I'm here, I'm here!

Sorry for the lack of posting- for those of you who weren't aware, Marc's grandmother passed away on December 30th so he hopped on a plane the wee hours of New Year's Day to fly to Atlanta to be with his family. He was gone for about 10 days so I was flying solo with the girls. They were so good for me, we survived and even cleaned house before Daddy came home! He got back Monday morning so we are all happy campers now. However, he leaves on Monday for a business trip to Switzerland...rough life eh? But the awesome news is that my mom and aunt felt bad for me and they bought tickets last week and they arrive on Tuesday! It will be a short visit but I'm SO excited. It will be an extra treat to have their help with the girls that week.

Also, we need to pray for Joanne Heim at The Simple Wife. I've read her blog for about 3 years I think. She was found unresponsive on her treadmill yesterday morning and was in surgery for a blood clot in her brain. She's in ICU right now and all I know is what her husband posted on the blog last night. Please pray for her today. Her husband Toben asked that we pray Psalm 46 over her, so let's do it! Pray also for her 2 daughters, one of which found her on the treadmill. Thank you friends!

Dinner Conversation

I was talking to my mom just a few minutes ago and telling her about how our dinner conversation went tonight. Why must these things come up when Marc is not around?

I'm at the stove cooking brussel sprouts and fish. The girls are not thrilled. Cerys and Bailey are at the table coloring. Cerys draws something that looks like a goblet and says, "Mummy, look I drew a glass that Jesus drank wine out of!" She's so proud. "Oh, honey that's great, well done." Just for the record, I have no clue where she gets this from. One day I was making a cake and when I got the vegetable oil out of the cabinet Cerys exclaims, "Oh Mummy, that's the wine Jesus drinks!" What? Anyway.

After I congratulate her on her drawing Jesus' wine goblet they ask what is for dinner. I tell them and Bailey shouts "Ewww, gross!" Then Cerys says, "Will my teachers and friends be in heaven Mummy?" Whoa. That's a loaded question. I start by saying that we believe what the Bible, the Word of God says and that it says if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths- believe that Jesus is God's son and that we are sinners- then we will be saved and will live with Him forever in heaven. "Ya, so will my teacher be in heaven?" I say, "Well honey, I don't know you could ask her what she believes." Then she goes on to say, "Well can I take my dolls and toys to heaven?" I explain, "No, honey you won't need any of that there." Bailey, who has been attached to a pink stuffed lion since she was 6 months old pipes up, "Uh, what? I HAVE TO TAKE LIONEY." Dang. I feel like I'm just digging a hole deeper and deeper. "Well girls, heaven is just such a wonderful place that you won't even think about your toys and dolls. God has prepared such a wonderful place and you will be so surprised and it will just be so neat!" (Trying to save face here) Bailey says, "But I will cry without Lioney!" I say, "Well, did you know the Bible says there are no tears in heaven- there will be nothing for you to be sad about!" Cerys "Oh Mummy, you are so funny!" I'm not trying to be funny here, just telling her what the Bible says.

Cerys then asks, "So what happens if you don't believe in Jesus, where do you go?" Wow. Why must I have to answer these questions alone?? "Um, well again we believe what the Bible says" and so I gently (they are only 6 and 4 yrs old!) explain what the Bible says hell is like. I just get blank stares from them. I can only imagine that Cerys might show up at school tomorrow telling her teacher she is going to hell if she does not believe. Then Bailey grabs her Lioney and marches over to me with this look on her face and says, "Well, I don't want to go to heaven, and I'm never eating fish or wine, EVER!" And she marches out of the kitchen. Cerys continues to color her wine goblet.

Bailey did eat her fish and they both gagged eating ONE brussel sprout. As Cerys was making gagging noises I made her get up from the table and stand over the trash can (rubbish bin) in case she threw up. I'm feeling like a real winner tonight. Did I mention that Addison started the day off by saying, "Go away!" when I went in to get her this morning? I explained to her that she was so tired from her late night shenanigans of crying and calling out for Daddy and that perhaps after her nap this afternoon she would be happier. And she was.

Goodnight.

Why This Book Made Me Cry

This time last year we were kicking off our 6 month stay in Texas by having the most exciting Christmas gathering! Aunts, Uncles, Grandma's, cousins...many meeting Addison for the first time! My parents gave us a book "Twas The Night Before Christmas" that my Dad read and recorded. I think it was from Hallmark. Anyway, I had no idea how special this book would be until this month. The girls have listened to their Papa read this book to them so many times I've lost count. One day when Addison was feeling very sick, she grabbed her blanket and brought me the book and said, "Papa?" Oh man, break my heart and melt Papa's! This is how we roll, when living far from Grandparents:

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This is the face she makes when she hears her Papa's voice!

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This is for you Mom and Dad-

I have teared up at the end so many times. It breaks my heart at times to be so far from family, and holidays are the worst. As some friends of ours said once, we will make up for lost time in Heaven! We watched the BBC's 'The Nativity' last night and I was reminded just how human we are and how amazing it is that Christ would come as a baby! A squishy, tiny baby. So that we can a relationship with God. Thank you Jesus.

Merry Christmas from Wales!

Winter Wonderland

It started snowing last Friday and has been on and off since today- Monday. By Friday afternoon we had 6 inches on the ground and today it's over a foot. We are pretty much snowed in- the roads are too dangerous to go out on. We did make it to our church's Carol Service last night but I was really nervous about it!

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Tonight we opened the windows and Marc pulled some icicles off the roof for us to hold and crunch on, they are huge!!

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I was in the office while Marc was in the bathroom window pulling down these gigantic things. They are so pointed and we were worried if they fell on their own they would go right through our conservatory (say that word with a proper English accent, it's really fun! It's CON-SERV-ATREE)

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Cars are abandoned all along the roads, people are walking everywhere...it's crazy here in Wales!

He Never Lets Go

I wrote this last week at some point, but haven't been able to post it in our house of sick. :)<o:p></o:p>

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I was never the popular one growing up. I was painfully shy, quiet and didn’t want to be noticed. Probably due to my DNA and my early childhood circumstances, I wanted to blend in. I remember well the first day of 3rd grade. A new state, a new city and a new school. I was terrified. Terrified no one would like me, especially if they knew that my biological father had just walked away from us. Seeing my mom on her bed at night reading her Bible was what helped me know that we would be somehow be alright.<o:p></o:p>

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Fast forward to high school and the desire to be popular had grown even more. This is where my mom would say that my strong will would come in handy. It saved me from some very destructive behavior. I didn’t choose the best of friends to hang out with at times and the path they were going down, well I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted. But my heart broke constantly over not “being cool.” I tried out for cheerleader my freshman year of high school because my big brother was dating one of them and I thought that was surely my ticket to being “in.” Which totally makes me laugh now because I was (and can still be) so insecure that I don’t know why I thought I could ever stand in up front of people doing that! Needless to say, I didn’t make the squad. But I did make the basketball team. I should tell you that I hated “home” games because I was terrified of playing in front of my peers- I was so afraid of looking stupid or failing. <o:p></o:p>

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This leads me to today. I still feel insecure and inadequate at times. Especially when reading blogs. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten upset over a blog, I know, real mature! I only read a handful of blogs now and that’s about all. I found a new blog recently, just stumbled upon it really and one day as I was reading I could just feel it coming over me. Suddenly I felt insecure again and overwhelmed at how pathetic my life seems to be. I know, dumb right? I was in a bad mood all day. Couldn’t shake it. I felt inadequate, like a failure- at motherhood especially! Do we talk about God enough? Pray enough? Man, I can’t believe we didn’t read our Storybook Bible the past few nights. I even forgot to pray on the way to school because I was too busy answering 50,000 questions from a 6 and 4 year old.<o:p></o:p>

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The next day Twitter was buzzin’ with a bunch of people going to a Deeper Still conference in America. (It's a Christian women's conference) Suddenly, there it was again. Insecure. Jealous. Poor me, I never get to go to these things. Blah, blah, blah. Disgusting.<o:p></o:p>

I laid this all out before the Lord and took a good hard look at the state of my heart. It all seemed to boil down to the fact that I’ve always felt just a tad on the outside. Living overseas has only added to that in several ways. God reminded me that none of this matters! NONE! He is the only one that I should be concerned about. Sure, meeting Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer would be, to me, totally awesome. But this is where God spoke so clear to me. I GET to meet with the Almighty Creator everyday, anytime I want! And that is SO MUCH better! As soon as this truth began to sink in, I was at peace.<o:p></o:p>

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Looking back at my 3rd grade self I would say to me, “I know you’re confused, hurting and feeling deserted. Just because your dad preached from the front every Sunday about God and then used God as an “excuse” to walk away from you does not mean God has forgotten you!”<o:p></o:p>

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To my 17-year-old self I would say, “I know you feel ugly and unpopular but hold on just a bit longer, God hasn’t forgotten about you, He loves you so much!”<o:p></o:p>

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And to my self today I say, “I know you feel left out at times and you are missing some really fun things in America, but it really doesn’t matter. You are right where you need to be and God has not forgotten you!”<o:p></o:p>

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As if to really let this sink in and gain a new perspective, something really neat happened last Friday. It’s been very, very cold here and instead of lining up by classes on the blacktop, the school has been open and we have been able to take our children directly to their classroom. I’ve really enjoyed this because we hardly ever go into the school. Last Friday I took Bailey to the cloakroom to hang up her coat and place her lunchbox on the trolley when her teacher pulled me aside. She is a believer- the only one at the school we think- and she’s just been a huge answer to prayer. At our very first PT conference she told me she prays over the class every morning. Thank you Jesus. Anyway, she went on to tell me that she was having a really rough day the day before and was feeling really down about some things. She said she was sitting at a table working on something and just thinking when she suddenly heard Bailey out in the hallway playing and singing at the top of her lungs, "OH no, you never let go, through the calm and through the storm.” She said she instantly started smiling and told me that that song could not have come at a better time for her in that day! Bailey, who is a bit more outgoing than her big sister, but still quite shy, was just belting this song out she said. Another teacher heard it and asked what it was and Bailey’s teacher was able to tell her about the song.<o:p></o:p>

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I walked away in tears and bawled my eyes out the whole way home and all while trying to tell Marc the story. God used our little 4 year old to encourage her teacher! Ok, so we are not very consistent at times in our family devotions and I lose my patience with these three precious girls more than I’d like to admit, but we are doing alright. God has not forgotten my girls. Often I worry about them at this school, but God is so much bigger! <o:p></o:p>

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He never lets go.<o:p></o:p>

Barely...

We are here, but just barely-
This past week has been one of the roughest I can remember! All 3 girls have had the stomach bug plus chest infections/croup. Marc came down with the stomach bug early this morning and as usual- I'm still standing! I'm not sure how I manage to avoid it every time but I'm thankful. If you could just lift up a prayer over our family that would be much appreciated. I'm feeling worn out, frustrated and down. The nights are the worst because it sounds like we have 3 barking seals in our house! Thankfully the bigger girls are old enough to tell me they are about to puke, poor Addie just does it with no warning! We have washed tons of towels, sheets, a crib and even a wall! Gross. Cerys missed all last week of school while Bailey missed Wed-Fri. I would like for them to be able to go this week so they won't miss the fun Christmas things that are planned, but it's not looking too good. Friday is the last day of school until January, so we might just have to see everyone then!

Thank you!

My Little Emergent Readers

As a mom (and former elementary school teacher) I am so excited to see the girls learning! I've waited for years to see these cute stories that Cerys is writing on her own! She was working hard the other night at the kitchen table and brought me the finished product:

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"The Rainbow was in the sky"
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"The pattern was on the paper"
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The funny thing about the word "pattern" is that she learned it in a British accent- it's really the one word that she says consistently in her British accent. She says "patton". I love it.

"The bee stung the big brown bear by Cerys Verlander"
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She did pretty good with her last name I think.

Bailey is learning all her letter sounds. Instead of teaching the name of letter they teach they sound first. So according to her, her name does not start with a B, but with a "buh". :) Here she is super excited she can make a "kuh" (K).

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(I wrote Kipper at the top for her)

ChristThanksgivingmas (long post)

I'm so confused because we actually decorated for Christmas on Thanksgiving Day instead of eating turkey. I'm such a rule follower that putting the tree up before or on Thanksgiving just felt so wrong. But since it was school and business as usual, I wanted something fun to look forward to! When the girls got home from school we said, "Who wants to put up the Christmas tree?" And everyone squealed! Well Addison didn't, she just said something in Chinese I think.

The one thing Addison is allowed to play with is the Little People Nativity- always a favorite at our house!

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What next Daddy?
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This just kills me, she had ripped out her bow and looks just like her Daddy did when he was a wee one. (Just looked at this again and she has really grown!)
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Ok, here's a little confession. I was almost embarrassed to put up pictures of our Christmas decorations. I know that is really dumb, but still. I see beautiful pictures of homes that have every room decorated and it's just breathtaking. Well, not here folks. This is it and I've come to accept it and be proud of it. We did score some 10 cent ornaments last year on the day after Christmas at Target last year. And $20 stockings that were only $2 each! I would love to have trees with coordinating ornaments and beautiful ribbons, etc. But I also love our hodge-podge of ornaments.

Once upon a time I had beautiful red star (now on the mantle) but our tiny tree was not sturdy enough to hold it's heaviness. But, look at this! A homemade angel by Cerys, I love it!

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Some of my favorite ornaments:

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This one looks a bit rough, but I made it in 1979.
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The only thing we could afford in the Harrod's Christmas sale: this tiny Harrod's Bear!
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We try to get an ornament from places we've been, this one from Holland in 2004 when Marc took me to see my favorite flowers, tulips!

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South African
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Our little mantle with some African nativity scenes and one Precious Moments one that was bought for me by my mother-in-law. Also, the $2 stockings from Target (and the red star tree topper that is too heavy!)
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It only took about an hour to put up our decorations, but it was so fun. What made it even more fun was that the next day, Friday, it started snowing and I was so happy I could not contain it. It was just too perfect: a clean house, decorations up, baking for our feast and a weekend. The girls were so excited to walk home in the falling snow. It stopped snowing late that night but it's only been in the 20's so it's still on the ground. In all our years of Wales, it's never been this cold!

On Saturday we actually had our Thanksgiving feast with two other American families that live here in the city. I cooked the turkey and sweet potatoes and some desserts and they brought the rest. I had to call my mom to get my instructions for the turkey and Marc prepped it. I can't stand looking at or touching raw meat. Gag. It all ended up really yummy and we had a great time of just hanging out and laughing. We sure did miss our families, but when you live overseas you get a whole other set of family members!

So tonight we had the "Santa is not real" talk. I felt kind of cruel about it at first, we always did Santa growing up and it's fun. But this past week we had something happen at school that really upset Cerys. Her teacher told the class a story that she led them to believe was true. She was giving them something to write about, they call it the "wow factor" but the story that she told them was traumatizing to Cerys and it just kept going all week! After finally getting a short explanation from one teacher (she has two teachers, they job share- so one teacher does M,W,F and the other does TH, F) we were able to tell Cerys that the story was not true and boy did she have questions. "Why did my teacher lie to me?" Ugh. This was a tough parenting week.

Anyway, tonight we were talking about Santa after watching a Veggie Tales DVD about St. Nicholas. After all that had happened this week we felt we needed to be truthful that Santa is not real. I don't think we have ever said he is real, but when they ask I usually just smile or say "What do you think about that?" I just feel that there are things in life that we will tell our kids that sound unbelievable but are true and I want the girls to believe our word first. I don't know if that makes any sense. So after discussing it Cerys seemed fine and thought it was funny that it was the parents that brought presents. I asked Bailey is she was okay with this news and if she had any questions. She said, "Ya, can we watch TV?" *sigh* That child!

Hope you have a great week! We are in for "blizzards" on Tuesday and Wednesday they say- that should make walking to school fun huh? This is most unusual weather for Wales!

Our Church

I was trying to hold back my laughter this morning during church. Let me tell you why.

One of two things happens every week at our church.

One, kids come dressed as all sorts of things to church. I'm not really sure why this is, but on any given Sunday you might see a super hero or a princess. Today, a little boy was dressed as a Roman Soldier. I've also seen Spiderman running around, I think that was the week before.

Ok Second, we are pretty relaxed about children running around freely before/during/after church. Ok, let me just stop and say that I'm not always relaxed about it. It drives me nuts some days. I do not let my kids do that. There, I said it.

Because they do not call for the children to go out to their classes until after the first few songs and announcements are made, it can get pretty interesting. It's usually a good 15-20 minutes, sometimes longer before the kids go out. This can get tricky when you have an active, loud toddler like Addison. Y'all, she's terrible at church. Or at least I feel like she is. I take a whole arsenal of snacks and things in my bag to keep her quiet until they call for the "creche" (nursery). I get all sweaty and stressed out. Like today, she was shouting "HI" and waving at Paul, one of the church leaders, from our seats. And laughing really loud, all while shoving sticky cheerios into her mouth.

During the first song this morning, I looked down and the little 5 year old girl in front of us had a Barbie that she was playing with. Suddenly, she stood up and raised Barbie's one arm in the air and waved her back and forth to the music. I was trying so hard not to laugh. Barbie was getting her praise on.

Sometimes I get so annoyed at all the chaos that happens during the first half of the service that I wish either their parents would say "no" or that the Super Nanny would show up for once! But watching this sweet little girl made me think that God must smile down at times and wish some of us bigger kids would lighten up! She and Barbie were sure enjoying the music!

The Festivities

It's been a fun birthday week for the girl, busy, but fun! Wednesday is my busiest day normally but throwing a birthday in there this week made it extra crazy. I felt like I didn't have much time with her, but she had a fun day! It started with her breakfast of choice: Blueberry Struesel Muffins and a Skype call from my parents in TX, who stayed up till 1:30am so they could call us at 7:30am.

Birthdays in 2010 require Skype. Or at least it does if you live far from family!

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Her little sister was THRILLED to be up for the party. Ha!

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Then it was off to school, where she took fairy cakes (small yellow cupcakes with a dollop of icing on top, no I didn't make this up, it's what they are called!) for all her classmates. Then after school it was off to kids club at church. No rest for the weary I tell you!

As soon as she was home from kids club, we ate her dinner of choice: spaghetti and chocolate cake! Then more Skype calls from Marc's parents and aunts and uncles and cousins!

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Since her birthday was on a weekday and we've done the whole party thing, we decided that she could invite a few school friends over after school on Friday- so tonight three of her school friends came over for a little party. We moved our kitchen table and spread out blankets on the floor and projected a movie on the big wall while they ate popcorn and pizza! I think that was a big hit. After the movie, we had these ginormous cupcakes from Costco...I let the girls eat half and sent the other half home in their goody bag.

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I won't post the pics from the party tonight, but here is one pic of the girls doing "makeup"- one of her gifts. I'll be speaking to that parent! Ha.

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I'm on the couch now with my feet up while Marc watches Wales play Fiji in "the rugby." Happy Weekend!

Posterous theme by Cory Watilo