Who knew giant blobs of plastic could make a Momma's heart so happy?

Since moving to China, grieving over what the kids are missing out on in the States has been a constant struggle of mine. I know they are gaining so much. Believe me. I know. I try to focus on those daily. But some days I dwell on the things they're missing. The library (although this year, we've been so blessed with a local that opened one up that actually has English books!!), parks...REAL parks, not ones with just exercise equipment, and right now, since it's in my face, pumpkin patches.

They don't even know what so many things are. I'm pretty sure Malachi has never been to a real playground. One with slides, swings, something besides concrete on the ground, and things he can climb on and fall off of, knowing that daredevil.

But yesterday, my heart swelled with joy. A former tutor and friend with her own son about Josiah's age (I've mentioned him before--they're great buds!) took Josiah and I to a playground!! We squealed with joy when we saw it! It's literally the first one of this magnitude we've seen since being here. It was inside an apartment complex that houses lots of foreigners. Rich foreigners..go figure.

It was great to see Josiah running around with his buddy, playing games, and acting out characters from a Chinese cartoon. I even enjoyed sitting on the bench with my friend, chatting about life, just like mommas do in America. I told her this and she said, "Good, this is your little piece of America right now." 

It was so fun, I told some friends about it last night, and we made another trip this morning and 3 more little ones squealed with joy at a familiar sight. It was awesome!

My only regret is that we knew about this earlier. I mean, we were here all summer and this glorious playground was sitting across town, a mere $2 taxi ride from us.

Alas, we'll enjoy it until we can't play outside anymore, then watch the weather like a hawk come springtime for when we can return.

Guess That Flavor

The other day, I was desperate for a salty, flavored chip. Really desperate. I went to the little store in our complex and found my choices were plain (boring), cucumber (refreshing, but not feelin' 'em this time), and several meat flavors. I took a chance on a bag of spicy chicken ones. 

I brought them home and the boys were ecstatic. Josiah popped one in his mouth and said, "Mom, these taste like spicy chicken!" He hadn't even seen the bag. 

Either I should be proud of his amazing palette or scared that he could imagine such a combo for a chip flavor.

Maybe someday I'll have him try the fish soup and blueberry flavors to see if he can guess those, too.

 

Precious Prayers

After praying for dinner tonight, Josiah broke into his own prayer. Not unusual. Except tonight he did it in Chinese. I didn't understand a word of it, but to him, it was a prayer nonetheless. Lately he's been breaking out into full dialogues (sometimes with me, sometimes to himself) in unrecognizable Chinese. I love it!

I then asked him who he heard pray in Chinese that he learned from. His answer: "God, Jesus, Ayi (our helper, who is a believer and does pray in Chinese), and Jodi (a Chinese-American, although I'm not sure he really made that connection or of it was just coincidence)."

I love that precious boy.

After seeing all the attention big bro was getting, Malachi chimed in with a prayer in his own language.

Quotable

While eating lunch today, I picked a rotten grape off the stem and put it on my plate. After examining it, Josiah asked, "What is that?" "A rotten grape,nit's dying," I replied. "Ohhh. "Yeah, those are pretty, they're healthy! That one isn't healthy, it didn't eat very well."

Vastness

I went to Shenyang, a nearby city, the other day by train. Outside the train station is usually a line of people waiting for a cab. This day, no line. It was rainy and cold and a mess of people trying to get in a dry taxi. I joined the mob. After about 10 minutes, a guy finally pulled over towards me. Another passenger got on the front, and I hopped in the back after telling him I wanted to go to the embassy. After realizing the driver didn't turn on the meter, the following convo followed (obviously in Chinese):
Me (to the passenger since the driver was on the phone): Is he going to use the meter?
Passenger: I don't know. You should ask him. *Hmm, fishy.*
Me (to driver, finally done gabbing): Are you going to use the meter?
Driver: Where are you going again?
Me: The American embassy.
Driver (severely mumbling): 100kuai
Me: What? Can you say it again, slower this time?
Driver (slightly better): 100 kuai (~$15)
Me: What?! Stop the car, I'm getting out! Slammed door, super mad.

Later, I got in a legit taxi that didn't want to rip me off because I'm a foreigner and it cost a mere 15 kuai with the meter.

So, I went there because I had to get pages added to our passports. I so wish they would've let me sew in the pages myself instead of charging me $85 per passport. Instead, the took all my money and made me wait in a cold, bleak room for 2 hours with nothing. I mean nothing. They took my purse, book, phone, everything. Even my chapstick. Don't they know some people are addiction to a certain yellow tube of lip satisfaction?!

But what was interesting was that since everyone was stripped of all their "stay to myself" devices, it forced everyone to talk to each other. I talked to everyone in the room waiting, as they were one-by-one called up to retrieve whatever they were waiting for. I actually enjoyed hearing everyone's story...why they were in this foreign land.

On the hour and a half train ride home, we all got to see this beautiful sunset.

 

As people were leaning over my window seat to snap a picture for themselves, something struck me. This vast, vast land with over a billion people needs the same shining Light the sun provides for us every day. I was hit with how awesome the sky and land looked with the orange sun covering it all. (My pics through the train window truly don't do it justice.) Just like the Father's arms cover all of us. Every day.

My heart swelled for the locals all over again. May they learn of His vast love and grace. Soon.

Even better, to top this off, was that the entire day was rainy, windy, and cold. What a perfect ending.

Brothers

Lately, the boys have been fighting a lot. Verbally, physically, every way possible, it seems. I do better with patiently disciplining them some days more than others. And then, there are these few moments that Josiah agrees to read to his 弟弟 (didi, Chinese for younger brother) and, the more miraculous part, Malachi stops long enough to oblige. It doesn't often last long, but I'm just glad it's beginning to happen!

May there be more and more of these moments...even if it is in the oddest of places.

And so it begins...

First, a few convos to record:

Last night...
Me: Josiah, tomorrow is your first day of school. Do you know who your teacher is?
Josiah: Wahoo! Keeping my eyes on Youuuuu... (a song he recently learned at Sunday school)
Me: Um, no. Me. I'm your teacher.
Josiah: Me. I'm your teacher.
Me: No, ME. MOMMY.
This morning...
Me: Josiah, we're starting school in an hour. Do you remember who your teacher is?
Josiah: Keeping my eyes on Youuuuuu!
Me: *sigh* No...
Josiah: Oh yeah, you! Momma, when I get older, I'm gonna teach YOU.

Sure, kid. Whatever it takes to get through day 1.

So, day 1 of homeschool. Albeit pre-school, but still. I've semi-dreaded this day for years. Had you asked me 10 years ago if this would ever happen in my home, I would've laughed at you. I would've laughed even harder had you told me I'd be living in China.

We made it, but it wasn't pretty. It started with tears when I told Josiah he had to color more than 2 lines on his paper. I mean, coloring is the easy part, right? This boy hates it. Doesn't coloring make up for most of pre-school? I could be in for something....interesting.

Malachi, on the other hand, wanted to color. Color everything in sight. I had a few activities lined up for him to keep him busy. I mean, it couldn't be that hard for him to entertain himself for one hour, right?! I forgot who I was dealing with.

I gave him pipe cleaners and a strainer. 30 seconds. (Later, I found the strainer in the sink. How thoughtful!)

A coloring book and 5 crayons. 1 minute. Then he started throwing the crayons into the living room.

A whiteboard and a marker. 20 seconds. Then he started coloring on the floor.

Cheerios from Josiah's craft. Sheer distraction.

Stickers. 2-3 minutes. But he needed my help getting every one off the page. His pant leg was very decorative by the end of it.

And then I gave up. Josiah about had it with all the coloring and his type-A-ness was coming on strong when he tried to place Cheerios on a paper in the shape of an "A" and they kept sticking to his fingers, making them slightly off-center. Oh boy.

So we ended with some ABC videos and called it a day.

So, who has advice for me? All ears.

At least we started happy!!