Party Time!

Do you remember her?

Today, Nathan got to meet her.

It was carnival day for the kids at the home so it was the perfect time to pull Nathan out of school to put him in "life school" for a day.

On the 40 min ferry ride to Indonesia.

Our way of welcoming the kids as they came home from school.

It's a party day!!

His first meeting with the house mom, Ibu. She loved him.....gave him kisses

a couple of times while we were there.

These boys are all around 10 years old....just like Nathan. They were so sweet

in welcoming him and trying to communicate with him.

This sweet boy came up to me and was gesturing something to me and

saying "boy". I asked him if he wanted my boy....yes he did. He wanted

Nathan to come outside and play balloon badminton.

Then Nathan broke out some dance moves and his new friend was

quick to follow his lead!

But this is the boy that stole Nathan's heart. Nathan kept telling me

how cute he thought Niko was and that's not something I hear often

from Nathan who doesn't often pay attention to kids younger

than himself.

The kids decorated their loot bags.

Had a cupcake walk which they LOVED.

Lots and lots of games to play and they ran laughing and screaming

from one to the next.

Nathan and I were in charge of the fishing game. We made a fishing

rod (my one attempt at being crafty for 2011) and went

shopping for prizes. It was fun for the kids to throw that rod

over the curtain and pull back a sparkly headband or yoyo or toy

car. They came back over and over and we never ran out of treats!

Niko got a pack of bouncy balls and jumped up and down cheering

when he got them. It was fantastic.

The prize wizard behind the curtain. He was rarely alone as his buddy, Niko,

spent quite a bit of time back there with him.

I asked Nathan on the ferry ride home if it was what he expected. It wasn't, but he wasn't sure why not. He told me it made him a little sad but was glad that the kids were never lonely because there were so many of them there.

Then he told me he couldn't wait to go back.

Me too. It's hot and uncomfortable. There is a language barrier that makes it hard to talk to the kids. But there's just something that grabs hold of your heart while you're there.

I am trying very hard to learn as many of these kid's names as I can. It is important to call them by name. It is the one thing that is theirs alone....it's their identity and what sets them apart from all the other children there.

It just matters.

Each one of them is special. Each one of them is loved. Each one of them has a name.

"Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you BY NAME; you are Mine."

Isaiah 43:1

Singapore? Meet Cinco de Mayo.....

There is absolutely ZERO recognition of Cinco de Mayo in Singapore.

None.

The American Club is having a Cinco de Mayo party.

On Saturday.

That would be Siete de Mayo, but that may just be me being picky.

At our house we decided to celebrate in style. Chicken enchiladas, homemade guacamole, beans, chips and salsa, and pineapple.

So the pineapple is a bit of a stretch but consider it our nod to the tropics.

Garrett has always loved cooking and so tonight he sauntered (cuz that's what you do when you're 12 1/2 and growing way too fast) into the kitchen and offered to help me cook. He does this quite a bit and I love it. Back in the day I used to have my best conversations with him in the car when we were alone. Now, he helps me cook and if I stay quiet long enough I can find out all sorts of things going on in his head.

I put him to task chopping an onion while I got chicken ready to cook. He started complaining about his eyes, rummaged around for a bit, and when I looked up again...this is what I saw.

An airtight solution to stinging eyes when chopping onions. He swears it works....I'll just take his word for it!

Now, to channel a little Pioneer Woman, I'll take you through our dinner making process.

Lots and lots of onion!

Threw it in with some diced chicken and olive oil.

Added a can of diced green chile and a block of cream cheese.

Rolled them up in the most expensive flour tortillas known to man.

Top with heavy cream and cheese and bake until it is a pan of

deliciousness.

Tonight was my first attempt at homemade guacamole and it turned out really well!

The strangest thing is that you don't buy cilantro here....they call it

Chinese parsley. Tastes the same and it makes good guac so I'm not complaining!

The best part of the whole meal was when I sat down to eat and found a homemade Mother's Day card under my napkin from Garrett. He had made it at school during his elective and it was a very cool card that was so sweet. As you all know, we've had quite a year so that card means the world to me.

No goggles could keep me from tearing up while I read that card.

Happy Cinco de Mayo to all of you!!

Wanna Fight?

The battle for contentment.

Just yesterday I read a blog post that send me spiraling. This woman's kids are AMAZING. Like, they have entire books of the Bible memorized, remember all their manners at all times, prefer organic vegetables to Goldfish, crave Mozart, and aren't even five years old yet. The mom is gorgeous and the dad is successful and they seem to have everything they could ever want.

I find that I start disliking the people that I presume are doing life better than me. I don't mean they have more than I do, I mean they just seem to live life as women, wives, and mothers better than me.

How horrible is that? I so badly want to delete that confession except I can't help but think I'm not the only one that battles this.

Can I go one step further and say that there are times something frustrating or difficult happens to these Stepford-ish women and I almost giggle about it?

Yep.......it gets that ugly in my head.

Before you start sending me all kinds of advice, let me just say that these days, and at my age, I have gotten much better at stopping the thought process before the stink of those thoughts starts oozing out of my pores.

I fight it, nip it in the bud and rehearse over and over in my head all the reasons why I'm blessed. It's amazing how impossible it is for discontentment and blessings to live harmoniously in your mind!

Yesterday helped to renew my resolve to be authentic in my everyday life with people. Those I interact with in person as well as those I communicate with only through the world wide web. I don't ever want anyone to think I am perfect or that my kids are without fault or that my world is enchanted.

I'm not implying that the women who wrote the post thinks she's perfect, but I know how easy it is to only put the shiny stuff out there for people to see while you're frantically polishing the tarnished stuff in a corner wearing stretchy pants and your six year old daughter's scrunchy.

You see.....behind every picture like this of the boy's bathroom mirror that may make you think that I am the most amazingly spiritual mom to walk the face of the earth.....

There's a picture like this that proves that even though you have consistently taught your kids for over a decade to pick up their clothes, they still aren't always going to do it.

That this tiny bathroom the boys share is often a complete disaster with toilet seat up, trash on the floor, stinky hats on the counter and toothpaste in the sink.

I must give credit where credit is due. The idea of posting scripture on the mirror is one that a woman here gave me. She told me she would write them and post them but kept every single notecard and had them bound to give to her children when they left home. I love it and it's amazing how quickly the boys notice when I change the verse. Especially now that there's lots and lots and lots of time being spent looking at that mirror.....heaven help me.

Then I make them tell it to me by heart to earn chocolate.

Bribery....it's what's for dinner.

I find that real life is what lies between great parenting ideas and....well....boys.

Deep Thoughts....by someone other than Jack Handy

I am honestly too tired to come up with anything fascinating so I thought I would write a post only a mother could love. I don't talk to my mom nearly as much as I should and when I do, she just loves it when I share what's going on in my little world.

So for you mom......

My Incredibly Deep Thoughts:

1. For as much as I disliked Middle School when I was actually going to Middle School, I despise it all the more as a parent. Don't get me wrong, the school here is amazing and I wouldn't want Garrett anywhere else. Socially it's been a good year as well. It's all the craziness that comes with an intense work load, more interest in sports and friends and girls than homework, and puberty. All that thrown together has increased my gray hair count by a bunch. Out of respect for my sweet red headed 12 year old, that's all I'm going to say about that. 20 and a half days of school left.....I can do this!!

Actually, I guess it's 2 years and 20 and a half days of school left. Oy vey!

2. I don't know why, but for some reason hair color does not last over here. It's a mystery we discuss often over lunch and we've blamed the water and humidity and everything else we can think of for why it is that what used to last me 3-4 months, now only lasts about 4 weeks. I pride myself in being low maintenance but this hair color schedule is going to ruin it for me. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the gray.......which we all know I can blame on Middle School.

Great. Middle School will haunt me forever.

3. I wonder what this summer is going to be like. In fact, I wonder about that a lot. How different are things going to be? Am I going to feel like an outsider or will it feel like I've slipped right back in to what was normal? How are the boys going to feel about being home for an extended amount of time? What is it going to feel like to actually walk into a store and find clothes that fit? Can I live on Sonic drinks and Mexican food alone? How hard is it going to be without Scot for 7 weeks?

How much more gray am I going to be?

4. Whatever gave me the idea that giving up dairy, flour, and sugar would actually be a fun challenge?? I must have been out of my mind!!! For the most part, I've actually stuck to it for over a week now. I did cheat a tad this weekend by having a small bit of feta cheese on a Greek salad, eating two rolls at dinner one night and sharing a small dessert with Scot. By and large, if I have to count some cheese I had on a salad as cheating.....then I think I'm doing ok.

My plan is to drop 30 pounds in the next 4 weeks. Wish me luck!!!

5. Number 4 has to be successful in order for me to eat Mexican food every single day this summer. You think I'm kidding?? Just wait. I'm going to have to put friends and family on a rotational schedule to eat with me because I promise it will wear them out.

It's going to get u.g.l.y.

6. I honestly think I've learned more about world politics since living here than I did the entire time I was in college. How I ended up with good friends here that are as politically savvy as they are is beyond me. I sat at lunch today while my three friends tossed around policy issues with Libya and Egypt and rehashed past presidential conflicts along with their takes on what happened with Bin Laden.......I just nod and throw in an occasional safe remark like "God Bless America" and pretend like I can operate on their level.

I can't, but it sure is fun to be smart by association!

7. I am starting to love apartment living. I say that even though right now I am burning up as our ancient air conditioning system seems to not be working. Again. I can honestly say that our family spends so much more time together because there's nowhere to escape. There's the family room and bedrooms and that's about it! You can probably hide in the kitchen except there is so much traffic in there since food is consumed at an enormous rate around here that the chance of staying alone in there is minimal.

Actually, when I'm out back doing laundry I'm always alone. Hmmmm.......I may have to change that!!

8. I am so tired right now that I'm not even going to try and make it to 10 because I would be lying to say I was thinking about anything else but going to bed. Tomorrow I get to go see all the wonderful ladies at ESL so I will leave you with a couple of pictures I have taken recently for our end of the semester slide show.

The women start off in the sanctuary to sing a couple of songs and

get a very simple Bible lesson.

Then it's off to their classrooms that are divided by levels that start

with Intro (no English at all) and go to 5 (conversational English). Since

all of these women are working on at least their 2nd language it makes every one

of them smarter than me. I take great joy in telling them that when they sit down for

me to test them with nervous smiles and shaking hands.

I love this lady. I did her testing when she first registered for class

and at that time her hair was longer and purple. She has since

had some kind of makeover and is obviously loving it!! She loves

on me every time we see each other.

I know, you are all so devastated that this incredibly insightful and stimulating post has come to an end. Or you're relieved.

You're probably relieved....honestly, I am too.

Good night!

Bubble Wrap

Honestly, if we continue with worldwide events like we've had the last few days, this "posting every weekday" thing is going to be easy!!

I happened to be standing in an airport in Indonesia with my family and some friends when we heard the news about the death of Bin Laden. Indonesia is predominantly Muslim so we refrained from whipping out an American flag and jumping around in celebration. In fact, we kept pretty quiet and tried to blend in until we got on the plane and into the air bound for Singapore.

Our kids caught on quickly that something pretty significant had happened so huddled by ourselves in the airport we gave them a crash course on Bin Laden. Over the tops of their heads the adults looked at each other with questions in our eyes about what this event might mean for us living outside America. Neither one of the men are traveling this next week and for that I'm grateful. I find I am often so comfortable living my life here that I forget I am a guest in a country that isn't my home.

The reality is that for as much as America itself has been a target, the American community that lives around the world is also very vulnerable.

We are used to a moderate level of security at the American School. There is a checkpoint with guards where the underside of every taxi and the trunk is inspected on the way into the school. There are evacuation measures and safety houses in place in case of catastrophic events. It's funny how shocking these measures and others at the school surprised me in the beginning but have just become part of what is normal now.

I am certainly grateful for it all as I send the boys off to school in the morning.

I am happy that a man who has destroyed so many lives will not destroy one more. There are many families that have waited for this justice for many long years. For them I pray there will be peace.

And now, I am going to go give this guy

And this guy

a big 'ol hug and kiss with loads of reminders of how much I love them.

Then I think I'll wrap them up in bubble wrap to send them off to school tomorrow.

Hmmmm......What To Write About Today

I do hate to be predictable, but a royal wedding just doesn't come around very often! There is nothing else I can really talk about when the world got a new princess today....or whatever it is that the Queen is officially calling Kate. Does it matter? To the whole world, Kate is a princess.

(This would be the proper place to insert a picture of Kate in all her Grace Kelly splendor but for the life of me, I can't get a picture of her to upload.....or download....or copy and paste to the blog. Basically, I am not computer literate enough to fully round out this post with the proper pictures!)

I remember lying on my stomach on the floor of Jenny Key's house with my chin in my hands at the ripe 'ol age of eleven when I watched Princess Di walk down that long aisle towards her Prince. I was young enough to be completely enthralled with the magic of it all.

I can remember speaking only in a British accent with one of my friends as we pretended to be part of the royal family. My friend was much better than I was at it. Then again, she was my friend that tried to give me flirting lessons and insisted I practiced until my handwriting was more bubbly and every "i" was dotted with a heart.

I failed miserably.

On both accounts.

I have to admit that all week I've had moments where I've wondered what Kate must be thinking and doing. A wedding under normal circumstances is filled with details and preparation for the bride....can you even imagine what these last few days were like for her? What in the world was she thinking about when she was shaving her legs this morning in preparation for the big day? Was she rehearsing all of Will's names? I must say that is not something I did the morning of my wedding. I kinda felt like that was one thing I had down pat!

It's crazy to think that many years from now I could be talking to my Granddaughter about where I was the day Kate and Will got married. That I was in Asia watching with three boys who could honestly care less but watched all the same.

It's a long way from Jenny Key's house in Albuquerque, NM and a VERY long way from eleven years old but it's not any less magical.

Finding My Way

I recently had an opportunity to tour a mosque. It is the second time since being in Singapore that I have had an up close and personal look inside of a Muslim's place of prayer.

There were two things I found particularly intriguing.

1. I took this picture of a man sitting against the column inside the mosque where I was not allowed to go. Others around him were kneeling on their prayer rugs but he just sat. I took quite a few pictures and he never seemed to notice that I was there and I was so incredibly curious as to what he was thinking about. I assumed he was meditating on life either prior to or just following his own time of prayer.

But then I realized that many times people will see me in church and assume that I am being introspective and meditative on my relationship with God when in reality my mind could be wandering all over the place. So, for all I know, this man was actually forming a grocery list in his mind.

2. Just outside the mosque was a gift shop where we were shown this compass of sorts. It is used by Muslims as a way to find Mecca from wherever they happen to be in the world. They always pray in the direction of Mecca and around here it is not unusual to see arrows high on the walls of public buildings pointing the direction of Mecca so when it is time for a Muslim to pray they always know which direction they need to face.

I am so grateful that I always know which direction to send my prayers. That I serve a God that is seated on His throne, is with me always, and knows my very deepest need. That I can be on my knees praying out loud or silently whispering a prayer and He's going to hear me.

I have so enjoyed the experiences and conversations the religious diversity here has allowed me. It has strengthened my faith more than I could have imagined and certainly has challenged me.

I am a long, long, long way from the proverbial Bible belt and in some ways.....the loosening of that belt has given me room to grow.