Easter/Birthday Weekend

by Tiffany Summers · April 26, 2014

So this past couple of weeks brought an unexpected turn of events. First of all, the weather decided to retreat back into winter. I literally watched our spring showers turn into snow. It wouldn’t be such a big deal, if the city hadn’t already turned off the heat. Now, everyone’s home is quite cold. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I busted out my long johns, sweats and sleeping bag in order to stay warm through the night (ok, most of you who know my aversion to the cold aren’t too surprised ;o) ). After one night of struggling to keep Jaden under his blankets I finally brought out his fleece long underwear to wear over his fleece pajamas. He may have looked like the Michelin Man but at least everyone is sleeping through the night.

Just before the weather turned cold, Jaden came down with his first real cold since moving here. We have been extremely blessed with good health and we know it is from those back home going to the Father for us. So on Monday when Jaden woke up with a runny nose and fever I wasn’t too worried and put on my nurse hat. I also found that with only one child to look after I got to have a lot of snuggle and reading time. Usually he is too busy running/playing but since he didn’t feel well we read a lot of books and watched our first movie together. If you can ignore all the gunk coming out of his nose it was really sweet.

We were also blessed last week with 5 packages arriving from a club in Dallas! Jaden was over the moon excited about opening them. And just an FYI, Jaden hopes each package has crackers – he sees a package and asks “Crackers? Crackers in there?” Thankfully there were crackers. There also was a ton of baking goods and craft supplies that I have already put to use. Jaden got some books, stickers and clothes. We were really touched by such a generous outpouring of love.

I must add that due to the contents of these packages we were able to get through sick week much more comfortably with new books to read and a few new toys to play with.

Sadly, Jaden and I missed our Good Friday get together. But Josh helped with the music so he went and told us about it when he returned. He brought the craft that I had put together (using some of the stickers I had just receive, thanks!) and came back with reports that it went well.

By Saturday, Jaden and I were ready to get out of the house! It was my birthday so we went to the one “special” restaurant we know about…Burger King. That’s right, I got myself a good ol’ hamburger and fries. And to top it off, we went to Dairy Queen afterwards for ice cream. If you avoid the “green tea and red bean” flavor (yes, that is ONE flavor) it actually is really good ice cream. That evening Josh made me a cake and we watched Frozen off of iTunes.

Dairy Queen

Sunday finally arrived and we were excited to celebrate Easter. We met up with a lot of the expats and got to have a great time of singing. The kids got to have a lesson and sing with palm branches. Afterwards we chatted for a bit and then headed home to make it in time for nap. Jaden was still getting over his cold and Josh was coming down with one so I let everyone sleep for a couple hours but not wanting to miss out I then got the boys up to go to the park.

There were some friends from our company who were meeting at the park to do an egg hunt together (I had boiled and died some eggs for Jaden). Jaden had a blast. He first helped me hide some and then joined the other kids in finding them. We, of course, attracted the local kids and for the most part they were very helpful. They soon caught on to the game and would help Jaden find them. It was really sweet. We then spent another hour chatting and meeting people. Jaden played hard with the other kids. He took a few spills and literally ate the grass on one fall but was determined to keep up with the others. By the time we left I could see a knot forming on his forehead and a scratch on his cheek but he was a happy little camper.