The Hard Questions

Yesterday during school, I was playing some music (the boys and I all had a song in our heads that I was trying to replace).  A song was playing that references 2 Corinthians 5:17, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."  Caleb asked me, "what is a new creation?"  We talked about how Jesus changes you after you decide to follow Him, and then Caleb asked, "Will I have to leave this house to follow Jesus?"  He was confused about whether or not he would have to move out and leave us if he decides to be a follower of Jesus. His question was about the immediate, but I had a hard time telling him "no," since we never know what our Christian faith will require of us.  God wants us to completely rely on Him for our provision and for our future, but, thankfully, He always goes before us and will never leave us nor forsake us.

Our kids know that just because Mommy and Daddy are Christians does not automatically mean they are Christians.  It is a decision they will have to make on their own, and Caleb understands this.  He said to me, "I'll decide that when I'm 18."  I just smiled and looked at my 6-year-old who is beginning to understand what it means to be a Christian.

Later in the night, we were all sitting on the living room floor, and I was telling Justin about Caleb's questions.  Caleb had more questions for his Daddy.  "Is it hard to be a Christian?"

Whoa.  I think we both sighed a little because how do you explain to a 6-year-old that, yes, it's hard but it's worth it?  We told him that life is hard because we live on earth, but that as Christians we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and comfort us and give us peace.  Then he asked a question that was really hard to answer.

"Can people who are Christians decide not to be Christians?"

Yikes.  He certainly wasn't asking for, nor were we wanting to get into, the once saved, always saved debate.  :-)

In his childlike way, he's questioning what it will cost him to follow Jesus.  And it will cost him.  I'm so glad he recognizes that already.

But it is so worth it.

Taekwondo

Caleb has been taking Tawekwondo for a few months, and today had his first grading session, where he can earn his next belt. For the internal grading, we were allowed to watch, but for the grading tomorrow in front of the Singapore Taekwondo Federation, we will not be allowed to be with him.

Caleb has decided he no longer wants to continue with Taekwondo, but I hope he'll pick it up later in his life. I think the discipline and focus are such great lessons! For now he and Levi will be doing gymnastics and swimming lessons.

Here are some pictures from this morning. You can probably spot Caleb, the only light-headed child. :-)

Levi thought all the yelling was too loud. :-)

Song for my Sons

Song For My Sons by Sara Groves

This is a song for my sons for when they understand it
You know how life is full you know we couldn't plan it
your dad and I prayed for strength and understanding
for things we couldn't see or comprehend

This is a song from my heart a small refrain to hold you
for times when we're apart and I cannot console you
I can't say your life will always go like it should
but I can say that God is always good

and when the cold wind blows like I know it will
and when you feel alone like I know you will
and when the cold wind blows like we know it will

Don't let your love grow
Don't let your love grow
Don't let your love grow cold

This is a song for my sons for when they understand it
You know how life is full you know we couldn't plan it
your dad and I prayed for strength and understanding
for things we couldn't see or comprehend

This is a song for you, to carry in your pocket
take all our love with you in all the paths you walk in
Be honest with yourself and don't forget to pray
and read your Bible everyday

and when the cold wind blows like I know it will
and when you feel alone like I know you will
and when the cold wind blows like I know it will

Don't let your love grow
Don't let your love grow
Don't let your love grow cold

This is a song for my sons for when they understand it
You know how life is full you know we couldn't plan it
your dad and I prayed for your strength and understanding
for things you cannot see or comprehend

Clothing Optional

My boys are always trying to run around in just their underwear or less. Definitely a boy thing. This particular day I was telling them to "at least put your underwear on, please!" so they did what any normal human being would do...took the pillow cases off their pillows and used them as "underwear."

I will say that it's been crazy hot here lately, so I can't really blame them.

Caleb trying to make his "angry" face and punch the camera while laughing:

I can tell you this was not Levi's idea. As my Dad would say, "Monkey see, monkey do."

They're crazy, but I love 'em.

Homeschool-Writing and Other Things

We've been working on handwriting in school. We are not even to the lowercase letters in Caleb's book, but we've been working on writing his name with just the "C" in uppercase. He's doing pretty well.

After that last picture I said, "Can you put your shirt back on so I can take a picture?" They are always trying to run around in their underwear! Boys.

Levi is working on his name as well. I had to make little dots for the "e," but he's doing great. It helps that they both have short names! Notice this day they are wearing the same pajamas. We often do school in our pajamas. I figure it's less laundry, right? :-)

Levi working on Mighty Minds, a shape design activity.

If you look closely, you'll see Caleb is not doing what he's supposed to. He doesn't like it when he has to do something more than once (repetition), so he usually rebels. If I know he's grasped the concept, I usually don't make him do all of it.

People have been asking a lot how homeschool is going. It's going pretty well for our first year and for having a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old with me at all times. It's not easy, but it's definitely what's right for us right now. I've been struggling with Caleb and his reading. Reading comes easily for him, but he hates doing it. He can read simple readers (Level One and Two of Bob Books), but it is a struggle to get him to do it. We're taking a break from that for a while. Since he's only 5, there's no need to push him and I don't want him to have negative feelings toward reading. We try to sneak it in when we can, and we have a reward chart for him where he gets to pick out a toy once he reads 25 books or does a combination of reading lessons with me and actually reading books. We'll see how it goes. We have some friends who are starting to homeschool here and in Texas, so it's always good to have others along on this journey with us.

Proof Your Kid Lives in Asia

Caleb wanted to tell jokes at dinner. We went through some knock-knock jokes, and then he came up with this after his daddy told the "why did the chicken cross the road" one:

Caleb: Why did the people cross the road?
Us: We don't know.
Caleb: To chop the chicken.

Want to know how our New Year's Day went? The following two pictures sum it up...really grouchy boys.


I got bored at lunch while Justin took Levi outside to walk around (because of all the cranky!), so I took random pictures:
Then we promptly came home and put Levi down for a nap (because Caleb refuses to nap, unless he's sick).

After nap, everyone was in a better mood, and we decided to take down the Christmas tree. Superman and Batman showed up to help Daddy disassemble the tree. :-)



As my grandmother reminded me yesterday, in 25 days we'll be on Texas soil! And until then we're just doing our normal thing...Justin is working (he didn't have one day off at all during the Christmas/New Year holiday) and the boys and I are doing school.

Justin and Mini-Justin

Caleb looks more and more like his Daddy all the time. Here they're sporting their Valles Caldera shirts we got on our last trip to New Mexico.

He Gets It

The four of us spent an evening on Orchard Road tonight. We rode the bus down to eat dinner, spent a little time shopping for tissue paper (homeschool crafts) and some Youth Olympic Games gear (did you know it's the inaugural Youth Olympic Games this year and they're in Singapore?), and even found a special gem in the form of decaf Dunkin Donuts coffee for mommy.

It was a fun and relaxed evening, despite the chaos of navigating a mall on a Sunday night with the boys (Sundays at the mall here are CRAZY).

In the taxi on the way home, I told Caleb I was so proud of how they behaved through the night. He asked me what I meant, and I told him that they had not whined or complained and had obeyed us the whole evening.

His eyes got big, he sucked in his breath, and said excitedly, "That's the FIRST time!"

Yes, I believe it might be. :-)

Never Underestimate the Power of a Grandmother with Internet Access

(or the alternate title, "Ask and You Shall Receive.")

Remember when Caleb had me pray for this:


Two Transformers umbrellas arrived at our door today. Thank you,Grandma and Amazon.com. The boys were very excited. :-) I finally had to take them away because they are not toys (a phrase Levi has become very familiar with lately).

Caleb and I decided to ring in 2010 by getting sick, so we've had a head cold/allergy/sinus thing going on all weekend. Pretty crummy.

Speaking of Caleb, he's been asking a lot of questions about death and dying. We're not really sure why, but pretty sure it's just some sort of natural phase he's going through. He asks us when he'll die, how he'll die, etc. It's not a happy topic and we try to answer his questions and redirect his energy and thoughts other places. But the other day he did ask something I smiled at. "Mom, when I die will I go to Texas?" :-) No, Caleb, contrary to popular belief in Texas, it's not Heaven. Heaven is way better than Texas.

Levi is talking so much now, and finally speaking real, full sentences. In the car the other day, Justin said amid the loud chatter in the back seat, "Remember when we couldn't wait for Levi to start talking?" Yeah. And now he won't stop.

I'll hopefully get our pictures of Phuket loaded soon and share them with you. It was a nice, quick vacation out of the city.

Asking God

Caleb: Mom, Can you ask God if they have Transformers umbrellas.

Me: Okay, Caleb.

Caleb: Right now.

Me: Oh, you want me to pray right now and ask God?

Caleb: Yes.

Me: Ok. Dear God, please let us know if there are Transformers umbrellas so we can get one for Caleb. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Caleb: Did He say yes?

*smile*

My My, How Can I Resist You?

On the way home from school the other day, Caleb started singing,

"Mamma Mia, here I go again..."

And then I looked at him like he had grown a third eye. And then he collapsed into giggles in the backseat of the taxi.

I asked him if they had been singing that song at school, and he said it was on the radio. (I'm guessing the teachers were playing the CD during music time at school.) Not exactly what I expected to hear him singing since he usually comes home singing Jingle Bells as they are currently practicing for the Christmas concert.

When we got home, I dowloaded "Mamma Mia" from iTunes, and while I was there I downloaded "Dancing Queen" by ABBA as well. I mean, if we can sing and dance around the house to something other than the Mickey Mouse "Hot Dog" song, I'm a happy girl.

So I start singing, which inevitably prompts both of my children to shout in unison, "NO SINGING," but I cannot be swayed so easily, so I continue...

"You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen..."

And Caleb looks at me like I've grown a third eye and says, emphatically,

"Mom, queens.don't.dance."

Ok, then. That settles it.

Theological Discussions with a Four-Year-Old

Caleb has been asking a lot of deep questions lately. They seem easy enough on the surface, until you try to answer them. Especially in a way that a four-year-old can understand.

Here are some things Caleb's been asking/saying this weekend:

1. Where does God live?

2. We sang "Jesus died for all the children" at church today. Why did he do that?

3. Is He still died? (Caleb's words)

4. I love God sooo much! (So do we, sweetie, so do we!)

5. As I was praying with Caleb tonight, I asked him if he wanted to say it by himself. He did, so he started thanking God for his bunk bed, his reward chart, his stuffed moose. He said, "Thank you for..." and paused, so I filled in with, "...always being with me." Caleb replied with, "No, it's just furniture tonight, Mom. And soft things." :-) I was unaware it was "thank God for your furniture" night. I stand corrected.

Caleb has such a sweet heart, and it is a joy to watch him grow in his knowledge of our Savior. This time surely cannot be wasted.

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands." ~Psalm 119: 9-10

What's YOUR Favorite Food?

I took the boys for their yearly check-ups yesterday. I love our doctor in Houston, and no one will ever compare to the care we received there; our doctor was really special. But our pediatrician here is a good one. He checked Caleb first. He asked Caleb to write his name, which he did pretty well. The letters weren't very close to each other, but they were in the right order! When the doctor said, "Can you write the final letter?", Caleb said, "No, the B is hard." Good enough. He said Caleb is very coordinated, which we knew. ;-)

He also asked Caleb lots of questions about various things in his life. The one that made me cringe and want to crawl in a hole was, "What's your favorite food?" Caleb's answer?

Candy.

I glared at him and made some comment about him eating other foods, but Caleb looked at me and said, "I like candy." Yes, I'm aware. We'll just blame it on the fact that Halloween is just around the corner, right?

Levi also had a good check-up. The doctor asked him how old he was and he told him. He asked me if he was starting to feed himself with a spoon, and I told him he's been doing that for a long time now. I can't remember the last time we actually fed Levi anything ourselves; he's been a self-feeder for over a year now with the exception of yogurt. But even that he's been feeding himself for a while. I cringe every time he eats it because he gets it everywhere.

I kept having to translate for Levi, though. Our doctor here was trained in Australia and his accent is pretty thick sometimes (kind of an Asian meets Australian accent), so Levi had a hard time understanding which body parts the doctor was asking him to point to. :-)

The thing Levi had a problem with was colors. The doctor held up several different objects of different colors. Levi said everything was green. I know this is pretty normal, but I'm always paranoid about it because color-blindness runs in the family. I quizzed Caleb on his colors a lot until he finally learned all the right ones and I knew he wasn't color-blind. I just like to be prepared. :-)

Caleb weighed 15.9kg (35.1 lbs) and was 103cm tall (42.1 inches).
Levi weighed 12.9kg (28.4 lbs) and was 90cm tall (35.4 inches).

They are both around the 50%, so the doctor was pleased with their progress.

A Storm Is Brewing

Metaphorical Storm: Caleb woke up this morning with a slight fever and a cough. We leave for Thailand tomorrow morning, and with those symptoms we will surely not be allowed to board an airplane with all the H1N1 fears. (And, yes, they will check his temp!)

And now? He's napping. This is the child who hasn't taken a nap since he was 2 1/2 unless he's sick. Aargh. His fever is down, but the cough is persistent. He's not congested; it's just the tickly, shallow cough. I tried the asthma inhaler, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference.

Justin is prepared to stay home with him and let me go to Thailand with Levi if we need to, but I really don't want that to happen!

Actual Storm: I took these pictures from our dining room window. I LOVE when it rains here because it's cools things down tremendously. Even though I forgot my umbrella when I went to meet a friend for lunch, it was glorious because I wasn't sweating!

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

Today we're celebrating Caleb's 4th Birthday!! He's getting so big.

Caleb,
We love you so much! You have such a tender heart, are quick to give hugs and say you're sorry, and you're such a good big brother. Yesterday when we were discussing your allowance and how part of it every week will go into a "giving" jar to give to others who don't have as much as we do, you wanted to fill 4 more jars for kids who need it. You make us so proud. We hope and pray that you always have a compassionate spirit and reach out to others.

We love you, big boy...Mommy and Daddy

The Things Caleb Says, Part IV

"Disobeying is not a good idea." :-) (We were discussing their Bible class lesson on Adam and Eve. Apparently he actually learned something!)


"Cool idea, dude!"

"Mom, you know why it's raining? Because God's spitting."
"Who told you that?"
"God-ey"(his name for God).
Then he looks up at the sky and says, "Spit, God!"



"Miss Val is a proomper-weeder!"

-Again, one of his made-up words. This one is a noun and just means something silly. We then discussed that he is never to use that word at school because they would not understand what he was saying and might think he meant something bad. We only say that at home. :-) Miss Val is his teacher.

The Things Caleb Says, Part III

Saturday we took the boys to Sentosa Island. We rode the luge and played at the beach. Here's the conversation that ensued as we were walking out the door to leave...

Caleb: How do we get to the beach?
Daddy: Drive.
Caleb: Does the car turn into a boat?
Daddy: No...(stifling a laugh)
Caleb: (very emphatically) But we didn't buy a swimsuit for the car!

On the way home, we were telling knock-knock jokes. Caleb tried to get in on the action...

Caleb: Knock, Knock!
Us: Who's there?
Caleb: ummm...(long pause)...it was ME, Caleb!

:-) We love that boy!

Things Caleb Says, Part II

"Mom, I don't ever, never want to go to the North Pole." (oooookkaaaay?? apparently he had a bad dream that included the north pole.)




"Mom, Levi just splayed the TV." (He's taken to making up words.)


"What does that mean, Caleb?"


"It won't play, and I can't hear it."



"You're the ticklers and we're the proompers." (Proomp is his new made-up word. It has lots of meanings.)



"I'm going to proomp you." (in this context, it usually means hit.)

Me: Caleb, what do you want for breakfast? A cereal bar? A granola bar?

Caleb: I want something that goes with chopsticks.

Monkey Wrench

Caleb came over to me holding his tool box that he had put some of his daddy's tools in.

"Wanna see?" he says.

"Sure."

He opens the box, and I look in.

"Do you know what that one is?" I ask.

"No."

"It's a monkey wrench."

"Is it for real monkeys???"

Vocabulary and The Swine Flu

Caleb has a whole new vocabulary now that we're living in Singapore.j

"Are we going to take the MRT?"

"There's the Newton hawker."

"Where's your hand phone?"

And he knows that we tell the taxi drivers that we're staying at "The Orchard Scotts on Anthony Road."

:-)

Even Levi has a new word, "taxi." And Levi has three new teeth.

They are VERY serious about the Swine Flu here (H1N1). There are signs in the taxis and MRT stations and just about everywhere warning that if you came from an H1N1 infected country or are going to an H1N1 infected country that you should avoid large crowds and take your temperature regularly. Oh, and if you have a fever plus cough/congestion, call and ambulance. When I'm in the taxi with the kids by myself the drivers who speak really good English will chat with me, and one of them asked where we were from and then also asked about the Swine Flu and the economy. (It sort of feels like when I was in Thailand in 2001 and all anyone would talk to me about was the World Trade Center. Now it's the economy and the Swine Flu. I guess they're just trying to make conversation.)

We went to view a condo last week and at the guard's gate they had a sign that said all visitors and contractors must stop at the guard gate to have their temperature taken before entering the complex. They didn't make us, but I thought it was funny.

They were serious about it on the airplanes on the way here, too. When we stopped in Japan, they had fully masked inspectors come onto the plane to determine if anyone was sick. We had to fill out little health questionnaires that asked whether or not we'd had a fever in the last 10 days.

Well, we found a condo that we really like and have submitted the LOI (Letter of Intent) to the owners. We should find out today or tomorrow if they have accepted our offer. They are replacing the air con units in the whole complex, so they don't want us to move in until July 15, but I'm hoping they'll let us go ahead and move in a couple of weeks when our furniture arrives. We're ready to sleep in our own beds and have our own stuff!

The boys were up late last night, so it's after 9am and they are still sleeping! They have finally returned to their normal sleep habits, so we are thankful for that!