Up at the crack of dawn

Getting up at the crack of dawn in Singapore is actually a good thing for our family, because it happens at about 7 a.m. every day. It seems this morning we finally got over the hump of jet lag. When our kids ventured out at 7 and 7:15 respectively, they were not only awake but cheerful.

I myself slept from 9:30 to 6:15, sleeping through my alarm which means I was really tired. I'm the kind of light sleeper who wakes up when people in the next apartment roll over. Suddenly, we all have a new lease on life and I have the energy to move out of our complex. We hopped in the car this morning and went to a park. Driving again in Singapore is fodder for another post later. Right now, we're off to the pool!

His view of me

I didn't start my blog with the purpose of sharing anything other than our adventures, so it's a bit unusual that I feel compelled tonight to share something more personal. It's not that I don't like sharing personal thoughts - actually I have to keep myself from blurting out a lot of them most of the time (I'm not much for small talk). I just prefer not to pour my heart out into the great electronic abyss.

But lately I've been mulling something over in my mind that God is teaching me through a variety of ways and it is this: I think that most of the issues we have with self-esteem and insecurity and all that are a result of not seeing ourselves the way God sees us. If we really believe that we are Beloved, that the God of the universe is in love with us and is constantly working for our good, if we make that our central thought and core identity, the opinions of the world have to dissolve. It seems so elemental, but it takes a discipline of the mind to keep this perspective when everything around us tells us otherwise. My desire in life right now is to pursue this, to let how God sees me be the way I see myself.

Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

So Ethan starts kindergarten this fall and I'm going to homeschool him, for reasons of which I'm sure on most days. :) We haven't officially started since we're still reeling a bit from jet lag, but this morning we were doing a craft with glue and sheets of foam and other things, but the important thing for you to know is the glue part. Anyway, in a moment of nostalgia, I covered the back of my hand with glue and let it dry so I could peel it off like skin. Ethan thought that was pretty cool and did it on both his hands. He wanted to leave it on one hand until Erik came home but soon discovered the impracticality of it.

Did anyone else do the glue thing when they were kids? Maybe it was just me at my progressive elementary school.

Back in the tropics

It's 7:30 p.m. here and I am trying my best to stay awake. We lost the kids to sleep at 7:10 tonight, which is about 10 minutes later than last night. We're thankful though that they've managed to sleep through both nights after coming back, albeit waking up quite early (about 5 yesterday and 6 today).

So the reason I left everyone wondering if we'd actually made it back to Singapore is that we haven't had internet access. It's the only explanation. Because as my brother in law Andrew seems to think, I normally have absolutely nothing better to do than update my blog. So I deeply apologize to all of you whose lives were hanging in the balance there waiting to hear from me. Someday Andrew will be married and have small children, and then I will be able to laugh at him and ask him why on earth it took him 4 days to finish a 600 page book (as was recently the case with my reading of the 6th Harry Potter). I can poke fun at Andrew like this because he's such a good sport and more importantly, he's thousands of miles away now that we're back Singapore. :)

double rainbow at Glacier

Erik's incredibly proud of this picture

overdue pictures from Glacier

Ethan's new passion

Megan and Emma back together and naked in the pool

Beating the heat

Megan

Ethan

Megan and Ethan

Look Ma, no hands!

I always knew I would hear the above phrase from one of my kids. I was a little surprised to hear it first from my daughter today. Fortunately, she was in a swing - the kind that is really a chair with safety straps.

I was surprised because she's the more cautious one of the two. But caution in relation to Ethan is like saying that a rock climber is cautious compared to a base jumper.

And on that note, Ethan decided this week that it was time for him to ride without training wheels. So he hunted through my dad's tools, found a wrench, took off the training wheels and rode away. Just like that. The next day he decided a 12" was too tame so he took the training wheels off the bigger bike and rode that down the street. Then around the block. Then to the park a mile away (with Erik) like he'd been doing it for years.

So I guess that whole thing about waiting until your kids are ready to do something has some merit.

Somewhere out there, Martha Stewart is laughing

I am not the world's best cook. I hate cooking. I love baking. But I am also not the world's best baker. You may remember the infamous brownie broiling incident. Tonight I topped that, I think.

So I volunteered to bake 4 dozen bars for a funeral this Friday, because there's nothing better than baking and giving it away. That way you can taste a lot of while you're baking but not actually eat it afterwards, thus relieving yourself of many potential added pounds.

My mom and I made an old standby, Oatmeal Carmelites. When we made the oatmeal part both of us thought, "boy, that looks funny" but proceeded to cook it anyway. That was a mistake. When something looks funny, you should really go back to the recipe and re-read the part where you were supposed to add two cups of flour. That way, it doesn't come out as simply the same stuff only warmer.

Nevertheless, it tastes good. Not good enough to send it to the funeral because I can't think of many things ruder than giving someone bad baked goods during a sad time. But good enough to nibble and laugh about for awhile!