Detta är Dagen

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

-Psalm 118:24


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Monday, August 31, 2009

pictures

When there's no cello at home... ... just use a guitar and a bowling pin!

The kids like to race around the house chasing each other with these mesh laundry hampers over their heads. I've personally never tried it, but it does look like lots of fun when they're giggling uncontrollably.

Annie fast asleep in her 'new' bed- notice we even have a side rail for it so she won't fall out (except for the time that she was leaning on the rail and tipped herself over the edge onto the floor... but she should have been sleeping anyway instead of playing, so we didn't give her much pity for that one!)

There's something peaceful about seeing dozens of clean diapers strung out to dry on a laundry line in the sun.

Last Saturday we took a hike to visit some friends of ours. We were bringing them a crib mattress and walking on this narrow path that clings to the side of the mountain with a steep drop-off down into the valley hundreds of feet below. We thought our mothers would appreciate the pictures:
We haven't gotten many pictures of Annie being messy at meal time because she really generally keeps fairly clean. Here's a good one, though, bad hair-day and all:

another weekend down.

One of our friends who does not believe in Jesus Christ told us one time that he does not throw around prayers lightly. Neither do I. And because of that, I want to thank those of you who did pray for me this weekend on the retreat- I think it went well. I did not stay the whole time because there were a lot of chaperones and weekends are precious family time for us, so I came home after I was done speaking, which turned out to be a good thing because when I arrived home, Nate was in the middle of cooking lunch and had just run out of gas in our gas cylindar. It should be an easy fix- we SHOULD have an extra one in our house, but NO, we tried for several months to procure one and finally gave up out of cultural and communication frustrations. SO it was good that I came home and could send Nate over to finish cooking lunch on our neighbors stove. We got a man to replace our gas cylindar two hours later.

Saturday afternoon we sorted through our shed and broke up a bunch of scrap plywood to burn this winter. Nate cut a board to cover my ironing board (because there are screws sticking out of the top of my ironing board) and we found a board that will work for my stories I like to do with the kids. I found a bunch of clothes that will fit Annie in a trunk that was sitting out there and then after supper, Nate and I watched "Stand and Deliver" - a 'math teacher' movie :).

I talked with an Indian friend of mine on the phone because we've been meaning to get together. In our conversation, she told me that her son was potty-trained by the time he was 6 months old!!!!! Indians typically potty-train their babies very early like that, but still.... How in the world do they do it??? I imagine a lot of laundry and accidents... I'm pretty happy to have Annie mostly out of diapers by 21 months (but 6 months- that would have been great!-smile!)

Friday, August 28, 2009

keeping busy

I have been wishing for some time to post on here, and now finally, I'm just taking some time to do it because my brain is too scattered to do anything else at the moment. I've been keeping busy the past couple of weeks. It's been generally good -a bit too full for my liking, but the bulk of what I've spent my time on this week has been preparing for speaking and helping organize the High School Spiritual Retreat (read that as: focused on the Christian faith but students of all beliefs are welcome... or something - I will be speaking about Faith in Jesus Christ!). That work will be done this weekend, so maybe my days will feel more manageable.

So today and tomorrow I'll be helping with that retreat and yesterday I asked a high school girl if she was coming and she said, "I'm not really into organized religion." ! kinda deflating after all my hard work. But then, that's how most of our efforts in this place have landed: falling flat on the ground.
It's ok, though. I've been trying to think of the ways that God has used us here and of the good things, the times we have felt appreciated, the love we have received and been able to give, the message of Hope that I pray we've been able to share here.
I'm at that place of wrapping things up here- not wanting to pour too much in because it hurts to leave if you do that - but wanting to live fully here until the very end, because it's so much richer all the way around. When I get discouraged about where I'm involved and where I'm not, I just try to tell myself that it's better to not be too involved anyway. The things that I AM involved in, I desperately want to be able to pour myself out in them... but it's so hard when I have my family that needs me too.
So this retreat is one of those things. Something that feels like it'd be easier to just show up, do my part, and leave... but maybe I should make more of an effort to hang out with the students and listen and be a part of the whole thing... and then I know I'll get hurt because it will take a huge amount of effort for me to do that and I know I won't be awarded much appreciation. That's just the way it is. Is it that way everywhere?

I think that I'm more sensitive to appreciation than I used to be because spending all my days with two ungrateful kids leaves me very rarely feeling appreciated- it's just not the same thing as having a job and getting the reward of accomplishing tasks, getting recognized publicly by people for what you achieve, having relative strangers say 'thank you'... this is largely why many women don't want to be stay-at-home moms, I think.

But I want to be doing what I'm doing - staying home with my kids- and I just think it helps me to fight those discouragements if I can push them out and address them somehow- like just writing here.

I've had some bright spots too lately- like the Women's Bible Studies I've been able to be a part of - they've been so refreshing! And I've been able to help out with both the Middle and Elementary School after-school Christian clubs- which is nice for me to be able to do. And my family continues to be such a bright spot for me- I love doing pathetic crafts with my kids (but they think my craft ideas are cool, cuz I'm their mom!-smile), and spending evenings with my honey talking and watching the canadian tv show: Corner Gas (watching a TV show?! what's become of me????!). So that's some rambling thoughts from my fuzzy brain for today.

If you pray for me this weekend on this retreat, please pray that I will shine out God's love to the students and that He will give me only His best words to use as I speak to them. And thank you for praying - It's the most powerful thing we've got.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Tuesday! :)

It's Tuesday today, and guess who's almost potty trained? My 21-month-old ANNIE! :) I'm a happy camper- you bet! I'm already dreaming of upcoming days when I can put away most of my cloth diaper collection-wahoo!! And I won't miss washing washing washing nasty diapers, that's for sure.
Annie was completely dis-interested in re-starting to potty-training after we returned from Korea, but in the past two weeks she's gotten interested again, and yesterday and today we've had great success!!! One time I even came into the bathroom to find her cleaning the toilet with the toilet brush, with no underwear on. When I had finished reprimanding her for all of that, I looked down at her potty-chair and saw that she had gone again, without my even asking her or making her try it. Oh, it'll be great when she's out of diapers!
Besides keeping an eye on Annie, I washed laundry, wrote some planning emails for this weekend, ate some more pumpkin bread, and hosted Bible Study this morning, which was nice. Our group is doing Beth Moore's Esther study and it is such a neat study. This afternoon, I fixed us a chicken pot pie (from scratch scratch scratch like everything else we eat!) that only took me about 1.5 hours to make- and now my whole house smells yummy. My honey just got home and it's supper time so I'm off! Just wanted to share some of life from our happy home.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

For my Pappa: My 'Little' Backyard's Flora

Above is a picture of the moss that covers the rocky ground in our little yard. Annie thinks it's nicest to walk on this softmoss-sharprock stuff barefoot, but I prefer shoes.
Above, some dying flowers- these are the first ones to bloom as monsoon is just beginning, and evidently, they're among the first to go as it draws to a close. We've had way too many dry days this monsoon and are praying for more rain as what falls here in the mountains affects the entire nation for the rest of this year.


Ferns, ferns everywhere! They grow on anything and everything!
I don't know the proper name for this purple flower, but it reminds people of a peacock- can you see it?


These bright orange-red flowers were hiding under so much green that I only just spotted them a couple of days ago. They're just beautiful!
And above is the plant that tells us when the monsoon is over. The green 'berry' part turns bright red to tell us all that the rains have passed.
I know my pappa would enjoy monsoon season here- especially watching all the birds and plants. When I wander around my yard or out on the trails with my camera, I think often about my Pappa and how he'd enjoy it here if he could come for a visit.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

August 15: Independence Day


Today we celebrated Independence Day- not only for India, but also for Korea. Our day has been busy: we attended an all-school assembly where we sang the Indian national anthem, watched the flag be raised, heard a speech, prayed, and watched a L-O-N-G Indian dance that 'addressed' social issues (mmmmm. I'm still reflecting on this, but I'm not convinced that a bunch of people who make their living dancing are actually changing social areas of greed, poverty, inequality, environmental abuse, caste issues, racism, sexism... the list goes on and on. But I digress!)

What I thought was cool this time in our celebration, was that the Korean students and staff (and there are LOTS at our school) put together a Korean 'dance' for us to watch and they also got up and sang their national anthem. Every year our school congratulates the Koreans on their Independence day, but this year it was fun to see some Korean stuff too- especially since we were just there.

Anyway, after all the pomp, we lined up for Indian food, drank chai out of clay cups and chatted with friends and acquaintances. I was glad to get a picture of me with a friend of mine. She came to WS at the same time that we did and our boys are the same age. She has become like my Indian 'sister' even though we don't see each other much. We're always excited to see eachother and whenever we move from here, I will miss her. What's really fun is that God gave us both little girls named Anna- here we are with our daughters:

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Biting Annie

She's a biting Annie these days. Will wears a number of scars and teeth marks- three very distinct ones at the moment, and he hunkers down in a defensive position anytime she approaches out of sheer fear of another Annie-bite. I've tried to point out to him that she is only biting him when he's threatening her, and that it is both of their fault... the question now is how to get her to stop biting?!
I have no clue. Got any brilliant ideas? Feel free to share!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Friday

It's Friday! And it just so happens that I have a cello in our house for the first time in over 2 years. The kids were very curious about it and Will waited patiently to try it after I played on it for a few minutes. He just loved playing it all by himself. These pictures are my effort to capture how he sawed the bow against the strings so intensely; yet while his fingers and arms were flailing, his head remained fixed in one position, concentrating on what he was doing. He's quite the little musician. On a completely un-related topic (except that it's still Friday), I'm finally catching on to the idea that my little baby doesn't want to be penned up in a 'crib' anymore- she climbed out of the pack-n-play a couple of days ago, and I still insisted on putting her to bed in there. Then last night, long after putting her to bed in the pack-n-play, I found her like this:
She must have just managed to get onto the regular bed before exhaustion set in. How in the world does she manage to climb straight cloth walls that reach up to her armpits? I saw her do it a couple of times- just hoists herself up there... but still! So today I packed down the pack-n-play and we will probably pass it to another family who can use it. Annie is in her big-girl bed, as was so blatantly requested, and voila- the kids have space to play in their room again. (And without containing walls, the parents will undoubtedly, once again, have a struggle on their hands every time they try to put the kids to bed.) At least the princess is happy!
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I remember my mom telling me that she used to come in our rooms and watch us sleep. Weird, I thought, at the time. Now I'm the one who stands there staring at the gifts of life that God has given us in our kids. I love seeing how peacefully Will sleeps: so calm and without a care in the world.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

short stories

One fine rainy day, when the storm had died down to the faintest sprinkle, I suited the kids in their raincoats, passed out umbrellas, and we headed out for a tiny 'walk in the rain' to see a 'waterfall'. In reality, we took about ten steps past our gate and watched a bit of water trickle down the mountainside (and we didn't need either our umbrellas or our raincoats). I let the kids splash their shoes in some super shallow puddles and the whole ten-minute event became a memory for my little boy. "Mamma, we took a walk in the rain to see the waterfall!" - That sounds quite a bit more elaborate than the actual occasion was, but it was fun. I'm just not brave enough to let my kids loose in the cold, pouring rain- because clean-up sounds too daunting. They'd love it though, so I hope someday I have the energy to let them do that.

Another round of 'Where's Annie'?
She found the best play-space in the house: in the fireplace. There's usually an armchair pulled up in front of it, and sometimes we really have wondered where she disappeared to. She drags a little collection of toys, dolls and books back there and puts on a big grin when we spot her.

"Mamma, what's this letter?"
Alphabet letters are Will's latest obsession (...that and stealing all his sister's toys). Whenever I'm fixing something in the kitchen, Will waltzes in, begs me for samples, plops himself in this chair, and grabs a letter to show me. "Mamma, what's THIS letter?", he asks - and then I tell him the letter and the sound it makes and we try to think of words that start with that sound. But when I write it here, it sounds much more educational than our family life really is. He's just so curious that I'm trying to help him out, but it's taking him awhile! What's pretty funny is when Will sees someone wearing a T-shirt with "ABC's" on it- and, while they thought nothing at all about it when they got dressed that day, Will is intent to know what letters are on their shirt. "HEY, you have ABC's on your shirt! What's that letter?" ...
And this is my handsome man when he took me out for a hike and dinner on our anniversary date. We walked on a road where we rarely walk, and it is far below our town. Here he's staring up at the mountains we live on- isn't he handsome?! :)
We had such a nice date- we walked for an hour and a half into town, in the pouring rain, and got ourselves some pizza. It was fun to walk without kids and I enjoyed getting caught in the rain- it reminded me of some of the walking we used to do before we had kids. I sure enjoy time with my man!