We're Back!

Well, we’ve now been here in our country for 5 days. Jetlag still looms over the family, but is improving each night. The boys were waking up at 2AM and not going back to sleep, but last night they slept till 6AM before they were wide awake. Several nights Joshua has just passed out around 7PM, not to be woken up by anything. Overall, the 3 boys have been real troopers through sleepy times and wide awake times. Mercy is hanging in there and is lasting about 5 ½ hours at night before waking up to nurse again. She was going up to 8 hours before we left the U.S., so we’re hoping for that to keep improving as well. Our first two nights here we were in a hotel, sleeping in 2 rooms. One hotel room would probably have been big enough for our family, but not for all of our suitcases. The rooms are not that big and only have 2 single beds in them. So we got two rooms and I think it helped all of us get more sleep that way since Daddy and the two big boys were in one room and I was in the room with the two little ones. After that 2^nd night we moved into another family’s apartment to stay for the duration until we can find an apartment of our own. The place we’re in now is absolutely huge, so there’s lots of room for all of our stuff and for the boys to run around. There’s another lady who is supposed to be staying here also, but she’s been traveling, and we’re not sure when she’s due back. I’m sure that will be interesting, but I keep reminding myself that at least we’re not in a cramped hotel room anymore. The beds here are soft (as opposed to the rock hard beds at the hotel) and there’s space, plus there are lots of books for the boys to read! Definite bonus. I’m also grateful for a place to be able to wash clothes. A family of 6 goes through a lot of clothes in a very short amount of time! Especially here in a big city—every time we step outside, the boys get filthy.

Daddy has been looking hard for an apartment for us to live in, but we’ve not found the right place yet. There’s a particular complex that we’d really like to live in, but the only place we’ve seen that’s available and the right size needs a lot of fixing up. We’re hoping for another opening this week that we can see. This particular complex is a great place to live that has a playground for the kids and is surrounded by yummy restaurants and lots and lots of our favorite people. Please be asking for us to find the perfect home soon! I’m grateful for a place to stay in the meantime, but I’m eager to get into our own home and unpack our suitcases. I’m definitely feeling the motherly nesting need, but there’s not much I can do about it at this point. I keep going back and forth between feeling really anxious about which apartment we should choose to just resting in His grace and knowing that He has the best place already picked out for us. Please pray that we’ll all lean toward trusting Him in this as we wait and look at different places.

We’ve eaten out a lot, and the boys have done remarkably well with all the new foods. I wish I had a picture of them slurping up some noodles yesterday at a local noodle place. Thankfully everyone’s systems have handled all the new foods well and no one has been sick at all. I think Mercy has been a little less than excited about some of it when she’s nursing, but after she spits up a little (or sometimes a lot), she’s okay.

In between times of Daddy looking for us a place to live, we’re trying to get the whole family outside every day. We cause quite the stir when we’re all out together, let me tell you. Thankfully people don’t surround us like they did when we were in the small town where we used to live in this country, but we are still stared at and attract a lot of attention wherever we go. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard the local word for “4” (as in the number of children we have), I’d be a rich lady. In a country where 1 child is the standard, 4 children, particularly 4 small children, is reason enough to stop people in their tracks. So far we’ve only had one group want to take their pictures with the boys. That was in the airport when we were waiting for our friends to meet us. Many people think Joshua and Luke are twins. They also think that Micah can’t walk yet since he’s usually in the stroller. Of course, the fact that he can walk is precisely why he’s in the stroller—so we can keep track of him! Learning to navigate our family through the narrow, crowded sidewalks, while avoiding bikes and occasional cars on the sidewalks has been a challenge, but everyone is learning their way around. We all have to learn to get used to the big city. We’re also getting accustomed to walking a lot more. Again, the boys have done a great job with this, often walking long distances and up and down stairs to cross over major highways without complaining. Today Joshua said to me that he just never knew what kind of adventure he might end up on when he goes out with his family. Isn’t that great?! Yesterday he told me that he loves going on adventures with his family. I’m so thankful for the great way the kids have responded to being here so far.

I’m trying to hit the highlights here as each day has seemed so full. There have been fun moments, but there have also been very hard moments when Daddy and I are very tired and impatient and the kids are running crazy or just screaming. Being in someone else’s home and not in our own place has its own challenges. I know we’re still in major transition stage here, but I so long to be settled and be able to settle my family. I’d love to get started with home school again, but it seems like it’s going to be a long time before that happens. Again, therein lays the struggle to not be anxious. Overall, I think we’re doing great. It’s often so surreal for Daddy and I that we’re even here at all. One minute I get all teary eyed that we’re finally back and the next minute I’m totally grossed out at the garbage on the street or just really annoyed at the 50^th person whose tried to touch Mercy that day. No matter what, and no matter how long we get to stay, I know it is a blessing that we’re here at all. I pray that we can all enjoy our time here and see it as a gift. I feel like once we find a place to live, we’ll be able to get through this transition stage and really plunge into life here. Until then we’ll just keep on exploring our surroundings and getting the family out as much as we can. I’ll try to keep you updated on how it all goes!