It's the little things

I have been racking my brain for the past week to come up with some witty things to write about. After my brain told me to stop, I came to realize my life is really in the little things right now. For example, just last week I had an entire, though short, transaction totally in Bulgarian.  This small thing put me on cloud nine for the week.  Eli would poop in his pants and I would think, "that's okay.  If I can converse in Bulgarian, I can handle a little poo."  Sounds crazy I know, but I praise the Lord for this small victory.  Back to Eli's potty training, he has actaully been doing very good.  He has had many days of no accidents, and today he actually informed us when he needed to use the restroom.  Tomorrow I am going to let him wear just underwear without the plastic coverings.  He is officially a big boy.  Hmmmm...this means it is time for another baby :)   No, I'm not pregnant, just saying. 
      Another example of the little things in life, I have mastered my way around our little area of town. I know what buses/trams/trambuses will take me where. I give all praise to the Master for this feat.   I went shopping with Audrey close to downtown and we had a blast.  I praise God for the wonderful daughter He gave us.  On our way home, we did get on one wrong bus, but that was not our fault.  The side of the bus had our number, but apparently it wasn't on the front, thus it was the wrong bus.  No problem, we got off at the next stop and just walked a little ways to the correct stop.  Plus, along the way we found another great underground shopping area with a National Geographic store.  This is great news because my children are fascinated with  the Nat.Geo.Wild channel.  They would rather watch it than Disney channel or most anyhting else.  Hey, what can I say, we are raising our kids to be nerds just like us :)    But again, I praise the Father for kids who love to learn about His creation.
        So, while this blog isn't extrememly awe inspiring, I hope it has maybe made you stop and think to praise God for the little things in life.

Our package adventure!

It was a Thursday.  I'll never forget it.  We had received info that our first package from America was here!  The excitement was overwhelming, but not as much as the idea of how to pick it up.  We haven't covered asking for, or recieving directions. So on an adventurous whim, Steven and I set out to conquer this task.  I met him at 10:30 outside his language class and we headed out.  We didn't make it far down the block before we went back to the teacher and asked her how to get to the "central" post office.  She showed us on the map where it was located and we mapped out what trams/buses/bustrams we needed to take to get there.  And again we were off!  We made it to the destination the teacher had shown us, only to be turned away from every post office signed door we walked through.  Everyone who turned us away tried to correct our ere in direction, unfortunatly it was always in Bulgarian.  It was then I thought to call our team leaders wife (who is Bulgarian) and ask her where exactly this place is.  After reading her the piece of paper we had, she told us our package wasn't at the post office at all. It was at the customs office next to the train and bus station.  Ohhhhhhh.  That explains it.  SO, we checked the map, checked our time, decided we could make it, and headed for the stations.  By this time it was 11:45 so we stopped and ate a brief lunch.  Eating seemed to give us a new found energy to continue on our way, so we hopped on the next bus we needed and made it to the stations.  Once there we thought, "It's a train station.  Surely we can find someone that speaks english."  HA!  It wasn't until the fourth person we asked, that we got some kind of general direction to head in.  "Past the bus station," was all we got, so again, off we went.  We walked past the bus station, down a hill and into the customs office.  YES!!! We had made it!!!!  They were closed for lunch.  I'm so not kidding. So we sat and waited for about 20 minutes for the little window to open.  A small line(mob) formed, but we eventually made it to the front and handed over our slip of paper, only to have it thrust back at us and some bulgarian language as well.  All we could gather was that we were supposed to fill out some information on the back.  It was all in Bulgarian, how were we supposed to know that?  Steven asked if anyone spoke english, "neh" was the response.  We were not budging.  By this time, Christ could have returned and I would have asked Him to just let me get this package before going to glory.  After some interesting looks she asked for(in a disgusted tone) a passport.  Steven handed her the copy of his passport.  "This not passport." she said.  It was all the same info, but she wasn't going to take it, so Steven pulled out his drivers license as well.  She finally took it and used some of the info to fill out the back of the paper.( All the while keeping the copy of his passport)  We were then directed to another line to talk with the customs agent, who upon realizing we spoke no Bulgarian just signed and stamped the paper only to send us back to the same line.  We approached Ms. Happy again, and she looked oh so happy to see us.*sarcasm implied*  We payed the 4 leva for the packag and were handed a reciept and another piece of paper to take to another window to actually pick up the package.  Before we left Steven asked for his passport copy back.  She looked at him and wasn't going to give it back until he insisted.  Praise the Lord, another man had seen our plight and showed us where to go to pick up the package.  Finally, after 3 hours, 4 buses, 3 windows, and Ms. Happy we had our package!  Was it worth...oh yeah!  We found a much shorter route home and made it in time to pickup all the kids on time.  Plus Steven and I had a great time together.  I praise the Lord for the awesome husband I have to share in these adventures with me!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today was a great day. Other than the fact that I turned one year older...man, 29 is a tough year ;)  Really, even though the weather was misty rain all day, I still found joy in my day.  It was a restful morning.  Steven got the kids all ready for daycare, and I got to sleep in.  Now, before you think wow, what a great guy...just wait, it gets better. He actually does this most days during the week.  Okay, now you can be jealous!  Yes, he gets them breakfast, makes their lunch, and sometimes even dressed, all while letting me sleep.  I am so spoiled!  But hey, I did walk them all to daycare in the drizzle, so I pull my weight.  After dropping them all off, I came home, did a lttle laundry, cleaned up a little and watched a movie.  Yep, one exciting lady here!  The best part of the day was the mexican reseraunt we found. It reminded me of a Chipotle, but with way fewer ingredients.  However, the ingredients they did have were the closest we have had yet to real Tex-Mex.  Then Steven and the kids got me an ice cream cake from the store.  All in all, it was one of those days that you look back on and can't really remember doing anything spectacular, but you just remember it being a really great day! 

I vow to do better!

Okay, as of today, Sunday here, I vow to do better at keeping our blog updated.  I am going to pick one day a week to be my blog day, and if anyhting else pops up before then I may even post more than once.(but don't get your hopes up :)  Language is going good, and Steven and I have found that we are starting to pick up words in conversations.  We have also learned how to ask, " Do you speak English?"  and how to reply, "I don't speak Bulgarian.  Only a little, I am learning."  This has come in handy.  I was very proud of myself just this morning for understanding that the sweet little old lady next to us on the bus was asking me how old Eli was.  I was able to give a brief answer then interpret that she had 2 grandchildren, one was 2 and the other was 4.  I then was able to tell her that Jonathan was 5 and Audrey was 7.  Now, before you get the impression that I am anywhere near proficient, all of this was relayed in broken, very badly spoken, Bulgarski.  But, hey, that was my victory for today! 
         Eli's potty training is going good.  He has gone a couple of days with no accidents and these are very good days!!!  Then there are days he does it just to spite me.  Okay.....maybe not, but it feels like that.  His personality is very much like that of his sister.  Very headstrong, and determined.  As usual this kind of freaks out other parents around us on the playground.  Steven and I have observed that parents here are very protective of their children.  Even the bigger ones.  They are never far away from them on the playground, and if the child climbs anything over 3 feet high, the parent is right there for assistance.  Well, you can imagine how it looks when I am letting my little guy scale a climbing wall, flip over the top, and descend the other side.  All while passing up what looks like a 5 year old little boy.  As I puff up with pride at my sons gross motor ability, I look around and see all the other parents looking at me in sheer horror and disbelief that I would even let him attempt it.  I simply smile, tell him "way to go!" in english, and they all understand...oh, they're just crazy Americans. :)
   Jonathan and Audrey are doing good.  Audrey is on holiday until Apr.11, so she has been working on her American schoolwork this week, and will be going with the boys to childcare next week.  We are getting used to living in an apt. and I think the park right down the street is helping.  The weather has been really nice for the past couple of days and there is always alot going on in the park.  Plus we use it as a meeting place.  Steven has already met another man and his child that were from England, and we are getting to know the family of the little boy that translates for Audrey in school.  They are really nice and have a neat story.  He is from Mexico, she is from Bulgaria, and they met in college in Colorado, USA.  HA!  Isn't that great! 
     Well, I have babbled on enough.  Overall, life here is good!  We are loving exploring the city(sometimes getting a little lost), eating yummy new foods, and meeting new people.  May God be glorified in all we do here!