drinkin' tea

One of my favorite things to do in this enormous country is drink tea. It is, after all, the land of tea...

I like to go to the same restaurant/tea house and drink tea as much as I can get time to do it. I also like to talk to the sweet younger-than-me ladies who serve the tea. So, while I can't post pictures of them here, I really love them. And I really love their sweet milk tea.

Happy Easter!

We are so excited it's Easter!

And we wanted to say Happy Easter!

With love

just a day

Johnny was gone for 2 weeks to the States. And the boys and I didn't get to go. That would've been a HUGE chunk of the money we're trying to save to adopt children from Africa!

So, we stayed here and played and watched movies and got to hang out with friends! We had fun.

Johnny was gone for 2 weeks to the States. And the boys and I didn't get to go. That would've been a HUGE chunk of the money we're trying to save to adopt children from Africa!

So, we stayed here and played and watched movies and got to hang out with friends! We had fun.

I took pictures one day just of the places we went and the people we saw and the things we played.

We got up and went to get the local version of what we think taste like donuts without the sugar. So we dip them into sweetened condensed milk--as close as we can get to an easy donut for less than 25 cents each.

We were in our big market across the street from our apartment. This is a guy buying peas at the veggie stall...

the front of the veggie stall

One of the perks of living here: cheap flowers. We bought freesia (I think--anyway, it smells so good!). They got to ride with our friend, Zipper in the back of the stroller.

And the flower lady gave free flowers...

And we went home to play outside.

Now it might help to tell what our home is like. We live in an apartment complex. There are 7 or 8 buildings with about 16 floors in each building. And they are built in somewhat of a circle that surround a courtyard. Our courtyard has playgrounds, a sandbox type area, exercise equipment (not at all like the equipment in the states, so don't picture it that way), and small waterways with fish and rocks. Our children choose to play on the rocks and in the water. Even with all the other fun stuff...

On this particular day, we found a turtle. We think it might be the turtle we set free in December. His name was Nugget, so we called this turtle Nugget all day, too.

And while Luke was being his version of a Wild Kratt, Jace was doing this:

and this (sorry about the blur.)

and while both of them played, they had this audience

We love that we get to live here and play here and meet people all around us here. We think they're pretty cool...

the mountains sans kids

I went to the mountains last week for 3 whole days. And it was with friends. And Johnny kept our boys. It was fun! And I missed my boys, too. But it was fun! The sunshine was awesome, and we kept the pace pretty slow and low-key. Visited some friends, tried to visit some friends that weren't there, and made some new friends!

We were invited to sit down with some cool ladies. One of them spoke the language we've learned for 4 plus years. The others all spoke their local dialect that we don't speak at all (but that gives us lots of motivation to learn!!). And they were on a little break when we stopped.

And then the break ended. And they all went back to building this monstrous house together for one of the ladies (also doing labor) in the community. Pretty awesome system, in my opinion. I helped load and lift one basket full of rocks. Made me feel like a total wimp. Which, really, I am.

I really love these tractors that carry stuff in the back. I think that some September/October I want to load one down with hay and take the boys for a hayride. But this one is loaded down with rocks--way more useful for the work everyone was doing.

And we found a small temple. We went in, and the little monk tried to get us to say things to all the pictures of other higher up monks, but we're not really into that.

After which we played with balloons outside the temple with the village kids. And their grandpa. I only have his picture. Isn't he cute?

It was a good trip. Johnny and I want to try to be out there for a couple weeks/months at a time sometime next semester. Crossing our fingers...

PS the top picture is the backdrop to the workers that were working on the house. Pretty awesome. My friend said something about becoming immune to it. I do wonder if it's possible to become immune to the beauty. And then I think, Nah, not possible!

Thailand and some favorites

We went to Thailand. And took some lovely pictures of the boys playing in the sunshine. But they won't be featured today because apparently, we are the last people in the planet still using film cameras. Or at least the last people in our city. I hope when Johnny goes back to the states for weddings in April he can get them developed!

And speaking of the states, I thought I'd just show our favorite thing we brought back from the states last summer. Well, this and our flavored coffee that we have been mixing with the cheap IKEA coffee we buy. (That way, our flavored coffee lasts LOTS longer!).

It's the quilt I found in my Grandma's house a few years ago. It's hand-stitched. And it's not machine washable, so it's entirely impractical for the stage of life we are in, but it just feels so good to snuggle under a quilt and watch a movie. Or sleep blissfully. So it's our favorite thing we brought back with us. And it will now go with us wherever we go...

And I thought I'd show a picture of what we do on the gray winter days around here. It's a cave, and that's a bear in the cave, in case you didn't know. He was disturbed by a pesky photographer (in a loose sense of that word) from his hibernation...

Rootin 2-tin....

We had a birthday on Sunday! Jace is now 2--we can't believe how fast time is going. I know every parent says that, but I feel like it's going faster with #2 than it did with #1!! I felt like we were able to enjoy every single step of Luke's first couple of years. But with Jace's, time is going faster. It must be because wehave two (as in, we can't really just focus on, soak up Jace as much as we would love to). I love, though, how our two brothers relate to each other--it is so special to see Jace laugh at Luke and do EVERYthing Luke does...

So, our little wild and funny man is 2. He really is such a gift; he's quiet, alittle busy--we have to go behind him cleaning up in his wake--he's really funny, and loves to run and play outside. We celebrated his birthday cowboy style kept things simple: Jace with 3 little cowgirl friends. It was so fun, and so unlike anything else we do in our house--CALM! We spent a couple hours at our favorite play place in town before the party; hence, the pictures of the boys in the ball pit and trampoline...

In other news, Johnny has left for the mountains today. We will miss him, but we're so excited for him to get to be out. It's nice to be out where our people are...

And the Lord has really been speaking to our hearts over the past couple of weeks. We are really so thankful for His touch, and a little overwhelmed at His blessing, but we would really love prayers, too, as we go forward (in baby steps) toward what He wants us to do...

things I've learned...

I've had this post in my mind for a while, and I thought now is as good a time as any to write some of the things I've learned while being a wife and mom here in this country across the world from America.

It is definitely worth it to pay to park a bike here. It's much more expensive to have to buy a new bike after the old one is stolen than a mere 3 cents every time we park. (A hard lesson for a penny pincher)

It is okay for me to only plan ONE big outing with the boys per day. More than that and I don't really like who I become sometimes.

We really ARE called specifically to the people that we spend the most time with.

I tend to make goals that I can't keep--and I'm learning to go with what I can do (and be a joyful mom) instead of the to-do list especially if the to-do list makes me a stressed mom. And play is important--see Luke-osaurus Rex and Mr. Soccer...

I like to create things and it's okay to make time to do that. And I really like planning a party (this is a new discovery!)

I HAVE to expect things to take longer than I think they should. For example, going to the post office--having to fill out forms more than once and going to 2 or 3 different lines. If I expect it to be that way, I'm a lot less likely to start crying in the process!

Have snacks and activities for our boys at all times when we go out. That would be the same in America, but even more here without activities at restaurants...

I have learned how to make yogurt and ricotta cheese all by myself. I had no idea those could be made from scratch, pretty much! And it's so much cheaper to do it myself! My friend has a blog called market2meal that is amazing for making things that we can eat wherever!

I WILL be scolded when I go out. If it's because I'm carrying too many things on my bike from Metro OR because my children are too cold (I'd really love it if they could TEACH me how to have my children keep their hats and gloves on!).

Sometimes I'm not scolded or meet someone who is really so wonderful and helpful, and that is such a blessing. I don't take that for granted. It's the simple things--a reasonable price, holding the elevator door. I have started saying an immediate thanks in my heart to the Father.

It is a gift to be able to live over here. Always.

Happy New Year. 2011 is already so exciting for us, as the Father is speaking some new things to us. I asked Him yesterday what he wanted our 2011 year's word to be, and He spoke the word "Soar". Let's see where it takes us!!