Before I forget...

All season, Josiah has been calling the tree "Christmas treat." I purposely don't correct him because it's so cute.


Also, right now, I'm predicting Malachi is gonna be a firecracker. Josiah was such a laid-back baby, and is very much a laid-back kid. Malachi...uhhh...not so much. During awake time, he does NOT want to be laying down. He either must be in some arms, experiencing life with you, or standing up, looking around. He also hates to sit. Especially in the bumbo. Bummer for Momma! I'm hoping to get the munchkin a walker/exersaucer soon so he can expend some of his energy by himself.

Speedy Christmas

Wow. Christmas is over? That was fast. Probably faster than any other year. Ever. It didn't help that 3/4 peeps in our family (Michael escaped) were sick this past week. And I'm not talking a few sniffles here and there. I'm talking both ends kinda sick. Josiah is still trying to recover; poor kid.

I wanted to bake more. I wanted to shop more. I wanted to decorate more. I wanted to make cute Christmas tags. I was looking forward to hosting the team all day on Christmas, making it feel as homey as possible. Instead, I cleaned up messes and did loads upon loads of nasty laundry. But it's ok. We still managed to have some fun. Michael and I took turns escaping the stink house to eat and mingle with the team.

We basically opened all of Josiah's presents for him because he looked like this most of time:

Malachi had fun for the 30 minutes he was awake. :)

And tomorrow I turn 28. I sure don't feel that old. In my head, I still think I'm in my early 20s. Not that I'm afraid of getting older, but it just doesn't seem like I should be getting so close to 30 yet. My 10 year high school reunion is this summer. Wasn't I just walking through the drama-filled hallways a few weeks ago?!

2 Randoms

1. Michael often refers to Josiah's chubby cheeks. Josiah refers to them as "chubby cheeps." Adorable.

2. When our washing machine completes its cycle, it plays a 10 second happy song. I guess that's better than a buzzer. It reminds me of the mini fridge in one of the places I stayed while in Nigeria. When opened, it would play "Fur Elise."

the end.

Success in the Kitchen = Less Stress

Funny that this post follows my last post, the rant about all my failed attempts at making homemade bread. Well, since then, I've had many successes.

I conquered those crescent rolls! I had been killing my yeast all along with water that was too hot. I have also taught my teammates how to make them. From failure to teacher in a week. Haha.

I also made homemade breakfast sausage. Who knew you just had to add some spices to some fatty pork? (I know, that sounds gross. But isn't sausage gooood?!)

Then I decided to tackle lasagna. The entire process took 2 days. Michael had to order the noodles, tomato sauce(I'm too lazy to make that one yet), and mozzarella from an import store. I made ricotta cheese and Italian sausage. It was labor-intensive, and I'm now exhausted, but it was sooo good! And we have lots of leftovers! Hooray!

I don't post these successes to brag. Well, those could be some hidden intentions because I am a sinner after all. But, rather to share how success in the kitchen really boosts my confidence, mood, and attitude. Last year was one disaster after another in the kitchen. After tasting dishes that were burnt, flavorless, or just plain nasty time after time, cooking really took a toll on me. I would then spiral into a "I hate where I am" rant. My poor family had to endure it every time. Michael did his best to encourage me, but I didn't want to be encouraged during those times. I wanted to pout.

Fast forward to this year. I have some basic recipes under my belt. I have better access to import goods. (We order then online and they are shipped to our campus within a day or two. Compare that to last year when we had to wait until we went downtown to the import store. I only went about twice a semester.) I don't have to tackle more than 1 new recipe a week. This cuts down on multiple failures in a row. I found a blog of a woman who has lived here for several years, knows how to cook, and gives tons of tips on how to adapt recipes. I finally learned how to make that stinkin' bread. :)

Through all of these lessons, I have come to realize I didn't really know how to cook in America at all. I could bake some things, yes. But not cook. I relied heavily on canned and pre-made items to form a meal. Here, those items barely exist. (Don't worry, they're trying to emulate the West, so they'll have stores full of cans, boxes, and cancer soon enough.) I'm kind of glad living here has forced me to learn how to cook nearly everything from scratch. I feel like I'm really having to learn about food. I would like to think it's keeping our family healthy, but who knows...we still eat at KFC, McDonald's...and c'mon..we eat a ton of MSG. :)

I think the area of cooking is just one way the Father has decided to bless me this year. He knew I wouldn't be able to handle the stress of that and a newborn. And a toddler. And husband. And..ok..you know how the list goes. I'm thankful he has taken some of the stress off of me in the cooking area. Now, if only I can learn how to handle the failed attempts...

Bread...you're killin' me.

Homemade bread. It's out to get me. I can't seem to make it for the life of me. I don't know how many times I tried last year, but always failed. I tried again today with a "simple" recipe. I carefully followed every step. It was supposed to double in size within an hour by sitting in a "warm place." Perhaps my definition of a "warm place" is not correct. I sat it on the porch and the sun was directly hitting it. After checking on it 30 minutes later and seeing it hadn't grown, I decided to move it to a warmed (but turned off) oven. I checked on it at the hour mark...........nothin'. Nothin' but a ticked baker.

It has now been 8 hours and it has risen a little bit. Instead of pitching it, I'll see what it looks like in the morning. My luck, it will have exploded.

Someone who knows how to make bread just need to come over, hold my hand, and walk me through it. Who's it gonna be?

Got Mail?

Calling all Christmas card senders!

Last year, I humbly asked for those of you that send out Christmas cards to spend an extra 50 cents to mail one across the ocean. Many of  you responded--thank you! Your faces have decorated our fridge for the past year. Every time I walk by, it reminds me of home. I often think of and lift up those faces I see. Now, we need updated pictures. Or, if you don't do the whole picture thing..a card is just as nice. I already have an idea of how to display them for the season. :)

And....if you want to send some goodies our way, we'd be delighted! Here are a few ideas that could easily fit in a large, flat-rate int'l envelope that costs about $14. {Edit: I've received a few envelopes since writing this. They both used different, bigger envelopes and it cost them around $35. I think they meant to do this. Make sure you choose the right one for the cheapest price!} I know, expensive. But way better than the box that costs $50+!!

- flavored instant oatmeal packets
- parmesan cheese (the bottle...not sure if this would fit in a large envelope or not)
- hot drink packets (hot chocolate, apple cider, Oregon chai latte packets, flavored teas, etc.)
- microwave popcorn
- candy (faves: Twix, Butterfinger, Twizzlers, Reese's, Mounds, Andes/York mints)
- we love surprises, too. :)

Please, no seasoning packets. We have tons of them!!

Here is our address. Just print and tape it on! Yes, you need both languages. :)

Michael & Ashley Felder                                              Michael & Ashley Felder

102488                                                                        Beijing Institute of Technology

中国北京房山区良乡高教园区                                Liangxiang Higher Education Park

北京理工大学理学                                                    Fangshan District, Beijing 102488

P.R. China                                                                   P.R. China

151-1013-1264                                                           151-1013-1264

Waterfall in the Hallway

This is a must-record story.

Malachi had just woken up and he was ready to eat. Josiah was taking an extra- long nap. I had just received a text from a friend (she's actually our PA--someone in our company who comes to check on us once a semester. What a great company we work for!!) who offered to bring dinner over. She's great. :) I was replying when I heard a loud, strange noise that sounded like a waterfall. I opened our door to the hallway to find just that--a waterfall--coming from the ceiling about 15 feet away. It was quickly making its way to our apartment!

I shut the door and frantically started calling my PA. She speaks Chinese and could call maintenance for me. Her phone was dead. Awesome. I tried calling a few others to help. No go. Everyone else on our team was teaching. Finally, Michael answered and I told him what was happening. Our PA was actually observing his class, so he sent her to come help me.

By this time (2 minutes later), the water was seeping under our door. I started chucking all the shoes and things that would be ruined into the living room. I gathered all the towels we own and tried to stop the flow. It was coming too fast! I peeked into the hall again. Still gushing and very steamy. (We later found out it was the hot water pipe that burst...the pipe that heats this place.) I got the squegee and tried to push the water away. Still coming. Malachi, thankfully, is just hanging out on the couch even though he's hungry. I finally got enough towels down the stop the flow for the most part. It also helped that the waterfall in the hallway had started to slow down.

I looked out the window, looking for my helper to arrive. What do I see? 3 maintenance men running into our building. My friend is right behind them. Whew! Help is on the way! They make it to our floor and start jabbering, not really knowing what to do. Shut it off, maybe? No.

It finally came to just a drip and they started cleaning up. With brooms and shovels. Really?! I was cracking up. When they made it to my door, they even helped wring out my towels...until it started gushing from the ceiling again! This was the best part. They just stared at it! Astonished. They had gathered a few buckets and finally decided those would be useful. It didn't gush as long this time, and thankfully didn't make it to our door again.

My friend did an amazing job cleaning up our entry way while I fed poor Malachi. I went and woke up Josiah in the middle of all of this and he was thoroughly confused. He kept saying, "It's broken. Fix it?" I wish, buddy.

There are now about 8 tiles missing from the ceiling and 3 buckets still catching drips. Did I mention this is a brand new building? They actually just posted a note at the entry of our building, asking us to turn on the heating units (the gov't controls heat here, turning it on Nov 15th and off April 15th) for a practice run to see if any water would leak. I guess there was a little leak. :)

The great part about this is it only happened on our floor. And I was home. Had it happened on any other floor, our teammates would have had a flooded apartment because they were gone. Sadly, our neighbors weren't home, and I'm sure their place was a mess.

Just another day in China. :)

Rest, My Soul. Rest.

Since having Malachi, I've been relying on other avenues to worship the Father besides sitting alone for an hour. There just doesn't seem to be that time. Most often, I read a Jesus Calling devo, listen to encouraging music, and pr-y throughout the day. Some days I feel guilty for not giving Him more time. A few days ago, I read this in the above book:

"Do not be discouraged by the difficulty of keeping your focus on Me. I know that your heart's desire is to be awawre of My Presence continually. This is a lofty goal; you aim toward it but never fully achieve it in this life. Don't let feelings of failure weigh you down. Instead, try to see yourself as I see you. First of all, I am delighted by your deep desire to walk closely with Me through your life. I am pleased each time you initiate communication with Me. In addition, I notice the progress you have made since you first resolved to live in My Presence.

When you relize that your mind has wandered away from Me, don't be alarmed or surprised. You live in a world that has been rigged to distract you. Each time you plow your way through the massive distractions to communicate with Me, you achieve a victory. Rejoice in these tiny triumphs, and they will increasingly light up your days."

The author also notes Romans 8.33-34 and Hebrews 4.14-16 to go along with it.

Reading this calmed my heart. My days seems so chaotic. Not only the kiddos (and really, there's only 2! what will I do if we have more?! haha), but also the daily stresses of living here. Ev-ery-thing takes longer to accomplish. It would be safe to say twice as long. I'm getting used to it now, but it just makes the days fly, then I look back to see what I've accomplished, and it seems like almost nothing.

Anyway, I'm thankful He sees me differently than I see myself. That's just the kind of Father he is.

Word Explosion!

I'm pretty sure Josiah's vocabulary has tripled since the beginning of summer. I'm not sure if it's his age, the fact that he was surrounded by English-speakers for 3 months, or both. He's now forming complete sentences, and still repeating everything we say. Except now instead of stopping at the parrot talk, he'll use it later on his own! If only our brains continued to learn this fast our whole life...

He's also recognizing Chinese more. Written AND spoken! For the first time the other day, he saw something written in Chinese and said simply, "Chinese!" While we were driving around later, you can imagine how many times he said it. I tried to explain to him that we live  in China, so seeing Chinese is to be expected. He then translated that to meaning "Josiah is Chinese. Mommy is Chinese...." No, son. We're not.

But he is practicing his numbers and some phrases he learned last year. I'm sure he'd learn much faster if we spoke it in the home. haha

Some of his faves:

- Counting to 20 in English
- Counting to 10 in Chinese
- "Ohhh snap." (Thanks to Daddy!)
- "Outside put shoes on!" (These days it's "brown shoes on." His brown dressy shoes. He wears them every day, no matter how many times we try to convince him they don't go with his outfit and that his tennis shoes make him run faster.)
- "Please", "thank you", and "you're welcome". Honestly, he's very polite.
- Praying before every meal. On his own initiative. It's simple, but we're thankful for the habit forming now.
- "Watch Bubble Guppies?" His new favorite show. Can't get enough of it. Parents--it's actually our favorite, too. The songs are catchy, not annoying!
- With sheer excitement, explaining everything he did while outside, as soon as he enters the door. "Rode bike! Saw friends! (He doesn't really have friends..this refers to anyone he sees.) Had fun! Rode bike!"
- "Sleep good?" "Have a good nap?" He asks these questions as soon as he gets up...beating us to the punch. Or maybe he thinks we actually fit in a nap, too?!

Ohh, there are more. But I will have to add them later as I think of them.

Malachi's Arrival

As promised, let's back it up some more to document Malachi's birth day.

**Warning: It's a tiny bit graphic, but nothing besides what you would expect when reading about a birth!

August 29th. My due date. I thought for sure I'd have him before then. We were in KC, waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Finally. Contractions started. When? The wee hours of August 29th. :) Maybe he'll be a timely person his whole life!

The first contraction started just before 1am. They were about 10 mins apart, but not painful. I tried not to get excited, but couldn't sleep. I got up and walked around a little, trying not to wake Michael. Around 2am, they started to hurt a bit. So I decided to hop in the shower in case I wouldn't get to take one for a day or two. Afterwards, I told Michael what was happening and encouraged him to fall back asleep since he couldn't do anything. I'd let him know when they got closer together. He happily obliged. :)

In the 3 o'clock hour, they spread out to about 20 minutes apart. This did NOT make me happy. By this point, I was upstairs (we were staying in the basement of a friend's house), switching between pacing a 3-foot strip of floor that didn't creak, and resting on the couch. The contractions were getting much more painful, and I had to stand up during each one. I thought this was promising. But I knew nothing would happen soon with them so far apart. So I decided to try to sleep a little. I got a few naps in since they were still 20-25 minutes apart. I was really hoping it wasn't false labor.

At 6.30, my friend/hostess came downstairs and saw me pacing. She was thrilled it had started! But contractions were still slow. At least 15 minutes apart. I had noticed that when I paced consistently earlier, they got closer. But when I rested, they slowed way down. So I decided to start walking the neighborhood, since it was now daylight. She lovingly joined me, encouraging me the whole way. We walked for almost 2 hours! And it worked! By the end of the walk, contractions were ranging from 4-7 minutes apart. Hallelujah!

We went into the house to find Michael feeding Josiah breakfast and our friend's husband a nervous wreck. :) He didn't know what to think about this whole home birth thing. As long as it wasn't at his home, he was good to go. Haha.

We called our midwife to let her know what was happening. I called her earlier in the night to give her a head's-up since we were delivering at her house. (Side note: Home births are typically done at your own home...sort of the whole point of being comfortable. Since we're nomads during the summer, our kind midwife/Sister offered her basement and birthing tub. Perfect!) So we leisurely got our things together, I ate some yogurt and peanut butter toast for some energy and protein, and we headed off. Our dear friends and hosts watched Josiah while we were gone. So thankful to them! We stopped by the store to load up on more snacks and Gatorade. (MYTH: You can't eat/drink while in labor.)

We got to her house around 9.30. Her 4 kids and hubby were gone, and she had a nurse and our doula from Josiah's birth there waiting for us. We headed downstairs where the pool (think giant kiddie pool with high sides) was filled with warm water and things were set up. It was a very calm environment; quite different from a hospital room with hustle and bustle. She took a few stats, then left us alone. I appreciated that so I wouldn't feel like I was on display. By then, my contractions had sped up a little to 4-5 minutes. I was a little afraid to get in the pool because sometimes it tends to slow down labor. But, after just a few contractions, I decided to try it.

Women who plan to have more babies: get in some warm water during labor! Soooo soothing! It didn't take away the pain, but it eased it and just helped me relax more.

Once I got in the water, my midwife, nurse, and doula came down. It was go time! By now, the pain was really intense and contractions were rapid-fire, it seemed like. My midwife checked me--dilated to a 9. Good news. She listened to baby's heartbeat--all good. After that, she was hands off and just let my body do what it was made to do. The 3 ladies calmly encouraged me from time to time, which was a stark difference from the nurse at Josiah's birth. She tried to encourage, but she was loud and sounded fake. These ladies also kept repeating that my body knew what to do. They didn't tell me to push. They didn't tell me not to push. They just let my body be. This was probably my favorite part of the whole experience. Maybe because during labor with Josiah, the nurse told me to STOP pushing right before he came out b/c the doc wasn't there yet...!?!? Crazy lady, get some gloves on and get ready to catch!

I remember a few thoughts during the last few, hard contractions. Some, I said aloud. "I don't remember the pain being this bad." "Why does it have to hurt so much?" "Turn off the music." (I was getting irritated..haha) I stayed in the same position the whole time. On my knees, with my head resting on my arms, which were on the edge of the pool. Head down, eyes closed, trying to stay focused.

At one point, my midwife asked me to feel for the head. I was too scared and didn't want to move, so she did. He was crowning! After another push or two, his head was out! I was baring down, ready for another little while to push (as was with Josiah), but with the next push, he slid out so fast! 10.12am.

He was actually born completely in the bag of waters. This usually breaks to start labor, but mine never broke. I guess it's unusual that it stays intact through the entire process. My midwife said it was like opening a present when she broke it open.

When he was completely out, she pushed him to me (yes, still under water), between my legs and I brought him up. After a few seconds, he took his first breath, then cried. So cute. It was an amazing feeling of blessing, accomplishment, and being overwhelmed. He was completely covered in vernix. It looked like thick sunscreen all over his body, in his ears, everywhere! Usually babies don't have such a thick layer of it b/c it starts to come off as they age in utero. This made my midwife wonder if he was actually a bit early and my due date was off.

We sat in the pool for a while. (You're probably picturing the water being nasty. Actually, it wasn't at all. It was still clear b/c of how little I bled. Thanks to my midwife's suggestion to take alfalfa supplements during pregnancy.) He immediately wanted to nurse. That always amazes me. Babies have the natural ability to do this right after birth! My placenta came 30-40 mins later, and I had to push it out. Not my favorite thing after just pushing out a baby.

After that, I got out, laid on the couch, nursed some more, and they took Malachi's vitals. 7 pounds 8 ounces and (perhaps a little scrunched) 20 inches long. Then they left us alone. I took about an hour nap while Michael played Angry Birds. Haha. Then I felt good enough to go home. So we cleaned up a bit, got some instructions, and headed out! My midwife's strict orders were to not climb stairs for at least a week. But we were in her basement. So Michael carried me up. :)

We stopped to get lunch at Panda Express (missing China, I guess?!) We got back to our "home" to find Josiah still napping and our hosts shocked that we were back already. (This was around 2.30pm.)

Josiah's first glimpse of him was precious. He wasn't confused at all that baby wasn't in my tummy anymore. Thankfully, I got most of it on video.

And there it is! I'll not bore you with pics, since I'm pretty sure all of you are on Facebook and have seen them all already.

The trip back

Look at me. 2 posts in a week.

Let's go back a few weeks and let me recap the trip here. It was eventful, to say the least. Isn't it always when you involve kids and any sort of travel?!

It took 3 days and a few long nights for me to get everything packed. I was interrupted a few times. :) I was trying to pack as well as possible since the lovely airlines have started charging $70 for the second bag. I think that's a little evil for international flights, honestly. Since my parents were coming with us and not staying long, they "gave" me one of their checked bags. That meant I could have 3 big bags without paying anything. I knew that was impossible. I was planning on paying for at least 2 extras. Guess I didn't pack that well. Between each of the kids' clothes for the whole year (you know that's a LOT for a newborn-1yr), cloth diapers, baby tent, breast pump, my clothes, and miscellaneous items we needed, I ended up with SEVEN suitcases. Woops! Oh well. We needed it all. So, imagine this picture: 2 grandparents, 1 momma, 1 toddler, 1 newborn, 7 large suitcases, 1 duffle bag, 3 rolling carry-ons, 1 backpack, 1 diaper bag, and 2 purses. Let me tell ya..it wasn't pretty at 5am. :)

So we drove up to KC from Branson in 2 cars, because we had to with all the cargo. My parents stayed at a hotel near the airport so they could park their car there and I stayed at a friend's house, where she let us park the other car. On the way to the hotel, Dad rear-ended me. Tiny damage, no one hurt. But ya know, just adds to the story. We ate at Chipotle one last time. I inhaled that burrito. We stopped to see the boys' new baby cousin as well. He and Malachi look quite a bit alike!

Then it was past bedtime. I planned on staying up late to try to get on China's time zone the next day. My sweet friend set up her house for the boys. She had toys, a pack n ply for Josiah to sleep in...the works. I tried to put Josiah to bed around 9.30, and he wailed. He was scared to death of the new room and new people. I knew then he wouldn't go at all, so I was hoping he'd just crash on the couch while my friends and I chatted. No such luck. He was awake until 1.30!! He wouldn't even sleep on a couch next to me. So we shared one; he was on one end, Malachi and I on the other. Needless to say, I barely slept. haha. I woke up at 3.30 to get everything and everyone ready to leave by 5.

As you can imagine, Josiah was a disaster with 2 hours of sleep. So glad my parents were there to help. Sadly, none of our seats were together. The flight from KC to San Francisco was going well until the tiredness hit Josiah again. He didn't want to keep his seat belt on. The plane was TINY. Everyone kept looking at us. My parents were about 4 rows up and couldn't do much. Finally, Dad and Josiah switched seats and we all got a little shut-eye.

We had a 2 hour layover in SF that turned into 5. Doesn't it always?! It was a frustrating wait because we were all getting even more tired. Josiah had several tantrums, but Malachi was an angel. Since I had him in a carrier the whole time, he was knocked out the ENTIRE trip. Quite a praise since he had been such a bad sleeper before.

We finally got on the plane and my parents were not only not beside me, but were also separated. Mom was 2 rows in front of me, Dad 6 rows back. Neither on the aisle (nor were we), so none of the people we were sitting by wanted to switch seats. Can't say I blamed them..everyone wants an aisle seat on those long flights. So, we did a lot of handing children over people so we didn't have to get out every time. Josiah slept just a few hours during the 13-hour flight. By the end, he didn't know which way was up, but still wouldn't crash. I finally handed him to my mom for the last hour and he was out cold. Only to have to wake up again!

Reuniting with Michael was blissful. Adjusting back hasn't been bad. Typically, Josiah takes the adjusting period pretty hard. He usually deals with it by not eating well..even foods he tends to love. This time, though, he jumped right in! I think it really helped that my parents were here for a few weeks. It kept a sense of normalcy for him. It didn't seem to phase Malachi that he literally slept for 24 hours. Maybe he was catching up?! He has been sleeping well at night since we arrived. A downright miracle!

Next post: I'll back it up even more and share Malachi's birth story!

Love my boys!

I've been a blogger slacker. Not on purpose. I truly have several blog posts running through my head. If only I could find some time to sit down and write them all....

Quick stories from today:

We're finally getting more settled. I've been wanting to move Josiah out of the crib and into a bed for a while now, but it was easiest to wait until we got back here. Once here, we needed to find a bed rail. After looking online, we were disappointed at how expensive they were. Then my GENIUS husband remembered we have the parts to a bunk bed on our porch. Waa-la! The rail from the bunk became his bed rail. Fits perfectly! We started rearranging this morning, and put him down for a nap in his new bed. Michael's idea to make it smooth: don't make it a big deal. Did I mention he's a smart man?! Josiah was knocked out within 20 mins and I had to wake him up 3 hours later. Ha! (He doesn't normally sleep that long--must've been extra tired.) He went to bed just as easily...as if nothing was new. Love how that kid is learning to adapt. (Most of the time.)

Tonight, during team night, we were praying. Josiah did a nice job of joining us by closing his eyes and clasping his hands. Then I look up and he's nodding his head in agreement with the pray-er. HA! Then I saw his little lips whisper "thank you Jesus for the food" (the only prayer he knows). Then he started looking around at people with his squinty eyes...secret, right? haha He even resumed playing his game on my phone with squinty eyes...hilarious. Then my teammate said "In Jesus' name" and Josiah promptly said "amen!" haha. Everyone cracked up. We had to explain there was more to come. :)

Malachi has been a rough one to handle. The first 6 weeks of his life, he would cry all the time. Even right after he ate. Isn't that when he's supposed to be happiest?! Before getting here, my family did their best to help me hold him while he wailed. We had no idea what was wrong or how to fix it. Lately, he's been calming down. His awake times have been more pleasant and less noisy. :) Today was great. He actually put himself to sleep 3 times! This is ginormous, people. We usually hold/rock him for a bit until he's quiet (haha), then lay him down and let him cry. (Yes, we checked on him..) But he just couldn't figure out how to fall asleep. Even when I'd give up on letting him cry and hold him, he still wouldn't sleep well. Who knows. But it seems like he's getting past that. Whew!! Only to meet the next hurdle, right?

Finally, Michael is great. He always has been, but the month we were apart really made us appreciate each other even more. It's been fun to be back together with these new perspectives. Even with the busyness/craziness of 2 little ones, it hasn't been bad because we've had this shift in focus in our marriage. Loving how the Father is working in us!

My contacts a dry. Must go to bed. Maybe someday I'll get another picture on here..

One week til lift off!

Sadly, I found out none of the computers in this house will take my camera's card, so I can't upload any pics. You'll just have to wait and trust me that Malachi is getting even cuter. :)

We booked our plane tickets!!!! We fly out October 5th at 7am. Can't WAIT. I miss Michael a TON. This time away has definitely made my heart grow fonder. By the time we reunite, it will have been a month! I know that's nothing compared to what other people have to endure (shout out to you, Erin), but it was tough nonetheless. I now realize what a great daddy he is to our boys. Here's a short list of what I've come to appreciate all over again:

(Disclaimer to my fam: Know that you have been great to us while we've invaded your home. I appreciate ya'll as well!! There's just no replacing Daddy, as you know!)

- He's incredibly patient. Way more than me.
- He makes the extra effort to play and have fun with Josiah. Little man has missed that.
- He comes and takes the crying baby from me, without asking.
- He speaks encouraging words.
- He makes me laugh. A lot.
- He will (gently) force me to have time alone because he knows I need it.

Ok, obviously this list isn't exhaustive, but it's hard to think when a baby is screaming. *sigh*

Speaking of the little screamer, he's doing better. Week 2 and 3 were pretty bad. Cried all the time. Even right after he ate--isn't that when he's supposed to be the happiest? haha I've tried many things, but he's finally beginning to calm down and actually sleep by himself. Not sure what worked and what didn't. Still trying everything. Perhaps he just misses his daddy?!

T-7 days!!

Josiah's song

You know the classic "clean up" song. And you know "happy birthday." Well, when Josiah cleans up, he combines the two. Goes a little like this...

"Cleam up, cleam up, happy to you" Repeat.

Love that kid.

Baby is here!

Ok, so I'm almost 2 weeks late. And I'm not even going to post much today. I'll write more when I don't have a child in my lap. Oh, wait....

Malachi Li joined us August 29th at 10.12am. He weighed in at 7lbs. 8oz. (TINY compared to Josiah's 8.12!!) and 20inches. He's been so fun to hold and cuddle!

I don't even have a pic for ya...so sad. Next time!

Yay! A home!

We FINALLY got word that we'll actually have a place to live once we get back to China. This has been a year-long battle of broken promises and lots of waiting. We packed up our apartment since the school promised they would move our stuff, but we kept our expectations floor-level low. To our surprise, they actually moved it! We're expecting to have a 3 bedroom, brand-new apartment....WITH an elevator! Yippee! No more climbing 80 stairs multiple times a day! Although, that could affect my plan to lost the post-baby weight quickly...hmm... Maybe biking with both kids (baby strapped and Josiah in his seat on the back) will make up for it!

It'll be a whirlwind unpacking and such when we get back. Michael will be there the 2nd week of September, so he'll be able to start the unpacking process. I'm sure it'll only be bachelor-style though. :) The plan is still for my parents, the kids and I to go back late September/early October, after all the baby's travel docs come in. So in order for this timeline to happen, this baby needs to come SOON!

39 weeks. C'mon buddy. It's much more fun out here.

Ready, ready, ready!

You all know this point of pregnancy...near the end and just waiting for the arrival of the little one. I've been there for a week now. Officially have 2 weeks until "due date," but when is that ever accurate anyway?! I'm just REALLY hoping he comes early for several reasons. The whole pregnancy, I've felt he's going to arrive early..but that could be 1 day in his little mind. He would....

After he arrives, it's going to be a crazy whirlwind of events. We'll spend about 1 week in KC while I recover enough to make a 4 hour road trip. Then we'll head to Branson and scurry around getting last minute items, loads of paperwork for Baby, and packing to return to China. It's going to be nuts! But, thankfully, my family will be there to help AND my parents are coming back with us to help us get settled and see what we do there. Sooo thankful.

My closest friends threw me a baby sprinkle yesterday at the Melting Pot (fondue restaurant). Uhhh..YUM. It was so fun! I love those girls. They have been so genereous, giving, and loving this summer. I might miss them more this coming year. Thank heavens for Skype!

Ok, off to do some jumping jacks or something... ;)

Time Away

My parents and brother took over Josiah for a few days so Michael and I could get away. It was great! We went 1.5 hours south to Eureka Springs, AR. It was quiet and not loaded with tourists. Awesome! We stayed at a quaint bed and breakfast (LOVE those) that was peaceful and had delicious breakfast. Oh, yum. We really didn't do much but relax, eat, and choose baby #2's name. (yes, still a secret) I call that a successful trip!

I look huge, but I guess that's what happens at 36.5 weeks.

We're in Branson for a few more days, meeting friends and hanging with family. Then we'll head to KC to wait for baby to arrive. Any bets he'll arrive early? Late? On time? I've been feeling and hoping early the whole time--we'll see!

whoa, hiatus

It's been a while, eh? We've been here a month already! Say what?!

We've loved being back in the good ol' US of A. We've spent tons of time with friends and family, with only more to come. The food has been great, although our bodies tend to disagree most of the time.

We're now in B-town chillin' with my family. I've been shopping nearly every day. :) That's what you're supposed to do in a town of outlet malls, right?! Just trying to follow the rules!

I'm almost 35 weeks along. CRAAZY. I keep feeling like this baby is going to come early..we'll see. Let's just hope we make it back to KC to have him, since that's where we have it all planned out!

Josiah is loving Grammie, Papa, and Unlce "Ecic" in person. They definitely make him laugh..and spoil him, I guess like they're supposed to.

Let the fun continue!

PS. I am currently forming a "you know you're in a small midwest town when..." list. Because some things are that funny to me.

Home!

We made it!

We started the day at 3am, wide awake. Michael made a few last trips to the storage apartment with the last of our things. We were out the door by 4.30. Made it to the airport, through all the hoops, etc., and onto the plane. Then we sat. For THREE hours. There was a storm coming in (come to find out, monsoon rain..good thing our flight was early!) and too much wind. Then the pilots said we sat too long and burned too much fuel, so we had to get more fuel. Wow. The most frustrating part of that was knowing that we could have been 3 hours into our 13 hour flight...instead, we added 3. Bummer.

We had lots of people praying for Josiah, since his first overseas trip was awful. He did great! We gave him a few doses of Benedryl to try to help him sleep. Didn't work that well. It did enough to take the edge off so he could fall asleep, but only slept about 4 hours total. Yikes. He was mostly fidgety and wallered all over the seats and us, not knowing what to do in such a confined space. But he wasn't hyper and didn't cry much. Answered prayers!

Since we sat so long in Beijing, we missed our connecting flight in Chicago. Thankfully, the airline already booked us on the next flight home, and we only had to wait about an hour. While there, Michael used a pay phone to let family know we'd be late. We found out the next day those calls were costly. $30 EACH!! The phone said $1 for 4 mins, but apparently if you use a card, they can charge 30..without telling you...?! He's currently disputing it with our bank. Sure hoping we get our $58 back!

But we made it home in one piece. Were greeted at the airport by my parents, armed with toys with Josiah and Sheridan's for me. So thoughtful. :) We have all pretty much beat jet lag. Since J didn't sleep much on the plane, he was exhausted and crashed and has been on schedule since. Such a blessing!

We've been able to see most of our family, a few friends, and lots of people at fellowship this morning. It's great to see everyone! In some sense, it seems like we weren't even gone that long..

Josiah's Chinese

Josiah has chosen this past week or so to begin speaking Chinese. On his own. I remember the first phrase he blurted out, I did a double-take...then laughed. It was so cute! Here are some he's been saying lately (again, they just come to his mind in certain situations that he has observed, and he spits 'em out! toddler brains = amazing):

- mei shi (may sher): "it's ok" or "no problem" He says this as he waves his hand, which is what the Chinese do.

- bu yao (boo yow): "don't want" He says this mainly when he doesn't want something to eat. He'll say "mei shi. buyao." haha

- zhen bang (jen bong): "super!" Ayi (our auntie who helps us out) says this to him all the time and always gives a thumbs up while saying it. Josiah hasn't figured out the thumbs up sign, so he just points up in the air. :)

- zhe ge (jay guh): "this" We say this often, so I'm not surprised he picked it up. But when he says it, it's on repeat.

- #s to 10: Again, within the last week, he has started counting (with help) to 10 as we enter our apt building. He counts the mailboxes at the bottom, and sometimes the stairs. He got the English #s down a while ago. The Chinese are coming along fast.

- wo wo shou (wuh wuh show): "shake hands" He hasn't actually said this yet, but it's a command he knows well. Shaking hands with xiao peng you (little friends) is a daily occurrence. Parents and grannies don't want their child to pass up the opportunity to shake a foreigner's hand, so they are quite adamant about making it happen. Josiah does well with it, even if sometimes the Chinese kid is too afraid.

I hope we can continue teaching him Chinese. Better yet, I hope a Chinese person can teach him some! I love his little sponge brain right now and just want to keep soaking it!

one. week.

We're sooo excited to go back home! Maybe me more than the boys. I like to wrap it up in 4 F's: family, friends, food, and familiarity. Sweeeeet!

In a nutshell, this has been a very hard year. Perhaps the hardest to date for our family, but I think more so for me. I won't bore you with the details--those are tucked away in my journal. I don't know if next year will be any easier, honestly. A few things will be, but there are also going to be some even more difficult things that will be thrown at us. (Insert: child #2) And that's when the clinging comes into play...clinging to Him, that is.

I am curious how I'll react to returning to America. When I went to Nigeria (only 2 weeks), I experienced some severe reverse culture shock. I'm expecting some of the same. Some of the warnings we've heard: prices will hurt, overhearing convos that I can understand will be distracting, people's lives have moved on, etc.

Some things I need to remember to adjust to:
- I can't bargain for anything. That will be difficult.
- People follow driving laws. Red light means stop, not look both ways and cross anyway.
- Tipping. Yikes!
- Speaking in more complex sentences, and at a normal speed.
- Preservatives. Not sure I want to adjust to them...
- Josiah is NOT a superstar.
- I can drink water from the tap. That will be weird!!
- Not bagging my own groceries at Mach 90.
And so many more, I'm sure. Perhaps I'll update this list at the end of the summer. :)

I'm wondering how Josiah will adjust, too. He's not used to so many people. (I know, sounds ironic living in a country with 1.3bil) He spends the majority of his days at home or with his friend Ellie. Not with his 6 cousins or umpteen family members or in play groups. We'll see how he does. Hopefully people have some grace for the little guy! I also hope he doesn't forget how to eat his veggies. He's a veggie pro here. But we have a theory: seasoning. I'll have to doctor his veggies there. Then again, I'll have to special order them in restaurants. Why is it that kids meals aren't severed with veggies? Ok, tangent.

We still have a lot to do. Pack up our apartment, since we'll "perhaps" be moved into a campus apartment by the time we get back. Say goodbye to some students and teammates that are leaving us. Pack some more. Organize gifts. Make presentation. The list continues. Hopefully it'll make the days fly by!!

2 years!

A wee bit late. Josiah turned 2 last week! We've been so blessed with a laid-back, funny little man. It has been amazing to watch him grow, especially this last year. Wow, the differences between a 1yo and 2yo are drastic!! Ok, newborn-1 is also drastic. But, really. When the talking begins, it just gets funny!

We plan on celebrating in the States with friends and fam, but also wanted to celebrate here.

We started the day with banana chocolate chip muffins. Who doesn't like those?!

Then played, went outside, visited Daddy at school for 5 minutes, then a long nap. I guess he was tired..?! Hard to see, but hand in pants (sick) and the door is wide open...and this was after 2.5 hours already.

Then played some more, ate another muffin, had quesadillas and Ranch (special here) for dinner, and another muffin to blow out his candles.

 

Last weekend, we had a party with our teammates, some friends, and a few students. We even played Hot Potato! haha. Hilarious. Josiah got some interesting gifts, as expected. Everything is "interesting" here for kids. This included graffiti pants that had a huge Chinglish word on the rear (forgot what it was), an all-in-one visor with sunglasses AND a fan, a China spoon and fork set, etc. Perhaps he will get a few normal things when we throw him a bash at home. :)

Speaking of home, we leave in 3.5 weeks. I'm stoked. I'm interested to see how Josiah will react. Probably not well at first. And he will think all our friends and family are strangers. Sad. But, I'm sure he'll warm up. We may have to re-teach some habits he has. For example, when kids see each other on the street, their granny usually wants them to stop and wo wo shou (shake hands). We have taught Josiah this, and he does it every time. Most of the time, the Chinese kids are afraid of him and the grannies begin to (gently) scold them until they shake hands. Haha. I'm sure if he walked up to a kid in the States with his hand extended, he'd get some crazy stares. Shoot, I'm just excited for him to go to a real park. Here, the "parks" consist of several different pieces of exercise equipment. It was funny and a little sad to watch him run from one piece to the next the other day. He had no idea they weren't really for kids! He just watched how the Chinese kids adapted them to make them more fun, and followed right along! What will he do with swings and a slide?! :)

Must be documented

A few days ago, Josiah--out of the blue--pretended to hock a loogie . I wish I could say I didn't know where he learned this. With sadness (and some laughter), I have to say he learned it from the Chinese grannies. Well, everyone does it here, but the grannies are the funniest. It just seems so backwards! Anyways, he caught me laughing. You know what that means. He continued to do it the rest of the day. If he does this in America, people are going to think I'm the worst parent ever. haha

The next day..again, out of the blue, he started practice sneezing into his arm. We taught him how to cough into his arm a few months ago when he had a cold. Maybe the memory just came up. Of course I laughed. So of course he keeps doing it. Tonight, he did it in the middle of our team worship. Classic. When he really sneezes, he forgets the arm part. Isn't that how it always works?

Oh, Chiner

Lately, I've been waking up in the early 6 o'clock hour and having trouble falling back asleep. It's not that I'm ready to get up. No, siree. 3rd trimester tiredness has set in. I need more sleep. Rather, it's the sun already high in the sky beaming into our window. I have an eye mask, and most of the time it works.

But then I find myself lying there wondering, why is the sun rising in the 4 o'clock hour again? OH yes...because China has no time zones (remember, it's about the same size as the US) nor does it have daylight savings time. I know people get annoyed with setting their clocks forward and backward, but believe me...you wouldn't mind the short nuisance if it meant you wouldn't see the sun at 4am.

I have no idea why they don't participate in these time helpers. The east side of the country suffers the worst, in my opinion. In the west, the sun doesn't rise until 7am. How nice.

Of course, even if the sun did rise a bit later, the fireworks would probably be the next thing to wake me up. Think I'm joking? There's not a single day that goes by that we don't hear fireworks. And I'm not talking bottle rockets. More like half sticks of dynamite.

And today, we had no water in the kitchen or washer. (Our bathroom water is a different system, thankfully.) I let the dishes pile up all day, hoping for the minute I would try and water would come gushing out. It never happened. By evening, Michael came home and saw the ants had invaded. Bummer. So I had to fill my handy dandy bucket to fill the sink a few times. It could've been worse--I could have had to trek 5 miles for one bucket like people do in other parts of the world. But, just a nuisance. Why was there no water? We will never know!

Oh, China.

Blood

My blood and baby's blood don't hate each other!

A few posts ago, I explained a little about the blood issue I have this pregnancy. Every month, they draw blood and measure how many antibodies (things that fight baby's blood cells) I have.

March: 1:32 Getting to the "alarm" stage where something more drastic would need to be done.

April: 1:16 Going down!

May: 1:8 YAAAY!

I have NO clue how antibodies can decrease. If anyone can figure that out for me, I'd be interested to know. But what it does tell me is that baby's blood must not be so different from mine, so everyone inside can just calm down.

What a relief. All glory goes to Dad for working this one out. Sadly, I'll have to go through this with every subsequent child...

We really need to start even looking at names....

Live for today....

Warning: This is being written fresh after hearing some news. I'll try to keep the snide remarks to a minimum, but no promises. Raw emotions here.
 
...because you don't know what tomorrow will bring.

This verse cannot be more true anywhere else in the world than here.

This culture functions on vagueness. On changing plans constantly, in an instant. And the locals don't even blink an eye....while I'm trying to either get my eyes back to a normal size or keep them dry.

I don't get it. I don't get them.

2 examples that happened within an hour today. Small one first.

I rode to McDonald's to grab lunch. (Please don't judge me. At least I rode my bike...?!) A few weeks ago, they promoted a double bacon cheeseburger. It was decent and a nice change. I was ready to get it again today. They don't have it on the English menu they usually hand me, so I was looking around for a picture of it, like they had last time. No where to be found. They have a new burger--double with bacon, a peppery sauce, and a blob of mashed potatoes. Yes. Mashed potatoes. Wow. A 2-week promotion and the other one is gone. I guess that means it didn't go over well? So ordered the mashed potato burger with no mashed potatoes. Somehow, they got that right. It was decent, but won't be ordered again.

The big one. SIGH.

We (the team) have been anticipating to move into the campus apartments the entire time we've been here. We currently live off-campus which is nice in some ways, but inconvenient in most because of what we do...teach on campus, meet with students, etc. They first told us October. Then February. Then our current apartment leases were extended through June, so nearly all hope was lost. Then they said we could either move over or stay where we are after May 1st. We have been able to look inside them, but they are not complete. Still lacking furniture and a little more work...but doable. We were anticipating the email of "Go! Move! yay!" Sadly, we got a different email.

We just received an email that says we won't be moving in until after we get back from summer vacation. What a blow. Even worse, they want all of us to move our stuff into one apartment so they don't have to keep paying rent for all of us through the summer. A: We have to move some furniture and all our boxes up 10 flights of stairs?! Uhh... B: How will it all fit?! These questions are currently being asked and I'm sure something will work out.

For our family, this is annoying news. Baby is due at the end of August. We're supposed to be back here by then. Paperwork for the baby will probably take 3-4 weeks, putting us at the end of September. Michael will probably have to come back a tad earlier so he doesn't miss so many classes. My parents have graciously offered to come back with the kids and I so I don't need to go straight to a padded room once arriving. :) BUT, still, that means we have to move all our stuff and get set up once we get here. With 2 kids. Just not ideal.

But when is life ever ideal? Usually never OUR ideal...but always HIS ideal. If only that was easy to remember and apply.

Living in this culture is forcing me to learn how to be flexible, which I've never been good at. I could go on and on with stories that show how I despise change. Funny how He put us in a culture that thrives on change. Ugh.

7 weeks!!

Our plans to visit home are finally coming together! I'll reveal details as things are finalized.

- Leave Beijing June 23rd at 8am.
- Arrive in KC June 23rd at 11am. (Yes, that means we'll live the same day twice. Yay for jet lag! Too bad it's not a day earlier--Michael could've had a doubly-long birthday.)
- Eat somewhere delicious. Chik-fil-a? Chipotle? Jason's Deli? Whole Foods? Cheesecake Factory? We'll be so overwhelmed with options, whoever picks us up just may have to decide.
- Go to Sheridan's. Hey, if we're going to have to stay awake, you may as well pump us full of sugar. I have no other choice but to eat a delicious Andes mint concrete. And now I'm salivating.
- Try keep ourselves and Josiah (uhh..don't even want to think about this) until 8pm. 
- Sleep in a soft bed. I don't even care where it is.

And that's all we know for now. We have tentative dates for when we'll be in KC and Branson, but we're still waiting on a few details. We'll be in each city for 4+ weeks. Plenty of time to catch up. :)

A Different Kind of Easter

Easter was more weird than any other holidays we have spent here. Christmas ranks 2nd, but at least most of the locals have heard of Christmas. Easter? Hardly any. I actually taught some of them the name of Easter in Chinese. (Interestingly, it's translated "Raised from the Dead Festival." Hmm..wish we could go a little more literal in English.) Nothing Easter-ish was being sold anywhere. It was as if we were in our own world for this one. But, we went all out anyway!

Friday: Coffee House for the students, Easter theme. Lots of great convos there!!
Saturday: Dying eggs with believing students and their friends. Fun!
Sunday: Egg hunt w/ our community and dinner with our team.

The egg hunt was hilarious. We had 20 plastic eggs and 30+ real eggs. Most of the team went out in our complex "park" to hide the eggs and we moms followed with the kids about 10 mins later. By the time we got there, 80% of the eggs were gone! Michael discovered a forgotten bag and began walking around, hiding them. As he did, he had a literal train of grandmas following him, picking up every one he set down! HA! Their thinking: this crazy foreigner is setting food on the ground..I'm going to pick it up before it gets too dirty! They didn't get the whole idea, I guess. :)

Of course, I'm glad His truth reigns whether the people around me are celebrating it or not. It just made me even more aware that I'm surrounded by people who need to hear about Him..

A great day equals...

Skype with family. This time it was Michael's bro and his wife. Hilarious couple.

A visit from a retired couple from our company who comes to visit each new family in China. They make sure we're still alive, basically. Great people.

Ayi's food for lunch. More on ayi later..she deserves her own post.

2 packages arriving in one day. I rode my bike to school to retrieve them, but had to taxi home because one was so large. Talk about showered with love and goodies!

Homemade pizza that actually turned out. Halleluia for a successful meal. It's been a while.

10 hours of sleep. Michael thinks I'm nuts; I think it's blissful.

Baobao Felder

Well, we went to the doc on Tuesday. 2 major things to find out: what in the world is going on with my blood tests and to find out the gender!

Gender: BOY! We're stoked. Really, we'd be stoked either way. A boy is exciting because he'll be just over 2 years younger than Josiah. From what I've observed in several families, close in age = pretty good buddies. We can reuse most of Josiah's clothes. They'll be a little off, but I'm hoping they'll still work. And Michael is one step closer to creating his dream team. :)

Blood test: I'll leave out most of the annoyingly frustrating details. It's been a long process. Basically, I have the antibody E in my blood. Antibodies fight off things they don't like. It may fight off something it finds in the baby's blood. Not good. But, the docs and research say one, this is a rare antibody and two, it seldom leads to anything serious. I just have to have my blood drawn every month to watch the levels. We're trusting it's no big deal.

I started feeling the little guy move at least 2 weeks ago. This is probably a month earlier than I felt Josiah. I'm also having Braxton Hicks every day. I definitely didn't have those until the last 2 months with Josiah. I see these two things as gentle reminders from the Father that everything is ok. Thankful for them. :)

He is due late August, so we'll stay in the States until his arrival. Another comfort that wasn't promised....thanks, Dad.

Now to pick a name!!

what the preggers wear here:

Thanks to a preggo friend in South China for snapping this.

MUCHO thanks to a friend nearby who just had a baby who loaned all of her maternity clothes. Let's all do a dance because I won't be wearing these!

Credit: the necessary evil?

This seems to be a controversial topic. We all have our opinions. Feel free to share yours, nicely.

Michael and I hopped on the Dave Ramsey wagon when we first got married. We happily paid off our debt in a few years. What a relief! We were so thankful to not be tied to anything financially when we decided to come here.

However, in the back of my business-minded hubby's brain, he knew having no credit cards, never owning a house, etc., could bite us sometime down the road.

And now it has. Not too badly, but it has. We, after many days of thinking and researching, decided to go against good ol' Dave and apply for a credit card. The whole reason: to earn frequent-flier miles. As of now, we fly approximately 17,000 miles per person every year. We thought, why not earn extra miles with this handy little card?

We applied. They denied. Their reasoning: we don't have the right credit history!!

This strikes me as extremely annoying. Basically what they're saying is, in order to obtain their card, they would rather see us with several other cards and debts than with no debt at all. I guess that's where the evil part comes in--they want to see that we'll rack up a huge amount and have a hard time paying it off so they'll earn more in interest.

Ugh. I don't even want to think about if we ever want to buy a house or anything big. We'll never get the chance because of our good er...bad? credit history!!!

Disclaimer: I'm not against you if you have credit cards! Obviously they're a benefit if used wisely.

In other news, I have already started having Braxton Hicks contractions. Isn't this a bit early for my uterus to be toning itself? With Josiah, I had them the last 2 months or so. This makes me even more anxious to find out the doc's guess of a due date!

Because I felt like posting...

- The American docs here (at the int'l hospital) are just as annoying, pushy, and hard to get in touch with as back in the States. Been trying to chase mine down for over a week now. Tried to call today to talk to any doc...no can do. Ugh.

- I stubbed my pinky toe pretty badly today. It's now blue and purple. Sick. I'd like to say it didn't happen while riding my back, but that would be a lie. This is my 3rd bike "accident" in my adult life. Slightly embarrassing. But, I should only get better since it's my main form of transportation now, right??

- When Josiah got up this morning, he proceeded to say every word that makes me laugh, all in a row. My faves: "marker" that sounds a LOT like "Michael"(thus, making it more funny); "motorcycle" that starts with an "m," followed by at least 5 other random syllables; and "banana" that also starts with an "m" and is followed by at least 3 "nanas". That kid is hilarious!

- Michael and I will go into Beijing next week to 1, celebrate our anniversary (yes, a month late) and 2, hopefully find out if this babe is a boy or girl!!! From a few unofficial polls, girl is winning.

sicky wicky

Josiah's first big one. Thankfully, up til now, he has only had a few minor colds.

This started as a dry cough, then he proceeded to get more and more lethargic, then hacking all night long. Like, waking up every 30 mins-hour and crying because he couldn't go back to sleep because of his sore throat. Poor dude.

After very little sleep the other night, we decided to take him to the hospital yesterday morning. Then came a decision: trek 2-3 hours to the int'l hospital (more expensive than the US), the same trek to a cheaper hospital that has qualified translators, or try our luck at our local hospital--the cheapest, but no English at all. We decided to go with the latter and took a friend with us, even though she doesn't have English skills. She was still a huge help and knew how the system worked.

We started off in a waiting room with at least 20 other sick kids..and more coming in by the minute. I wanted a mask! (Actually, some people were smart enough to wear them.) Our friend stood at the reception desk almost the entire time, asking how many were in front of us. At one point, it was 20. Then magically, about 10 mins later, we got to go back. hmm?! :) As we walked down the hall, our friend peeked in doors to decide which doc to see. What was she looking for? The fewest people in a room. That's right, no privacy here. She found a room with only 2 families (the sick kid is usually accompanied by at least 2-3 adults..parents, g'parents, aunties, etc.) She pushed her way in while we waited in the hall.

When it was our turn, the doc listened to his chest, asked a few questions, looked in his throat, then sent us out. We then paid for something and I thought to myself, "Was that it? Did we just spend 2 hours here for that?" No. We then went to another part of the hospital where they draw blood. It was literally a teller window. I was so confused. At least the lady had on gloves. I was a bit scared because I had heard that the locals like to go in through the veins in the forehead. This freaks me out. I'm sure they have their reasons, but I'm not aware of them. Thankfully, this was only a finger prick. Whew!

Then we went back to the doc and called up our friends at SOS to translate for us. Praise the Lord for translators! She and the doc went back and forth and finally decided he had a respiratory infection. They then took us to the pharmacy where they gave us 4 different meds. Upon looking all of them up, 3 were legit and 1 was for Hepatitis C...odd. We only gave him one--a glorified cough syrup.

Total cost of the visit and meds: $30 out of pocket.

Last night, Josiah slept for 14 hours with only waking up a handful of times. Today, he was a new boy. He played and ate some food and even talked to us! He was a limp noodle the past 2 days..such a sad state. Although, I secretly liked all the cuddle time and how easily he fell asleep in my arms.

Glad to have my little man back! And thankful for the local hospital, even though it is a tiny bit scary.

El Anniversario

Yesterday was our anniversary. What did we do? Nada! We previously discussed we will celebrate it next month in full. We'll spend the whole day in Beijing (without Josiah, thanks to some lovely teammates), getting an ultrasound, hopefully finding out the gender, eating delicious food (most likely Indian), and perhaps experience not being stared at so much since there are many foreigners in the big city. Can't wait!

It's crazy to think all we've experienced in 4 years. What will the next 4, 24, 84 bring? Ok, really, if we live to be married 84 years, I might plead with the Man upstairs to let us go...haha. But seriously, I'm so thankful to married to Michael. He's fun to be around, smart, clever, a good dancer, and a fabulous daddy. I definitely feel blessed to be with him!

the calendar rules + salt

People live by the calendar here. 3 days ago, March 15th, was a monumental day. The government turned off the heat. Is it still in the 30s at night? Yes. Would it matter if it was snowing? No. Time to turn it off. Thankfully, our apartment has it's own heater we can rely on. We're fortunate--most don't have them.

The 15th also marked the day for people to stop wearing long underwear. They've been donning them, and scolding me for not wearing them, since November 15th. Has it been in the 60's before the 15th? Yes. Did that matter? No. Hilarious.

Salt. I was at the store yesterday and upon reaching the section where the salt is, there was a huge crowd. While checking out, the lady behind me had about 10 bottles. I was thoroughly confused, but figured it was a good sale. They really tend to flock to the big sales. Later, I found out that a rumor was started that salt would prevent/treat any radioactive poisoning that could leak over from the catastrophe in Japan. Then they had the idea that the sea salt put on the shelves in the future may be contaminated. "Buy it all now" was their thought. I've heard all the stores in town are out. Too bad I didn't get the memo--I'm almost out, and now I can't buy any.

#2.5

I can finally be free. I've been holding in this news for quite some time.

We're going to have baby #2.5!!!!!!!

The full story:

Mid-November, I had a miscarriage (hence the .5). I was waiting for my cycle to return, but after waiting 8 weeks (normally it returns in 2-6wks), I began to worry a little. Then, during one week, I got violently sick 3 of those days....but not in a row. I didn't know what was going on. Michael was tuned in and suggested I take a pregnancy test. "Oh, really?" I thought. Literally, I was clueless.

The only test we had on hand was one from the States that was expired. We took it anyway and it was positive! We were hesitantly excited. I got another, and it proved the same result! ELATED!!! But still a little cautious since we had just experienced the miscarriage.

We went to the doc in Thailand. Waiting until then felt like an eternity. But I'm glad we did. It was dirt cheap for just as good care. We waited for 2.5 hours and finally got to see the doc at 9pm. We explained our situation and wondered if she could do an ultrasound to see how far along I was. She said the ultrasound lady wasn't there. WHAT!? Perhaps she read the anger/frustration/sadness/exhaustion on my face and suddenly decided that she could do an internal ultrasound. Yay! She measured the little squirt and estimated I was 10wks along. Sweet!

That makes me about 16wks now. If you're trying to do the math, or even if your not, this is worth pointing out: we got pregnant 3-4 weeks after the miscarriage. A) I didn't know this was possible. B) How cool is His timing? C) Isn't He the best with surprises?

I went to the doc today at the int'l hospital. Heard the heartbeat. What a great sound that is. :)

Still not sure of an exact due date, but I'm guessing late August. They're just a bunch of guesses anyway, right?! So this means we'll be in the States. Anyone up for a visit??

And to top off the long day of venturing in town (7 hours...), my boys surprised me with a HUGE bouquet of flowers! How sweet they are!!

class, chai, ABCs

Well, at least I got to teach 2 classes out of 8. Due to circumstances out of my control, I can't go back this week. Maybe later in the semester, but not this week. I'm not too bummed. I caught a bad cold/cough/sore throat Thursday, which made for an interesting time teaching. I made sure to stay close to the mic since my voice kept cutting in and out. The lessons were fun and the students were delightful. If only teaching in the States had been that easy. :)

In other news, we went to IKEA yesterday. Our school is lovely enough to provide us a van to take us to and from (3 hour round trip). I got less than expected, mainly because I had a budget and thought I was spending more than I actually was. Oh well, now I can use that mulah towards crafty projects I've been eyeballing! Most exciting purchase yesterday: milk frother. It's quite a simple-looking contraption, so I'm interested to see how well it works. Now that I have one, the hunt for a good chai concentrate recipe is on. I have a couple to try--hope they turn out well so I can start sipping my lattes soon!! Oh, how I've missed chai...

Random: The other day, I decided to see if Josiah could repeat the letters of the alphabet. He did it! "W" was my fave. I've tried it a few times since, but he usually gets bored midway. We'll keep working at it. :)

role reversal..sorta

Compared to my laid-back life of a stay-at-home momma (aka not changing out of my pj's unless I expect guests), this coming week is going to be quite busy. It will go as follows, with other things thrown in last-minute (aka Chinese style), I'm sure:

Thursday: Chinese lessons for 2 hours in the AM, teach 4 hours in the PM, girls night in the eve
Friday: small group in the AM, office hours in the PM
Saturday: all-day trip/trek to Beijing IKEA. woo!!
Sunday: NOT set our clocks back b/c DST doesn't exist here (a post on why you shouldn't complain to come next week), rest, fish fry for team dinner
Monday: teach 2 hours in the AM and 4 hours in the PM
Tuesday: all-day trip/trek to Beijing again for various items I'll discuss later
Wednesday: teach 2 hours in the AM, office hour over lunch, teach 4 hours in the PM, team meeting in the eve
Thursday: CRASH

I'm sure I'll have a lot more respect for Michael by the end of all of this. :) Bonus: He has already created the lesson plans for me, and they're on health! Excited to get back in the groove a little!

I asked Michael if we were going to completely switch roles (ie, he does the cooking, shopping, laundry, etc.) His response: never mind, I'll teach my classes. Haha I'm sure he'll pick up some of the tasks, but probably not the first 2 mentioned. :)

1 down

1st week of the semester down.

A focus of ours this round is for me to get more involved. First opportunity is to have a couple of office hours. All of the full-time teachers have them, and now I do, too! For 2 hours on Friday, I sat in the Foreign Affairs office (a library full of English books including classics, spiritual, etc. with comfy couches, and snacks!) awaiting students to come in and practice their English. The first hour, I waited alone. I decided to start reading Pride and Prejudice. Never read it before. Not bad so far. We'll see if I get to finish it. The 2nd hour, 3 enthusiastic and well-spoken students came in to visit. 2 of them were girls I met last semester and who had been to our home. They heard I would be there, and wanted to see me. How sweet. :) They even promised to come back next week. Woo! It's a fun opportunity I'm thrilled about because we can talk about anything in that room. You can lift that up.

Michael also suggested taking a week's worth of his classes to teach. I'll teach one day this week and 2 days next week on the topic of health. I'm excited! The hard part is done--he already has the whole lesson planned out for me. I may just add in a few of my own things. I asked him if I should show a clip from Super Size Me. Think that would scare them?! Haha. I might actually do it since fast food is becoming very popular over here.

The weather is getting warmer. I know how many weeks until we'll pack our bags (15, not that I'm counting...), and all I think about is the food I want to eat at home. I'm sure I'll compile a list before we leave so I can make sure to consume it all while there. :)

Thailand, finally

My attempt to summarize a wonderful 3 weeks:

The first week, we spent at Cha'am beach, 2 hours southwest of Bangkok. Beautiful. Serene. Relaxing. We learned that we're not exactly beach people. I mean, neither of us desire tans and the water is not that fun to "swim" in. We played soccer on the beach a few times, but that was it. It was a little rocky where we were, so not even a sand castle...I know, sorta lame. But we loved looking at it! We also rented bikes to ride into town since our hotel was about a 20 minute walk into town. A great perk of Thailand: free wifi just about anywhere. Coffee shops lined the street advertising such a luxury. Sweet! A few pics from our week there:

Daddy and J checking out the pool.

Bikes! Josiah wishes he could have ridden on the back, but he rode on the front of me in a carrier instead.

Dinner overlooking the beach. Fancy high chair, huh?

 

In front of our hotel.

The next week was spent in the northern part of Thailand in Chiang Mai, where we would also have our conference. LOVED the town..almost more than the beach. Don't hate me for that comment. But coming from a lack of western anything, this town was chock-full of stuff! Restaurants, English-speakers, grocery stores, etc. Just plain lovely. Most days, we just took off walking to see what we found and were never disappointed. We did eat Thai food a few times, but we just wanted to ingest as much American food as possible. One day we took a trip to see the elephants, the Karen long-neck tribe, take a bamboo raft ride, and ride on an oxen cart. It was a fun, full day! Pics:

mango smoothie! so glad they aren't skimpy on their proportions.

Woman from the Karen tribe. She loved J's hair!

Getting a snack from the crowd.

On the raft!

Elephant ride!

Oxen cart...a little boring, but at least we did it.

The last week, we attended our annual conference with our whole organization. 500 people who serve all over Asia, gathered together to worship and learn. It was wonderful. We don't have a fellowship nearby that speaks English, so to be able to understand the services and sessions was extra special. And, of course, nothing like worshipping freely again. Wow, we didn't realize how much we missed corporate worship.

At the end of last semester, I was really struggling to find purpose. Why was I here? I wasn't interacting with many students. Josiah and I were running out of things to do. Poor Michael heard an earful of complaints every day. I was jealous of all that he was doing.

On the first night of conference, the MC spoke straight to my heart. We all have it hard. All of His servants do, in one capacity or another. We weren't called to a life of ease and comfort. Our challenges are mostly in the comfort zone...different culture, language, food, etc. But who cares about all that if we get to impact lives eternally? We were very specifically called here. We will have to clearly be called elsewhere. And we haven't been. So why not focus on the positives? The blessings. The opportunities.

Needless to say, we've come back refreshed. I have a new perspective. Father-willing, I'll be able to keep it for the rest of the semester. A big focus is for me to get more involved. First, I'll have an office hour on campus. All the other teachers do, but I'll add my own. It's just at time when students can come in and chat freely. They see it as practicing their English. We see it as divine opportunities. And wow, does He work during those times!

The theme of our conference was broken & restored. Glad to be on the latter end. Praise Him.

night-night kisses

Josiah's new favorite game: If we pretend to go night-night, he'll wake us up with a kiss! It started when I really was trying to go to sleep, and Michael coaxed him to kiss me. He hasn't stopped since. He'll often say, "night-night" so he can kiss us. Um, adorable. :)

Duibuqi/Xiexie

Sorry/thank you. (Say: dway-boo-chee and shye shye..sorta. that one is hard to spell phonetically!)

Sorry for not updating about Thailand yet. We've been home a week, but I just can't seem to sit down and write it all out. Not sure why. Soon.

A very belated thank you for all the mail we've received. Many of you heard my cry for Christmas cards and sent them! Thank you, thank you! Special thanks to those who have sent packages. It's always awesome to get a package...even better when it's stuff we dearly miss or truly need. Shout out to my parents who have sent multiple boxes...some out of necessity, some out of wanting to shower us with love. (We hear there is a V-day box waiting for us...now if only the campus PO would open so I could retrieve it!!!)

Just another way we feel blessed to be here...knowing we have ya'll at home, rooting us on.

let the injuries begin

I'm not ready for my little man to get hurt so often. I don't like the bleeding. Nor the crying. Nor the fighting of momma's help.

Josiah got his 2nd fat lip in 2 weeks the other day. This one was worse. The first happened 2 days before we left to come here, and it healed quickly. This one seems to keep re-opening, usually when he eats. And the crying continues. But, I have a feeling this is only the beginning......



Saying "teeth"

In other news, Thailand is still super wonderful. In the past two days, I've scored 1 dress, 3 shirts, 1 pair of leggings, and 1 pair of sandals...each costing less than $7. Yes, please.

Thailand is the bestest!!

We're here. We've been here for 7 full days now. I don't want to leave.

All last week we spent at/near the beach. Our hotel walked out onto the beach, but we didn't actually spend much time there. Maybe we're lame. Or maybe we just like to look at it instead. Josiah and Michael had a great game of soccer on the beach. So cute. The next day, a lady commented on little man's skills. Haha. Our hotel was a 15 min walk to "town" (aka a bunch of random shops/restaurants/vendors/motels/cafes). We often rented bikes for $1/hour so we could explore a little more. It was fun and relaxing and our room was fab.

We arrived in Chaing Mai yesterday. I already love it more than where we came from. More cafes. More foreign restaurants. Cute alleys with mom and pop shops. And this is only from a few hours of exploring. We're going to be here the next 2 weeks. Can't wait to see more!

Josiah is loving just running around. Poor kid has skinned knees and lots of leg bruises from falling (does this ever end??), but he doesn't even cry. Gets up and runs some more. This morning, we were at the mall and someone gave him a balloon. He played soccer by himself all over the mall for at least 30 mins until we forced him back in the stroller since he only had one shoe on. One broke, after buying it 4 days ago. Lame, knock-off, $3 crocs. For now, a twisty tie is holding the strap on. Haha. Maybe we'll spend another 3 bucks to get him another pair. ;) (*Insert grammie complaint here.*)

Also a bonus, Josiah is sleeping well. We haven't even had to put him in the bathub yet--haha. These 2 hotels have had an actual crib. He's not the best sleeper in new places, so a crib has definitely helped. (He is terrified of his little tent we got him....) Hotel #3 probably won't have a crib....ugh. We'll see what happens.

Welp, the tike is about to wake and we're headed out for more adventures. Weee!!

still here...

Nothing eventful to post about lately. The hubs has finished classes, and since then we've been doing a lot of just hangin' out. Movies, random errands, and of course lots of basketball with Josiah.

Thailand cannot come soon enough. We leave in 3 days. We will dilly dally at the beach for a few days, then head to a city in the north where we'll have about 1 week free before we enter conference time. Things I'm most excited about:

- Warm weather! This includes the whole family playing and frolicking outside aimlessly.
- Western food!!!! Enough said.
- Carefree worship with our entire organization. Renewal. (Note: We haven't been to a worship service we could actually understand since August. Hence, why we're stoked!)
- Seeing friends who have become like family because we're all in the same boat.
- Speaking English and knowing the Thai will respond in English. ahhhhhhhh!
- Western food!! (Don't worry, we'll also eat our share of Thai and Indian food!)
- Adventures...perhaps a night safari, riding elephants, etc.
- Doctor/dentist appointments on the CHEAP. But still great quality. Yes.

We're not sure how much internet access we'll have there, so if you get a post in the next few weeks, consider it fortunate.