Our community....New in town

Not sure what I've shared on here but we have been a part of several communities during our time overseas. There is a lot of shifting of people from around the globe and much of it is connected to the fact that one of the few language schools that teaches the local spoken dialect is located in our little town.

As a result...we have started seeing the world tromp through our little town and it is growing more and more.

We believe in working in community and that we really need each other - this is even more so when living overseas. Consequently, we have a small community with some friends who gather for dinner, play-dates, general emotional and work support.

Currently in our community are W+E who have four kids the same ages as our kids. They are Dutch and we stayed with their family in Holland this summer. We totally love Holland and Layla wants to move there permanently (=  They moved from one house in town to another one nearer to us in June...that was move #2 of 4 that we helped with this year.

F+J moved here this Spring (the 3rd of the 4th people we helped to get set up) and he is teaching English at a university in town. They have two small boys.

S+K are brand new since August and are attending language school full time. This new couple don't have any kids so that simplifies things. Ryan is completely in love with both of them so we might have to set up separate playdates for him! We did the rounds of house set-up again for the fourth time in ONE YEAR!

Just a flash back SEVEN YEARS ago this January!! We had a guitar, a full keyboard, a box each of computer stuff, a computer screen, books, house stuff and clothes for each of us. It was wild. Someone told me to just bring whatever I could I was so grateful for the advice! We didn't have any kids though (=

 So this last 12 months have seen two international trips totaling 5 months, moving house ourselves and helping three other families. That is a LOT of trips to the real estate agents and carpenters and plumbers and electricians and so on and so on and so on (=

This is a photo in front of our new house as of August last year. We are so happy that God provided such a great place to live....I grumble about certain aspects of it but we are SO HAPPY to have good electricity, money for enough water and AC and food and two have to working (mostly) cars. We love that it is situated on a huge dirt lot away from roads.....the kids have tons of space to run around outside and get really really dirty. Awesome. The second floor you see on top is the surprise room - a nice large office for Tom to work. We haven't seen this before in a house so it is really unusual and is a great fit for our family.

Summer Photos!

We are HOME!

We've been gone for about 5 weeks this summer. It was a big treat and also a lot of work! Traveling with a three and five year old have a whole host of challenges and you need to stay a few steps ahead....which I'm not sure we did.

Here are some random snippets because I can't think of how to weave them all together in one story:

It was our FIRST TRIP IN SIX YEARS without a car seat or stroller or baby crib. Big news people. Inshallah we won't have to lug those items around ever again.

Ryan had no idea of the difference between a sidewalk and a street. Go figure....he walks around on sandy dirt all day or is in a car. Walking on sidewalks is not something we do. Sidewalks are not common where we live! We had four days in Paris. Totally stressful for me...remember we did not have a stroller this time!

Throw in the fact that we stayed in Holland for three weeks which has bike paths EVERYWHERE....and Layla was also equally ignorant of the constant danger of wandering around on the sidewalk. For a mom this was a major stressful part of our entire summer. I was not at all expecting to be dragging them away from streets and bike paths the entire time. Not so fun.

We loved Holland. Go there and go there with kids if you have them. We had a sweet deal of staying in the home of a friend the whole time and were able to borrow bikes and a car so it was AMAZING. They have great playgrounds, gorgeous scenery and great food (see below).

Apparently it is very Dutch to eat bread with "toppings" for breakfast and lunch. Toppings can include butter, thin slices of meat OR slices of cheese (they don't mix!), or apple butter, honey and best of all CHOCOLATE SPRINKLES. They even have licorice sprinkles! There is an entire section in the grocery store that is dedicated to "stuff you eat on bread" in the meat AND dry goods sections. So interesting.

We loved biking! Layla is not one for strenuous physical activity unless she is really motivated. But she got on that little bike and went for an HOUR with Tom. It was amazing to see. She is totally wimpy when walking around a mall but can bike like crazy apparently. Note to self: she is all about internal motivation.

Rain is so so fun.

Amsterdam is best seen on a bike for sure. Cheap, great exercise and "exciting" at times as you negotiate traffic. Bring along a spouse who can strap BOTH kids to his bike, read a map and remember it and take you around town.

Yes....we took a WRONG turn at one point and saw some ladies standing in window in their "swimsuits". Tom didn't notice (remember he is the only one paying attention to directions) but I sure did and apparently Layla did too. I didn't really know what to say but we started talking about swimsuits instead. sigh. This almost-6-year-old girl doesn't miss much. It made the trip much more interesting in that she wanted to point and ask about everything....blue hair, pink hair, tatooes, funny looking women etc etc etc.

We ended our time at a Family Camp which was really lovely. Great great kids program, good stuff for adults and just beautiful green hills with rain and clouds. It was really encouraging all in all.

I'll put some photos together soon but we are still dealing with the last bit of sickness we all contracted from Ryan's little class. I was the last one to get it AFTER we got home which was great.

It took us 24 hours to get home!! How did that happen?!!? We've started thinking family vacation in Europe is the better choice because it SO MUCH cheaper to fly there than the US and if we stay with friends it is way cheaper than that US. Add in the time change of a mere two hours....it is an all around winner. However, somehow it took us 24 hours door to door on our return path. Ugh. And Tom was sick the entire time we traveled. Poor guy.

So. We loved Holland. It was Intense Parenting to be sure (my new phrase for having young kids out of their routine and out of their normal space!

Pictures to come later.......

We went to a cheese farm.  was very informative and we had a lot of fun. The kids were able to feed the cows for a long time which they really enjoyed.

the comments for these photos are all wacky and I cannot correct it so just consider it a game tonight everything together!

ut fanniversaryr 11th anniversary! We went to a pancake house with our dutch friends who we luve near in the Gulf.

 last few days our friends house here in Holland. We have had a wonderful time taking bike rides, visiting the lakenear the house, seeing the little old towns nearby and their Castles so forth.

I only have my smartphone with me so typing is tedious but I wanted to include some.

we found some water guns for them to use at the lake so fun! 

this lake is really a trailer park camping site. They had lits I

 if fun here! !

11th anniversary!

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