Thursday, July 31, 2008

Questions!

Jonathan leaves every morning at 5:45 to catch the bus to school. He gets to learn turkish at Bogazici University, a prestigious university in Istanbul. It has a gorgeous campus overlooking the Bosphorus. He is blessed to have received the scholarship that permits him to study intensively for six weeks. Nothing but school and family for six weeks.
I am SOOOO jealous. Literally. After I learned spanish in high school I always knew I would spend the rest of my life learning language after language. I served a mission in Toronto using spanish. Then I met Jonathan. We were married. Then I watched him thrive at school in every direction while I got pregnant and fatter in every direction. He learned portugese on his mission. Since our marriage though he's devoted himself constantly to at least one language at a time in addition to his main focus which is history. He's mastered German, Spanish, and he's getting closer with Turkish. He's got a basic knowlege of French and Latin. And must I repeat, I'm really jealous. The other night I cried because I feel like he gets to live my dreams while I raise the kids in a place where it seems impossible. Does anyone else ever feel like this? I'm not talking about wanting to get out of the house every once in a while. I'm talking about watching your spouse walk out the door every morning to the life you'd always planned for yourself. It sucks.
Now I should stop complaining. But who else can I vent to? I tell Jonathan but his solution is always to just trade places. Generous, but not possible. My kids are great. I have a lot of fun with them despite the neverending coming to terms with my role as stay at home mother. I've recently started teaching them stuff like all the other homeschooling moms out there. It's gone well and it's really taken my mind off how hard life is. My boys are 4 and a half, 3, and 1 and a half. This is a question for all you homeshcoolers out there. What kinds of things do you wish you had done with your kids before you started actually homeschooling them ( you know, with curriculums and actual school work )? What were your favorite activities with your young ones? My oldest is getting close to school age and I know I won't be able to slack much longer on teaching him real school stuff. I see myself looking at all the blogs and thinking, "Oh, I can't wait until all my kids will be ready for that kind of field trip" or "I can't wait until all my kids can read." I'm sure I shouldn't be wishing the time away.
Tonight Jonathan and me and the kids walked down to the Sea of Marmara and rented a row boat for an hour. We rowed around, saw tons of jellyfish and fought the wind on our way back to the dock. The kids had a go at the oars. The baby ate all the snacks I brought. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Next year we'll take up fishing on a regular basis.

3 comments:

Peter and Wendy said...

I love this pic they look so sweet and innocent with their big heads and bright eyes. We love and miss you all.

Sonja said...

Christine! I kept nodding my head as I was reading this because I'm pretty sure I've said those exact words, or at least thought those same thoughts.

I go through periods of husband envy. But then there are also times when I'm so very glad for the role I have. I'm sure you know what I mean. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who sometimes really wishes I was the bread winner.

You have so much to offer your children. They are very lucky to have you as their mom.

Gosh, those boys are handsome. :)

Taranani said...

That picture of Atticus and Sherm are so them. Atticus the nice sensitive kid and Sherm the rabble rouser.