Happy First Day of School!

credit www.maryrvogt.com

The other day I sat with three other moms at the lunch table. One mother who sat across from me lamented how long it took her clothes dryer to dry her laundry.

"I think the heating element is broken," she said. "It takes 90 minutes to dry one load!"

"That's nothing," I replied. "Mine takes an hour and a half!"

Awkward pause.

The mom beside me said, "I'm so glad you aren't homeschooling your kids anymore!"

No kidding. It's a wonder they pass their math classes at all. Obviously get their math skills from their dad, not their mom.

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Sometimes

Ever feel like God is asking you to do a crazy thing but you just know it's Him, so you do it?

A couple of months ago I took a group of high school girls on an overnight trip...twenty minutes away! We felt we should prayer walk the area, stay in a certain girls' hostel, and pray over the facility. That's really all we knew, but we felt sure it was from the Lord.

Proceeding with excitement and a little apprehension, we asked the Lord to give us an opportunity to share Jesus with someone.

We settled in our hostel...prayer walked...ate dinner...had coffee...explored...returned to hostel... we talked to a few people, but nothing "big" so to speak. We ended the day playing a game of cards. It wasn't until 11:30 that night that the Lord brought a lady our way. She needed a listening ear and she needed to hear the Gospel. We were given such a sweet opportunity to pray for her and to love her in Jesus name. Here are some things I think we learned:

1. Sometimes you have to share at odd times (we stayed up until 2:30 am talking with her).
2. Sometimes you have to share in weird circumstances (not really the place to share, but trust me, it was a weird situation)
3. Sometimes you have more boldness when you work as a team. All of us spoke to her about Jesus, each of us in our own way.
4. Sometimes God orchestrates divine appointments (this lady decided at the last minute not to return to the hotel she had checked into, but to come check into our hotel instead just for one night...the very night we were there)
5. Sometimes people are ready to hear. We need to be ready to share.
6. Sometimes people say, "Yes! Please pray for me!" We shouldn't be afraid to ask.
7. Sometimes people don't believe. That's not our part. We share. The Holy Spirit convicts.
8. Sometimes you stand back and say, "Did God really just do that?"
9. Sometimes unbelievers see it too. They may not realize it's God. They may say, "Did that really just happen?" And then you smile and say, "Yes it did!" Because you know it's God who did it. He's just that awesome.
10. Sometimes we just have to be willing to do something a little crazy.

Parenthood is Convicting!

This never happens to me of course, but I have this friend...

Let's make up a name for her...uh...him...err...I mean...the person...who is not me...we'll call this person "Kana Jelley".

Well, see, sometimes when her kids don't do what she tells them to (mine always do, I'm just saying that Kana Jelley's don't always do that), they look at her and say, "I love you Mom!"

Do yours ever do that? I know. Mine don't either. But Kana Jelley's do.

(Have you ever seen actual steam come from someone's ears?)

Isn't that the most irritating thing ever? Wouldn't you just want to scream "If you LOVED me you would DO WHAT I SAID TO DO."

I mean...if you were the kind of mom that screamed at your kids.

And when I am tempted to do that, I am reminded of my Heavenly Father. Didn't He say just that? He was much nicer, but Jesus said to His disciples, "If you love me, keep my commands" John 14:15.

Ouch.

Sometimes I just stand there and say, "I love You God!"

You know: stand in church and sing a praise song to the Lord while feeling bitterness take root in my heart, or think a judgmental thought about what so-and-so is wearing to church (the nerve). Isn't that the same thing? Isn't that standing there and saying "I love You" but not obeying His commands?

Parenthood is convicting y'all.

Well, I mean, for people like Kana Jelley.

#H54F Christmas 'Round The Corner!

Wow, Christmas is only a few days away! A crazy week ends in a calm weekend. Yay for calm weekends!

#1 S went for Xrays and Dr. check up. His arm is looking great and healing well. Yay! We still make him wear a sling when he's out and about and he still has to be EXTRA careful so he doesn't fall on it.

#2 A went to orthodontist with the dreaded message "My dog ate my retainer." Thankfully the orthodontist likes dogs and more than that, she said it wasn't too damaged, he can still wear it. We all breathed a sigh of relief as A knew how much that thing cost!

#3 I got a new phone! A real phone! It happened like this: on Thursday my son J tried to call me from school. I tried to answer his call but my cell phone wouldn't let me pick up. It just kept ringing. Finally it registered that I was receiving two calls from the same phone and I had put one of them on hold. Then it started playing random music that I'd never heard before...loudly. I finally had to take the battery out to make it stop. That was the final straw. No more of this says Kris. We spent the afternoon shopping for my Christmas gift: a smartphone! Woohoo! My phone even knows BOTH of our names (see T9 You're Killin' Me to see why this matters.) I never wanted a smartphone, but now that I have it, I like it :) Thanks Kris!

#4 A aced all his exams. Woohoo!

#5 We watched The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies today. It was great! Loved it! So thankful for a family that likes to hang out and do stuff like that together.

Now on to the weekend and 3 1/2 weeks of Christmas Break for the boys.

What was your week like?

#H54F: High Fives on Monday

You know how you have those days that don't play out the way you imagined they would? That's what happened to us last Friday. Who knew we'd be spending the weekend in the hospital? Well, the Lord did, and that's a good thing! So here's my Friday Highlights...on Monday:

#1 Our oldest son hosted Bible Study at our house last week and it is such a joy to see teenagers gathering on their own to study the Word. I made a lot of ice tea, a lot of popcorn, and a lot of meatball sandwiches. It was a lot of fun.

#2 I'm stopping my Neighborhood Narrative story. Sorry. I hate to stop things unfinished. But, you may have guessed, it is a true story and it just got crazier than it already was. I will still write it and perhaps one day I'll get to post it. For now, you can pray for the characters. The names are different but the people are real.

#3 Thanks to friends, I figured out how to buy pork! (shhhhhhh #nothalal) It is no longer chunks of meat hanging on hooks to me. I now know which chunk can be used as a pot roast and which chunk can be cut into pork chops. Watch out Pinterest...I'll be searching for pork recipes pretty soon.

#4 I am super excited to have received final confirmation from the publisher on book title and cover for my debut novel. Woohoo! Post coming soon about that.

#5 And the biggest news from last week happened on Friday, although I am not sure it is in the "highlight" category! Our middle son broke his arm pretty badly while running a race at Field Day. He broke the ulna and radius and had to have surgery to put plates and screws in each bone. The Lord was so faithful in providing excellent medical care and a great community around us. Surgery was on Friday and our son was free to go home from the hospital by Sunday afternoon! And get this, he's back at school today. What a tough guy!

I am hoping that #5 for this week will be super boring.

Have a great #Thanksgiving Week!

Hats Off!

Hats off to homeschooling moms! Mostly because the hat will be knocked off anyway. Things can get wild and crazy in a homeschool room. In the past few years, I added homeschooling to my repertoire of school experiences. Whether as a student, parent, or teacher, I have experienced: private Christian school, public school, and homeschool in the United States as well as international, Christian, boarding, and homeschool in several foreign countries. Each situation carries a unique set of challenges and benefits.

Not very far into my first year of homeschooling our kids, I realized that homeschooling is not for the faint of heart or for anyone low on energy. My image of homeschooling moms has never been negative, but it certainly jumped up a few notches once I started doing it myself. I kept thinking, “And all this time I had no idea what all they had to do!” Sure, we get done earlier in the day, but when we are done...I am DONE, you know what I mean? My brain is toast by two o’clock in the afternoon! Emails? Forget it. Dinner? Did we already order pizza for dinner this week? We did? Phooey.

Last year we did homeschool and dorm school (different kids did different things obviously). This semester all the kiddos are homeschooling. Next semester it will be Christian school abroad. See what I mean? We really like to mix it up in our family! Ha!

To all the families starting up a new year of school...HAVE A GREAT ONE!

It's Time

“It’s time, Mom,” said my boy. He stood in the open doorway of the hotel room where we stayed. The light of the afternoon sun flooded the doorway where he stood so that his face was dark and his form was a silhouette outlined in gold. His eyes were not hidden in the shadow, though; they beamed. His backpack hung over one shoulder and he carried a bag in each hand. He stood tall and handsome. When had he grown so tall? His voice was deep too. When did that happen? When did my little boy start talking as if he were a man? In recent days I found myself startled to hear a strange man in the house talking to my children. Then, I’d realize from the conversation that it was not a man, it was my own boy (whose voice seemed to have dropped multiple octaves overnight) talking to his siblings.

My boy. He was going to move into a dorm and attend school far away from home. We planned for this day for years. We talked about it, read about it, and dreamed about it. But now it was time to do it. Were we really ready for this? Was my son?

He thought he was. But he didn’t know about homesickness and broken hearts, about mean teachers and selfish friends, and...and...

“I’ll be there. Trust me.” It was not the deep voice of my son who’d grown up too fast, it was the Holy Spirit in my heart. The same Holy Spirit Who was in my son’s heart too.

We raised our son to love Jesus and honor His Word. But, would he keep on the path to life when he was out from under our watchful eyes? What about bad influences around him and temptations and...and...

“I’ll be there. Trust me.” It was that Still Voice that my son would recognize too.

I remembered the words of my father, “You and your husband have raised him well, Dear. Like an arrow, he will fly straight.” I remembered the conversation I had with my father the night before...

“I keep trying to tell him last minute advice, Dad,” I complained, “and he doesn’t hear a word I’m saying. He’s so excited to go that my words seem to bounce off his head like ping pong balls off a wall.”

“He doesn’t need to hear them, Dear,” my Dad replied, “He doesn’t need to hear them because you’ve already taught him all the things he needs to know. But you need to say them for your sake. So it’s OK, just say them and let them bounce away. He’s going to be just fine!”

I know my dad was right. I knew this day was coming, but can it possibly be here already? So soon?

“Mom? Mom, it’s time to go.” I jump and look back at the doorway with the silhouette of the young man that somehow I am old enough to have borne and raised. “The dorms open in twenty minutes.”

“Well then,” I reply, “Let’s do this!” I flash a smile at him. Gosh, I am so proud of him. He’s gonna do great. I grab my purse and follow him out the door. Before closing it behind me, I reach back in and snatch the box of tissues off the entry table. I’m gonna need it!

A Late Christmas Greeting...

Getting ready for Christmas...making cookies!

And here are the finished products...

After several busy Christmas activities, we enjoyed dinner as a family on Christmas Day!

And now to get ready for a visit from our church. 

Selamat Hari Natal! (Merry Christmas!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

(it's not too late to say that is it? I am only a week or two late)

Aaron is FIFTEEN

Look at this cute little guy! It's Aaron and yesterday was his birthday. So this post is dedicated to our firstborn son...Aaron Jackson Kelley! Aaron was born in Texas and had his first birthday there too. Unfortunately, that was before digital cameras and I don't have any other of his cute baby pictures with us. Aaron turned 2 in Jordan and when he turned 3 (in Jordan too) he was a big brother to a newborn brother. He turned 4 in Sudan, 5 back in Jordan (because his second little brother was born there just a month earlier), and 6 in Texas. Aaron turned 7 in Sudan and now...finally, a picture. Aaron's 8th birthday in Sudan. Here he is with two of his buddies, one from Kenya and one from Finland/Germany.

And when he turned 9, well, same house, same table, same friends, same cups! Ha! Good to see that at least I had different plates! 

Aaron turned 10, same house, yes, same table and all of that, same friends...so I chose a different shot...the trampoline :)

OK, Aaron turned 11, but I'll spare you the picture. Actually, you should know that we branched out that year and had his party at a park! But I didn't have a good picture to put here, so I am adding a picture taken a few weeks later at the church Christmas program where Aaron was a shepherd and his brothers were angelic angels :)

Here is Aaron with some of his bestest friends in Sudan...

Aaron turned 12 back in Texas and before you know it...we were moving again! This time to Indonesia. Aaron turned 13 in Bandung.

And turned 14 in Palembang because...you guessed it...we moved again.

And to keep with the theme, Aaron is celebrating his 15 year birthday in a new country. We are SO happy to get to go to Malaysia to celebrate with him! Woohoo! We are so proud of this guy and so happy that God gave him to our family! Happy 15th Aaron!

Are You in the Minority? (A TCK Moment)

The other day we were having family worship. We were studying a passage from Ephesians and talking about the believers in Ephesus. Kris asked the boys, "Have you ever been in a place where you felt like you were in the minority?" We waited for the obvious answer. I mean, think about it: the boys have lived all of their lives either in the Middle East (think "White boy surrounded by Arabs"), Africa (think "White boy in Africa") or in Asia (think "White boy in Asia") and have always lived in predominately Muslim cultures. So, yes, the answer seemed very obvious...to Kris and me. The boys thought and thought and finally, each one said, "No, I can't think of a time when I felt like I was in the minority."

I had to smile! I love TCKs! Do you know what that is? It's a kid who is from one culture, grows up in another culture, and therefore develops his or her own (third) culture. And TCKs have awesome answers to questions we think are obvious. I say "we" here because I have learned to be somewhat American, but I am actually a TCK myself. Which explains why I loved their answer! Ha! Finally one of them came up with an answer. You know when it was that he felt like he was in the minority? No really, go ahead, guess! It was when he went to public school in Texas! The one time he was surrounded by kids who were from his passport country! And you know why he said he felt like he was in the minority? It had more to do with the other kids' spiritual lives than it did to their language or skin color. Wow. He taught me a lesson and didn't even know he did!

I love that our kids are comfortable in their own "skin" (literally) and that they are sensitive to the spiritual state of the kids around them. They challenge me to look past the obvious and see the heart condition of those around me. TCKs see the world differently. Do you know a TCK? Give them a hug and tell them you appreciate them!

Happy Birthday Seth!

Today our middle son, Seth, is TWELVE YEARS OLD! It seems like just yesterday that we welcomed him into our family of three! We were living in Jordan back then, so Seth was our "Arab" baby, although he didn't look very Arab!

Seth was supposed to have his first birthday in Sudan. But because of 9/11 our plans were postponed and he had his first birthday in Jordan. Not long after that we moved to Sudan.

Just before Seth turned two we went back to Jordan because the next month Seth became a big brother! So Seth celebrated his birthday with a Blues Clues party in Amman, Jordan.

After spending Christmas in Jordan, we went back to our home in Sudan. 

The following summer we returned to Texas for a year. Seth turned three there and had a Clifford the Big Red Dog cake. He did NOT want to open presents and I had to take him to the other room during his party and tell him, "You WILL open these gifts and you WILL be happy about it!"  He was so happy when his brother Joel had his birthday the next month and I found Seth saying, "I don't have to open gifts this time."  Haha! It is funny now but it wasn't then!

When Seth turned four in Sudan, he handed out Alphabet Cupcakes to all his classmates in pre-school.

Then there was Seth's 5 year Spiderman birthday party. The infamous spider pinata  was my very first pinata to make and I did not know you should NOT make it tough, but rather easy to break. The kids tried and tried to break it and finally Kris had to beat the spider to smithereens with a broom handle while the mothers looked on in horror! Funny memory!

In spite of the spider fiasco, I love the picture of the party-goers. Seth is American. Behind him are an Afghani, Sudanese, Indian, Italian and two Dutch boys! 

When Seth turned six he wanted a computer cake! So that's what he got! Those of you who know Seth know that a computer cake is very "Seth"!

The following year Seth had a Batman cake for his seven year birthday.

Seth's class at Nile Valley Academy sang happy birthday to him before he handed out cupcakes.

 Seth turned eight with a party for all his friends with cake and games. Later that year we went to Switzerland. Here is Seth freezing in Wilderswill!

And speaking of freezing, we spent seven months in the States that year and Seth got to enjoy snow! He had a small family party in Texas when he turned nine.

By the time Seth turned 10, our family had moved to Bandung, Indonesia. He had a party for all his friends. But later in the summer  he had a special "Ten Year Old Camp Out" with friends from Sudan and he received his 10 Year Old Sword from Kris.

On the day Seth turned 10, he got his glasses! Also a trip to Dairy Queen. Yum!

And the very next year, when Seth turned 11, we had moved again. Seth loved the show "Wipeout" so that was his cake that year.

This year we are in Bali for Seth's birthday.

Happy 12th Birthday to Seth! He is such a blessing to our family!

Visiting Our Son

Last month we got to visit our son at boarding school. WOOHOO! That made this momma's heart very happy!  He had a lot of homework but I didn't mind. I just sat beside him and watched him!  I also learned very quickly that school nowadays is VERY different than school thenadays...that is, school "back in the day"...that is, school back when one just had a textbook and a notebook and a pencil.  Our son was whizzing around on his ipad emailing his homework in and accessing virtual flashcards and who knows what else. It was crazy and I was loving every minute of it because we were together again, even if I didn't understand half of what was going on during homework time!

It was also fantastic to see the brothers all back together again. I think they really enjoyed it too.

We enjoyed dinner at Chilis...Y...U...M! I promise we let our son choose where to go eat. I promise I had nothing to do with it. Of course, I didn't argue with his choice...I'm just a giver that way! 

The family together again after a month a part. The weekend went by fast, but it sure was fun. And the best part was...only another month until we would get to see him again. And the best part about THAT is that, since it took me three weeks to post this...it's only a week until we are together again!

Round Two

I found more pictures from our adventures in Africa/Middle East. I couldn't resist posting another trip down memory lane...

Boat ride on the White Nile...Kris is the one with the picture on his T-shirt.

Making Jabana (or boon...Beja coffee...double yum!) Here he is pounding the coffee beans.

But before that he roasts the beans over the fire.

Piled in the car to go on a picnic. Can you tell which one is Aaron? :)

Seth is checking out the White Nile with a family friend.

One of Aaron's first friends in the desert: a little Libyan boy next door. They couldn't communicate with words, but they had no problem playing together anyway!

Meeting a nice couple from Saudi Arabia. That's newborn Joel in the blanket I am holding.

Downtown Khartoum.

Riding a bike in a jallabeeya. Talent at it's best!

Pushing a broken down truck off the road. Yes, that's a road!

Woah! Wait, this lady is walking in front of her husband! Women's Lib!

The Mogran. Where the Blue Nile meets the White Nile. See the two colors of water?

Common desert scene.

I love that there is a truck parked outside!

But why ride a truck when you can ride a donkey cart! Yee haw! You think maybe these 2 donkey carts are playing chicken? Wonder who won.

I bet you know what this says!

Airport Road "back in the day"

I'm on the left. Wow, can you say "slicked back hair"? That pony tail is tight!

Double yum (except for the green slosh on the right, I don't do slimy very well).

Hee hee! That's Seth when he was a little tyke! This is our weekly visit to some good friends across town in the desert.

Attempting to pose for the camera with our little friend "Apple"