Thailand, Thailand

We are so happy to have had a break from our regular routine, the cold and the SMOG (have you read the news?) and be in Thailand!  We are going on our third week here.  The first week was in Bangkok and was very busy (Chris led music, did a great job but was very busy).  The kids had childcare classes they enjoyed and we got to see lots of old friends.  Our second week was an opportunity to develop ourselves and Chris and I really enjoyed learning more about parenting from a couple we greatly respect.  While we went to Thailand with Lucy sick- she threw up on the plane and five more days and ended up on antibiotics- but now are all relatively healthy.

Now we are on vacation and really enjoying the pool, the beach, the lack of schedule and hanging out with good friends.

 Two years ago Austin sat at the top of this slide for about 2 hours, trying to get up the nerve to go down (which he finally did with the promise of ice cream).  This year he has already been done it about 25 times and loves it!  He is becoming a water lover, though still needs help with the skills of swimming.

 And Bennett buddy likes the water, but usually wants to be in his ring.  He even went down the slide a couple of times if Chris would catch him, but has decided he had enough.

 Lucy bug likes the water too, but is content often to sit on the top step with a cup and dump it over and over.  She has accidentally gone under a couple of times and has been pretty unphased by it.

 Chris is continuing his tradition of find and opening coconuts...pretty yummy.

 Friends and next door neighbors again...the hotel "randomly" put us next door to these guys.  Just like old times!

Our hotel is right across the street from the beach...it is a great set up.

Not today!

Quick update...today was not the day I would pick for Lucy to start having diarrhea and throwing up!  She has only thrown up once and it was 4 hours ago, so hoping maybe there won't be too much more tonight.  But she also had a fever.  Our flight takes off in less than 8 hours...would LOVE prayers that she recovers completely and no one else comes down with this bug while we are traveling.  Thank you.

Winter goodbye, hello sunshine!

They say this has been the coldest winter here in 30 years. I believe it.  We have had stretches of weeks on end where it did get above freezing.  Weeks!  I am from the south and this cold cold winter is not my thing.  Mostly, I have been staying inside. But staying inside with 3 small children has other issues that come with it.  So, despite the fact that traveling for almost a month with 3 small children is not small feat, I am excited.  Excited to be warm, to be able to go out, to not have to spend 30 minutes getting everyone bundled up to go anywhere.  Excited to drink mango smoothies and eat red curry.  Even though my husband has some big responsibilities and will not be around much for the next 10 days, I am excited.   Do pray for safe travel on Friday (Thursday night USA time...5:50 pm..yes it is an early flight!) and for good transition for the kids.

 Chris has been giving final exams in his English classes...as well as having end of the semester parties. The boys went to one and were very popular, as you might imagine.

Bennett...is a nut.  So many times lately Chris and I have just shaken our heads and laughed at this guy.   The things he says and does are just hilarious and funny and sometimes really rebellious and not so funny.  He mis-hears things and mis-prounouces them many times a day.  He comes up with the funniest things too. Last night he slept in his underwear and pretty much wore that all day today. Despite the aforementioned record cold weather we have been having. Not really sure what he is doing in this picture.

 Some friends' of ours spent the week at Jason and Angie's place...so we got to see them a good bit too. They were here for pizza night...Jaden is about 6 months older than Lucy and they actually played together.

 And all the kids LOVED to play and wrestle with Bryan Shu Shu.  Guess who's pigu is the one showing at the top of the pile? I just bought him a one piece...shorts and shirt connected...bathing suit so we would not look at his rear for the next month.  Just cannot keep his pants up...for lack of a bottom.

 A and B have been home from school and actually been playing together rather well, despite the bickering that erupts every 30 minutes (or sometimes 3 minutes) or so.  Here they were playing "butterflies".  They started as caterpillars, emerged from their cocoons as butterflies and then flew the world.  Literally, this is Bennett butterfly on an airplane (guess his wings couldn't carry him that far) watching his personal video screen while traveling from America to China.  And then on to Thailand.  Yep, these boys have traveled!

Austin Butterfly on his seat on the plane.

The oldest 4 in our family all got haircuts this week, Taobao summer clothes and suits have all arrived, poor Chris has exams to grade and music to prep but we are getting ready.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas ...a bit belatedly. Again the internet has not been our friend but is finally letting me upload some pictures today.  The week before Christmas was a bit busy but Christmas Day was relaxing and fun together.  Sunday the 23rd Austin got a migraine at church, threw up in his Sunday School room and came home, missing his school performance.  When I arrived there with Bennett, they said "Oh no, Austin was supposed to sing a solo.  The first verse of Joy to the World, in Chinese.  Then we waited through 2 hours of performance and Bennett did not ever go up to sing.  I never fully understood but apparently he did not always want to practice during school so they did not force him.  But he obviously thought he was and was a little sad.  

 Christmas morning by the tree...everyone is excited.  Bennett was so cute.  I think he did not remember  much about the present aspect of Christmas morning.  He was most excited for Austin to open his gift from him and to eat cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole.

 Notice the scary looking man in the center.  Chris decided to tease me and scare children with that mustache.  It did not last into the evening however.

 Lucy's gift...a little pink stroller.  We are hoping this will encourage her to walk.  It has not yet, but she does like pushing it around and putting her doll and animals in it.

 Lucy opening a gift from Great Grandma...a musical one which she loves!

 The very scary man again...he shaved part of it off into this look for about 10 minutes, when I told him I could not look at him anymore. :)

This is what Chris calls her sassy look...a new sweater from Nai Nai with her mini-skirt from Nana and leggings to boot.

Now all I can think about is warm weather and Thailand...still a couple of weeks away but not that far. The kids will finish out school on Monday and then we will not send them the rest of January...they would have only gone 5 days because of the New Year's break (January 1 break) but we will save the tuition and stay home.  With the cold weather, now driving our friends' car which is stick shift and new to me....I am ready for a break in carpooling.  Happy New Year!

And the Christmas season is upon us

I guess the Christmas season has been here for awhile, but this week the crunch of activities and gifts to prepare has hit. I am really looking forward to the quiet family celebration of Christmas Day.  However, many of these things are good and meaningful too.  Lucy was sick this week with a fever and cough.  Fever is gone but the cough hangs on and on.  After 3 nights of waking a LOT she seems to have returned to only once a night waking.

Here she is all decked out in a new Christmas dress from Nai Nai. Lucy will be 15 months on the 29th...still no signs of really wanting to walk. She will stand independently and has taken 1 or 2 steps but then always drops to her crawl.  Hoping she might walk before we travel to Thailand...not looking forward to containing her from crawling all over the dirt in hotels and airports.

Bennett and Lucy had a rough patch where Bennett's love was a bit too overwhelming and she would scream whenever he would come near.  Sad for Bennett.  They seem to be doing better and playing more and Bennett is (slowly) learning to be more gentle.

It is COLD and white...we have had several snows over the past two weeks and very cold temperatures.  Even if we get no more snow it will probably still be white (or at least grayish colored) on Christmas. A couple days the roads were icy and scary to drive on.  Now the roads are clear and fine but ice and snow on the sidewalks.

Today the boys and I were able to join other members of our international fellowship to deliver the Angel Tree Christmas gifts to a group of migrant children.  We went to the same center that Chris helped open with an art and music festival two years ago.  Austin remembered helping to paint the murals.  It was SO COLD I thought the boys might not make it through but in the end they did and did great job passing out gifts, speaking to others in Chinese and enduring lots of attention that they don't really love. It was good to give and precious to see the excitement on the kids faces.  We were able to share a little of the Christmas story and sing a few songs.

 The center with the murals painted two years ago.

 Austin helping pass out gifts.

 This girl in the pink was SO excited to receive her gift she was literally jumping up and down with excitement. It is quite likely she has never gotten a Christmas present and probably very few presents in general.  These kids are children of migrant workers...parents who come from the countryside to find work in the big city.  But they have no benefits, very little pay and very meager housing.  Glad we could bless them in a small way. The boys know the three kids we gifted by name and are praying for them at night.

The boys' have a school performance tomorrow afternoon. I think they are singing a few songs, but you never quite know what to expect.  Hopefully Lucy will be able to last through church and a potentially long afternoon of performing!

A lump of coal

I am not sure where the traditional "lump of coal" for the naughty children tradition came from, but I realized what a different view of that I find here.  I recently reconnected with a small orphanage I had volunteered at a few times my first year in this city.  Back in 2007, this orphanage had just been started by some local moms who had a burden for orphans with medical challenges.  Big challenges usually, but ones that could be treated and hopefully help these children have a shot at being adopted.  I lost touch with them after birthing 2 more children and after they moved far away in the city. But I recently discovered they had moved back to my area of town and have been wanting to see their situation and how our family might be involved.

Austin and I went Tuesday morning... a mere three subway stops away.  It is in a very run down area, but once we were inside the gate we discovered they actually had a large-ish stand alone house with a yard.  This place has now grown to have around 45 kids, all with special medical needs.  After talking with a woman who works there, we were allowed to observe and play with a large group of the kids.  Most of the ones we saw were young...between one and four years old.  I was very impressed with the care they get, but still there were always at least one or two crying and needing more help than hands available.  When they went outside, they were dressed in whatever coat looked like it might fit from the big coat bin. Austin was so excited to go and said before "I will play with all the kids" but once we got there he was understandably a bit overwhelmed.  Some of the kids were happy to be held, some obviously preferred their known ayi and wanted nothing to do with us strangers.  One boy who smiled and stuck with me the whole time I was there once I held him looked about 2 and 1/2 to me, but seemed developmentally about where Lucy was.  Before leaving he waved goodbye and I discovered from a worker that he was 5 years old. Probably has little hope of being adopted.

In situations like these the needs always seem overwhelming and you feel so small and helpless to change the tide of abandoned and needy children without families.  But I also discovered my desire to help doesn't always go along with what the needs really are and what is most helpful.  I asked them "...what do you need?  How can we help? " They said honestly they don't need people to come in and play with the kids that much, as much as that might be what I want to do.  Outsiders bring germs, are strangers and it takes a lot of time to know each kids unique needs. They have plenty of toys and clothes.  But what they really need are help with ongoing expenses and daily living needs.  The biggest need this winter?

Coal.  Yes, lumps and lumps of coal are what they most need to heat the large house in this cold weather.  While coal is the cheapest source of heat around( and yes, not good for environment or for breathing, but it heats the water system that heats the floor of the house) they still spend close to a thousand dollars on heat per month.  Plus food and the ebb and flow of hospital visits, medicine and surgeries that most of the children need at one time or another.

It was good to see the faces of the needy, good for Austin to see the sad reality some children face, good for my heart to hold that little five year old boy.  But that is not what these children need the most.  For now, they need coal and gifts from our rich pockets.  Of course, what they really need are families. Families to love them and belong to.  I struggle often to want to bless others in tangible ways, yet often don't know how or want to do it in my own way or the way that gives me a "do-good" buzz to be completely honest. But I was struck with knowing the needs are overwhelming, but the cost of really helping is not occasional.  It takes a LOT.  More than I can give to this place at this stage of my life.  However, my other thought that I have had often over the years, is that what they really need is a family.  Chris and I have struggled and prayed about this and we still are.  We don't know God's desire for our family or if adoption is what He is calling us to.  But we know He might be.  We are willing or want to be willing. Austin asked me later if we will ever adopt a child.  (He also asked lots of other questions like " Will you ever not be able to take care of me?  What if you and Daddy die, what happens to us?" and fun questions like that I tried to answer as best as I could.)
I told Austin we pray about this and invited him to pray about it too.  We don't have answers for the long term, but for now our family does want to bless this orphanage with coal for the winter.  As many lumps as we can for Christmas.

Third day of snow here today...I kept Bennett home from school and we had a "snow day".  Lots of fun for us...but certainly cold for so many here without good heat.

Christmas is coming...

 We got the tree up the day after Thanksgiving, but the rest has been slowly appearing.  If you look closely you can tell the bottom of the tree is rather sparse...kind of a necessity with a one year old in the house.  Though she is getting pretty good about not touching it.  You can also see our new wrestling mat red rug.  We all love it.

 The other "tree" on the table is our Jesse Tree, as we do Advent Jesse Tree devotionals. They start at Creation and trace the story of Jesus from the beginning through Christmas.  We have printed out, laminated (ie very simple and kid friendly) ornaments for each day to hang on the tree.  This is a repurposed "tree" (sticks in a wine bottle)...it was our Thankfulness tree we used around Thanksgiving and was immediately transformed for December.  Still LOVE these stockings I got off Taobao from Pottery Barn kids two years ago.

 And we made cookies on Saturday.  Saturdays are a long day for me...Chris is usually gone most of the day and evening and while I know we do not have traditional weekends, it still feels like it should be.  So i decided we will do some Christmas activity every Saturday this month and we started with a small batch of cookies and made salt dough ornaments and painted them.

 Yum!

 Poor Austin had another migraine today...kept him home from school and he threw up tonight ...off the top of his bunk.  He was trying so hard to not throw up on his bed but couldn't make it down the ladder...unfortunately though from that height it ...well...went everywhere. I will not describe anymore, but it was a long clean up.

Lucy's contribution was eating cookies (unfrosted ones for her). I think it is safe to say she liked it.