Just like any other day

Today started out just like any other day. Our usual morning milk routine, for both girls…getting breakfast in everyone’s tummy…getting dressed, and so on. It wasn’t until 11:00 that things started getting weird.

For the third day in a row, Emma came to me asking to use the potty. Three days ago, I started thinking, “ok, well, if she asks to use the potty, I’ll let her so as not to discourage her from eventually wanting to use it.” Each morning, she has asked to use it, and has successfully gone twice.

Even though Emma is my first child, and usually parents are excited for them to master new skills, I have been the one procrastinating on Emma learning to use the potty. She has seen her friend Clara Anne use the potty at our house numerous times – and Clara Anne is quite the potty-er now! But since we’ve got about three weeks of travel planned in February, I had been pushing out of my mind visions of rushing Emma into the bathrooms on planes in favor of images of casually changing diapers whenever it happens to be convenient for me. I, mama Eggroll, had no interest in potty training. So what if Emma did? I did not.

But perhaps it was not meant to be. Just like the previous two days, today was the same story. So, after peepee #2 this morning, I sort of spontaneously decided we’d start potty training right then and there. We got out some paper and markers and made a little potty chart. We opened all the packages of big girl panties we had hoarded from the US. Out they came, Disney princesses, Care Bears, and of course, Dora. We created quite the snack spread on the table – raisins, Dark Chocolate M&M’s from the States (thanks again, Kim!!!) , crackers, milk, water.

And as the morning went on, we would talk about going potty. As she scampered around in big-girl panties, we’d remind her every few minutes to come use the potty. Each successful potty got a Dora sticker on her potty chart, three dark chocolate M&M’s, and a full round of the Dora “we did it” theme song. (we were very tired by the time evening finally rolled around!) Emma glowed under all the praise she received, and she got lots of chances to receive it! She was going potty almost every 5 minutes most of the morning!

That being said, we certainly had our share of accidents today – most notably, at lunch and dinner time when Emma, preoccupied by the assortment of delicacies in front of her, completely forgot that she was a human being capable of emptying her bladder. We had two significant puddles then.

But all in all, for an on-the-fly day of potty training that was neither planned nor wanted, the day ended like this: 8 accidents, 22 successes, including a bowel movement during what we thought was a late-night excuse! The pre-nap efforts found emma peeing every 5 minutes or so, but by bed-time, she had worked her way up to 20 minutes or half an hour.

We still have a long way to go – please don’t hear me saying she is totally potty trained - but she is largely the one initiating now and we made lots of unexpected progress today! Who knows what tomorrow will bring???

Special thanks to: Rachel (for making the mistakes for me to learn from!), Clara Anne (for being such a good example for us!), Dora (for being such great inspiration) MiMi and G (for extra panties and the Dora Potty Book!), Mantha (for giving up your normal amount of mommy-time), and Daddy (for giving me second chances at bed-time!)

Christmas pictures

So, do these girls win the award for cutest girls in the world? Ok, maybe erica and rachel would be mad at me for going that far, but they sure are cute to me! For some reason, Emma's pictures turned out a little fuzzy, but you can still get the idea...

hope you enjoy the christmasy pics!

Merry Christmas!

There are certainly disadvantages to not being in the US during the Christmas season. All those great christmas sales where bath and body works stuff is cheap...lavish christmas decorations and Christmas CD's on repeat at every store...the soft glow of white lights buried under a mass of evergreen...the warmth and intimacy of circling around the tree with those people who have lived with you since birth...the loud chatter that overtakes the room when all the family has arrived and things are in full swing.

Certainly, there are things to be missed about an American Christmas.

But living outside of the US has given us the chance to start our own new traditions that might not have been totally plausible were we still back in oklahomaland. There are no expecations here about how christmas should be celebrated; emma and samantha are still young enough that the only traditions they know are the ones we share with them.

In 2003, we spent Christmas Day on a plane coming to Asia. In 2004, we spent Christmas Day on a bus - pregnant though I was - as we drove 5 hours to pick up some friends who came to visit us in Asia. Emma's first Christmas was 2005, which was spent in America, so this year, 2006 was truly our first eggroll family christmas.

I know that many of you are not so interested in a blow-by-blow account of how we have been celebrating, but since I know my mother reads my blog and I know that she hungrily waits for any update to our news, I shall give you every last detail. Besides, some of them are truly fun.

The last few days have honestly been a whirlwind of activity. It all started when Josh and I sat at the kitchen table (still minus our new PB-inspired table) and tried to hash through how we wanted to handle christmas this year - both in terms of our plans with others, and how we wanted to set precedents for our family. As we thought it over, we felt strongly about raising our kids to understand the true meaning of Christmas, not just "ok, let's go to church and sing about Jesus, but when this is done we get to go home and open all our tons of presents."

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying presents are wrong or bad. We just want Emma and Mantha to feel that christmas should be devoted to celebrating Christ's birth. One of the most important facets of Christ's birth is proclaming it! So, we decided that we are still going to give presents (super-important for me since I am a "gifts" love language person!) but instead of them being Christmas presents, they are going to be presents for them to begin the New Year. New Year's presents.

In the Christmas spirit, we prayerfully tried to think of ways that we could share the meaning of Christmas in a non-threatening way. We landed on passing out cookies in the public square on christmas eve.

So on Friday night, our friends came over and we had a cookie-baking-bash that would have made Mrs. Fields and my good freinds at the Great American Cookie Company proud. We baked hundreds of cookies (ok, well, only one hundred...and twenty!) Snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, peanut butter...on and on they came, batch after batch, until our home felt like there should be a new Bath and Body Works scent named after it. Christmas Cookie Cheer, maybe?

Delusional from fatigue, we finally put the last shake of sprinkles on the cookies as one o'clock in the morning approached. All the little christmas angels had fallen asleep, though clara anne and chloe had to be roused from their slumber to be carted home.

Saturday morning, Christmas-eve-eve, came awfully early after such a late night, but no sleeping in was allowed, thanks in part to our ever-prompt alarm clock (emma) and the fact that we had guests coming at 10:00am. Some english majors from the college down the road were coming over for cake, singing carols, and reading the Christmas story. The parties are such a fun time because explaining the christmas songs leaves us with little need to explain further, though we get to answer lots of questions that are brought up. Each person leaves our house hearing the full Christmas story, a special Gift, a belly full of Apple Spice Cake, and hopefully, a heart that is a little softer than before.

Saturday afternoon brought the second party of the day, and since these were graduate students (not undergrads), the English level was quite a bit higher, so we truly had great and deep conversation. One girl left this party with a final thought: Now I understand why you say that Christmas is the most wonderful holiday!

Sunday morning, Christmas eve, we all got up and got ready and headed out with our cookies in tow to meet our freinds for a quick bite to eat before surrendering our foreign faces to the frantic hysteria that happens when you give out free stuff to Asian crowds. Emma was our designated gift giver, and she said "Merry Christmas" in asianese more times than she would care to remember, I am sure. As we walked through the square, we found families with young children that Emma could give a bag of cookies to, and then we explained why we have a tradition of giving gifts. We loved recounting how we received the best Gift ever, and no gift we can ever give can compare, but that with each gift we give we remember the First Gift. Especially meaningful was watching how emma thoroughly enjoyed giving presents to others. Yes, Emma, it is much better to give than to receive!

We attracted tons of attention (not exactly our intent) but were able also to have short conversations with families on the outer edges of the square. Our 120 cookies were no match for the 2-3,000 people that were at the square that morning, but we shall try to handle those another christmas.

Our two families headed back to our house, where Rachel (not this Rachel) sat at our piano and we sang Christmas carols. All of them. In order not to miss a single one, we just systematically made our way through the hymnal and sang them all. It was a small group gathered around the piano, belting out harmonies and Hallelujah's, but it was sure a good time. As we worked our way from Joy to the World to Greensleeves, we stumbled on perhaps my new favorite Christmas carol, simply titled Carols Sing. None of us had ever heard it before, but as we played and sang it, the simplistic beauty of the song captured the truest essence of Christ's birth and glory. The melody lingered in my mind long after we had finished singing, and my heart rested on peaceful melody of the last line, Jesus Christ our Savior.

Later that evening, after all the girls had gone to bed, Josh and I had planned on doing a little celebrating of our own...by watching an OU game that my parents had sent to us on DVD (come on, this is a public blog. What did you think I was going to say?) We popped a buttery bag of Orville Redenbauchers (again), ate some of the Hello Dollies I made, and then drank American cokes from our big frosty mugs as we snuggled on the couch and watched OU and OSU duke it out for state bragging rights.

As 10pm approached, we saw a tiny figure shadowed in the doorway. Sure enough, our child who should be from New York because she never sleeps, had heard all the fun going on in the living room and decided she should be part of it. Being Christmas eve and all, we felt like we should give her the chance to do something out of the ordinary, so we pulled her up on the couch and taught her all sorts of new words: Boomer! Sooner! Football. Touchdown. We comforted ourselves and rationalized the late bedtime by saying it was a learning experience for her!

She really got into the action, and it was so funny to watch! She would lean up right as a play would begin. If the ball was fumbled or otherwise dropped for any reason, her face would fall in a worried frown and she'd say, "Oh no! Ball! Dropped! Get...the...ball!"

Finally, we all turned in for the night, happy that OU had won and we got to watch it. (Sorry, kim and kristen about OSU...maybe next year?) Sunday morning, emma crawled into bed with us, content enough to play with our alarm clock and give us just a few more minutes of much needed sleep. Then, the baking began. The imported ham, macaroni (which emma can now say each syllable with appropriate enthusiasm!), mashed potatoes, rolls, cupcakes and hello dollies...sure, it turned my kitchen into a disaster zone for a while but it was so fun to eat! The ham was great and worth all the wait and expense. Maybe by the time all the leftovers are eaten, I will be able to last another year!

Sunday afternoon we had an unexpected local friend pop by for a few hours, but the girls were sleeping and so we had a nice christmas afternoon chat. We all left together, and with a few more hours of Christmas spirit still left on the clock, we decided to go out and spread a little more Christmas cheer while the 25th was still around. We loaded our children into a taxi and headed over to our friends' house for some unexpected caroling, then dashed away to give christmas gifts to as many taxi drivers as we could before 8pm. It was truly, truly fun...mentally, linguistically and physically exhausting, but so much fun. As we asked people, "Can we tell you the story of Christmas?" and they replied more like a five-year-old child than a thirty-five-year-old taxi driver, "Yes, please!" our hearts brimmed with love and thanksgiving as we recounted all the great Christmas details.

Emma gave tons of gifts this Christmas. Emma learned "Merry Christmas" in asianese and used it a jillion times. Emma was carted to and fro in a flurry of Christmas activities. But this evening, as she stood in our doorway rosy-cheeked from the winter air and waiting for me to unbutton her coat, I noticed something in her. Her eyes were wide with wonder. Perhaps she was taking in and processing all the day's events as she stood there, almost motionless, eyes fixed on me. But I felt glad to think that her tiny heart, much to little to understand the christmas story herself, felt warmed by all that had happened around her tonight.

And that she could feel a sense of wonder, even without Santa Claus and a pile of presents waiting for her under the tree.

Since my husband is patiently waiting for me to turn out the lights, I will end this December 25th by signing off and wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas. May the words of this hymn focus your heart as you celebrate today:

Good Christian men, rejoice!
With heart and soul and voice!
Now ye need not fear the grave:
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all,
To win His everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save!
Christ was born to save!

hop the bunny, part 2

While we were back in the States, Emma got some pictures taken with an easter bunny. No, not the easter bunny, a real-live, furry with big floppy ears easter bunny. She liked it so much (and we got such great pictures from the photo shoot) that emma's daddy decided she needed her own, full-time bunny. So, "Hop" the bunny (as he was so aptly named by emma) came to our house and began his initiation of becoming an eggroll.

Unfortunately, josh and I are not really "pet" people. It's not that we don't like pets, it's just that we seldom remember to do all those things that pets need. Kids, obviously, are different. Fear not - we remember to feed, clothe and clean up after our babies. It's just that pets are a different story.

All the eggrolls, including hop, weathered one hot oklahoma summer and though hop seemed a tad bit worse for wear, he made it through.

Then it came time for us to return to asia, leaving an unspoken question looming largely in the air: what will become of hop?

He was sort of just "left" at the house we were living, under the care of Josh's very-capable-but-often-quite-full hands. We aren't sure what has become of hop (nor have we asked...), but we are sure that whether he made to the PetsMart social club or has gone to bunny heaven, or is still sitting on the front porch chewing on his grass, he is probably ok.

Then yesterday...

Some girls that I meet with each week had come to visit, this time bringing a surprise gift for emma.

Of all the things they could have chosen to bring, why in the world they chose to bring something live, something that would require my daily attention,I have no idea. They bounced through the door, and enthusiastically presented emma with a bowl full of fish. Six fish. Two goldfish and two hammerhead looking fish.

truly, emma loved them. She sat around the fish bowl, neck craned towards the ground to get up as close as possible, and watched them flutter around for ages.

Tough somewhat disgruntled from yet another addition to my daily routine (do I not already have enough mouths to feed around here?), I quietly resolved that since emma was so enamored with the fish, I would do my best to keep them around as long as possible.

Who knew how long that would be?

As I was laying in bed last night, I found myself wondering about when and if fish sleep. If they sleep, do they just float, suspended in the air, or do they settle down towards the floor? I was truly curious (and still am, if any readers know the answer. I am just too lazy to look it up on wikipedia.) I also wondered if they fish would get cold in our house, because we turn the heater off in the living room while we sleep. (Each room in our house has its own seperate heat system)

This morning I awoke to the usual morning sounds - emma's pitter-pattering feet and mantha's hungry cry - and stumbled to the kitchen to get emma some milk. I glanced over at the fishbowl, and subconsciously quieted my steps. I had my answer - several of the fish were sleeping, sort of rested against the edge of the bowl, laying peacefully in the water.

I returned to an excited Emma, waiting anxiously for her morning milk. After a while, we returned to the dining room, where the fish bowl was situated. As Josh started studying the fish, I cautioned him, "Shh...some of them are sleeping."

"Uh, yeah, Rachel, " he replied sarcastically. "If that's what you want to call it!"

I looked closer. It was true. One of the fish was dead. His little black body was floating upside down, a crucial fact I had somehow failed to notice on my morning milk run. the other black fish looked perilously close to death as well, but roused as we tapped the bowl.

I dont' know how it happened. Maybe he was weak when we received him. Maybe it was too cold in our living room. Maybe he was self-conscious and Emma's constant perusal of him was just too much. I'm not sure, but one thing is certain: we are not pet people!

The Wonder of His Creation

I have lots to say about lots of different topics, but since I am pressed for time at the moment and have already had an unusually busy day, I just want to share this quote my friend Cindy shared with me from Augustine.

I hope as you read it, you will allow Father to renew your love and wonder at His most unique creation this holiday season.



We stand in awe of the ocean,
The thunderstorm,
The sunset,
The mountains:
But we pass by
A human being
Without notice
Even though
The person
Is God’s most
Magnificent
Creation.

Give me a BREAK!

I know, I know...it sounds like the beginnings of another post about chocolate. But, in fact, I'm talking about my kids!

The other day I was telling a story to my friend Rachel about some of Emma's less-than-desirable antics and somehow I rambled long enough to start complaining about the fact that sometimes Emma and I need a break from each other! She must certainly get weary with me occasionally, too! I mean, truly...we spend every single day together. Since we live in a foreign country, there are no grandparents to give Josh and I a special night out. There are no "mom's day out" programs around here. Not even church nurseries on Sunday! It is Mom-time/Emma-time, all the time.

Then, Rachel and I struck gold.

We decided that once a week we would trade off. This week, she would watch emma, and next week I would watch clara anne. Sure, we'll still have our littlest babies...but we've now entered the world where only caring for one child feels like a break. Kindly enough, Rachel let me go first (maybe because of my previous rant?)

so today, I dropped emma off at the door for a full morning of play with Rachel and Clara. Then I got into the taxi - without squeezing tightly on to little hands to make sure they don't run in the street, without singing every song I know in the taxi to ensure a smooth ride for a 2 year old, without keeping dirty sneakers from leaving their imprint on the white seat covers. Just me and mantha, who sleeps or remains otherwise content a large majority of the time.

I went shopping at the two biggest department stores in town. I bought josh's christmas present. I found lots of interesting goodies I had no idea existed in our city. I found a play-kitchen here that I was considering ordering from the States for Emma. I walked around in the sunshiny coolness that the noon hour brought. I walked, browsed, shopped and lingered without any thought whatsoever to what time it was.

And then I left, happy to be on my way to seeing Emma again. I returned to my real life, and emma certainly did not disappoint. When I got to rachel's house, she was seated at the table, happily shoving fistfuls of asian noodles into her mouth. They had read piles of books, played hide-and-seek, and pushed dolls around the house in make-believe adventures.

Next week, Clara will come here and perhaps rachel and john will go out for some lovely night on the town celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. And it helps me to remember that as much as I love this little child who is even now sitting at my lap, reaching longingly at the clattering keys on the keyboard, sometimes, we just need a break.

well, wake up already!

As I was glancing through some of my recent posts, I came to the interesting realization that every single one of my posts have something to do with my children. (Therefore, the title of "Adventures of mama and little eggrolls") So I thought for some post in the future, I will make a post that is just about some general subject of interest - like what a normal day is like for us here, what our life is like, things I like/don't like about where we live...questions that people often ask us. But that will have to wait for another day because the hour is already later than I intended and also because emma did something funny that I have to share.

We have a cute little Frosty the Snowman thing sitting on our piano, and tonight as emma and daddy were doing the nightly routine of teethbrushing and prayers, frosty got special mention. Here is the conversation that played out:

Josh: Who loves Emma?

Emma: mommy!

Josh: that's right...who else?

Emma: daddy!

Josh: yep! What about pappy and gigi?

Emma: pappy! gigi!

Josh: and mimi and g?

Emma: mimi! G! (pause) Frosty? Frosty love emma?

Josh: (laughing) yes, frosty probably loves emma, too.

Emma: (looking at the frosty on the piano with arms outstretched) Frosty, Emma hold you!

Josh: No, Emma, you can't hold frosty right now. Frosty is sleeping.

Emma: (Emma is still for a moment) Frosty! Wake Up! Good Morning! Hold you?



What fun she is! :)

a bit of christmas cheer

Now that samantha has finally quit throwing up, things seem to be in good shape around here! Tuesday was an exciting day for Emma - she got her first (and maybe only?) christmas present

from mom and dad! In fact, i wanted to wait for christmas eve to give it to her, but it was just too big to hide around the house where she wouldn't see it.

What was it? A bean bag chair! I have such fun memories of bean bag chairs, and when I saw this one (even though it was a bit expensive) I thought it would be fun for her to climb up in it, read books, look out the window...or whatever

else she can come up with to do in it! so, yay for bean bag chairs!

We also have presents under our christmas tree as packages have begun arriving from the grandparents back home - thanks pappy and gigi, and mimi and G for helping our tree have presents!

And, to top it all off, today I found white lights that don't twinkle - my tree looks great now! What a find!

hope you enjoy these fun pics! (samantha has been competing with emma for bean bag time!)

cute girls and other ramblings

So my best intentions to post every day for a week in honor of katie's finals week ended rather abruptly a few days ago. My sincerest apologies. I truly intended to do it each day...but it just didn't happen.

I'm posting a few pics that give a glimpse of things that have been going on the last few days around here. This nice, cute pic of samantha sitting happily in her high chair, waiting for some yummy rice cereal has been a distant memory of late. Three days ago (or maybe it was two, I forget) I made some rice cereal for samantha with milk that somehow must not have stayed fresh or something. Just a few moments after the meal had ended, the entire contents were thrown in violent fashion to the floor below. I was just preparing to put her to bed for the night, and I reasoned that she must be throwing up the cereal that she eat. It will be ok to nurse her one last time before she hits the sack. So, dorky mom Rachel feeds her again.

Just a few moments after that feeding, what do you think she did? yeah, she threw it all up too. So far, that has also accumulated to two of my shirts and two of her sleepers that had been dirtied in a very, very short time. After cleaning her all up, I put her to bed anyway. When she awoke in the morning, tummy growling and ready for a good meal, I fed her...only to watch her throw it all up again ! This time, I saw it coming and instincively thrust my hands forward, thereby "catching" all of the nice stuff in my cupped hands. Why again did I do that?

anyway, now seems to be a bit better and she has kept her meals down yesterday and all of today, so we are happy. She is lookin cute today, if you were wondering...wearing a cute little pink Tommy Hilfiger sweater and some khaki colored corduroy pants. Oh, to be six months old and stylin like that!

Lately, Emma imitates everything we do. Truly. Everything. Holy Moly! Be careful! Come here, please! No, ma'am. Josh! Rachel! This also applies to behaviors as well. This morning, I saw a renegade cockroach in Emma's room (of all places) and the gravity of the situation forced me to break my usual practice of indirectly killing them (by using spray, or by shooing them into the sink or anything that does not require me to actually come in contact with the creatures). I said, "Oh man!", ran to the entryway to grab a shoe, stomped the cockroach, and then got a baby wipe to bury his remains in.

So, Emma in in the living room playing a bit later, sees one of those green little things off the christmas tree and assumes he is a cockroach. "Oh man!" she says. She toddles off to get the same shoe I used before, stomps the floor, and then grabs the closest thing (her dora bib) to wipe up the "cockroach".

The other thing she did after this was...

She walked up to the front door, got the snugli that I wear to carry samantha around in, put her dora doll inside, put on her shoes and said, "Outside! Ok?" That was my cue that emma was getting bored!

So after lunch, I bundled up the three of us and we went to josh's school to play. Emma had so much fun crunching around in the leaves, finding sticks and waving to everyone who walked by us. Plus, she looked cute in this yellow poofy ski jacket thing that our landlord gave us from a childrens clothing store she apparantly owns. (It seems every week brings knowledge of some new enterprise she manages!) It was certainly chilly, but it was a nice fun afternoon. Now if I could just get her to go to sleep...

another sneaky trick

You are all aware of our attempt to curtail frivolous spending around our house here, which means no unnecessary chocolate purchases. But the truth is, I don't feel like a meal is complete until something sweet has been eaten. (that's the real reason we have made so many trips to the little store that is on the first floor of our building!)

But even though we aren't making any new purchases of chocolate, I didn't figure that the ban existed on already owned chocolate. So in an attempt to maneuver around the ban, I busted out some cocoa and a stash of Reese's peanut butter chips and did it the old fashioned way - by hand.

There were some delicious chewy chocolate peanut butter cookies that came out of my oven, let me tell you. And it made enough to last at least through this week. Yay! :) We'll just have to make a new plan for next wekk...

In other news, as I sit here on my bed and type my post, I have realized that I am not the onl sneaky one in the family. In the last two minutes, Emma managed to sneakily and quietly get out of her bed. It's late - well, at least for her! It's 9:20 and she went to bed at 8:00. That means she's been playing, talking, praying, singing or doing whatever else she does for over an hour. We heard a little pitter-patter outside our door, and she immediately informed us of the reason for the infraction: poopoo, she said with great gusto (hoping it would save her from certain punishment). Fortnuatley for her, she was telling the truth (which doesn't always happen when it comes to bodily functions) so she was indeed spared.

So, four cookies heavier, all the sneaky eggrolls sign off for the night. Have fun, kate. :)

in honor of Katie

so this post is dedicated to my sister, Katie, who is trudging through finals week (and MacroEcon, which I foolishly recommended to her to take...) and needs a study break via eggrollmama's blog. :)

The only new news in our household is that we have instituted a budget. Yeah, I know...a budget. Those words just sound so grown up and so desperate. Though we are fine financially, mu husband ( ever the saver ) is convinced we need to try to live a little more frugally. So this month begins the invoking of the "no frivilous spending" rule. Somehow, unbeknownst to me, cokes and chocolate got categorized as frivolous spending. How, I ask you, are those ruled frivolous? With all the known health benefits chocolate can bring? With all the warm fuzzies I get in each bottle of Coke? My opinion was obviously not weighted equally in the decision making.

Well, ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. We decided together to try it for a month and see what happened - just dont' buy stuff we dont' need. Seems simple, right?

Another area of newly appointed frugality was taking a bus when we previously took taxis. This can usually save a few bucks each ride, provided the distance is not too long and taking the bus will cost you 1 hour and a taxi will cost you 10 minutes. So this afternoon, I had to run to the store to buy a few things, and since it's not far from my house, I thought I'd walk. I often walk to the store, and it usually only takes about 10 minutes. Savings: 1 local dollar.

Then, at the store, I only purchased the things that were on my list. No extras (maybe a first for me). Since I only had a few bags, I thought I'd take the bus home and walk from the bus stop to my house (only about a 5 minute walk) instead of taking a taxi. Savings: 6.5 local dollars.

When I reached my house, huffing and puffing from the effort it took to lug all my bags and my cute samantha back home, I had a brainstorm: with all the money I saved, I could buy two (forbidden) cokes for us to drink with our frito chili pie dinner and still have money leftover!

So maybe in the end I didn't end up saving any money at all...but it sure felt like it!

Deck the Halls and all that stuff

We've really been trying to get in the Christmas spirit around here lately. True, Christmas decorations are not nearly as abundant in this country as in America, but they can be found. The trick is sifting through the mounds and mounds and aisles and shops of decorations that seem chintzy, cheap and tacky to find those very rare indeed diamonds in the rough.

Not to say that I have entirely succeeded; in fact, I think I have succumbed to the pressure of a chintzy Asian christmas. My tree is not the towering and full-looking evergreens that exist in the States. It is a tree that is rather short, thin and - I'm sorry, Mrs. Wind, so say - that it reminds me rather of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. You know how those look...not so many branches, you can kind of see the wires in between. But my tree cost three dollars, so what can you really expect from three dollars, I ask you?

I also have not found any white lights, which I am quite fond of. Something about the soft glow of those little lights just pleasantly makes me think of jingle bells and mercy mild and harkening to hear angels sing. I cannot seem to find them anywhere except on this commercial building down the street from me - they have a little christmas montage thing set up on thier lawn. I thought about sneakily going in the night and nabbing thier lights since I can't find my own...but then I reconsidered after contemplating what a night in an Asian prison might look like.

So we are making do with what we have. We found some cute little snowflakes and some cute little snowman-stuffed-animalish things that we are using as ornaments. As Emma helped me "decorate" the tree, she loved putting the snowmen in and out of the tree. She especially loves anything Frosty the Snowman, thanks to my parents who had a lifesize, motion-sensored snowman that delighted Emma to no end...even in March...even in July...even in September. Fortunatley, it is now December again, and Frosty has had a whole year to stretch his legs. Come January, he will probably go kicking and screaming back in that box!

Anyway, so I think as we proceeded in our decorating extravaganza, emma thought that since frosty was a stuffed animal and HE went in the tree, perhaps all her stuffed animals should also go in the tree. So, it started out innocentl enough, as she went to go get her beloved dora doll and put him in the lower branches of the tree. I snapped a picture so you could all see Dora cozily nestled in the branches. Then came blanket. Then caterpillar, zebra, giraffe, bear, and finally lamb. It was then that the boughs were so stuffed with animals that the tree (remember it's a cheap asian tree) could no longer withstand the weight of so many freeloaders that it tumbled to the ground. At that point, mom called a halt to all the fun and sent all the stuffed animals back to their room.

As I picked up the tree, Emma decided she had had enough of decorating, and decided instead to see how much of herself could fit inside the christmas tree box. She stayed entertained that way for a long while and then she was willing to play with samantha while we tried to get a few christmas pics out of the evening. The best one, though not GREAT, is posted at the top of this post. They still both look cute, so I thought it would pass for now. :)

In other news, mantha's skin is doing much better, thanks to the snake oil and vasoline. She is also now sleeping officially 12 hours through the night - 8am to 8pm! What a great thing for all of us! I have also busted out her 6-9 month clothes because all her other clothes were too summery for what is now getting to be a very chilly city, so she looks really grown up and especially cute almost every day. Don't you agree...?

More from us later. Hope you are all eating lots of christmas goodies and hitting all the good sales for me!

Still so much to learn

I’ve noticed about myself that sometimes I have a tendency to think that my culture is better than the culture in which I live. (I know, this is a sad fact to have to admit, but it’s quite true. And confession is good for the soul, right?) Anyway, I have to say I have been proven wrong two times this week.

For starters, I have been able to do nothing to rid my house of cockroaches. I have tried the little black forts already mentioned, arming myself with a can of raid each time I enter the kitchen, and various other techniques already described in this blog. So my house helper, who is very resourceful, meekly approached me with a suggestion. She didn’t laugh at me for my various other approaches, just quietly suggested something.

“How about I cut up an onion and leave it on the counter for a while? I heard that the smell of onion drives them away.” So we tried it.

She was right. The cockroaches have not been around these parts for a long while. The fact remains that WE also do not like the smell of onions and each time I open the kitchen door, I get a big whiff of the stuff. But the cockroaches are history, it seems.

The other area that my cultural norms have been turned upside down has to do with samantha’s skin, and interestingly enough, also my house helper. Again, I have tried various remedies (both medical and herbal, professional and amateur) to help samantha’s skin get to be nice and baby soft, not like the hands of Paul Bunyan who spent his whole life chopping trees and riding his blue ox. Homemade oatmeal baths, vasoline, olive oil, baby oil…you name it. If it is supposed to help, I have tried everything.

Or so I thought.

The other day, my little resourceful house helper again very meekly suggested I try the “local method” for treating eczema. She told me that the climate here is so dry, that lots of children have eczema in the winter. She said she’s never met anyone that wasn’t cured by this method. And, she commented, since the other things I have tried are not helping, maybe I should try this method. What was it, you wonder?

Snake fat oil.

It’s true. Ointment made from snake fat. Yeah, those slithery things that are responsible, in part, for so much evil in this world. And they were supposed to help my sweet girl? I was highly dubious. Scratch that. I was MORE than highly dubious.

But, out of respect for my house helper and my desperation to find a way to make mantha more comfortable, I emailed my doctor and asked what he thought.

“Sure,” he replied. “We certainly don’t have a corner on treating eczema in the West!”

So last night, I opened the bottle, squeezed out some of the maroon gel, and applied it very sparingly to only the worst parts of her body. And I spent half the night praying.

When I awoke, I was amazed to see that the worst parts of her skin were tons better. They were still dry and rough, but not red or bumpy. Maybe I should attribute it fully to the snake oil, but I also know that the Lord had hand in it. (and I spent the entire morning giving my sob story to my parents, who I’m sure alerted every person distantly related to me to start praying as well!)

But, I guess the moral of the story is that maybe I shouldn’t be quite to ethnocentric! I still have a lot to learn! And who knew that snake fat oil would be teaching me...

The sincerest form of flattery...

It's a true fact that Emma and Samantha are somewhat of celebrities out here in this country. (Emma more so than samantha, just because emma has longer hair and so everyone thinks she looks like a porcelain doll!) Every time we go out the door, large numbers of people come up to hold emma, feel her hair, pinch her cheeks, hold her hands, touch her just to see what a foreigner "feels like". Truly, people here hardly know how to react to her. We've even had other children point at emma and say, "Mama, what is that?" Undaunted, the mother said, "That's a child. A foreign child." I was about two seconds from giving that kid a swift slap for calling my child a "that", but such is life here. Adults and children alike can hardly fathom that foreigners birth children that look so different.

So I can understand Emma's hesitation towards Asians that she sees. She often turns away in protest when they try to hold her, pulls her hand away when they want to touch her, and usually offers a sharp "No!" to whatever request they might be making of her. But today's incident was pretty clever. I've always thought Emma was brilliant, but today caught even her doting mother off guard.

The three of us girls had gone up to josh's school; we were all going to meet when he got out of class and eat lunch together. As we were waiting for him to finish, the usual crowd of people came up to stare at Emma. One brave girl asked, "What is your name?"

Emma sat for a moment, looked around, then looked right at the girl and said confidently, "Clara!'

Who can blame her for wanting a bit of an escape?!

can you be too thankful?

Now that my macaroni and cheese leftovers are gone, I can't ramble endlessly about how I enjoyed eating them for the sixth time in a row. But, over the last few days, I have been thinking about how blessed my life is. So, if you'll indulge me one last time as I share my list of gratitute:

I am thankful that Emma loves me...and that I love her. I know that sounds so silly, but truly I have been prying that He would give me more love for her. Recent months in the eggroll household have been difficult with Emma trying to see how far her boundaries are, and then see how far she can push them. Consistency has been much harder than I ever thought possible! But recently, it's like we've had these moments where I feel like I am really connecting with her soul - when she laughs hysterically during my belly kisses, and then in that moment where she sighs and catches her breath, she looks at me with such adoration my heart can barely take it...when she willingly reaches up to give me one last hug before she drifts off to sleep, and then pulls my neck close to hers...when she says, "Mommy? hand?" and then reaches for my hand, no matter what she is doing...it's during these moments that somehow it feels like the whole world stops so we can linger in that special place. (ok, so I am the one who wants to linger; I'm sure emma is just ready to get back to her toys, but still....you get the picture)

I am thankful for a husband who loves being the best father he can be to our girls. Every saturday, josh plans special time to take emma to go do something fun...usually just the two of them. Last saturday, I got to be in on the action! Josh took emma walking around the campus of his school and they crunched in the dead leaves. How fun that kids don't know that dry leaves crunch until you tell them! Emma had a blast walking around with daddy and crunching to her hearts' content!

I am supremely thankful for my new piano! I love spending the evenings trying out new worsh!p songs, playing with josh on the guitar, and teaching emma about the high notes and the low notes.

Our sweet samantha has eczema, which affects the skin on her body by turning red, bumpy and rough like sandpaper a lot of the time. But, the palms of her hands are unaffected...and I am thankful for those special moments during the day when she curiously reaches up to touch my face. She usually lets her hands linger on my cheeks as she explores this mommy who loves her so much. This is truly one of the highlights of my day!

I am thankful for Emma's sweet spirit! She loves piping up "thanks!" when someone does something special for her, loves it when we are proud of her, and loves "helping" mommy do the dishes!! How can doing the ishes be boring when this is your company?

Have I mentioned that I am thankful for macaroni and cheese?

It seems like recently I have started feeling sorry for myself and samantha because of her skin problem. I've been frustrated at my inability to do anything about it, the way I feel like it makes her uncomfortable, and the fact that I feel like it adds blemishes to what is otherwise a very perfect baby. And then, in those low moments, I realize that just because she is Samantha I have so many reasons to feel thankful. Truly, she is a healthy and happy baby with lots of love to give! I am so blessed by her happy gurgles, gummy smiles, and her valued presence in our family. And I think she truly is beautiful...

I am thankful that I live in a city where I have friends, both foreign and now, more and more locals.

I am thankful that we have great families and friends back in the States. We are truly blessed that so many of you pry for us; you do so much to help us and show us that you care. Thank you. It isn't always easy living so far away from such great people. (Fortunately, Emma is getting used to keeping in touch with you! This photo is of emma "talking" to some of you via her little cell phone!)

I am thankful that no matter how many times I lose my patience, my motivation, or my faith, He is always willing to renew me and refill me. After coming to grips with my gaping shortcomings as a parent, I have a new sense of awe at the way our Heavenly Father instructs and shows His tender love for us. Oh, the quest to be more like Him...!

I am thankful that you are reading my blog! It really helps me feel more connected to you all.

great posts are like the missing sock

you know how sometimes you can never find the partner to some of your socks? how they somehow disappear in the dryer?

I'm convinced good posts are like that, too.

I just finished composing a great post - full of memorable anecdotes and gorgeous new pictures of my girls.

And I think blogger ate it.

I hope it was as good as my macaroni and cheese (which I have now eaten consecutively for five meals), because I'm not going to rewrite it until tomorrow. I've got a hot bath waiting on me...

until next time...

but just to whet your appetite, I'll post ONE of the pictures that got eaten...

crisis averted

Trying to celebrate thanksgiving in a foreign country, and trying to manage families with very young children was sure to bring some thanksgiving drama! Here is my list of thanksgiving crises narrowly averted this year:

-macaroni salvaged at the last minute: I have decided that homemade mac and cheese is my new thanksgiving tradition - creamy, yummy, and SO scrumptious! But as I was making it, I tripled the recipe for the pasta, cheese, milk and butter, but QUADRUPLED it for salt and pepper! When it was finished, I tasted it and was nearly blown off my feet by the level of saltiness. In the end, I just ended up making a 4th batch of it without salt and pepper to add to the other three. Needless to say, we had LOTS of mac&cheese!

-waiting on the stuffing: So, after planning the entire thanksgiving meal with exact precision, we opened the oven at 12:00 noon to pull out the stuffing (as everything else is ready and piping hot!) and we discovered that I had accidentally turned off the oven right as rachel was putting the stuffing in an hour ago! Yikes! We just decided to do our best to keep everything hot and let the stuffing cook. In the end, that one turned out ok, too.

-getting all the haizi's happy at the same time: this crisis was not exactly avoided, just managed. (By the way, haizi's is the way you say "children" where we live and we use it so casually, we have added it to our english vocabulary!) With two infants and two toddlers, there was bound to be chaos. We were able to manage them not ALL crying or fussing at the same time; they decided instead to take turns! So it added to the noise level, but we were so thankful this year to have such a full house of precious children!

-enough food: truly, as I planned the meal, I thought there would not be enough food. But, of course, it turned out to be a meal for an army and for days and days of leftovers. But isn't that what thanksgiving was all about?? Highlights of my t-giving meal this year were: the incredibly moist turkey (I've converted, officially), mac&cheese, apple cake, and the chocolate chip cheesecake ball which tempts you to mindlessly eat while you play cards. YumYum!


I decided to give mantha her first rice cereal today instead of thanksgiving - there was just a bit much chaos yesterday, but today she was surprisingly open to the new substances. Pictures and details to come later!

Let the shopping begin...

L, O, P, and the period

So somehow in the midst of my frantic thanksgiving preparations this afternoon, I managed to cut the fourth finger on my right hand. Truly, it was not a big cut. But as I checked my email this evening and got caught up on my friends' blogs, I noticed that L, O, P, and the period were quite difficult. Then, I realized it was that stupid cut. That's like, bLOgsPOt, eggrOLLmama, and LOts of other words that use those letters. Hmmm.

anyway, hope you all have a great thanksgiving. Even minus the ham, I think it will be a happy day for us all out here. AND...in other news, on Monday afternoon our house helper decided to make this year the best thanksgiving ever (even though they don't celebrate thanksgiving here...) and make the most important decision someone can make! Now, there's something to be thankful for! :)

Cheers! Eat lots of ham and other things for me!

sunday cuteness, thanksgiving drama, and the benefits of parenthood

I meant post this little diddy on sunday, but alas, time just got away from me. BUT...I just wanted to give some props to my cute girls. Even though we don't have a special place we go on Sunday mornings, we still get everyone dressed up and cute looking for little foreign fellowship time.
So here they are, in all their special sunday cuteness. Don't you just love emma's little maroon velvet dress with the girly pink tights? She's sitting there on the floor eating her raisins before everyone got to our house for worsh!p...looking cute and angelic as can be. Then, there's sweet little mantha, smiling at anyone who will give her the time of day, in her brand-new baby booties from mimi and G. Sunday cuteness. What's not to love?


In thanksgiving news, lots of you have been wondering if/what we will be doing to celebrate the big day out here. Though we do have a great plan, I'm sorry to say that just today our plan was made a tad less magnificient, due to some unexplained glitch on the part of the import store owners who were supposed to be ordering the ham and turkey for us. The turkey will be here on time (ie, today) but the ham, the yummy, salty, sweet, tasty ham will not be here at all. I know that most people think thanksgiving is about turkey, but for me, it's really the ham that makes it worthy of a feast. Ham. Ham leftovers. Cold ham. Warmed ham. Ham sandwiches. Can you really go wrong with ham? Oh well...maybe next year. Anyway, accompanying our ham, Rachel and I have planned quite a spread: stuffing, mashed potatoes, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, dinner rolls, pecan pie, apple cake, hello dollies, and a cheesecake ball. Can thursday come any faster???

One of the benefits of parenthood is that I have now officially joined the ranks of people whose homes and refrigerators are wallpapered with toddler-scribbling masterpieces. Even today, Emma's activity was helping us get ready for thanksgiving by coloring a turkey and a cornicopia (I tried to get her to pronounce it, but it came out "corn-a-na-na-pe-o-pi-de-o" or something like that). Truly, is this not great? There was so much zeal going into each of those little scribbles. I loved watching her chunky little fingers try to add color to the shoes, the banana, and various other objects she can identify. My thanksgiving heart was warmed as I taped her little drawing to toilet paper rolls so they could be proudly displayed next to the dinner spread come thursday.

And in the thanksgiving spirit, we decided that mantha's first taste of "real-ish" food will come on thanksgiving day, thanks to another gift of a bib that reads, "Baby's first thanksgiving." I guess I figured if I didn't use it now, I'd have to wait until #3! :) so, we've been trying to prep her for the big day by giving her short amounts of play time in her new high chair! Ok, well I have a cute pic of mantha sitting in her high chair, feeling all happy and like a big girl, but blogger is freaking out on me and it wont post...so until next time, think happy thanksgiving thoughts! yum yum!

one of those days

Today was just one of those days. You know the kind I'm talking about.

It started out ok, but just progressively got more and more chaotic.

Our hot water heater went out again today.

The ribs I made for dinner yesterday somehow (unbeknownst to me!) spilled out onto the bottom of my oven; so as I was preheating the oven tonight to bake some yummy cornbread, all the rib juice got "cooked" into the oven, causing the oven to smoke all through the kitchen...and more importantly, no cornbread. Then, I had to spend an hour after dinner, after dishes, scouring the oven so that it would not leave smoky burnt rib residue on our thanksgiving feast next week.

My entire drawer that holds my silverware broke.

The water in our entire building went out.

The elevator was broken. We live on the 10th floor.

My veggie soup that I made for dinner tonight truly was awful.

The two redeeming points of the day were:
-that I am now sitting in front of the computer, at 10:42pm, drinking a coke (an American coke, no less...), eating a Dark Chocolate KitKat bar, and munching on Orville Redenbaucher's popcorn. Thank you, Orville. Gosh, I'm such a comfort eater.

-My parents sent me this huge care package and it finally arrived yesterday! Nestled in between the gazillions of clothes and Dora paraphanalia for my children were FOUR lovely bottles of bubble bath for me. How do these sound: Spiced Apple Rapture, Cinnamon Bun Heaven, Pumpkin Pie Paradise, and then Warm Vanilla Sugar from Bath&Body Works. I have been thinking of the hot bath I would take this evening all day...until I realized - with a sigh - that not only do I not have hot water, I do not have water, period! bummer. But the package was great - and there's Cheetos on there too. Who can resist cheetos? And chocolate. Those Dark Chocolate KitKats are good. Do they have those in the States?

Tomorrow will be better. God willing, tomorrow will be Spiced Apple Rapture!

special moments caught on film

It seems I have taken a bit of a break from blogging, but I haven't intentionally neglected my blog. We've had all sorts of random happenings here lately. For example, on saturday our hot water heater went out and was only fixed yesterday. So, since none of you need help with simple arithmetic, you can deduce that was FOUR days with no showers or baths or shaving or washing faces in this house. We were all heralding the entrance of the repairman.

Last weekend, we took emma to a local park to run around and play. Generally, there are very few play areas for kids here; even those that charge you to enter are few and far between. this one that we went to isnt' even really a playground, just a park with flowers and trees and a natural spring. We aren't too amazed with the bubbling spring that is the major tourist attraction of the city, but it gives emma a nice break from the dusty streets outside. It also gave emma a good chance to practice her newly learned colors! We had fun picking out the pink, white, yellow and red flowers. Gosh, she's smart!


My friend Rachel also decided to start potty-training her daughter (emma's best friend, clara) this week. Emma got to hear all about clara's potty training experience via mom, and I think emma secretly wishes she could be potty trained too. But, alas...her mother has decided that, due to unexpected difficulties, I will wait until rachel has all the secrets to share with me. Perhaps then Emma can begin her journey into higher bathroom functioning.


For now, though, Emma seems content to try putting on her own clothes. As you can see, she is having a bit of difficulty figuring out exactly how this shirt business works. I'm sure she'll get it after a while!


Maybe she hasn't figured out how to fully get dressed, but she sure knows how to entertain her sister! And, more recently, she has taken quite the nurturing approach with samantha! One morning, sure that samantha must be as thirsty as she was, emma even decided to share her precious milk (after emma had already drunk it dry!) with samantha!


Samantha is staying busy, too...her most recent feat includes rolling over and over and over. She's getting quite mobile, which means I should probably quit leaving her on top of the changing table now... this picture was taken yesterday as she was scoping out the camera during a "roll-over" session.


This amazing picture of my two favorite people was taken today as we were walking to mcdonalds for lunch. Granted, we usually do not eat at McD's, but today I had made no other plans for lunch and I certainly wasn't in the mood to cook anything. So, Emma shared her stroller with samantha in exchange for riding on daddy's shoulders. The street that leads to mcD's is not such a beautiful street, but the side walks are lined with huge leafy trees, spreading out, canopied, above your head. As the sunlight bounced through the leaves, I caught the moment - emma truly happy with her sky-high perch, daddy truly happy to be with emma on a unseasonably warm winter day.

On a final note, I will end this very rambling post by saying that I read online - but from a reputable source!! - that eating a little chocolate a day has been proven by researchers to help your blod clot, therefore bringing additional health benefits to the "fix" we all feel when we scarf it down! Long live the good stuff!

happy highlights

so today was a fun day for us.

we went and had our normal little sunday routine - which is anything but normal when four small children are involved. We've tried to do lots of things to keep the little girls involved in our worsh!p times, so we've given them little shaker toys that they can shake as we sing songs. Emma, who loves to sing with all her heart, will usually shout out "YAY!" and clap enthusiastically anytime a song is over. This usually gives the singer lots of pleasure and affirmation, knowing that emma has been sufficiently entertained.

But today, after one lively song, Emma shouted, "Praise the Lord!" Way to go, Emma!


Then, this evening, josh was playing on the couch with emma as I was holding samantha looking on. Josh and emma were having a marvelous time as he pretend-attacked her with dolphin. (yes, dolphin still has air and is still an important part of emmma's life) Emma's happy shrieks brought much concern to her sister samantha, who was sure that emma was in some sort of trouble. Samantha looked at josh and let out some angry, concerned shouts. I say shouts because they weren't cries. They weren't screams. It was the baby equivalent of "Hey, what are you doing? Leave her alone!"

Then, when she realized that emma was laughing, she started giggling too. To date, no one except emma has made samantha giggle. Not even Mrs. Food Supply. Emma is the sole title holder.


In one final happy evening highlight, we were putting emma to bed and josh was helping get her jammies on. Emma's usual favorite care bear jammies were dirty as were her other pair...so we brought out her super-warm and cozy footed jammies (a recent gift from her pappy and gigi). Emma was awed at the realization that jammies could have shoes. She was entranced with the shoes, barely making it one or two steps before stopping to look, touch, feel. She kept saying, "Jammies...shoes! Jammies...shoes!" over and over again. Finally, we got her in bed, but I think she was really happy that even jammies have shoes.

Where I am, there you may also be

That is Emma's motto when it comes to life with her sister.

Wherever Samantha might be, emma needs to be there. Whatever serious business was going on between emma and chosen stuffed animal is immediately put on hold so that she may go to her sisters' side.

If Samantha is in the kitchen with me, Emma will be shortly.

If Samantha is in emma's bedroom with me while I hang up clothes, it is only a matter of time until that becomes party central.

If Samantha is quietly playing by herself, emma invites herself to join.

Truly. You can see for yourself.

But how can I complain about this? When they are older, I hope they still have this attitude. I watch my sisters (a sophomore and freshman in college) and I see this principle in action. They still love each other. they still support each other through bad room mates, bad boyfriends, and all the other crap that life can sometimes bring.

I hope samantha will always have emma. Enjoy the pics!

You may not know...

I was writing an email to my new friend amy the other day, and i was telling her a little about myself and our family. As I was writing, I thought it was a good idea just to have an entire post about things you may or may not know about me. I know, this blog should be more devoted to the little eggrolls instead of the mama eggroll, but sometimes you just have to deal with me. :) so here goes:

I played the flute in junior high marching band.

I like to eat tofu.

If I have spare time, I like to blog, scrapbook, read, and write (and usually in that order).

I have drunk only six cokes from the 32-pack I bought on october 1.

Our biggest marital conflicts have revolved around how much sugar to put in cornbread.

I don’t like coffee. Not even starbucks.

I love holding hands with my daughter.

I didn’t learn how to cook until I lived in asia.

I have a strong addiction to anything chocolate – there is no dessert too rich for me.

I didn’t get on a plane for the first time until I was almost 18.

My daughter’s first plane ride came when she was 5 weeks old.

My grandfather died during our first year in asia; other than that, no one really close to me has died in my adult life.

My favorite restaurant (besides good mexican food) is Luby's Cafeteria. (When I go there with my grandmother, I'm sure all the other patrons think, "Oh, how nice...that girl is bringing her grandmother to Luby's!" ...when in fact, it's my grandmother taking ME to Luby's.)

Samantha's birthday is on our wedding anniversary.

I had laser eye surgery.

I TRULY hate cockroaches.

Before I die, I want to (among other things) 1) spend a month in Australia, 2) go to the pyramids in Egypt and 3) go on an African Safari.

I only take a shower every two or three days. :)

My jeans are still tight.

My first job was working at Chuck E. Cheese. (and yes, I really liked it!)

Well, that about covers all the random things I can think of to tell you. What are some random facts about you??

Home Invasion

I really do like my house in this county. It has plenty of room for all of us (though not quite enough storage space) and it is starting to feel really homey.

The problem is that we aren’t the only ones who think it feels homey.

That’s right; my kitchen has become home to a nice and thoughtful community of cockroaches.

I say thoughtful because they seem to understand that we human-types aren’t too fond of cockroaches, so they generally stay out of sight during daylight hours. When I’m busy baking cookies, muffins, and chicken strips, they are nowhere to be seen. They wait until they think I am safely done with my kitchen duties of the day before they begin their late-night parties.

Then, when I unexpectedly need a glass of water, or I need to put something back in the fridge and the light pops on, they run for cover. They understand I don’t like them, so they are thoughtful enough to scurry back to their homes.

Nice, thoughtful cockroaches.

Wanting to repay their kindness, I searched the internet for a non-toxic and humane way to kill cockroaches. I found this guy’s PhD report online that documented perhaps every known fact about cockroaches. In the FAQ section of his paper, he addresses how to humanely killcockroaches, but adds: Because I devote my life to the study of cockroaches, I cannot condone the killing of any cockroaches. However, since most people think they are an unsightly nuisance, here are some ways…blah blah blah.

What a life. Studying cockroaches.

So anyway, we were living out a sort of shaky co-existence when yesterday one brave cockroach has put the entire cockroach community in danger.

I was in the kitchen in broad daylight making lunch; Samantha was laying happily on the floor gazing at magnets. Emma was somewhere running around in the house, I’m sure. Perhaps that was when she unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper. I’m still unsure the exact time that crime occurred.

Anyway, we were all there, minding our own human-business, when along he trod.

A grandpapa cockroach, all fat and happy from months of nibbling on josh and rach leftovers. What audacity! Maybe he was scoping out special treats he could bring back for the grandkids, who knows…but in broad daylight?! And as if nothing were wrong with this? He was not in any such hurry, not aware that his human landlord was watching him, nearly burning a hole in the back of his shiny cockroach back.

I had previously bought these little black boxes made by Raid that are supposed to emit some sort of roach-killing odor. However, the cockroaches seem to have turned those against me. Josh calls them the “ little black forts” because instead of the roaches running from them (in order to escape the “deadly fumes”) they instead run into them for cover when the kitchen door swings open. Yes, granddaddy cockroach himself came sauntering out of the little black fort.

So, as you can see, something must be done about my cockroach community. They are no longer welcome to peacefully coexist in my kitchen. They are no longer welcome to nibble on my muffin crumbs. They are no longer welcome to hide under my stove, to scramble around on my counter.

Something must be done.

little white lies

I think we have officially made the leap from "little bed" to "big bed". Three nights ago, Josh gave emma the choice about which bed she wanted to sleep in. After walking over to each of them and carefully studying them, at last, she headed toward her big pink bed, and exclaimed, "Bed!" The choice was made.

The night went without incident. she did not get out of bed, she did not cry. (We do know that she played in her bed a few minutes before finally drifting off to sleep, but that is allowable here.)

When naptime of day #2 came, I lugged emma up and tried to put her in little bed. She would have none of it, and kicked and screamed to further back up her original decision to sleep in big bed. I put emma on the floor, sat down cross-legged with her, and we had a heart-to-heart. I told her that I understood she probably wanted to get out of her big bed and play with toys during naptime (not allowable). I told her that she probably wanted to read books (also not allowable), and I told her that just because it wasn't dark in her room and she could see all around, she still could not get of bed (most certainly and absolutely not allowable). She solemnly agreed with a very serious "ok, mommy."

I tucked her in, gave her a kiss and told her of my firm beleif that she is a good girl. I left the room as she was still smiling in the bed.

A few minutes later, I hear happy sounds coming from the bedroom. I decide to peek in the crack of the door (that I had left a little ajar so I could be a snooper-mom and spy on her). I saw her sitting on her bed (allowable, as long as she is not standing) and lining up all her animals on her bed, giving each of them some garbled words of affirmation. I couldn't help smiling, and I sat watching her, quite amused, for a good three or four minutes.

She must have had a sense that I was watching her, because she looked toward the crack of the door and carefully studied it until she could make out my image through the small opening. A huge smile crossed her face.

I opened the door, and wanting to tell her how good she was for staying inside her bed, I said pleasantly, "Oh, Emma, were you playing with animals?"

The smile dropped.

She looked hard at her animals, looked back at me and said quietly, "no."

No?

Did Emma just lie to me?

She did!

So young, so fun, so innocent, and yet still...so sinful! yikes!

fortunately for emma, she quickly recanted and told the truth, sparing her from worse punishment. Another fortunate thing for emma is that I was so jolted by the lie that her punishment was very light. We had another heart-to-heart about lying. Then, she went to sleep. yay!

Last night was another chapter in the big bed/little bed saga. Emma has been learning about sharing recently. After a fun evening of making samantha have happy and sustained giggles, it was time for brushing teeth, prayers and bed. But before bed, emma had the chance to practice her excercises in philanthropy.

We asked her if she would be willing to share her little bed with samantha. As samantha is one of emma's favorite people on this earth, emma quickly agreed that this was a good idea. So, little bed was moved out of emma's room and into the dining room so samantha could sleep in it.

Wow. Both girls, moving up to bigger beds.

with a deep sigh

** We interrupt your regularly scheduled happy-child-post to bring you this strange and depressing post. Your regularly scheduled blog will resume at a later date. **

I usually enjoy turning on the computer and seeing all the things I have missed while I slept during the night. What did my friends blog about? what encouragement might have come from across the ocean? what interesting news event might have occurred?

But you know, it seems that lately, turning on the computer just leaves me with a heavy heart.

I'm not a politician, nor do I care to be one. I am certainly not an analyzer of current events. I leave that to my capable husband and my capable friends paul and john.

but truly! Who can stand watching one more christian leader fall? Who can continue working through the emotional turmoil of deceit and betrayal? How many times must we grapple with issues of the faith that result from these situations? But I guess one question that surfaces in these situations that I cannot get out of my mind: where is the accountability?

Have we truly strayed SO far from being the body that we insulate ourselves from relationships in which we are genuine? Are we so afraid that our sin will turn others off, are we so paranoid that others will think less of us that we refuse to present anything less than a perfect front? Or is it that our platform of pride is so tall and towers so high above the rest that we think we are immune from a catastrophic fall?

What of those who placed so much trust in these men? What of their families? and their children? and the legacy of the gospel in their lives? and the call to holiness? and what of the fallen world that watches it all happen...?

Will people like my papa - who died at after an abundant 78 years on this earth being wholly faithful to one wife - be in the minority?

Yes, I take heed, lest I myself fall. If the people we have all seen fall are not immune, then certainly we ourselves are not.

My friends, I tell you honestly: we pray for you. We pray for your marraiges. We pray that your hearts would be soft to the sweet promptings of the Holy Spirit, nudging you to be more and more in His image.

And let this community of believers determine that in this year that has brought so much personal heartbreak and frustration of spirit to so many of us, we will lay down a milestone in the spiritual realm - we shall put on His armor, standing firm until the day of Christ Jesus, and take back the task of pursuing his holiness.


Whew. Now that that is off my chest, I'll post something a bit lighter next time.

sisterly love and other happenings

It is true that Emma and Samantha are sisters by no choice of their own. Fortunately, they are both young enough that at this point, they still generally care about the other - actually, Samantha adores Emma. It is evident every time she looks her way. No one can make mantha smile like Emma, even if Emma isn't even trying. Emma can so much as LOOK at samantha, and happy giggles burst forth. Emma is usually too preoccupied in looking after her other stuffed animals, or pulling all the cooking utensils from the kitchen drawer, or causing the terror alert to be raised in the household to be too concerned with samantha's whereabouts...but every so often, she takes an interest in samantha.

Yesterday was one such occasion.

Sometimes, if I am getting dinner ready and samantha sounds lonely and in need of some attention,I will bring her in the kitchen with me and lay her on the floor while I finish cooking. This seems to be an interesting perspective for her, and she enjoys the arrangement. Whenever this happens, Emma's radar immediately picks it up.

-beep, beep, beep. Someone other than me is getting a special privilege. beep, beep, beep.-

So Emma comes and lays on the floor next to mantha. Usually, this leads to quick and certain boredom for emma, who gets easily distracted by the colorful magnets on the fridge.

Yesterday, after a stream of happy giggles, mantha noticed that Emma was otherwise preoccupied and was not paying attention to her special treasures (blanket, in particular). Samantha very sneakily snatched blanket for her own while emma was meticulously arranging said magnets.


Then, as if acting upon her boldness, mantha noticed that dora, the highly honored mexican child, was also left unguarded. As you can see, Samantha was obviously pleased with herself and her newfound possessions.

I'm sure you can imagine that emma quickly discovered that dora had left her hands and she went looking for the culprit. Of course, samantha could not go far, and would not put up much of a fight. Dora was quickly reunited with her righful owner, but samantha sure made a run for it!


Then, what is this about? Right after snatching dora back from mantha, emma seems to notice for the first time that samantha has ears?! Oh, you think you're going to take MY toys, do you? Well, how does this feel, huh?!

Anyway, all that to say that even though there is little bit of unwillingness to share right now, they generally like each other and get along quite well.



I went yesterday to go check out the table that the factory made for me. I have to say that, though it is not the color I originally "ordered" (wanted black, but ended up with a chocolate brown), it is an unbelievably beautiful table. It is solid wood (something I could likely never afford in the States) and is perfect. Perfect. The wood itself is one of the highest qualities you can buy, and the grain on it is lovely. It's simple, classic, and...beautiful. Now, I just have to wait ANOTHER month while they finish up the chairs. But, at least now I know what I am waiting for! This darling picture of Samantha was taken at the factory while I was checking out the table.


This evening, Emma was being awfully quiet (usually a good cue to go see what mischief she has gotten into). I quietly looked in all rooms of our house to see where she was, and finally found her in the bathroom. She had opened a little wicker chest-of-drawers, and had taken the very bottom drawer out and put it on the floor. She had carefully put in her doll and bear, and then decided, "what the heck. I think I can fit in here too!" I walked in on her, all scrunched up in the drawer, and just sitting happily. "Are you in a little boat?" I asked her.

"Yep. Boat."

I kid you not, she was in there for 20 minutes, just sitting in her little boat.



Tonight we gave emma another shot at her "big girl bed". She had been sent back to the pack and play a few weeks ago for a host of reasons, the most important of which was that neither she or we were getting the required amount of sleep to ensure adequate brain functioning. But tonight, she laid in her bed for a long time (didn't actually get out of bed - yay! but just laid there and babbled to herself). At one point, though, the babblings became very clear and distinct to me. This is what I heard.

"God. Thank you. Momma. Daddy. Johnny (one of josh's new friends). Mantha. Ok. Amen.

"God. Thank you. Momma. Daddy. Mantha. Jesus. Ok. Amen."

Could the day have ended any better? With warm fuzzies in my heart, I sign off for tonight. Blessings to you all.

oh yeah, one more food post

I forgot to mention in my earlier blog that today I made BBQ sandwiches and french onion dip for lunch. Did you get that - FRENCH ONION DIP !! ARrg...it was so good. We had an asian friend over for lunch, and he finished his lunch WAY before we did. I'm sure he just sat there inwardly incredulous at how josh and I just kept stuffing our faces...bite after bite...chip after chip...with chips and dip. Even emma got in on the action - she learned how to "dip" and kept calling for more: "Chips, momma! Chips, momma! Wheeeeze!"

Dip, Dip, hooray!

fun times and happy days

I think a good principle to live by is doing your best to make the most of each day. That is particularly true when there are countless days that I do not see a shower, or make it into "going outside clothes"! But thursdays are fun to make the most of. Thursdays are Emma and Clara Anne's play-dates.

I never really understood play-dates before I had kids. I wondered why kids needed set-aside time to "play". Now, I realize that perhaps it is more for the mothers than the kids! Play-dates are where the moms can catch up on all the random things that are on thier minds, eat cookies (even peanut butter cookies seem good at "play-dates"!), drink coke and let our kids entertain each other. Ok, ok...so maybe its fun for our kids too.

Yesterday, was a fun play-date. We colored together, sang a new song, and painted with ice cubes that had been frozen with food coloring. This was actually a fun little experiment - when the girls "painted" with their ice cubes on a paper towel, all the colors ran together and created beautiful, stained-glass-type images. Oh, yeah...we also made peanut butter and banana smoothies. We can't forget about the food! :)

THEN...while the big sisters were napping, we left the house in josh's capable hands, and rachel and I took the little sisters SWIMMING! Most of you probabaly remember emma's swimming debut from her 1st year video, so I thought it only fair that samantha should get a chance to go too!

The whole scenario was incredibly convenient. We called the place to reserve a time, then they sent a driver to come and pick us up. They prepared the baby pools for us while we browsed the selection of imported baby items, and then it was time!

Well, I have to say that samantha did much better than emma's first time to swim. She quickly got adjusted to the feeling of total immersion, and then seemed to begin a regimen of pool calesthenics. She was fluttering here and there, pushing off the side of the wall, and thoroughly enjoying herself!

After about ten minutes, though, she had hit her limit. She started whimpering, and I took that as my cue to extract her from the water before the whimpers turned into an all-out cry. As we dried off and got clothes back on, samantha was full of happy smiles and I was happy that it was a fun day for her.

As we were returning home, a lady with a huge sheepdog got on the elevator with us. Knowing that emma would squeal with delight if she saw him, I asked the lady if I could bring my other daughter down for a visit. When emma and clara awoke from their naps, we took them down to meet the dog. (I actually never thought to ask his name!) Sure enough, emma was delighted to see such a big dog - and he was just about as tall as her! She loved following him around, and even was brave enough to pet him a few times.

Emma has also enjoyed our new purchase! She likes sitting on the bench (much more than she prefers sitting in my lap) and "practicing" by herself at the piano! We hope she grows to love it just as much as I have! The only problem is that every time I sit down to try to work out the rust of my own abilities, emma comes running from whereever she might be, thinking I have given her an invitation to sit and play - so she's getting in more practice than me! But what was I truly thinking, expecting to practice the piano with two little ones running around??