Where are we?

Where are we? Why no new posts? Well....

Blogger is not letting me post any pictures. And this is the first text to successfully load after many, many attempts! I am beyond frustrated!

I keep my photos updated on Facebook. So if it's photos you are after check me out on Facebook.

I am sorry to those of you that like to see blog posts often. I just don't know what else to do!

What's New?

What's New? Not so much really. Time has been passing here with no major excitement. Just good days for the most part. Which, on reflection, is probably a blessing!

We have been spending time with friends here, old and new. Recently, we met a couple with a son Maddox's age that lived 10 minutes from us in Kalamazoo, MI. They both went to Western and we know some of the same people though we never knew each other before now. Such a small world sometimes! We really looking forward to spending more time with Chris, Becky & Carter. They love to play games as much as we do so it will be nice to have some "game buddies."

We also spend time (almost) weekly with our Dutch friends Pieter & Michele. They have 2 kiddos. Their son, Jesse (pronounced Yes-Uh) who is Gabes age and a little girl Eve (pronounced Eh-V) who is a bit younger than Maddox. They are probably Gabe and Maddox's best play buddies. They live only two apartment buildings away so we meet them often out on the playground for some fun! We always love getting together with them.

The afore mentioned buddies. Gabe, Jesse, Eve & Maddox. Getting clean after BBQ with friends.


The Boys: Gabe is still loving school and making lots of friends. He is very tired when he comes home each day and on the verge of a melt-down. But mostly the melt-downs don't materialize. And we really feel the benefits of him being there far out weigh the frustrations of a tired kid. We are glad he is so happy! And Maddox is adjusting well to being an "only" child during the days. It was tough for him initially. We enrolled him in a Fine Arts learning academy. He only goes a couple times a week but he has been having the best time in his Story Smart class and Arts and Crafts class! It is a very hands on program for the little ones. He has made some really creative large pieces of art work which he loves showing off to anyone who will look. Overall the boys are both doing fantastic!

As for me: I have been getting together weekly with my closest friend here, Amy for some prayer time. It has been such a blessing! I am amazed, though I truly shouldn't be because I know how good God is, the difference this weekly prayer time with a sister has made in my life!!! It is wonderful to have someone to regularly share my frustrations, feelings, and triumphs with that can relate as a christian woman and then pray with me. I think everyone needs that kind of person in their lives. Both men and women. I love knowing that I can share things with Michael and he will pray for me as well. But recently I have been truly feeling the blessings of Him providing a fellow sister for me to pray with. Thank you Amy!!!! In other news, I have been having a steady stream of stomach issues for the past three weeks or so. Those of you who know me well know that stomach issues are common place for me. Unfortunately, the recent problems are way, way worse than usual. So I am really praying that I will have little or even NO problems on the long flight tomorrow. That would be awful! :-(

And as for Michael: He is working harder than ever! Things are crazy around here almost always, so he is used to that. But as I am sure many of you could say about your jobs, it seems like as soon as he gets one "fire" put out another flares up. He is also having major back problems! It is really, really bad. And long periods of sitting down are absolute torture for him. I am very worried for him. Especially about the flight tomorrow. He saw several physicians in Michigan before we moved and the diagnosis was that he has a serious condition but not serious for surgery...yet. Medication gives him little relief. Though he is amazing, he never complains! But I know he is suffering. We are just not sure what to do now. Anyone have any suggestions?


Many have asked what was this presidential campaign like for us. Being out of the country and all. My answer...a blessing! Not having to deal with it as much as those of you back in the States we nice. Don't get me wrong, it got plenty of coverage here. Just on a much smaller scale. And I can say what we did get was very biased!! (Just like I hear it was in the States as well.) So, like the rest of you, we will watch, wait and pray for our new leader. And be comforted by the fact that a higher power is truly in control! I have been very comforted by this passage recently..."Praise the name of God forever and ever, for He has all the wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events; He removes kings and sets up other kings." -Daniel 2:20 & 21


Finally, we leave tomorrow for our trip back to the States. My little sister is getting married in a week and a half so we are going to be there for that. Then stay trough Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to seeing everyone but NOT the 14 hour flight! So please pray if you can for all of our sanity! And perhaps for the people sitting around us as well. :-)

Hong Kong 2

If you are confused, read the entry below this one.

City street.

A meat stall along one city street.

Chicken before.

Chicken after.

Pigs...or what is left of them anyway. Lying of the bare floor of the restaurant just waiting to become someone's lunch.

Not sure if they were selling fans or just really worried about getting too hot.

For dinner on Sunday night my doctor recommended that we take a boat ride (about 45 minutes) to one of the small islands. Once we got there he said to just pick a direction, right or left, and walk until we found a restaurant that suited our fancy. He also said we would have some of the best seafood of our lives at whichever, quite literally, hole in the wall place we decided to eat. So, we did. It was storming really bad when we went and so the boat ride was, well, let's just say the people around us were losing their lunch. Thankfully, Michael and I don't get sea sick. So we thought the 10 foot waves slapping into the side of the boat and the boat flying up into the air and crashing down was GREAT! When we got to the island we decided to walk left. Walking slowly because of the rain, we passed many places to eat. How and why we ended up picking the one we did I don't know. Though, Michael says the fact that they were throwing out some English words, tying to tempt us in to their place, was what decided it for him. Those words consisted in their entirety of, "eat....you....here." Slightly concerned as to if they wanted to eat us or wanted us to eat there we braved it anyway. We ended eating along the docks (if you could call them that) sitting under a leaky tin roof with tarps for walls in what felt like 20 mile per hour winds and rain eating the best seafood of our lives! This from a girl who does not like seafood!!! As you can see from the picture below they had done a good job of making up for the bad weather with lots of lights and bright colors. Honestly, even in pain, this was some of the best fun and food I have ever had. I was having a hard time eating my deep fried spicy crabs, because of my tooth and because I have never eaten crab before. So after a few minutes of the entire wait staff of women laughing at me one of them took pity on me and came over to our table and spent the next 20 minutes getting my meat out of the shells for me...while the rest of them just stood there and laughed at me. Michael ate some scallops which he also said were the best he has ever had. This kind of thing, totally unknown adventures, is what we LOVE about living in a different culture! You never know what is going to happen.

A view of "Hong Kong Island" at night from our much less exciting boat ride back. The major storms had passed by then. :-(

Random tree. Michel and I just thought the root system was interesting. We saw several of these growing. A few were even growing on the sides of hills with the massive root system cascading down. Wish I had been able to get a pic of that.

Close up.

Hong Kong

I had been having wisdom tooth issues for a couple of months when it finally got to an "emergent" state and I was shipped off to Hong Kong where there were Oral Surgeons who could fix me. I had seen 3 different doctors all here who said that nothing could be done in Shanghai. It is not at all uncommon when a complex medical situation arises here (Shanghai) for a foreigner to have to go to Hong Kong where better treatment is available. But for us, they (a company called SOS that specializes in helping foreigners in emergencies) decided that because of my problem that I needed to go to Hong Kong immediately. Like the same day! (Thursday) What could have turned into a logistical nightmare, like deciding what to do with the boys, we ended up being SOOOOO blessed!

We did not want to take the boys with us because we were not sure what to expect once we got to Hong Kong. And we were not sure how long we were going to be there. SOS told me it could just be overnight or up to 4 days depending on what the doctor said. But, it is such a blessing that our friends Bill & Judi Bates live close by and were able to come literally last minute and spend a few days watching the boys for us. We know Bill & Judi from Alabama. They used to live and attend church where we did. They are such great family friends and the boys feel comfortable with them. We ended up being in Hong Kong one day longer than we had hoped so another close friend, Amy Canfield (who happens to be Bill & Judi's daughter) came with her kiddos and stayed with the boys the last night. All I can say is that we owe all of them HUGE THANKS!!!! It was wonderful to know the boys were in good hands while we were away. It made the whole thing much less stressful. Thanks Bill, Judi, Amy!

Because I had a some pain and anesthesia issues my doc recommended we fly back on Monday. (We left here Thursday afternoon and got back Monday late afternoon.) Dr. Carter took out my lower left wisdom tooth on Friday, which was nasty infected and impacted into my jaw. Then Michael and I spent the next 2 1/2 day cooped up in the hotel room. I hate to admit it but I was totally pathetic! It was awful and I felt horrible! But truthfully, I think Michael had it the worst. Dealing with me! Bringing me soup, water, drugs, etc... Poor thing!! He deserves to be husband of the year in my book!

On Sunday afternoon I decided I had had enough of the hotel room and I was going out sightseeing even if it killed me. So I took my pain pills and my chipmunk face out to see the sights. We were only out for an afternoon and early evening and unfortunately it was raining for almost all of that time! But, I have to say what we did see was absolutely amazing!!!!!! We loved Hong Kong! I hope to be able to go for a proper visit soon. I took tons of pictures. I was determined to get the most out of my few hours. Below are some of the better ones.

But first, so you won't just think I was making the whole tooth thing up when you see all of my tourist photos....
ME

MY TOOTH

A view of the city from "Victoria Peak." Hong Kong is made up of one larger island "Hong Kong Island", some land attached to the mainland China, and a smattering of tiny islands. We were on "Hong Kong Island" for most of our trip and when we took most of these photos. Hong Kong is very, very hilly. Some might even say mountainous. And the roads are all very narrow and take sharp turns. It is kind of like what I envision parts of San Francisco to be like. That is what we were told to compare it to anyway. Again, it was an amazing and beautiful place. Our pictures do not even come close to doing it justice.

Another view from "Victoria Peak."

A view of "Hong Kong Island" from a boat in the Bay.


Ok!! I have had enough! I have been trying all day to load more pictures. To no avail. So that is it for now. I am tired of trying. I have a few more really great pictures. I will try again soon to get them up.

Big And Small, God Made Them All

I know this happened a decent while ago but I was looking through my photos and remembered that I wanted to post some from our trip to the St. Louis Zoo. When we were on our way back to Alabama from visiting family in Missouri (this past July) I convinced Michael that we needed to make a family trip to the zoo. He was unsure at first because it just extended our travel time. But in the long run we both ended up being really glad that we decided to make the trip. The St. Louis Zoo is absolutely fantastic! It has some of the best exhibits I have ever seen. We had such a great time with the boys seeing all of animals God made. The big and the small.






Besides the animals we had a bit of excitement on our zoo visit. About halfway through the day Gabe wiped out on some loose gravel and banged up one of his knees and the palms of his hands. While the injuries were not too serious, they did need some kind of cleaning and a band-aid. And of corse, I had neither. So we consulted our map and decided to make a quick detour to the first aid station. As (bad) luck would have it we were near the entrance of the zoo and the first aid station was all the way at the back. We took a crying and screaming Gabe (see previous posts about bravery) through the zoo as quickly as possible. (By the time we got there we were all super hot and really sweaty. We looked like we all needed medical attention I am sure.) Going by the map I entered the building I thought was the first aid station only to find it was the break room for the off duty train drivers. Seeing a red faced, sweaty woman walk into their room surprised them but when I asked for a band-aid they all jumped to their feet. Half of them charged out of the building looking for a major injury and the other half got on the walkie-talkie system shouting for medial backup. I kept saying, "Where is the first aid office? I just need a band-aid." Within seconds three golf carts carrying medial personnel and all kinds of medical equipment screeched to a stop right in front of us. All the men charged off the carts and began looking for the medial catastrophe. Boy were they going to be disappointed!!! Confusion on their faces, they turned to us asking if we knew where the emergency was. Michael and I just sighed and pointed to the puny Gabe. As comprehension spread amongst the group, all but one of the carts pulled away. Then a couple of medics and the manager of safety for the entire zoo were left to deal with a scraped up knee and hands. As it turns out, the first aid station WAS by the entrance to the zoo. (Very near where we were when the "injury" occurred.) But the map had it at the back of the zoo because the first aid station was due to be relocated there next week! Despite the trauma Gabe felt he had suffered, which we were sympathetic to, the entire thing was so very, very funny! Here is a picture of the banged up Gabe and the men who, as he said, "Saved my life!"

Everybody Was Kung Fu Partying

It was the Big 3 for Maddox this past week so we celebrated in style......Kung Fu style! We had about 25 friends over to celebrate and it was a blast. The children and the grown-ups both really had a good time. As you have probably figured out by now, the theme was "Kung Fu Panda." We had the movie playing on the big screen, Kung Fu Panda inspired activities, lunch, and the ultimate Kung Fu Panda party finale, a legion of Panda cupcakes. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Table centerpiece. I made all of the little take out boxes myself. They were each filled with little prizes and candy for Maddox's friends to take as party favors.

"The Tang Warriors" Tang means sugar in Chinese. That is what my legion of pandas was nicknamed.

A close up.

Blow!

Friends!

Even more friends!

Opening the gifts with the "help" of many friends. He didn't mind the "help" at all. He is so sweet like that!

Getting more "help."

Checking out a new toy. I have to say, this one was the hit of the party. It's an electronic spider that hangs on the wall. The spider drops from its web on a string and then begins to climb back up the string to the web. And you have to shoot it with a little laser gun enough times to "kill" it before it gets to the web. I was a little unsure of what to think initially. But then I remembered, I hate spiders. So why not kill it!?! Actually, it sounds a lot worse than it is. It's really quite fun! And the kids loved it!!!

Maddox post party. I think he had finally come off the sugar high.

DAY 1

Today was the day! Gabe's first day of "big boy school" as he calls it. He will be going Monday-Friday all day. Let me just say he was SUPER excited!!! So much so that he didn't even look back or say goodbye to me when I dropped him off! I had to make him come and give me hug and kiss goodbye. I guess that is a good thing though. Better to have me sad then him.

Eating breakfast. Pancakes and yoghurt.

Getting ready to ride with Mom on her bike. Maybe next week he can ride his own. (Supervised of course!) School is only 4 blocks away!

DAY 1

Gabe's cubby with his sleeping bag, pillow, back pack/lunchbox, and extra clothes. This picture was Gabe's idea. He said Nonnie would want to know where he keeps his stuff at school. So Nonnie, there you are!

Finding his name tag with the help of a new friend.

Gabe and his teachers. Left to right....Mrs. Chin, Gabe & Mrs. Bickel.

We say a sad ZÀIJIÀN to Mr. Kyle & Mrs. Melissa

This past week our upstairs neighbors, Kyle & Melissa moved back to the States. So we had to say zàijiàn (goodbye) to them. We all were very sad to see them go! We decided not to tell the boys until the last minute exactly what was going on. Gabe knew they were leaving, but he thought it was for a vacation or something. When we explained that it was for good both Gabe and Maddox were really, really sad. The boys made a sign for them that we put up during their last night here so they would see it when they opened their door in the morning.

Kyle & Melissa have a dog Pudge that the boys love! We dog sat for them once a few months back. The boys loved that!

While we are really sad to see them go we are also really excited for them. They found an awesome house right on the Gulf in Texas. And I know they are really happy to be back closer to their families. But...WE WILL MISS THEM!

Being Brave

Being brave is not exactly a strong suit of my eldest son. Gabe excels in many areas. For example: talking, reading, talking, writing and well, talking are all things he is good at. For the life of me I don't know where he gets the talking skills from. Ha! Anyway, while I happily say that Gabe is great at many things, he is just not very courageous. In a situation that is unfamiliar, potentially scary or new to him he will choose to sit back and see how things pan out. Or perhaps observe how other kids are handling the situation, or really just do nothing at all to involve himself in any way. Caution on the whole is not a bad thing. I have a feeling we will never have to worry about Gabe being the one amongst the group of teenage friends to suggest a 100 mile an hour drag race in the middle of the night. And that is a blessing! But at his current age, there are moments when he is missing out on safe and fun things because he is too scared to even try something. Maddox on the other hand is the one we have to restrain. He will always go headfirst into smething without even looking back! Now him, we will have to worry about drag racing!

While we were in Alabama, we visited a water park in Auburn, a neighboring town. Twice actually. It is not a very big one, but it is more than sufficient for a four & two year olds day of fun. They have a really cute children's area with a large shallow pool, water gun things, a giant floating crocodile, water fall and a slide. The first time we were there, Maddox ran to the slide first thing and went down with no reservations. And he loved it.

My sister and I tried all kinds of coaxing to get Gabe to go down. I even resorted to bribery! But nothing doing. A few weeks later we went again, this time my nephew Jordan came along. Gabe wants to do anything and everything Jordan does. I thought that maybe since Jordan would go down Gabe would also. But again, Gabe steered clear of the slide. I asked him why he didn't want it to go down, to which he replied, "It will hurt me." After being there for a few hours, I did what (in my opinion) any good parent would do. I made my screaming, kicking and yelling kid go down the slide. I pushed from the top and my sister caught him at the bottom. I got to the bottom and relieved my sister of the screaming Gabe and calmed him down. I asked him if it hurt him to go down. He replied, "Well no." I told him I was proud of him for going down even though he didn't want to. That I wanted to show him how the slide would not hurt him, that it could be fun. I hugged him and loved on him. Once he was tired of the loving he shoved off me and proceeded to go down the slide for the next four hours...non stop!

Soakin' up the Sun!


Continuing with the theme of bravery...the Fourth of July! Fireworks, loud noises and bright lights. Not Gabe's strong area...again. But it actually went better than expected. Michael told Gabe ahead of time that he had to watch at least one loud firework from my parents front porch (we were shooting them of in the front yard) and try one sparkler. Then if he still didn't like it he could go inside the house. He surprised us and himself by liking the loud fireworks. Just as long as he didn't have to get too close. And after much coaxing to try a sparkler he decided he liked those too!
Maddox, my Mom, Gabe and my Grandmother watching the fireworks. This was before Gabe decided he liked the loud fireworks.

Maddox and the giant sparkler.

Gabe and Nonnie cautiously doing the sparkler.

And because I was so proud....my Fourth of July dessert, a fruit pizza. Very patriotic colors. And very yummy!