saturday, the weather warmed up considerably and all of the big piles of snow began to melt, sending rivers running down the street to the storm drains. I was out for a walk, walking for about 30 minutes, and met exactly 6 cars in those 30 minutes, of which two of those drivers waved to me. That's when you really know you're in a small town again!

Because of the great work ethic by most locals here, Rock Valley also has great businesses. The well-stocked local grocery store is a seven minute walk from my parent's home. There's everything from heavy industry to car dealerships to restaurants to clothing and other retail stores, all in town. My favorite place to shop in Rock Valley, though, is a second hand clothing store called the Economy Shop. Since most people keep their clothes so nice (that Dutch neatness again), the second hand clothes are practically brand new! This morning I spent about 40 minutes there and found two pairs of jeans, a pair of denim capris, a sweater set, and three shirts for less than $50. It's great!!! I have been looking forward to shopping there for a long time and am thankful to have found great stuff today that I really needed! What a deal!

The rural scenery has also been a balm to my soul. Yesterday, John and I were speaking at one of our partner churches in Sioux Falls, SD, and so had to get everyone up early and out of the house in order to make the drive to Sioux Falls. Since it was also Daylight Savings Time, we really had to get up early! But we had a wonderful reward--as we drove we saw the most glorious sunrise over the fields. The huge sky was first peachy pink, then rose-colored, then redder and redder until a gigantic, golden red sun rose in all its glory. It was breathtaking! What a great God we serve!

Someone asked me today if I missed our home in Asia. I replied that I missed our friends, and I miss some of the food already, but I am really, truly, enjoying being here. My girls seem to finally be adjusted better to the time--Clara Anne adapted quite seamlessly but Chloe has been up during the night a couple times every night since we came. But it's finally getting better so I'm glad we don't have to go back anytime really soon, now that our body clocks have been reset! The girls are also having a great time with their Grandpa and Grandma, which is really fun for me to see. Today Clara Anne was sitting with Grandpa and suddenly decided she needed her blanket, so she trotted off downstairs, retrieved the blanket, and then came right back and plopped herself down on Grandpa's lap again. How fun!

I hope to have some pictures for you all to see next time--stay tuned!

A Wonderful Homecoming

In Asianese there is a word for wonderful which goes above and beyond our typical understanding of the word in English. We might say casually, "Oh, how wonderful!" about anything or everything. But in Asianese the word which is translated "wonderful" has almost a sense of the miraculous--this word is not used casually but is used to describe something incredibly fortuitous or grace-filled. For example, in the sentence "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life," this word, qimiao, is used. And that's how our homecoming was yesterday--wonderful, bordering on miraculous!

First of all, my dad was there at the airport! Not only was he released from the hospital (with strict instructions not to drive for several weeks, what he should be eating, and a list of meds to take as well as physical therapy goals to work towards), but he felt well enough to come all the way to the airport with a friend of our family in a big Suburban to pick us up! The second big surprise was that my brother Mark and his wife, Beth, and their two adorable daughters (aged 3 and 2) also made a long journey by car in order to surprise us and meet us! Mark's head was the first one I saw when we made our way down the long hallway with our two (tired) kids and myriads of assorted luggage. We also had some thoughtful friends from our home church in Sioux Falls who came bearing a great gift for us--the use of a car for the next month. What wonderful blessings! We felt so loved and appreciated!

You see, I was prepared for the worst. I had thought that perhaps if my dad was still in the hospital, we would need to go straight from the airport to the hospital in order to see him and my mom, and then John and I would just continue on to Mom and Dad's home and pick up something for supper on the way, eating by ourselves. The thought of Mark and Beth coming 6+ hours, in the middle of a week, (Mark is a busy pastor) and taking their two young children along just to stay over one night (read: hassle) had never occurred to me. So I had some fairly low expectations for our arrival. Instead, the picture was dramatically different: we were all together, having a big family reunion, laughing and talking, catching up and watching the girls form an almost instant bond together. Though just after we sat down to eat, Clara Anne had finished her yogurt and had a few bites of real supper when she announced "all done" and in the next moment was asleep in her high chair. I've never seen her do that before! She was sitting up, with her head falling forward and eyes closed, totally asleep. So she missed out on some of the fun, but was happier (and more well-rested) for it.

The flights all actually went fine--the girls both had some rough moments of inconsolable crying brought on by sheer exhaustion, but they both did sleep at various points, though not as much as I had hoped. There were just a few times, especially during the middle, longest flight, that I had tried every method of soothing Chloe and nothing was working, so I resorted to pleading with her to stop crying! She always did settle back down, so I'm thankful. Traveling that far, for that long, with such young children is not for the faint at heart, though! It required every trick in my bag and more! But we are recovering today (and probably the next few days as well!) in Grandpa and Grandma's comfy home so it's all good.

Speaking of comfort and convenience, I have been struck how convenient things are in America! Wow, having a car to go somewhere whenever you want is truly convenient! And look, hot water, right out of the tap! And look at all of the storage space in the frig and freezer! It's huge! (Actually just a normal size but it seems huge to me!) And, I am amazed to report that ALL of my laundry was done this morning by about 10am. I thought I had tons of stuff to wash, so started early, but then I realized that the capacity of my mom's washer must be at least twice that of mine in Asia. It only turned out to be two loads, and how lovely to have a dryer to immediately have things dry! I guess I have new appreciation for the simple pleasures and conveniences of the American lifestyle.

So today, I am thankful. We are here, safe and sound, all of our luggage arrived, we were granted safety traveling more than 8,000 miles, and we had the added blessing of seeing my dad recovering well and sharing precious time with Mark and Beth and their girls. When we left for Asia, their oldest daughter Marin was just 3 months old, and so to now see her a talkative, happy and musically gifted 3 year old is just wonderful. Annika, Mark and Beth's younger daughter, is just a few months younger than Clara Anne and we had never met her in person. What a joy to get acquainted, and how fun it was for Clara Anne to run around with her little cousins!

Well, we still have lots of unpacking to do, and both of my girls have already crashed this evening (let's hope they sleep all the way until the morning!) so I'd better make the most of my time. Thank you all who were praying for us as we traveled--we felt all of your prayers and it helped me during those difficult moments to remember that I wasn't the only one praying for us! Your prayers were answered so wonderfully--thank you, Lord!

Checking In...

Hi Everyone! Two main items of interest today . . .

I apologize for the lack of updates on my blog recently; we are still in transition and have barely had internet access these last weeks. (Note to self: wow, wireless is super convenient! We are going to have to invest in that!) We finished our meetings and have moved to a lovely hotel in Bangkok for a few days of "decompress" time before we take that long journey--tomorrow! Tomorrow morning at abou 1:30am our alarm will ring so that we can pack up and check out of the hotel by 2am, be on the road by 2:30, and arrive at the airport around 3am. Then we'll claim our left luggage that we have been storing there since coming into the country almost a month ago, check in at our airline, go through security and customs, find our gate, and sit down to wait for our 6am flight. It's a large plane, going first through Tokyo and then on to Minneapolis, so I anticipate some long lines in check-in. From Minneapolis we'll take a quick flight to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which is just 45 minutes away from my parent's home in northwest Iowa. According to my mom, they are in the midst of some wild winter weather, so we will be moving from the tropics to heavy snowfall!

We almost didn't get on this flight. On Friday night, when we arrived in BKK, we tried to access the internet in our hotel. The connection was slow and we couldn't download our emails, but John did manage to get on the Northwest site to check our reservation. He found our names, but it said "there are no flights in this account." Thinking that couldn't be right, he then called Northwest to confirm, and found that our tickets (purchased through a travel agent 3 months ago) had been cancelled! YIKES! What to do!!! We called on some of our colleages that live and work in this country and they were able to assist us, thankfully. Also thankfully, there were still seats on the flight so they were able to rebook tickets for us. So though it's been a bit stressful the last few days, we are thankful that everything worked out, that John had called so early to reconfirm, and that the problem was found and thus able to be fixed. PTL for watching over us!

Please pr for our long travel day! I have lots of snacks and fun things planned to do for the girls, but I am really hoping they will sleep a lot. We will arrive in the US in the middle of the afternoon, 22 hours later on our body clocks. We are looking forward to that arrival moment!

The other main item for prayer is that my dad had a heart attack over the weekend. Because of our internet difficulties, we didn't know until several days later, and thankfully he was much improved by that point. He didn't feel well over the weekend and was experiencing some chest pain, so on Monday morning he went in to the doctor and they found that one of his coronary arteries was almost 100% blocked. He was taken to a heart hospital and they performed an angioplasty; from what I know now he is doing all right--able to get up and around a bit, though not so much energy. He is still in the hospital and may still be when we arrive back at my parent's home; I'm just not sure. This was rather a shock to us since my dad has always been so healthy and still plays basketball with a group of guys--he played just last week! But we are thankful--thankful that he went to the doctor in time, thankful for the medical technology that was able to help his heart, and thankful to the Lord for sparing his life. I am also SO thankful that the Lord arranged the timing since we are on are way there and can be with Mom and Dad right now. But please pr for my dad, Jim, as he recovers. Pray for his heart, in all ways, that he will be physically, emotionally, and spiritually strengthened right now. And pray for my mom--she still has some lingering effects from her health difficulties last fall, mostly in her balance and coordination. It's a challenging time for our family ut we know that the Lord will be faithful to meet all of our needs! He is a gracious and loving Heavenly Father!

Well, this all certainly puts things in perspective. Our times are in His hands--what a reminder to make the most of our days, living for Him! Clara Anne would like to make the most of this morning by going swimming one last time, so it's time for me to sign off. Thanks for all of your prayers! Next time I post, we'll be in the States, Lord willing! See you on the other side!

And We're Off!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the long silence on our end . . . I actually had a blog post written to post on the day that we left our home in Asia, but I was thwarted. Our landlord (unhelpfully) cut off our internet access a few days early, so we had to wait until we were on the road to get access. And then we just a little bit busy relaxing, so I have neglected my blog. But here are a few pictures to show you from the past weeks! The one above is the last morning in our house--everything was completely ready and packed away, we were just waiting for our ride to the airport. The girls were enjoying sitting on the kitchen table!

Our home looked a little desolate--all packed up with plastic over everything.

Then...on to another Asian country, where we got some great pool time, even Chloe!
Here we are doing some snorkeling near a remote tropical island. Just gorgeous!

And here we were on the beach! It was lovely!

I have more stories to tell...but my internet access is about to run out. Stay tuned until next time!

And She's Off!

Chloe decided yesterday that she was tired of being immobile and longed to be off on her own adventures. After a large lunch, she was feeling happy and active, and when I put her down on the floor to play she began to do a variety of gymnastics--traditional style pushups with her arms and toes, and then her own variation with her forehead on the floor, then lying on her belly and pushing with her toes. Finally after I helped her by removing her pants, which were sliding on our wood floors and frustrating her efforts, she put her knees under her and actually started crawling!

So it's happened--she is now mobile. Watch out, Clara Anne! I think Chloe is going to give you a run for your money! Chloe has since then demonstrated several times that when she sees something that she wants, she is going to go after it and get it. We are going to have to keep a close eye on her!

As if that wasn't enough, and as if we didn't have enough things happening in family life this week, Chloe had an inconsolable afternoon today. I honestly did not know what to do for her. She had a good morning nap, a large lunch, and played well for awhile, but then would not go down for her afternoon nap. She cried and cried, so I let her get up again, but then she was fussy. She didn't want to play. She didn't want to nurse. When I put her in her highchair to try and eat some pureed food, she cried so hard she choked on her green beans. Finally I tried nursing her again, and while she was crying big tears with her mouth wide open, I saw the source of the agony . . . a little tiny pearly tooth, just barely poking through the gum. Aha. Well, that explains it (maybe). I could see it, but could only feel a very slight ridge on her gumline. So I suspect we may have a day or two more of this before it breaks all the way through.

In the meantime, I had my last meeting with my tutor yesterday. I am very thankful that I feel like I have made some progress in language learning recently! We have a big language test to take in the next few weeks so I will be glad to have that behind me, if I pass, that is! Now we are trying to do lots of packing and preparing our apartment to be vacant for 7 months, as well as saying goodbye to more friends. Lots to do this weekend!

In fact, I'd better get going! The girls are sleeping soundly so it's my chance to get some more things done. Since this was Chloe's big day, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of her (toothless). Since these were taken in the last few days, they'll be the last toothless pictures we have of her!

Playing her toy piano on the couch!
Mama, let's have lunch!

More New Photos!

Hot off the presses! Here are some brand-spankin' new photos of the girls, taken to commemorate Clara Anne's second birthday. I just went to pick them up today!

It was funny, since Asianese couples usually only have one child, they weren't sure what to do with me and my two children for the photo package. In August when I took them both, they said it was fine to take both girls' pictures, separately and together, (altogether 10 photos in the cheapest package) for the same one price. This time they told me no, I should buy two packages, one for each girl. I tried to ask why it was different this time, but they seemed determined not to understand my Asianese. Finally I said, ok, I'll just buy one package then and use it for Clara Anne, since it was her birthday. But when we went upstairs to the photo-taking area, the photographer (who was not in on the previous conversation) immediately said, oh, let's take some of both of them! So here they are--Chloe too. We got some cute shots despite both of the girls getting crabby at various moments. The great part about getting pictures taken here is that they also gave me a CD of the 10 photos I chose, so I can freely share them with you all! Enjoy! Clara Anne on a surfin' safari!

Chloe, our elf-child, straight out of Rivendell

Clara Anne's efforts to make Chloe smile are sweetly rewarded

Hello? Emma? Grandpa? Grandma? Hello!

Jeans are so much better than those sleepers Mama used to make me wear!

Our fun-loving 2 year old girl!

The Dora Bed Adventure

Awhile back, John and I were discussing how to maintain some continuity for the girls as we are about to embark on 7 months of transition. One particular area I was concerned about was sleeping. Both of my girls are good sleepers and seem to need a lot of sleep. Since I know how I feel when they don't get enough sleep, much less how they feel, we were trying to figure out how to help them get good sleep while we're gone. They'll need to sleep in hotel rooms, at friend's homes, sometimes in the same room with us and sometimes in a separate room. We'll be at Grandpa and Grandma Roelofs' house for awhile, and at Grandma Wind's house for awhile. We'll be at a camp in Kentucky for several weeks, and at John's sister's home in New York for a week, and the list goes on. So in all of these transitions, how to maintain the same bedtime routine to help them sleep well?

For Chloe, it will be easy. We have a travel-sized pack-n-play for her that she has been sleeping in since she returned to our city after being born in a different country. So we're planning to take that along. But Clara Anne's situation required a bit more thought. She is 2 years old now, and potty-trained. She is still sleeping in a crib here at home, but only because we had not yet bought a big girl bed for her, since it really wouldn't fit in our present apartment--she and Chloe are in the same room and there isn't quite enough room for a twin bed.

But then someone suggested to us a toddler ready bed--essentially an air mattress which has a sleeping bag fitted over it. It is very portable and folds up easily, and yet gives the idea of a big-girl bed. "Perfect!" we thought. "We'll buy one and use it during January to help Clara Anne get the idea of it, and to train her to stay in it at night, and then when we travel she'll already be accustomed to it and it'll all be great!"

However, it wasn't quite that easy. We looked on Amazon.com and found a fun Dora the Explorer bed that we thought Clara Anne would love. (She still has only seen the show once or twice on DVD, but she loves the idea of Dora.) But Amazon wouldn't ship this product internationally. We decided it was important enough to pay shipping twice, so we had it shipped to my parents and then they shipped it over here. It arrived a few days after Christmas, but our first disappointment was that it wasn't the model we thought we had ordered! Bummer!

Oh well, we opened the package anyway and let Clara Anne see the bed and start to get excited about it. But, the very first day we opened it up, pumped it up and let Clara Anne lie/play on it for awhile, it wasn't too long when we noticed it was losing air. Bummer again!

Then, Clara Anne had her own ideas about the bed. She loved to play on it, put her dolls to sleep in it, etc, but anytime that I suggested that she sleep in it, she immediately cried and refused to get near it. I was truly baffled by this response. All of my entreaties were to no avail! Finally, since I didn't want to push it too much, I just let it go and let her sleep in her crib, where she obviously felt more safe and secure.

But the other night we had a breakthrough. As Clara Anne was going to bed for the night, she said, "Sleep on Dora! Sleep on Dora!" Seeing that she was sincere, I let her have the (deflated)Dora bed inside her crib, just so she could have the fun of sleeping on it, thinking that maybe in the future it would be an easier transition to sleeping on it alone. However, when I entered her room not more than 20 minutes later to help Chloe settle down a bit, I found that Clara Anne had gotten the sleeping bag part unzipped, climbed out of it by herself, and then proceeded to toss the entire thing over the side of her crib. Take that, Dora!

Since then though, we've had one successful nap on Dora outside the crib, and one night on Dora inside the crib. Maybe we're making progress! Tonight, though, Clara first wanted to sleep on Dora, then after I had gotten it all arranged she tossed Dora overboard again, and then cried for the Dora bed to be put back! Good grief, make up your mind, Clara Anne!

Since we only have a little more than a week left at home, the day is coming when Clara Anne will have no option--it's Dora or the floor-a! But we still haven't found the leak! I guess we'll add that to our list of to-dos before we leave! Until next time . . .

New Pictures!

To all of you faithfully checking my blog during the post-earthquake days, here's some pictures to reward you, now that our internet is working again. This first one shows you what a good little helper Clara Anne is in the kitchen--I was making banana bread and she mashed the bananas for me! Can you see her cute braids? Her clothes look like they could be out of the Brady Bunch 70's flower children days!

Here's a family photo from a few weeks ago; January 14, 2007. Almost everyone is smiling!

I have mentioned my house helper so many times, I thought I should show you all a picture of her. Here she is, chopping vegetables for our lunch.

Actually, that day I had taught her how to make my mom's famous Broccoli-Cheese soup, and also gave her my recipe for Buttery Breadmaker Rolls. It was a Thursday, and that means "play day" so you can see us all gathered around the table in my very small dining area. We are being a bit silly--many of our Asianese friends like to give the "peace" sign when taking pictures, so we thought we would do it for this one as well. We look a bit goofy! Maybe we were just excited to eat Western food that we didn't have to make. Mimi did a great job following my mom's recipe and resisted her Asianese impulses to approximate ingredients , so it truly tasted just like my mom's. Yum, yum!

And one last picture: story time with Emma and Clara Anne on my lap. They do love to read stories together!
And stay tuned until tomorrow, to find out how Clara Anne really feels about sleeping in a big girl's bed!

Could it really be true?

Is it possible? Can it really be that our internet, after an entire month of slower-than-molasses-in-January-connections is finally fixed?

I don't want to jump to conclusions, but the fact that I successfully logged into blogger tonight for the first time in a month gives me that impression! Yippee! We did learn how to deal with the internet as it was, but I cannot deny that our life will be easier with a faster internet connection. Thank you, all you hard-working people on ships fixing underground cables in the ocean!

Well, it's Friday night and the whole house is settled in for the night. The girls are fast asleep, the house smells lovely after a round of chocolate cupcakes were baked in my oven, and all the toys are picked up. My house helper was here today so all my dust has been temporarily managed (it will reappear again tomorrow). I even did the dishes after supper tonight (ok, I confess I sometimes stack them for the morning if there aren't many or I'm too tired) so my kitchen is all sparkly.

However, I have a confession to make: I am officially the mother of a toy-snatcher. In case you were under the impression that sweet, gentle Clara Anne would never do such a thing, I am very sad to disappoint you. Clara Anne and Emma have had lots of opportunities to play together recently, and Clara Anne has decided that whenever she wants something that Emma is playing happily with, she will simply grab it out of Emma's hands. We have even had some situations where Emma, in pure and simple self-defense, runs away from Clara Anne, but usually Clara Anne just runs after her, trying to get the toy.

I don't know why, when there are a zillion toys to play with, that Clara Anne must have the one that is already being played with! After Christmas and New Years, there were even more toys available at both houses but that has not seemed to help the problem. We are trying to address this issue with Clara Anne but it is truly a heart issue: greed leads to grabbing, whereas we want her to have a generous spirit, giving Emma free rein to play with her toys, and especially letting Emma play with Emma's own toys!

So I've decided that the memory verse for this next week is Acts 20:35 "It is more blessed to give than receive." A few weeks ago, we were working on part of Acts 5:21 "We must obey God." Clara has that one down pat now and it is great to hear it coming from her mouth at random occasions--even teaching it to her Doll! I hope it can really be true that this next memory verse will sink down into her heart and help her have a more generous spirit!

Here's a recent photo of Clara Anne with some of her friends who are generously overlooking her toy-snatching tendencies. Aren't they cute?!

And now it's Chloe's turn to have a moment in the limelight. She has been an absolute doll baby lately; eating like a horse and sleeping a ton, and smiley, giggly and talkative when she's awake. She loves to say "da-da-da" in a soft little voice and especially loves being tickled and held up high in the air. She is growing so fast, and getting to be quite the little chunk to carry around. She still has a rather egg-shaped head, and not much hair yet, but we still love her! We are loving watching her learn how to "scoot" (we can't really call it crawling) from one place to another. She manages to get where she wants to go! It's fun--some of Clara Anne's first words in the morning are usually, "See Chloe? Play Chloe!"

Of course, just as I was writing that, Chloe decided to wake up and cry (very uncharacteristic of her--truly!). So I'd better go and convince her that nothing is wrong and she should go back to sleep.

But hey, now that the internet is working again, I can post again soon! Thanks for hanging in there with us during the slow stages!

And the Clock Keeps Ticking. . .

Lately I feel a bit like my life could be that show, “The Amazing Race.” I have only seen the show a few times (reruns on Asian TV when we were traveling) but the idea seemed to be a sort of gigantic scavenger hunt with many challenges thrown in, where working together as a team is really important. The clock keeps ticking and the teams can’t make up for time lost; they just have to keep on trying to do better during the next portion of the race. Our life has looked somewhat similar lately! The clock is ticking on our leaving date: only 13 days! We are trying to use our time well and accomplish each day’s tasks, but it’s taking all of our combined effort and energy to do so.

It’s strange, because I don’t remember feeling so pressed for time before we left the States initially. That might have been because we didn’t have two children! We also had quite a long time to prepare and leaving was literally leaving behind lots of precious people and things and venturing out into the unknown: a huge adventure! Now the tables have turned: instead of venturing out we are returning to the familiar. And yet, so many things have changed in the past three years! The most obvious, adding two daughters to our family where before there were no children, has been a huge change. Welcoming our daughters into the world, caring for them, praying for them, seeing them grow, playing with them . . . all of that has changed our lives and our family drastically.

But John and I have also changed. We’ve gotten used to the crazy traffic, the low prices, the smoggy air. We eat Asianese food pretty much every day. We speak Asianese every day, and sometimes I dream in it! I am also happily accustomed to my house helper making lunches, doing my laundry, mopping my floor, and washing my dishes several times a week. I also can now tell the difference between 3-4 different types of Asianese rice. (They truly do look, smell, and taste different!) I have even grown to like some types of fish (which is served whole) and seafood, which I never thought would happen. [Though, as a sidenote, yesterday I was at the grocery store and wandered past a section of seafood—a huge display of octopuses artfully arranged on a pile of shaved ice. Oh my, the slimy squishy yuckiness of it all…rest assured that I was not tempted by the sale price or the “attractive” display!]

I hope it doesn’t seem somehow ungrateful or anti-American, but I have recognized lately that I am sad to leave for so long. We will be gone from our home here for seven months, and I am a little sad to have to say goodbye to friends, stop eating yummy Asianese food, and be away from our home for that long. It is kind of like a chapter of our life is ending, since we plan to move from this apartment when we return, which is a little sad. On a lighter note, I even feel a bit concerned that I will miss the food so much that I have been asking my house helper to tell me how to make certain foods so that I can try to make them in the States. Actually, I am SURE that I will miss the cheap prices on fresh, fresh vegetables, just as an example, yesterday I bought a package of two red and two yellow peppers for about $.60 USD. You can’t beat that!

On the other hand, there are lots of things I’m looking forward to about going back for awhile. Topping the list is seeing family and friends, and introducing everyone to our daughters. I’m so excited for Clara Anne and Chloe to get a chance to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma Roelofs and Grandma Wind. We also are truly excited to share with many of you the wonderful things happening here on this side of the world. Other random things we’re looking forward to: eating at Cracker Barrel, taking road trips (of which we have several planned!), which means driving—something we haven’t done for 3 years! I am super excited to take Clara Anne to the library to choose some NEW books to read (boy am I tired of reading the same books to her over and over! I think I can recite some of them. In fact, she can recite some of them!). I’m also eager to do some shopping in a land where I am a normal size and not the extra-extra-large gigantic size that I need in this country of thin, willowy Asian people. My cupboards also need some restocking so it will be great to just go to the grocery store and be amazed at the variety and selection! And one last thing: speaking English! Hearing English spoken! Everyone else speaking English! Though I will truly miss speaking Asianese (I do think it is a beautiful language) and I feel glad about how much Asianese I can speak, I am really only at an intermediate level and so still only understand about 60-75% of what is spoken to me, and that’s on a good day. So it will be truly wonderful to be able to hear, understand and communicate freely.

Well, I started this blog talking about being pressed for time, and now here I have sat, writing for the last 30 minutes. So I shall conclude and go do some packing, or something more productive, since the clock keeps ticking! Good night!

Have You Tried. . .

Some of you know that recently I had my turn in the family at being under the weather. I just had a mild case of the flu—starting with a sore throat, then fever for a few days, and now a lingering cough. All of my Asianese friends have been very concerned and offered lots of advice. They have their own ideas about natural medicine and healing which sometimes I think have some merit, and sometimes I think sound totally crazy.

One of the basic concepts is that of “losing fire/gaining fire.” For example, in this traditional medicinal system, if you get a cold sore, you have too much fire, and you should eat various foods that are “cold” foods (not in temperature, in their system of classifying things. For example, pears are cold but peaches are hot. Brown sugar is hot but white sugar is cold…and on and on). In the past, especially after having my babies, I was told that I needed to eat lots of “hot” foods because having a baby causes a woman to lose lots of blood, which is considered heat, so to replace the heat, you should eat hot foods. Make sense? (Or clear as mud, as my dad would say?)

Not only that, but in cases like that, the folk wisdom handed down from the grandmas insists that it is right no matter the consequence. This is why a woman who has just given birth should not take a shower or “touch cold water” for 30 days because if she does, she will compound her heat loss and get sick. No matter if she doesn’t get sick for the next year, the next time she catches a cold or anything like that, the grandmas will insist that it was because of that one time, after giving birth, when she washed her hands or ate the cucumber or whatever the offense was.

You can probably guess that my Asianese friends were shocked, SHOCKED to find that I had not only showered within 24 hours of giving birth, but that I was up and around and on my feet again, eating whatever appealed to me right after Clara Anne and Chloe were born. They were even more shocked to find that I was taking care of the new baby by myself (with John’s help, of course) and didn’t have a month to rest in bed like their new moms do. No matter how I insisted that I wasn’t sick, that I felt well and it actually felt good to get up and around, they were appalled. They were also quite surprised to find how quickly I returned to my normal shape and lost my weight again! I wonder why?!

Anyway, to finally get to the point of this post, I just wanted to pass along some of the remedies that have been suggested to me in the last few days, and see if you think that any of them would be things that you would like to try the next time you get sick. Here they are:

• One of my salon ladies told me I need to drink a mixture made from boiled leeks, fresh chunks of ginger, and brown sugar. The leeks and ginger are strained out and the brown sugar is just for sweetening. (This is actually quite good, I’ve tried it before.)


• My other salon lady told me I definitely should not drink that mixture, it would do bad things to me, so I should just soak my feet in hot water and try to sweat a lot.


• Mimi, my ever-resourceful house helper, made me two helpful mixtures: one was a fried egg that then was simmered in brown sugar water, (tasty but a little strange) and the other was pears, boiled and pureed with a little white sugar. The egg-brown sugar mixture was supposed to be especially great for women’s health, but only if you eat 6 of them at once. “SIX!” I said, I don’t think I could eat six! But Mimi insisted that I should try. I gave up after the third egg; we saved the other three for my next meal. The pear mixture was just fine; I’m not sure that it really helped me, but hey, it’s the thought that counts.


• My tutor brought me a large jar of honey, saying that I should drink it in hot water. That’s a remedy we even use in the West!


• Everyone who knew I was sick reminded me with strong words that I should not drink cold water, only hot water. The hotter, the better! They all said I needed to lose fire, and somehow, drinking hot water would make me sweat and therefore lose the extra fire. Um….ok!

I truly appreciated everyone’s concern for me, and have actually tried all of these things over the last few days. But the “creeping crud” is still in residence in my chest, so I shall have to continue my at-home remedies. I am thankful to have my energy back and hope to get rid of the cough soon too.

In the meantime, I’d better go mix up another batch of the leek-ginger-brown sugar brew! Cheers!

Rock-n-Roll, Baby!

On Sunday morning we were gathered with some other American friends for our special “meeting.” It’s always a bit challenging organizing this time, since there are just as many children among us as there are adults. There’s no nursery care for this gathering, though! So we try to involve the older girls, but they are only 2, so they still have some difficulties with paying attention for longer periods of time and sitting still. Usually our plan has been to have them participate in the initial singing, praying, and reading of the Word, and then during the discussion of the week’s passage they either lie down to rest or watch a praise video. So far it’s working all right, but now the younger girls are getting older and presenting their own challenges since they just don’t sleep as much as they used to! Last week we joked that perhaps we need to have our gathering at 8pm since at that time, all the little ones are in bed!

It has been sweet to see, though, how our older girls love the singing. We have some shakers and a small tambourine that they can use to participate, too! John often plays a small bongo drum set and with the piano or guitar going, we definitely make a joyful noise. The older girls love to shout “Hallelujah!” at the ends of the songs, and shake their shakers wildly. It’s truly wonderful to see them be a part of it!

But last week was special. The little girls, who are showing more and more of their own personalities, were also in the room during the singing (neither of them were sleeping yet). I was playing the piano, John was bongo-ing on the drums, and Clara Anne was shaking her shaker. And Chloe…Chloe was holding her shaker, and literally rocking and rolling to the music. She was sitting up on the couch, and every time the music started she would start rocking back and forth, moving her little torso forward and back. Whenever the music would stop, she would stop too. It was precious!

I promise it wasn’t just a fluke—several times this week I have either been playing the piano or playing music (this morning it was some Mozart orchestral music) and she responds the same way. I think I have a little music lover on my hands! It is especially fun since Clara Anne reacts so differently to music. When she was younger and we would listen to music together, she would go very still without any particular facial expression, and then at the very end she would say, “More?” Only then did I know she liked it! Chloe is showing us with her whole body how much she’s enjoying it! It’s good exercise, too!

So Chloe girl, we’ll keep on playing and singing the music, and you keep on rocking and rolling!

The Misadventures of Doll

Here is a glimpse of a recent event in our home, exactly as it occurred:

Clara Anne is playing with her Doll, who is in her stroller. Clara Anne crosses the room, then says in a serious voice, “Doll, come here.” Doll, of course, does not respond.

Clara Anne says again, “Doll, come here right now.” When again Doll doesn’t respond, Clara Anne climbs up the piano bench to reach the “sad stick” which is stored on top of the piano. She gives Doll two flicks on her bottom and says “No-no, Doll. Naughty. Disobey.”

Doll, instead of looking sorry or sheepish, just continues smiling. Clara Anne then hugs her and says “Be happy, Doll.”

Good job, Clara Anne! But next time don’t give Doll a second chance—she should respond right away! Remember, to delay is to disobey! Too bad for Doll, she truly couldn’t help it. Maybe the training we’re doing with Clara Anne IS sinking in a bit!

Holiday Highlights

Happy 2007, everyone! Thanks to the assistance of the lovely Angela, I am now back online. I’m not sure why this method (of sending her my posts and having her post them online) didn’t occur to me earlier, but I’m glad that it seems like it will work so I can share the family news with you all again. Warning: this post is long and includes lots of details! Extra points if you get all the way to the end!

Christmas this year was really special, after lots of thinking and planning. It still feels like John and I are trying to settle on our own family traditions. In the past, in the States, we usually tried to spend time with both families during the holidays, just participating in their traditions as we had opportunity. On John’s side, that meant church on Christmas Eve, opening presents afterwards, and eating lots of John’s mom’s homemade goodies. On my side, that meant getting together with extended family, playing lots of games, eating Chex Mix, and the annual Christmas Bowl family football game. (Played in the yard, not watched on the TV!)

So for us, the first Christmas away from our families was at the end of our first year in Asia, 2004, and that’s the day that Clara Anne was born! Exciting, but not a tradition to repeat every year! And last year, though it was Clara Anne’s birthday, we were super busy giving tons of outreach Christmas parties and had two parties scheduled for Christmas Day. Plus, since it was only Clara Anne’s first birthday, she was pretty clueless of her special day and actually a bit crabby since she had been sick earlier that week. In fact, last year, when John and I went to get Clara Anne out of her crib on her birthday, we sang “Happy Birthday” to her excitedly, and all she could do was cry in a pathetic voice (read: whine) for me to pick her up. We got it all on video—I like to call it “Bummer of a Birthday.” So we wanted this year to be different!

In talking through what we wanted Christmas to be like, we decided to strive to keep the idea of Christmas as a time to share Christ with others. It is all about Him, truly! But also, since it is Clara Anne’s birthday, we wanted her to feel like it was her special day. So John suggested this idea, borrowing from his parent’s Christmas Eve tradition: we will have a family Christmas celebration, with candles, singing, and reading the Christmas story, on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day will be Clara Anne’s special day to celebrate her life and the years that God has given her.

So this year, that’s what we did! On Christmas Eve, we spent some time passing out Christmas cookies in a square downtown (see my post of Dec. 24), and then spent a wonderful afternoon singing carols around the piano with some good friends. On Christmas Day, we had a special birthday breakfast for Clara Anne with fresh hot muffins and scrambled eggs, and then a special birthday lunch out at Pizza Hut. (Don’t laugh, remember that Pizza Hut is a really nice dining experience in our city!) Admittedly, that was our choice, but as she gets older we are going to let Clara Anne choose what she would like to eat on her birthday. That was a tradition in my house growing up, and I always felt so special. Clara Anne got to open a few gifts in the evening, we took some pictures, and we all sat down together to read the Christmas story one more time. The girls experienced bath time together for the first time on Christmas night, and John and I finished the evening by playing Yahtzee—a Roelofs (my) family favorite—and of course, listening to the Charlie Brown Christmas CD.

The day after Christmas we set off on an adventure to ride as many taxis as we could in the morning hours, between getting everyone ready and coming home for lunch. We had a special gift to give to taxi drivers—a cassette tape with Christmas songs and a special presentation of the Good News. John took Clara Anne, I took Chloe, and we were able to share with more than 40 people that day! It was a great blessing and a joy to share. Although a few people looked at us strangely, it was encouraging to find that the majority received our gift with gladness.

Whew! After all of that, we were tired! But there was still more fun to come! The 28th is our wedding anniversary, and though we didn’t actually celebrate on that day, we did take both of the girls and enjoy lunch at one of our favorite western restaurants. John had a meeting in the evening, and I will confess I was a little sad and lonely by myself at home. I tried to read things on the internet—but it wasn’t working, and at the time I didn’t know why. I tried to watch a movie, and the DVD drive on our computer was acting up, which is does once in a while. I tried to call my friend Rachel, and her cell phone was out of minutes. In the quest for something to do, I finally resorted to exercise: I have some weights that I lift several times a week and also some abs exercises that I do. This wife was overjoyed to see her husband arrive home that night!

The celebration of our 10th anniversary was truly special, a few days later. In the morning, despite our awful internet situation, the connection was good enough to enjoy a long chat online with my family members, who were all gathered at my mom and dad’s for the holiday. Modern technology is truly a blessing! We were able to see and hear clearly and even sang some songs together. PTL! I think there must have been some divine intervention, since just the day before, the connection was terrible.

Then in the afternoon, we left our kids with friends (only the second time to leave Chloe with someone, the first time she was only a few weeks old!) and went out for some fun and food. There is a bowling alley in our city which seems to be imported, lock, stock and barrel from the US. The shoes are all sized like the US, the balls are weighed in pounds, not kilos, and in general everything is really nice looking and well-maintained. I won the first game, but John prevailed and won the next two, ending with an all-time personal high of 159! He did great! We spent some time browsing through a local mall (something we never do since kids have little patience for things like that) and made the find of the year—avocados! Yes, they were expensive (imported from Mexico!), but we thought it would be worth it to make guacamole for our New Year’s Eve celebration. Dinner that night was at the restaurant of a five-star hotel in our city’s downtown; they have a fabulous Brazilian Barbeque and buffet. Brazilian BBQ is where cuts of meat, particularly beef, are seasoned and then roasted over an open fire, and then the waiters come around to slice portions off the skewers for you. It’s tasty! Good beef is hard to find in this Asian country, (I have never cooked anything but ground beef at home) so every few months or so, we go to this restaurant and enjoy. A special highlight of our dinner was taking turns naming our top 10 highlights of 10 years of marriage. What a treat to sit, enjoying the food and atmosphere, (without little ones to manage) and just talk, reflecting on 10 years together—10 years of the Lord’s faithfulness. Only He knows what the next 10 years will bring!

New Year’s Eve was fun and a bit crazy this year! My friend Rachel and I had planned lots of snacky food for our supper that night: her homemade Chicken fingers, a layered bean dip that I like to make, of course the special guacamole, and then we decided to attempt (our first ever) “Bloomin’ Onion.” Neither of us had any experience deep frying, nor did we have a thermometer. The process was going well, cutting the onion, breading it, etc, until the deep frying: the oil was too hot. The breaded coating cooked too quickly, and got too toasty, while the onion pieces were still somewhat crunchy and a bit raw-tasting. Too bad! It used a ton of oil (which we saved) so we’ll have to try it again. The other food, including chocolate dipped strawberries and individual molten chocolate cakes for dessert, was all wonderful and a fun treat to eat.

The best part of the night, though, was the games. First came Quiddler, a word game that we love, and then Catch Phrase, on and on, into the wee morning hours. In fact, John and I didn’t arrive back home until 3am! I am not someone who normally enjoys staying up late (because as all mothers know, if you don’t sleep while the children are sleeping, you will cry when they are crying!) but this night was a super fun exception. We had put all the kids to bed quite early, so we had many hours of game-playing fun and conversation before we finally headed home. I’m just glad there are taxi drivers who work all night! I’m also glad that my girls seemed to sense the uniqueness of the events so that when we got back home and got them to bed, they both agreeably slept LATE the next day—Chloe got up at 10, and Clara Anne not until 11!

So our New Year was ushered in with a bang; and since then it’s been full-steam ahead. Our leaving date is rushing nearer and nearer, and there’s lots to accomplish before then!
I’m going to have to be diligent with my time in order to make good progress towards packing up our house, studying language, and my normal wifely and motherly tasks.

There you have it: you get a bonus for making it to the end of this very long post! And the bonus is a picture of Chloe, taken just today, sitting up like a big girl. Thanks for bearing with me! And Happy New Year!