It's been a good week.......

Despite Jeff being gone since Sunday (for a full 2 weeks) I've had a pretty good week. Melissa didn't leave until Monday afternoon so we hung out until then. Tuesday I went to the ABT (abs/butt/thighs) class at the American Club and while I DIED during the class and still have so much tightness in my thighs that going down stairs is tough, I met a couple of girls there that I enjoyed talking to.
Wednesday morning I went to a meeting with my friend Kirsten (from Shanghai) for the organization Caring for Cambodia. (www.caringforcambodia.org) They are an incredible organization started by Jamie Amelio. She and her husband moved to Singapore from Austin around 2002 I think, he was with Dell at the time. He has since moved on to run all of Lenovo. They visited Cambodia early on in their time here and were deeply affected by the country, it's people and it's recent history. You can read more about it on her website and other websites I'm sure but the jist of it is in the 1970's a regime took over and decided to kill anyone and everyone who was considered an "intellectual." This included all doctors, teachers and other professionals, anyone who went to college, anyone who spoke a 2nd language and anyone who wore glasses because they looked like they were intelligent. I believe around 4 million people were killed though my numbers could be off. Horrendously awful. That has left a generation of uneducated people throughout the entire country trying to put their lives back together. These adults, now parents, never went to school so they don't have any idea what their kids should be getting as far as education, hygeine etc. So Jamie and her husband, Bill, opened up a school and got some teachers and supplies. That, I think, was 2003. Now, in 2008, they have 5 schools that serve 5000 students. They do teacher training, now they have a trainer living there doing it full time. They serve breakfast to the students, usually their only meal of the day. They give each child a toothbrush (a new one every 4 months) and have taught them how to use it. The list goes on and on. It's amazing what the ladies of CFC have done and are planning to do. I'm really excited to see what part I can play in helping their cause. I'm hoping to go on a trip to build a house there, or work on the new school they are planning, something to help out! Anyway, as always I am reminded how incredibly lucky we are to have been born where we were, when we were, it's mind-blowing the horror, tragedy and poverty others have to deal with. On a happier note, again I met some great women at that meeting.
This morning I had a coffee with the other moms of Reed's class. Turns out one family is a Dell family, all of the moms are really nice, it's going to be fun to do some volunteering with them. After dinner tonight the boys and I walked over to the closest mall so I could get Graham some passport photos for his SAS application for next year. I ended up meeting a girl there with 2 boys who is from Houston. She has only been in Singapore 8 weeks, it's her first assignment and I could see in her where I was 3 years ago in Shanghai. We exchanged numbers and she said she had met some other moms and had started a lunch thing and will let me know the next time they get together. THEN after the pictures were done we were headed into McDonalds for some ice cream (my bribe to get them to be good while we were waiting) and ran into a boy in Reed's class and his twin brother, they also ride the bus with Reed. I had met their mom once before and she was really nice. Reed gave Noah a big hug, then Graham went up and hugged him too, which I don't think Noah really cared for considering he had never even met Graham before! We sat and chatted for quite awhile, they live close by so we are going to get together this weekend hopefully, and figured out that she is friends with the Houston girl I had just met, a part of her "lunch group." The world is so small.
If there is anyone still reading this long and boring post, the reason it's been a good week is obviously I've been meeting some people and hopefully finding a cause to work on to replace my beloved orphanage work.
I got a note from my friend in Shanghai who I always went to the orphanage with and she was able to get in and see the kids after a 6 month ban on volunteers there. She said my precious girls are still there, said it was sad how little things had changed with all of them, at that age 2-4, they should all be changing on a daily basis and sounds like they haven't. But the good news is I should be able to go and love on them in November when Graham and I head up there for a weeklong visit.
Reed is off of school tomorrow so I am taking him back to Sentosa Island, look for pictures of him with a bird on his arm soon.

This past weekend

My friend Melissa from Shanghai was in town with her 18 month old, Morgan. On Thursday she and I took Morgan and Graham to Sentosa Island. There is a small bird and butterfly park there, Graham got to get up close and personal with some birds. We also got to touch the stingrays, sharks and fish at the Underwater World there. On Saturday we took all the kids to the zoo. We had been to the night safari but not the regular zoo, it's really, really a nice zoo. Reed couldn't understand why we couldn't run with the kangaroos like we did in Australia or why we couldn't pet the goats like we did in Kansas City, but overall, we really enjoyed it. We didn't get a lot of great pix there so I'll move on to Sunday.

The American Club had it's 60th birthday party on Sunday so we went. They had a great buffet, we stuffed ourselves and then joined in the festivities. We spent the afternoon by the pool, they had little paddleboats for the kids. I'm really amazed at Reed's patience to stand in line forever for things he loves to do. There was also a live band playing 80's and 90's music. Had to show you a picture of one of the lead singers. He is a transvestite. Can you tell which one he is? They are a really fun band, we had a great time.

Finally, a cute shot of Morgan eating some pasta today before playing at a My Gym. She insists on feeding herself!!! Little miss Independence!

I'm not a very good blogger.....

I have thought of so many things over the past 2 or 3 weeks that would be really cool to write about on our blog. Things we've done, things I've seen. My thoughts on the presidential race that I know everyone is dying to hear about. But I have this belief that I need to always post pictures as well and I seem to procrastinate downloading then uploading, so I don't do anything. I'm going to make myself sit at our desk for 30 minutes every day to keep up on things. I won't blog every day I'm sure, but hopefully at least every few days so anyone who reads this will know what we are doing here on this side of the world. I'm also trying to figure out the best layout for the darn thing. Erin, I know I'm basically copying yours, take it as a compliment! :) So, that is that. I'm going to download some pics after the kiddos go to bed so hopefully there will be 2 posts before y'all even wake up!

Graham Cracker

I'm excited to say that Graham has gone happily to school the past 2 days. Tuesday I took him early so I could drop him off in his classroom rather than the assembly room. He still wasn't thrilled but the teacher bribed him with M&Ms and I left. Zeny picked him up and she said he didn't have any issues when he went to assembly so I thought that was good. Wednesday he didn't get up early enough to go early but didn't seem too distressed when he saw his ugly uniform so I knew that was a good sign. We walked to school and he talked about all the cars and trucks and taxis and sports cars and minivans that we passed. We got to the door of the assembly room, he walked in, an assistant teacher took his backpack, I asked for a kiss, he gave me one and went to sit down by his classmates. Same thing today, I peeked in after about a minute and he was standing up with everyone dancing to the music, which is all sung in Chinese on Tuesdays and Thursdays. SO! I think it's safe to say he has adjusted and of course, tomorrow is the last day of the quarter and then he's off for 2 weeks so we'll probably have to start all over again!

Boys in Uniform....

Ok, I decided to go ahead and post a couple pictures of the boys on the first day of school. Reed and Jeff after breakfast (note how dark it is!), Reed all ready to ride the bus for 45 minutes with his DS and Graham on the elevator, still happy.........!

Lovin' Life in Singapore!

Well, we've been in Singapore 3 weeks (Jeff 2 months) and everyone is settling in nicely. We really love the apartment even with it's small rooms. The view is incredible and we have enjoyed watching fireworks, storms rolling in from the sea, buses (Graham loves to shout "I see a bus!") etc. from our living room. We had only been here 5 days when we had Reed's 5th birthday party with our friends the Crocketts and Bhargavas, it was a lot of fun.
Reed is loving his school even though he has to get on the bus before 7 AM. Graham seems to pretty much be hating his school, at least every morning he begins the day by saying I'm not going to school and fights it all the way to school. He must eventually calm down as when he is picked up a few hours later he is smiling and tells me he is happy. That happiness seems to wear off within a few hours and by dinner time he's not going back the next day.
I have been learning the bus and MRT routes. They are not too bad but a taxi is SO MUCH quicker. I try to only take them when I have my arms full of stuff or I have the kiddos with me. I look at cars on the web every few days, it's really sad that they are 3x the amount they would be back home.
We've done some fun things, the Night Safari which was really cool, hanging out at the American Club is always fun, the boys swim almost every day after school. Right now the weather is no problem, some days it's really humid but other days it's no different than Kansas or Texas in the summer. I'm not sure how I will feel 3, 6, 9 months from now when it's still the exact same as it is today.
For my loyal readers who have checked in here for over a year only to see 4 or 5 posts (Dad, Erin, Kim and Brenda :)), I am really planning to blog on a regular basis so everyone can see what we are up to. Hopefully more people will check in from time to time, I plan to post pix as well. I have some now but blogging is supposed to be in the NOW so I won't go back and post ones from the past 3 weeks, will start fresh with today, moving forward.

I know you all will be on the edge of your seats........................ :)

Go Bananas!!!!

Reed's class recently performed at the lower school assembly. The video quality isn't great, I'm quite a ways away. Reed is standing right under the word bananas. Hopefully you'll be able to hear them singing/chanting. The best part is at the end when they "Go Bananas." At least that's my favorite part of watching Reed. :)