The one in Traverse City, Mi

We're up in Traverse City, Mi for summer project.
Students arrived yesterday, but we made it up Tuesday night.
The trip had its mishaps, as to be expected with a newly potty-trained Halle, but it wasn't terrible.

i came to Traverse city as a student for project- a summer that was one of the most influential summers of my life. So, we're excited to be here to minister to students and see what God does.

We're also excited for what God will do in our lives.

Coming into the summer, Soo & i were filled with some anxieties.
When we first got our placement, i was disappointed to see how few staff were on the project, and to not recognize names or see many young kids... Then found out we still stayed in dorms here and wasn't sure how our kids would respond.

As the months went by, i found myself trying to see positives and try to encourage Soo about the summer- which maybe she didn't need.

So far, everything has been GREAT!

Being on a smaller project is SOOO good for us. i think a larger project would have been intimidating & overwhelming. A smaller staff team has allowed us to get to know people better. Every night it seems like Soo is commenting on how nice people are - not sure what she was expecting other staff to be like...

Halle has got along REALLY well with the other kids. There is a 4 yr and 2 yr old + some older kids- and she loves them all. She also has enjoyed the staff. Josiah is all smiles - most of the time at least.
We are so thankful!

Halle has done fairly well with her potty training. It's funny, when we say Halle used the potty people cheer, but when i come out and say i used the potty, Soo just laughs...

After the first couple nights, the kids have slept pretty well too.

i like that we don't have a tv in our room and we have people around us, and will have a pretty set schedule.

This may have not been what i would have planned for myself, but exactly what God wanted for us!

TC itself is beautiful. Lake Michigan is gorgeous. It is filled with cool little coffee shops, unique restaurants, parks & beaches. It should be fun for Soo & the kids.

Mostly, i'm looking forward to connecting with the Lord, developing some friendships, investing in students(including an international), sharing the Gospel, and growing.

Thanks for your prayers.

The Adventures of a typical boring family

It's been about a year since i really updated this thing... though i did try to restart my xanga once inbetween and have had many dreams of blogging again... i think it'd be good for me... but i guess life has been busy and i've been wasting time...

i used to blog a lot, about all the exciting things going on... and i think perhaps we have settled into the mundane, into our thirties or into family life...

However, i'd like to give an update- maybe not the last year, but recently...
May flew by, hard to believe it is June. Back in March, i was looking forward to May being a nice relaxing time to get a lot of things done... not really, Still, i feel like a lot happened...

This last week we potty-trained Halle.
  We used the 3-day potty-training method, suggested by a friend.
 i liked it, in that it used a lot of positive reinforcement & encouragement. And it was empowering, building ownership. We weren't to force her to use the toilet or even ask her if she needed to go(though sometimes we slipped), but just reminded her to tell us if she needed to go.
We completely ditched the diapers and put her in underwear.
Kinda crazy.

By the middle of day 2, while Halle was napping, we were trying to think what we would do when it didn't work... but soon after she woke up   - it started to click!
She's not perfect, but she's pretty close. She sometimes isn't quick enough, but she knows what she is supposed to do
... pretty soon, she will find it physically impossible to not poo in her pants.

Josiah meantime is attempting more steps and blabbering more things that sound like words.

In a month, our lives should be radically different.

Josiah celebrated his one-year birthday last month. We had a party here in Munice, then again in LA. He seemed to like the chocolate cake, though he went to bed soon after his party started in LA, and didn't even get cake. He wasn't too upset about that, but i was. i saved him a piece of cake, and just about everyday wanted to give him his piece, but he never got it...

We spent 2 weeks in LA, celebrating 3 moms on mother's day... To summarize our time: We took the 15 to the 210 to the 605 to the 5 to the 1 to the 10 to the 101...
And we ate In N Out, Mexican, Thai, Korean, Chinese, Cuban, Japanese and fresh food.

We had a good time seeing people, but it was nice to get back, the 3 hour time difference was killer jet-lag, which is crazy when you consider all the travel we used to do.

So, yes, thirties are kinda boring... but still exciting for me. We already went to LA, have a trip coming up to Colorado, next up: Traverse City, Mi.

More updates to come... hopefully

the one with falling plates