Wednesday, October 27, 2010

what we do

You might have noticed I haven't been blogging much lately.  I have been busy.  Summer was frenetic, now we're trying to get into a Fall routine.

Here's what busy looks like to us:
  • Learning Spanish at weekly classes and embarrassing weekly get-togethers with a sweet Guatemalan lady who speaks no English.  We spent three hours together today, challenging but our best day yet!!!
  • Learning about Indonesia every day! A few words here and there too, like "Silakan Makan!"  Please eat! (FYI, Marcella's family was unaffected by the tsunami over the weekend and is safe.)
  • Mommy and Me every Tuesday - going very well!!
  • Preparing for the College and Career class I teach at the homeschool co-op every Thursday - love this class and my gym class of high schoolers (not much prep for that though).
  • Changing diapers and picking up toys (thinking I should be making my children do this!)
  • Making everyday life an education for two little ones (we recently poo pooed the structured school time for fear our four year old would develop an aversion to school forever, we'll try again when he's older).
  • Cooking and baking like it's nobody's business!  Every other day I try to make either bread or cookies.  We're trying to eat local and healthy too, which means homemade soup or beans and rice most meals, much to the kids' chagrin. 
  • Praying and fasting, not reading as much of God's Word as I'd like...
  • Leading worship at church on Sundays, something we love to do.  We just learned a new song we can sing easily in any language.  We introduced it last week in Indonesian and English, and this week we're adding Spanish.  
  • Letting my eyebrows grow out, it's not as easy as you would think. They're almost back to their splendid bushy selves (circa 1989!).  I don't know, I'm just trying to be more natural, but I guess I shouldn't have to try, should I?  
  • Doing more and more virtual tours lately, like this one:
Play VisualTour
  • Laughing with Ben  every time we hear Juju cry then hear Z say, "Sorry Juju." and she says, "It's ok." then hear the whole scenario again three more times in a row.  Or when Juju says, "I tooted!"
  • Trying to be in the moment with my children, present, listening, positive....
  • Putting little hair "pretties" into a little girl's hair every morning
  • Keeping a list of a four year old boy's dreams of fun ideas like making a treasure chest (a big one!), making our own "Ring the Gack" game inspired by Dr. Suess and lots more as he thinks of 2-3 a day.
  • Dreaming about having the time or motivation to exercise or get back into martial arts.
  • Dreaming about having an amazing flower, herb and vegetable garden in the back yard. 
  • Ushering the chickens out of the neighbor's yard, naughty chickens!   
  • And taking lots of pictures and videos of our crazy children, chickens and dogs.  Here's a few:






So, the camera story got really painful and I've been dreading having to tell you, but long story short, I had to send back the used one I got from the UK and bought a new one from this store.  The price was definitely the best on the web, HOWEVER, a creepy guy from Brooklyn called me and tried to upgrade my camera battery.  He told me the one I was getting only lasted for a half hour and he could get me a four hour one for $72, no make that $50.  I didn't feel good about it and told him I would not be giving him any personal information over the phone, he said he already had all my information and he was the sales rep for bpelectronics' olympus department.  I told him no thank you.  He said, "What are you thanking me for?!"  I had no idea what to say.  Afterwards I looked up batteries on-line and couldn't find any battery options for my camera and when it arrived, whaddaya know?  It lasted at least four hours.  What a con!  I read some reviews of this store (since) and several people have gotten yelled at by a man with a Brooklyn accent.  I don't recommend the store, but am very thankful I got the camera I paid for and at a very good price.  I used a safe credit card for my purchase so I should be ok if they try anything fishy later on.  Let's hope!

After living with Debbi right after she spent five months in Uganda and now with Marcella, I've been given a two excellent live-in examples of how not to be rushed or too busy.  You'd think I'd learn, but I'm very slow at slowing down, you see.

Here's a quick update on Stumpy:  
She's finally growing feathers, and just in time for Winter!  What a good girl!!
peace to you.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

awww, Becca, once again, you have made me wish that we lived closer to each other. Loved this post. :)
Wanted to say quick that YES, have your children pick up your toys! I've discovered lately that I am a doormat to my children, and truthfully, it is partly because they have stronger personalities than I do (seriously, they are the complete opposite of me!!), but also because I have taught them that I will do everything for them if they don't. Learn from my mistakes!! :)

Anonymous said...

errr, I mean their toys. don't have them pick up your toys. ;)