Operation Meet Their Needs!

As we've been here in China for almost 10 months now, we've been re-evaluating how we are doing collectively as a family. We're still feeling like our main area of need is for the kids. They really are doing great overall, but they definitely have missed (as I've mentioned before) the social outlets that they had when we were in Dallas. So one of the main things that we're considering is the older two going to the international school here in town this next year. We've filled out applications and are waiting to hear back about the potential for a scholarship, as the tuition is REALLY high and definitely not within our budget. We probably won't know anything until later this summer, right before school starts at the end of August, but we are hopeful that Karis and Eli might have the chance to go to an English-speaking, and even Christian-based school!
So while we're awaiting to see what will happen, we are trying to make the most of our summer time, too. We have been working on finding a Chinese tutor for the kids, as we've been a little disappointed at how little Chinese they've just "picked up" by interacting with others. Noah is the one exception. He seems to understand as many Mandarin words as he does English, probably due to the fact that he LOVES our ayi who is here three days a week and she is constantly talking away to him (in Mandarin, of course). But the older three still need some intentional teaching, we feel. All that to say, we do have another lead on a potential tutor who could work with them, so we're excited about that possibility!
And this week Karis started her first piano lesson! We have some friends here who let us borrow their keyboard several months ago. And our neighbor in our apartment building, a precious Korean woman who is also a believer, is a kids' piano teacher! She and her husband asked us in the elevator last week if we would be willing to exchange English conversation lessons with their two teenage boys for Karis to come and take piano lessons! My first response was no, being as our schedule is so full and I didn't see how we could fit in another night of commitment. But Kevin thought it was a great idea and said he was willing to do all of the work involved to make the English lessons work out! So now, each Wednesday afternoon, Karis is taking piano lessons from a precious Korean woman who speaks some Chinese and no English, and Kevin meets Wednesday evening with their two boys for an hour to practice their spoken English. Karis is thrilled with the trade-off, and is loving practicing her "homework"--a practice and theory book, both written in Koren, which neither Kevin nor I can read as it is totally different from Chinese characters!! We've decided on a month-long trial period, so we shall see what the next three weeks bring. . . :)
On a different note, we had a good time being reminded of how relational things are here in China. I had class in the morning and then had plans to go out to lunch with my teacher and one other friend after class, kind of to celebrate the semester being over. By the time our friends went home, we had literally spent twelve hours straight together! The girls came over to our apartment to hang out with the family and have dinner after we'd had lunch out. Then they stayed later to talk about things and ask questions of Kevin and me once the kids were in bed. It was such a sweet time, and a great reminder of how blessed we are to be here and have the friendships developing already that we do!

Another Birthday!

This week has been another fun one, including Karis' 6th birthday celebration! On Wednesday, there was a Chinese national holiday (Dragon Boat Festival), so we didn't have class. Instead, we had several of our friends and teachers over for dinner (and of course, the wii afterwards). The picture is of our friends teaching the kids how to fold paper to make little boxes. (We later used some of the boxes at the dinner table to discard our chicken bones into! In China, lots of the meat dishes still have the bones in them; different from the States where almost all the meat we eat is boneless. And we must admit, not our favorite thing to get used to, especially for Kevin who doesn't like to be slowed down when he's at the table trying to fill up asap.) Then Karis' birthday was on Thursday. So we decided to skip our homeschool time, and her friend Adah came over to spend the day with us. That evening, Kevin's friend from baseball (Lief) wanted to come over and bring Karis a birthday cake, so he, along with Adah's parents and sister Claire, joined us for dinner and then cake and ice cream. Karis had a great day and felt well-loved. She had been requesting her favorite meals for some time, and got both of them. For lunch, we made our own homemade pizzas, with black olives, which are her absolute favorites! And then for dinner, we got rotisserie chickens from our favorite market and I made green beans, roasted potatoes, and salad. I'm thankful that she has simple taste when it comes to meal preferences!

I did have a funny experience while jogging this week. There is a new track that has just been made around Trash Moutain, which is only about an 8 minute jog from our apartment. So on Tuesday morning, I took off with my iPod in hand for a quick run before the kids awakened and Kevin had to leave for class. I was amazed at how many older people were out exercising, as jogging in particular is not at all commonplace like it is in the States. The other thing that amazed me was the shoes that the older people were wearing. Almost all of the women were wearing sandals or flats--definitely NOT the thing women wear during intentional exercise in the States! I was hoping that their poor joints weren't going to pay the price later that day. . .
Anyway, I was running past an older gentleman and kind of chuckling to myself because of his attire. He had HUGE legs for a Chinese man (muscular, not fat), and was showing off every bit of them in his short and tight biking shorts! As I pulled up along side him, he looked at me quickly, then shocked me by saying (in English!), "One circle--how fast?" Surprised, I looked at him and said "Shenme?!" (which means What?) He repeated, again in English, "You run one circle, how fast?" I answered (this time in English), "About 8 minutes or so?". He replied with, "Good. Me too. We run together. We talk." (Notice the lack of question marks. Each sentence was definitely punctuated as an imperative. Kind, but yet an imperative!) Realizing that I didn't have a lot of choice in the matter, I took out my earphones and proceeded to run with this older guy for the next 5 minutes or so. (And by the way, there's no way he was running at the pace I was. His laps MUST have been a lot quicker than 8 minutes for me to get so winded during our time of jogging side-by-side!) We had a great time talking! He spoke pretty good English (which is VERY rare, especially for someone older), and ends up that he runs there at the mountain every morning--and goes the equivalent of about 8 or 10 miles per day! So I suppose he's earned the right to his short, tight shorts! We left it that we would meet again some day for a jog (and no doubt, a visit in English!)!

China Night

Our school holds an annual talent show that it calls China Night each year. Kevin was convinced by his teacher to perform with the kids. He told the story of his Major League debut when he got a sunflower seed stuck in his throat as he was warming up to pitch. The point of his story is how he worked for years to get to the point he was at, and yet his entire career was vulnerable to a seed! He ties in the passage in Lk. 6 really well about how our foundation in JC is the only firm foundation we can have. That baseball and all other things of this world are fleeting and uncertain. He had the kids up on stage to help him act it out, doing hand motions that describe the actions he completed in order to prepare for baseball (like running, working out, flying on a plane, etc.). His story was a hit! And it was an awesome opportunity to share with our friends from school and others there what we feel like is important in life. (Kevin even had his best friend from baseball, Lief, come with our family to see the show.) We even ended up letting Noah go up on stage with the other 3 after he was totally into doing the actions with them during our at-home dress rehearsal the night before the performance!

The only downside to the night was when Hud slipped off his seat and scraped his neck on the chair in front of him. He ended up with a huge bruise and scrape all across his neck (as you can see in the photo).

We finished the evening off at McDonalds (a short walk from where the performance was being held) with ice cream sundaes to celebrate how well the kids had cooperated.

My Kids' Eyes

I had fun learning from my kids' this past weekend. On Saturday morning, we piled in the three wheeler and took off to go to McDonald's for breakfast. The context of this outing was this: earlier in the week Karis randomly mentioned to me, "Mom, did you know you can eat BREAKFAST at McDonald's? I know you can--Adah (her friend) told me that she has with her parents!" The boys look at me expectantly, waiting for me to contradict the truthfulness of this statement. The are all surprised when I affirm that yes, one can most definitely eat breakfast at McDonald's (not just lunch or dinner!). We all decided that it would be fun to try sometime; thus our outing on Saturday morning!

On the way to our adventure, we discovered all kinds of new things on our 10 minute walk to the three-wheeler's parking garage. We found flowers that were taller than Daddy (shown in photo), huge ants, and I showed them how you can lick the nectar out of honeysuckle. It was truly an adventure! I was reminded how much of life is about discovery, which often requires being open to new things and new experiences (whether that is eating breakfast at McDonalds or figuring out how honeysuckle works!). It has helped me approach this week with a new outlook, one which I hope is more open and receptive to learning new things in a new place and culture!

On Sunday, our ayi came over with her daughter (who is 19) and her niece. They wanted to "practice their English", but we soon discovered that due to the shy nature of them both, there wasn't a whole lot of English-speaking going on! We had a good visit, and the older two kids (who were the only ones not napping at this time) provided great entertainment as we all worked on threading bead necklaces together while we visited. It was a neat time to interact with our ayi on a friendship level, rather than her just serving us as she works in our home.

On Wednesday this week, I took off with a group of girlfriends after class who are all teachers at the local international school. One of my closest friends here, Holly, is returning to Dallas on Saturday after spending 4 years teaching elementary school here in China. Our whole family is going to be soooooo sad to see her go! It was her birthday, so we had a fun girls' outing, going to a huge ferris wheel in downtown Tianjin, then on to dinner and foot massages.

Noah's 1st Birthday!

I can't believe that our baby has just turned one year old! Yesterday, June 3rd, was Noah's first birthday, and we had a great time celebrating as a family. He ate his first cupcake (not his first "sweet", however, as he's discovered how much fun it can be when our family walks to the local market store to buy icecream after dinner!), opened a few gifts, and had a party paper chain made in his honor by his older siblings.

This past week Kevin and I both walked into the room at different times to discover Noah dribbling a plastic soccer ball across the living room floor! Yes, I said, DRIBBLING with his feet! At first, I was pretty sure that I just happened to see him accidentally kick the ball and then walk quickly behind it. But as I watched for another minute, he was truly kicking the ball then following up behind it to kick it again--dribbling almost on par with any World Cup player. (Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration!). What can I say, those are definitely Joseph genes rather than the ones on his mom's side!!

First Chinese Wedding

We got to experience another first this weekend--our first Chinese wedding! We were invited to attend one of Kevin's former teacher's weddings on Sunday afternoon, and it was quite an experience! We learned a ton. . .

For starters, you don't show up to a wedding "on time". While the invitation said the wedding was to begin at 3:18pm, it didn't actually begin until well after 4:15pm! (Luckily, we had been warned about this beforehand, so rather than just hanging out there waiting with everyone in tow, we arrived with the kids closer to 3:45 as suggested by our friends.) Secondly, weddings are usually (almost always) held in restaurants. Which makes the food aspect much more convenient than dealing with a caterer, for sure! Before the bride walked down the aisle, she waited in a sheer covered canopy at the back of the restaurant. Then, as the Rocky-style music began to play, the groom walked down the carpeted path to the bride and escorted her to the front of the restaurant. Everyone is chatting during this time, snacking some on the nuts and drinks that are at the round tables at which we were seated (except for Kevin, who was following Noah around as he explored at the back of the restaurant, being entertained by about a dozen Chinese restaurant workers who were all in love with him!) After the intro, there were a few other Chinese-ee things--like bubbles coming out of a bubble machine right next to the bride and groom's heads and a few flaming torches (rather than our typical unity candle). But then the pastor delivered the message (who happened to be a western friend of ours from the language school), which was pretty much what we're used to (except in Mandarin, of course!).

One of the other differences is that they serve the cake before the meal comes out. And then the food just keeps on coming! The servers just kept piling plate upon plate onto our table, stacking them three to four dishes high! There was a great deal of seafood, which is considered "fine dining" in China (even though the heads, scales, and shells are still left on!), and a lot of new dishes that we had never had before.

The bride wore a traditional white wedding dress, but then changed into a different bright pink dress for her "reception" afterward--where she and the groom went from table to table while their guests were toasting them. The Chinese culture also finds pale skin the most attractive--so they do everything they can both to protect their skin from the sun as well as using products to make their faces especially more fair. So we've noticed that brides put a LOT of heavy whitening make-up on their faces for weddings (and photos, in particular). This was no exception! Oh, and rather than bringing gifts, everyone brings these red envelopes that you put cash into for the bride and groom. Guess it makes bringing the presents home a lot easier!

We stuck around for about 3 hours and then left as the kids were reaching melt-down point. It was really fun, even though the kids were disappointed that there was no dancing. We had had a busy Saturday, trekking to Beijing in order to meet with a US friend for lunch. We laughed that we traveled for three hours--including two taxi rides, one high speed train, and three subways, just to go one-way there in order to have a lunch meeting for two hours! I don't know that we would have done that necessarily in the States! Our trip was a success, except maybe for the moment I looked down on the subway where we were all crowded around one pole to hold our balance as it moved along, only to find Hudson LICKING the pole. That's right. Licking it with his tongue. And this is after I think I'd already gone through a whole package of anti-bacterial wipes on their hands trying to keep the kids as germ-free as possible in such a dirty environment! I considered trying one on his tongue, but figured it would probably be counter-productive (or maybe worse?!). What goes through the mind of a three-year old, I guess we'll just never know!

The photos I'm including are of our family with the bride and groom, the table we sat at which was covered with food, the bride and groom with the bubbles and the flaming torches blazing, and me with my teacher this semester who has become such a dear friend.