Missionary/English Teacher. Founder of Step30 international Ministries for 10 years. Primary child care provider.
【Podcast 訪談的整理與補充】
加拿大人，17年前曾在非洲當傳教士，回加拿大後在某一次禱告聽見神要他來台灣，來台後先兼任英文教師，擁有 10 年經驗。
在她跟老公結婚的時候，他們兩人希望能做能幫助人的事情，因著爸媽在非洲很多年，觀察到非洲小孩有沙蚤的問題，同時想到身邊很多朋友有穿不到的鞋子，故上網詢問有沒有人願意捐鞋舊，因為響應太熱烈，後來就創立了舊鞋救命，至今已經10 年了，也有在非洲當地成立辦公室，現況除了鞋子之外也會協助捐贈包包等其他物品。
育有四個女兒，年紀分別是 11、8, 8, 4歲，前後也陸續帶著小孩去非洲住過 4 次，每次居住半年，懷雙胞胎的時候人也都在非洲，來看看她的人生故事吧！
（以下內容會在尾巴放上 Kara 的原文，並使用 ChatGPT 翻譯，若有意思上的出入，請以原文為主
訪談日期：2022/0
早晨
早上 6:40 起床，叫孩子們起床，他們會梳頭髮、吃早餐。我們目標是在 7:35 出門，但通常拖到 7:49。有時候我們會一起走去學校，有時候大孩子會自己走。8:00 抵達學校。老公則通常 8:00 多起床。
下午
大多數日子，孩子們 3:40 放學，雙胞胎有時會待到 5:30 做作業。通常我們會在學校的遊樂場玩到 4:20 左右，然後回家準備晚餐並做作業。
晚上
我們盡量讓孩子 8:30 上床睡覺，最大的孩子通常會到 9:00 或 9:30 還在做作業或看書。我自己 23:00 ~ 00:00 左右睡覺，老公則是 1:00 ~ 2:00 睡
wake up:6:40, wake up kids, they brush their hair and eat breakfast. We try to be out the door by 7:35, but most days it's more like 7:49, sometimes we all walk together, sometimes the older girls walk alone. At school by 8am. Most days all the kids are done school by 3:40. The twins sometimes stay till 5:30 for homework help. Most days we play at the school park till about 4:20 then head home to make dinner and do homework. We try to have the kids in bed by 8:30pm. Oldest usually stays up till 9/9:30 doing homework or reading.
以前我很討厭獨處，無法接受自己一個人去咖啡廳或獨自吃飯，但現在我開始享受這樣的時光。我一直以為自己是個冷靜、放鬆的人，但有了孩子後，我發現自己其實會因為孩子們而生氣，這讓我很驚訝。
I used to hate being alone. I hated the thought of going to a coffee shop by myself or having a meal by myself. But now I quite enjoy it. I always thought I was a very calm and relaxed person but I'm always surprised by how angry I can get in front of my kids.
自然產下雙胞胎，這是我一輩子都無法忘記的經歷。破水兩次的過程讓人難以置信，而哺乳的挑戰也極為艱難。但隨著孩子長大，我最喜歡的時刻是他們齊心協力完成一件事情。例如，幾週前我身體不適，告訴孩子們我要小睡一下，結果醒來後發現他們一起合作，把家裡打掃乾淨，讓我感到非常驕傲。
大家都說我的孩子們很可愛，這有時讓我有點擔心，因為我不希望他們因此過於在意外表。我一直強調，真正重要的是性格。我特別喜歡我的孩子們會用行動來表達愛，例如寫卡片、送小禮物等等。有時候，他們的用心讓我驚喜。前幾天，我的大女兒聽說教會裡的一位姐姐喜歡小小兵，於是她特地準備了一整盒禮物，裡面都是黃色和藍色的物品，還自己列印了小小兵的貼紙，這讓我很感動。
All my kids get praised for how cute they are. Sometimes it bothers me because I don't want it to get to their heads. We are always trying to tell them that it's their character that matters more. I love it when my girls take time to show the people in their lives they love them, whether by sending a card. giving a gift or something like that. Sometimes they surprise me by the things they come up with. The other day my oldest made a gift for a sister at church. She heard she loved Minions and put together a whole box of little things, printed on Minion stickers to make sure everything was yellow and blue.
老實說，我不確定。我有時也懷疑自己的育兒方式是否正確。但我只希望孩子們知道，他們是被愛的，並且來到這個世界上是為了去愛別人。我不太在意成績或考試分數。
Honestly I don't know, Sometimes I don't know if my approach to parenting is right or not. I just want my kids to know they are loved, and that they are put on this earth to love others. I don't put a whole lot of focus on the other things like grades and test scores.
嬰兒時期最重要的是「睡眠訓練」。我認為讓孩子自己入睡，並且建立規律的作息，對於他們的成長與家庭的和諧都至關重要。這不僅讓父母能掌握孩子的需求，也能維持婚姻關係的親密度。
when they are babies...Sleep training. I believe it is so important to train your kids to sleep on their own. To be on a schedule so that you know what is going on when they cry. But I also feel that doing this is vital to keeping your marriage strong and intimate.
嬰兒床：我曾經認為嬰兒需要固定的木製嬰兒床，但生到第四胎後，我發現可折疊的遊戲床更實用，方便攜帶，寶寶也更容易適應不同環境的睡眠。
睡衣：我以前堅持讓孩子們穿睡衣睡覺，直到有一次他們跟奶奶過夜，奶奶直接讓他們穿著隔天的衣服入睡，這讓我頓悟：這樣能省去更換衣服的爭執，也能減少洗衣的負擔。從此，我的孩子們不再穿睡衣。
I thought they needed a proper baby bed, like a fixed wooden crib. But by the time I had my fourth I realized that the pack and play style is so much more practical. You can just pack it up and travel with it wherever you need to go. And the bonus is the baby is already used to sleeping in it, so you don't need to worry about them not being comfortable in another bed.
When my kids were young I always put them in pajamas to sleep in. but one day they stayed with Amma and she just put them to bed in the clean clothes that they were going to wear the next day. It was like a fireworks moment. Why did I never think of that? So much less fights about changing. and so much less laundry. Now my kids never wear pajamas.
最近我學到一個方法——把每次的爭執變成遊戲。例如，我的女兒們很討厭梳頭髮，總是扭來扭去、哀哀叫。有一天，最小的女兒開始抱怨時，我突然說：「我們來看看，你能不能變成雕像？你能多麼靜止不動呢？」她立刻進入角色，後來又扮成機器人和馬，最後大家都笑著出門，沒有爭執。
Something I am only now learning with my youngest is to turn every struggle into play. For example, My girls hate having their hair brushed. They always wiggle and wine. This morning my youngest started to complain and I said, Let's see... Can you be a statue? How still can you be? She got right into it and for the rest of the morning she was pretending to be a statue, then a robot and later a horse. Everyone left the house with smiles!
孩子們總是做出各種有趣的事，但當你真的要想時，卻常常一時想不起來。不過，有一件事讓我印象深刻。
有一次，我三歲的女兒本來應該在睡覺，卻突然闖進來，撞見我和先生親密的畫面。隔天，她聽到我跟朋友提到這件事，於是她興奮地加入對話，還學著她看到的畫面，跪在地上模仿：「爸爸是這樣的……」當下我立刻打斷：「呃……我們還是別討論這個好了！」從那天起，我們再也不會忘記鎖門了。
They do funny things all the time, but it's always when you need to think of it that you just can't remember. The only thing that comes to mind is when my one daughter was three and she walked in on my husband and I after she was supposed to be in bed. The next day she overheard me say to a friend that she had walked in on us. She then jumped into the conversation and got on her hands and knees trying to re-enact what she saw, saying "daddy was like this",..."oh no no no, let's not go there!" Let's just say, from that day forward we never forgot to lock the door again.
放輕鬆！新手爸媽很容易過度擔心細菌或環境是否夠乾淨。但請記住，世界上有數以百萬計的嬰兒，在遠比你想像中更不衛生的環境下長大，他們依然健康無恙。與其過度焦慮，不如享受和孩子在一起的時光，放下那些可能根本不會發生的擔憂，育兒會變得更快樂！
Relax, as new parents it's so easy to be so uptight about germs and everything being clean. But just remember there are millions of babies that grow up in environments that are much less sterile than what you live in and they are fine. Life is so much more fun with kids when you can just relax and stop worrying about what will probably never happen.
