My Job

So, what exactly does a busy housewife do? Well, let's take a look with pictures. Shall we? 

She doesn't do all the Windows as she should.



Nor, does she do the dirty toilets, as she should. Not this housewife!

Neither does she do the laundry she has piling up.

This housewife doesn't even THINK of doing the dirty dishes!

NOPE! Not this housewife, she goes to the pool and enjoys a nice swim!

It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it!

Got Grass?

This is my backdoor



Do you see the grass?

Yep, just grows right through the gaps in my doors.
Even the contractor laughed and said, "now animals just come right in".
Not very funny because that is EXACTLY what they do!
You should see it when they come and do my "yard"
there is grass ALL over my kitchen floor!
Interesting things here in Singapore

8 reasons Jake makes me smile!

8. He is always going. Even when he sleeps some part of him is twitching.
7. He has gorgeous blue eyes.
6. Whenever I have a bad day he is the first to hug me.
5. He can play a joke on anyone without breaking a smile.
4. He is super smart even if he doesn't think so.
3. He loves all animals, even snakes.
2. He will try new things even if he is scared at first.
1. He is the perfect ending to our family.

Perseverance

Yesterday the kids had sports day at their school. They get to dress in the color of the House they were assigned and forgo the uniforms. They compete all day and gather points as they play all the games and have fun!

The afternoon was all about running activities. Natalie doesn't like running very much and hates it when her legs turn to jello. However, she knew her team needed points to win so she volunteered to run the 4 laps. Even though she HATES running.

Here she is just starting out for the Yellow team. I love the determination on her face. A few of the girls stopped and walked after the 2nd lap including Natalie but one 4th grade REALLY took off and lapped the walkers. Well, when the first girl won the others that were behind just stopped even though there was a lap left. But Natalie knew there was still a lap left and she continued to run her last lap! Everyone cheered her on and she got an extra point for her team! I was so proud of her! Even though she finished "last" she finished and with the WHOLE school watching her.

She held it together and broke down after she finished and  cried to me. She was worried she would get made fun of for being last or being the only one running. It is such a hard lesson to learn to be proud of who you are no matter what others might say or do. I hope she always perseveres, no matter how hard it may be or how much you hate it. I am very, very proud of her!

This is from a motivational poster I bought when we first got to Singapore and some things were hard. Yesterday, watching her run I only thought of Natalie.

Perseverance: The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength , not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.

Thank you for teaching me yet again Natalie. I love you.

Monkeys, Monkeys everywhere

A few weeks ago a friend took me to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. We went to see the monkeys and not to hike the highest hill here in Singapore which is 163.3 m high or 535 feet up. There are a TON of them at the reserve and they are not scared of humans at all so they tend to get very close to you.

The first time I went there was one cheeky little monkey that tried to pee on me! See his picture over there, that's all I saw of him. He didn't just try once he tried a SECOND TIME! He missed both times but I think we're engaged or something.

So, I couldn't wait to take the kids back and see how close you can really get to these mischievous little animals. This last Thursday Bob was actually home with us for once so we took the kids over to look. There was NOT a monkey in sight and I was disappointed. I still think it is very cool to see these animals so close without going to the zoo. Anyways we decided to explore other parts of the nature reserve.

we found a slide



a rock quarry and true love





two swimming turtles



a small zipline for the kids



and wierd things growing out of trees

And on our way back down we finally saw the monkeys! And they were all over, from the tops of the buildings to the tops of the cars and every tree that was in that reserve! The kids LOVED it!

we are parked across from that car

how close we actually get

close up of the car riding monkeys



and our favorite one with the mohawk.

It really was a fun time. I've always loved monkeys and it is so cool seeing them in their natural habitat. Sometimes you'll see poeple running and they just run right past the monkeys. I love driving here and waiting for the whole family to cross the street. Singapore has had alot of trouble with monkeys because of us silly humans feeding them. So there is a big campaign to NOT feed the monkeys. I also know that monkeys can be very dangerous so we observed more than anything but you should always be careful around ANY animal.

Look out world

Greyson is gone to Southern India this week as part of his school's curriculum. I love that they have these trips to help the kids become more globally aware but I hate missing part of my family. He was so excited to go and I really am excited to send him on. It's hard putting your kids life into someone elses hands and this time to a whole other country! But I'm so excited to hear of his adventures and to see how it impacts him. He will be seeing major poverty and major commercialism all in one trip and in between he is visiting Auroville which is very "hippie" as the teacher who is the chaperone put it.

This isn't the first time Grey has been on a trip without us. The first time was in 2007 when he was just 11. He went to Washington D.C. with a group called People to People. He was one of 4 nominated from his 5th grade class. The trip was at the beginning of his 6th grade year. He had a blast! That was our first time letting him go by himself. It was hard then but I still had plenty of years left with him so it didn't bother me as much. It was great to see how much he had changed in just a nwith a little trip to D.C.

The next year he got an invitation from People to People again. But this time it was for a European trip through Wales. Grey has always loved Wales for some reason so we started fundraising to get him on this trip. However, the economy crashed and pocket books closed. We did make half the money needed so we rolled it over to another trip for him. This time to Stanford on a leadership summit. Once again, he came home just a little bit changed. He loved it and it was so great seeing how much he changes through these little trips. 

He is a good little traveler and really enjoys it. When we started discussing if we wanted to come to Singapore he was one of the first to say yes. He actually enjoyed the flight from the U.S. to Singapore. He makes traveling look easy. For me, this time is harder. I know I have few precious years with him, something I was blind to on the first few trips.  I know these are good for him and I know he learns so much. But I also know that my life is now in that stage where I have to let go more so that he can survive without me. Not that I want to but I have to for him. I have had to do family outings without part of my family because otherwise we'll never do anything. It is very hard for me and he has been missed by all of us. We even had to eat expensive steak last night because we missed him so much.

When he comes home he'll have that glitter in his eye that he's learned something, that something has touched him. He'll be a diffferent person then he was just a week ago. And that I would never deny him. That is the part that makes all this worth it! He loves it, he's good at and the world should look out because I don't think he's done exploring yet. I hope he never is, even if it means I cry sometimes and my heart hurts. I wouldn't change it.

The weather outside is.....

GORGEOUS! I guess that also depends on where you are in the world. From where I sit it is a beautiful 30 degrees...that's celsius so it converts to about 86 degrees Fahrenheit. See look at the view from my balcony here in Singapore

and then you can also look at the weather from my friend Andrea's blog or if you still want a good look at the weather here you can look at my friend Leone's blog post...both are also here in Singapoore. Go ahead and click it, you know you want to.

Some of my friends and family are getting stuck with a major snowstorm back in The States. They are dealing with temperatures of 30 below zero and that is NOT in celsius. I heard my one sister is shoveling her driveway every 4 hours. She's dedicated that one. Even though I tease I hope all is well. I'll sit in my pool and pray for their safety. LOL

I do not have any friends from Australia, yet. Well, Leone is from there but she lives in Singapore.  However, they have also been pounded by a massive Cyclone much like a hurricane.

Even though my tropical paradise is wonderful I hope all others stay safe and protected.

Shí­ or 10

Ten things I love about Natalie. Numbers are also in Mandarin because I need to practice.


1 yī -- She always tries new things, even if she is a little scared at first. She is our only child that has ate the octopus.

2 èr -- She can be both a tomboy and a girly girl and knows it's okay to be anything you want.

3 sān -- She burps better than my boys!

4 sì -- She is very loving and giving and is willing to help whenever needed.

5 wǔ -- She has a great smile, and pout too.

6 liù -- She's funny without even trying.

7 qī -- She will make friends with anyone anywhere!

8 bā --She learns things very quickly. She may drag her feet at first but when she decides to do it she does it with a full heart! And she succeeds.

9 jiǔ -- She is very artistic. She loves taking pictures, making movies, styling clothes, drawing pictures, making books, dancing, singing, if it's artsy she likes it.

10 shí­ -- She has the most tender heart and is always aware of other people's feelings and will sometimes put her feelings to the side to make someone else happier. Sometimes it hurts her to do this but she does. She continually practices kindness even if I think that person may not deserve it. Again, She's still teaching me things.

Reasons

My daughter Natalie turns 10 this week. She is wonderful and she is trying. I love her with all my heart and can't imagine my life without her even when she is in the midst of a tantrum and I'm trying not to pull all my hair out.

She is my biggest reminder that all things happen in time. That there are reasons why things don't always work out in  my time but in God's time. Here's why...

Way back in 1998 we decided we wanted to try and have another baby. We got pregnant so easily and accidentally with Greyson so of course I figured it would be easy. How wrong I was.....

Month after month and nothing! Our lives starting being lived in 2 weeks increments. 2 weeks for ovulation, 2 weeks to see if it "worked". I became a little obssessed. It was not fun. Then we did end up pregnat. YEAH! and 8 weeks later we miscarried. This was my first one and it was devastating. I took it very hard and knew it was something I had done wrong at some point in my life. It took me sometime to go move on and try again. Only to get pregnant again and miscarry again...this time after seeing the heartbeat which I understood was rare. But it happens. Both times we miscarried was under 12 weeks and it is very common just not talked about alot.

So, Bob and I moved on. I feeling like a failure and that my body was turning against me. I started believing that Greyson would be my only child and I felt so sad. Bob couldn't fix this one and it was hard on him. Because we were young and didn't have a full history of miscarriages there wasn't much to do yet. We just kept trying.

We got pregnant again and I was the world's biggest basket case. I was so worried to do anything because I thought I'd miscarry again. I knew in my heart that there was nothing I could do but my head wasn't so sure. We made it past 12 weeks and all the way up to 38 weeks! Every step of the way I was worried and just knew something was going to happen but we finally had our sweet little Natalie in 2001!

It really wasn't that long of a time but when you are in the midst of everything it feels like an eternity! Now it just seems like life. We joke with Natalie that she was our slowest child. Took as a long time to get pregnant with her and then even her labor was the longest of the 3 kids. We nicknamed her slow poke Sally in Kindergarten because she was always the last one out of school and just took her time. She still does. It's part of Natalie and I love it.

She has taught me so much but the best thing she taught me is that all good things come in time. Not always on my schedule and not always when I want it but when the time is right. My life would not be the same without her and at exactly the time she came to us. She is my best reminder to be patient. That I may not know the reasons why things happen but I will be glad in the long term.  Now she is teaching me more patience and more understanding. My life really wouldn't be the same without her.

The force in Taiwan

We are all a big lover of Star Wars in the house. We use little references every now and then from the movies, Jake was a storm trooper for halloween twice and I have a long standing crush on Anakin right before he becomes Darth Vader. See how much we love it?

So over Christmas break whenever Greyson wanted something done he'd tell either Jake or Natalie that they should "go, fulfill your destiny" sometimes he'd call them little padawans, you know the name for the young Jedi's in training. Jake and Natalie just ate this up and LOVED it! They ended up doing so many things for Greyson it was ridiculous.

One day we are walking out of an elevator and Natalie beats Greyson to the usual saying and says....Go, Greyson fulfill your destiny little Taiwan! So it's become a great family joke and we all aim to be little Taiwans.