birthday girl: Becca

I know that every parent says that the time goes so fast, but I can hardly believe that my girl is 11. How did that happen?

I remember the week you were born, so ready for your arrival that I must have walked miles hoping to speed things along. After a week of contractions (and thinking you would never come), we welcomed you into the world in the middle of the night. While the world was still and quiet in those early hours we prayed for you and the path that your life would take. So thankful that we could help to guide and shape you as your parents. I must say, my sweet girl, that I so enjoy the young lady that you are becoming.

I love your sense of humor.

I love your enjoyment of nature. And your fearlessness with various critters. (though I don't think you got that from me)

Some sort of tropical beetle.  Thailand

Bali, Indonesia

I love your sense of adventure and how much you enjoy traveling. I love that it was one of your lifelong dreams at 4 years old to have your own passport.

One of the first trips where we saw your love of traveling emerge. We were in New York City and you (at 4) walked and walked, carrying your little backpack. You were so curious and wanted to see and experience EVERYTHING.

Tioman Island, Malaysia

But with your love of traveling, I love your cautiousness and even your travel stress.

At the Seoul airport making sure she is carrying no banned items. Even with all the flights we have been on, I love that you read the safety card every time we fly.

I love your sweetness and big heart for others.

Even your sister and brother.

I love how you are comfortable with who you are. You are not afraid to just be yourself.

I love your intelligence. But more importantly I love how you think and use that brain of yours.

Darling girl, it is a privilege to be your mama. One that I don't take lightly. I look forward to seeing you continue to grow and change over the next year.

Happy birthday, Becca. We love you.

spring break

The last two weeks the kids and I have been on spring break. I know 2 weeks seems like a crazy amount of time. But most of the breaks at the international school are 2 weeks. Because when people here travel, they take time to do it. Especially considering that when we go home, it requires a 12+ hour flight to do it. No weekend trips to grandma's house for us during spring break!

And since the Chinese holiday is only 2 days (meaning that Andy only gets those 2 days off), we were not going to be traveling anywhere. Instead our time was spent around Suzhou. I caught up on those little details that had been overlooked during my first couple weeks of work. I ordered our curriculum for homeschooling next year. Which Andy gave me grief for. "You have plenty of time" he tells me. True, but unlike other homeschoolers, if I decide midyear that I want something different, I can't just order it and have it delivered. I can't decided, oh this other book would be a great addition. I needed to know exactly what I wanted for the whole year. Knowing how busy I was when teaching, I didn't want this on my mind as well. And when we get back in the US, I just want to enjoy being with family and friends, not researching what curriculum I want to use. Wow, I guess I felt rather strongly about that?! I think I was just humored that my husband, the ultimate planner, was giving me, the impromptu queen, grief on one of those times when I am actually planning quite a ways ahead. I'll say no more.

And the rest of our time was spent around our neighborhood enjoying beautiful spring weather.

One afternoon, we went to the park around the corner from our neighborhood to rollerblade. The kids had to skate in the bike lane to get there.

Becca and one of her dear friends, Silje. We will be sad to see their family move back to Norway this summer. I know that I have said it before, but saying goodbye is a hard reality of life here. And probably one of my least favorite things about expat life.

While many Chinese parks don't have as much green space as those in the US, they do provide a great place for rollerblading.

Is there any wonder why we call her our force? (as in our force to be reckoned with)

Then yesterday, we took the train into Shanghai with some other families to the Science and Technology Museum. I got only a few pictures and they were not that great. Somehow, whenever we go to any museum I come home with memories and no pictures. True in the US and true here.

As we are winding down our break, I am already thinking to the future. Lesson plans for the rest of the school year for my class. Finishing up buying the curriculum. And while we have made a family rule that we don't countdown to summer until there is less than a month, I could tell you the days until we are back in the US.

69. . .  Just in case you were wondering.

teaching again

Sometimes timing just amazes me. We (and by that I am really meaning me) just finished gathering our paperwork and sent it off to the US. About a month ago, Eton House (the international school where our older two attend) asked me if I would be willing to substitute for the rest of the year. I said possibly, as I was in the thick of gathering all of our documents. And last week, I talked with the principal again about what they needed and then I started on Monday. The very next day after I started working, we sent all of the documents to the US. Coincidence? I think not. I love when you can see the hand of God working even those small details out perfectly.

I am teaching a class of 4 year olds. And wow, after almost a week in, I have a couple observations. First off, I think when I did this before I had more energy. Or less kids of my own. But wait, could those things be related?

And secondly, 4 year olds are darn cute. A couple of the girls in my class are tiny which just multiplies their cute factor exponentially. I have a thing about not showing pics of other people's kids here without their permission or would show you just how cute they all are. One challenge that I have never dealt with on this big of a scale is not a single child in my class is a native English speaker. I have had one or two ESL students, but not an entire class. In fact here it is not called ESL as we call it in the States, instead they call it EAL for English as an Additional Language. Not second, ADDITIONAL. Humbling, don't you think? If you walk into my room, you are likely to hear Korean, Japanese, Chinese, English, German or any mixture of the above. Makes for an interesting class dynamic. But surprisingly, I have not really needed a translator yet. I wish we could all learn language like 4 year olds do. One of my girls is Japanese, and speaks well in both English and Chinese as well her native Japanese. 3 languages at 4 years old. My Chinese is okay, but by no means fluent. There you have it, me humbled by a 4 year old.

I hope to keep updating you as our journey with the adoption progresses. And just life things. But I have to frank, right now I am just happy to get my family fed and a decent amount of sleep each night. I am sure that I will find my groove, but I am not there yet. So in the meantime if I am silent for a while, assume that all is well. Because if it wasn't, then I would blog. But for now, I need to get sleep so I can keep up with my new little munchkins.

sunday snapshot: {harbin}

Finally, I am posting about our trip to Harbin. The only excuse for not doing it sooner is this last month has been an absolute whirlwind. We all traveled to Harbin. We returned and had our home study. Two days later Andy left for Korea. Days after he got back, I left for Japan. But now we are back into our normal routines.

We had talked about going to Harbin for quite some time. But what stopped us before was . . . the bitter COLD.

We wanted our kids to be just a bit older before having them outside in -15°F for hours at a time. But every year, there is an Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin. Harbin is one of the most northerly cities in China and sits close to the border of Russia. It was cold, but we had so much fun! I had such a hard time limiting the pictures to share with you. I narrowed it down, but be warned there are still a lot!

We are on a river that is frozen solid. In fact, we saw cars driving on it! There are many things that we enjoy about China, but one of them is that our kids get to do things that would never be deemed safe in the US. Here we are on a sled-like thing and are propelling ourselves with what were essentially ice picks. As I watched them use them to get the sled to move, thoughts of "you'll poke your eye out" kept flitting through my head.

Andy on a 3 person sled with Becca and Josh. They got theirs moving so fast that it tipped over. Somehow my sled was lacking in speed.

As I was cautiously picking my way across the ice, my two daredevils preferred to run on the ice.

Or run, then slide. Andy wanted me to be clear that he is sliding not falling. I, however, did not slide I just fell. But thankfully, I had on so many layers that it only hurt a bit.

Becca enjoyed sliding on her stomach.

After the river, we ate dinner and made our way to the Ice Festival. And like all things in China, it was big and contained lots of lights.

The kids had so many layers on. I was determined that they would not be cold. Or lose a finger to frostbite. So they had on lots of layers. Think of the kid getting dressed in the Christmas Story and that is similar to what our kids were wearing.

Cinderella's castle. The people in front give you an idea of how big each of these structures were. They were made with blocks of ice and illuminated with lights from within. It seriously felt like a magical winter wonderland.

Can you notice a difference between the last picture of the kids and this one? In the previous one, they were bundled and here they are ready to shed layers. The difference?

Because in the time between the two pictures, they were all constant movement. Running and sliding on the snow and ice. Running and going down slides. And even in the freezing winter wonderland, they got hot! Hmm, maybe too many layers?

We came back the next day to enjoy the slides in the daytime.

Becca's favorite was this tubing run. We have limited pictures of us on it because we were having too much fun to stop and take photos. You can see the ice buildings in the background.

I watched as they were fixing some lights that burned out. I heard that this entire festival was set up in less than 20 days. Amazing. Only in China.

Tori taking a break from the slides. She was adorable in all of her layers.

Andy in front of a Harbin beer (ice) bottle. Just to give you a perspective on just how tall all of these structures were.

Our favorite slides were the ones that we got to race down. The kids developed a method of going down the slides that was the fastest way possible.

Later that evening we met up with friends from Suzhou and went back to the river. There T fulfilled a lifelong dream. . . ice skating.

We then went to a second smaller ice festival. I saw smaller because it was smaller than the one of the previous day, but it was still huge. This is after all China, where everything is bigger.

Enjoying time with friends in the ice world.

On our final day, we went to a tiger park. It is not a zoo, instead the tigers are in HUGE enclosures and you board a bus that takes you through the park. The park is well-known for their breeding program.

Disclaimer: These next shots are graphic. And while this is a natural part of the animal world, some would say it is cruel. Be warned.

This jeep drove up with a chicken on top. Before too long, a tiger approached. And understandably, the chicken got nervous.

The tiger pounced.

And there was no more chicken. It was surprisingly fast. Which is just a reminder to me that while these animals are beautiful, they are first and foremost wild animals.

And yes, it was gruesome. But there are parts of life that are not alway pretty. I think that we can want to make things perfect for our kids viewing. Even in zoos, the animals during feeding time are given slabs of meat. While I understand that, nature isn't always so neat. So while it isn't my fave of things to see, I honestly don't mind my kids seeing this.

We once again packed so much in that it is hard to believe that it was only 3 days. And now, I am not sure that we will travel again in China until we go and pick up our son. Which many of you have asked about. And the predominant question: where are you in the process?

Which is a really good question.

I *think* that we have finished our paperwork. [whew!] My next comments are not to discount anyone's process, but there is just an added complexity when doing it here. Andy is paid in RMB. We have bank accounts in both the US and China. We were requesting documents from the US. And have mailed things countless times back and forth from China. And don't get me started on the pain of getting anything notarized. We are sending a big packet of papers to our agency this week. And then?

We wait. But each step is one step closer.

Click below to view other Sunday snapshots.

Japan

What does the thought of Japan conjure in your mind? I think of Mt. Fuji, the rush and vibrant scene of Tokyo, and the history of Kyoto. But of course I saw none of those things on this trip.

Instead I saw some of this.

And quite a bit of this.

I think I saw some of the best.

I drove near Tokyo but spent most of my week doing things like this.

 
John is quite a mimic these days. And after only a couple days, he had picked up some of my expressions. Soon he was saying things like:

"What's that?"

"Cars are everywhere." (though the everywhere came out more like everwr)

Then after a questions: "Huh. . . (pause) . . . I donknow."

Okay really, who is making the better face here?

 I basically tagged along with Amree and was extra hands for her. I greatly enjoyed the time with her. But one special thing for me was the cooking class. She attends a monthly cooking class that several of her Japanese friends put on. They taught us to make three different dishes -- a soup, a pork with rice, and pickled turnips.

Making the pickled turnips. They had a slight lemon flavour and were SO good.

Breading the pork.

Is it me, or am I looking really tall here?

In fact, I look like a GIANT. 

 Table set and ready to eat.

But I will leave you with some more cuteness.

I had such a great time hanging out with John. He is a riot and continually cracks me up. I call this his casual pockets look. In fact, the bruise on his forehead is a casualty of casual pockets. He was running with his hands in his pockets and you can guess the result.

Carrying Cada in the snugglie brought back so many memories of doing the same with my kiddos. I kept calling the snugglie her baby Ambien because if she was fussy all it took was a dose of the snugglie and she would be out.

The week flew by. And while I would have loved to stay longer, I was missing my own kids something fierce. So I am glad that I went. And now I am glad to back.

home repairs ( the china version) and other ramblings

This is going to be a post where I ramble. So consider yourself warned.

Our house, particularly our kitchen seems to be always in need of repairs. Water leaks. The workers come and repair it. A month later water leaks from another spot. Again it is repaired. Last night as I was doing dishes, the water pressure got less and less until I barely had any water. I knew another repair was in our future. When the worker came today, he said that it was a BIG problem. (which often they say, so I don't always believe them)

When the worker had gone to buy parts, I came into the kitchen to find:

Uh, yeah. I think that would be a big problem.

But it is all fixed. For now. We shall see how long it is before I have to call the repairman again. There are times when I am just ready to move. But after completing our home study, we are here until we pick up our son. We will just continue to deal with those little problems. When thinking of re-doing our home study, the continual home repairs pale by comparison.

And now, I am looking forward to next week. Tuesday I am going to Japan. Just me. I can count the number of times that I have gotten on an airplane by myself on one hand. Granted our kids are traveling pros, but still to do it completely solo is an exciting thought. Just me. I could read. Or crochet. Can I say it again? I am traveling just me (in case you missed it). I am going to help out with our new little niece. And her 18-month-old big brother. Andy's brother is traveling to the US next week, so my visit is timely.

We think that we have made a decision regarding schooling for next year. With Tori entering elementary school, we had the decision to make of where to send her. Do we send her to a Chinese school? The international school? Home school? And so, I began the process of researching a couple months ago. There is a Chinese school near us that offers part of the day in English that we thought might be a potential. But the more we thought about it, we wondered if it would be good to keep all of our kids together at the same school now that T would be in elementary school. There were things that I liked at the Chinese school, but there was also a lot that I didn't like. If Becca attended, she would have evening classes. And there would be a lot more pressure (pressure to achieve and get ahead, this is an inherent part of most Chinese schools). Not to mention that the teaching style is much different (more rote versus learner directed). And where does the international school factor into this? We really like the education at the international school, but we just kept balking at the price of the international school for all three. One year at the international school for one child is more expensive than a year at a private college in the US. Is that really a wise use of resources? Somehow we just kept coming back to the idea of homeschooling. After much debate, we are strongly leaning towards home schooling. And yes, there are concerns with that as well. Social interaction being a big one. But overall, it just seems like the best choice. There are some other homeschooling families in our city. And after looking at various curriculum options, I am excited about teaching our kids. Which is funny because I never imagined being a homeschooling parent.

So there are many changes in store for us next year. Adding a new little one. Schooling. But at the same time, I feel confident that our family and more importantly our kids will take this in stride. At least we are not moving to a different country, right? 

Home study

Last Thursday we had our home study. At first when I thought about it, I wasn't really too worried. But then I got to thinking more. Of course all that thinking just prompted more worries. Our home is just not like a typical American home. How, you ask? First off, construction-wise it is just not built like an American home and therefore has some quirkiness. In our damp climate, we battle mold year-round (and sometimes we do not win). Our house is mostly constructed out of concrete. With no insulation. This makes our home somewhat drafty. We know and are used to it (hence the many layers we wear). And then to top it all off, we have an ayi -- househelp. I have heard stories about families here whose ayi was included in the home study report and then US Immigration wanted a slew of paperwork on her. Background checks, medical tests, the list goes on. Doesn't that just sound daunting?

Add to the fact that we would be hosting the two women that were coming and this was not going to be your normal visit. They stayed at a hotel, but we were their guides. I met them at the airport in Shanghai and we had the opportunity to talk on the van ride home. We made arrangements that they would come to our house for lunch the next day and we would talk in the afternoon. 

While having them here for lunch was just practical, I think that it set the tone for the entire visit. It was such a relaxed affair. For most of the study, we were on the couches having coffee and tea and just talking. Yes, they asked their tons of questions. But the tone settling over the whole day was one of comfort. In fact, one of the women said that she had never been that relaxed doing a home study.

After all their questions were done, we had the opportunity to get some of ours answered. Our agency is wonderful and has been very helpful, but there are some real limitations when you are operating on opposite time zones. It was so good to sit and just talk with them. And while I know that there is a child, our son in the future, with the myriad of paperwork, it can seem so distant. But talking with them about potential issues just made him seem real. I was describing it to a friend via email the other day that it is like when you are pregnant, but nothing has really changed. But then one day, there is movement and that baby is truly real. That was the home study for me, movement. A step in the right direction. A step closer to our son.

And now, we wait some more. We finally figured out the medical test issue and will have our tests tomorrow. But I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as far as paperwork goes.