Bugs and Milkshakes

Our themes for the past two weeks--bugs and milkshakes! We've discovered a plethora of both! The number of snails, roly polies, and giant black ants has definitely increased as the weather begins to cool off and the rain becomes more frequent. And the kids are LOVING it--the boys especially! After Eli found a new class pet (a lizard he found outside during recess), Hud was motivated to do the same. So he convinced his class that THEIR new class pet was the stink bug he discovered on the playground! His teacher (wisely!) sent it home with him after allowing it to stay in the class room (and even share in their snack during snack time) for about two days. I think I allowed it to stay in our house for less than one--then was able to convince him that the stink bug really wanted to return to his family OUTSIDE our apartment.

Noah's fascination with the living things around us continues to grow; and his favorite past time is to hunt for black ants to step on and snails to let crawl around on him during our walks back home after dropping the other three kids off at the bus stop at 7am each morning. He had a new favorite highlight this week as we walked past the body of water in our apartment community. Three men had nets they were dropping in the water to catch small silver-colored minnows. Noah struck up a quick friendship with one of the men who waited patiently for Noah to reach into his net and help him remove the fish from the net and place them into his bag--with Noah squealing with delight the entire time! We "fished" with this kind man for a good half an hour before I could convince Noah it was time to head home (I was in need of another cup of coffee at the time!).

Our other new favorite discovery is a place in our apartment complex that advertises itself as a "yogurt" shop--but really should be bragging about their milkshakes! We had some friends recommend it as a fun place to get a treat, and are so thankful they did. In a place where retail and food vendors seldom last very long, we're doing everything we can to help keep them in business, frequenting the "shop" regularly! You can see a picture of the kids at the window where we order and then wait when we stopped by for an after-school treat one afternoon this week.

The last picture is around our kitchen table with one of our favorite "new normals" in the Joseph household--chopsticks used to eat jiao zi! We asked our ayi to make jiao zi (like dumplings with all kinds of different fillings inside--our favorite is pork and green beans) and then dip them in a vinegar soy sauce. The kids think the dipping and chopsticks part is as much fun as the eating, and usually have a contest to see who can eat the most (Eli holds the record with eating 5)!

I knew we were back in China this week when Kevin and I had a quick lunch date. While we were at the noodle restaurant that Kevin had spotted earlier and wanted to try out for the first time, we ordered then tried to find a seat. All the tables had people seated at them (there were about 8 tables in all), so we picked one that was less crowded--only one person in a four-top. The man didn't even flinch when Kevin and I squeezed in to sit at his table, and I thought how funny the person's reaction would have been if we were in the US trying to pull that one! Our noodles came, and we ended up eating them as quickly as we could, as we discovered we were about the only ones in the whole place who weren't enjoying a smoke along with their noodles, making the experience a little less enjoyable! Guess it wasn't our most romantic of lunch dates... :)

..."no cattle in the stalls"

I'm totally amazed. We've been back in China now for about a week and a half, and the transition to life here has gone so smoothly! I've got to admit, Kevin and I both had our doubts as to how the kids (in particular) would make the adjustment back to our "new normal". As I mentioned previously--our two months in the US were amazing. Our time with friends and family and the activities the kids got to participate in were more than we could have hoped for. From ballet camp to VBS, from the Dallas Arboretum and Children's Science Museum to the beaches of Florida; the kids had one incredible experience after another. And the genuinely LOVED every bit of it--and we felt (very gratefully) that they didn't seem to take it all for granted, either. So with two months of every day being the equivalent to Disney World in their little minds, how were they going to make the leap back to Tinajin, where literally the most excitement we have to offer here is the zoo (which is too hot to go to this time of year), McDonalds (which doesn't even have any sort of play area), and the local market that sells popsicles (and is a far cry from Marble Slab, to say the least!)?

Would you believe that everyone of the kids (Karis the least so) have said several times how thankful they are to be back in China?! Every time one of them says it, Kevin and I exchange glances, surprised and thrilled at the same time. I recently read a passage in Habakkak 3 that talks about how even if there are "no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior". I feel like my kids are living this out before our eyes! They have SO little here that the world says they should value and pursue, and yet they are content, even happy.

Now while I wish I could claim that this perspective comes from incredible spiritual maturity for my 7, 5, and 4 year olds, I think there's probably a better explanation. We definitely experience a sense of intense togetherness as a family that is really hard to replicate in the busyness of a typical day's schedule in the US. And maybe this place in which we've lived for two years (almost) just feels like home with their own beds, their own toys. Or it might just be His grace over our family in finding joy where He has us. Whatever the reason (or reasons) might be, we are singing His praises that our kids can remind us daily from Whom our strength comes, Who enables us to go on the heights...

One of my favorite moments this past week was a comment the boys made. Kevin was playing a game with the kids where he shouted out a letter of the alphabet and they had to run around the house and collect three things that all began with that letter. The older 3 kids were super enthusiastic about playing, and even Noah was trying to keep up. So when Kevin called out "w", the challenge was bumped up a notch. After searching wildly for several minutes, Hudson and Eli ran up to Kevin carrying a toy snake. When Kevin asked what the "w" was, the boys responded with, "It's a wubber [rubber!] animal!"

The photos are of the family game of "horse" in the living room, the first day of school for the older three (I took them on the 3 wheeler rather than having them ride the bus), and what I found on Saturday morning upon going in their room to get the kids up--all of them on the top bunk under the covers with Karis reading to her brothers!

We're Back!!!

Probably anyone who USED to check our blog for family updates has ceased to do so--and rightfully so! I am so apologetic for the lapse in time since my last post. We have just gotten off of a whirl-wind tour of the US, and are just getting our feet on the ground as we try to re-align ourselves (our bodies and minds!) with life back in China.

So here's a re-cap of the last 2 months we had in the US, as well as a few of the details of things we noticed as we've made the leap back and forth between two cultures that are so vastly different.

The time in the States for us was GREAT! We felt like we were continually reminding ourselves (and each other!) to soak it all in--the clean air, the birds chirping in the trees, the grass we could walk on, the endless servings of chips and queso, and the precious time with friends and family who truly provide us with the "soul food" for which we long. We spent the first three weeks in Dallas, once of which Kevin's parents were in town from Florida for, doing doctor's appointments, purchasing things we can only get Stateside, and enjoying as many playdates with friends as we could possibly fit in. And let me tell you, we took "fit in" to a whole new level! There were days that we truly had 4 meetings with different people or groups scheduled. Our funniest was one day when we had guests over for dinner, but let them know beforehand that we would have to be brief because we already had another couple scheduled to come over right after we got the kids in bed at 8pm. (Luckily the dinner friends are really close, and didn't seem to mind being booted out early in the evening!) Some of the funny things that we realized were so different from China, mainly because our kids pointed them out, were water fountains (Noah especially was fascinated by this, starting at the airport and continuing on whenever he spotted one), wearing shoes indoors (our kids for the entire two months would immediately drop their shoes by the front door upon entering someone's house), walking on grass (Eli and Noah in particular loved this, both asking if they could take their shoes off to walk in it whenever they saw a patch of green around), families having two cars (they only know one family here in China who has their own car, so they were confused by why any family would want or need two), and drinking out of the faucet (Hudson continued to ask throughout our two month's stay--"Is it okay to drink this water?").

We had so much fun getting to spend time with people and do so many fun things, but the following week when we took off for family time in Colorado was also a little bit of a relief, as we had truly "vacation time" in the real sense--just time with family and no place else to go and nothing else to do. We had time with both of my siblings and their families, as well as with my parents, hiking and fishing, white water rafting and throwing countless rocks into the icy Colorado streams that flowed around us. We couldn't get enough of the cool mountain air or the aesthetic beauty around us. I have a friend who has lived here in China for 19 years who told me once that she thinks the Lord allows her the privilege to return to Colorado every several years so that her "aesthetic beauty tank" is filled up enough to endure the grit and the grime of the city in which we live--and I think I would have to agree! My continued prayer was that I wouldn't allow the beauty we were able to enjoy for a week to be a source of bitterness later when I had the opportunity to compare it to where we now live, but that it would be a place I could go back to in my mind and enjoy the beauty of His creation and getting to experience a piece of it for any amount of time. Karis, who just turned 7 in June, knows that I love the beauty of Colorado--and specifically the Aspen trees. You can imagine how touched I was when she and my mom gave me a gift after our week of vacation--a pair of silver-covered aspen leaf earrings that they had hunted for and (miraculously!) found while in Crested Butte to give to me as a reminder of my favorite place on earth. And to think that the idea was all Karis' (and I'm assuming the buying power all my mom's!), have made this pair of earrings a treasure beyond compare!

We returned to Dallas for about 2 days of play time with my oldest (meaning longest!) best friend, Amy Baker and her family. They were in town from Seattle and we were able to let the kids get as much play time in as was possible to fit into 48 hours (including slumber parties, of course!). Amy's 3 kids line up in age and gender with my oldest 3 almost perfectly (just a few months apart for each of them), making the friendships for our families really easy and natural. I can't tell you how many times we said prayers of thanks during our time in the States for how well our kids "coped" with the transitions--from staying in different places, to putting about 7,000miles on borrowed or rented mini-vans in two months, to being thrust into social settings with kids that they really didn't know--we were so thankful that they not only coped with it all well, but that they seemed to enjoy every minute and every new situation! We laughed at how they were having the time of their lives largely because every day was like Christmas for them--fun new places and things they rarely get to experience (even the simplicity of joyfully being able to go outside to a backyard when they want to, rather than having to wait for the whole family to make the time and effort to have the production of getting from our 10th floor apartment to the courtyard below). Kevin and I both recognized this as one of the great blessings that comes with the sacrifice--it is hard to see that our kids don't get to experience what we consider "normal childhood experiences", like playing in a backyard or swimming in a pool, as part of their daily routine, but it is also awesome to see how thankful they are and how appreciative they are for those little things when they do have them.

So after our quick time in Dallas again we headed off for our longest road trip--starting in Houston, then going on to two different places in Georgia and then to Florida. In Houston we again had an absolutely amazing time getting to reconnect with college friends and our best friends who formerly lived in Tianjin and had to return to the US because their daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. It was such sweet time of fellowship and encouragement, and so fun to have our kids develop friendships that seemed to run deep in a very short amount of time. After Houston we booked it to Warm Springs, GA to meet our best friends from baseball during the All-Star break at their ranch house. We had 3 days of the kids playing in the dirt, fishing, and picking blueberries at a farm. We sweated a TON and had a great time in the process! After our Georgia farm time we headed to a suburb of Atlanta, Fayetteville, to visit our best friends from our time at DTS. Again, we had an incredible 2 days of swimming, fellowship, and having the kids connect with dear friends whom they dearly miss!

After those two days, my husband set some kind of record for "best husband of the year" by sending me off to the Atlanta airport so that I could fly back to Texas for a girls' reunion weekend with a group of friends of mine from college while he drove the 10 hours by himself--with four kids ages 7 and under--to where his parents live in Florida! And he did so with JOY! He was so excited to have me have a retreat with girlfriends that he was genuinely excited for me to go--and my time definitely lived up to his (and my!) expectations. I was able to spend time floating down the Guadalupe River and enjoying meals with girls I hadn't seen in years, and was so refreshed and encouraged by their love and concern for me and my family and all that we've experienced as we've made the cross-cultural move to China. And Kevin (and all 4 children) totally survived the weekend and the drive without me! According to all reports, it even went well! Once I flew back to Florida to re-join the fam we had another full week of time on the beach and at the pool, soaking up the sun of Florida and the love of grandparents. We got to go to a wildlife preserve with tigers and lions only feet away from you on the other side of the fence and to the movie theater to see Cars 2 in 3D! We made the most of every moment, and even had the pleasure of Kevin's cousin and his family coming in town from North Carolina to have time with us--which my kids loved since they brought their two daughters, who are close in age to my little ones.

I'll be honest--our drive back to Texas felt long. We knew we only had one week left in the States and that was filled with dentist appointments and a few other things on the to-do list still before our departure. (Kevin decided his theme for his summer was "teeth", as he spent more time at the dentist than anywhere else! Right before we left China he noticed pain in one of his teeth that had given him problems before due to a basketball injury that took place in highschool! This pain ended up in 3 teeth being pulled and a permanent bridge being put in, as well as one additional root canal and the discovery of his first cavity!) We had to cut our road trip home short in order to get back to Dallas in time for him to have the remainder of his dental work completed before we left town. The one praise in the whole thing was how thankful we were that it happened when it did! If it had happened while here in China, we would have been looking at a TON of travel into and out of Beijing in order to get it done, and probably not done as well! So no complaints here, just not exactly how Kevin planned on spending so much of his time while in the States....

I've got to go get Noah up from his nap now, so I'll wrap up (we're a few days into China time and we are all making the time transition pretty well, but definitely trying to keep to a schedule with naps so as not to ruin the night time sleep!). As much fun as we all had while in the US, we have been absolutely thrilled to no end to hear each one of the kids say how happy they are to be back in China! It is an amazing testimony of His faithfulness that this place that is so foreign and offers so much less of what the world calls comfortable and convenient feels so much like home to all of us. They are certainly feeling the weight of not being able to go outside on a whim (Eli asks about 8 times a day when the next time is we are going out will be!) and not having the undivided attention of grandparents and an endless supply of playmates who speak the same language, but they regularly comment on how happy they are to be back home! We're headed to the international school this evening for a picnic with other families and a time of playing sports on the soccer field together. The older three kids start class this week on Thursday and Kevin has jumped back into his language study already (I'm taking another week off--and thankful for that decision as I look at the bags still left to be unpacked!). Off to conquer the jet lag.... :)