Friday Foto

I can't help but attach a few words to this Friday's Foto.
Our apartment complex is brand new, which means there's lots of renovations being completed, lots of construction still going on, and lots and lots and lots of trash being produced. This country has trash issues. I'm not going to go into a ton of detail...but a lot of it is great. They recycle almost everything. And for this crunchy mama, that's really cool.

But a lot of it is really annoying. Take for instance, the fact that all of the community's trash is currently dumped right outside our apartment door. (well give or take 50 feet). It's literally TONS of trash that piles up in one day. Then after a few days, a bulldozer type tractor and dump truck come and carry it away.

So, annoying yes. Especially when the bulldozer comes and makes it's racket around midnight.

But, the entertainment that it provides my children is fabulous. Salem, especially, is fascinated by the "tractor" that comes to our window so often. For those minutes that it's there, he's glued to that window!

Blondie's First Day

Eden's first words this morning: "MOM! I get to go to school today!!"

Her excitement permeated through our house this morning. It made us all bubbly and cheery. You will probably never hear me describe myself with those two words ever again. Especially concerning morning time.

She couldn't wait to pack her back pack. She made sure to include her house shoes...a new staple for attending preschool. Outside shoes are never worn inside. So, into the backpack went her pink boot-legged crocs.
One picture before leaving the house with daddy...


Can't you see the excitement on her face?!

Salem was less excited. That's an understatement. He was screaming mad. No really. He was screaming. He didn't like the fact that sister was getting to leave and he wasn't.
He ran to the window to watch what he was missing out on.


Her little friends are funny and are fascinated by her blonde hair. The little boy on the far right seriously cracks me up.


3 teachers to 5 students. Pretty good ratio.


She'll be attending twice a week from 8:45 to 11:45 and eating lunch there before she comes home. The whole lunch thing...that makes me a nervous mom. A paranoid mom.
When I picked her up I was rapid firing questions at her...
What did you do this morning? What did you eat? Did you like it? You didn't drink out of anyone else's cup, right?!
Her teachers told me she had three bowls of rice. No surprise. She's a bottomless pit as long as rice is being offered.
And then on our walk home she said, "Yeah I liked the rice! But I tried some green stuff. And then some other green stuff. But I didn't like the green stuff."
We're working on becoming more detail oriented. :)

When tucking her in tonight, I asked her what her favorite part of preschool was.
She said, "Playing with my friends."
and that makes my "green stuff"-mommy-paranoia totally worth it.

Before...

Have you ever picked out your future home while living on the other side of the world?

It's not fun. I don't recommend it.

But fortunately for us, we have friends. Nice friends. Patient friends.
Friends who looked at 12 (or more?!) different apartments before finding one that was owned by landlords who weren't afraid to rent to foreigners, and one that was ready to move in to.

I'll admit, in my selfish Americanized bratty way, that when I first saw the pictures for this place, I wasn't thrilled. I wasn't jumping up and down about it. In fact, my first reaction was, "ummmm....No!" It lacked some things I was really hoping for in a new place.

But my dear husband, in a very gentle way, told me that I needed to relax a bit, and go spend some time with Jesus. He's always right. Brandon is. Well, Jesus is too. anyway...

So I relinquished my desire for a nicer place. Gave in to the "yellow walls" and agreed that we should sign the contract. It was freeing to know we'd have a place to come to once we landed here.

Turns out, (big surprise) the Lord had his ever so sovereign hand in the whole thing. This place that I wasn't thrilled about, I'm totally loving. Sure it has issues. The apartment complex is surrounded by construction that makes it hard to catch a taxi, or walk to the grocery store, or keep our children from getting muddy every.time.they.go.outside.  BUT, it's a nice apartment. It already feels like home. And truly, the Lord is blessing this home.

So...now, the much anticipated pictures. There's A LOT. Be warned.

These are actually before BEFORE pictures. Pictures that we received from our nice, patient friends seeking our approval on this place. Pictures taken before our arrival. Before we had it cleaned. Before we removed all the landlord's furniture. etc...

Standing in the front doorway, looking down the hallway. Living room to the right. Dining area to the left...


From front doorway looking left toward dining area and kitchen. Kitchen is behind those terrible glass doors with the purple hearts. :) (They've since been removed!!)


Dining room and the area by the window is where my fridge is now and pantry cabinets.


Kitchen. That's my sink. :) The counter top is a little annoying. It's metal. Has small raised hearts on it. Which make it terribly hard to roll out tortillas. But, it'll do.


View from fridge area. Dining room, living room in the distance. Hallway to the left, just past the kitchen door.


Living room. All furniture has been removed. It's now overtaken by IKEA furniture. :) Lord, bless that place!! The door in the left corner is to our little laundry room.


Eden's room (first door on the right in the hallway). The area past the big glass doors is the laundry room with the door from the living room. I must admit, this separate laundry area was a big selling point for me!


Hallway bathroom. Separate sink and toilet/shower area. (except no shower yet in this picture)


Toilet/shower area in same bath. This is usually just the way they do things here. The bathroom is usually just a tiled shell of an area. You shower, you get water everywhere. That's just how it is. We've changed it up a bit since our arrival. :)


Salem and Caleb's room. Bed has been removed.


Looking into master bedroom. Little hallway on the left leads to linen closet and bathroom.


Opposite view in bedroom. Handy dandy closet and storage behind the gray sliding doors. Bed is gone now. Replaced with, you guessed it, an IKEA bed (which we're totally obsessed with now!)


Hallway to bathroom. See the nice big linen closet?! Yes, it's grrrrrrrreat!


View into bathroom. Are you seeing now why my first reaction was a "NO!" Things have since changed. :)


Another view in the bathroom...



Soon to come....AFTER pictures. Pictures that will make you think....ahhhhh, yeah, that's much better!!
Pictures that will show off our beautiful IKEA furniture. We still haven't received our big box of stuff we shipped over a month ago. So it won't be pictures of a beautifully decorated place, but they'll help you understand that we aren't living in a concrete shell of an apartment anymore!!

Hong Kong

Since I know our blog is a big picture starved, I'm going back a few weeks to post pics (from Brandon's phone!) of our stay in Hong Kong. I've been a totally awesome mom ever since we got here and have completely neglected taking pictures of any sort in our new place. I know, Mom-of-the-Year right here, folks. I promise to dig out our camera sometime soon!

Since I pulled a crazy stunt on our 15 hour plane ride, I got to sleep the majority of that trip! So the rest of our crew suffered a bit more with jet-lag! The kids spent a lot of time doing this:


I used to be concerned about Salem not being able to sleep through noise. When he fell asleep on the HK subway, I realized my concerns aren't really legitimate anymore.


Since then, he's learned to sleep through jack hammering and fireworks at our new apartment. Jack hammering and new apartments in China go hand-in-hand.

One of our days in HK turned out to be a fairly clear day so we took advantage of the tram up to the peak, and enjoyed the HK skyline!


Enjoying the tropical flowers of Hong Kong...


Not a bad place to be stuck for awhile!!

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!

Bilingual Salem

Brandon brought home a surprise for Eden and Salem yesterday while out running errands in Hong Kong. (yes, still here! :)
A SIX dvd set of Dora the Explorer. No lie. Just about every Dora episode in existence, we now own. Kill me now.

So of course, Eden wanted to watch it right away. She watched one episode in English. And then, Brandon switched it to Chinese speaking Dora...because that's what he thought was so fantastic about this 6 dvd set...the fact that Eden can watch Dora AND be learning Chinese!

Well, turns out that Eden wasn't the only one picking up some of the language.
Salem had his own interpretation of what Dora was saying:



update:
We're leaving HK tomorrow! Our time here has been restful. We've recuperated, have got a handle on jetlag now, and we're ready to say goodbye to HK for awhile! We've enjoyed it, and we're super thankful to friends that have been so eager to help us!
Our last leg of our journey to our new home is tomorrow!

48 Hours

Disclaimer: This is a long account of the last two days, some of which only the grandparents will care to read. But I'm sharing it all, even the miserable, disgusting parts. :)

Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse... they did.

But let me back up to the beginning.

Our first flight left at 5:30 in the afternoon. An easy peasy flight of 51 minutes passed quickly and we were on the ground in Dallas in no time. We'd heard rumors of a Pappadeaux in one of the terminals and we quickly located it to have some fine dining (in an airport!) for our last American meal.
Shrimp for dinner. Mac n cheese for the munchkins.

Then we set out for our gate to await our flight to San Francisco. The kids ran off some energy while driving other awaiting passengers a little bonkers. The SF flight left at 9:15 Texas time and lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes. At the end of that flight I found myself incredibly wishing that flight had been the long one. I couldn't believe we still had a 14 hour flight ahead of us still. By the time we boarded the SF flight to Hong Kong it was 3 a.m. Texas time. We'd already been up for 21 hours. I kept psyching myself up though, thinking, "All we have to do is sit there for 14 hours. How hard can it be?!"

Harder than I thought.

Salem and I were in two seats next to a window and Brandon and Eden were in the two seats directly behind us. Salem fell asleep almost instantly. Why wouldn't he? It was 3 a.m. in his world. Fortunate for the little man, he missed most of the "excitement."
About 45 minutes into the flight Brandon tapped me on the head and said, "Eden just threw up."
And it was totally our fault. We'd given her her medicine (amoxicillin) on a fairly empty stomach as soon as we got on the plane. Had I mentioned that we took her to the doctor that morning for a relentless cough? He gave her some amoxicillin and hydrocodone to help with coughing and sleeping.
Oddly enough, the hydrocodone hasn't seemed to accomplish either one of those goals.

Back to the throwing up, though. I picked her up and hurriedly took her back to the bathroom and stripped her down completely. All the while she was crying that awful, "I just threw up on my favorite Tinkerbell jammies" cry. Ah yes, the jammies. The jammies I'd been promising her she could wear once we got on the big airplane. They were now covered in vomit. So I was in tears now because not only was I physically and emotionally exhausted, mad at myself for giving her the medicine on an empty stomach, but also upset that she couldn't wear her beloved Tinkerbell jammies on top of feeling so awful.

I began to scold myself for even thinking of getting on an airplane that afternoon when she felt so awful. I began to list all the reasons we had for not being on an airplane at that moment.

And that's when God began reminding me that he's faithful. Even when the enemy was throwing vomit darts at us, God is faithful. Even in the midst of our exhaustion, He was guiding our steps. And He had been from the beginning. Thank you Lord for being there.

As I took Eden back to her seat I was thinking in my head that things couldn't possibly get any worse than Eden vomiting on an airplane.

And that's when I started feeling nauseous.

I repositioned Salem who was snuggling up next to the poor, unfortunate man sitting in our row. Took my seat and began to take deep breaths and try to shut out the feelings I had in my belly. Hoping maybe it was just Caleb shoving things around inside of me. When I felt like it was my turn to throw up, I climbed back over the poor, unfortunate man, shouted at Brandon real quick that I was headed to the bathroom to throw up.

I was confident that the oh so beautiful shrimp at Pappadeaux actually had an evil side that was coming back to haunt me.

But nothing. I was so hoping I could throw up. I know, that's disgusting. But I knew I'd feel better if I could. But nothing.

I stretched out on the flight attendant's seats for awhile, hoping to regain my composure. The combination of the shrimp, the stuffiness of the plane, Eden's previous vomit, and the smell of the airplane food was overwhelming.

Nonetheless, I headed back to my seat hoping I could just sleep. I knew I needed to sleep while Salem was sleeping.

I stretched out and got comfortable.

Next thing I know, I'm waking from passing out, am covered in vomit and have more coming out of my mouth. Brandon was leaning over me holding a bag in front of my mouth. Poor, unfortunate man was holding sleeping Salem while standing in the aisle next to three flight attendants. And Eden was screaming from behind me because Brandon was blocking her view from watching Tangled.

Horrid. Absolutely horrid.

Brandon claims I was convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Lovely. What every wife wants to put her husband through. I remember his frantic pleas with the flight attendants to get the plane turned around. He told me later that he thought at one point that I was dead.

The captain came on the intercom and paged anyone who was remotely qualified as a doctor to come and help. What do you know that an anesthesiologist who specializes in nausea and vomiting came to the rescue! There was little he could do on an airplane, but still, it was nice to speak with him. Well, Brandon spoke with him. I was busy cleaning up my foamy mouth.

The flight attendants found poor, unfortunate man another seat somewhere else on the "completely full plane," along with 2nd poor, unfortunate man that was sitting next to Brandon. Which left Brandon to sit with both Eden and Salem in the 3 seats behind me and me to stretch out on my three vomitous seats for the remainder of the flight (11 hours.) They strapped an oxygen tank on me like I'm 95 years old, and I slept for 3 hours right away.

I'm not sure who had it worse...
Me with my fainting, vomiting fit, then trying to sleep despite the nausea, and being covered in my own puke for 11 hours, while being completely incapable of helping my husband care for our kids.

Or Brandon, taking care of the kids for 11 hours, having Eden's puke on him, my puke on him, and Salem's pee (yes, leaky diaper), orange juice spilled all over his pants, Eden coughing constantly, and being completely unable to sleep a wink the entire flight.

I kinda vote for Brandon.

And now? Now, we're in Hong Kong. We had a friend who met us at the airport and personally escorted us to an apartment in the city. We decided to not continue our journey which included one last 3 hour flight. We all showered (finally!!) and tried to cope with what we'd just been through. Then that afternoon our friend took me downtown to see a doctor and have an ultrasound to be reassured that all was ok with me and Caleb. and it is. Thank you, Lord.

We've been here for a day and a half now. Resting. Relaxing. Adjusting to time change. And all feeling much better. I'm completely back to normal and Eden's cough seems MUCH better today.

It was an awful day. One that I hope to never, EVER repeat in any form or fashion.

But out of it, I've learned a few things.

I'm beyond grateful for:
- Our Lord. Our Provider. Our Protector. He is in all things and in Him all things hold together. (including my sanity.)
- My husband. What an amazing man he is. Even during the kid's screams and cries, he'd reassure me that everything was fine and that I should go back to sleep.
- Disney movies. In the midst of our misery, hearing Eden sing to Tangled and The Lion King brings this mother's heart such joy. I love that little girl's voice.
- Salem is THE best travel buddy. We've always known he's a go-with-the-flow kind of dude. That airplane flight proved it.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for us!!
We'll hopefully update soon when we reach our final destination!