Christmas Weekend

I think this Christmas was about singing for us! 

The girls sang for Grandparents' presents, 

we sang along to Christmas music as we worked on our nativity

now complete with Terracotta warrior wise men,

we sang carols with our church on the river, 

we sang at the Christmas Eve service, 

we sang Happy Birthday, Jesus at breakfast on Christmas day,

 and we ended Christmas day with our own carols by candlelight!

And in between we shopped for, prepared for, and hosted a party for somewhere around 25 refugees,

celebrated a Christmas Eve baptism of a new believer that Michael was a part of his coming to faith,

went skating for Grace's Christmas present...

who can make friends with anybody everywhere she goes

and where Jasmin learned to skate away from the bar

- which we made into a full afternoon outing with a Subway lunch and pictures with the winged unicorns' carriage outside the mall,

Aiden sharing part of Jasmin's fairy costume

Skyped with both sets of Grandparents, and otherwise enjoyed ourselves!

Were we too busy?  I don't think so, as the girls' verdict was: "I don't want this to end..." and "This was the best Christmas ever!"

Definitely much better than last year that is mostly remembered for the "Mommy's bag was stolen, iPhone and all" episode that interrupted our day.

Advent #20

...and we made our own ice cream in a bag for a treat.  It worked beautifully, but it melted too fast: the girls ended up with ice cream soup after a few bites and no pictures of the finished product. I guess doing it in 32 C weather requires some freezer time after making... Still a success at making the day special.

Advent Catchup

Seashells, beads, and glitter angel choir waiting to tell the shepherds the good news
Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus
The three kings
Two shepherds
... all made from an online pattern meant to be glued onto toilet paper tubes - only we didn't have that many free so we just taped them around!

Still working on a star and candles...

Beach Holiday

 

Last weekend we joined our church's retreat at JuniperTree Dolphin Bay, a4-5 hr drive south of BKK.  The girls were delighted to have beach and friends to play!  We had a good time, what with worship and learning morning and evening each day and lots of opportunities to just hang out with and get to know people better.

Sunday afternoon, there was various outings organized.  We took the boat trip to Monkey Island and "the cave." Monkey Island was a bit of a disappointment as we only were greeted by a few shy monkeys, where usually there are at least twenty bold ones.  But the cave was well worth it.  The boat ride to the mountain was delightfully entertaining with the three girls (Grace, Jasmin, and a friend) and Aiden.  Aiden didn't like the lifejacket we put on him, but we all thought it was pretty neat.

 

The cave is up a mountain.  The path is a rough set of stairs made of cemented rocks, roots, and sand. Steep.  The steps are so well used that the rocks are worn smooth and shiny - not the easiest to navigate.  We were a bit nervous about how well the girls would do.  Unnecessarily.  Jasmin led the way, starting off at a fast pace that she kept up until she got there, taking a normally 40 min climb in just under 25 min!  Daddy was hard put to keep up with her - though he was carrying Aiden too. Mommy soon fell behind - to keep Grace company, of course.

 The cave was well worth the climb.  The huge cavern roof had fallen in in places and greenery grew in the center of the main cavern.  With the entering daylight, the stalagmites and stalactites were easy to see and most impressive.  We stayed quite a while, exploring the differing rock formations, and looking at the breathtaking views of trees and sky through the roof.  Not all of our group made it.  We felt rather sorry for Jennifer's dad, who, at 71, gamely climbed after his daughter (who was with speedy Jasmin) only to reach the mouth of the cave in time to turn around and make the return journey (we had to catch our boat at a certain time)!

 

 After we made the decent (also in record time!), Jennifer's dad bought the 3 girls ice cream in celebration of their feat.  And the boat ride back was considerably more subdued and quiet!

 

Once the church retreat weekend was over, we settled in for our own family vacation.  Lots of sleeping, sand castling (or eating), swimming, playing, and exploring with new friends.

 

Thursday we joined a group going for a snorkeling trip.  Unfortunately, after getting up early, a 2 and a half hour van ride, and a roller coaster boat ride, we were told snorkeling would not be possible because of the heavy seas.  Suddenly the fun went out of the high waves, and the gleeful squeals and yells of the kids over the rocking boat went silent as we slowly made our way back to the warf.

Mommy and Daddy were very proud of Grace and Jasmin that day.  Their response to this disappointment? "We're very disappointed, but we're going to make the best of it." And so they did, spending an hour on the new beach enjoying the high surf and loose sand, playing tag with their friends (both dog and boy), and not whining or complaining at all - even when all alternative plans went on hold while Mommy went to the nearby hospital with one of the group who had broken and deeply cut her pinky toe getting of the boat... 

 Now we are home and trying to get back into Christmas preparations and catch up on all we left undone to go away.

Unusualness Growing

 

Stones and flowers decorate the yard of this Nativity stable... under a sprinkling of snow?  

A made-it-myself manger full of  "hay" that looks an awful lot like the snow...

I think the girls have finally caught the create bug on this project (they've done the last two days completely on their own). Hopefully we can keep that yet not stray too far from reality!

Advent plus

Imma's Advent day 4 & 5

We have a very neat stable... either no one changing the hay for weeks so it got flattened so, or some neat-freak laid it so carefully...??
With no access to grass or hay, we used a piece of fibrous wrapping paper...








And a multi-climate location... Grace's tree is a maple - she is very adamant about that - and Jasmin's is a palm tree... perhaps another symbol of Jesus being for everyone everywhere?










Other news of note:
Jasmin had a cold two weeks ago, Daddy was sick last week, and now Mommy has nearly no voice and Jasmin is sniffling and going through rolls of tissue again.
We are going to the beach with our church for the weekend, and then staying for a our first proper holiday in what seems like years.
Aiden is teething, and he is our worst teether :o( He wakes up screaming mad multiple times a night/nap. Too bad ice cubes don't last longer here - playing with them is the best soother we have found so far.

Far-Flung Advent

 

Imma had the brilliant idea of sharing advent with all the grandkids by posting a day-by-day bit-by-bit making of a nativity scene on the family webpage.  We're doing it and posting our pictures here for other cousins to watch our progress.. this is day three...

It so happens to be next to our rather bare coat hangar Christmas tree - that looks much better with the lights on in the dark!

Minus Loy Kratong

This week we have watched the pool and garden area be transformed into an outdoor stage area and fair grounds for Loy Kratong. Loy Kratong a marking of full moon and full waters with a thank offering to the river goddess for the full waters from the rainy season.  It is supposed to mark the end of the rainy season - the rain has not yet slackened off as it should have, so we wait to see if it really is the fullest the rivers will get!  It is a very beautiful festival: small boats with lit candles are floated on whatever water is around.  The lights strung up around the pool and garden were pretty to see from our balcony, but the loud music and noise until late last night were not so much fun. Mommy was surprised to see how seriously people took this festival - everybody there was dressed up in traditional Thai clothing, which was a bit of a mismatch with the fairgames set up just outside!

 Jasmin has been doing a lot of drawing in her journal lately.  Often this is done by flashlight after the goodnights have been said, but since Mommy does her journal then, what can be said?  It is a good habit to journal, as long as it doesn't go on too long into the night.  Right now it is all about flamingos and fish...

 

These shelves are all the living room storage we have, so Mommy is still working out how to keep them neatish when they are in use daily for school, crafts, and toys.  It got a bit worse this week as we finally managed to borrow the rest of the books we need for our year of schooling.

Realized this week also that we could no longer think to wait to get a highchair... eating on the table is not a short term solution let alone a longer one!  So this week we went shopping - it was meant to be a window shop for Christmas presents, but when the prices were so high and one was on sale... we got a booster seat with a tray. Meal times are a lot calmer now. Thank you NiNi for an early Christmas present!

Grace has two adult teeth!

Midweek

Truly back into life here: Daddy working full time, school in full swing, and fruit smoothie popsicles.  Aiden really enjoyed his first one, but it frustrated him too - it kept getting away!

We found our passes to Ocean World (still good till Jan), and went to see what they had changed.  Quite a bit, we discovered! They had a whole section on different types of sea horses, but cameras are not allowed in that part.  We waited in the midsection by the penguins for Daddy to catch up (he had gone on another errand) and for Aiden to fall asleep so Mommy didn't have to carry him any more.  Jasmin had fun with mommy's phone camera and the penguins, though many are rather blurry.  This penguin was pretty friendly!

We all are loving a busy growing Aiden, but there are those times he is pretty frustrating...

 

Mommy's solution to an Aiden who wants to be carried while she makes a meal:

Grace and Jasmin's solution to an "annoying little brother":

They aren't actually just blocking hiim out... but rather incorporated him into their animal game - he's a "booboo" in it's special zoo cage :o)

Check In

What's happened this week?

The girls had a much anticipated play date with some friends.  The pent up anticipation burst into intense talk and play the minute they saw each other. Unfortunately, that much charged emotion snarled the anticipated play time and they all four ended up in distraught tears at some point or another. But we'll try again.

Grace lost another tooth, and immediately announced another wiggly two - once started in this business of switching to adult teeth, she is working hard to finish it!

Aiden found a whopper cold/cough and has generously shared it with Grace and Jasmin.  At one point we were wondering if we needed to take Aiden in - his breathing was so noisy and fast - but he is recovering nicely now.

Aiden has figured out how to go where he wants in his chair.  Nice not to have to fish him out of the laundry room all the time, but now Mommy has to watch out not to fall over him as he follows her around - nice, but difficult in our narrow kitchen!

Grace has been on a reading binge, leaving Jasmin to find her own things to do - so the living room has been full of cut bits of paper, tape, pens and colors as she makes things.  She made an airplane that she flew off the balcony to Grace on the playground to discover which balcony was ours.

This, on the day we let them stay on the playground to play by themselves!  They enjoyed the excitement of the new responsibility - keeping the key card safe, and being able to come up and go down as they liked.  This time they had good play with two old friends they ran into on the playground.

Daddy has been busy trying to sort out our lease - we still haven't signed one! - and juggling his other jobs, which now seem to be requiring either lots of night work and skype meetings.  How glad we are that his "office" is not in our living room, but is still at home!

A3 - All About Aiden

It has taken us nearly a month to fully move in, what with work begun and other interruptions - and most inconveniently, those we left our stuff with were away!  For example, yesterday we finally got out kitchen properly set up and last night we slept with pillows for the first time....

In the meantime, Aiden has become acutely aware of all that is going on around him and is very intense in his desire to take part in it all.  Especially eating.

For weeks we have been eating out of these instant noodle cups with folding plastic forks and tiny yoghurt cup spoons.  Mommy had to get pretty inventive with cooking different meals with a pot, a knife, a serving spoon and dish!  Aiden got to sample all sorts as Mommy's milk couldn't keep him full longer than 10 minutes it felt like.  He liked what he got - from limes to green curry to plain yoghurt!  Unfortunately now he thinks he can have everything we have...

 

No, we didn't really let him eat the fudge icecream sunday!

Now we have our kitchen to rights, he'll be getting proper baby food. Not sure if he'll take to it after sampling real food...

His latest discovery has been watching the washing spin in the washer.  He will watch nearly the whole cycle!  Only downside is that there is a lip in that doorway so he can't get himself out again.

 

Now, if we could just get him to sleep a normal amount (more than 20min at a time during the day)... the only way we've managed that so far is to take him swimming for an hour first :o)

Treasure

Each familiarity brings a smile to my face and a lift to my heart. Coming back to a place os so refreshingly good.  Yes, we've come back to the same places and people in Canada many a time, but never coming to Asia.

Unpacking things we left here, knowing how to do things, what to expect in house hunting, where to buy this and that - set up is a snap when you're not starting from scratch in a new country! But it is the guard that remembers us, the delighted cry of greeting from former acquaintances, the girls' wide-eyed wonder that they get to play with familiar play-mates, and the heart-felt exclamations of "It's good to see you!" over the clasped hands of friends that takes my breath away.

I guess so many short friendships, final goodbyes, and long distant or dormant friendships had dulled my senses... friendships are treasures, and being able to return so quickly to them is a precious gift to us for the now.  I want to drink in the goodness of returning and live drunk on thanksgiving for this priceless treasure!

Friday afternoon we went to a zoo.  Mommy had done her research and had a name, address, and admission cost.  Problem was, when we asked the front desk to get us a taxi, we were sent to a completely different zoo! Further away, and triple the cost, but good fun anyhow.

We took the safari tour, seeing all kinds of exotic animals - including a Canadian bear! Grace was happy because we saw lots and lots of deer

And Jasmin liked all the birds and... and.. everything!

 

Aiden was simply puzzled by all the excitement as he couldn't see anything.

Afterwards, the girls had fun on this root system made into a bench.

 

...and that's where Aiden had his fun.

And then unusual nap positions as bonus photos.

 

This week house hunting...

First Tooth

Grace lost her first tooth today at lunch.  She immediately went around and told all her "friends"  - everyone she recognized in the dining hall... being at a conference has its advantages at times. Now, what is to be our family's way of celebrating teeth?  Grace has been getting lots of comments and questions about the tooth fairy, but her answers leave the questioners rather nonplussed... she flat out tells them that there are no fairies, let alone ones who come for teeth! She is so down-to-earth factual - no fanciful imaginings for her, you have to tell it like it really is.

Summer Numbers for Grace and Jasmin

4 1/2 months

1 new brother

5 renewed friendships

7 cities/towns

9 cousins

46 hours of driving

5 uncles

13 hours of flying

6 aunts

9 churches

2 long-time fulfilled promises

4 new friend babies 

9 beds

 

10? 15? 20? new friends

Isn't it a very great thing that

"Yesterday, today, forever Jesus is the same"!

Along the Way

First stop: Edmonton to spend a day or two with the Im cousins.  Apart from side adventures of walks in the park, church fellowship meeting, and setting off the home alarm, we also spent an afternoon at the West Edmonton Mall.  

The first bit we were there just us - a rare and wonderful family time.  It almost got spoiled from the start because Mommy was the driver for the rental van and rather stressed over driving it in a busy, full parking lot, but once parked and inside everyone calmed down (kids are so adept a picking up on parental stress and mirroring it!).

We stopped by to see the sea lion show -- from outside the seating arena so we couldn't hear properly, but we saw all the tricks.  Grace's favorite bit was when the sea lion swam with a fin up to look like a shark and when it jumped out of the water like a dolphin.  Jasmin liked when it dived from a high platform and then jumped up to hit a hanging buoy.

We took the girls to the Putt N Glow.  It was good fun save for the need to pass a trying-to-sleep Aiden back and forth between turns as we weren't able to take a stroller in.  Our scores were a bit of a laugh because a number of holes were on the top of raised boxes... the first one like this we counted up to 26 hits!

Then, we met up with the Im's to explore Galaxy Land.  With a 2 for 1 coupon we got the girls bracelets so they could enjoy all the rides they wanted - indeed a rare occurrence!  Of course, first on the list was the horse carousel...

helicopter flying..

And, once they had gained some confidence, the DragonWagon - a fairly tame, short roller coaster.  This was the first ride that Dad couldn't go with them and it was the fastest they'd tried too, so it was a big step. When they came around the corner near us for the first time, Grace was hanging on with both hands and such a grim look of frightened endurance that we weren't sure what kind of kid we were going to get when it stopped.  Jasmin was sitting with another girl and didn't seem to be very excited or scared.  We asked them if they liked it. Grace had a quick emphatic "No!" but Jasmin surprized us with a pretty enthusiastic yes!  But, asked if they'd like to go again, Jasmin was quick to join the no camp. All in all, a mighty special day.

 Next stop: Calgary with the Fraser cousins.  We didn't even manage to get into the house from the van before Zoe, Julena, Grace, and Jasmin were fast friends talking 10 to the dozen - about West Edmonton Mall, since they had been there this summer too.  And that is how it was for the whole week - 4 parents had a wonderfully relaxing week as we hardly saw the 4 girls except for meals and bedtimes!  Which unfortunately means that we have no pictures of our time there at all :o(

In Calgary we also got to spend some time with a family that we met in Manila. Grace and Jasmin really missed their son when they returned to Canada and we moved to Bangkok.  It was pretty special for us all to meet again: Mom and Dad to be able to fulfill a promise made that we would bring Grace and Jasmin to meet Shinji in Canada, and for the girls to have the chance to remember and renew that friendship.

Next stop: Abbotsford, BC with the Kievits. Once again, we hardly saw the kids - 7 of them this time.  I think we're going to have withdrawal once we get to Bangkok!

This is their oldest son, an excellent magician.  He even is hired to do shows for kids' birthdays and things.  He kept Jasmin entertained all afternoon one day with a handful of coins and a cup, pulling them out of thin air, making them disappear, finding them in the most unlikely places, etc.

 This cup full "appeared" all at once.  Not an easy trick, to be sure.












Now we are in Langley, BC, our last stop before heading out to Bangkok.  We are finding time to relax and reorganize so we are ready for the long haul flights ahead of us.  So, despite leaving Ottawa feeling on the edge of stress already and now a day away from our "great departure" after many stops along the way, we actually feel more ready for this next chapter of our lives.
Something only God could accomplish, I'm sure.
Thank you God!