Transitions...

I have to be honest and tell you that the past several days have been difficult for me. We have made it to Richmond, and we are here at “Field Personnel Training” (FPO). It feels like we have done SO much to get here. We had assignments to complete before we got here (reading, writing papers) not to mention crating and packing… it felt like a mad dash to the finish line… except that we had to keep running once we got here.

It has been wonderful to actually get settled in one place for 8 wks straight. We are living in “Quads” so there are four different apartments on each corner of the building. We each have our own little kitchen… well, really “kitchenette”, bathroom and washer and dryer, but we share a “great room” in the middle. The quads are designed to be able close or open different doors in order to accommodate different size families. We have the largest family at FPO… the only ones with 4 children… and we have three bedrooms. We almost take up one whole side of the quad! There is a married couple who have one bedroom on our side of the quad. I feel bad for them, having to “quad” with us. We try hard to keep the boys quiet, but there’s only so much you can do with 3 boys 4,5,&6. Our children are the only ones in our Quad… I guess God was being gracious to the rest of our Quad mates. The White kids are enough for anyone to have to handle. Most of the quads have several families with small children. It’s been fun, in that aspect. We have two girls in our Quad who are going to be “journeymen”… or, rather, “journeygirls” is what we call them. They are precious, and have been a big help to our family.

We eat every meal at the cafeteria, which was wonderful fun in college… but a total different story with 4 young children. Those of you who are parents will fully understand this… I feel like we are eating “out” at every meal. We haven’t quite figured out the routine we need to have in order to have a peaceful meal for all of us. I think I am a person who likes to be in control, and that situation does NOT lend to parental control. LOL. It IS wonderful food, and they supply baby food and soy milk for my dairy allergy children. It really is such a blessing, but it can be stressful for both Wes and I.

I think life has just been so crazy, and I’ve been “hanging on” so long that my nerves are having trouble handling anything extra. Don’t get me wrong. I’m doing ok, but the reality is the last couple days have been a little rough.

I think the hardest thing for me (and many of the stay at home moms who are here) is that we have to leave our children every morning while we go to class. The first day was a struggle... the second day was even harder. Carolina and Jonathan have never really been apart from me. They paged me 2x for Carolina that day, but once we got her “doggie” and “blankie”, she was fine. What I didn’t realize was that Jonathan was not doing well.

When I went to pick him up, he was sobbing. His eyes were purple from having cried so much all day. I also found out that the hadn’t eaten anything all day. I was so sad for him. Once we got home, all he wanted to do was hold me. The next morning, he cried all morning saying he didn’t want to go to school. Dropping him off was a heartbreaking time for me, although, we did finally get him to stay in the classroom. I think I cried all morning, my heart breaking for my sad little boy.

Many of the moms could relate, and I had lots of people offering hugs and praying for us. The teachers had promised to page me this time, if he was having another hard day. I resisted the temptation to go and check on him, but every time a mom I knew was paged to go check her child, she would give me a report on Jonathan. He did much better the second day. We even had pictures of him in a Batman costume when we picked him up! Our third day dropping him off was much better. He clung to Daddy a little bit, but he was much more at home this time.

As hard as it is, I’m grateful for this transition. When we go to Spain all the boys will go into a national school. They begin school at the age of 3 over there, so this is a very good transition for Jonathan (and Momma). At least here he understands the language!

The older boys are LOVING school. Weston and Nathan look forward to it everyday, and can hardly wait to get there. We had a parent teacher meeting with Weston’s teacher, and she shared several of the things they will be covering. She was a missionary, so she knows the difficulties the kids will face as they start in a national school. She actually teaches a whole session in Taiwanese, so the children get used to hearing a different language. She teaches them to learn with their eyes first… she tells them to find a child in the class that the teacher is please with and who is making “good choices”, and you follow what they do. It was so neat to hear the strategy!... and it so put my heart at ease to realize that we are not the only ones who will go through this… or who have gone through this. She tells them that their ears will eventually learn, but their eyes learn more quickly at first. Miss Becky has such a kind and loving heart, and I’m so grateful she is helping to prepare Weston for this new journey!

Everything that is done here is done with a purpose, and that is encouraging. You know how you used to have to do “busy work” in school?... we don’t have that here. So, even through it’s busy… crazy busy, actually… I can find rest in the fact that it is necessary.

We do not have internet in our ‘quads’, so it’s a bit harder for us to get on here and give updates. Wes or I have to stay home while the other goes to one of the buildings that has wi-fi. Despite all the transition, we really are excited about what we are learning here! I can’t wait to be able to update you on all of that. Please do continue to pray for our family as we go through yet another transition… and certainly not our last!