Getting so big

Petra - wow!

She has successfully used the potty a few times in the last two weeks, largely thanks to her grandmother's patience and large supply of reading material. 

What Petra has actually learned from her success is that she can say, "I potty.  I potty!" and whoever is around is forced to stop what they are doing and sit beside the toilet and read to her for 15 minutes or so.  It is her toddler trump card and she is playing it liberally.  I have actually found myself trying to talk her OUT of sitting on the potty.  This is so wrong.

She has also added a few complete sentences to her repertoire.  Her favorite is, "Read me dat book."

For a sentence to be complete, it has to have a subject and a predicate.  In some languages the subject can be contained in the verb.  For example, "Rozumim" means "I understand," while "Rozumite?" means means "Do you understand?"  In English the verbs do not indicate the subject.  However, in commands the subject, you, is understood.  For example, "Go." really means, "You go."  Petra is a big fan of the understood "you."  Most of her complete sentences are commands right now.  That's my toddler girl.

Soccer Kids

As we've mentioned before, soccer started up for the kids immediately upon our return from the Czech Republic in August. The first few weeks are just practices, with no games. But about the time school starts, so do the games. Every Saturday. Until the end of October.

So soccer is pretty much in full swing, and the kids had their "official" soccer pictures before their games last Saturday. After we got home from the games we took some unofficial pictures. For your enjoyment and edification, here are a few of these unofficial pictures.

Paul's education

Paul’s education up to this point has been a bit of a struggle.

He has aptitude.

He absorbs information pretty easily.

He’s even fairly clever about figuring things out when he wants to.

He does not like to be constrained, having people telling him what to do and when to do it.

He is not particularly interested in writing.

He distracts easily and is immature for his class.

He is not a pleaser.

We got a call from his teacher this year on the second day of school.  This is good and bad.  It’s bad because it meant that Paul was already having trouble staying on task by the second day of school.  It’s good because it meant that his teacher was on top of it and calling us by the second day of school.

Paul, his teacher, and we have formed a team.  We are Team Paul.  Our goal is to educate him or kill him in the process - VICTORY OR DEATH!  

Progress is being made.  We are using lists to help him see how we expect him to get things done and be responsible.  His teacher is big on organization.  We are working to be more organized at home.  We are holding his feet to the fire on paying attention and completing tasks.  There are consequences at home for behavior unbecoming for a second grader at school.

Last night Paul’s teacher called again.  She had asked the counselor at Paul’s school to observe him and make some recommendations.  They have some ideas for strategies to help keep Paul on task.  Net – he has ability, he learns, he produces good work when he is interested; he still needs work on self discipline and time for maturity.  

We thanked each other for the good communication and support.  Paul is not yet where he should be, but I am so pleased with the progress Team Paul has made.

----------------------------------------------

My dad once told me that he would rather work with somebody who wasn’t necessarily brilliant but a good worker, than with somebody who was really brilliant, but not a good worker.

We’ll get him there.

And yes, Dad, I was listening.  I listened more than you probably knew.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Socks and other good stuff

Here is a list of some things that make me happy.  They are just things, but that's okay.  They please me, and I'm grateful for them.

Vicks Vapo Rub – It lets me breath.  It lets me sleep.

Whole House Fan – It draws air into the house and vents it into the attic.  It allows us to keep the AC off for more of the year.  I like.

Indoor plumbing – Dude!  That is all.

Dishwasher – I use it every single day.  It pulls my kitchen back from the brink of disaster and theoretically saves water.

Hot Water Bottle – The sad fact is that I can’t warm the bed up in the winter by myself.  Steve has that job.  Then I suck the heat off him with my cold bare toes.  Now, the hot water bottle preheats the sheets and warms my toes.  Marvelous.

Little Laptop – Our office is upstairs and hard to reach when the children are sleeping.  I have just discovered that I can use our little laptop to take care of stuff online during naptime, and listen to Ravi Zacharias while washing dishes.  Rock on.

0° Radius Mower – I was skeptical that we needed to make this expensive purchase.  We had mower for the tractor already.  This Bad Boy (its actual name) has about halved the mowing time for our yard.  Steve does the mowing.  I like having him done in half the time.

Chef’s Knife – If I were stranded on a deserted island, this is the knife I would want with me.  It is my “chop-all.”

Backpack Baby Carrier – Baby is happy.  Baby is contained.  I get extra exercise and the use of my hands.  Done.

Disposable Baby Wipes – Is there anything they can’t do?

Socks – I like cotton socks.  I like red socks. I like socks with interesting patterns.  My feet tend to be clammy.  Socks are good.

Flannel Sheets – See comments on hot water bottle.  Ditto.

My Solar Powered Laundry Drier (a.k.a. Laundry Line) – It is not a time saver, but it helps me keep from heating up the house more in the summer.  And I’ve heard that sunlight helps kill some germs.  It makes me happy.

New Balance Arch Support Insert – My old shoes had a blowout while I was out with some friends.  We hit a shoe store and I sprung for inserts to go with my shoes.  I tried them on and one of my friends commented, “I think Sarah is having a religious experience.”  They feel good.

Vaseline – It is my My-Hands-Are-Dry-Cracked-And-Bleeding last ditch moisturizer.

Digital Cameras – Now I can afford to take 57 shots in a row in order to find one in which all three children are smiling and more or less facing me.

Maybe someday I will add things like musical instruments or art to my list.  But this is kind of where I am right now.

Games with Kids

I don't always play well with my children.  I try, but it is hard work to embrace the kinds of play that they embrace.  Think lots of repetition.  Think absurd story lines.  Think changing rules of engagement.  Did I mention lots of repetition?

Today we played hide and seek.  This is the most awesome game to play with small children, ever.  It is fun to watch how they develop from not really getting it, to getting it.  When Julia was littler, she would jump out of her hiding spot as soon as you entered the room.  Paul would count to ten as fast as he could, sometimes while following the one who was supposed to be hiding.  You had to be quick!  Sometimes they would get bored and not bother to come look for you.  But in what other game do you get to sprint away from your children and have a moment of quiet time and it counts as playing with them?

Paul and Julia are both getting better and more patient with the hiding and the seeking.  We were outdoors and Petra was content to play on a toy tractor while we ran about.  I was usually pretty close to her.  Paul got a little sneaky this time and hid back on the trail around our tall weeds.  Julia stayed quietly in the barn for quite a long time.

Steve joined us after a while.  He hid in a tree and "chirped."  He was up there chirping for at least 10 minutes before Paul found him.  Paul said, "Daddy, you sounded just like the bird I heard while I was down by the weeds."  Funny, that.

After a while they lost interest.  Steve chastised Paul for later seeking him under the rocks by the barn.

Me?  I like the quiet time.

And this too, is a toddler.

Last night Petra was running around with the frisbee and Maggie.

This night, she has croup and sounds awful.

AWFUL.

She and I went to the urgent care for a diagnosis, steroid and breathing treatment.  How is it that little children go from running around playing to feeling really bad in such a short time?  At 4:30 today, she was a little wheezy, but she was running around outside like it was no big deal.  But then listening to her breath while I fixed supper made me really anxious.  Right after supper we went to the urgent care.  Even in the waiting room, she got down from my lap and played with some of the toys.

When they started trying to diagnose and treat her, she had meltdown.
No, do not put that thing on my finger to check my oxygen.
Do not listen to my heart.
Do not look in my mouth.
Do not look at me!


Julia was a little older when we made a similar trip to have her diagnosed for croup.  I seem to remember that she was similarly stressed by the diagnosis procedure.  When you can't breathe right, you don't have a lot of patience for weirdness.

By the end of the visit, the medicine had started to help and Petra calmed down.  She even gave the NP a high five.

All or nothing - that too is a toddler.

This, too, is the essence of a toddler

Petra's speech is a bit of a verbal Rorshcach test. If you have any kind of context clue, it is very clear what she is trying to say. If you are not on the same wavelength, then she is completely undecipherable.

Last Friday at the playground she came up to me very seriously and said, "Stah. Stah." I looked at her and told her I didn't understand. Her look was so intent that I bent down so that I was eye level with her. She practically put her hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye and repeated her previous statement. After a moment of this, she was content to wander back to the play set. I never did figure that one out.

Yesterday morning she got her juice and then started repeating, "Ma-ee wah. Ma-ee wah. Ma-ee wah."
Huh?
Steve answered her with, "Yes Petra, I'm going to take Maggie for a walk now." The girl knows our morning routine.

Last night I had some one-on-one time with Petra while the older two were at soccer practice. We played outside with a frisbee. Petra would grab the frisbee in both hands and hold it as far above her head as her little toddler arms would allow. She cried, "Mar(k), Set, Go!" Then she would run, while Maggie danced around her, leaping to get the frisbee. Eventually Petra would throw it, or Maggie would snag it, and then the dog would be off running loops around us with the frisbee. Petra would call out, "My bisbee! My bisbee!" Her little run produced more up and down motion than forward motion. I would tell Maggie to drop the frisbee and the whole thing would repeat. Beautiful!

Toddlers in essence - and me

This is how you breed legalistic people:

First you say prayers with your toddler, tuck her into bed, and tell her it is time to stay in bed.

Second you start trying to say prayers with the older sister in the room. Out of the corner of your eye, watch the toddler sit by the edge of the bed. See her put one leg down to touch the floor and look at you, grinning. Without words, she is asking, “Have I broken the rule yet?”

The older sister is being distracted from her prayers and asking if you see what the toddler is doing. You answer in the affirmative saying, “Don’t worry about Petra. I see her. I will deal with her. You say your prayers.”

Watch the toddler sit and shimmy back and forth, from one end of the bed to the other with one foot touching the floor. She is watching you. “Have I broken the rule yet? Have I crossed the line? Where EXACTLY is that line?”

Eventually she will stand up on the floor. Cross over to her, and as you do she will scramble back up onto the bed. Pick her up anyway, give her a single spank, and explain that you spanked her because she had disobeyed. Wonder how well your toddler understands the pluperfect tense. Listen to her in bed, singing and chattering for the next half hour after you have turned off the light.

-------------------------------------------

Clearly, she had disobedience in her heart from the moment I tucked her in. But where do you draw the line to say, “Now you have been disobedient.”? When she stands? When she touches the floor with the first foot? When she scoots to the edge of her bed and looks down? When it is clear she doesn’t want to obey?

By this standard, I need to be disciplined all the time. Thank God, He is gracious to explain to us that our hearts need a Redeemer.

Mommy Talk

I was talking with some friends last night. We shared a number of stories about our kids. Here are a number of things that came out of that talk, which might be signs that you are a mommy:

• A shower counts as "ME" time.
• You can explain to another person (without doing them injury) that mommy doesn't need to get out of bed early in the morning to make you breakfast if all you want is an apple that's sitting out in a bowl on the table.
• It makes your whole day when you hear somebody calling for daddy to help them with personal hygiene in the bathroom.
• You have somebody in your life who will stand at the window and weep pathetically each time you are walking away from them, then smile and grin each time you start walking back. It makes mowing the lawn more interesting.
• Trimming your nails counts as doing something nice for yourself.
• Sleeping through the night makes you feel like doing a dance and changes your outlook on the whole day.
• You wonder if 14 month old children are mature enough to understand a long talk about sassing their elders.
• You consider petitioning the state legislature to make whining a misdemeanor offense with associated fines and possible jail time.

Czech trip 2011 - bringing the children

One of the things I have wanted to mull over and dwell on concerning our trip to the Czech Republic is what it has meant to bring our children. Here are some of my thoughts:

• It meant trying to keep track of way too many pairs of socks and underwear.
• It meant watching the stomach bug pass through each member of our family (including grandma) and feeling bad about bringing illness into our host family’s home. And then asking them to help us keep up the extra laundry generated by the stomach bug.


• It meant that there was precious little rest at restaurants.
• It meant breaking my cardinal rule of NEVER packing more than I could pick up and carry for 50 yards at a time. Paul and Julia carried some of their own stuff, but at the airport, Petrushka was essentially luggage - with extra luggage.
• It meant eating way more pizza than I have ever consumed on a single trip overseas before.

• It meant less time for quiet reflection, prayer and listening for the Lord during the camp and the time immediately afterward.
• It meant renting a gigantic van to cart all of us (and our luggage) around narrow European streets.
• It meant trusting that Grandma, Valerie and others were taking good care of my children during the camp when I had other responsibilities.


• It meant trying to adapt myself and my children to the rules of another culture – trying not to be boorish.
• It meant sharing interesting old buildings and new cuisine with my children.

• It meant watching the teenagers at the camp treat my children with a really astonishing level of graciousness. We enjoy sports at the camp for exercise, fun, and building relationships. Paul joined us for Frisbee a couple of days, and he would periodically work his way into a ping-pong match. He and Julia both joined in for a tournament of silly sports one afternoon. They were paired for the silly sports with students at the camp. The young people treated them very kindly and seemed to have fun playing with them.


• It meant getting a little taste of what it must be like for full time missionaries to serve the Lord in a foreign land.

In years past, this short term mission trip has been a bit of a retreat for me. Yes, we work hard during the camp. Yes, we go to serve others. Yes, I have seen a share of conflict and pain during these trips. But I have always sensed a special closeness to God during them. They have been mountaintop experiences. I came back feeling like I have been on a retreat.

This year, I brought some of the things I would normally be retreating from with me. It was precious and good. It was also exhausting – even with Grandma doing almost all the childcare during the camp. I did not have the mountaintop experience this year.

• It meant that I could not share the gospel out an overflow of spiritual joy. I had to share it out of my regular life, because I was doing regular life stuff. One of our stated goals for the camp each year is to, “Share the Gospel as a Natural Part of Our Lives.” We prepare for these camps by considering how God has worked in our lives, so that we can share that story if the opportunity presents itself. This year I had the privilege of leading an evening talk. I got to share the testimony of how God worked to comfort me after the loss of my brother. I had to share these things “as a natural part of my life” because (despite being 6 time zones away from home) I was really in the midst of my natural life.

It makes me consider my interactions with people here at home. I am bringing back a clearer sense of how sharing the gospel with my coworkers can truly be a natural overflow of what is going on in my life. And being at the grocery store can be an opportunity for grace to be at work. It forces me to acknowledge that being busy or having a bad day does not excuse me from being prepared to search for my brothers and sisters in Christ who do not yet know our heavenly father.

And I wonder where the time goes...

In the last week:

My grandpa took the Honor Flight to Washington D.C. to see the WWII Memorial - awesome!

Steve and I celebrated our 10th anniversary - yay!

Grandma K had cataract surgery - she's doing okay, although her vision is not as good as one might hope.

Paul had his first 2nd Grade spelling test - he did well.

Julia finished her first full week of Kindergarten. She's enjoying it.

Steve and I took our maiden voyage into Ikea. We brought Paul and Julia with us. We escaped the store without breaking any of the displays, and we bought some organization support equipment. We also scoped out some new kitchen cupboards.

We got a couple of quotes on reconstruction work in our house that has nothing to do with kitchen cupboards.

We cleared off a spare desk in our office in hopes of selling it soon.

We hid out in the grandparents' air conditioning for 2 days because the high temperature was higher than my body temperature - ugh.

We butchered 2 turkeys.

We roasted a turkey and baked pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, which helped keep the kitchen cozy warm after the weather changed and the high temperature fell by 30°F.

Steve helped initiate a fantasy football league at his workplace.

Julia started building silly sentences (and reading them) using some Kindergarten level sight words. Way to go Julia!

Paul read the word "abdomen" in a book about spiders without even hesitating because he was using context clues. Good job, buddy!

Petra correctly identified and named Mickey Mouse on a picture - "Mi-Mi Mou!" I find that a little frightening. She also said apricot ( A-pa-coh!) after she saw Julia getting some dried apricots. Most of her words end with an exclamation point.

We did 4 loads of laundry...at least.

Steve installed a new wall-mount bookshelf in Paul's room, and 3 sets of cellular shades in other rooms.

We added a shoe rack and re-organized all the shoes, making a point to get rid of shoes that were trashed or too small for the kids.

I cleaned enough dirty dishes that my kitchen is not a complete disaster. We have been making a real push here lately to be more neat and organized - before the messy chaos of our home drives Steve or me into a catatonic state. We're getting there.

Czech Trip 2011 - English Class

My English Class this year was really something special. Not that they haven't been dear in past years, but this year I had the unexpected delight of having a talkative class.

Getting the students talking is about the most valuable thing I can do as an English teacher. Vocabulary and grammar they can learn from their teachers or books. Speaking English with a native speaker is the special thing that I bring to the table.

I have taught the beginner class every time I have gone to the Czech Republic. The beginner class is more advanced than it used to be, but there are still a set of challenges unique to that class. They are typically more reluctant to speak because their English is not as strong. In traditional school settings, there is not a lot of patience for mistakes. They are not accustomed to our more American model of - Speak and make mistakes so we know how to help you. They also have a greater spread in English skills than the other classes, and have a much higher percentage of first timers to the camp.

Our camp is advertised as a Christian English Camp. Even so, many first time students are surprised or uncomfortable with the overt Christian messages we share. One of my jobs is to give English Lessons of a high caliber so that unbelieving families get what they paid for. If students come back another year, it is for the friendships, the fun, the evening talks, and maybe also for the English.

And it was a delight to me to have students who were willing to talk and make some mistakes. I think I had a few students who were having trouble fitting in, or making a little bit of trouble in the camp. I had to reign in a couple of them sometimes. But for me, to have a responsive class was well worth it.

We had lessons on Conflict, Food, Medical stuff, Gardening, and describing where you live. I really enjoyed the conflict lessons. We talked about different ways of handling conflict and how to have a good fight.

I was really struck this year by the fact that many of my students don't have parents praying for them. It is not to say that they don't have loving and devoted parents - but their parents aren't tapping into the great Helper, and they are not praying for their children's souls. I dearly hope I get to see these young men and women again.

Happy Anniversary, Darling

Ten years ago today, I married a good man. Here are a few pieces of poetry to commemorate the day.

--------------------------------------

Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,
Nor for any outward part:
No, nor for a constant heart!
For these may fail or turn to ill: So thou and I shall sever.
Keep, therefore a true woman's eye,
And love me still, but know not why!
So hast thou the same reason still to doat upon me ever.
-Anonymous

--------------------------------------
(Excerpt from) Simple Love Story

It's a love triangle:
On the bottom left is Jim,
On the bottom right is Kim,
At the pinnacle is Him.
The closer Kim gets to Him
And Jim gets to Him,
The closer Jim gets to Kim,
And that's the end.
Peace!
-Shai Linne

--------------------------------------

BREEZE SONG

After day's questing,
My heart finds resting,
Slumped quiet nesting
In you.

Sand our edges;
Prune back hedges.
Trust alleges
In you.

Solid land.
Steady. Stand
Hand in hand
With you.

Star bound.
Peace sound.
Wound round
You.
-Sarah Kuhlman

There are other poems I could include, but most of them would make me blush to publish them; and I need to get going because the girls are destroying the house.

Love,
Wife