a thousand blue fish

Today was Alexander's first field trip and well, my first field trip as a teacher.  We went to the Momofoku Ando Instant Ramen Museum- the birthplace of instant noodles.  With 11 little people, Alexander being the most unruly, my nerves were somewhat frayed by the time we got back to school.  Alexander has a way of fraying my nerves at the moment.  He has reached a new level of stubbornness that would frighten most mere mortals, but I am not a mere mortal, I am his mother.  The most amusing or irritating thing he has come up with is "I am happy Mom" when I have to discipline him.  Yes, Alexander, you are happy and I am happy for you, but I am more interested in how happy you will be in your future. I just know as I know that if I am not able to bend his will in the right direction he will grow up to be man that is forceful, hard and demanding. In other news, my sister's boyfriend is fine.  It turned out to be something minor, but painful.  I rea...

I eat potatoes.  Everyday for lunch I eat potatoes smothered in butter and salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Oh my, so good! I remember listening in on a conversation at a spinning class years ago.  The discussion was on food and what one needed to eat to lose weight. One of the ladies proclaimed her love for the all-faithful spud.  The instructor told her love was not out of place so long as she never dressed her potato with a sauce.  The poor woman was heartbroken (she was Irish.) This potato diet of mine has helped me lose a mass of weight.  I’ve dropped not 1 but 2 pants size and I’m showing a shape that I don’t recognize. Wow.  If only I’d known that through my brief encounter with an eating disorder, the meal replacement milkshakes, the appetite suppressant drops, the Weight Watchers and Weighless (I am really not bashing the last two, they were just not for me).  How much time have I spent worrying about my body?  How mu...

Hello world... I'm back!!! And I have got news!!!  Firstly I'd love to share with you that we are now a gluten, dairy and sucrose free family!  Woohoo!  In this change Alexander has picked up weight and Emiel and I have lost weight.  Beatrice on the other hand is growing just as she should, beautifully! In other news...we are in the (very overwhelming) process of moving to Japan for a year!  God has done sooooo much in our hearts and I promise I will write a post just on that.  Two Sundays ago our pastor asked us if we'd be interested in going to Japan to teach and get involved with a church there.  My response was to burst into tears.  We WILL go WHEREVER God calls us!  Obviously we said yes.  This Sunday it was confirmed and thus began a VERY overwhelming week.  There are some MAJOR mountains that need moving before we can board a plane to an adventure we feel so called to.  Please, please pray for us and if you want to sup...