Just For the Grandmas

It's time to pull out the long sleeve pajamas!
Matching pink princesses :)

Enough for Today

A young teenage girl sits in a hospital waiting room, softly crying. She just heard the news she was dreading--she is pregnant. Her mother and grandmother chide her, "You can't keep this baby; you know this, don't you? There is no way." She has a difficult choice to make. One little life, so precious to God, so unwanted in this life. Why did this happen? How can I bare this? She sits there pondering, grieving this life, wishing she could go back a few weeks and make a different choice.

A woman sits in a hospital waiting room, softy crying. She has just heard the news she was dreading--her husband isn't going to make it. He is being kept alive on life support, but has no brain activity. She has a difficult choice to make. One life, so precious to God, so mourned to be gone. Why did this happen? How can I bare this? She sits there pondering, grieving his life, wishing she could go back a few weeks and see him one more time.

Today, my life has intersected both of these scenarios. They are so similar, and yet so different. Both grieving, both full of sorrow and tragedy. Yet such contrast and irony. One wishes for just one more moment with a dear loved one; Another wishes for any possible way to undo this "mistake". How can a heart and mind hold both of these together, even in a single day?

"All things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17)

These words don't offer an answer. (Truly they raise more questions.) Yet still, they point to one who does. And for today, that is enough.

P-P-P Popcorn!

Have you read the recent news reports about the hazards of microwave popcorn? Perfect motivation to put down that expensive microwave stuff and go natural. (As natural as you can be with butter and salt!) And it's so much cheaper too!

Kathryn reminded me that we told you we would share our new secret, and she imagines you are daily awaiting this entry. So as promised, here is our new popcorn method, as taught by veteran stove popper, Todd Gross.

1. Chose larger deep, non-stick pan for stove.
2. Put enough cooking/veg oil in the bottom to get kernals wet but not soaking; add kernals
3. Turn stove burner on med-high, trying to keep your cool waiting for the first pop.
4. When kernals begin popping, shake every 10 secs or so to keep kernals from burning bottom.
5. If little ones are watching, a pan with a clear top is fun to watch!
6. When the popping slows down, empty popcorn into large bowl and turn off the fire.
7. In hot pan, drop desired amt of butter and melt. REAL butter is best!
8. While waiting for butter to melt, add desired salt.
9. This is the complicated part: Adding the butter evenly so as not to drown some and neglect others. You could have a stirer and a pourer, or if you are on your own, then stir with a spoon while pouring butter evenly.
10. Pop in a good flick and enjoy!

Qiu Tian Lai Le! (Fall is Here)!

I couldn't believe it when I stepped outside today-- It felt like....almost....chilly! Like about 60 degrees! You could only appreciate my excitement if you took into account that we moved here from the equator, and thus have not experienced fall since 2004. But further, being from Texas, I have NEVER lived in a place that got cool in SEPTEMBER!! We had to rush back inside to get Kathryn's coat before I took her to school. She zipped it up and pulled up the hood with a shiver like it was winter! :)

Joy Looks Like...

Thought #4 about Joy: Joy looks like...

Ps. 98:4-8: Shouting, breaking forth, singing, playing instruments; the roaring of the sea; the surging of the river; the singing of the mountains (can you hear it?)

Ps. 84:2- The hungering of a heart for God-- a physical & emotional yearning (do you feel it?)

Ps. 149- Bubbling over, singing, dancing... (are your feet light?)

So many verses beyond the Psalms...

I'm so struck that joy is so...physical! Loud, unashamed, breaking loose, bubbling over, shouting out... When is the last time you danced for joy to the Lord? No, my conservative tradition doesn't usually encourage this expression. And I'm not usually the shouting out, dancing , jumping up and down kind. (Though I do practice this some with my children!) But these verses indicate He delights in this...

Let's ask Him to give our hearts affections that find expressions commensurate with His majesty as we seek to rejoice in Him!

Here is Ellie's commentary on these verses:

My New Life in China: Kathryn's Photo Journal Entry 2--

Here's my house!
Here's the living room looking south.












And here's the living room facing north.
Here you can see into the office in the back.
Taking pictures was fun at first, but now it's getting pretty boring.















OK this is better now: I took this one!
This is my room!















That first picture sort of looked like my room is clean, but normally it looks like this. I built this great tower to show you!


















Here's the office with all the books! And that big cabinet on the right has all the FUN MESSY stuff like paint and glue. But it's locked; bummer.















Here's mom and dad's room. Mom had some really ugly curtains (even daddy said so), and she finally changed them. She said she thinks these look romantic, but I told her it takes more than curtains to make romance.















This is the only part of the kitchen mom said we could show.
We're making STOVE popcorn. We tried this after a friend showed us how, and we'll NEVER go back to microwave popcorn again!
Do you like my smile? Mom said the popcorn would burn if I didn't smile, (since she was determined to get the picture first), so I smiled really big. Maybe next time we can share our popcorn secret!

My New Life In China: Kathryn's Photo Journal, Entry 1

Kathryn wants to introduce you to her new home! Here's her first in a series:

"The first and most important place I should show you is my favorite Ice Cream shop. They sell lots of other things too, but the ice cream is all I come here for."
















"Come on, Ellie, hold my hand and don't walk into that street!"




















"Don't we 2 look cute?"















"Here's one of my favorite snacks: they are little round cookie bites that melt in your mouth."















"Sometimes when my mom is too lazy to take the double stroller, Ellie has to ride on my lap. It's a real pain, as you can see."















"Across the street is a play area with these 2 rides. I asked my mom for MONTHS and MONTHS to ride them, and she NEVER had the right coins. This is the first day we got to."
















"We had to wait our turn but we met these 2 babies-- they were born just a few days apart."
















"The wait was finally over."
















"But we had to rush home because there was someone at the house delivering something. Here's something you see EVERYWHERE!"















"We didn't get to stay out for long, but I'll send you more pictures soon!"

Back to Joy

OK, I promised I would continue these thoughts...
(Just as a reminder--
Reflection #1: Joy comes from God
Reflection #2: Joy comes from rich fellowship
Now moving forward...

A striking trend is seen in the OT references to “joy” and “rejoice”. Here you see John Piper is right, and many who have gone before him. Yet when you read these verses for yourself, it hits you fresh:

Reflection #3: Joy is commanded

Lev. 23:40: “You shall rejoice before the Lord…”

Dt. 12:7, 12 18: “Rejoice in ALL your undertakings…”

Dt. 14:26: “As you eat in the presence of the Lord, rejoice.”

Dt. 26:11: “You shall rejoice in all the good the Lord has given you.”

*Dt. 28:47: Israel is cursed because they did not serve the Lord with joy.

The first question this leads me to is: What does this reflect of our God, who mandates that we be joyful?

The second is: Knowing the obvious struggles and despondencies of our hearts in this life, how can we possibly consistently obey this command?

So I'm taking a survey and I'm looking for your insights :) -- How would YOU answer these 2 questions?

Potty Training Round 2

Only to redeem the picture of my most-unclothed child in the last post, (You thought that once we moved away from a tropical climate, we would begin properly clothing our children, didn't you?) I'll share our latest potty escapades.

It's Ellie's turn! I now feel enough on the other side of transition that I could being entertaining the idea of potty training again. Kathryn and I began singing her a chant--


"You can do it!
Ellie can do it!
Ellie can use the potty, YEAH!"

No tee-tee, but a lot of rah-rah excitement and cheering.
Does she look ready to conquer the world, or what?

Life Up and Running

Through our many transitions, the way I have come to mark the settling-in phase of the transition is this: When your kitchen is sufficiently stocked to make chocolate chip cookies, you are well on your way. So it has become important to make cookies as soon as possible-- a sort of sign of the possible impending return of sanity. Interestingly, the ingredient I was lacking was not the baking soda or the chocolate chips. (Yes, I did bring a 72 oz. bag of Nestle's chips before we left.) It was the OVEN! Chinese people do almost all their cooking on the stove, so ovens are tough to find. I kick myself now for not shipping my oven from Singapore-- It was on its last leg, but it was bigger than anything I have found here! So I found one, and cookies were baking by that evening. You want to know what it looks like, don't you? It's kind of like a big toaster oven, and it comfortably fits a 9x13 pan.













As a bonus insight into our lives here, next to the oven you see our "water tong". You can't drink the tap water here, so all drinking water is bottled. 11 years ago, I brought with me a very pricey bottled filtering system to clean our water; Now these dispensers are standard. A few weeks back we heard some news reports that about half of the bottled water in our city was "jia de"-- FAKE. Not sure what this means-- tap water? people bottling water without a license? Hard to say. But our water delivery man swears up and down that our water is the very best quality-- how can we doubt?

OK, back to the cookies. A friend made a great suggestion. In the US, I used to love buying those Nestle Toll House break and bake cookies because you can cook just a few at a time. (Because assuredly, as many as you make will get eaten!) So my friend Julia showed me how she makes a batch of dough, shapes them into balls, and then freezes the balls so you can pop in as many as you want. This is perfect for my style-- After the first few days of a new batch, they start to get boring and dried out. But an occasional fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookie is NEVER boring. So here is the first batch from our new oven:

Do you think they were a hit?

What Happened to Joy?

I imagine you have given up on me. But I haven't forgotten-- I got side-tracked for several weeks on another project, but let me promise I will resume posting "reflections on joy"... I need it!

Quote for the Day

"Before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories." -Lord Rochester

No need for commentary; This quote speaks for itself!

Thanks for Praying

Just had our first overnight stay in a Chinese hospital, as Ellie was diagnosed with pneumonia! We are home now and she is much better. If I had in the least anticipated this diagnosis, I would have tried to ask more of you to pray for us. We have had so many "adventures" lately-- I hope the rest of the week is boring!

10 Things I Forgot About China...and surely more to come

It has occurred to me in the last few weeks...I suppose almost 4 now...that our return to China has resurfaced many forgotten memories, and I have even learned a few things I never knew! It has been almost 7 years since we lived here, and then we were newlyweds without children. (Aren't we still newlyweds, honey?) So the memory grows rusty over time, and I have had some fun and not-so-fun awakenings.

10. I forgot about the air quality. Before we left, we bought the new Lonely Planet China guide, updated May 2007. One comment says "the air quality in major cities is like smoking 70 cigarettes a day." I read this before we came and I thought "surely, they are joking." No, they were not. Today as we were walking outside, Kathryn asked me, "Mommy, what is that ball in the sky?" "That's the sun, honey." The haze had so obscured the rays that you couldn't even tell it was the sun. Which leads me to...

9. I forgot about cloud-seeding. I used to think this is a myth. Then I believed it but I was critical. Now I'm just so grateful that some farmer out in the nearby countryside shoots who-knows-what kind of chemicals up into the clouds to make it rain and clear the air for a day or two!

8. So I also forgot about the joy of seeing a sunset in this place. The simple pleasure of a pinkish-purply sky as the sun goes down goes a long way.

7. I didn't know that IKEA isn't standard in all countries. Can I buy some stock in this store? This business does gang-busters in every Asian location I have ever seen. But IKEA in China doesn't carry the same stuff as the IKEA in Singapore or Dallas. That has advantages and disadvantages. You can get a nice sofa for $200 US, but you might not find much if you are trying to match what you bought in Singapore! (But if you bought something to hang on the wall and pay for them to install it, then be sure you don't forget to buy your nails too, because they won't have any when the arrive)!

6. I forgot about washing fruits and veggies. My roommate and I several years ago used a purple solution of potassium permanganate (KMNO3, if I remember right) to wash our fruits and veggies. I never knew what it did exactly, but it seems most here use a little bleach or just soapy water. Why the need for this? Broccoli friends. A week ago I cooked spaghetti and broccoli, and I was adamant about eating the broccoli because it had been days without produce. K & I ate a healthy helping, and Ellie, as usual, sat with her pouty face staring at the task before her. As I was helping her put a piece on her fork, I looked closer and noticed a tiny little worm. Then I looked down at the rest of her helping, and I saw all of his buddies. Then I looked in the pot, and there was his entire extended family and their friends too. Ellie got a "get out of jail free" card, I wisked the broccoli away, and served ice cream instead!

5. Drop your to-do list: I forgot how long it takes to accomplish things here. You may think "Go buy groceries, run over to the phone place to connect the internet, call the fix-it man to install the light fixtures...maybe fit in a trip to the meat market after naptime..." Scratch that, write it again. "Buy groceries." That is enough for one day. Slowing down isn't always such a bad thing.

4. I didn't know that although VISA boasts 200,000 user-friendly locations world-wide, almost all of our local stores aren't among them. You can get cash from a decent amount of ATM's, though, but be sure you alert VISA before you travel, or they may consider your transaction of "suspicious activity"and shut down your account. Better not have this happen on a Saturday or it will be Mon am US time before you can get more money!

3. I forgot that logic is geographically defined. Two examples. #1: I bought a new bathtub for our bathroom. It was to be delivered the next day. The delivery guy calls from downstairs and says "Your tub is here." "Great, bring it up", I say. "No, we don't deliver to your door. Just to your building. If you want it to be delivered to your door, that will be another fee." Did you know that the fee to send it up the elevator is the same fee you pay to bring it all the way from the store to your building?? Baffling. #2: At the bakery, my friend asked the lady, "Is this coconut bread?" "Yes, it is." She bought a loaf and we all began sampling it. It was sweet, but... no coconut. My friend walked back in and said "You said this is coconut bread, but there's no coconut in it...?" The lady responded, "But it's so cheap!"

2. I forgot what it was like to care for children here. Wait-- this is my first time! No wonder I'm so tired! Living in China single, and then married without kids, was much, much different. But sometimes their reminders are exactly what I need...

1. I sometimes even forget that God lives in China. Well, I suppose I just never thought of it quite like that. Kathryn came up to me relating a conversation she'd had with a new friend Alathia. She said "Mommy, God lives in China, doesn't he? I know He lives in Singapore, because he was with us there. And now that we moved to China, he lives here too, doesn't He?" A pretty significant 4-year-old application of "I will be with you wherever you go", don't you think? Out of the mouths of babes.

On late night snacks and settling in again

I'm sitting here at my computer eating a bag of potato chips, which is something I would scold my husband for doing. I needed something crunchy-salty. You know how at night you either crave crunchy salty snacks, or sweet and smooth ones? I do. I was delighted to find an avacado at the market and was going to make guacamole (my favorite homey snack of the past few years) but it was rock hard. (By the way, my mom's guacamole is the best-- add lemon juice, garlic salt, onion salt and tabasco sauce to taste.) So anyhow, I'll have to wait another day or so.

But we were talking about China, weren't we?

We moved into our home a week ago, and I think we're doing pretty well all things considered. We have electricity, phones, internet, food in our kitchen... All the basic necessities. Oh, and a washer and dryer. I discovered when I went to do our first load of laundry that the washer has no water temperature selection. That's right--every load is cold. I just assumed (that was my problem right there) that when I bought the thing, that one of those buttons with Chinese characters was for water temp. I don't know how clean our clothes will be getting, but no need for sorting!

Jim left this past Sunday, and he will return the 26th. Yikes. I have had those moments when I'm pushing the double stroller up the ramp of a major highway overpass, and I say to myself "Did I really just move to another foreign country, and have we really just been in our home one week, and did my husband really leave 4 days later, and why am I crossing this highway anyhow??"

Language re-acquisition is painful. I just had a 30 minute conversation on the phone with a lady in Chinese. Before you are impressed, know that the only reason it took 30 minutes was because I had to keep saying "qing shuo man yi dian" (please speak slower) and "qing shuo jian dan yi dian" (please speak more simply).

I did take a few pics out our window on a clear day. So far there have been 2 of them (clear days, that is). This may give you a feel for our community:

Not bad, huh? This little "play area" downstairs is full of adult exercise equipment. It's standing room only from about 4-6am when all the grandmas and grandpas are out getting their morning exercise! (The sun rises at 4:30; WHY?? Because China is one big time zone. The same geographic width spans 5 time zones in the US. We are the furthest east, so we get up first!)

OK; I better go. Maybe my avacado is ripe now.