Wedding Mania

This past weekend Kevin and I actually had to split up in order to make the rounds on the wedding circuit! He took the younger two boys to one wedding and I headed across town with Karis and Eli for another. As usual, we had quite the cultural experience at both events!

The wedding Kevin, Hud, and Noah attended was supposed to be the shorter of the two. It was close in proximity to our apartment, and the ceremony was only supposed to be a max of 45 minutes. It was supposed to start at 10:48 am (Chinese weddings almost always start at a time ending in 8 due to the fact that the Chinese word for 8 sounds like the Chinese word for wealth--with the idea being that you are hoping for wealth and prosperity at the beginning of your new life together). Unfortunately, not enough guests had arrived at that time, so the wedding ended up starting much later! (In Chinese weddings, they actually have the bride wait to arrive on the scene of the wedding--usually which takes place at a restaurant--until there are enough people there to properly welcome her, which is done with LOTS of fireworks, usually displayed in a heart-shape laid out on the ground throughout the parking lot. Kevin texted me around 11:30 informing me that the boys had already eaten their weight in Sprite and wedding candy (hard candy that they have strewn all over the tables of Chinese weddings). Kevin made it out of the wedding scene unscathed without any of the kids causing too much of a scene in a negative way!

The wedding I attended with the oldest two kids and two of my friends here was more of an all-day event. We had to be at a supermarket parking lot by 7:45 (leaving our house by 7am) to wait for a bus that was coming to pick us up after picking up a load of police officers from the train station! My first teacher here has now become a police officer herself, and this was her wedding, to which she invited (and provided transportation for) her fellow police-officers. The bus was running late, but we finally made it to the Tianjin suburb where the wedding was to be held by 9:30, about an hour before the wedding was to start. Karis was the flower girl and Eli the ring-bearer, and they both did their jobs really well. They did look a little bit wide-eyed as they listened to the MC, who in Chinese weddings sounds more like a loud obnoxious game show host trying desperately to get the crowd riled up, trying to figure out when they were supposed to make their way down the aisle. Our friends getting married adore the kids, and were so sweet and excited when they came down the aisle--meeting them at the end of the stage with huge hugs and words of encouragement. One of my two favorite moments of the wedding was when the two fathers stood up to give speeches during the ceremony. After thanking the two men of honor who had come (the bosses of the bride and groom who sat in special seats right on the runway/aisle), they thanked the foreigners who had attended the wedding (that would be me, Karis, and Eli!)! I was so tickled, trying to imagine a comparable scene in the US--a situation where the father of the bride is saying thank you to the Chinese person in the room. I wanted to remind them that while I appreciated the thanks, I had come on the bus from the city center with all the other guests in attendance--not exactly making a jaunt across the ocean just for the sake of attending a Chinese wedding! Deciding this not appropriate to mention, I simply did the polite thank you and nod and Princess Diana-type wave!

My second favorite moment of the wedding was afterward when we had moved to another floor of the building for lunch. The father of the bride walked up to me confidently with his entourage following close behind him. In his hand he held a set of apparently lost car keys that he was convinced belonged to me. When I saw the keys in his hand I had to stifle a chuckle as I explained that they were definitely not mine--they were to a Mercedes Benz! I thought it ironic that he assumed that the foreigner in the place was the one with the fancy wheels, and wished he could have seen my normal mode of transportation--my electric three wheeler!

The rest of the week preceding the weddings on Saturday and then following was again, super-busy. I had invited our friends who were getting married on Saturday to come to dinner that week, and we'd decided on Thursday night. Since it was only two days before their wedding, I wasn't totally surprised when my friend asked me if she could invite several other friends over to dinner to join us as well. I WAS surprised, however, when the three girls I invited to come (in addition to the couple getting married), asked me a few days before if the dinner was actually a wedding shower! My immediate reaction was that it was not--and I confirmed that they don't do wedding showers in Chinese culture. To this they replied that they indeed do not typically have wedding showers in China, but that I was not Chinese, and they knew that we do have them in the US! Based on this, and the counsel of my wise Chinese friend, we decided it was best to deem our formerly casual dinner gathering as an official wedding shower. I had to scramble a bit to find an appropriate gift and cake, as well as flowers and a few other touches to make it more shower-like!

My other fun hostessing surprise came that same day, when I discovered that the baby shower I was hostessing for a western friend due with her first in October was not for the 6 of us that I thought it was for, but that the evite guest list actually had 18 names on it! After getting over my initial panic, I was able to pull together a Sunday afternoon shower with the help of two of my other friends. The guest list went from Americans only to Chinese friends, too--which I was of course thrilled about, but also changed the hostessing dynamic (I added more fruit to the menu, more nuts for snacking, and Chinese tea). I found it pretty hilarious at the results from the evite we sent out. Out of those invited, all of the Americans replied pretty quickly with either a yes or a no; whereas our Chinese friends all either didn't reply at all or responded with a maybe! My teacher just recently explained to me that saying no to an invitation in China is too direct, so if you say maybe, then it actually means probably not. This was obviously the case with our baby shower this weekend, as I knew there would be between 9 and 18 of us there--and there ended up being 10!

The pictures I'm including are of the different weddings (and showers!) from this past weekend. Karis also had a school performance I attended in which she was "water". Pretty cute! The other photo is of our boys' favorite past-time--beating on our guests who come over to play!!

Celebrating in Perspective

This past week we had some fun celebrating to do! We first celebrated the birthday of one of my best friends here in China, Ying Ying, with a group of our closest friends and a fancy cake! We then had Eli's 6th birthday celebration on Sept. 10th. He had a great and pretty low-key day. We have had two families come to Tianjin in the last 2 weeks (one is Jennifer and Cameron, fellow Dallas-ites, of all places!, and the other is a family from Idaho who has 3 little kids). We are thrilled to have new ex-pat friends here, and have been BUSY beyond compare in trying to help them get situated! (more on that later...) So Eli's bday morning started off with heading to the kids' international school where Karis had her first soccer practice. Her school has a 6 week long program for the elementary school kids to participate in, and since I am the "mom on duty" to help with bathroom runs, water breaks, etc., I had the other 3 boys in tow with the intention of staying and watching (while they played) during the hour. The kids ended up having an absolute ball! There were about 15 1st and 2nd graders playing--and Karis was not only the only non-Korean on the field, she was also the only girl! I was so thrilled that she didn't even seem to notice, but had a great time bouncing around kind of chasing after the ball. The coach decided that Eli and Hud could be of assistance as well, as they could use a few more for their scrimmaging, so he invited both boys to play with the older kids. The only disappointment was that Noah wasn't invited onto the field; but I'm pretty sure the coach was considering it at one point! I watched him eyeing Noah dribble the ball and kick it into the goal several times after watching the older kids, yelling loudly enough for anyone on the field to hear if anyone got too close to him! I think he was trying to figure out just how old this little fireball with a mean dribble really was :)

We then came home for lunch, and were joined by both of our new friends, their kids, and one other couple for lunch. I've gotta say--a year ago, I probably would have been pretty stressed out, but I think it's a great indicator that I've made significant progress in "life" here that I was able to throw together a lunch to feed 8 adults and 7 kids on very short notice! We were thankful to have so many friends with us to both eat lunch, sing happy birthday, eat some Batman decorated cupcakes, and cheer Eli on in his present-opening. His themes this year for gifts were science experiment stuff, building things (like Legos), sports gear, and weapons--all of his favorite things! Oh, but his definite favorite gift was one that I picked (in a moment of insanity?)--a whoppie cushion! Trust me, probably even the neighbors are aware of its presence in our house at this point. And Kevin's Chinese guy friends, who have never heard of such a thing, think it's about as great an invention as every other American guy thinks it is!!

We planned to go out that night for dinner at Papa John's, but between the rain and the excitement that we'd had all day with friends over, decided instead to order pizza in and hunker down, enjoying putting together some of the new Legos Eli had gotten as bday presents. One funny language blunder that Kevin made (that happens very rarely!), was when he was ordering the pizza. He was (of course) using Chinese, and mixed up two words that are very similar, asking for a microwave on top of his pizza rather than pineapple to go with the canadian bacon!

Lately I've been reading through the prophets in my time in the Word, and have been amazed at what all many of them were called to endure for the sake of reaching out to make His people understand. The most recent example this last week was when Ezekiel's wife was killed and He told him not to mourn. I was shocked! Poor Ezekiel! I can't imagine if the same thing was asked of me. The thought of losing my soul mate for the sake of His people gaining understanding, and then being asked to show a stiff upper lip. I KNOW this is not because we serve an uncaring or an unfeeling God. I KNOW that He causes all things to work together for good. So why then does He allow horrible things to happen--even to the extent of a life being lost? As I've pondered this over the last week, I think the answer is that our perspective is oftentimes off, and is always limited. We view life in a whole different light than He does. We live for the here and now most of the time. We might say that we believe in heaven, but most of the time we think that being taken from this world is the worst thing that could happen.

Now don't get me wrong; I'm not here to say that we should all be finding the nearest bridge to jump over. But I also know that I have a good amount of room to grow in the way I think about things that are temporal. Even birthdays. I celebrate the life of my friend, Ying Ying, and especially the life of Eli, during their birthdays. I thank Him daily for the gift that my loved ones are to me. But I also want to have the perspective of Ezekiel, who even when the most precious thing is taken from him, he is able to press on in obedience and faith, knowing that life only really begins beyond the grave...

So that has been my personal challenge this week. We've had our usual earthly frustrations--too many responsibilities, not enough time, the internet not working for days on end, a city of 12 million with way too many people driving around in cars that they have NO CLUE how to drive. And yet my goal is to look beyond this world. To be reminded that this time here is super short, and I have a choice in both how much I gripe (over those things that can just rub you the wrong way) and how much I praise (for the little things, the blessings that I have in abundance). To set my eyes on things above...

2 year Anniversary Celebration

This weekend our family celebrated two years of living in China! We decided last year that each year on our arrival date to China (Sept. 4) our family would celebrate together what we've experienced over the preceding year. So when we asked the kids how they would like to celebrate this year, we weren't too surprised when they suggested a trip to the zoo again (we went last year, and the zoo continues to be their favorite spot to frequent!). We decided to celebrate on Saturday rather than Sunday (which was technically our anniversary date) so that we could have the full day, rather than just a short window of time (Sundays always seem to fly by for us as we leave for our international fellowship at 9:30 and don't get home until around 1:30 if we grab lunch--usually at McDonalds--on our way home).

When we arrived at the zoo, I immediately foresaw a potential problem--lots of people! There were cars parked all along the street, blocks before you even got to the entrance. I gave the kids riding in the back of the three wheeler a little pep talk about the crowds and high likelihood of lots of photo opportunities, as well as a reminder of how we were called to be kind and love all those around us--and received the usual, "Yeah, yeah. Got it, Mom. We know." I was totally surprised to find out that in spite of the large number of people at the zoo, my 4 little ones weren't the main attraction at any of the exhibits we visited! The kids had a ball feeding the animals in the petting zoo area for quite some time before moving on to the hippos.

Unfortunately at the hippo exhibit, we had a little mishap. Kevin had just lifted Hudson up onto a fence-type structure when Hud lost his balance and fell forward. His face stopped his fall, as he collided with the metal poles intended to keep people out and the hippos in. We immediately saw that the gash on his eyebrow was pretty wide and seemed to be quite deep. We had a plethora of kind Chinese people rush to our aid--offering band-aids and all sorts of advice. After we got his wound cleared up and the damage assessed, Kevin and I were both pretty sure he needed stitches, so I made a call to the international clinic that is in town. Unfortunately, they have changed their policy so that they now only see members (before you could come one time without a membership)--and members, we are not! I was somehow able to talk one of the doctors into pulling some strings for us and got the receptionist to agree to let Hud in the door. Kevin (quickly!) rode him over to the clinic, and there it was determined that giving him stitches was not the best option (the wound was wide enough that giving him stitches probably would have left a worse scar). So Hud recovered quickly, got ice cream on the way home for his bravery, and now is proudly sporting a different band-aid each day on his eyebrow. No doubt he is going to have one more scar, which ironically mirrors almost perfectly the one he has had for the last 2+ years on his OTHER eyebrow--the one he has from stitches her received after jumping off of a sofa and into the edge of a coffee table! And the blows just keep on comin'...

The other 3 kids and I stayed at the zoo and finished up our afternoon for another few hours before returning home for rest time. One of my favorite moments was when the kids visited the gorilla that we have seen before and were able to get him to dance with them! We've seen before that he enjoys mimicking the people he sees on the other side of the glass, so when Eli started kicking his feet and swinging his arms, the gorilla was only too pleased to join in the fun--much to the amusement of every person standing around or passing by!

We let the kids pick the dinner menu--and were surprised that they chose jiaozi again over pizza! We then did our favorite evening past time, walking to our local market store (about a 10 minute walk) to buy ice cream (or popsicles). The last photo is in front of the market store (with a view of one of my favorite fruit vendors behind them). We all agreed, our 2nd anniversary was a fun-filled day in which we were able to recount MUCH for which we are thankful!

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.... :)

Where to begin?

I guess I should start with an apology for falling so far behind on our usual weekly updates! The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind, complete with internet failure for a week, visitors in town (a true highlight!), and now a computer on the fritz that makes downloading photos impossible! So I suppose that leaves you with my written word alone until I can edit the post to add photos (maybe not for another 2 weeks until we are back Stateside?!). Again, another apology!

So since our last update, our family celebrated Easter with other ex-pat friends who live here and had a BLAST. Complete with Easter lunch and an Easter egg hunt, our time with friends was precious and a true memory-maker. The following week we celebrated Hud's 4th birthday and my 33rd! We had lots of cupcakes and friends over for different celebrations. Hud's gift theme showed how well everyone here knows him--a vast array of Trasformer figures, robots, and various weaponry! He was thrilled beyond words and we had a hard time getting him out of the house to enjoy the warm weather because he only wanted to stay in and play with all of his new stuff! Thankfully there are enough new toys to pass around to two brothers, as one in particular (Noah) has a difficult time understanding why everything he sees is not his the moment he lays eyes on it!

The first weekend in May we had a dear friend (Joel) come in to town to visit. He lived here in Tianjin when we first arrived, also a student at our language school, and instantly became a member of our family. He has since left to go back to Canada for a while, then returned to a different part of China to work. We had a great time reconnecting with him and even taking a trip to the beach (a drive that was supposed to be a total of 4 hours and ended up being over 8!) for one day. We also made it to another teacher's wedding, arriving about 15 minutes late! We left our house in plenty of time to get there (so we thought), but hit unbelievable traffic, taking us about 45 minutes in the taxi to go the probably 3 miles to get there. The worst part was, rather than waiting until the service was over or being able to slip in the back row like we'd do if we were Stateside, they actually held the wedding ceremony for us until we arrived! Talk about embarrassing! Guess when you have a family of 6 (and then a guest in town, too), we kind of make a scene where ever we go! The bride didn't seem miffed at all, for which I was extremely thankful.

After Joel's visit we had a day to wash the guest sheets and towels to prepare for two of Kevin's dearest friends from baseball to come in town. Bryan and Mickey came for a week to help Kevin coach the baseball team he works with here in town and connect with some people in Beijing. It was an incredible visit, totally encouraging to us as a family and really helpful to Kevin as he is looking to deepen the relationships he has within the baseball community here in China. And they came with a bag full of treats! Fun stuff like flavored coffee creamer for Kevin and me and toys and candy for the kids. They wisely decided to spread out the gift-giving so that the kids got a little something each day--and talk about feeling like it was Christmas again! The kids (and Kevin and I) were truly sad to see them go.

So we finished up the week with a little more chaos. Kevin's wallet was apparently pick-pocketed from him while he was sleeping on the train on his way back from the Beijing airport. Of course it had both credit cards, his ATM card, driver's license, and a good deal of cash in it since he was traveling; but we were thankful that they didn't get his passport, at least! We've been scrambling this week to figure out how to quickly get new cards, etc., so we're not left high and dry here in China! And we hosted another one of our usual monthly movie nights for a group of friends this Saturday. We had about 12 people over for dinner and to watch "Blindside", which was a huge hit. We had good conversation afterward and are hopeful that the movie watching will lead to more future conversations with our friends.

We in the throes of preparing for our return to the US. And can't believe it's only 2 weeks away! The list of things yet to do continues to grow: finding a bunny-sitter, getting school payments made before leaving town, etc., but our anticipation is growing and we're super pumped to see our friends and family, eat some good ol' American cuisine (and Mexican, Italian, etc.), and breath some clean air!