Our home revisited

Since y'all can't come over, I thought I'd let you take a peek at our home...

Living room - yes, that's J watching Thomas the Tank Engine, rented here.

K got the kids a tent to play in, it's sitting in our living room right now- an indoor tent.

Dining area

Kids' room

Some other pretty flowers growing in the backyard

Some admin stuff: For those of you who want to leave a comment, I've removed the need to login, but I'll still be moderating comments, just so I can make sure no one leaves anything nasty on the blog. When you type in a comment, it'll come in to my email first so that I can choose either to publish or reject it. So there'll be a delay between when you leave a comment, and when it appears on the blog, just cos I'll have to manually opt to publish it.

PS. I'm actually surprising myself with how regularly and often I'm putting up posts on the blog. Patting myself on the back.

What we miss the most

K: Friends, the youth at church, playing the piano and teh-si.



F: My parents! They're on their way back to Singapore as I type this. We had to have quite a hurried goodbye at the airport, cos J was getting quite upset. Poor thing. He understands loss now. Almost everyone was in tears. Friends. CBC.



J (in his own words): Tampines Mall, Parkway Parade, Ah-ma and Kong-kong, and my BMW car.

For these I am thankful

When I don't know what to say
I will speak praise to You

These words that we sang in one of the songs during worship today at church resonated with me.


With our move to Claremont, trying to get settled down, and getting the house all set up, it's been quite a busy hive of activity almost everyday so far. And in all my busy-ness, it's been hard for me to figure where to start when I pray. I have requests to put before God for all of us, and at the same time, there are many things to be thankful for.


A few nights ago, we made some changes to the kids' sleeping arrangements. We had initially put J in a room by himself and E with us (while my parents took the last remaining bedroom). It was quite hard on J though I think - he didn't do well being in a new room by himself - quite insecure and whiny. So what we did a few nights ago was to put both of them in a room together. Last night was their third night in the same room, and for the first time since we've been here, they both slept through the night. No crying, no looking for me. A gift. For this I am very thankful.


While J's been having a great time with exploring a new place, he's been acting up much more than he did at home. We've had to deal with quite a bit of cranky-ness, temper tantrums, stubbornness. It's been quite tiring dealing with this, to say the least. I figure it's the change of environment, which has maybe led to him feeling a bit more insecure. So: I'm praying over him and E as I wait for them to sleep at night. And just waiting it out. Since starting the prayers, there've been small improvements; he's a little less quick to launch into a full-blown tantrum. Small step, but for this I am thankful too.



Today was our second Sunday at church here. A big thanksgiving: both J and E seem to have settled into their respective Sunday Schools quite easily. They both have different rooms to go to, both filled with all manner of toys. J ran right in today, didn't even have to look back to say bye to me. E took some persuasion, but spent quite a while there before she started to look for me. Just the fact that she was willing to be there without me, for any amout of time, was pretty amazing to me. The Sunday School teachers have been great so far, really welcoming to the kids. Even suggesting preschools for J, which we'll look into later.

My parents leave for home tomorrow, after being here for close to three weeks. They've been a great help, with watching the kids, keeping them occupied, and even fixing up parts of the house for us. For them I am thankful. I'll miss them.

For K and the kids, I am most thankful!

(PS. Aren't they just the cutest?!)

5 servings of fruits and vegetables

One of the great things about being here, at least for me, is the farmers' markets that I get to explore regularly. Some spoils from today's trip out to the Pomona (a neighbouring town) farmers' market.



Other things that I've managed to buy, but didn't have time/opportunity to take pics of: apple chips, apple juice, zucchini, xiao bai chai, kai lan, fresh shitaake mushrooms, multi-grain bread. All organic!

E is a vegetarian by nature. She loves her fruits and is game to give anything a try, so long as they fall under the catergory of fruits or vegetables. Meat, she's not so keen on, although she did eat quite a bit of fried chicken at a gathering for international students from K's school last night. More often than not, she spits out her meats. E does seem to share J's love for mushrooms. J, on the other hand, is more of a carnivore. He refuses to try any and all fruits. Scrunches up his nose, shakes his head, and runs away. Fast.

Organic apple juice is amazing. Much much tastier than the store-bought kind. I'd choose organic juice any day. Oh, but of course, more expensive. Sigh. Can't have it perfect.

Not a vacation

For me at least, it's been hard to remember that our time here isn't a vacation. It's certainly seemed like one so far, hasn't it? We've been travelling and shopping like tourists over the past couple of weeks; my parents being here for just under three weeks has helped that impression since we're also trying to bring them around. They'll be going back home on Monday though. Then I expect things to fall into more of a normal routine after that. We haven't looked into getting J into a school, mainly because we wanted him to get used to being in a new place. But maybe we should get that going soon. We did come across gymnastics classes for kids his age, and when I explained that he'd be able to jump, run and bounce, you can imagine how keen he was!

K's classes have started and he's slowly getting back into the groove of being a student. Homework and readings have begun. His workload now isn't too bad, but it'll get tougher in the fall. Even then, it's hard getting all his readings done with two boisterous kids running around the house, so I hope to be able to bring the kids out to the parks a bit more now that the weather is getting warmer gradually. Give K a bit more time and space to get his work done.

San Diego

We're back from our first road-trip! We left for San Diego on Sunday morning and returned home Tuesday late afternoon, just in time for K to attend his class in the evening. It was a packed couple of days. As you'll be able to see, I did NOT forget the camera this time! Here are just some highlights.



First stop - La Jolla, where we got to see seals lounging on the beach, at a little cove called Children's Pool (it used to be for the kids to wade in the water, before the seals took over). Very cool, figuratively and literally - the sea wind is freezing cold. We lunched at a cafe called the Cottage - very yummy. You'll have to take my word for it, cos I didn't manage to get any pictures. The food looked so good, we just dug in straightaway. Who has time to take out the camera?

We spent Sunday afternoon at Balboa Park. J was a very happy camper because he got to do all he loved - riding on a miniature train (which was built in the 1940s, I think), riding on the carousel and playing in front of a fountain. Check out his big grins!

And in the evening, just before dinner (at The Fish Market), we got to look at an aircraft carrier. The boys were, naturally, fascinated.

Monday was spent at SeaWorld, which was fantastic. A few firsts - feeding dolphins (not cheap, ok. Each tray of fish cost US$5; there were FOUR fish only!), getting to see the Shamu show (a little bit cheesy at times, but still pretty amazing), getting to see walruses and beluga whales up close.

You can see J feeding the dolphins above - he actually picked up a little dead fish to throw into the dolphin's mouth! So proud of him. In the middle picture above, E just turned around to catch a walrus' belly as it did a dive right up against the glass. The sight of that thing made her scramble, I'll tell you that. Quite funny to see her scurry off. *grin* J's taking a close-up look at a beluga whale in the pic below.

Our last day was spent at the famous San Diego Zoo - you can imagine how excited J was. Naturally, his favourite exhibit was the elephants. He also loved the cable car, and wanted to keep going on it. Unfortunately, E had just fallen asleep, so she missed out on this one.

By far the most hilarious moment of the trip: while visiting the panda enclosure, we had told J that he had to be quiet so as not to scare the pandas. But even after leaving the pandas, he kept insisting that we all had to be quiet and would shush us if we tried to talk. We had no choice! So there he was creeping up on the different exhibits, where he would suddenly shout or scream cos he was just too excited to contain himself when he saw the different animals. Unfortunately, at one of the exhibits, a little old lady didn't notice him creeping up, until he was right behind her, when he let out a blood-curdling, at-the-top-of-his-lungs scream: "Bird!!!!!". The poor lady got such a big fright, she said J almost sent her to heaven too early. I tell you, we're still laughing about it now.

J didn't want to come home... When he realised that we were nearing home, he kept insisting on going back to San Diego to make his home there...

I personally felt SeaWorld was the most impressive, maybe just because the animals that they had there were a little more unusual. I mean, dolphins, killer and beluga whales, walruses and manatees don't pop up in any old zoo. How awesome is God, that He made them all.

Playtime

We have some great shots of the kids doing what they do best! Today was a really nice day - it's starting to get a little warmer now so we spent some time outside today.

While walking through a yardsale, J found a remote control car - here he is having fun with it. And the best part is, it cost only US$1! He's also wearing his new Lightning McQueen t-shirt, so he's dressed for the part too.

J hasn't had much time on the playgrounds here, simply because almost all the playgrounds here have sand on the ground, and he hates running on sand. Somehow he managed to get over that today though, much to K's joy! E had no problem with sand - she was raring to go.

The kids also broke in the inflatable pool. As you can see, it's a big one. They had a ball of a time. E, the water baby, had to be forcibly removed when she started shivering.

Some stress, and some funny stuff

Ta-dah! We've bought a Toyota Sienna, it's sitting here in our driveway. It's big big, kinda like a Picnic. After driving a Dodge Caravan for a few days, and test-driving a Ford Freestar, K fell in love with the Siena at first drive. He says it's much easier to drive than both the Dodge and Ford. So I went on my first drive yesterday. But of course everything is on the wrong side here. It was STRESSFUL!!! I was so confused. Not only is everything on the roads on the wrong side, even the indicator handle in the car is on the wrong side too. So when I tried to signal a turn I kept turning on the windscreen wipers and washing the windows. And the gear stick is behind the steering wheel. And for some reason, I can only seem to reach the accelerator with the ball of my foot, the heel can't reach the floorboard. This is after moving the seat forward! I clearly have short legs. And compared the wee tiny Vios, I feel like I'm trying to drive a tank - I feel fat on the roads! But thank God, I made it through my first drive without hurting anyone else, myself or the car. And towards the end of the drive, it didn't feel so bad, even though I was still getting a stress headache.

Stress number two: leaving the house with everything the children, and I, need. We went to Disney's California Adventure today, which is a theme park right next to Disneyland. And of all things, I forgot to bring the CAMERA!! I also forgot sunblock, so I now have a bit of sunburn on my face. These are the things I did remember:

• Jackets for the kids - cos it's always cold and gloomy in the mornings nowadays (the locals call it June gloom, even though I know it's not yet June). The sun comes out around mid-day and then it's really nice weather - not too cold.
• Calendula cream - drier air here means both kids and I have really dry skin, so I'm constantly putting cream on for them throughout the day.
• Diapers - two different sizes for two different kiddos (yes, the older one still refuses to be toilet-trained).
• Plastic cutlery - you never know when we need to feed the kids quickly and don't have time to get smaller spoons
• Disposable straws
• Wipes
• Water, water, water
• Snacks bag - cheese and crackers, apple juice packs, jello

It was quite disappointing to have forgotten the camera, but I console myself with the fact that this won't be our only trip there. We purchased an annual passport to Disneyland. J had a great time! He got to see live versions of Lightning McQueen and Mater (you may already know that his current obsession is with cars). He discovered the carousel too - and wanted to keep going round and round and round. He was completely tired out, but has already planned what to try the next time we go. It was wonderful to see him enjoy himself so much.

E continues to be difficult at mealtimes, so that's stress number three. The floor around her is usually a disaster zone, since she spits out anything that's not to her taste. She's learnt to taste whatever we offer her first, by pursing her lips and sticking her tongue out a little. If she doesn't like it, and that's like 80% of the time, she just rejects it - she'll use her fingers to dig out whatever managed to get into her mouth. Or she'll just spits it out. Or she'll bat it away with her little hands. It gets quite frustrating, and I really need an extra measure of patience and grace for mealtimes.

On the upside, she's learning to call me. It's either ma or meh. And when she's prompted, she can also call Dada, and Pa (for Grandpa) and geh-ma (or something pretty close, for Grandma). Very sweet. And I'm pleased to announce that her hair is growing. It must be the cold weather here, but her head suddenly seems a bit more covered! Must be God's way of protecting her head in colder weather.

Mother's day was pretty quiet, but K was incredibly sweet to get us (me and my mum) balloons and this:

It's basically a bouquet made up of fruit from a shop called Edible Arrangments. Cute. It's all held together with a head of lettuce in the middle, instead of the usual florist's foam, and the lettuce is covered by what we think are broccoli leaves. Oh and needless to say, the kids are the ones who've been having a great time with the helium balloons.

Now, I don't know if many of you know this, but K hates reading instructions. He never reads manuals, for instance. But most uncharacteristically, when it comes to eating, he loves them. Practically every time we've had xiao long bao, I've had to listen to what the correct way of eating them is. Anyway, we had bought egg rolls (what we know as spring rolls) from a Vietnamese place for dinner today, and they came with some lettuce leaves and pickled carrots. He picks an egg roll up, and a lettuce leaf and asks me, how do I eat this? To which I say, I don't know, they didn't come with instructions.

In case you're wondering, the egg rolls were very yummy. I also loved the spring rolls (which is what they call the rice paper rolls, stuffed with meat and shrimp and vermicelli). I'm going to be so fat after this year. Seriously. Help.

This blogging thing feels sometimes like I'm talking to myself. If anyone's reading, we'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment or send us an email. Keep us updated on what's happening at home, please!

Repositioning

This morning, we went to Baseline Community Church. It's a church that I found on the web a few months ago, when I did a Google search for "churches in Claremont". I had been there last Sunday, which was timely as the pastoral team was just beginning a series on the rhythm of God. The associate pastor, Donn, preached about giving (in every way) as an integral part of our rhythm with God.

Today, the pastor's wife preached (it was Mother's Day). She spoke on prayer and fasting as other components of the life that God expects us to have. One thing jumped out at me. She described fasting as an experience of "repositioning" ourselves, as a forceful reminder that we ought to hunger most fervently for God. When we are sated and satisfied, she said, it is easy to feel independent, without any need for God. But when we are hungry and needy, we feel vulnerable and dependent -- the mindset that can drive us on our knees to our Father.

This idea of repositioning resonated with me. Over the last two weeks, I have experienced a complete change in my daily rhythms. I no longer need to check emails, talk to my colleagues, vet papers, check reports, and lead meetings -- the events and activities that gave my work-days their structure and discipline. Bereft of these structures, I have had to re-create new rhythms. As the summer term begins tomorrow, there will be new structures and rhythms to adapt to.

The last two weeks have also resembled a humbling experience of repositioning. Shorn of family, of the usual activities that used to fill each day for me, I felt strangely cut loose, estranged, as it were, from community. I was hungry and humbled, for the experience made me realise how much I needed my family and how much they filled my heart. The ten days without them was, in a sense, an extended fast that made me feel vulnerable and needy. I am grateful to God for them.

I am one of the lucky ones, because of them. And because of Him.

Mountains

I love the view of the San Gabriel Mountains here in Claremont.

Every morning, when I drive out of the house heading northwards towards the Village, I see the mountains. Even if I don't see the mountains, there are reminders of them everywhere. I drive on roads with names like Foothill and Baseline. There's a church called the "Mountain View Baptist Church". And wherever you go in Claremont, you are never really on flat ground. (You discover that pretty quickly when you have to push double stroller with two kids around town and you realise that going one direction is much more difficult than going the other.)

Years ago, Fiona asked me if I liked the sea or mountains more. I like both, of course, and that's why I loved the Whitsunday Islands so much -- both sea and mountains (well, gentle ones, but mountains nonetheless by Singapore standards). But if I had to choose, I would have to say that I love mountains more. In every dream I have had of heaven, mountains have figured prominently.

This might seem frivolous, but the proximity to the San Gabriel mountains was one reason why I chose to come to Claremont. I wanted to see mountains again.

Last week, before the family came, I went running on a path that pretty much hugs the base of the San Gabriel mountains, just north of town. It was a tough run, as it was uphill one way and then downhill the way back. After the run, I drove up towards a small village in the mountains, called Mount Baldy Village.

It was a lonely, sombre drive. Up close, the mountains are stark, grave and cold, perhaps even ominous and foreboding. But it was thrilling to drive above the valley floor, to see, at various turns, the entire valley opening up through certain views along the drive. And, as it was approaching sunset, it was uplifting to see the mountains and to notice how their colours changed with the shifting light of the gloaming. Driving down, they looked different when I had been driving up. Shadows were cast differently. Some colours were more vivid. And of course, the sky seemed closer, clearer and purer, more welcoming to an earthbound person like me.

I hope to post some good photos of the mountains soon.

Lemons, Flowers, Trains and Hollywood

We discovered a lemon tree growing in our backyard yesterday. There was some initial confusion over whether they were lemons or oranges, but they're definitely lemons. They smell wonderful. I'm looking forward to trying them out in some recipes.




Other blooms in the backyard... This just bloomed over the past couple of days. J was excitedly pointing it out to us.



We had an excursion today. Just a couple of minutes walk from our house are a couple of train tracks that J's been really excited about. Everytime he hears the train go by, he makes sure everyone knows it! So we decided to surprise him today - we took the train to the heart of Los Angeles.

The Claremont train station

He was so excited - completely enthralled by the whole experience. I had a great time watching him get a thrill out of something so mundane to the rest of us. It was nice to be able to enjoy something so simple. We sat on the upper level so that he could get a good view and he pointed out everything he saw, so it was pretty much non-stop chatter all the way.

Our destination was downtown LA, so we did the tourist sightseeing thing for the first time today. We saw Kodak Theatre where the Academy Awards are held and Manns Chinese Theatre where you'll see handprints, footprints, and other assorted prints of famous people. It was a lovely day, with nice, cool (but not too cold!) weather, so we had a good time. Although I have to say it was a little unreal too. This move has been so much about setting up a home in a new place, I'd not thought about the touristy part of being in LA at all. But it's nice, realising that we can explore all these new places easily.

What weather?

It's early early in the morning now. J was woken up early cos it gets bright much earlier here, now that it's spring. It's also VERY cold this morning. The reality of how much the weather varies here is sinking in. We'll have to get more comforters today, and curtains to block out the light in J's room - otherwise he'll be waking me up at this time every day! Ugh. Maybe IKEA today.

Thoughts on Claremont

Fiona just invited me to serve as a co-contributor to this blog so I thought I'd weigh in with my side of the story over the last two weeks.

I arrived in Claremont on 28 April, a Saturday. Many of you will already know by now how I found the home that we're living in right now, but for first-timers, here's a quick recap. The first evening I was in Claremont, I decided to take a long walk to stretch my legs after the flight. I walked around randomly, as Claremont's a pretty small town and hard to get lost in. On my peregrinations, I came across a small little house with a "For rent" sign. Now, I had been scouring the local ads in the papers, Craigslist and other housing rental referral services, but had not yet seen this particular house for rent. It was just nice - three bedrooms, within walking distance of campus and town and shops, and had a pretty back yard. The only downside was that it was fronting the main road in Claremont -- Indian Hill Boulevard. So the house tended to get a bit of noise from the road, especially at night and early in the morning. But as things have turned out, this is the house that we're living in, and Fiona had already provided a very nice photo of it in the previous post. I believe God was at work in leading my footsteps that first evening.

Setting up a home from scratch was pretty crazy. I moved in on Tuesday 1 May 2007, and between that day and the day the family arrived on 9 May, I went to Target and Ikea three or four times (each time carrying or pushing or lugging the maximum amount of stuff I could stuff into my tiny two-door rental car), Goodwill Industries (a second-hand used goods place) twice, Salvation Army shop twice, the local nursery (for plants, not children!) twice, Home Depot (I love that place!) once, and several other shops and department stores. Here's a partial list of things to get when your house has absolutely nothing in it:

• Mattresses - I got one queen and four single mattresses (Americans, for the weirdest reason, call single mattresses "twin", which, of course, you'd think would refer to a "double" mattress)
• Bed sheets - many variations
• Pillows - many variations
• Quilts - I actually spent an hour at Ikea going back and forth between the different types of quilts for the different beds in our house
• Dishes, crockery, plates and bowls -- whatever you call them
• Dining table with four chairs
• Tent (for the kids - admittedly a "nice-to-have")
• Various toys (for the kids, not me!)
• Toiletries and toilet paper
• Cleaning equipment and chemicals of all shapes, sizes and levels of danger to your health if swallowed
• A second-hand futon (which took Fiona's dad and me just 10 minutes to take apart but nearly an hour, and with the assistance of Fiona and her mom, and much cursing and swearing, to put back together)
• Rice (cannot resist my Asian genetics)
• Detergents and laundry stuff
• Rugs and floor mats for kitchen, bathrooms etc
• Shelves and storage stuff for the bedrooms (TGFI - Thank God for Ikea, 15 minutes away)
• Basic refrigerator stuff - which in my case means orange juice, milk and chocolates
• Cutlery
• Cookware
• Kitchenware

You get the idea.

I had fun with gardening as well. Two of the afternoons, I donned my sunglasses, stripped down to my shorts and raked, mowed and planted and planted and planted, and in the process worked up a good tan. Pretty fun, but I don't think I want a garden for life . . . Unless someone else does the gardening and maintenance for me.

Finally, some parting thoughts.

(1) I learned, in the 10 days before the family arrived, that I prefer boredom and tedium to loneliness. There were times I felt immensely lonely. I missed the family tremendously and would have given anything to experience the tedium of the daily routines of changing diapers, making milk, getting frustrated with Emma at mealtimes and telling Joshua the same stories and singing the same songs at nighttime. The nights when I was staying in the nice house were so quiet, and there were at least two days I went without a normal, solid conversation with someone else. (At that time, I had no internet connection in the house, so no Skype or MSN, no email etc etc.)

(2) Claremont is a pretty town - very much like Princeton. It's a snooty, tony part of greater Los Angeles that has a deep sense of civic consciousness and a sense of pride in its existence and difference from its surrounding cities. I wish it had more of a "college town" feel - not enough coffeeshops, bookshops and other shops with prices that would appeal to students. (Hey, that's like Princeton too!) But it is pretty, and I love the view of the San Gabriel Mountains, which loom, like silent sentinels, over the town.

(3) The Claremont colleges are so lovely. These are the colleges that I would have liked to have taught at if I had earned my PhD in English all those years ago. (Now, can anybody figure out the tense I used in the preceding sentence?) They are capacious, modern yet historic, with a sense of tradition but without being stuffy. There's a great sense of energy and momentum, and it's nice to be part of a college again.

I look forward to the year ahead. Now that we're slowly settling in, and I'm gearing up for the courses that will begin next Tuesday, I'm eagerly anticipating how we will grow together as a family. The next season of our Great Adventure has begun!

We're here!

We made it to Claremont!

The flight was long, especially for E, who was very restless and not used to being restrained in such a little space at all. J was pretty good though - he even managed to find something on Krisworld that he wanted to watch, so he sat quietly for quite a while, earphones over his head - very cute!

He's also adapted to the new time zone really well, hardly any problems with being up at night - although he had some crazy cranky moments when he got quite tired. E, on the other hand, still hasn't quite figured out night and day - she was up for three-plus hours last night! So guess who was up with her!

Nonetheless, I'm glad to be here. It's been warmer than we thought it'd be, only getting cold in the evenings and at night. So far, we've been busy with shopping for things for the house and kitchen.

A special thanks to those who offered help to get us to the airport, and who came to see us off - you've been such a blessing and encouragement in this time of transition.

Some pictures...

This is our home for the next year. It's lovely - with a kitchen much bigger than the one we have back home - so I'm spoiled for the next year! The kids also have plenty of room to play so they're happy...

A close up of the rosemary bush that we have just outside our front door - fresh rosemary that I can use to cook!

K's also planted a lavender plant - we'll have to wait and see if this is a success or if our inexperience with gardening shows! So far J loves helping to water the plants!

Final word from Singapore

I said one of the most unusual prayers ever today: Lord, please help me close the luggage.

Packing in earnest today. And it became clear that the amount of stuff I wanted to bring was NOT going to fit into the bags that I had. So at the last minute, I had to make a trip down to Carrefour to buy another bag- now we own a mega-big overnight bag!

Everything's in now. And I'm very tired. We'll be up early tomorrow to head to the airport, and the next post should be from LA. After I recover from jet lag.

Sending Off

Our church youth sent us off two Sundays ago with this:

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test and don't ask why,
It's not a question but a lesson learned in time.
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life...

So take the photographs and still frames in your mind.
Hang it on a shelf of good health and good times.
Tattoos of memories, dead skin on a trial
For what it's worth, it was worth all the while.
I hope you had the time of your life...

Thanks, y'all, it was really sweet and you nearly made me cry! We'll miss you, but we look forward to seeing you again in a year's time.

A New Home

Praise the Lord! We have a house.

K's just signed the lease on a (three bedroom, but only one bathroom) house for us. He's moved in already, and is gradually getting the place set up for when we arrive. So far, I think two trips to Target and one to the 99-cent store have been made. He's promised that I'll love Target. I'm sure I will! : )

Probably the only time in our lives when we'll actually be living in a house. We'll have a backyard where we can set up an inflatable pool for the kids - fun!

Unfortunately, no pictures yet. The camera is with me in Singapore, while the house is, obviously, in LA.

Here we go!

So I finally have a good reason to start a blog...

Come 9 May, the kids and I (together with my parents) will be off on an 18-hour plane ride to Los Angeles. This blog will be, hopefully, a chronicle of what we get up to in the year ahead. To get started, here's what the tough bits are:

1. Packing - how to get so much stuff (clothes, books and toys) into one suitcase, one cabin bag and an overnight bag. All I can say right now is: thank God for those vacuum storage bags...
2. Transport, Part 1 - how to get suitcase, cabin bag, overnight bag, carry-on bag, a slow cooker, TWO carseats and two little kiddies all to the airport without me going insane. Thank God for K's parents!
3. Transport, Part 2 - how to survive the above-mentioned 18-HOUR long plane ride, with two little kiddies. This is why my parents are coming with me!
4. Jet lag - how to get kids adapted to a new time zone when I'm probably be struggling with jet lag myself...

But then, there are plenty of good bits too:

1. A break - K gets a well-deserved break from work. And we get a year in the States... and since we're living there, we qualify for a season pass to Disneyland!
2. Travel - There are plans for San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite, Vancouver... Yay!
3. Family - who are willing and able to fly across the world to help us out and spend time with us.

There's a lot ahead of us... and I'm excited about God has in store...

So here we go!