Great Grandpa and Great Grandma

The three
Eli starts smiling
Bundled up for winter
Sam with bear and hat
Eva takes a bath

I just talked to my grandparents on skype, and was really struck by how much they've seen and how much they've given us as a family. My grandpa just figured out that he is probably the last member of his WW2 group, or soon will be (his old friend is on hospice), and was thinking a bit about how strange it is to still be going after so many have passed on. It was fun to show him his great-grandson (and a relief for me also, as the great-grandson was wearing on his father). My grandmother said that he was always so good to her mother, and perhaps that was why they enjoyed such long life--they were good to their parents.

Technology helps a lot with the distance. I always feel a bit of guilt in being here, but there is joy in it also, and in many ways we are close to family as ever. It's nice that on a sleepness night I can talk to some people who have seen it all.

Up with Sam

Proud dad with the monkey boy
Sam with his comrades
He needed some direction on which way to face, and managed to finagle an elephant hat from one of the other kids
Here he is saying his name (fairly confidently)

Sam just threw up twice, so we are probably headed for some rocky days. The upside is Emily's changed the sheets and I've got him bathed and quick did some Lysoling of handles and whatnot. Still, I'm feeling a little off and I think we're headed for a family sickness. Too bad, since there was a lot on the agenda for tomorrow :(

On the other hand, it hasn't been a bad few days. Sam's class performed for this month's group birthday party at the nursery school. It was very cute. The kids performed a simple dance number in sets. There were horses, octopi, elephants, and monkeys (I'm forgetting one of them, maybe sheep?). Sam did well. He said his name very clearly and looked cute as a monkey wearing his monkey sleeping back.

He's saying more and more. One of his funniest recent phrases was "xiexie grandma in the house." It sounded kind of like a rap lyric. Tonight he kept saying "pao chu" (going out) as he talked to his cars and pretended to fill them up using a cord for one of our speakers. He's an imaginative player and does pretty well playing by himself. He's getting better at mimicking and using full phrases. I think his vocab is picking up in both languages. I'm hoping the nanny situation will help things out some.

That's our news! All very fun. I went to our denom office today, which is always nice. People are so kind to us as foreigners. I also find I'm making progress in local lang #2. I can at least do simple conversations now and understand a bit of what is happening. I don't think I'll ever be great, but I can at least improve over time.

State of the Family

Things are looking a little clearer today. We met our nanny elect. She is awesome. Work experience, time abroad, all the languages we could use, knows the community, etc., etc., etc. She's been doing the work of helping moms who are doing their (post pregnancy) month of sitting, which is hard core (basically 24-7 nannying). So we think she can handle twins, and she'll be giving us daytime (9-5 ish) coverage. In the long run it will be a bit pricey, but everyone has told me the goal for the first two years is survival. And we will survive, we will not break down and cry.... (Can you tell I'm up late?)

My mother in law is here for another two or three weeks. There will be a ten day gap between when she leaves and the nanny starts. By the time the nanny arrives, no doubt we'll be especially grateful. I think mother in law (MIL) is handling things pretty well with us. Emily's family has been truly heroic. They've helped us move twice in the last three years and now we've had three months of care for the twins. Not easy. I also know that our life must seem very strange to them. We are (1) religious (2) academics living (3) cross-culturally. Each of these things is probably baffling to them by itself. Throw in the fact that most of her family is artistic and involved in some combination of architecture and design, and that Emily and I are a bit of a mess, and you can see how we're probably trying our guests' patience. However, we are all making the best of the situation and hopefully will laugh about it the years ahead (ideally in a very tidy house with three grown children). Sometimes I can't believe how far we've come in the last nine years of marriage, and others times I have a glimpse of how much farther we have to go.

That's our news here. Yesterday we had an English teacher friend over. The twins both have slight colds, but are doing well. I've just come off the frustrating 10pm-midnight period where they are hard to keep down. We skyped with Aunt Kacey earlier and she gave some advice on tummy massage and dealing with gas pain (which is a big problem for Eli). I had language class today and have it the next two days. Things are coming along. I still have a fair amount of work I need to be doing, and both Thursday and Friday are pretty hectic meeting days. But things are still looking up.

All very exciting

It's 11:37 here in Northern Island. I've fed and changed the babies, moved them to their night crib, boiled water for tomorrow and wrapped up some loose ends (while other ends remain as loose as ever). Tomorrow I wrap up my last class (with grading to follow). Today I finished my first week back in language class. I had a real sense of progress today--still a ways to go, but also the sense that I continue to inch forward, and as long as that happens things are rolling in the right direction.

I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed by a big editing project I'm on. And a bit baffled about teaching a week long travel course that I'm not sure I want to be teaching. But, things are coming along.

Other news... we have a possible nanny. This is all strange and crazy to me. I told Emily I don't think I've ever known a nanny. I don't think any of my friends have nannied. I know that long ago, in a very different place, I had a nanny, but it's not really something that middle class America has and it still feels very perplexing to pay someone to help you do what you are supposed to do naturally. On the other hand, we really need help and this may be coming at the perfect time. There are still many logistics to be worked out, and no doubt many cultural lessons and misunderstandings lay ahead of us, but it's a hopeful thing. It would be wonderful if we could raise these kids and also work, study, and write as we are supposed to be doing.

2011

Three kids to raise, two languages to learn, several articles to complete, ten years of marriage in May, newsletters to write, sermons to preach, papers to grade, pounds to lose, organization to happen... OK, 2011, here we go!

A Merry Christmas

Christmas is wrapped up for us. In fact, I'm teaching tonight (as I did last Monday). Sam also went to school every day last week and will probably go every day this week. Christmas slotted itself gently into the weekend this year, and seems to have left us rather merrier even if life itself hasn't changed much. We're looking forward to the coming weeks. We actually get our bigger break in February.

Some updates:

-All five stockings were hung from the ceiling with care

-We have a fine Christmas tree

-Sam was most excited about new books--yay librarian kid!

-And he also loved the "dinosaur feet" from his aunt

-In particular, he likes his pop up insect book and his motion sports book

-The babies were looking very cute, and it was nice to have extra arms to hold them

-Sam's now 2 years 9 months and the twins are 8 weeks

-Sam likes to say "Merry Christmas Tree" and can already spot a Santa from a distance

-We've already gotten a couple of packages and more are coming

That's the news! More in a while...

Christmas Abroad

Students visit for an open house

Emily and the twins with a co-worker

Emily pointed out recently to me that this Christmas I am surprisingly upbeat. I think in Christmases past I've often felt burned out or lest than festive. Usually the holidays coincide with final exams, a lot of church work, and extensive travel (probably 30+ hours of driving). Taken together, and paired with the ugliness of shopping and packing, I'm probably not that much fun to be around. I also always struggled with decorating an apartment that we were going to leave as we headed west to relatives. (And as I think about it, tons of food I shouldn't be eating everywhere probably doesn't make me feel great either.)

This year, I'm finding that I'm really enjoy the holidays. Delayed grading (until January), no church work, and zero travel have quickly upped the general happiness quotient. Christmas is also in many ways a children's holiday. It's part of how we teach our culture to our kids, and it's one of the major festivals of the church. So some of the joy is in watching Sam participate in things and in dressing Eva and Eli up in Christmas outfits, buying presents, decorating a tree, etc., etc. Before I found a lot of Christmas obligatory, but now it's more celebratory. Does that make sense? I'm hoping my de-Grinchification carries through New Year's, the New Year after that, and marks a general term in temperament. As challenging as this phase of life is, I'm also finding it brings real rewards after a fair amount of struggle and effort.

I'm also genuinely excited about the worship services and campus activities, and I'm encouraged by the friendly outlook of students on campus. It doesn't hurt that it's in the seventies some days. Hearing the organ on campus and having a library just minutes away are also a plus. We still face many challenges, and I will no doubt return to complaining in the future, but for now I'm enjoying the Christmas season and the mystery it shares with us.