Catching up with family and friends

You will see so many of my posts this year are about catching up with family and friends in the US. It really is a big priority for us since we're usually gone for 3+ years at a time living overseas. We try to see everyone, but it doesn't always happen, and that does make us sad, it really does. We love you all so much and know that we're trying to fit it all in!

Family outing with the Indiana Stamps was to a neat Amish town about an hour or so away from Valparaiso.

The kids had a good time playing together.

Cousins!

We all love our history!

Super cool oven in the kitchen of the main house.

Then, we started heading south to North Carolina, but not before stopping in for a couple of nights in Kentucky to see friends who used to live in Kyrgyzstan with us.

Friends, exchanging birthday gifts. These girls have shared their birthday celebrations with each other since 2015. Love how even though they are apart, when they get back together there is a sweetness!

Game time together!

Again, these boys have been friends since 2015. We are so glad our families are connected in an incredible way.

Breakfast together before we hit the road.

Sissi was super patient...6 weeks post birthday and she finally got her guitar.

The boys are out with the other guys from church, in the meadow. Throwing knives, doing archery, shooting guns...you know, just a fun Fire on the Mountain kind of weekend.

So, so thankful for the beginnings of these kinds of relationships. Praying they all grow this year, together!

Another Year Complete...School is DONE!

On Friday we wrapped up the 2019-2020 school year! Whew! It was a full one.

Krypto completed 11th grade and he...

published a book - The Bow of Ice,

took 3 science courses at the same time - Physics, Health, and Psychology,

2 languages - Russian and Latin,

got a 1440 on his SAT in December - he was just 10 points away from getting a perfect score in English, he missed only one question,

took another Potter's School course - Arthurian Lit and Comp

and kept his 4.0 GPA

Gwangi completed 9th grade and he...

created a computer game in his Potter's School Python coding class that got him a perfect score and a 99% in the course overall,

He earned a 99% in Geometry,

took the PSAT in October and earned an 1140,

and started off his high school career with a 4.0 GPA

Sissi completed 7th grade and she...

created so many amazing pieces of art that I think I need to make that another blog post,

also studied 2 languages with Krypto - Russian and Latin,

and kept up with the boys in their Tapestry of Grace Year 2 studies that is most likely the heaviest reading year in the Tapestry rotation while wishing that I kept a transcript for my middle schoolers, but I don't :)

Together, they all memorized the first 10 chapters in the book of Mark.

On Friday they said, "But, Mom, that is only 10 chapters. In the past we've done whole books." So, I did the math...they memorized 425 verses this year...on average 2-3 a day. In years past, they did about 300 or so in a school year. This year they were really pushed! At any one time they could quote, all together, about 60 or so verses. As we got further away from the beginning of the book, we would only quote the most recent chapter or two. In previous school years they have memorized, and been able to quote, the books of Ephesians, Philemon, James, Galations, and Colossians. Before we began memorizing whole books we did individual verses and paragraphs, but 3 years ago I wanted them to memorize Philippians chapter 2, a favorite of mine, and then I realized, "Hey, we can just do the whole book...," and so it began.

Woohoo, last day of school!

All done with Pre-Algebra

All done with Pre- Calculus

Last set of papers turned in!

First day of summer break...included some painting for a friend.

We are borrowing a guitar and Sissi is two weeks into taking guitar lessons with a friend.

Science labs all done for Physics.

Completed Geometry.

Last day of Arthurian Lit and Comp...he's decided to take AP US History with The Potter's School next year.

All done with Python Coding...he's taking Java next year with The Potter's School.

We did Apologia Health in a co-op format with another homeschool family here in Bishkek. The last 3 meetings were via Zoom due to the quarantine. Here is Sissi, doing her presentation on sleep disturbances.

Gwangi, preparing for a debate in our co-op.

Krypto sharing his presentation on Pregnancy and Childbirth.

We split up the modules amongst the kids so that everyone had 4 times to present during the school year. It was wonderful for them to learn more about creating Powerpoint slides and work on their public speaking skills while getting feedback from outside of the family.

On Friday afternoons we would all gather to have a History discussion where we reviewed their Accountability and Thinking Questions (AQ/TQs) from the week in a Socratic way.

I think we're all excited for the summer and a bit of "different"...

We'll be working on reading lists, hoping to get out for some camping and hiking and reconnecting with friends around Kyrgyzstan once the road blocks around Bishkek are removed, playing more games together, learning some new skills via our Master Class membership from my sister, spending time with our individual crafts, publishing Krypto's second book, and beginning the college and scholarship application process. It's going to be full and fun! We'll keep you updated.

"How I got started writing," by Krypto

Writing is hard.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love writing and there are few things in life that I enjoy more than telling a good story. By the same token, however, it is also a monumental task to write an entire novel. How then do you accomplish something like this? The answer is, like with everything else, one step at a time.

My writing began in earnest back in 2017 when I started a writing program called O.Y.A.N. (One Year Adventure Novel). The first half of the program is planning and outlining and the second half writing the actual book. When I first saw the program, I thought, “there’s no way I can write an entire book in half year!” I was wrong.

In fact, once I got into the pattern of writing for half an hour to an hour every day, I realized that the trick to writing isn’t mad bursts of inspiration that last days followed by periods of no work. The trick is to simply do a little every day, build good writing habits, and never stop working. Although you may look at every individual day of work and think you didn’t accomplish much, those individual days stack up sooner than you think.

This became especially apparent to me when, in November of 2018, I accepted the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge, a free online challenge that asks you to write 50,000 words in one month. Insane, right? I didn’t think I could do it at the time, but just by plugging ahead every day, working for an hour or so, I was able to write every needed word before the deadline of November 31. Barely. My writing career has greatly expanded since then; I’ve written and am currently editing a trilogy, I’ve joined the Young Writer’s Workshop, an online program of young writers like myself, and I’ve already started planning several series for the future. Through all of this, however, I haven’t forgotten my one primary task; to just keep writing and enjoy my writing, a little bit every day.

If someone were to ask me what they need in order to be a writer, I would reply that they need passion and dedication for what they want to write. If you don’t feel passionate and creative about what you want to write, then you won’t have any reason to write. Every great writer I can think of cared about what they wrote and loved it so much that they were willing to write about that thing as a full-time job. On the other hand, if you don’t have the dedication to push forward and keep writing, even when you don’t feel like it, then your writing will never improve. Believe me, I have hard days too, but if I only wrote when I felt like it, then I would never finish crafting all of my ideas into novels. In the end, my advice to anyone out there looking to start writing seriously would be summed up in one simple sentence; find something you care about, and never, ever quit. Happy writing!

How we travel

"How do you do it? How do you travel like that on a limited budget?" are some of the most common questions I get asked. So, I'll answer those questions and hopefully give you some ideas in the process, knowing full well, that two of the major advantages we have in our family travels might not be options for most of my friends.

Our first advantage...We live overseas already and for some strange reason, airline tickets are sooooo much cheaper for us than they are when you are starting or ending your trip in the US...AND, we always combine our family travel with work travel so that we are only having to purchase one set of airline tickets; and that purchase is from our work funds, not from our personal funds. So, please understand, I am only having to save from our family budget for lodging, food, and activities...and sometimes some inter-country rail travel, but those are much smaller bills than airline tickets.

In addition, Indy served over 20 years in the US Air Force and retired, so we are able to take advantage of so many discounts at places that many people want to go (like Disney and their 50% discount for example.)

Aside from those two things, I think there are still numerous ways you can keep your travel expenses down to a manageable amount by making a budget and planning in advance.

Let me back up a little bit, many years ago...seriously, like 20 years ago...Indy and I were on a road trip and we made a list of places we wanted to go and things we wanted to see. We updated that list about 15ish years ago when we started having children and homeschooling and we lined up educational trips with what we were studying in school. We didn't know if we would actually be able to do it, but we were dreaming!

That list got put away for years and just recently (in 2015) we mentally pulled it out (the real list is in storage in NC) and started trying to create some of those educational experiences for our family. We aren't big gift givers, so we budget each year for travel and experiences over gifts. I plan a year or more in advance, I do my research and keep a folder with the numbers and then divide the number of months I have to save into the projected budget and we save that money each month for our trip.

So, the first thing we do is have a family meeting...Where do we want to go? What do we want to do? Where is our next conference being held and then we find stuff that is nearby that we're interested in doing. Everyone gets to pick an activity or two so there is buy-in from all involved! We're all excited and looking forward to the trip.

I spend a day or so doing research. I read reviews on Trip Advisor (top 50 things to do in Paris, etc.) and I read reviews on Booking.com for lodging. Since we want to get the most out of our trip, we tend to leave our lodging right after breakfast and we don't return until bedtime. We're only sleeping and showering there, so we lean toward staying rather cheaply, two or three stars max. I just want clean and basic and good location for public transportation...oh, and we always make sure there is a free breakfast so we can fill up and save having to spend money on one meal each day. I also look for "genius bookings" on booking.com and have saved quite a bit reserving some of those locations in advance.

As for places to go and things to do; our family loves history and museums. I know that not all kids do though, so you'll have to take that into account. For us, we try a mix of free and paid activities. There are sometimes discount cards tied to public transportation, those aren't always the best deal, it truly depends on what you want to do, so run the numbers!

Food can be harder, it's a very malleable part of the budget though. I am a big proponent of hitting a local grocery store and getting sandwiches and salads and fruit for a meal. We also like to do street food and keep the cost down. If we do a sit down meal at all, it will be dinner, at the end of the day when we have more time and aren't rushing to fit in another hour at the Louvre.

The key to starting is to get your Google maps up on your screen, pick your city, then make an efficient travel plan based on what your family wants to visit (ie...visit things that are close to each other in the same day...of course this also needs to be based on opening and closing times, so sometimes it is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to get the most out of your day.) You'll start seeing a pattern of where you need to go, what public transportation lines you'll need to use, and then you can pick your lodging based on that. I can usually get a budget and tentative itinerary plus a lodging plan going in a day and then put that work away in a folder for a time and just start saving for the trip. A couple months out, I will revisit my work...has anything changed...review the reviews...opening and closing times the same...everyone still want to do the same stuff?...Ok, then let's start buying tickets for things that are more popular and we don't want to stand in line for them and use up some of our time.

Really, that's about it...plan in advance, make a budget and stick with it...lodging, transportation, activities, food...and then cover it in prayer and go have fun! It is doable, it can wear you out, but our memories are something we'll keep much longer than so many other things we could be spending our limited cash on. I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!

October 2018 - That time we went back to the US unexpectedly

On September 30th at 8pm Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan time, I got the phone call that no one ever really expects to receive...that their 63 year old mother had passed away suddenly in her sleep. 

http://www.mooresjacksonvillefuneralhome.com/obituary/5313550

She had had surgery just three days before, so it is assumed there were complications and yet, it was definitely a blow!

The next few days were a blur as we made plans to return to America to be with family. Everyone stepped up and helped us out, we truly could not have made it happen without our family in the US getting our car ready (thank you so much, Jon and Maria) and taken care of so many details for us (thanks, Dad, we love you) and helped here locally as we had to get someone to watch the dog and the house (thanks Ilgiz and Rakia) and get our visas back in a hurry (thanks Tilek) and everyone that just smoothed the path for us to attend (can't even list you all, but thank you!)

The emotions were all over the place, we were tired, we were sad, we were happy to see family; I can't really explain it, even now, two months later.

Suffice it to say, the next year, as we have our firsts, will be difficult...first Thanksgiving and wedding anniversary where Mom didn't call or write, my first birthday without my mom saying anything to congratulate me, and now, we're coming up on our first Christmas without a card or message or video call with her. We're making every effort to love our family well, to be present and available and enjoy this peaceful time that the Lord has blessed us with!

I hope you enjoy seeing some of the pictures from our two weeks visiting in America!

We're so thankful for our families.

The weekend we flew into Chicago and spent with our family in Valparaiso, Indiana was their local homecoming. Our kids had never been to a homecoming football game and so it was fun for them to see all that entails.

They had a great time hanging out with their cousins.

Never did take a picture at the game with all of them together, but, here is 6 out of 7!

Then, we drove to Arkansas for the week. There was a visitation at the funeral home and also a funeral at the church for my mom. Here is my dad outside of my parents' house, following the visitation.

This is most of the family that came in to visit, following the funeral at my parents' church.

Me with my sister, Kate, and my brother, Ben.

Two of the USAFA cadets that we sponsored back in the 80's came to my mother's funeral. What an incredible thing; Tom Highsmith came from Texas and Tom and Dina Allison came from Colorado for the day! Thank you guys, so much!

The only picture we got with my Aunt Vana and Uncle Chuck before they had to leave to head back to North Carolina. Love you guys and we're so happy you made it!

Before some of the other family and cousins had to head out, we did a breakfast get together at IHOP. Cousin Michael was heading back to Florida and the horrible hurricane that was coming in there while Kate and Austin had to drive back to Colorado.

The guys outside of the restaurant.

Family picture with Dad.

The ladies.

Me with my sister and brother again.

As we drove back to Indiana, so we could fly back to Bishkek, we got to stop for a meal and floats at an old family favorite, an A&W Root Beer restaurant.

Sissi was really missing our puppy, Vera, so being able to hang out and cuddle with Calvin (the cousin's dog) was a neat thing.

Before we flew back to Kyrgyzstan, we got to do a traditional fall activity and hit the pumpkin patch!

And take a hay ride!

Sissi picking out her pumpkin.

More pumpkin choices.

Group picture.

These pumpkins had some good seeds, also. A bit of olive oil, some salt, and low temp for 8 hours in the oven and we had a great snack.

Picture time with Grandma Stamp at the pumpkin patch.

The final product after the three younger girls got done with the carving.

In the process of carving the pumpkins.

Indy and I with his mom.

All the cousins with Grandma Stamp before we left for the airport.

When we arrived back in Bishkek we received a package that my mom had mailed, the week before her surgery. In it was a book that she had had since she was a child. She had sent it to Sissi.

There was a sweet card and several notes inside. Such an awesome memory for my girl to keep with her, always.

There was also a pink elephant t-shirt, since Sissi loves elephants. 

Oddly enough, there was another package that got mailed, that had stuff in it for the boys, but for some reason that package has never been received. We're thankful for what we did get though, and we praise the Father in all things!