300th Post!

I had to edit this post so that my 300th post was longer than a sentence, since my WigPosts have a tendency to be more like WigJournals at times, there's a ton of links throughout this, you may have to scroll over to see them, as I can't get blogger to change the color of my links:

"Just stayed up longer than I should have watching this documentary on Monsanto. All I can say is, ugh."

That's all I wrote last night. The following is bonus, for you WigReaders out there!

Today we had our second day of school (MWF is the plan, with fun activities with friends on T/Th). We're using "How to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" for reading and Math-U-See for Math. I previously bought the pre-school Rod & Staff curriculum, but am focusing on the essentials right now and may use those at another time.

Below are a few pictures of our school week, taken with my hand-me-down camera which, I recently remembered, was dropped and so it gives a fun funky look to the pictures that almost look like they were on purpose, but they werent. So, I'm preparing to buy a camera, as these may be fun, but they won't do for virtual tour pictures:

Z on his first day of pre-school

Here he and Juju are working on their scavenger hunts

Here's the results of the scavenger hunts, everything green for Juju and a list of backyard finds for Z.

I wish I could say it's been a breeze, but I'm learning as we go, how to help keep Juju occupied and keep Z's interest. I'm figuring out his learning style (more auditory, I think) and his tolerance, focus and frustration levels/triggers academically. I'm finding I work just fine in a loose schedule where I budget twice as long as I think I'll need to do something with him.

Happily, Z really enjoys the reading lessons and has already shown improvement in his blending abilities! Yes, in just two days! Juju worked on counting and colors today. She doesn't know her colors yet, but can count to seven along with me just fine. I'm amazed at how quickly we get through lessons and how much time there is to spare...I even cleaned my bathroom today! I'm not sure what I was doing with my time previously.

I'm reading this wonderful book called, "Plain" about plain living. I love books that inspire me to get off my duff, move more and turn off the t.v. Oh and I made these yummy peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies on Monday that I can't stop eating. Be sure to switch the measurements for white and brown sugar and to roll them into balls and press them down before cooking. Soooo good!

Finally, I have three blogs I must share with you! One is the travel journal of my mother-in-law from her mission trip to Chad, you might remember she's a mid-wife and delivered Z and Juju. She went and worked with pregnant women and their care providers. The pictures are outstanding!!!

Secondly, since my friend, Rachel suggested it, I've been following Andrea at The Sandbox as she shares her heart, her joys and struggles of breast cancer. She is a homeschooling mom of 5 and I find her inspirational.

Finally, I noticed today that our sweet Marcella updated her blog too! You might notice some of the people in her pictures. Here's a picture of what she made us for dinner the other night:

It was spicy fried rice. The salad on the side was to cool your mouth down. We loved it!

Thanks for reading my really long 300th WigPost!

Miss Marcella

Meet Marcella! The newest addition to our WigFamily. Marcella comes to us through the IVEP (International Volunteer Exchange Program) and is sponsored by two churches where she'll be serving twenty hours a week at each. She will be here for one year.

We've had lots of adventures already and she only arrived last Thursday evening.

Making zucchini brownies

This week we say farewell to my sister-in-law, Debbi, who lived with us this Summer. She spent the first five months of this year in Uganda and we celebrated this past Monday with a big Ugandan dinner. She returns to Messiah College this weekend as a junior studying anthropology and sociology. I learned a lot from this amazing little sister of mine and know she will do great things in the future. Marcella likes her a lot too! Debbi knows what it's like to go to a country and live with a foreign family who doesn't speak your native language, and has taught us a lot through sharing her experiences.

We're getting ready to go to the grocery store for the first time since Marcella's arrival and I'm excited to see what she thinks. It's been interesting to learn how very different our cultures are, and yet how much we have in common as humans. Marcella is always smiling and very patient with our children...in fact she's listening to an interesting story that Z is telling her right now about smashing things. I'm off to rescue her...

My Daddy

Yup! It's my Dad's birthday! Time to get out the old pictures and brag on him a bit. Truly, he is an international man of mystery. I don't know really what he does for a living, I never have. He always said, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to shoot you." Did I mention he was the one who taught me the Willie poems? He's got a very dry sense of humor, living in England for 16 years only encouraged this.

Here he is with my mom in 1974.

They got married a year later and celebrated 35 years this year.

We went on lots of adventures together. Here we are on a hike. He would later take mom and me to 27 countries and just as many states (not by piggyback). We loved to travel as a family, although he's been to countless countries without us now, how many passports have you filled, Dad?

All our earthly possessions were packed and we were on our way to California from Tennessee for Dad's linguistics school, it took a week to get there, and we broke down in the desert. That was the first of many moves for me. My Dad would forevermore write out his Christmas list in Persian, Farsi.

My Dad is an artist. He's one of those very complex people that can program a computer and paint a masterpiece too. He can also sing. Our special song we always sing together is, "Get a Job" by the Sha Na Nas. I loved when he sang in a barbershop quartet while we lived in Maryland. He can sing the really really low notes.

My family in 1983

I may have won a mother-daughter look-alike contest with my mom when I was sixteen...

...but there's no room for milkman jokes, he is clearly my Dad.

In 1997 he gave me away. Can you tell we love each other? We do, to pieces actually. He also shared with me a love for God. Growing up I'd jump onto Mom and Dad's bed for family Bible time and I recall great discussions on theology as a teenager. Remember the lemmings, Dad? He always has great analogies and maybe should have been a preacher.

Nine long years later, he became a Grandpa, and then I learned something about my Dad.

He loves our kids as much as he loves me and Ben. It's so fun to watch him with Z and Juju as he just comes alive. He can hardly say no to them and Z has caused serious (and irreversible) damage to my Dad's ipad in the past...twice. His interest in photography was reborn with the birth of our children and can be thanked for the wonderful catalog of pictures we have of them. He loves being a Grandpa, which is a very good thing indeed.

I hope you have a very happy birthday on Friday, the 13th, Dad! Such a fitting day for you, my funny, creative Dad, who loves Alfred Hitchcock (and shares a birthday with him) and who always has a Groucho Marx quote at the ready. I wish Germany wasn't so far away. I'm giving you hugs in my heart right now, wishing they were big bear hugs in person. I love you to pieces and always will.