Cooking & Climbing, Sitting & Singing

Can it be December already? Tomorrow "Thing #1" (see The Cat in the Hat) turns thirteen!

News Flash: Madeleine and Elise are gaining experience and confidence in the kitchen. I have found it best for me to set them up, answer questions, give reminders, and then leave the apartment altogether. If I stick around, I micromanage. So far they have made eggs (fried, scrambled, omelets), granola (from scratch), bread dough, pretzels, brownies, rice krispy treats, jello, and play dough. Additionally, last month Madeleine selected a recipe (mushroom pie, see photo), put the necessary ingredients on the shopping list, and then made the whole thing (crust included) by herself!

Our newest athletic endeavor was a trip to the rock climbing gym provided by Jason Dausman. We loved it. Everyone, except Thomas, made it to the top of the wall several times. Thomas went up many, many times to about the halfway point and then belayed down, happily bouncing off the wall all the down. I really think this was the main reason that he didn't make it higher. Rappelling down was too fun. He wasn't a bit sore the next day! We had to leave after two hours and no one was ready to go.

Our second 5K was run by me, the girls, and Paul. It was Paul's first 5K, and probably only the second or third time he had run that distance. I hit my goal time. Charlie is enjoying telling everyone how I finished first for my age group, but I have to add that it was a VERY small race. There were three women in their thirties including me...and several women in their forties and fifties beat me. The kids were very proud of me and excited by my medal. Paul got a ribbon for second place in his division--men under 19! Elise won a dozen Einstein bagels.

The girls are learning how to babysit. Again, better that I'm not there! They've both had serious experience in poopy diapers now. Elise babysat a seven year old who is bigger than she is. Madeleine is figuring out which families have the best libraries and what to do when she hasn't brought enough schoolwork and the baby is napping. Elise has interesting games for the kids, like "zoo," "run away from home," and "make tunnels out of the sofa cushions." Sometimes she comes home very tired.

Last month both of the girls had the opportunity to serve in church by playing with the worship team. It was a milestone for them musically, and a special chance for them to prep and rehearse with Claudia. Another special chance: Charlie and Madeleine are singing in the chapel Christmas choir this week, directed by Claudia who is also giving Madeleine voice lessons.

Well, that's our news, meaning what is actually different about life for the Gibsons these days. Really, things feel pretty much the same. The boys would probably want to tell you about their explorations in the woods out back, finding a cave/tunnel, and parts of a decomposing rabbit. They've also figured out how to climb a tree in our yard though it's getting too cold to hide in it, waiting for unsuspecting passersby, as they were originally. Paul, Thomas, and Elise also developed a new game in the stairs and landings of our apartment building. It was a version of "Marco Polo," played with a box over "IT"s head. That only lasted one morning. That was the same morning that Paul and Thomas popped out of bed early and did all their school workbooks, only to have Madeleine wander out at breakfast time and tell them that it was Saturday!

Joy

We just celebrated the two month anniversary of our arrival in St. Louis this past Wednesday by clogging and overflowing the hall toilet. It was very exciting--I would love to hear the children's take on what I looked and sounded like. We are now resolved to eat all our vegetable portions and consult with a parent before questionable flushings. While I had plenty of cleaning up to do and lamented our own culpability in the big mess, (in my panic to lift the ball float, I failed to recognize that our tank does not have a ball float, and pulled up the flapper letting even more water into, or rather out of, the bowl), I did experience for the first time the joy of home non-ownership! The maintenance department came along with a "Ninja" to vacuum up the water that we hadn't soaked up with every towel in the linen closet, and also to check behind the molding and under the cupboards for water and dampness. They drilled holes in the sheetrock behind the molding and checked the subfloor for excessive moisture. Then a professional water damage control company was called in to spray anti-microbial chemicals and thoroughly dry the kitchen and bathroom. They are very serious about preventing the growth of mold and mildew. We were left with four extremely powerful and strategically placed fans, and an industrial dehumidifier that was the size of a large dorm fridge. The house sounded like an airport runway for 48 hours. We all slept very soundly except for Charlie who was in the middle of midterms.

In other news, we also celebrated having added all subjects to our homeschool day by going to the zoo and by signing Paul up for piano lessons.

Now that I'm ready to give up on running, Elise has the racing bug, and is always ready to take me out for a training run!

Charlie has outpatient ear surgery this Friday morning.

Madeleine observed that this year we have met people named Summer, Autumn, and Winter. All this in a year with no spring! (we had autumn in Peru and now in Missouri, although the temperature was 84 yesterday)

Struck by the image of Darth Vader hurtling through space after the destruction of the Death Star, Thomas was able to articulate with dread and awe, "Darth Vader got away. He's still out there..."

Artists' Comments

Naaman asked for the artists to comment on their work. Here it is.


Elise: I actually have 8 horses in this picture, but unfortunately it is all in pencil, so you can't see very much!!!!!!!!!!!! I originally only meant to have 1 horse in the picture ,but I just kept on adding more andmoreandmoreandmoreandmoreandmoreandmoooooore so I ended up with 8 horses.(my favorite horses are the 2 in the upper~righthand corner)

Paul: The reason that I wanted to draw this map was because I was writing a story called (temporarily) THE MAGIC SWORD. The map belongs to the story. The story is very long and maybe you can read it some time.

Thomas: (The only comment we've been able to coax out of Thomas about his art is "When am I going to get my rhinoceros back?")

Maddie: Where is MY picture!???!! It is based on a print I made back in Norfolk, when we had an art teacher. I'm sorry to say that the rubber block that the print was carved on broke in half. But at least I have a drawing now.
Sometimes I'm asked who the people in my drawings are. Actually, I almost never draw people I know, really just because it never looks like who I had in mind, and it's easier for me to draw people I've never seen.

Anybody Still Reading?

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you have given up on checking this blog for updates, but we are still here and gradually adapting to life in St. Louis. Classes and studying haven't killed Charlie yet, and he is encouraged and energized by much of the material. I have almost given up on the last of the unpacking and deep organizing, and am just focusing on establishing and maintaining the daily and weekly routine, skirting around the remaining boxes and piles.

This past weekend we had some banner events for the children. First was the opening of the children's art show at the Francis Shaeffer Institute on campus. The call for art from the children of students, faculty, and staff of Covenant Seminary went out about a month ago, and our kids had been planning and creating here and there ever since. Thomas submitted a paper and duct tape rhinoceros sculpture. Paul had to give up on his castle made of a cardboard box--it was too big to hang on the wall. He eventually made a big map of an imaginary kingdom. Elise did one of her horse pencil drawings, and Madeleine adapted a print she had made in art class last year. The seminary is really thoughtful about including children in the life of the community.

Also on Saturday was the girls' first 5K race (that is a little more than three miles). They originally signed up to run with encouragement and coaching from Charlie who found that he couldn't get in shape in time. By the second week of classes I was in charge of their training and Charlie had moved to an advisory capacity. Well, the girls had previously only run the one mile in the Larchmont RAT Race, and Elise never seemed to have the stamina to finish our three mile practice without stopping to walk for the last mile. Imagine the thrill of the whole family when Elise with a time of 25:39 finished 3rd in her category (women 19 & under) and Madeleine came in 7th with a time of 30:01! We were just hoping to finish without walking! The next day Madeleine was barely sore, and Elise was hobbling in pain every time she had to do stairs, so that tells you who is really driven by athletic competition.

Perhaps a compounding reason why Elise was so extensively sore was that she also wanted to run the half-mile race with her brothers. This was 45 minutes after she finished the 5K. As they warmed up for the race, Elise kept saying that she was just going to take it easy and do it for fun. Wellll, halfway through the race Madeleine spotted Elise in 3rd place...but by three quarters of the way she had stopped to walk out of sheer exhaustion. When she passed me close to the final stretch, she stopped to walk again, gasping, "Mom, I can't go anymore!" I told her to just finish at a jog and then realized how competitive I am, when I added, "and maybe pass one more person!" as she ran off. Elise might have thought she couldn't run anymore, but I think she found that she couldn't jog or walk either. She threw herself into a sprint, finishing in under three minutes with the top ten or maybe even five.

What about the boys? Paul finished the half-mile race so close to Elise that Charlie, who was hugging her, actually missed his finish altogether. Paul had passed me with an awful grimace of exertion and determination on his face (you can still see it in the photo even though he is done running) and a little smile in his eyes. He ran faster than he ever had in practice and knew that he had done well. Does anybody remember Baby Paul who was not yet crawling at one year old and not yet walking at 17 months old? Paul was crushed to find that the kids' "fun run" was not timed or awarded, and that therefore, he didn't have a category, place, or prize.

After spotting Elise halfway through the half-mile race, we were surprised to pick out Thomas, in his red shorts, continuing his strong start and ahead of the main body of runners! By the time he passed me, he was pouring on the steam as he eyed the bigger girl to his side. This was astounding to me, as he had mostly jogged and walked during practice! Thomas finished at around 3:15--I couldn't believe my eyes. I still wonder if I saw the clock correctly or if the race was accurately measured.

What about me? Having never been an athletic child, I was so surprised and pleased to see my kids enjoy and excel at a sport. I found that I yell a lot more than these suburban mid-western moms--or am I just louder or do I just have more children to cheer on?? Apparently I also have a competitive streak that surfaced as barely checked indignation that the kids' times hadn't been recorded. The whole experience was totally invigorating. And what's funny is that we had thought we needed to pump them up by watching "Chariots of Fire" and "Miracle" ahead of time...

Thanks for reading!

New Address

Right now, this very moment, please update us in your address books! Here is our new contact information:

412A Covenant Lane
St. Louis, MO 63141
cnrgibson@gmail.com
(314) 576-3742

Please also forward our info to anyone you think would like to keep in touch with us. We don't want to miss any birth announcements, family letters, change-of-addresses, wedding invitations, etc. If you are driving through the country, give us a call--we'd love to see you and we have room for guests!

From the Middle East to the Mid-West

+=The post below has been updated, so even if you've read this there's stuff below you may not have read.=+
We pause in the Israel travelogue to announce the end of our journey! We arrived in St. Louis at Covenant Seminary on Thursday evening. We set out Wednesday morning accompanied by our very good college friend Mike (whom we were shocked to realize we've known for half our lives now!) He kept us awake, intellectually stimulated, and cheerful. We were warmly received by our dear friends, and now across the hall neighbors, the Woottons. All our stuff is moved in--it fit!--but not unpacked. We are still working on getting phone and internet access. Our address here is 412A Covenant Lane, St. Louis, MO 63141. We are sobered and concerned by the news of the earthquake in Peru and also grieving the loss of Charlie's uncle two days ago. Thank you for your prayers and support. Classes start in a couple of weeks. We'll be in touch.

A Time To Move

We are on the road to St. Louis, staying over at the Huntington, WV Super 8 Motel, but I thought I'd summarize our trip to Israel with a few stories about my time with our children.

Madeleine is rapidly approaching thirteen, her appetite and wit increasing noticeably. Not only can she eat as much as I can, (which is saying a lot), but she is definitely growing in knowledge, deductive powers, and a desire to contribute to adult conversation. On one particularly scorching day, the five of us were wandering around an unlabeled archeology site, trying to figure out on our own what type of ruins we were stepping on. Attempting to be an active, engaged, home-schooling mother, I was fanning myself in the shade while analyzing the voluminous dried poop pellets scattered at my feet. I thought it surely must be donkey scat because the only vegetation in sight was thistle (out of which the boys were busy constructing shields, spears, and bombs). Elise thought it must be rabbit poop, or maybe seeds? I really thought some smart animal had been enjoying the shade, but told Elise she could try breaking the pellets to find out whether or not they were seeds. Madeleine walked up and immediately pointed out, "Mom, you're standing under an olive tree..." FYI, olive pits look a lot like rabbit poop.

As for Elise, she will attempt to climb anything where she can get three points of contact, whether it's a tree, an aqueduct ruin, or a pole in the airport. Also, she has a natural teaching streak that was very entertaining to observe as she gradually pulled out the stops trying to convince Thomas that he was capable of swimming in the deep end-coaxing, bribing, begging, manipulating, threatening, scolding, even baiting-and-switching.

Like his oldest sister, Paul has been sharpening his powers of observation. Upon encountering a hoopoe, an unusual looking bird with a small, dark "hat," Paul remarked, "I think I just saw a Jewish bird..." A couple of weeks ago, upon our return to the States, listening to me recount the agonies of bargaining in markets where the quoted prices were anything from doubled to quadrupled got the entire family riled up (again). My father and brother tried to comfort us with, "You have to think of it as a game..." Paul's response: "Well, it's not a very fun game. I was standing right behind her the whole time..."

Thomas is definitely the "un-baby" of the family--keeping up on sweaty hikes, sitting through late suppers, snorkeling even after being stung by a sea urchin, climbing through dark places and encountering bats! He did hang back a bit at the pitch black descent down a spiral stone staircase, saying he would go down last with me. I told him this was a good idea since, in case everyone had to turn around and run back up, we would be in front. He gave me the same hesistant look that he had had when we were starting out on an overgrown, shady forest path beside the zoo in Haifa and he asked where we were going (he never has been very gung-ho on hikes through the woods--an unspoken fear of wild animals) . I told him it was where all the animals that had escaped from the zoo lived. He got me back when I asked him what he would like for a souvenir (all the other kids had been asking for stuff throughout the trip and Thomas had yet to ask for much), and he selected an elaborate silver wine service.

In closing, some of the most amazing places we experienced were Masada, the Mount of Olives, Tel Dan, Hezekiah's Tunnel in the City of David, and snorkeling in the Red Sea. Favorite foods--hummus with hyssop and olive oil, schnitzel, falafel, fried cheese sandwiches, and schwarma.

Lastly, to close off our travels I'll ask you this. What would you say if a Tel Aviv airport official attempting to open one of your well-taped boxes before checking it in asked you, "Do you have anything I can use to open this?" I did suppress the urge to smirk, "What? Like a box cutter?" I felt sorry for her as she was trying to cut through the tape with a ballpoint pen and her keys. Apparently, when they tape boxes back up for customers, they use their teeth to cut the tape!

I also want to tell everyone that once you have kids this age traveling with you, you never have to worry about spotting your luggage on the baggage claim carousel again! Thanks so much for reading. We've loved sharing out travels with you and hope you enjoy the photos as well. We'll be posting updates of seminary life from time to time if anyone is interested. Love and misses to all!

Jet Lag Again 08/10/07

Day Five in the U.S. It's strange but good to be "home." We fell asleep on the airplane saying "shalom" and "toda raba" with shekels in our pockets and woke up at JFK airport where you don't have to hold down the flusher the whole time you're waiting for your stuff to disappear. Red-eye flights--a jolt to the system physically and mentally.

Except for Charlie, who got sick with allergies immediately upon leaving the Richmond airport, we have all been asleep and awake at basically the right times. Whether or not we've been alert and productive while awake is an entirely different matter. "What day is it?" has probably been the most commonly asked question. We're enjoying the comforts of plentiful AC, Mom's cooking, dinner with good friends, meeting the newest nephew, and really looking forward to the whole Tan clan gathering tomorrow. Trying to ignore how fast it will all be over and time to leave again.

We never had a dependable internet connection after the first couple of weeks in Israel and often found that once able to establish one, we needed to focus on planning, researching, bill-paying, etc. rather than communicating. So, we are really behind on email and blog-reading, and some blog-worthy stories have gone by the wayside. Hopefully, the photos will suffice.

Soon: summing up the trip, our favorite sites, how to get through the Tel Aviv airport, and photos from the rest of the trip