Hello transition, so good to see you again

Here we are again, spending time with our old friend Mr. Transition.  Honestly, we spend more time with him than I like, but after all these years together it's strangely familiar to be in his company once again.

Suitcases are out and packed. Last loads of laundry are in the dryer. Last errands are crossed off the list. Last glimpses of sanity are fleeting.

This morning Matt left for some meetings (fun important stuff that I am so thankful for!). Tomorrow the kids and I load up and pull out, stopping briefly to pick up Matt on our way to North Dakota. We won't get a solid start til late afternoon (Matt finishes up about 3:30) but we're hoping to drive well into the night and stop somewhere in Ohio. Day two should take us to Minnesota and day three to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Google maps says 23 hours of drive time. I am assuming they didn't factor in 5 children so I'm trying to keep my expectations low!  We will be with family for the first few days and move into our temporary housing for the spring on Sunday. Girls start school on Monday and I'll take a deep breathe then :)

Oh, and bid a happy farewell to Mr. Transition too!!

( I am currently without my computer and pictures so I'll have to do a wrap up of the last few days of our NC time later. )

the Cookie Caper

This morning we kicked off some extended family celebrating with a revival of the Cookie Caper.  My great aunt Eleanor started this tradition, inviting me and my many cousins to her home during the holidays to make cookies.  Aunt Eleanor was the sister of my paternal grandmother (who died when I was two years old) and she was bound and determined to provide a living link to my grandmother (her sister Doris).

And she did a really good job of it too!  You can't host a cousin-filled cookie making day and not make a memory or two along the way.

So this year when my cousin Susan suggested we revive the tradition with the newest generation - well, the answer was easy.  "We're coming!"

First up, mixing the dough... Isaac with my cousin Meg's daughter Margaret.  

Julianna and Lydia busy helping my Aunt Beth with a batch of Holly Berries (marshmallows plus butter plus corn flakes plus red hots - yum yum yum)

Getting serious about cookie making...

Susan keeping the older crew on track.  This was the easy part :)  Once the bigger set of cousins finished up we brought the littles in for some fun. 

When the two and under crowd stepped up to the counter things got a little bit busier for us Moms.  (check our Ryan, Susan's son, with just a teeny tiny taste!) 

Hello full kitchen (big kids doing crafts in the background)

Passed the camera to my cousin James and - yay! - photographic evidence that I do exist :)  All too often the camera is in my hands and I appear in exactly 0.8% of our photos! 

And seriously, is this little guy old enough to make cookies?

oh yes he is.  And pretty proud of his handiwork too.

And the men?  Golfing.  Frost on the course delayed their tee time a bit, but check out that gorgeous blue sky! 

Today was just the beginning - the whole crew, plus a bunch more, gather tomorrow for more good times.  As a child this family Christmas was always a holiday highlight for me - so thankful to be here for it this year!

Christmas Day fun

This is one of those rare times that I am blogging because 'i feel like i should'.  Such special special days, behind and ahead of us, and I just don't want to get so far behind that I loose the memories or forget to download pictures or .... So it's a good kind of 'should' that has me here tonight.

With a bunch of photos, mostly. 

Christmas morning came plenty early, I guess that's to be expected in a house with six children!

Unfortunately my sister in law Jen was out of commission with a stomach bug (which later attacked both Lydia and Luke) but the rest of us had a grand time digging into the pile under the tree. 

Both these girls delight to give gifts, simple little gifts, many of them "bought" from my mom, who has a stash of little treats and surprises she picks up on clearance.

Isaac's new favorite shirt is this Carolina football jersey my Dad picked out for him.  We played a little two-hand touch in the cul de sac before lunch and I'm pretty sure Isaac is hooked.

And all so very excited to show Matt what we chose for him - much debate at the store and it was a bit chaotic at times, but worth it to have this group gift from the kiddos.

Proud to have picked a shirt just for him. 

And speaking of shirts, look what my littlest two are wearing :)  If only I can keep them from flying their kites in the house, right?

The grandkids (minus Raleigh) with their new nutcrackers.  We'll use these as table centerpieces at a family gathering tomorrow and it's so fun for each child to have "their own" that my Mom can use to decorate year after year. 

Mom and Dad and the six grands... pretty precious.

Merry Christmas

from our family to yours!

Christmas prep work

This house keeps getting busier, but nothing stops my Mom!

 

Gingerbread house with the grand kids? No problem! 

When Mom bakes cookies with the kids even Luke gets a turn to add something to bowl.  That's impressive. 

And I love this last picture.... John Paul (intense), Lydia (talking), Isaac (focused).  All of them (even Julianna in the red shirt) constantly in motion, constantly in contact with each other. 

Are they reflecting a bit of their host-Asian culture in this respect?  I wonder.  Regardless, personal space is not something we see a lot of!  

As of yesterday morning Jen and Stephen and Raleigh (my brother, sister-in-law and nephew) are here too.  Full house.  Full hearts.  Lots of fun. 

Blurry photo of a Luke-Raleigh embrace.  We do lots of blurry motion :)  Luke is 51 days older than his littlest cousin - and he calls Raleigh "baby".  Let's just say Luke is thankful to relinquish his role as the littlest kid on the block! 

and she is EIGHT!

Pure joy to celebrate this one, my oldest daughter, the one who first called me "Mommy". 

Every year it just keeps getting better.  Mothering this child is privilege and joy and delight and humility and need.  All wrapped up in one sweet package.

New birthday backpack, new year, new school on the horizon.  [Oh that God would continue to give grace as we navigate change and transition and new-ness.  Again.] 


Julianna is a whiz in the kitchen.  Loves to work alongside me and gaining an impressive skill set too. 

An eight-fold treat at lunch... meeting up with our dear dear friends from highlight-film-worthy years in Asia together.  Now we have 8 children between us, the perfect number for this 8th birthday. 

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  Crazy face photos aren't only for the younger generation :)  This lunch = water for my soul.  Brief but beautiful.  LOVE LOVE these people. 

We had 15 for spaghetti (Julianna's choice) dinner, all family.  It's different, a birthday here in the land where she (honestly) has few friends.  We do have two furlough-ing family friends within a few hours drive, but it'll be good for all of us to get settled into some relationships up north. 

Christmas Eve morning dawned clear and bright and crisp.  At 40 degrees we are probably a solid 30 degrees warmer than it was the morning after her birth-day in Beijing. 

 Happy 8th birthday Treasure.  I love watching you now, and dream big of the one you are becoming. 

whole

Matt is here.  Our family is whole.

It feels wonderful.  

Just finished hanging balloons and making cinnamon rolls.  It's Julianna's 8th birthday tomorrow.  Time to celebrate!!!

the other end of the smart phone

For 5 weeks I've bombarded Matt with photos.  And videos.  And voice texts. 

His absence makes me even more aware of how precious the moments really are - my heart hurts that he misses these little things.  (Reality is that I sometimes feel like that at the end of a day - how can he leave for work and know he's going to miss hours of these kiddos ... and of course, he misses hours of grumbling and complaining and whining too.  I guess it's an even trade off?)

Life is not all smiles and photographic moments, despite the pictures in this post.  In fact, I think I'll start off with this one (from a few weeks ago) just so you can see how good John Paul is at expressing disappointment with Mommy.  In this case I had just told him he could not pick at Grandmama's flowers.  Quick as a flash the lower lip was out and tears flooded the eyes! 

But in the brighter moments I'm reaching for my phone, sending pics across the ocean.  Yesterday I took these....

Isaac drew this picture of a snowball fight.  That's me on the left (wearing a dress, which is why my legs look short).  Isaac (on the right) clarified that his snowball was both larger and faster than mine.  Looks like I better watch out when we head to the snow-covered north! 

Isaac learning to wink

It's tricky.  Just ask me.  I can't wink. 

Making "welcome Daddy" posters (didn't send this one to Matt, don't want to ruin the surprise!)

The finished products.  It'll be a while before the glue dries on a few of these :)

Christmas cookie decorating

and eating, of course!

Our smart phone saga is coming to a close though - Matt is already en route, on his first airplane.  It's another 25 hours before he arrives, but it feels SO good to know he is getting closer every minute!  I can't wait to  have him here, with us, watching these silly drawings take shape, and getting a good look at Isaac's new winking skills, and admiring his posters and eating our cookies. 

only a few more days

The past few days - well, life is just full.  Full in all sorts of good ways and with all sorts of good things.  Also full in "I don't spend a lot of time with my computer" sorts of ways!

I'm extra grateful for the love and support from my parents.  I cannot count how many times I have left the house with only a fraction of my children in tow.  When you have five children, well, when you have five, and take only three of them with you to run errands.... it feels "easy"!  I also love leaving the house during the early afternoons - when the little two are asleep the house takes on a whole new rhythm.  A slower one :)  It feels less burdensome to leave the littles at home when they're napping!

Only three more days until Matt starts his journey to the U.S.  That means only four more days until he arrives.  I didn't really start counting days until just this past week (I think the number seemed large and scary, and not at all helpful!), and now it seems almost surreal that he'll be here so soon.  I am so so ready to be a family of 7 again! 

As far as I can tell John Paul's ears are in great shape.  He did once tell me "ears hurt need pink medicine" - congrats little guy on attempting a sentence for Mommy, but no you cannot have Children's Tylenol on demand, on matter how yummy you think it tastes :)

[I know he got that idea because the first night I put his ear drops in and also gave him some Tylenol.... you know, just out of surgery, figured Tylenol couldn't hurt anything.  Well, the next night he was bummed to get just the ear drops, no Tylenol.  The third night was when he tried to convince me his ears were hurting and he needed that good 'ole pink medicine :)  Now that we're done with the ear drops he's dropped his Tylenol requests, at least for now!]

Other than that, we're cruising towards the big HOLIDAYS.  Julianna turns 8 on the 23rd.  She seems more "8" than ever these days, so it seems right on time.  It also seems way too fast - it puts 9 on the horizon (9 feels like a biggie - halfway to 18).  That's one that I'm not ready for.  

I've got a post coming called "cooking with 5 grandchildren", gotta get the pictures off my Dad's camera and you can see my Mom in action.  Get ready.  It's impressive.  

our day (longer than we wished)

An emergency newborn surgery pushed John Paul's surgery to 1:30.  That translated into a LOT of time to kill with an active hungry John Paul!  Mom and Isaac sneaked away to get some breakfast while John Paul and I took pics in the lobby. 

Then Mom came back and I took a secret snack break.  We figured that no food sightings were the way to go - no need to remind John Paul that he had not eaten since dinner the night before.  It helped tremendously that the entire OR area in that part of the hospital is food/drink free - signs everywhere saying "no food or drink - kids preparing for surgery". 

With a few hours still to go we wandered the premises and Isaac was such a gift - the perfect brother to run around with :) It was in the mid-40s around noon and the sunshine felt wonderful.

Finally we got called back - the anesthesiologist agreed with me that since we already had one traumatic leaving-for-the-OR experience under our belts we'd make this one as easy as possible.  I carried him into the OR and was with him until he was totally out.  Perfect. 

Back in the waiting area Mom and Isaac had a few purchases to share.  One balloon for each boy :) 

Isaac is pretty much the perfect child to have along for this kind of day.  He is mild-mannered, easy-going, fun-loving, often-content, and LOVES his role as big bro.  While we waited the final stretch Isaac entertained himself taking photos with my phone.

blue sky, American flag, Isaac's reflection in the glass

Mom and I walking a few laps up and down the halls

It wasn't long before they called me back to meet my grumpy, disoriented little boy :)  He woke up fast (but not happy) and we were gone within the hour.  Every step away from the hospital brightened his little spirits and by the time he was buckled in his seat and we were on the road home he was asking for a snack. 

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful.  Until the Christmas tree fell over :)  Still not sure why it fell ... no children were involved.  Seriously.  All five of them were present, accounted for, and nowhere near the tree when it toppled. 

But fall it did.  The mess is cleaned up, the presents are drying out, the broken ornaments vacuumed (total damage minimal), and the tree anchored to the ceiling with twine. 

It won't fall again this Christmas!

[My Dad is the oldest of five boys and no stranger to attaching a tree to the ceiling.... his Mom always tied their tree to the ceiling.]

keeping up with Daddy

It's been over three weeks since we bid Matt a teary goodbye.  Now that we're on the home stretch of these weeks apart (he gets in late next Saturday night, we'll be generous and say that's a week from now, more or less!).... anyways, now that we are on the home stretch I'm very eager to see him, yet very grateful for the many sweet ways God is carrying us through this time.

With so much technology at our disposal I feel like Matt and I could be in almost constant contact (unless he is asleep or I am asleep!)  We trade text and voice and video and photo all the time.  The longer Skype-type conversations are not as frequent (we usually try to plan those out a few days in advance, so both of us can block of a period of time to be on the phone). But shorter phone calls are easy - he's able to do a quick Skype and say goodnight to child in bed.... so precious to see my little one cuddled in bed in the dark, hunched over the glow of a cell phone talking to Daddy.  [Of course I would MUCH MUCH rather see them doing it in person, but my heart swells with gratitude that we have this available to us!]

Matt makes personal mini videos for the kids and on the nights they can't talk they BEG to watch 'one of their videos from Daddy'.  He speaks to each one individually, prays for them, cracks jokes, etc .... it's just a super neat added blessing to a Momma who is tucking many little ones in bed many nights in a row.

John Paul and Luke might think Matt moved inside my phone!  John Paul carries my phone around and whenever he sees a picture or video of Matt says "hey Daddy it's John Paul".  He has a hard time differentiating between the real live Skype session and a video or voice message or photo.

And tonight I was getting one of Isaac's videos cued up for him (the media library on my phone is chock full!) and as soon as Luke heard Matt's voice he practically tackled me trying to get the phone out of my hands.

Matt sends silly photos, like this one of him eating cookies I baked and left in the freezer for him ;)
My kids know their Daddy and his love for cookies!  

While none of these fun techno-treats are a decent substitute for the real man, I am so thankful that we have them.  I'm also so thankful that we are here.  One big reality is that since we left our home in China Matt has spent many many nights on the road.  I'm thankful he has the freedom to really invest in some of these trips, even staying longer than he 'normally' would, if he was heading home to see us.  I'm thankful that instead of solo-parenting through much of the holidays I am living with my parents (support network extraordinaire!)

He also sends pics of the places he roams!  We all recognize this one, down at the river
that runs near our apartment - this is where we get all our rock-throwing done :)

And I'm thankful that when Matt joins us here in America the early weeks of transition will be behind us - what a sweet way to bless him with a single-person-entry instead of the wearying nature of an entire family in massive upheaval.

Today (Friday, China time) is his last day on the road.  Until next weekend, that is, when he heads over the Pacific en route to all of us!!!!  As blessed as this time has been (such sweet times with my parents, friends here, everything... so worth it all!) as blessed as it has been, I am more than ready for us to be a complete family again.

And tomorrow (Friday, America time) is John Paul's ear tubes surgery.  Should be pretty straight forward... he's scheduled for the procedure at 10am, and we hope to be home mid-afternoon.  Isaac and my Mom going with us (over to UNC Children's Hospital).  Dad will be manning to fort here at home with the two girls helping and Luke underfoot.  The girls wanted to go with JP and me but they were out late for a Cinderella play this evening and need a morning to sleep late!  (Mom, the boys and I pull out about 7:30 for the drive to Chapel Hill.)