A Good QT with a DP

I know that we've only been here one month, but there are already things (not to mention people!) that we are missing from the US. So today I decided to finally visit a store I've been hearing about since we arrived--the Good Friend Store! It is a small shop that carries imported items at really reasonable prices. I'm not sure if it was the 3 hours I spent trying to make homemade spaghetti sauce (that turned out tasting horrible!) that put me over the edge, but I was bound and determined to find a good ol' box of Kraft Maccaroni and Cheese if it killed me! And I couldn't have been more thrilled--not only did I find the mac 'n cheese, but the store also carried Kevin's and my favorite beverage--Dr. Pepper! I brought home four for a special treat. And I must confess that I even considered paying the price they were asking for a box of blueberry muffins--a whopping $5.50!! The bargain shopper in me won out, however, and I decided that the muffins would have to wait for another moment of desperation for our old western ways!

After my return from my happy food gathering exploration, Kevin was kind enough to manage the whole crew for me to go and have some "Ashley alone time"! I took off on my bicycle to ride the 15 minutes to a large grocery store that has a lot of little shops around it. I found a place that was the closest thing to a Smoothie King that I have found. I ordered what was supposed to be a banana smoothie, which ended up being more like banana flavored milk, but was still quite tasty! I'm not sure if it was the thought of the drink or the music that was in English that was playing that drew me in, but something made that store in particular an easy choice to stop by. I then had some great time in the Word, and had a good time getting things put a little bit back in perspective. I was reminded in Is. 43 that our father truly does all things for his glory. And that it is a privilege to be a part of whatever work he is doing. While there is nothing wrong with me getting excited about a DP or music with lyrics that I can understand, it is still a huge blessing that my family and I are able to serve him and attempt to play some small role in making his name reknown, regardless of any small comforts we may need to lay aside in the process. After all, this lifetime is a lot shorter than we think it is, right?

So with my smootie glass drained and my steps a little bit lighter, I proceeded to the large grocery store around the corner where I was able to find one remaining carton of milk to bring home. One more great reminder of how he is continuing to provide for our every want and need during our time here in China--how he blesses us more richly than we could ask or imagine as we submit to his leading in our lives!

(BTW, the photos are of Karis with a handful of snails that she and the boys discovered while at a playground duriing our first week here--with one of her little newfound critters crawling up her arm! And the other one is Karis, Noah, and my mom (or Nana) on exercise equipment at the same playground.)

Dungeon Master and a Pile of Trash!

This morning we headed off of the 3 wheeler and Kevin's bike to meet a friend at what is affectionately referred to as "Trash Mountain". But before getting there, we had to retrieve the 3 wheeler, which really is an adventure in and of itself! I wish that I could film the whole thing for everyone to really get a good feel for it--but the closest description I can compare it to is that of a dungeon! We have to take about a 5 minute walk (or 10, depending on how many bugs the kids discover on the sidewalk on the way!) to a neighboring building. We then descend a staircase and enter the back door of this room that is tucked away in the back of the underground parking garage. When we walk in the room, once our eyes adjust to the very low, fluorescent lighting, the first thing we see is the dungeon master. (See photo.) Apparently there are two women--one maybe in her 50's and the other pushing 80 or so!--who live down here and guard the electric bikes that are parked there. Once you show them your id, or they catch a glimpse of the blonde hair that makes us stand out and usually pretty memorable, they take you further into the depths to your vehicle. Once I maneuver the thing around all the other bikes, we walk through the secret door and pass into the parking garage. And I'm not kidding about it being a secret door! My second time of trying to park the 3 wheeler I literally could not find it, and had to have a security guard at the front of the garage lead me there on his bicycle! Anyway, always an adventure--and a little different than parking my minivan in the driveway!

Once we did get the 3 wheeler, we made it to Trash Mountain and had a great time having a picnic lunch with a new friend who is a teacher at the International School here in town. After lunch at the play area, we explored some of the paths. There is a paved path that leads to the top of the mountain (where the family photo was taken), but of course the Joseph kids' favorite thing was to go "off roading" and explore the roads less traveled! We even found a huge patch of grass that we let the kids run and play in (even though I'm pretty sure there was a sign somewhere written in Chinese characters kindly advising that we do otherwise!). (As shown in photo.) It was a great afternoon of playing and exploring more of Tianjin!

What was needed--and a chicken to boot!

We've noticed that our kids have gotten increasingly "bouncy" each evening before dinner time. We're definitely indoors more than we used to be. Back in Dallas, the kids would go out to the back yard several times a day just to run and "get the wiggles out", as we like to say. In addition to brief outings, we also were used to almost daily play dates at parks or mall play areas. Since we don't really have those options as readily available here in China, and because we are on the 10th floor of an apartment building, getting out still happens daily, but it looks a little different than what we are used to. And then there is the language barrier. We have met and played with a few other families who have little ones close in age to our 4, but the vast majority of the kids in China are still Chinese--and speak Mandarin rather than English! All this to say, our kids have not had the social interaction or the venue to play that they are accustomed to.

So today we had a little breakthrough. Kevin and I took the kids out into one of the apartment courtyards (of which there are several, since there are about 10 buildings in our community). We found a group of kids a little older than ours and just kind of hung around. Slowly but surely, Karis, Eli, and eventually Hudson greeted the other kids with a "ni hao" (hello) and communicated in ways that go beyond verbal barriers--play! All the kids were running in circles and jumping off of whatever they could find, and they were having a blast! Kevin and I were thrilled to see the kids genuinely enjoying one another and seeming to get along really well.

After about half of hour of play (and attempts on Kevin's and my behalf at broken conversation with the other moms and grandmothers who were out supervising the kids), we were surprised to look up and see a lone chicken high step it out of the bushes in the courtyard! Now, mind you, we are smack dab in a huge city of 11 million people, and an apartment community of either 3,000 or 30,000 (we've gotten different numbers from different people, and we're assuming that the miscommunication is probably a translation issue on our part!!)--but either way, a really busy city with nothing "rural" about it! So a chicken running through the courtyard of an apartment building was a little bit of a shock. We're hoping the poor creature survived, because of course as soon as it was discovered by the group of frolicking kiddos, it became the object of a game of chase! I'm pretty sure that the chicken made her escape, only to end up in some Chinese wok, no doubt, but it sure did us good to see our kids be blessed by once again having their social and physical needs met, and to enjoy a good laugh at the surprise of the scampering chicken!

Oh, and I thought I'd include Noah showing off his cute smile since he seems to miss out on being in a lot of the other shots (since he is normally in the Baby Bjorn on the photographer!!). He's growing and changing daily, and we're having a blast with hhis sweet and laid back personality! The other kids just can't keep their hands off of him, and their favorite thing is to try to get him to laugh and smile!

Our New Home

Our family did something supposedly completely unheard of here in China--move here to a completely unfurnished apartment. In the US this probably would be no big deal, but now having survived the "settling in process" for the last 3 and a half weeks, I can see the challenge that others foresaw in our zealous endeavor! Nothing here seems to move quickly, so getting a four bedroom apartment furnished, even with just the basics, was a huge chore, and yet a ton of fun at the same time. Pretty much everything we got ended up being somewhat custom made, as I would see something I liked but wanted to have slightly altered. The ability to customize so much furniture is incredible, and something so different from the cookie cutter molds we have in the US, but also makes the process of ordering something (especially considering the major language barrier!) extremely time consuming and complicated! We truly could not have done any of it without our friends who have been here in Tianjin for 16 years, who are familiar with the ins and outs of the process as well as the language!

This photo is of our first night in our new apartment. The kids decided to sleep underneath the stairs of our entryway because they thought it would be like sleeping in a cave! Their bedroom was unavailable for slumber as it had fresh paint on the walls (we decided to do away with the pepto pink in many of the bedrooms as well as the peach on the living room walls!). They are sleeping on their new Chinese mattresses, which are much thinner and harder than what we're used to in the States--but still not a single complaint! Their bunk beds had been ordered at this point, but wouldn't arrive for another week and a half or so. Kevin has joined them on the floor because my mom and I were on the sleeper sofa. Our regular sofa and love seat had yet to arrive, too, and our mattresses that we shipped from the US STILL have yet to arrive in our apartment (we had to wait until we obtained our residence permits for our shipment to clear customs).

So in spite of it being slow going, we absolutely LOVE our apartment--and have been incredibly blessed by the furniture that we have found. We even have friends who have put us in touch with two different places where we were able to get amazing Chinese antique pieces to decorate with. And these are no ordinary antiques! They are totally the look and style we love--rugged and yet intricate in design. We never dreamed we would own such neat material possessions--and at a fraction of the cost of anything you could get like this in the States! We are truly living out the blessings in Lk 10 in many ways!

"We are here! We are here!"

I keep hearing the voices of the Who's from "Horton Hears a Who" reverberate through my mind! Yes, we are truly "here" in China! After years of preparation, it still doesn't feel totally real! Our first 3 weeks in country have really been great. We have had some of the busiest weeks ever. And I've definitely done more shopping than I have in my entire life! It's not often that a family of 6 moves into a complete unfurnished apartment with only our suitcases in tow to start us off! (We did ship about 20 boxes of stuff--mainly books and things that we heard we couldn't find here--but those are of course still sitting in customs!!) The process has been fun and challenging, and we are super thankful for the many hands who have been helping us out daily to make it all happen!

Everyone is adjusting to life and it's many differences here in Asia. We've seen just how adaptable kids can be. In everything from eating to sleeping, all of our little ones have endured a great deal of change--with remarkably little distress from it all! Noah now takes most of his naps in the Baby Bjorn and nurses anywhere and everywhere (and not even while being covered up by my "Hooter Hider" nursing blanket. I abandoned carrying it around when I realized that every time I used it it was lifted up by some well-meaning Chinese person who was just curious as to what was going on underneath!!). Eli has learned to really like rice. The kids have no problem sleeping without a noisemaker in their room, and even naptime can be accomplished while crammed into the back seat of a taxi!

Kevin and I have had 2 weeks of classes learning Mandarin and are really enjoying it. We definitely have tough and discouraging days. Talk about a challenging language to learn! But our teachers and school are wonderful and we are super motivated to speak and understand as much as we possibly can. We are reminded daily how little interaction we can have with these wonderful people without a good handle on the heart language they speak!

We probably had our hardest day yet today. We unfortunately had to send my mom (Nana) back to Dallas yesterday. And it was so hard for us all! Even the neighbors in our community (there are over 3000 living in our complex) were asking where Lau lau was today (Mandarin for grandmother)! China just isn't the same without her :( We're certainly looking forward to her next visit (and that of other friends and family, too!)

I'll write more on daily life stuff later, but for now, know that the Josephs have arrived safely and are doing our best to figure out the new normal for our family and life overseas!

One Week To Go!

Exactly one week from now we will be beginning our long journey East! We've finally concluded our family farewell tour, which was fantastic and all that we hoped it would be, and are back in Dallas tying up the last loose ends we need to before leaving the country. It's a strange feeling of seeming like this day of departure would never actually arrive and yet also feeling like it is something we've been preparing for for a really long time!

Our last week here is being spent with friends and family, some of whom are coming in town from places as far away as Montana. Our goodbyes thus far have been hard, but sweet, and we're all trying to soak up everything (like favorite restaurants and last-minute shopping) and time with loved ones before heading out. The kids are doing great, relatively speaking, and are super excited that their carry-on bags, which have been packed for over a month!, will finally actually get to be used on the flight to Asia. Karis and I even had Chinese food at the mall this week in preparation for our journey!

Attached are some pics from our time in Colorado. Hudson and Eli were convinced that the antelope we were looking for in the car should have been called "canteloupe", and thus referred to them as such the whole time in the car. We had lots of singing and a few tears in the car (which is to be expected on a 17 hour car trip with four kids ages 5 and under, right?!) But talk about being so worth the drive! Just give us a mountain view and some rocks and sticks to throw and our Joseph family can easily be entertained for 2 weeks!

Farewell Tour

Ooops! I guess the last 6, 7, no, 8 months have kind of gotten away from me! The Joseph family has been busy as ever--and we've added a new member! Noah was born on June 3, and has been such a delightful addition to our family of (now) 6. Karis, Eli, and Hudson could not be more pleased with their baby brother!

In addition to adding another little one, we're in the final stages of our preparation for our big move to East Asia. We have the tickets and visas in hand--so it looks like it's official! We ship out on September 3 for China, where Kevin and I will both be starting language school right after we arrive (and get some furniture into our apartment, that is!). Kevin has already made a trip to Tianjin to find housing for us, and the rest of us can't wait to see it! Karis and Eli are particularly excited about the prospect of having bunk beds to sleep on!

We've just finished up a week on the beach in Florida with Kevin's parents, which was, of course, an absolute blast. But so hard to start the goodbye process! We are now in Crested Butte, Colorado and about to move across the state to Breckenridge where we will spend part of the week with Ashley's extended family.

Our rental house is all packed up, the shipping company has our few belongings that we didn't sell, and our remaining belongings are waiting to be packed in suitcases for the long haul East. Our main "task" now is saying goodbye to precious friends and family as we get ready for the journey that lies ahead!

Will plan on updating some more as we progress in the adventure!