Well, here is a little clip of about 500 people from all over the world praising God together at the church we attended today. I'm not sure if the video clip will come through on the email- it may just be online on the blog. Also not sure of the quality but we'll see.
Have a blessed Sunday.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A city scene
So that is little sample of what I see in a day.
PS: OK, just a note to add - John just told me that this Poker is actually totally different than what would be played in the US. He had Leo explain it to him. So I guess Poker is just the generic term used for this type of cards.
Another PS: I love being able to take pictures and send blog entries from my phone! :)
Monday, September 15, 2008
A picture is worth...
Since that is how the saying goes and I don't have much time I am going to upload some photos for y'all to see.
Yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival here in China. It is an official holiday here and actually kind of a big deal. Not nearly as big as Chinese New Year but still an important family holiday. Families gather together to have a feast and spend time together. We asked Leo what he did and he said his family ate dinner together and then played Mah Jong. He actually has an older sister (rare for most Chinese families) so the feast includes Leo, his mom & dad, his sister, her husband and their daughter. It sounds a bit like our Thanksgiving, actually.
Moon Cakes are a very big part of this tradition. They are little cakes that are filled with some kind of paste - usually sweet. I have had them several times before but have never really cared for them. However, Fang brought us some as a gift from a place here in Shanghai that Leo told us is famous for making them. They were delicious! There are many different fillings in the Moon Cake but the one I liked best tasted almost like a pecan pie just without the pecans!
So we took some pictures of our Moon Cakes to share with y'all!
This box of Moon Cakes is actually one that the company John works with gave us. Some of them were OK - but there were some with beef filling. I didn't even try them because lets just say, even John had a difficult time liking them and that is unusual! :)
This is a picture of our typical lunch that Fang prepares for us. This day we had yummy noodles (they are Leah's favorite and she eats more than any of us!), broccoli, mushrooms and carrots. Some days she will cook chicken to go with it. It is really so simple but so completely great!
Here are a couple of our girls enjoying their lunch in the first picture and dinner in the second picture. Notice our very cool round dinner table - it is a very traditional style Chinese table - round with a lazy susan in the middle. I love it.
OK - that is my thousand words in pictures. I'm off to bed now!
Yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival here in China. It is an official holiday here and actually kind of a big deal. Not nearly as big as Chinese New Year but still an important family holiday. Families gather together to have a feast and spend time together. We asked Leo what he did and he said his family ate dinner together and then played Mah Jong. He actually has an older sister (rare for most Chinese families) so the feast includes Leo, his mom & dad, his sister, her husband and their daughter. It sounds a bit like our Thanksgiving, actually.
Moon Cakes are a very big part of this tradition. They are little cakes that are filled with some kind of paste - usually sweet. I have had them several times before but have never really cared for them. However, Fang brought us some as a gift from a place here in Shanghai that Leo told us is famous for making them. They were delicious! There are many different fillings in the Moon Cake but the one I liked best tasted almost like a pecan pie just without the pecans!
So we took some pictures of our Moon Cakes to share with y'all!
This box of Moon Cakes is actually one that the company John works with gave us. Some of them were OK - but there were some with beef filling. I didn't even try them because lets just say, even John had a difficult time liking them and that is unusual! :)
This is a picture of our typical lunch that Fang prepares for us. This day we had yummy noodles (they are Leah's favorite and she eats more than any of us!), broccoli, mushrooms and carrots. Some days she will cook chicken to go with it. It is really so simple but so completely great!Here are a couple of our girls enjoying their lunch in the first picture and dinner in the second picture. Notice our very cool round dinner table - it is a very traditional style Chinese table - round with a lazy susan in the middle. I love it.
OK - that is my thousand words in pictures. I'm off to bed now!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Kate is on the move.
Today is Mid Autumn Festival so I will post more about that later.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
We are finally unpacked!
Well, the movers came one week ago today and I can gladly say that every box is unpacked, except one that has a ton of garage junk in it! The delivery guys unpacked some of the boxes for us that helped. I also have an ayi now who helped me unpack the kitchen things. In China, you can hire a woman to come to your house and help you clean, cook, etc. and she is called an ayi. It is very inexpensive to have this kind of help here and I am so thankful to have found a good one and to have one! A person I met online was moving to Singapore and trying to find a new family for her ayi so the rest is, as they say, history. Our Ayi, Fang, is great. She is very helpful and makes us wonderful Chinese dinners 3 times a week. Yes, indeed, I am getting spoiled. For those that don't know me well, I hate to cook so to have someone who cooks for our family is a HUGE blessing to me! It did feel a little odd at first but was certainly easy for me to get used to! :) The meals she cooks for us are simple Chinese dishes but they are really good. And, frankly, if I don't have to cook them so I really don't care what's for dinner? The girls are great at eating what is put in front of them so every one is content with the meals that are coming out of the kitchen. I have pictures of a meal she cooked for us but they are on my camera and at the moment I cannot find my adapter to get them to the computer...such is life in a house that is unpacked but still completely unorganized! :) I'll post them later!
Back to the house - we are so glad to have our familiar things around us. It certainly makes this house feel much more like our home! This house is so different than anything we would have in the US so it is nice to at least have it feel like home with our stuff! But I was absolutely reminded of our excess as things were coming out of the boxes. For instance, why do I have 8 different knives that all do the exact same thing - cut! Yes, maybe one cuts something better than another but really at the end of the day, they all cut. And frankly, I have lived the last 2 months with only one knife and we have been just fine! I have probably 20 more examples of that exact same thing but I won't bore you with them. As Fang was helping me unpack the kitchen, I was just really amazed at what all I thought was SO necessary to bring with us. Fang, of course, was looking at it all in utter amazement. In American, we all have so much! I think it is both a blessing and a curse!
On another note, both Leah and Lauren have now learned to ride their bikes with no training wheels. Lauren has been asking us for months to teach her to ride with no training wheels but with the move, it has been a very low priority. So on Saturday, John took her out and got her going on it. Leah still had training wheels also because, frankly, she is our very cautious child and riding without training wheels just seemed way to "dangerous" to her! :) But not to be out done by her sister, she took the plunge also. So by the end of the day Saturday, Leah was riding a two wheel bike all by herself with little problem. By Sunday, Lauren had gotten the hang of it as well. So now we have 2 very big girls that can ride their bikes without training wheels. It was funny though because our Chinese neighbors (2 doors down) were outside with their 2 year old daughter and they thought it was so funny, hearing these crazy Americans yelling, "pedal, pedal, pedal." It seems we always make quite a spectacle.
On Sunday, I bought the coolest bike ever for me. It is one that would NEVER be sold in the US because of all the product liability lawsuits but I think it is great. Here's a picture so you can see it.
Yep, you got it - it has a seat and handle bars for me and a seat and handle bars for Kate (or Leah or Lauren, for that matter). It is so fun and Kate loves riding on it with me. By the way, if you are looking at this picture and judging me because she is without a helmet, please know that I really do always make her wear her helmet. :) This was the very first ride on the bike so it was without a helmet or even shoes for that matter! But it was very short and then back to garage to get shoes and a helmet! It is great fun though to be able to go for bike rides!
We also got started on school this week. Leah and Lauren were eager to start. We got through the first 3 days with little problem. Kate is actually doing a surpisingly good job of keeping herself entertained for most of it. She spends most of the time in the room with us but is content to read her books, do her puzzles, etc. So far so good!
That is all for now. As always, it turns out to be much to long!
Back to the house - we are so glad to have our familiar things around us. It certainly makes this house feel much more like our home! This house is so different than anything we would have in the US so it is nice to at least have it feel like home with our stuff! But I was absolutely reminded of our excess as things were coming out of the boxes. For instance, why do I have 8 different knives that all do the exact same thing - cut! Yes, maybe one cuts something better than another but really at the end of the day, they all cut. And frankly, I have lived the last 2 months with only one knife and we have been just fine! I have probably 20 more examples of that exact same thing but I won't bore you with them. As Fang was helping me unpack the kitchen, I was just really amazed at what all I thought was SO necessary to bring with us. Fang, of course, was looking at it all in utter amazement. In American, we all have so much! I think it is both a blessing and a curse!
On another note, both Leah and Lauren have now learned to ride their bikes with no training wheels. Lauren has been asking us for months to teach her to ride with no training wheels but with the move, it has been a very low priority. So on Saturday, John took her out and got her going on it. Leah still had training wheels also because, frankly, she is our very cautious child and riding without training wheels just seemed way to "dangerous" to her! :) But not to be out done by her sister, she took the plunge also. So by the end of the day Saturday, Leah was riding a two wheel bike all by herself with little problem. By Sunday, Lauren had gotten the hang of it as well. So now we have 2 very big girls that can ride their bikes without training wheels. It was funny though because our Chinese neighbors (2 doors down) were outside with their 2 year old daughter and they thought it was so funny, hearing these crazy Americans yelling, "pedal, pedal, pedal." It seems we always make quite a spectacle.
On Sunday, I bought the coolest bike ever for me. It is one that would NEVER be sold in the US because of all the product liability lawsuits but I think it is great. Here's a picture so you can see it.
Yep, you got it - it has a seat and handle bars for me and a seat and handle bars for Kate (or Leah or Lauren, for that matter). It is so fun and Kate loves riding on it with me. By the way, if you are looking at this picture and judging me because she is without a helmet, please know that I really do always make her wear her helmet. :) This was the very first ride on the bike so it was without a helmet or even shoes for that matter! But it was very short and then back to garage to get shoes and a helmet! It is great fun though to be able to go for bike rides!We also got started on school this week. Leah and Lauren were eager to start. We got through the first 3 days with little problem. Kate is actually doing a surpisingly good job of keeping herself entertained for most of it. She spends most of the time in the room with us but is content to read her books, do her puzzles, etc. So far so good!
That is all for now. As always, it turns out to be much to long!
Monday, September 01, 2008
Tomorrow is the big day!
Well, I meant to post this weekend and I just got busy and didn't get it done. So now I will post a very short note because we found out late this afternoon that our shipment comes tomorrow! We had been told last week that it would come on this past Saturday so I had my hopes all up for that. Well, on Friday, John called to check on it and were told that our container was scheduled for customs inspection today (Monday). That was a huge bummer as we were very much looking forward to getting our stuff this weekend. When they told us inspection on Monday we figured with the way things work in China it would probably be Friday before the container would actually be delivered. So with that thought, John scheduled a trip to Xuzhou for work leaving this morning at 6:30 am and coming back on Wednesday. He arrived in Xuzhou around lunch (took the train) and this afternoon around 3 they called him to say that our container cleared customs and would be delivered tomorrow morning at 10 am!!! Shock of all shock...something has actually gone faster than we expected.
John called me to tell me the good news. John's a pretty smart guy and without me having to say a word, he said, "I'm taking the midnight train home tonight and will be back at the train station at 7am." As much as I hate that he will have to ride in a "soft sleeper" train over night to get home, there is just NO WAY I want to deal with a 40 foot container full of stuff, 3 children, who knows how many Chinese workers, etc., etc. So, my beloved is coming home quickly to help with the arrival of the container!
Because the container is coming tomorrow I have loads to do...things that I have procrastinated on and now have no choice but to get it done quickly before the barrage of boxes appear. I will say quickly though that we had a good week last week. We visited the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and it was really cool! I'm telling y'all - you need to come visit Shanghai! There is so much cool stuff to see and do here!
Okay, I'm off to get things done!
John called me to tell me the good news. John's a pretty smart guy and without me having to say a word, he said, "I'm taking the midnight train home tonight and will be back at the train station at 7am." As much as I hate that he will have to ride in a "soft sleeper" train over night to get home, there is just NO WAY I want to deal with a 40 foot container full of stuff, 3 children, who knows how many Chinese workers, etc., etc. So, my beloved is coming home quickly to help with the arrival of the container!
Because the container is coming tomorrow I have loads to do...things that I have procrastinated on and now have no choice but to get it done quickly before the barrage of boxes appear. I will say quickly though that we had a good week last week. We visited the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and it was really cool! I'm telling y'all - you need to come visit Shanghai! There is so much cool stuff to see and do here!
Okay, I'm off to get things done!
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