Back to the Future

We made it!! And had a very uneventful 2.5 hour flight in to our city, which is always great considering our flight previous to that one!
We're adjusting well and getting all sorts of things accomplished for our new place. There will be pictures to come of it soon, for now, we're just happy to be up and running on the internet.

Brandon seems to be the slowest of us to have returned to normal from jet-lag. But who can really blame him when he's the one out of all four of us to have not slept a bit the entire trip up until our hiatus in Hong Kong. We're still ready to head to bed around 9 pm every night, but we're getting there. His asianese language skills are coming back quickly, he's thoroughly enjoying the fact that we live less than 2 kilometers from Papa Johns....(meaning they deliver straight to our door for one dollar extra!!), and he's a hop skip and a jump (about a 5 minute walk in non-April terms) from a Starbucks.

Eden is totally in her element. The girl is thriving in this Chinese Food society. Given the choice of Papa Johns and local food tonight, she adamantly requested the local stuff. She shovels rice in with a handy dandy Chinese spoon, has declared that she loves Chinese broccoli but doesn't care for the American version of the same stuff, and has decided that maybe squatty potties aren't so bad after all. (I have to disagree with her on this point)  We have visited the kindergarten she'll most likely attend. I can see the front door from our living room window, she'll be the 6th student with three teachers, and the Head Teacher is a super sweet sister. It couldn't be a better situation!

Salem had now slept two full nights in his own bed...well, pack n play for now. When we hit the ground in Hong Kong he digressed to sleeping next to mommy mode, which he hasn't done since he was a couple months old. But he seems to be better now and completely adjusted to the time change. Hopefully our blinds and curtains will be installed in the next week or so and the sunrise at 5 am won't wake the kids up any more! He's totally loving the freedom that comes with living in Asia and the lack of car seats. But does a good job sitting still in my lap in the back of the taxi!

As for me, I'm really loving our new apartment. The Lord knew what we needed, and He has provided. I've been doing lots of shopping to get the place comfortable and functional, and we're making lots of progress. Although, I'm excited about another IKEA shopping trip in the near future to get some finishing touches for the place! My language seems to be coming back quickly as well and I'm surprised at how much I can understand. One of the many perks that comes with living in The Big Chicken, is the affordability of house help. I'm incredibly psyched about the lady who will be spending lots of time with our family beginning next week. She cooks, she cleans, she does laundry, she speaks Chinese so the kids and I will be forced to listen up and learn the language quickly, and she's a total master at Chinese Amazon. She already knows how to make tortillas, homemade granola, and all kinds of western stuff! There's so many more perks about her coming to work for us, I'm sure if I started a list, I'd surely forget lots of things! But one of the great things about her is that her presence here will allow me to spend lots more time being tutored and studying language without the kids being a distraction. With that valuable time, I'm hopeful that I'll reach an important level of language acquisition in the near future! Hooray for a house helper!!

That's a long update on us!
Pictures to come soon!