First Day of School!

Well, he did it.  He went to school.  I should rather say he literally ran to school this morning.  He was so excited to see his friend Mikulas and to meet his teacher.  His enthusiasm and smile/joyful screaming were so contagious I found myself incredibly happy for him and not sad at all. :)  My best friend, Stana, and her son met us there to help us figure out all of the first-day things.  His teacher is also very kind and patient (she has to be with all of these little kids, right?) and talked us through everything we needed to do and what we should expect.  She was pleasantly surprised that Jakub walked right in without us, said Dobry Den! (good day), and went right to playing with some boys and some trucks.

 

Here we are just before going in to his classroom.   We didn't take many pics of the school, but it's beautiful.  It was completely renovated on the outside, and some on the inside, last summer and now the outside is a beautiful blue with ocean waves and sea creatures painted all around it.  The playground outside is also pretty amazing with many things to do and all of it made out of whole logs of wood with interesting shapes.

 Here's his personal locker.  He's an "octopus," so that he can find his own locker if he can't recognize his name. We've just been learning about the octopus at home and he also has one on a birthday lamp I just gave him.  It was neat to see that at school he also has an octopus on his locker.  Yes, they misspelled "Jakub," but we cleared it up. :)  They assumed as foreigners that we spelled it Jakob.  I thought his classroom was for "squirrels" as each class has a nickname, but I was wrong and he is a "ladybug," which has a male and female version of the name and is a term of endearment for children here.  Stana often calls the boys her little ladybugs.  :)

That was the best picture of the boys we could get before Jakub began dancing and screaming and clapping with joy to go inside his class.  So fun!  Below is a picture of the boys in one play area talking with the teacher.  The room is a very large L-shaped room with an area for pretend play with toys, an area for gymnastics and dance with a piano, and then a typical classroom, learning-type, area where they also eat lunch together.  

We picked Jakub up today as planned, just after lunch, and found that he did not want to leave.  The other kids were all getting their pajamas on and getting their beds ready and he wanted to stay and sleep with them.  The teacher asked if he could stay and bragged about how well he was doing and that he really wanted to be with his friends.  So, tomorrow, if I still feel ok about it, I'm going to take his pajamas and stuffed dog and let him stay to have nap time before I pick him up.  I wasn't expecting to leave him there for so long, yet, and I wasn't expecting him to ask me if he could stay and sleep with his friends instead of going home with me.  That was the first time today I wanted to cry.  So, we'll see how this goes and if he will still do well and will sleep if he stays after lunch.  I missed him today, but it was a huge blessing to see and to hear how well he did at school and how much he wanted to be there.  I can tell, and already knew in most cases, that this will be my kid who's always ready to pull away, try something new, be independent, and explore life without much help from us.  Those things are blessings and I know will be a part of a strong, independent, capable adult, but it's also hard to see them in such a precious little boy who still seems so small.  I am very thankful he's adjusting so well and I'm still very excited for him.  I look forward to all of the things he will learn in this new environment, and in Czech.  I look forward to him having full conversations with me in Czech the way he already does in English. :)

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.  Today was a great success!  I do hope it continues.

Happy Birthday Jake!

After we returned from the U.S. we had just a few days in Olomouc to catch up on work, be with friends, settle a little, and then we were off to Germany for the annual European Family retreat held just before Thanksgiving time each year.  It's a chance to see dear friends, be encouraged and uplifted, and to worship with a larger church family.  More on that later.  Before we left for Germany, though, we wanted to make time to celebrate his upcoming birthday alongside the birthday of his closest friend, Mikulas.  Above is the cake I made.  I had very big intentions of it turning out spectacularly with a construction site on top and trains running around the side.  I did not, however, anticipate how bad jet-lag would be on top of pregnancy.  I barely pulled this event together and the cake was the last thing I managed to do just as our guests were arriving.  It's a good thing they are like close family and I just smiled through it and said oh well, at least it has chocolate on top.  That's all the boys will care about. :)  Yes, it's missing a section of cream cheese icing, but as most of you know Josh is now allergic to milk so I left him a piece of the blueberry cake plain.  It was yummy, even if it's not the cutest thing.

He received many sweet and fun gifts from Stana, Tomas, and Mikulas.  Our boys are so close and play together so well, and in true brother-like fashion, that both Stana and I thought ahead to get them the same gifts so they won't fight over them.  We didn't talk to each other about it first, so it was pretty funny that we did the same thing.  The boys loved it all and played well.  Jakub's favorite thing was his new Spiderman car and action figure.  He's a big fan of anyone he thinks is a superhero. :)

Another favorite gift from Mikulas to Jakub was a matching Star Wars umbrella. The boys loved them and now they will have the same umbrellas to walk to and from school with.  Speaking of school, Jakub starts in the morning.  As he sleeps soundly in his bed I kind of have the feeling I'm not going to.  I have the first-day-of-school jitters like I did before my own semesters started.  I'm so excited for him and a little nervous to let him go.  Please say a prayer with me that God watches over him daily, that he's safe from harm.  I can't wait to take pictures of him and I hope he'll be as excited to go as he's seemed to be every day leading up to it.

We also celebrated his birthday a little in Germany and then a little as a family when we got him.  I'll have more pics of that later. 

Our little man is 3 now.  The time truly does fly by!!

Back in Olomouc!

 We're back home in Olomouc now and trying to adjust.  We had such a wonderful time in the U.S. over the past month and now, as usual, it's hard to get back into the swing of things here.  We always miss our family so much and then to only get 3 1/2 weeks together was just not enough.  We're thankful for the time we had, though, and sometime soon I'll try to go through our videos and photos and post about our time back home.




 This week we're busy settling back into our home, picking back up with the hallway repairs we put on hold while away, getting back to work and catching up on programs we missed at our center, preparing for the big Thanksgiving celebration we always host at our church with about 40 people usually attending, visiting the doctors for the baby, and preparing to leave for Germany on Saturday for the annual church retreat held there.  It's enough to keep us busy and help us get back into a normal routine.  These are all exciting things as well, and blessings in our lives, so they make the adjustment a little easier.

In baby news: my appointment went well yesterday.  She looks healthy, was kicking around like crazy, had BOTH kidneys present, and looked to weigh around 2.5 lbs.  She has her head down so if all goes well with the rest of the pregnancy I should be able to try a more natural delivery process this time.  We'll see.  Please be praying with us that no matter the route she comes she and I will be healthy.  We don't have any names yet, and haven't started talking about it, but hopefully in the next few weeks we will.  I'm looking forward to giving her a name. :)  I'll go on Thursday for a glucose testing and then in 2 weeks back to the regular doctor and the geneticist to make sure she is continuing to grow well.  I'm so thankful to God that everything is going well thus far!  I know it won't be long before we'll be meeting her!

This little man will be turning 3 next week!  I can't believe it, but I'm so happy and excited for him.  He'll, prayerfully, spend his birthday in Germany again, as he has the past 2 years as well.  I think that's a neat tradition for him, though he doesn't understand it yet.  It's nice to be at a retreat with our large church family in Europe and celebrate his life at the same time.  This year his birthday also brings with it school time!  He'll begin going to "skolka" (sh-coal-kuh) on November 26th and I think he is so ready for it.  His best friend started 2 weeks ago and they will be in the same class.  He'll go for 1/2 the day every day and then I will pick him up after lunch.  It's just behind our home and only about 3 minutes walk away.  I'm so thankful for such a wonderful school being so close to our home. 

Some other news about Jakub at this age:
- He's talking a lot in full and complex sentences after being in the U.S. and around English so much for 1 month.
- He loves to play with cars, trucks, tractors, airplanes, tunnels, tracks and highway systems.
- He speaks Czech as well and communicates well with his babysitter, Babi (bobby), which is awesome.
- He loves Bible class time with Aunt Christie.
- He likes pretty, painted toenails on girls (odd, I know, but I don't want to forget it). :)
- He's very social, learns names well, and likes to be with older kids and people, often asking for them by name or following them around.
- He's so loud, even when he's playing alone or singing in bed before going to sleep.
- He's a huge fan of Daddy at this age and prefers to be with Josh and know what he is doing at all times.
- He loved his trip to the U.S. and all of the airplane rides.  He walked like a proud and big boy through the airports.
- He likes to try his boundaries, especially with Mommy, and can be defiant despite warnings.  He'll look you in the eyes while disobeying and needs clear boundaries and at times very strong punishments.
- His favorite songs right now are Jesus loves me, Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle, Star Wars theme song and Christmas songs
- He would rather be outside playing and running than inside, which is great, except when I'm big pregnant.:)
- He's a good eater and still will try most anything I give him. 
- He had his first Halloween this year and LOVED it.  He couldn't believe people would keep giving him candy and that we let him eat so much that day.  He was super excited to be with his cousins on the hay-ride around the neighborhood and trick-or-treating together (pictures to come).
- He loves all of his cousins, can name them all, and says "those are my cousins, those are my friends!"
- He has a deep, hearty laugh that comes out the most when being tickled.  I love it!

Ok, I think that's it for now. :)