a few last things from our Asia home

Before I get too carried away recording our earliest weeks in America I need to post a few last photos from our Asia home.

Both girls sewed tons in our final weeks - Julianna made this quilt (and also the dress she is wearing) and Lydia made drawstring bags (most of which she sold!)

Monday morning was the boys' last day of preschool and quite possibly the last day of preschool for our family, ever... unless we enroll the boys for a few brief months next spring?  I was glad Matt was home for this event, and he even took the boys to breakfast on the way.

and took a picture of each boy with their main teacher.

Later that afternoon Matt and I snuck in a date (thanks to a friend who offered "is there anything I can do to help you get ready?"). The skies were crazy blue and we got in some good conversation (after two back-to-back trips I was ready to talk to my man!)

Tuesday at noon we said goodbye to Ayi, the lady who keeps our home floating and my sanity in tact!  She will be working for us when we return (I hope!) but fewer hours.  She's been with us since I was pregnant with Luke, a tremendous help and blessing!

And that evening, a final goodbye from our neighbor Alice who teaches the girls piano and babysits on occasion and loves to bring us fruit :) She recently returned from the far northwestern reaches of the country and - as always - brought gifts!

And then it was bedtime, and off to the airport, and the other side of the world.

airport bound!

Tomorrow morning we are off to the airport.  If all goes well this will be our shortest trip ever!  With a new direct route from our city to San Fran, we can get to RDU in just two planes.  It seems crazy to me, and the layover is short (so nothing is guaranteed) but we could be in Raleigh less than 24 hours after we leave our apartment.  Craaaazzzzyyyy!

Til the other side!

what a week!

Well we are in the final countdown till takeoff.  Mostly what that means is I need to start moving some things into suitcases! ha!  I've got two bags of winter clothing packed.  And 1.5 bags of gifts and other things we are bringing back for people.  But .... there are more duffels in my future.  Tomorrow (Monday) morning is the big day for that task!  It'll be my little boys last morning at school and I've prepped my big kids that we are working hard and fast and long to strike while the iron is hot (i.e. to put stuff in bags while the not-so-helpful-always-underfoot little two are gone for three hours!)

Big events from this week?  We said goodbye to Daddy who headed high up into the mountains on a long anticipated backpacking trip.  He had a blast and is on his way home and I'm eager to get more pics and stories from him!

We've enjoyed some slow quiet days at home.... loads of games and books and asking for snacks. ha! Also, this has been a huge gift for us this summer - the Art for Kids Hub youtube channel.  All 5 of mine are loving these little mini drawing lessons.

I stumbled across this one morning and have been nothing but impressed.  Lydia draws the Eiffel Tower, Luke draws a hippo, Isaac draws R2D2 and there is often some combination of kids gathered around to attempt another art project.  Seriously I would estimate we have watched almost 30 different videos!


another highlight?  A huge Summer Solstice ice cream sundae pool party!

Lots of good friends in this photo - and folks we will miss dearly.  And speaking of missing, we have said so so many goodbyes.

at the bowling alley...

and friends' houses

outdoor restaurants

and beside panda statues :)

So many necks to hug and tears to dry.

also, so many curbs to sit on :)


I'm headed out for a walk with a friend, Matt is driving downhill (hoping to be here around dinnertime).  2.5 more days til wheels are up, headed east!

Father's Day

Literally just in from the airport (landed at 2am) and he is playing cards with the kids before heading off to the morning meeting (where he shared the message) ... not much slows this man down! (though he will be in bed early tonight I bet!).  We all miss him when he is gone but Luke definitely the most of all the kids - he was in our room at 7am saying "Daddy, Daddy, you came back, you're back, Daddy"!

We worked on this little project while he was gone and they were so proud to show their Daddy their gift. (check out Luke's smile - little man lights up a room!)

Telling him all about it...

And a posed photo too!

[these posed photos pay off when I need a few shots to fill the frame!]

Then we were off for the morning, and to lunch, and came home to a powerless house.  I'm not sure when the power went out but when we arrived at 2:30 my crockpot was barely warm..... and the power stayed off and stayed off and stayed off and I gave up on dinner and was so thankful that today wasn't too hot and then after dinner (which we ordered in, put the crockpot in the fridge for tomorrow!) we went out for ice cream. Which is pretty much the perfect way to cap off a day celebrating Matt because he LOVES ice cream!

We went for an extra long walk (because why go home?) and then Matt and the big kids played yet another game! ha!  These kids play games all day long and they are so blessed to have a Daddy who will get into some strategy games with them (especially at 8pm because I am often checking out... I can read aloud but I'm not going to be playing too many games until 9! ha!)

And then - yay! - while they were playing Ticket To Ride the power came on and I hustled around the apartment turning off random lights and turning on different lights and turning on a few AC units to help cool the bedrooms down.  I think the one appliance I missed most in the evening was the wi-fi router!  I like the quiet of a dark house but I was wanting to download a book and also write a blog post.  [Matt and the kids pulled the game closest to the window in the girls room - which has fewer trees blocking the light - and it worked just fine.]

warrior day

Day two in Xian and we headed straight to the terra-cotta warriors.  This is the big name attraction in Xian, and for good reason.

An entire underground army, built to protect Emperor Qin She Huang in his afterlife (back in 200 AD).

We hired a guide to help all of us (even the adults) understand all that we were seeing and he was amazing.  Matt is a bit of a Chinese history junkie, but this guide had all the facts.  It was such a treat to hear from him, and he did a great job engaging the kids too.

This army is so impressive, each warrior unique - facial features, shoes, armor, everything.

And if his guided explanations of everything we were seeing wasn't enough, he took us to a nearby factory where they make warrior replicas, and each kid got to make their own, with locally harvested clay and it was so cool.

This was the perfect way to cement (ha!) all that we had learned and the kids came home with their hand-made replicas, talking warrior talk the entire way!

Late afternoon we headed to the Drum Tower.  It is beautiful!

We asked the kids to give us their "I'm so tired of seeing tourist-y sights" faces :)

You could title this "Authenticity: Bored of Chinese history at the Drum Tower in Xian"

We attacked the boredom with noodles for dinner...

and kites to fly in a windy plaza.

The kids ran and played and the air crisped up (after a hot hot day) and this was just a sweet moment in the fading light of day and as our last night on the road.

We loaded the van early the next morning and turned south, towards home.  It wasn't our smoothest journey (terrible traffic getting out of town, and the interstate closed because of a wreck), but home is home and it was an incredible trip!

next biggie?  a trans-pacific flight coming up in less than two weeks!

traveling Xian

Xian is a big time tourist destination in China, home of the terra-cotta warriors and an ancient city wall. And it was the perfect way to relax as a family after two emotionally draining days.  But first, we had to get there :)

We woke to the most beautiful skies we had seen the entire trip and hit the highway.

Welcome to Shaanxi!  We drove all morning and finally arrived about 2pm.

Lunch and checked in to a hotel and walked to the city wall, bought our tickets and went up for a walk around the top (it's 14 km all the way around - this is serious wall!)

We tried our best to look serious too.

And bought weapon souvenirs to help with the total effect.

No weapons for us ladies, but Julianna did buy a purse - ha!

I'll go anywhere with this man.  anywhere.

About 5 pm we left the wall behind and headed to the Bell Tower area (behind Matt and I in the pic above), and then on to Muslim quarter for dinner.

Whew!  Another big day on the books.

one thousand stories *part 4*

First things first on Monday morning, a family picture.

Foster mama, her daughter in law and me :)

We drove into "town" to pick up a few things for lunch.  John Paul started this day so much more confident and at ease!  He trotted into her courtyard like he owned the place and headed straight to the water pump.  At the store he was "helping" foster mama carry her goods and get them to the checkout lady.

We also visited the electric motor scooter shop that her son owns (located right across from the store - it's a very small town).

Back at home and cooking again.  This was one of my favorite moments of Monday - four of our kids and one granddaughter were playing UNO in the bedroom and I went looking for John Paul.  He was in the kitchen with foster mama, just the two of them.

And here she is, keeping him as safe as possible while he plays with the fire!

At lunch with Zhao Ya Hui

And another highlight, though filled with lots and lots of tears.  I showed them all the pictures I have of John Paul before we got him (not many - only about 7).  She was in most of them!  And I now recognize the background in all these pictures... "oh that's beside your house" "oh that one is taken right here in this room".

And then we looked at the pictures of the day we got him (also the day she said goodbye).  He was picked up by the lady who coordinates foster care for the orphanage at 6am that morning, drove the hours Zhengzhou and met us about 10:30.  She gave him his last bath, dressed him in those clothes, bought him those shoes.

How she ever pried him out of her arms and placed him into the arms of a stranger and sent him off to meet us is beyond me.  But she did.  And going back to see her and honor her and thank her was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

our last weeks

[I plan to finish my stories from our trip last week, but in the meantime I'm getting behind on other big happenings.... or maybe little happenings?  But I don't want them to get lost, so here they are!]

We only have two weeks until we fly, two weeks to say a half-year goodbye to the life and people we love so much.  As our children grow I can see that the physical demands of preparing to move across the ocean are definitely decreasing (the travel just gets easier, my carryon doesn't weigh 15 pounds, our suitcases are mostly just clothing, not the 1001 things that babies and toddlers "need").  But the emotional demands of taking 5 little hearts across the ocean are increasing... difficult goodbyes here, and lots of relational unknowns ahead make for some rough sailing waters.  Oh that I could use these days well.

Added challenge: Matt has two big trips before we leave (one for work, one for fun), so it's a lot of solo parenting around here.

Right before we left on our trip we said our first hard goodbyes.

Julianna, Hailey, Madison

Sydney and Lydia

These Todd girls are big blessings to our whole family!  so grateful for good friends

Over the weekend was plenty hot and perfect pool weather.  Me and my little friends "twinning" at the pool :)

With no homeschool and relaxed days we are finding lots of fun (and I'm finding lots of ways to avoid the packing challenge looming on the horizon!)

Watching how-to art videos...

and sewing projects (that even Isaac will try)

Julianna cutting out pieces for a quilt and Lydia becoming a pro at making draw string bags.

So, that's that.  Last night we went bowling, today we are off to a friend's for dinner.  Matt leaves tomorrow for trip #1 and I'm going to start making some to-do lists - ha!