pee sheets and bloody noses, bad dreams and nightmares

It's 4 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and here I am, writing a blog.  Put the time and the title together and you get the idea... About a half-hour after the pee sheets incident, there was the bad dream incident, and now there's the "I can't go back to sleep" incident.  So you get a blog. :)

PEE SHEETS AND BLOODY NOSES

This doesn't happen often, but it still happens.  There are those Friday nights where we stay up a little later, drink hot chocolate a little later (yes, it's almost May and we are still drinking hot chocolate), and I forget to remind my sweet five year old to take a pit stop before she hops in bed.  And tonight, it just happens to be MY bed.  The one with the giant comforter, and the duvet, and the big, thick blanket, and the king-sized sheets.

And we have the nights where the air is a little too dry, the humidifier doesn't cut it, and the sweet five-year-old nose can't handle it.  On my WHITE comforter.  And the pharmacy... doesn't have peroxide.

Moments like these make me miss the conveniences of a normal-sized washing machine, an actual DRYER, and oh...  a full-sized bath tub.

Oh, the things I took for granted.

But then I'm reminded of the people that I've seen, the people that I've met, the people that I know...
The people in the Philippines.  The ones WITHOUT beds or even sheets.  The ones WITHOUT even a half-sized washing machine, a drying rack, or even space for a drying rack.  The ones WITHOUT running water, or even drinking water.

Oh, the things I still take for granted...

how clothes are dried in the Phillipines...  humbled by this picture

BAD DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

These happen more frequently than the pee sheets and the bloody noses.  And these are hard because I know I am not going back to sleep after these.  And I know that my little 5 year old is scared.  And even though she is sleeping peacefully now, there is a lot of fear instilled in her little heart to be having so many bad dreams and nightmares.

Sometimes they are little things (big to her, of course) and sometimes they are a lot deeper...  like being kidnapped, or mommy dying (ah, heart wrenching).  Tonight, it was just a "bad dream".  She touched a cake and it turned into fire!  It didn't burn her, but scared her and she woke up crying.  Really... where does this stuff come from?

And then there's the mommy battle of "I just want to get some sleep" vs.  "It's okay honey, you are safe and Mommy's right here".  And in those moments, I sacrifice a few more hours of sleep to comfort my sweet baby.  It's not always the easy thing to do.  But it's the path with least regrets, more peace, and a comforted child.

SHOUT OUT TO MOMS, DADS, AND CARETAKERS

Most people have no idea what you go through at 3 a.m.  And people often wonder why you are the quiet one at the lunch table, or you aren't as enthusiastic as you usually are, or you are so scatterbrained you can barely hold a conversation.

I get it.  You are tired.  And your biggest desire and longing is to just have one night, just ONE night of uninterrupted sleep.

As long as we have kids, interrupted sleep is inevitable.  So, I pray that somehow, your interrupted moments turn into sweet moments, your loss of sleep is someway, somehow redeemed, and that that conversation at the lunch table... wasn't all that important anyway. ;)

4:34 a.m....  going to TRY to catch some shut eye...  even though the sun is already rising. 

power outage, school cancelled, stay home day

6:15 a.m., Emily is in the bathtub, I turn on my computer to listen to my iTunes, and I get it.  The Skype, the text messages, and the phone calls, all telling me that school is cancelled!

There was a power outage at school and we inherited a day off.  It was nice...  It honestly took a few minutes to get past the "I could have slept in, I didn't have to wake Emily up, now we'll be a day behind in our lessons, etc."  But after those few seconds of uncertainty, I'll admit, it was nice to stay home.  We could all use a day off sometimes.

The weather was a little icky, so we had a stay-home pajama day.  We have become a huge fan of those lately and definitley appreciate them when they come our way!

"Hide and STUCK!"

Pajama Day, hip hip hooray!

hmm, let's make a slide!

a little wet ouside...  this is our apartment complex

This smile always makes me smile!

We welcomed a new visitor for 4 days while his foster mom,
Amber, went out of town to coach the soccer tournament. :)

("Tre")- such a happy baby!

He LOVED bath time!  DID NOT want to get out. :)

All clean, jellybean!

Snow days, power-less days... whatever they are, make the best of them!

Easter in China...

Hmm...  wasn't sure what to expect for Easter.  Or to expect anything really.  Easter doesn't exist in China from what I know or from what I saw.  Can you imagine...?  Living...  without knowing The Easter Story?  The Resurrection...  it's what brings me hope and joy and faith.  And without it...  wow.

I enjoyed our fellowship on Easter morning.  It's fun to hear the same story told a different way year after year.  But it saddened me that we are not even allowed to invite our Chinese friends to hear this story.  A passport...  you must hold a foreign passport to enter through those doors.

And Easter eggs.  You can't find those here either.  Or, I never did anyway.  But, there were some hiding in my classroom closet and a friend had some for me to borrow.  Our kindergarten class enjoyed an egg hunt the Friday before Spring Break.

Emily was also invited to an Easter Egg hunt at the U.S. Embassy.  Actually, my entire kindergarten class was invited.  So that was a lot of fun!  But even then...  you had to hold a foreign passport...  just to go Easter egg hunting!  This saddens me too.  We have a Chinese friend I really would have loved to invite.

So, the egg hunt...  I had to pull out my passport, walk through security, and THEN, it was okay to go have some fun!

This is just nuts to me.  But it's reality...

Hoping that someway, somehow, with all the restrictions and the rules and regulations and the language barrier...  that  light shines through this darkness.

Hmm...  where should I start?

hunting eggs at the U.S. Embassy

woke up to eggs all over the apartment!

Easter morning... getting ready for fellowship

Mimi sent an egg coloring kit!

shaking the eggs in the glitter shaker

and of course, egg and chick nails...  courtesy of "Hop"... so cute!

*Oh so many more pics and stories I wish I could share...

a winter wonderland... during SPRING BREAK!

Can you believe this picture was taken on April 2nd!?  I know all you Texas friends who are gettin' your tan on are jealous that we are shivering in long johns during our Spring Break.

But really, despite that this is complete craziness to us, it was a beautiful vacation!  However... China turned all the heat off on April 1st... ironic isn't it?  Hmm...  after our first two hours in Guanmenshan, I wasn't so sure about this trip.

But, THANKFULLY, they decided to turn the heat back on, light the fireplace and we had electric blankets on our beds.  It was nice to get away from the city.  Our group and us were the only ones there, so we had the entire place to lounge and explore all to ourselves.

We enjoyed playing pool, games, listening to music, hiking, collecting rocks, and Emily built a snowman... in April!  Wow, I'm still in awe, shock, a state of confusion, etc...

The bright side is, it feels like we just got back from winter break, and when we return to school, it will be a nice feeling that there are only 8 weeks left.  8 weeks!!  Whoa... can't believe that either.

Anyhow, our trip was a great couple of days filled with fun, food, friends, and fellowship... and still a few days left to enjoy the break!

wind, snow, and smiles... full force!

a frozen waterfall!

Emily and me on one of the bridges

a group of teachers that I work with