Thursday, October 30, 2008

Bwa Ha Ha

How do you get 3 hilarious kids ready for bed when you've got a bad case of the giggles yourself?

It all started with Abi's heartfelt rendition of "Wedgie Tales" to the tune of the Veggie Tales theme song. Then Nate and Kenny felt the need to expound upon it with their... er, interpretive dance.

Time to brush teeth and no one is taking mom seriously because she's laughing so hard she almost peed her pants. Fresh peels of laughter ring out at Daddy's futile announcement that all silliness must cease, now. He threw up his hands and shook his head in defeat.

Silliness wins again.

They're settled in bed now, finally. My sides hurt.

Not much going on...

The kids and I have been having WAY too much fun with this recipe. It's not the greatest chocolate cake in the world but it sure is fun to make!

Please keep us in your prayers. Abi and Kenny have been sick with colds. Yesterday Nate woke up with a little cough. It didn't seem serious so we sent him to school anyway. About an hour later, we got a call from the PE teacher asking us to come and pick Nate up. Nate had told his PE teacher that when he ran his chest hurt.

Abi and Ken seem to be recovering but we had to keep Nate home from school today. But it's ok because all he would have done would be to pick up his homework for the next 2 weeks. Starting tomorrow the first graders are having a 2-week break. Nate will have ample time to recover and get back to his normal, healthy self before then.

Another reason this school break is convenient is our friend, Pastor Chris is coming fora visit! Pastor Chris is Hetee's mentor and pastors a church in Gig Harbor, Washington. He's in UB now but will arrive in Darkhan on Saturday. He'll be here for almost a week and we are really looking forward to having some time to fellowship with him. He visits about twice a year and it's always refreshing when he comes.

It snowed again today. The kids were excited but just like last week, the snow melted. They're looking forward to being able to make snow angels and have snowball fights again. Me, not so much. I'm not a fan of Mongolian winters.

Oh, I almost forgot the reason I sat down at the computer to write this post!

Last Tuesday morning I got to share the Gospel with 2 of my fellow teachers at Nate's school! I had been praying for the opportunity and after 6 weeks, it finally came. One of the teachers started by asking me about the Mormons and the what the difference was between us and them and then we moved on to the topic of Christianity and the Bible and, the next thing you know, I shared Jesus with them for about 40 minutes!

Please pray for these teachers. Their names are Nymaa and Oyunchimeg. Nyamaa has a daughter in my 3rd grade English class who comes to our house on Saturdays to play and practice her English. She's a sweet girl and has quickly become good friends with Abi. Nyamaa says that she would not mind her little girl coming to church with us sometime. What an open door!

Molly is doing good. She's litter box trained now. She trained really fast which was a huge relief. I wanted a cat but dreaded having to clean up more messes. So far they have been few and far between, so I'm super happy about that.


Speaking of potty training: Kenny is now pooping in the potty! Of all 3 kids, he has been by far the toughest to train. He plumb did not care about the whole potty idea even though we tried everything to get him to go. Since Abi and Nate learned fast I thought it might have something to do with ME knowing what I was doing but apparently it didn't. Potty training Kenny has taken a joint effort involving each member of the family. Everyone plays a part in reminding him and encouraging him after the fact. Hetee has been especially patient and hands-on during this time. I think the prospect of living "diaper free" appeals to him.

We still have a ways to go before Kenny can leave the house for any period of time in his big boy underwear, but at least he understands the concept now.

Gotta run and get ready to teach a birth class...

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Oh Yeah, One More Thing...

I hope everyone doesn't think I'm being too forward but with Christmas just around the corner, I've updated the kids' "Care Package Ideas" list over in my side bar.

We have some friends who love our kids and love blessing them so I thought I'd toss a few ideas out there in case they needed them.

Part of me feels real tacky. The other part feels like it's the practical thing to do.

Loooong Day

But a good one, so I can't complain. It kind of started last night when Kenny developed a fever of 102. He didn't have any other symptoms besides a runny nose so I wasn't sure what was causing his fever. I started him on a homeopathic remedy and stayed up until midnight to observe him and give him his remedy every 2 hours. Sometime in the night I checked him again and the fever was gone.

Normally I wouldn't be so touchy about a little old fever but, having found out that friends lost their 4 month old baby to meningitis the day before, my nerves were a little jittery. Apparently the baby was fine, then got a fever during the night and then died the following morning. The parents attended my birth class when they were pregnant and this was their first baby. So sad.

So, I was trying to remain calm, but thoughts of meningitis and possibly an emergency trip to UB weren't far from my mind as I drifted off to sleep. I awoke in the morning to hear both Kenny and Abi coughing. Thank God, I thought. Just a cold.

We stayed home from church and in the mid-morning, the kids played outside (Weather was beautiful! Not many days like these left!) The boys with their daddy's tools and Abi with some bubbles. At one point, Kenny tried blowing bubbles. He got so excited that he stuck the wand in his mouth. Imagine our surprise when he opened his mouth and a bubble came floating out. We laughed till we cried at the look of utter amazement on his face

After a long, Benadryl induced nap, Abi and Ken played the rest of the afternoon. Now they seem to be feeling better.

While the 2 little ones napped, Nate practiced his Mongolian reading. Then we made apple crisp. Mmmm...

After our snack I catnapped on the sofa with Molly (who is the cutest kitty you ever saw, by the way.) while Nate finished his chores then played quietly on the computer and watched TV. See, I told you it was a good day.

Hetee is on his way back from UB. He went alone this time since we still haven't found a nanny/helper. Even if we had, it would take a while of working together and getting the kids used to her before leaving her in charge.

I'm married to a great guy, you know? Until now, he's always made sure I've had help around the house. He's always insisted that it be full time so on some days he can just whisk me off my feet and take me out on a whim. For ministry purposes, of course. Yeah.

But alas, we've looked high and low for a helper and have come up dry. We have had some great girls in our 7 years as a family and I've hated to see them go. But I do think it's good for them to study and better themselves, blah, blah, blah. I really do. It's just that this time I'm up a creak (or a "crick" as my Paw Paw would say) without a paddle. Not that I mind the housework and the kids. I just miss the flexibility I had before. And it's nice to have an extra pair of loving hands to help me with the kiddos. Hetee's been great, though; washing the dishes every chance he gets. He also does his own ironing, but he's always done that. He's a bit obsessive when it comes to sleeves. Don't mess with his sleeves.

And since we're on the topic of how cool and nice and sweet and thoughtful my husband is, here's another thing he does that I SO appreciate: He calls me when he's coming after dark instead of knocking so that I won't be startled by the knocking. (Our door locks from the inside and I have to lock it to keep stray drunks etc., out). He knows how jumpy I am (sign of a guilty conscious? tee hee) and tries his best to not give me a heart attack. Sweet, huh?