Has it really been 3 months?!

I'm a bit embarrassed at how long it's been since I've last blogged. It's not that I haven't thought about it, I just haven't been inspired in the moments I've had available. I can always write about the kids I suppose but then I thought that anyone who actually reads our blog would get bored (except the grandparents). Don't get me wrong, I think they are perfectly amusing and incredibly fun but I'm under the assumption that people want to hear about life in Tajikistan as well. I'm just going to write about whatever comes to mind for a bit so that another 3 months doesn't pass by without a peep from me.
I understand that the biggest news in the U.S. is that bin Laden has been killed. You'd think that living 110km from the Afghan border might warrent some excitement over this here but you'd be wrong. I actually heard about it in references on Facebook and Rees and I finally read some headlines a few days later. I'm not going to use up space to give any thoughts or opinions on that necessarily (I'm quite opinion-less on that actually. It's more like a fact that I don't need to process beyond just taking in the information) I do want to say that no one here is talking about it. It's not an eerie silence, either - it just doesn't seem to interest anyone. Now the tornadoes and floods that have been happening in the U.S. and the unusually cold winter and spring there has everyone interested. In fact, it's our local friends and neighbors that have kept us updated on what's been happening in the U.S. and they are all struck by how tragic all these storms and whatnot have been. Ask someone if they heard that bin Laden was killed and they say something to the effect of, "oh yeah, I heard that." One of my friends said, "Isn't it a lie? Haven't they been saying they got him for a long time?" Some of our family/friends have asked how this news has affected us living here and it really hasn't affected us and I'm not sure how/if it will. The continued unrest in the Middle East and North Africa hasn't affected us either, though many local friends shake their heads and just thank God that there's no fighting here (the civil war here ended in the late '90s and no one wants to see more fighting any time soon). Around the tandoor outside (clay oven for cooking non - bread) the women frequently comment to me about how peaceful it is here and they want to make sure that I tell my family that. So there you have it everyone - it's peaceful here :)
On a totally different note - I really have to go on record to say that having kids that are 4 and 2 years old is WAY different than having a 3 and 1 year old. I'm a huge fan! I can't believe how much more I'm enjoying my kids TOGETHER now than I was a year ago. It's such a sweet time. We still have our tussles over discipline and such and Emmett is super curious and ALWAYS into everything and can be pretty exhausting but they are at such cute ages. I can't believe how much Hannah is growing up and slowly slowly we are moving out of everything being a power struggle and she's becoming more helpful and cooperative. I didn't know if I'd survive parenting such a spirited child even 6 months ago, but we're starting to understand each other better and she's finally decided that it's not such a bad thing to help out. She is enjoying Emmett much more now too and he's starting to talk (of course, only she, Rees and I can understand him) which is fun for her as she teaches him new words. They actually play together now (fights included) and can keep each other occupied for up to 20 minutes or so - of course, not when I try to initiate that but I'm not going to be picky :) I find myself enjoying them more than being drained by them most days and I'm so thankful for that. It's an answer to prayer really as I'd been praying that I'd be able to really enjoy my kids - thank you God.
On another totally different note - I'm sick of rats. They're disgusting. I think we've caught 7 in the last year and I'd much rather catch mice than rats. We have these glue trap things - do you know what I'm talking about? It looks like a thin, hardback children's book and you open it up and lay it out flat and there's glue on both sides - no poison, just glue. We caught the first 2 or 3 rats w/ just the glue trap but then the 3rd (or maybe 4th?) was just way too smart for us. S/he also liked chocolate - I'll let you guess how we figured that out. We tried multiple glue traps and he (I'll call him a him though he was probably a she as I just doubt that boy rats are as clever as this one was) and found one just covered with eaten up and spit out plastic bags (he was just walking all over that thing!). Next Rees put a traditional rat trap under our sink with something to bait the rat (cheese or bread or something) and we found the bait gone in the morning but the trap hadn't gone off - he knew it wasn't set right. The next day we set it correctly and that night there was poop by the trap but he hadn't touched it. That's the night we found half-eaten chocolate wrappers and figured out what this rat was interested in. Finally, we set a glue trap with a big fat chocolate in the center and we finally got him! We've caught many more with chocolate since then. Just a few days ago we caught another one. This one had the gaul to run behind me in the kitchen in broad day-light and into the bathroom. It was a good size rat too (yuck!!!). We set a trap in the bathroom after the kids went to sleep (with chocolate of course) and sure enough, we caught it! I'll fess up here and say that previously I just threw the rat in the trap out the window but now we know our downstairs neighbors better and they have a granddaughter just a year older than Hannah who plays outside under said window and I just thought about what I would want if it were my kid playing outside (I wouldn't want her to be curious and open the trap and get her hand stuck in the glue with the rat). So, I put on a heavy-duty glove, peeled the rat off the trap by the tail and tossed it outside. YUCK, YUCK, DOUBLE, TRIPLE, QUADRUPLE YUCK! I thought a cat would be able to dispose of a rat who was no longer on a trap a little easier but I have to say that I don't think I can do that again. I also don't want a half-live rat stuck to a trap hanging out in my garbage can either so I don't know what I'll do. I thought we had another one this morning but turns out it was decomposing cauliflower (the stuff doesn't stay good for more than maybe 2 days!) - also quite disgusting but much easier to get rid of. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.
Well, that's my random post for now. I hope to be inspired again soon.

Still winter

I'm still a NW girl at heart - it starts raining and I feel excessively happy, BUT, here that happiness quickly deflates when I step outside into what seems to be a never-ending mudpit. There's just so much dust here that when it actually rains (which isn't that frequently) it turns to insta-mud. That said, we are really enjoying a little colder weather right now. It was still in the 90s during the day-time through late October and there are still leaves falling from the trees and here we are in February. We've had one big snow - conveniently timed for when Troy & Jenny Ready and their family returned here. They must have brought it from Spokane :) We've had some alternating really cold and semi-cold weather since then but I know that before we know it, spring will be here and soon after that - the ridiculously hot weather. So for now, I'm enjoying not sweating profusely and eating soup and drinking hot tea in cold weather (as opposed to eating soup and drinking tea in hot weather - which we also do).
It's been a while since I posted pics of the kids so here they are. Hannah is 2 months away from turning 4 and is just as fun and spirited as ever. She both keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing. Emmett is almost 20 months and is trying his best to talk. Some words are easy to understand others we still don't understand. He's picking up a mixture of English and Tajik. He adores Hannah and tries to copy most everything she says and does. He's also become quite accomplished at pushing her buttons. He's a really snuggly little guy (he's in my lap as I write this) and it doesn't take much for him to melt our hearts. He's a busy little fellow right now (aren't all toddlers this age?) and we really can't, or shouldn't, take our eyes off him. Hannah has nick-named him Moyer the Destroyer and Rees and I call him Kunjkovjon "koonj-kove-jone" which more or less means dear curious. He loves playing with cars and kicking a ball around (like someone else in the family? :)

 Enjoying the first snow. Unfortunately, that night Hannah came down with a fever and all four of us ended up with a terrible flu. I was really glad I got the kids outside before we all were stuck inside.

 Kids love boxes. I'm pretty sure it's universal.

 Hannah loves watching Tajik concerts with our Tajik family in the village. The best is when I catch all the little girls up dancing together.

 Emmett loves when daddy gives him a bath. I hear all kinds of singing and rapping and splashing going on when Rees is the bath guy.

Hannah anticipating the bubbles coming out of the bubble gun that Reed sent Emmett for Christmas.

Can't help feeling giddy

For the first time in I don't know how long, I feel giddy. I've already been to visit 4 families today and now both of my kids went down for naps AT THE SAME TIME. Rees is out visiting with a friend and I'm home alone in an already clean house. I've actually turned out all the lights and am pretending to not be home (sometimes you have to do that but even then if someone is convinced I'm home and just not answering they'll still knock non-stop for 5 minutes before giving up :) Some may think this is hardly a reason to be giddy but I can't stop this happy feeling from bubbling up from inside me. I think most moms can understand. It's really hard, sometimes it seems impossible, to find a little quiet alone time. I thrive on quiet time to myself. Just ask my husband a few hours from now and he'll describe a different woman than the wife he saw before he left. I have a dear friend here, inspiring woman actually, who lives in grand-central station for women and neighbors visiting and who also home schools her 5 children. She says herself that she thrives on chaos and loves cooking for 20+ people. Isn't that amazing? I manage chaos, or maybe more accurately I survive chaos but the idea of thriving on it is a wonder to me. Laura, you know I could only be talking about you. I'm so thankful that there are people like Laura in this world - particular in Kurganteppa, Tajikistan. That said, I'm also thankful for these wonderful moments that I get to be in a quiet, peaceful house w/o any nagging thoughts about who I haven't visited or what needs to be cleaned. Sure, there are multiple loads of dirty laundry to do and other things I probably "should" do but in this moment, I am basking in the peace of letting all that go and soaking up a bit of time to myself. I say this knowing that someday my kids will be grown, out of the house and maybe I'll think it's too quiet but for now I'm the mom of small kids and appreciate every quiet moment I can get. I read an interesting statistic recently that on average, preschoolers make 3 demands/requests a minute - a MINUTE. Just food for thought :) Here's to hoping that you all get a peaceful moment today.

Another low-key Christmas in Tajikistan

It's Christmas day and all through the house not a creature is stirring, not even our mouse (well, rat actually but that doesn't rhyme w/ house and I can't think of anything that rhymes w/ apartment). We don't actually have a rat as a pet (we aren't that crazy!) but we've caught 5 since we moved into this apartment. That's a bit beside the point though. It seems like not that long ago that I was posting on our first Christmas Day in Tajikistan and during the heat of the summer it was hard to imagine we'd ever celebrate Christmas in the cold again. But here we are - the sun out but cold enough we don't leave home w/o our jackets on - another Christmas in Central Asia. Though I do miss Christmas music playing everywhere, everything decorated, strolling down the aisles of Target or Walgreens looking for stocking stuffers and, of course, the festy foofy lattes from Starbucks - there's a definite sweetness to our holiday season here. We certainly focus more on the reason why we are celebrating and we don't have endless Christmas parties to attend so our lives don't get as crazy busy at this time of year as they did in the states. That said, we're looking forward to when we do get to spend Christmas in the Pacific NW again (maybe 2012?) and will rejoice in going to every holiday gathering we can.
We had a really fun Christmas Eve with our friend, Gulzira, and her son Daler. They came over to our house (Hirulo, her husband was supposed to join us but had to work last minute) and we ate dinner together and then Rees told the Christmas story with Gulzira helping him find the words when he didn't know how to say something. Hannah and I had made a gingerbread nativity set the day before w/ Ute, Sarina and Nina and she and Daler acted out the story with the gingerbread people/animals. Then we gave everyone a candle, turned out the lights (not quite as novel when you're accustomed to the electricity going out) and sang Silent Night (we explained what the song says, of course). Then Rees, Daler and Hannah rough-housed for at least 45 minutes while Gulzira and I talked and cheered them on. Emmett, for some unknown reason, suddenly discovered his belly button and was enthralled with it. He kept pulling his shirt up and poking his belly button - all with wide-eyes and mouth open. Then he started walking around wanting to see everyone else's belly button. He was really bummed when we put him in his one-piece footie jammies and he could no longer access his belly button. You should have seen him this morning when I opened his jammies and took off his diaper and let him go around part naked - he had 2 interesting parts he could watch (I'll leave it at that). Gulzira made an interesting point when she told us how nice she thinks it is that our kids grow up knowing why we celebrate our holidays and how we freely talk about God in our home. She explained the during the Communist era, no one was allowed to talk about God and children were instructed by their parents that if anyone ever asks them if God exists, they should say no - even if they believe he does. She wondered if that influenced why more families don't freely talk about God with their children. I don't have any thoughts to add here, but it was an interesting point.
This morning we woke up, made coffee (chocolate milk for the kids) and lit candles and had the kids go find their stockings and open them. Of course, Emmett was more interested in what Hannah was doing then the fact that he had his own stocking.  They were happily occupied w/ balloons, stickers and mandarins (and lollipops) while I made cinnamon rolls. Rees played Christmas carols on the guitar and the kids sang and danced.  Then we let them open the gifts that we gave them (they each get one gift w/ another that's for both of them) and again they were pretty content for a while. Actually, they're still content - Emmett's asleep and Hannah's making necklaces with her new bead kit. We Skyped with our families, ate breakfast and then Rees went to play in his semi-final soccer game. We'll have minestrone soup tonight (always something easy that doesn't dirty too many bowls) and probably watch a Christmas movie with Hannah and hopefully turn in early. Nothing too eventful. We've let the kids stay in their jammies and we aren't running any errands or visiting anyone today - just hanging out together as a family. We'll probably try to Skype my sister, Jackie and Rees' brother, Ryan and his wife Dawn tonight (thank God for Skype - what a gift!). Rees and I have been reading a book called, "Preparing for Jesus" by Walter Wangrin Jr this advent season and it's been such a great way to reflect on the coming of Jesus and his coming again. I highly recommend it.
I just love Christmas carols. I've been rejoicing in the verse from Joy to the World where it says:
No more let sin and sorrows rule or thorns infest the ground,
He comes to make His blessing flow far as the curse is found.
In this world, where brokenness is everywhere - it's so great to think that He came to make His blessing flow and He will one day rid the world of it's sorrow and brokenness. That's what we're celebrating today. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and that His blessing flows into your home and family.

Thanksgiving Pics

I posted all of our Thanksgiving pics on my Facebook profile page. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving together with our friends. Everyone chipped in and brought great food, helped set up and clean up so it was low-stress/high-enjoyability for everyone. There were more people from Finland than from the states and it was hosted at our German friends' house. We are so thankful for our international family here.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 It's Thursday November 25th here in KT (our city) and I'm thinking about all of you loved ones who will be waking up in a few hours to celebrate Thanksgiving. I hope it's a rich, full, sweet time for everyone and that no one explodes (see my previous post regarding that) :) We will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Saturday at our German friends' house - isn't it nice that they open their home for our American holiday? There are 4 other Americans that we are friends with in our city and we are all spear-heading Thanksgiving. We even got a turkey. In addition to our dear German friends, there will be three families from Finland and one Brit. Living here, it's easy to be thankful. I found myself thankful for many seemingly small things the last few weeks. Bananas - that we can get them in Central Asia is awesome, that we can afford these decadent treats is another blessing. They are roughly 50 cents a piece right now here (which most people would say is expensive) and any kid would gladly receive a banana over any kind of candy most days of the week. Toilet paper - we mostly have the eastern block/Soviet times toilet paper - you know rough, brown recycled (maybe?) stuff - closer to cardboard than paper in my opinion. There are lots of families that can't afford t.p. and plenty of others (particularly in the more outer-lying areas) that just don't use it - they've never developed the habit of using it and instead use water or sand or rocks (I won't go into the specifics of that). That said, I'm also thankful to be able to buy some of the soft white kind too - you know, for a special luxury sometimes :) I'm SUPER thankful for nice neighbors and plenty of them. I never need to feel cooped up inside because there are also women to visit with somewhere close by. There are frequently even other kids who will play with my kids so I can talk to some ladies without being interrupted every 2 minutes. There are a few grocery items that I've recently found (or found with more consistency) that I'm so happy about: brown rice and wheat flour (this granola girl couldn't be more thrilled). Nodira - our house helper and friend. She makes life so much more enjoyable with her help around the house, her cooking ideas and her suggestions. She also taught me how to make good yogurt - yay! Jamila - who I refer to as Super Woman because I really don't think there is anything this woman can't do (and do with a smile and good humor, I might add) and I'm particularly thankful that she's going to make peanut butter for us with some consistency. We can't buy it here and with little kids and so much bread it's so nice to have but it's quite the messy endeavor making it (skinning the peanuts is the kicker). Of course, I'm immensely thankful for our family and dear friends. I still pinch myself when I think about all of you because I just can't believe how RICH in relationships we are! Seriously, we must be in the top 1% of the world - I don't know how you'd measure wealth in relationships but I'm sure we're up there. Thank you for supporting us as we follow our calling/dream living cross-culturally. Not everyone gets to do something like this during their lifetime and we are thankful we get to and recognize it would be so much more difficult without your support and encouragement (even from those of you who still think we're crazy and who swear you'll never understand why we are here - the fact you still feel that way and are still encouraging us means so much to us - thank you!). We thank God for you all regularly and will continue to. We are also so thankful for the reason we live and the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. That lens on this life makes us feel extra thankful for just about everything.
Here are some random pics of the last few weeks.

        Hannah and Emmett with a friend, Sayora, in their toy box.

 Hannah and one of our Tajik nieces, Sabrina, on Eidi Qurbon, going from house to house getting candy.

             Emmett eating a cookie Nodira made.

   Me, with two friends - Valuyat and Dilafruz (not to be confused with my Tajik sister Dilafruz).

Hannah and Emmett wearing some of the new jammies Grandma sent. Hannah didn't waste any time taking off her clothes and putting on jammies when we got the package. That's something else I'm thankful for - the generosity of our families and friends in sending us packages and the 7/7 track record we've had in receiving them. We never expected to be able to receive packages with any degree of predictability but we've been pleasantly surprised.

A Few Pictures

I thought I had posted these pictures. They are from a month ago - Eidi Ramazon - the day after Ramadan ends. What do you think people do after a month of fasting? You guessed it - they eat! In the morning we went out to the village of our Tajik family so the kids could do a version of trick or treating w/ their "cousins." Then we went from house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood and ate our way through the day. My family told me in all sincerity that they know people who have exploded on Eidi Ramazon from eating so much after not eating very much. I told them I didn't believe them and they pointed to another guest and said, "SHE exploded!" and the lady offered to show me the scar from her operation to sew her back together. I declined. Anyway, no worries, no one we know exploded :) Just thought some pictures of Hannah and Emmett may be in order.