Overheard

Living with these three boys, we hear things every day that crack us up.  I'm going to attempt to capture the spontaneity and humor of their comments, and may have to write more of these kinds of posts from time to time.

Aden, in the car during our deputation travels earlier this year:  Guys, you have a kid who needs to go potty.

Aden, from the living room:   Mommy I need some more water!  "Not right now. ... Why?"  I've got men throwing up in here.

Wiley

Wiley, as we drove through a parking lot:  Sometimes people don't wave at me, even when they see me.   - not sure if that comes from living as a "prominent minority" in PNG, or if we have just been that effective in teaching him to be polite.

Noah (singing):  If you're happy and you're Noah, clap your hands!

Wiley:  I wish we could stay at Texas and Kugark forever. (Because I like "The Lodge" and I like the sheep.)  - 31 October ...  The Lodge refers to spending his birthday last year at Great Wolf Lodge near Dallas.

Aden and Wiley (eating grapes, driving through Kruger):  We're building up our eye strength. 

Aden to Wiley (in Kruger):  If you had eyes as big as mine, you would be able to see through the fog.

Noah (singing):  My God is too big . . . 

Aden (while very sick, though hoping he would be better any minute, and able to eat again):
       -  I might be better already, it's just you never know.
       -  I don't like being sick, but I like being sick so I can have juice.
       -  I am doing one of my tests now.  Next time I do a test, if I throw this up, I'll have toast.
       -  I'm feeling as good as Wiley.  If I'm feeling as good as Wiley I can have Cheerios, right?
       -  I think sick people eat a lot.  I think people who throw up eat a lot.
       -  I don't know if the next test is lunch or if the next test is another one of the snacks.  This will probably spoil my lunch but I don't know.
       -  I want to wait and have dinner when it's dark outside.  Because I think if I have dinner when it's light outside, I'll throw up.  (Aden believes that throwing up only lasts 24 hours, or one day.  When it's dark, it is time to get better.)
     

Aden

Mommy:  Do you want butter or jelly on your toast?
Aden:  Hmm.  That's hard.  I would say half butter and half jelly.

Aden:  I'm going to take a break from those.  I don't want my oil pastels to go flat.

Mommy:  Do you want toast? 
Aden:  Well, I can only have it if it's not burnt.  When somebody says they want not burnt toast you could put a timer on and make it be for a short time.  - apparently, Mommy has a tendency to burn the toast.  Aden often requests "not burnt" toast.

Wiley:  My favorite food is green beans and all the desserts in the world. 

Mommy (just after lunch, and just before naps, as she watched Noah wander from the table to the kitchen):  Can I get you something, Noah?
Noah:  Ice cream.

Aden (referring to weakened door handles on the car):  Do you want the handles fixed on the car?  (As if he were ready to take the job.)

Noah

We have enjoyed hearing Noah's speech explode over the last several months.  When he first began to talk, he consistently said "Yes" instead of the more casual "Yeah."  Over time, however, he changed to "Yeah," but it was hard to distinguish from his "No."  In an effort to understand what he was saying, Mommy would ask for clarification:  "Do you mean yes?"  Eventually, Noah thought she was correcting his speech, and now when he answers affirmatively, he consistently says, "yesth," often with a bit of a lisp.

Aden and Wiley have given Noah a new nickname.  We are not sure where it came from, but they regularly use the term "Doodely" (or "Doodely Squat" in its full form) in place of his name. With the rediscovery of Edith Blyton's Noddy series here in South Africa, Noah's nickname of "Big Ears" is also resurfacing.

The First Gift of Christmas

Just after Thanksgiving, we pulled out our Christmas decorations and borrowed a Christmas tree and lights.  One of the boys' favorite decorations in the past has been a rubber-like nativity set that sits under the Christmas tree.  It is pretty kid-friendly, so they are allowed to play with the pieces during the Christmas season.  They like to drive the figures around in their cars, acting as chauffeurs to and from the manger.  This year, when we unpacked the nativity set, Noah immediately gravitated to the small characters.  When all the decorating was complete, we thought we would set the nativity under the tree, but couldn't find the Baby Jesus anywhere.  So the search began.  At first Mommy just figured he would turn up somewhere as we tidied up.  But when everything was put in its place, we still couldn't find him. 

 

Over the next days, and weeks, we looked everywhere we could think of.  We all hoped we would find the Baby Jesus in a corner somewhere.  We looked under the rugs; pulled apart the couches and chairs in the living room, looking under cushions; checked and re-checked cabinets and bookshelves.  Mommy began to realize that perhaps Noah had hidden the Baby Jesus, or carried him off in his excitement and forgotten that he had done so.  We began to interrogate, "Noah, did you take the Baby Jesus?" "Yes."  Is he in the house?" "Yes."  As we recalled the evening we decorated, we remembered that Noah had gone to play outside just before dinner, and the questioning continued.  "Noah, did you take Baby Jesus outside?" "Yes."  "Did you put Baby Jesus in the dirt?"  "Yes."  We began to wonder if Noah remembered, or if he was just answering yes to everything.  "Noah, did you eat Baby Jesus?"  After all, he was a pretty small figurine.  "Yes."  Then the questions seemed pretty fruitless so we went out to the garden to dig.  Noah loves to dig, and he had been digging pretty intently that evening.  One afternoon all three boys and Mommy dug until they realized there was no way Noah could have buried Baby Jesus that deep on his own.

Digging for Baby Jesus

Mommy began to look online for patterns to make a new Baby Jesus so that there would be something in the manger on Christmas Day . . . though she secretly hoped and even believed that we would somehow find Jesus in time for Christmas.  On Christmas Eve we had our traditional taco salad dinner.  We had invited Auntie Linda Braaten to join us, and she brought bread to share with our meal.  It needed to be re-heated in the oven, and when it was done, Mommy went to pull it out.  Instinctively, she usually reaches for hot pads from the stack on the shelf close to the oven.  But this time, her Christmas oven mitt, hanging on a hook nearby, caught her eye.  When she put her hand inside, she felt something in the thumb.  Immediately she knew it was the Baby Jesus.  Had Auntie Linda not joined us, we would not have used the oven, and would not have found the Baby Jesus that night.  Mommy tucked Baby Jesus "away in a manger" - a small gold box - and set him on the table on Christmas morning.  The boys were thrilled when Noah opened the first gift of Christmas this year, reminding us of the First Gift that God gave us on the very First Christmas.

Cookie Bake

Earlier this week, the missionary ladies had a Christmas cookie bake.  We exchanged several dozen cookies and each of us walked away with many kinds of goodies to share in our homes.  When we got together at Aunt Jodi's house for the exchange, Aunt Brittany had made sugar cookies and Aunt Linda Louw had made gingerbread boys and girls for the kids to decorate.  With a nice variety of icing and sprinkles, the kids really enjoyed it, and now they are enjoying eating some of their creations which they brought home.  Aden had such a good time that he was hoping the party would just move to someone else's house when we were done with the cookies.  He was a very happy boy when it was decided that all the kids should go swimming afterward.  After swimming, we had a nice evening with the Leslies in our home, a last opportunity to visit before they left for their Home Assignment.  The boys will definitely miss their friends for the next several months while they are gone! 

The cookie bake was only a part of our Christmas celebrations this far.  We will blog soon about some of the other things we have been doing to celebrate the season!  This evening we were reminded in our advent devotions that as we smell delicious breads, cakes, and cookies baking in our oven, we can remember Jesus, the Bread of Life, and that we are to spread the aroma of Christ wherever we go.

Noah mostly enjoyed eating the cookies he decorated

Aden got more and more involved in his decorating with each cookie

Wiley's favorite part was to add the sprinkles

Kutsho, our neighbor, taste-tests some of the sprinkles

Cooper Leslie, focused on decorating an angel cookie

Emmerson Leslie, pleased with the taste of the icing!

All the kids and all their cookies

Kruger National Park...Again

Not able to resist the great deals being offered for our lodging, we recently took a second trip to the Kruger National Park.  Besides that though, it was Mommy's birthday and what better way to celebrate.  A trip to Kruger seems to be becoming our new birthday tradition (or at least a good excuse for going).

lunch at the Phalaborwa Gate

We decided to get an early start this time, so we left our house just before 5am.  This was in an effort to beat the morning traffic, but also because we had to be in the park and to our rest camp before 6pm, and it was a good 8 hour drive if you didn't make any stops.  Our rest camp of choice this time was called Olifants, and is situated in the central northeast part of the park.  We managed to make it with no problem, and were thankful to not feel rushed once entering the park, as we worked our way to Olifants.  The first sighting this time belonged to Wiley.  At four years old, he is quite the "spotter," as is Aden.  I think that Aden actually spotted some impala, but they are so common that we don't always count it.  It was Wiley who yelled, "GIRAFFE!" We backed up, and sure enough there was a giraffe just off the edge of the road.  Not sure how the rest of us missed it, except that we were just too excited to be back in the park finally after only two months.

watching the Olifants River at breakfast

Olifants Rest Camp was one of the highlights of our trip.  We were assigned to a family room, which has a common area for the kitchen, dining table, and couch.  It was covered, but had an open side to it that overlooked the river below.  We were able to sit and watch the animals from the comfort of our room, even while we ate.  The boys loved this as we could see hippos playing in the waters below, elephants coming for their evening and morning baths, giraffes coming for a drink, and various birds who were also enjoying the waters.  On either side of the common area was a room that had two single beds and a bathroom.  It was very hot, so air conditioners were on and doors and windows would be closed.  Knowing that we could not put the boys in a room by themselves, we tried to figure out what our sleeping arrangements would be.  We considered splitting mommy and daddy up, while each took a boy or two.  In the end, we decided to move one of the beds from one room over to the other room so that there were three beds.  We then pushed them all together and made a larger than California King-sized bed that all five of could fit in.  It was just another chance to create a family memory on an already memorable experience.
Because the common area had an open side to it, the insects, birds, squirrels and small reptiles roamed freely.  The boys really got a kick out of a sign that was in our room that warned us of hungry monkeys.  It was suggested that we turn our refrigerator so that the door was against the wall.  We made sure that we did after seeing a family of Vervet Monkeys running around the rest camp's grounds just earlier.  The next morning, we woke up to enough bug carnage that we had to wear our shoes outside of the bedroom.  Mommy had made homemade donuts for the trip.  We enjoyed those as we watched the sunrise and the animals, as they began their day with a morning drink/swim/bath at the river below.

blue wildebeest

From Olifants, we headed north to our next rest camp stop of Mopani.  The terrain was quite a bit different, with more open areas and not as much "bush" right up to the road.  There seemed to be different kinds of animals in this area that we hadn't yet seen in the park, such as wildebeest and ostrich.  We had a few close encounters on Day Two.  At lunch time, we saw two bull elephants fighting, and when they noticed us watching they chased us off.  After that, as we watched from a distance, they seemed to make up by throwing dirt on each other.  In the evening, after we checked in at Mopani, we took a shorter loop to look for animals before the camp gates closed at dusk.  Mommy decided to give Daddy a break and took a turn at the wheel, but we quickly realized that driving in the park is a bit too intense for her!  On a side dirt road, as the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky, we came across a very large herd of buffalo and zebra.  We made it through without incident, but not without Mommy panicking several times asking Daddy, "What do I do?!?"  She was quite worried that the buffalo were angry that we were on their road, and at one point, just as the last of the herd crossed the road in front of us, another one started to come closer and closer toward our car.  Again Mommy asked what to do, and just in time we drove away down the road.  Mommy was so worried that we had spent so much time waiting for the buffalo and wouldn't make it back to the camp, that she wouldn't stop for anything the rest of the way.  While Daddy was trying to get some photos of elephants and other animals along the way, Mommy just forged ahead, determined to make it back in time.

the martial eagle

After unsuccessfully attempting to make pizza on the stovetop, we called it a night and went to bed.  It rained in the night, but by morning the rain was gone and it was overcast, which was a nice break from the hot sun of the previous two days.  The rain seemed to bring out thousands of millipedes all over the road.  They looked like 6- or 8-inch sticks, but on closer inspection we realized they were moving.  We got an early start to begin making our way south through the park and saw some new animals we hadn't seen yet, including wildebeest and many, many birds.  One of the most exciting finds was a martial eagle.  The boys have talked about the martial eagle since they first discovered it in the bird book.  When they play safari, someone either spots a marital eagle or is a martial eagle, so to see one in the wild was especially rewarding.  We actually ended up seeing three different martial eagles through that day.  We also saw our third of the big five on the last day, when we spotted a rhino lying under a tree about 100 meters from the road.  Unlike our last experience in the park, this was the only rhino we saw this time. 

As we neared the gate to leave the park,  we came across another herd of buffalo crossing the road, though this time we were not the only vehicle around.  One of the vehicles ahead of us was a large bus that basically drove through first and cleared the way for everyone else.  As we slowly made our way down the road, with the herd on either side of us, Noah looked out his open window and yelled, "Stinky Diaper!"  Apparently, after that run-in with the buffalo the day before, Noah didn't feel a need to hide how he felt about "their kind."  We covered a lot of ground, which included crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, but unfortunately we didn't see any cats.  So we decided that just gives us a good reason to go back.  With birthdays coming up in February and March, we won't have to wait too long.

The Thanksgiving Tree

Grandma Karen and Grandpa Dan recently gifted the boys a subscription to Highlights magazine, an early Christmas present.  In the first issue was a tree craft project.  Basically, you take a stick and put playdough leaves on it, and "plant" the tree in a pot of rocks.  On its own, Mommy didn't see much point to it, other than a good way to dry out playdough.  But early in November, as she doing "school" with the boys (working on one letter each day with simple activities), Aden suggested making the tree for the letter T.  Mommy agreed, and added to the idea, calling it a "Thanksgiving Tree."  Each evening after dinner, everyone around the table shares something for which they are thankful.  The "thanksgivings" are written on strips of paper that are stapled into loops and hung on the tree.  As Thanksgiving gets closer, our tree has become quite colorful, and our boys have enjoyed thinking of all the things they are thankful for.  They have also enjoyed hearing what others share when we have company.

This week, following a suggestion Mommy found in an article online, she decided to take it a step further.  Every time she hears one of the boys complaining or whining, they are to stop and say three things they are thankful for, replacing their complaints with an attitude of gratitude.  For a brief moment at the first whine of the day, Mommy thought it would be a tough battle.  When Aden was whining and Mommy asked him to share three thanksgivings, he only whined more.  But Wiley eagerly piped up right away with three things to be thankful for.  Not to be outdone by his younger brother, Aden quickly changed his tune and began to say why he was thankful in that moment.  It happened again at lunch.  This time it was Wiley.  Mommy asked him to say three thanksgivings and Wiley scowled, then as he thought a moment, his countenance changed and he began to think of the things he is thankful for.  In fact, he couldn't stop himself at three! 

We have much to be thankful for this year as we approach the holiday season.  Here are just a few of the thanksgivings that hang on our tree:

South Africa
Our family (everyone's name appears at least once)
Jesus
Laughter
A lost ball that was returned 
The beauty of creation
Christian heritage
Kruger
God's provision for us (especially as we have been praying for the Horn of Africa)
Our church here
Playing soccer
School for Aden
Friends and family around the world (many listed by name)

Daddy's Little Helpers

 

William "Wiley" James, the Birthday Boy

 On October 9, Wiley James turned four years old.  Despite all of Daddy's pleas with him to stop getting older, he went through with it anyway.  Was it the cake and ice cream that he couldn't resist, or was it the thought of being one year (number) closer in age to his older brother and one more ahead of his younger?  Probably all of the above.
Since the Kruger trip was part of his birthday wish, that may have been the highlight, especially since it has already warranted its own blog post. The actual day of his birthday was the day after that trip and was on Sunday.  It was probably a little more low-key and anti-climactic because of that, or because Mommy and Daddy were still exhausted from all of the driving to, through, and from Kruger that finally ended when we got back home just before midnight the night before.  It was still a good day for everyone though, and especially for Wiley which was all that mattered.

Birthday Boy with his Birthday Lunch

The day started with the boys waking up at the crack of dawn.  Mommy had already decorated the kitchen table with balloons, banners and the special birthday chair before working on the Birthday Boy's breakfast of choice - - chocolate chip pancakes.  The best part of this tradition is that we all benefit.  He opened a gift, which was a new Bible with a safari/adventure theme.  Perfect for where we were going next.  After church, we came home for the birthday boy's special lunch request.  Mommy was thankful because it was an easy one.  In fact, it is what he wants for lunch practically everyday - - jelly sandwiches.  Now what was I just saying about benefiting from these traditions?  He loved it.  Daddy was asking for at least some peanut butter on his for some protein.  The afternoon was spent playing soccer with friends, playing with new toys, reading new books and of course wearing the "Birthday Boy" t-shirt around so that everyone knows whose day it is.  We worked up some big appetites for the Birthday Boy's final meal of choice for the day.  If you know Wiley, or any of our boys for that matter, you know it had to be Tortillas with all of the fixins.  It was a feast, especially for those who didn't get filled up enough on the jelly sandwiches.  More gifts after dinner brought a soccer ball, books, clothes, binoculars, and a stuffed animal cheetah (perhaps Wiley's favorite animal, narrowly beating out the black-backed jackal).
  We ended the day with some cake and ice cream, which Wiley also special ordered through Mommy.  He wanted a green and brown cake that had animals on it, a road, and the number four.  As we ate, we told stories of his birth and baby days while reading some from the original blog - The Adventures of Aden and Wiley.  He liked hearing about how he decided to be born in the night and woke Mommy up, who in turn woke Daddy up, who in turn woke Uncle Bill (and Aunt Marsha) up and Bubu Jim (and Aunt Kathy) up and Aunt Gail (and Uncle Scott) up. . . and about where he got his special names, and the funny things Aden did with him and to him.  It was a fun-filled day and weekend that ended with a four year old who can't wait to be five. 

With namesake, Uncle Bill

With namesake, Bubu Jim

Wiley's weigh-in on his "birth" day

Here are some favorite quotes from Wiley over the last year:

One weekend when we were living in North Carolina, we took a trip to Boone, on the other side of the state.  As we approached Boone the excitement grew.  There were so many new sights to see - patches of snow, mountains, icicles, and Christmas tree farms.  Finally Wiley proclaimed, "Mommy, this must be a Charlie Brown video!"  Aden was full of ideas for what we would do if we were in Boone at Christmas time, and when and how to pick out a Christmas tree; Wiley stayed with his theme:  "But some people will have a scraggly little tree."

When looking for a particular stuffed animal, which seemed to have wandered away, since it was not where he remembered leaving it, "I guess Squirrel just took his first steps.  He's standing up somewhere taking his first steps." 

With a tummy ache:  "My tummy will get better when we are at Kruger." 

One day Wiley put both his and Noah's cups in the fridge, to save their milk for later.  They were identical and I wanted to make sure I knew whose was whose.  "Wiley, do you know whose cup is whose?"  "Yes."  "Do you know whose cup has more in it?"  I thought I knew, but wanted to make sure before Wiley forgot.  "Um, mine does and Noah's does."  And I knew I was right - Noah's had more.  But Wiley is so competitive, he couldn't stand "losing" to Noah in the amount of milk in his cup, so declared it a tie.  

Dr. Wiley to Mommy, the patient: 
I am going to listen for bumps and Jesus in your heart.

Kruger National Park - Just what the Doctor Ordered

Ever since we arrived in South Africa back in May, Wiley has wanted to go to Kruger National Park.  It actually goes back earlier than that when the boys discovered the books that Daddy had kept from his visit to the park in 2002.  While still in diapers, Wiley could pick out animals like the wildebeest. They had been studying the books and learning the names of the different animals, not realizing what they were preparing themselves for.
If you don't know about Kruger, it is one of the largest Game Reserves in all of Africa.  (You can read more about it here, and even watch the viral video that took the net by storm, called "The Battle At Kruger" here.)  Wiley wanted to go so bad that he began telling us that his tummy hurt and would only get better when he got to Kruger.  Not bad for a three year old.  With his fourth birthday in October, we targeted that time for finally making his wish come true. 
We left on Thursday morning and drove the six hours from Johannesburg to the town of Graskop (about 30 miles from the Kruger gate). There we stayed at a quaint little Austrian-owned guest house in the mountains near a landmark called God's Window.  The views of the mountains around us were beautiful and you can see where the name came from.  The boys loved "hiking" the trails up to where the views were.  Even Noah held his own and obviously does not want to be left behind from his brothers.  We enjoyed our stay at Zur Alten Mine, but were more than ready for the next day's trip into Kruger.

We got up early and made the drive to the Paul Kruger gate to enter the park.  After the mandatory check-in and paperwork, we were finally in the park and ready to start spotting animals.  Wiley was first to spot anything when he saw a baboon near the entrance gate.  Let the fun begin!  One of our first spots (besides the ever-present impala) was a family of elephants.  They were breaking through the bush and crossed the road just behind us.  What a sight to see this enormous mammal so close.  Little did we know, we would see as many as 80-100 more elephant over the next two days.  Not far up the road from there, we came across several cars in a line of traffic that was building.  An easy clue that there is something to see, not to mention the 20+ vultures swarming around the area.  As we got closer, we realized it was a pride of lions that had recently killed a buffalo.  Tired from the hard work of making the kill, they were now lying around and resting before their big feast.  They may sometimes wait up to 2-3 days before actually eating.  It was a sight to behold nevertheless to see these enormous cats lying just a few feet from the side of the road.  You can see why they are indeed the kings of the jungle.
We drove through the park for the rest of the day trying to spot as many animals as we could.  Aden became quite a good spotter, often finding animals that we had missed.  He studied all of the books that we had to help you identify the animals and could often tell us what we were seeing.  He proclaimed himself a "Kudu Expert" at one point.  Wiley loved it, especially when we found giraffe and zebra.  Not to be outdone, he proclaimed himself the "Elephant Expert." Noah liked seeing the animals as well, but would get a little restless during the sometimes long periods of time that we would not see anything (but impala).  It was helpful that he was still able to take naps.  At one point, he awoke from his nap in the back seat unbeknownst to us as we were watching a giraffe just outside our window.  We suddenly heard, "Hello Giraffe!" from the backseat.  He enjoyed himself too.

We stayed the night inside the park at the Skukuza Rest Camp.  There was a restaurant at the camp that was an old train, which had been used for giving train safaris back in the early days.  It was quite a treat for the boys.  Our guest cottage was just on the edge of the camp by the fence that surrounded it.  On the other side was a river.  Throughout the night, Mommy and Daddy could hear various animals who were suddenly more active under the cloak of darkness.  The next morning, with breakfast on the veranda, we were able to watch some animals who were brave enough to approach the fence.  Of course, the boys' excitement could not be contained and the animals didn't stay around for long.

Another day of driving through the park brought several more spottings of elephant, but also some rhino which we had yet to see.  Buffalo, hippos, baboons, vervet monkeys, kudus, and various other antelope and birds were among our other sightings.  We saw four of the Big 5 (lion, elephant, buffalo, and rhino) but missed seeing leopards, and also missed two of the boys favorites, cheetahs and black-backed jackals (which they watched for the entire time).  A few of the highlights were watching more than 20 elephants cross the road as we sat in the car eating lunch on the side of the road, hearing an elephant mother trumpet as she led her baby away from the road, and watching a rhino run right in front of our car and then stare us down and dare us to try and pass by.
 We left the park just before they closed their gates for the night and then made the six hour drive back home.  Another trip to Kruger is definitely in order.  We still need to see the hard to spot leopards, cheetahs and black-backed jackals.  We seem to now all have tummy aches that can only be remedied by a trip to Kruger.  

Our elephant friend, on trumpet:

Bath Day

We know it's time for haircuts when . . .

. . . we can do this with the boys' hair after baths.  They call it "crazy hair," and as Wiley says, they just can't stop laughing over it.