Mongolia Wrap up Trip Day 1-3

I haven't been able to blog much here. We have been agonizing about our future plans and now that the news is out that we are leaving Mongolia to get help for Sierra, I feel that I can write again.

Making that decision has been a real struggle. We are still sure of our call to come here in 2005 and are glad to have been used of God in Mongolia for the last 6 years. We are thankful that there is a church here now. We had wanted to help with the church formation/discipleship stage of this ministry, but know that we cannot risk Sierra's speech and development.

Our dear girl has improved, but it very much at the phonic level. Meaning that she can properly produce sounds but not words. Everyone agrees our place is back in the US for now. We are looking forward to a great role with ReachGlobal and will share details asap.

For now, I want to use my blog here to remember this time of goodbyes in Mongolia.

Day one: Arrival in Mongolia. I can understand some of the plane announcements in Mongolian. We arrive and headed to the restroom with the kids. I notice the hand soap in an empty beer bottle on the sink. I smile. The simplicity is great after a year in complicated America. :)

We negotiate a cab and they load our bags. Sierra begins to scream as we enter the cab. She doesn't want a driver in with our family. :) We drive towards UB and smell the familiar coal smoke air. We are strangely comforted that we are home. Arriving at our guest apartment, ASCOM, we head up the flights of stairs with the HEAVY bags that I packed full of low-calorie canned veggies and high protein snacks. :) Peter is so happy with me! He loves the way I always travel light. LOL

We pass out after being awake 30 hours.

Day 2: We start the day at 3 am with PBJ sandwiches for the kids. They are wide awake and hungry. Gotta love jet lag. We are up for so long before we're able to make noise in the apartment. We plan the day, did summer school, read and prayed and took off. We walk 3 miles to our favorite Indian food cafe. YUMMO I love love love it. I could eat it everyday. I mix my Madrasi with a cucumber and tomato salad avoiding the wonderful rice and naan bread. I have one bite of each and thoroughly enjoy my spicy meal. We sit on pillows on the ground in a tent. fun.

We head to the state department store to get pictures for Sierra's new passport. Can you believe hers expires already? Her passport has a picture of her 2 days old. At the photographer, she starts screaming and screaming when the woman wants to take her picture. After 15 minutes of talking, disciplining and bribing to no avail. I ask the women to just take the picture.

It is the most horrible picture EVER. Her eyes are red, drool is running down her face and her mouth is contorted. We start laughing like mad when it's developed. She looks like a crazy person. Although she deserved to have that picture on her passport until she's ten, LOL, we knew she'd kill us for putting that on a legal document and she would be so embarrassed later! So since we don't want to scar her for life, we take a picture with our own camera. We should have thought of that 20 minutes ago, I blame jet lag entirely. We got it developed and it is very cute! :)

We got a taxi and drive home. We had a wonderful dinner with our friends the Sprengers. They are so amazing.

Day 3: We wake up and I begin P90X. Yes, this is crazy, but I need a focal point for the next 30-50 days of transition. I need a stable that will be the same world wide. I need a healthy output for all this stress. I got this for free from a friend. Opportunity knocked and I opened the door. I shred my body for 75 minutes. I am amazed I can even do the program, but I CAN! Thank you Lord. We did summer school again, this time starting the day at 4:30.

I think that homeschooling can work. I am drilling our family rule into the children- two words. NO COMPLAINING. It's working. Weston is challenging himself and begging for school. Today he read for 30 minutes when I only asked him for 10. Could that CAVA program really work for us?

We eat- the food that loaded the bags, is already a blessing. Yest I did bring a big block of frozen low-fat cheese. It makes eggs so much nicer. Peter smiles. I thank him again for carrying my insanity, but now he is truly thankful. We had nice USA powdered milk with our french pressed coffee.

We hop in yet another cab. We drive a LONG way to register. We fill out gobs paperwork for the recovering communist need for this many pictures, stamps and papers. We divide and conquer. He fills out the paper work. I wait in the foregners line. We wait and wait. We have a number. There are 47 people ahead of us. But this is ASIA--- no one is obeying the rules. I use my old basketball stills to block and box out the cutters... :) I get to the front of the line. She asks, "Where's your number?" I hand her the number and she says that I have to wait. I rudely tell her that no one else is giving her a number. She grudgingly takes my paperwork and Peter gently takes over. We joke that she probably wrote a note on my passport to fine me at the airport or something. We recall the Seinfeld where Elaine get's the word "difficult" written on her medical chart. I'm sure my passport says, "DIFFICULT!" HA HA--- that is for you T.

We hop in our cab, he's been waiting. We pay 40 dollars to the taxi to arrive at a cafe. We eat in a hurry. We hop in another cab.

We direct him to the Embassy to get Sierra's passport. We are sworn in and she is cleared to get a renewal. We walk along the river. We see a group of boys splashing in filthy water in the wash. Weston begins to yell, "it's too dirty. They shouldn't swim in that water." At the same time Sierra starts yelling one of her favorite words, "Poo Pool.... I want poo" She wants to swim in the same filthy water that is giving our son a panic. We have to instruct Weston that these boys swim there because that is the only time they'll get to swim and they are happy to see water after seeing ice for all those months and to remember to think and be polite before screaming at others. AND we coax Sierra away, while she screams and cries because she wants to swim in the mud puddle. :)

Ah the joys of parenting international kids!