Happy Rainy Day

I remember the feeling as a little girl in Wisconsin, of waking up on a crisp fall morning and wondering if the crisp air would  blow in snow and if this would be the first day of winter. Because winter wasn't winter without any snow. It was happy anticipation. Upon opening the front door the smell of wood smoke would waft in. This was the end of fall, the beginning of winter.

It rained last night. This morning the sky is still overcast and the wind is whipping around outside. The fans are off and it's cool. I have to wonder if this is the first official day of rainy season. Official in that we get a day of rain all day long. Steady, and long, rain upon rain. The neighbors started a fire in their outdoor kitchen, and I got a whiff of wood smoke. I know this feeling. This anticipation. I love rainy season.

However, it does have its downside. I have laundry to do today and I'd better do a load, want to or not. A load a day. It's going to take 12- 24 hours to dry from here on out--if this is indeed rainy season officially starting. I don't have a dryer. I use good laundry softener, and vinegar in my laundry. Liquid laundry soap is always best this time of year. With a fan on it, I hope  the laundry will smell good by the time its dry. Chances are though that it won't always. Then I'm faced with the delema as to weather I can stand to wear it or have to wash it again.

Yesterday I took my fern out of the pot and sliced it into fourths and put one fourth back into the pot. I have three more pieces to give away. I gave Mae Wahn the other one I had potted. There was fern growing out of the pot and making runners in the grass. I pulled all that up. Well, most of it. Who's to say if I got it all. And then I got started on the other plant that needs dividing and such but alas, I found myself tuckered and we all came in for lunch. So that project sits out in the rain today and will be all the better for it.

Jube and Havilah are playing with Lego toys right now. Jube is still a bit cranky. Something's not quite right with his insides and I wonder if he doesn't have gas in his belly. I'm going to tackle that and get some vitamins into him. He's just been kind of draggy and whiny lately. Partially because he's not feeling real well for some reason and partially because he needs more one on one. After I got pregnant I needed nap time, which had been Jube and my time while Havilah slept. Well, now with me napping more, I'm working on making sure Jube and I have together time anyway somehow. He's kind of a high maintenance little boy right now, but we love him loads anyway.

Okay, gotta get my day on the road.

Being Pregnant and Life in General

To start out with, I'd like to say, I wasn't pregnant when I wrote my last post. Not that I knew of anyway. But I must have been mighty close. I actually thought that the messy house post was a bit older than it was. Funny. Sorry, Naomi. I guess I lied to you. :(

The truth is that when my house looks like that when I'm pregnant, I generally go into panic mode. Depression hits, etc. Because there is no end in sight. Life is extremely hard to catch up on again, between bouts of morning sickness. 

Having said that, I am so thankful for a much healthier pregnancy this time around. I learned something after being pregnant with Havilah. I made the decision to prepare for baby #3. So I did. I got on a good vitamin and started taking yellow dock religiously. Yellow dock I take for iron. I was healthy and had the energy I needed to live normal life well. Then I got pregnant and worried for a while that something was wrong. I worried because I didn't feel sick enough to be pregnant. Since then, I've been having more nausea, and the fears have been put to rest. But still, it's manageable. I am so thankful. So incredibly thankful. 

It's important to me to stay healthy, and I feel like I learned this the hard way when I was pregnant with Havilah. I realized that when I wasn't taking care of myself, then Dru became my help meet, not the other way around. I decided that that really wasn't what I wanted. Sure, there are sacrifices on both Dru and my part that come with having children. But if I am hindering Dru's ministry, and what the Lord has called him to do here in Thailand--then that is shame. 

Instead of being depressed and sad all the time, I find I'm happy. I'm proud of my children. Both of them are well on their way to being potty trained. The long nightmare of potty training Jube seems to finally be coming to an end. Havilah is quickly getting the hang of it and will soon be over the hump. So so thankful for that.

Jube was playing on the floor yesterday and talking to himself. I overheard him say something we don't say at our house. I asked him what he'd said and he immediately dissolved into tears. I hadn't scolded or anything. We'd talked about taking the Lord's name in vain before and it just slipped out. Honestly, I can't pin point where he heard it but think it must have come off of something we'd watched lately. He was heartbroken that it had happened. We prayed about it, and he felt better. After that was all over I realized that I'd rather have a child with a tender conscience about God's name, yet can't seem to figure out how to use the toilet very fast, then the other way around.

I've been enjoying watching his awareness of God grow. Today he was eating lunch and he asked, "We 'orship Jesus and not idols, right?" When I was young I had no clue what idol or spirit worship looked like. Idol worship was a very foreign concept to me. Jube knows though, he's seen it. 

Havilah threw a royal fit the other night when we stopped at DQ. Prices there have gone up a bit so Dru got ice cream to share that evening. Havilah had a conniption when she realized she would not be getting her very own cone. And now we are watching her very close in an effort to nip her little temper in the bud. 

She's talking more and more. Only words mostly, but she'll say, "There you go!" when she's solved something in her play. She likes to go "bye bye." Her word for Jube and shoe are very similar. The other day I peaked in at her napping. Her eyes were closed, but she was very insistently calling Jube. Occasionally she'll say, "I love you." I've told her not to tell me "no" a couple of times now. 

Last weekend, right when it seemed our family vacation was going to fall smack on its face, Dru found a resort with in our budget. We got out of the city for 2 nights and just did lots of playing and relaxing. We swam, used the complimentary paddle boat--only it was a swan shaped boat so it was special--and drove about the mountains and found a lovely little restaurant that served yummy food at exorbitant prices. It was all very lovely and relaxing. So glad we did it. But we didn't take one single picture--now how's that for lame?

Today Dru's back in school. He was happy to be back. I'm happy for him. 

The only fly in the ointment is the cantankerous fridge. But I told Dru I'd rather make due with ice and a cooler until we could get it fixed--even if it took till this weekend--then stress out about it and wreck his first week of school.

We're still not sure if he'll be able to finish in just this and one more semester. First he thought he could if he could test out of a couple courses--but he couldn't get the permission for those particular courses, so we thought it had fallen through. But upon looking over it again, it seems like it might be possible after all. So we don't know. As much as we'd love to finish in a years time, we just don't know if it's feasible or not. 

Dru just walked in the door, done with classes for today. He's a bit unimpressed because his teacher didn't show up for his last class. In fact, the teacher he thought was going to teach the class, isn't teaching it after all. At the very last minute they changed the teacher for that course from Adjarn Ozzie, to someone else...and she didn't show up. So A.Ozzie finally came in and said, "I'm sorry, I'm not teaching this class, can't remember who is, but since she's not here yet, wait for five more minutes and if she doesn't show up, you're free to leave." It's going to be an interesting semester by the sounds of it.  Dru's concerned that if they changed the instructor for the course at the last minute, the course may not be as good as it should be because of a lack of preparation time for instructor. 

We're doing lots of thinking right now about what lays around the bend. With Dru out of school, possibly in a year--if not, then a year and a half or so, we're thinking about the next steps. Will it be time to leave Chiang Mai for another location? We're asking questions about what my personal ministry should look like as I serve beside Dru. So many things to think and pray about right now.

That's our life. We're busy and happy. God is good.....And I need to go eat before I'm sick again... :) 

Sometimes, life looks like this:

Don’t say you weren’t warned. Last night late, we went to see the Beachy’s in at the airport. We slept in this morning and by the time I awoke, it was already warming up for the day. The children were grouchy. Havilah is being potty trained…so little else mattered besides happy children and potty training Havilah. And now this is what the house looks like. Isn’t it fantastic? Rachel, this should impress you. Especially as I’m sitting in front of the computer and the house is no better off now as what these pictures show. Not even sure if Frank has seen my house like this. The point is that today it doesn’t matter—when usually I can’t stand it when my world is so topsy turvy. But I’m too warm today to care. And I’m superbly happy with my children. Havilah is doing very well with her potty training, and, as I’d hoped, it sets the bar a little higher for Jube—I think. Not holding my breath yet though. Jube though, is such a good little worker. His latest request in the morning is for a list of jobs to do that he can cross off as he goes. He’s figured out how to create with Legos. I’m excited for him to wake up so that I can give him his dragon from Pappa and Nanna and his new lego board, from them too. First he has to fall asleep though. :) So this is our world today. Come have a look. It’s full of happy, healthy messes. (These are very good Twizzlers. They’re even the proper flavor—strawberry. Cherry Twizzlers are so lame. These are not.)

This is what I call Kha or Galangal. I grow it in my yard. And the roots get put into the occasional soup. Notice the iced coffee in the back ground. I’m living on that today. (I like this picture a lot actually.)

  

Doesn’t look like much yet. So far all it is is chicken, potatoes, water, some kha, lemon grass, and onions. I will improve it a little later with some coconut powder, lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper—and whatever my husband adds when I ask him to come do a flavor check. So this was a constructive mess…

Laundry in the for ground. Children playing with Lego in the back. They’re mixing and cooking them. My children use my kitchen things to play with occasionally.

My man and his mess. He’s been working on filing a lot of English teaching books and papers. He didn’t get to this mess yet though.

Havilah has taken an interest in the barn and farm animals. One of these days—I’d like to get to it today actually—I’m going to put half of the children’s toys away to pull out later. They have so many that don’t get played with. The barn and animals however, will stay available.

The preschool mess from this morning. He didn’t get too far today, he was so tired. Eventually, the book got put away and they both settled for scribbling on printer paper instead. That pamper was the one I changed Havilah out of this morning. She hasn’t had an accident so far today, but she’s in a pull up right now because of nap time. Dru’s computer came in that bubble wrap. The children spent some time dancing on it this morning, to hear it pop.

This is a close up of the cooks. See that flower pot in the background? That is a dying begonia. I simply can’t keep those things alive. Especially not this time of year. That long green thing is a kha stalk. Havilah was waving it about.

The waiting clean laundry. I settled for washing only one load today. I have dreams of getting it all folded and put away but I don’t know if that’s realistic. Especially as I’m sitting here and not working at the moment. The pink things on the ironing board are Havilah’s panties. They’re kind of silly, but manage to be practical at the same time. That’s a picture of my mom and dad goofing off. But you can’t see it way down there on the floor very well. It finally fell of the wall Frank, you’ll have to come put it back up for me.

This is my music player. My man got it for me for my birthday. It was playing happy music over the happy messes all morning. Rachel, that’s your apple cider vinegar there on the left. The bottle on the right is the Vitamin C I am feeding to my children like candy right now because they’re fighting something in their throats.

The time of the day when I went about snapping pictures. Mom, I was just telling Dru again the other day how happy this wallpaper boarder makes me. It’s perfect. Thank you.

Frank and Mom, this is for you. See my new for me cupboard. I think it originally was Ricks, then Lee’s and now it’s mine. I’m liking it. I’m going to get a curtain over that “hole”. It is rather all a mess right now. I’m kind of happy with the ugly clipboard on the wall. Now when I have recipes all over the kitchen, I can clip them in there and kind of pretend I’m organized anyway.  There is an imaginary hanging wire basket, you know, those with the three on top of each other, and the one at the top is small and the one at the bottom is biggest, hanging there in the corner from the ceiling. I hang my potatoes, onions, and garlic in it. Isn’t it perfect for that corner?

Here’s what’s on the top right now. Yes, it’s good. Try it. I put a snitch of almond flavoring in the frosting and skipped candying the the nuts. I just used some slivered almonds and a few macadamia nuts. A very few because macadamias are not really the kind of nuts poor missionaries eat a lot of. Sorry, no pictures of my finished product. We ate it with the help of our small group. The rest of it is either in Arlin and Kayla’s fridge or their tummies. Unless Kimberly ate it all.

Back to the kitchen. Suppers in the crock pot. And do you see that watermelon. It froze in the fridge. My fridge runs much to cold. I need to shut it off one day and let it defrost itself. Anyway, now the watermelon has been out of the fridge for a couple of days because when I put the before mentioned cake in, there was no longer room for it. But the thing still seems to be fine. So I need to cut into it and discover if it’s still eatable.

 

More of our mess. I was sitting on the rocker when Jube came up to me and asked, “Where’s that yellow air plane with eyeballs on it?” (It’s a playmobile toy.) I didn’t know and told him to go look in the toys. He meticulously emptied it and still didn’t find it. It was in the toy cupboard—not the basket. See, I told you we have too many toys.

A tiny bit of beauty in the dry outdoors.

Be brave little sunflowers! Poor guys. Even they can’t handle all this heat.

Dry grass. Lots of it. There is one little patch of grass greening up because yesterday I left the water hose on for a couple hours accidentally. I think I should do that more often.

Sad corner. A missing tree. Need I say more? That’s the kha, there behind the dreadful spirit house.

Outside play has been abandoned. Too hot.

 

My new arrangement. see the tall candle on the right. It croaked and fell backwards in the heat.

This is from Miriam. I hang it here and don’t let the children play with it because I think it’s so pretty.

 

And after taking those pictures I went and made another mess. Bev, thanks so much for the Valentine’s Party things. Even if they came late, they are fun. Today was the perfect day to get it out and make lunch a happy time—Jube was seriously losing his happiness by this time. This fixed it. Just plain old pbjs.

            

Bad pics here, but great kiddos to have around anyway.

My Style...

Last night I was complimenting someone on her new dress. She said something to the effect of, "I thought it looked like you. It's nice and feminine." Those weren't her exact words but it was something like that. That was a very nice compliment to me I thought. And here I was trying to compliment her. Now how did that happen?

I like flowers and plaids. I like color-coordinated veils. I like pretty shoes. I'm considering a large purse--but mind you it won't be black and it won't be bulgy. I like it when my shoes click.  Oh, and I like practical.

If you want to know what is NOT practical it's those silly shoes that the some women wear to church in sub-zero weather. The dainty little black things with heels. I remember as a teenager stepping carefully out of the vehicle onto hard-packed snow. Then gingerly mincing along until I reached the side walk where I'd make a mental note of how much much ice is on it. Then finally I'd reach the church building to breath a sigh of relief. Then all during church my feet froze because, after all, panty hose aren't as warm as good old socks. Finally I got brave and wore little black boots to church. They were warm and practical but not at all "in".

I like cottons and denims. But I don't like that T-shirt fabric stuff that's all the rage right now. I could say many things about underwear lines and fabric clinging from the waist to the knees, but I won't right now. Yes, I will. No, I guess I won't. I do wear T-shirts around the  house, but not out and about.

I don't like stripes that go around--as a general rule. This my mother taught me. They are prone to make you look fat. Unless you're extremely skinny, or the stripes are "just right." So that's an old fashioned idea by now, I suppose. Okay fine. They'er not pretty. Cute, maybe. But I'm not after that. (I've had way to many people tell me I'm cute, so I'm guessing that that comes naturally for me and I don't need to play it up at all.)

I like my dresses to nearly sweep the floor. My Grandmother used to comment on the length of my dresses and she told me that when the dresses got shorter again, mine would too. But they didn't. Knee length dresses are a wonderment to me. For one thing, I feel exposed when my calves are showing. (Dru tells me I have sexy calves. Isn't that just bold of him?) But then there is that whole thing of the underwear being right around the corner. I always watch closely when I'm around knee length skirts. I like to see if the wearer knows how to sit down in them--and once they're sitting--do they remain modest? Wicked of me, I know--but I have this brazen curiosity. And yes, I've seen flashes of underwear and everything else all the way up. I have to wonder if the poor girl wants to know if she's showing off her stuff, or if she'd rather be blissfully ignorant. I generally let the girl remain ignorant unless my man is around. I may or may not cover for her if it's another man. Please don't ask me to inform you if I ever happen to see your underwear. I might say sharp words about your style of dress that I would like to retract later.

However, I do like a belt over a blouse. I need more belts. :) I think this might be kind of "in" right now but I'm sure I'm doing it all wrong.

You see, I'm just out of fashion at the ripe old age of 26. But I think I'm okay with it. I like my long skirts and my blouses with a belt. I like flowers--in fact, I have too many plaids and stripes in my blouse collection. Not enough flowers.

The truth of the matter is that, although I have these quirks and old fashioned ways, there are many people whom I love dearly and even respect who dress in these "other" ways. There are a few of them who even pull these oddities off in a half way decent  manner--they can even sit modestly to boot! Furthermore, I am quite certain that the way I dress may be of concern to others at times. In fact, after writing this I can think of one dress that I wore quite recently, that bothers me in how it fits. Sigh.

Also, along these lines, I'm always impressed when I find a lady who is fifty or so, and older, and she cares about how she dresses and puts thought and time into it. Granted, these women easily out dress me any day of the week, but I like to think that one day, I'll be able to be put together as well as they do. Wishful thinking probably, but it's nice to dream.

Really, this post is about me, realizing that even though a lot of who I am and what I think is kind of in an upheaval right now, how I dress isn't really bothering me. This post also deserves pictures of what I like and think is nice and all that good stuff, but time is lacking by now so, maybe a follow up post?

I also like a clean house on a hot day so this is all enough of this. Good day. :)

Smog

The atmosphere is oppressive this time of year. Burning in the mountains causes smoke to float down and settle into the valley. Chiang Mai is covered in an horrid layer of smog. I can see it even as I look out across my yard. The sun seems to give off a reddish color of light as it struggles to shine through the dirty air. At sun rise and sun set, this is especially evident.

The dirtiness pervades even the house. The only thing to do is keep a clean house and closed curtains. I like to think that helps. I could still dust everyday and still find more dust. Since the yard is drying out and grass brown, I find dry grass and dirt comes into the house much more quickly on our feet. So the floors get gritty faster.   

Even my nose knows it’s dirty out there. Dru and I both struggle with allergic headaches right now. He gets it worse than I, but he’s learned to cope better than in the first years. It’s gotten to the point that at this time of year, he just grits his teeth and bears it. We’re both thankful for Tylenol and Ibuprofen.  

It’s hot. The laundry dries fast and I’m thankful because l don’t like to leave it out in the smog to dry for long.

Going out into the yard is a little bitter right now. Our land lord came by the other day and then a few days later, we’re missing another big tree. The one behind the spirit house. The one exactly like it on the other side of the mango tree has been chopped down to much shorter, about the size of the mango tree. So we’re short on shade. The grass is brown, as I said before.

Some of my flowers show signs of dying in this weather, but others are thriving. I’m going to keep working at this whole flowers thing until I learn what works best in what weather and which flowers I’m not capable of handling because I’m me, and flowers don’t generally get along with me anyway.

However, I’m surprised at how I have adjusted to this kind of weather. I was dreading hot season, then I realized that my body has acclimated and it’s silly to dread it when it won’t be as bad as I thought it would be. The worst is yet to come. We’ll see how I’m feeling in a month.

Check this out: http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=1565

On Break...

So Dru's on break now and we both need it. Life has been crazy around here. About a week and a half ago Dru took his last exam. The next day he travelled to Southern Thailand and was gone for 5 days. I determined with in myself not to go crazy. I made decisions about not thinking about Dru and not missing him. I suppose that sounds awful, but I managed to survive. I was busy too. Rachel Zupke had returned from the village and Craig's were on their way.


They wore poor Rachel out. She came home sick and she slept a lot those first few days, just trying to catch up with herself. I was glad she could do that before her journey to the states. It was so nice to have her in my home again too, for that last week. She won the hearts of all the children she met--not just mine. You're welcome back any day Rachel!

I picked up Craig and Rachel all by myself at the airport late Monday night. I managed well up until I hit the curb on the way out of the parking lot. But I did get them home after all. We came home and put cookies in the oven. They were hungry (Craig's, not the cookies). I was thankful that Rachel Z. had mixed them up earlier that day. So started our very busy week.


I was very excited about Craig and Rachel Miller coming for a while. But it would be wrong to say that I wasn't even more excited about Dru coming back. I picked him up at the airport on Tuesday afternoon and didn't take him home right away either. We went out and ate a late lunch together and just looked at each other from across the table for a while just for the joy of it. Oh, we talked too--so  it wasn't awkward at all. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, I think. After a while we made our way home.

That evening we went with Craig's and Rachel Z to Arlin's for supper. And the rest of the week is a sort of blur of business. Lots of fun and fellowship. Shopping with my friends. (Rachel Z. do you have pics of that?)  Lots of not enough sleep. Lots of babies all over the house. A little bit of sickness. Elephants...

Saturday night after Craig's had left for the village and Rachel Z. was safely at the airport, I told Dru I didn't think I'd be going to church the next day. I didn't and am thankful I didn't. I crashed. I'm still crashing. But I think perhaps I'll clean my house tomorrow.

Today Kayla came over and we made hair ribbons for our girls's hair. So I should have cleaned my house but that was a lot more relaxing.

I'm totally resting and enjoying this stage. Very much looking forward to the IGo staff retreat. Rediscovering my identity in Christ. Reconnecting with the man and the children. Reconnecting with God. He is good.

On a Fading Monday

I’m pretty good at reading other blogs lately but updating my own just hasn't been happening. Here's a bit of my life.

           Jubilant does not want to be a big boy. He prefers “good little boy.” Being a big boy is not a good incentive for using the potty for all jobs. He doesn’t mind peeing. Pooping is a waste of his valuable play time. I decided that I’d spent enough emotional energy on it. I will change his poopy pull-ups and bite my tongue. However, he will not get any cake or ice cream, candy, or sweets, until he decides to truly be a good little boy.  This morning he wanted cake and ice cream. I told him to go poop so he could have some. So he did. At the right place. He had cake and ice cream midmorning. And praise and all that stuff. But he pooped in his pull up later on so there will be no desert for him at supper tonight.  Yes, he is old enough and aware enough to do better than this. I am his mom. I know. 

              
                Jube is ready to learn to read. He’s bored of his life right now and I think that’s part of the reason he’s struggling with his overall attitude.  Today I randomly chose, F is for Frog. He happly traced all the f’s and was proud of himself. He didn’t really care about coloring the frog. By the way, his f’s were pretty neat. We talked about the sounds that start a word. “P is for pig…etc.” His ear is good. He knows, although he stumbles every once in a great while. And after he was all done with this he went outside and played happily with Havilah until after lunch when I called them in for bathes and a nap. 

       Havilah didn’t want to take a nap. She’d had a short one in the morning but I knew she needed another one. (I am the mom, I know.) I tried to get her to sleep in the AC but she wouldn’t so I put the fan on her in her own crib. She protested, but she’s quiet now, so I know she’s asleep.

-          Havilah has a temper. Havilah needs training. And as silly as it sounds, it’s throwing me for a loop. Jube needs lots of firmness and encouragement. Havilah needs things a little more gentle. And I forget and hurt her feelings sometimes. I over react. Or I don’t do anything because, you know, she’s my baby. She will be a terror when number three comes along if I don’t get a grip. (No, there is no number three at this point.)

-          I found Dru’s flash drive in the grass this morning. The red one. The red is now faded from laying in the sunshine, for probably weeks. It had the very documents on it that he’d complained he was missing just an hour earlier. They were important to his school work and he’d have had to fetch them from someone else and it would have been rather inconvenient.  A God thing, I’m sure.

-          The temperature today rose just a tad above my comfort level.

-          Has anyone heard out of Rachel Zupke in the last week? Because we kind of miss her around here and haven’t heard anything out of her for over a week. I’m deciding not to worry about her because no news is good news, right? Did she get the backpack of goodies I sent down?

-          Oh, Rachel tuned up the violin good and it’s actually staying in tune. If only Dru had more time I think he’d actually play it more.

-          This weekend Dru will be gone to Hat Yaai for a seminar with Mike Stolzfus. He’ll be gone for two nights. But I’ve got the days full and I think I’ll be fine. Two weeks after that he’s wanting to help the Stolzfus’s move down, down, down, to the bottom of Thailand and he will drive and drive and drive and be gone for 4 nights or so.  And then after he gets home it will be a couple months of break. No more school. Hurray!

-          I put helmets on me, Jube, and Hallah, today, and then we drove around the neighborhood a bit just to see if we could. I wanted to see if I had wheels for sure when Dru is gone this weekend. It worked. I want to go over to Lia’s on Sunday. We will comfort each other in our temporary widowhood.

-          I’m putting effort into learning to cook Thai food. I always blow it first, once or twice, until I get it right. But I’m having fun and Dru helps me. (By rescuing the dish from mediocrity and adding things until it tastes right. No, this does not bother me at all and I’m rather proud of his abilities.)

Okay, I shall now go frantically fold laundry and make a grocery list because Dru will be home in forty-five minutes and we might go down to the market to do my weeks shopping of groceries. 

Goodbye.