Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Nothing but the cell phone

My last few days have been here, at home. Monday was my birthday and it was POURING outside (tail end of the storm that hit the Philippines and caused all the tragedy there), so we stayed home. A fellow teacher had invited us out for supper, so we headed out for the evening under the protection of our umbrella's. Just as the food was coming to the table, my dd suddenly felt sick and I rushed her home. Well, 'rushed' as in left the supper and slowly walked home hoping we wouldn't have an 'incident' on the walk home. We said our hallelujah's as we got safely home. We have been home bound since as she recuperates. (Hubby made it up to me by bringing home an amazing chocolate mouse cake and some Tiramisu from a local bakery...YUMMY!!!)

Brad has been taking the boys on outings to save all our sanity, and once every few hours I call him, just to make sure we are not alone in this world. Our place is nicely hidden away but after a few days I begin to feel more than a little isolated.
So, seeing as I don't really have any exciting events to tell you about, I will give you some pictures.


my new house.....




Meeting new furry friends and dreaming of getting her own....


enjoying a free ride thru town.......

local answer to a 911 call,,or 999 here.....

a shot of our walk to town.... haha get it 'shot'....basketball....haha...yes I have been alone for a few days.....







Friday, September 25, 2009

Some times you gotta laugh.....


Today we are loving a home day. We were all exhausted from the last few days, and as we 'settle in' we are also letting us ourselves relax more and more. The school has officially told Brad to enjoy this time before the visa goes, because as Alman said "You will have years to work soon". This is actually hard to let ourselves do as we are so excited to throw ourselves into life with the organization, the reason we came. So we are learning to relax and enjoying ourselves. Yesterday as we were hanging out at the beach I suddenly burst out laughing.

We have been here for 3 weeks now. Just.....hangin out.....so as we sat there, eating our dim sum, being watched intently by the lifeguards and beach cleaners because there was no one else at the beach, I realized how this must look and what they might be thinking of us. I mean really, who can afford to fly around the world and just holiday for a few weeks. I know there are a lot of people who could afford to do that, but we are definitely most certainly NOT in that category. Yet, here we are, living on a foreign island, just relaxing.

For weeks, actually months before we came, I had been asking Abba Dad for a family holiday. I wanted a time for our family to just be together with out all the stress of planning, packing and such. I dreamt of living in a small place close to the ocean. I was feeling a little disappointed when it was time to go and we had not been able to get a way even for a bit.

But, he truly knows better than I, and gives us things in a much better form than I could ever have even asked for. Here I am, living in a small place right by the ocean.

As I listened to his voice yesterday I felt him stressing the importance of this time as a time of 'settling in' for our family. He certainly works differently for different people, and I am beginning to learn the lesson of not 'questioning the potter'. I am beginning to see that this waiting/resting time is perfectly in his plan. A few days ago I was bemoaning the fact that our visa has not gone thru yet,one of my children replied "Mom, Abba knows the perfect time and you need to trust him!!!!". Out of the mouth of babes!

For all this I am feeling thank-ful today!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

oh ya, don't forget the water


Went to the new house to help, but there was nothing for us to do. So we took a few pictures of the work in progress, and walked down to the beach. Brad went swimming with the kids while I walked into town to get us some water.

There was only one problem. The food stalls.

First the yummy bakery, then the dim sum place, then the soup place, then the curry fish balls, then another bakery...........

I finally couldn't do it.

First I got some steamed buns, and other yummy things. Then a loaf of coconut bread, then a mini chicken tart, and a few other type things. Just a smidgen of this and a smidgen of that. I was feeling quite proud of the offerings I was bringing to my family.

But, then I remembered, oh yah the water. So I quickly counted my change and luckily I had just enough left over for water.

That was close.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

The walk home

The walk home is always an interesting one. Every time we ask the question to the kids
"Up and over, or around?".

Most days we go up and over, but if we are carrying our water bottles home (right now we have to fill 5l bottles in town at the restaurant and bring them home for cooking and drinking), or if we have a lot of groceries we go around. The path around is a little longer, but follows along the island and we can see the ocean for most of it. It is beautiful. Most days we pass workers riding some of the few vehicles on the island, kind of a quad on steriods. They use it to haul garbage and building supplies. One of the workers has taken a liking to us, and when ever we pass her we get a big smile and hello. The kids have decided she is officially one of our few friends.

Here is a pic of our hike 'up and over'




This is a small part of it, but what it looks like the whole way up. We mostly don't mind it anymore. Once in a while Ethan reminds us that he only has 'little' legs. But generally the kids are enjoying how 'strong' they are feeling.

Most days we are looking for the giant snails. I will have to get a picture one of these days. Today we saw a snake by our gate in the bamboo trees. The boys were begging me to let them catch it. I thought better of it!!!
Often we see frogs after the rain. And of course the many many butterflies are always amazing to watch.

A homeschooler's science paradise!!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Where does one begin.......

Tonight marks exactly 2 weeks that we have been here, and just about 1 hour short of when we first walked in the door. Really, it feels like so much longer than that - in a good way. Brad and I keep waiting for it to feel 'weird', but it just doesn't. Yes, I stand staring at the shelves in the market unsure what to buy, yes I wish desperately to understand the talk I hear all around me, yes I am still figuring out which alley's to take. But, it seems fine. Not overwhelming. Not that I don't expect to have overwhelming moments......but for now it just feels like a new home.
As I think of writing this post there seems a million and two things I would like to write. I want to explain how amazing it is to watch the ships and boats, big and small. Or describe the intensity of a thunder storm a few nights ago that last for half an hour right outside our door with lightening strikes just about every 5 seconds (literally). To write about the love that we have been shown and how well cared for we all have been. Post pictures showing how our kids were blessed to have been given free passes to Ocean Park already (an amusement park plus here in Hong Kong). But, those are each a separate post, so I will just start with today.

Today we enjoyed the simple pleasure of having clean and dry clothes to put on. See, it has been rainy here for a few days, and that makes drying clothes out side impossible, and the humidity is too high for them to dry inside. We had enough clothes to last us for a while (we are only living from one suitcase right now while we are in our temporary living quarters which are a bit small), but we were running out. The towels all had a nasty smell to them, and never really dried. So, on our way to the beach, we dropped off our stinky laundry bags. And oh, the joy of unpacking those dry and clean smelling clothes and towels - joy unspeakable.
Our day at the beach was delightful. We have a wonderful beach just moments from our door, but we choose to walk into town, see our new house, and go to a bigger beach.
I am so excited about the new place we will be in. About 2000sq ft, and it has a HUGE yard area. And the view.....breathtaking.















Just a few shots of the trees we will look out on. From what will be our new house, it will only be about a 5 minute walk to Kwan Yam Wan Beach.
















So I could go on about the curry fish ball stand, or getting caught in the down pour, oh how we danced a crazy happy dance when Alman Chan surprised us with internet at home, but I will stop for tonight.

I am off to watch a romantic movie with my hubby.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

One week..........

WE have arrived. We have been here for 1 amazing week, but I only have 5 minutes left on my internet time to tell you about it, so mostly it will have to wait. Things are great. We are being extremely well taken care of, and some new friends even showed up with ice cream sundae's at our house last night! But the many other stories will have to wait.
We hope to have internet at our house soon, and will fill in all the many blanks then.
Our hearts are full!!!
Miss everyone dearly!!!
Till we connect again.............