So that's why they call it SCRAPbooking?!

I had just completed a layout and was proudly displaying it to Scot. He enjoys seeing what I've done and is encouraging of my habit...er...hobby. I declared, "I'm trying to use up more of my scraps. This layout only uses small pieces of paper from my scrap collection!" I was so proud of myself.

Scot appropriately ooo'd and aaaaah'd over the layout, while quietly and thoughtfully pondering my creative brilliance...or so I thought. After a moment he said, "You're supposed to use your scraps. That's why it's called SCRAPbooking. Otherwise they'd call it "Expensive, new, full sheet of paper for every layout booking!" Obviously he was unimpressed with my resourcefulness.

He's a stinker!

No more diapers????!!!!!

Maybe this is an odd thing to blog about, but I'm just so darn excited, I have to share!

After nearly 9 years of constant diaper changes, we are DONE WITH DIAPERS! Yesterday, inspired by the warmer weather, I asked Georgia Kate if she wanted to wear big girl underwear. She shouted, "YES!" So, we gave it a try. A few accidents, lots of success, and here we are!

Thomas was born on June 24, 1999. We began changing his diapers. We added Maggie and her diapers to the mix on March 13, 2001. Thomas was potty trained in May of 2002. Just Maggie in diapers for a few months. Then Scoty came along. Maggie gave us a break in February of 2004. Just one in diapers for a year and a half. Then Georgia Kate came along on October 5, 2005. Scoty ended his diaper days in December of 2005. And it's been Georgia Kate's diaper days ever since.

I can seriously count on one hand how many days I've lived in the last nearly 9 years without changing a diaper. Scot and I went to Tennessee for a church conference for 4 days in 2002. There might possibly be another day I'm forgetting, though I highly doubt that. Not having to change a diaper is something that gets written on my calendar! 4 days. That's it. I have changed at least 1 diaper every other day for almost 9 years!

Can you see why I'm so excited I felt the need to blog about it? Nevermind that today is Easter and I've got adorable pictures of my kids to share and a fun holiday to write about. I had to share my complete and utter amazement that I am done with diapers. At least until the grandkids come along! And I guess I've got a few years, huh?

McDonalds~~Kosher for Passover!

Every year at Passover, even the McDonalds in Jerusalem, which are not normally kosher, become Kosher for Passover. We thought it would be interesting to visit McDonalds during Passover week for a new experience for our family. We're always up for an adventure!

So, yesterday, we packed the kids up in the car and headed to our favorite McDonalds in the German Colony. Many of the usual foods are not available. I forgot to snap a picture of the sign, written in Hebrew, they put across the unavailable items on the picture menu.

The kids got chicken McNuggets Happy Meals, Scot got a hamburger and I got a grilled chicken sandwich. We also got salads with our meals. I chose the Arab salad. Since Scot doesn't eat tomatoes, he got the side salad. The McNuggets were coated in a different kind of breading. The kids weren't super thrilled, but they ate them. Our burgers were on a kosher for Passover bun. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I would call good either. It had the feel of stale bread, and didn't have much taste. But it was an experience!

The real bummer? Kosher for Passover food is more expensive! But we thoroughly enjoyed our new, fun experience! Oh! And we got to sit outside on the tiny little second story veranda! Just added to the FUN of it all!

FYI: BBQ sauce is not Kosher for Passover!

SS Blog Challenge #13, part 2

I almost forgot to finish Blog Challenge #13! Imagine! I finally had Scot snap a picture of me at my desk. I know you all were dying to see this! He actually took about a hundred pictures...or at least 15! And none of them were great! Here are two fun pictures of me. One, making the face Scoty always makes in pictures, and one of me trying to look happy...both with my gianormous smile! ENJOY!

The Star of the Show!

Scoty portrayed Jesus in his school's Easter drama. They performed yesterday and today, and I got to see both performances. I didn't really have a choice! When Scoty found out that we weren't coming today he started to cry. We can't have a sad Jesus! So, I skipped out on my Arabic lesson for an hour and went.

Scoty did great! This mother's heart was full to overflowing as I proudly watched him work so hard! It took a lot of discipline for him to be so serious! He practiced his serious face and his slow walk and his crouched down, carrying the cross walk at home. We had some concerns because he seemed nervous before the performances, but he didn't show it a bit. He walked onto that stage with confidence that belied his age!

He did a superb job! I'm so proud of my boy!

This has been such a great experience for Scoty. Since they began rehearsing the play a few months ago, I've seen him grow in confidence. He seems to have more self-assurance now. And he was so proud of himself. What an accomplishment!

I've got a lot to blog about today! Check back later for more!

SS Blog Challenge #14: There's No Place Like Home!

This week tell us about the places you've called home. Have you lived in one place all your life? Tell us about it and why you've chosen to stay there. Have you lived in many places? Where have you lived and what have you done to make each place feel like home? What has been your favorite place to live and why?

I have lived in lots of places in my 33 years. But the funny thing is, that I grew up in the same house, where I lived until leaving for college at age 18. My parents actually lived in the half a double next door and moved to the other side when I was about a year old. Rock Street in the Bloody 5th Ward of Shamokin was home for me for 18 years full-time, and then during a summer break or two, when I wasn't off traveling the world!

I called Nyack, NY, home for about 8 years. I went to Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary there. I lived in the girls dorm, Christie Hall, for 3 1/2 years, took a live-in nanny position for 1/2 a year in New City, NY, and then lived in 3 different apartments after Scot and I got married. And oh, they were interesting! Our first apartment was off-campus in the "hood." heehee! We had interesting neighbors, drug busts, cockroaches...wasn't the nicest place we've ever lived, but was all we could afford at that moment in our lives! We then moved to seminary housing. The neighbors improved, but the roaches did not. I started to think it was us! But when we moved into our 3rd apartment, we were roach free! That was cause for great rejoicing! Two of our children were born while we were living in those 2 apartments. I have a special connection to those places.

We moved back to Shamokin in 2001, where we stayed for a little over 3 years. We lived in a house owned by our church. We had a little yard and hideous green carpeting! And we lived exactly between my parents and my in-laws! It was a wonderful location!

Finally, we moved to Jerusalem. We came here in August of 2004. Since coming, we've lived in 3 apartments. The first move was our choice, and the 2nd apartment was perfect! Unfortunately, the landlady decided she wanted to do something different and we had to find a new place. God has provided a beautiful new home with a nice enclosed garden for the kids to play in, lots of space...little extra blessings. I still feel sad about having to leave the 2nd apartment. Being forced out is never a pleasant experience.

Those are all the places that I've called home for extended periods of time. But I've lived summers in Gabon, Central Africa, Washington, DC, where I worked as a tour guide with Tourmobile Sightseeing, a month in Wheaton, IL while we studied at a linguistics school in 2004, a few weeks in Mali, West Africa and Croatia. I wouldn't call all of those places home, though I think I always bring things with me that make any place feel like home.

As for what makes a place feel like home? Of course, it's family. I can call any where home if Scot and the kids are by my side. Our last apartment we painted, which was the first time in our lives we were able to do that. That made it really feel like it was ours! And pictures on the walls. We hang lots of pictures of our kids up, as well as pictures of scenery and things we enjoy. And it would never feel like home if I didn't have all my clutter! I complain about it sometimes, but it is part of me. Clutter comes with the territory, I'm afraid. And honestly, the clutter makes a place feel like it belongs to me!

My favorite place that I've lived? That's a hard question to answer. Every time we move, we do so because God is calling us to something new. Not so much to individual apartments (though I've always seen His hand working to provide us great places to live), but the big moves we've made have all been as a result of much prayer and knowing he was calling us to go. I loved living in Shamokin as an adult. As a teen I swore I'd never go back! But there was something so comforting and so familiar about everything, it was easy to return to our childhood hometown. And it was close to family and extended family, and our supporting church family~~we couldn't have asked for more during that time in our lives.

But God gave us a clear call to Palestine. There was no doubt about it. And I love it here. Honestly. Some days are hard. Some days are lonely. Some days I would hop on the next flight out of here if I could. But most days are full of precious blessings! Most days I feel blessed to call Jerusalem home. Now if I could just get Arabic, we'd be all set!

I love these questions. It helps me take account of how blessed I am. I'm so grateful to be following God's call. I wouldn't want to be living anywhere else!

Personality and Intelligence tests

I just took a personality test and a multiple intelligence test. I love to take these kinds of tests, even if my results rarely change! No surprises here. As you can see, I am very introverted and logical/mathmatical! HA! I often say I don't have an introverted bone in my body. That's not completely true...but my extroverted nature completely overshadows everything else! And the logical/mathmatical intelligences didn't even register. That was no surprise. I don't think I ever think logically! You should take a few minutes and take the test yourself! It's fun, honest!

My kids...

I realized that I haven't posted a picture of my kids! These 4 little beings who call me Mama make my life crazy! And so amazingly good and bright! Though I joke about sending them on the next plane to their grandparents' house on a regular basis, I honestly can't imagine life without them!

Thomas will be 9 in June. He's our wild child: he does not sit still. Ever.
Maggie is 7. She is a strong and determined little girl.
Scoty is 5. He's our gentle one. Though he can get wild, as a boy should, he can also be calm and quiet. That's something the other 3 lack!
Georgia Kate is 2 1/2. Oh, that girl. She is the cutest little thing. And the naughtiest! She challenges us at every turn, and then turns around with a big ol' sloppy kiss and BAM! We forget what she's done.

They are amazing kids! I praise God for them every single day!

My, how things change!

I got to thinking the other day about how things change with time. Not just important things, but everyday things. I thought I'd blog about all the things that seemed so strange to us when we first came to Palestine in August of 2004, but are now just a normal part of life. The list is long! In no particular order:

1. Corn on pizza. The first time I saw this I thought I'd be sick. Now? It's the kids' most requested topping. And I can eat it too. What will we do when we visit the US and we can't get corn on our pizza?

2. Drains in the floors of kitchens, bathrooms, and enclosed porches. We had to stay with co-workers when we first arrived. I clearly remember washing my first dish and hearing this swooshing sound from under my feet as the water drained from the sink. I jumped and called our friend. What was that sound? That's how they do the pipes here. And it also makes it easy to clean the tile floors: flood 'em! And you use a squigy to push the water into the open drains. Which leads to #3!

3. Squigies. How do you even spell that? Rather than using mops as we think of them in the US, we clean our floors with a giant squigy. You can put a cloth on the end, or simply use the squigy to to push the water and all the gak into the drain. I might have to take one of these with me to the US!

4. Sinks outside of bathrooms. There is almost always an extra sink outside of the bathroom here for ease of washing one's hands. I still find that strange, because just a few feet away is yet another sink in the bathroom. But there it is.

5. Tile floors everywhere. They are beautiful and so easy to clean. But so cold in the winter!

6. Freezing cold houses during the winter! This one I will never get used to. For 3 months every year Jerusalem is miserable! We go outside to get warm!

7. Coffee is served with the grinds included. This is Arab coffee. Scot loves it. It's okay and I graciously drink it when it's served. I don't prefer it and am always happy to be offered "filter coffee" or "American coffee."

8. Tea is served with vegetation floating in it. Fresh mint, wild sage (called maramia)...you just never know what you might find in your tea! Now I can hardly drink tea without something fresh in it!

9. The list of greetings and leave-takings that are required. You can't just say, "Hello!" and "Goodbye!" Sometimes I feel the greetings will never end. It made me so uncomfortable when we first came because I didn't know all the right things to say and how to respond. Now I can keep up with Arabic greetings and leave-takings without missing a beat!

10. The cheek kissing. I knew to expect it, but it still takes some getting used to. And every once in awhile now I'm not sure how many kisses to give. Sometimes it's just 2. Sometimes 3. and sometimes 4! I have found that it seems to indicate depth of relationship, at least in the villages. And now, if a woman doesn't kiss my cheeks in greeting, I feel sad and/or left out! And I've even learned how to do it without making someone's glasses dirty or stepping on her toes!

11. Hummus. We used to eat hummus sometimes in the US. Or what we thought was hummus. It came in a plastic tub from Walmart. Now we know what REAL hummus tastes like, and there is no going back! We eat hummus nearly everyday. It serves as an alternative protein for us. Our kids love it. We use it for sandwiches, veggie dip, and eat it for breakfast, lunch, and supper. As you can see in this picture: this ain't your walmart's hummus! And check out that amazing sesame bread? It's addictive!

12. Olives. We have always enjoyed olives. But we have now come to love Palestinian style olives! YUM! The olive tree is a symbol of life for Palestinians. We've not only learned how to cure them, but we've also helped pick olives during the olive harvest, and we've seen how they make olive oil. The only kind of olive oil I know Palestinians to use is extra virgin. You haven't tasted olive oil until you've tasted it fresh! WOW!

13. Conversations peppered with Arabic words. I don't think I'm capable of having a conversation in English now without using some Arabic words! It is so fun to be on the way to becoming bilingual!

14. Being in the minority. That is something I've never really been before. And here, it is glaringly obvious that one of these things just doesn't belong here! The stares are hard to get used to. Depending on where we are and what we are doing, it's still not easy. Being the only foreigner, or the only Christian, or the only American...it's just strange.

15. White stone houses. It was strange to see houses that were all the exact same thing. Now I don't even bat an eye.

16. Horses, donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats, and even camels on the city streets almost every day! That took some getting used to. We still get excited to see the baby camels!

This list is far from exhaustive! It's more like a work in progress...I'll have to keep adding things as they come to mind! It really is strange how quickly things become normal. We don't notice the differences so much after 3 1/2 years. When people visit they comment on some of these things and we remember just how weird it all seemed to us when we first arrived! I'm glad things like this change. We feel at home here. We're comfortable in our adopted land. That's always a good thing!

SS Blog Challenge #13: Act your age

If you could go back to any age again, how old would you want to be and why? What age would you least like to be and why?

I have had a blessed life! There are many points in my life I wouldn't mind repeating! But if forced to choose, I would likely say my junior year in college. I had security and fun that year! The only negative was that my best friend traveled to Italy, and I missed her like crazy! I grew a lot that year, experienced the freedom of growing up, but still had the security of family. And at the very end of that year Scot and I started dating. That was a lot of fun!

I think fondly of all my college years, especially the first 3. I loved my college, I loved living so close to NYC, I loved the ministry I was involved with in Brooklyn...I loved it all!

I might, on a different day, choose my junior/senior year in high school too. I loved high school! I had such an amazing group of close friends, great parents, and lots of fun! The coolest thing is that I have very few memories that Scot doesn't share with me. We grew up together. So, when I want to talk about my insane high school chemistry teacher, Scot can laugh with me! That's a pretty cool blessing.

As for an age I wouldn't want to repeat? I wish I could wipe 2007 right off the map of my life. Not because of the age (I turned 32 that year), but because emotionally it was a very difficult year for me for many reasons. I would never want to repeat that year.

In my head I am still 21/22. I am sometimes shocked when I process how old I really am. How did I get stuck in that year? I guess it really was a good time in my life...

SS Blog Challenge #12: Getting To Know You

It is only fitting that my first blog challenge be Sherry's! She's one of my newest SS friends and I just gotta say that I love her! :) I have a feeling I have a new obsession to add to my list!

Copy and paste the following section into your blog and answer as best as you can. You can elaborate (I hope you do), you can post pictures, you can be deep, you can be funny. Whatever you choose -just be honest. Second part of the challenge - post a picture (from this week) of you at your computer. Don't worry about cleaning up - just post and have fun.

1) Right now I want: SLEEP! I have been suffering from insomnia off and on. It's flared up again. And instead of going to bed, I avoid it. What I wouldn't give for one good night's sleep!

2) I wish I knew how to: Speak Arabic fluently. I struggle every single day with this beautiful language. Oh, how I wish I could snap my fingers and BAM! I'd be fluent in Arabic~written, classical Arabic and the spoken Palestinian dialect.

3) When I want to indulge myself, I: Eat ice cream? Scrapbook? Or both!

4) You’ll never see me: Purposely being mean to someone. I know that I've hurt and offended people in my life. But never intentionally. I strive to be kind and to make everyone feel comfortable. Sometimes to my own detriment. I have a really hard time with extremely moody people. I am not fake, but I also don't believe everyone has to share my misfortune or my bad day. I can smile at someone, even if I'm feeling low inside.

5) A childhood memory that I love: The first place that came to my mind is my Na-na and Papa Joe's farm. But the memories there are endless! I'll pick one: gathering the eggs with Papa Joe. I can remember being scared to stick my hand under the clucking chickens. I felt sorry for them. And I was worried they would take a bite out of me. Papa Joe told me not to be afraid. And he had to force me to put my hand under. I did get pecked on more than one occasion. But Papa Joe taught me to stand up and face things I was afraid of. I never liked taking the eggs. But I did it and I did it well. And I loved spending time with Papa Joe.

6) 2 things I do every single day: Pray and kiss my husband and kids

7) Happiest moment of 2008, so far: My surprise birthday party! I was away at a women's conference with ladies from our church from February 5-7. My birthday is the 6th. And I was feeling so sad to be separated from my family on my birthday. My friends tricked me into thinking we had a 5pm coffee break. When I walked into the room I first saw my youngest daughter, Georgia Kate, playing on the floor. Everyone screamed and I noticed Scot standing at the front of the meeting room with a 3-tiered birthday cake. The rest of our kids were with him too! I love surprises, and this one really knocked me off my feet! I called him literally 1 minute before walking into that room. Because of all the noise in the background, he told me he was at the local grocery store. We enjoyed 30 minutes together and then they had to leave. My kids actually cried as they drove away. I did too. Bittersweet. But mostly SWEET!

8) Describe yourself in 3 words: Ooooh...that's a tough one! Can I cheat and ask someone? I'll give it a try since I'm here by myself!
1. Passionate (both good and bad!)
2. Compassionate
3. Friendly/outgoing

Okay...I cheated a little and chose 4! We'll just consider the last 2 as 1, okay?

Scot just got home and I asked him to describe me in 3 words. Let's see how they match up!
1. boisterous
2. compassionate (no kidding! That was his second choice too!)
3. fun-loving

9) 2 scrap related goals for this year: 1. To get caught up so I can scrap more in the moment. 2. To complete 366 pages!

10) You have $40 that you MUST spend on yourself – what do you do with it? I would likely buy music and/or dvds. Or books. The things I always fill my online shopping carts with but never buy.

I'll have to get to the picture tomorrow since I'm in my jammies and look a-fright!

Seriously...this blog thing is just too much fun!

I'm bloggin'!

Well, here I am! I've been told blogging is already going out of style. I'm okay with being out of style! I guess I'm just looking for a place where I can prattle on and on about nothing and not have anyone tell me to be quiet or to lower my voice. Likely no one will listen to me here either! I'm okay with that too.

I took my blog name from a quote from a favorite TV show, Scrubs. Somedays my entire existence can be summed up as a Big Ol' Can of Crazy!

I've got no idea what I'll blog about. Most likely the everyday antics of my family. Or things I enjoy, like scrapbooking, music, and TV shows. Or things I'm obsessed with, like The Monkees and The Office. Or my faith in Jesus that keeps me going. For those of you who are interested in learning more about me, this will be your one stop shop for a can o' crazy!!!

Life is never boring here in Jerusalem. Or anywhere one goes with 4 kids! Hopefully I can make you laugh. Or make myself laugh. Or just find some joy in the everyday stuff. That's what we're all here for.