So Long Ordinary

We are already in our THIRD week of homeschooling! Wow, we've been so busy the first few weeks have have just flown by. We're getting in our groove at last and I've got to say - we're having a blast! We got off to a bit of a rough start. Brooklyn was sick her first week and she was in no mood to do school, but I pushed her anyway because I didn't think she was that sick. She looked like she despised everything we did in school, even when we were doing things I had expected her to enjoy. Near the end of that first week, I began to wonder if she had something more serious going on but lab tests for Malaria and Dengue came back negative. Then I worried some more - was I killing my child's joy in learning with bad curriculum choices?! Was she actually depressed or going through a major emotional, developmental shift? (She was really not herself.) Was the spelling we were doing that horrible? What was wrong?! The second week went better but Brooklyn was s...

Hey all, here's a list of the haps around here.... We have started homeschooling! So far, I'm really happy with my curriculum choices for this year. I learned a ton last year and we've tweaked some things - added some things and taken a few things away. I love getting to plan and create our very own homeschool and tailor it to our needs. And then it comes in the mail.... Oh, the joys of opening up boxes and boxes of new books and materials! I'm in a tiny bit of heaven just now. I'm also a tiny bit of a nerd - or so I've been told. My kids are maybe less enthusiastic about our new stuff. They are, however, working hard anyway and as we get accustomed to our new routine, things are getting easier for all of us. We are getting things ready for MAF teammates, the Rogers, to come to Palangkaraya from Tarakan (the other MAF Kalimantan base) to help us out through the end of the year. We're super-excited to see them come! My niece is in Hawaii for college ...

So, Sean does this thing when we are at hotels. When we get off the elevator on our floor, he starts speedwalking, which immediately makes everybody else speed up their pace as well. Eventually, everybody is running pell-mell down the hall (what does pell-mell mean? did I use that right?) trying to be the first to the room. Of course the girls all giggle and it is such fun until Paige starts to fall behind and then it becomes screaming and crying for her. I'm usually bringing up the rear (and shushing everybody) and I usually wind up grabbing Paige's hand and running with her, letting her at least beat me. (Yeah, I like to think I am still capable of beating a three year old in a foot race. This is what I tell myself, that I am letting her win.) So that was what we were doing, racing down the hall, Paige and I, hand-in-hand. Sean and Brooklyn were long gone but Maddie was still with us, sort of struggling along with her large, wet beach towel. Maddie then had a great id...

So earlier I mentioned a few catastrophes that happened in our time at the hotel on Brooklyn's birthday. Well, the week got hectic, our homeschool stuff arrived, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (quick, what movie is that from? It's one of my favorites) and well, I'm only just now getting around to telling you all about it. Here's the first... Paige has a thing about locking doors...see Exhibit A and Exhibit B . Really, she has a thing about locking doors and then freaking out and not being able to unlock them herself again and she will not be coerced into trying the lock again. She just sits in there saying, "I tan't! I tan't!" while her parents cajole, coerce, bribe, and threaten from the other side of the door. This is a very unfortunate habit to have in Indonesia where there are so many doors, so many locks, and so many doors that lock but have no child safety features built in for parents of children addicted to locking themselves into rooms. ...

On August 2, 2010, we arrived in Indonesia for the very first time! Somehow, two years doesn't seem right - that's not long enough to hold all the living and learning it feels like we've done since arriving here. Here is my first post from Indonesia (wow, I've learned so much since then) and here's my one-year anniversary post (wow, I've learned so much since then...again). God has been so good to us in our first two years in Southeast Asia and we really, truly love it here - not because it is easy but because we have this incredible sense of peace that we are where we should be and God is with us every step of the difficult and amazing way. On August 5, Sean and I celebrated 12 (TWELVE!) years of wedded bliss. I can't believe we've been together so long...closer to 15 years if you count our dating years. (That's - ahem - half of my life!) Turns out this marriage gig has suited us both quite well, no regrets from these high school sweethearts...

I can't believe my little girl is NINE YEARS OLD! We adore this little girl and are so proud of her. She's so sweet and outgoing. She had special birthday wishes from friends of all ages on her special day - kids and grown-ups I didn't realize she'd made such good friends with were stopping by with gifts or sending texts just for her! That's just Brooklyn - making friends with anybody and everybody....and making sure they know when her birthday is. ;-)   Brooklyn loves her family and she's not outgrown us yet, thank goodness! What a joy Brooklyn is to her father, sisters, and me. She's thoughtful and sentimental, a huge help around the house, and a great big sister if a touch bossy (but only because she cares so much)! She struggles sometimes because all of her best friends live in other areas of Indonesia and the world but she's really got a TON of friends right here in Palangkaraya, beginning with her two adoring little sisters. Seriously, the...

We can get the Olympics on TV here and we've been watching it at odd moments throughout the day. Usually, they only show badminton (HUGE sport here and Indonesia got 6 gold, 6 silver, and 6 bronze in it, by the way). Today, though, we managed to catch some swimming and gymnastics - or "germnastics" as Maddie called it. While we were watching "germnastics," Maddie was quite enthralled. Her favorite was a girl from Russia but she wound up losing to an American which Brooklyn thought was awesome. Maddie was disappointed in her Russian but then I told her, "Oh, she still did very good, Madison, she got silver!" Maddie was silent for a while and I could see her sort of fidgeting in her chair until she finally asked the question that was going round and round in that little head of hers, "So....Mommy? They just give her silverware?" Posted with Blogsy