iphone photo dump

Enjoy a glimpse into our "everyday" life.

In April we stayed the night at our friends house so OJ and I could attend a church party. We put the kids down and a babysitter came over. Apparently while we were gone, Finley climbed out of her port a crib and couldn't get back in so she just went over and snuggled in with Graham.

Just another Saturday night in Dongguan. I've deemed Saturday nights as our "eating out" night.

This time we went for "hot pot". Which basically consists of you cooking your own food. I've heard some people call it "chinese fondue". You have a boiling pot of broth and spices and then you order what raw dishes you want to "cook". We had hu luo bo (carrots), jiao zi (dumplings), xi lan hua (broccoli), niu rou (beef), nan gua (pumpkin), mo gu (mushroom),  and mian tiao (noodles). We've gone before but this time Graham said, "Can we have hot pot every night?"

A morning at the park. Taking a break from the sun in the covered "elderly" exercise zone.

Finley working on her technique.

During free play time at preschool the kids decided they were a family traveling in their car. Graham is the "dad" and is driving in front and Virginia is the "mom" sitting in back. The brown squares the kids are sitting on are "car seats". Love, love, LOVE those imaginations at work. :) I was amazed how long they sat in their "car".

Me soaking wet after biking to go Visiting Teaching. I left one friends home and it started pouring and turned into a huge thunderstorm. I was drenched by the time I got to my other friends house. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Our mode of transportation when we aren't walking or biking. (Its rainy season here in DG)

I took this on the way home from church today. Finley was driving OJ crazy. She kept kicking him and putting her leg on him. He kept asking her to stop but she wouldn't so he tied her leg up. I looked back from the front seat to see this. Totally something OJ's older brother Tyler would do. :)

We originally had the preschool upstairs but decided to move it downstairs. This was mid-move. Graham wanted to help OJ so he put him on top to help screw something in. Graham was TERRIFIED and wouldn't budge. :) Meanwhile Finley was begging to be put up there.

The part of China that we live is not an especially beautiful place. (not that there aren't BEAUTIFUL places here...I just don't happen to live there.) Its interesting, yes. But pretty to look at? Hmmmm not so much. I never realized how much I "needed" beautiful natural surroundings. But when it disappears from your life you are very aware of how much you crave BLUE skies, FRESH air, TALL mountains.

In the last couple of months our city connected 3 large parks with a biking/walking/running path that circles all three. I think its about 6-7 miles. The best part is that one of the entrances is right by our home. Hurray!

In order for me to get to this entrance I run down "bar street" which is a street lined with bars/clubs/restaurants. Walking down that street in the morning is awful. It is so smelly and I have to jump over puddles of vomit left by nameless people who had too much fun the night before. In the past I would just have to keep running on streets like this. Full of funky smells and smoke. Not anymore! Now this is where I get to run.

And so we go on.

After the first 6 months of living abroad I was still waiting for the magical day when I would adapt, adjust to living in Hong Kong. Things got easier, no actually they didn't but I did acclimate I suppose. But in reality most of the time I felt like I was just surviving and waiting until this experience of ours was over. Until we could start life "for real". Four years later, here I am in China. Last year, I decided I was sick of waiting for our "real life". For all I knew this was/is our "real life" and I was wasting so much time  just surviving when all I wanted to do was live. Creating a new reality in my brain has been difficult and tedious. I had so many dreams/ambitions that I assumed would just happen.

This year I opened a preschool and a dance studio. Both I do from our home. This may seem like such a simple thing but for me it has been HUGE. Everything has taken so much time. From finding where to find mirrors to where to buy Elmers glue and construction paper. Its been hard work but so rewarding.

We are busy. But I feel like we are on our way to thriving instead of just surviving.

Our path has been different, so different from where I thought I would be. I still question it, especially when Graham can't remember some of his cousins, or when I feel so disconnected from friends and family at home. Or when a child pees on the street right where I am about to walk. Or when Finley just cries for her daddy and doesn't understand that he's in California and can't kiss her goodnight. Or when I go for a run in the park and think surely this pollution/second hand smoke will kill me one day. Or when I walk to 3 different stores to find the 1 ingredient I need for dinner only to have it gone in all stores.

But then there are really great moments like when I get to share what I believe. Or when we meet  a new friend from a different part of the world who teaches us something new.  Or when I see what the diversity is doing for Graham and Finley. Or when we get to travel some place new. Or when I take a step back and see how it has all changed me.

I feel the Lord's tender mercies pour over me.

This may have not been the path I wanted. Most of the time it feels like an exhausting hike up to the top.. . but, its mine and its the only life I've got.

And so we go on.

Dragon Fishers

 I'm loving 4 year old Graham. He's happy, kind, curious, sensitive, and oh so creative. Seriously the imagination is killing me. Where does it come from? The other day we were eating lunch and I gave both he and Finley some dragon fruit. He had been eating it for a few minutes when he calls to me.

"Mom? Where does dragon fruit come from?"

 (He's been really into understanding how different kinds of produce grow. We've been googling pictures so he can see how things grow on trees and in the ground.) Before I can answer him he goes on to say this....

"Do dragon fishers go in boats and catch the dragons? Then once the dragons have died and afterawhile then they turn white and they cut them up and that's how we have dragon fruit?"

First of all slightly morbid...

Second, aren't you impressed that he would be willing to eat what he just described?

Love my Graham.

Merry and Bright.

Most of you had just about given up on me ever blogging again. 

Here's a condensed version of our life the past 10 months. 

Month 1: move to Fremont, CA enjoy life in an extended stay hotel

Month 2: Go visit UTAH!

Month 3: Road trip back to Fremont to visit a lonely OJ, camping in the Redwoods

Month 4: The kids and I back to Utah, OJ off to China. Rehearse for Wizard of Oz.

Month 5: Still in Utah...perform Wizard of Oz. Thinking surely we will go back to China soon.

Month 6: Still in Utah...Plan to move back at the end of the month. 2 weeks before flight...stay in America extended another month.

Month 7: Move back to Fremont to be with OJ for a month before we fly to China. More extended-stay hotel fun (ants, a mouse, bed bugs.....GETMEOUTTAHERE) My sister surprises me with a trip to Fremont to see us one more time before we leave.

Month 8,9,10: Move back to Dongguan, China to our lovely new home, which we love. OJ has been busy with work. I have been busy with getting us settled, getting Graham in school, and of course the onslaught of holidays that greeted us upon our arrival.

Its been an interesting year, one that I didn't anticipate. It was wonderful to be able to spend so much time with family and friends...oh how we miss them when we are away. But we also missed being away from OJ. It was hard on all of us. But we learned once again that we can do hard things! It was nice to get back to China and unpack our suitcases for good and all be together under the same roof.

Enjoy some pictures from our Christmas season...

Our new house! Just renting....but, so nice to be in a place that has a garage and a backyard! We put a studio inside so that I can start teaching in the new year.

bedtime stories and cuddles before bed!

OJ and I were Christmas shopping and met some players/coaches from the China NBA. OJ was excited...even though we had no idea who they were. We ended up talking to one of the coaches in a shop for quite awhile. He played for the New York Knicks for awhile and then recruited for them. By the way he was talking we knew he was important....we just had no idea who he was :)

Sitting on Santa's lap at the branch Christmas party.

Sunday before Christmas in Hong Kong at our friends home.

Lots of dressing up. especially now there is a studio with mirrors. Finley could watch herself all day long. :)

Graham came down one morning dressed like this. A pirate hat, dinosaur tail, and a beard I made for the prophet Isaiah for sharing time. 

Our get-a-way trip with the Oaks family to The Hyatt in Dongguan.

After riding boats at the local park we passed tandem bikes that you could rent. They all came with a baby seat on the back. We jokingly thought it would be fun if only they had another seat. :)

All we had to do is ask and they rigged a basket on the front. Only in China...

If we weren't the freak show before we certainly were after we rode this around the park.

It was a fun day. We loved having OJ all to ourselves. We don't get to see him very often with his work schedule.

Finley Mei

Our Finley Mei turns 2 this Saturday. I'm feeling especially sentimental about it.

Finley is our spunky, sassy, smiley little girl. She can charm you in an instant and just as fast have you counting to ten. This girl wants to do EVERYTHING by herself. She has to put her clothes on, shoes on, open the door by herself, put the key card into the door by herself, push the elevator button, climb in the car, climb in her carseat, and buckle her car seat...ALL BY HERSELF. If she struggles she will try again and if you interrupt that trying with an offer for help.. she melts down. The girl has determination. I reminded an impatient OJ in the car this morning as we were driving to drop him off at work (he didn't anticipate that it would take 15 minutes to get to the car) , "We wanted our children to be independent right?"

Although Finley has babbled in her own language....She has recently exploded with a vocabulary we finally recognize. Our favorites are:

*Wadoo : Water (repeated over and over again until she gets a drink)

*Don: Don't

* Daddy (Since moving to CA she says it ALL day long)

*Guck: Stuck

*Sues: Shoes

* I do (while jabbing at herself in the chest. We obviously hear this one alot)

*Ook: Look

*Bee: Please

The list goes on. We will however miss our silent skilled communicator. Who was very good at letting us know exactly what she needed using only her finger, grunts, and facial expressions.

Our stubborn Fin has a soft spot in her heart for OJ. The girl loves her Daddy. She has a love/fight relationship with Graham. Man, does she know how to push his buttons. And she knows it! :) But oh how she loves him. Always stopping randomly to hug and kiss him and feed him. They are turning out to be quite the playmates.

And me? I'm just figuring her out as I go along. I love my Finley girl and loving this stage. So grateful for the life that she adds to our family.

Happy Birthday Finley Mei Mei!!

Bedtime Stories

Tonight as I was tucking Graham into bed we had the following conversation.
G: "Mom, do you think when Jesus comes back he will want to come here to see ME?"
Me: "Of course, he loves you so much."
G:"Will he still have his nails in his hands?"
Me: "No, he doesn't have the nails in his hands. Just the marks that show where they were."
G: "Why did he have those nails in his hands?"
Me: "Remember those wicked men put them in his hands because they didn't believe he was the Son of Heavenly Father."
G: "Yeah, he was like this (putting his arms straight out to his sides) and he had those other two guys that were by him."
Me. "Yes, he did."
G: "Mom, did you know that Jesus has light in him? He is so bright that I have to do this (puts his hand to his brow) Do you think he's really bright, or is he just a little bright? Why is he so bright?"
Me: "Well, he is perfect and pure and holy, which is probably why he is so bright."
G: "Mom, do you think Jesus likes us to talk about Him and His light?"
Me: Getting choked up as I explain to him that not everyone knows or understands who Jesus is and what he did for us. So of course He likes us to talk about Him and His light because everyone deserves to know who He is.


I think I have an old soul on my hands...I'm worried I'll run out of answers for him before he's five.