Home sweet home

We arrived home (Chattanooga home) last night after a long trip and are so thankful for the safe and relatively uneventful flight. The past few weeks have been rather busy for us and I had not really been eager to come home, not that I didn't want to - I just was too busy to really think about it, but once we stepped off the plane in Atlanta and entered the customs area, I just got so excited. David thinks I'm crazy, but I told him that that customs lobby is one of my favorite places in the world because it means I'm HOME. There's no feeling quite like it, to me. Then to come home to the house I grew up in, it's just such a welcoming feeling. Today we went to run a few errands, including a stop at Staples and Wal-Mart and it was so nice to be able to communicate clearly with the cashiers and to be able to DRIVE! :) It's not that I don't like my life in Spain - it's just so nice to have a home to come home to.

And a funny story. Last night Rachel had used the potty here and had to get David to show her how to flush. The toilets in Europe are different and she didn't know what to do. And Mathis is completely amused by watching the water swirl down in the toilet. Our toilets in Spain are more suction like, kind of like on an airplane, and they flush with a button on the top of the tank. Anyway - an unexpected cultural transitional moment for us. :)

Rachelism

This afternoon, Rachel said something unkind to Mathis. Afterward, we discussed how it makes us feel when others say things that hurt our feelings, etc., and I told her she had to take some time and write down five things she loved about him. Here is her list.

He's funny sometimes.

He always says that he loves me.

He plays with me.

He watches movies with me sometimes.

He is so cute.

A little seamstress...of sorts

The other day, Rachel wanted some fabric scraps so she could make matching outfits for her and her doll.  

Here she is working hard. 

And the finished product.  

Ramblings

So we head to the U.S. next week and I am very excited about seeing our family and friends and about the FOOD(!). David and I were talking last night about how we have changed this year and what we think it will be like to be "home."  On a personal level, I have learned that I am better off without TV, Target and the Starbucks drive-thru. This year, I have read through the entire Bible 1 1/2 times, read countless other books, watched my kids become best friends because they only had each other all day long. I came with a suitcase of clothes and left crates of clothes in our storage container back home. Sometimes I wish I had more to choose from here, but in general, I have all I need here with me, which makes me wonder why I have so much in the first place. Our kids share a tiny room. We have one bookshelf of toys for our kids, plus a decent sized fenced in yard. Sometimes less really is more. Of course, I do plan to visit Target, Starbucks and will probably watch some TV (though I am most excited about PBS for my kids - hoping Mathis might finally learn his alphabet...) because those things are not bad in and of themselves, but I recall the day David mentioned to me that he thought we should consider moving overseas - those were the things I first thought of that I hated to leave and thought I couldn't survive without. I guess what I'm getting at is that I have learned to love the quiet and stillness of here. I have also loved living in a community (imperfect as it is at times) where people are in our home on a daily basis. I love that I can walk to the store, walk to school, walk to other peoples' homes. Of course it hasn't been an "easy" year. Adjusting to a new culture is hard, no matter where it is. But we have adjusted and I expect that our re-entry in July will be much easier than it was last year.

Children Desiring God

I was thinking the other day that I wanted to find a good curriculum to use to teach Rachel and Mathis about the attributes or names of God.  So I did a quick google search and discovered that John Piper's ministry has an entire children's curriculum - for all ages.   www.childrendesiringgod.org   It looks fantastic.  Has this been around for a while and I just discovered it??  I'm going to order one of the Sunday School curriculums and do it with them weekly, because I can't pass up such a thorough curriculum that focuses so much on the God-centeredness of the gospel.  Not only do they sell curriculum and VBS materials, you can listen to the speakers from their annual conference.  I have only had time to listen to John Piper's, but I'm hoping to hear the rest soon.  Check it out.  

Bibliophile

literally "lover of books."  I can't help it.  I was an early reader and have loved reading my whole life.  My dad is a "super reader" as well.  I was telling David the other day that my love language is books.  If he (or anyone else) were to give me a book they had read and thought I would enjoy it or gain something from it, it would be the best gift he could give.  David is not a super-reader, although I thought he was when I married him.  I had these dreams of us sitting in our respective chairs, both reading all evening, sharing something with the other when appropriate.  *sigh* But after I married him, I found out that I was misinformed and that he really doesn't read that much.

So last night I was searching on Amazon for books to order - to bring back with me this summer, and my balance was rising.  I asked David how much money I could spend on books and he reminded me that I had $300 in Christmas money set aside in our account that I had never spent.   "REALLY??!!!"   *happy blissful smile*  :) 

New Camera Fun

As an early birthday/anniversary present, David bought me a new camera this weekend. He said it was for me, but I really think it will end up being his toy.  :)  Anyway - here are a few fun shots we got this weekend.  

 

 

Spring garden

As I mentioned, because of our uncertainty about where we will be living next year, we decided to do container gardening rather than in-the-ground-gardening.  We started our seeds around the first of March and here are the plants now. 

 

We have several varieties of tomatoes, green peppers and 3 yellow squash plants.

Can you see the baby yellow squash?  We are SO excited.  They don't sell summer squash here, but it's one of David's favorites.  Thanks for sending us the seeds so we could grow our own!

Here is a pic of our first tomato bloom.  

And my first ever geranium window box brings joy to me every time I do dishes.  :)

Southernisms

I just finished re-reading the book Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. It's a fictional story of a boy and his very southern extended family, which takes place in 1906 in Cold Sassy, Georgia (named for the sassafras groves travelers who were headed west used for shade). Even though I'm technically a southern transplant (born and raised out west), I consider myself a southerner and found myself laughing so much at the drama of this small-southern-town.

I also found this paragraph amusing. Will (the 13 year old boy telling the story) explains,

"You need to understand that in Cold Sassy when the word "aunt" is followed by a name, it's pronounced aint, as in Aint Loma or Aint Carrie. We also say dubya for the letter "w", sump'm for something, idn' for isn't, dudn' for doesn't, raig'n for reckon, chim'ly for chimney, wrench for rinse, sut for soot, as in train or chim'ly sut, and like for lack, as in "Do you like much of bein' th'ew?" Well, I know that how we speak is part of what we are. I sure don't want Cold Sassy folks to sound like a bunch of Yankees. But I don't want us to sound ignorant, either, and pronunciations like sump'm and id'n sound ignorant. So I'm trying to remember not to use such - except right now to tell how Loma became Aint Loma."

Id'n and Dud'n are regular words in our house. What about yours? :)

Thursday 13

Can I do a Thursday 13 on a Monday? Anyway.

1. The other day David was helping some friends move into a new house. While doing so, a conversation about tv came up and someone told him that if you plug in a digital receiver, you can receive about 28 channels that are broadcast free. We happened to have one in our TV cabinet but didn't know it was there. After living here for 9 months, we finally have "real TV." We had it all along, but didn't know it. Before, we only got about 6 channels, all in Spanish, none worth watching. Now we get a good variety, including the Disney Channel and several English channels. Although I'm not sure it's a good thing. We'll see.

2. The weather FINALLY is warming up. It's been in the 60's for most of April and the forecast this week is showing high 70s and 80s. This makes me very happy. :)

3. We are returning to Chattanooga for a month this summer. I have not been feeling homesick anymore, but I am REALLY looking forward to some Taco Bell and Sonic, especially.

4. We have no idea what we will be doing here next year as there are currently no boarding students registered for next year. We are still in discussion with the school administration about what that may mean for the boarding program as well as for us personally. I have complete peace about it either way and know that God brought us here and that He will use us in the lives of ECA students, boarding or not. More on that later...

5. Rachel is reading like crazy. She always has her nose in a book. She has read most all of the American Girls books and is working through the Magic Treehouse series and Paddington Bear.

6. Mathis is never bored. He is always busy. Just a minute ago I heard the water in the bathroom running and went to see what he was doing. He had a plastic grocery bag and was filling it with water so he could "paint,"on the front porch where he had drawn with sidewalk chalk.

7. He also rarely walks anywhere. Why walk, when you can jump, trot, skip, or run?

8. Rachel has made her own peanut butter and jelly sandwich the last 3 days. Today she made hers and Mathis's. I am very excited about what this could mean for me. :)

9. One thing I love about Spain is that there are playgrounds everywhere. In our tiny little town, there are at least 4 within walking distance of our house.

10. We planted seeds for tomatoes, green peppers and yellow squash. We had intended to plant them in our back yard, but because we are going to be gone this summer and because we may or may not live in this house next year (depending on what happens with our job) we decided to just do container gardening. They are really thriving so far. I'll try to post pictures soon.

11. I love encyclopedias. While homeschooling Rachel this year, anytime we had a question about something we head to the encyclopedias. Of course, we could use the internet, but there's something about pictures and printed paper bound in a book. We've learned all kinds of things. I want her to love learning and I want her to know how to find information. Encyclopedias may not be around much longer, but I, for one, love them.

12. Sometimes I can't believe I'm the mother of a 5 and 3 year old. It doesn't seem possible. And yet, I am so happy to be out of the baby/toddler years, past the crawling phase, past the sleepless phase, past the "having to do everything for them," phase, although really, I do still have to do a lot for Mathis, but I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. Hopefully by the end of summer he will be potty trained.

13. Speaking of potty training. Before we left Chattanooga, I bought some Elmo underwear for him, not sure what would be available here when that day came. Now that he's starting to show interest, I pulled them out but he wasn't as excited about them as I had hoped - I think because we don't have Sesame Street here and he isn't that into Elmo anymore. David took him shopping the other day and he found some with monster trucks on them, which Mathis was excited about. But I'm on the lookout for some "motivational underwear." Would you please let me know if you stumble upon any size 2T/3T Curious George or Bob the Builder? :)