Precious Memories

11/01/2009

Here are some random little memories that have beautifully colored our time here at FPO:

One thing we are really getting used to is taking our kids everywhere with us. Typically, we won’t have childcare for most things overseas, so they have tried to get us used to that here, so it’s not as difficult when we get there. I’d have to say that most of us parents haven’t appreciated it yet. Lol. No, it actually has been nice at times… although very stressful at other times. :) Tonight, Carolina, Jonathan and I went to our first “Cross-cultural” church service. Every Sunday night, they have a different culture represented. We sing the songs in a different language; the teaching and testimonies are given in another language, as well. Sometimes they are translated and sometimes they are not. It is helpful for the adults as well as the children to get used to the different styles. Jonathan we sick last Sunday, so I stayed home with the two youngest children. This week, we ALL went together.

I never thought about the fact that Carolina had never been a part of a worship service before. I guess she has always been in nursery… but her TRUE colors came out tonight!!! :) I just had to laugh out loud! I’m wondering if we are heading to the wrong culture. :) Tonight was an African style of worship. They started off in Swahili, and since Wes and I have been to Kenya several times, I was quite amazed at how “at home” I felt. It was encouraging to me! I even recognized enough words in the songs to know what I was singing. Anyway, once the singing started, Carolina was absolutely mesmerized. She was screeching and clapping. You know, in Africa, there is almost always dancing with worship; so they ladies that were leading this service were all up front, teaching us the motions. Carolina followed along, lifting her hands, jumping up and down (well, as much as her stroller would allow, anyway) and clapping. It was just adorable. She was singing in her little sing-songy voice. It brought such joy to my heart!!

I think I am seeing more and more how much of people-person my little girl is. Yesterday was holloween, and one of the quads on campus decided to host a “harvest party.” So after dinner, we headed over to quad 25. People were just beginning to arrive, but there were lots of games and music. Once we walked in, I realized that Carolina had a stinky diaper, so I started to walk back out of the quad to go to our quad and change her. She cried like her heart was broken. She looked longingly over my shoulder at the loud, lit-up party going on, and just cried and cried as we walked away. It wasn’t a temper cry; it truly was like she was sad. I kept telling her we were coming back, but I guess she didn’t understand me. :) Well, we got the deed done quickly, and we started heading back. As soon as she could see the people and hear the music, she began twirling her hands in the air and screeching. All I can say is, she MUST be her daddy’s daughter! The whole night, she sat on my lap and just WATCHED everyone and everything. Everyone kept commenting on how happy she looked just to be there. It was too funny.

Our sweet Carolina has hit some of her milestones here at FPO. She took her first couple steps last week. We haven’t really been able to get her to take more than two, and then she face-plants into whoever’s arms are catching her. She is so funny. She has been cruising… well, we don’t really have furniture for her to cruise, but the bay window in our kitchen has a ledge, and she has been cruising those ledges. She likes to look out and wave at everyone. She also likes to look for squirrels, which she barks at… b/c every animal must bark like a dog!

The boys are all in a room together. One set of bunk beds, one single bed, and three identical dressers make up their room. Weston got the top bunk, of course; and Nathan wanted the bottom one, leaving Jonathan with the single bed. Well, as time went on, Nathan kept waking up and banging his head on the bunk above him. He decided he wanted the single bed, so he convinced Jonathan to trade with him. Jonathan is just small enough that his head doesn’t hit the top when he sits up… but, the bottom bunk is higher off the ground than the single bed was. Jonathan fell out several times before realized we really needed to do something about that. One side was against the wall, but the other was wide open. One night we heard a thud and heard him screaming. We just scooped him up and brought him into our bed for the remainder of the night. It was dark, and we didn’t even realize he had actually injured himself. The next morning, we woke up and found his nose bloodied and scabbed. The tip of his nose had been scraped, as well as just under his nose. That was one major fall!... so, that day, we asked if they had bed rails. It turns out they do!... I’m not sure why we didn’t ask about that in the beginning!!!!! His nose is STILL healing, but at least he hasn’t fallen out of bed again! :)

Speaking of our beds here… Wes and I have two twin beds put together to make a King. We usually sleep in a queen, and I’ve never liked having a bed as big as a King until we came here. It seems like almost every night, one of our children ends up in bed with us. I’m not sure if you’ve ever slept in a “make-shift” King before, but there is a definite CRACK in the middle. It’s just temporary, so it’s not a big deal… but, one night this past week, Jonathan had ended up in bed with us. He really is having a bit of a rough time with the transition, so we’ve let him stay in our bed (we normally have a no-kids-in-our-bed policy). We all woke up the other morning to a WET bed!! Yes, lovely. Just what you want to find when you get up at 5:30am to get your family of 6 to breakfast by 7am. Well, I guess that CRACK came in handy this particular time, b/c Jonathan apparently doesn’t like sleeping on the crack, so he had moved over just enough that it was DADDY’S side of the mattress that was wet! Lol. I ended up doing lots of laundry that day, but I managed to get it done before we needed to get to bed that night.

The next day, we were all exhausted, so we had Jonathan lay down with us for a quick nap. I’m not sure why we didn’t learn. Only 1.5 hours later, we had another WET BED! This time, it was only our comforters that were soaked… when you have two twin comforters to fit a King size bed, the only way to make them fit is to overlap them in the middle. Thankfully, Jonathan was sleeping on the overlapped part, and I only had to wash both comforters! It was thick enough that it didn’t go through to the blankets or the sheets. Yes, we call this “making memories.”

Well, one of the last things I crated (since we had the extra space) was my sewing machine. I have no idea if it’s too strong a motor to run over there, but I’m going to try. My mom and I decided that it was better blown up in use than sitting in a storage unit NOT being used. We’ll see if I still agree with that after I see it blow up or melt right in front of my eyes.

My mom gave me my sewing machine for Christmas about 4 years ago… right before we moved to CA. Once we moved, I had no one to teach me how to sew, so I never quite learned. I think I’d really enjoy it, if I ever did learn!... so I decided to take it with me and, if nothing else, learn over in Spain! My grandmother is an amazing seamstress, and my cousin has picked it up over the past year… so, I’m hoping that maybe it’s in my blood.

Here at FPO, they have something called the “quilting quad” available to those who would like to learn to sew or quilt. They offer classes on Monday nights, and they also provide all the fabric free of charge. Once the sign-up sheets went up, they filled up SO fast, I only got into ONE class… Personalized Pillow Cases. But, I haven’t really done anything before, so I thought it would be fun. I picked out fabric, and I made a pillow case that night for Carolina. It was so fun! Since then, I’ve begun several more simple projects that I will give a Christmas time. I’m praying that my desire to learn to sew may be an in-road to build a relationship with a Spanish woman who may be willing to teach me how to sew! Who knows?!?!