High School Town

I'm now back in High School Town. It was about four hours from Emily's house to here. The weather is turning colder--in the 50s--and leaves have changed colors. The road was pretty relaxed. I haven't had a lot of the sense of "smallness" in returning to places I've lived, but the roads definitely seem calmer. I think I drove by my old driving school a little while ago. I still remember white knuckles going on to the highway. I think I passed through the intersection where I wrecked my car. I drove by my old school, and noted where the seniors parked and where the band entrance was. I found the church I grew up in (with gps), but found our old home just through muscle memory, relating it to a nearby park. I'd forgotten the number, but now I remember. I thought of a couple of people or places I haven't thought of in 20 years--the ice rink where I took a single group lesson (mostly with four and five year olds; the park where I sometimes walked, my jr. high, and so on. It's strange to be back here. I think the economy has been less kind here than downstate. I see closed banks and food stores and restaurants. I thought I'd found my old taekwondo school, but it has closed. The cities that seemed so spaced out before seem a lot closer now. It's interesting to come back. The reality is that most of my friends have also moved on. There are some people I remember from high school and see on facebook, but for the most part the people I know now live a few hours south in the midwest. I'm excited to see a family I knew from church in a little while. I've only spent about 45 minutes here, but it about exhausts the places I can revisit. Still, a good trip. I'm glad I've had the chance to come through here.

General Update

It's been an exciting few weeks. After a week in Maryland we've spent most of the last two weeks back in the Garden State. It's taken us longer than expected to right ourselves, but we've also really enjoyed buying all the little things that were a hassle to get the last few years. I have an awesome sauce pan and we've got a working printer and a large-capacity coffee maker. We're also grateful to have a baby-sister/nanny/"Manny." This is the son of a friend of the family who graduated from college. He comes on afternoons and with a break each day we are getting more done and have a little more pep in the evenings. It's fun to be in place that is a little more familiar. We like being here and are glad to be somewhere familiar--where we know the grocery stories, libraries, churches, etc. The kids are all coming along. Samuel is watching a fair amount of PBS, but will also still watch dvds we brought back with us in the local language. They all have expanding vocabularies. Eli could always could communicate a lot with just a few words ("uh oh," ok, "eat"). They are both very cute and can say "please" when they ask for things. They have a huge number of duplos now and can build lots of things with them. There book collection is also expanding. Favorite are Dr. Seuss, Richard Scarry, an animal encyclopedia, and a T-Rex book. We keep looking for little activities for Sam. He likes painting, play-dough, blocks, ball, all the favorites. Emily's trying to sign him up for a session or two of swim lessons. We're excited about that. That's the news from here. I'm going to post some "catch-up" pictures soon.

On the road

We're enjoying our time on the road. It's been a lot of ups and downs, but we really have had some great experiences. We've seen friends from high school to grad school, had the time to visit some interesting sites (aquarium, kids' museum) and enjoyed a whole range of experiences. It's still hard moving three little kids and two adults, but I think we are getting a little better at it. The kids like the novelty: new parks! new toys! new things to see! new people! Emily and I often joke that our experience of something and the kids experience is different. Driving down huge highways over gargantuan boats is a hassle for us, but for the kids it is just a lot of fun things to see. Packing in and out of a hotel is pretty terrible for the parents, but a lot of fun for kids. The car is now officially about filled up to the top. We had the back window clear, but with new blocks and books and clothes at our last stop, I think it's probably good this is our last stop before we get to our home for the fall. The kids are entertaining. They can say more and more words. Sam is increasingly mimicking our phrases ("this is not going to work," "Eli wants outside help," etc.). Funny. Eva and Eli are both expanding their vocab. They all liked the aquarium. Emily and Sam saw the 4D show while I played with the babies at an interactive area (they are at the age where we should probably get them some puppets). They all began to wear out near lunch, but then pepped up after some food. My dad had warned me the aquarium is up in prices, and it was expensive: $80 for three tickets, $20 for parking, $10 for movie. I think we should definitely take advantage of the zoo near Ginny's house while we are here and also look at more free DC stuff in the future. That said, I still remember visiting the aquarium when I was very little, so it must have left an impression on me. Another part of this trip was seeing my childhood home. I think if I hadn't known the address, I would have driven right by it. I saw the old schools, found my karate school, drove around. The church itself has really grown into a large congregation with a huge facility. It was fun to see. We're looking to be settled again in one place, even if only for a few weeks. I think we're doing as good a job as we could do at the things we are supposed to be doing, but it really is a lot of transition. Here's hoping that we continue in good health and good spirits.

Kids Updates

The kids are all pretty entertaining lately. Eva and Eli are both adding words and working to communicate. They continue to call each other 'baby.' They can say more words and sometimes we can hear them responding to something in the environment. When a speaker at the conference was talking about the concept of "sugar daddies," Eva piped up with a loud, "da-DEE!" When someone on the radio talked about meatballs Eli enthusiastically said "ball! ball!" One morning we were able to watch them playing outside with the teacher and they really looked like they were conversing. They're still a ways from real talk, but also definitely coming along. Eli's new improvement is that he can use the potty some. Today I took him to pee at a restaurant, which was a first. I think he'll train himsefl. Eva loves to play in the bathtub. I call her the "mermaid." Her favorite is to lie down on her tummy and kick her legs while making swimming motions. The teachers this week nicknamed Eli "lovebug" because he likes to give Eva and Sam hugs and kisses. He's a cute guy. He's the only one of our kids who eats enthusiastically and is not very picky. He's a funny one. Sam is also growing into a big brother. He does try to help Eli and Eva and often offers guidance or admonition. Sam is very funny to watch interacting with them. His favorite book lately is "The Monster Who Ate Darkness." We like it also, so it is pretty painless to read. In Emily's hometown, Sam started playing with a little t-ball set, and after seeing some kids play at church today, he's requested a soccer ball. It was fun to watch his improvement in just a few weeks in other areas too. Randy had gotten Sam a kettcar, and at first he could only really ride it on flat surfaces, but by the end of the time he was able to do circles in the driveway, which required some uphill. He is also a big fan of the cats. He even made up a song about them the other night. His other main animal interest lately is horses. Barb took him to a place where he was even able to ride some ponies (a black and white one! a brown and white one!). He has a stuffed horse he got from his great-grandmother Jeri Ann, who he has named "Cornchicken." Somehow he has perfected race horse naming without ever having seen a horse race. Sam's very shy around people from northern island. I can't tell whether this is because he often encounters them in crowded places (restaurants, churches), whether he's ashamed that he can't communicate in Second Language, or whether he is just feeling some cultural schizophrenia. He somteimes behaved like this in public back on the island, when people would approach him and try to talk to him or comment on him (hair, skin, etc.). I think probably it's just something he'll grow out of, and I'm reminded that it's nice that he has some set communities where he can get to know people and be known as himself.

Car Tripping

So this may be an overstatement, but Emily is probably one of the worst car-trippers of all times. There's a lot of wining, followed by moaning and complaining, with some blame and anger thrown in for good measure. This is probably also because our children, especially the twins, are not great travelers. I'm typing this on the road after having driven the first six hours. The babies are now relatively quiet and Sam is watching a video. It hasn't been pretty so far, but it was probably compounded by the combination of packing and church-ing that preceded this. Here's hoping that the remaining trips go a little more smoothly.

Touring

Another aspect of our work now is sharing in local congregations. I find that sometimes I really like this. With those from the island (like today and a few weeks back), it's helpful to learn about how they have balanced child rearing and work and travel and life in different places. In other local congregations, I get a sense for what people are interested in. Right now in the US, the main secondary language is on the rise (and being taught in more and more schools). It's fun to talk to relatives of people taking it. I also get to see what some classmates are up to. What's it like to serve multiple churches? A solo church? As head of staff? What are the challenges in starting at a new place? What are some different ways of doing worship, education, or youth? Interesting things. In terms of schedule, this stretches us. It's a challenge to visit so many places, but the alternatives (basically: stay in one place and tell family to visit; put Emily and kids in one place and just I travel) are not really tenable. I think we even have a fairly decent "go, stay, rest" schedule, but it's still a bit wearing to be in city three or four already and to have several yet to go.

Denom HQ

This was a pretty interesting, though intense week, at our denominational HQ. I was starting to wear out yesterday, just because I find long weeks (7-9 days in a row) hard, especially with evening meetings and long days with the kids. Eva woke up most nights, which was hard on Emily. On the other hand, child care was very good. Sam had a little friend, "Ale" (for Alejandro). He liked the activities, and the ratio of childcare was good (two teachers + Ale's nanny Andrea). Fun! They did crafts and had lessons. It was nice for me to be able to get breakfast, pack it back, and drop the kids off. I think we sometimes miss adult conversations and meetings, and I liked that for hours I could sort of forget about my kids. On the other hand, we also had the chance to talk to a lot of people who have raised kids cross-culturally and know what it is like. It was also just interesting to learn about the work that others are up to and to hear how things have been going for them. Many of the people we met were in their third or even fourth decade of working abroad, so it was good to hear about their work and how they did things. I also always find out something about logistics I didn't know before: how to get reimbursed for something, what is going on with a volunteer program, new personnel, major new initiatives, etc. In that sense, it was very helpful just in getting a handle on how things are going.