Tanya's Visit!

Our dear friend, Tanya, came back Portland for a visit. Given that it was her Fall break, she just had a week here....but it was a PERFECT week. We loved having her here!

She enjoyed the every-day-routine things and we threw in some not-so-every-day-fun!

First day brought a DUCK GAME! She loved it and I loved taking her to the Happiest Place on Earth!

So happy to have this crazy lady here! 

They decided our house needed a little Halloween decorating :) 

She was making us sausage rolls...so good!

One of my favorite moments...having her do some planning with the Specialists at my school. She was exactly what they needed.  

Dinner out...just the adults! 

Drew has a love/like/pretending not to know relationship with EVERYONE. She finds it especially funny and would much prefer hanging out with D when I'm not around. :)

Girls day! Coffee and shopping! 

One of our few morning runs 

Dropping Luke off at school...she's loving the Drew snuggles :) 

Visiting the Roloff Pumpkin Patch, followed by the best burgers & fries afterwards!

Happy Family :) 

We took D for a walk - he loved looking at everyone's decorations

Pumpkin carving party. There was an EXCELLENT cheese, cracker & spread plate inside, with wine. A favorite dinner of ours! 

Her last morning here...getting ready for HER FIRST 10K RACE!!

Race is DONE. She rocked it! So proud of this girl...

Having T here reminded me just HOW MUCH we laugh together. Constantly. Whether it was time in our pj's on the couch, morning runs, random errands, or day adventures - we love to laugh. Life is more fun with her in. Simple as that.

We miss her hugely (let's be honest, we missed her the minute she boarded the plane) but can't wait to have her back next summer. I'm trying not to think about how much time there is until then. For now, our daily texts and occasional FaceTimes will have to do.

Love you T! xx

Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween at HOME. I got to be a real-life-volunteer for Luke's class party, which was fun. You'd think that teaching in the same school for the past two years would enable me to be part of all his parties, but I never got to attend one. Having your own classroom means having your own parties, which means you can't escape to see your own children. So not only did I have yesterday off, I got to be watch the costume parade at his school, help set up for his party and be a participant. I loved every minute.

For the evening, we re-started up our tradition of dinner and trick-or-treating with the Kuitert family. We've been trick-or-treating with them since Luke was 10 months old. Our families have certainly grown and it's so fun to spend this holiday with them.

Luke & Drew were SWAT team members, Brayden was a Knight and Macy was Rapunzel. 

We both commented on how much more "dressed" we were this year vs. the last two! 

Cuties! 

Now onto the next holiday... THANKSGIVING! Feeling very thankful this year for sure and loving all of these FALL holidays in Oregon!

Three beautiful things.

A friend said to me, "Now that you've moved back home, you never update your blog anymore! It's like we don't even matter over here in Singapore!" While I know she knows they matter, she's right. Life here seems normal....mundane...ordinary...yet wonderful. In Singapore, every adventure was new. People back home didn't know or always understand our overseas life, so I used the blog as a way to connect everyone here to us over there. I felt like I was keeping us all connected. Now that we are back, I never thought about the connection feeling lost when they now don't know much about us.

And that makes me sad.

Sad, because the friendships we formed over there were fast and furious and so.damn.important. They kept us sane, made us smile, lifted us up, hugged us when we missed home, and listened when we needed to talk. They learned about life in Portland and our family & friends here. They opened their arms when they didn't have to. Life is tough when you plop yourself down half-way around the world. But because of them, it was made so much easier.

I found myself sitting in the middle of a funeral service last weekend. Death is always hard. Along with the grief for a person's life cut all too short, I have found that death also becomes a time for reflection of your own life, how you've lived it, the people you care about, your hopes for the future, and your beliefs. It's a time when you vow to tell people you love them more often, show people how much you care, worry less about things and more about experiences. It's a time when you hug your people a little tighter and you shed tears for the family who lost their person; as you grieve in your own private way.

Through tear-filled eyes at the service, I continued my reflection. As we stood to say a prayer, I paused for a moment to look around me. In front of me was a woman who lost her husband and son within a few year's time. Next to her was her daughter, who lost her brother and father. To the right of them was a woman who had lost her hair due to her battle with breast cancer. Further to the right was a husband and wife who had to bury their child ten months ago. And finally, all the way up front, stood a wife-mom-partner who was saying goodbye to the love of her life. And as she was saying goodbye, she was holding tight to her son and daughter who just lost their father. Holding tight to her people.

It's hard to make sense of life in that moment.

But it was easy to see three things. Three very REAL and heartwarming things.

Strength, Grace and Love.

For the people I looked at, my heart carried so much sadness. But there they were. Standing together, sharing tears, holding hands and carrying on. They exemplified Strength and Grace and showed me, in that brief moment, how much Love means to life. What an honor it was, for me, to be in the presence of such beautiful things. Such beautiful people.

In my life, I am blessed to be surrounded every day by beautiful people. People who show me Strength, Grace and Love without even realizing it. People who encourage me to show Grace even when I can't seem to dig deep enough to find it. People who show me Love even when I may not feel like I deserve it. And people who show me Strength by showing up when it's so.damn.hard.

The people there matter. The people here matter. And the people I have brief encounters with matter. When you add them all up? They help me live a life with Strength, Grace and Love.

And I couldn't be more thankful for it.

Drew's Birthday

It's hard to believe that our littlest is 4 already! Sometimes, it feels like he should be 18, BUT most of the time, it's crazy to think how quickly time has gone. He is full of spunk, makes us laugh constantly, has a smile that spans his face, and shows his love for his family daily.

This little guy melts my heart. Spending most of my days with him this year is a gift. I want to bottle up his little full-of-joy-self and tuck it away for years down the road. The day will come where grocery shopping won't be as much fun, trips to Target will be a little lonelier and morning snuggles on the couch will be distant, cozy memory.

His voice and the way he talks. I want to hit the record button constantly to capture his words and phrases. I want to take hundreds of pictures of his toothy smile and hit replay on his constant, "I love you mommy" moments.

Drew is such a gift to us. We love him beyond words and were thankful to spend his big day with some of our family and friends.

His theme was Paw Patrol 

This picture captures Drew perfectly. It's of LUKE because Drew was too stubborn to stand by his presents. Ha!

You can see D is on the verge of tears here. He didn't understand what was taking so long for his party to start. 

Clearly, the weather was gorgeous! 

Happy Birthday to our youngest! Our hearts are filled with so much love for you!

The working part of "settling in"...

It can be summed up in one sentence. 

Adam and I LOVE our jobs. 

It's no secret that our work life was tough (to say the least) in Singapore. It has been an amazing feeling to wake up every day and be excited to go to work. While I had a class full of students to get me through each day in Singapore, Adam did not. That made his job exceptionally tough. In our new roles, we are challenged, busy, purposeful and appreciated. 

For those that don't know, Adam returned to his previous school and became the Dean of Students. He has a few periods of math in the mornings, but spends most of his day in the office. He's enjoying it and learning a lot along the way, mostly due to an incredible mentor. 

In August I accepted a position (at my former school) as the PYP coordinator. I was hesitant to take the role, but knew that it would be one that challenged me (in a good way) professionally. Thankfully, I had some supporters encouraging me to take the role. Never once have I regretted it. I absolutely love it. There's a learning curve for sure, but it feels like I took the right step. AND, it doesn't hurt that I work Tuesday-Thursday. :) 

I am asked everyday, "Is it nice to be back?" 

Never once has my response varied. "It was a wonderful two years and we wouldn't trade them for anything. But yes, we are so, so happy to be home." 

To return to our previous schools is a blessing. To see familiar faces and work with incredible teachers is a blessing. To be excited about going to work every day is a blessing. 

There is no doubt that at this moment, we are where we're meant to be.  

Settling In...

Our shipment arrived from Singapore last week. It was about 4 weeks later than planned and in reality, we were fine without it. BUT, the boys were thrilled to see all their toys and I was happy to have our overseas memories back with us. Pictures of places we traveled, items we bought along the way, our Balinese patio set....all of it.

This was a bit overwhelming to sort through and put away!

Looking forward to this getting a lot of use next summer!

I am in love with this room. So happy with how it came together, by the work of many hands. 

We are settling in well and loving our house. It really feels like a home and a place where memories will be made for years to come. When the moving truck arrived, I had many flashbacks from two years ago when it came to take all of our things to Singapore. It's crazy how an adventure is wrapped up just.like.that.

And just.like.that. life is off and running here. Luke met his first grade teacher last week (who coincidentally has taught overseas and lived in Thailand) and saw his school. He has met some boys in the neighborhood and enjoys playing football with them in the street. Adam and I returned to work this week and are loving our new roles. Since moving back from Singapore, I took on the PYP coordinator role at Bonny Slope. It's still a half time position and one week in, I'm loving it! To have a job that is professionally challenging and still half-time is pretty exciting.

As we enter the Fall season here, I find myself very excited for the weather, football, holidays and all-that-is-fall. It is by far the season I missed the most. I look forward to our new routine and spending more time with Drew at home.

We find ourselves staying connected with friends from Singapore, which is such a blessing. They are forever-kind-of-people and while we aren't spending our days together, it's nice to continue our friendships in a different way.

Things I love about being home:
-I'm in a sweatshirt right now
-I can run any time of day
-My coffee maker
-Snuggling on the couch with the boys and a blanket each morning
-Having space to run and play and get away from one another when necessary :)
-ELLA! (She really should be first)
-Our family being so close. We have seen a lot of them and I love, love, love it.
-Our new jobs are exciting, stimulating, challenging and rewarding

Today marks the first Duck game of the season and I can't wait to watch the game and cheer them on. I have two little devoted Duck fans in this household, which goes to show that Adam doesn't always get his way.

Cheers to a 3-day weekend and beginning a new school year....

My Birthday (and our Anniversary!)

Simply put, my birthday was absolutely wonderful. The boys made my day special with a trip to Crater Lake & Diamond Lake. I loved celebrating in Oregon this year!

First stop: Starbucks for me & donuts for the boys 

This is about 10am, there's a bit of haze from the early morning & fires burning not too far from here. 

The boys quickly got busy making their own "volcanoes" in the sand :)

As the afternoon sun came out, the lake views were spectacular! 

Taking a little time to play... 

After seeing the views and walking around the lodge a bit, we decided to head back down the road to Diamond Lake for lunch. Another beautiful place! 

View from our picnic table...so peaceful!

After lunch we made the trip back to Roseburg. The boys were exhausted...but managed to wake up for milkshakes a bit later. :)

The day ended with a lovely dinner out, minus children. It was the BEST. 

And finally, the next day, we had a BBQ to celebrate. We also celebrated my father-in-law's birthday, whose is just three days after mine. 

Here's to another year of fun, laughter, memories and growth. As the messages, texts and calls came throughout the day, I was constantly reminded how lucky I am to be surrounded by such amazing people. Feeling grateful for sure. xx