On this day eight years ago...

Nine years ago today, I was on a plane to China thinking, "I can't believe that one year from today I'll be getting married!" So far we've had eight wonderful years. So happy anniversary, honey!

No better offer (Three Cups of Tea post 2)

Along the way, post 9/11, Greg Mortenson was introduced to a young man named Hashmatullah, who was released from the Taliban army when he was wounded. Greg said "Hash" was a "jihadi in theory only. He was a smart guy who would much rather have worked as a telecommunications technician than a Taliban fighter, if a job like that had been available. But the Taliban offered him three hundred dollars when he graduated from his madrassa... so he reported for weapon training."

Some madrassa schools are funded with Saudi oil money and run by the Taliban. These schools provide an education to the poorest students who could not otherwise afford the uniforms and supplies to attend school. You can see how the natural progression for graduates from these schools would be to enlist in the Taliban army because they are not presented with other viable options.

Hash's story blew my mind. Contrary to popular belief, many Taliban fighters are not truly militant America-haters. These poor students see a job with the Taliban as a pretty good offer, not having the training or education to search for a real job.

Getting back to the subtitle of the book, "One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time." Greg believes that the Taliban will disappear in a generation or two if the poor Muslim children are given a decent education. This isn't his goal (he tries to stay out of politics). It is just a byproduct of providing quality education. The disheartening thing is that the madrassas are popping up faster than his non-profit, the Central Asia Institute, can build schools. So in a sense, it is a losing battle. Greg refuses to take money from the US government, because he would lose credibility in the Muslim world if he were associated with the US government. So he is dependent completely on donations. At this point, he does have donations coming in from around the world. But still, it is difficult to compete with the fortunes of Saudi oil companies.

More to come...

Three Cups of Tea

During our vacation in Tennessee, I read the book Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. The book's subtitle is, "One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time."

Greg Mortenson grew up in Tanzania as the child of Lutheran missionaries. I say that, not because it is a central part of the book, but because I believe that, deep inside, he knows the truths of faith in Christ. Through his work in Pakistan, he has adopted Muslim practices out of a deep respect for the people he is working with. The book doesn't really address his faith, except to say that he does not share his parent's faith.

On to the story...

Greg was a on a hiking expedition to climb Pakistan's highest peak, K2. He didn't quite make it to the top, and was separated from his team and his local guide during his decent. He was quite emaciated and dehydrated from the climb. He was headed toward a certain village, but got lost and ended up in a different village, Korphe. He was welcomed warmly in their humble accomodations. They fed him and nursed him back to health even though he was a stranger and a foreigner. Once he regained his strength, he was shocked to see young boys and girls holding school by themselves, using sticks in dirt. The Pakistani government failed to send a teacher to those children more than once a week, and there was no school building.

Through a series of events, Greg returned to the States with a newfound mission to provide education to these children. He wrote 580 letters to celebrities and the world's richest people, asking them to contribute to his cause. He got one reply: $1,000 from Tom Brokaw. Through another contact, he acquired a benefactor who would fund the first several of Greg's schools at a cost of $12,000 each.

Now that I have given you the background, I will be writing other posts about specific things from the book that impacted me. I have to say, though, that if every American read this book, it would change the way we think about Muslims, the Taliban, the Sunnis, the Shiites, and the War on Terror (or whatever the Obama administration is calling it now). This book is 349 well-written pages that will require an investment of your time. But, for me, it was well worth it. An excellent read.

1+1=3

So I've decided that the new math stuff they're teaching in school might actually be right. Various times over the last few days I have been treated to the privilege of watching just one of my boys at a time. I can't get over how much easier it is. Some of my friends who had two kids before I did warned me about this. Jennie and Fran said that having two kids isn't twice the work of one. It's three times the work.

I think I've realized why that is. The boys are at each other most of the time they're together. They're playing, which turns in to fighting. They're tackling each other. They're feeding hyper-ness off each other. They want the same toy. They want to watch different videos. They're demanding my attention. They're demanding something right now. I'm constantly running interference. When I'm with just one, the competition is non-existent. I don't have to divide my attention between both of them.

So Isaiah has been with Vern and Lorrie since this morning. Yesterday he had a temp of 102.5, and when that child is sick, he is a bear. We were supposed to go to camp with Dan today, but I decided to wait until Isaiah is healthy. So he wanted to stay overnight with Grandma, and she was willing to keep him. So Sam and I have just been hanging out all evening. He took a nice long nap, and then we ate dinner. Then he would alternate playing alone and wanting me to look at books with him. Very pleasant. He's like a different, calm child when Isaiah's not around.

Hopefully Isaiah will get better in a day or two so we can go up to camp. I'd like to be able to see Dan on our eighth anniversary - Tuesday!

Isaiah, the four-year-old

Yesterday my mom brought over a cake and we opened up some gifts. Somehow I didn't get a picture of the really cool veggie tales pirate ship my mom got for Isaiah. I think I was taking a video at the time, and I was trying to keep Sam under control, who was throwing a major tantrum. So here are some pictures of the big boy.
Isaiah wearing his train back pack from Matt, Katherine, Abbie, and Karis. He was psyched that it matches his train conductor's hat.

Isaiah in his police gear, handcuffing his Dad.Isaiah with his Spiderman cake.

Evidence

Sam got ahold of the salt container, opened it, and managed to dump it all over himself, the chair, and the floor. Don't ask why I have that big container of salt on the dining room table. We're not really that big of salt users! It has to do with shaking a bug out with the salt shaker one day and being so freaked out that I just threw the whole thing out. You can't really scrub the inside that well with just that small hole on the bottom.
Anyway, with Samuel's love of climbing onto the table, it was bound to happen. Of course, I had to have a picture as evidence.

Vacation

Here are more vacation photos than anyone really wants to see! But this will give you an idea of what we did on vacation...Dan found this guy (a black snake about four feet long) stretched across the bottom of the door to our cabin. We scared him with a broom, and eventually he slithered off the porch. We were a little more vigilant after that. On the Fairhaven campus... Below, feeding the fish, Sam's favorite part of vacation! He kept saying, "Ish, ish!"
We sat Sam on the rocks. He loved throwing the bread crumbs in the water and laughed when the fish splashed his feet.

We took the boys to the Greater Foscoe Mining Company in South Foscoe, NC. Sam dug right in and was quite muddy by the time we were done. Isaiah loved playing with the stones once they were cleaned off.

Dan and Isaiah in the Linville Caverns in NC.

We found this great place in Johnson City, TN called the Hands On Museum. The boys both loved grocery shopping. I think Sam thought it was real food because he was taking it very seriously!

Sam conducting some international business, still at the hands on museum.

Isaiah at the Gray Fossil site in Gray, TN. He loved looking at the rhino bones and digging for fossils.

My cutie pies.

The four of us at the natural rodedendron gardens on Roan Mountain, TN.

This should have been a beautiful mountain view, but it was so cloudy that day. We could barely see 30 feet in front of us. But the flowers were still so pretty.

The view from the front of our cabin.

This gives you an idea of the elevation of the mountains. I actually had a hard time breathing the first day we were there. I guess I just had to get acclimated, because after that, I was fine. That was one of the nicest things about this vacation - no one was sick at all!

Taking a tour of Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN. You ride in a 10 passenger van for the tour which includes driving around the speedway at about 50 miles per hour on a track angled at 35 degrees. I had to sign a waiver that if my child dies during the ride, they're not responsible. Well, apparently I'm the first cautious parent they've ever had, because the van driver looked at me like I had three heads when I told her I was going to put the boys' car seats in the van. Holding a child in a vehicle going over 50 mph is neither easy, convenient, or safe. Anyway, we all loved the ride. It wasn't really that scary.

Isaiah's 4th birthday. The night before his birthday, he asked me if his Spiderman cake was ready. I laughed and said, "Honey, we're on vacation! I'm going to make you some muffins with special icing." I was glad that he was ok with that. =)

Father's Day... Isaiah giving Dan a project he made. I asked Isaiah if he could give Daddy anything in the world what would it be, and he drew a picture of a red and blue striped shirt. He said that the back of the shirt had red and blue dots. Pretty awesome. Haha.

The boys at the covered bridge in Elizabethton, TN.

The gentleman who took this picture actually drove past us, came back, and offered to take a family picture of us. I guess it was pretty obvious that we were tourists!

Off we go

Tomorrow morning we are heading to a cabin in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. People think we're crazy when we tell them the the cabin has no tv, no internet, no land line, and no cell phone reception. It is a little daunting to think of being that far removed from the world, but for technology addicts like us, it's very freeing and refreshing to be surrounded by nature, quiet,... and books.

Confession: We are bringing our mini dvd player for the boys to watch in the car, and we have packed a few videos for us to watch, too, in case we get bored (of books and board games) in the evenings after the boys are in bed. Also, we'll probably find wifi once or twice during the week, just to get our facebook and email fix. =)

The funny thing is that when we're away on vacation, spending all that family togetherness time we should be doing all year long, then checking email and watching our favorite shows just doesn't seem that important. I wish we could keep those priorities all year round! Maybe we'll work on that...

So good bye for a week!

WAY out of my comfort zone

On Friday night, Dan and I had a mini-date. We went to Olive Garden for dinner, then went shopping for Isaiah's birthday. I was browsing through the leap frog educational toys, building blocks, and Thomas trains.

Somehow Dan disappeared to an unknown department in Toys R Us. When I found him, he was in the big boy action figures aisle. These toys just make me go, huh? They look so weird to me and not fun at all. I looked somewhat longingly across to the girls' department, to the dolls, strollers, dress up shoes and purses, play tea sets, and costume jewelry. At least that stuff looks halfway fun, even for a girl like me who's not too girly.

Isaiah was asking for some rescue heroes for his birthday. He had these in his preschool classroom and really liked them. So in this department, we were able to find some police and army action heroes with a rescue boat and helicopter. He also asked for something Thomas, so we got him a train car and a video. We thought a police dress-up kit would be fun, even though I have found out that, with boys, you don't call it "dress up." It's called "role play." So hopefully he'll like the gifts. We're going to be on vacation over Isaiah's birthday, so we had to plan ahead to at least take the little gifts with us.


For a girl who has never played with a G.I. Joe, I'm getting quite the education on little boys.

Too cute

This morning both boys woke up and were more hyper than usual. Because I was more tired than usual, I knew that staying home wasn't going to work. So I loaded them in the car and headed to Pittsburgh Mills Mall. I figured I'd check out H&M and let them play on the kiddie play place for a while. Well, H&M had some nice sales on their summer stuff. While I was trying on some shirts, Isaiah said about one of them, "Mommy, that looks really cute! Well... maybe too cute." I'm not sure what that meant, but we both laughed!

On the way home, Sam had hiccups, and Isaiah was pretending to have hiccups. They were both giggling so hard! It was adorable.

A day with friends...

Today my mom took Isaiah up to see my grandma. Down one child, I took the opportunity to see my friend Jess in Clearfield, who just had her second child, a little boy named Elijah on June 1. I took some baby boy clothes and other baby essentials up to her.

Sam did remarkably well on the trip out and back. Twenty-five miles of single lane highway on I-80 made our trip take two and a half hours each way. But it was definitely worth it. Jess and I had some time to talk over lunch while Sam and Jess's two-year-old, Hannah, played all around the house.

Elijah is slightly under eight pounds making him officially the smallest baby I have ever held! I can't imagine the familes who come home with four or five pound babies. Elijah is growing well, super healthy, and just an all-around gorgeous baby.

A great way to spend a day!

EZCombs = Awesome

Some of you might have seen ads on TV for EZCombs. I'm not too much of a sucker for advertising, but this looked like it might actually work in my difficult-to-manage hair which is so straight and so fine that most hair accessories slide right out of it. I was able to find the combs at a local store for less than on TV, so I decided to go for it. There are many ways you can use them, and I tried most of them on my hair with good success. This really is a remarkable product, and I would highly recommend it!

Terrible Twos?

From about 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. last night this little sweet pea threw a tantrum. He has done this several times lately when it's time to sit down and eat, including at my in-laws' house during Sunday lunch, and at a restaurant the other day. His fit at the restaurant was so bad, Dan and I had to eat in shifts, with one of us eating and the other one holding Sam outside. He's quite unmanageable when he gets like that. At home, we try to ignore him. When we're out and about, we have to deal with him and keep him quiet by whatever means possible. If this keeps up, we could be in for a rough couple of months with him!

Point State Park

On Saturday Dan, the boys, and I went down to the Three Rivers Arts Festival. We ate lunch outside, did some of the kids' stuff they had there, and played by the fountain. We breezed past about two rows of actual art, but the boys weren't in the mood, so we didn't stay too long. I think everyone's favorite part was sticking our feet in the fountain. The water was VERY cold!

This is a direct quote from my husband

"In some ways, you're less annoying than before we got married." Then he tried to insist it was a compliment. LOL!

Talking to God

*Third post today. Dan will be calling me a binge blogger.*

Earlier today, I loaded the boys into the car to go to the library to return some videos. Last week Isaiah borrowed five videos, and probably only watched one or two of them. It's difficult for me to keep track of that many videos, and it's just not worth getting that many if he's not going to watch them. So I told him he was only allowed to get two today. He was on the verge of tears, arguing with me that he needed to get three.

I had to run back into the house to get something, and by the time I got back out the the van, Isaiah said, "I talked to God, and I'm going to get two, not three." It took me a minute to realize what he was talking about. He explained, "I told God, 'God, I want three videos,' and God said, 'But Mommy said you can only get two,' and then I said, 'Oh. Ok!' So there's no more argument, Mommy!"

I wish every parent/child conflict was settled that easily.

Little poet

I think Isaiah might have a little writing ability in him. Either that, or he's just expressing the unique way kids have of looking at the world. Two times lately he said things that seemed rather poetic.

We were at the Children's Museum eating our lunch in the grand hall while a concert was going on. The sound system for the concert was powered by solar-powered batteries. Very cool. So we were sitting at the table and Isaiah was making his animal crackers dance to the music. He pointed to the pendulum that always swings in the middle of the hall. He said, "Look, Mommy. It's dancing too."

Then tonight we had steaks and corn on the cob for dinner. I think I'll serve corn on the cob more often because all three boys were going at it like it was going out of style, and the dinner table was so quiet! Very nice break from the constant chatter. But while we were all eating our corn, Isaiah commented, "We're making horses gallop." He thought that eating the corn on the cob sounded like horses galloping. I never thought about it that way, but I guess he's right.

The things he says...

Yesterday my mom was tickling Isaiah. He had had enough and said, "You better stop or I'm gonna get a lawyer after you!" We laughed so hard... I don't know how he learns these things.