Newsupdate Site December 3d 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

What a day what a day it was today!
Yesterday we had a big event on the campus, the Christmas Bazaar which was open to the public. There were lots of activities for the children, food stalls, movies and real sheep and lambs. Hope loved the little lambs and she was not at all intimidated by the sheep either. We spent the whole day walking around and when we came home, Hope was exhausted so she went to bed early.
Then this morning at 5:00am she woke up crying. I thought that she had just decided to get up early, but thankfully Jackson had the idea that perhaps she was just thirsty. So he gave her some milk and then she indeed went back to sleep, which was such a blessing. Jackson decided to get an early start and study for his test this morning, and I decided to listen to some worship music, when the sleep started coming, I also closed my eyes till about 7:10am.
As Jackson came home from his studies, all of us had breakfast and got dressed for the Community Worship. After eating breakfast, I felt a little nauseous (pregnancy morning sickness) and so I decided to rest for a few minutes while Jackson and Hope went ahead of me. When I got there, the worship had already fully taken off and there was such a sweet presence of the Lord as close to 1000 people from many different nations were singing worship to him. Hope sometimes likes to wonder and explore people’s water bottles during this time, or she will climb things that are there, but this morning she had wanted to be held by Daddy and when he left to go to class early, she wanted to be held by me while I was singing and moving. I must say it’s quite a challenge now that she is more than 10 kg, but on the other hand I enjoy feeling her close to me while she still wants to be held! After a few songs, she did start her usual exploration routine, and what can I say, she loves people and doesn’t mind staring at complete strangers, because they are very tall, have a tattoo, have long hair, have painted toes, nice shoes or whatever it is that is intriguing her .
When the worship had finished Hope and I walked home to get prepared for the office. Now every morning I will walk downhill to the office (about 12 minutes) with the stroller, so that she can take her nap while I’m working. So I was just putting her inside, when I realized a flat tire!! Big panic settled in as we always have our Monday morning touchpoint meeting that I really needed to go to. On top of this my plastic water bottle fell on the floor and cracked open, so there was a big mess and no water for me to take along. With no time to fix the tire, I thought what my options were: I had access to the hospitality vehicle, but because of the Christmas event this had been parked all the way at the top of the campus, a 15 minute climb uphill. But with Hope walking that would be 30 minutes, and if I would have to carry her, it would be exhausting. So the only option left was to take Hope in her tricycle, knowing that this meant that she wouldn’t be able to take her nap, but we might make it through the meeting before she got too tired. So we went down there, stopping by the mailroom on the way.
The meeting with Darlene and my colleague Dawn went well and Hope was constantly laughing and enjoying being there. However she also wants to type when I’m typing, which does not always turn out so well when you’re trying to take notes. As we had finished discussing the team meeting, I was supposed to go through some things with Darlene, but Hope started getting really tired. So Dawn drove Hope and myself to pick up the vehicle and then to our house. Then Hope immediately fell asleep in her own bed where she took a good nap, and Darlene and I continued our meeting on the phone till lunch time. We didn’t get to finish everything, but over the weekend I had caught up on most of the e-mails so this meant the end of my working day today (which is not always the case).

Then Jackson came home around 11:45. He had been in class all morning and was free till his next class at 12:30. Jackson picked lunch from the campus which was sloppy joes- a white bun with a spaghetti sauce and cheese on it. Somehow the smell of the food got my pregnant stomach twisted, so I decided to just eat soup instead this time. After lunch Jackson had to go and Hope and I went outside for a walk. She explored everywhere, her favorite things are sticks, leaves, flowers and cats. She will also chase the birds and try to climb stairs by herself. At this point she is fearless and very confident in her abilities…
After a while she started asking for an apple, so we went home and she drank a lot of water and I gave her some apple slices. Realizing she wouldn’t take another nap just yet, we went outside again to the Arc Park which is a playground on the campus for children. She loves the slide, and again climbing the stairs up and practicing going down. There was another child there, whom she was very curious about. We then met her best friend, Annabelle (who is 1 month older), whom she calls “Allabalabala”. So her mother and I chatted while the two of them explored. Then she looked tired and I took her home for her afternoon nap at 2:30pm. This time I also went to lie down, catching up on some Ruzzle games with my parents and friend. Then as I was trying to sleep, the noise outside started to get quite loud as students were preparing for their work duty. Jackson also came home to change clothes for his work duty, then I decided to lie on the couch instead near the other window and then I was able to fall asleep.
Hope’s crib is under the staircase so that’s really well isolated from noise, heat and cold. We have hung a little curtain in front of it which makes it feel like her bed room. Our house is all in one room and we have a loft upstairs where we have put our bed. Downstairs we have a sink, shower, toilet, eating area and our couch, desk and Hope’s playing area. By moving our bed upstairs, Hope now has about 10m2 to play on and that’s a lot better than before. But thankfully because of the Hawaiian sun we are able to go outside a lot and she loves that even more.

At 3:45pm Hope and I woke up and got ready to go out. This morning our monthly support had come in, so with the hospitality vehicle we went shopping to Target (sort of like Walmart). She really enjoyed riding down the aisles and I was enjoying getting all the things we had run out of (such as dish soap!) and some nice “pregnancy treats”. We also got some long sleeve- footed- pajamas for Hope as the nights are getting much cooler now. We came home around 5pm and found Daddy outside, so Hope joined him there for some Daddy time while I unloaded the shopping. Then I quickly washed the dishes with the new dish soap and then I went to pick dinner from the campus. This time it was French bread with meat and cheese melted on it and bouillon on the side and a choice of sliced raw vegetables with lettuce. I got home and cooked the vegetables in the microwave, then we ate. Hope loved the melted cheese on the bread, but somehow I just sticked with the plain bread and the bouillon and salad. It’s really weird how food you normally like, all of a sudden becomes something nauseating. After this I brought out the tangerines we had found in the supermarket. They are the best this time of year, nice and sour and juicy the way I like them. It was Hope’s first time to eat them and she loved it so much, she kept asking for more slices.

Then I cleaned up and did some of our administration while Jackson played with Hope and prepared her for her shower. He showered her and I dried her off and then he gave her, her milk. We brushed her teeth, prayed together and then she gave Daddy, Mommy as well as Baby a kiss.

Then Jackson left to study after 7pm and that is normally the time I use to work again. But since today I am all caught up, I decided to write you a “day in the life of Anneke” update instead!

It’s now 8:35pm and very soon Jackson should be home so we can spent some quality time before (my) bed time around 10pm.

Status: still a flat tire, so I don’t know what tomorrow will look like…