June=Normalcy

Yes, it took us a FULL 4 months to settle in.  Are we done?  By no means.  But we have finally settled into more of a routine.  I cannot believe how hard it was to move everyone overseas.  I thought once we got over jet lag we would be home free.  Boy, was I wrong!

First was culture shock.  All of us adjusting in different ways.  Who is sick of eating rice, who can't eat the spicy food, who gets an upset stomach from the worms they got off street food, and on and on.    Culture shock shows itself in so many ways and every time someone hit a "phase", I had to take a step back and think about the possibility that this was just adjustment.  And I think we're still in it, now and then.

Setting up house.  We still have a number of items that are on our "wish list" but in general, we have things up and running and the house is functioning.  Curt took a whole week and just worked through our house list!  He went around and fixed everything that needed fixing, set up everything that needing setting up and checked all his projects off the list.  It was a very settling feeling and I am praying for at least of month with nothing breaking so he can relax!

Relationships.  May was a hard, hard month.  I think exhaustion hit and relationships within this house were strained, whether it was between Curt and I, Curt and the kids, me and the kids, Erin and the kids, me and Erin...you get the idea.  Numerous possibilities (our house helper was fine!).  With feeling more settled, it has brought more relaxation, more sleep, less stress and we have all taken a step back and said, "I am SO glad May is over!  It was awful!".

Homeschool snags.  There is always at least one kid who hits the week or two or three of sluggishness, where they can't seem to get through 5 days of school in 5 days...or 6...or 7... It just seems like feet are being dragged.  But Erin did an amazing job of keeping on top of people, coming up with creative ideas to keep moving forward and encouraging everyone onward.  Everyone is back on track and has their weekends back!  Hurray!  (the sluggishness also happened in May.  Terrible month).

Overall, we are doing so well now.  The kids have just reached halfway through their current grade (always an accomplishment) and planning is starting to happen for the next grade.  Turism is looking to do some college prep work and we have been working with her to get that started.  Bitsuanit will be entering 8th grade and is trying to decide whether to skip Pre-Algebra and move right ahead into Algebra 1.  Tihitina has breezed through 6th so far and just finished a major report on the Boston Tea Party.  Carmen is reading chapter books now in Kindergarten and spends quite a bit of time reading to Zoya and Elden throughout the day.  We are so proud of him!  And Zoya and Elden are, well, Zoya and Elden.

Prayer requests: Curt is currently on a trip organizing yet more films and more languages with some more partners.  Pray that his meetings would go well.  The doors the Lord is opening are amazing!  More on that in our next newsletter!

Carmen and Zoya's preschool teacher was very creative, using veggies to create things

From his veggies, Carmen made a cup of juice and a straw

Tihitina turned 10 this month!