Repatriation

...ever heard of that word before???? It was not a word I was to familiar with until beginning this "expat" life that we're in!!!
**** expatriate- person who temporarily resides in a country and culture other than that of the persons upbringing or legal residence

**** repatriate- to return to the country of origin

Right now we are expats but one day we will repatriate!!!!! So with all that said lastnight I went to a seminar presented by Robin Pascoe on her book titled, Homeward Bound : A Spouse's Guide to Repatriation. It was very informative! She spoke on the fact that moving back to your home country is often harder than moving abroad. Because when you move to a foreign country you expect things to be different and harder but you often idealize the thought of returning home. She mentions the fact that you forget that your friends have changed just as you have changed. You expect that life will just pick right up where it left off and that is not the case. The expected length of culture shock when moving overseas is 1 year but she says you can expect it to last 18months to 2years when repatriating. I tend to idealize situations and then experience a BIG let down when they don't happen as I had envisioned so this was SOOO good for me to hear. I bought the book and will tuck it away and pull it out when the time comes for us move Homeward Bound!!!!

Hard Working Daddy!!

My sweet baby girl!!!!

Notice the car in the right hand...he's usually got one in hand!!! My 3 loves snuggled up watching a movie!!!!

Brady's clapping because he's proud of himself for stacking the blocks. He'll say..." good job bra, bra, bra" (the a is pronounced with a long sound as in hay).
"pay bocks, pay bocks" when he wants you to play build with him.

No- Robert's not passed out drunk on the floor...just exhausted from taking the red-eye from India the night before and then going to office the next day.

LOVES to drive his cars on anything that can be a road!!

Brady left his car "parked" on daddy's head and he didn't even realize it.

These pictures were taken one Friday night after Robert had spent a whirl-wind week in India. When he travels to India he usually leaves Singapore on Sunday evening, so that he can spend the day with us which puts him into Mumbai (yes, the place where the terrorist attacks happened last November) late that night ( India is 3 hours behind Singapore) and then catches an early morning flight to a city called Baroda. TD's India offices are located in this city. Robert has been traveling there even more frequently to oversee the building of a manufacturing plant for his company. And often times traveling to other cities while he's in India. He had taken the red-eye the night before and landed in Singapore around 8am came home showered slept for an hour and then out the door for a luncheon meeting. Thus the life of an expat business man. Their lives consist of late night conference calls or early morning conference calls to coordinate times back in the States and lots and lots of travel all over the region and day to day operations in the office. My sweet husband works very hard for his family and we love and appreciate him!!!!

Precious Little Moments

This morning I had one of those moments to freeze and rewind...Brady has been into Barney lately...and this morning out of the blue he starts singing the Barney song..." I wuv ooo-ooo wuv me" with arms out stretched giving hugs and kisses along with the song. I bet he sang it 4 or 5 times over and over...I couldn't stop laughing and smiling.

Here he is coloring with his crayons that he got in his stocking at Christmas.

Brady's little friends

My sweet baby boy has 3 little international friends he plays with...isn't that amazing! Marteese is from France but is half Indonesian/half French...Chang Huen is from Korea. Neither Brady or Chang Huen can understand each other...they just both "jabber" on in their own language and smile at each other. And he met a knew friend the other day named Ikey...he's from Japan. I'll have to remember and bring my camera and take pictures so you can see them. Growing up and living in Oklahoma my whole life I have not had hardly any interactions with people of other cultures so this is all new for me...and for my kids to get to experience it at their ages is so exciting for me!!!

Tattle Tail, Tattle Tail...

this is a cute story to tell!!!! Brady was playing peacefully driving his car's along the top of Robert's briefcase (Sunday-I believe) when along comes "issy" to aggravate!! I hear a scream and a "no no" and then Brady says to me, "issy git bra bra"! Oh my goodness it was soooo funny...his first time to tell on his "issy" and I'm sure it won't be the last!!!!

Two Year Old for Sale!!!

How could you sell that sweet little face!!!!! He makes my heart smile! He can frustrate me to know end and then I can turn around and kiss his skin off!!!!

Sweet little thing was only 9 months old here!!

I LOVE my little boy with all my heart but he has been a bit of a "challenge" lately! Guess the "terrible two's" are entering our world. He has an independent little spirit and is wanting to do things on his own. "Bra Bra do dis", he says!!

Sunday in particular was a challenging day. I had found a new restaurant for us to try called Pasta Fresca on Bukit Timah road...the weather was beautiful with a nice tropical breeze blowing so we chose to set outside. I was all set to enjoy a lovely lunch with my beautiful family...that lunch turned into a battle of wills!! I was willing to sell him to the highest bidding grandparent by the end of the day!! Joking, of course!

As we enter this season in Brady's life I will be seeking the Lord on wisdom...hmm, could that be why the Lord led me to the Wisdom for Mother's bible study on Thursday mornings??????