a bunch of photos...finally!

doing the "tourist thing"

We've had another very full day here - having guests is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work :) But it is fun work, you know what I mean?

Our visitors have been doing the "tourist thing" today ... hitting all the hotspots in town. Julianna and I joined them for the morning and it was absolutely beautiful outside. We visited the "Minority Village". It's a teeny bit like Epcot - different areas of the park are constructed to portray the customs of various ethnic groups in our area of the country. It's really very nicely done and a neat way to learn about each group.

After lunch the group toured the western hills - I bet they got some great photos because the sky was really clear this afternoon. [I know I always promise photos but each evening when I sit down to update the blog, I realize that the camera is still out with the group.... sorry about that :)]

After our full morning, Julianna took a monster nap this afternoon and I got to enjoy some time with just Lydia. We finally got the CD of photos from her 6 month portraits and they turned out so good! Here is one of my favorites:


Tomorrow is our visitors' last day here in town... they head to Beijing tomorrow afternoon. Friday and Saturday they'll be seeing some of Beijing's highlights (Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City) and then they board a flight back to the U.S. Matt will join them for the Beijing tour, but I'm staying home with the girls. Dad is here for ten more days, so we'll have lots of fun together!

I really will do my best to get some photos posted to the blog - maybe even tomorrow morning??

What a day!

Well, our 6 visitors have had a very busy day - I haven't seen them at all. They started the morning with an early trip to the downtown area and a visit to a famous lake & park in the middle of town. From there it was off to a local elementary school for children of migrant workers (a very poor, very needy segment of the local population).

They finished at the elementary school in time to head back to the university campus and meet students for lunch. The afternoon was spent on campus, hanging out with students. Then, off to dinner and final preparations for the Easter party.

Last night was a blast - after dinner we sat around and visited. Our local friends asked the 6 guests to relate the strangest/most interesting/weirdest thing that they had seen so far. After not quite 48 hours in the country, they had seen a lot! One person was surprised by just how many people could squeeze onto one bus. Another commented that the traffic circle near their hotel seemed to be "optional".... in other words, if you wanted to drive around the circle, that was fine. But, if you prefered to ignore the circle and treat it like a normal intersection, choosing the path of least resistance between your current position and your goal direction, that was fine too! It was a fun night together.

The camera is out with Matt, getting photos of tonight's big Easter party, so this is a photo-less post. I'll put some on the blog tomorrow.

In other news, the girls and I had a great day here at home. I dug into the recesses of my brain to come up with yet-another Easter craft for Julianna to do. A old friend from last year came by to visit this afternoon and we all enjoyed some time outdoors. The weather has been incredible - sunny, highs about 70 and bright clear skies.

Tomorrow Julianna and I are joining the crew for an outing to some local tourist spots... Lydia will stay home for her traditional morning snooze. At lunch, Julianna and I will return home, while the 6 guys head on to a nearby mountain area with beautiful views over the city.

The week is passing so quickly. It has been a joy to have friends in town - they see our life here with "fresh" eyes, and it reminds me of the many wonderful aspects of living here. It had been months since I laughed at the way local drivers approach a traffic circle :)

teaching English

This morning our 6 visitors spent four hours teaching English!! Each class lasts 2 hours (with a break in the middle), so they taught two different groups of students. During the class time, they broke into small groups - to have more opportunities to interact with the students.

Here are a few photos:












After class they joined some students for lunch in the school cafeteria. Yum :) This afternoon they are meeting with Matt and planning for a big Easter party tomorrow night - they'll be inviting students who are interested in knowing more about Easter.

Dinner is here at our apartment - we've invited some of our local friends to join us..... it'll be 14 people and three kids! I have two crockpots full of chili and a bunch of baked potatoes, so no one should leave hungry :)

day one comes to a close

It's Sunday evening, and our first day with Dad and the crew from Raleigh is coming to a close - we had a great morning fellowshipping together at our apartment. We went out for lunch, then walked around town a bit. Matt and the guys headed over to campus while I stayed home with napping little girls.

After dinner with some students, everyone headed back to the hotel. My guess is that everyone will be sound asleep within an hour :) The first day with jet lag is always the hardest!

Tomorrow morning the crew is teaching in an English class for university students - a teacher has "loaned" her morning classes to the group. After class, they hope to eat lunch and hang out with some students.

I didn't get any photos today, but they all took plenty! I'll send the camera with Matt tomorrow morning and post some photos of the classroom and teaching experience.

they made it!!

All 6 guys are here - tired and looking forward to a good night's sleep. Matt and I just left them at their hotel... it's almost midnight, so we're headed to bed too.

Here they are at the airport with all the luggage

oh yeah, and the luggage. 12 pieces made it. Not bad. The missing piece was last seen in Beijing, so it will probably be here tomorrow. Who does it belong to? You guessed it - me!!

in Beijing

They made it! Dad called a few hours ago from the Beijing airport. All was well, but everyone was tired (he said the word "tired" about six times in our three minute conversation!). They should be tired, it's been over 24 hours since they first set out from RDU. But, they are almost here!

I am making cinnamon rolls (the dough is rising now) and Matt is busy helping me clean house. Company coming is not an every day occurrence around here - we've got to roll out the red carpet (or at least pick the toys up off the carpet, so that no one trips over a misplaced stuffed animal!)

We leave for the airport about 9:30 pm (a friend is coming over to stay with the girls, who are already sound asleep). We'll take the guys straight to their hotel and then Matt will pick them up in the morning to bring them here for breakfast.

I am taking the camera tonight, so I can capture their tired faces on film! I also want to get a photo of all their luggage - between the 6 of them they have 13 bags. At 50 lbs each, that's 650 lbs of luggage! They are bringing in TONS of stuff for folks here in town (including yours truly, who sent her mom on a mammoth Target shopping trip last weekend).

still travelling

I'm planning to take a break from my typical blogging topics for the next week. My dad and five of our friends from Raleigh are on their way to visit us - and I hope to provide lots of updates! [If you are here for lots of news on the little girls, I'll make sure to throw in a few tidbits about them too!]

The group left RDU at 7am EST (8pm Friday night our time). It is now 9 am Saturday morning, and they are just about half-way here! I got an email from Dad while he was in Chicago and all was well. They should be landing in Beijing at 4 this afternoon (so they have about 7 hours left on the long leg of the journey). After they get through customs and immigration and to boarding area for their domestic flight, Dad hopes to call and update me on their journey.

If the travelers are big movie watchers, they are probably on their 3rd film by this point! The plane they are on will have individual screens for each passenger, and the passenger can choose when to start/stop/pause/fast forward/rewind movies from a list of about 50 different films, tv shows and programs. Before kids, I could finish a 500 page novel on one trans-pacific flight. With kids, I'm lucky if I get to finish one entire movie!

My mom, on the other hand, went to visit my brother Stephen and Jenn in Panama City. She left at the same time as Dad and his friends but she is already there! Maybe Matt and I should consider a transfer to Central America??

Check back in later, I will definitely post if the guys call from Beijing.

getting ready for Easter

My friend Kelli moved home last year and left behind her Easter stuff for our family to enjoy - we've had a great time digging in to the goodies. The loot included two decks of Easter egg-shaped playing cards. I figured my little girls were a few years away from knowing how to play cards, so we've been coming up with creative "alternative" uses for the cards and turning them into craft supplies.

The first night Julianna and I hung the cards on the girls' bedroom door. (yes, in Julianna's book, scotch tape + easter egg shaped playing cards = craft!)


Then, on Tuesday morning, we made an Easter poster using LOTS of glue, a few stickers, and the playing cards.


Here she is with the finished project! We hung it on the inside of our front door.


Yesterday we made "easter necklaces" using the Easter egg playing cards, dried noodles and yarn.

Julianna asks every day to "do an Easter craft"... with 16 days left to go, I'm going to need a few more bursts of creativity to come up with something new to do each day!

baby Callie joins the mix

Our friends Anita and Jeremy just got back to Asia after a few months away... and they brought their new baby girl with them!! Callie is exactly 2 years and 2 days younger than Julianna and she's the newest addition to our little girls club. Anita and Callie came to visit today, and Alisa & Kayleigh came too. It was pretty crazy at times, but we had so much fun :)

Check out this cute picture! Don't you think Anita was brave to let Julianna and Kayleigh "hold" baby Callie?? That's Emma Grace on the right, checking out the baby. And, of course, wide-eyed Lydia, so proud to be sitting on her own.

just like my big sister

Lydia already shows signs of wanting to be just like her big sister... her favorite toys are not necessarily age-appropriate rattles and such. Nope, she wants the same things her big sister is playing with. One of her favorite things to chew on is this pot (part of Julianna's kitchen set).


Julianna usually doesn't mind sharing, but there are a few things that she won't let Lydia get close to. Top on Julianna's list of "things Lydia should never touch" is her stuffed panda, Jing Jing. If Lydia even gets close to touching Jing Jing Julianna cries out, "oh no, Jing Jing BE CAREFUL" as she runs over to snatch Jing Jing out of harm's way!

I should definitely mention here that the quilt hanging on the wall behind Lydia in this photo was HAND MADE by my college roommate, Leslie, as a gift when Julianna was born. It hangs on the wall over Julianna's bed. Here's a better photo....

What a special gift!

out and about

The girls and I love to get outside and hit the town. These photos are from this past Saturday afternoon when I managed to tote the camera - it's no easy feat getting the girls down the stairs and loaded up for a walk, so things like the camera are frequently abandoned in my effort to get out the door!

Here they are in front of our stairwell entrance - we live on the fourth floor (no elevator!). The stroller is my "minivan"... my friend Tamara graciously brought it from Austin, TX to Chiang Mai, Thailand in January.


The entrance to our complex - you can't see our building in this photo, it is off to the left of the main courtyard.



Julianna loves to stop and ride toys like this.. depending on where we stop, each ride costs between 4 and 6 cents. What a deal!



While Julianna rides Lydia hangs out in the stroller and attracts a crowd of admirers!

We live in a smaller "suburb" of a much larger city - our little town has one main street and very little traffic. I usually just choose to walk with the stroller in the road because there are so few cars. It's a terrific place for the girls, even though there are certainly some inconveniences too -

where is it my elbow?

When Julianna asks a "where?" question she usually phrases it, "where is it ______ (insert noun of choice)?" Today, she was asking, "where is it my elbow?" Unfortunately, the circumstances weren't too fun. Last night (Saturday) she dislocated her elbow. We now realize this is actually the second time it has happened - the first was in the Bangkok airport last month, and it popped back into place on its own. Anyways, it hurts a lot when it happens, but then the pain subsides.. she just refuses to use that arm.

She's a bit of a drama queen with things like this, and wasn't complaining too much about it, so she went to bed and Matt and I decided we'd wait and see if she kept complaining in the morning. Sure enough, this morning when she woke up she winced if you touched her arm.

There are two western pediatricians in town (they work at the same "practice" where I see a general practitioner when I am pregnant). They are here to work with the local indigent population, but also see western families. Both of them go to the international church and we consider them family friends. So, this morning we called Dr. John (as Julianna refers to him) and described the situation. He said, "sounds like a dislocated elbow... I"ll fix it at church this morning" And he did, no problem. Julianna fussed a bit, but was brave, and as soon as it was over, she calmed down and headed to Sunday school.

Since it has happened twice in the past month, Dr. John told us it might happen again, so he taught us how to pop it back in place. Yeah, right. I'm not sure I'm up for that! But, Matt listened attentively :)

Matt and I are looking forward to a quiet evening around here - life has been quite full recently. The good news is that the potential trip for this upcoming week has been moved to the end of the month, so no travel ahead :)

bananas and rice cereal

Lydia, who started rice cereal two days ago, has added another food to her rapidly expanding repertoire! (Afterall, before Thursday, she'd only eaten one thing in her entire life - now she's up to three!) Since I was already toting the camera this morning (see next post), I snapped some photos at lunch.


Eating bananas is serious business!



Yummy!


Now, if she can just get that spoon turned around, she'll be well on the way to figuring out how to feed herself!

just like mommy

When Julianna grows up she wants to be ME!! In preparation, she follows me around all day long. Welcome to life with a busy, inquisitive shadow!! Today I carried the camera along and snapped some photos...

First things first, gotta put on your slippers to keep your feet warm (yep, she's got them on the wrong feet) -

Everyone needs a little chapstick sometimes -


Time to floss your teeth -

Getting ready to marinate the chicken for tonight's dinner (that's cayenne pepper she's holding) -

I just wish she'd pitch in a bit more with laundry and house cleaning - then I'd be set! I need to figure out how to put my shadow to work!