Josiah's 4th Birthday

3 weeks late posting about this. I'm sitting here eating leftover icing from his cake; doesn't that count for something?! I'm actually nearly sick after only eating a few teaspoons. I think my appetite for super sweet things is waning. I pass up tons of recipes on Pinterest because they look nausiatingly sweet. I digress. This is about Josiah, right?!

We celebrated our sweet boy with a big party. Come to think of it, all of his parties have been pretty big in China. It's hard to not invite those we're close to--and that's a lot of people, especially this year! Since our house is too small, we had it at the school. Dear friends Lauren and Emily helped me decorate; had they not helped, I would've upheld my tradition of being severely late for my son's party. (Malachi's 1st: an hour late, then everyone had to help me decorate..ha!)

The theme was Cars, so it was fun and pretty easy to decorate.

 

Friends were gracious enough to bring presents. He got lots of cars...appropriate. :) 

 

This was my first double-layer cake. It was so-so. I'll use a smaller pan next time so the layers aren't so thin!

 

Before his party, we talked through the moment when everyone would sing to him. I reminded him he didn't need to be scared or embarrassed. He assured me he wouldn't be. Well, maybe next year...

 

Michael was in charge of games and did great with choosing them! First was a video series in which people had to guess what happened next. So funny! Next, was a minute to win it type game where 2 people had to keep 6 balloons in the air for as long as possible. The winners? 9 seconds! ha!

We had lots of fun and are thankful for so many people who came to love on our little guy! I should also mention several people sent him packages and cards from the States--thank ya'll sooo much! He may not be able to fully appreciate the extra efforts, but this Momma does!! 

Some extra pics from the day...

 We are so thankful for a fun-loving boy. This past year, I have seen him come out of his little shell. He is now walking up to kids he doesn't know, saying hello and shaking their hand, and ready to play if they aren't too scared of "the foreign kid." Now that Malachi is old enough to move around and have a personality, I have seen Josiah tweak his a bit. For now, Malachi is the instigator for most things--especially when it comes to anything involving risk. In the past, Josiah wouldn't do anything involving risk....no jumping off things, getting dirty, or falling backwards on the bed. After he watches Malachi do it successfully, though, he's all in! I'm mostly glad for this change. He was a little too timid in the past and now his little bro is teaching him how to live a little! He's still very compassionate and caring. Any time someone is hurt, he's quick to apologize (even if it wasn't his fault) and offer them comfort, sometimes insisting that he can pray for them. I love this about him. As with many kids, his memory is amazing. When I take the effort to teach him something new, be it Chinese or a Bible verse or whatever, he has it down pat within 2 days, and hasn't forgotten them yet! I'm looking forward to this next year, to watch him grow and flourish in new ways!

Mini-immersion Trip

A few weekends ago, all of the my classmates (1st and 2nd years) and I went on a mini-immersion trip. We were divided into 4 teams and sent to 4 different areas of our city; places most of us had never been. The main goal: speak only Chinese for 36 hours. Even with our teammates.

My team: Aaron, Lauren, and Jeremiah

Aaron was our map guy. He had spent a long time the night before our trip plotting out where we could go, how to get to our hotel, etc. Sadly, the map couldn't keep up with the changes. (A phrase he repeat often in this country.)

This site became too familiar to us during our trip. We ran into construction site after construction site....it quickly became a team joke!

We trekked around for a few hours to find a way to our hotel. Our part of the city ended up being where all the car factories are. So, we trudged through street after street of car part stores. There weren't even that many people--just those selling and buying car parts!

Part of our assignment was to ask older people what their lifestyle is like. After lunch, I spotted a group of old men playing games on the street. We figured we had better approach them, or we may not be able to complete our assignment since there were so few people milling around!

These guys were great! Far left: 72, middle 89!!

Most of the men we talked to were retired from the military. They said their lives now are very relaxing. They spend their days playing games (Chinese chess, mostly) with their friends, exercising, and strolling. Quite different from our retirees/elderly who are often found in front of the TV! The one on the left emphatically told us to start exercising now to stay healthy. They were all great and spoke fairly clearly, being patient with our imperfect Chinese.

After speaking to them, it started to sprinkle. There was no where we could escape unless we wanted to check out the latest radiator fluid, so we went a smidge outside our "area" to a giant mall where we walked around and drank some coffee, waiting for the storm to pass.

For dinner, we went to KFC. Not anyone's favorite, but it was literally one of two restaurants anywhere near our hotel. To add to the hilarity of our area having nothing interesting, several things we tried to order at KFC were also not available. It fit quite well into the theme of our trip!

It started raining again, so we decided to go back to our hotel and watch a Chinese TV show. We watched "Stars in Danger." I hear it also plays in America; a show about celebrities learning how to dive and competing against one another. We didn't understand it all, but we didn't need to. Watching the horrible diving techniques was funny enough!!

The next morning, we had planned to go to a park near us, but it was still raining and miserable. So, we decided to just head home. Good thing we started then. We waited for a bus for an hour before realizing it probably wasn't going to come, perhaps because it was re-routed.....because of the construction. So, we tried to catch a taxi. This was also impossible because traffic was crawling. We finally got on a bus that took us in the right direction.

We were a bit frustrated, and wet.

 In all, it was a great experience! I'm thankful I was on a team that could laugh at all the annoying situations we ran into. We really had a fun time with each other! Lesson learned: no need to go to that part of the city!

Later in the week, we presented to our Chinese teacher/class about our trip. Some classmates said our presentation was the most interesting. How ironic.