Rachel Writes

Don't we have exciting lives?! (See the post title) Today Sojo and James helped me scrub letter mats. I had a good time talking to my kindred spirit, Beth. I also got see other good friends for bits of the day and had great time chatting (as always) with Ate Rosana. I'm very, very thankful for all the great conversations and quality time I got today. What a blessing. I feel so filled. Micah, on the other hand, sat at LTO today to get his license (again). What a good boy. Dutiful. Doing the right thing. Thanks to Jobert for helping him! It's so nice to have a kauban (companion) who can help navigate government offices. Micah was there for 7 hours. And now has his license. Good waiting, M! Here's a cute Tad picture with his friend Bella. Sorry it's not connected to the post, but really, who prefers seeing me clean toys or Micah sit on a plastic bench for hours? :-) And one final note. In the words of Dr. Suess (think The Grinch Who Stole Christmas  music): F...

Sojo and Whit and I have been eating popsicles, learning some Korean (thanks, Grace), and sitting on the surfboard in this picture. Whitty carries that thing everywhere. Micah's been coaching sports and loving that. Good. Tad's been jumping in his Johnny Jumper and crawling backwards. I also went to a pretty cool ladies' retreat. I've been learning that I need to fear God. I don't know what that looks like exactly, but I hear it's the beginning of wisdom. I could use some of that there wisdom. :-)

Here's train conductor Taddy. 6 months old and growing cuter every day. Micah's off to the ISAC tournament. 4 sleeps without Daddy. We'll look forward to some good wins from both girls and boys teams. Go Faith! In Mommy news, I'm trying to upgrade our newsletter to the Mail Chimp system. So if you're on our email list, expect an email asking if you want to continue getting the list and if you're cool with the new system. (Thanks, Elise for the MailChimp tip.) If you're not on our list, do you want to be? The Stevenson Quarterly. Truly a literary gem. Or maybe just a way to stay updated on our lives. But regardless, want to hear from us? I'm blogging so I must be feeling better, right? I've been fighting back some anxiety lately, and maybe it just has to do with our upcoming move and Stateside assignment. I love going to America! But there's lots of steps in between and lots of changes. If you're someone who prays, then I...

We had a Christmas Eve meal with the Beckers. Thanks for coming over, you guys! We sang (a bit) and ate and just spent time together. Kara, this picture is especially for you so that you can see Taddy boy. He's growing. Starting to sit by himself. Loves baby food. I feel like we (those spending time at home) are in transition as we're adding Taddy more into our active routine (not just feeding and sleeping, but really playing too). I'm so glad he loves jumping-- thanks, Jer for lending the jolly jumper.

Happy birthday, Soj! She turned 4 last month. Here I am cracking up over the trick candles I put on Sojo's cake unknowingly. Thanks for those candles, Mumbles. I should have read the packaging. One of the mom's said, "Are those trick candles? Oh, that's mean!" We all had a good laugh. For some reason, it really made me laugh.

We had a nice Thanksgiving meal with our Irish friends and Micah's old (meaning former) roommate. Here is Whitaker showing you what he chose to eat: chicken and rice. Pinoy gyud. The kids just had chicken pox. That blind-sided me. To the point that I had people over while they were still recovering, thus spreading it to other kids. No serious damage, but you can bet that I was wrestling with some guilt over that. Well, gotta forgive myself AND allow for mistakes. We can't do everything right all the time. Darn it. Whit refused to call them chicken pox. Not manly enough. They're horse pox, if you don't mind. Stallion pox. Please do pray for us. We're all doing the best that we can, but with that we're calling out "Grace. Grace. More grace!" I am confident that Our Father will honor that cry. He's done it many times before.

There's a Cebuano word that I love: gyud. (Pronounced like gi-yood, but make it slide-- no two, distinct syllables.) You add it to phrases for emphasis. Roughly translated-- indeed or for sure. I'm tired gyud. It's hot gyud. And I need God's grace, gyud. Big Baby  So, yeh, again, I'm tired. I haven't been posting. I'm overwhelmed, BUT I'M NOT GIVING UP. So take that factors working against me. Here are a few pictures to celebrate our life of late. Micah makes his PE class dance Little Big Bug Makes me happy :-)