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a kiwi family with eight kids and a grandpa
chronicle their pilgrimage from Singapore to London and beyond.....overland all the way

that was in 2008/2009....

then they kept on pilgrim-ing....2012....

then the 1,000km walk-for-water in 2014...

at the edge of the world

in Him we live and move and have our being ~ Acts 17:28
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caught by surprise

December 11th, 2009

Brasov, Romania

We were starting to think Jack Frost was listening to our plans and deliberately foiling us. We went to Mongolia in search of snow – it started one hour *after* we left. We had already been to south China, where we had been told we’d be sure to encounter it, but all we had found was condensation on our tiled floors. We saw plenty right across Russia – but we were stuck on a train that would stop for no more than twenty minutes at a time and only a couple of times a day.
We gave up on the snow idea, suffered through English rain and headed to Greece in search of sun, resigning ourselves to the fact that we had carried a bag of thermals and another of woollens right around the world….to be worn only a handful of times. Then our friends in Romania assured us it always snows in November, so we decided to spend a month here, finally making good use of the long johns.
Hmmmm. It’s halfway through December and the snow has fallen no closer than the weather forecasts, which the kids check religiously every day. Of course, we are informed it will snow ALL NEXT WEEK….we leave on Monday. See what we mean about Jack Frost ganging up on us?
But today we woke to a light dusting. Snow at last!
It might not be make-snowman-quantities, it may not even be enough for snowballs, but you should have felt the excitement when the children looked out the window this morning. Big kids helped little kids wriggle out of their sleeping bag liners and held them up at the windows to see. The air was electric. Buzzing.

 
yes, it’s still dark at 8am

Mind you, perhaps there was still residue excitement from yesterday hanging around.
We’d decided that in the absence of snow, we really should at least go ice skating.
Kboy12, a pro (having skated once before), glided out into the middle of the rink.
Lboy9, a novice (having never been before), saw how easy it was and followed his brother. Only he ended up straight on his bot, and with a split lip. Not one to be easily deterred, he got back up, periodically wiped the blood away, staggered around looking like a puppet and then found himself gliding smoothly.
The smaller-than-him siblings did not fare quite so well initially. None of them had realised it would be hard! ERgirl3, the most excited of the lot, had no idea her feet would slide out from underneath her, leaving her feeling very very very insecure. But with love and a strong embrace from people-bigger-than-her, she was soon happily sliding around.
Tgirl5 and Mboy7, clawing the barrier, slowly slipped their way around the outside of the rink, frequently finding their feet well in front of their bodies and then up in the air! Within half an hour both were disillusioned, and the male was particularly melancholic. After a short sit *off* the ice, they rose to the challenge issued: Let’s try going slowly and holding on and see if we can get the whole way around the rink without falling over.
They did it once.
They did it twice.
Tgirl5 started letting go, and after an hour was staggering in the middle on her own.
”If T can do it, I’d better try,” Mboy7 declared aloud to himself.
And he joined her.
Their victory wobble was full of falls, and they really needed another session to become comfortable, but they came off the ice delighted. Judging by the homeward conversation, their success grew in their minds with every step!
The big kids alternated between flying around the rink and helping the little ones. The one, who fell the most often and certainly most spectacularly, donned his falls as a badge of honour, insisting – quite correctly – that it was because he was taking the biggest risks. (He’d be the one, who got so hot he had to take his jacket off!)


Lboy managed to pull Mama off a horse in Mongolia,
and expert-skater Dadda to the ground in Romania!! 

 

 
SO CAN I!!!!!

PS. We’ve decided to take a week-long trip to the mountains this winter!
       When there’s snow. Powdery snow.
       Our long johns will be ready-and-wating.

Posted in 2008/09, children, learning, parenting, postcard: Romania, recreation, weather | 2 Comments »

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three days ago the third…and four days ago too

December 10th, 2009

Brasov, Romania

Throughout much of Western and Central Europe the sixth day in December is set aside for celebrating St Nicholas’ feast day. Known for being kind to children and as a generous gift-giver, the saint has been remembered now for centuries through the tradition of leaving gifts in shoes on this day…..while we were aware of the story in a vague sense, we did not connect it with a particular date, and so discovering this information only the night before, all we managed was a lollipop in each shoe…..and then because we didn’t go out in the morning, no-one even found their lollipops until we manufactured an excuse: “OK kids, shoes on, there’s time for us to take a walk before we head out later.”
We were pleased to see that such a small treat still gives joy…and we’ll have a new Christmas tradition to take home to New Zealand. December 6th from now on, there will be a little something in the children’s shoes….their idea!

Our family traditions involve focussing primarily on the Real Meaning of Christmas. Every day we read Scriptures from the prophets foretelling events that would happen hundreds of years later through to the accounts of men, who lived with Jesus…back to the psalms and forward to letters written well after the death and resurrection of God-as-Man.
We burn advent candles as part of our preparation.
We sing carols together and listen to Christmas music, the favourite being the philharmonic concert attended every year with friends.
We play with a little nativity set I made as a young child a Very Long Time Ago.
We display a wooden puzzle nativity set given to us by friends a couple of decades ago (the baby Jesus does not appear until Christmas morning).
We pore over books with moving paintings.
We decorate a tree…actually, we decorate the whole house.
We make gifts to share with friends.

That is to say, we do all these things when we are at home. 
And we do what we can manage when we’re away.
Last year we were in Laos at this time and possessions-wise all we had for our special Christmas remembrances were long narrow yellow candles.…this year we have a Christmassy red one, and even an evergreen wreath as well.

With the aroma of pine and burning wax filling the air, we have been singing and singing…..lots of carols every morning, as well as, perhaps poignantly, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”. Athough we will be in Turkey by the time Christmas Day dawns, we are still currently in Romania and we are eagerly awaiting the snow, which is forecast to start any day now.
We wouldn’t have had a nativity set, except that we discovered one locally and bought it to gift to our friends – we created a stable out of branches we collected on our Poiana trip together, and now they have a concrete (or plastic) reminder of how we all shared the love of Christmas in 2009 (and we enjoyed it for a week before we passed it one to them!)

For the past few years at home we had been involved with the “shoebox project” run  by Samaritan’s Purse – filling a shoebox with bits and pieces for kids affected by poverty, war, disease or famine and who would otherwise not receive Christmas gifts or hear the Christmas message. Our few shoeboxes looked insignificant on their own, but grouped together with others from the church, represented a bigger contribution, although still not anything grand. This year some of the family were able to be involved at the other end of the project….a truck arrived in Brasov from England and there were a thousand boxes needing to be unloaded. To see the sheer number, and to realise that it was all a result of little individual efforts, was encouraging. It confirmed again to us that the little things matter. So with a bunch of guys from local churches, carton after carton of shoeboxes came off the truck….they will be distributed to the needy over the next couple of weeks. And the same will happen in villages, towns and cities all over the world. Christmas will come to many.

Posted in 2008/09, children, craft, God, learning, postcard: Romania, tradition, weather | 1 Comment »

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what a welcome! (three days ago again)

December 9th, 2009

Brasov, Romania

Slideshow Sunday the Second…..we were invited to share our slideshow at a small local church. It was exactly fourteen months and one day since we had been to a “real” church service.

Opening the door at the top of the wooden stairs, a warm blast of air escaped. Was the warmth from the heaters or the welcome about to engulf us? To be fair, it’s hard to miss our family when we walk into a small room, especially when almost everyone is facing the door, but our experience shows that doesn’t automatically ensure a nod of the head, let alone a hearty welcome.
In fact, we’d have understood receiving a cold shoulder, because it became immediately apparent that we were not observing protocol. None of us females had head coverings other than our woollen hats – and had we kept them on, we’d have passed out! Additionally, none of us were wearing skirts; even worse, I was in jeans. I contemplated tying my scarf around my waist as I’d done at Greek monasteries that enforced the wearing of skirts, but in the end just apologised to everyone when we got up to speak and explained we’d recently been in China, where all women wear trousers all the time. 😉 This was probably unnecessary, because by that stage we had already been welcomed into the fold with wide open arms. People had helped us take off coats, within minutes a man had issued sweets to the kids and when we refused the ones he offered the adults, he insisted we take them as they were eucalyptus and good for a bad throat (at least we think that’s what he said). We didn’t have sore throats, but took the lollies anyway.

Church started. The Lao phrase “same same but different” sprang to mind.
Someone got up the front to welcome everyone there and start the singing. Same.
The music began. Different. It was great to hear songs of worship in a local language, set to local tunes, and not just famous American or Australian songs translated (although they were to come as well….and old hymns too….quite a mix).
The music arrangement was also different to our home church, in that the microphone-wielding singer sat in the congregation instead of “performing” up front. It’s only a little thing, but it contributed to creating a different atmosphere.
Same same but different. Sit to sing, stand to pray.

Slideshow. The projector was old and the photos looked dreadful! This did not, however, seem to put people off. The questions flowed thick and fast. With the help of an interpreter, a *conversation*, ensued. Questions, answers, comments, blessings and prayer. It was a very special time.

One more song and “church” was over.

Almost all the women present filed past to shake our hands, plant kisses on my cheeks and stroke the children’s faces – the kids felt like they were back in Asia! Before we knew it, we were invited to come back next Sunday morning and then go for lunch with an older couple. The wife issued the invitation and her husband confirmed that it would not be too overwhelming to them as he has thirteen siblings and so they are used to lots of children! Hard to refuse. Not that we wanted to.

One moment we did not know these people. Two hours later we were part of the family…..and it did feel like a family gathering. There is something intimate about small churches. Not that being small makes you instantly hospitable – we attended a small church for two years and were never greeted by anyone other than the students we taught, much less invited for a meal – and we didn’t have *any* kids back then!
We walk away from this small tightknit community, challenged. Their love was a banner – both to us as outsiders and within the group itself – for example, one lady, whose husband died last year, lost her only son just last week in a car crash. Thirty short years. She stood to thank the family, the church for their help over the week. Love.
I left that ordinary-looking building knowing that this is what it would feel like to be dunked – no, completely submerged – in a pot of love.

Posted in 2008/09, God, postcard: Romania, tradition | No Comments »

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three days ago (magical moments)

December 8th, 2009

Brasov, Romania

Some days you wake up and you have no idea that the day is going to be filled with surprises and magical moments. Saturday was one of them.

Because we were invited to a local church on Sunday, the little churchy group we’ve been meeting with, decided to meet on Saturday instead. The walk to our hosts’ home took us through the town square, where Christmas lights were being strung across the surrounding streets, and every other person was selling bunches of silver branches. We made a mental note to return to the square another night to see the lights – we’re still not used to the fact that a) lunch would not be served until 2pm and b) that by the time it was over two and half hours later, it would be dark. Surprises were to come.

After the singing, praying, discipleship-discussing meeting, out came the lunch.
Ooh-la-la
It’s Christmas-time, so special Christmas foods were on the menu. As if this was not enough, we will not be here at Easter, so Easter foods were thrown into the mix too!
The meal started with Ciorba – meatballs, barley, carrot, parsnip, celeriac and potato in a thin clear broth made sour with an unknown ingredient! Delish.

 

This was followed by sarmale, served now-predictably-to-us with mamaliga. It’s funny to think that three weeks ago we were reasonably unimpressed with mamaliga, and now we are eating it happily almost every day, and even have plans to grow extra corn to grind when we get home! Sarmale are a minced meat and rice mixture wrapped in brine-pickled cabbage leaves (that sounds so boring – click here to see how fantastic it really is), necessarily drowned in cream and paprika!
Ooh-la-la again. And what a gift – these delicacies are fiddly and time-consuming to make and Mary made enough for twenty-five people!

Some of us were restrained, not going back for seconds, some returned for seconds but denied themselves a third helping – not easy to do with something so full of flavour. But just as well.
Dessert was still to come. The pictures show not even half of what was on offer and we were pressed to try it all. The absolute best was our hostess’s “Bataone”, the little chocolate-y nut-n-sugar-covered batons, and we made sure we got the recipe.

Mary’s Bataone
The Cake
300g sugar
300g milk
70g butter
3T honey
   Boil gently
1 egg
   Break in and stir
400g white flour
1t baking powder
   Mix in and stir well
   Pour into a lamington tin about 3cm deep
   Bake at 200*C for about 30-40 minutes (until done)
   Cut into batons when cold

The Glaze
350g sugar
250g butter
75g cocoa
8T milk
   Mix together well
   Completely dunk each baton, one at a time into the glaze and then roll in chopped   
   nuts mixed with sugar (about 60:40) or coconut (personally, I don’t think you could 
   beat the sugary nuts!)
   Refrigerate if you can stop yourself from eating them.

Children played an age-old game while adults chatted. Come to think of it, some of the adults played too.

With full tummies and warm hearts, we thanked our hosts and with the rest of the group headed out for a walk around town. It seemed the whole population of Brasov was there. The sound of Christmas music floated up the street from the square, where people bustled about listening, rejoicing, joining in, admiring the nativity scene and decorated Christmas trees – real ones! The lights were twinkling and it was all so *Christmassy*. Some of the children had felt a bit sad that we had missed the Christmas concert in our own town hall – again – but this made up for it!

On we went, detouring via Rope Street, one of the narrowest streets in Europe (the medieval town planners left room for a horse and no more!)

Up the hill. Not right up like we did a couple of weeks ago – only as far as the road high enough to get a good view of the town. Just this week a bear had ventured down to this road, and we had no intention of disturbing his peace! As we reached what must have been the best possible position, fireworks exploded over the town. Magical. This was a completely spontaneous spur-of-the-moment walk-off-our-lunch walk, and it was filled with blessing. Earlier we had been discussing heaven, and how great it will be. Now we were reminded, that even though this was spectacular, it is still nothing in comparison to what is to come.

On we walked again. The delights were not over. Our Romanian friends were not overawed, as the scene that unfolded before us is ordinary to them, but to a wee family from Down Under where Christmas is celebrated in sunshine, it was exotic!
There at the bottom of the hill was the open-air ice skating rink we had seen on our first walk round town. It was packed full of little black figures gliding clockwise around the bright white expanse. German Christmas songs were blaring out towards the Jewish cemetery, and the Germanesque tudor-style building was draped with twinkling lights. (Historically this town was divided into German and Romanian sectors, each with their own centre). As if this were not enough to make us feel like we were in a real Wonderland, the air was crisp, the aroma of grilled sausages and hot coffee wafted up to us and to top it all off, there were two reindeer. Real Live Reindeer. In the beam of light escaping from a tall lamppost, we could almost see snowflakes. OK, so they turned out to be raindrops, but it was so magical it *could* have been snow!!!!!

I couldn’t help wondering, “Why me? Why us?”
Why did God allow us to experience such overwhelming beauty and blessing?

Posted in 2008/09, food, God, history, postcard: Romania, recreation, tradition, weather | 1 Comment »

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twins

December 7th, 2009

Brasov, Romania

 

“Are they twins?” we are often asked both at home and abroad, to the delight of the younger brother  and consternation of the elder one!
No, they are not, but they stick together closer than….closer than….closer than what? Certainly closer than the soles of their shoes and the uppers – those have been glued back together at least half a dozen times each in the course of the trip! If you need to know where to buy shoe glue, we can point you in the right direction – so long as you are somewhere between Mongolia and Poland.

Anyway, I digress.

We had a delightful magical weekend and want to get writing about it while the experiences are still fresh and not simply a memory…so “the twins” will have to wait a few days for their photos to reach the blog, but to keep them happy in the meantime, here’s a small selection of the two scientists-soldiers-chefs-artists-ranchers in the making / petanque players extraordinaire / researchers / bikers / hikers/ friends.

Posted in 2008/09, children | No Comments »

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Jgirl15, the first baby (or The Eldest)

December 6th, 2009

Brasov, Romania
written by Jgirl15 

 

I really hope no one asks me what the one thing I enjoyed most about our trip is, because its an almost unanswerable question! There’s no ONE thing. Here’s what I would need to say:

Of course, there are the picturesque or iconic places that are simply wonderful to see first hand. Places like the Great Wall of China, the Acropolis, Angkor Wat, Stonehenge, the Terracotta Warriors, the Coliseum, Halong Bay, Carcassonne, Cologne Cathedral, Hong Kong’s skyline at night, the Pantheon, Mongolian Gers, Moscow’s Red Square, the Asian night markets…
These are just a few places that I can flip off the top of my head, and I could spend an age just writing about the strange and wonderful things we’ve seen, but that isn’t all I think about our trip.

What would go through your head when, after a day of trekking through mountainous terrain and riding on an elephant’s head, you arrive in a small Thai mountain village and among your hosts is a 15 year old girl and she’s mother to twin babies? She was only 14 when they were born (same age as you)! I was quite bewildered and couldn’t imagine being in that girl’s situation! As for her mother, who couldn’t have been more than 40, but had enough wrinkles to make her look about 80, life must be hard. A struggle for survival.

What do you think when you meet people in Cambodia, who live in the rubbish dumps, sorting through the rubbish bags and salvaging practically everything to make a living? Even these people, despite their situation, still laugh and smile with each other and find things to be happy about.

We saw firsthand that it is totally possible to be happy with hardly any possessions. But that doesn’t mean they should be left poor. When someone is living in dire poverty, it only takes a little to make a big difference in their lives. My favourite example is from Laos. There is a book publisher/distributor that takes books to the small villages in the Lao countryside. These kids were happy when we arrived. They were full of laughter and squeals of delight as we played with them. But the joy on their faces when they first received a book was like no other. Never have I seen someone treasure a small flimsy book so much as these ones did.

So that would be a major lesson for me. Anyone can chose to be happy; it doesn’t matter how much or little you have. Its about what you see each day and how you react to life. Even the people, who live in bamboo huts with rats running up the walls, can be happy!

After seeing how little a lot of the world gets by on, you do ask “Do I need this?” While its not bad to have stuff it is good to remember that there are lots of people, who don’t even have what they need, let alone what they want.

Another Asia related observance was the number of temples and shrines to Buddha. But more importantly were the thousands of people, who follow their faith publicly by praying at the roadside shrines, offering incense sticks with more prayers in the temples, and burning paper money, houses and food for their dead relatives. The very public worship stood out to me in contrast to the tendency for the Christian faith to be hidden deep inside ourselves most of the time.

We arrived in Europe and instead of temples there were cathedrals, massive and magnificent. The smell of candle wax replaced incense sticks. There were long wooden pews instead of low bamboo stools for kneeling on. Orange robed monks gave way to black robed priests. Paintings depicted the life of Jesus instead of Buddha. Bells replaced drums. And my favourite: the stained glass windows.
Although I didn’t think there would be temples in Europe (at least, not as many), I hadn’t considered that there would be something in their place.

Another Asia/Europe transfer surprise I got was on the Trans-Siberian train route. At one of the stations suddenly there were white faces instead of dark or yellow ones.

If you had to describe Asia in one word it would definitely be exotic! Here are some standouts that make Asia memorable for me: temples, bamboo houses, rice paddies, tuk-tuks, bargaining, eating out at every meal, night markets, busy, busy, busy, road side shoe repairers, food stalls, roti cani, pad thai, fried rice, fried noodles, Mekong River slow boat, Chinese new year celebrations, Big Brother Mouse, thick pollution in large cities, Iced Lemon Tea and F&N drinks in the heat of the day, dire poverty in some places, asian ‘table manners’, our first real snow in Tiananmen Square, really friendly people, people always wanting our photo, endless fresh fruit, the rubbish, Cambodian and Lao pop songs, noodles and rice, rice and noodles, boiled, fried or steamed dumplings, motorbikes everywhere.
Yes Asia is exotic with its amazing scenery and way of life.

Europe, on the other hand, is elegant.
Flower boxes at the windows, cute little towns, fancy-faced buildings, countless cathedrals and every one different, superb Italian pizzas, dozens of historical sites, road rules that were followed (in most countries), motor homes for us, hundreds of castles, lots of rich people, Greek pastries, Mediterranean beaches, bread, pasta, sausage and cheese, Roman Forts, more castles and cathedrals, parks with big open spaces, impeccable public transport, painted scenes on the outside of houses, majestic capitals, large historic sites from all ages, a familiarity.

A big thing I’ve noticed is that everywhere we go there is beautiful scenery. While every country has been different, there are of course, similarities in the scenery between neighbouring countries – and also the customs, religion, food and housing.

Someone we met in our travels said,  “You can’t really compare your own country to anything until you travel and see a different way of life.” So true!
Now I see that NZ may lack the elegance of Budapest or Krakow, but we have far more freedom than the Chinese or Lao people. We have scenery as good as anywhere we’ve been, but poor public transport. We don’t have a long history, and probably because of that, neither are we densely populated. Another big difference is that on the whole, kiwis aren’t as outwardly friendly to complete strangers as Asians and Bulgarians are. So NZ has its advantages and disadvantages, just like any other country.

There are a few things that I’ll appreciate more and that have changed my way of thinking. I think I’m more thankful for every day things like clean running water, a house with lots of space in and around it, a shower that isn’t positioned right over the toilet!…

One of the ways I’ll think differently is with regards to money. Now I have a better feel for the value of money and all because day after day we’d be looking for the best priced food stalls, market purchases, hostel beds, bus tickets and when we were in the motorhomes, diesel prices. So I’ll think twice whenever I go to spend money.
I’m also interested in continuing to support Big Brother Mouse, now that we’ve seen what they do and how happy the children were when they were given a book.

I’m looking forward to using some of the recipes and cooking techniques we’ve picked up from all over the world during this past year. Things like…pad thai, Cornish pasties, pumpernickel, pizzas the authentic way, pierogi and pastries.

So I’m certainly glad we’ve done this trip. I’m thankful we had the opportunity and are fortunate enough to be able to have done such a trip.
At first I hadn’t wanted to go for such a long time. I didn’t know what it would be like living in different countries and travelling so much. It’s easy to read about a country and get a feel for a place, but *actually being there* in the moment is different. That was what I was uncertain about, but the more we travelled, the more I enjoyed it.  So I would definitely do another trip, if the opportunity arose. Maybe not the same route, although revisiting some of the countries would be fun! Besides, there’s a whole world out there.


just for the record….it was a FREEZING melted snow stream
it was also the closest thing to a bath for some time!
and we did it two days running
crazy

Posted in 2008/09, children, food, God, history, learning, postcard: Romania | 7 Comments »

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E-Rgirl2…E-Rgirl3

December 5th, 2009

Brasov, Romania

….because she’s so cute…..

 

(of course, she’s also loud when not getting her own way….but she can walk about nine kilometres and she spontaneously straightens up everyone’s shoes every day and she dresses herself completely right down to her buttons and gloves and she loves to say “twenty baht” and she loves to snuggle and *play* instead of just watching and she does the dishes and she can lead the way through the apartment blocks to market and she loves to ride elephants and she can fall asleep anywhere…..and she really is cute)


love my independence too!


that’s me taking a photo up there

Posted in 2008/09, children | 5 Comments »

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Kgirl10, the quiet creating one

December 4th, 2009

Brasov, Romania

 

Even before she could talk properly, Kgirl10 was trying to work out what our food was made of. Her kitchen-interest has only grown over the years, and she is the one we turn to over and over when trying to guess at ingredients or food processes. She cooked dinner last night – a sour Romanian soup, with mamaliga balls and fresh spinach waiting in the bowls to be drowned by the soup. Oh So Good.

Following in the footsteps of her older siblings, Kgirl10 has become a creator extraordinaire. Having no “craft supplies” has not deterred her. Whenever we have found a cardboard box, she has turned it into anything from a stove to a doll’s swing or bed. When her jeans, which had been mended numerous times, were finally beyond repair, she begged to be able to make dolls’ clothing from them. Trousers, hats, bags, shirts….she’s made them all.

As a young child, Kgirl was the only one we did not have to remind to speak quietly – quite the opposite; we were constantly urging her to speak up. But though she may be *mostly* quiet (she can get very giggly when she knows someone well!), she is not without thought. When asked what she has learnt on this trip, she was predictably not the first to answer, but when space was made in the conversation for her, she had quite a comprehensive list to share.

Soon after telling us, she spontaneously put pen to paper…
(I have corrected spelling, but the words are all hers)

What Did I Learn?
How to write a bit more by journalling nearly every day and by writing letters to Mum and Dad.
That we are quite rich really. We have our own property and toys and stuff.
That money is valuable and that it does not just appear from nowhere.
That snow compresses when you squeeze it.
That water does not just appear from a tap.
That people can still be very happy even when they spend all their day working in a smelly rubbish dump in Cambodia.
That in China for noodle soup you do not use a spoon, you just slurp. (They do give you a pair of chopsticks).
That most of Asia uses squat toilets.
That motorhomes are not houses put on wheels and that they are not two storeys high with big stairs leading up to the second storey.
That elephants really are lots of fun to ride.
Bike riding in China was lots of fun.
In Mongolia we got to ride horses and play with goats and kids (baby goats) and there were lots of cows to milk 🙂

 

Posted in 2008/09, children, craft, learning, quote | 3 Comments »

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Tgirl4….turned 5

December 4th, 2009

Brasov, Romania

 

What did you think of the trip Tgirl5?

It was fun. I like walking around towns and riding horses in Mongolia. Chinese food was nice, especially noodle soup. The tuktuk was very squished. I learnt to draw flowers and to stay with Mama and Dadda. When I am tired I will not squat down again. I cried and cried a long time when I couldn’t find you. But the lady rang someone on her telephone and she came and took me downstairs and gave me lots of lollies and a banana, but I didn’t know if I was allowed to eat them, so I didn’t even though I really wanted to before everyone came.

(explanatory notes: Whenever given the option of noodle soup or rice and something, Tgirl5 ALWAYS chose noodle soup! Whenever we took a tuktuk it was very squished – but the record was 14 people in one! When we were in the Hermitage, T crouched down while we took photos – when she looked up we were gone. We did not miss her for a few minutes…and did not find her for many many minutes….enough that everyone was worried. We have not lost her since. And because she sticks so close to us, she is in almost every photo…and because she is so cute, it was impossible to limit her selection of photos to only a few….which is nice for her; The Law Of Family Photo Taking states she, as one of the younger children in the family, is likely to have only a few pics, certainly not as many as the firstborn!)

 

Posted in 2008/09, children, learning, parenting, quote | 2 Comments »

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Kboy12, number two son

December 3rd, 2009

Brasov, Romania

A follower, admiring whoever he is spending time with….one who is happiest in the company of others and in heaven if there is also a ball…..one who wants to make money and prefers to own things than simply borrow them….one who would rather engage in adventure than do dishes or clean toilets….a dreamer, who can while away the day doing absolutely nothing. The first in our family to miss friends at home, but also the first to make friends wherever we are.

“How will the trip affect you in your life to come?” we asked him.

I think I will definitely not have five flash cars like I used to want. I may not even get a car at all, although that is unlikely (unless we move to a city with good transportation like trolley busses and metro and trams, and a house near the market).
I will definitely use less water, because I used to think water would never run out, but with being in the motorhomes and gers with no running water, I now know that water is actually precious. One bath is about one tank of water.
And I thank God for how fortunate I am to have done this trip, and for the beautiful world God has made for us live in.
One day I might be a missionary in one of the countries we went to, to tell the people who can’t see God that He wants to open their eyes. (One of the strongest impressions I have got is how many Asians make marvellous temples for idols and Buddhas, but all the effort they put in is for nothing.)

 

Posted in 2008/09, children, God | 4 Comments »

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