I found myself trying to define the word "paradox" for a local friend a few weeks ago (whose English level was obviously quite high!). My computer's dictionary defines paradox as the following: a statement or position that (in spite of sound reasoning) seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. Sense that time, I've been grossly aware of the paradoxes that seem to exist in abundance all around me. One of the most obvious was the woman luxuriously dressed in a long fur coat with her hair wrapped elegantly in a shimmering wrap, high heels clinking along the paved sidewalk as she loudly and publicly blew a snot rocket in the air as she continued on her way. I think I gasped aloud with surprise at the sight!
We're now into the third day of spring, and yet the snow continues to fall! We're not in Texas anymore....and while the kids are loving more snowball fights and ice forts, I'm getting a bit weary of mopping up the muddy boots that continue to track through the front door entryway. Where are those buds on the trees?!!!
We decided to take off two weekends ago and make some memories as a family. We drove the hour to the mountains with four sleds and a picnic lunch. We stopped on the side of the road near a large hill that looked inviting and took off trekking uphill. My kids are mountain goats! Kevin and I were huffing and puffing to keep up (or, should I say, to catch up?). We hiked to the top of the hill, found a nearby valley, and spent a few hours sledding down, stopping to enjoy our lunch and then hike/sled back down to the car. We were all cold and wet by the time we made it back, but the goal of a fun-filled, memory-making day was certainly met!
And speaking of paradoxes--another one would be Khazak movers! These small men can haul things unlike anything I've ever seen. There was a team of 6 of them that came to load up all our belongings and move them from our old apartment to our new one. Our old apartment was on the 8th floor and had an elevator, while our new one is on the 2nd floor (up three flights of stairs) without an elevator. The way these men used cloth straps to hold the pieces of furniture on their backs and haul it was amazing. The most noteworthy by far was the piano. I don't know how much the thing weighs, but it seems like a TON. Two of these guys got in front and behind and were able to lift it up the flights of stairs. I was truly afraid that one of the guys was having a heart attack at the top of the last flight of stairs due to the noises he was making. But thankfully he did survive and we tried to give them an extra thank you by giving them our old treadmill (that they wanted and we couldn't fit into our new home). We're thrilled to announce that we moved into our new home as easily as we possibly could have, we've gotten settled over the past 3 weeks, and we're really enjoying our new place. It feels larger and more homey than our previous apartment did already, and we've loved getting to meet some new neighbors (but are still close enough to our old ones to keep up!). Karis and Eli have signed on to teach one of the neighbors English two hours a week, so they're pretty stoked to be earning some cash, as well. (They've both decided to start saving up for cars one day!)
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| Karis and Hud |
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| Noah striking a pose |
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| Eli and his sausage lunch |
I found myself trying to define the word "paradox" for a local friend a few weeks ago (whose English level was obviously quite high!). My computer's dictionary defines paradox as the following: a statement or position that (in spite of sound reasoning) seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. Sense that time, I've been grossly aware of the paradoxes that seem to exist in abundance all around me. One of the most obvious was the woman luxuriously dressed in a long fur coat with her hair wrapped elegantly in a shimmering wrap, high heels clinking along the paved sidewalk as she loudly and publicly blew a snot rocket in the air as she continued on her way. I think I gasped aloud with surprise at the sight! 
We decided to take off two weekends ago and make some memories as a family. We drove the hour to the mountains with four sleds and a picnic lunch. We stopped on the side of the road near a large hill that looked inviting and took off trekking uphill. My kids are mountain goats! Kevin and I were huffing and puffing to keep up (or, should I say, to catch up?). We hiked to the top of the hill, found a nearby valley, and spent a few hours sledding down, stopping to enjoy our lunch and then hike/sled back down to the car. We were all cold and wet by the time we made it back, but the goal of a fun-filled, memory-making day was certainly met! 
And speaking of paradoxes--another one would be Khazak movers! These small men can haul things unlike anything I've ever seen. There was a team of 6 of them that came to load up all our belongings and move them from our old apartment to our new one. Our old apartment was on the 8th floor and had an elevator, while our new one is on the 2nd floor (up three flights of stairs) without an elevator. The way these men used cloth straps to hold the pieces of furniture on their backs and haul it was amazing. The most noteworthy by far was the piano. I don't know how much the thing weighs, but it seems like a TON. Two of these guys got in front and behind and were able to lift it up the flights of stairs. I was truly afraid that one of the guys was having a heart attack at the top of the last flight of stairs due to the noises he was making. But thankfully he did survive and we tried to give them an extra thank you by giving them our old treadmill (that they wanted and we couldn't fit into our new home). We're thrilled to announce that we moved into our new home as easily as we possibly could have, we've gotten settled over the past 3 weeks, and we're really enjoying our new place. It feels larger and more homey than our previous apartment did already, and we've loved getting to meet some new neighbors (but are still close enough to our old ones to keep up!). Karis and Eli have signed on to teach one of the neighbors English two hours a week, so they're pretty stoked to be earning some cash, as well. (They've both decided to start saving up for cars one day!)
