LANGUAGE LEARNING AT AGE 4

I first started learning Spanish when I was 4 years old, when my family moved to Paraguay to work in church planting there. I don't remember not knowing Spanish and I don't remember learning it.

That said, I have definitely had to brush it up since moving to Mexico, as the Spanish pronunciation and some grammar is different than in Paraguay, and I had also been living in Canada for some years before we moved here and wasn't speaking it nearly as often. I did take one semester of Spanish as a brush up before we moved here, while Dallas was taking the full year.

So, I can't really say what it's like to learn a language from scratch, but while we were at language school I really had to respect those that were learning for the first time! That included Dallas, who had taken a bit of Spanish before, but learning it to speak it fluently is another matter. It's much more difficult doing it as an adult (but do-able).

Fast forward to this last year, when our newest addition, Salomón moved in with us at 4 years old last July!

When he moved in he had never heard English before. He arrived not understanding anything and so we spoke mostly Spanish in our house so that he would adapt to our family without having that barrier in the way. Bit by bit we started talking half English and Spanish and just let what came out, come out when we were together as a family in the house.

Kids pick language up naturally when they hear it a lot, and we had seen our other 3 boys learn Spanish and English simultaneously, as they were living here when they learned to speak. So we knew that Salo would eventually pick up English just by living with us and hearing it often. But I thought it would take longer!

Over Christmas break is when we really saw how much he speaks already. We had two sets of visitors from Canada over the break and so he heard a lot of English, and he said that he wanted to practice his English.

He is now talking in sentences and it is so cute and amazing.

For sure he still speaks Spanish better than English, and we still talk a lot of Spanish with him, especially when talking directly with him about something he's feeling or something that happened or just to connect better with him as he can express himself better in Spanish. But, he is doing so well and enjoying it.

It's fascinating the way our brains work, and it's fascinating to watch someone learn a language without even having to really try!

The best example of learning this way was the other day when he asked me, "Can I go grab a sweater?". He's using our expressions and sayings (grab) in context and without thought.

So, it's been fun to watch this.

WE HAVE OUR 2 KIDS (+3) UNDER OUR ROOF!!

We are still in a little shock and awe, but we now have our 2 kids that we are in process of adopting living with us!!

I know we said just recently that it seemed like the process of visitations with our little boy, Salomón, would be another few months, based on what we were being told as far as process, but last week it was decided that he was ready and that it was best for him to come. It came as a very, very welcome surprise to us.

So we had a few days notice that he would be coming, which we took advantage of by moving beds around and setting up room for his clothes in the boy's closet, and then we waited and got a call Monday afternoon to pick him up in an hour! The 4 boys are together in one room and Sofía has her own room. Not because she is spoiled! 😅 but because he is used to sharing with many boys (and our 3 boys have always shared a room) and we felt it would make him more comfortable.

We are so thankful for the people involved in working with him and the process and we are so thankful to God for bringing the two siblings back together and for them becoming part of our family 💓 Of course it is hard for him as it's a huge transition (he is 4) but we are amazed at how well he is doing. 

                              

Now, they are not officially adopted yet - that will take a while yet as there is more paperwork to do. But in our hearts they are ours. Our boys are aware of the dynamics and we talk together about how while they are with us, they are our family and we love them as such. And the boys have been so amazing with both of the kids! They are proud to tell people that they are part of our family.

My prayer for Salomón and Sofía. That One is God.

NEW TEAM MEMBERS

These last couple of weeks we have been busy welcoming, getting to know, and helping our new team members settle in!

Angel and Blanca and their 4 kids moved to Guadalajara to join our church planting team. They've been living in Canada for almost 15 years where they were working in church planting as well, so we are excited to work with them and experience life together here in Mexico. It's been so enjoyable so far just getting together and visiting and beginning to share and dream together about the church plant.

The kids have also hit it off really well, as their 3 oldest will be in the same grade as our 3 oldest, and they have much the same life experiences with all having grown up in a culture other than their parent's original culture.

The summer months are always a little hit and miss with everyone being around for Bible studies but we are having Angel and Blanca meet the different people in our groups and they are out and about a lot in their neighborhood and on the streets meeting the neighbors.

Continue to pray for them and for ourselves as we form this team and for the people they will come into contact with that are looking for purpose in life, that as a church body we will together be that light in the darkness here in this city!

ADOPTION UPDATE & HOW WE'RE ALL ADJUSTING

Once again, while I would love to share pictures here on the blog of our two that we are in the process of adopting here in Mexico, I will need to hold off until it's more official. But, we are asked often about where we are at with the adoption so I'll give a quick update.

Our little girl has been living with us for just over 4 months now! We are fostering her while we wait on the legal processes of having parental rights revoked, for both her and her brother. We have no control over that paperwork and so it is a waiting game. Our adoption certification was finished last year in August and so we are ready whenever they are!

Because we met our little boy that much later after we met our little girl (they are siblings but they were separated), visitation was also started that much later. He is also older, having turned 4 in May, and so is more aware of what this means and Mexico's CFS is working to make the transition as smooth as possible for him. He comes to our house one day a week and every week we see him opening up more and more. Please pray that he will transition well and that he will thrive and continue to be a joyful little guy! Pray also for the social workers that make the decisions as to when he is ready to move in permanently.

Please continue to pray also for the paperwork. Parental rights need to be revoked and then we can begin the actual adoption paperwork! In the meantime we hope to have them together in our home in the next few months sometime.

In other news, our little girl turned 2 on Monday! It's hard to believe we first saw her when she was 2 months old. As soon as we saw her that first day, we felt a tug to ask about her and here we are. She is so full of enthusiasm for life and we feel privileged to have the opportunity to provide her with a loving family and to give her a place to belong, praying that she will rest in that and find refuge in God as she grows and reflects on her life.

The boys are also doing really well with the adjustment of having a sister and a toddler in the house. It means being quite sometimes when she is napping, having a little less time with us as parents, not being able to go to the movie theatre because you have to be 3 to go to the movies here ;) but they love her and have accepted her as part of their life and family. 

We often ask how they're feeling or what they're thinking and I think that helps, at least it makes me feel I'm checking in if nothing else! They are proud to call her their sister though. She came along with me to Carter's zoo field trip and Carter wanted her with him all of the time so he could show her off. That's great to see (may-hap there is a girl he wants to impress??). They are also talking about where our little boy will sleep, are praying for him every day, and waiting for him to come also.

It's taken Dallas and I some getting used to also. Going back to a toddler after having all 3 kids in school already has been a bit of a transition. I'm still getting used to having a child at home all day with me...although in reality, it means her going a lot of places with me. I lead 2 ladies Bible studies on 2 mornings and attend another one, so it makes it a little tougher when you have a 2 year old along. However if Dallas is working at home in the morning he can keep her at home while she naps or things like that, which makes it easier. 

We're getting more used to it though and it's feeling more natural to have a young one again. Our older 3 are so independent already and I need to be ok with having more demands on me with a two year old. And now seeing the age difference between her and Carter makes me want to hang on harder to Carter as he seems so old now and I don't want him to leave me!! ha! He's 11, still young I know, but I can't imagine them not being here. I feel like I'm becoming a middle aged mom and it's hard to believe that soon I'll be that 50 year old mom with an empty nest. All right, I'm starting to digress. I'm not even 40 yet. 

Anyways, to sum up, we are so thankful for the lives God has given these 2 kids and so thankful to see how things are going right now with the adoption process. We have no guarantees that the adoption will be finalized, as things can happen with foster care, but we are thankful for the moment, thankful for coffee when toddlers don't want to nap, thankful for our family, and thankful that God has blessed us with a daughter and another son right now. 

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.

Carter interviews Logan & Brady

Carter saw me writing on the blog the other day and asked to come up with some questions to interview Logan and Brady with! So here they are:

What's your favorite color?
Logan: Blue, Red, Yellow
Brady: Red

What is your favorite animal?
Logan: Lion
Brady: Cat

What do you like about Mexico?
Logan: The food and the school
Brady: School

What do you like about Canada?
Logan: That it's cold and that we can eat perogies. And hopefully we never eat that snow with syrup again. 
Brady: Snow

Would you rather go to the beach or to Canada for a holiday? Why?
Logan: Canada, because it's bigger and you can see your cousins and your grandparents.
Brady: Canada for a holiday because I can visit my cousins.

Do you want to adopt S and S?
Logan: Yeah.
Brady: Yes.

Who are your best friends at school?
Logan: Matt, Mateo, Ian, Mariana, Diego, Diego J.
Brady: Mateo, Edgar, Santi, Enrique

What do you like about school?
Logan: Lunch and Recess 
Brady: Lunch and Recess

What don't you like about school?
Logan: The double Spanish class.
Brady: Classes.

What kind of food would you choose? For example, Italian, French, Japanese.
Logan: Sushi! Japanese.
Brady: Italian, for fettucine alfredo.

Canada Part 2: Dallas, Tara, Ministry, Studying

The largest portion of what we do while we're in Canada is connect with our supporters as much as possible. This includes extended family, friends, and churches. We reported in churches on Sunday mornings, attended some mid-week church events, and met one-on-one with people throughout the week.

It's a chance for us to promote missions and promote Guadalajara, and also a chance to be mutually encouraged in our walks with God. We couldn't do what we do here without knowing we have the prayer support behind us. Perhaps we could. We have God with us no matter what. But we are in this together and being upheld in prayer and having people interested in our ministry and lives here gives so much strength as well.

Besides reporting and sharing, we had some great time with family and friends to just relax, be rejuvenated, and laugh together! We are so thankful for "our people". Sometimes I miss having "our people" so close by - those people we've known our whole lives or for more than 10 years at least that just know you. But we're working on that here ;)

We also had a lot of meetings that were ministry related and a lot of business to take care - banking, renewing paperwork...those kinds of things.

So, some pictures.

One weekend Dallas and I attended our EMC Conference's Ministerial Retreat. This was a great opportunity to connect with different pastors and ministerial in our Conference, from around Canada. It was also great to see so many people we knew and many that had come to Guadalajara on Prayer teams over the years were there as well.

Dallas had a chance to play in a curling tournament while we were there...a little R&R.

Since our boys were already being babysat while we were with the Ministerial, Dallas and I took advantage of this and headed to a cabin in the Whiteshell for a couple of nights longer. We rarely ever get away for night without our kids. I should really say never. So that was wonderful and we need those times as couples also.

Some pictures with friends. You know, I didn't realize how few pictures I took!! Our minds were quite full during our time in Canada and I just wasn't taking out my camera really at all. So if any of you have pictures that you took with us, please send them to me!!! This is all I have! So bad. I should have taken some everyday.

This is Dallas and his best friend since high school.

And these are friends of ours from College days and even earlier...her family and my family have known each other for eons, but we got to know each other more so in College days. And they are arriving here in Guadalajara in a couple of days to visit us!!!

And the boys with their life-long friends/second-cousins. They grew up together, moved to Texas and Mexico together, so now when we're in Canada they love to see each other again. They pick up right where they left off.

Studying - let's not forget that!

Dallas was in class and doing studies while we were there. He had to be there for part of a class all of November and then again in January, which was the reason for the timing of our trip. He started his Counseling Practicum, which he is now continuing here in Gdl this semester.

And, we did homeschooling with the boys. They missed 8 weeks of school! The school is so amazing to us and the teachers had prepped a lot of their work ahead of time for us to take. We did it each day and every Friday I sent pictures of all their work for the week so that they wouldn't get behind. We are so thankful for the school working with us in this way.

We even did projects and recorded video of the boys giving their "presentations" to the class.

Their cousins encouraged them along here and there ;)

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.