{"id":4167,"date":"2017-11-28T20:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T01:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/?p=4167"},"modified":"2017-11-28T20:00:18","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T01:00:18","slug":"fall-without-the-leaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/2017\/11\/28\/fall-without-the-leaves\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall without the leaves"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s weird to be in a place where the months and seasons move without any noticeable change. We don’t really even have a distinct rainy season here in our town, so it’s just always between 80-95 F with a mix of rain and wind on occasion.<\/p>\n

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It’s more like construction season here in our neighborhood, which makes Finn extremely happy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Sunday mornings at church are still just as hot and so we have to find creative ways to keep the kids entertained in the shade.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The area around our usual volleyball court is being demolished. Finn loves all of the dirt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The consistent, unchanging temperature makes life feel very linear, which makes my heart ache for the refreshment of the cycles of seasons that I always knew growing up in Michigan. I find myself trying to do things to trick my brain into feeling the distinctions by decorating, which is something I’ve never had to do because nature always did it for me.<\/p>\n

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Our small group of American’s in town celebrated thanksgiving together.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I did’t really care much to celebrate things early on during our time overseas, but I seem to be getting more sentimental as time goes by. I think we also get a little more homesick as more holidays pass by without family. Maybe another part of it is that Finn is actually super conscious of things now.\u00a0 And like any 2.5 year old, he’s all over any excuse to celebrate. So, thanks to Finn, my sentimentality has somewhat returned, and I have been able to contemplate this season of thanksgiving and the birth of Christ with new eyes.<\/p>\n

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We cranked up the AC and put on music to decorate for Christmas. I tried to make some holiday family favorites like punch, cheeseball and pumpkin pie to make it feel special.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Lately, Finn has been so ripe for learning and remembering things that I felt compelled to do something to introduce him to the Christmas story in a meaningful way. I found a DIY Nativity set<\/a> that I could make out of clay. I found something that resembled clay and was able to put something together.<\/p>\n

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Building a manger out of sticks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The unfinished characters awaiting their part in the Story.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I also found an advent reading<\/a> to go along with it. Finn has been super excited to celebrate Jesus’s birthday, but is still kind of confused as to why He won’t show up for the party. The other day, Finn kept telling me “Jesus is coming soon!” I was kind of confused until I realized that he was talking about Jesus coming for the celebration. He doesn’t seem to understand why Jesus wouldn’t come down from heaven for it. I had to explain that Jesus still wants us to remember and celebrate until He comes again. I read something the other day about how this month of all things for believers shouldn’t be a war against materialism, but instead a celebration of salvation. I want Finn to associate this season with Joy and Good Tidings, not just a miserly rejection of presents or a frantic rush to find ways to give.\u00a0 I want him to anticipate and be excited about Jesus. It’s been sweet to watch things through Finn’s eyes and revisit things afresh as we all anticipate the birth of the King.<\/p>\n

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It’s weird to be in a place where the months and seasons move without any noticeable change. We don’t really even have a distinct rainy season here in our town, so it’s just always between 80-95 F with a mix of rain and wind on occasion.         The consistent, unchanging temperature makes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1068,"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":[40,1],"tags":[1792,721,448,644,83440,2040],"class_list":["post-4167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-overseas","category-uncategorized","tag-celebrate","tag-christmas","tag-ethnos360","tag-learning","tag-seasons","tag-thankful","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}