Gift of motherhood

It's spring break (only 3 days here.)  The kids are home all day and the house is a pit.  There are blankets everywhere from a failed attempt at making a fort, a rock collection is strewn over the table, shoes, dirt and popcorn dot the floor. 

It doesn't really matter though.  What use is a clean house without the people that fill it?

They are gettting so big . They play nicely together and have their own ideas and goals. They are smart, each in their own way.

I'm so blessed.  Weston and his countless ideas and plans.  Sierra with her countless hugs and her caring personality that wants everyone to be happy and included. 

Kids room

Looking in the door

 Sierra's bed with her Narnia costume above

 Weston's bed and Narina costume

 I made a picture wall with some ribbon, nails and clothes pins.

 New frame for Peter's art!!!

God planned this room too-

• All the furniture fits perfect.  
• There is a nook that Weston's cool shelf/head board fits perfectly- see picture. 
• His smart mommy remembered to save the heavy duty drywall screws for the castle bed- they were taped on for the move- genius! 
• Sierra's bed fits on the other wall with just enough space for the dresser at the foot of the bed. - see picture
• Her princess bed cornice thingy- happened to be right where the stud in the wall was- nice!  
• I had an extra gold curtain, which matched perfectly so I shortened it to give their room a finished feel.
• We got a  room darkening shade in that room as well that Peter hung up. 
• I also got a huge frame at the Goodwill for Peter's painting of the castle and country side.  It's a blue frame and had a blue/mauve mat (It had a cat poster in it too.)  I spray painted the mauve part silver and got a much more matching and completely custom made painting for their room for $5 (and Peter would add- $5 and a lot of time!)  Ya- it's nice and finished!

Hello,

I'm feeling better here... just thought I'd let you know.  I've been working so hard.
Putting stuff away, trying to make sure the kids have what they need, that we are on time, I've hung pictures and planted bulbs, hung up window coverings, put the kids room together, put our room together, found chairs that will finish the living room, organized 65% of the storage things, put away our summer clothes, gone to MOPS, organized the car port, and had Sierra's IEP.  She started speech last week.  The speech pathologist is really good.  I'm thankful that's in place for her.

Peter just handed me a homemade mocha- our expresso machine still works great.  What a garage sale blessing. 

Second hand shopping has become a hobby.  It's like a treasure hunt.  I've found lots of nice things for our home.   It's fun to have a list of things I'd like to finish off a room and then wait to find them, all for $5 or less! :) 

Things on my list:
A small round wooden table for between my two new old fashioned chairs.
A small secratary for my desk in the living room. 
Small paintings
A cool old trunk for storing blankets
A quilt hanger for one totally beautitful red white and blue quilt! ;) Thanks Megan (the gym/game/guest room will be red white and blue)
A small dresser for holding towels in the master bath.


Peter just handed me an omlette--- this man is so wonderful! 

So anyhow, I'm feeling more at home and able to settle in.

How are you?  I miss you!
PS- Halloween marks an anniversary for me... that is when I started dieting.  I've lost and kept off 56 pounds since then and I'm still working on it.

Olives...

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I love olives. I really like green olives. When I was young, I only liked black olives; but after studying abroad in Israel, I really like green.

Here at grandpa's house and there are three big olive trees. I knew Weston would really enjoy the process of making olives. So we did it.

I found an easy recipe that contained no lye. Click here if you're interested.

First we picked. Then we washed and smashed them with a marble rolling pin. Now they are soaking in water. The water releases the tannin that makes the olives bitter. I have rinse and recover olives for one- four weeks until they are not bitter.

Then I'll make a brine with cider vinegar, garlic, lemon and rosemary. I'll cover them in the brine and put them in the fridge- ready to eat.

It was fun so far (and a bit of work.) I hope they turn out!

Princess and Knight room continued...

Princess Sierra's chamber...

Knight Weston's Lair...

Kissing Sleeping Beauty!

He LOVES it!

So does she...

Fun times! Peter is so artistic and he made the "cornet" to hold Sierra's canopy bed with a shelf and ply board. He designed it and really did a great job!

This room makeover is nearly done. We'll add pictures and I have to sew the gray curtains for the window. Maybe a trip to Medieval Times is in order! :)

Knight and princess room continued!

My kids are so lucky! They have original artwork in their room because their daddy is talented. Now when Peter reads this he'll roll his eyes and assure me that his work is amateur- but I think it's awesome-

Here is his pencil sketch:

Putting on the base colors:

Adding the layers of color:


It looks awesome and really neato! It's hanging in their room now. I'll have to take a picture of it finished. Next we need to put up the canopy over Sierra's bed. It will be made out of a golden tulle! Pretty.

new rooms

I am working on decorating the kids room and changing my "den" that I never use into the art room.

The kids room is going to have a royal pallette and it is going to be a knight and princess room. They love their new bedding. Peter is going to paint some murals on canvas so that we can hang them here and take them wherever we may go. We will also make some pieces of art out of cardboard... reduce, reuse, and recycle right?


The art room is great. We have been letting the kids paint whenever they want and cut up old paper in there and it is awesome to have a place that is just theirs. It was grandma's art room so there is a hard floor in there that has it's fair share of loving paint drips already! They spent an hour or two in there today making a big ole nest of paper!

I'm printed an art appreciation coloring book today and we're gonna color it together so that I can hang some great artwork that they have learned about and colored! Hopefully, it will continue to be a room they love and remember fondly!

Our plans are not His--- a recap of April

We are settling in to life in America for now.

We were supposed to be in Mongolia now... at least that was our plan.

God's plan seems different. His direction for us in this time has been clear on each day, but murky for the future.

God is leading us, but it is not following our plan.

"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9 continues to come to mind. In the fall, I had submitted to the Lord to do whatever he wanted, again. I had embraced living in Mongolia, again. I had humbled my wishes and dreams and hopes and submitted them to God, again. I was settled.

In March, Peter and I sat down (at my request) and made a planning framework for the next five years. :) It was a good plan--- well laid on a piece of paper in my notebook. It made me feel good to know what continent we were planning on being on from 2010-2015.

Now that paper lays in the dust of my old home in Selenge. It is in the notebook with all my other plans, teacher plans, house cleaning plans, menu plans, diet plans. I didn't bring it to America.

In March (the same month that we wrote our five year plan) we came to America to say goodbye to Grandpa Bob. We attended his funeral and planned some time to hang out with family. Then we heard the word apraxia.

Sierra having apraxia is totally outside of our plan. We were hoping to do speech therapy in our home in Mongolia. However, this type of therapy is totally beyond us. It is brain training to produce "motor planning" so that Sierra's brain can communicate with her mouth. Of course, we can't risk Sierra's ability to speak, so here we are.

God's plan is there, his leading us is there. Settled, however, doesn't seem to be part of the plan.

In AZ we searched for therapy with a specialist. We want the best for our little princess. We thought we had to move to MI then NM. Then we found a specialist 20 miles from family in Corona, CA. So we moved again.

Into my mom's basement. We saw the specialist, yes apraxia. Yes a year of therapy to see how she responds. Now what?

God provided through our family. They gave us a house and car. We have work to do within the mission for the year as well. All of this in less than a month....

So we are here in Highland in grandpa's old home. It is such a blessing to have a space for our family. It is a four bedroom house- I have a den! It has a nice grassy yard that is completely fenced.

At my beloved 99c store there were seeds- 9 packs for 99c. So I bought 25 kinds and planted a garden with my kids. They enjoyed a day in the mud and I enjoyed putting down roots and imagining what it will look like.

So my roots grow with the garden, one centimeter at a time until God's plan for our life is revealed in a beautiful blooming, fruit producing garden.

no news

Here is the daily dozen:

I wake and my headache is mostly gone.
I find happy children and my hubby in the living room
I give them all a wave- no kisses, off to the coffee pot!
I find no sugar for my coffee
I have a cup anyways
I check email and facebook
I do Tae Bo Kids with the family
I do laundry
I make lunch
I can't hear well, I'm getting a head cold, maybe?
I chop up the weeks meat and put it in the crock pot, maybe after 2 days it will be done and soft
The children are playing nicely with one another. They are getting over vacation mode, and the need to be entertained all day!
We talk to Auntie Shauna and sing Happy Birthday!
The electricity goes out.
I pull the casserole out of the oven and
put it in the frying pan and cook it over the camping stove
I eat
I talk with my friend and have a nice chat
I get out the homeschooling stuff.
I plan for the rest of the year in Bible, poetry and geography
Friend comes over unexpectedly
We chat for an hour and had tea and popcorn.
I had miscommunicated that we had "wheel chairs" for charity. We really have walkers. Opps!

Do you see what's missing from my day? Chores and homeschooling?

Bye, off to do those things.

I need to clean and organize and get ready to move into a smaller house. I don't know where to start so I am frozen in indecision.

Where do we stay in UB?

This is the kitchen of the apartment where we are staying.

The labels on the pictures tell some details, but they're much smaller than I thought they would be! You'll have to click to enlarge.

The kids don't wear many clothes here because the apartment is HOT! We have the window open now and it's night!

Peter is going to be here in 3 days- we miss him. 19 minutes until the children's bedtime! :)

Don't like hand washables?

Here is a new idea for you.

When we travel, I hand wash a lot. I sometimes go to the laundry mat or a get laundry service, but who wants to spend a vacation in the laundry mat waiting for the blasted dryer or spend lots of money laundry service?! Not me, remember I’m frugal (ok cheap!)

We’re in UB. The laundry machine is broken. I have been washing by hand. Who likes bending down over the tub squishing and swashing? All the while getting water on the floor, my clothes and hating bending down to reach the clothes and be the human agitator?

A light bulb moment hit me today---

How to hand wash painlessly:

Put clothes, soap and stain stick in a place you can reach from the shower.

Get in shower. Wash yourself as needed. Wash feet well.

Put in the plug

Throw in all the laundry you want to wash and the soap. Agitate laundry with feet.

Enjoy warm water on you and do not feel guilty- you are washing your clothes and getting a leg workout at the same time.

Turn down water once you have enough to wash your clothes.

Pick up each item and inspect for cleanliness. Stain stick as needed and rinse.

Wring and throw into the sink.

Repeat.

Get out and hang up the clothes.

Yay- you’re clean, your clothes are clean and you are done!

It actually works really well! I did a small load of laundry in 10 minutes!

I just might start putting the kids in the bath clothes and all--- wouldn’t that be nice? No laundry pile and teaching them to do their own laundry starting at age 3! Ha ha! We’d certainly need fewer clothes if I did this every day.

I can't stop thinking about this, so I have to tell you

Today Peter got pork at the market. It is rare to find pork and it is always a treat. I took it out of the bag to deal with it. On one side it looked like wonderful pork- very nice. This is the side that Peter looked at when he purchased it.

On the other side---- there was an UDDER! I almost died. I was shocked! I am used to handling and partially butchering meat, but today was almost more than I could take!

I did it though- the dog is eating the yucky parts (like the udder) and the rest is in the crockpot!

Chili verde anyone? ha ha :)

Best part of my day?

Now- 6:04pm

Weston is building a cube with linking blocks. Sierra is snuggling with me and trying to zip her sweatshirt.

We are listening to Peter and the Wolf. Every so often Weston yells, "flute" or "violin" and Sierra laughs as the music changes from soft to scary!

Music tames the wild beast, I have proof!

Presently, 6:08, they have both gone to their beds because they are fighting. It was a nice four minutes! :)

June

June was our first month back in Mongolia. I wish I could say that it was a great month, but it was really hard. The first months back to an adopted country are shocking.

The wonder and adventure that came with our first move in 2005, had long since worn off and the bleak reality of some parts of life here really hit us hard. It's back to being the butcher the baker and the candlestick maker. It back to inventing the things you need instead of heading to Lowe's. It's making every meal from dirty carrots and fly riddled meat. It's hard.

However, it's also great because we can see how far we have come in the years we've invested here. We can speak (however simply) in our new language, we know where to shop, how to survive without as much thought, we have friendships (however fragile) with national friends to catch up with.

Also the kids thrive here in someways because they have more time to putter, play and imagine without the interruption of going somewhere (meanwhile mommy is going crazy at home!) Because this is the home they've known they longest and they fit here. Their culture shock will be going back to America in some ways. They call them Third Culture Kids- kids that grow up outside their own culture, but aren't from the culture they grew up in. Strange, huh? That is why my kids "play" with their stuffed animals by eating them-- they see the link between ole' Bessy the cow and the hamburger on the table! When I see them playing like that it freaks me out and makes me crack up at the same time!
Anyhow, back to memory lane...

Our house work isn't done yet. We have some work to do here in our Mongolia kitchen because our walls were falling down! Thankfully we were able to hire help!
Kitchen after- we did the tile ourselves- fun
Painting the living room- not easy two radiators, two windows, one staircase and seven doors later it's done! Again Sharon watched our kids so we could paint before moving. This will be our 3rd move in 7 weeks!
After all that work at our California house and this house, what does Peter do? Get sick of course- for 2 whole weeks this is what he looked like with a fever in bed. Poor guy- and poor me- I'm not a good nurse!
Sierra's haircut- I'm so proud of it because I did it myself!! It has grown out a lot, but still looks great!
From Super Walmart- to shopping here
From driving 80 mph all over the US to strolling through the square here.
From the beautifully packaged meat at Fresh and Easy to this...
From the bakery at a pretty store, where a hamburger buns and tortillas are just a toss in the cart away, to making my own.
Sierra has loved our dog Sam since she was a baby, 9 months in the States didn't make her forget.
Sierra and Peter, loving the river! This year we found Bunnell island- Weston keeps asking if it's still there. Hopefully it is!

our morning

Snippets from our morning

• apple cinnamon oatmeal with walnuts
• 1 John- the best part- verse 3:20, "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but in actions and in truth."
  
• pumpkin spice coffee
• Weston's favorite white silk long underwear shirt and him playing with his new transformer
  
• Sierra jumping on the sofa and cuddling with me while I type.
  
• Peter walking to the bank to wire money to UB- it's -35 and snowy.
  
• texting with a good friend in the US and my siblings
• Peter delighted to buy medicine over the counter for $4.50 (for a suspected sinus infection- sad)

Now it is time to clean up, once again, and start a new novel with the children.
Have a great day! Oh the dog days of winter!

If Christmas Eve is my favorite day-

than the day after Christmas is my least favorite!

I'm ready for the decorations to come down- the Christmas stuff into the box and then to the storage shelf- the gifts stored away.

It makes me feel like a bah humbug- but it's boxed and gone and its 11 am on December 26. Thankfully we have just the essentials for Christmas and it fits in one plastic tub!

It is doubly sad because our families and friends are celebrating Christmas today in America, and we're not there. Sad.

The kids are grumpy and on sugar overload and spoiled a bit from all the treats and gifts- they are fighting over all their new toys.

The New Year looming and all the goals and work of the new year are not quite exciting enough to keep me going on December 26.

Maybe I need a December 26th tradition. HMM????? What could we do?

At least because we're dieting there is Christmas treats left and leftover lasagna- so I don't have to cook today. :)

The sun is shining, I'm healthy and so is my family, and we are able to look out and see the sparkling, dry snow.

And Jesus isn't packed away in my Christmas box. Mary awoke with a newborn baby- the wonders of wonders.

I love waking up to a new baby- there's nothing quite like it. Those tiny fingers and toes wiggling and the pink plump baby discovering their new world. The hope of a healthy baby for all those months inside and then there was a newborn at my side. The hope of their lives, the wonder of what they might become. The joy of watching them grow into a toddler, preschooler and a big kid. The worry for my children mixed with a wonderful awe that God gave them to us to love.

Yes, the excitement of Christmas wasn't finished for Mary. It's not over for us. That's hope.

I feel better already.

Thanks for reading. Happy New Year and a the hope and joy of Jesus the Christ child- still with us!

Did you know Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year?

I enjoy anticipating and looking forward to things-

sometimes more than the actual event.

Today we had a nice day together.
The cutest kids in the world!
This was our cake topper at our wedding. It's fun to get it out every year!

• Chatting with family on the phone.
• Making raviolis together
• 
• Weston picking fresh basil for our ravioli sauce.
• 
• All of us working together
• 
• Having Sharon over for lunch to eat raviolis
• Lighting all the Christmas advent candles together- at breakfast, lunch and dinner!
• 
• Doing the last minute Christmas shopping and wrapping- which I love.
• I bought some funny gifts for our friends--- when you buy an ax handle, a box of cereal, and cashews for your adult friends for a Christmas gift and you are TOTALLY excited about your find (imported cereal=rare find!) - you KNOW you're in Mongolia.
• Gave the children the traditional Christmas Eve gift- pajamas! So they'll look cute in the morning gift opening pictures! :)
  
• I am cleaning the front room and waiting for Sierra to go to bed, to that I can do my favorite thing:

Put the presents under the tree! Yeah!

This ornament was from a boy, Richy, that was in my class in 2000-2001.
He came to me not knowing how to read in the third grade- he left reading.
It's funny to think he is 18 now! I hope he's doing well. :)

There was a "blizzard" yesterday. It only snowed about 5" but Mongolian schools are closed for the week.
It is supposed to be -55 tomorrow... that is COLD. the coldest we've ever seen here!
That means the country is closed down a bit.
Metal breaks at -50 so less cars drive-
we'll be snuggled up tight, opening up gifts, sipping hot coffee
and having lasagna for Christmas dinner.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Peter and I bought this ornament at the Mission Inn.
Beautiful!

It's Starting to Taste a lot Like Christmas

I've been baking and cooking up a storm this weekend. I made brown sugar squares, strange looking gingerbread house cakes and I made another cake for Sierra's birthday tomorrow.

The kids had such a good time decorating the houses with lots of candy and gooey frosting. Everything tastes great.

I made candy brown sugar squares- isn't cool how the butter melted in a flower shape?

The finished candy-- It's so good!
Those little cakes will become two houses! They are spice cakes- Yum

Gingerbread house cakes-- of course the best part is the candy!

Sierra is happy to just eat the candy and watch me decorate!

Working together!

Enjoying the cakes!!!