Casualties and Survivors
One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that Kid A took the photo of YaYa and I on the steps. He's doing a pretty good job, isn't he?
I told him about all the compliments. He smiled, one of his big beaming smiles.
I have letters buzzing around my head, lately, so I may be posting more. It's that taking-stock thing that happens, I think. I'm thinking a lot about my kids and my life with them, waiting in these last days for a new child. Another one of these big-eyed things.
So, what's new with us?
Well, we are not so successfully beating the jungle back. There were hundreds of thousands of army ants in the kitchen the other morning. They bit us as we tried to get them out.
I have bites all over my legs. Bed bugs. Hmmmm.
My cowboy hat has gone on to glory. I tried and tried, but couldn't keep the fungus off of it.
And the biggest deal? Our everything lens, the 24 to 70 zoom, the very first lens we bought for our camera, has fungus inside of it. This is not good, to say the least. We take very good care of our camera gear. We just didn't know that we were moving onto the set of a National Geographic documentary.
But we are learning about how you deal with this, step by step, and none too soon. Because I can't be down about the cowboy hat or the bedbugs or the spider bite on my arm when our things arrived today!!!! Our shipping, but as Kid A said, "Can't we just call it our stuff now, since it's not on the ship anymore?" So, our stuff. It's here! It may seem silly to be so, so excited over some books and toys and instruments, but we are silly folks.
So now, trying to take care of our stuff in the jungle. Books need to be flipped through and aired out, a couple of times a week. The pages get soft and easy to tear, so you need to be very careful of them. I can't say that it doesn't make me feel sad, to think of my books getting smelly and soft and wilty, but things are things, right?
We will protect the guitar with our lives.
The mattress is like the very clouds of the heavens and is wrapped in plastic.
I'm really happy with the few toys I chose to ship. Legos, K'Nex, PlayMobil, Puzzles, and model dinosaurs and animals. Great stuff. And after three months of playing with about five beanie babies and a plastic monkey and polar bear, the kids are thrilled. THRILLED. Leafy can't believe his luck. He was very sad to stop playing and take a nap this afternoon.
Renee may come up for air eventually, but she has dug into the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time (the books, of course) and so I doubt it.
There is nothing sadder than Chinua for four months without a guitar, and I was amazed to hear him play and realize that it is what has been the itchy feeling at the small of my back, all these long musicless days.
Today I went to look through the drawer for that one steak knife, the one that we usually use to cut everything, before realizing that our knife set is here. OUR KNIFE SET IS HERE.
And the homeschool stuff. Ahhhhhh. I'm such a nerd, but I could just stroke the books and smell the paper forever.
In short, we are very, very blessed to have our things.
And we would like to have a moment of silence for some stolen goods. For the computer box, which came to us empty.
For the guitar strings and peg winder and wire cutter. We are very glad that they were they only things taken out of the guitar case, and not the guitar itself.
Thankfully the computer (a laptop) was empty (of documents or important files). It was broken and we brought it to fix, to use as a back up and as something for the kids to work on. Somehow it never made its way to us. Stuff is stuff, right?
(Perhaps I will write about this on the other site at some point, but take my advice and use a Relocation Company, if you need to move your stuff.)
Does anybody want to tell me any stories of life in your climate or culture or country? Difficulties keeping things safe or nice? Maybe your lips are always chapped? Or there is sand in your teeth?
Or you are backed up with laundry but you can't do any because it's monsoon and the lines that are strung across your children's room are already full of stuff that won't dry for 24 hours, even with a very strong fan?
Oh wait. That's me.
I told him about all the compliments. He smiled, one of his big beaming smiles.
I have letters buzzing around my head, lately, so I may be posting more. It's that taking-stock thing that happens, I think. I'm thinking a lot about my kids and my life with them, waiting in these last days for a new child. Another one of these big-eyed things.
So, what's new with us?
Well, we are not so successfully beating the jungle back. There were hundreds of thousands of army ants in the kitchen the other morning. They bit us as we tried to get them out.
I have bites all over my legs. Bed bugs. Hmmmm.
My cowboy hat has gone on to glory. I tried and tried, but couldn't keep the fungus off of it.
And the biggest deal? Our everything lens, the 24 to 70 zoom, the very first lens we bought for our camera, has fungus inside of it. This is not good, to say the least. We take very good care of our camera gear. We just didn't know that we were moving onto the set of a National Geographic documentary.
But we are learning about how you deal with this, step by step, and none too soon. Because I can't be down about the cowboy hat or the bedbugs or the spider bite on my arm when our things arrived today!!!! Our shipping, but as Kid A said, "Can't we just call it our stuff now, since it's not on the ship anymore?" So, our stuff. It's here! It may seem silly to be so, so excited over some books and toys and instruments, but we are silly folks.
So now, trying to take care of our stuff in the jungle. Books need to be flipped through and aired out, a couple of times a week. The pages get soft and easy to tear, so you need to be very careful of them. I can't say that it doesn't make me feel sad, to think of my books getting smelly and soft and wilty, but things are things, right?
We will protect the guitar with our lives.
The mattress is like the very clouds of the heavens and is wrapped in plastic.
I'm really happy with the few toys I chose to ship. Legos, K'Nex, PlayMobil, Puzzles, and model dinosaurs and animals. Great stuff. And after three months of playing with about five beanie babies and a plastic monkey and polar bear, the kids are thrilled. THRILLED. Leafy can't believe his luck. He was very sad to stop playing and take a nap this afternoon.
Renee may come up for air eventually, but she has dug into the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time (the books, of course) and so I doubt it.
There is nothing sadder than Chinua for four months without a guitar, and I was amazed to hear him play and realize that it is what has been the itchy feeling at the small of my back, all these long musicless days.
Today I went to look through the drawer for that one steak knife, the one that we usually use to cut everything, before realizing that our knife set is here. OUR KNIFE SET IS HERE.
And the homeschool stuff. Ahhhhhh. I'm such a nerd, but I could just stroke the books and smell the paper forever.
In short, we are very, very blessed to have our things.
And we would like to have a moment of silence for some stolen goods. For the computer box, which came to us empty.
For the guitar strings and peg winder and wire cutter. We are very glad that they were they only things taken out of the guitar case, and not the guitar itself.
Thankfully the computer (a laptop) was empty (of documents or important files). It was broken and we brought it to fix, to use as a back up and as something for the kids to work on. Somehow it never made its way to us. Stuff is stuff, right?
(Perhaps I will write about this on the other site at some point, but take my advice and use a Relocation Company, if you need to move your stuff.)
Does anybody want to tell me any stories of life in your climate or culture or country? Difficulties keeping things safe or nice? Maybe your lips are always chapped? Or there is sand in your teeth?
Or you are backed up with laundry but you can't do any because it's monsoon and the lines that are strung across your children's room are already full of stuff that won't dry for 24 hours, even with a very strong fan?
Oh wait. That's me.