It Took Moving to the City to Live Like a Country Girl

Okay, okay, you country folks can take all the issue you want with this entry's title, but be patient and allow me to elaborate.  I stood on my balcony today and looked out at the view: apartments, other people's living rooms, the mountain in the distance.  It was hard not to feel stifled after some of the other places I've lived that are more visually spectacular.  Urban life can make you feel suffocated sometimes, especially when the people just won't go away, it won't get quiet even at night, and it never gets dark.  Yet, in the last 5 months, I have engaged in more "wholesome country" activity than perhaps I ever have in my whole life, even when I lived on a teeny-tiny farm.  Here is my list of recent rural (or at least non-citified) activities:
-hanging my laundry; don't even have a dryer
-making my own everything: bread, non-toxic household cleaners, dressings, beverages...the list goes on (the pickles this week were excellent)
-buying fresh vegetables from the local market almost every day
-living an active lifestyle: we walk most places, and the 20 pounds I don't have anymore attests to it
-cloth diapering my baby; it is much cheaper, and without a dryer, even more economical than when I cloth diapered in the States
-getting outside: not having a car means making more short trips, which is fine when everything is a bit closer.  Thus, to get our needs met, we get outside every day.

Now, to the purist, these things don't count, I get it.  But living here has forced more resourcefulness upon me, and our family benefits.  Amidst people here who have frequent digestive complaints, we thrive; our dental health is superior, our skin looks great, and we have good energy despite having two very young children.  And I'm definitely jealous.  Someday I'll have that big garden with the chickens running around and the fresh milk flowing (oh dear, now I'm starting to salivate), but next fall I'm going to try balcony gardening and see where it takes me.  I may not have the darkness and sweet air that I miss, but being able to get fresh food and having the skills to do something with it is a good place to start.  Perhaps I'm honing my skills for the country living I crave right here in my concrete jungle, so that when we do get that place I picture in my mind, I'll be ready to hit the ground running.

P.S. Today, I'm styling the rural look, with pigtails and a bandanna.  Pigtails are for keeping the baby from grabbing my hair and pulling, bandana for holding my bangs back...

Deeper Into Yunnan

We got out of town this last week, and before I share about our trip, I have to extend this caveat: our camera's memory card got corrupted and we lost ALL the pictures!  So, I am pilfering some photos off of the Internet to give you an idea of where we were and what we did.  Unfortunately, we are just not in the photos.  Maybe we can recover them at some point, but we were understandably disappointed that we lost them!  

Getting There

The main thing we learned: traveling with kids is hard!  You may be thinking already, "Hey, you already do that!  You crazy people live in China!  However, live is the operative word.  We live in China, we had not (except the getting here part) actually traveled with them yet.  With this week off for spring break, we felt brave enough and ready enough to attempt the traveling.  Thus, with many changes of clothes, lots of diapers (potty training went out the window this week), snacks, water, toys, our umbrella stroller with the wonky left wheel, and oh yeah, our own stuff, we hauled them to the train station to take the 9-hour night train ride to a city called Lijiang.  This is a picture of Kunming Train station, or Kunming Zhan (Jahn).  It's a huge train hub, and it is a huge train station.

Kunming Zhan

We paid extra bucks to get Luxury Class, which meant a bed you can sit up in and only four people per compartment.  It was not unbearable, and both the girls slept all night.  Michael and I really did not sleep, and I found the whole experience to be a bit too claustrophobic for my tastes.  Since we were traveling at night, there was nothing to see and the compartment was, thankfully, dark.

If we had not bought Luxury Class, we would have been in Hard Class.  Thank goodness we decided not be be cheap; it would have been hell with little kids.  Hard Sleepers are six bunks to a compartment.

Lijiang

Anyway.  We arrived in Lijiang about 7:30 in the morning.  We caught a taxi and got our first taste of some of the frustrations we experienced in this city, namely, that it was expensive and that we would get ripped off a lot.  A good lesson for travelers: it's okay to haggle with your taxi driver, or at least try!

Michael's classroom assistant was kind enough to arrange our hotel in Lijiang.  We stayed in an area called Shuhe, which is supposed to be a very ancient part of the Lijiang area.  I am sure that many of the buildings are new and made to look old, but some aren't.  The stone streets are the real deal, and the era of this area is probably about 500 years old.  I thought that was neat.  Evie even got to take a horse ride through this neighborhood back to our hotel (we had made her walk all afternoon, and the horse made the whining stop for 10 whole minutes--bliss).  I think the horse was the highlight of Lijiang for us all.  I'm really bummed we don't have that picture!

Old Town Lijiang is a Unesco World Heritage Site.  Here is the entrance.

This is the famous picture that seems to show up anytime you search for Lijiang on the Internet.  Snow Mountain, in the background, is a very outlying part of the Himalayas.  We set out to get this picture ourselves and discovered that we had to pay about $20 per person to get into that part of the park.  We decided to decline, and Michael in true fashion, found a side entrance and snuck in that way.  What a surprise to find that right now there is no water in that lake in the picture!  We were glad we hadn't wasted all that money!

Another shot of the Shuhe area.

Dali

We only stayed a day in Lijiang, which really, was enough.  Getting around was expensive and somewhat difficult, and the food was a bit more challenging that we felt like dealing with.  The real attraction that brings people to that area is the hiking, and we were not about to attempt such an ordeal this time.  Thus we hopped (or in actuality, hauled ourselves) on a bus that looked a lot like the one above and spent three hours riding south to a town called Dali.  Michael had been there in the fall without us and really enjoyed it.

Our bus driver was a very flexible fellow, and once we were in Dali, he began letting people off in the places that were convenient to them at their request.  We picked up on this, and when Michael recognized that the bus was passing by an area close to our hotel, he asked the driver to stop and let us off, which he did.  This was great, because the bus station was quite far away, and that would have been yet another taxi ride.  This way, we were able to stretch our legs and walk about 15 minutes to our  hotel.  This was part of our walk.

Dali is quite friendly to Western tastes, and we stopped for lunch, coffee, and refreshment at Bakery 88 before checking in to our hotel.  It was lovely to sit in a clean place where no one was smoking and enjoy a prosciutto sandwich and a latte.

Then on to our home away from home for two nights: the Sleepyfish Hotel.  Lovely!  It had a great, fenced-in courtyard in which to meander, sip my coffee, and watch Evie.  Our room was clean, bright, and comfortable.  I was really able to relax here.  I would come back again--maybe not in a heartbeat, since the traveling there was somewhat arduous, but I certainly look forward to my next visit there.

Our room basically looked like this.

One of the things for which Dali is famous are these three pagodas, which Michael was able to go see with the bike he rented.  He told me he was standing right next to that golden eagle.  Me, I think I was napping back at the hotel...

The Bai people are a predominant minority group in this area.  Their clothing is just stunning, and they actually wear these outfits out and about; it is not just a tourism gimmick.  These outfits are fairly dressy, but we saw them pretty frequently.  Evie calls them princesses.

We headed home on Friday, tired but happy.  We got on another bus and were treated to three loud and violent Chinese movies.  I gazed at the rural countryside while the sound of screeching tires, gunshots, and screams echoed in my ears (those sounds were from the movies that were played).  People still farm by hand and use horse-drawn carts to haul things to and from the fields.  They work hard.  Anyway, it was a bit hard to enjoy the pastoral scene with the violent movies in the background, not to mention trying to keep my toddler from watching them.  Not only that, but Chinese bus drivers lean on their horns very heavily.  The driver seemed to need to use the horns when: he was passing another car, when he wanted to pass a car, if there is an oncoming "bus comrade," so to speak, or whenever the paroxysms of his hands forced the horn to blast.  So peaceful... Then, with about two hours left of our 5-hour bus ride, Evie threw up all over Michael four separate times.  All the clean clothes were beneath us in the bus, so we wiped everything up with the Moby wrap and gagged and apologized a lot.

As is always the case, trips are fun, but they make home even sweeter.  Evie and Emma were so happy to return home, to the things that have become familiar to them.  And we learned what we already knew: traveling with kids is hard!  We learned to accept our limitations (not as much hiking as we would have liked, more barf and whining than we would have liked), but we had fun anyway and are glad for the adventures this new chapter in life brings to us.

An Extra Measure of Grace

The mother of Evie's new friend has said this several times now: life in Kunming seems to be afforded an extra measure of grace.  These types of platitudes tend to rub me the wrong way, except that this time, this platitude fits our lives here.

I was particularly proud of myself the other day.  I went out for a bike ride the other day and accomplished a few benchmarks that had been intimidating me: going out by myself (simultaneously wonderful and frightening), going someplace and returning without too much grief, and negotiating a few intersections.  It's amazing how basic the challenges of life can become, isn't it?  While I pedaled away, I followed my new friend's advice: pray for safety on the way out and thank God for a safe return upon journey's completion.  As I made my way through a 2-lane (or three lanes, or four, or whatever people feel like, as the case often is in China) roundabout,  I found myself asking the Holy Spirit for guidance.  And I felt Him nudging me.  I watched a bus approaching my street as I was about to cross; the bus was on the inside lane which, in the Western world would signal that he is not exiting the roundabout, but he in fact did exit the roundabout, cutting off the car behind him.  I had elected not to cross the street a moment before and was glad for that decision.  But more than that, I had felt God's presence nudging me to pause.  Thankfully I listened, right?

It got me thinking.  Why haven't I learned to live like this earlier?  Depending on God to get me through my day, that is.  Was it because I just felt so self-reliant that I never even thought about asking for help through things like roundabouts?  Probably.  I think that is part of the reason I like living in foreign countries; the experience just lays naked my, our, utter helplessness.  It is so nice to feel competent and independent, as we are so accustomed to feeling when on our home turf.  Who has to think about going to the store to buy toilet paper or pick up a few groceries?  Who wants to?  But as I am double-locking my bike at the shopping center (and I know that double-locking is really not good enough--perhaps a force field might do the trick), I really do believe the best theft prevention is to pray for that pile of metal and rubber as I leave it.  Lord, please let this thing be here when I get back.  The truth is, the reality of our lives is that we are in dire need of God's daily nudging and protection.  We are not competent or independent.  We are utterly reliant on God's provision and presence.

Helplessness also gives me a reason to ask God for more than just help.  Another wise friend of mine encouraged me to approach my time here in Kunming as an opportunity to ask God for his purpose for me.  How will you use me/what will you teach me today, Lord?  When I feel confident and competent, I do not ask God those questions because I am so convinced I already know the answers.  Being in a place in life where I need His help and I really want His purpose forces my hand to ask the questions and to be ready for the answers.  I am discovering that opening my life up to not knowing and, even more, not trying to know, God's plan probably allows Him to set His plans in motion.  We love to walk into situations and decide where we fit in and how our talents will best serve our circumstances.  But I am coming to learn that I am better used when I am not trying to be used.  Let God do the leading and be ready.  Again, it's that part about realizing that my real competence comes from giving up my competence.

I don't think the solution to this kind of pride is to move to a foreign country.  The solution is confession and repentance.  Then I think God does give an extra measure of grace; when we know we need it, we can see it when it is bestowed upon us (that must be where that whole "blessed are the poor in spirit" thing comes into play).  I think I am just grateful to be in a place in life in which the work of God is being made clear to me because that work helps me throughout my day--I need it that often.  Make our taxi driver kind, help my kid be successful on the potty today, keep us safe, make me more patient, let this person answer her phone...keep me sane! ;-)

I'm not sure if I'll get to understand why God brought us to China, but as with most grand adventures, before others get changed, the most significant change happens within.  May it be so in my life with an extra measure of grace.  As a friend of mine prays: Eyes to see, ears to hear, willingness to act.

A New Life--First Glimpses of Kunming

I have tried my best to take our camera around with me when we go out, but I tell you, the cloud of distraction that seems to follow me everywhere also applies to taking pictures.  I'd have to say that learning to do life with two small children is a learning curve that does not go away when you move to a new city in a new country.  I wouldn't say the curve has been made worse by being here, but the things I'd like to be doing (taking pictures, calling family to describe all the sights and sounds, trying out the local restaurants, etc) are just not happening at the pace I'd hope for.  Oh well.  One step at a time.
Here are some pictures of the life we have been living thus far!

 Kunming International Academy

Michael's classroom is on the third floor in the middle section.

 Here is the entrance to our neighborhood, called a xiaoqu (say it "shaow-choo").  Our building is down to the left about an eighth of a mile.

 Primary playground at the school.  I take Evie here a couple times a week.

 Our water delivery guy.  He's pretty strong; those water bottles are heavy, and he hauls them off his scooter and up into your building (we have an elevator, but still...)

 Our building--number 67, 10th floor.

 Living room

 The gang, in the kitchen

 Emma, sitting in her Bumbo "floor (please don't sue us, it's a FLOOR)" seat

 Some friends took us up to the hills on the west side of Kunming.  There is a magnolia tree park there, and we enjoyed a picnic, sunshine, and a little strolling and lolling about.

 "Spring City" doing its thing in January.

 Please appreciate the lawn.

 This is the lolling I was talking about.

 We got to enjoy some traditional dancing in honor of the New Year holiday coming up.

So this is some of our new life.  For having a young family, it's quite lovely.  Most of our needs are in walking distance, so we walk a lot; I'm counting on that baby weight just melting away... :-)  Most days, Evie and I cook together, do some art, play with friends, visit Dad at lunch time, take a walk, and have nap or "quiet time."  It's a good rhythm that I enjoy with her.  I am learning that to eat the foods we like and have a nutritious, cost-effective version of them means that I have to make it myself.  Thus we regularly make yogurt, kefir, and kombucha (for good gut health and keeping us healthy), as well as bread, tomato sauce (you can buy this, but I try to supplement with my own because tomatoes are fresh here year-round), and tortillas.  I'm enjoying this type of resourcefulness, and I think we will be healthier because of it.  Milk is not a Chinese food, and it is imported.  Note: when your milk comes in a box that does not need to be refrigerated because it has been so highly pasteurized, it is no longer milk.  It is white liquid with fat and protein that is now super difficult to digest.  We quickly made a family decision to stop drinking milk (sadness) and switch to home-made kefir and yogurt instead.  It's been a fair trade-off, and we all have excellent digestion as well!

The kids are doing very well; I hardly recognize Emma from her newborn pictures; she is getting fat and sweet.  She smiles and gurgles a lot and has recently found her fist to put in her mouth.  She is a strong baby and does not hate being put on her tummy.  It's a lot of fun to watch her and Evie develop a relationship; they like each other, and Emma smiles and squeals when Evie dances and sings for her.  I have also decided that two is one of the weirdest ages for people.  It's this morph age between baby and kid, where your kid does both baby and kid things simultaneously.  Like telling me a reasonably long and complex story with pretty big words and then lapsing into silence to take a draw on her pacifier.  Or "reading" through a book from memory and then informing me that she needs a new diaper (potty training is on the horizon...)  And even though this stage of life can be really tedious and boring, I am so thankful to be able to stay home with both girls.  Wow.  What a privilege these days.  Thanks to God for that.

I think they will be good friends.

Wisdom Learn(ed)ing

I was recalling this evening that I began 2012 with a challenge to myself.  My friends often choose a word for themselves as a theme for their year, and last January I chose a word for myself.  I chose the word wisdom.  I was feeling like I needed wisdom to help me in my life; manage people and time well, make good decisions, be a better friend, etc.  I was floundering a bit, and I could feel it leaking into all areas of my life.  A little help from God and an extra dose of wisdom would be just the ticket.

As I look back, I really think I was looking for wisdom in areas of life that are secondary.  I'm going to term it "worldly wisdom" because I was seeking answers to problems that had to do with my worldly life, and not much existed beyond that.  What God has been accomplishing in my life since then is what I consider to be "spirit wisdom," and I am finding that its principles are much easier to grab ahold of.  Worldly wisdom was case by case, which is why I was having trouble getting any of it.  Spirit wisdom has been deep and frighteningly simple: trust God; believe Him; when it's bothering you, hand it off to God; let Him take care of you, remember that He loves you.  There.

A verse came to me this evening that I've overlooked way too often because I've seen it printed on too many bookmarks and calendars.  However, looking beyond the Christian commercialism, this verse really does encapsulate God's intention for us:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways, acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

God leads us.  If we've agreed to allowing ourselves to be put where He wants us, we will be there, our paths will be straight.  I haven't done a word study on what it means to have a straight path, but I think it may have something to do with feeling like God's wisdom is upon you and His will is working through you.  Thus, being in His will and having access to his power and wisdom is about trust, about giving your life up, about being less you and more Christ in you. 

Hopefully, now that it's taken me 11 months to figure out what kind of wisdom I've been seeking, He will begin to bestow more of it upon me.  I really did need it to begin with, I know that for sure.

These Miracles Are Just the Beginning

It's not been easy, but we are making it--gracefully and grace-filled.  I am learning something profound about faith: when I am where God asks me to be, He takes care of things.  It's so tempting to complicate that truth and put conditions on it, and yet, it is not complicated and it is not conditional.  It just is.  And even so, I know that the evidences of God's work are a mere glance into the depth of His plan.  Yet they amaze me, so I must write them down.

Michael came home for our new baby's birth.  Right on time, with time to spare.
Michael loves his job, and he is learning how vital his role is as a support to missionaries trying to reach an unreached group of people.
Our new little girl, Emma, is here!  Her birth was uncomplicated, quiet, and respectful.  Considering all we have been through this year, I think she deserves such an entrance into this world.
God gave me a relatively easy labor and delivery.  As one person put it to me, the experience was very healing.  I think she was right on the money.
We are successfully living with our family; that is not an easy thing to do, but we are doing it with grace, patience, and as much selflessness as we can manage.  I'm proud of us.
KIA (our school) has been a real support to Michael, especially in regard to taking care of us around the birth of our baby.  They offered to pay for the extra plane ticket it's going to take to get us to China.  That's a huge burden lifted from our bank account.
Paperwork is being taken care of; each step of the way that might have been complicated is not.
...And so much else.

Let this be my exercise in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: In everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

We are grateful.  We believe God is moving us into a profound place.  He is being faithful to us; let us be faithful to Him.

Here's Baby Emma!  7 pounds, 11 ounces.

(sorry it's sideways...)

What to do With This Thing?

Contrary to the quote by Mark Twain that is just above this posting, I often wrestle with what to do with this bit of cyberspace because I don't want to waste my and other people's time writing about "uninteresting" things.  I thought traveling to South Korea was an interesting enough platform upon which to start a blog, and then when we returned to the States, I settled right back into, "this just isn't interesting enough for the masses" mentality.  Note the lack of posts from 2009 to 2012.  It would do well for me to take my own advice.  Yet, I do believe that each life is significant, interesting, and wise.  We spend such a great amount of time excusing ourselves, our choices, our problems because we think someone else is more ____________ (fill in the blank).  What a lie.

But I have been thinking hard about how I want to use this platform, and I am not going to tie it to the interesting!  I'm setting myself free of that burden.  I may very well use it to do what many people do with their blogs: stream their consciousnesses. :-)  Lucky you, readers.  However, the feedback I often get from my friends is that they enjoy my writing; it hooks them.  As a teacher, I know this is a good start to writing--hook your audience!  So, if I have done that, hang in there.  Perhaps we can learn from each other.

Just Leave a Message for Me

I should probably offer an apology or an explanation of some sort to those of you who have valiantly tried to hold a conversation with our daughter over the phone lately.  You see, she thinks she owns exclusive rights to the phone.  If I am talking on the phone with someone, she gets immediately jealous (as do all children, even my infant niece), begs to know who I am talking to, and then insists on saying hi if it's someone she knows.  After we've negotiated an appropriate time for me to hand the phone over, she grabs it, darts to the furthest corner of the room, and becomes something she is usually not: silent.  Then that poor person is left trying to make kind, yet desperate conversation with the air:

"Hi Evie!"
Heavy breathing accompanied by a grin.
Me: "Okay, if you want the phone you have to say something."
Smallest whisper: "Hi..."
"Are you having fun today?"
"..."
"Are you playing with your mommy?"
"..."
Me: "If you're not going to talk, then it's my turn with the phone again."
"AHHHHHH!  No!!  I have it!  Wahhhh!"

Anyway, you get it.
Or you may get the opposite conversation in which she is telling you about everything she sees, remembers, is thinking about, has ever thought about.  During these conversations, I feel it is my duty to assist the poor person who is making such a grand effort to interpret her speech, but I'll have you know that when I actually get close enough to make a comment, Evie runs away, as far away as possible.  It's hard for me to help you, but I try.

So here are a few things you can talk to her about that might help you:

• balloons
• flowers, particularly roses
• colors: her favorite is pink, hands down
• her new baby doll (not the real baby we are having; we're working on that)
• her grandparents' puppies, Mollie and Katie
• the chickens (kickens) or the duck
• any reference to the Froggy books
• make a joke to her and say, "just kidding!"  She lives for that.

You are all champs.  I hope this helps, since apparently I'm not allowed to touch phones.

New Perspective and Things to Be Excited About

We completed Phase I of this new adventure: moving out of our house in Chico.  And just in the nick of time!  The day we arrived in the Pacific NW, the heat was reaching a "brain-numbing" (as the local weatherman put it) 105 degrees.  Yuck and double-yuck.  We were enjoying sunny and 73.  My soul knows that that's the way it should be.

Our daughter Evie has been in toddler heaven, as her grandparents up here have on their large property the following: two black and white, sweet-tempered puppies, five chickens, one duck who needs to be chased as often as possible, and a huge garden for getting dirty in.  She has slept hard and played hard.

Michael has new information about his 5th grade class awaiting him, and the more we learn, the more excited we become, which is helping our feeling of momentum when it comes to all this change.  He has 20 students (such a great number for a class!).  The class schedule is very nice, if not a little too jam-packed, which may make it hard to feel like the teacher gets to accomplish anything throughout the day.  The thing that I think is the coolest is that his class has a Mandarin lesson each day (Michael doesn't have to teach that part).  I wish I had had a foreign language class every day in elementary school!  The school is going to take good care of us.  They are providing us with a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment a mere 10 minute's walk from school, and they will be there at midnight to pick Michael up from the airport on Friday when he arrives.  They'll also give him some food in his cupboards and take him around that weekend to orient him.  What a difference from our Korean experience!  We arrived late in the evening in Korea to an empty apartment that had no toilet paper (and no idea how to go get some!) and no food.  We also had no idea that nothing opens before 10:00 a.m., so we had to wait, starving, until then to hunt something down, and our jet lag had awakened us at 4:00 a.m.  It's a good feeling to know that Michael will be arriving in China to people who are expecting him and are also prepared for him.  I can feel good about that.

And Evie and I will try to stay busy, have fun, and be rested.  I think we can do that.  Here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately...

 We got to go sailing with our friend.  I didn't do any of the work; I just enjoyed the water and scenery. :-)

 Feels good to be out of the heat!

 Family day at Klessick Farms!  Taking a horse-drawn wagon ride.

Having the time of her life!

The Only Constant is Change?

Our lives have been in a state of upheaval this year, and to save some cyber space, I'll give the highlights:

-February:  Lost my job--definitely wasn't expecting that.  My income was the primary one.  I still shake my head at this one, but I am learning to move on…

-March: Got a positive pregnancy test; that all happened before the job loss.  Since COBRA was too expensive and my deductible was $6000, we opted to hope for Medi-Cal benefits or just pay cash.  And people, check this out: when you pay cash to a hospital, they are often willing to give you a big discount.  Just ask questions.  Michael looks for a full time job.

-April: Michael really getting serious about finding full time work.  We traveled to Tillamook, OR to interview for a State Parks job.  Didn't work out.  I began doing some tutoring to make money and help my self-esteem.

-May: Applied for a job at our church.  We were hoping this one would work out because it would help us stay in Chico.  Michael interviewed for it at the end of May.

-June: Waiting, waiting, waiting on the church job.  Exploring options for Michael to go back to teaching, but not a lot of districts actually hire people with out-of-state credentials.  Evie turned 2!!  Sweet thing, we love her.  End of June: did not get church job; they hired someone from out of town.  Still shaking my head at this one…  Job search goes into Desperate Mode.  Did you know that your unemployment insurance can run out before your claim does?  How about right before you have your baby?  Oh, and a gopher ate all my tomato plants.  Just sucked them down through a hole in the ground.  And our beautiful shade tree died.  I told God that if He didn't work something out soon (like by the end of the week), I'd go ape on someone.  I think I cried the whole month of June.
June. Sucked.

July: June 26--applied for SF school district (they hire people credentialed out of state, what a concept), also applied for teaching jobs in Durham and to an international school organization.
        June 27--International school replied and invited Michael to proceed in interview process
        June 28--International school replied very positively to second half of online application
        June 29--International school called us, saying they were very excited about Michael and our family.  The only hitch?  It's in China.
        June 30--International school calls again: Did we know they offer complete health insurance for the whole family?  That they'll pick up my OB care and delivery?  Did we know that the school employed a lot of young families with kids?  That our kids (and us) could learn Mandarin?  Did we know they'll probably pay for the employees to get a Master's Degree?  That I could come on staff with them too, even part time?  By the way, this slid in at that end-of-the-week deadline I gave God...
       July 3--Interview scheduled with school director.
       July 4--Michael had a great interview.  It's for 5th grade; what he always wanted.  They really want him.  When does that happen in teaching these days?
       July 5--Job offer in Kunming, China.  We start thinking--Hey, what would need to happen for this to be realistic?  Sell business, sell car, pack up, move Eryn and Evie to Washington until baby comes.
       July 5, afternoon--someone knocks on our door and asks if we'd be interested in selling our Honda CRV.  There was no for sale sign.  We live in a culdesac.  WTH?
      Somewhere in here, I sleeping again...
       July 9--Offer and discussion with someone about buying our business.  For the amount we wanted for it.  I think we're going to China.
      July 11--Our neighbor wants to buy our Honda Civic.  We're still talking, but I think it's going to happen.  We like the CRV a lot anyway.
List?  Check.  Check.  Check.

Bottom line: for a reason we don't understand, God seems to be ushering us out of Chico and giving us a very clear opportunity in Kunming, China.  We have decided to go with Him on this one, despite the fact that it seems crazy… and awesome at the same time.  We're incredibly sad and also getting amazingly excited.

Pray for us.  We have to move.  We have to say goodbye: to our friends.  to our families.  to each other for a couple of months, since Michael has to go get school started in China and we decided to have our baby in the States.  We have to have a baby in November…I don't even know what that's going to look like… Anyone have any ideas for boy/girl names that mean "God's timing is perfect"?  or something like that?--names that aren't weird… We have to stay sane.  For Evie.  For us.

Deep breath.  Here we go.

     
     

Staying Updated...

A few pictures from this Fall…

Thank you, Tess, for taking this lovely picture!

Evie is into wearing bows right now.

Loving the Christmas tree!

Vernal Falls in Yosemite

Family pic at the Vernal Falls bridge

Getting ready to rock Yosemite! Yeah!

Waiting for the Yosemite Valley shuttle.

Take me fishing, Daddy.

A trip to the pumpkin patch.

Evie liked rocks more than pumpkins. Oh well!

Letting Daddy pet the horse at the pumpkin patch.

And those were our adventures!