sneak peek

 finding friends with electronic devices to share at the airport on our long journey to the U.S..

 playing with cousin Ryan at a park. (we are LOVING the parks here in the USA)

 Eating lunch with the Williams cousins, so many kids, so much fun.

 Tobin discovered and LOVES the floor AC vent at the Williams' house. Hilarious.

 Going to an outdoor rendition of 'The Three Little Pigs'. This was so very fun. We love the variety of activities available.

 Free haircuts for kids the month of August at JC Penney! Wow.

 Celebrating 44 years of marriage with Poppy and CC! Another WOW.

 

The main reason we came home. He did awesome.

 His 'persecutors'. He passed 'with flying colors', his main professor said.

Second honeymoon. Poppy and CC watched the kids while we went to the beach for a few days. We slept in until 10 a.m.!!!

Double date with Laura, Lee, and Baby Craft number two in the belly. A joy to reconnect with them and just laugh and talk and laugh some more.

 The kids joined us at the beach after a few days.

And here we still are (at the beach). I do plan on blogging details of these days, but right now I am enjoying them. Lots of fun things to remember about our kids perception of things in the US....quite comedic in fact. For another day.

The Rice Family

 This is xiao Kuan (L), and Kuan Da Zhong (R). David met and befriended Kuan Da Zhong on one of our first trips here. When we moved here and started studying Chinese, David and Da Zhong became good friends. On and off for almost two years we hung out with this family. Then we moved across town, started having babies, and we were no longer in formal language school. We would often talk about 'the rice family' (they have a huge business selling rice, and do quite well), and wonder what they were up to. We were just as excited as they were to run into them the other night and then be able to have a meal together. They were amazed at our three kids and all that had taken place in a span of five years. This reconnection was a real blessing. She said: 'so you are going to have two more kids right?' 'what???' I replied. She reminded me that 7 years ago, I said we wanted to have five kids. I laughed out loud at this. 'Really, did I say that?' I asked her. We had good laughs about this. I told her I thought I was getting too old, but we didn't know. She responded with what we hear all the time: 'really happy/blessed' and 'really really hard'.

 Da Zhong has since gotten married. This is his wife holding Tobin. Any child, when given a real cell phone to play with, will be your friend and let you hold them. He resisted her upteen times until she pulled out the phone. He was instantly won over.

 Xiao Kuan and Da Zhong have 3 other brothers and sisters who all live elsewhere right now, but still have houses here. And they have left their kids here while they are elsewhere (this is SO common). So 2 of these kids were their nieces and the oldest is XiaoKuan's daughter. The kids had a fabulous time together.

 I show you this blurry pic to show that Tobin was into the game as well. Only in China can you play hide-and-go-seek and a duck-duck-goose type game out and around the restaurant (most are so open or outside). This gave us a great chance to catch up with the adults.

 We took this same picture of them seven years ago. But I couldn't find it to post. He said David had gotten skinnier, David said he had gotten fatter, both were true and completely okay to say in this culture.

 They were understanding of our needing to leave early and get the kids to bed (most kids, no matter the age, stay up LATE here). We had to get some pics of the crew. The girl on the far right and the middle one both played the Gorde Flute for us. They were incredible. Seriously. They told us that the smaller girl, 7 years old, travels (by air) all over to play for performances. She was that good, we were so blessed.

Sorry about the blurry pics. These were with my phone. We ate a great meal, with two interesting quirks. A local minority here uses a brown dipping sauce that David and I both love. On the table was a brown dipping sauce, but it did look a little different. We tried it, she showed us how to dip the meet in, it definitely was not the sauce we love. It was okay. I asked what was in it, and she said it was pig blood. This did not phase David or me. This is so incredibly common, we know exactly what it looks like, have seen it all over the markets, and mostly in soups, we have had it before, but we usually do not eat it. Sophia did ask to be sure she heard correctly, I answered her, told her we usually don't eat it and we moved on in the conversation. Sophia then asked:  why is it brown? Because it is cooked. Oh.

And off we go eating again. The other interesting thing is that I served Bella up egg after egg that was cooked and on a huge plate, like eggs over easy but cooked fully. She liked just the yolk she said. Then after eating at least 2, maybe three, David told me that they were made soaked in rice liquor (this is strong liquor). Niiiice, we are going to have a tipsy little girl, or sick little girl. I tried it. Yes, indeed, alcohol, and the strong stuff. Interesting. Bella, did not in fact eat enough of it to affect anything, and even if she had, who knows....I had to laugh this off too.

We assured them that when we return from the States we will have them over to play and eat! Sophia wanted it to be the very next day! Sorry girl, we still have to pack some! We love this family and hope to keep up with them better from now on!

In 24 hours...tidbits

We will leave for the airport tomorrow around 4 p.m., head to the provincial capital for the night and start our real journey on Wednesday morning. I know I should not be blogging right now! But maybe I should... lots of things jumbled up in my brain as I process returning to the States. So many things about our home and daily life I fail to capture, but think about a ton. If I could record Bella's comments and Sophia's questions all day long, it would be a comedy show.  At least I am living it, I tell myself. Living God's graces every day.

And though we will be gone less than 2 months, I still have been trying to point out to the girls things that I will miss while we are gone. This really is our home, but with our lifestyle we uproot for two months every two years to have a baby or to visit the U.S. (we have alternated years on this, that means every year we have done this).  The U.S. and Bangkok in a lesser degree, for them tends to be one nostalgic play land. We will see how this unfolds as they get older. This will be the trip where I think, for Sophia at least, she will hold onto real memories, not just the kind she remembers from the pictures. Because of this, I am trying to keep them thankful and loving of our home here, while at the same time getting them excited about all that we will get to experience while stateside. An interesting balance, to be sure. I know they cannot wait to see grandparents and play with cousins, neither can we!!!


Here are some tidbits of what these last days have looked like:

• of course when I plan to really pack, interruptions come. A new neighbor came over with her son to play, right when I was heading to pack the girls' clothes. They stayed about twenty minutes, and we had good conversation. I didn't get out toys for the boy, I didn't take him to the girls' room where he probably could have played for hours. But I did actually sit down to talk. They left about 20 minutes later. 
• later that same day our old helper came into town, this was a very pleasant surprise, we really miss her. It was good to catch up. 
• While out to eat we ran into a family that we had not seen in over 5 years. Our first 2 years here we were pretty close with them. Then we started having kids and getting really busy. They ran and hugged us like the long lost friends that we are and then we immediately planned to eat together the next night. Even when we happily planned this, my mind was stressing about the 3 hours we didn't have. I considered opting myself out (I do have a bad cold). In the end we all went and had a wonderful time (for another post).
• I almost forgot to pack diapers!! I was feeling pretty settled with everything, sat down to type and knew I was forgetting something pretty important... 
• David has been fix-it man around here. He trundled the girls bed, caulked a bunch of things and will fix the washing machine water pipe this evening. On top of all this he traveled to Malaysia, came back and finished a very important deadline here and fine tuned his Thesis that he just turned in. Amazing man. But we are both very tired. 
• we are going out for our last night of dumplings tonight. Yummy!!!

 The kids all got into helping Daddy put the wheels on the plank of wood.

 Sophia gave him the screws when asked.

 when done, Tobin promptly crawled atop the mattress and laid down. The girls followed suit.

These kiddos keep us laughing, that is for sure!!!
Though after 27 hours of travel, we may be crying...we will see.

A short 8 weeks

We will be in the States for a short 8 weeks, mainly for David to finish up some schooling, and to give our family and friends glimpses of our growing kids. Leading up to this our life has been more than hectic. Still, the other day I said....'I am just pretty chill about this trip, it is short, no big deal, haven't really even started packing yet' (and if you know me, you know that is strange). BUT then, that night I lay awake thinking of all the things left to do. I made my little list and in the morning, with the onslaught of a head cold, I started tackling it.

More emails started coming in about scheduling, when to go where, what works best for who, car, no car, car seat laws, etc. We are an odd entity, traveling so much and having to plan out our schedules with dozens of people months in advance, and arrange so. much. stuff. Let me stop and hyperventilate right now.
Okay, I am back.

What it comes down to is this: we have amazing family and friends supporting our every step, almost literally. Without them this little mid-term trip would not be possible. We don't take that lightly. We are so thankful. And we know, we know for sure, that the crazy airplane rides ahead (5 of them), the screaming kids, the cranky adults (me!), the jet lagged beginnings, will all result in such sweet reunions and blessings we don't even know of yet. We really are excited. The late nights talking with family and friends, our kids knowing their cousins again, walks on the beach, folks meeting Tobin, sharing our lives with those who love us so well from a distance. We can't wait. U.S.A. here we come.

Tobin at almost 16 months

 Where has the time gone? Our baby boy is a handsome little chap; his sparkling eyes and mischievous grins entertain us daily. What is he up to.....

He is no longer the chill baby he used to be...

• he gets frustrated easily, typical for this toddler stage, he knows what he wants and most of the time can't have it. But he understands a lot, so he is responding to our training (sometimes)
• he didn't take off walking until just a few weeks ago, right at 15 months (like Bella), but it is now his preferred mode of transport, and he doesn't like to hold your hand while walking either. 
• he loves baths and the pool, but it is such a difficult stage so he doesn't ever get to stay in long. We imagine this will change a lot in the States. 
• he babbles tons and has a mixture of words, some he has repeated clearly and multiple times, others he has only said once. But he is definitely mimicking everything these days. 
• his words: mama (his most popular, I think it means many things to him), daddy, hi, hao (chinese, for okay, yes, or good), haochi (chinese for 'it tastes good'), bye bye, ball, no, 'uh huh' (as an affirmative mumble), nigh nigh (night night), xiexie (Chinese for thank you), baba (chinese for daddy), doggy.
• he loves to crawl up on the couch and sit back
• he loves rice, and loves to try to feed himself with a spoon, which often ends in frustration, he loves curry rice, and almost anything we eat locally. He loves fresh fruit: mango, pineapple, grapes, apple, banana.
• many people have mentioned that he has slimmed up some, and I honestly don't have an accurate weight for him. I tried to get him on the scale, but even when I held him, he wiggled too much! He is probably about 11 kg or a little more, 24 lbs. He is catching up with Bella, who is our petite little tyke.
• he still takes 2 naps a day, but not without much crying these days. Not sure what is up with that. We will probably just drop that morning nap in the States but right now it is helping me get things done around the house. 
• he sleeps with 'bear bear' and 'baa baa', only one of which we will take on our trip. These things are very dear to him! 
• Still a very avid thumb sucker. These Coker kids!