hello, goodbye

We knew the time would go by fast, and it did.  We took Grandma to the airport this morning, Krisanne and Jonah leave tomorrow.  We had lots of fun, and took plenty of photos.  Here are some of my favorites:

at the park behind our apartment complex

What's a Grandma to do on a long airplane journey?  Knit a sweater for her grandson!  He loves having something she made and I think he is one handsome boy :)

These little guys are going to be great friends one day, I just know it!

Uncle Matt :) 

the four cousins...  missing Connor Carson and Kaelynn but glad to be together

Jonah loves to make this serious face!

the whole gang at the panda research base

I love this picture of Isaac peering through the railing watching pandas!

There are many many more, and gobs of fun memories behind the photos.  What a special visit!

visitors

Grandma, Krisanne and Jonah are here!  So fun to have family visiting us and seeing our new home too.  We made paper dolls last week and the girls wanted to do it again with Grandma too! 

Last night Jonah and Isaac got in the bath together, you can see the girls heads in this photo too - if there had been a lick more space they both would have gotten in too :)

The kids are enjoying their cousin and I think he mostly likes them too - but it's a little rowdier than he is used to!  Today we are heading out to see the pandas :)  and then .... well, not sure what all, it depends on how the day flows!

More pics and updates later,

from overgrown mess to biking by the garden :)

Little man is napping, little ladies are sprawled at my feet busily working on a "welcome Grandma Krisanne and Jonah" poster for the front door.  I loaded these photos one morning and am going to steal a few moments to post to the blog.

Our messy overgrown yard is now a sweet little courtyard.  It started a few weeks ago when Matt borrowed a skill saw and cut a slice out of the fencing, added a few hinges and turned it into a gate.  (Have I ever mentioned that marrying an engineer has its perks?!?!)

Then we hired a contractor... who started bringing loads of gravel rocks and workers to clear out all the weeds and lay down a layer of rock.

They then poured a layer of concrete and topped it all with a layer of sandstone. 

We opted for no grass for several reasons (to keep life simple - no lawnmower, no maintenance; because we heard only bad reports from folks who tried to grow grass from seed or sod; and because we need a safe car-free place for our kids to play on their bikes and riding toys).

We did keep a one meter wide patch of soil at the end for our garden-to-be.

We're loving it.  Looking forward to picnic style meals and hopefully adding a grill sometime this spring.  And in the meantime doing lots of bike riding and talking about our garden (see the flowers the girls have optimistically 'planted' already?)

Kids and I are doing great.  The house population will double late Friday night when Grandma, Krisanne, Jonah (and then a few hours later) Matt arrive at the airport.  I've been busy working on some kitchen projects (prepping, cooking and then freezing huge pots of dried beans, big batches of baked goodies to share, breakfast-y foods, and the like.  yum.)

Yesterday we made cookies for some friends. 

In case you are wondering, that is what Isaac looks like right before he takes a big bite of cookie dough.  Yeah.  One less cookie for the oven :)

Isaac is awake and we're off to see our neighbor friends!

what "goodbye daddy" looks like

Day three and so far things are going.... well, ok :)  

I am up early and loaded these photos of the kids saying goodbye to their daddy.  Lots of "up in the air", especially for Isaac.  I don't throw nearly as high or nearly as much, so he misses this ritual with his daddy.  (caught this shot on the way down, you would not believe how high he goes.... and he LOVES it!)

The girls do lots of "flips", and Isaac can do them too but much prefers to be tossed around :)

And then some sweet snuggles :) 

Yesterday morning I spent a good chunk of time at a local friend's home ... her little baby is sick and while what I know about pediatrics can fit on the head of a (very small) pin, I do have a nose bulb snot sucker thing-y, and I'm not afraid to use it :)

I was pretty excited cause I had plans to go in to town in the afternoon, see some foreign friends for play and dinner (our Sunday morning fellowship is having some issues and is temporarily canceled, so I have very few opportunities to see other foreigners right now).

Rushed from my friend's house off to school to get the girls and was met by Lydia's teacher.  Lydia had been throwing up.  Ugh.  So I canceled the afternoon plans, got everyone home, and got Lydia in bed.  The other two were pretty disappointed at our canceled plans, but I promised we'd try to reschedule.

So I think Lydia may have some sort of reaction to the Tuesday morning school breakfast, because she threw up last week on Tuesday (then I thought that was from congestion, she was battling a cold).  But this morning, again a Tuesday (they eat a menu that repeats each week), and the throw up pattern was identical.  Threw up the same amount of times, in the same pattern, and even at the same time (clock time).  And after the final heave she is one happy, hungry little girl. 

I quizzed the girls on their breakfast menu and think I may have narrowed down the culprit and plan to talk to her teacher when I take them back on Thursday. 

It was sooooo cold and rainy yesterday that we didn't dare to go outside, but the afternoon really passed quickly and before I knew it the kids were in bed.  So, all in all, what could have been pretty tough was just, well, ok tough :) 

I hear the girls stirring so I'm off! 

two goodbyes

So this morning Matt headed to the airport and will be gone til midnight Friday.  And this evening the kids and I took Xiao Li to the airport and tearfully watched her walk through security without us. 

That, friends, is not my recipe for a fun day.

Our time with Xiao Li was such a blessing.  Such a blessing.  Xiao Li said her mom kept telling her that there was no way Isaac would remember her (we last saw her when he was 15 months old) but I think he made it perfectly clear that he knew exactly who she was :)

The girls too were loving the extra attention and snuggles.... which is the perfect start to a daddy-less week.  

I've got a few fun things planned to help break up the upcoming days without Matt.  And we are all eagerly anticipating a visit from Grandma, Auntie Krisanne and cousin Jonah (Grandma has been in Indo visiting Krisanne & Paul & Jonah and they are coming here for a short visit too!)  They arrive Friday night (a few hours before Matt) and I will be ready for some English speaking adults to hang out with :)  

I took some fun photos of the kids saying goodbye to Matt, and I keep wanting to post some photos of our yard now that we have some sandstone laid and generally spruced it up a bit.  I need to do both those during the day sometime, when the internet is running faster and I can upload more photos. But you can probably imagine i don't get a lot of computer time during the day - he he he - so we'll see! 

one very special visitor

Guess who is here?!?!?!

We've been eagerly anticipating this visit since June of last year when we said goodbye to our beloved Xiao Li with promises of "we'll see you when we get back".

And now we are back :)  It feels so good to be together with her again.  Xiao Li entered our lives in April 2004.  Yea, it's been a while!  And we are so very grateful to Jesus for the gift of her sweet friendship, and the way she graciously lovingly served our family for years.

The girls stayed up late on Friday to go with me to the airport to meet her.  We spend MUCH time in airports and it was a special treat to be there in the arrivals area, not the departure lounge :)  Xiao Li got off the airplane with a humongous bag of mangoes, strawberries and papaya.... yummy fruit that we are missing much as we have moved to a different province with a lot less fun fruit goodies to enjoy.

On Saturday morning we drove out to the Panda Research Base to visit the pandas.  I last visited in August 2002 with my parents, so it had been a while :)  Fun stuff to now be living so close by and I think we'll be frequent visitors, as we  plan to take just about everyone who makes it to our side of the globe.

Julianna has been a panda lover since birth.  Matt and I gifted her a little stuffed panda when she has born and Jing Jing has been her special buddy for years.  I'm not sure Julianna has ever spent the night without Jing Jing snoozing in the bed next to her.  So yesterday morning Julianna came out of her room determined to take Jing Jing to see the real pandas.

The kids are all loving this time.  And so am I.  Late into the night Friday and again on Saturday afternoon we just sat on the couch talking, catching up, enjoying the time together.  We baked cookies last night after the kids were in bed - it felt so familiar and good to be in the kitchen together! 

Now they are sitting on the sofa watching home videos together :) A sweet gift for our family, to have this big piece of our history here visiting with us this weekend.

two years old

Two years ago today....

Isaac Luther joined our family.  I was up early this morning and enjoyed watching the sky lighten and remembering his first moments ... he arrived a little after 5am. 

We had a little breakfast celebration with gifts from the sisters (who could not wait ANOTHER minute to show him the gifts they chose - a front end loader from Julianna and bright red ball from Lydia.  What can I say? they know their little bro quite well!)

What a sweet little man he is!  Isaac brings much joy and delight to our days.  He loves cars, tractors, dump trucks, front end 'woders', excavators, bulldozers, concrete mixers - anything construction site related.  He loves books about construction sites and farms.  He loves to play catch.

And he LOVES this little train, which is his main mode of transport anytime we leave our home.  In this pic you can tell that he really moves, his hair is flying in the wind :)  It's amazing how fast he can make this train move.

His daddy also says that Isaac shows signs of being one terrific mountain bike rider.  He loves to chose the "path of most resistance" and takes his train off-roading over some very intimidating territory! I'm amazed at what kinds of slopes and surfaces he manages to cross on his beloved train. 

This morning we went out for some train riding and playground time.  He really does love to swing, but I managed to catch a pretty sad expression on his face this morning.

We're hosting two neighborhood families for supper and cupcakes.  Actually, there may be more people coming for the cupcakes part.... still waiting to see what the final crowd will look like :)  Regardless, we're having fun celebrating Isaac.  Happy Birthday to you Buddy!!

UPDATED with a few photos from Wednesday night.....

We all feel sorry for the poor guy, he just never seems to enjoy his food ;)

This is one of my favorite Isaac faces - a little bit of shy, a little bit of mischief, a little bit of grin :)

What a fun day!

Here's one final testimony of how much Isaac enjoyed his special day.... We usually sing songs before his nap - he almost always chooses (in his own words) "Jesus loves me the Bible tells me so" and the old fave "Isaac and his lawnmower" (one I created on a long just-me-and-him travel day last fall, who knew it would become a classic?).  But today (Thursday) he requested "Happy birthday to Isaac".  Must have been a good day!  

meet our home, part two

I realized that I neglected to post photos of the EXTERIOR of our apartment, and thought it might be fun to include a few.  Then you can definitely visualize where we live, and I'll have a good record for our family memory book too :)

The name of our apartment complex (roughly) translates to Flowing Brook Beautiful Garden.  [It sounds much better in Chinese.]  The developer took the flowing brook theme quite seriously, and there is plenty of water - it is pretty and provides lots of enjoyment for the kids as they love to dangle precariously close to the water's edge watching fish, and enjoy creating obstacle courses for themselves on the various bridges and stepping stones. 

There are twenty buildings in Flowing Brook Beautiful Gardens, all oriented around this center pavilion/courtyard area (home to the playground and a central gathering area for all the residents). 

We live in building #7 - it's perfect, one 'layer' of buildings removed from the central courtyard, but still an interior building (i.e. not facing the outside of the complex, so there is no noise from the surrounding roads).  You can see our van in this photo - at night this place is chock full of cars, but during the day time I have my pick of parking spots!

This white sedan belongs to a pilot who lives in the building across from us.  He and his wife are expecting their first baby, and I see him quite often.  We live very close to the airport and there are a number of pilots living in our complex (they are easy to recognize when I see them in uniform).  The buildings are six floors high, and there are two units on each landing - so 12 families share this stairwell entrance.  Our apartment is on the first floor on the right, so that's our yard and the sliding doors to our living room directly behind the car.

And from the rear our building looks like this:

Left to right in this photo - the girls' bedroom window, the utility porch (see the washer/dryer?) and our kitchen windows. 

Flowing Brook Beautiful Gardens is a great complex, and the more time I spend in this area the more I think it is the perfect one for us.  The best part is definitely the two families that we know living here with us.  N & J and their little girl (baby LeLe) live in the building facing our kitchen windows.  J & E (and their four little ones) live in a building facing the central courtyard.  I see these mommas and their kiddos almost every day. 

Last week when I was sick J was the one I called and said "please come take Isaac when you and LeLe head out for your morning walk".  And one rainy afternoon when the kids and I were all restless I glanced out our windows to see E and her little crew, all decked out in rain coats on an "adventure walk".  It took me less than five seconds to open the porch door and holler "hang on one minute, we're getting our coats and shoes and will be right there to join you!" 

Such sweet neighbors.  Lots of fish to watch and paths to explore and adventures to be had right here on our doorstep.  Good stuff here at Flowing Brook.  You're welcome any time :) 

meet our home

Today I took photos of our apartment.  It is a sweet little place, and fast becoming HOME for our family.  The floor plan is very similar to our old apartment - an open kitchen, dining, living room area and then a small "hallway" with four doors: Isaac's room, girls' room, bathroom, and our bedroom. 

So, here's the tour :)  Open our front door and this is what you see

That's our helper Xiao Ren at the sink, washing dishes no doubt.  Off to her right is a narrow doorway onto the utility porch (home to our deep freezer, washer and dryer). 

Back at the front door, if you turn 90 degrees to the right this is what you see

and keep on turning to get a look at the whole living room.

The doors open onto our front porch and (fenced) yard.  I took this shot standing out on the porch, looking in the big glass doors.

Now, for the four doors of our 'hallway'....

Door #1 our bedroom

Our room is directly behind the sofa wall in the living room.  The windows look out into our yard (but the pagoda looking thing is actually in our neighbors' yard).  

Door #2 the bathroom

Pretty cozy for our family of 5 :) 

Door #3 the girls room (far back corner of the house)

and door #4 Isaac's room (directly behind the bookshelf in the living room - on the back wall he has huge glass sliding doors that open onto the utility porch).

Matt is off on a little trip and will be back tomorrow afternoon, so it's a quiet evening here.  Hope you enjoyed the tour, and don't forget to come see it in person sometime soon :) 

slowly slowly settling in

It's probably note-worthy that nothing extremely eventful happened this past week.  After a series of very eventful weeks, it's a nice treat to have (almost) completed a week of, well, normalcy.  In our new "normal", that is :)

Today I thought about taking photos of the apartment and trying to upload them, but just didn't have quite enough energy (though I am feeling lots better) so I'll plan to do that tomorrow.  The apartment is feeling more and more like home every day.  Many little things have fallen into place to make life more do-able, and I am grateful. 

We are more and more at home in our complex too.  The chickens I spotted out my kitchen window a few weeks ago are no longer strangers.  The kids ask to go see them most every day and we always find them, usually confined but occasionally roaming free, and we've befriended the older couple that is raising them (in their little yard - and no, we do not plan on raising chickens in our yard!) 

We are thinking about planting a few vegetables and such in part of our yard though, and have made friends with another retired couple who can't wait to help us get started.  According to them, March is the perfect month for planting pumpkin, cucumbers and green beans, and we can expect to have a bumper crop in about 80 days.  We shall see..... I'm secretly hoping they'll adopt our family as "hopelessly ignorant about all things gardening in China" and talk me through each step.  It's looking likely, since they started out telling me where to buy seeds, and ended the conversation saying "forget it, you can just have some of ours".  Perfect. 

One of the things that frequently frustrates me about life here is the constant feeling that we are in a parade, being watched, being talked about, being talked to, etc.  Sometimes I just want to go out and have fun with my kids and not attract a bunch of attention.  Several blessings in that regard.... one, we just don't seem to make much of a scene here (at least within our apartment complex).  We still get plenty of attention, but it's not ridiculous. 

And, we've also stumbled upon a sweet little spot in our day.  Three days a week I get home from picking up the girls at school a little after 12, and almost no one is outside.  Everyone is either away at work or home eating lunch.  The girls eat at school, and Isaac and I grab something before we go get them.  So, put all that together and (when the weather is nice) me and my littles have the playground all to ourselves!  I sit in the sunshine or push Isaac on the swing or shop at Julianna's pretend store or eat Lydia's pretend fried rice  - and no one stops to ask me where we are from, or how old my kids are, or why I have so many, or why they aren't in school, or what my husband does, or how much our rent is, or how much it costs to fly to America, or .....

Granted, I often enjoy meeting new friends and it's fun to do that on the playground, but it's also good to have a time when we can be on the playground and just be us.  Speaking of, yesterday I met a young mom at the playground who told me "my husband says you are always doing laundry".  I laughed and agreed with her, I do spend a lot of time doing laundry! 

Our washer/dryer is on the enclosed back porch and easily visible to those walking by :)

So around here I am quickly becoming the "foreign lady whose kids love to watch chickens but doesn't know how to garden because she is always doing laundry".  I can work with that :)

I was once again without internet access for almost a week, hence the lack of blog posting :)  Yesterday I woke up with a fever, aches, chills, just yucky sick.  If only momma could call in sick for the day!  The girls were at school for the morning and I laid on the couch, half asleep, while Isaac played around me.  He would press his face close in to mine and say "Mommy, sit up".  But I couldn't. 

Later a friend took Isaac for a walk and I did manage to go get the girls at school.  I felt slightly better in the afternoon but by dinnertime I was beat.  I retreated back to my spot on the couch and Matt took over for the remainder of the day.  Today I am slightly better, and hopeful that the worst is behind me. 

So, that's the briefest update from here.  I'll plan to post more tomorrow. 

34 years

Monday we celebrated Matt's birthday.  It worked out perfectly that it was also his day off, and we haven't had much down time as a family... so enjoyable that by the end of the day I think everyone felt a little like it had been their birthday! 

The kids each worked hard on 'birthday posters' for Matt.  I suggested Julianna "draw things that Daddy likes" on the one she prepared and she chose strawberries, chocolate chip cookies and bicycles. 

Isaac has also started saying his first unprompted prayers - I mean choosing his own words and deciding what to pray for - and he often prays about "daddy's bicycle" and "riding in my seat on our dian dong che [electric bike]".  Monday afternoon Matt got the child seat re-installed on the back of his around-town bike (some of the parts went missing during the move so it took a while to get replacements) and Isaac was th-rilled to join Matt on the bike.  It made the evening's prayer :) 

However you chose to look at it, our kids know that their daddy loves bikes! 

For his birthday Matt wanted to go out exploring - with the family.  We loaded up and hit the highway, with just an inkling of a destination in mind.  About halfway in to these types of adventures I usually start to get really skeptical (and I did it again on Monday), but I will tell you this.... my man can find a good adventure :)  We ended up at a lake front resort-ish type place (think 10 bucks a night kind of 'resort') and went hiking, found a cave (Julianna still believes it belongs to a bear) and devoured a huge lunch. 

We were way under-dressed (it gets cold up there!) and opted out of the boat ride because I didn't think any of us could possibly stay warm out on the water.  But everyone's already talking about going back this summer to ride the boats. 

Monday evening we had some neighbor friends over for cake and more cake :)  And then again this evening we hosted a big dinner with a different set of neighbor friends.  It was the first really big meal I've cooked and served in our new apartment - lots of fun and only minimal amounts of stress :) 

Monday night was a group of 18 (9 adults and 9 kids) and tonight's crowd was 15 (11 adults and four children) and it's fun to have lots of people in our home again! 

Such a fun birthday!  I must admit I am mostly grateful that February is over.  It is definitely not a candidate for "best month of 2011" :)  Matt's birthday on the last day of the month was a great way to finish off a challenging group of weeks with a lot of fun. 

And I'm hopeful that March will be much smoother territory for our little family.