Ieva turns 3!!!

On September 25th, our baby had her 3rd birthday! We had a great time spending the next 3 days celebrating! Before she went to school on the 25th we opened the box from Grandma & Grandpa Stave, Auntie Hannah, Uncle Morgan and Auntie Ingrid. She immediately wanted to cover herself with the fun band aids they sent - especially the cool Spiderman ones from Ingie! And she wanted to wear her new sweater that Grandma knit for her to school.The birthday girl in her new sweater that Grandma Stave knit

Showing off her Spidey band aids for Auntie Ingie!

We sent her to school with chocolate chip mini-muffins to share with her friends & we picked her up from school with a big flower made out of twisted balloons which all the kids thought was pretty cool. That evening we went to her favorite pizza place & let her order special treats that she normally wouldn't get. We came home & let her open a couple presents, then talked to Ama & Grandpa Buz (Kim's parents) on skype. She & I made a big pan of imported American brownies and our friends Carrie, Jared and Chris all came over to sing her happy birthday.

Mom & Dad got her a pretty pink umbrella!

Then on Saturday, we had a JUNGLE PARTY for her friends! We decorated the house like a jungle and gave all the kids stuffed giraffes as a gift to take home. Ieva's friends Sophie, David & Erik came. We were sad that Erik, Nike & Ema weren't able to come, but our small living room was still full of energy with only 4 kids!

Welcome to the Jungle!

Birthday girl

friends...Ieva, Sophie, David & Erik

Getting ready to give out giraffes to her friends!

The jungle crew...

After Ieva blew out her candles on Saturday, we asked her to tell us how old she is now. She did her typical response of holding up her hand & slowly opening up 1, 2 & 3 fingers...but then she pulled up a 4th finger & said "I'm 4!" I said "are you sure? I thought you were 3?" To which she responded "we had a party the other day & I was 3 then. At this party, now I'm 4!" Pretty good theory, huh? :)three...

Prayers have paid off!

The first two weeks of Ieva's preschool debut were difficult. Very difficult. Much more difficult than I (the mommy of the family) ever expected. Our kid has been saying goodbye to us as we left the house each morning since she was 11 months old. On the occasional day that she decided to be clingy, the babysitter always said that within 2 minutes she was as happy as a clam again. So she should do fine going to school, right? Apparently not so much.

We had talked it up. School was a BIG deal for BIG kids! On her first day she was excited...at least in theory. When it actually came to walking her into that classroom & then walking away, her excitement was replaced by tearful pleadings for us to not leave her there. We'd come at the end of the day, hopeful that she had adapted (like she did at home with the babysitters) but instead found her tearful in the arms of her teacher.

Mornings were getting increasingly difficult by the day. The worst was Friday of the second week when she cried so hard with me in the coat room that she made herself throw up. It was all I could do to not scoop her up and run all the way home so we could spend the day together in familiar comfort. Instead, I pryed her out of my arms and into the extended arms of a teacher & fled the building as quickly as I could so as not to let Ieva, the teacher or anyone else see the tears I was fighting back.

I was having such self-doubt about my parenting. In the evenings she was acting out far more than usual so instead of lavishing her with comforting time together as a family, we found ourselves in discipline mode more than anything else. We knew why it was hard for her - she's an extremely verbal kid and the teachers don't understand her when she speaks English to them. That would frustrate me, too! And she's never had such a high kid to adult ratio in her life...sharing the teachers attention with 14 other kids was challenging for her. And she probably doesn't fully understand everything going on around her. And they feed her weird food (not the PB&J or Mac & Cheese that we spoil her with here). No wonder she was upset!

This past Monday we decided that we'd all walk to school together (it's on the way to LCC) but only Andrew would take Ieva in and drop her off. She reacts much more emotionally to me than to him, so for both her emotional stability and mine, we removed myself from the morning drop off. And suddenly...everything changed. At the end of the day she was playing happily when I came to pick her up. The teacher said she hadn't cried all day!

By Wednesday Andrew said that he had to remind her to give him a hug & a kiss because she was in such a rush to run into her classroom! And by this past Friday when I had to drop her off in the morning, she did the same to me. I was thrilled!!

I've talked to a number of moms at LCC (and beyond) over those first two weeks seeking advice, wisdom & prayer. A number of people have said they were praying for her (and me) as she transitioned. And at least for last week, the prayers paid off! I don't expect perfectly smooth sailing from here on out, but having one good week was so very encouraging!

Ieva's 2nd Flower Girl Debut...

...was just over a month after her first on September 6 for the wedding of Aurelija, Ieva's first nanny. Aurelija joined our family in August of 2006 when Ieva was 11 months old. She left us in November of 2007 to move to Lithuania's capital city of Vilnius where her boyfriend Balys lived so they could see what it was like to date while living in the same city. We had met Balys & thought he was pretty fantastic, so we were happy for them to develop their relationship in closer proximity to each other, but were heartbroken to lose Aurelija. We've stayed in touch with the couple - visiting when we're in Vilnius or when they're in Klaipeda and were thrilled when they got engaged over Easter. They invited us to the wedding before we left for the summer, and when we returned from the States they asked if Ieva would be their flower girl...an unusual element for a Lithuanian wedding. Ieva already had the dress, so we just changed the sash from green to red to match their colors.

the red version

We spent a glorious weekend in Vilnius around the time of the wedding: the weather was in the high 80's (a nice break from the 60's it had been in Klaipeda), the city was hosting "Vilnius Days" which covered all major streets & squares with local artisans selling their wares and concerts, we took our friends Jared, Carrie & Charlotte Schumacher and had fun introducing them to the city as well. Our highlight of the weekend was by far the wedding.On the train to Vilnius with the Schumachers

The ceremony was beautiful & much like many evangelical weddings we’ve attended except in Lithuanian. Since the reception wasn't scheduled to begin until after the bride & groom drive around the city taking photos, they had planned for the 60+ of us remaining to take a rousing driving tour of the city on 2 decorated trolley buses – complete with on-board entertainment & food! It was a very fun way to stall while the photo shoot happened. We returned to the church just before the bride & groom and each guest proceeded to line up in the lawn & present gifts to the couple, give greetings and take a photo. Of course, we had forgotten our gifts in Klaipeda, but it was still fun to get a few minutes to chat with them personally.Here come the bride & groom!

We had gone to the wedding expecting to know no one but the bride & groom and to not understand much. Instead, we were amazed by the number of LCC alumni there as well as how many people spoke great English & were very excited to talk to us! We were also blessed to be surrounded by such a vibrant, young Christian Lithuanian group of people. Even though I had to carry Ieva down the isle (again!) no one minded & she was a star in her beautiful dress. All in all, a wonderful celebration and a wonderful weekend!

Ieva's 1st Flower Girl Debut...

...was on August 3rd in her Auntie Hannah & (now) Uncle Morgan's wedding in Oregon. Since Hannah got her an amazing dress that practically matched her own wedding dress, we talked a lot about how Hannah would be the Queen & Ieva would be the Princess for the day. Once in the dress, Ieva felt pretty good about herself so she kept trying to convince us that she was ALSO a Queen (along with Auntie Hannah, of course)! Getting Ready...

Royalty

The wedding was held at a golf course on the McKenzie River outside of Eugene. The ceremony was under a canopy & the reception in a covered picnic area with a backdrop of mountains. It was a beautiful setting & fun to celebrate with all of the Stave family and lots of friends!

The Stave Girls

(Ingrid, Hannah, me & Ieva)

The Lithuanian Staves

The wedding's official cake-tester

Kickin' it up at the reception

(aren't the crocs great? They were Hannah's idea...)

Our baby goes to School (preschool)

Normally September 1st involves Kim and I rushing around LCC as we finalize last minute housing details, hire last minute student employees and begin to arrange what our semester will look like as we interact with the students that we minister to in the university. This September 1st was a little different as we dressed Ieva up in a "pretty dress" and walked the 15 minutes to "Obelele Darželis" a derivative of "little apple kindergarten or preschool. This preschool is fairly close to our normal walking route to LCC and is tucked away in a little neighborhood off the main road. While on the outside it doesn't look like much, the teachers are friendly, the director is happy to have "foreigners" in her school and the staff, even though they don't speak English, try very hard to communicate with us and Ieva.

Kim had run out the night before to buy some flowers for her teacher and teacher's assistant. (a September 1st tradition in Lithuania) We made her look all pretty (not a tough task) and headed out the door for the walk. Along the way we talked about all the kids she would get to play with, the new toys and games she would see and all the fun she would have with her new friends.


She fortunately already had two friends in the preschool, David and David, both English-speaking children of some LCC colleagues. As soon as we arrived she seemed to be fine and when she sat down next to a little girl and began to play in the little kitchen, we thought we were home free.

And then it started...."I want you to stay with me, I want to go to your office with you, I want to go to LCC with you mommy." I guess we should have expected it but it has been a hard week of early morning goodbyes. In fact, each day has been harder then the one before, culminating with this morning when Kim had to drag a limp, crying girl in the front door, leave her with her teacher (who is very sweet and patient) and walk quickly away. One thing that it has reinforced is how much she appreciates us and hugs us when we pick her up in the afternoon. There's nothing like a little girl hug to make a daddy melt.

Overall we're hopeful that this will pass and she'll be excited about going to school and playing with her friends. One other fun thing is that she has begun to say many of the Lithuanian words that she is learning. As we walked to school one day, Ieva spouted out proudly "girl is mergaite" and even pronounced it pretty well. Each day she's adding more words, counting to ten in Lithuanian and adjusting to this different way of life then her norm, a babysitter coming to our house and focusing only on her.

While it will take time, we're excited for her language learning opportunity, excited for her to make more friends and continue to grow and experience new things. We welcome your prayers for her to adjust and develop a sense of security when we leave as well as prayers for us to trust that she'll be ok when she's clinging to us and begging us not to leave her in the mornings.