Learning to learn

Bright has been learning to read and write, all on in own of course since I barely make it out of my bathrobe most days let alone have the energy to home educate my three year old. But his little brain is finding its way on its own, and it is really cute. The other day he was spelling words on the refrigerator - word's like "cat" and "chip," which I pretended to be excited about while I juggled my multiple-skillet dinner in the kitchen. Then he said, "Look mom, I spelled 'quiet time.'" I looked up and saw this. I had to grab the camera. 'Quiet time' is what we call his daily devotional time, which is him in his room spending time alone with Je*us, listening to the Adventures in Odyssey audio Bi@le. I wasn't at all surprised that he tried to spell this phrase, but I WAS surprised at his phonics. I guess he got tired of thinking about it toward the end, but I am proud as punch even still.

Love is in the air

Bright was in his first wedding. He was a ring- bearer, and as you can see, the whole thing was one big cute-fest. Two days before the wedding, we realized we had nothing for him to wear. So we walked two blocks down to our neighbor- hood tailor, handed him a pair of Bright's jeans and one of his shirts, and returned the day of the wedding to pick up this adorable little tailor-made suit.

Let me just remind you that Bright hates being in the public eye, and has a particular aversion to the locals here because of their touchy-feely ways. So, when he was asked to be in a local wedding, we agreed (so as not to offend), but all we could imagine was a complete disaster. For the weeks leading up to the wedding, we talked about what an important job he was going to do, and that if he didn't bring the bride and groom their rings, they couldn't get married! He slowly warmed up to the idea, out of obligation, of course, and decided he would do what needed to be done:) The best way to deal with Bright is on rational terms. He is three years old but reminds me of a 30-year-old sometimes.

As it turns out, the wedding went off without a hitch. Although, on his way down the isle he spotted me in the congregation and veered down my pew saying, "Look Mom, I've got a surprise...it's a ring!" Daniel quickly rushed up the isle from the back of the ceremony and ushered Bright and his little pink pillow to the rest of the wedding party, who were waiting for him by the podium. It was cute, though. No harm done:)

And of course, as weddings go, Bright received his first kiss...from beautiful little Annette. This picture only shows the cheek kiss, but Annette did plant a ripe one right on his lips. Who could blame her, really.

Christmas in hind-sight

We are back online, at long last! Our computer crashed this holiday season so our life froze sometime back in November. But here we are, back in touch with the world at large.

And though we are about to take it down and throw it in the compost pile, here is our beloved tree. Bright and Daniel went to the very outskirts of town in a three-wheeled, lime green vehicle to this landscaping nursery where they picked out this tree. It was delivered a few hours later, potted in a green plastic pot, and we squeezed it under our high ceiling. We trimmed a few stray fronds, wrapped it in colored lights, hung our ornaments, which we brought with us from America, and the result was more than comforting...it made our whole Christmas. The smell filled our living room as Daniel and I stayed up past midnight that first night, cutting and taping little pieces of paper to make a paper chain for our Christmas tree.

The funny thing is, there was a sack of spiders in that tree, unknown to us, which burst a few weeks later. We spent three days smashing baby spiders against our ceiling and walls.

Here, too, is a picture of our little family-away-from-family.
From the left: Daniel, Kayla, Bright, Zion, Anita (with her tongue out, holding baby Callie), her husband, Jeremy, behind her in the elf shirt, LeeAnn, Amy, and Cristina. We had a great Christmas, and thank you to everyone who sent goodies our way. We missed home, but felt your love across the miles.

Two-for-one Top Ten Lists

Top Ten foods we crave while living in Asia (not what we would have thought)
10. fresh Jalapeno peppers
9. cottage cheese
8. Chick-Fil-A
7. Cheesecake Factory
6. A good, medium-rare steak smothered in seasoned butter
5. CORN tortilla chips (not a lot of corn over here)
4. real butter
3. real milk
2. A turkey sandwich on wonder bread with a slice of Kraft Singles cheese, mayo, and crushed potato chips
1. Dutch pea soup (Kayla) and corn dogs (Daniel)

Bonus: Top Ten smells that throw me over the edge right now (I'm pregnant, remember)
10. My three-year-old's hind end, which gets washed every night
9. My gas range stove turning on
8. Everyone's breath
7. The inside of my refrigerator
6. onions
5. cereal that has been sitting in the milk too long
4. flowers
3. Zion's poopy diapers
2. Daniel's gas
1. pretty much everything except dryer sheets and airheads candy

We're having another baby!

We are 12 weeks pregnant today! We've been waiting to make the announce- ment until a healthy 12-week check-up. So here you are...a picture of our little trouble-maker. When I say trouble-maker, I mean TROUBLE. I've been sicker than a frat boy on Sunday morning.

This has been hard to keep off the blog. It's been our whole world for the past 6 weeks, mainly because of how sick I've been. The boys have eaten nothing but PB&Js and bananas, and Daniel has been eating...I don't even know what. Whatever he can find, poor guy. He's a champ, though. Where his wife once stood, he now has a haggard lump on the sofa under a blanket in her pajamas. We don't have heat and it is COLD so I rarely change my layers and layers of clothes except to shower (which doesn't happen very often because it makes me sick). My sister-in-law, Kerry, sent me a sweater for my birthday in October and I wear it almost every day. Last week I turned it inside-out, and for a split second Daniel thought I had put on something new.

And I must tell you about my ultrasound appointment today. Men and young children beware. First of all, getting dressed and out of the house is a big deal, so I didn't want to go far. I opted to walk around the corner to the neighborhood "hospital." Let's just say it was no St. Joseph's. After asking me how far along I thought I was, they asked (literally translated), "Want, yes or no?" It took my friend, Alisa, a few seconds to figure out that they were asking if I wanted the baby. "Want, want, want!!!," she said in their language, shocked. After the ultra sound, they handed me the pee cup. A nurse actually followed me into the bathroom, and stood over me while I squatted and peed in the "squatty" (a ceramic hole in the floor), taking my full cup before I was even finished peeing! Then it was time for the exam. I was ushered into a room where a woman was still pulling up her pants. I saw her entire backside in full-moon, and the nurse didn't even balk! The lady smiled broadly at me as she kicked her feet back into her shoes on the muddy floor and walked out. At least they wore gloves and took their instruments out of sealed packages. Yikes, people!

The due date is June 18. This one will be 25 months younger than Zion, who is 25 months younger than Bright. Can't wait to meet baby #3!

Ingenious...

While there are many things here that leave me confounded, and sometimes truly disturbed, recently I have discovered something utterly ingenious that this country has done.

They have revolutionized toilet paper.

No more cardboard roll in the middle. What that means is you get the same amount of toilet paper, except they cut out an entire section of the manufacturing process AND a ton of dead space in shipping.

What might not be clear at first is how to use this new technology. Therefore, I have included four visual aids to walk you through the process.

What is clear, however, is that East Asia is taking TP to a whole new level.

Our House!

We wanted you all to see some pictures of where we live. I sent some of these to our family, but forgot to send them all - so enjoy the slide show! And... feel free to stop by anytime. The Corner Restaurant has great fried red beans and all the tai ban (sizzling beef) you could want!