Back in the ‘Boro

becky    General    

We will write more about the last few days of our trip along with some about Toffer’s adventures when we are more coherent.  After about 24 hours of travel, we arrived home yesterday evening.  We are exhausted after two busy, hot weeks in Asia and the trip home, but are very glad that we went. Hopefully it won’t take us too many days to readjust to the time change and also the big change in weather. Fall apparently arrived while we were gone.

Temporary Single Parenting is EXHAUSTING!

becky    General    

I sat down to write something on Monday, didn’t like anything I wrote, and haven’t had a chance to write something since. Samuel is being entertained by the wonderful lady we’re staying with. Her husband is the one who took Toffer off to Thailand and Nepal. HOORAY that they are coming back tomorrow. It’s not soon enough!

So, as the title says, single parenting is hard. I applaud all of you who have been single parents in the past or are currently single parents.  Full time parenting at home is hard, but take away Daddy and put us in a foreign city for a week and I’m spent! I don’t know how people do this all the time.  Praise God that Toffer gets back tomorrow. I’ve only made it this far by God’s strength and grace.

So, our activity level has decreased a little this week. Here’s a quick run down of what we’ve been up to:

Sunday-We went to church where I spent most of the time in the restless baby room with a restless baby. In case you haven’t met Samuel, he’s pretty much always a restless baby. We didn’t have a chance.  Late Sunday afternoon and evening we spent with one of the other HCJB Global families. They have a fifth grade boy and a sixth grade girl who just adored Samuel. We enjoyed getting to know their family and more about the mission from their perspective. 

Monday-We went to the Botanic Gardens with the niece of a friend of ours from high school.  She has two little boys, one close in age to Samuel, so it was great to talk to get to know her more after communicating through Facebook for months and also to get her advice on Singapore with little ones. Samuel and I also went to the Chinese Gardens and had several people come up asking to take pictures of/with us. It was kind of weird and creepy and if I’d been in the US I would have said no, but here blue-eyed white people aren’t common. In case you were confused, I’m white and Samuel’s 3/4 that are white are pretty white, so we stood out in an all Asian crowd at the gardens.  The gal I had met with earlier in the day said people come up and ask to take pictures of her kids, so I wasn’t completely unaware that it could happen.  We went to a hawker stand for dinner and got prata.  I do like prata. 

Tuesday-Moving day! We are staying with a different family now. As I said earlier, it’s the guy who Toffer is off adventuring with and his wife.  We’re probably more interested in living in this area of the city as it’s closer to the office, so it’s good to get a feel for it.  We spent the afternoon wearing ourselves out in Little India.There’s currently a festival called Deepavali going on.  I’m not sure what it’s about, but there were lots of signs about it. We went into a Hindu temple while we were down there. I’m glad I had someone with me to tell me it was okay because it was quite interesting. They were doing some special ceremony with the statue of one of the gods.  Flower offerings were in front of lots of the shops along the street and all over in the temple. We ate Indian (of course) for dinner and Samuel did pretty well with it.  Things I’ve heard about Indian food in a diaper are true. I can’t wait to get home to cloth diapers!

Wednesday-Every Wednesday morning there is devotion time at the office.  Toffer is out with two of the guys on his trip and a couple of the other guys are at a conference, so most of the group was the wives.  It was nice to see everyone together and one of the families who had been out on furlough came back over the weekend, so I got to meet them. This afternoon has been uneventful. Samuel took a nap and I vegged and watched some tv while he did that. It’s nice to have a little down time. 

I’m not sure what all the rest of our trip entails. We are planning to go to Chinatown after Toffer gets back. Plus we’re having dinner with the family who just got back from furlough.  Please continue praying for God’s peace and guidance as we finish up our trip. It’s been much more wearing on us than we had throught it would be. 

The Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station is Confusing and Other Things I’ve Learned in Singapore

becky    General    

*The MRT system is really nice.  The Dhoby Ghaut station involves multiple train lines and you have to go down to go up to go down on the lifts (elevators) to get to the right platform is confusing, but I made it with out crying.  I also learned to head for the cars at the beginning or end of the train as they’re usually less crowded and you’re less likely to get a look of disapproval for trying to get on with a stroller.

*Our Phil & Ted’s lime green sport buggy was totally worth the money. Not that we didn’t already love our stroller, but it’s functioned as a stroller, rolling crib, and high chair without missing a beat. And I’ve gone up and down escalators and stairs without too much trouble. Not so sure I could do that with a lot of other strollers. Plus the rain cover attachment helps in the downpours.

*Samuel likes Ikea! We will definitely be spending some time there when we move and get a place.

*Prata is tasty. Of the things I’ve eaten so far, this is the one most likely to pack on the pounds because it’s surely not healthy and I could eat lots of it.

*Singaporeans are generally lovely, kind, polite people.  Not like what you expect to find in big cities in the US.  I enjoyed smiling at them throughout my adventures yesterday to see what I would get in return. Generally more smiles!

*Samuel is an adventurous, outgoing, flexible, charming little ladies’ man.  While in que for the loo he was fussy, but perked right up when a cute little girl who is about 3 walked up behind us.  And on every train he charmed at least one girl along with all the waiters at the prata cafe where we ate lunch.  He’s also eaten everything I’ve put in front of him including almost half of the dumplings we got for dinner.

*Most importantly–God is good!  Okay, I already knew that one.  It never hurts to be reminded of it though.  He’s really answering the prayers of my heart about this trip and I’m learning about depending on Him in a whole new way.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, in particular Toffer as he’s in Nepal now. The location he’s on his way to is described as “rustic.”  And the journey to that location may be a little rough on him.  Questions? Comments? Contact Us.  Snide Remarks? Criticism? You’re welcome to keep those to yourself. (:

It’s Friday In Singapore!

becky    General    

Have you ever tried Jackfruit?  Do you even know what a Jackfruit is?  I didn’t know what one was until yesterday and I tried part of one today.  It’s probably not going to be something I eat regularly, but I at least tried something new.  I’m trying to be adventurous knowing that we will be living here. I want to have things to look forward to when we move.

Yesterday we went to the Singapore Zoo and the highlight of the day was probably petting the kangaroo.  We can’t get Samuel to pet a goat at the Nashville Zoo to save our lives, but he was all over petting that kangaroo. I would upload a picture, but Toffer has the camera with the pictures on it and he is out of the country. We’ll try to upload some pictures later. The zoo here is beautiful and they let you get REALLY close to some of the animals.

Toffer left for his trip this morning. Please keep him in your prayers (along with the guys he’s traveling with-Ty and John). They’re going to four radio stations in four different cities in two countries all within a week. And travel is not like it is in the US.  I can’t wait to hear about all the amazing things God is doing and what he experienced.

Samuel and I have been exploring the area around the place we’re staying. It’s interesting because it’s a modern, developed country, but the neighborhood shopping is more similar to what I’ve seen in third-world countries.  Then we went to a mall that was large by US standards, but apparently smaller by Singapore standards. EVERYTHING lights up, makes noise, etc. I think I’m going to have to have a closet dedicated to quietness in our apartment when we move.

We Made it to Singapore!

becky    General    

After MANY hours of travel we have officially made it to Singapore. Thank God we had no delays and our luggage came through without an issue.  Travel was long and tiring and we were very excited to finally land in Singapore late last night.  We could definitely tell our travel was covered in prayer and know that the rest of our trip will be. Thank you to all of you who are praying for us!

A Little About Me

toffer    Uncategorized    

Okay, I figured I ought to add something so that when you click the “Toffer” button there is something to read.

The plan is to add to this one sentence or two at a time…

I am a self-professed geek.  I should explain all that entails but current time prohibits me from going further.  Most of my jobs have involved pushing buttons (on equipment, not peoples hopefully) in some way or the other.

Antennas and Samuel

becky    General    

We have two 50+ pound suitcases in our living each with a dipole antenna in them.  They arrived yesterday from HCJB Global engineering center in Elkhart, Indiana, and they will be joining us on our journey to Singapore.  Samuel has enjoyed inspecting the outside of the suitcases and the giant, now empty, boxes they came in. He was quite upset when I closed one of the suitcases after taking a peek at the contents. He’s definitely a geek like his father.  We wholeheartedly encourage it.  Toffer even hopes that when Samuel’s in high school he’ll have opporunities to take Samuel into the field with him.   We hope Samuel, and all the children God blesses us with, embrace the opportunities they have that most kids don’t.

Our upcoming trip is even a little out of the norm for most kids.  Samuel has already been to eight states plus Washington, D.C.  Four of our trips have required airplane transportation and soon he will have stamps in his passport after a horrendously long airplane trip.  We’ve already scouted out play areas in the airports to let him burn some energy in between flights.  At least he likes to fly and especially likes making new friends on flights. Hopefully we won’t be those people that the entire plane hates before we ever get off the ground for a 15 1/2 hour flight. Our travel will be interesting, to say the least.

Here’s a cute picture of Samuel just because we could.  Enjoy your day and please pray for us and our upcoming trip!