Hold the awards

Well this week I had one of those days where I certainly was far from winning any mom of the year contests. We had been couped up inside for several days due to rain, and since it was just overcast and barely sprinkling I decided it would be great to take a little walk. I should have known better to have a purpose for our little walk, since Calvin was just dying to get outside and piddle, so our walk was far from ideal.

The whole time Calvin just wanted to play and I had another agenda, get to the store and back home. So we slowly made our way to the store, poor Calvin endured the wrath of his mama's tongue the whole way there. Here's what you would have heard, "Stop picking up rocks, stay out of the mud, don't splash in the big puddles, hurry along, we don't have time to "fish" right now, come on hold my hand a car is coming, Calvin keep moving." Get the picture, the poor guy just wanted to play.

Once we got home I was looking forward to resting during nap time. I hadn't been feeling so great and finally fell asleep and guess who woke up early, with a stinky diaper. Nice. My attitude was far from sweet and was seriously annoyed.

The rest of the afternoon he was literally begging me to play with him. Coming over and giving me hugs and kisses, bringing me books. I felt awful in more ways than one. It's amazing how much love that little guy can give in a day. I was literally about two seconds shy of getting sick and he comes over and just pats my back. Seriously I wanted to cry, he had already forgotten how ugly I was to him in the morning. I'm learning a lot about what forgiveness means from our sweet little two year old. I also have been learning a lot about what it looks like to love a two year old and how selfish my heart is. I do treasure this time in our lives and want to be a mom to builds our kids up. I have so much to learn and I'm thankful for the wisdom of Father to guide me in this precious task.

P.S. Our walk today went much better!

Easter 2010

This Easter was a bit different than we had envisioned it, but it really was a beautiful day. Since we were still stuck out of country without visas we tagged along with another group to celebrate. It was such so fun to look around the room and see all these people that Father had brought together for that day. Some of us were just passing through and others actually lived in the city, but it was neat to see how different we all are, we've come from different parts of the world, grown up in different homes yet we're family.

Our Easter service was a bit different from years past, for starters we met on Saturday evening. We enjoyed our living room time of singing, speaking to the king and learning from the Word. At the same time little ones played below our feet or snuggled in our laps. It was fun to just truly worship. After our time together the big kids hid a few eggs for the little ones. It took Calvin a while to catch on but after a bit they all were pretty pumped to find an egg. It was such a gorgeous evening and we were able to hang out outside and play before heading home. I'm a little sad we forgot our camera.

On Easter Sunday we headed out to a park so that Marvin could play a little ball with some friends. Calvin and I enjoyed the park with another young mom and her son, and to our surprise a tulip festival had begun at the park. Tulips were in bloom everywhere. It was simply gorgeous. Part of this festival also included music and Calvin enjoyed watching them "pay tar" (play the guitar). There even was a guy out painting, which was so much fun to watch for a while. I know Calvin was just dying to paint too, but he did well and controlled himself. With all that excitement he barely even played at the playground. We ended our exciting morning out with an Easter lunch at Papa John's, and boy was it tasty.
That night we had fun going through a hymnal we found at the apartment we were staying at and singing together as a family and reading again the truths of why we were celebrating. Calvin found a little musical instrument and accompanied us. It was pretty special. I hope you all had a great celebration too.

Excellence

I had the opportunity to go to a women's tea here in the city we are in. It was such an encouragement to my heart. Something I really needed. I was surrounded by so many amazing women, some of whom have traveled this road a while and have so much wisdom for us in this season of life.

The speaker was able touch the surface of Proverbs 31 in a way I had never really thought much about. How do I a woman, be a woman of excellence in a culture so different from my own? I've really been thinking about this a lot recently and if there are any parts of my own culture that have been in the way of relationships. She touched on many aspects of how different our lives are, learning new cultural ins and outs aren't just so we can blend in, or so we don't step on any toes, but can if I refuse to embrace this culture how hurtful it can be to friends.

Another area that I really became more aware of is my attitude toward certain cultural things that really bug me. Honestly I think one will never love everything in a culture. In fact I can think of several things about American culture that bug me. I've really been convicted to be cautious in how I speak of these things in our home. We have a sponge of a little boy, who pick up these things and honestly he's doesn't know the difference. In his world right now waiting in a line don't exist, mayo is a food group, black is not just a color but the color all clothing should be, and stopping work to visit with a friend takes precedent. I would hate for my words to shape his attitude of the culture we live in.

So there you have it that's what's been going on in my heart recently. I'm excited to see how Father shows me more areas in my life that need to be molded.

Our Favorite Park

Last weekend we hopped on a bus and headed to one of our favorite places in the city. A park along the water. It was such a beautiful and clear day, we even were able to see the Islands, a place we hope to visit sometime when it's warm. Calvin had a blast and of course the day was defined by the juice we let him pick out for our picnic lunch.

It was a cherry juice kind of day!

A day to fall asleep on the bus ride back home.

Oh how I missed warm weather!

What's new with us.

Well our documents arrived this week!!! We can't wait to get back home, to a place we can actually communicate. But it's been absolutely goregous here. I could seriously just sit in the sun all day. I plan to enjoy every spring day we have here because spring isn't really spring back home. We're looking at just a mere two more weeks in this city!!!

Other news is that Calvin's art skills are improving. He drew this little picture for us. Can you guess what it's suppose to be? Anybody????

??????

Give Up?

Let me help.

He drew it right after we showed him this picture.

It's a pretty good understanding of what's going on in his world, those two year old eyes are always learning, and I love these little peaks inside his brain. Our newest little baby is expected to arrive late October! Grateful is just the tip of the iceburg! I just can't wait to be past the icky sick part.

Our little observer

Calvin's always been an observer, from day one. He takes it all in. So when he found a scarf in one of the toy boxes here, guess what he did with it?

Covered his head of course!

P.S. The scarf was rather patriotic, but I promise it was a bandana not a flag.

Oh the madness

This is one of Marvin's favorite times of year. Basketball craziness is what I call it. This season starts out with State basketball. He's been following our nephew for the past 3 years and it's unbelievable they came up with another amazing state championship. That makes 4 State Championships in the last 2 years, basketball and football. Crazy huh! We're pretty proud of him to say the least, but Marvin was thankful that it was over, so his sleep could resume to a normal persons sleep pattern. No more waking up at 3:00 a.m. to listen to the games, but I think a few more games will lure him out of his sleep.

Now we are about to start his favorite part of basketball craziness, March madness. He gets so excited every year. Every year I tease him about how much thought he puts into his brackets, while I just fill them it out in less than 5 minutes. This year we both are rooting for our alma mater, K-State. Marvin's picked them to lose against West Virgina and I have them getting beat by Kentucky (I think) in the finals. Should be interesting.

Now what was so fun this year is we had Calvin fill out a bracket. Marvin showed him pictures of the mascots and he choose which team he wanted to win purely on his favorite out of the two choices. Some favorites of his were a pirate which we thought would win the whole thing based on how exited he is about pirates right now but apparently the pirate didn't have what it took to win of the whole thing. Georgetown and Georgia State were also favorites because of his love of Curious George. The choo choos of Purdue highly impressed him and his favorite team of all was........Lehigh. We were proud of his bold move, picking them over big bird as he calls KU (and we let him), but we didn't imagine he would have them going the whole way. We got such a kick out of it and he loved the game too. I wish I could upload a video we took but for some reason the country we are in doesn't allow it. A picture will have to do.

Happy Madness!!!

Day at the Aquarium

This Monday we had to be out of the apartment for the healthy part of a day so the cleaning lady could come and clean the apartment we are staying in. So we decided to head to a new aquarium in town. It just opened this fall and is supposed to be the biggest aquarium in Europe.

It took us 2 hours to get there via public transportation (this city is HUGE)! But we finally made it. Calvin was pretty excited to see the sharks.

As soon as we walked in the door he was overcome with excitement as we meet a Star Fish. He shook Calvin's hand and boy did Calvin's eyes just light up. It was certainly one of the highlights of the trip. We heard lots of WHOOO, OHHHH, WOWs during our time there.

It was the perfect length for Calvin's attention span. In far as coolness the National aquarium was a little better in my opinion. They had more exibits and well it just helps when you can read the signs. I'm sure if we'd been studying about sea life it would be the perfect little field trip. One thing that really impressed me is how child friendly everything was. The staff was helpful to tell all the kids about what they were looking at, we just smiled and nodded. They had little food pellets that the kids could feed the fish with open tanks. In several tanks they had people in wet suits holding some of the sea life and even let the kids touch a few.

We were glad we took the time to visit and who knows maybe we'll visit again in the future.

Catching Up

A couple of days before we left Nineveh we had some friends come and visit. It was fun showing them around the city. They brought their youngest and Calvin was so excited. But like any child his size or smaller Calvin thought he was a baby. It was too funny watching them attempt to play, let's just say there were a few tense moments between a third child and an only child.

We let their little guy take Calvin's room, so Calvin got to sleep in his firetruck "bed" in our room and oh boy was he excited. We just set up some blankets inside this little firetruck tent our teammates outgrew. It actually worked out quite nicely and it was fun hearing his sleep sounds as we drifted off to sleep. It's a side of him we don't see too often. We were thankful for some good time with friends even if it was a crazy time to have guests.

My Sunday Date

Last weekend I took Calvin on a little date. We meandered to a playground where I used to push him around in his stroller as a baby to try and get him to take an afternoon nap. He actually got to enjoy it this time.

What I didn't factor in was how far it was from where we are staying. He was a trooper and walked most of the way there, uphill. I was very grateful for this because for some reason all 28 lbs. of him seem to be more solid now. The second we rounded the corner of the building that stands at the park entrance, his eyes got really big and this is what he said, "WHOOO WATER YEAH!! It was pretty sweet. He loved the water fountains and the bridges.

Since it took us a bit longer to get there we stopped for local food on the way home. Everyone is so sweet to children here. Our waiter even made sure Calvin got a juice that wasn't cold, for his health of course. What I didn't remember is how I don't care for lamb, so both Calvin and I barely touched our lunch. Marvin enjoyed our leftovers later. I was thankful I had some crackers in my bag that Calvin enjoyed while we waited.

The trip home was a bit longer, I almost thought about getting a taxi, but it was only 4 long blocks. But with a tired toddler and one big hill, it made for a long trip.

So I hope to have many more fun dates like this with my little man in the future, but hopefully better planned.

The new face

Calvin picked up making faces from his little buddy back home. So everytime the camera rolls out guess what face we see????

This one.

Not sure I like it, I miss that sweet little grin of his.

Perfect book/movie weather

It's been raining here the last few days and a bit chilly too. We didn't pack well for this type of weather and I've been getting a lot of use out of the one sweater I brought. Since I was getting so much use out of it, I decided to buy another one. We're loving the sales right now on winter wear.

I devoured a book in one day and I was reminded why I don't read very often....I'm consumed by fiction books when I pick them up. Everything else around me just gets pushed aside till I finish the book, and I mean everything like eating and sleep. Unfortunately being a mom this doesn't go over too well, but it seems like we have nothing to do most of our days so I indulged myself and was enveloped in a book for a day.

Last week Marvin picked up several movies and it's been good to help the time pass. I just adored Julie and Julia, it was refreshing how a movie can show a husband in such a positive supportive light. However I wish they left out a little of the language, really wasn't necessary. Hate it when they do that.

We watched Precious the other night. Talk about a heavy movie. So heartbreaking to know that her story is many women's story. Sometimes it's easy to forget about the sin of our world, when it's not effecting you. I cannot imagine hearing such hateful things from your mother. It was painful to hear, can't imagine how much more painful it was to receive. It's got me thinking more and more about how I can interceed for those around us. Abuse is very common in the area we live in, I can't imagine how freeing truth is for women who've suffered years and years of such pain.

This week we also ventured out sans Calvin for a little date. It's always nice to be alone in the middle of the day, no intruptions, not constantly bombarded with questions like "what's that mama? what's her name?" And I got to hold Marvin's hand which makes me happy. We went to see Invictus. Another great movie and lots of great themes and stuff to talk about. I cannot imagine living in South Africa during this time period, talk about some serious healing that had to happen and is still needing to happen.

We're still waiting on paperwork so we can apply for our visas. This feeling of stuck is not new, just trying to get some study hours in during the week to feel a little productive. I had some moments this week where I was itchin to get back home, but for the most part just trying to be content in where Father has us right now. There are many positives to being in this city right now and we'll try to stay focused on those.

Week One of The Waiting Game

So it's been fun being back at our home away from home. This city is familiar to us, we feel comfortable getting around town, know where stuff is, even know a few shortcuts to get places, and bump into people we know. Unfortunately we still don't know much of the language, which really stinks. When you can't communicate it's rough. It may seem crazy but before our next trip here I'd like to learn a little more.

So far our first week here we've just settled in, done a little food shopping and visited IKEA and the shopping center near it. It's funny experiencing this city with a toddler, we're trying to keep him busy and not bored, and we're trying to do the same. I do think I have reached my mall limit already. It's just not as much fun to shop when the prices are ridiculous and you can't even entertain the thought of buying anything.

So just for fun I thought I'd make a list of a few things that have made our days recently more enjoyable!

• The ferry docks! We only spent a few minutes there yesterday but Calvin loved every second of it we can't wait to go to our favorite dock and enjoy a beautiful morning, and probably even take a picnic lunch.
• The WEATHER, hello spring oh how I missed you. We're enjoying the warmer weather and don't even mind the spring rain. Glad to say goodbye to the snow suit for a while.
• Carrots. I know it sounds silly but they have taste, and boy are they tasty!
• Playgrounds within walking distance. Calvin already knows where they are at and begs to go play every time we leave the building.
• Friendly people, although I have no idea what they are saying, who just adore children.

So while we're waiting we hope to get out a little bit and enjoy the weather and the city. But this afternoon I better hit the books and study a bit. I have high goals while we are here and it looks like I have a long enough time to meet them.

Starting to figure these things out.

We've been working on potty training Calvin. For the most part we've had dry days. Recently I've been proud of him, when he catches himself having to go he'll stop and kind of waddles around to the toilet, sometimes a little has escaped. I think we're making progress!

Now here's my question for all you seasoned moms. Here's our current problem. Whenever he gets mad or we put in him in his room for timeout and he works himself up he almost always has an accident. Any thoughts on how to curb this or what we need to do? I'm pretty stumped on this one.

Repurposing

Being away from my sewing machine makes me dream.

I'm so excited to turn this shirt

into this 90 minute shirt!

From the moment I saw this I thought about making one but didn't have any extra fabric, now I have some.

Using those lemons for lemonade!

P.S. If you've never checked out Dana's blog you should. She just finished a month celebrating the boy. There are some seriously cute ideas there.

Calvin's Room

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. We've been incredibly busy. We've both had a lot of homework every night and with leaving and hosting some friends for a few nights our free time has been severely limited. When I'm stressed I have a crazy need to create. I've been working on projects for Calvin's room for a while and I've been pleased how they turned out. (I can't say Marvin was too pleased to hang them up on concrete walls, but because he's the best husband in the world he drilled his little heart away. Thank you sweetie.)

So Welcome to Calvin's Room:

First up was project curtains, I've been eyeing this IKEA fabric for a while and they just make his room seem cheery, plus I love hearing him say "ippo".

Despite having a toddler bed, Calvin prefers to sleep in his big bed. He finally has stopped falling out of it about a month ago. He loves all his pictures of his family. It's fun for grandpa and grandma to be so close to mind. I whipped this quilt up literally 2 weeks before we left the states and even though it was a lot of work I love it.

I've seen very few apartments with closets. Instead they use wardrobes. So Calvin's closet space is in the hallway. Thankfully the apartment came with this little entertainment set that works perfectly for his clothes and some toy storage.

I've been enjoying my modge pod I brought with us. It's allowed me to do a few fun projects like the family sign and the art board. Our fridge was becoming pretty overwhelmed with art work and due to space in our luggage I had to leave his create magnet board in the states. But this alternative is going to work pretty well. I love how the embroidery hoops turned out. What a simple and easy idea. He loves his hand print and every time he sees it he'll say "my hand".Marvin's quite proud of this wall because of Calvin's first hoop. Calvin loves to play ball with his daddy and I can't wait for many more hours of bedroom basketball in the future. We also picked up this little table at IKEA and it's much sturdier than the one that came with our apartment. I also don't have to worry that the chair is going to break every time he sits on it.

So there you have it. Our first decorated room. I can't wait to get back and finish up a few projects that I've been working on for other rooms.

Goodbye Stinky

Since we moved into our apartment we've had an unwelcomed houseguest. Thankfully it wasn't a live one, but it sure did stink, and by stink we're talking some major BO stink. After politely asking our landlord almost every week to take it out of our apartment he came and got stinky.

BEAUTIFUL!!!! We were finally able to move our dining room table into the living room, and it's been wonderful. We've fully enjoyed Stinky's absence.

Spoosh Spoosh

Calvin's very into playing "green guys" and "blue guys" recently. Here's how it works, run to your kitchen and get out two wooden spoons, they have to be wooden. Run back to the living room and go to the tv, pretend to turn it on. Run and give the spoon to someone else and ask them to "play guys". Run back to the TV and point at the imaginary green or blue guys and get em. It's seriously an awesome game, we play it a lot.

Potty Training was going well before this......

We have officially begun potty training, yes we are leaving in 1 week for our visa run, and yes we know it's bad timing, but Calvin's ready so we're rolling with it. And especially because it's been a battle every time we try to put cloth diapers on him. He'll walk around for about 30 minutes after he has a new cloth diaper on saying, Ouchie. I will admit they are a little rough, since we don't have a dryer, but I did add a fleece layer to them so he couldn't feel it. Undies are going well, and he loves to pick out a new pair in the morning, and so far he's stayed dry throughout the day, but we are taking him to the potty quite frequently.

It all was going great until this happened.....

I ruined a shirt last night because I splashed some cleaner on me while cleaning out his potty. GRRRR. I didn't bring very many clothes and it was one of the shirts I really liked and planned on wearing it until it fell apart. I wish clothes weren't so expensive here. The other day I stopped into a second hand store and even those clothes were expensive, sometimes more than I would pay for something brand new in America.

So this brings me to a question. How do you clean out these little potty chairs? Since last night's incident I pulled out the vinegar and have been using that. Anyone use any good homemade all purpose spray that does not use Borax or bleach in it?

One tired Brain

Since we’ve been here Marvin and I been exhausted by the time dinner rolls around. It’s exhausting thinking in a foreign language. I have absolutely no idea how on earth international students study on a collegiate level in ANOTHER language. I’m sure they are exhausted beyond my wildest imagination. But maybe they are just awesome.

Some are gifted in the language arena, I am not. This language in particular has lots to remember and my brain quite often jumbles it up.

One of my most dreaded things in this language is any to go verb, they have about 2 pages in the dictionary worth of to go verbs. For example I want to go by car I use one verb, if I want to go by walking I use another. If I usually do it and I am going like normal I use a different, and on and on it goes. Sheesh….I will get it eventually.

Don’t even get me started about changing the endings of words based on the part of speech. Remember diagramming sentences? Well every time I say something my brain diagrams it and I attempt, although very horribly to change the ending of each part of speech and by horribly I mean painfully slow and most of the time I get it wrong.

But I love me some adverbs! They never change! It’s like a breath of fresh air every time I use an adverb, which I try to do often. I call those my confidence boosters.

Now I’m about to finish my homework. I must work on giving direction. I cannot do this in English and NEVER know which direction is north, south, west, east, NEVER, so it should be fun.
So if anyone has any great language learning tips or a new brain for me I’d gladly accept them. And just so you don’t think I’m over exaggerating here’s a peek at my homework. Covered in red by my teacher. Nice, huh!
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Love It!

Marvin and I headed out last night on our first date since…..ummm October???? I think. It was much needed and we enjoyed a nice dinner in a café without anyone smoking and nasty music videos playing. We had a great time talking about our upcoming visa run. We’re excited to go back to the place where Calvin was born. Even more excited to see some good friends while we are there. We enjoyed a little walk down the main street. Things are much different at night; it’s something we’ve not done a lot. We did some pretty romantic things like browse through the bath and cleaning supply store. I guess only married people can enjoy a date picking out some new soap. We’ve entered a new era in our marriage I think.

We invited over some other ex-pats for a play date. Calvin loved having a few friends to play with and it was fun to get to chat with their moms. It’s like we have our own little MOPS group. We ate homemade heart pretzels. Painted and decorated hearts, read some books and had lots of laughs. It’s so nice to have other young moms in the same stage of life also living in a culture outside of your own.

When I came home Thursday from working out there was an advertisement for an electronic store in our mailbox. I loved to flip through the grocery adds in America. I know it’s weird, so I loved this little add. But as I was looking through the add I saw a microwave on sale for 20 dollars cheaper than what we were going to buy, and they gave us a coupon for 5.00 off our next purchase. Yes I did say coupon, I was slightly excited since we need to buy a vacuum sometime soon, which are also on sale, sweet!

I also love creating with Calvin. This week we made some fun valentines. I found the idea at one of my favorite blogs, MADE. They were the perfect project and he hung on and painted every heart. He loved it even more when we filled them with M&Ms. It was almost comical watching him try to resist eating the M&Ms. This is how it went, drop a few in eat a few, try his hardest not to eat any and just stared at the M&Ms. Willpower is tough stuff.

Love this family Father has given me. They're pretty special.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Walk with Me

This week I ventured to the grocery store by myself. It's something I rarely do. I usually have a little guy walking alongside me, which makes the trip twice as long. I love the company but this time it was nice just to walk. As I was walking I realized how different my life is now, than one year ago.

A year ago I didn't have to walk on a solid sheet of ice all the way to the store. I wasn't thankful when it was freezing or did I appreciate the frozen mud, it makes the best shortcuts. I didn't have to find the best frozen ice to walk on, when it gets smooth it's DANGEROUS, I prefer the frozen slush, it gives your foot something to hold on to.

A year ago I didn't have calculate how much I could buy at the grocery store buy what I could carry in a couple bags.

A year ago I didn't have to worry about whether or not the store would have milk that wasn't expired. (PTL for shelf stable milk).

One year ago I didn't have to worry about giving the cashier a large bill, I knew she could break it. Here I get a nice little glare when I try to break a large bill, or don't give the exact change.

One year ago I did not get excited over finding real chicken nuggets at the closest grocery store.

One year ago I did not have my selection of about 15 brands of mayo.

One year ago I was wondering when we'd ever make it back to a place so heavy on my heart. It's good to be here.

A little Saturday morning excursion

We've seen signs up for this temporary aqua terrarium all over town, the last month. It's a traveling exhibit and set up camp in the lobby of a theatre in town. We'd talked about going, but we've always had something else we needed to do on Saturday. We weren't sure how Calvin would do. He loved every minute of it. We heard lots of "WHOO's" and "WOWs" and "What's that name". They even had a monkey and a hawk, yes I did say we went to an aqua terrarium, and no it doesn't make any since, but it was great entertainment.


They let the kids give the monkey a banana and Calvin's been talking about it ever since. And keeps trying to convince us to take him back.

The people working this little exhibition were great. They got certain snakes and lizards out and let the kids touch them. They even let the kids touch a little alligatorish thing, and yes I was nervous the entire time. Especially since Calvin decided to pick up the snake right at the head. The little boy next to him asked if he could hold another one, and the handler said "No it will eat you." This little boys face drew pretty somber all of a sudden, it was pretty funny.

Pretty sure this guy didn't have his jaws wired shut. Nice and I let my toddler touch it.
The boys checking out the snake that will "eat" you.

The highlight of the morning for Calvin was the other kids. There was one other family there and the boy decided he was going to show Calvin all the creepy crawlies. So he took him by the hand and led him to each aquarium, telling him the name of every thing they saw. Calvin was beaming the entire time. It was pretty special to watch. We do hope he has some good local friends sometime soon. He just loves playing, regardless of the language they are speaking.

We were pushing our limit with Calvin when we stopped for lunch. The bad thing about eating out here is that there are flat screen TVs at almost EVERY cafe and restaurant that play the most disgusting music videos. So the whole time we were waiting for our food Calvin desperately wanted to watch TV. I even brought his puzzles and coloring stuff, but he was just determined to watch TV. So I guess we will be bringing our food home with us from now on, it's just not worth the fight and not worth the images he takes in.

can't stop grinning because...............

........ I now own this beauty. Isn't she sweet?




Since we've moved I've been missing my sewing machine. I checked out prices around town, but we've had other priorities to buy, but finally we had some time. I'm in love and can't wait to get to all those sewing projects that have been swirling around in my brain, but Marvin says I have to wait until after nap time.


First up a pair of house shoes for Calvin. Next up hemming Marvin's jeans, blah. But after that I have so many projects I've been dreaming of. Here are a few of my favorites I'm dying to create:


I can't wait to add this pleated pocket to something!!! It's just darling!!! I LOVE cute pockets.


I don't usually make clothing for myself but these are just too cute Circular Vest and a cardigan wrap, I can see me dabbling in clothing here, since it's so expensive!

One Word Canvas that says Welcome, wouldn't this be the perfect cheery way to welcome guests to our apartment (and should be understood by people since they sell mats here that say Welcome in English).


And for even better news as if the day wasn't already beautiful I've found several Etsy shops that will ship internationally!!!! Imagine me jumping up and down, because I am, can't wait to get some bright Michael Miller and Amy Butler Fabric in my hands. I desperately miss beautiful cheery cotton fabric. I cannot wait to show you finished projects. There's just something that comes alive in me when I create, these two months of not making anything new has taken it's toll on me.


Oh and I am excited to frequent the sewing machine store. I found several treasures there, ELASTIC thread!!! Backing for all those applique projects, (no wonder under, though). I'm pretty pumped.


Alright I'm off to cut out a few projects.

it was what it was...

This week has been one of those weeks, the kind where everything does not go as planned. We're not new to this, but it's never fun. The week just started off awful, I was battling a cold/sinus junk and our new nanny started. I could not for the life of me conjugate a verb to save my life. For example....I wanted to tell this, "Please take Calvin on a walk every day." Here's what I really said " Please Every Day We take Walking." Yes very eloquent. I just had a day where my brain did not function well in this language. It's completely humbling and frustrating when this happens.

Then the next day our nanny's mom calls and says she's sick and can't come, again the next day, and again the following day. So our day gets shuffled around and Marvin can't go to the office and he doesn't work well from home. (I'm pretty distracting and he never gets work done when I'm there because I just want to talk, and you add in that 2 year old distraction and well it makes it impossible to concentrate.)

There have been days this week where all I feel like I have done is discipline Calvin or teach him how to behave. It's exhausting. Don't even get me started about the battle we have EVERY time we go outside. It necessary to dress him in snow pants, and several layers, but he hates the marshmallow effect. So rather than fight him, we just let him stay home. I hate that.

I've been short with Marvin and Calvin lately. My tongue has been loose and I hate that.

I also broke my favorite spoon, silly but frustrating.

But I am so glad I have a God who knows my heart, knows when I'm struggling. One who I can seek forgiveness in, because let's face it I mess up a lot. Grace...it sure it sweet. Thankful for a God who convicts my heart of selfishness, convicts me to be a better mom and sit down and play blocks rather than clean the bathroom. Learning is never easy but I'm glad I know the one who is the giver of wisdom because I desperately need it.

Happy Birthday to one Amazing Mom

Because Walgreens wouldn't let me upload this today, it'll take a few days before your "card" is delivered to your house. We hope you have a great birthday. Thank you for everything you do for us. We wish we could give you a big hug today but we are thankful for skype.

You'll also be getting this in the mail soon, although it's being shipped from the UK so it might be a week or so. We hope that you can use it for your groceries or anything else you need to carry and that it reminds you of how loved you are.

Lastly we had to have some "birthday" bear cakes for snack in honor of your birthday. We hope you enjoy your day as much as Calvin enjoyed his cake! We love you and happy birthday!

My Explorer

Marvin's so excited about hiking and exploring areas of Nineveh he hasn't explored yet. He's really loved exploring the edges of Nineveh the last couple of weeks. We are so thankful to be in our current location as it's right on the edge of town. This morning he went on a 2 hour hike and found the perfect little meadow. And it was a beautiful morning too, Blue sky and we actually saw the sun! (Not too many of those days here during the winter.)

The trees have been beautiful lately.

He's itchin' to hike up these. Did I mention he wants to climb the highest mountain in our area this summer?
And while he was there he also saw this....

So fun a bunch of horses made their way to a hay stack to eat.

It will be fun to hike this come summer as a family, however it may take us a little bit longer.