Update in a List

One week of school left! PTL!!! Waaay ready for a break!

Once school is over, we'll have an entire 2 months of free time! About 2 weeks of that will be spent in warm Thailand to attend our company's conference. The other 6 weeks will be spent doing projects that have been put off for months, staying warm, catching up with people at home, and finding creative ways to keep the kiddos entertained.

Christmas is in 1.5 weeks and I haven't bought a single present.....

Christmas is in 1.5 weeks!

Malachi is walking like a champ! He started a few weeks ago with lots of falling, but really mastered it last week. I now have no time to escape anywhere without him following right behind. :)

Josiah keeps calling Santa "Noah."

I turn a year older in 2 weeks. Eek! Is it bad if, in my head, I still consider myself to be about 22?

He's on a roll...

A few nights ago....

Josiah (sitting next to Daddy): "Daddy, you're brown."
Daddy: "Yep, are you brown?"
Josiah: "No, I'm tan."

We talked about this with him maybe over a year ago when he noticed one of our teammates was "brown." But that was a year ago. Amazing how little brains can remember so much.

Where does he come up with this?!

Tonight, I was asking Josiah about where we and others live. Here's the convo:

Me: "Josiah, where do we live right now?"
J: "uhhh..."
Me: "Chhhh--?"
J: "China!"
Me: "Right! And where do Grammie and Papa live?"
J: "In a box!"

No idea where it came from, but I died.

Let the Tallies Begin!

For those of you who receive (and read!) our newsletter, I put a tidbit in the most recent one about how you should guess how many times I'll fall on the ice this winter. Well, it has begun. Ice: 1 Ashley: 0

Yesterday, Michael and I took the kids to eat lunch with our small group. We rode our bikes because the temp was just above freezing, the snow/ice had melted where we were riding, and, most importantly, it was literally a 3 minute ride.

I decided to put Malachi in the ergo carrier because the past few times he has ridden with me, he has cried his eyes out while sitting in the seat behind me. He was happy to be snuggled close to me for the short ride. Plus, with him attached, it meant he couldn't reach down and pull off his socks. Yes, he was only wearing socks because the kid has no more matching shoes. Why? Because he has pulled them off during other bike rides and thrown them over-bike, never to be found.

The ride there was fine. No drama. Then we began to leave. I noticed the road we had ridden in on was now icy, which was strange, since the sun was out and it didn't feel colder. At about the same time that I noticed it was icy, I wiped out. The bike flew to the side, and I landed straight on my rear. I let out a yelp, which caused Michael to swerve to see what happened, which caused them to do a half-wipe out. Malachi and I were fine..actually, I'm not even sure he noticed anything had happened. Knowing him, he probably thought it was fun! I looked up, though, and Michael's bike was on it's side, and so was Josiah. He was whining, but not hurt at all. Just a little shocked.

Then I noticed the Chinese man who had watched the whole thing happen. He stood there for a minute, still watching, not sure what to do. (They're not really a rush-to-help kind of culture.) He did meander my way and pick up my bag for me, though. He said to me, "Too icy"(in Chinese). Yes, thank you, sir.

So we walked over the ice, then re-mounted and rode home on the ice-free roads.

Lesson learned: ice always wins.

Do they make chains for bike tires?

Too Hot for Pants

Josiah gets the quote of the day award.

Tonight, he was running around like crazy, acting goofy. The heat (uncontrollable radiators) is on full-blast, so it's toasty in here. Add running, and he was sweating. I asked him if he wanted to take his sweats off.

He said, "Yeah, I'm too hot for pants."

We died.

Halloween

I never post pics on here because they're all on Facebook, but here are a few from Haloween.

My kiddos haven't experienced the whole trick-or-treating thing (although, thinking about it, I'd never let them just go out in the States..only a mall or church or something!), so a few of us at school threw together a party. Theme: painting/carving pumpkins with our tutors. They really don't celebrate this holiday here, so it's kind of nice to "celebrate" only the things we want to. (i.e. no ghosts, witches, scary stuff, etc.)

Josiah enjoying painting..surprisingly!

2/4 looking at the camera isn't bad, right?

Baby turtle playing with Dr. Felder's instruments.

Emily and Dr. Felder. haha!

All the punkins

hahaha

Tug-of-War Champs!

We do more than study here. We have tons of fun!

My friend (2nd year student) posted a great blog with lots of pics from our tug-of-war competition yesterday. Check it out!

http://chipandmallary.blogspot.com/ 

Josiah's perspective

Last night, Josiah was trying to show me something and accidentally called me "daddy." Here's how the convo continuted...

Me: "Am I Daddy?"
J: "No."
Me: "Am I a boy?"
J: "No, you're Mommy. You're just a really big girl."

My New Normal

I know, I've been stinking it up at keeping this updated. My life is moving rapidly, yet slightly boring/monotonous at the moment. I don't take many pictures because what I look at most are books, flashcards, and my teachers.

Here's a look at my day:

6.30-wake up (usually to a whining 1yo), get ready, feed Malachi breakfast
7.40-ride my bike (always an adventure) 7 mins to school **Not looking forward to the day I have to stop riding because the roads are covered in ice. It will then take me 30mins. to walk!**
7.55-warm up my chai tea. Yes, I still have it every day. I now make it instead of buy it. :)
8.00-start class (different class every day...some about Chinese, some about our mental/sp. health!)
9.50-break/scarf a snack
10.10-Chinese class with our Chinese teacher. She's a-mazing!!!
11.40-eat lunch/take a break from thinking in Chinese (or try to)
1.00-tutor time
3.00-rush home so Michael can go to school to tutor by 3.30
3.30-Malachi awake (so much for some down time!)
4.30-Josiah awake
5.00-start dinner
6.00-eat dinner
6.45-watch the Nightly News (via podcast)
7.00-Malachi to bed
8.30-Josiah to bed
8.45-crash/attempt to study/QT/watch TV (sometimes in Chinese, sometimes in English)
10.00(if not before)-fall asleep in 1.2 seconds

There ya have it. That's my day, 5 days a week. Saturday is full, too, with small group that takes 1/2 the day, going out with my "language partner" to practice Chinese in real-life, and grocery shopping. Sundays, we try to reserve for ourselves and the Father. It doesn't always happen, but we try.

I'll update when I have something interesting outside of this schedule. :)

Smack-down!

Today, I was attempting to teach Josiah the song "Father Abraham." (Thanks, E. Barricklow for the inspiration!) He laughed at the goofy motions. After I finished, I asked him if he wanted to try. He simply replied, "No, let's be quiet now, Mom."

Can I pray for you?

A while ago, I wrote about teaching Josiah how to pray for healing fo others--mainly when they are hurt, sick, or sad. He has now taken it a step further and has started initiating his own prayers.

He thought I had a boo-boo tonight, so he laid his little hand on my leg and said, "Mommy, what happened? Can I kiss it? Can I pray for you?" Then afterwards, "Does it feel better?" Adorable child-like faith. His prayers in this situtation continue to be, "Thank you Jesus for the food. Please help ____ to feel better. Thank you Jesus for the food. Amen."

We fail in a lot of ways when it comes to teaching the boys Truth. Opportunities are missed. Time isn't set aside consistently. We hope to change this, but we're thankful his little mind is beginning to wrap around prayer and he can talk with Jesus anywhere, any time.

Week 1

It's been a busy week here! Here are a few things we've been doing...

- Orientation 4 hours a day for me (read: brain is maxed out by noon)
- Our stuff (finally) arriving and starting to unpack and organize
- Exploring our neighborhood shops and restaurants
- Over jet lag, but still not adjusted to the 4am sunrise. More black-out curtains to be ordered soon!!!
- Adjusting to our new roles...me gone most of the day, Michael at home with the boys. He's doing an awesome job!!!
- Registering at the local police station. Always a process. :)
- Getting a "physical." That was interesting.
- Our bodies re-adjusting to lots of physical activity! Before our bikes arrived, we were walking 25mins to and from school, 15-20mins to close restaurants, and 45mins to explore the center of town. Our feet were tired! Now that our bikes are here, we feel so free...and fast!! We'll see how long we can use them, since we hear the roads pretty much stay frozen during the 4-5 months of winter.
- Going to bed 8-9pm! 4 comes fast!

We have a little bit of free time this weekend, so we're hoping to get some things we need, unpack more, perhaps buy some groceries so we can cook!!, and relax...maybe?

A few pics..

I think they're adding insulation. Interesting process!

Sooo excited to see our stuff arrive...only 5 days later than expected! :)

Jet-lagging during our stop-over in Beijing.

Life is rough in the stroller.

Honestly

I'm gonna be vulnerable here. Show my flesh. We all know it's there.

We got to Changchun (our new city) 9 days ago. The trip here wasn't bad. A short flight and a fairly short drive. Our friends/neighbors/teammates picked us up and showed us to our new home. When they opened the door, I could see wooden floors. I was so excited! The past 2 years, we've dealt with tile floors that have caused many bruises and tears. Then we got a tour of the apartment. I was a little shocked. But not in a good way.

I could go into a list of the things that shocked me, but I won't. It's not needed. You know why? Because that just feeds my fleshly desires even more. Complaining. Whining. Thinking I deserve better. Expecting to deserve better. That's not a pretty place to be. There's a great Book that talks a lot about pride. I think I need a serious review.

Michael and I got some complaints off our chest that first night. How would we make things work? Why did it have to be this way for us? Why couldn't we have gotten so-and-so's apartment?

Because that's not what He wanted. HE has a plan. And right now, this is it. Be content with it. Trust Him. It's all He asks me to do. Trust that He knows what He's doing.

We started each day of orientation with a devo this week. It was good for my soul. Each day, He whispered something to me about our housing situation. Am I completely over it? No. Have I stopped complaining? No. But I am more content than I was 9 days ago.

He's working in my heart to show me it's more than just the space I live in. It's so much more. Like souls to be freed. Like neighbors to befriend. Like a language to learn.

I'm being humbled daily. May it continue.

The Trip Back

I always feel the need to document our journey back; so many things happen during it!

The night before our flight, as Michael checked us in online, he noticed our flight got moved up 2 hours. This meant we had to finish packing even sooner! Somehow, we got it all done, through the line at the counter, and to our gate with a mere 15 minutes to spare.

We flew to Chicago without much drama. The kids were ok, just antsy. We landed and were taxing....then they BOTH fell asleep. Really, kids?! They got in a short nap, then were both awake as we got off the plane and made our way to the gate. We had another short wait, then boarded for the marathon flight (13 hours).

Somehow, even buying our tickets 3 months ago, Michael choosing our seats then, we got moved and were sitting 25 rows apart. I wasn't happy. Malachi is just too much to handle alone! About 5 minutes before the plane took off, we finally got someone to agree to switch seats with us so we could sit together. PTL!

U.S. time, it was getting late, so I thought surely the kids would settle down and perhaps take a long nap. Not so much! They served dinner, then soon after turned out the lights. By this time, it was 11pm. Josiah finally crashed and didn't wake up for another 6 hours! A first-ever for that kid to sleep so long on a plane!! Malachi...sweet Malachi...was a different story. He didn't have his own seat, so his bed was my lap. We tried oh-so-many positions. All he did was squirm. I finally put him in the carrier and pulled the hood  over his head to make it even darker. He finally fell asleep. For 20 minutes. He was off-and-on like that for almost 2 hours. I caught sleep whenever he was still, then started rocking when he started to squirm. He was up for a while after that, then semi-slept some more, for a few more hours. It may sound horrible, but he slept WAY more than he did on the flight to the US, so we were thrilled to get a cumulative 3-4 hours ourselves!!

We arrived in Beijing around 9pm (8am US time), had a driver take us 2 hours to our home, and everyone was settled in their beds by midnight. Josiah didn't want to go to bed. Surprise, surprise!

Michael and I woke up at 4.30am, Josiah at 5.30, Malachi at 7.30. This morning, we all added about an hour. Hoping jet lag is beaten soon!

Yesterday, we asked a student help us get all our stuff on the railway to our new city. He called them and told us they'd be here "sometime." In China, that could mean 5 minutes, or next week. Literally. We were worried it would be the latter. So we piddled around, ran a few errands, etc. About an hour later, the student called back saying they were on their way! What?! Good news, but we had a LOT to do still! We needed to re-pack several suitcases and label the 25 boxes with our new address. I worked on re-packing while Michael handled the rest. It all got done, somehow! They said our stuff would be there in 3 days. Hope so! We leave tomorrow to fly to our new city; it'd be nice if our stuff arrived soon afterwards so we could get settled!

The adventures continue.......

Summer is a Flyin!

It's hard to keep up with the blog when there are so many other fun things to do and people to see! We're loving being in KC. We can't believe how time is flying. This summer is almost over..how?!

A few updates on the boys:

- Malachi started rejecting pureed foods a few weeks ago. I moved to fruits and baby puffs. He was happy until he realized the real food tastes way better than the puffs. He was stuffing blueberries and cherries by the handfuls. (I have some great pics, but can't figure out how to upload them!)
- Tonight, I think I felt a tooth in little M's mouth...finally!!
- Josiah is still Mr. Shy. We've met lots of people and seen lots of kiddos, and he usually ends up playing silently by his new friends. Ah well, I guess that's better than a bully, huh?
- Since we've been in the car quite a bit, Josiah has been soo sweet to help entertain Malachi. He'll make him laugh, and Malachi will squeal in delight. He'll share his toys. He'll sing him songs. Love those boys!!

Still here!

Blogging is just not a priority these days. Too many other fun things to do!

The past few days, we've had extra fun with my aunt and uncle here. That makes 8 adults and 2 kids in the house. Talk about fun...and a LOT of food!! A few highlights:

- Lambert's-home of the throwed rolls. YUM
- throwback to 4-square..so fun!
- lots of cooking out
- another birthday party for Josiah...number 3 for the 3-year-old!
- shopping. Lots of shopping.
- hopefully a family slip-n-slide day tomorrow!

Riding the "tractor"

Haha..there are better ones; this one is just funny.

Fun basketball cake!

The Return

We're back! Have been for a week now. It's been awesome!

The flight was pretty good. We left Liangxiang at 3.30am and got to the airport in an hour. Josiah was wide awake ready for his (special treat) donuts for breakfast. Malachi woke up without a complaint, but took a nap in the car on the way there.

We got through the 50 check-points and to our gate with about 5 minutes to spare before we boarded. We weren't rushed--just perfect timing!

We got situated in our seats--middle row of 5--and I was hoping the 2 seats to the right of me were going to stay vacant. Wishful thinking! They were soon filled. Ah well. The guy right next to me literally slept the entire flight. Even when Malachi kicked him or tried to take his glasses or cried. Incredible.

The boys weren't too bad. Josiah crashed for about 2 hours a few hours into the flight, but that was it. Wide awake the rest of the time. I don't understand that kid! But, he was bearable since he was distracted with playing games and watching shows on the screen on the seat in front of him.

Malachi....he just wanted to get down and crawl! He's a mover. He wanted to move beyond my arms. He wore us out. He slept in 20-40 minutes increments every few hours. By the end, he was not a happy camper! But, he really didn't have any extra-long crying fits. PTL

A few funny things happened in Chicago. As soon as we stepped off the plane, a stewardess had our stroller waiting for us. I said "xie xie." (thank you) She was American. Woops! Then, while we were walking to the train, a Chinese woman came up to me frantically asking me where her gate was. In Chinese. Did I look that fresh off the Chinese flight?! Haha. We had about an hour and a half layover, so we took our time strolling to our gate. When we got there, Josiah saw a little boy. He said, "xiao peng you." (little friend) He wanted to go meet him. I told him, "Sure, go show him your toys!" Michael said, "Ashley, we don't do that in America." Oh yeah...woops.

We arrived in KC to all the grandparents. What a sweet welcome! Josiah still (somehow) had energy and was excited to see everyone. Malachi wasn't about to leave my arms.

We went to Chipotle for lunch with everyone. I think that has been our departing/arriving meal every time we've traveled. I'll take it!! The boys did well through lunch--still awake--but the crankiness was starting to set in. So we hopped in the cars and drove the 3.5 hours to Branson. They slept the entire way minus one pit-stop. Glorious. :)

Everyone slept well through the night (well, Malachi reverted back to feeding once at night, but I didn't care--anything to get him back to sleep!) and took some long, hard naps the first several days. Now, everyone is back to their normal schedule. Hooray!

2 days after we got back was Michael's birthday. We did our best to make it special by surprising him with a few things, BBQ for dinner, and a homemade cheesecake. It was quite the process to make, but I'm just glad it turned out well!

Josiah isn't a nature lover...yet. He actually held this tiny lizard, thanks to Uncle Eric's coaxing!

BBQ for Michael's bday dinner. Nothing like KC's BBQ, but a nice welcome back. And we drank root beer. YUM.

Happy 30th!!

Josiah and Grammy playing a game with balloons. Grammy did all of the work picking them up!

Happy boy!

We've loving being back with family and friends, clear skies, and a car to go anywhere we want. :)

Another Chapter Closed

When we joined this organization, we didn't exactly realize we'd be moving around so much. And we're only getting started. We're learning a lot about letting go of control; we have to in this culture and this line of work!

Tomorrow is our last day in Liangxiang. I want to visit this "suburb" of Beijing (suburb is used lightly since it takes 2 hours to get downtown by subway!) in about 5 years. It will be completely different. Maybe it'll even have a Starbucks! Then I'll want to move back.

It's been a nice place to start our adventure here. Small-town enough that we got to see some farmland and minority people, but close enough to Beijing that we could sneak away to a foreign restaurant or get to the foreign hospital in a day's trip.

Things I'll miss (perhaps some of these are in other cities, but I wouldn't know):

- the dear friends we've made
- our team! Always hard to leave those whom we call colleagues, friends, and family.
- Muslim food on the street
- random taxi drivers saying "hallow!!"
- our ayi(helper) who understands my terrible Chinese so well and loves the kids to pieces
- the lady and her fruit cart--she's so nice!
- our apartment--everything is brand stinkin' new...and very nice! (provided by the school)

Things I won't miss:

- the smog!!
- the sand/wind storms
- the illegal taxis (because there are no metered taxis here) who rip us off
- my tiny, tiny kitchen and bathroom--although I should get used to these living here. Ours are just unusually small.
- Beijing breakfast. So good.

Excited to see what the next chapter brings!

Why?!

For our final team bash and to celebrate a birthday, we went to Pizza Hut. Classy, I know. But really, it's the classiest thing we've got around here. We take what we can get!

We were finished eating and Josiah had gotten down to play with his cars. In the aisle, of course. Soon, a family came in and sat in a booth across from us. The little guy (1.5) had split pants on. Nothing new. But it's what his momma did next that made me turn my head and cover my eyes. She plopped his bare bottom (and other parts that hang out) ONTO the table!!

To her defense, the Chinese see the table and floor as equals: both for trash. So I'm sure she wasn't going to let their food touch the table....but, still.

If you're unaware of what split pants are, click here. I'm afraid if I post a pic, I'll get flagged for having an inappropriate blog. :)

Do you wonder why they use such pants? Because they potty train their babies at about 6mos! It's amazing, really. (Minus the whole pants part.) The grandma (who is usually the caretaker so parents can work) will watch for the baby's cues to learn when they need to use the bathroom. Often, they'll make a whistling noise to correlate with the action. The pants make it easy to help the child go potty anywhere, anytime. :)

Seeds

It just hit me tonight that we'll be leaving here (probably) for good. 2 years isn't a long time to be in one place, but we still connected with a lot of people. And another round of good-byes begins.

We had our last Coffee House event tonight. We (the team, with Michael on guitar) sang a song in Chinese for the students that was about how bad our Chinese was. They got a kick out of it. :) They started pulling out their cameras before we even got on stage!

Afterwards, there were many pictures. What do they do with those anyway?! A couple of girls were there that I'm quite close to. One, in particular. She has been Michael's student for 2 years. We've hung out a lot, she's been to both of Josiah's birthday parties, and she loves my kids to pieces. (Her classmates tease her that it's on the brink of obsession. haha)

After we took our picture tonight, she hugged me. This is odd for the Chinese. They don't hug. Especially a Westerner. But she hugged me. At least 5 times. Long hugs. On the last one, she started to cry. I promised we'd get together again before we leave.

As far as I know, she doesn't have a relationship with the Father. I can only hope that she has seen His light through my life these past 2 years and perhaps that's why she's sad we're leaving. May He continue to work in her heart. I hope it wasn't "good-bye" tonight, rather "see you later" in a rockin' place upstairs!!

Lots of Milestones!

Josiah:

- Turned 3 last week! (Separate post to follow...when I have time. HA!)
- Went cold turkey with his "minky"! We've been preparing him for a few weeks that when he turned 3, he'd throw away all his pacifiers. (Truth: we're keeping one ONLY for an emergency {aka all-out tantrum} on the 15 hour plane ride home.) He hasn't been happy about it. Every time he goes down for a nap or bed, he begs for it. He'll stop asking eventually......right?!
- Is staying dry through the night more often! I claimed he was potty-trained a while ago, but then he took some steps backwards with nighttime. I was tired of washing his sheets and undies so often, so we went back to a pull-up. This week, he's kept it dry several times on his own! 

Malachi:

- Taught himself how to sleep through the night. HALLELUIA!! I've said many times before that this one just isn't a great sleeper. I gave up a long time ago trying to "teach" him how to sleep well. It just hasn't worked. A few weeks ago, he slept til 5 or 6am a few days in a row. My body rejoiced!! Now, some days he'll sleep in til 7am...or even 9am! I barely know what to do with myself.
- Is beginning the switch to 2 naps, but hasn't gotten the hang of it yet, so some days we still do 3.
- Crawling. I know, he's on the late train for this one, but it's partly our fault for not setting him down during his fussy eczema days. (which, by the way is still GONE! PTL) His crawl is hilarious. He scoots on his belly like a seal, but only uses his right leg to push. His left leg kinda dangles to the side or in the air. Hilarious. I'll work on a video soon.
- 1st hair cut! We waited until Josiah was 15mos for his, but Malachi's hair was just getting too crazy and weird-looking. He did great!

"Mooommmmaa, what are you doing!?"

Awkward!

Awkward moment of the day: While out walking with Malachi, a yeye (g'pa) stopped to chat with us. (By chat I mean I could answer about 20% of his questions.) He was particularly adamant about one question I couldn't understand. So he resorted to gestures. What was he asking? If I nursed Malachi. I'll leave the gesture up to you. (Thankfully, he used his own body to gesture.) 

 Reason #458 why we must go to language school next year!!

Malachi's Happy Dance

Most kids this age (almost 9mos) will hold out their arms when they want to be held, or when I hold out my arms, signaling the question if he wants to be picked up. Not Malachi.

 He does a happy dance.

If he's in his exersaucer, he jumps up and down, squealing in delight, arms flailing. If he's sitting on the floor, he just squeals and flaps. I laugh every time.

I promise I don't neglect the child. Actually, he's probably in my arms more than Josiah ever was because it's just easier to hold him than listen to his fusses. He's a mover and a shaker--no doubt about it. But he wants to move and shake within someone's arms. Go figure.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was great! The night before, Michael told me I could escape the house/kids/duties and go have breakfast by myself. I know this sort of defeats what Mother's Day is all about....but it's exactly what I needed!

As soon as I got up and fed the babe, I was out the door. I biked to the McDonald's across town (30 minutes). It was a great, peaceful ride with glorious weather. This particular McDonald's has a McCafe, which is why I chose to go there. REAL coffee!

I got my breakfast (not the healthiest, but still a treat for my taste buds) and tried to eat it slowly. It was hard! I'm so used to scarfing so I can help a little one. Then I ordered a mocha latte. Mm. McDonald's isn't my favorite coffee, but when it's the only legit choice around me, it tastes awesome! Then I busted out my iPod and journal. I don't take the time to write down my thoughts/feelings very often. It was nice to process through some things while listening to worship music. I had to turn up the volume REALLY loud to drown out the noise and music around me. (Despite how innocent they look, the Chinese are very loud people.) A couple of times, I got so wrapped up in a song, I nearly started singing! I should've; everyone was watching my every move anyway! Then I read a bit of John and a few chapters in a novel. I was bummed that my 2 hours were up by the end. But sooo thankful I got the time away and to myself!

While the kids napped, Michael said he was going to run an errand. He came back with a huge bouquet of lilies and roses. They are still perfuming our apartment and hallway. :) He also ordered a box of cereal for me. Sounds random, but good cereal is rare and expensive!

Sunday nights we always have team time and it happened to be "southern" food. YUM. Fried chicken, corn on the cob, mac n cheese, strawberry spinach salad, biscuits, and sweet tea. OH MY. My tummy was happy!

It was a fun day. So thankful to be blessed with 2 little guys!

Goodbye, eczema!

It's almost gone. HALLELUJAH! His face is nearly clear. His elbows are soft. He legs are sooo close! His knees have tiny little patches that keep getting irritated because he's starting to scoot across the floor. We started putting on some "knee pads" (actually those sweat soakers tennis players wear on their wrists--what are those called?!), but he gets his lil fingers underneath them anyway.

Here are some pics to show the how bad it was..and how GOOD it is now! I seriously think he's cuter with clear skin. :)

Getting bad...

At its worst..scaly, bleeding from scratching..yuk!

Yet, still smiling.

Getting better..! Notice it's in a heart shape. haha

HOORAY for clear skin!!!!

 We do have to be very careful, though. This week, after his skin cleared, he must've brushed his cheek against something with soap or chemicals because a few bumps came up. Grr! It's going to be tough this summer with so many wanting to hold him! My aunt had a great idea to make a smock to make people wear. :) Hey, it's either they wear it or they don't get to hold him!! I'm sort of hoping he'll be on the move too much to want to be held, anyway.

Movin' on up...North

Next August, we'll be in a new city (Father-willing). Changchun, northeast of us now. Closer to Russia. Which means cold. I try not to think about the average winter temps and icy roads people keep telling me about. I cling to the fact that they have great indoor heating! :)



We're moving there to attend our company's language school. It's at a local Chinese university and we'll be in classes with our colleagues as well as other foreigners wanting to learn Chinese. The Chinese professors are very well-trained in working with foreigners, which is a plus.

Michael and I both want to learn the language, so we're going to take turns because it's quite demanding. I plan to go first. I'll be in classes 6 hours a day and have mandatory tutor time 2 hours a day. Since I'll be gone so much, Michael will get to fill in the role at home a bit more. He'll be great! The boys will bond, I'm sure. Can't wait to reap the benefits of his secret cooking skills!  He also wants to tutor a few times a week. His hope is to build on the Chinese he already has, then jump in with the 2nd year students after I'm finished. Knowing the language sponge he is, I don't think he'll have a problem with that.

I'm sure you can imagine why we want to learn Chinese. We can't read the signs that surround us. We can't understand what people ask us. We can't ask for things we need. The list goes on and on. We won't be completely fluent after language school, but we will be able to communicate easily with people, read simple signs, and best yet--have the skills to continue learning after we finish the program.

Our lives are going to look very different than they have the past 2 years. No teaching. Fewer contact with students. A bigger "team." More families! Learning + using the language every day. And...no income from teaching.

The last change seems to be the biggest one looming over our heads. Most of you know we raised support to get here and stay the past 2 years. Well, that has officially run out. (Note: To those of you who support us now, we are thankful for you! We still receive that, but it's just not enough right now to keep us afloat.) We are trusting the Father will gather a team of people who will help keep us here for the next 2 years. It will take a lot more money since we will have no income, and we will have to pay for things that are usually paid for by the school, such as a plane ticket and housing costs. Those are some big-ticket items to lose! But, we have faith He will provide. We feel called to stay here, so we know if it's also His plan, He will make things happen.

If you would like to invest in us to help us invest in others, let me know! Email, FB, comment. I'll be sure to get back to you. Also, if you aren't on our mailing list to receive our (mostly) monthly newsletters, let me know. I'd be happy to add you!