what will the neighbors do?

We are two months away from moving day.  It's starting to sink in, this huge transition on the horizon, and some days I am more reflective than others.

I wonder about the people living around us.  Together with our neighbors Andy and Erin Ashley, we are the first and only foreigners to ever live in our little suburb.  I like to think we've provided a great deal of entertainment these past three years, and I wonder what the locals will do for fun when they can no longer spend lazy afternoons monitoring the weird behavior of the two foreign families.  

Our neighbors really do like us.  I am convinced of it.  They undoubtedly think we are strange, vocally disagree with many of our customs and occasionally drive me crazy with their intense need to watch every move I make.  [Yesterday morning the kids and I were heading into the city and I sent the girls downstairs ahead of me to meet our driver, who was waiting near our building.  When Isaac and I made it out to the car there were five ladies crowded around like paparazzi, craning their necks just to see the girls seated inside.  Uncle Qi, who frequently drives for us, was obviously proud to have garnered so much attention.  The girls were not so thrilled.]

But the neighbors do like us.  I know they will miss us when we are gone.  

And we have one neighbor who goes way beyond liking our family.  Nai Nai loves us.  Mostly she loves the kids, but I also think she really likes me too :)  

We call her the "queen bee" of the apartment complex.  If anything happens to anybody, Nai Nai knows about it.  I used to think that if you got on google earth and zoomed in on the courtyard of our apartment complex, Nai Nai would be right there, a pivotal part of any satellite image of this small piece of the world.  And then one day I did zoom in on our courtyard and she wasn't there.  It totally ruined my faith in google earth. 

It's a rare day that I do not see her at least once, often multiple times.  She knows if I am running late to get the girls at school, she knows if Matt left the complex walking or on his bike, she knows what time we get home from church.  Yesterday afternoon she brought our daily dairy delivery and her first question was, "where did you go this morning?"

She brings me homemade dumplings, she lures the girls to her home with promises of all kinds of goodies, and her big grin draws Isaac right into her arms.  

Now I wonder if she saw me the first day we came out here to look at potential apartments.  I was hugely pregnant with Lydia and remember being hot and tired and desperate for a place to sit down and rest my feet.  If I only knew then what I know now.  I would have walked up to her first floor window, hollered "Nai Nai" and waited for her to open her door, offer me a drink, and peel pears for then-18-month-old Julianna to snack on.

The neighbors are going to miss us, alright.  I'm going to miss them too. 

butterflies at the table

Today we made and decorated butterfly place mats.  About halfway through our little project I realized that we would need to laminate any place mat that wanted to survive more than a meal or two at our table.  

And right about the time I started wondering if it would be worth the trouble to laminate the butterflies, the girls answered my question.  They decided to spice up their decorating efforts by gluing buttons on to the butterfly wings.  Which made it impossible to balance a plate on top and confirmed that the butterfly place mats would be useful only for tea parties and such.

So we used them for a special fancy snack (applesauce with sprinkles on top).  And we even spiced things up a bit with folded napkins.  

I love fast and easy things like this that bring much joy and delight to my little ladies.  You would have thought they were guests at a royal palace.  Fun times. 

Note Julianna in the pink leotard.... again.  It's her uniform these days.  Reminds me of the pink and brown cowboy boots she wore every day for three months.  She's got style, that's for sure :) 

when we play dress up....

It looks like this

and like this  

and, much to my amusement, it also looks like this.

Life with two big sisters is bound to include a pair of pink ballet slippers every now and then.  Luckily, Isaac doesn't seem to mind.  At least for now :) 

He's also probably hoping that our adopted baby is another little boy.  Actually, the girls are also looking for another little brother (although Lydia occasionally says she wants a sister).  They frequently refer to the new baby as 'he' and yesterday Lydia told me that when our new baby cried she would probably bring him a truck or a train so he would stop crying.  [She even clarified that it would be one of Isaac's trains.  Not sure if that is because she is convinced a baby boy wants a train or because she is unwilling to share her own stuff and is benevolently offering up her brother's playthings instead.]

We indicated no race or gender preference for our adoption.  And after lots of helpful consultation with others involved in domestic adoption, we do know that we will most likely match with an African American or bi-racial baby boy.  [Those who do indicate a race or gender preference are very rarely open to non-white babies, especially non-white baby boys.]

But we won't know anything about the baby until we match .... Hopefully this summer!  And then we'll know for sure that our  pink-ballet-slippered little brother is going to have an ally in this frilly, girly, pink and purple-y home. 

Isaac and his ayi

All of my children enjoy sweet relationship with our house helper Xiao Li, whom they refer to as 'ayi' (auntie).  Familial names are really common here, so while the kids refer to many different people as 'ayi' only a few really deserve the title in the sense that we Americans would use 'aunt' to refer to a family member or really close friend. 

Xiao Li is definitely one of those people.   She is such a dear part of our life, it's almost like she is family.  Once, years ago when Julianna was small, someone even commented that she and Julianna resembled one another! 

So while Xiao Li is a super special person in all of our lives, there is something really unique about the relationship between Isaac and Xiao Li.  My little man LOVES his ayi.  

The girls like to say "Isaac thinks he is married to mommy".  And they might be right.  I am most definitely his first love.  But if he had to make a second choice, I am positive it would be Xiao Li.

In his eyes, she can do no wrong.  I love watching these two love one another.  

And I can't believe that in a few short months one will board a plane for his first ever trip to his home country, and the other will be left at the airport waving goodbye. 

welcome home mommy

Monday night as I waited in line to board for my flight home I called Matt.  His first sentence?  "I'm ready for you to come home now".  [And yes, I asked him if I could put that on the blog.] 

Turns out everyone was ready for me to come home.  The girls even made posters for the door.  

I had an amazing time away.  Such fun.  And now I'm back to my favorite job ever:  wife and mommy to the crew here at home. 

Unfortunately, I'm fighting a nasty stomach something and my re-entry has not been as smooth as I had hoped.  I started some cipro last night, and I am eager to put this behind me and really have the energy to love and care for my family.

Tonight Matt and I are judges for an English speech competition on campus. I'm still hoping I'll feel good enough to go.... the competition doesn't start til after bedtime, so I have all day to recover and regain some energy.  As a native English speaker, this isn't the first time I've been qualified to judge an English competition, but it's been a long while since the last one.  I am looking forward to being on campus, and I am sure I will be (as always) impressed with their English. 

In the meantime, the girls and I are headed to the kitchen to bake some cookies before Isaac wakes from his morning nap! 

trickier than it sounds

I'm not sure if moving all of our family's belongings into storage and moving all of our family members to America sounds like an easy task or not.  But regardless of what is sounds like, I am realizing that it is most definitely NOT easy!  

There are plenty of complicating factors, and listing them here would overwhelm even the most competent list-maker and problem-solver.  For several reasons, we are in a situation where I can't really start any packing until late May.  On the whole, I think this is a really good thing.  Although a big part of me wants to start packing and organizing, I just can't - yet.

So what am I doing instead?  Getting out of town!  Together with a couple of friends (also moms of little ones) I am headed to the airport early Saturday morning to visit a friend in another city.  My girls refer to the upcoming trip as "mommy going to spend the night with Ms. Ashlei". 

It is going to be a lot like a sleepover :)  Whatever you call it, there is no doubt it will be a lot more fun than packing!  I can't wait! 

Isaac reads

Our little man is awakening a deep-seated love for books.  I like to think he inherited it from his momma :) 

His current favorites are flap books, books with textures, and any book with a picture of a puppy.  While he reads (either on his own or in someone's lap) he talks animatedly, points at specific pictures, and generally has a grand ole time.   

And then, when he's all done perusing his favorite titles he moves on to his next favorite book related activity.....  emptying the book basket we keep in our living room.

He even says "book", but only those of us who know him best would understand what he means.  He's at that stage where he doesn't pronounce a final consonant, so 'book' 'ball' and 'bath' all sound remarkably similar.  Thank goodness for context clues :)

one little houseguest

Sunday night we hosted our first sleepover.  I'm pretty sure Kayleigh is the youngest house guest we've ever had (she turns 4 in June) and she brought significantly less luggage than our average visitor :)

Hosting Kayleigh thrilled Julianna to the depths of her heart.  After two spend-the-nights (earlier this spring) at Kayleigh's house, she was eager to return the hospitality! 

Lydia struggled to find her spot in the threesome.... often jumping in excitement, occasionally collapsing in tears.  Such is the life of a little sister whose big sis is hosting a sleepover.  

We moved Isaac into the 'extra room' for the night.  4 in one bedroom seemed like a bit of a stretch to me, especially with the excitement level running so high.  

A few not so quiet whispers, some gentle "no more talking" reminders.... and all three girls were fast asleep. 

what i learned doing homework

Julianna gets homework from school.  Ridiculous, I know.  But no one asked me.  Most of the time it is worksheet type things and she loves it.  It is fun stuff.  I just don't like calling it 'homework'.  Jeepers, she just turned 4 a few months ago! 

(I'm no educator, but it seems like pre math to me..... lots of patterns, counting, writing numbers.) 

So the other day she is working on her homework and I am reading the instructions to her just as they are written, in Chinese.  "Circle the picture of the boy raising his right hand."  She knew exactly which one to circle.  So I stopped and asked her "which one is your 右手 (right hand)?" and then "Now which one is your  左手 (left hand)?  Correct again. 

Recently I've been using a lot of 'right' and 'left' when talking to her, but I wasn't sure she was getting it.  Sometimes she followed my directions, sometimes she turned the wrong way, and sometimes she stopped and looked at me quizzically until I used a hand to indicate which direction I meant. 

Seems I should just switch to using Chinese.  This is apparently something they've worked on at school, and she's got it down in one language. 

This isn't the first time she's been able to express a concept or thought in Chinese but not in English (and obviously there are gobs of concepts that she can express in English but cannot yet express in Chinese). 

It's so interesting to watch young children acquire language.  Makes me wonder what I'll learn the next time the two of us work on her homework :)

Check out her colored pens.  Without a doubt, using the colored pens is the highlight of doing homework! 

number FOUR

We're adopting a baby!  Four kids!  Four blessings!  Four gifts!

Some days I CANNOT BELIEVE that God is this good to our family.  I live every day in a world where families have one child.  Partly because of social pressure, partly because of government regulations, partly because they have bought into the lie that children are too much work, too much money, too much trouble. 

A few days ago Matt and I took the kids to the park.  I was consciously aware that I was grinning from ear to ear as we followed Julianna and Lydia towards the play equipment with Isaac tripping along beside me.  People stand back and watch.  They point.  They count.  They comment.  They can't believe we have three. 

And they don't even know that God is giving us another one! 

Matt and I have loved adoption and dreamed of adopting since the very first days of our marriage.  Our home study is complete and we are approved for a US domestic adoption.  The next step is for us to match with an infant.  We hope and dream that we'll match sometime this summer, and that the baby will be born in the early fall.  We are so excited to bring an orphan into our home.  We eagerly anticipate discovering which baby God has for our family.

And we are just so thankful that God is blessing us with another child! 

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.   

Easter sunday

After three weeks of talking about Easter, the girls were ready (Isaac too - he's right in the thick of a fun talking stage and loves to expand his growing vocabulary.  This past week he started saying "egg" but he also frequently refers to the egg as "ball" which is undoubtedly one of his favorite words.)

So Easter morning the girls bound out of bed and head to the living room to check out their Easter baskets.  Isaac wasn't sure what all the fuss was about, but he loves to be in the middle of the action, so he was only a few steps behind. 

The jelly bean loot was a hit! Here we are shouting "Jesus is alive".  Lydia's basket has a cute little bunny on the front, just like Julianna's but she's got hers turned around so you can't really see it. 

After church we headed to a friend's home where the little ones napped and we all geared up for the afternoon's festivities.  Then, it was Easter egg hunt time! 

We gathered with about 8 other foreign families.  I'm not sure anyone counted, but there must have been at least 20 little white kiddos running around the courtyard of a large Asian apartment complex, hunting Easter eggs. 

At one point someone looked up and noticed that the apartment windows were full of bystanders enjoying the scene.  With gobs of cute little kids like our little man, it's no wonder we attracted a crowd!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!  He is Risen!

Easter saturday

I have lots of fun Easter weekend photos and stories!  We had a great time celebrating!  

Saturday morning we hosted an Easter party for some local friends.... some Christians and some non-Christians.  The girls tend to love events like this, and they definitely add entertainment value to any party.  

This photo doesn't really do justice to the Easter egg dyeing scene.  Fun.  Noisy.  Chaotic.  I love watching friends enjoy activities like this for the first time.... no one here grew up dyeing eggs every Easter (and very few of them even have a clue what Easter is about). 

We sang some songs, ate snacks, used the Resurrection Eggs to tell the Easter story, and took a big group photo :)  

Fun stuff.  Though I can confidently say that I am ready to spend the next 350 days not dyeing Easter eggs. 

looks like rain

You know that Winnie the Pooh story where Pooh disguises himself as a rain cloud in an attempt to fool the bees and steal their honey?  And to help bolster his disguise he asks Christopher Robin to walk around holding an umbrella saying "tut tut, it looks like rain".

All day long I felt like saying "tut tut, looks like rain".  And it did.  It looked like rain all day long.  But it never rained.

And right before dinner I decided that the only thing worse than a whole day that looks like rain is when you're in the midst of a severe drought and have a whole day that looks like rain but it doesn't ever rain! 

Our province is dry.  Really really dry.  It didn't rain last rainy season.  And now there is no water.  The countryside is suffering.  And the rumor is that our city will run out of water sometime in May if we continue at current usage rates and the rain does not fall. 

Honestly, it hasn't really affected me much.  Yet.  But I am concerned about those in more rural areas.  And Matt and I are trying to conserve water as much as possible.  (Our girls never seem to consistently flush the toilet, so I guess you could say they are conserving water too!)  I am still using our cloth diapers, but I think the next big conserve-water change will be to switch to disposables.  Laundering cloth diapers uses a lot of water.  

Mostly, I know that the need for rain is desperate.  And today, in a drastic departure from our normal sunny skies, it looked like rain.  

But it didn't rain.