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!

Josiah's rants

1. Josiah periodically says, "oh my dosh." I don't correct him because it's too hilarious.

2. We all know kids learn new words at Mach 90 at this age. When he hears a new word, sometimes I'll sound it out for him; break it down into syllables so he can learn how to say it correctly. (He has no hope of being lazy in the grammar/phonetics department with 2 parents into language! Except when it's cute--see above.) He obligingly repeats. Lately, I've caught him sounding out words on his own. And get this...most of the time, he does it correctly! Even on a word I haven't taught him before. Blows my mind every time. #proudmommymoment

3. He really is picking up Chinese and a little Spanish quickly. We don't spend much time teaching him, because let's face it, our Chinese isn't so great. We don't speak much Spanish at home, because let's face it, there's little use for it here. But he has learned his numbers and some phrases in Chinese, and his tones are perfect. Better than mine. He does watch Dora sometimes, and knows all the Spanish words she uses (in those episodes) and uses them correctly in daily life. Perhaps we have a linguist on our hands. (Isn't that what all mommas say when they think their kid "excels" in a certain area?!)

4. Yesterday, I asked him a question and he looked at me with a crinkled nose and a funny-looking mouth and said, "what?!" I DIED laughing. Of course, he kept doing it. The more he did, I realized he got the face from me. Awesome.

Rearin' its ugly head...

At first, I was just waiting to write a new post. Waiting til the eczema cleared completely. Then it reared its ugly head again! Ugh. I'm going to be waiting a bit longer.

Last week, I wrote Malachi was doing much better. He still is, in the grand scheme of things. His legs are still mostly smooth, although he still scratches at them quite a bit, so now he's creating scratch marks on his knees and thighs. His elbows are better, but not quite healed yet. And his cheeks. Oh, his cheeks. I was SOO excited to see the redness gone last week! And then he came in contact with something. What was it? We have our guesses (maybe the stroller?), but we don't really know. What we do know is the little guy is just extremely sensitive to something. We're still very confident it's something in commercial detergent.

So now we wait again. It's been a few days since it has come back strongly. We've re-washed some things and are hopeful it will begin to fade again soon.

What am I going to do when we go back to the States and everyone wants to hold him? Put him in a bubble so his skin doesn't touch anyone's clothes?! Not let anyone hold him? Argh.

I'm sorry if you think all these blogs about eczema are boring, but this consumes my life and lots of my thought (upward, too) every day. Feel free to continue lifting him up. He's still a bit miserable...which affects us all!

Eczema Update

We're almost to a full body of smooth skin! Just today, I felt his legs--previously like alligator skin--now SMOOTH. I couldn't stop rubbing them! His elbows are still a bit dry and scaly, and his cheeks are only slightly pink. PTL!

Michael did a LOT of laundry the past week. Maybe 20-30 loads? Virtually every item in our house. We had laundry drying in every spot possible!

We're 100% confident it was the detergent. Accidental test: this morning, while giving him a bath, I accidentally poured water in his eyes while rinsing his hair. I grabbed the hand towel nearby and wiped his eyes. Then I realized that was one of the few items we didn't de-tox. By this afternoon, the tops of his cheeks broke out again. Sheesh!

Pics to come soon...he's almost there!!!!

Josiah is funny

A few funny stories about Josiah.

In the mornings, Josiah lets us know he's awake and ready to get up by usually screaming out something like, "My blanket! My blanket!" Or replace blanket with car, truck, etc. He probably purposely drops said item on the floor so he has an excuse to holler something at us. Yes, it's true. The kid still doesn't realize he can get out of bed and open the door himself. We sort of love still having that control. :)

Yesterday, however, he started crying that loud cry that signals something is wrong. I ran in there to find him bent at the waist over his railing with the rest of his body stuck in his laundry basket. Upside down. I had to hold back my laughter, but then helped him out. His blanket had "fallen" in there and he was trying to get it. Good job, kid.

Today, we all took a quick walk outside. I went a bit early with Malachi in the stroller. Michael and Josiah were a few minutes behind. Michael finished putting Josiah's shoes on, and he opened the door and took off running down the hall. Michael was still getting his shoes on. As Michael made it to the elevator, he didn't see Josiah. The cleaning lady pointed downward. He had gotten in, pushed the button, and gone on down himself! haha. He knows the routine...he just forgot to wait for the adult! I would have loved to have seen his face when he realized Daddy wasn't with him.

Tonight, I had a few students over to play games. Of course, they oohed and aahed over the boys, but neither of them are great with strangers. Malachi is just hitting the "stranger danger" age, and Josiah has always been painfully shy (but is learning to warm up). Tonight was no different. I think each boy cried at least 3 times. Of course, the girls thought it was their fault! But then, something seems to switch in Josiah when someone really gets on his level to play. One of the girls started tickling him, and he loosened up--but only with her! Another girl tried to get it on the fun, and he just stared at her like she was an alien! One at a time, I suppose! When I got him alone while they were here, I asked him if he was going to count in Chinese for them. He said, "No, I'm shy." aww. Sweet boy.

Day 4: Homemade Detergent

His skin is clearing up! Sloowly...

We (mostly Michael) did LOTS of research about why soaps/detergents cause eczema. You're not going to be surprised--it's the chemicals! So we decided to make our own detergent. Thankfully, we have a website here we can order so many things from. They happened to have bars of all-natural, gentle soap. REAL soap. Apparently that's hard to find these days.

Michael made the concoction yesterday. I thought he was breaking my blender from the sounds I heard coming out of the kitchen. He assured me it still works. He chopped up the soap, then added borax powder and washing soda powder. And that's it! We only have to use 1Tbsp per load! Talk about saving money!

He also made a liquid soap with the same ingredients, plus virgin coconut oil for a moisturizer. I used this for Malachi's bath tonight for his body and hair. It seemed a little dry, which is so not what we want, but we'll see how he looks in the morning. Maybe it was just an extra-clean feeling. Ya know, those two feelings on the skin are kind of similar.

Assuming the chemicals his skin touches are are the culprits, we need to wash everything in the house in the natural stuff. So the awesome hubby has been doing laundry alll day. Vinegar cycle, rinse, soap cycle, rinse. He "only" made it through 2 loads. And then we ran out of room to hang it. :)

Since we're staying away from the chemicals, we're having a tough time moisturizing his skin. We have Aveeno, but it has a lot of junk in it. We have cocoa butter, which is mostly natural and may be the winner. We've tried to use the coconut oil, but it just doesn't do a great job soaking in. His poor legs and arms still feel like alligator skin! Sadly, I'm not exaggerating.

I am taking pics along the way. When he's all cleared up, I'll be happy to put up a progression. We still have a ways to go, but I'm hopeful we're finally on the right track!

P.S. Through the last few months, since his little cheeks get so red, Josiah gets really concerned. (He has a very compassionate heart--going to love seeing this used as he grows up!) So I taught him to lay hands on him and pray for healing! Now he does it on his own, several times a day. Best part: he ends the prayer with, "thank you, Jesus, for this food." HA. Guess what he prays for most!?