Asian Adventures

The Past 2 Months In Pictures

It seems as if my blog updates are becoming more and more infrequent.  Life is whirling by and I don't want to miss a thing so blogging has taken a back seat in my busy life.  I make no promises of changing that.  Here are some of the things we have been up to.

Paul took another trip to Xiengkhuang to do some repairs on the Street Kids Center.

While there he also handed out coats to the children in our Kindergarten programs.

 

Paul's parents came to visit us.

We took his parents and our Lao family to the zoo:

We made Paul's Aunt Dorothy's sugar cookies with the oodles of sprinkles Paul's mom brought;  It's another annual Christmas tradition.

We hosted a wedding for Daam & Sote at our house: (I think it's so interesting that Lao people don't usually smile in formal pictures - too funny!)

Here I am at the wedding doing the traditional Lao dance...Paul did it too!  

We had a Christmas party at the kids' school:

Paul got in a car accident.  This is the other guys car.  Our car looked barely dented.  Thankfully it was his fault - he was drunk and was crossed the street in incoming traffic.  No one was hurt.

Paul went back up to Xiengkhuang for medical clinics.  One of the cases involved a four year old boy who was badly burned with boiling water by accident.  We were able to get him the proper treatment for his arm and our medical clinic nurses taught the local clinic nurses how to treat the burn properly.

My mom completely surprised me and came to Laos.  Definitely my favorite moment of the year!

We hosted a Christmas party with our friends Abe & Jill for our Lao staff and friends.  We all have cotton balls on our noses for a game we were playing.

After games we gave them all gifts and shared about the Greatest Gift!

Our family made our annual gingerbread house.  Homemade of course!  Thankfully my friend Jill and a team that had come out for our medical clinics had recently gave us some candy!

We celebrated Christmas and my mom being here truly made it spectacular!!!  We were also thankful for the wonderful weather...it was 60 degrees on Christmas day which was...COLD!  I loved it and bundled up and drank Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee my mom bought.  LOL!

Christmas Day we had friends come over and played games from the show Minute to Win It.  Here's Axel giving a go at one of the games.  He was SO focused!

Here's Paul playing a different game.

Had a bonfire with friends. 

So, now you can see why I've been a little too busy to blog.  But I feel completely blessed and thankful to God for our busyness and pray that it will all continue to bring Him glory and honor into the coming year!

My Sweet Briggs

This post is all about Briggs.  He's not quite two yet, but he's definitely inching into the "terrible two's" stage.  Thankfully he's NOT terrible, but he hates that he can't communicate even though he tries so hard.  He babbles and babbles, but it just doesn't make a lick of sense to any of us, but we all think he's really cute.  He often has a slightly bewildered look on his face at the goings on of the rest of us - we're a rowdy crew.  However, in true Burkhart kid fashion he just jumps right in and joins our craziness.  He LOVES playing hide and go seek in the dark - we let him run around with the flashlight.  

The other day Briggs got his first nose bleed.  It was very sad - he was so pitiful - but within a few minutes he already stopped crying.  Such a tough little guy.

 

This boy loves to eat.  Here's the evidence.  He prefers feeding himself.  This is not always a good thing.

You Just Never Know

Life here is always so unpredictable you just never know what will happen.  The other day I was cooking dinner and friends of ours stopped by.  It was Daeng, his wife Maek, their son Nathan (pronounced Nut-on in Lao), Daeng's brother Daam, and Dtuu (he's one of our street kids from Xieng Khoung province that has come to live with them).  The boys decided they wanted to go fishing for these little fish in the rice field next to our house.  So Maek and I stayed home with the babies while the rest of them, including Paul, Maddy, and Tag, went fishing.  We could see them from our balcony:

 

This ended up being a several hour "diversion" from what I had planned to do that evening, but I continue to learn to lay aside my agenda for God's agenda and walk in obedience and joy in my journey.

 

And just 'cuz I love the eyes/cheeks combo here's a picture of Briggs who always has a slightly bewildered expression:

Back to School 2011

Last Wednesday was our first day of school.  We are still a part of the homeschool co-op that we joined last year.  We love it, love it, love it.  This year Madelyn is in 3rd grade, Tag is in 1st grade, and Axel and Briggs are in Creche (preschool).  I'm teaching Madelyn's 3rd grade class and there are four girls in the class this year (so far - I'd love more!!!).  I don't have much time for words (Paul is gone and Madelyn and Briggs have a flu bug of sorts with puking and diarrhea) so I'll just post the pictures and explanations.  

 

This is the view of my classroom when you first walk in.  My theme is DOTs so they're everywhere.

 

When you walk in the room this is to the left.  It's really hot here so the girls need to stay well hydrated and so I bought them water bottles.  I wasn't sure if they would actually use them, but they do!  The polka dot library envolopes next to their names hold popsicle sticks in green, yellow, or red depending on their behavior.  If they get 2 red popsicle sticks they miss recess.  I've never had anyone go beyond yellow so far.  Our "Classroom Rules" and "Good Morning" poster (that has a list of things they need to do before class begins) is above their backpack hooks.

 

This is the view from the opposite side of the room.  The door on the right is the entrance to our classroom.  The door on the left is to the balcony.  Behind the ice cream poster is a bathroom.  I love having my own bathroom.  I don't get any "lost" children that way.

 

Math and science center.  The map on the left we use as a general world map and to begin our day we read about and pray for a different people group using "You Can Change the World" which is a child's version of "Operation World."

 

This is our History & Reading section.  They way our curriculum is set up is that all of our readers are about American History in 3rd grade.  Once the girls complete all the required readers we'll have a party.  I have all really strong readers so I might have to tweak this a bit because they're flying through the readers faster than we're moving in class through the curriculum.  All the books in the classroom have cards in them with the name of the book and author.  The polka dot library envelopes are for them to put the cards from the books in.  I also have living math and science books that the girls can read.

 

The view from my desk.

 

The language center.  I kind of splurged when I bought this pocket chart hoping that it would come in handy.  We use it ALL the time and not just for language, but for math as well.

 

This is my absolute favorite thing... my D.O.T. (Daily Organizational Tool).  This has turned out great so far.  The girls are responding well to being organized.  The different sections are: homework, bring back, take home, communication (notes to and from parents), reading log (where the students keep a record of what they've read), toolbox (different papers with writing, math, and language helps), and behavior (a calendar that I write in daily).  I forgot to take a picture of the communication and reading log sections.

 

Overall, I have loved teaching 3rd grade so far this year.  The girls are inquisitive, ready to learn, and are great to work with.  

Axel Turns 3!!!

Axel's actual birthday is July 21st, but we ended up celebrating it a few days (ok maybe a week...or more) later than his birthday.  We were waiting on his gift to arrive in the mail.  Logistics.  He was only turning three so I wanted to keep it super low-key so it was just us and one other family.  We had dinner together, he opened a few presents, and then we had cake.  I usually make chocolate cake, but made vanilla instead.  I had some vanilla beans I wanted to use up.  I had a new icing recipe I wanted to try which turned out horribly on the first attempt and mediocre on the second.  I accepted mediocre mostly because I was NOT about to waste money on another attempt and time was running out.  I didn't eat any of it so I have no idea out it tasted, but it looked ok thanks to the addition of sprinkles.  I am SO in need of a small cake decorating kit.  The "fluffy" icing look is getting old.  

Somehow I misjudged the size of Axel's gift so the wrapping paper I bought was insufficient for the job.  So, a garbage bag and a bow did the trick.  Axel never complained!!!  

Axel as a now three year old:

A - Adventurous.  Every single day as soon as breakfast and family devos are over Axel heads outside and he usually doesn't come back inside until lunch time (when I call him).  I love looking out the window periodically from my work to watch him crouched down examining something on the ground.  Countless boxes of tupperware (an off-brand here) have been taken for "collecting" creatures.  

X - eXcited.  Something happened in the last few months with Axel's verbal skills.  Out of nowhere he has started talking, and talking, and talking, and talking!!!  He gets so excited about nearly everything.  Meal time volume has went up exceedingly as he now has his own ideas to add to our conversations.  It's really fun to see.

E - Entertaining.  While Axel's mischievious ways have finally tempered his entertainment factor has not.  He continues to say and do the funniest things.  His favorite thing is to try to get the other kids laughing during meal times.  A captive audience I guess.  His newest thing is whether the kids are or are not his friends.  If they are being nice to him he'll declare, "Tagewt ith my fwiend!"  If, however, one of them isn't wanting to play with him (or if Paul or I correct him) he'll say, "Daddy not my fwiend!"  

L - Loving.  I hope this one never changes.  Axel LOVES to cuddle.  Every morning when he wakes up he will come and find me wherever I am to cuddle for a few minutes.  I love it and take the time to pray out loud over him.  

The Kids, An Update

At the beginning of the summer I started implementing a strategic plan to spend quality time with each of the kids.  We assigned a day of the week to each of them and Paul and I alternate spending time with them.  We have Mondays with Madelyn, Tuesdays with Taggart, Wednesdays with Axel (unfortunately the last two don't have matching first name letters with the day of the week), Thursdays with Briggs.  We've gone for walks, bike rides, ice cream, pizza, grocery runs, errands, gift shopping (for others), played games on the internet, watched a movie, surfed the internet, played board games and colored.  It always varies and is kid-led (except with the little ones).  We give a time.  They say what they want to do.  It's great.  

Another thing we do is pray for God to give us a word (or two sometimes) for our kids for the year (we go by school year).  

Madelyn

Madelyn loves to pick flowers for me.  She's a true gift-giver.

 

Madelyn's word for the year is "delight."  That she would delight in the Lord and in what she experiences this year.  It implies gratefulness and contentment.

Yesterday it was my turn for "Madelyn Monday" and she wanted to get pizza and ice cream.  A few months ago Pizza Company (kind of like Pizza Hut) and Swensen's (like Baskin Robbins) came to Laos.  For her birthday (in January) Paul took her on a date there.  Lately our "Madelyn Mondays" had been pretty low-key and free so I agreed.  She ordered a personal "Seafood Cocktail" pizza with shrimp, crab, and another seafood meat that I can't remember.  She loves it.  She definitely gets her love of seafood from her father (I can barely cook it, but I'm learning).  I ordered a drink and about two minutes after I received it I accidently knocked it over and it went crashing to the tile floor and glass shattered everywhere!  How ungraceful.  I looked at Madelyn with HUGE eyes and exclaimed, "Uh, Oh!"  She died laughing!  Then I said, "See, even mommy's have accidents."  I really, really try to convey to the kids that everyone makes mistakes and while we are careful and have manners things like that are just "WHS - wood, hay, and stubble", not a big deal.  We moved on and talked about school: what she's looking forward to and what she's not (I'm her teacher this year and I was fishing for expectations).  After she was done eating we walked next door to Swensen's and she chose a blueberry something or other (because it came with a small American flag).  She's such a delight to be with.  When we do these things together I just listen.  She has a lot to say and when I'm home with all four kids it's hard to really focus and listen, really listen.  It's one of the reasons I love this QT together.

Taggart

Tag's word this year is "worship".  This past year he has started to just sing, sing, sing.  He has a beautiful voice and our goal this year is to point this gift even in it's beginning stages to glorify God in worship.

Axel

Axel's word this year is "discover".  He has just begun to really love exploring nature.  Our goal for him this year is to discover all the amazing things that God has created all around us and to learn more about them.

Briggs

Brigg's word this year is "love."  As we poor out our love on him this year it is a reflection and foundation for how he will understand God's love.  

 

Anatomy of a Pout

I was going through pictures and noticed these.  So funny.  LOVE that Axel Paul.

Nice try, buddy, but it NEVER works!  

Crazy Normal

No offense to any who reads this that is in our "line of work", but I used to think that most people who do what we do were a little crazy.  Weird.  Odd.  Quirky.  Once we actually joined those ranks I still felt more "normal" than "those other people."  It's something I've thought of every now and then for the past six years we've been doing this.  I've often asked myself, "Am I still normal?"  I've always answered emphatically, "Yes!  Yes, I am."  Then I happened to be reading over my blog and found this post , this one, this one,  of course this one, and most recently this one and I paused...and thought...and then said outloud (a further support to my conjecture), "Huh, I think we've gone crazy.  I don't think these things are really normal." Oh, well.  It's our new normal, the crazy normal.

Rainy Season

Rainy season has been going full force here for several weeks.  For a while it was just a few scattered thunderstorms here and there with full sun and then random torrential downpours.  However, the last few days have been nothing but rain, rain, and more rain.  After a while it can get overwhelming, particularly for Axel who practically lives outdoors.  If it's not too bad I'll still let him go play outside, but for a few days it was really too heavy to let him.  I love the fact that my kids aren't afraid to get dirty.  Or wet.  Or sun-kissed.  They all love the outdoors so much.

In this picture you can see the downpour and, believe it or not, there are still people out working.  

 

Usually during the downpours everyone takes cover:

 

Then there's us - we're just a little different:

Puppy Love

Our neighbors have a poodle.  I thought this poodle was ugly and disgusting until they gave it a haircut and then it looked cute and fancy.  Makeovers are amazing things.  A few months ago it was discovered that the poodle was pregnant much to my children's delight.  They waited and waited and waited and finally she had her puppies.  Then they waited and waited and waited until the puppies were old enough to hold.  Now they go visit the neighbor everyday for their puppy fix.  They were broken hearted when a few of them were taken last week.  Who doesn't love puppies.  They almost had me convinced to keep one stating that they wouldn't eat much because even all grown they are pretty tiny.  They had a point.  But I stood my ground.  Ok, it wasn't me, it was Paul that stood his ground.  That's why he's in charge.