Schoolers

Today was Lucy's last day of pre-school.  It's official.  I am no longer a mother of pre-schoolers.

I guess I am a mother of... um... schoolers?

Tomorrow we have absolutely nothing on our schedule.  NO-THING!!!

Squeallll!

It's been a really long time since the kids and I have had a full day just to do whatever we wanted!

If I could do anything, I would kidnap my husband from work (he leaves for London on Saturday and will be gone a week), and go on some sort of fun family adventure.

What I'll actually probably do... laundry.

Today

In a handy list form...

1. While the kids were away we took away the Disney Channel.  What kind of world do we live in when the Disney Channel is a bad influence on my kids?  We had gotten the satellite package to give them a chance to escape from culture and watch TV in English, and to give them a peek into our culture.  What an ugly peek it was!  No more smart-mouthed, back-talkin', trying to be witty remarks to influence my kids.  No more far too mature love stories influencing my kids.  It's time to put our foot down!!

2. I am in no way complaining, but it is unseasonably cool here so far this summer.  Last year was the hottest summer that anyone here can remember.  Praise the Lord that we missed that, and now, this year, the summer has been mild and BEAUTIFUL!!  Blue skies and 75 degrees.

3. We started a bit of home-school yesterday.  Typically I have to supplement their education during the summers to keep them at grade level on English language arts stuff.  I am working on pre-reading with Lucy and reading and spelling with Noah and Callie.  Lucy is not as far along as I had thought, and that is a bit discouraging.  Noah and Callie are doing great.  I have found a great curriculum that they love.  They couldn't wait to "do school" today!  Praise the Lord!

4. We are so loving our car this summer.  We went to the beach last weekend and it turns out that it is only about 30 minutes away!  We had been a few times before, but it took at least 2 hours on several forms of practically unbearable public transport.  Praise the Lord for the beach.  It is such a fun place for our kids to shake off a bit of this apartment-living!!

5.  We'll be stateside in one month!  WOOT!!

6. Have you ever heard that calamity happens in threes?  I guess I tired to make this come true in our lives because after my hair disaster, I gave into my girls' pleas to get their hair cut.  Double UGH!!!

Callie's hair is shorter than I would ever want it to be, but it does look cute... I think.  Lucy's is just a plain blunt cut.  But the hairdresser was so sweet (this is sarcasm) to attach, with pliers, a lock of pink hair.  A four year old Hannah Montana.  FAN-TASTIC!

I can remember when I was exactly Callie's age begging my mom to let me get my long beautiful hair cut.  She finally gave in after I convinced her that I would love it.

I hated it!

So what do you do when you get a haircut that you hate in the 80's?

PERM IT!!!

I looked something like this:

taken from HOT 103 website

Yeah, but without the dimples.  Not so cute!

Summer

It's our first real day of summer.  Now what do we do?

Sunday Sneak Peek

These are Callie's pictures from camp:

Looks like fun, Huh?

Home Again

Noah and Callie are home safe and sound.  They had the time of their lives.  Noah said he tried to hide so that he could stay for the second week of camp!  HA!

So much for missin' Momma!

They are already talking about what electives they are going to sign up for next year!

I am so proud of Noah.  It looks like he actually changed his underwear a few times throughout the week.  But, boy, his clothes smelled so bad and were so dirty!!  It looked like Callie went to a different camp.  Most of her clothes were still neatly folded in her suitcase- not even touched.  Normally she's the one who goes through about 4 outfits a day!!

Anyhow, they are exhausted and happy, and I am so glad to have my babies back!

Noah and Callie are coming home tomorrow.  I am experiencing panic attacks about what their laundry will look like.

To attempt the laundry or to just burn the whole suitcase... that is the question.

Like the Call of the Wild

UGH!!

Yall, I caved.  Give a girl a few minutes of free-time and what does she do?

Head straight to the salon!

This time I thought I was prepared.  I had explained to several different local friends what I wanted and asked if that was even possible.  (Like, really, is it possible to make my hair look normal and natural but with no gray.  Am I asking too much?!?!)  They all assured me that it was indeed possible and we rehearsed different ways of saying it.

To the (new) salon I go.  I thought I asked for my hair to be colored a natural light brown and a trim because I am trying to grow my hair out.

What I must have said was, can I pay you some money to make me look stupid?  Oh, and if you have some extra orange hair painty-stuff back there, could you throw that in the mix, please?  Thank you!

I swear, of all the cultural things that I knew would be tough, I did not dream that the salon would be my biggest stumbling block!!

No wonder the women here wear headscarves!!

Stay-Cation

Yesterday afternoon when I dropped Lucy off at preschool they asked if I could please bring her at 9:30 for the rest of the week.  They needed her all day.  They have their BIG year end production this Saturday and they need lots of time to practice.

Or something like that.  I couldn't really hear what the teacher was saying, what with my whooping and cheering and all.

Looks like this Momma's got some time on her hands!

AND... my flat is still squeaky clean from the Great CraziFest Cleanout 2011.

Jealous much?

Sigh of joy...

Dear Lord,

Please help me.  I hear the call of the sirens drawing me in.  I'm not sure I can resist them.  All of the sudden it seems quite logical to get my hair cut and colored, again.  Please help me to resist the temptation.  Remind me of this nightmare.

Amen

Friday

We had a great weekend.  I'll start by telling you about Friday.

I know you're overjoyed!

We started out Friday morning by getting Lucy all dolled up for her school pictures.  I hot-rolled her hair.  (When I was younger, I could not in a million years have predicted that I would be hot-rolling my 4 year-old's hair!!)

This is how crazy I am... after I took all of the tiny rollers out of her extra fine, extra thin hair the curls just sort of fell out.  That's when I noticed that I had never turned on the dern hot rollers!

Yep!  Not firing on all cylinders lately!

We got her shuttled off to school, limp hair and all, and then Callie and I stopped by the florist to pick up some flowers for she and Noah's teachers.  Friday was report card day and it's customary to bring some flowers, fruit, or a little something to the teachers.

We had heard that the kids would receive their report cards at 12.  So we went tromping down there with our flowers only to find out that we had heard wrong.  Report cards would be handed out at 2:00.

Back home we went.

We returned to school at 2 and got their report cards.  This is done with a bit of pomp and circumstance (like most things here).  So, the kids each had little ceremonies in their classrooms.  The moms were not allowed in.  Then the kids came out into the schoolyard.  This is the portion where they give a microphone to the principal and he goes on and on about all sorts of stuff.

Read, bathe, study, something about lice, watch out for cars, rest, visit the village, etc.  You know... just your normal end of the year stuff!

Noah and Callie both did really well on their report cards.  I am so proud of them!

We went home and checked over their packing list for the 126th time.  The packing for camp was officially finished.

I picked up Lucy at 5:30 and dropped her off to spend the night with her little friend.  Then it was just the 4 of us, Justin, Noah, Callie, and me waiting until the drop-off time for the bus to camp.

They were on an overnight bus down to the southern sea, so the bus didn't leave until 1:30 am!!  The waiting was agony!!  They were so excited, yet so tired.  I was so excited, yet so tired.

We tried everything... they talked to Gamma, Callie talked to Uncle Paul, they showered, they watched a movie, we went over the packing list a few more times.

Finally at 12:30 we couldn't wait any longer.  We loaded up the car and headed to the bus station.  Once we got there they got an extra bust of excitement, but I think they were nervous, too.

We got them settled on the bus, and I begged the older kids to make sure Callie wasn't left alone in some bathroom somewhere near Afghanistan.  And off they went.

We tiredly trudged home to go to bed.

The camp paperwork said not to expect any calls and that no news is good news.  So, we haven't heard from them and are assuming that they are having a great time.

I'll finish the weekend recap tomorrow.  I've got some great pictures to show you!

Sunday Sneak Peek

Noah in his class play

Questions I Keep Asking Myself as I Prepare to Send my Kids to Their First Sleepover Camp

What am I going to do without them for a week?


Is it time to take them yet?

What are they going to do on the 8 hour bus ride without me pinching their legs and giving them the stink-eye every time they start to get rowdy?

How early is too early to drop them off at the bus station?

Why did I sign them up for just one week?

Can Lucy pass for 8 years old and go to camp, too?

If kids fight at sleepaway camp and I don't hear it, did they really even fight at all?

The Horse-pital

Today I took my sweet neighbor (we call her "Teyze" which means "Auntie") back to the state hospital for her post-op 3 month check-up.  During the surgery, she was supposed to have a little nodule removed, but once she got in there it looks like the doctors cut off half her breast and went fishing around for anything else they could find.  I've seen the incisions... its not pretty.

So back to today...

I cannot begin to describe the state hospital to you.  It makes the Health Department look like a vacation!  Lots of very ill people standing in lines waiting to draw numbers to stand in another line.  Heck, we had to draw a number to make an ultrasound appointment.  

We drew #151 by the way.  They were on # 105.  So, yes, we waited over an hour just to make an appointment.  As it was drawing near to the time when they close for lunch we started to panic.  I called Justin and told him to pray that they would get our number in before lunch.  Praise the Lord, we barely got it done!

Today was Teyze's assigned appointment (and I use that term very loosely) for a check-up.  We started the day at 7 am- hurrying out to the hospital to draw a number to see the doctor.  And thus began the waiting game.  Wait to draw a number.  Wait to get in line to turn in paperwork.  Wait to see the doctor.  Wait to get blood drawn.  Wait to make follow-up appointments.  You get the picture!

Although I was really tired, it was sort of fun.  I love to people-watch and this place contained many of the earth's most interesting folks!!

Here are just a few of the things I saw:

-multiple people carrying jars of urine (hopefully their own)

-3 different people who may have been older than Moses (2 of them had to get their blood drawn and I was quite sure nothing but dust was going to come out)

-since its a state hospital they bring the prisoners there to be treated.  It was extra fun to watch the guys in cuffs and shackles go by guarded by no less than 4 (heavily) armed policemen

-the oldest air conditioning unit I have ever seen was spewing out some sort of air that was visible (YIKES) so I tried to convince Teyze that they were gassing us

-one fight

-I am pretty sure I saw a dead person

-I think I caught cooties and/or fleas... TWICE!

-an assembly-line system for drawing blood- they were doing about 2 a minute- no washing of hands- I didn't watch closely enough to see how many times they used the needles

-very old, very sick people trying to navigate the very complicated public health system- they had to do all the leg work, wait in lines, ascend and descend stairs, etc.

-young guys- like ambulance chasers- who were hovering over the patients trying to convince them to buy their medicines from them (they had conveniently parked their cars right outside the main door and had associates selling the meds from their trunks).   Actually these guys were helpful because they spend all day, every day at lurking around the hospital they could answer everyone's questions... turned out to be the only helpful people around!

-a waiting-area that was also a construction zone- complete with men removing support scaffolding with hammers... lots and lots of hammers

All in all, I am so, SO, SO, thankful for the health system.  I am thankful that my precious Teyze, even though she is a widow and has a tiny social security income, can get the care that she needs.  It may make for a long day, but inşallah (God willing) will help to make for a long life!

Noah, age 10?

Yall, you know that things have been busy around here lately!  But, I have got to show you something precious...

The other day, I put my baby down in his sweet little crib.  When I went to get him in the morning, he had turned into this:

 

I swear it happened overnight.  Where did my baby go?  A week ago, today, my baby hit double digits!  He is 10 years old!  How on earth did it happen?

When Noah was a baby, I would always say, "He is all boy!" because he loved trains and trucks.  Now I can truly say, "He is all boy!" because he plays soccer all day, he has to be forced to bathe or change his underwear, it seems like his goal in life is to do the craziest things he can imagine, he loves any type of gross bodily functions, and he gets wilder than a jack rabbit.  

But, my boy is sweeter than sugar.  He is such a precious boy.  He's not afraid to hug his Momma, and always has to have a kiss goodbye when I drop him off int he schoolyard.  It is such a joy to watch him grow up.  I can see him maturing and working so hard to make the right choices and big a good big brother.  I am just so proud of him.  He is such a light and a joy.  He is so smart, funny, and full of life!  His flexibility and willingness to put himself out there is one of the main reasons that our family has been able to thrive here.  He has just blessed our family and all of those around him so much.  Noah is such a cherished gift from the Lord.

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God."

Genesis 6:9

14 Years Ago...

Justin and I got married!!  

It was long before the digital age, so I had to scan these pictures in.  

(They look terrible, but please pretend that they are beautiful.)

 

June 14, 1997

This was the best day of my life.  I loved this boy with all my heart, and now I love this man more than I knew was possible!  Justin is the most patient, loving, devoted husband and father.  I just cherish him.  When I was 19 years old I could have never dreamed of the adventures that we would share together.  We have had our highs and lows.  But through it all we've been together.  We've been a team.  And there is no one that I'd rather share this life with.

Here's to 50 more years together, My Love...

I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go...

Song of Solomon 3:4b

Slammed

So, I have barely even opened up my computer these past few days.  What is it about this time of year?  It is always so busy.  Heck, we live half way across the world, our kids aren't in little league or dance, and school isn't even close to being out.  Yet, things are so busy right now!

Here's a quick run down of what we've been up to...

Wednesday- I went to the big new mall on the other side with my sweet friend.  It was a little taste of the west!  It felt just like old times!

Thursday- We went to visit our old neighbor who has just had a baby.  He is the cutest little thing!  It was so fun to see them and this (surprise) baby.

Friday- I took my neighbor for some follow-up tests from her radiation treatment.  I cannot stand the thought of a 60 year old woman going back and forth on multiple forms of public transport (3 1/2 hours minimum) by herself for her breast cancer treatment.  So I make her schedule her appointments when I can take her.  After I dropped her off at home, I quickly got the kids ready for school and dropped them off.  Then I went to help a friend who is leaving the country after 17 years of service here.  I had to quick leave her to pick up the kids.  We hurried home, ate a quick meal, and then headed off to our (new) team meeting.

Saturday- Went to an outdoor brunch with our friends and then to the cherry festival in a local village.  It was so fun and the weather was beautiful!!  I took tons of pictures.  I'll post about it soon!

Sunday- Our (old) team met at our house.  I was trying to make a french toast casserole and started a fire in the oven.  Praise the Lord everything is ok.  The oven still works fine- the knobs are just a little scorched.  It was really scary!  That night I had a meeting with some girlfriends.

Monday- That's today.  I signed my last baby up for kindergarden.  This is the last time I will ever have to do that.  A little bit sad!  Also, while the kids were at school I got birthday presents for Noah and Justin.  After I picked up the kids from school we dropped by the bakery and ordered Noah a birthday cake.  We ate quick dinner, and then went to buy shoes for the kids.

Oh... and we had a house guest from Tuesday to Saturday!

So, you see why my blog has been abandoned for a few days?  Busy, busy, busy!

Hungry?

So... this is why our food was so late last time we ate out...