This just in......

Ethan has his first wobbly tooth. He is very excited and can't wait for it to come out! For those of you in the States, we'd say he has a loose tooth. Funny, his fav book these days is Charlie and Lola's: My Woobly Tooth Must NEVER EVER fall out!
Michele

Christmas morning, Belfast style

Good morning and Merry Christmas! God has been so good to us this year. He has given us good friends on both sides of the "pond", as well as everything we need and more. He continues to amaze me, knowing what we need before we even know!
In Sept, my school had prize night. The speaker was an older doctor who had spent most of her working life in Africa as a missionary. One story she told really sticks with me. She was working as the only doc in a hospital, seeing a 1000 patients each day. One patient died in childbirth leaving older children as well as the new baby. The doctor went to visit the children who lived at the orphanage adn told them about the new baby and her three year old sister. She told them that the last hot water bottle had burst and it was the only way to keep the baby warm. One little girl, called Ruth, told her that they would pray for a package and God would send what they needed. Ruth added: And God, send it today, not tomrorow because tomorrow will be too late and the baby will die. Oh, and God, send a dolly for the little girl whose Mummy died as she must be missing her". Three years into her time in Africa, this doctor had never gotten a package. Going back to her house, she found a large box, send from a girls school in London. Inside the box was a hot water bottle (as she remarked, who would send one to the tropics!), bandages, jumpers for the children, and a baby doll. The package had been sent three months before. Just like our Father to know what we need, before we do! Have a blessed Christmas.
Michele and Ethan

My little show stealer!

Hello and Merry (Happy) Christmas from this side of the EArth! We've had a great day. This morning we went to church with our dear friends Fiona and Noel and their children, James and Naomi. The children were in a Christmas show and the Sunday school teacher asked ethan if he'd like to be a part of the show as well. I got to be the Mama of the newest shepperd! He did a great job, as did all the kids. We enjoyed the service and then went for a late lunch at their house. Yummy chicken and veg. I don't know how she does it, but Fiona always makes the most amazing food! Took the kids for a walk and then came home. We ordered pizza, a tradition for us, and then the neighbour kids came to play. We're really going to miss Lewis and Adam, as well as their mum and dad! E is in bed, having left cookies and milk for Santa (or Father Christmas!). I've started the countdown and as of tomorrow we'll be home in 25 days! It's hard being away from my family this Christmas, but God is good always and has given us some great friends here.
Love to all our friends, both real and in cyberland!
Merry Christmas and may God bless you !
Michele and Ethan

It's Christmas time in the city (Belfast city, that is)

but there's no snow falling on the ground (sorry for the Elvis flashback, but my Mom always plays that during Dec.). We had a good time today in Carrick, got some good pix, but still have no way of uploading them :(. Oh, well. We had lunch in the mall (okay not great) and then headed to the castle. We discovered two new rooms this time-both food related, and I picked up some new books for our history cycle. We'll start the Story of the World books this Summer. We walked back up to the train station and then headed home where we stopped in a few shops as we made our way back down our street. Fish and chips from the chippy (bless her!) tonight and I'm surfing the net and eating vanilla fudge (so not a US thing-but still very tasty!). We're now on the count down as we have less than a month to go! Woo hoo! (Have I been saying that alot the last week or so?). I can't wait to be a HS mama again! DS can't wait to be a HS child again! Still, the school here has been great, we're just not traditional school people (well, other than the fact that my passion is teaching). We are enjoynig (I hope) a quiet day at home tomorrow. We'll read the Christmas story and E will be allowed to open one pressie tomorrow night before bed. We've got our Happy Birthday Jesus/Christmas cake too!
xoxo,
Michele

vacaciones!

Woo hoo! It is early Sat. morning, the first real day of holiday for us! I finished at noon on Wed, and Mr. E finished yesterday at 1:30. I'll be off til the 4th of Jan, and E will go back on the 9th (yes, you read that right!). Our time here is coming to an end and it is bittersweet. We will miss all of our friends here as well as many things in regard to the way of life. Still, we can't wait to get home and see family and friends, and dare I say it-Wal-mart. I never thought I'd miss it! I miss my car les than I thought and I mroe or less enjoy all the walking we do. Even E is getting used to it as well! Today we are heading in to Carrick to visit the castle (must remember camera this time!) and to walk round the town. I hope to stop by one of the fab home bakeries that they have there! We took the bus last night and had to wait almost an hour for the next bus, so today we'll take the train. Sure, it makes for a longer walk, but at least we can wait inside at the station! It's nice to be on break, but it still feels a bit unreal. I feel like I need to get up and DO something!
Hugs for now from NI!
Michele and EThan

vacaciones!

Woo hoo! It is early Sat. morning, the first real day of holiday for us! I finished at noon on Wed, and Mr. E finished yesterday at 1:30. I'll be off til the 4th of Jan, and E will go back on the 9th (yes, you read that right!). Our time here is coming to an end and it is bittersweet. We will miss all of our friends here as well as many things in regard to the way of life. Still, we can't wait to get home and see family and friends, and dare I say it-Wal-mart. I never thought I'd miss it! I miss my car les than I thought and I mroe or less enjoy all the walking we do. Even E is getting used to it as well! Today we are heading in to Carrick to visit the castle (must remember camera this time!) and to walk round the town. I hope to stop by one of the fab home bakeries that they have there! We took the bus last night and had to wait almost an hour for the next bus, so today we'll take the train. Sure, it makes for a longer walk, but at least we can wait inside at the station! It's nice to be on break, but it still feels a bit unreal. I feel like I need to get up and DO something!
Hugs for now from NI!
Michele and EThan

In less than six weeks......

we'll be back in America. We've had a really good time and met lots of nice people, but it has to be said that there is no place like home. Really, there have not been tons of times that I've been really homesick. I don't really miss places, just people. We've been able to see some amazing sites that God put on this Earth, and to experience many things living here that we would not have as visitors. Still, I think being closer to the time we leave has made me wish for home more than I ever have. We leave on the 20th of January. So, I have about a week more of school before the break, two weeks of Christmas break, and then about two weeks of school time before we leave. Indiana, we miss you!
ML and EE

This week......

is the last full week before Christmas break. We go 2.5 days next week and Mr. E will be coming to school with me on the half day on Wed. I think it will be nice for him to see where I go everyday. I half think that be thinks that I drop him off at nursery and then go back home to bed (wouldn't that be lovely!). For the next two days I'm on loan to another school in our area. I'm off to observe, do a bit of a TPRS demo etc. I'm looking forward to it! The lights are off in our house AGAIN! This has been happening for a couple of weeks now. We go days without lights (not really, the neighbour will be home at about seven to turn them on again). We keep blowing breakers which worries me more than a little bit. IN other news, we got our Christmas tree up last night and it looks so cute sitting in it's little terre cotta pot. My kids at school are making pinatas this week (and last). They are doing a great job, but I'll be glad when we are finished. I got some gifts wrapped last night-woo hoo! We also did a trip on the Santa Train (old steam engine) with Fiona and crew adn Mr. e had a blast.
More random thoughts and news later!
with love,
ML and eE

Thanksgiving Revisited

I'm been meaning to write this post for about two weeks now, but have had little energy to blog.
On the Saturday following Thanksgiving, I headed to the butchers in order to pick up our T-day bird. I had opted for a turkey breast as the butcher could stuff it, and we'd have less waste. Having never cooked a turkey, I decided to be brave (or was that stupid) and invite 17 people for tea. People here have been so kind to us, and so I wanted to say thanks (we have tons to be thankful for and more so this year!) by making Turkey day for them. I carried home the turkey like a baby (imagine a 14 lb turkey breast!). In addition to the turkey, we had stuffing, cranberry sauce (made by Ocean Spray, just like at home!), mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, new potatoes, corn, stuffed eggs, broccoli bake etc. Pudding was pumpkin pie (thanks Fiona!), aple crumble (thanks Katherine!) and Key lime cheesecake. Joan (thanks joan!) also came with a winter berry cheesecake. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, and we had a nice night of craic, food and wine. My wonderful neighbours stayed to help clean up (and finish up the wine!). For those wondering, craic has nothing to do with drugs but is an Irish word meaning a good time!
God has given us a lot to be thankful for!
Michele