Leaf Shadows

25/5/2009

Video ∞

Amy started counting last week. Now she counts everything…stairs, dice, things in books. We love to hear her little voice. She can also count to 10 in Mongolian… but I have yet to capture that on video.

Enjoy Gramma’s!

Comments (View)

23/5/2009

Text ∞

The Plan

Some people have been wondering about our scedule the next week and when we get home and stuff. Here’s the plan:

This friday (29th) morning we are leaving Erdent in a van with some friends and all going to Ub for a JCS dinner. There we will also hang with Rob and Pat who have been in the country for a week or so. So this means we have less tha 1 weeks to finish packing and cleaning and giving stuff away. ok.

We’ll spend a few days in UB. It turns out we’re there during a really random time. Sunday is “Annual No Transportation Day” here so the all the roads in UB are closed and no cars allowed. I guess it’s to help promote alternative transortation? So, that should be interesting in a city of 1,000,000 + people. Then monday is Childrens Day, a big holiday day, so shops and such are closed and there is many festivites planned for kids all over the city. Maybe we’ll head out and show Amy, maybe not. We’ll see.

Tuesday we fly out at 12:30 am. Yep at night. Yikes. So, it’s really wednesday morning but just barely. This should be interesting. We fly to Soeul, Korea, and have a layover until 6:00 pm. We booked a transit hotel so we’re hoping for nice showers and some sleep. The hotel looks awesome and everyone flying through Korea is the way to go - great planes, great sevice, very child friendly. The sleep part will depend on Amy.

Then we fly 11 hours to Vancouver and hop on a flight to Calgary, arrive before supper.

And then we will breathe a huge sigh of relief. We know people fly with toddlers all the time, but we be real glad to have this flight done. Pray for us if you think of it. Thanks!

Comments (View)

21/5/2009

Text ∞

Left and Leaving

Ah, the Weakerthans, a great band by the way, inspired the title of this post. This is how we feel now. We’ve definately left some things - I’ve given away tons of clothes, kitchen stuff - we’ve already said for real farewells to some great friends, and we are leaving tons of stuff behind! And we’ve still in the process of leaving. Seeing friends and knowing you don’t have much time left to hang out but you’re still here and will see them a few times more. We’re packing, and unpacking and thinking, and planning and anticipating and dreading. Dreading saying final goodbyes. I hate those. But I always like to think the world is pretty small now-a-days and you really never know when people will pop back into you life. And there’s always FaceBook! :) Anticiapting home, family, friends, new opportunities, Canada, food.

We thought packing would be a breeze. Just leave everything behind, right? But when it gets down to it it’s not so easy. When we start thinking that we’ll have to rebuy everything when we get home, it starts to make us pack some things a bit tighter. We had thought we’d have some friends take home some bags for us so we’d have extra room, but it turns out they can’t. It’s ok though. Now we just really have to prioritize. It’s hard to pack 4 years worth of “stuff” in 4 big bags + 1 for Amy and 5 carry ons. But we’re up to the challange. And giving stuff away has been really awesome. I was showing kitchen stuff to a friend and she had always wanted a toaster but never been able to buy one. So she has ours. And she was so excited. I liked that.

We have 1 week left in Erdenet. This is our last weekend here coming up. So insane! We’re having a goodbye party at the cafe tomorrow and our work there is officially done. We’re learnt tons the last 4 years. I’m interested to see how what we’ve learned and who we are now will play out back at home. I hope we’ve changed, in good ways, grown, matured. It will be interesting.

We have to start fresh with everything soon. House, car… all the big things. We’re a bit intimidated, but we knew that this day would come. We’re ready- and God has never let us down, not ever. What a wonderful Provider.

I’m feeling a lot better lately. I can see the second trimester on the horizen! woot woot! I haven’t been as sick as I was with Amy, but so so so tired. We wre esp. nervous I would be sick for the flight. But things seem to be looking up! Being pregnant does make packing easy for me. I’ve moved into maternity clothes, so everything (almost, except some favorties) gets left! Why bring stuffI can’t fit, and may never fit into again, right!?

I think Amy knows some changes are coming. Her toys are slowly disappearing as we try to find new homes for them. Poor baby. But we know she will not lack for toys at home with Grandma’s ad Grandpa’s around! :)

We haven’t had hot water for the last 4 days, and we’re really ready for it to come back on. When the central town heating turns off (May 15, like clockwork) the water is usually messed up for a while. A streamy, hot shower would be soooooo gorgeous right now. But we’re all in the same boat here in Erdenet, so it’s easier to manage.

Oh, little Amy is awak. I should go get her. I’ll try to post more this week as time winds down for us here.

So excited to come home.

So hard to say goodbye.

Comments (View)

20/5/2009

Photo ∞

We’ve been using Amy as a luggage squasher to hold things down as we try to squeeze as much in our bags as possible. She also likes to unpack anything we’ve already gone through. Auntie Avey’s knitted toque was packed away… how did it end up on your head Amy?

Comments (View)

16/5/2009

Photo ∞

Grandma’s have been begging for pictures to keep them going until they have little Amy home and in person. Here’s one. 18 more days!

Comments (View)

13/5/2009

Video ∞

Amy had her first driving lesson a few weeks ago. Sam and Anne, good friends (and fellow Canadians) from UB came up and we went for a Sunday picnic on the Mongolian steppe. Amy is driving with no help. She steered us up a big hill. There really is nothing to hit out there.

Even I haven’t driven here yet.

Comments (View)

06/5/2009

Text ∞

Riddle me this....

I’ve been trying to think of an awesome riddle, like Avey’s, to add some fun and anticipation to some news we have…. but she did a great job and since I am that “sister in law” in her post the secret is out! Amy will be a big sister sometime in December!

We are very excited. I have been so sick. Not as sick as I was with Amy but enough to have our friend Patrick over here in Mongolia phone over daily and ask what kind of day I’m having. If it’a bad he is quick to encourage with “it’s worth it” and “no pain no gain, right?” grrrr… men. It’s is sooo worth it though and we are very happy - I will be even more when the first trimester queasies are over.

So we’re about 8 weeks now. Here is a big difference I’ve noticed with having baby #2 - I had to look up on babycentre.ca how many weeks I am before I could post this! With Amy I was reading baby books daily (hourly) and knew just what was going on and making sure I was eating and drinking milk and taking my vitamins. With baby #2 life is so busy trying to care for baby #1 with constant nausea (and in Mongolia - I know it’s not really an excuse for being super busy, but life here has different struggles (like buying good fruit and veg) and I am looking forward so much to the FOOD in Canada - imagine ham, broccoli, 1% milk, strawberries and milkshakes….mmmmm…..). Spoken like a true pregnant mama.

We are also VERY excited to have a baby only a month after Avey. Good planning God!

We’ve done so much lately that I don’t know what to add into this blog. The Epic-ers were here the last two weeks. We had such a good time - just perfect. Having people from home visit us here is so rad. We sent them off to Russia yesterday. Amy loves her uncle darcy (and paul and tamara and wanda) and had a great time with them. Hearing all their stories from their months of epicing was so fun. They have such great stories. and souvoniers to go with them. Awesome guys. I could blog a lot but I’m getting sleepy, so more later! Hopefuly with pics. I’ve been dreadful at getting on the computer lately.

We will be home in Canada in 28 days. wow. We’re starting to get into packing, sorting, giving away mode. We are very excited to come home.

Also, Amy said her first full sentences today. “I want to dance!” followed by, “I want to groove!” I love it when she busts into this little song. She seriously sings all day; makes her own soundtrack to life. She wakes up singing. Ask Uncle Darcy, it’s true. She sings our names, things she sees, things people say around her, nonsense, and whatever comes to mind. It’s beautiful.

“I want to dance, I want to groove” is a line from her favourite and most frequently watched Veggie Tale episode, Dr. Giggle and Mr. Sly. I’ll try to capture it on video.

I gotta go to bed. Mu-wah!

Comments (View)

21/4/2009

Video ∞

Amy helped make muffins today. She loves the stirring part. And the sneaking chocolate chips out of the bowl part. She’s so much like me!

So here she is helping out. She’s a bit weepy. 3 minutes after this video she was down for a much needed nap.

Enjoy!

Comments (View)

5:05

Photo ∞

Wow, I haven’t posted in forever….. Life is full.

We had a rad picnic with the foreigner contingent here this last weekend. i have tons of cute photos, but here’s a quick post of our family.

More come soon, I hope. The Epic-ers are on their way via train up here to M*ngolia tomorow. yip yip yipee!

Comments (View)

07/4/2009

Text ∞

Today Jonny and I went out for a walk with Amy. The weather has been summer beautiful the last few days. As we passed this guy on the side walk he did double-take and ran over to me and grabbed my arm (lightly, don’t worry.) He said (in English and loud) “HELLO!” And then (in Mongolian) “me little drunk.” No kidding, I thought. We’re getting a bit used to dealing with these encounters, but that usually means ignore and walk fast. This time though I said (in Mongolian) “I don’t talk with drunk people.”

And he said, “ok” and walked away.

Wow, wish I had known about this approach 4 years ago.

Comments (View)