Leftovers

You know what I love best about the story of the loaves and fishes?  That there were leftovers.  More than enough.

Remember a few weeks ago when I said that I needed a loaves and fishes miracle for Thanksgiving?  Well, guess what.  We had leftovers.  (I meant to take a picture of our crammed tiny refrigerator so you could see for yourself, but you have a good imagination, right?)

Our Thanksgiving celebration was a success (despite the fact that I came down with a killer cold on Friday night...I guess to show me even further that His power is made perfect in weakness!)

updates

In an effort to keep up the blogging roll I've been on lately, I'd like to give an update on two major fronts--Thanksgiving preparations and potty-training (which hopefully will have no connections to each other whatsoever).

Thanks to His "peace that passes understanding," I'm feeling much more excited about next Saturday.  His peace "passes understanding" because I really can't explain why I don't feel freaked out anymore. Only that He reminded me that He will be with me and the thing that matters most to Him is love...my goal is to abide in His love as I walk through this week and then pass along His love to the people in my life as I go about preparing and hosting.  If by His grace I can do that, then I've succeeded, regardless of whether people have to eat KFC or not.  So for this week, when I am tempted to worry, I am going to pull an Ann Voskamp and give thanks. "Thank You that You have given us so many friends whom we can have over. Thank you for giving us a home in which we can host people. Thank You for giving us the means with which we can buy food. Thank You that You have already taken care of my problem that is much greater than whether or not we'll have enough turkey, namely my sin against You. Thank You for being so abundant in Your goodness to undeserving people like us that we can have a whole holiday to celebrate Your generosity!"

This is a small example of a much larger theme that's been playing in my life for several months that's basically summarized by this--I'm coming to see that God is much more concerned about the how of our lives than the what.  What I mean is this--I think we (Christian moms/wives especially) can get completely overwhelmed thinking about what we're supposed to do with our days....there just seems to be too much what that needs to happen and not enough time to put it in. What if, instead of stressing over what is the most God-glorifying way to spend my time, I simply aimed to have fellowship with Him in the midst of whatever I'm doing?  Hopefully more to come on this later, that's just a preview.  The rest is still ruminating.
So there's a little insight into what's been going on in my heart since the last post.  The fact that I found two boxes of Stove Top stuffing at the third import store I visited helped a lot too (there were only 3 boxes left too, we arrived just in the nick of time!)  I've never made homemade stuffing before and I have no idea whether it's easy or complicated, but I surely did not want to have to learn this time around!  I'm still not entirely sure whether we're going to have 10 people or 20....but it doesn't really change what I have to cook only the amount, right?

On the potty-training, Caroline has done amazingly well. She only had one accident the first day, and ever since then has made it to the potty every time she needs to go (unless you count the fact that she probably went peepee in the pool the other night when we went swimming, despite the fact that I took her to the bathroom three times in 10 minutes because she said she needed to go).  And I'll also not mention the la duzi incident that happened while we were waiting to pick up Katie from kindergarten (la duzi may or may not literally mean pull stomach so I'll let you venture a guess as to what that means).  You can't really blame the girl...it was only Day 2 of potty-training and I was in too much of a rush to put a pull-up on her.  Plus, even grown-ups have accidents in cases of la duzi sometimes!  All that to say, I have been very pleasantly surprised by the ease of potty-training this time around.  So glad I waited as long as I did.  And any mothers out there who feel inept because their 28 months old is still in diapers while your 18 month old neighbor's been in undies for months...don't give in!  Every kid is different and the longer you wait, the way easier it is (thank you, Jennifer K!).

Notice the pillows on the ground in case she falls out...
That floor is pretty unforgiving!

In honor of her achieving yet another benchmark of big-girl-ness, I decided to take things to yet another level.  Byebye, crib; hello, toddler bed!  I've hesitated to do this for such a long time because there's such a sense of peace and security in having your two year old contained (although our escape artist did get out one time).  We had a really easy time transitioning Katie to a big bed (at 25 months, I think), which was a total surprise to us, because up until that point no transition had been easy with Katie, plus I've heard such nightmares stories from friends whose toddlers would not stay in bed. With Katie, we simply warned her with grave sobriety about the absolute necessity of staying in bed until mommy or daddy came to get her.  I did the same thing with Caroline tonight...so far, so good!  Thankfully, Katie is our watchdog in the same room, so I'm sure she'll keep Caroline in line if she tries any funny business!

For the grandparents :)

loaves and fishes

Well, folks, I've gotten myself in a bit of pickle here.  My desire to welcome and include others has completely outstripped my grip on reality. I have 20 people coming to my house for Thanksgiving.  Um, yes, 20 people...and did I mention that our apartment is on the smallish side and that our oven can only fit one half-sized cookie sheet at a time? Sheesh, what was I thinking?! Clearly, no thinking was happening on my part, only feeling, right?  That's what the Myers-Briggs people say about us "F-types," we think with our feelings. That was obviously at play in this situation....

Which leaves me wondering where I can find a little boy who's carrying around 5 loaves and 2 fishes...'cause I need a miracle! 

Seriously though, in some ways I'm glad that I feel so completely inadequate and that I have gotten myself in way over my head, because if you never feel like you need a miracle, then you'll never see one, right?  Scripture passages about the Lord being our help and our support and our strength have fresh meaning for me this morning (as do verses about the Lord rescuing us in the day of calamity! Ha!)  If you think of it during the next week, pray for me, will you?  Pray that there will be enough of everything--enough food to eat AND enough trust and peace in my heart. And pray that I don't become this lady (really, please click because this is just about one of the funniest things I have ever seen on the web).

Where you gonna go, when you gotta go

The arrival of "National Turn On the Heat Day" has nicely coincided with "Begin Potty-Training Caroline Day."  (I realize that this sentence may have caused everyone except the grandmothers and other moms of 2 year olds to want to stop reading. I totally understand, sofeel free to click away without guilt.)  : )

One week in September I attempted to start potty-training, admittedly half-heartedly. It quickly became quite evident that neither Caroline nor I was ready, and I was quite happy to abort mission. I shared this experience with my friend Megan, who also lives in Asia and whose son is a week younger than Caro, to see what her potty-training plans were and to find out if she experienced the same feelings of ineptness, being the only mother in the neighborhood whose 2 year old still wore diapers. (I think I mentioned before that most Chinese begin potty-training their children as infants and are completely diaper-free by 6 months. They are also often wearing crotch-less pants which is another blog post altogether. Click here if you want to read more about how they do it.)  My friend wisely suggested that I wait until after National Turn On the Heat Day...that would not only give Caro a few more months of development but would also be a time when we were naturally indoors more since it's cold outside plus it would be warm enough inside so that she could go pantless and not freeze to death.

I decided to go with her advice, and it has worked out well since I have a week off of class this week due to a need to switch teachers.  Today is only Day 2, but I'm pretty committed to staying diaper-free during the daytime, even if it means that I am only training myself to take her to the potty more regularly. She did pretty well yesterday with only one accident, and I must say that this is one reason I'm happy that Chinese apartments have no carpet--it makes accidents much easier to clean up!

We've also had a fun song to go along with the experience since our copy of the new Slugs and Bugs album finally arrived this week.  The album happily has a potty-training song called "Where You Gonna Go." You can click here to listen to a sample.  The album also has a ton of other super-fun songs, most of which the girls could sing along with after just one listen. If you're looking for a great Christmas gift for a child in your life, this is a good one.  In addition to the silly songs that are trademark Slug and Bugs, the album also has some really precious songs with good spiritual insight, that helps even Mommies who are having hard days. 
(In my effort to find an online version of the potty song, I came upon Randall Goodgame's Slugs and Bugs blog. It is awesome, check it out.)

Happy National Turn on the Heat Day!

I intended to blog about this cultural curiosity last spring when it was "National Turn Off the Heat Day," but such a post never happened.  I'm much happier to be reporting about the arrival of "National Turn On the Heat Day."  Yes, it's just what it sounds like.  Most (all?) homes here do not have individual control over their heat.  Air conditioning, yes, heat, no.  Which means that for several weeks in the spring and fall (prior to National Turn On the Heat Day or just after National Turn Off the Heat Day), you either freeze to death inside your house or wear so many layers you look like Ralphie's little brother from A Christmas Story. 

I find that comparing this aspect of Chinese culture to America to be very symbolic of each country's fundamental underpinings.  China is a collective society--the good of the whole trumps the will of the individual.  The United States is an individualistic society--the will of the individual is the most significant value.  Thus, it makes total sense that in China there would be one national switch controlling the heat for 1.7 billiion people whereas in the U.S. each individual home usually has multiple separate controls (because, of course, different people in different parts of the house have different temperature needs, right?)  很有意思。(Hen you yisi means very interesting, a very useful, "catch-all" phrase.)

Today is the official National Turn On the Heat Day, although we were happily surprised to find our home a bit warmer starting on Friday.  I think they may begin testing things a bit early to make sure nothing blows up when things start up full-tilt. We are usually thrilled the first day or so after the heat comes on, after having been so bone-cold for so many weeks.  But the novelty wears off pretty quickly (at least for Adam it does, who very soon starts opening the windows and begins pontificating about the inefficiency of the whole system...I guess that's what happens after working at the gas and electrice company for two years!)  The girls and I are quite happy with the heat...they like the fact that they can dress up in princess dresses and tutus without being cold, and I'd much rather be unencumbered by thick layers.  Remember this picture from the early days of 3am wake-up times due to jet lag last February (note the onesie indicating how warm it was)?

cheating death

Led this morning by Ann Voskamp to another great, day-transforming quote:

"But we all cheat death every day, don’t we? We cheat it by crafting beauty, or loving someone, or making new life; sometimes we cheat it just by leaving the gun in the drawer, the liquor in the cabinet, the hateful word in our bellies."

-Tony Woodlief, click here for his whole post

Attempting Autumn

I love fall. I don't know what it is about the first day I have to wear jeans and a jacket or about spotting the first colored leaf on a tree or on the ground, but the feeling I get is close to what a child must feel when you tell them their birthday is next week.  I'm not sure why I feel that way--perhaps happy childhood memories of carving pumpkins and drawing pictures of pilgrims and indians and eating pumpkin pie that had more cool whip than pie.  I think now it's the beginning of a whoe

I was a little concerned that I would experience major homesickness during this season without pumpkin spice lattes and premature Christmas decorations in Target.  And to be honest, I have had a few bouts of sadness, thinking of what Eastern Parkway in Louisville must look like right now.  And I may or may not have almost shed tears of bittersweet happiness in seeing really ugly artificial leaves strung above the cash registers at Wal-mart.  But I have experienced great joy in seeing this city beautified by orange and yellow and red flowers, at all the entrance ways to universities and complexes--in part in celebration China's National Day in early October and in part because fall is known to be this city's most pleasant season.  These displays inspired me to get out and find the flower market that people had told me was in our neighborhood.  I knew the general vicinity, so one day after class, I hopped on my bike and decided to ride around until I found it. I must say, my discovery of it was one of my proudest "Chinese" moments yet because it was the first time that I actually found something by reading the sign!  No English, no pinyin, only characters.  And I read them.  Woot.

We've also enjoyed buying some pumpkins and making fun things with pumpkin puree. It's never officially fall in my heart until I make the first batch of my friend Cindy's pumpkin bread (recipe to come).

field trips

{{still in the process of uploading photos...keep coming back for more}}

October has been the month for fields trips around here.  First, Adam took a trip to the Great Wall with his school.  They went to a location that none of us had been to before. He said the best part about it was that hardly anyone else was there (if you've ever been to a tourist spot in China, you'll understand why this was truly amazing).

The week after that, Katie's kindergarten also took a trip to the Great Wall, and I got to go along as a chaperone!

Last week Katie's class took another field trip to a farm outside of the city to pick vegetables. Apparently this is the thing to do in China in the fall. Every kid that I know who attends a local school has taken such a trip recently. I guess it's their way of teaching all these city kids about how the majority of people in their country live! Katie had a blast and came back with a huge back of carrots and two ears of corn. I guess I'll be making a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting soon!


Excited about some purple kernels



Chinglish

Oh, I have so much fodder for a series of posts devoted to some of the greatest "Chinglish" I've seen thus far. But it would be only fair to begin with the Chinglish found in my own family. Behold, the bilingual child...

Lest you think more highly of Caroline than you ought, let me transcribe/translate for you what she's "reading":

我不要这个，不知道。我你不知道。我不要这个不要。真的不知道。

I don't want this, I don't know. I you don't know. I don't want this don't want. Truly don't know.