July

I’ve been AWOL on this blog for many moons. This is partly because I’ve moved over to my named blog, where I also talk about some of the cultural, family, and other issues. It’s also just been an exceptionally busy period. We moved off the mountain where we’d lived, finished out the semester, and then now we’re stateside for 10 weeks. We’ll have visited many places and a dozen churches.

As is often the case, one of my challenges is always figuring out where the kids are and how to help them. Sam’s surprised us. He was an enthusiastic but not particularly natural baseball player abroad. This summer we took him out and practiced batting and he had a good time. We’ve been working on second language by showing the kids public television. They at least have retained some comprehension (they’ll watch it) and will say some phrases (“I’m full,” “I don’t want that,” “I’m the big sister”) but I know they’ll have regressed some. Meanwhile, Sam’s also doing an English camp and will have done several other camps (zoo, church, outdoor). He’s having a blast. I think he’s probably behind a little on English. There’s a newer focus on early literacy and his English training for kindergarten was pretty informal. I’m hoping he’ll be fine when we go back and he’ll have help regardless. Still it’s always a lot of work to keep them going.  This week has been a really good one for them. They’ve been to the zoo, to the family farm, and have seen an aunt and uncle a lot.

The time with my parents was really great too. They did a lot of park trips, a visit to a science center/aquarium and a zoo, time with my brother and their cousins, and playing outside with water. We also did a vacation where they went to a national park, an aquarium, museums, and some other activities (Sam and Emily did a ski lift, I did a car museum with the twins), and we had a lot of time at the pool. The kids all have made dramatic jumps in swimming ability. Sam had had a few lessons two years ago and then weekly lessons for about ten weeks abroad (but it was not a great environment). This summer they’ve gotten the pool time and now taking lessons. They can all dog paddle and seem to love the water. I’m hoping that the last few weeks will be good for them. We’re doing an east coast run for Sam’s camp and to see Emily’s aunt and my one set of aunt and uncles in the area. I’m sad we aren’t getting to our more northern relatives in the Midwest and east coast but hope to see them on our next trip back. The time definitely goes faster than expected.

The kids are coming along on verbal ability. The twins still say “mies” instead of “I.” Eli calls Eva "Evo" and says "waffles" like "flossils." He just said "pay-peh" for "paper." Eli has a bit of a froggy voice. They’ve also invented their own very nasal baby language they do when they pretend to be babies together. Eli’s very into dogs and Eva’s on a full princess kick. So far the princess kick isn’t too specialized. She will play an alien princess from a dog movie they like and (Princess Jorala from Super Buddies), but was also introduced to Barbie by cousins and is liking the Disney collection. One of the twins games is "Doggy and Princess" (Eli as dog, Eva as princess). It's a time of imaginative play, that's for sure.

My mom introduced Sam to plants versus zombies. He doesn’t play video games a ton, but it’s a nice break for the parents on car trips or when he needs a post-class break. Sam has given us mixed messages on reading camp. He’s said he doesn’t like it, but also has had happy things to say when he comes home. It’s a good trial run for the fall when we’ll have to have him at school by 8 and he’ll have a pretty long day. I’m really glad we were able to pull off the move before we left, because I think we’ll enjoy getting to know the new place when we’re back. And honestly, it will be nice to have a few weeks before school start where I can be local but not on campus.

That’s our updates. In terms of long-term discernment, we are always a little mixed in our feelings. The last fall was pretty rough but the spring improved dramatically. I find the transitions are a mix too. We get a lot of opportunities to try out new things. For myself, I sometimes feel like this is just a challenging position to be sustainable in. I’m doing it, but I know I need to put more time into exercise and cooking and I’d like more time for research. On the other hand, I know that’s asking a lot for anyone with three small kids living abroad. I think it will also help to have a few weeks before the semester starts because it’ll give me some time to put ourselves back together. This life we live, of back-and-forths, is a relatively wholesome one, but often a bit intense. I'm sort of amazed at all of the environments we've moved between.