Recent Quotes and Other Craziness

While eating dinner tonight, Malachi asked for some dip for his fries. Josiah responded with, "dip, baby, dip!" with perfect inflection from that one certain song from my high school days. As long as he doesn't know where it came from, it's innocent, right?! 

While eating dinner another night, Josiah looks over at Michael and asks, "Daddy, is your skin brown because you eat too many Crunchy Balls?" {"Crunchy Balls" are what we call the Chinese equivalent of Cocoa Puffs.} Of course, we all died laughing, but then Michael replies with, "And did you eat too many Cheerios?" 

On a recent Mommy-Josiah date (along with 10 other people), we walked into a 四川 (part of China known for spicy food) restaurant. Josiah started coughing, then said, "Mom, I'm coughing because I can smell the spicy." And so we ate a little spicy, then got ice cream to balance it out. 

Malachi potty trained himself. I'm not really kidding. He had 2 other men-folk to watch (TMI?), so maybe that was it. He was very ready before we went to Thailand, but I wasn't about to deal with all those potty crises there!! So, the week after we got back, I took off the diapers (except nap and nighttime..still waiting for that to "click.") He had maybe 3 or 4 accidents the next few days, and now he's great! I don't even have to remind him. He can hold it for a few hours at a time, then yells, "Mommy, Mommy, I gotta go potty!" and takes off running to the bathroom. #2 took a few days, but after telling him how nasty it was to poop on whichever character was on his underwear, he figured it out. Am I writing all this to brag? Absolutely not. I seriously had very little to do with this. So, I can do nothing else but give God the credit. He cares about the littlest of people and the littlest of bladders, too.

Lately, the boys have their non-stop antics. Malachi winks constantly. Although, maybe it's not considered a wink if his right eye is always closed. He thinks he's a pirate. Josiah has been tilting his head back and laughing hysterically. But when he does this, maybe his throat closes a little or something, and it comes out sounding like a wheezy old man. He knows it makes us laugh, so he continues.

Our ayi (helper) comes once a week and loves hanging out with the kids. This week, Josiah showed her a book that had tons of animals listed in Chinese. She sat with him and they repeated the words back and forth for 30 minutes. He was soaking it up, then said, "Mom, I want to learn more and more Chinese!" May the Father bless him with a gift of this language!!

And finally, Spring is coming! Maybe I should put "Spring" in quotation marks because it sure isn't the Spring this mid-western girl is used to, but after 5 months of temps below freezing, rounding the 40* mark feels wonderful! We can only hope that they keep climbing and don't slip back, especially since they're going to turn off the heat in a few weeks!

Thailand, etc.

Has it really been over 2 months since my last post? Woops. I blame it on prepping for Thailand, being in Thailand with little internet access for a month, and recovering from Thailand.

So I guess I'll write about Thailand.

We met my parents and aunt in Bangkok. The week spent there was mostly uneventful, just some shopping and walking around, trying to get the three of them over severe jet lag. The protests were in full-swing, but were peaceful while we were there. The protestors blocked off several major intersections, so we spent many hours in taxis, stuck in traffic, but I'll take that over a molotov cocktail being thrown around.

One of the many times we were stuck in traffic. 

 After a week there, we headed south a few hours to the beach. We were excited to stay at a resort that specifically caters to overseas workers, and it was perfect for families! Kid-friendly play rooms, games, pools, 3 meals/day, etc. And the beach was right across the street! The day we arrived was chilly and windy, but we still got in plenty of sand castles and digging for treasures. The boys had a blast! We were thankful to have a relaxing time, since we hadn't been on vacation in over 2 years.

However, one memorable note about being there: mosquitoes. It was so hard to keep them away! They eat the boys alive every time. The first night in our bungalow (6/7 of us slept there), a mosquito must've been trapped in the boys' room because Josiah woke up with about 15 bites on his face alone. Poor kid. Thankfully, he's old enough to know not to scratch them--or try not to.

With Grammy and all his bites.

Our third leg of the trip was to the city where are conference is held every year, Chiang Mai. My parents and aunt were with us a week before conference, so we gallivanted around the city doing all the tourist-y things. CM is always great because of how they cater to foreigners, especially in the food department. We have grown to love Thai food more and more, but to be in a place (in Asia!) that has SO many choices for Western food...we just couldn't turn it down!

Dad and I took a Thai cooking class. We learned so much! Neither of us have tackled a Thai dish at home yet, but they're easy enough I think it's possible. If we can only find a few of the specialized ingredients where we live...kaffir lime leaves, anyone?

After 3 weeks of fun in Thailand, my family had to go back home. We're so thankful they got to visit and of course, love on the kids! Now they've been to China and Thailand..where to next?

The 4th week for us in Thailand was spent at our org's conference. We look forward to this time every year! There's nothing like being surrounded by people who have endured the same struggles you have, day in and day out. There were many hours spent talking about these struggles and encouraging each other to keep plugging along. Another favorite part for me is the corporate singing. Since we don't get to do that in English very often, it gets me every time. And I love it.

A sweet reunion with our teammates from our first year. We hadn't seen them in 2.5 years, and these two caught up like they'd never missed a beat!

Also every year at conference, there's usually some bug going around. I guess it's to be expected when you bring 600+ people together, coming from North America and several parts of Asia. This year, it was bad. It started to hit about mid-week of conference. Then, people went down like flies. And it was the stomach bug. No fun. I was hopeful we wouldn't get it, but in the end, every one of us did! I went first, but mine was the most mild out of everyone. (Although, my appetite came back last--almost a week later! Nice way to trim down!!) Then Malachi, then Josiah, then Michael. Well, I hope we're all immune to that strain now! I feel sorry for the ladies who cleaned all those rooms who had sick people. Yikes. Sadly, it hit a lot of other people as they were traveling home. I think a lot of airline sick bags were used that day!

Since we've been back (about 3 weeks..really, already?), we've been getting into a routine again. Vacation and time away is always nice, but it's just as nice to get back home and settle in again.

Now, we're just waiting for the temps to stay above freezing so the kids can play outside. Come on, Spring!!!