My post in September was about potty training my twin girls Zarah & Keziah. It sure didn't go exactly how I was planning, but what about motherhood ever really does? The first couple of days were pretty hard and I felt like I would never leave the house again. The 1st week had me feeling like a failure, which is such a lie because potty training is about your child getting the idea of going to the bathroom...not about me as a mom. But as we all know, being hard pressed causes insecurities to be magnified. So we persevered and had some great days and even outings without accidents.
After a few weeks of working on it and the girls doing 'okay', I decided to let go. Over all they both were just not getting the idea of telling me when they had to go so I was constantly asking throughout the day. With 1 child that can be exhausting, but with twins it was overwhelming. Also, after my first few days a friend loaned me her book 'Potty Training 1-2-3', which is what method I used for Hope and worked like a charm. In the back of the book under "FAQ's" it said for twins you should choose which twin is showing more signs of being ready and start with that one and send the other twin off to Grandma's house for a couple of days... Obviously they didn't take into consideration those of us mommy's living overseas far away from our Nano. So, to all you mom's who are able to potty train in 2-4 days...BRAVO!...oh wait, I was one of those proud moms. And now I know it is NOT always the case.
There have been big changes and decisions going on in our family in the last few months, and that is probably why it is hard for me to sit down and write a post. One of these changes is that our planned furlough back to the US in 2014 was moved up from June to February. So after over 2 years of living in Chiang Mai, Thailand we have only 3 1/2 months left here until we "move" again. We are currently in the process of making career path decisions about where we will settle after our 6 month furlough to the Seattle, WA area, so this means letting go of everything we have now except our bags for the plane...again.
Another reason for my lapse in posting is because I've been trying to figure out what this blog is for...why am I writing? who am I writing to? how much information can I share? should I make it private? So obviously if you are reading this then I am writing for you and to you about my life, my family, and our travels. This year God has been giving us an amazing vision about our next steps, but sometimes I will not be able to share everything on such a public forum. At this time I will leave this blog as public, and I changed some of the search settings. There are some small glitches/annoyances about changing a blog to private, so at this point anything we are not able to share here will be sent through email.
A few weeks ago I sent out an update email and prayer request, if you did not get this email and would like to receive it (or hear more about our vision) please leave a comment with your email address or send me an email at jennifergakhtar@gmail.com.
Other than this big stuff, our little family is doing well and getting ready to enjoy Thanksgiving together. Last year I did a big family meal and it was a great experience (click here). I think I will wait until my girls are a little older and can help me with such a big task.
Hope is doing very well in the 2nd grade, she enjoys going to school every day. And just last week she received the Star Student award!
This was one of those days where I was running late going to Hope's school for chapel time. And my thought was, "is it really worth it to drive there to be there for 15 minutes?" As the girls and & I opened the door her teacher, Mrs. Cross, was just standing to talk about the star student, and her name was Hope! Yes, it is always worth it!
Here is a recent picture of my favorite spunky lunch dates and the reason my days stay so busy....
My next project is getting some new pictures posted from this year on our Family Pictures tab, so check in again soon!
God Bless you and your family!
This is my life as a traveling mother,
Jennifer
