FAMILY UPDATES - SEPTEMBER!

Dallas and I were saying this morning that it feels like this is the first week since June that we have had a "regular" routine! 

So many good things have happened since June, and they're also just simply things that make life busy.

The kids got out of school at the end of June and were home till mid-August. 

In July our new missionary co-workers moved to Guadalajara and we spent quite a bit of time with them in the summer, which was so great! 

On July 23, Salomón moved in with us (our 4 year old!) and as good as he did in adjusting, it still means adjusting for all of us. We took a family holiday together shortly after he moved in, which was such a great bonding time

In August all 4 boys started school and my parents came to visit for 10 days! Salo and Sofi bonded so quickly with my parents, as they had seen them on Skype and we talked a lot about them before they came, so it was so neat to see.

My mom and dad

And last week we had representatives from our Board of Missions in Canada here for a week, which meant meetings and people in our home all week, also good and also busy.

So, life continues to be busy but we are settling into a routine now of ministry, regular meetings, school, homework times, kid's activities, etc....at least for the next few weeks ;)

Here's just a quick update on each of us these days!

Carter (aka Chaí) - age 11, grade 6

This summer, Carter got into camping quite a bit. He went to Bible camp for a week, he spent a night camping with Scout friends, and he did a two day hike and camp-out on the mountain together with Dallas, Logan, and our friend, Juanca. 

He also loves spending time with his friends and once every week or two he is invited to someone's house after school or has a friend over here to the house. 

He just finished swimming lessons this week and was asked to be on a competitive swim team. He chose not to though, as it means swim practice every day of the week. Instead, he is going to join the Scouts program on Saturday afternoons and is also taking piano lessons during the week.

He also instigated starting a YouTube channel together with Logan and Brady :) We'll see where that goes. It's private for now but they like to do mostly food challenges at this point.

He also loves to draw, cook, play with the neighbor kids, and read books.

Logan (aka Logey, Logancito, Gancito) - age 9, grade 4

Logan also really enjoyed the hiking trip this summer and spent his time there hunting for mushrooms and taking pictures of them (he found about 10 different kinds). He also went to Bible camp for a week.

He just finished swimming lessons as well, and is going to start the Scouts program and is also taking piano lessons. As you can see we generally have our kids in the same activities ;) so far they like the same things more or less and it makes it easier with multiple kids and taking them to their activities.

He is a curious kid and likes to see how things work and what he could do with different things.

He also likes to draw and make up stories and comics, he loves Calvin & Hobbes, he likes to play with the neighbor kids, swim, ride bike, and bug people.

Logan is also a very sweet kid and loves to play with Sofi and Salo. He often asks to help put Sofi to bed and will sing and pray with her.

Brady (aka Tobey, Tom) - age 8, grade 2

Brady turned 8 on August 14 and asked us to do a friends party and then to surprise him for his family party. He invited several friends over to the house to make pizzas and play, and then we took them all to see a movie. For his family party we went and played mini-golf and went for lunch.

Brady is a people person and loves to talk to people. He is not afraid of very many things and likes to see what he is capable of doing. He prides himself on being everyone's friend at school and got an award from his teacher in June for being the funniest in the class :)

He likes to roller blade, bike, play with legos, swim, and play with his friends. He also just finished swimming lessons, is taking piano lessons, and will be joining Scouts.

He wants to be a teacher when he grows up and he already has such a great way with younger kids, explaining how things are done. Salo is in preschool here and has homework and Brady has a much better way of explaining things to him than I do! Maybe it's a patience thing :)

Salomón (aka Salo, Salomoncito, Salemono) - age 4, Pre-school

Salo has been doing so amazing since he moved in. He has adapted way more quickly than anyone expected and it's so good to see him flourishing. He shares a room with the "big" boys and loves to copy anything they do. 

He speaks 100% Spanish but is starting to learn some English. We speak to him mostly in Spanish, but he hears English all day both at school (it's bi-lingual) and at home when we talk among each other and he's starting to understand quite a bit. 

Having a 4 year old again is interesting as we get used to hearing "por qué" (why?) all day long! But he is learning so much about the way our family does things and how the world works in general right now. 

Salo likes to play with lego, play with with cars, he likes to ride his bike, go to the park, swim, and play dress-up. He likes the color red, loves Superman, lions, and monkeys.

Sofía (aka Sofi, Chofis) - age 2

Sofi has got the personality to run a household of 4 older brother! haha She is a girl full of life and fun and determination. She is a big people person and loves to be with anyone, but at the same time, rarely lets mama out of her sight. 

She loves to play with play dough, with cars, ride her little bike, be with people, wrestle with daddy and the boys, and she likes pigs at the moment.

She also likes to pick out her own clothes, change her shoes about 10 times per day, and always have a "moño" (bow) in her hair.

Tara 

I don't think it's hard to guess that I've been a little busy with mothering 5 kids! It has made life quite a bit fuller with adding two kids, although I think it's mostly because of their ages and that they need more attention and care at those ages. So it's expected and fun but I do find that I am still figuring out a new routine and balance with 5 kids. I'm so thankful that they all get along well and are happy for the most part!

Besides taking care of the kids and alllll that this entails....

I am a wife! and all that this entails :)

I also am involved in our ministry through leading two weekly ladies Bible studies, meeting with women one-on-one for mentor-ship, meeting with women and families weekly, volunteering monthly at Sofia's orphanage, hosting two weekend Bible studies weekly, teaching Sunday School, being part of our missionary team planning meeting and prayer times weekly, etc.

It all adds up to too much to do in one week...and I'm currently evaluating and figuring out, you guessed it, a new routine!

As far as enjoyment, I enjoy times of reflection, reading for fun and for learning, being with closer friends, skyping with family, relaxing and hanging out as a family of 7, organizing things (ha! yes), watching a couple of shows, drinking coffee, biking in the park, baking cakes here and there, and being creative in different ways.

Logan thought he was sooo funnyy....

Dallas

Dallas is also busy being a dad to 5 kids now! Between everything else he does, he has been trying to be intentional about spending on-on-one time with each of the boys as they go through adapting to new siblings and a new family. I think this has helped them to not "get lost" in the mix and in the process.

His focus is also our ministry, and he has meetings and prayer times each week with our missionary team, spends time planning and brainstorming and researching and praying and prepping for upcoming ministry things, preps and studies for the weekend Bible studies and services, meets with men and youth in the evenings for one-on-one mentor-ship or counseling, and many other things. Ministry is hard to pinpoint as it changes throughout the week but he enjoys the spontaneity of it and also enjoys visioning for our church plant.

He also is busy with another course towards his Counseling Masters online, which means a lot of homework.

And he enjoys mountain biking, biking as a family, wrestling with the kids, playing some sports with the boys, bbqing, etc

SOOOO that is a quick update on life these days! There is much we are processing and learning and much we are thankful for at the same time. God is good.

A Field Trip for the kids means a Field Trip for the moms

It's that time of year again where all of the classes go on one last field trip to finish off their time in the grade they're in. Since all 3 of our boys are in elementary still, the moms are invited to come along and help chaperone the group. 

I have gone on many field trips over the years, mostly to the zoo as that's the one I enjoy signing up for. We have one of the best zoos here in Guadalajara! 

So today I went along with Carter's grade, which is grade 5. I must say, I enjoyed this grade more than the younger grades. Not because of the kids! But because this age is just so much more independent and you don't need to worry quite so much about someone going missing by accident. 

Only 6 of us moms went along on the trip, but they happen to be 6 that I enjoy being with a lot from this grade, so we had just as much fun as the kids did. Most of these ladies I've known since Carter was in kindergarten, so 6 years now.

There is a Safari that you go on as well and I gave my phone to Carter for this so he could get some pictures.....he was one of the few that did not have their own phone along (as he does not have one!) and he felt a little left out. But I told him that I think he can enjoy seeing things much more without having to see it all through a video on a little screen the whole day and he was fine with that.

I know at this age they like to fit in...and that's a balance we're working through, in knowing what to allow our kids to have and do to not feel "out" of things but also helping them be human beings that are happy even without a screen! It's a hard one in this day and age where 10 years old are taking phones everywhere.

So anyway, the following pictures are from Carter :)

To finish off the day we also went on the Sky Zoo which is a slow meandering ride over top of the zoo.

A few other things I learned today:

1. Our kids will need to learn what are good thing to take pictures of if they plan on having the privilege of using my phone once in a while. In other words, taking pictures of certain animal parts or of ostriches mating is maybe not the best choice ;) Yes, I know, everyone else took the same pictures.

2. One mother (not pictured) shared with me many the different ways there are to cross into the US without being detected, even today with all of the security.

3. Carter has good friends! Yes, really! I love seeing him with them and I love that he (and his brothers) have invited many to a local Bible camp this summer and today 2 mothers confirmed that they will send their kids with Carter and 4 confirmed that they will send their kids with Logan! Our kids are influencing their friends whether they know it or not. Pray for these kids and their parents that we continue to rub shoulders with.

Pizza pockets for days

The boys have 2 weeks off for Easter break and the days have been flyyyying by. 

Today they wanted something to do, as they said they were getting bored (as evidenced by their picture taking), so I got out a kid's cookbook that we have and they started looking through it to see what they wanted to make. 

They ended up cooking up some chocolate fudge popsicles and we came across a recipe for pizza pockets. Great idea for school lunches I thought! 

Since the dough in the recipe called for rolling out the dough from a tube of Pillsbury crescent rolls....which doesn't exist here....I went to look for a dough recipe and ended up using a meat perishky recipe (minus the instant potato flakes the recipe included as "optional"...which also doesn't exist here as far as I know and seems a little odd to include in dough in the first place). BUT it's such soft dough and worked great and tastes super. 

Little did I realize what 11 cups of flour looked like when making little pockets ;) my little impromptu project ended up taking up a few hours of the afternoon. 

For fillings we did some with pepperoni/bacon/onion/cheese and some with ground beef/bacon/onion/cheese. 

But at least that meant that lunch was made. And supper was made. And many were put into the freezer for future school lunches.

Yes they opened up in the oven...but that only allows the boys to see what kind they're choosing right?!

Canada Part 1: The boy's bucket list

All right, it's now been almost a full month that we've actually been back in Guadalajara after having been on Home Assignment in Canada for 2.5 months! We were there November 4-January 17 (to see what Home Assignment is, see my post from fall! Click on the link to take you there).

Coming back though is always really busy with re-connecting with everyone, getting connected again with Bible studies, relationships, school, family routine, etc etc that I have let the blog get behind me. However, I will do a few quick posts over the next couple of days to re-cap and then move on to our current ministry and life!

First off, the boys made a bucket list before we went to Canada. It had been 7 years since we were there in winter, meaning that they really didn't have any memories of snow or of a good Manitoban winter. Many of their items had to do with these things, and many also had to do with things they wanted to do with their cousins and grandparents.

So let's go through their bucket list and see what they accomplished! 

1. Play "I have never". 
I can't remember who they all played this game with, but we did play it had our extended Zac gathering with their cousins, second-cousins, aunts, uncles, etc and they had a great time.

2. Eat Lucky Charms.

3. Eat Rice Krispies cake.
We can't get rice krispies here and they love this cake...I do sometimes buy them the pre-packaged bars at our Costco here though ;)

4. Eat Puffed Wheat cake.
We also can't get puffed wheat here. Another cake they love.

5. Have a snowball fight.
One big disappointment for the boys was the discovery that snow is not always sticky, meaning you can't always make good snowballs or snowmen whenever you want to! They did have a couple of good sticky snow days in November.

6. Make a snowman.
They did this together with their friends, Rueben and Joy, from our Kleefeld church.

7. Slide down a snowhill.
We went tobogganing a few times.

8. Make in igloo.
We didn't make an igloo exactly, but Dallas did make them a quincey, together with his brother Dale.

9. Make a snow fort.
I don't think they counted this one as done. Their idea was to make snow fort and hide behind them to have a snowball fight.

10. Watch hockey.
Lots of hockey on TV, and we also took the boys (and their grandparents and great-grandparent and great-uncle and uncles and aunts and cousins and friend) to a Manitoba Moose hockey game for Carter and Logan's birthdays!

Dallas also went to a Winnipeg Jets game as his Christmas present from his parents.

11. Sit in the hot tub, roll in the snow, and get back in the hot tub...maybe.
I guess they weren't convinced they wanted to do this one ;) and they didn't, that I know of, although their cousins did.

12. Drink Root Beer.
Yup. A&W root beer, sometime they love and that we find here on a rare occasion (although it's getting to be a little more common).

13. Drink Dr.Pepper.
This we can get here.

14. Wrestle with Grandpa.
Something they like to do with their Grandpa Wiebe sometimes.

15. Learn how to sew something with Grandma.
Their Grandma Zac has cross stitched each grandchild a blanket and they wanted to learn to do this. They each cross stitched a small picture that they picked (Mario themed).

16. Put on lots of pajamas so we're not cold. :)

17. Make white cookies.

I don't think we ever got to actually making white cookies, but they ate a lot of them courtesy of their Great-Grandma Harder.

18. Go ice skating.

They got to do this several times and all enjoyed it.

19. Drink hot chocolate.

Plenty of that to go around.

20. Decorate the Christmas tree together.

Did this at both sets of Grandparents.

21. Make Logan's Minion birthday cake.

We did a small Minion themed party for both Carter and Logan with the Wiebes and some friends. More to come on Logan's birthday in another post!

22. Make Carter's Lego Batman cake.

This didn't happen....we were so busy everyday that I didn't have (or take I should say) to make them elaborate birthday cakes. The minions were just cupcakes and for the boy's party with the Zacs we had an angel food cake, which they did request as well.

23. Play with our cousins.

A ton! More to come on that yet, still going through those pictures.

24. Play Chess.

25. Play Checkers.

?? haha not sure about these, as we have these here at home also.

26. Play Poker against Risa.

Carter and his cousin Risa had this thing going about beating each other at poker :) Unfortunately we only got to see Risa's family for 2 days b/c of work situations so we made the most of it in other ways and didn't get to poker!

27. Go bowling.

The boys did this for their Grandpa Zac's work party (which they say didn't count as Dallas and I weren't there) and then we also went bowling again with the Wiebes.

28. Make a fire.

We had a weiner roast at the Wiebes one "warmer" evening.

29. Roll a big snowball down a hill.

30. Jump into a pile of snow.

There wasn't a lot of snow this winter in Manitoba!!! But they did play in snow.

31. Night of Christmas carols.

We sang carols together for our Harder Christmas gathering.

32. Eat perogies.
Yuummm....the boys had this for one of their birthday parties and we had them for a Christmas gathering, and several times in between.

33. Christmas painting competition.
Not a competition but they did some painting, drawing, crafting type things with their cousins several times.

34. Find a hibernating bear.
Enough said.

35. Eat Canadian Candy.
Too much of it. But it was good.

36. Make stockings for our Grandparents and everyone.
Didn't happen! ;)

37. Drink a Peppermint Mocha and get donuts from Tim Horton's.
Grandma Zac introduced them to Peppermint Mochas, and Carter and Brady are all about anything that remotely tastes like mint.

38. Open presents.

39. Bonfire outside.

I guess the weiner roast refers to this one as well.

40. Fireworks.

Instead of finding some Fireworks for New Year's Eve, we went to the hockey game.

41. Crack glowing sticks.

Pretty sure they got this from a movie, that you should crack glowing sticks in snow. Well, I bought them some at the dollar store and they sat in my room for a long time until I forgot about them....

42. Same pj's for all the cousins.

My mom tends to buy the cousins matching clothes or pj's and they all had matching pj's this year! I do need to get some pictures off of other family members yet!

43. Sleigh ride.

We went on a sleigh ride at Roseau River Bible Camp!

44. Movie and popcorn.

45. Cover us in snowmen.

haha they wanted to make themselves into snowmen. Didn't happen.

46. Buy and play Clue.

The boys like this game, and they got it as a Christmas present.

47. Punch snowballs.

Another invention in the boy's minds :) They would throw them at each other and punch them in the air.

48. Make monster cookies.

So, that's it for their list! Of course they did a ton more as well, and next post I'll update on what Dallas and I were up to during our time in Canada.