Kids Abroad

I can't even apologize anymore for how infrequently I post on this blog because I'm no longer in a "busy season"  --- this is just a new normal. When I had one baby it was so fun to be blogging away about life. With 3 now it's a whole new ball game. I'm currently convincing my 15 month old that hanging from my leg while I type is so much better than actually being held. Most of the time I start blog posts and someone needs a snack, water, to be wiped, you get it, and then I never come back to it or the time for thoughts has passed! This is a unique stage with 3 little little kiddos and while hectic - it's a blast. I wouldn't change any of it. 
We got back a couple days ago from a 3 week trip to a couple countries in Europe. We were in the Czech Republic, Macedonia and spent a few days in Greece. Our purpose was to support and encourage our existing missionaries on the field and facilitate ongoing training for them to keep them growing and healthy. 
Traveling to costco with 3 kids is an ordeal let alone going overseas so I wasn't sure how it would go! We learned so much (again :) about our family, our kids, and what works and what doesn't when traveling to change for next time.

 Let me begin with one of the biggest beasts of overseas travel:

Jet Lag:

ˈjet ˌlaɡ/

noun

1. extreme tiredness and other physical effects felt by a person after a long flight across several time zones.

So-------Jet lag is never fun - kids or no kids. But honestly when you travel with kids and jet lag is involved you have to prepare for an entirely different situation when it comes to adjustment! I KNEW it would be a hard part of the trip but ohhhhhh man. Last time we did a similar trip our middle child was 2, so it was pretty easy to manipulate their schedules by pushing a few naps and bedtimes. It still took a good 4 days to really adjust but not terrible. Having a baby (well, toddler.....don't rush me) this time was a different story. I quickly learned you just CAN'T make a baby stay awake or go to sleep. Their clock is so so messed up that they don't care if it's 9 am, their body says it's midnight. He took about 4 days of waking up from 12 am - 3 am each night but eventually he got there! I do think it's beneficial that we were also going through jet lag (hear me out on this) because when your own head feels like someone is sitting on it and you're dizzy and grumpy you then realize why your baby wants to be held 24/7 - because it's a terrible feeling!! The Amazing news *so far* is how much better it's been coming back home. They were up for the day at 4 this morning but I'm optimistic it'll be done soon :)  

I love this jet lag picture haha. 4 am - Luke ready for the day and entertaining himself by putting on the kids headphone and rolling on Jeremy. 

My other favorite - the night we got home when you're wanting everyone to be happy WE ARE FINALLY HOME. But Moana didn't turn on for like 5 seconds and they thought it was broken. Wailing, crying and I'm not sure if Jer is asleep or wishing he was :) 

Those Travel Days:

Days between locations we call travel days. It's such a bummer that just getting from one place to the next takes a whole day but it always always ends up that way. Moving with 3 kids is so much sloweeeerrrrrr than most people haha. We did really well on luggage this time but it's still just so much to carry and transport along with 3 littles. In many places we had extra hands of help and that was a huge blessing. I never could master pushing two umbrella strollers at once - especially when we were sprinting for a train - without them smashing into each other or other people. One part that I completely underestimated was the "smaller travel" that lead up to bigger travel and how much it wore on us all. I would think "ok tomorrow we have a 2 hour flight then a 1.5 hour flight no problem", but didn't think about the 30 min taxi ride to the airport, the hours of waiting in lines for passport security/check ins/boarding, the bus rides they take to and from the plane, then the bus to the train station and the train to the city. We've tried to learn to give more space for those days cause they just add up and are almost always a stressful day. In our 3 weeks we had 5 of those days. You also can't control what time those flights and buses are most of the time. So we had one flight that left at 11:20 pm and a bus that left at 6 am which means keeping kids up or waking them up fairly often, which as we all know makes for the happiest children. 

On one of those flights all 3 kids were asleep on me - it was about 2 am and a fairly small plane. So Jeremy ran ahead to get the strollers thinking we could just transport each kids to the stroller once everybody else got off but then he got down the ramp and realized he obviously couldn't leave the luggage alone haha. Oh man, so I'm up there waiting and finally the flight staff is telling me I have to get off but I LITERALLY can't wake up the kids. I'm shaking them, standing them up, but they just fall to the ground still asleep LOL. This may be when you know you've pushed your kids too far hehe. So there I am, carrying Luke and dragging William with one leg and pushing Juliana along the floor with my other. When I got off the plane I then realized the whole bus full of passengers was waiting for me :l oooooops sorry!!! I'm sure I was their favorite person ever right then. 

BUT it is really really fun to watch how quickly our kids get so good at moving around. They would carry their backpacks and get on and off buses no problem and quickly learned how to navigate on planes and trains. When we take walks at home (we're talking around the block) our kids last about 5 seconds then try to crawl all over the stroller because obviously - their legs are "so exhausted" and can't walk another step. Their endurance totally increased as walking is the main way of getting around in most places we visit.

Effects: 

This is where I really do think the good outweighs the hard stuff. To watch my kids experience new places is a such a treat. Even though they are so young, I *hope* it will impact their worldview and scope of how the world works. From larger conversations about different languages and cultures to cute stuff like when they ask "why are there no toilet seats" we to get to have those conversations about how where we live is different - not better. The way our lives work is different - not superior. I pray that they grow up knowing that their little corner in the world is just one special spot among millions. That God loves the people in villages in India and cities in Europe just as much as he loves us. Taking 3 little kids to several different countries obviously has some negative effects as well. I won't lie that it was hard to watch them on those days - struggling, confused, so so so done with moving around every few days - and to know we did that to them. Our 4 year old began asking if we could go home about 10 days in. We always kept it lighthearted like "Home is the best huh, we will go back home in 11 days. Aren't you excited to see your friends and toys when we go back!" and it would usually help move him along lol sometimes :/ The travel days were the hardest on them. So much moving, so many lines to stand in, so many new and different things - it doesn't help that mommy and daddy are glorified stress balls on those days. There's a point where even as an adult I feel over all the changes and new people so for little ones it's all amplified. Our kids get more ice cream cones when traveling than they do in 6 months here hahahaa = parent guilt.  Our kids are also majorly detoxing from screen time. When they have to sit on a plane for 11.5 hours there's just no way I'm not letting them watch as much as they want. At that point you just need minutes and hours to pass! But for all the tears and tantrums that would make me want to say "ok I'm done, I want to be home!" the good times way outshine them. For me it's largely a mental game that I need to play wisely. I'm not a master at it - but learning more each time we do this.

Readjustment:

The wonderful part of being gone for a chunk of time is getting to come home! I love my home :) Every time we go away it's like the Lord shows me little things about our corner of the world that I so missed. Our kids are readjusting well and are so happy to see their family, friends and rooms. I am so grateful for my washer and dryer, highchairs and no longer sleeping in the same room as my children haha I mean......I love them :) Jeremy and I have started a new routine after we/he/I travel where we give each other a half day away to be alone once we get back and just have some reflection time. It can sound like a silly small act but for us it's huge. I came back to doctors appointments waiting to be booked, school books needing to be ordered, first soccer practice, weeks of mail, and the list goes on and on and on. We realized if we can't take some time to process through the highs and lows of an experience then it's hard to close the book on it and move on with life and jump back into this crazy routine. I'm so grateful that I got to see with my own eyes how God was moving all over the world. The people he is pursuing and freeing. I am humbled watching our missionaries - who don't get to run back "home" to the comforts of America but choose to give that up each day to serve those around them and make Jesus name known where no one has heard it. God is big, alive and moving and I although I feel empty from pouring out so much I also feel refilled by his grace and love I see moving in other nations. Happy Day! 

What troopers! I love them all and so love what we get to do with our lives!

Ahhhh the constant reorganizing of that bag. So happy to be done with that part :)