Return to the Blog World...

It's been too long to simply say "sorry for not posting lately".  Seriously.  But I do have many blogs rolling around in my brain and I intend to post as many as I can extract.  :-)  In my defense, we did have to change proxy servers to be able to access my blog and that took some time.  But enough excuses for now and on to stories and pictures (what you came here for anyway).

Grandparent Fun

For the past two weeks my parents have been here visiting us. It has been such a huge blessing to have them here for this time; they flew out early this morning. Once again, saying goodbye always stinks. We knew when we began this line of work over 10 years ago that being away from our family would be difficult. The difficulty level was increased greatly when we had kids and brought them into a life of having to regularly say goodbye to people they love. We always knew this would be part of the cost, and we have weighed the cost and counted Jesus as worthy of it all. He is worthy of our lives and anything He asks us to do. Goodbyes are still hard. And it's not just that we have to say goodbye, it's that our kids go for years sometimes without seeing their grandparents and other family members. So all that to say that these past two weeks were not taken for granted. It was a sweet time with Grandma and Grandpa and I'm eternally grateful for the time spent and memories made. We did our best to make the most of the time with them. That included seeing some of the cool touristy sights in our city, but it also included just letting them in on our lives here in this foreign country. Eating the food, interacting with some of our friends, worshiping with us, experiencing how we shop, watching us do home school, riding the subway, playing on our playground with the kids, walking LOTS more than they're used to, staying with the kids for a night to let my hubby and me have a night away, and just hanging out playing games late at night and talking - this is the wonderful time we've had for 2 precious weeks. Every moment we get to do things like this with our loved ones, we count as a gift from God. He was been so faithful to work in my parents' lives and they have such powerful testimonies. I'm so proud of them, and proud to be their daughter. And I'm ever so grateful for time together. Thank you, Lord, for this priceless gift. We don't deserve it, and we're thankful.

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa for all the special times we had together. Thank you for the financial and physical burdens that you carried to be able to bless our family with your time and energy. We're so glad you came, and we love you!

Amazing Water Park

In early September we got really cheap tickets to a huge water park here in our city. It was really very impressive, though the time we went was a little chilly. That's why the tickets were so cheap. :o) But it was well worth the experience for our family. And it wasn't crowded at all, which made it that much more enjoyable. Joshua was pretty bummed that he wasn't big enough yet to ride many of the rides. He kept asking if we could go back when he's 130 cm; we told him we would see. :o) He was so brave! I ended up not ever taking Mercy into the water because the breeze just made it too cool and she would have been miserable. Micah just kept immersing his body under the water so he could not be cold. Thankfully the water itself wasn't cold, just the breeze. At any rate, we're glad we got to do it! I'll post some pictures from our fun day.

That's What I'm Talking About

It's been a while now since we had Micah's potty party to help him potty train. Just to give you a little background on my potty training experience... With my oldest, I had no idea what I was doing and it was... um, let's say... "challenging". And I'm trying to be very positive here. With my 2nd, I read the Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day. Great book, would recommend it. Luke did spectacularly. He really did potty train in just one day. Hardly had any accidents - ever. Very impressive. I thought then that the author of that book really knows what she's talking about! So, with Micah, once I determined that he was really ready, I pulled the book out again and read it a 2nd time. I was ready for another success story. Well... Micah didn't respond as quickly as Lukey did, unfortunately. I am now convinced that you can potty train some kids in one day, but not all kids. :-) And I wonder how much birth order plays into it all, but that's another story. Micah did great at the party and really seemed to want to go potty like his big brothers. He certainly understands how and what he's supposed to do. Just being the 3rd born, motivation is not always so high for him. So, we're still having accidents from time to time. I think overall he's doing great. Just sometimes he'd rather do something else than make it to the potty on time. And being forced to wear the wet pants does not phase him in the least. I've started rewarding him for the days he doesn't have accidents. Maybe that can get us out of the accident slump. He already gets special green frog stickers for putting all (emphasis on all) his poo-poo in the potty. One day he earned a frog sticker on his chart (posted on the bathroom wall). He looked at the chart and said, "Now that's what I'm talking about." If only we can talk about it all the time! :-)

Here are a few pictures of the potty party day. We had a "bear picnic" theme. The bathroom was the bear's clubhouse.

Not a Fan

My husband's family is from Boston. He grew up in New England loving the Red Sox baseball team. I've always been a baseball fan, so it's been easy to catch on to the Red Sox craze. One of the first things you learn when you become a fan is that you have to NOT like the New York Yankees. It just goes without saying. To love the Red Sox = to hate the Yankees. Naturally when both parents are fans of something it's only normal for the children to become fans as well. Our boys call the Yankees the New York "Yuckies", though I don't let them use the word "hate". :-) Now we live in a country where people wear things with English writing on them that have absolutely no meaning to the person. There has been more than one occasion when we passed someone on the street wearing a Yankees jersey or ball cap. The boys always seem to notice and exclaim how terrible it is. Thankfully most people can't understand what they're saying. But the other day one of the boys was in the elevator with Daddy and a man wearing a Yankees cap. Our son (who shall remain nameless) started pointing and making gagging noises in reference to the hat. Daddy was doing his best to calm our child down and make him stop pointing, but to no avail. And how do you explain that in another language to a stranger who you're in the elevator with for 1 minute? Maybe we need to keep working on how to "not like" the Yankees tastefully. Or at least not point at people in elevators whilst making gagging noises. No matter what hat they're wearing.

Show Me That Smile Again...

Shopping here is almost always random. I was at this market type place yesterday and scored a major find. I wasn't even looking for movies, but this lady enticed me to look at her stash. After sorting through all the trashy t.v. shows and movies as I was wondering why I was wasting my time, the last one in the pile was Growing Pains seasons 1-7! I asked the lady if it was real and she said it was and that the price was less than $6.00. So I bought it! We watched the first one last night and it seems like the quality is actually quite good (often a problem when you get them so cheap). It's fun to have an old school show that we would actually watch now and enjoy. We already own all 8 seasons of The Cosby Show. Woo-Hoo for Growing Pains!

On a different note, the countdown is on for my parents to arrive!!! They leave the States on Saturday afternoon and get here on our Sunday night. Can't wait!

The Bow Era Has Ended

You all know how I have enjoyed putting bows on Mercy. And up until now she has either just not noticed that the bow was there or didn't care. Well, after she turned 1, she started caring. :-( She won't leave the bow on her head anymore. Sometimes she'll leave it in for a little while, but eventually it always comes off. I'm so sad! Her hair is getting longer, so she is looking a little more "girly" herself. The boys are always disturbed when people outside think she is a little boy since her hair is short. They want everyone to know she is the little sister! I've been experimenting with little barrettes, which are also very, very cute. They tend to slide out after a while, but when they're in it's very cute and girly. I so love having a little girl!

Mini-Vacation

Back at the end of July we took a little mini-vacation where we stayed in a hotel on the other side of our city. The hotel had indoor and outdoor pools, a beach sand area, an outdoor playground, a terrific fitness center, several surrounding yummy restaurants, and a foreign goods grocery store. We got sleeping bags for the 3 boys, which was a treat in and of itself, and all camped out in the same room for 3 nights. We went swimming every day, watched Animal Kingdom in English on t.v. and played UNO several times while at the hotel. Daddy got to work out every morning and get a nice foot massage, and I got to get my hair cut finally. We also found a nearby fun place for the boys, and Daddy and I took turns getting lots of rest during the younger one's nap times. It really was a lot of fun for our family, and we'd choose to do it again. Daddy says the best part was that when it was over we rode in a car 45 minutes to our home instead of spending the day flying back from another country. We were unpacked by that night. It was a great 4 days! Here are some pictures for you...

Whew!

Well, we made it through the birthday season. Daddy's birthday was last Saturday (Aug. 6th), wrapping up the 5 family birthday streak within a 3 month span. Things should be a little calmer around here with no cakes or decorations needed for a long time. I'm the odd-man-out with a December birthday, but I don't mind having lots of time in between the busy birthday season and my own celebration. Daddy's birthday was a little bit of a let down to the boys since they expected lots of guests, a trip to the fun place, and lots of presents to unwrap. Daddy, however, greatly enjoyed a nice leisurely day at home with his family and all his favorite foods to eat. We did decorate for the occasion and ended the celebration with an incredible chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for dessert. His gift from us was 2 days of solitude, which he spent in a nearby hotel - all to himself. He was able to spend some much needed alone time, and we survived here at home. We spent some time one day painting. I was trying to squeeze in things that we don't normally take the time to do. We will begin home school August 22nd, so the time is running short!