Fun Summer Fridays

I've been back working part time for over 3 years now and I am still struggling to figure out how to balance Summer and the kids.  I hate that I have to leave them at home every day while I go to work.  Yes, I only work part time and no, they do not mind sleeping in and lazing around.  Doesn't matter, I still suffer from "Mom guilt".

Don't get me wrong.  I love my job.  I love that during the school year, I am home to get the kids off to school and I'm home to greet them after school.  Working while they are at school is great and doesn't really affect them.  Summer is a little different.  My schedule doesn't change all that much, even though they are home.

This summer, I am making an extra effort to make sure they get out and have fun.  For starters, we joined a pool that is about 1/4 mile from our house.  They can ride their bikes there and swim with their friends while I am at work.  They have been loving that!

Since I only work Mon - Thurs most weeks, I have coined Friday as "Fun Summer Fridays".  I have been trying to go and do something fun every Friday.

The month of June was a bust.  Between our vacation and my trip to Vietnam, there were no Fridays available to go and do.  Don't feel too bad for the kids though, their 11 day vacation was plenty of fun and certainly covered more than the 4 Fridays they would have had.

The first Friday in July ended up being more of an errand day since Mark was off and we had stuff to do.  That means we've only had 2 Fridays (so far) that actually qualify as "Fun Summer Fridays".

Last Friday, we utilized our season passes and headed to Six Flags Great America.  We were there for the rope drop, did a couple of rides, then spent the rest of our time there at the water park.  Nice.

This Friday, we stayed a little closer to home and went out to lunch, went miniature golfing, headed to Haagen Daz for some ice cream and went to play on the paddle boats at The Riverwalk in Naperville. 

Picking a day where the heat index was in the upper 90's may not have been the best idea but we had fun anyway.

I've got some fun Fridays planned over the next few weeks.  I may deal with "Mom guilt" Monday - Thursday but Fridays are pure fun!

Weight Watchers it is!

I've been a bad blogger since I returned from Vietnam.  The month of June was so busy and I have been scrambling to catch up.

Nope, I'm still not there.  Please don't tell my husband how far behind I am on balancing our checkbook.

Anyway, getting stuck in that sniper bunker in Vietnam was certain confirmation that I have failed miserably at losing the weight I said I would.  If you missed that story, you can read about it here.  I knew when I got home I needed to take it seriously so I signed up (again) for Weight Watchers Online.

Signing up 2 days before the 4th of July wasn't a smart idea and I got off to a dismal start.  Things are looking up now and I can finally say that I am tracking regularly and am making progress at getting into better eating habits (again).

I will freely admit that staying within my points is near impossible for me.  I'm just always hungrier than that. 

I'm going to have to start running again to earn enough activity points to eat.  Speaking of running, I think I should head out for one now...

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone is taking time to be thankful for our freedom this Independence Day.  Having visited a Communist country recently, I was reminded that I take some of our freedoms for granted.  I appreciate even more now, the sacrifice that our military families have made/are making.

We started the celebration a day early on July 3rd.  Our tradition for the last 14 years (maybe more?) or so is to head to the polo field in Oak Brook to watch the fireworks.  We always have a great time relaxing, socializing, munching & playing while we wait for the show to start.  There is a core group of friends who have been going since the beginning but over the years, many others have joined in on the fun.

Our good friends David & Kelly

This morning, I finally got to sleep in for the first time since I got home from Vietnam.  I probably would have slept longer had a neighbors lawn mower not woken me up. 

This afternoon, Matthew marched in the parade with the Downers Grove North Marching Band.  It was his first performance with the band and his first parade.  He played the cymbals and came home with a few battle scars.  Bruises on his arm where the skin was pinched when he crashed the cymbals.  I hear that is common with new marching band percussionists and he seems to be wearing his bruises with pride.

Kelly got a great picture of him marching!

Day 7 - Our Last Day Here

Today ended up as a free day so we took the opportunity to sleep in.  Sleeping in for me was getting about an hour more than I have the rest of the week but it was nice to not wake up to an alarm.

We got ready and had a leisurely breakfast and had an opportunity to say farewell to Janice & Quang who are the Awana Missionaries for Vietnam.  They told us that all of the churches that were represented yesterday are interested in starting Awana Clubs.  It was exciting and encouraging news!  There are many logistics to work out and who knows how many clubs will actually start as a result of the meetings yesterday but the response was overwhelmingly positive and they were ecstatic.  They were such wonderful hosts and I loved getting to know them. 

We hopped in a cab and headed to the Reunification Palace.  We saw this lady as we were on our way and I had to snap a picture.  Amidst all of the traffic here, you occasionally see people riding bikes.  I always fear for their safety but they never seem all that concerned.  Just moments before I snapped this picture, she was riding with one hand and texting on her phone with the other.  It just cracks me up to see the traditional with the modern.  

I love the traditional hats.  I so badly wanted to buy one but there is no way to get it home without ruining it and I'm pretty sure I would never wear it at home anyway.  Rick told me to wear it on the plane...


Here is your history lesson for the day.  If you are like me, you have no idea why the Reunification Palace is a landmark.  It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the fall of Saigon when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.

This is the helipad on the top of the Palace where civilians were airlifted out before the fall of Saigon.

We were also able to tour the basement where the war rooms, radio rooms, map rooms and such were.

This was the map room

This was called the teletypewriter room

 After the tour, we decided we have seen everything we wanted to see so we headed back to the hotel to relax and pack.  Our flight leaves at 5am tomorrow morning to head home.

I never did get a picture of the stinky fruit that was mostly to blame for how bad the marketplace smells.  It is only one of many smells there including fish and other foods, people, mothballs.  Add in the heat and the durian and you have a smell worse than anything I've ever smelled before. 

One last thing about Vietnam.  I love how inexpensive most things are here.  Entry to the palace was 30,000D which is about $1.40 USD.  For much of the trip, I carried around several million Dong.  It felt nice to be a millionaire for a while!

Day 6 - Includes My Top 10 Things That Surprised Me In Vietnam

Today was the day that pastors were coming from all over Vietnam to learn about Awana.  The hope is that many of them will start Awana Clubs in their churches.  I thought they were expecting 60 people but this morning I was told they were expecting 100.  When we arrived, we learned that 140 people had shown up.  There were 2 people from each church so the group represented about 70 churches from all over Vietnam.

We heard from our very own Kerry who talked about the importance of Children's Ministry.

Kerry and our new friend Janice interpreting for her

Then we heard from Mike (from Awana) who talked about the 4 to 14 Window movement.

Mike with Janice's husband Quang interpreting

We heard from a couple of other people but it was in Vietnamese.  While I could not tell you what was said specifically, I can tell you that it was so great to see and hear a pastor talk to his fellow pastors and tell them how great Awana is.  I think in this culture, that goes a long way.

It was a long day and we're praying it will be fruitful.

Tomorrow is our last day here.  It turns out that we are free for the day.  I have no idea what we plan to do other than sleep in.  We are all a little exhausted so a good nights rest sounds wonderful!

Part 2 of this post is my top 10 list of things that surprised me most about Vietnam.  I'm going to do this in countdown form:

10.  The air quality is really poor.  I admit I never gave it much thought but it still surprised me.  We hardly had rain this week which would normally wash it out of the air so maybe it was worse than normal?  Who knows...

9.  They don't use napkins like we do.  None of the Vietnamese restaurants we went to had napkins.  They had individualized wet wipes but no napkins.  For those who drop food on themselves when they eat, this could present a problem.  Also, when we ate lunch at the celebration and seminar, they had a box of Kleenex type tissue to use as a napkin.  Imagine having sticky fingers from eating fruit and trying to use a thin flimsy Kleenex to wipe them off.  All it did was stick to my fingers and rip apart.  I never realized how much I like napkins.  Also, I had nothing to wipe up my Pepsi that overflowed when I poured it into my cup.  Yep, I sort of missed napkins at those places.  Fortunately, the hotel we stayed at is very Western and they had napkins.

8.  No one wears gym shoes!  No one.  95% of everyone we saw wore either flip flops or sandals.  The other 5% were women in heels.  I have no concrete reasons why but I have a few theories.  Considering many shoes are manufactured here, I think that's sort of ironic.

7.  Face Masks are designer items.  Many people wear face masks as they ride their scooters.  We saw a large variety of face masks this week.  It's an entire product market that doesn't exist in the US.  We believe they wear the face masks partly because of the air quality but I'm sure there's more to it than just that.

6.  Considering English is taught in the upper grades, hardly anyone speaks even a few words.  Even in tourist type places like the hotel, it can be difficult to find someone who speaks even a little English.  The marketplace was the big exception.  They know how to say certain phrases and they know the currency conversion rate.

5.  Cab drivers in the city do not know where many things are.  Including many famous landmarks.  This shocks me.  To make matters worse, they don't speak any English so communication is near impossible.  This made for a few interesting cab rides this week.

4.  The French influence in Vietnam.  I had no idea there was any French influence so finding so many breads and baked goods here was a complete surprise.  Who knew?  Meals were often served with bread which did not match up with what I've heard about Asian food.  I must say, I enjoyed the donuts at the breakfast buffet each day.  No complaints here!

This was a portion of what was served at breakfast each day.

3.  Everyone has a cell phone!  I mean everyone!  This was a complete surprise and it cracks me up.  People are people no matter where you go.  They are just like we are when it comes to their cell phones.  We saw so many people texting and driving their scooters it was scary but driving is another topic so I'll stop there.

2.  The types of things that can be carried on a scooter!  I mentioned it a few days ago but every day I see something else being carried that makes me laugh and shake my head all over again.  Who knew you could carry a refrigerator/freezer on the back of a motorcycle?  We saw carpet rolls, assorted animals, up to 5 people, desks & chairs, ladders, 5 gallon water jugs (not just 1, we're talking like 10), cases and cases of beer and much, much more.  It really is a hoot to watch.

And, the number 1 thing that surprised me most in Vietnam is...

THE TRAFFIC!   I could go on and on about it.  I've never seen anything so crazy and unorganized and dangerous in my life but it is how they do it.  I have a very tame clip that does not begin to describe the traffic but I'm posting it anyway since it's the only visual I have.

I really don't have the words to do it justice and I'm pretty sure that I could never get totally used to it.  I'm not sure I could ever drive in it.  I had to bury my head and not watch many, many times this week.  Rick says he wants to try to drive in it.  I want to be there with a camera when he does.

I cannot believe how quickly this week has gone by.  We have seen, heard, smelled, tasted and experienced so much this week.  This blog doesn't touch half of it. 

Day 5 - Party Time!!

Today was the 1 year celebration of Awana in Vietnam.  Most of the churches that started Awana Clubs this year were represented today.  We headed back to the same church we were at yesterday and spent the morning hearing stories of the past year.

I could not possibly convey everything we heard today but there were a few stories that stuck with me.  For instance, we heard about 1 boy who traveled 14km on his own, just to come to his Awana Club.  We heard about children who are persecuted by their families for their faith.  Children who refused to bow down to the family idols.  We also heard from Awana leaders about how their lives have been unexpectedly changed by working with the children. 

There were stories of transformation and there were stories of trials and tribulations. It was eye opening, encouraging and heart breaking all mixed together.

After the testimonies, the Awana missionaries handed out certificates, pictures were taken, lunch was served and then it was time for cake. 

This is the team of first ever Awana leaders in Vietnam

They presented The Compass Church this awesome map of Vietnam with the location of the Awana Clubs marked on it

I have to say, I never realized there was such a French influence in Vietnam but I'm glad for it.  That is one of the things on my list of things that surprised me here.  The cake was yummy!

After the celebration ended, we headed back to the hotel and had about 3 hours to relax before we met for dinner with the Awana Missionaries. 

I'm still working on my list of things about Vietnam that surprised me.  The French influence is being added to that list.

Tomorrow we will be meeting with about 60 pastors from around Vietnam who are interested in learning about Awana.  These may be the church leaders of the clubs started here in year 2.

Day 4 - No, I Can't Think Up Some Witty Title

This morning, we left the hotel about 7am for the church that the Awana training/celebration was taking place at.  It was about 1 hour away.

We took a little tour of the church before the training began.  Some things were very much like an American church and some things were very different.  The one visual that stuck with me and made me smile big was the Awana game circle.  The church is a very skinny church and is 5 stories tall.  The 6th floor is like an attic with a rooftop patio.  They told us that no one ever came out there or used the space because it was so high and there were no railings up there.  After Awana started in this church last year, they saw such value in the program that they raised funds to cover the patio with a roof and installed railings and they use that space for Awana now.

The game circle is small by our standards.  We were having fun thinking of all the games that would be easier to play with the smaller circle.  The 4 way tug wins in my book!

The training started off with singing which was awesome, even if we didn't understand what they were saying.  We did recognize one of the tunes as a Michael W Smith song so we sang along in English.  It was a great way to begin the day.

This was a picture of the sanctuary where the training was held

We had sessions on Excellence and Leadership.  The first session was strictly in Vietnamese so I couldn't tell you what was said but the Leadership session was taught by our very own Rick Pierson. 

Rick and his translator

Now Rick has told me that his image is copyrighted and I have to pay him to use it so no one tell him it's in here.  He'll never know!

Have no fear Compass peeps.  We are compiling a list of Rickisms.  I'm not sure they would be funny to anyone else so I may not publish them here but if you ever need a good laugh, I would be happy to share!

After the training, we headed to another church plant of The Compass Church.  They hold weekly English classes for young people and we went to help them practice their English.  It was a lot of fun getting to meet and interact with them.  Teaching these young people English opens the doors for the church to share the Gospel with them.

I am trying to put together a list of things that surprised me about Vietnam.  Today's giggle is specifically for Bradley.  They need cable management classes in Saigon.

Tomorrow is the 1 year celebration of Awana in Vietnam.  We will be heading back to the church we were at today to hear stories of the past year and celebrate with the leaders of the 15 clubs.  I'm really excited about this after getting a small glimpse of some of what we will hear.