Packing

I hate packing. But I have discovered a whole new level of abhorring in packing -- the triple pack. I can't just throw stuff in boxes and label what it has in it and what room it goes to, I have to separate. I have to pack stuff to store for however long that will be, pack stuff that I will want if we are settled somewhere for months or going overseas, and keep stuff that I will need immediately. I think I have perpetual headache. I am pretty good at packing (Lord knows I've had enough practice), but this is tough. It just takes more time than regular packing.

Gabe is stressed out by the process (probably due to the level of stress Matt and I have been at in addition to the stuff going in boxes). He is handling things as well as I can expect though. He also has a pretty good grasp at what is going on; the down side being that although we haven't made a big deal about it, he knows he's not going to be with Daddy all the time. For all of us, that is the worst part of this situation.

So, what exactly is going on, you may ask. Well, Matt is not quite done, but my job is a school year, by school year sort of thing, so I will be leaving my job shortly and this coincides with our lease ending. Matt will defend his dissertation in September but stay on at the university until he has a job so that he's still getting a paycheck. Unfortunately that's not really enough for us to live on here, so while we wait to determine what job Matt gets and will accept, I am going to take advantage of my free time and visit people. I am going to start out at Bobbi and Dano's for a couple weeks, then perhaps, see Mike and Kathy. I will stop at my grandma's on the way to my parents, and round out the whole thing with a short stay at my brother's which would put me back in Iowa, so we'll go see Matt and give him some support before he defends.

Whether we go to the Netherlands or to another job, we'll still have some time to kill, so the boys and I will be going to live with Bobbi and Dano from about September to whenever we are ready to move to our new home.

Coconut Cup

Matt is back. His trip was good. He enjoyed the conference in Germany and made contacts with other younger scientists that he may be able to work with in the future. He ate dinner with a count too. And of course, everyone brings back souvenirs of their travels and Matt is no different. However, his souvenir is a bit odd, while in Bavaria he decided the best thing to remember the trip by was a coconut cup. He went to a bar with some people that had a tropical theme. The pretzels were in these really cool coconut cups so he bought one from them. I'm sure if he went some place tropical he'd come home with winter gear or something.

Anyway. His interview in the Netherlands went well, but we still don't have enough information to know whether or not this will happen. He is expecting a formal job offer to come next week, if there will be one. The ballpark salary is not perfect. It's a nice figure, but with the expense of relocating to another country and the expense of living in that area, it may not be enough. But he was told there would be benefits, so we just need to know the details to see if it will work or not. He really liked the lab and the job they offered is ideal. He would be like a staff scientist and get the freedom to pursue his own research while checking up on all the other groups and getting involved with all the other research going on.

I am leaving tomorrow for our youth trip. We are going to South Carolina to do home repairs through a youth work camp. I am looking forward to the experience but I just got Matt back home and I will miss the boys terribly. Hopefully the traveling will be easy. I just went to visit my sister and there wasn't a lot of traffic. I am thinking that the gas prices really are limiting some people's travel.

The boys are good. Gabe has been quite the little helper while we were on our own. He is so good with Chi. He has been glued to Matt's side since he has been home. Chi is fine. He just had a check up and is as healthy as can be. He is now sitting very well. He still falls over easily, but he is much more stable than he was.

Just another Thursday

Matt is in D.C. He left this morning and he had already met up with his group that is going to the conference. They will all travel to Lindau together. Bobbie is here to help with the boys, but since we made her get up so early to get Matt to the airport, she has today to recooperate from the travels and such. So the boys are at daycare. Today is normal for them although Gabe does know Matt is gone.

Bobbie tells me that Chi is actually bigger than Slyvie. He is a big kid, but I find that amazing. He is getting better at sitting up on his own. He is strong, but he hasn't coordinated everything for crawling yet. He is such a happy kid. I love getting him in the morning because he just looks up at you and then when he realizes you are there to get him out of his crib his face just breaks into the biggest smile.

Gabe has been learning the story of Moses at daycare. He made a staff/serpent and acts out the part where Pharoh wants a sign and Moses throws down his walking stick and it becomes a snake. Oh, he was thrilled by the idea of a burning bush and wanted to know if he could see one. (Personally I thought whenever God has spoken directly to someone they got roped into doing something that they didn't really want to do, so I wouldn't want to run into a burning bush, but I saved that thought for me. I just told him, I don't know if he'll see one. He'll just have to keep his eyes open.) He also sings the song "Pharoh, Pharoh" which is to the tune of "Louie, Louie" so that's fun. I think they are parting the Red Sea today. I hope that works out for them. :)

Why we need to pay attention

George Bush is not dumb. He's calculating and he uses his "dumbness" as a wall to hide behind and we've been letting him. Have you had enough war yet? Are we any safer? Ha. Well, pay attention folks because Bush has been gunning for Iran and he is following a plan we were blindly ignoring.

Did you ever ask yourself, why after all this time did Bush want to get involved int the "peace process" with Israel and Palestine? Bush is so very clever. What is the only thing Americans pay attention to in an election year? The election. Bush has a great excuse for closed door meetings with the Israelis that dosen't raise suspicion because it's all about peace with Palestine.

Our country has been pretty clear that we don't want to go to war with Iran too. (By the way, if we do forget driving anywhere, gas will be for the rich only.) Congress may actually wake up and not give it's consent. So, Bush has planned the way around that. Make Israel do it. It hasn't consistently made top news, though it should have, but Israel is threatening to bomb Iran to take out their nuclear infrastructure. If they do that, Iran fights back and as Israel's ally it will be our responsibility to go to war with Iran.

It's the perfect plan really. That truce right now. It's only in Israel's interest to have a truce so that it can focus it's attention on Iran. And yes, Iran's leader is a nutjob who hates Israel, but the people of Iran don't want to go to war. Are we really morally prepared to kill innocent people because one guy likes to strut and talk big? Are bombs really the only solution. No one is under direct threat right now and Ahjmadimijad is an elected leader who won't be in office forever.

Our president loves being a war time president and why not? Everyone he's tied to is getting super rich. His administration has not been a failure as so often said lately. It's been a tremendous success if you care more for corporate power and money than actual living and breathing people who make up the majority of this country. It's time to say no more. Don't pretend he can't do anything as a lame duck.

Whaaat?!!?

Bobbie sent some info about preschools in Ft. Wayne should we be staying there for awhile. The church affliation was Missouri Synod Lutheran. (We are ELCA, I'm not going to hash out the differences here. Suffice to say, it makes more of a difference for an adult than a child.) So I said to Matt, "I don't mind if he goes to a Missouri Synod preschool..." "Whaat?!?!" yells Gabe. Very incredulous, as if, how dare you send me to a Missouri synod preschool. It is hard to convey the funny-ness of the moment with words. (I think he thought I wanted to send him to Missouri.)

Last night a couple of the guys from youth group wanted to play Monopoly. We started at 7 pm. I finally kicked them out at 11 pm, but we weren't finished, so we had to pick the game up where we left off this morning. I actually won! I never win Monopoly. And I never play long enough for someone to actually win the whole board and knock everyone out, but that's what happened. I must say, that I am feeling fantasticly cool today.

Chi has this thing now where he sticks his toungue out a little and curls it over his upper lip. Haven't managed to catch it on camera yet, but it is so cute. It's as if he is always saying, "Hmm. Think. Think. Think."

Lenny Kravitz can come to dinner

Matt introduced Gabe to Lenny Kravitz (a musician, in case you don't know) while riding in the car. Gabe particularly liked "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and likes to sing the guitar riffs. When Matt asked if he liked Lenny Kravitz, Gabe responded, "Yes. He can come to dinner."

What else are they doing? It's funny. Something happens during the day and we find it so humorous we say, I should put that on the blog, but then by the time they go to sleep and I can type in peace, everything just goes right out of my head. Malachi just grows and grows. He is now wearing 6-9 month clothes; I guess it's only a month early and that is not unusual, but he was so small when he was born sometimes it amazes me.He is capable of moving himself around, he just can't be bothered to do it most of the time. Last night Matt put him down in his crib with his head at one end, and in the morning his head was at the other end. He can sit on his own very briefly, but he's improving each day.

Last week Gabe went to Vacation Bible School. Our church and another church partnered for it, so he went to a different church each day. He really liked it, but was so tired and whiny each day. It was a lot for him. He was upset that it was only a week long, but somehow got it into his head that the reason it was short was that it was just a practice for preschool. He decided that he is ready for preschool. The kid really cracks me up. Where does he come up with this stuff?

Matt leaves in a week and a half for his European adventure. First to Germany for the conference and then to the Netherlands for his job interview. We just rented a storage unit. We are going to start moving stuff that we don't use into the unit this week. Our goal is to move stuff so that it isn't a mad rush to figure out where we need to stick everything at the end of July. Matt gets back July 9 and I leave on the 12th for a week trip with the youth group. Once I am back, there just isn't a lot of time before our lease is up. And no, we don't know what happens at that point. And yes, we are stressed out about that, but it is what it is.

The Boys

Yesterday Gabe rode on a float in a parade. Every year Story City celebrates Scandinavian Days which means I had to learn to spell Scandinavian :) But more importantly, they always have a parade and the church always has something in the parade, so Gabe rode his first float. It is a long parade route and he was loving it at first, then he got a bit tired and then he just broke down when he wanted off. In all fairness, I told him the end was at the church and we got to the church and went right past. The parade was over but we had to take the float back to the garage. So anyways, he just started crying when we didn't stop at the church. But now he remembers the event fondly.

We were going to take in some of the events today, but the rainy weather has kept us home. We are not personally dealing with flooding, but there has been flooding in the area and it is going to be a problem again. All the rivers around us are already above flood stage and it keeps raining. Today we questioned whether we would be able to get to the church because of the water, but we made it. I have to go back tonight for youth group, so hopefully I'll get through all right. I have two spots to get through that have the potential to flood.

Chi, Gabe and I have all been fighting a particularly nasty cold. I have been sick for a full week now and Gabe is just over a week. Chi is at about a week as well. We are just so stuffed up and having a hard time breathing.

Otherwise Chi is doing well. He has decided that rice cereal and even oatmeal is not that great, but vegetables and fruits are fantastic. His favorites are peas, green beans and bananas. He stares jealously any time anyone is eating. He is so ready for regular food; too bad he can't actually eat it yet. He can roll, but doesn't do it much. He seems to think there isn't much to be gained in rolling. He also enjoyed his first experience at the swimming pool. He liked kicking and he also liked floating on his back.

Oh, and speaking of the pool, Gabe is growing up. He now jumps off the edge into the shallow end with no help. He doesn't want to be caught anymore. It's a little hard to adjust to him not needing me, but it is nice to see him so brave and independent and confident about it.