{"id":465,"date":"2011-12-07T12:43:39","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T20:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=465"},"modified":"2011-12-07T12:43:39","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T20:43:39","slug":"tyler-and-christmas-decorations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2011\/12\/07\/tyler-and-christmas-decorations\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler and Christmas Decorations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tyler<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Our<\/strong>
Our sweet...always dirty child<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Waiting for the Ethan’s bus today, Tyler chose to sit next to our neighbor rather than next to me. \u00a0He jabbered away with him (in his own language) while pointing at all the cars that passed by. \u00a0Tyler shook hands with everyone who passed and sometimes would greet them in French. \u00a0I began to see how much Tyler is already adapting to life here and how eventually this will be the only home that he knows. \u00a0I started thinking about the things I would have to teach him when we went to Portland for furlow. \u00a0Here were the top ten things:<\/p>\n

1. Milk comes from a cow…not from powder<\/p>\n

2. Winter coats, hats, gloves and scarfs exist for more than just 70 degree weather.<\/p>\n

3. Not all ocean water is warm enough to swim in.<\/p>\n

4. Sand is usually only found at the beach not EVERYWHERE else.<\/p>\n

5. Warm baths do\u00a0exist.<\/p>\n

6. Not all facet water will make you sick.<\/p>\n

7. Your parents do know how to drive and yes you have to wear a seat belt!<\/p>\n

8. Silverware and plates are not optional.<\/p>\n

9. Not everyone in America will want or expect to shake your hand.<\/p>\n

10. Grass, snow, microwave, blender, berries, dryer, dish washer, chips, cereal, parks, library…. so many new words.<\/p>\n

Decorating For Christmas<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"We<\/strong>
We have been working all week on Christmas Decorations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

We began decorating for Christmas this year. \u00a0We brought no Christmas stuff with us, so what we have is the little we have been able to to accumulate here and what Ethan and I have made. \u00a0I have often talked of how Christmas is not about the tree or the decorations or the festivities, but that it is about what those things point to. \u00a0However \u00a0it wasn’t until I had this all stripped away that I REALLY had to wrestle with the significance those items played in my Christmas\u00a0experience. \u00a0If I feel like I can’t celebrate Christmas without the things I am used to, then have I lost true importance of the season. \u00a0I am learning though that what makes Christmas special is the opportunity to send time celebrating God’s gift and that can be done anywhere. \u00a0Our Christmas will look very different here, but we can still celebrate the Birth of Jesus. \u00a0I am learning what this means…and it is a process.<\/p>\n

\"Th
Th Fruit of our labor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A Table cloth we bought and a Johnson Tree candle Tori brought<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"We
We were able to find Stockings!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sporting
Bonus Picture: Sporting our new aprons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ethan
Ethan is a great help in the kitchen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tyler Waiting for the Ethan’s bus today, Tyler chose to sit next to our neighbor rather than next to me. \u00a0He jabbered away with him (in his own language) while pointing at all the cars that passed by. \u00a0Tyler shook hands with everyone who passed and sometimes would greet them in French. \u00a0I began to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-465","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-updates-and-news","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}