November Round UP

A lot has happened the past few months... here is a random round up of things going on around here...

1. Tao Bao has truly changed everything....(buying anything and everything on the internet in China with minimal shipping costs)

 You read that box right. 25 kg of butter. Not pounds, kilograms. I will let you do the math...
Delivered to our door.

 some perspective...

I imagine this will last us a long while. I chopped it up and put it in the deep freeze, feeling a little Laura Ingalls-ish...except not. Our Christmas ham is coming this way too...

stop the press....these were a good price, and you know how we love our Mexican food:

2. Mommy wars....I have heard of such things, trying to out-do the other moms at... whatever. I experienced it first hand here at what was supposed to be a child-parent build-a-dinosaur activity. I signed up to participate a little last minute and asked what I could bring to help and my group said they had it all under control.

 Most groups were helping their kids do some type of fun activity to build a dinosaur. Not mine. My moms were wanting a life size thing and the kids were not considered. I finally got out some paper for them to draw.

 I felt sorry for Tobin, tried to do my part in the construction with the moms, and got a bit frustrated that our table of kids were completely bored.

 They did turn the extra styrofoam into weapons and started to wreak a bit of havoc with other groups. What else were they supposed to do? I couldn't complain since I had no part in the planning for my group.

 These moms (or one in particular) were on a mission to make the biggest and baddest dinosaur.

 He was finally able to participate in the end. I promised him we would go home and make dinosaurs together.

 There it is...interesting.

This group's was fun, each kid got to get inside.

...and these were the kind that Tobin and I made at home.

3. Real Wars.
The week of Thanksgiving four rebel forces in Myanmar came together and launched an offensive against the Myanmar (Burmese) military. This was just over an hour from us and the stories and pictures coming through were tragic. There is so much to be said politically and otherwise about this. Not that it really makes the international news...but just in case... don't believe the hype about the new, free Burma. We are in no danger at all, but it certainly affects these border places and peoples. Some friends of ours, that live right smack dab in the middle of it all, ended up on our doorstep the Friday after Thanksgiving, completely unplanned. The U.S. embassy did a great job in helping them get through the border with proper paperwork and we were able to give them Turkey leftovers, hear their tales of the devastation, give them a bed, and let them tag along with us on a village outing.

4. Real Sickness.
Seems like groundhog's day around here when it comes to sickness, for almost two years now. Nothing too weighty, just unrelenting. I had another small lung infection. My lungs are now the topic of much conversation and we will follow up more in late March in Thailand. I am feeling mostly fine now, which is great. Sunday after Thanksgiving G started with fever, five days worth! Tobin got it mid week, five days worth! And finally Sophia succumbed to the crazy virus and just got over it this past weekend. Bella so far is A-okay. Learning more and more that we are so dependent on our good God, and in our weakness HE is strong.

5. Real Thanksgiving. 
We had a fabulous Thanksgiving Holiday, with some close friends driving five hours south to join us. Their family of Five stayed with us and the seven kids played and played while the adults talked long, laughed hard, and cooked a feast. Our friends even brought a real Turkey, our first ever eaten on Thanksgiving in our town! The day of we also had the S family and another family join us for a long table and packed house full of joy! (this will get its own post of pics)