The New House

We finally moved in. The move went smoothly. Here are some pictures of our house, "as is," today. The house is not on a military base. The house isn't all put together yet, but at least this will give you an idea of what it looks like.

Houses in Japan have names. Ours (and the two similar houses near ours) are called the Casa del Sol. That's our carport to the left.

Main floor, viewed from the entryway. We have computer desks to the right. One is the old gem we bought as newlyweds from Deseret Industries!

Our yard is nice and shady since it's enclosed by neighbors' houses! The kids are really enjoying having some outside space of our own.

Entry way and shoe cupboards. I made the third shoe cupboard into a toy cupboard. Works great! That's a new coat tree, because there is no coat closet. I want to get a little kids' bench to put in the entry way.

This is the same living room couch and easy chairs borrowed from the government that we had in our old apartment. The end tables and coffee table are different. We want to get our own coffee table that fits better!

Nice kitchen with American appliances. The top cupboards are very high, so I have to use that two-step stool. We have to separate our trash.

Main floor bathroom with impractical but cool sink.

Main floor bathroom, again. The door folds in two when it opens. The toilet has a full flush or a half flush function, depending on your needs!

Under-the-stairs storage room. Nice!

Laundry room doubles up to store canned food and other stuff. Can you see the baby clothes in the clean clothes pile? I'm getting ready... :)

Laundry room with American washer and dryer. Someone made that afghan for the baby.

I love it!

Twenty stairs to go upstairs! Imagine the echo up that stairwell. Any ideas to help that?

Upstairs hallway. I put a nice, cushy rug up there, but the echo is pretty bad.

Master bedroom. We put down a big rug yesterday. Love it!

The baby will sleep in here for a while.

Master bathroom and walk-in closet. They must think we Americans are really tall, because you really have to reach up to hang up your clothes. But we're getting used to that.

Master bathroom with another fun sink. We need a bathroom cabinet of some sort. I put the changing table in the bathroom for diapering the new little guy.

Yet another master bathroom shot so you can see the shower.

Emily's is the smallest of the kids' rooms, but my favorite since it doesn't have sliding doors. She got a new quilt from her Grandma Winterton when we moved in! We already had butterfly decorations in her old room, which we still need to put up.

All the kids' rooms have those closet shelves, and under the bottom shelf is another little rod to hang clothes so the kids can reach them.

Brandon's room. Nathan likes to play in here! Hopefully soon he'll move in here.

This is currently Nathan's room. The dresser doubles as a changing table. Eventually the baby will sleep in here with Nathan or alone. (Probably alone, if Nathan and Brandon work well together in a room.) These are temporary curtains, obviously!

This is the kids' bathroom. Inside those glass doors there's a shower next to the tub. I love this arrangement because the kids can splash outside the tub all they want. The floors are a rough texture for a no-slip surface. Fortunately there's a linen closet across the hall for storage, since there's a lack of a bathroom cabinet here as well.

Moving Time

Tomorrow is moving day. I honestly do not understand people who like to move often--especially those who do it by choice. Hopefully none of them do it by choice when they are almost full-term in their pregnancies. But actually, everything is going well so far. I just get a little stressed sometimes when I have a lot to do. But thanks for all those who are praying for us to have a smooth move, e.g., my parents!

Anyway, our email account has to be closed, so please use pauljillc@gmail.com to write us. I'll post more soon!

Happy Halloween!

Brandon (age 4), Emily (age 6 1/2), Nathan (age 2)

Even baby Gad/Issachar/Hogarth (gestational age 8 mos.) participated!

Our Cup Runneth Over

Emily was feeling down at the end of dinnertime tonight and was saying some self-pitying remarks. I held out my arms and she came and hugged me, a little weepy. I said she looked tired. She explained that she couldn’t sleep last night for a while. I suggested we have Family Home Evening on Tuesday this week so she and Brandon could go to bed early. Then she said a little more cheerfully, “No, I want to give the lesson, because it makes me feel better.” I said okay and asked what she wanted to give the lesson on. She decided to give the lesson on Thankfulness. She thought about it while the kids got their PJs on, and then said she wanted a plate and a cup, and water, and said she wanted us to say things we’re thankful for and put some water in the cup until it overflowed, and we’d say that our cup overflows with blessings. So we did this. We used a little scoop to add the water, and we each said something and added just that much water to the cup, and then slid the plate (a baby plate that would hold overflowing water!) to the next person. We did this as we ate our treat of brownies I had made (to save time). It was a brief but wonderful FHE, all planned by Emily! I am so impressed with her. At the end she explained about our cups overflowing with blessings (and sang a line from a version of "The Lord is My Shepherd" that has the words of Psalm 23). I had mentioned something before dinner to her about how Heavenly Father wants us to be thankful for what he’s given us, because she’d said she hated her life. I guess she took it to heart.

This topic has been on my mind lately. I always go into General Conference with questions in mind, so I can look for the answers in what the speakers say. One of my questions was how to handle having four kids--especially with one of them being a newborn. The answer came repeatedly—be thankful for what I have! That really does make my burdens feel lighter and help me take adversity in perspective.

All about Mom and Dad

Emily filled these out at a recent Primary Carnival at church.

Just desserts

Brandon got a cupcake in a bag to take home from preschool today for someone's birthday. I told him he could eat it at home after lunch. It was really hard for him to resist eating it before we got home. He snuck a couple licks outside the preschool. Then, after he got out of the car at home, he ran behind a tree while I was getting Nathan out and scarfed down what he could before he got caught. By the time I reached him, his hands were COVERED in yellow frosting, and his face, shirt, and shorts all bore evidence of cupcake consumption. The top of the cupake had fallen off in the dirt (but he'd licked off all the frosting already, so it was no big loss, I guess). I picked up the cupcake top and told him that's what he gets when he disobeys--he lost part of his cupcake. I told him not to touch anything and we went inside. Brandon started whining, "There's paper in my tummy," and pointing to his tummy, where yellow frosting was smudged on his shirt. I told him it's frosting and he could change his shirt at home. But he kept repeating the exact same thing and pointing to his tummy. Then in the elevator, he touched my elbow and, despite my good intentions, my elbow touched my white shirt. The next time he whined, "There's paper in my tummy!" and pointed to the yellow splotches on his shirt, in my irritation over my shirt getting messy, I snapped at him, "It's not paper, it's frosting!" He broke into tears, and after that I realized he was not talking about his messy shirt. In his rush to finish the cupcake before getting caught, he had ingested the cupcake paper! There really was paper in his tummy, and that just didn't sit right in his mind! I had a little more sympathy for him at that point (well, at least I acted like it), and told him it wouldn't make him sick and it "would just come out in his poopoo." (He could use a little extra fiber anyhow!) He was not comforted. Of course I had to throw in that if he had obeyed me and had waited to eat the cupcake at the table at home, he would not have been in a hurry and accidentally eaten the paper!

Homesick for the Farm

Our kids had a blast at their Grandma and Grandpa Finlayson's house this year. We spent almost six weeks there--longer than we'd ever stayed before. These weeks were a kid's dream. The first thing Emily mentions to people about the summer is picking berries. Brandon talks about helping Grandpa in the barn and riding with him on the tractor. There was also lots of playing with cousins, almost daily swimming in a big kiddie pool, a Fourth of July picnic and parade, trips to their really nice library children's room and devouring the books afterward (particularly Emily), treasure hunt picnics set up by Grandma, baking cookies, eating berry pies and other yummy stuff Grandma would bake, picking flowers to put in their rooms, riding a horse, playing mini golf, having a bonfire and making s'mores, and going to two different fairs we went to complete with fair food and carnival rides, not to mention lots of TLC from Grandma and Grandpa the entire trip. And if that weren't enough, Grandma and Grandpa Winterton came to town and we went swimming with them at their hotel two days in a row, went out to eat multiple times, got ice cream, and went to a hands-on children's museum that was a blast for the kids. So, this summer was heaven for our three little kids. Not to mention the exciting airplane rides.

We got back over a month and a half ago. Every day, Brandon still asks if we can go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. He frequently dictates email to me to send to them saying he wants to go to their house. Today his teacher told me that at the end of every class after they talk about the calendar, she'll say "See you Wednesday" or whatever the next preschool day is, and she said that every single time, Brandon says that he won't be there that day, because he's going to Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Great Day for Emily

Emily had a field trip to the Botanical Gardens today. She also got to see the "Enchanted Forest" across the way, where they have animals in cages to see. Mom and Dad W., you will remember both places. After that, they went to Araha Park, right by the ocean, to play and have lunch. Sadly for Emily, once she got back on the bus after that, she noticed that her pink castle zipper pull with her name on it had fallen off her backpack. She loved that thing. She was very sad when I picked her up from school. She told her teacher that Santa had given it to her (which I love, because most children Emily's age believe in Santa, and her teacher had no idea that Emily really knew it was her parents. And by the way, Emily blurted out to Brandon the other day that Santa was really us, but he is not a quick enough listener, so he is still a believer! Whew!) So this evening after dinner and baths, Emily and I drove over to Araha Park to look for her castle zipper pull. I suggested we stay a prayer for help finding it, but told her that sometimes Heavenly Father lets us lose things to learn something, like maybe that some things aren't as important as others. She said, "I know." She said the prayer in the car when we arrived at the park. It went something like this: "Heavenly Father, my castle decoration is very special to me. Please help me to find it so my parents won't have to spend money to buy another one." At the park, Emily remembered exactly where they had been and where they had walked. First we checked where they had lunch, and then she led the way where they had walked, and lo and behold, there was the zipper pull face-down in the dirt. Amazing! She suggested we say a "thank-you" prayer. I said "okay" and folded my arms, and she said, "Let's go over in the grass so we can kneel." So we did, and she said the prayer again. I was very happy for her. Proud, too.

Afterward, as I'd had in mind to do, I took her to Baskin Robbins. I told her not to tell Brandon so he wouldn't feel bad. (This is an idea I got from Paul. His mom had seven kids, and when she was out and about with one of them alone, she'd take him to get McDonald's or some special treat and tell him not to tell his siblings. As a result, each kid always thought they were the favorite!) Emily got some very purple and pink Cotton Candy ice cream and I got Peanut Butter and Chocolate. We got home close to her bedtime. Before she went to bed, Paul asked her what the best part of her day was--a special thing he does with Emily every evening to help her be positive about the day she'd had. She said it was getting ice cream with mom. He asked if that was even better than going to the Botanical Gardens, and she said yes. Even better than finding the zipper pull? Wow.

Found a New House

As many of you know, we have been looking for a new house here in Okinawa, for two reasons: (1) As civilians, we're allowed to live on base for a maximum of five years, and the end of that time period is approaching this December; (2) We want a new house! We can't wait to have another bedroom and a yard! The Dept. of Defense will pay for movers to move us off base, since the move is required.

Our fourth child is due to arrive about a month after we move. The timing is pretty good (although just a little close to the due date for my comfort), because it would have gotten a little hard to fit everyone in here, especially since, so far, our kids haven't been good room-sharers. We hope Brandon and Nathan will be able to share a room soon. They welcome the idea! Last night Nathan was still up right after I put Brandon to bed, and he went back to his room, opened the door, and climbed in bed with him. Before I shooed him out, I grabbed my camera and took a picture of them. Nathan was very perplexed about the little orange light he saw on the camera in the dark before I took the picture, as you can see!

So, we've been looking for a house for a few months, and finally found one in August! It has several characteristics we haven't enjoyed in a house before: (1) Single house, not in an apartment building; (2) Four bedrooms; (3) Laundry room; (4) Yard; (5) Garage (let alone any parking right by the house; (6) Two stories. It also has a dishwasher, which is not all that common in Okinawa, but something that I wasn't too willing to live without. It is a brand new house, still being built. It's due to be finished at the end of October. I'm pretty excited!

Another School Year

School began this month for Emily and Brandon. Emily is in first grade at Killin Elementary, just behind our building. I put her in a first-second grade "Multi-age" classroom. She is enjoying it. I am really amazed at the skills she's learning. It seems to be a big step above her kindergarten class, but one she is totally ready for. She's already doing things like 2-digit addition and subtraction and using editing marks to edit her own writing. Also, yesterday she asked me how to spell "balcony," and then she stopped and said, "Never mind, I'll just spell it phonetically."

Everyone in our family was sick for the first week of school except for Emily. What a blessing for her. She told Paul that she was excited and scared to start school again.

Brandon is in a four year-old class at Kuwae Preschool that he goes to three mornings per week. He seems to love it just like his class there last year. He has another great teacher, Mrs. Lavallee, and is always excited to go to preschool, and comes out of preschool happy every time. Brandon seems like such a big boy now. One thing I love about Brandon is how he will dig in and work hard at things. He likes to help around the house and learn to do things on his own. He isn't afraid to scrub hard or to lift heavy things.

Nathan stays with me. At first he wanted to join Brandon on the playground at his preschool, but he knows the routine now. Nathan is a full-blown two year-old in the sense that he has a greater desire to choose things for himself, such as what he'll wear and where he'll go. It's fun and difficult. You know. ;)