Family Vacation August 2014 - Part 1

After a very full, very blessed, work period over the last 6 months, with the peak of work being in the months of June and July, our family decided to get away in August for some family time.  For this vacation we decided to take it slowly, focus on family life and the simple things, and get away somewhere quiet.  Josh found us a "chalupa," or small cottage, in the hillside of northern Czech Republic.  The village was called Svobodne Hermanice.  The nearest, larger city was about 20 minutes away by car- Opava.   It was a beautiful village and our chalupa was nice with a lovely yard outside.  That was the thing I looked forward to the most, the yard.... and no internet access.  I wanted very much to just play with the children, explore, have the freedom to be outside and run and play and do things we typically can't do living in the city and in an apartment building. 

The kids enjoyed various new experiences and challenges at our cottage.  They also enjoyed more freedom than before with this area being private and having a fence and gate around the entire area.  Sofia loved running and exploring unhindered.  Jakub learned to make fires both outside and in for the grill and fireplace.  

Here Jakub's helping cook our dinner - grilled chicken legs.  He was so happy learning so many new things this week.  He also learned a lot about outdoor life and nature.  On day one he was very concerned about the bees and would scream and run away.  By mid-week he ignored them and by the end he would stand still if they were on him and then let them fly away again.  He said he was "brave." :)

Jakub also learned to jump rope.  I enjoyed so much teaching him different sports activities, or just doing them alongside him.  It was refreshing to be outside often and to be active together.  He was extremely proud that he learned and with Josh and I turning the rope he would jump in the middle of it up to 7 times before stopping. My favorite was doing it together as I threw the rope over both of us.

 

I can't remember why she was so serious.  Still cute, though. :)  One of the favorite events was blowing bubbles each day.  Sofia learned to blow alone and they both loved to chase them as we blew bubbles for them.  Sofia loved it so much she learned in one day to say "bubble" to let us know she was ready to do it again. :)  

That's all for part 1.  I've got to get to bed.  Tomorrow is the first day of school and we have to get up early with Jakub to get ready.  He's a little nervous, and a lot excited, and I'm both alongside him.  I'm praying for a good school year, for good friends at school, for patient and loving teachers, and for lots of new things learned. I look forward, for him, to all of the things this year can bring.  I hope it will be a blessing to him and that he will do well.  I'm so thankful he will once again have the same 2 lovely teachers he had last year.  They have been wonderful to him and to our family and I gain a lot of comfort by him being with them again.  I think he will, too.  Please pray with me for him, his classmates, and his teachers.  

A few things I want to remember about our vacation before I go:

1.  It was extremely cold in the evenings, and sometimes all day with the rain, and the fireplace was our source of heat.  The kids slept in fleece pajamas and punčochy in August.  Crazy.

2.  Both kids wet the bed the first night and I had to do a lot of laundry by hand in the sinks.  Reminded me to be grateful for modern technology and the ability to own a washing machine.

3.  There was a radio in the kitchen and Jakub loved to turn it on while we were cooking and have dance parties with Sofia.

4.  I can still hear Sofia standing at the front door and "counting" (un, uh, ee, uhn, uhh) while we all ran around the yard hiding.  She loved to look for us and find us.  She would squeal and dance when she spotted us.

5.  Teaching Jakub to jump rope and him feeling so proud and accomplished after learning.  

6.  Sofia learning to say Bubble so she could repeatedly ask for us to go outside and blow them.

7.  Watching Jakub be brave and ask to sleep downstairs alone in a new place just so he could experience sleeping on the top of a bunk bed.  He did it and loved it- all week.  So sweet.

Ok, more later.  Off to bed.  Good night!

Almost 18 months...

Well I've been away from this blog for a while.  Our summer life here is just too busy for me to keep up with writing, but hopefully things will slow down back to normal in the coming month and I'll get back to recording all of these beautiful memories I'm making with my sweet kids.

Our summer has been full of wonderful moments so far.  Jakub finished the school year well with lots of fun trips with his class mates and special events- like an all-day trip on a bus to a nearby castle and village to learn a little local history.  They also had a "children's day" at school where they did many different intellectual and physical events to challenge the kids.  And probably his favorite day was the one where they had a bouncy-house on the school lawn all morning and the kids were able to jump and play in the gorgeous weather.

 

We've also been enjoying buying the fresh, local summer produce.  He loves the green peas and strawberries.  Sofia will eat them as well if they aren't too hard.  It's nice to eat such fresh things when it's too hot out to want to cook much.  And of course there's the summer ice cream. :)

 

Miss Sofia got her first ice cream all to herself a couple of weeks ago.  She loved it.  I can't believe this sweet girl is going to be 18 months old soon.  We had her check-up this week at the doctor and everything looks great.  She weighed 14.0 kg, or roughly 30 lbs and was 81cm tall (we think, she wouldn't stand still much... maybe she's 82cm).  She has 10 teeth and can say several words now:  mommy, daddy, Jakub, ball, spoon, huff-huff (doggy), please, up, tady (here)... I think that's about it.  And she jabbers all the time, but it all sounds the same. :)  She's quiet when she hears music or singing, but she can't stop from swaying or dancing.  And she usually claps for people when it's over.  It's very sweet.  She sleeps through the night and usually from 8 to 8.  She takes one nap a day from around 1130 to 130pm.  She would rather be outside playing or on a walk than inside, which I love. Jakub is the same way.  

Ok, that's all for now.  I have to run.  The kids are doing great, though, and I'm looking forward to some really great summer moments together now that Jake's out of school and the summer camps are behind us.  :)

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School Play - Besidka 2014

Here are some pictures from Jakub's Mother's Day school play this year.  He did wonderful in it- he sang well (and so loudly!), was a part of one poem reciting, and danced with his partner well.  I could tell he was proud of himself and afterward I was thankful to hear the teacher compliment him on his understanding and speaking of the Czech language now- almost like a native.  It's a blessing to hear those things and answered prayers for sure.  He's doing so well at school now, behaving so nicely, and enjoying being there with his friends and teachers.  I can't say enough about these 2 teachers he has had for his first 2 years of school.  They have been patient with him, and us, as we have learned what it means to attend school in this foreign place.  They have been so kind to us and encouraging of the progress Jakub has made in the language.  I'm glad Jakub enjoys learning, is eager to excel at something, won't give up easily, and also enjoys his friendships and being with other people.  And I just love his school!  Ok, here are the pictures:

First Motorka ride!

I got out Jakub's old motorka (Czech for little motorcycle - which all kids first learn to ride) today and let Sofia give it a try.  She loved it. :)  She can't put both feet flat on the ground at the same time, yet, but still she rocked back and forth while pushing herself forward and around the room.  Then she would get off alone and most of the time do it well.  She also liked to push it and carry it around the living room. :)  She was brave and not worried at all about being on it.  Just like Jakub used to be when he was her age, though he was 1/2 a year older when we first bought this and tried it with him.  I can't wait until she can ride it with confidence and we can go on some walks together outside with it.  This morning it was so pretty outside we did take a walk for about an hour.  She did well the whole time and I didn't have to carry her at all.  We wandered around our neighborhood and she enjoyed looking at and touching flowers and grass.  She also followed a lot of birds and dogs in hopes of catching up to them. :)  She can go pretty fast already and almost runs at times.  She's so sweet to watch.  Here are a few more things about her right now:

- She wears a size 4+ diaper and weighs about 12.5 - 13 kg.
- She has one pair of shoes, pink high-tops, and they are size 22cm.  I need to get her another pair as well as indoor house slippers, which is the appropriate thing for her to put on when we visit other homes, now that she walks so well everywhere.
- She still only has 2 bottom teeth, but clearly 6 others are on their way very soon and 2 have currently just come to the edge of the gums and have almost broken through.  We brush her 2 teeth at night with a little green tooth brush and she thinks it tickles so bad and laughs a lot.
- When she isn't having teething pain she sleeps through the night from about 730 or 8pm to 7-730am.  If she does wake up due to pain it's extremely hard to get her to stay in her own bed and not pick her up.  She's determined and will cry and cry, which we don't mind comforting her through, but at a certain point she starts to wake Jake and then it's hard to let him wake up on a school night, so then we end up rocking her back to sleep or taking her to our bed if she's really having a hard time. 
- She eats a lot of different things, but she definitely wants to smell first and slowly taste new things.  If she doesn't like it then she absolutely won't take another bite.  It's frustrating, but we're working through it.  Thankfully, she really does eat a lot of different things so it's not that bad.
- Her favorite foods right now are strawberries, blueberries, yogurt, chicken, rice, mashed potatoes, carrots, cheese, bread, apples, oranges, bananas, and as of last night - lemons.  raw.  wow.
- Her favorite thing to do is probably to play with brother as she adores him.  She also would rather be outside walking around than play inside.  I'm happy about that.
- When she hears music or singing she starts to do an adorable little wiggle dance and bob her head. 
- She LOVES Daddy and can definitely say his name and call for him.  She still won't call for me, but does occasionally and randomly say Mama.  She also uses "mama" to ask for food. :)
- She gives 1000 hugs and kisses to me, Josh, and Jake throughout the day.  She loves to give affection and gives it so freely.  She is super, super sweet natured and I love it so much.

Ok, that's all for now.  I could go on forever about these kids.  They're awesome. :) 

Happy, Glorious Easter!

Once again it's been a while since I last blogged.  Life has been full, and mostly full of good, and for that we are blessed and grateful.  There's a lot to catch up on and it's overwhelming to try it all at once so, for now, I'll just share some about our Easter time this year. 

The week before Easter weekend Jakub was home from school with a fever and cough.  It wasn't anything terrible, but I didn't want him to go to school and get worse before our big 4-day retreat weekend with our church family from the Czech Republic and Slovakia (and a few from Holland and Austria).  We were unable to attend this annual retreat last year due to Sofia being so young still, so this year we really looked forward to getting back together with our friends and enjoying a nice time away to reflect upon and celebrate Jesus.  This year we had a wonderful guest speaker from the U.S., some nice Bible class times, discussion groups, and children's lessons.  Jakub and Sofia both did pretty well attending their groups and playing with friends.  Sofia didn't mind a bit being with "strangers" and other babies for her class time and I was so happy for her to have some new people to play with and interact with.  Jake did great as well, but occasionally got bored with the craft times and since he felt he owned the place (as he usually does in familiar places) he would often run off from class when he felt like it and go play out front on the playground area.  In general it wasn't too bad, but Josh and I struggled some with wanting him to learn to listen better to his teachers, talk to them first before running off, and to be more aware of the group around him and what everyone was doing together.  We had to remind ourselves, once again, that he's 4 and still has a lot to learn.  Though he played with his closest friend very well, she was 6 and of course new how to behave better or follow rules better.  I know we'll get there.  :)

The retreat was good for us in many, many ways. It was encouraging to hear the Bible lessons, taught on the Lord's Prayer, and be in discussion with others about them.  It was uplifting to worship and sing so often with so many other believers who were full of joy.  It was refreshing to be around so many other Moms, Dads, and kids who were striving to teach their young ones about life, about God, about Jesus, and just about being.  We shared many "mom" moments full of laughter, and some tears.  All of it was so good for me.  The only down-side for me, really, was that Sofia was teething (and still is as we're going to get about 6 teeth total in the next month) and didn't always sleep well at night.  Josh and I were totally wiped out from the poor sleep at night, but still made the best of several great days there.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures yet to show from the retreat.  One of our friends there took many of the weekend and will send them out to all of us soon. :)

I do have some pictures from our Moms' and Kids' class in Olomouc on the Wednesday before we left.  Our theme this semester is "family."  Each two weeks we learn about different members of the family, various good values we have in our families, and about love for those around us.  The two weeks prior to Easter happened to be babies, brothers, and sisters.  So we talked about baby Jesus as well as adult Jesus in parts of our lessons and shared some of the values Jesus taught us in our celebration of Him leading up to Easter.  I think it worked in well to the overall theme and I'm glad we got to share some of our faith with the families/kids in the group before Easter time.  I do have just a few pictures from that class time.

We also hosted our own Easter worship in Olomouc, but we did it one week prior to Easter as we would then be out of town in Slovakia.  Josh led the worship program focused heavily on Jesus and Joy this year.  Sometimes in the past we've struggled to truly express our joy and hope we have in Jesus for all that He did for us and for the resurrection and the miracle that it is.  This year we wanted those who would come, who are closest to us anyway, to see the joy and love we have for God and Jesus and everything that Easter time should represent.  And I was able to do the children's class as this year we had another family come with 2 children and so it was wonderful to celebrate with them.  We had a small program of singing and story time from the Bible, as well as some craft time and plenty of games to play.  Here are a few pictures of the kids:

That's mostly how our 2 weeks of Easter celebrations and programs went.  Thankfully the kids were in a mostly healthy spell for it all.  Thanks to God the programs were blessed and successful.  Our biggest hope is that God and Jesus remain on peoples minds when the programs are over.  I believe for some this is true more and more!

And just so I don't forget my mommy-fail Easter moment... after the 4 days away for Easter weekend we returned home Sunday night happy and completely worn out.  We did the typical bed-time routine of dinner, baths, and bed.  We all slept well that night, including Sofia!  On Monday morning we got up for school as usual... and as Jake and I were walking there together I noticed hardly anyone was out.  Odd for a Monday morning.  Odd for 750am.  We continued on and as we got closer to school I could see that no one was parking around or going to-and-from school.  Still we marched on and as we walked up to the school door it became very clear that school was closed.  Because it's Easter Monday.  Because that's a holiday here and nothing's open.  Yeah, I felt silly.  So we marched ourselves back home for a long and fun day as a family together.   That was needed anyway. :)

Whispers in the Calm

I want to post something here not to brag or seek approval, but to save it as a reminder of this moment in my life.  And as a memory to share with my children.  I was recently asked to blog about what it's like to be a Mom on the mission field.  There are so many things I could share about this, but some general thoughts about it are recorded below.  They were featured on an online blog, which is run by some dear friends on mine in Vienna, Austria, as well as other friends from around the world.  I've never felt like a gifted writer, but when my friend asked me to share my thoughts in hopes of encouraging or helping other moms in ministry I couldn't deny the nudge I felt God was giving me to do my part and share myself and my experiences with others.  It's hard to deny God what you feel like He wants.  I also felt like it was my duty to help contribute to the community of women who are a part of this blog and dedicated to helping each other in life.  So, hopefully I was able to encourage someone out there.  After writing this I was asked if I would consider contributing something once a quarter and after much thought and prayer, and what seemed to be a clear encouragement from God to say yes, I have decided to give it a try.  If you have any interest in reading articles from other women as well feel free to visit the blog:  http://www.inthecalm.org/

Becoming A Mom While Living Abroad

By Sarah Beall February 3, 2014 Uncategorized 

 

Wow. What a topic: Having children in a foreign country. I don’t know where to begin or how to keep this brief. When I think about my children, about having them here in the Czech Republic, and about raising them in this foreign-to-me (not to them since it’s their home) land, I have so many scattered thoughts racing through my mind. It has not been easy, but then it’s not easy having and raising your children anywhere, is it? For me, motherhood integrated with this missionary life has been full of questions, doubts, worries and an ever-increasing faith in and reliance on our Great, Awesome God.
I was especially scared with my first as everything was so completely new to me. I would say that my first true, in-depth experiences with “culture shock” were when I became pregnant and had my first baby here. And I had already lived in Olomouc for three years. One reason was that the language here, which is already difficult, has its own “child language” within itself that I had to learn with the birth of Jakub. Words I never needed before were suddenly so necessary and so unknown. Words I already knew well did not hold the same meaning simply because he was a baby! And so many things got lost in translation, or simply didn’t hold true, like the huge shock at literally the very last minute at the hospital that my husband could not go with me for the C-section. No one is allowed to go with you unless they have special connections to the medical staff. Talk about SHOCK. Talk about stress!  I was so nervous and scared, but what could I do?  I just went on back to the operating room with the nurses and we had a baby. A very big, very breech, gorgeous, healthy boy.
It’s a good thing God doesn’t get tired of us talking to Him because I’m pretty sure I talked his ear off with all of my concerns, and questions, and prayers over that precious little boy that I was sure I was going to mess up in some major way. If my Mom were living nearby she would have calmed me during that roller coaster of a first year, and told me to take a chill pill! But, that’s another difficult thing about having our children here — we’ve left behind the comfort and care of our moms and dads, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and church family. God provides, though. If we’re looking for it, He provides. My husband and I learned to rely on each other a lot — and we learned even more about one another. And I found help, and friendship, and genuine care from some of the people around me. And now I’m stronger for it. And precious bonds were formed. And I have an even bigger “family” because of it, because I’ve had my babies in this foreign place.
You know what truth still rocks my world and I am continually learning how to accept, nurture, and grow with it? This foreign place is truly home for my children. In a way that it can never be mine. They were born here. They have only ever lived here. These people are their people and this language is becoming their language in a much more authentic way than it will ever be “my” language. My oldest is already attending a local pre-school here and his grasp of the language and culture is wonderful and ever-growing. He sometimes teaches me vocabulary words. How crazy is that! And I’m thankful that by nature, and nurture, I’m not prone to be jealous or competitive with him about that. I’m amazed by him. I’m amazed by the beautiful, smart, adventurous creature that he is. I am blessed to be his Mom and I thank God for all that He’s taught me about Himself through my son and my daughter. If it weren’t for having these precious kids in this foreign place I wouldn’t have learned some of the things I have, personally, about God and who He is, and how much I can and need to rely on Him. For everything.

I have the opportunity every day to learn something about myself, my kids, and my God. That’s true for any of us in any place we happen to live. If that happens to be a foreign place and if you ever happen to feel overwhelmed or scared while raising your kids there (or experience one of a million other emotions or thoughts — kids can really get our minds and hearts stirred up, can’t they?) I encourage you to know you are not alone. If you can allow yourself to be vulnerable and ask for help, then surely God will provide help in some form or another. I’ve found help from my husband, late-night Skype calls to parents, teammates, newfound friends met in random places, online articles, tons of reading on parenthood, Beth Moore studies and encouragement from friends all over the world. Motherhood, in my opinion, is one of the toughest life-experiences we can endure. It’s awesome, too. It really is a gift from above and one that I don’t take for granted.
We never know how long we’ll be on this Earth, or our children for that matter, so trying to enjoy each day with them is important. I’m thankful that for now I find myself in this foreign place with them because we’re learning so much about each other, about life and people, and about God. Praise be to Him for that.

How sweet it is to be loved by you!

 (She was giving kisses...) :)

I love these kids.  I love the way these kids love each other.  Lots of love going around.  And since Jake is staying home this week from school to try and finally and completely kick a long-term cough he's had (we've all had it...everyone we know has had it...) we've had a lot of fun playing together.  Sister is always happy to have him around to play with.  Now that she's walking they are also practicing that together.  Jakub loves for her to walk to him because it always ends in a slight run, a big squeal, and usually a hug (complete with back pats/slaps) and kisses.  I wish our video camera was working.  For now you'll have to imagine the sweetness through the pics.  Love, love, love them!

 

 

 

I couldn't help but take this picture of Jake while we were playing around.  I don't want to forget how thick, rough, and messy the back of his head/hair gets when he sleeps.  What a mess and impossible to comb out without water.   I could tell that he slept in one spot, with his head laid straight back, all night long. :)  Sofia's hair does this as well!

Jake made some nice faces for me and the camera.  Here's his happy face:

 

Sad face:

Surprised face:

Mad face:

Silly face:

 Here are some sweet faces from Sofia as well.

 

This last one I caught as she was running to me.  You can see Jakub clapping/cheering her on in the background.  Fun times with these two!!