Learning

Learning, what would we do without it? To be honest I think we would be very bored if we didn't learn. I know I have been learning since I was born, but I feel in the last 8 years I have learn the most. Moving away from home, college, dating and getting married, two kids, more schooling, moving/living in peoples homes with family and then moving to a totally new place where nothing is the same as what I know. Then to top it off baby number three comes around and I keep on learning...

This post is for Jonas, I am so glad the Lord blessed us with YOU!

I learned you can go from this to...

...this, all in 40 weeks!

I learned that I have friends all over the world and I am so thankful for their support and friendship! 

I learned how grown up and big my other two kids are, its amazing how truly helpless babies are and I am so glad that my other two could dress themselves, us the bathroom, pick up toys, feed themselves and so much more.

I learned love can be at first sight.

I learned that God can give you peace and encouragement when you are unsure of the unknown. I learned babies do come on their due dates, you can have a 4 hour labor, have a great hospital experience and leave the hospital 18 hours after giving birth.

I learned to cherish more memories, cause they grow so fast.

Those smiles are priceless!

I learned how little you really need to have for babies. I had a mat, a pack n play, a dresser which also served as a changing table and a lawn chair to nurse in. A few clothes, burp cloths, a baby carrier, a handful of toys and a few warm blankets and we were good to go.

I learned you don't need a high chair to feed your kid. Jonas sat on the floor, on the table or in our laps for meals. I only just started to put him in the "high chair" now that he is bigger and he loves it! 

I have learned just how different each of my kids are and to pay attention to things they like and don't like. Jonas loves tags and because of that, he has become very attached to his blanket. He is the first kid to become attached to a blanket, I love it!  

Over all I learned to be more relaxed. Jonas slept in our bed the longest, he was held the most, he was still a scheduled eater and sleeper but if those things got a little messed up I wasn't a basket case because of it. I learned to change diapers and clothes in the 40 degree house in the middle of the night in record time. This third baby experience hasn't been without its challenges but I think over all I have learned more to take in the moment by moment things and to put aside less important things in order to invest more in my kids. 

I love to watch Jonas learn. He loves books, dogs and pointing to things. Its been fun to see him play by himself and to see him interact differently with his brother and sister. With Jade, Jonas is silly and giggly. She likes to read to him, hug and kiss him and tickle him. With Jamen, Jonas is all business  he is handing him blocks and pushing car right along side him. Jamen likes to play with him, as long as cars and blocks are involved. 

I thank the Lord for my third baby and all that I have learned this year!

Marching On

This month was very busy for us but a good busy...

I, Jen, continue to press on in language study and this month I was invited to a moms group, its very exciting. Also there are craft days at the church this month, which I enjoy. I am still home schooling the kids and enjoying watching my kids learn. Jonas is cutting teeth this month, that's been rough at times. I also experienced a pretty bad fall of the bus this month, pretty sure I bruised the bone in my leg but thankfully nothing was broken. Our neighbor had a baby and this month is Easter so we continue to learn things every day. 

Below are a few other things that happened this month...

The first week of March some friends treated us to a date night, it had been three years since our last date. We had a great time finishing our thoughts and completing sentences uninterrupted (not because the kids are bad all the time but they are always in need and you have to always think on the move.) I also and enjoying not cooking!

This month Jamen and Jade have gotten a lot more creative in their playing, naming cars, building towers, having tea and much more.

Jonas is getting into everything and requires Jamen and Jade to rethink their playing to include Jonas. 

Jonas turned 11 months this month, hard to believe he is coming up on a year!

Home schooling continues to go well, Jamen read his first story this month, "The Fat Rat". He is making leaps and bounds in his learning. 

Jade is learning her letter sounds, working on shapes, colors, patterns and following directions. She wants so badly to keep up with Jamen, she often sits and "reads" books to me or Jonas.

This month Jonas learned to stand up in his bed and he is also pulling up on anything he can around the house.

We all enjoyed a fall picnic the other day, the weather has been wonderful this month. Its cooled down sooner this year and we are not complaining.  

Last year we learned to make chipa with friends and learned about Semana Santa (Holy week). This year being our second year we learned more, relaxed more and had a lot more fun. 

Chipa dough consists of butter, eggs, corn meal, tapioca starch, cheese, salt and anise. You mix it all together till its crumbly, then comes the hard part, taking the dough and mixing it by hand till it sticks and you can form it into a shape. We found that we had to mix the dough by hand for 10 min before we could shape it, then you can bake.

Afterwards we enjoyed our chipa with cocido con leche...yum! 

My cute little cooks! 

Also this month Jon experienced dengue fever, this is a disease carried by mosquitoes  Even as I write this he is still recovering. This disease is known as the "bone break fever", you have a high fever, headache, very bad aching in your joints and bones, not to mention the rash that leaves you itchy and the fatigue that keeps you down for more than a week. So, Jon has been confined to bed, eating good foods to keep his blood platelet count up. Thankfully he didn't experience vomiting and he has been able to eat and drink. Dengue can be very dangerous so we are taking precautions but so far so good and  we are very thankful for this.  

This year Jamen and Jade are learning the true meaning of Easter. There will be no hunting of colored eggs or dying of boiled eggs as we don't have the things to do that this year, but we did make Easter baskets for candy tomorrow and later we will make forgotten cookies.

That was our March and we keep marching on in language study and culture learning! 

Trip

In the beginning of February we took a trip to visit some friends and see the work they are doing. It was an eight day trip and it was really hard for me to pick from the 500 pictures we took. We had an amazing time, here is what we did....

We packed the car and headed out on a Friday morning at 5:30am! 

The kids were very excited!

We drove out of the city in the dark and watched the sunrise 

and the countryside changed so much before our eyes 

Our first stop to visit friends and see them in action working with believers and the church there 

I love these pictures of the this man reading his Bible and 

this little boy looking through the pictures of the Bible stories

I loved watching my kids interact with the other missionaries kids and the tribal kids 

The kids loved to have their pictures taken and to see them on the screen of the camera 

Jamen got to pick some pineapple, the plants are behind him

After a few days we visited another location, once again the countryside changed even though it was only about 3 hours away 

At this new location we didn't stay with a family, we had a little house without pluming and just before we got there they put up solar panels and we did have a light! But we had to get all our water out the community well for drinking, cooking and bathing. The kids really enjoyed this process

On our way we crossed some scary looking bridges, yes we crossed this in the car 

We did some hiking  

and walking

Jamen got involved with the kids when it was time to color pictures, can you find him? 

We visited friends of the missionaries 

Jamen like playing games with the boys

Jonas took baths in the bucket 

We visited a waterfall 

and helped in anyway we could 

We had a great time, I can't tell you how great it was to see us a family doing things together and seeing team work and seeing the stars!!! If you want to know more, email and I'll tell you more! Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Goodbyes and Good Times

January went by very fast for me. I am happy to say that my goal of getting up at 5:30 is going very well. I had few days that it was hard due to late nights or sick kids. But I am actually enjoying my 1.5hr of time to myself, with the Lord, with my husband, and cup of tea! I haven't been able to get together with my neighbors  that has been disappointing, but I am finding other ways to get in language time and I still visit with them when I go to their store. For now I feel like we have found a good balance of life and study, some days are better than others but its going well. The Lord continues to challenge my thinking in how to do ministry as a family, how to teach my kids and work as an effective team with my husband.

Some other highlights of January are as follows...

Kids dressed up for church 

We helped a family move, they are heading into the tribe some time this year and we were very excited to help them move but sad as well to see them go. They have been good friends a great encouragement to us! 

Jade being silly with Jonas and playing with doilies, they make great hats. 

My reading list for the month, but really it will take me the next 6 months to get through all these. I have finished two and I am half way through 4 of them:-) 

We spent a great day at a friends farm. 

Jamen caught his first fish! 

Jade got scared of the fish, this is a not a posed picture.  

Jamen made a friend 

Jonas had a good time as well 

Jamen had fun feeding the cows

Our day at the farm ended in us being very sick, to read more visit the link below.

http://blogs.ntm.org/jon-quast/2013/01/27/summer-vacations/ 

Well, that was January in a nut shell, check back in two weeks to hear about our Feb and our trip!