Christmas. A day to think about...poverty.

With all I have to be thankful for this Christmas, I can't help but think of those less fortunate. Particularly those that live half a world away in dire poverty, surviving on less than a dollar a day, living in fear of being raped, killed, or orphaned. I say this, not to damper the Christmas spirit, but to remind myself that Christ came to earth to live and die for me and for those living in very different world than me. Whether we're rich or poor, privileged in this life or not, we're all sinners separated from God. And Christ came to die for us all. 


I've been reading this evening about the atrocities that have gone on, and are still going on today, in the D.R. of Congo. I'm sad to say that I've never heard of any of it until researching the country because we hope to adopt a child from there. 


The Congo conflict—sparked by the Rwandan genocide and Rwanda’s subsequent invasion of Congo in 1996 and 1998—erupted into what’s been termed Africa’s World War or The Great War of Africa. More than 5.4 million people have died as a result of mass murder, famine, and disease born of the chaos.*

The Congo has been deemed "the worst place to be a woman." One of those reasons is because there are an estimated 48 rapes per hour in the Congo. Most people in the congo live on $20/month. The Congo is one of the most nutrient-rich countries in the world, with little to show for it because of militia driven exportation of resources. With all these atrocities, there are no doubt a vast number of orphans. 

It is estimated that 15% of the Democratic Republic of Congo's under 18 population are orphans, 770,000 of them orphaned through AIDS alone. However, most have become orphans a result of the bloody conflict there spanning decades that has taken the lives of millions of the country's citizens. We're talking about 5,000,000 orphaned children here ~ about the entire population of Scotland.**

My heart is heavy with the truth of the reality in the DRC. I can't even fathom a life like this. Where is the hope? Where is the Joy? I'm certain it's even there, in such a desolate place, because Christ came, lived, and died for all and He is the true source of peace, hope, joy, even in the tumultuous of places.

I'm further inspired, as if I needed more inspiration, to pursue an adoption of one of these 5,000,000 orphans. This perspective helps me to know how to pray for our future daughter/son. I ask that you would pray for her/him too, and also pray how God would have you respond to your new awareness of the atrocities that are taking place in the DRC. 

This picture is credited to another great site for information about Africa's Orphan crisis- http://www.africanorphans.com/

*http://athousandsisters.org/congo/

**http://www.child-sponsorship.com/democratic_republic_of_congo_orphans.html

The "Wise" Man

Jackson is at an incredibly entertaining and cute age. Being 3, everything is exciting and he's beginning to process a lot of the world around him. It is amazing to watch his mind grow and his thinking skills develop. I especially love when something we've been trying to teach him, suddenly clicks and he internalizes it and makes it his own lesson to teach his brother. He looks out for little brother a lot, usually saying things like, "no, no Hudson. That's dangerous!" in a very caring and motherly voice. It's precious! While they do fight like most brothers, they are incredibly affectionate towards each other. Hudson is getting so affectionate he spent a solid 5 minutes hugging everyone within site as he left his classroom yesterday. He hugged teachers, kids, mommy, then other kid's parents, then other kid's siblings. It was really precious that he did not want to miss anyone in the vicinity.

We've been going through an especially challenging couple weeks with Jackson. He's been getting very angry when privileges get taken away or other forms of discipline are implemented and will scream and sometimes hit at us. Sometimes it's hard not to laugh, and sometimes it's hard not to cry. To be quite honest, I've always had a touch of the "hot head" in me, especially before I was walking with the Lord. So to see this trait coming out in him makes me feel awful. I'm praying it's just a phase and not an inherited character flaw.

But today the Lord allowed me to see some major silver lining and progress in him. I wish I had a recorder on me the whole evening to share the full conversations, but even that wouldn't do justice to seeing his expressions and demeanor as we talked. He had been a great little helper all evening. Even in the midst of Hudson's "curious george" episode that included a major spaghetti clean up, a disappearing diaper-turned poop all over the white carpet, and then a flooded bathroom floor; Jackson was trying to help me clean, "fessed up" to being the cause of the disappearing diaper, and tried to get Hudson to stop the crazy splashing in the tub. He did have one stand off with me, which ended surprisingly different than usual. Very quickly he changed his attitude and said, "mommy, I'm being really quiet in time out. I'm ready to talk to you." So I asked him why he had to go in time out and he proceeded to FULLY explain how he disobeyed mommy 5 times and that's why he lost his play time, his book, his before-bed drink of water, and why he had to go in time out. He ended it with, "I'm sorry for dissing-obeying you mommy. I won't dissing-obey you anymore." Then we had an incredibly sweet time of talking on the couch. He explained to me all about his "other" grandma who is now in heaven with Jesus and when we die we'll go to heaven too, if we love Jesus. And He is always in our heart if we love him and we don't have to be afraid of scary monsters in our bed or of smoke alarms. If we get scared we just pray to God or call for mommy and daddy. The whole time he was saying this (and so much more), he's in his pj's with his favorite hoody on (hood on the head too) and leaned back on the couch gesturing with his hand while he speaks--like a seasoned conversationalist. After we prayed and he sung "away in a manger" to me, he said, "well, now what should we do mommy? Brush teeth and go to bed? I'm tired."

I know he is very verbal for his age, but he blew me away this evening. Not just with the amount of talking, but the content and the level of understanding that has seemed to blossom in leaps and bounds lately. Hearing him pray for friends and some of our co-workers and talk about loving Jesus blesses my heart like nothing else. My deepest prayer for our boys is that they be men who truly love the Lord and want nothing more than to serve Him. I know Jackson is smart, but I want him to be wise in the ways of the Lord, not in the ways of the world.

I'll end my momma-mantra with a cute video I took of him yesterday, singing about The Wise Man who build his house upon the rock. What makes it funny is that he was reading a book about the first Christmas and saw the wise men--which made him break out in song. Different wise men than the song is about, but that's ok if he thinks they are the same for now.
Jackson singing, "The Wise Man"

Heritage Village Museum

Yesterday we bore the rain and headed across town to a heritage village museum. It is "living" museum representing the area in the 1920's. Some of the historic things were way over the kid's heads, but they enjoyed the children's play, the restored Tram (electric local train car), the carousel, the model train exhibit, and the yummy treats. After leaving the train exhibit, Jackson said to me "I like this place SOOO much!" I think the trains won him over! This museum is open year round but has a Christmas theme through the end of the year. The boys liked all the Christmas lights, trees, and music too.

Big Tram-Little guys (these were how tall the original steps were)

They were pretty impressed with the size of this thing and that they could go inside and out and ask the conductor all sorts of questions. Jackson told the conductor all about how train couplings work!

Ready to ride!

Good thing daddy rode, it was a very fast carousel!

Best shot of the day! They were flying by and it was so hard to get him smiling at me.

A Day of Thanks...

We had our first Thanksgiving (with the boys) away from family and were so blessed to have a group of like-minded friends to share my favorite holiday with. We had a relaxed day at home, cooking and playing with the boys, and then headed to nothing short of a feast with our American friends. The boys had a blast and were more concerned with playing their hearts out than eating the food (except the chocolate pilgrim hats).

We are so thankful for so many things: our friends here to walk this season with, our supportive and loving family back in the states, our precious boys whom we LOVE being mommy and daddy too, and our spouse for journeying this life together. But most of all, we are thankful for a loving God who has cleansed us from our sin, saved us from the mess we'd made of ourselves, offered us a new life in Christ, and given us a hope, a future, and purpose for living! I enjoy this holiday most because, to me, it's not about materialism, selfishness, or gifts, but about honoring the one whose the giver of all good gifts! AND because it is the perfect start to a season of celebrating the best gift of all, Jesus!

I lugged my camera through an hour of public transit but failed to take a single picture! Here's a few my friend was gracious enough to send me. (I failed to get one of Jackson...sorry Nana!)

Evidence of the only thing Hudson would eat...chocolate Pilgrim hats.

Best husband I could ever ask for!

He kept retreating to open spaces on the floor (even if it was the middle of the kitchen floor) to have some space to play by himself. I think all the action of the big kids scared him away.

Mighty Machines & Little Sous Chef

The boys are definitely immersed in a "mighty machines" fixation right now. We go to the library every week and check out a new MM DVD to be repeated all week long. Their favorite part is just playing the intro music over and over again and dancing to it. We caught some of the silliness on 2 videos, although I will say these are the mild captions of their enthusiastic dancing and singing. They are anything but shy, but they do get a little more reserved when we pull out the camera. Hope it makes you smile!
Mighty Machines Dancing 1
Mighty Machines Dancing 2
Jackson has also become my little Sous Chef in the last week. Through interviewing him on his birthday, we learned that he most enjoys golfing with Daddy (we already knew that b/c he talks about it all the time) and cooking with Mommy. I was really surprised and a little convicted by this because its been quite  a while since I've let him help me in the kitchen without acting like he was making things harder. So, I've been making a conscience effort to let him help me bake some fun treats for snack time at our school. I am really glad I did that birthday interview b/c it gave me a little insight into his thoughts and what he really enjoys doing to spend quality time with his parents. I think I should do that every 6 months or so and adjust the questions. Since we are going through so many transitions this year and will be going through more in a couple months, I often wonder what he's really thinking and how he's handling these changes. I'd like to come up with some age-appropriate questions to ask that will help me understand how he's really doing with all the changes. We made pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting (my Fall weather favorite!) and tried a new recipe to make some pumpkin-carrot cream cheese swirl bars. They were SO good! We'll have to make these a traditional treat as well.

My little Sous Chef in action.

Rainbow

A week ago, after one of our frequent afternoon showers, there was the most amazing rainbow out our window. It was very bright and at one point a double rainbow, but then it turned into almost a full circle. I've never seen one do that before and that it was pretty awesome.

What cracked us up about it is, we kept saying "whoa, it's a double rainbow! What does this mean?" Our friends recently showed us a youtube video of this guy who was more than a little enthusiastic about the rainbow he saw. I guess it's had over 7 million hits and he's been on some tv shows for it. Here is the link to the video, it is pretty funny. Double Rainbow Guy

Jackson's Interview

I got this idea from friend and had to copy it. I love all the crazy things kids say and this is a good way to get some of those things recorded and to get a little window into their world view. He just turned three last week, so I'm going to try to do this with them every birthday. I think it'd be fun for them to see what they've said when they grow up too. 

Jackson (age 3) 

1) How old are you today? THREE

2) How does it feel to be 3? Tickled

3) Why does it feel tickled? Because, like chai and mix it up!

4) Do you think you’ll like being 3? Uh huh-sure sure.

5) What is the most important thing you’ve learned in life so far? I played at school and had a fire drill and I didn’t see a fire.

6) How are you different now that you’re 3? Because I want to go for a walk. I have a new present in my box.

7) What’s your favorite thing about having a birthday? playing golf and playing baseball and playing Frisbee

8) What is your nickname? tickle monster

9) What do you like about school? I like playing in the dark. I’m not afraid of the dark. (yeah right!)

10) Who is your best friend? Ellie & Abe & Jonathan. Abe let me play with his baby, he’s so cute!

11) What do you like learning about?  pretzels! Cheerios! And stinker! I like learning about stinkers at school!

12) What’s your favorite bible story? Jesus stories (good answer)

13) Who’s your favorite person in the bible? Jesus! I love Jesus and he’s always with me, so that’s why. (sweet!)

14) What do you want to be when you grow up? A fireman and I want to drive, but I think I can’t.

15) Tell me about our family. I love you mommy so much and I love daddy and Hudson. And I like reading stories and playing with my trucks. (aw!)

16) What do you like about having a brother? Playing with my brother because I love him SO much, that’s why mommy. 

17) What is something mommy always  says to you? I will play with you and I will cook with you because I love you

18) And Daddy? Do you want to play golf or Frisbee, we can do whatever you want to do.

19) What is your favorite toy? TRUCKS!

20) What is your favorite place to go? To India and to play golf. (hasn't been to India yet)

21) What do you love to do? Play golf.

22) What is your favorite book? A bear story (Berenstain bears I am guessing)

23) What would be the best present someone could give you? 5 Monster trucks! I like monster trucks!

24) If you had a whole day to do anything you wanted to do, what would you do? play golf, that’s interesting.

25) Do you think you’ll ever get married? Yes! (no hesitation!)

26) How old do you think you’ll be if you get married? Get a wife, a wife like Dad. But how old will you be? Two. That’s interesting. (yes, it is)

27) What’s your favorite food? Pasta and noodles and pizza

28) Are you scared of anything? Yes, cars. (this is true for his bad dreams)

29) What makes you happy? Chuggington, that’s the best.

30) Anything else you’d like to say? Chuggington (starting to zone out)

31) Should I have asked you about anything else? no (he's clearly tuning me out now.)

Our growing boys

It seems like every few weeks I have one of those "press pause" moments where I wish I could just pause their little lives and hold on to the sweet stage they are in and savor every moment. Life goes by too quickly, especially lately with all our moves, transitions, and busier schedules. I don't want to look back and realize I've missed a year of my kids lives. So, I'm trying to savor them and take time to enjoy them each in their own unique persons as best I can. Before I know it, they'll be full-blown kids and no longer my "babies" or "little boys" anymore. I know I'll love those stages too, but it's hard to imagine loving them more than I do now.

 Jackson (3 years old!?!) is our entertainer. We've all known that from early on, but his love for being around other people and having a good time is growing! He does have  his limits and enjoys to be left alone to play by himself a little everyday (usually when Hudson wants to play most), but most of the time he wants to be where the action is and bring some more action to the table. He loves to play any instrument he can, or if he doesn't have one, he pretends he does. He also loves to sing and dance which always makes his mamma smile from the inside and laugh out loud. (You can see a recent drum/singing solo in a recent blog). He also loves any and all modes of transportation, including construction trucks and knows the names of specific machines I've never heard of before. (I'm catching on slowly). He is enjoying Vancouver mostly because of all the public transit we have to utilize and all the people we get to interact with. We live on the 27th floor of a condo building and he and Hudson love to play with their trunks in the window seal and watch the real ones go by below them.

Jackson is rambunctious but has a very sweet personality too (I pray he always does :) ) Just the other day I was holding him at some store and he was cuddling me and playing with my ponytail saying, "Your hair is so bewiful...bootiful...Hey! I can't say boo-tiwful!" He can also be surprisingly sweet to his brother, esp. when Hudson gets hurt. He'll say "aw Hudson! Are you ok big guy?"

Reading to his little brother. He has a few books memorized.

Drum solo!

The birthday boy eating his lemon-poppy seed muffin, as requested! 

Birthday lunch at Old McDonald's as Jackson calls it!

 Hudson (18 months-wow!) has always been much more quiet and laid-back, but he's showing to have a VERY strong will as he grows. He is so good natured, that it comes as a surprise when he throws a huge melt-down over not getting what he wants. He's the "quiet mischievous"one and so darn cute it's hard to get on to him! He plays that up for sure by laughing and smiling as you are trying to discipline him. He still isn't talking very much (just has a handful of words only we understand); but he is still an effective communicator. He uses his babble, pointing, and whining to get most everything he needs. Or he just gets it himself. :) He loves big brother and tries to play with him or steal his toys (as every little brother should) every chance he can. They are slowly learning to share and Jackson is starting to try to "teach" him things. He says he'll teach Hudson how to use the potty when we move to S. Asia! I am all for that! Diapers are expensive there! Hudson pretty much loves everything Jackson does. While he has his own unique dance moves that I'm convinced are strait from his dad's (and nana's) genes, he loves music, dancing,  cars/trucks/trains, and destroying big brother's towers. He loves to "read" now and his two favorites are Bugland (finding Bitsie Bee in all the pop-out doors) and Good Night Moon. He opens and shuts all the doors and says "Noooo" over and over until he finds her at the end of the book. His favorite part in Good Night Moon is when "the quiet old lady whispers 'hush'!" He also giggles at the 3 bears sitting in chairs for some reason! He's so precious, esp. when he's proud of himself!

Whispering "hush"

Peek-a-Boo!

Being mischievous as ever (his reaction is to mommy telling him to put her book down!)

Drum Solo & Trunks Arrive!

Tonight was a good evening, in part because our long awaited black trunks finally made it out of customs (a week late). They had a harder time getting into Canada then we did! We were mostly glad b/c our VOIP phone and router were in those trunks but the boys were so excited for the few toys and stuffed animals awaiting them. They already had two big trunks of toys with us (because mommy couldn't hardly part with any toys), but they acted like it was Christmas to have just a few more of their "friends" to sleep with at night. Jackson carried his "Roxy" dog around with a huge smile on his face. He said he needed to take him for a walk because he hadn't had one in a long time! Apparently Roxy kept biting Jackson on their walk because he got lots of scolding!

Right before the trunks arrived, Jackson graced me with a well-timed drum/singing solo while my camera happened to be out. I'm rarely so lucky to have that good of timing. So...get ready to smile....
Jackson's Drum/Singing solo- Youtube

Vancover, eh?

Well, after an hour a half in the car, 5 hours on a plane, 3 hours being detained in Canadian immigration, and another hour on the "Skytrain", we made it to our apartment in Vancouver (actually in a suburb called Surrey)! It was a long day, but the boys did so great, especially considering our extra time with our "friends" in immigration. You've got to be extra careful letting people like us in your country!

In the process of getting our internet hooked up today, I learned a couple of useful things from the installation guy–first, I learned that a “Canuck” (the mascot of the pro hockey team here) is just a nickname for Canadian, similar to “Yankee” for American. Second, according to the installation guy, we live in the “butthole” of Surrey. But don’t worry, he said it’s getting better.

We got to get out and explore our area a little bit this morning, and "butthole" isn't what came to mind. We actually thought it was really nice. (Wonder what he would think of Carlsbad?) We had breakfast at McDonalds and then walked through a local shopping center before buying groceries at a T&T Supermarket – which turned out to be a completely Asian supermarket, minus the awful smells. So we didn’t necessarily find everything we needed, but it brought back fond memories of Thailand. Plus, the boys got to see the tanks of live fish, oysters, shrimp, crab, lobsters, etc. And we even got to see the T&T employee pull out a fish, beat it in the head with a stick, and then clean it for the nice Asian customer.

Our apartment is a little small, but overall very nice, and perfect for the boys. For those of you that were worried about us being on the 27th floor, we only have one small window that opens to the outside and it has bars over it. We do have other huge windows that don’t open, but provide incredible views of the city and the bordering river/mountains. We’re directly across the street from Skytrain station, which is actually the last stop on the line. It took us about an hour and a half to ride it all the way from the airport to our apartment, but we got to see a lot of the city, and the boys loved the train.

The view from our apartment:

Stacy and the boys on the Skytrain:

We're excited about our new home! We'll post more later...

3...already?

We celebrated Jackson's 3rd birthday early this year with a Diego party at the beach. (Our desert 'beach' means near the river :) )  He's been asking for a Diego party for months now, and since we'll be in Canada on his actual birthday (Oct. 25), we decided to have it early and on a weekend when much of our extended family was in town. We actually had a weekend full of parties, Friday being uncle Kale's b-day, Saturday-Jackson's, and Sunday-Kit's Nanny's 90th b-day! So we ate a lot of cake and had a lot of fun.

So excited to be 3 that he held up 4 fingers instead!

My sweet niece at only 6 days old!

The party poopers!

The party animals!

Among our family that came to town, we got to meet our second cousins Liam and Ansley (2 months older than Hudson), and the newest member of our family, cousin Adah (6 days old). We also had a small family of bats attend, which we didn't know about until the end of the party and noticed the pile of bat droppings forming all around the birthday cake! Gross! Thankfully, they stayed in their little huddle and slept the whole time.

DC Trip

 A little over a week ago, we took a day trip to Washington DC with some friends. It was a fast and furious trip, but we had a good time walking the mall and seeing some of the monuments and the White House. We ate Lebanese food for the first time, walked in and around Dupont circle for far too long (wasn't planned), witnessing a cell-phone robbery, and road on the Metro subway (Jackson's first time and highlight for the day). We really look forward to bringing the kids back when they are older and can enjoy the museums and monuments more. It really is a beautiful place with much more to do than we could squeeze in a few hours with young kids.

Strolling down the "mall"

Strolled a lot that day!

Chasing squirrels

Seeing his first subway train!

Our Life as Nomads

We're coming up on the end of our term in Virginia. For the most part, it has flown by because it has been quite eventful! We had 3 weeks of major adjustment to our new temporary home, 2 viruses, 1 case of hand-foot-mouth disease, an earthquake (5.8), AND a hurricane (good ol' Irene). 

The boys have loved their school (minus Hudson's daily 60 second separation anxiety at "drop-off") which has really made it easier for us to be away from them much of the day. Being social butterflies (not sure where they got that from?), they have also loved being around people all the time. After school, we usually have some family time, then dinner (cafeteria style), play on the playground for an hour or two, and then do the family bed-time routine. So they get plenty of interaction with other kids and adults which has improved both of their language skills. 

Hudson has finally started saying some words other than Mama & Dada. He’s added ball (Ba), Bye-bye (he’s heard this too much lately L), up, dog (daw), and a few others that only Kit and I understand. Jackson has already been quite the talker and never lacked in this area. But we have noticed even more added vocabulary and understanding of new concepts that has been interesting to watch. He loves school and I think the structure has been very good for him. He comes home every day singing a new song or saying a new poem and retells the bible story of the week for us most nights. There are 4 great playgrounds here which he would live at if we’d let him and he loves to try and play soccer and Frisbee with the big kids. 

Big Life Changes Coming SOON!

Life is about to get really crazy-busy and just plain crazy! We are soon going to start a 2-month travel period, then 2 months of training, and then we'll be moving to South Asia in October! I'm slowly starting to prepare by tackling the closets and sorting all our junk and treasures as we decide what goes, stays, and needs to be sold. It is pretty exciting for me because it means our time is getting close. We've been praying about this for so long and with all the emotional ups and downs, part of me is just ready to go. I hate goodbyes but at the same time I'm trying to savor our last days and moments at home with our loved ones so we leave with good memories and full hearts!

Our day to day life is drastically improving (from my viewpoint) this week. Hudson has FINALLY started sleeping all night without us having to go in multiple times to "re-plug" his paci b/c despite being almost one, he is somehow "unable" to do it himself. So this last weekend I was fed-up of being tired of being tired, frustrated by a failed attempt at potty training jackson, and just ready to be over these two big milestones for the kids and for me! So after refreshing myself with a much needed review of Baby Wise II, I was armed and ready to turn this house into baby/toddler bootcamp! Things have gone so well with it all. We took away Mr. Paci for good and Hudson is now sleeping all night and napping better. We haven't had long periods of crying himself to sleep either, just 5-10 minutes each. Jackson is on day 3 of "no diapers" and undies only and is doing really well. (plus he looks so cute in his big boy underwear!) Had a few accidents but has really gotten the idea of it and is enjoying the rewards for sure. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for brighter days without needed naps and changing 15-20 diapers! I see myself with more energy, patience, and time to play with the boys, read, and do anything else we want to do!

So life is looking on the up and up and I can't help but recognize it all as blessings from the Lord! I have been praying for all these things to happen for a while now and He is truly good in the big and small things. It amazes me He cares about the "little" things (like sleep) that are so huge to me. While I haven't been great at blogging, I think I'll have more "free time/energy" and more things blog-worthy to come in the next few months. This year is full of bitter-sweetness but God is good through it all and constantly reminding me of His unfailing love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. What an awesome God we serve!