Lauren turns 6!
I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a long while but they continue to block access to blogspot and now Facebook so I have no way of updating things. The block now is such that even a few of the VPN’s I was using (thanks, Sandi) still don’t allow me to access blogger. Actually, I can access them but can’t log in to update. I can only look at the sites. So I am going to try to post this from my email account. Please forgive if the formatting comes through funny!
We have had quite a few things happening around here the last month or two. First we finally got to check out the Emergency Room services of a hospital here in Shanghai! Lauren was riding her bike very fast when she lost control and had a major wipeout. Somehow in the wipeout, her pedal punctured a small hole in her leg (literally) requiring 2 stitches to sew it up. It was, of course, at about 7:45 at night and John was in Xuzhou but fortunately, my friend down the street was still here in Shanghai so the other girls stayed with her while Leo drove Lauren and I to the ER. Lauren did really great – not even shedding one tear during the whole time of stitching up – through the shots and everything. She’s much braver than I am because she watched the whole thing being poked, prodded and sewn while I turned my head away for most of it! :)
Later that same week, Lauren and Leah got an extra special treat of going to Dubuque with John. My great friend, Jeannie, housed them all and the girls got to see all of their little friends that they miss so much while John worked. Kate and I had a great time hanging out here in Shanghai. Those of you who have just one kid – don’t read this next sentence as I don’t want to offend you – but boy, only having one kid was SOOO easy! I was amazed at how different the work load was with just the one kiddo. Granted I would never trade my crazy days spent corralling all 3 for just one but it certainly was amazing to see. By the end of the week, though, Kate and I were ready for the family to get home! Funny enough, the day they were supposed to fly home, Lauren woke up with a 102 fever. Normally this would have been fine to fly home with (a little uncomfortable, albeit) but with all the H1N1 stuff, China is very skittish and was temp checking every person on every flight rendering anyone with a temp into mandatory quarantine. John obviously didn’t want to chance that so he and the girls hung out in Chicago for an extra two days to let the fever pass and then came on home! In the midst of all of Lauren's escapades, she also turned 6 years old! It's amazing that she is so big now...by age, not height! :)
It’s very hot here now in July – reminds John and I SO much of our College Station days – so we decided to go ahead and start school. We are in the house most days anyway so we might as well get ahead a bit. By doing this we will take off several weeks this fall when the weather is great and enjoy the great outdoors. Flexibility is one of the things we love most about homeschooling! The girls are enjoying their new routines with their new subjects. This year we are going to study all the ancient civilizations over the course of the year and try to learn a ton of geography as well. It seems that we Americans as a whole seem to be quite geography illiterate (definitely me, included) so I’m going to try to expose the girls (and myself) to tons of places this year through our studies and show them where things are located. Leah is in 2nd grade and Lauren is in 1st now. Where does the time go!
Well, that is a bit of an update on what we are up to now! Nothing too exciting but we certainly are enjoying our summer here in China! Hope you all are having a blessed summer!
Lauren enjoying her ice cream cake here in Shanghai!
Cristi and crew!

