Spring-- Bring it on!

If you've followed this blog at all you know I love a good list.  And nothing makes me happier than a list of fun things to do this Spring!

So without further ado here is our Spring list- with a new updated verison of the list that has lists inside the list.

Art projects with Amirah:

• tie dye something
• fabric strip paper mache bowls
• painting canvas with eggs
• grape and toothpick art

Projects around the house:

• pick final paint colors for the kitchen
• stain the deck
• decorate for Xander's birthday party

Just for me:

• first craft sale at the Dutchfest
• book swap party
• buy flowers for the house
• buy a yummy treat at Sweet Frog

Books:

• finish Divergent series
• finish Mended
• choose a non-fiction read

Family fun:

• feed the animal at Bender's
• decorate Easter eggs
• make mango fruit roll-ups
• visit Great-Grandma
• go to Monkey Joe's

Spring has always been my favorite season.  It's so alive!  Plus my birthday is in the spring.  I am seriously so excited about this list!

Reminiscing (Part Two)

When I left off we were still in the DR and had just made an appointment at the US Embassy.  We traveled back to Haiti by bus and tried to get used to life as a married couple.  I will not mince words.  It was hard.  We had dated long-distance for two years only seeing each other maybe a total of five weeks that entire time.  Then we were married and together all the time.  All day.  Every day.  When school started in August I think we were both relieved.

We lived at the school where we taught because it wasn't really safe for me to be outside those guarded gates.  I rarely left the school grounds.  And it was stifling.  I felt so alone and so frustrated.  I cried.  A lot.  Oh, how challenging those first months were.  It wasn't all bad.   I learned a lot about myself.  A lot about Ysmaille.  He was a great support and somedays he just held me because he knew that was what I needed the most.

In October it was time for us to go back to the DR for the appointment we made back in July.  We took the bus again.  The next day we went to the embassy and waited outside in a long, winding line for our turn.  When we made it to the door they asked to scan our belongings.  Unfortunately I had my camera with me and they wouldn't let me bring it in.  They told us there was a cafeteria down the street that might hold it for us.  We found the cafeteria, but they were not interested in holding a camera from a couple of foreigners.  We finally decided to ditch the camera in someone's garage and hope it was there when we got back. 

Once inside the embassy we waited for several hours.  When it was finally our turn we explained that we wanted to take a trip to PA to see my family, but we couldn't go to the Embassy in Haiti because it was closed due to the unrest in the nation.  The lady was very kind, but a little skeptical.  After a few minutes she separated us to question us individually.  One of the things she asked was where our first date was.  I told her "Tiger Mart."  She was suprised that I described our first date at a gas station.  When Ysmaille told her the same thing she was convinced ours was not simply a green card marriage.  I told you that unconventional first date would save us.  We got the visa!  In two months we would travel on a plane for the first time together. 

We had so many crazy experiences that year-- days off school during the election because there was rioting in the streets,  another trip to the Dominican Republic (this time on a tiny plane because the bus wasn't traveling due to the unrest in the city), our first Thanksgiving, a trip to Pennsylvania, and learning how to be together. 

We finally left Haiti in March of 2006.  Things were not easy here.  We came here without jobs, without a place to live (thanks Mom and Dad for helping us out!), and without much direction other than knowing we wanted to settle down here.  During that time we saw God's hand like never before.  He was such a wonderful Provider for us in that season.  We had so many trips to Lancaster and Philadelphia for immigration paperwork.  The lessons we learned during that time have brought us through some challenging times in our marriage.  In 2010 Ysmaille became a U.S. citizen and we started a new chapter.

Through it all, Ysmaille has been a steadfast and faithful husband.  We have some very real challenges, some moments that we felt so unprepared for this life, and some times us such pure joy that we can hardly contain it.  So, this Valentine's Day I celebrate our beginning and look forward to the rest of our journey together.  Ysmaille, ou gen ke'm. 

Reminiscing

Many of you know bits and pieces of the story behind Ysmaille and I, but I thought I'd write a little bit about our early experiences.  Since Valentine's Day is coming up in a few days I thought I'd celebrate by telling you the story of our life.

When I moved to Haiti in 2002 I did not go there for love.  I simply wasn't ready to settle down yet, and thought I'd be a little adventurous.  I moved out of my parent's house for the first time in my life and moved to a country where I didn't know a soul.  I lived in an apartment right outside the school where I taught with four other girls-- one American, one German, and two Haitian.  Ysmaille and I soon became friends and within a month or so we were a couple.  We had our first kiss outside the gate of my apartment under the bougainvillea flowers.  Our first date was at Tiger Mart gas station (a fact that would later save us) for ice cream.  We also rode on the back of motor cycles to explore downtown, hitch-hiked up the mountain for pottery, watched movies in French, and spent lazy Sunday afternoons talking about our future. 

The school year soon came to a close and it would soon be time for me to go back home.  Ysmaille had a half-scholarship to go to a school in New York, but was unable to get the visa so we embarked on a two-year long distance relationship.  Each Christmas, Easter, and Summer vacation I would spend a few days or weeks in Haiti hoping that one day we would together forever.

In the summer of 2004, while I was visiting Ysmaille, he asked me to be his wife and I said yes.  We decided to get married in Haiti because we didn't want to rely on a fiance visa.

In June of 2005 we had a gorgeous wedding at Hotel Montana, a beautiful hotel above Port-au-Prince.  It was a scary time in Haiti with kidnappings happening almost daily and the U.N. presence heavily noticeable, but I was blessed to have my entire family there for the wedding as well as several other treasured guests. 

We had an unconventional start to our honeymoon.  There were no flights from Port-au-Prince to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, but that didn't stop us.  On the morning after our wedding we left at 7:00 a.m. on a bus bound for Santo Domingo.  We made it past the border and to the capital.  Once in Santo Domingo we took a taxi to our resort.  The entire trip took nearly 14 hours.  Ironic when you consider how small the island of Hispaniola is.  After a week in Punta-Cana we traveled to La Romana, where our friends Karly and Tania, were now living.  We were not in a hurry to leave the DR because things were so tense in Haiti, so we took one more side trip to Santo Domingo to visit our friend Guerline.  While at Guerline's house we made a phone call to make an appointment at the US Embassy so Ysmaille could get a visa to visit my family for Christmas.

To be continued...

What's Happening

It's been awhile since I've blogged, so I wanted to let you know what is happening in my world.  Here's a recap:

 

{dreaming} of the Native American project my students are going to do when they get back.  Last night I literally had a dream about this.  School is never far from a teacher's mind, even during vacation.

 

{reading} In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden, a somewhat interesting book about the Johnstown Flood.  I actually never knew the flood was totally preventable.  It's definitely not the best book I've ever read, but certainly not the worst.

 

{crafting} a globe covered in Mod-Podged (is that an adjective?) maps.  It's a bit more complicated than I first anticipated, so I took a break from it.  I found that is my nature in general.  I'm a great visionary, but sometimes lack the oomph to finish.  I'm working on that part of my character and making some strides.

 

{eating} peanut brittle.  Gosh, I have such a sweet tooth. 

 

{watching} nothing.  Does anyone have a good Netflix reccomendation? I love watching TV series on Netflix.  I'm caught up on the following: Hart of Dixie, Switched at Birth, Private Practice, and Grey's Anatomy.  I need something new!

 

{learning} a new love and appreciation for my husband.  You will not believe what he can do by just watching a YouTube video.  In the past week he's replaced spark plugs, took apart his phone and replaced the broken glass, and is currently cleaning a random part of the car.  It looked a little like an old-fashioned pencil sharpener when he just walked through the living room carrying it, but I have absolutely no idea what it is.  Hopefully he knows.

 

{planning} Amirah's fourth birthday party.  She wants a pink butterfly theme.  We are currently working on decorations, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the cake.  That is NOT my area of expertise.  By the way, I cannot believe my baby is going to be 4!

 

{organizing} my life.  I am getting ready to do another "Happiness Project" for 2014.  January's goal is organization.  I got a head-start and cleaned the refrigerator and pantry this week.  I would like to organize every closet and drawer in this house, as well as clean vents, baseboards, etc.  I'll keep you posted on what the rest of the year will focus on.

 

{loving} my little family.  My kids are wild and crazy and I just love them to pieces.  My husband is a treasure and I am so grateful for him.

The Most Precious Tree of All

Oh, Christmas Tree... Oh, Christmas Tree...  I have a thing for traditions.  They are so important to me.  And the Tree during the holiday season is probably one of the most important for me.  It's a symbol of one of the reasons the holidays are so, so important to me-- family!  For as long as I can remember my family had two important holiday traditions.  #1.  We picked our own real tree.  #2.  Each year we got a new ornament.  I can remember Dad filling a five-gallon bucket and filled it with stones from the drive way to hold up the tree.  Some years they were beautifully round and full, and some years they were a little patchy, but it was our tree.  Ours to care for and decorate.  Mom always made sure we had a new ornament each year to hang on the tree.  When I went through my "Victorian" phase in the early 90s I got tea cup oranaments and fancy shoe ornaments.  When I became a teacher I got an Angel Tree teacher ornament.  The year I brought home my new husband there was an ornament with our picture in it.  Sigh.  It makes me so happy thinking about it. 

 

Now that I have my own little family I've passed that tradition on as well.  Tomorrow afternoon my entire family (Mom, Dad, my two sisters, two brothers-in-law, two neices, a new baby nephew, my husband, and own precious babies) will head over to Adams County.  Pick out three perfect trees and load them on to the back of my Dad's pick-up and he will deliver them to each house.  Then Ysmaille and I will put lights on the tree and Amirah and I will hang the ornaments.  This year I've decided to only use metallic ornaments.  What? you ask.  What about all your precious ornaments that you've collected over the years?  Those ornaments, those precious pieces of memory-keeping plastic and metal and clay have a place of honor all their own.  Those ornaments go on the ornament tree.  When Ysmaille and I first moved to the States from Haiti we were so very poor.  We really struggled those first several years and couldn't afford and didn't have room for a real tree.  We bought what some might refer to as a "Charlie Brown" tree.  That tree is now home to all my "real-life" ornaments.  And now my two children have their own ornaments-- some handmade, some bought by me, some bought by others who love them as well.  It is full to overflowing and a little crazy.  Last year it got knocked down more than once.  It is a beatiful representation to me of past, present, and future.  Full of memories and hope for the years to come. 

 

Here's the ornament tree.  Excuse the unsightly wires in the background.  Those will soon be covered.  My decorating is currently in the beginning stages where everything looks a little crazy.

 

This holiday season may you can continue old traditions and make new ones with the ones you love the most. 

Christmas Traditions... Is Santa Real?

I've been thinking a lot about Santa and his contribution to Christmas.  Last night I posted on facebook that we've always told our kids that we buy their gifts.  We talk about Santa, we look for him at the end of the parade, but it's certainly not the focus of our Christmas discussions.  It brought a lot of interesting opionions and thougths from friends on facebook and it got me to thinking...  My view on Santa has nothing to do with religion.  I am not opposed to people telling their kids about Santa.  It's just not that important to me.  Neither Ysmaille or myself grew up in a household that "believed" in Santa, so for us it's just not a big deal.  I know that sounds like we are total humbugs.  Let me assure you... we're not!  Here are the traditions that are important to us...  making sandtarts and letting the kids decorate them, picking out our own real Chrismtas tree and cutting it down, putting up our nativity made by Haitian artisans, reading the Christmas story form Luke 2, and spending time with the family we love.  Santa is only on the sidelines of our Christmas celebration. 

With that said, my precious almost-four-year-old has a devout belief in Santa this year.  When I reminded her that Daddy and Mommy buy her gifts she said, "you are tricking me, Mommy.  I know Santa buys my gifts."  So guess what?  We're going to roll with it.  If believing in Santa makes her happy and makes the holidays a little more magical I'm okay with that.  As for me, I'm just looking forward to the look on her face when she sees what we bought her, whether she thinks it's from me or Santa.

Best. Day. Ever

Okay.  It doesn't top my wedding day, or the day my children were born, or even Christmas, but seriously, today was so great.  It filled every part of my soul.  It started out nice and early.  I read a couple pages of Big Stone Gap.  If you haven't read this yet, you should!  My beautiful friend, Crissy, told me about this book and I can see why she reccomended it.  So good.  Anyway, I digress. 

 

At 7:30 I dropped my children at Mom's.  I went to the I Heart Homemade craft show.  How fun to go to craft show in my hometown that didn't involve snowmen, and primitive stars, and camoflauge.  No offense, if that is your decorating style.  It's definitely not mine and I pretty much loved every booth I visited.  I bought a pair of fun earrings.  Before I picked my kids up I went to Lowe's to get paint for a project I'm hoping to share very soon, and then visited my favorite thrift store.  Do you see how this is shaping up to be such a great day?  By 9:30 my soul was nearly full. 

A string of vintage Christmas bulbs for 50 cents

 

I worked a little bit on the painting project I mentioned earlier, and then got an urge...

 

... to go shopping!  Ysmaille and I have been sticking to a very strict budget to pay off debt and I mentioned to him that I have bought NOTHING new in a very long time.  He gave me some money to go shopping.  I made a killing at Kohl's.  For just over 50 dollars I scored two dresses (one with a belt), a pair of shorts and a tank top to match, a pair of coral pants with a matching tank, yoga pants, a t-shirt, a fun yellow bracelet, and a great necklace.  Plus I got $10 Kohls cash to spend next week.  I also bought a great winter coat at Target.  I am not a high maintenance kinda girl.  My nails are often chipped, I only blow dry my hair once a month, and some days I skip makeup.  But I am still a girl.  And buying new clothes made me feel so good!

 

After getting home from my little shopping excursion the family went to the mall.  Xander got his first real hair cut.  He looks so grown up.  I also got my hair cut.  Total spent for two haircuts and a tip: $32.  I told you I wasn't high maintenance. 

 

Look at my little boy's hair cut.  He's looking so grown up!

 

 

New hair cut

 

Now we are chilling at home.  I'm wearing my new yoga pants and I'm getting ready to eat a fresh out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookie.   Then it's baths for the kids, some book reading, snuggling, and general coziness. 

 

Ysmaille is going out with some of his friends tonight so after the babies are in bed I'm plannig to finish my book, watch an episode of Downton Abbey, eat yet another chocolate chip cookie, and maybe work on another craft project that's been rolling around in my head today.  My. Heart. Is. Full.  I have felt God's presence in everything I did today.  I know he loves these kinds of days, too.  After all, He's after my heart.  And He has it!

 

One last picture.... this corner of our kitchen just makes me happy.