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.......