Nearly there.....

I'm finally on the countdown until my husband and oh-so-important father of my children returns to us - a little under a week to go. I'm not too proud to admit that this has stretched me and made me cry. It makes me so grateful that we don't have to do this often and sympathetic to those who do. Sarah is really missing her daddy. I found her carrying around a framed picture of him saying, "D-aaa-ddy." She's been seeking out her "daddy fix" from her friend's dads, so our good friends came over tonight and Sarah and Andrew both soaked up the attention from Simona's dad Elliot.

I finally decided to get a couple of sitters this weekend (I needed a little reprieve). Friday night a college student that is involved in Michael's campus ministry came over to sit. I needed to run a couple of errands, including one to the mall. Jean Anne wanted to come along, so I picked her up along the way and told her that I was only going to return an item to Babies R Us and get one essential item at the mall. Somehow we both walked out with new shoes and I didn't leave with my intended purchase. But, I'm now sporting a sweet pair of Keens - and only suffering minor guilt. Jean Anne says that I am not allowed to tell Michael that I went shopping with her. ;)

My Mother's Day gift from Michael was a gift certificate for a manicure, pedicure, and massage by Jean Anne (which is incredible, because I'm too frugal to do anything like that for myself). A mother and daughter from our church took the kids for a couple of hours so that I could relax a little bit and go use part of my gift certificate. And by that afternoon I needed to get away. For some reason our whole morning was off. Kids were cranky and moody.... I was cranky and moody. Sarah spent a lot of time in time-outs. We had a scheduled lunch play date with Jamie/Luke and Natasha/Avi Joy at a McDonald's with a play area. The kids finished eating and were running around having a grand time in the huge indoor jungle gym thingy. We moms were visiting. All the sudden Natasha semi-yells, "Sarah's naked!" I look up to see my daughter sans clothing jumping up and down yelling, "Mommy, mommy!" Then I hear a kid way up in the gym yell, "Oh, someone went pee in here!" I climbed inside that thing so fast to get Sarah. Her soaking wet clothes were strewn about. I gathered up all things and had to bring her out in front of a packed room of mothers and children to dress my naked child in dry clothes. Of course, before we could leave McDonald's, Sarah pushes on the emergency exit bar (which, by the way, is at the perfect height to tempt a toddler) and sets off the alarm. Once again all eyes were on us, or so it seemed. The pedicure felt incredible that afternoon.

Last Thursday was the end of the regular pre-school year. Classes with two year olds and up got to perform in the school program. The theme was "Going to the Movies" and Sarah's class performed two pieces from "Peter Pan." Sarah was, of course, cast as the Indian Princess - lol. She was the most adorable Vietnamese Indian Princess I have ever seen! I'll try to include a little video and a photo.

Andrew is doing great. Developmentally he is spot-on for his age. He has 3 words besides Mama and Dada that he uses - hi, uh-oh, and nana (banana). He plays hard, but thankfully he sleeps hard, too. I'm definitely more in my element now that he is past infancy.

Once again, I'm up way too late...... Here are the pictures.

I just love this little boy's expression!

Note the height difference!

Incase you are interested....

Michael and his team are keeping a blog of their time in Malawi. Here is the link.

Groudhog's Day

Yeah, I know that was actually back in February. But, wasn't there a movie by that title a decade or so ago - with Bill Murray? I don't think I have actually seen it from start to finish, but the premise of the movie struck a chord with me tonight as I found myself standing at the kitchen sink at 10pm yet again unloading and then loading the dish washer. It's been pretty much the same thing every night lately. It's a bad habit. Bathe the kids around 6:30; bed (for them) between 7-7:30; fall onto the couch, sitting for the first time in hours, my mind going numb in front of the TV. About 9:30-ish I start feeling pretty bad about the state of the kitchen and table, which is precisely what led me tonight to think of the movie Groundhog's Day. Am I singing anyone else's song? I've seriously got to stop sitting down before the kitchen is clean....or invent a self-unloading dishwasher. They make self-cleaning ovens, so it's possible, right? I'm pretty sure this is compounded by the fact that Michael is in Malawi, Africa leading a mission team, so I am pulling double duty. I'm grateful to have my parents who live in town and a wonderful people from our church who want to help out (just have to remember to let them).

The kids are doing fine. Growing, changing, doing new things all the time. Their little universe is off-kilter right now, so I'm having to put up with some extra whining and other odd behaviors. I'm dealing with some big time "What's mine is mine, what's Andrew's is REALLY mine, and what's Mommy's could be mine if I snatch it before she sees me" behavior from Sarah. (She actually took all of his birthday gifts, carried them to her room, and shut the door the day of his party.) I'm pretty sure that it is normal for a girl who is going on 3 soon. At the rate Andrew is growing and learning to be more steady on his feet, it won't be long before he'll be able to defend himself and retrieve his toys and snacks - possibly using force. He is loving the freedom of upright mobility, although he is not yet an accomplished walker. He has also decided to turn me prematurely gray with his new found climbing skills.

Before I make Andrew out to be a saintly baby boy and Sarah a less then, um, saintly daughter, I must say Andrew does plenty to torment her. Andrew rarely stays still long enough to sit in my lap. However, if it is occupied by Sarah, he is there in a flash and he is not going to give up the coveted spot for a very long time. Sarah is also the perfect height to grab on to when he is about to lose his balance. And the pigtails are way too tempting. Poor girl. Sibling rivalry....dates all the way back to the very first set of sibling....so I should expect nothing less here - lol. It's all good, though. I believe in God's grace because he has blessed me with these two souls, and I didn't do anything to deserve that.

We're still working out the last of our summer plans, but there are two things I am really looking forward to. One is Vietnam Family Weekend/Heritage Weekend. For the past 5 months I have served on a 6 member committee for our adoption agency planning the event. I've arranged the catering through a fabulous VN restaurant here in town and I've met with a local VN pastor of a VN church in town. He is going to help coordinate members of his church who will come to the event representing the local Vietnamese community.

The other thing that I am REALLY looking forward to is resigning from my job and staying home full time in mid-July. Even though I have only been working 20 hours/3 days a week at our church, it has felt like too much with two little ones so close in age. Combined with Michael's unpredictable pastoral schedule, it is just not working. Bottom line, I've always wanted to stay home with my children. My mom stayed home all the way through my high school years and I have always appreciated her decision to do that. When I taught second grade I always knew I would want to be the lady that was the homeroom mom. I loved those women! They were lifesavers. I know staying home isn't for everyone and it doesn't come without different kinds of stresses (full time mommy duty, end of paychecks, etc.). But, we believe this is the best decision for our family. Hurry up July! I'm ready.