Putting up Rachel's tree

We always said that when we had kids we wanted to have a tree especially for them to decorate however and with whatever they wanted. Aww, isn't that just so June Cleaver-ish? Yeah, that's what my friends think when they see that Rachel has her very own tree in her room to decorate, however, since we are such close friends, I'll let you in on a little secret . . . I just like my Christmas tree . . . and I don't like candy canes on it, I don't like popcorn strung on it, I don't like beautifully colored angels and santa's from art class on it, I don't like cute paper chains of red and green on it . . . I'm particular about the tree I get to sit and look at in the dark with a cup of hot chocolate after Ra has gone to bed. However, lest you think me a grinch, or christmas tree snob, I DO love to do those things and put them on trees . . . other trees. So, to solve the delimma, Rachel got her very own Christmas tree (50 yuan) to put in her room and we can decorate it all season long as the mood strikes . . . so far we have balls, as you can see, an angel, santa and a couple of decorated sugar cookies hanging from ribbon (but they taste too good to put too many on!)

Rachel drew some christmas pictures to display under her tree
Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus (mary is the one with long hair she informs us. Dad says it's when she saw the angel maybe?)

and a merry christmas tree

The Family Tree

And mommy can never wait too long after Thanksgiving to put up the family tree . . .

Dominos Scrabble

A family night game of Dora Dominos was going quite well until during a brief break we came back to the table and Rachel had decided she was done with Dominos and wanted to play . . . scrabble?

Thanksgiving Weekend

First, i want to make the disclaimer: we voted DAN the photographer for the weekend (nicest camera always wins!) and we managed to not get a single picture . . . so as soon as he read this entry and feels so badly that there is no picture attached, i'm sure he will send me a great one and i can edit it in (wink, wink, giggle)

EDIT: well, i can't figure out how to get the actual pictures here, but here is the link to some fun shots from Thanksgiving

http://picasaweb.google.com/danielandsara/ThanksgivingInShenyang2007

thank you Dan, for your speedy response to my "challenge in a public forum", sorry my editing was not as speedy!

So, as last year, we gathered with friends (that we met in the States just before arriving in China) for our Thanksgiving celebration, however this year it was bittersweet. We so very much enjoyed getting to spend time with our dear friends, the kennedys and ernos, however we sorely missed the laughter and joy from our friends, the Clarks, who returned to the States just a few months before.


We truly have chosen a life of good-byes. who *does* that? I'm not sure, but I am sure that we are all where we are for reasons quite beyond ourselves . . . we love you, Mande and Ty! Your presence was noticeably missing in our gathering . . . but we kept memories of you alive through Chex mix and green bean casserole! ;)


Here is one great pic for you from the weekend!



We have the best friends EVER! The K's brought us the wonderful CHINA EDITION of Monopoly!! How cool is that? Who needs language classes when you can sit and play monopoly all day and learn the characters for many common districts, streets, cities and even the character for JAIL. Now how handy is that? And what Monopoly lover would not love playing Monopoly with the highest bill being 5000 (rmb) and the highest rent for "park place" being 20,000 (rmb)?

(stephanie, i don't know if you like Monopoly, but you would LOVE this, and of course, Jerry would LOVE playing it with YOU!)

Mom's Cinnamon Rolls Are a Hit Again and Again!

Mom, you would not believe how wonderfully well your cinnamon rolls go over EVERY time we serve them to our friends! Thanks for teaching me how to bake such yummy things so I am able to bless my friends so often! Who would have thought those years and years (and years and years) of rolling up rolls during commercial breaks would have made such a deep imprint?

Here is Rachel's version of the recipe, mom. Thought you might enjoy it!

CINNAMON ROLLS

10 cups of sugar
10 cups of flour
10 cups of butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
3 cups of milk
2 teaspoons of brown sugar
1/2 cup baking soda
some oil

Our Thanksgiving Photographer (I)

well, we spent thanksgiving with our dear friends the kennedys again this year, but this year we had a new man behind the camera . . . Noah! Here are some of his first shots . . . the subject matter improves tremendously in "our thanksgiving photographer (II)". But i would say if you were going for that "artsy look" you've got it down! I especially love the statement made by the picture of the cleaning supplies in our bathroom! (we love you guys!)

Our Thanksgiving Photographer II

he improved for sure as time went on . . .



one of my favs . . . how cute are they?

and as if he asked them to pose . . .

this one could seriously be entered into come contests, don't you think?

the girls getting ready to perfom, i think, for the masses.

Thanks Noah! We didn't break out our camera near often enough, so it was nice of you to catch some memories for us! (i think we had camera envy and didn't want our little kodak guy to feel, well, you know, little) ;)

eggs for breakfast . . . daddy-style!

Thanks for asking . . .

We have had several requests for suggestions on good christmas gifts to send for our family . . . and well, I have just recently discovered that the wide world of AMAZON.COM is way more than just books (which is what I have always used it for). They have a magical little button to push and it catalogs all the fun things you find and like . . . and then easy as pie, you can post that magic little button on your website or blog. We have already set the shipping address for our US address in Florida, so everything will be sent directly there and collected by our dear friend Kathy who will again be blessing us with a visit this Christmas!

Really, thank you all for thinking of us, we are so humbled and blessed by your love!

Rachel "Chuckin a Sickie" with Daddy

How sweet is this? Except for the projectile vomit and fever that came with it . . . pretty stinking sweet! And we are continually learning both Chinese and Australian . . . this blog features our newest Australian vocabulary "chuckin' a sickie". Yep, that's Australian for "playin' hookie" . . . but I guess it's not really hookie if you are really sick, huh? Ah, well, first you learn the vocab, then you learn to use it in context...right?

A New Wall for Mommy!

Finally. One year and three months in. I have color in my home . . . not just curtains, bed covers and such, but I have bonifide COLOR on my walls! This may be small to many of you (and a little slow to some of our friends here in China) however, both cities we have lived in it has been some kind of strange alien-like desire to want to have color on your walls...so we did it. We went to "paint street" we looked at the colors, we said I like this one, they said, it's not very pretty, so I said I like it anyway, it matches my room, they said it's not very pretty for a wall, and I said I'll take a whole can of it.

It's a little more "burgandy" than I had hoped, less "ruby" but it's nice. It's colorful. It's warm. And it makes our big living room with with wood floors and a HUGE entertainment center/wall look much cozier.

Cozier home, happier mom....and all is right in our world.

What'dya think? (If you say it's not a good color for a wall, save it, I've heard it before!) ;)

There shall be showers of blessing . . .

Gotta love packages! Rachel has the routine down pat now: See a package, run to the kitchen, carefully get a steak knife for mommy or daddy, get BLUE ikea knife for herself, safely carry them to the living room and wait for big strong daddy to bring the excitment to us so we can OPEN IT!!!

After their visit, Aunt Jo and Aunt Becky realized that there were a few things we were not able to get here in china . . . or well, we could get some of them, but in much smaller sizes/amounts than in the states, or they were tripple the price you pay in the states, or they just didn't quite look like what we are used to . . . so to bless us, some wonderful thnigs were packed into two boxes and sent from some dear friends in TN.

We loved all the hair dongxi you sent, aunt jo . . . she can still use them with her four year old haircut, but we did send some to the orphanage too . . . we don't have to put her hair up as ofen, but it's nice to have matching pony-holders and barrettes when we DO put it up!

And when you come back, Aunt Becky :), we will have nice big ice cubes for you to put in your tea and pepsi! Thanks! It really is nice every once in awhile to have ice cubes that don't melt as soon as you pour warm liquid over them! I'm sure our American guests will appreciate it!!

you have GOT to be KIDDING me . . .

Is this or is this not STILL October???? Yes, friends, I do believe it is . . . and the snow we drove home in and came home to after our wonderful weekend in the countryside . . . well, I was a little less than chipper about it to say the least. Have a look....

bushes in our hua yuan

at least we don't have to scrape windows anymore

these were really pretty flowers outside our apartment building . . .

Saying Goodbye

My parents just left this Tuesday after a three-week stay with us in this beautiful culture we live in. We took them to the airport and said our good-byes at the security gate. They were headed to Beijing to spend the night at a hotel becuase their flight was too early in the morning to make it from SY . . . such a weird thing, to send your parents out on an airplane and worry about their survival for the next 15 hours or so! Aren't they supposed to worry about ME??? Of course, I had nothing to fear . . . they were complete champs while they were here, heading out to stores to buy things on their own (yes, i said storeS . . . not just one, mind you) learning to use chopsticks, teaching our Ayi a recipe that we really love, even though neither mom or ayi could understand a word the other said. They made it through the night and I am assuming they made it home . . . when we came home from Chinese class today there were three unanswered calls from thier skype address to ours. Never been prouder to call them my parents . . . this trip was way, way, way out of my mom's comfort zone . . . but she was a champ! And my dad? Well, he suffered a pretty miserable 12 hour flight that never would have been considered before.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for loving on us these past three weeks, for being such champs in a culture that is so completely different from everything you know, for hours of babysitting, for patiently waiting for us to be done with school each day so we could spend time together . . . and most of all? Thanks for coming to see what our lives look like now. It's much different than we may have ever imagined . . . more tiring, more exciting, more frustrating, more blessed . . . and thanks for letting us share it with you! (taxis and all!) LOL

Enjoy that wood stove!

YUMMY BOXES FROM THE STATES!

Well, here's a weird thing that happens when you live in another culture whose food is completely different from what you have eaten for the past 30-some years . . . when you get a parcel, correction: TWO parcels, filled with yummy boxes of cereal and you eat your fill (in very large bowls, mind you) for breakfast, you get this funny little rash-type thing on the roof of your mouth. However, let me tell you this did not stop us from having cereal for breakfast, lunch . . . and well, we haven't yet gotten to dinner time today, but I'm guessing there would be no argument if I produced Lucky Charms, Crunch Berries and Corn Pops at the dinner table!

A HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you to all the lovely people at Centerpoint in Hendersonville (right?)! You guys are THE BEST! We have been so blessed by all your encouragement and talks with Dad on our behalf . . . but the plethera of cereals you sent? Seriously. If we could reach you through the miles, we'd kiss every single one of you right on the lips! (see some previous posts for other things that cause us to kiss people smack on the lips . . . FYI: we're a very affectionate family!)

Who'd have thunk it?

Well, folks . . . the GC may not be fulfilled, but I sure think that my parents wildest dreams (or could it be nightmares?) have been! My parents joined us in this wonderful country we live in on October 2 in Beijing. After almost 25 hours of travel, a huge chunck of which had my father doubled up, sucked in , squished and TENSE (while my mom slept peacfully because she took my great advise of drugging herself on the long flight) they arrived in fine shape at the Beijing Internation Airport! They quite possibly win the prize for "over all best jet-laggers in the world" . . . they arrived in the evening and slept about 8 hours that night, the following night they BOTH slept 12 hours straight, had a nap the next day and then a good 9 - 10 hours the next night! SWEET! No middle of the night wake-ups not knowing what to do with themselves, no falling asleep in the middle of the acrobat show or their dinners . . . they are champs with jet lag! In all honesty, they have pretty much been champs all the way around! No one volunteered for the suggested dinner of scorpion on a stick and candied hawthorn for dessert, but they have braved some of the most daring taxi drivers we have encountered during our time in China, they have crossed one of the busiest streets in Shenyang (which goes without saying is like crossing the interstate on foot during rush hour where my parents come from!) and to top it off, several days after Jerry and I head to Chinese class, they have ventured out of the house and taken a little walk to our friendly neighborhood Carrefour (like Wal-mart) and done some shopping!

I asked my mom one night if she ever thought she would find herself in China . . . her response? Well, no, I guess not . . . I've thought there might be some places in the world I might like to see if they weren't so far from home (hmmm....where is it I get that home-body gene?) but I'm pretty sure China wasn't one of them!

Never underestimate the power of grandchildren!

Random Blog

Yes, this is a random blog...i have been blogging for the past hour and a half, should be packing for BJ tomorrow, but am not...I have had these pictures for awhile, but keep forgetting to blog it.

Rachel had been sick over the weekend and stayed home on Monday from school (a couple of weeks back) and I had totally forgotten that Tuesday was her day to take snack to school . . . worse yet, the teacher had called me the week before and specifically asked me to make pancakes for snack to go along with a lesson they were having...no prob, love to make pancakes! Well, forgot until 2 minutes before the bus arrived...PANIC! Ok, I can make them and taxi them out there to the school in time for snack . . . oh, crud. No eggs. Jerry, please run down to the veggie market and get some eggs...OK, no prob. (while he was gone I called the teacher, she had already asked someone else to make them knowing that Ra had been sick and I may forget...what a wise wise woman) so Jerry comes home with THESE eggs...white eggs? (maybe normal in the states, but here, no way. I only see brown eggs...EVER!) with black little specks? What the heck? so i sit them on the counter and don't think about them again. UNTIL . . . our helper comes...she coments "oh, you bought blah blah blah eggs" (the blahs are words i don't understand and thus, they are BLAH BLAH BLAH to me) "oh yeah" I reply, "I needed eggs this AM to make some cakes, Jerry ran to the market and this is all he could find...they look strange to me" Hmm...

She takes the eggs to the sink, cracks one and begins to peel it. Uggh. It's the 1,000 year eggs! I have seen them served at meals, for sale in the market (peeled) and being eaten as a snack by many a chinese person on the street . . . but never had I seen them in their shell. Oh, wouldn't that have been something if I had tried to start making PANCAKES with these babies!

Crazy Foreigners!

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Good Morning Birthday girl! She was so excited to get that helmet she had been asking for since March! Finally, my parents are going to let me be SAFE while I ride my bike!

Bacon and eggs . . . a birthday girl's breakfast

And cake for breakfast dessert? What mom? Have you lost your mind? (she thought so when she asked for a piece of cake and I didn't even hesitate to say yes . . . very strange! Who are you and what have you done with my MOM!)

And remember the little girl who woke up this morning? Well....

This is how she went to bed tonight! She decided that she needed a "4 year old" haircut. (actually it was a long time coming, but tonight when she could stand the hair in the tub no longer . . . a huge issue for this gal . . . she begged me to cut her hair short. This is as far as I could go...) But isn't she so cute!!??