My Life is Weird

I took the kids out for a walk around our apartment complex the other day because their fighting was making me insane it was gorgeous outside. 

We stumbled across this man sitting conspicuously all by himself rolling a couple unshelled walnuts around in his hands. He wasn't eager for any conversation nor was he overly friendly. But I HAD to have a picture of him and his US Army getup. 

So what does one do? Pull out my phone and quickly snap a picture before he tells me not to???

or...

Knowing he won't refuse, say, "Hey...my daughter would LOVE to have her picture taken with you...is that ok?"  ("hey eden...pretty please go stand by ShuShu so I can take is picture, mmmkay??")

Why yes, that was me. Using my daughter as an excuse.

I felt like the whole thing was priceless. His kind face. The camo. The fact that it said US Army. 

I asked him if he knew he was wearing "American Soldier" clothing. His response was equivalent to, "mmm...hmmm...what of it?"

So since then, each time we pass by US Army ShuShu, he smiles kindly and waves at Eden, thinking he has quite the admirer.

And it's been with his help that we realized Eden has reached a new milestone.
Yesterday morning as Brandon was walking Eden out to her teacher's car to go to preschool, they walked by US Army ShuShu with his unshelled walnuts rolling around in his hands.

ShuShu said, "ammmph whhhhheeeyey gllllummmm baayyyyy?"

Brandon chuckled, smiled kindly and was about to say, "Sorry...what? Can you repeat that?"

But before he could get that out, Eden responded with, "Yep! Headed to school!" (in Chinese...of course)

It blew Brandon's mind.

With this news we've reluctantly given up having "private conversations" in front of the kids using Chinese with one another. That still works with Salem, but I'm convinced it won't be long before his language surpasses our progress as well. Soon enough they'll be making fun of us in Chinese with us completely clueless as to what they're discussing.

Note to self: learn how to say chonies, pee, and poop in Chinese before Salem...otherwise he will most likely use those words against me.

Finding Patriotism on Foreign Soil

We love our country. We're pretty patriotic people. "Proud to be an American"...while we may not wear it emblazoned on our t-shirts, is exactly how we feel.

And sometimes living overseas can increase that patriotism.
Like last week when we went to see the new Batman movie in the theatre (in English!) I left holding my head high, and thinking, "yep...that's my country. Land of the free and home of the Batman."
I know. I need a Freak stamp for my forehead.

While we were in Korea a couple weeks ago Brandon really wanted to visit the Korean War Memorial. I went begrudgingly, imagining how fun it was going to be to carry a wiggly 1-year-old through a non-stroller-friendly, dark and stuffy museum (with only Korean font) with him screaming and throwing fits next to the solemn Veterans paying homage to their friends that died in combat. I almost always imagine the worst. That whole scene played out in my head. And yes, it's a disease I'm struggling to overcome.

However, our taxi pulled up right next to a giant USAF B-52 Bomber preserved from the Korean War. What stretched on behind it were airplanes, jets, tanks, missile launchers, and even a battleship. And what was even better was that you could walk into almost every one of them. Talk about little boy heaven.



Salem was beyond enamored.



No lie. It was from the driver seat of one of the tanks that he turned to Brandon and said, "Daddy! This is the BEST.DAY.EVER!!"



Score. One win for Daddy.
Especially since it was all free. Can't beat that.

Eden's idea of fun was to play hide and seek on the battleship.



Only she didn't tell us that's what she was doing and nearly caused her mama to pee her pants when we couldn't find her.



Your daughter getting lost on a Korean War battleship. Not fun. I don't recommend it.



Hopefully her first and last spanking aboard a boat with bullet holes in it.

Not only is it little boy heaven, it's big boy heaven too.



I believe I heard Brandon say more than once that he should have enlisted.






What is it about that sign, "Rocket Launcher (U.S.A.)" that makes me swell with pride?




Camouflage has the same effect on me. Especially when there is a star slapped on the side of the airplane. I told the kids to do the "salute" and they totally didn't have a clue what I was saying. So to clarify I said, "you know, like....I'm in the Lord's army....YES SIR!"  Annnnnnd that's what got it.

Teaching our children national pride one Vacation-Bible-School song at a time.

What peacock feathers, Boyz II Men, and bubbles all have in common...

The differences between The States and the Big Chicken are innumerable. As in, I could start a list and it would likely continue for forever. Literally every day I realize one more difference between my home culture and the one I'm currently living in.

Neither one is better. Neither one is worse.
They're just truly, very, in every way different. Opposite, if you will, as I've mentioned before.

And naturally, these differences extend to every corner and crevice of culture. So when we attended a wedding (of a couple that we've never met!) a couple weeks ago, it was no surprise to me how very, absolutely, shockingly opposite wedding ceremonies are between my two cultures.

Let me walk you through some of the differences...not every single one of course, because well, that would take forever.
One of the major differences is this guy:


He's like a hired host. A guy who does this for his day job. He makes the ceremony lively, rambunctious, noisy, entertaining, and for lack of an english word, "renao." He's there to make people laugh, to partially embarrass the bride and groom, and to make it a lively event.
Chinese wedding ceremonies are LOUD and in my mind sound similar to a cattle auction. The host is turned up full blast on his microphone, and yells into it as the lights on the stage switch from red, green, white, to blue...
He pokes fun at the bride and groom. Tries to embarrass them. And he's hired to do this. As in, the bride and groom are paying him to embarrass them in front of family and friends. AND he got to wear a peacock feather. How cool is that?!



The wedding we went to was a Christian wedding, which is rare here so as the minister was reading scripture he kept trying to hush the crowd because being quiet at Chinese weddings is virtually unheard of. The crowd didn't know how to react to that!

Sometimes I'm thankful when we're the only ones in the room that speak English. For example, when the bride was walking down the aisle to Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You." You just smile, shrug, and act like it's totally normal to play Boyz II Men at your wedding and that every bride since 1994 has been walking down the aisle to their songs instead of Canon in D.



Notice the lights and the round tables covered in cigarettes as gifts to the guests for coming. If that picture had sound, you'd hear lots and lots of talking, whooping, and cheering. And if it was scratch and sniff, you'd smell lots of cigarette smoke and chinese peanuts.

On our way to the wedding, our friend (the minister) that invited us called and asked us if Eden would be the ring bearer. So on arrival they thrust this lily containing the bride and groom's rings into my 4 year old's hands. Token white girl ring bearer helping the bride and groom gain face...check!! Does it matter that they've never met her before? Nope!



She did a great job!


As people were walking their babies around the dining hall, carrying on their own conversations, and laughing in the general merriment that Chinese weddings are, the bride and groom said their vows to one another. Oh and if the noise around them wasn't distracting enough, toss in a couple bubble makers to the left and right of the stage.



After vows were said, the groom sang a song to his bride as they walked up and down the aisle and tossed teddy bears into the audience.

After the commotion of that process passed, I shoved my camera into some stranger's hands and muttered something unintelligible in Chinese about "pressing this button first" as we were ushered up to take a photo with the bride and groom. I'm not convinced that babies are in the bride's near future.


Afterward we were seated in a private room at the restaurant and fed a huge meal, where Eden ate her very first oyster.
Despite the uneasy feelings I had toward the busyness and entertainment factor of the whole thing, it was so fun! I'm not convinced I'd want my wedding to be that way, but I foresee a lively wedding in my daughter's future as she was completely convinced that the bubbles were totally the way to go!

Caleb's Quilt

I'm a self-admitted procrastinator.

I was always that student that stayed up until 4 a.m. finishing projects, prepping for finals, and finding last minute bogus totally legitimate internet sources for my research paper on Edgar Allan Poe.

So it should be no surprise that I finally finished Caleb's baby quilt just as he became a toddler. And since I procrastinated so long, I decided to up the size on it...you know, since it wasn't going to be a baby blanket anymore, and make it a twin size. That added to the procrastination.

Never the less, it's finished! This was my inspiration. And a great friend offered to pick out my fabric for me and send it over with Brandon's parents last fall. (yes...I've had the fabric for it for almost a year...oops)



I had to find fabric locally for the back and binding, and that was an interesting search.
Note to self: my favorite fabric lady TOTALLY doesn't get quilting and color schemes at all and will try to match cotton orange polka dots with fuschia floral curtain fabric.

But I like what I ended up with...despite the blurry picture. It became a game for Caleb to yank down the quilt as I raced to snap a picture.


He approves!

Guest Blogging

I got an email from Kandy a couple weeks back asking me if I'd like to write up a little blog focusing on James 1 for her Hungry for More site. I was incredibly honored. And truly, very intimidated. Because my writing specialty lies more in the realm of stuffed-animal fatalities and cultural blunders.

Despite my wariness, I gave it a go. And even after proofreading, she though it blog-worthy! She shows me so much grace. Take a look around her site and check out the blog post here.