one last glance {Malaysia}

We've been home over a week already.  And it's been A BIG WEEK!  The big three back at their respective local schools, Julianna and Lydia back in the home school groove, and on Friday morning the little two boys completed their physical exams in preparation to enter local preschool.  Ahhh!  I'm not ready for this step, and keep thinking up reasons to delay it "just one more semester" but in my head I know it's the perfect time.  It's aligning my heart that's the trouble!  ha!

John Paul regularly asks to go to school and was disappointed that I wasn't dropping him off on the way home from his health exam!  He knew that exam was a big step and once the exam was finished he was all set to go - he even wanted to take his back pack to the health clinic with him!

And Luke is desperate to communicate better in Chinese.  He is so eager to tell his endless stories, but for now he's pretty limited to English-listeners only.  So it'll be a great spot for him to grow.

Now how all this actually plays out on the first day of school remains to be seen.  I, for one, will not be part of the drop off scene because Matt knows I would never actually go through with it :)  And my guess is the little boys are going to be hesitant (at best) and resistant (worst).  We shall see....

Their first day is still at least a week away.  For one, their official spot in the preschool is still not 100% confirmed.  And we've got a topsy-turvy week coming up, so it's a bad time to introduce something new.  Matt's spring travel starts the first of the week (just a short trip) and then I leave to meet my parents in Thailand the second half of the week!  Matt and I actually won't 'touch'... I'll leave the kids with a friend and Matt will pick them up on his way home later that day.  It's not ideal, but it is what it is.

I'm so excited to travel to Thailand and meet my parents in Chiang Mai... then we'll be driving to the small town where they were Peace Corp volunteers (English teachers) almost 40 years ago!!!  They have never been back!  And I'm thrilled to get to go with them to this place that I've heard so much about!

It's crazy to be talking about flying south again - but the warmer temps are beckoning (he he!) and my ticket is bought.

And we are still full of fond memories of this sweet spot in Malaysia.  Uncle Charlie and Aunt Linda have a terrific backyard, with all kinds of fruit trees and plenty of open space for a bit of baseball.  Luke refers to the bat as a "balls hitter".

Joh Paul is my only lefty (I guess technically the verdict is still out on Luke, but he shows no signs of preferring his left hand... when JP was this age it was already perfectly clear that we had a left handed son!)

And I can't not mention the pets.  My aunt is a pet lover and she swayed a few of the kids her direction.  We were all a bit surprised to see Twiga the cat tolerate this from Luke, but it happened more than once.  And Luke was just delighted - mostly with himself, but also with the tolerant Twiga.

And the venerable M'Chawi, who sadly passed away a few days after we left Malaysia.  He always knew where he could pick up a tasty treat - the dinner table!

So with Malaysia in the review mirror, and a trip to Thailand on the horizon, it's head first into week 2 of the spring semester.  It'll be a short home school semester (we're set to finish up in about two months) but the local school will drag well into the summer.  Here goes.....