Introducing New Product #2

From Brad.

Nope, didn't buy this one. Savannah and I went out on a date this morning to the only place in town I know of where one can sit down for breakfast...McDonalds. As I ordered two value meals for us, on my tray was placed two bonus items. They were the same and one is pictured in this post. It's probably obvious that it is toothpaste. What may not be obvious (I couldn't get a close enough picture to capture the words) is that it is Eucalypus flavor with the exciting additive...bamboo salt. Why these were being handed out with a McD value meal is a little confusing to me, but that's small in comparison to why one would put bamboo salt in toothpaste (I didn't know salt came bamboos?!). What tops it all off is the english writing on the box which advertises it as "refresh breathing". :) I'll let you comment on how you would interpret that. Anyway, I did try it and well...not going to do that again. I did brush for a little extra longer to try to compare the taste to something familiar and I struck out. I have nothing to compare it to, but it was a tad bit salty. I think it will be handed down to the three munchkins. :)

Speaking of them, I did have a 'treat' for them today. As expected, it took Alex about 5 minutes today to see and ask for coffee gum. I cheerfully consented.











There was a bit of shock at the beginning but he shared that he liked it. Probably not because it tasted good, but because gum always tastes good, right? The other two had to have some and were all smiles after it was all done. Phewy! Didn't get the reaction I hoped for. :)

For all you coffee lovers

From Brad.

And you thought the US had cornered the market on coffee products. Here, we can get the incredible, unique, exclusive, distinctive, rare...coffee gum. Yep, saw it at the store the other night and for a quarter, I couldn't pass it up! Amy and I took the plunge tonight and our thoughts: ahhh, probably not again. Our kids ask for gum all the time. I've been foolish enough to give gum to my 3 year old boys with clear instructions...only to have them swallow it within minutes. Maybe if we hand over this gum the requests might not come as frequently. I thought when I became a parent I would leave behind my childish days of playing pranks and being filled with delight as others (particularly my family members) suffer. I don't think it has happened just yet.


On another coffee note before I sign off, Amy and I enjoyed a nice dinner the other night on our anniversary. It was at a fancy hotel that serves Western food. At the end of the meal, I thought it would be a nice treat to order some decaf. This not something I would typically do b/c I don't enjoy paying $2 for a drink at the end of my meal. However, I felt like splurging that evening, so I ordered the drinks despite the fact it cost $7 US total for the 2 decafs (at most restaurants around here I can feed my entire family for $7 US). My lovely wife is worth it after all, right? Yes, I am happy to spend $3.50 for a cup of coffee for my wife, but not when it is NESCAFE INSTANT COFFEE. Good grief. I took one sip and dreaded paying the bill. I think I could see the waitress out of the corner of my eye laughing and being filled with delight as she watched me suffer. I guess I deserve it.

You Must Be Kidding Me!

From Brad. It is our goal to wake up early each morning for time with Him and then to study the language. We have hoped that this would be a good example for our kids and that someday they will have the same habit. When they wake up, we typically allow the boys to play in their room until we're ready for them to come out, but Savannah will often sit with us with her Children's Bible. She can't read right now, but she can flip through the pictures and remember the stories that we've read to her time and time again. Well, last night was one of those nights that I just couldn't sleep. So I got out of bed and studied my language until about 1am. As a result, I did not hear my alarm clock (my Treo) and slept straight through it (as did Amy). So, still tired, we rolled out of bed at 8:20am. The boys were still asleep, probably because we skipped their naps yesterday and they were exhausted. However, as I walked out into the living room, there was my daughter, sitting on the couch, all by herself...reading her Bible. Instead of hopping into bed with us, or waking us up, she decided to grab her Bible and dig in. If I hadn't seen this, I would have never believed it. Now who is the example for who?

My Anniversary Gift

by Amy

Today we got together with some friends and Brad told them that, although he's not the most observant guy in the world, he noticed that this week has been my happiest week since we arrived. I'm not sure I can remember all of our weeks well enough to say if I completely agree with that assessment or not, but it has been a great week! On Monday I went and interviewed and agreed to hire our new house-helper. She's a relative of a friend of ours, so the interview was just routine as we had already decided we wanted to hire our friend's relative. (We had been waiting a month for her to complete her previous job so she could come work for us.) And, Tuesday morning, she showed up with a nervous smile, ready to work in our home. Why is she nervous, you wonder? She's not sure she'll be able to communicate with her employer! I will say we spent a good portion of the day (and week) playing charades, but that was OK. One of the things I most appreciate about her is her patience with me. I am constantly saying things incorrectly (like, not clean instead of dirty) or pausing to look works up in my treo (cell phone) dictionary. But, not once did she ask to call my friend Rachel, who was our translator at the interview. We have smiled and laughed together many times.

One of her main jobs will be to prepare lunch for our family every day (Asian style food, of course). We gave her very little direction as to our likes and dislikes. We just asked her to cook local food and said we'd let her know if we didn't want to eat it again. (I didn't even tell her I don't like mushrooms!) So far, we have been very pleased. I have to admit two out of the three days she cooked for us last week, I went to the table a little nervous about what I saw, but was pleasantly surprised both times. Peter, on the other hand, decided to fast for lunch each day; Alex has eaten what I tell him to eat, even if it doesn't taste great to him, and Savannah licks her plate, asking for more. We have been very pleased so far.

The greatest thing about this week has been the time I've been able to play with my kids and study my new language. Since I have someone here that is preparing lunch, washing all the breakfast and lunch dishes, as well as doing tons of other household chores, I feel like my life is manageable again. I am not overwhelmed every time I step into my home. I am not totally exhausted by the time to kids go down. I feel like I am finally able to be the wife and mother and language learner I know I need to be. Not to mention the 40 new words I learned by having a native speaker in my home 8 hours a day!

I know that there are challenges that will probably come with having an outsider in my home everyday, but so far, I have been so thankful! And many of the challenges I expected (as they seem quite common here) have not been issues. She is a hard worker, she's been on time, she's willing to do things my way (rather than insist her way is best). To be honest, I cannot imagine a better situation. PTL!

Anniversary Gift

From Brad. Yep, today is our anniversary. Thankfully, the Treo beeped and reminded me of such (have I mentioned how much I love my Treo? :). For a gift, I am bringing another woman into our home. No, not turning Mormon on ya, we are getting a house helper today. This is a very common part of life over here, and not just for the rich and famous (neither of which we are!). For around $100 US/month, we can hire a lady to come into our home full-time and help Amy cook, clean, run errands, etc. Practically speaking, if we did not do this, Amy would have maybe an hour or two weekly to learn the language. Life just takes longer over here to shop, cook, clean, run errands, etc. Therefore, this blessing will free up Amy for language learning in the present and home schooling in the future. We know this ladies' cousin and as a result start with some confidence that she is responsible and trustworthy. We are hoping for that confidence to grow and a good relationship to be established between her and our family.

Back to the anniversary, I actually remembered a few days in advance this time and scheduled for a babysitter (Amy's language tutor) to come over. She has babysit for us once before and AMAZINGLY decided to come back. Yes last time, she gave a little and the boys took alot. We got a story about her chasing the boys around the house with Savannah when she told them it is time to get into bed. Nope, that did not sit well with the parents when we got home and as a result, the boys did not sit well the next day (at least not on their bottom). But our friend did agree to come back and we are thrilled to have a date. I still wonder why such a wonderful, godly girl agreed to marry and follow me around the world 8 years ago, but I often remind her its too late to turn back now. The decision and vow we made many years ago was before Him and for life. By his grace, we expect to fulfill that vow in the days that He has remaining for us.

Finally, I had to mention something we found the other day. We went swimming at a local hotel and afterwards decided to try a doughnut we saw. Not bad for a 60 cent doughtnut, but while eating we noticed a freezer full of Haagen-Dazs ice cream (a rare item around here). When we inquired about the price of a pint, we were told they are about $23 US dollars for one pint! :) We can actually get decent ice cream made here so this was not a temptation at all, but can you imagine?! :)

My Little Pilgrim

by Amy

We have this great book called Little Pilgrim's Progress. It's about 250 pages, instead of 500+ pages and the main character is a young child instead of a grown man. Other than that, this story is quite similar to Bunyan's original work. Christian lives in the City of Destruction and is distraught over the large burden on his back. One day Mr. E visits him and persuades him to travel to the Celestrial City. On his way Christian falls in the slough of despond and gets distracted by Worldly, but finally makes it through the wicket gate to the cross where his burden falls off and he is given new, white clothes. Then, little Christian continues on his travels to the Celestrial City and faces many trials and battles, but he stays the course.

Brad reads a chapter to the kids at breakfast everyday and often at other meals as well. They all enjoy the story, but Savannah really loves it. Brad and I both have been amazed at her understanding of this allegory. For example, before Little Christian makes it to the wicket gate, he turns off the path to follow his new friend, Worldly. As he turns away his burden seems to become even heavier. I asked Savannah why his burden would be heavier now, and she said, "because he turned away from the path of the King and is sinning. The burden is his sins." Time and time again, she has been able to explain what is happening in the story and demonstrate her knowledge of spiritual truths. This has been very encouraging to us.

Yesterday, as we were riding in a taxi, Savannah was singing a song as she looked out the window. This is not uncommon (she learned how to make up songs from her daddy!). This song was full of praises to Jesus and at one point she sang, "Please just take my sins away and throw them in the trashcan so I can spend forever with You in Heaven. I want a new heart so I can be like You." So, last night at bedtime, I was lying down with Savannah and asked her about her song. Through the course of our conversation (that Brad joined in), Savannah expressed her concern about the "burden" on her back. Then she asked if I had a burden on my back or if I had been to the cross. When I told her I'd been to the cross, she said, "Mommy, how do you get to the cross?!?" So, I shared with her how many years ago, I recognized my own sinfulness and my need for a Savior and how I repented (turned away from my sins) and put my faith in Christ for the forgiveness of my sins, and committed my life to following and pleasing Him. Then she asked, "What does a Christian do and how do I become one?" After discussing what a life surrendered to Christ looks like, Savannah said she wanted to ask Jesus to take her burden away and to give her a new heart. Brad asked her several questions about the Gospel and her personal sinfulness. Then, my sweet girl prayed to Jesus and expressed her desires to Him.

Now, I do realize that it is hard to really understand what is going on inside of an almost 5 year old's heart, but I think I see evidence of the Lord working. Obviously, time will tell, but I'm encouraged. This morning she was excited to remind us of her decision the night before. When Brad asked Savannah if she wanted to tell her brothers about the decision she made last night, she responded with, "Oh, I already told Peter that I believed in Jesus last night! Alex, did you know that? I believe in Jesus and he took the burden off my back and gave me a new heart!"

4gb of excitement and language learning

From Brad. Sorry for the absence, but life's been a little hectic lately. What is the 4gb all about you ask? No, it's not 4 green burritos (like we could get those here) but gigabytes. For my birthday, my great father in law sent a package of goodies over (birthday stuff for all the kids, plus me!). It came today and contained a new 4gb SD card for my Treo phone (only $50 at Circuit city). This is double the size of my old card and gives me tons of more storage. For you non-techno types, that basically means I can store around 600-800 songs/messages/language learning files on my phone rather than half that amount. A need...maybe not. A convenience...definitely. Why not buy one here you ask? Well, everything technology here is 1) more expensive, 2) probably fake, and 3) sometimes non-existent. I have not seen a 4gb card for sale here (even though on the back is says it was made here :). Also, many of the stereos for sale now also have an SD slot so we plan to make that purchase soon and go straight from my phone to the stereo.

Now for the part I'm proud of. My phone, the Treo 650 is not compatible with a 4gb card. So I downloaded some files off the Internet, hacked into the ROM, and enabled 4gb technology on my phone. Impressed? I am, I knew for sure I was going to melt the whole thing about half-way through the process, but all-in-all it took around 1 hour. Now if I only had an 8gb card.

I'm excited about more storage b/c recently we cashed in some United Freq Flyer miles (which expire in 18 months if no activity) for 100 songs. So Amy and I downloaded around 80 of our favorite songs which we did not possess (just couldn't think of any more) and have been enjoying them this whole week. Now I can put them on my phone and let the taxi drivers enjoy them also. :)

Speaking of taxi drivers...these poor guys...they are my guinea pigs for my language learning. Yesterday, I learned a grammatical construction whereby I can say 'doing two things at the same time.' So I hopped in the taxi and began firing away...'can you talk on the phone and drive your car at the same time? Can you eat and drive at the same time? Can you sing and bathe at the same time?' Okay, I didn't ask the last one, but he was certainly giving me some strange looks. I encouraged (ahhh, maybe pressured...maybe commanded) Amy the other day to ask our taxi driver if he was going to eat ice cream tonight (a new word for her). The look he gave her was priceless. Annoying to them, yes. But we're paying them and most of them get a good laugh out of it anyway. Until next time...

Boys Birthday Fun

Well, it was quite the day for two little choo-choos. When they woke up, they found a surprise in their bed (a bag of balls that accompanied a new basketball setup). After pancakes for breakfast, we darted out the door to a nearby ‘mini-mall’ that has an indoor play area. After that, by request, we hopped on a ‘double-decker bus’ or a bus that has an upper and lower level and rode that for about 20 minutes. After a trip to our local McD, we came home for some zzzzzz. A Thomas the Train movie preceeded the opening of the gifts. After playing with the new toys for a while, they enjoyed one of their favorite meals called ‘volcanos’. Finally, we ate the lovely choo-choo train cake (something they’ve been talking about for over a week) and sang happy birthday. It ended with a bath where they got to play with some toys Savannah gave them. We are all exhausted, but had a great time. I hope you enjoy the video below, its about 5 minutes long.

Boys Birthday Video

My Pedo

by Amy

It seems like we often tell you about Savannah and "the boys." Well, this post is all about one boy, Pedo.

First of all, I'm so excited to report that we have been her for almost two months, and Peter has done great going to the potty "like a big boy!" I potty trained the boys last September. After a couple of weeks, Alex was done. But we still had a long road ahead of us with Peter. When we were in Virginia (Feb - March) he would go through spurts....He would have a great week followed by 4 or 5 accidents the following week.... But, since we've arrived here, he has done great! I've been hesitant to mention his success to anyone, afraid this was only a phase. But, I think I'm convinced....He's really potty trained! Way to go Pedo!

Those of you that have spent much time with my kids know that Peter and Alex are as different as night and day. Peter is very intense. I have come to appreciate this trait in my son more and more. Why? Because he is the best cleaner-uper I have! Often the kids like to dump and scatter.... Dump their mega-blocks box; dump their wooden train box; dump their geo tracks out; scatter books all over the floor; scatter puzzle pieces (to multiple puzzles) all over the floor....I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get the picture.... Yet, it's OK because when Peter gets in his clean-up-mode, watch out! He gets this really determined look on his face and he doesn't stop until the job is complete! "Complete" is defined as everything off the floor, out from under the bed, lid on the box, etc. So, I've learned that I have to be careful how and when I instruct him. For example, before nap time I'll often tell the boys to clean up their room, meaning, clear a path to the bed and pick up the big toys. That drives Peter crazy! He doesn't want to only pick up the big toys, he wants every thing put away before he can sleep, and he has even been known to disobey my command ("Get into bed, now.") to keep cleaning. So, now I'm learning to tell them to clean up 5 min. earlier than before so he can have time to clean it the way he likes. He's also a mad-man with the dust-buster under the table! No crumb goes unnoticed. It's great!

Another fun fact about Pedo: I think everyday since we got home from our weekend trip a few weeks ago, he has asked if we can ride a train again. He LOVES choo-choo trains! Even the other day he prayed, "Dear God, please help me obey Mommy and ride choo-choo today. Amen."

Finally, in America when people would first meet our kids, I would help them tell the difference between Peter and Alex by pointing out that Peter has a longer name and longer hair. (That hasn't been so helpful here as Peter and Alex are such abnormal names in this world.) That trick no longer works! My poor son had so much hair, it just had to be cut or buzzed, to be more exact! His little face would get so red just walking to catch a taxi because he'd be so hot. And, to top it off, I often get asked if he is a boy or a girl. So, I decided today is the day! What do you think!?

Alex got his hairs cut too! Aren't my boys cute! When Brad came home today, Peter hollered, "Hi Daddy! I'm cute!" as he pointed to his head!

Providence and Protection

Brad here. He is so good and faithful, I need to share how. Well, we've been happy to have a kitchen and to avoid those twice a day decisions...where do we eat. We thought everything was great with the kitchen until Amy brought it to my attention last week that it is not uncommon for her or our kids to get a slight shock when they touch the oven (this is a great story to give you an idea of how things work here). I tested the oven and found the same to be true. So we called the 'oven people'. They came out and quickly noticed that the outlet the oven is plugged into was emitting too high of a voltage. So they happily bolted and we called up the apartment maintence people. They came up, worked for a while and supposedly fixed something on the outlet. After they were done, they touched the oven with their tool and there was no voltage on the outside of the oven when it was off. Great...they're ready to bolt. Ummm...guys, can we turn it on?.. I say sheepishly (you learn to examine people's work here after they're done). We turn it on, touch the instrument/tool to the oven and they notice there is still voltage on the oven. Hummm...what now? A little electricity isn't a terrible thing, they reason...it's really not all that bad. Um...wrong answer friend, try again. Well, they determine they've fixed the outlet and there is nothing more they can do. So we call the oven people again and they come out the next day (by the way, my local friend is over my house constantly talking with them, helping me through this). The oven people conclude the oven is bad and they will replace it. "Don't turn on or use the oven," they say, "very dangerous". :) Gotta love the different answers one gets, based on the situation. So we wait a week and I forgot to mention, it was annoying to learn that oftentimes when we would be cooking on the burners (gas...right above the oven), and then turn on the oven (electric), it was only a minute or two before the burners would shut down. What connection could that be, we'd ask. Oh well, if the new oven doesn't solve the problem, we'll call the kitchen people and let them figure it out.

Fast forward to today when the new oven comes. The oven guys install the new oven and say, "its great". I put my hand on the oven (when it's off) and immediately notice a current. My response, "not good". They say, "no problem, its good". Amazing how they convinently forgot their tool/instrument to determine if there was any voltage on the oven (isn't that why they're here?!). Again, I protest, this is not fixed, please get your instrument to verify my observation. 15 minutes later after they got the tool, they're wondering why the new oven has the same problem, and are now telling me 'a little electricity is not a bad thing'. (the same guys who last week said, 'very dangerous'. :)

But this is where the providence and protection come into play. As they were pulling out the old oven, I noticed that the rubber gas line (for the burners above the oven) was touching the oven at a number of points. Apparently, as the oven would heat up, the gas line would increase in pressure (due to the temp.) and cause a backflow of some sort which would signal to the burners that something wasn't right, causing them to shut down (think I'm right there, but new country and all, plus I'm not an electrician/gas guy, I could be wrong). Long story short, this was a disaster waiting to happen. It seems like the gas line could have easily melted or sprung a leak next to an extremely hot electric oven...not a great scenario. But how did we find out about this? Due to the malfunctioning oven. Even my 'outside the camp local friend' (who is getting close to entering) told me that Someone is taking good care of me.

So we call the kitchen guy who says, for another hundred US bucks, he can move the oven to a more suitable location. We inform him we've paid him enough already and this was his design to fix. He agreed (I suppose for him there's no shame in asking) and Monday plans to fix the problem with no extra charge.

Finally, the oven problem. Apparently, the ovens were fine after all. The problem was the power strip that the kitchen guy bought to plug the oven into...too small and poor quality. So when he comes out on Monday, an electrician will meet him here and run a suitable extension cord for the oven.

I'm thankful nothing terrible happened and more thankful that we're getting this all straightened out. So don't hear me sound frustrated. In 6 short weeks, I feel like I've adjusted well to the 'I'm going to do the minimum and get out of here fast as I can regardless if its right or fixed' attitude that so many workers here have. Its a part of life here and I'm learning to examine their work closely and ask when something isn't right. I wonder if I worked for a dollar or two per hour if I'd have the same attitude. I hope not b/c of the One I ultimately work for in all things, but maybe that's explains their approach to work.