Asian Hot Happenings: The Kids

Here is a little update on each of the kids.

Dave
Dave had another good day at school today. We are really having some good communication with his teacher. I have prayed and prayed and prayed. You have no idea!!! She is very honest about telling us how David is doing now that we have talked with her. So, I think when she says that he did good in class...that means that he did good. She is really good about asking us things as well. Today, when we dropped Dave at school and walked him to his classroom, she showed us his work and told us that she noticed that he writes with his left hand. She told us that in this country, children are not allowed to write with their left hand so she wanted to know if it was ok for him to write with his left hand!!!!! We said of course--God made him that way. So that was real positive for us....that she communicated well with us about this.

Please continue to remember Dave every moment you think of him! Of all our kids, he is having the most cultural exposure and we are really on the lookout for cultural stress or signs that he is not dealing well with Kidsland. The only thing that really bothers him is when people touch him on the cheeks when we are in public. I saw some of the teachers touching his cheeks today, and I am going to talk with them about it. Can you blame them though? He is so beautiful...I have to remind myself not to touch them myself!!!! Anyways...he can say in the local lingo..."Please dont touch me" so we really give him a chance to tell people to leave him alone himself. Other than the cheeks and sleep (we are all sleeping a lot more than the norm and that is a sign of stress)....he is showing very few signs of stress. The younger the child....the less the impact of the culture.

Please also pray that the Lord would give me wisdom to build a relationship with Dave's teacher. That I would be kind and compassionate to her, but that also I would be able to communicate with her things about Dave in a Godly way.

Noah
Noah is going fantastic. He's loving school. His picture was on the front page of the school newsletter today with one of his friends. Makes me so glad!!!! He is making lots of friends, and loves his teacher. He is flying through his memory verses...almost doing 1 a day!!!! His reading is fantastic, and his math is really going good too. He loves computer class, library, and sport. He also loves his local language class! He is going to start playing after school soccer on Monday. When Shane asked him about playing, he said he didnt know if he wanted to because he might not be the fastest, and in Australia, he is the fastest (I think he is just comparing himself to Dave and Cooper)! Ah...that about sums things up...God is teaching him a lot about character right now. He is teaching him that he doesnt have to be the best or the fastest but that he is great just the way he is! I keep telling him...Work Hard...our family works hard...we never give up!!!! It is pretty cool watching him grow in character. I am loving it!!!!

We did have one instance at school this week, were he told Aunt Marilyn (his teacher) that he didnt want to clean his table. He must have said it nicely because she assumed he didnt understand what she had said, but later on in the car...he seemed to understand just fine, but just didnt want to do it (He did do it in the end when she brought the trash can over to him). So, we made him to go school the next day and tell Aunt Marilyn he was sorry. He also got to tell her what his new job is....cleaning off the tables after EVERY meal at home. It was a good lesson for him to learn.

He has now told Shane that he wants him to wait in the car and not come into the class to pick him up in the afternoon!!!! AHHHHH!!!! If he says this about the morning time, I will really cry-NO JOKE! I try to go in with him in the morning, and I want to keep doing it!!!

Maggie
Well, Maggie is going great too. She is always growing and changing. She still only has 2 teeth. She sleeps all the time, and when she is awake, she is into EVERYTHING. Her newest thing is to open the fridge and sit in it. She will sit in anything. It is really strange. She seems oblivious to life here and is just going along and happy to always be with Mom and Dad. She loves rice now and would eat it every meal if I let her.

I am so tired from my own school so I think I will just leave you with a pics!!!!