The Day My Son Fell Into a Hole

It started just like every other normal day.
Eden spent the morning at preschool. Brandon and I spent the morning in language study. Salem spent the morning playing with his trucks, trains, and tractors.
Chinese food for lunch. Cherries for dessert because they're about $1.30 for a pound.
Then nap time for mini-man and quiet time for the little girl.

3:30 p.m. rolled around. Nap time was over. Inside play time had been had. And the kids had reached the it's-time-to-go-outside melting point. And so had mommy.

We live on the third floor. It doesn't take us long to get to the front door of our apartment complex where there is usually a small crowd gathered of neighbors or the local trash pickers (that name sounds derogatory...I wish I could come up with something that sounds less condescending...but I'm sticking with it).

On this occasion, Salem insisted on sporting his sunglasses. And I'll be the first to admit, that he's a cute dude, and even more so when wearing shades. So of course, he started drawing even more attention than usual. I mean, he's two, so he has trouble paying attention to where he's walking, much less when every onlooker is oohing and ahhhing over him and he thinks it's cool to egg them on by smiling his "Yeah, I'm hot stuff" smirk.

But apparently his mama has trouble paying attention to where he's walking too. And I was too far from him to prevent the impending doom of what lay before him.

See, we have this hole. It's been there for a few weeks. Imagine a brick sidewalk...only what's below the sidewalk is something unknown. And there's a hole in the brick sidewalk about 2 feet by 4 feet. And what's in that hole about a foot or more deep is broken bricks and what looks and smells similar to the bottom of a port-a-potty. (and that's as far as I'll go in the department of speculation...for sanity's sake)

It kinda happened in slow motion. In my mind there was dramatic theme music playing as I watched wide-eyed and screamed "SAAALLLLLEEEEEEMMMMMM!!!!" toward my son who was oblivious of where he was headed.

As he looked back toward the onlookers with his smirky smirk, he walked straight into the hole of all nastiness.

In all seriousness, he's lucky he didn't break his arm or crack his head open. Praise the Lord.

But what covered his right hip, leg, and right shoe was a substance I'd rather remain naive to it's actual contents. I picked him up by his hands, held him at arms length like he had some sort of disease, turned right around and headed back inside.

I didn't need to say anything to him. Eden was taking care of that for me, "Salem, you have to be careful where you are walking. You fell in a HOLE!!"

He was crying. Not because he was hurt. But because we were walking back inside and he wanted to be outside.

I knocked on the door. Handed him over to Brandon who could tell by the look on my face that I was not in the mood for an explanation. Within minutes our house helper was on the phone with our apartment manager speaking entirely too fast in Chinese for me to understand words, but loud and stern enough that I could understand her meaning...and she was one seriously unhappy Chinese woman. She and Salem are pretty tight.

The nastiness was washed down the bathtub drain. His shoes and clothes were washed. And he was ready to head back outside within minutes.

I, however, was not. In my mind it was China's fault that there was a hole outside my apartment. It was every Chinese person's fault that my son fell in that hole. And I was not ready to face them again for the remainder of the day. My son falling in a hole and having who knows what all over him had rendered me culturally useless.

For some strange reason though, I got it in my head that we'd head back out after dinner. This time, to the bus stop to go to the park.

We waited. And waited. and waited some more. And the bus that is usually so timely, just wasn't coming. So we headed to the intersection to try to flag down a taxi. After 20 minutes of waiting, and flagging, and waiting some more, one taxi driver pulled over.

Insert Man Who Shall Remain Nameless.

He swoops in from nowhere. He jumps in the front seat completely neglecting Brandon's hand on the door, Salem in Brandon's arms, and sweaty, pregnant me standing there holding Eden.

I lost my cool. I was in over my ears in culture shock. And I flew off on him in English like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. (did you catch that Matt?)
I even darted off after the taxi yelling absurd things (yes, still in English) about how he should know better.

I'm sure at that point that I looked really cool. Giant pregnant me, being the responsible sane woman that I am, holding my 3 year old daughter, chasing after a taxi yelling things in English toward a man that obviously didn't understand or care. It's a good thing I haven't learned Chinese curse words yet.

It's times like that that I feel certain that God is nodding his head toward me saying, "Ok, April. You're right. I picked the wrong person for this job."
I have one-sided arguments in my head trying to convince Him that I'm in the wrong place. On days like this one, I feel like my behavior should be fairly convincing to Him.

Thankfully, these hard days are few and far between. Salem hasn't fallen in a hole since, in fact, it's been fixed! We were all quick to learn the Chinese word for "hole." It's not one we'll ever forget. And since that day, I haven't felt the need to learn any local curse words.

Days like this one remind me of the Lord's sovereignty. They make me ever-so-thankful for his grace, mercy, and forgiveness toward my sinfulness. They remind me that even though we're right where we're supposed to be, it doesn't mean it'll be easy. They remind me that I can't "handle" China on my own, and that I'm supposed to delight in my weaknesses. Thank you Lord for days that my son will fall in holes and that Chinese men will do rude things. Help me to walk in your grace and not to lose my cool. Please don't stop reminding me that I will always fail when I attempt to live on my own strength.

And thank you Lord for bathtubs, washing machines, and Chinese men that don't understand my English rants.

He's TWO!!

TWO whole years have passed since we made this announcement.
I can hardly believe it!

It's been TWO precious years with Salem. TWO years of laughs, smiles, cries, hugs, kisses, songs, trucks, trains, tractors, and scraped knees...and everything else involved with a TWO year old boy!
We've loved every minute and look forward to many more birthdays with this sweet boy!

We had a little birthday party for Salem and invited all his friends here. Unfortunately for mini-man, almost everyone in attendance were girls...which I'm sure he'd be thrilled about that fact if he was turning 20 instead of 2. But on the plus side, he didn't have to fight with anyone over his new bulldozer.
He did have one dude here to party with him, and the girls were totally ga-ga over him!



When it was singing and cupcake time, he seemed puzzled...


But he was just playing coy. He knew what was up. He knew what to do. It's only taken one birthday for him to figure out the whole candle thing...


And of course, taking after his mommy, he knows how to put away a chocolate cupcake too.


But I promise he didn't learn this from me...


Happy Birthday to our Boy of A Thousand Faces!



Salem, you are truly a joy! A cuddle bug who I can always count on snuggling with during a movie, kisses before bedtime, or laughs during meal time!
WE LOVE YOU!!

Field Trip, Green Pants, and Science Museum...oh my!

Eden's excitement about preschool has waned quite a bit since her first day of attendance. She's gone through screaming spouts, crying, worrying, waking up in the night complaining about not wanting to go the next day.

And as is my tendency to give up when the going gets tough, I felt as though we were making a mistake by pushing her to continue going.

Fortunately, God's blessed me with a smart husband. A guy who doesn't give up when the going gets tough.

So when I felt like pulling her out of preschool, he went the opposite direction.
"Lets send her 5 days a week, instead!!"

His logic doesn't make sense to me sometimes.

But turns out, the man was right (again). And the persistency of everyday attendance has helped her overcome her preschool fears faster than she would have if she went just twice a week...as was the original plan.
I was, however, justified in my fears about her eating lunch there (felt like I had to throw in that tid-bit about me being right about something! :) and she comes home everyday before their lunch time.
And I'm purposefully leaving out my reasoning behind this so as to not make your stomachs churn.

So last week we took the day off of language study so that we could go with her on her first preschool field trip. She was sooooo excited that Mommy and Daddy were staying with her at preschool that day.

We showed up to the classroom and every other kid there was dressed alike. My first reaction was completely selfish, "oh sure...lets make the white kid stand out even more!"

And then after they danced a few dances:


They pulled a package out of the closet just for Eden.


I wish I could tell you what that 'M' stands for on her shirt. Really. I wish I could.
But I don't even know myself.

Then they formed a line with a nifty jump rope and a few rings and we set out for the Science Museum!


Look at my boy's bright and shining face when Teacher Wu included him in the fun!


The day of the field trip was "Children's Day" which is kind of a holiday here...or a day for all the other preschools to take field trips. So it was a little redonkulously crowded at the museum. Despite the crowds, Eden is always a show stopper.
I'm including this picture not so that you can see the big pregnant lady's ever-growing abdomen, but so that you'll notice the people on the far left of the photo.


The man's face that basically says, "oh!! look at the little white foreign kid!!"
We're becoming quite familiar with that face.  :)

Eden had a blast on her first preschool field trip. She took cookies that she'd helped me make and handed them out to all her friends and teachers. Most of the kids didn't like them at all...most "sweets" from America are wayyyy too sweet for kids from the Big Chicken! But she loved handing them out, feeling involved, and having a way to participate in the day.

Today when I asked her how preschool went, she said, "Good! I didn't hit anybody today!"
Well, fabulous, Eden!
Good to know she's still got her priorities in order.

Land of Bikes

Parking lots look a little different here...

A Day to Celebrate!

The man that I love was born 27 years ago today!

It was sooooooooo hard for Eden to keep the secret that she'd made him a card days ago. For the past few days at breakfast it was like she'd suddenly remember and say, "HEY MOMMY!!! CAN WE GIVE DADDY HIS...."

And then I'd "SHHH!" her real loudly in a very award-winning-parent type of style, and she'd remember that it was a secret.

So today when she woke up and I told her that today was Daddy's birthday she was beyond thrilled about finally presenting him with his birthday card.

And because Brandon is an awesome dad, he was beyond thrilled with his covered-in-stickers blue construction paper card that Eden and Salem made themselves.
He was also super impressed with my planning ahead-edness when I presented him with a birthday card I bought in the States before we left. I was impressed with my planning ahead too though...and impressed that I didn't lose it somewhere in between the move overseas!

We celebrated by starting the day off with Pioneer Woman's Coffee Cake. And after consuming almost entirely 3 sticks of butter, we labeled it a breakfast that should be eaten only once a year, and decided we had to get out for a walk!

We headed for a big lake not too far from our apartment...via bus:


We went all touristy, bought the kids balloons, and broke out our tourist smiles for a family photo.


Pausing for a 28 weeks preggy photo.


We're getting fairly used to feeling like local celebrities everywhere we go. With constant stares, occasional picture taking, and non-stop questions about whether both kids are actually ours, we didn't think things could escalate much more than that.
But something about being out in a very public and touristy spot, really brought on the crowds today. Eden's picture was snapped by no less than 174 cameras. No lie.
Occasionally, it bothers her and she doesn't understand why complete strangers want to pose with her for a picture. Good question, Eden. Good question. Most of the time, she handles it really well.

And then other times she totally hams it up and gives them a real show.


Lets zoom in on that and take a closer look...


Um yes. Totally eating up the attention.
What you can't see in this picture is how many people are standing to the left and right of Brandon (taking the picture). I was back behind the straw hut thing (which Eden labeled as Jesus' Manger) managing Salem who was less than enthusiastic about the impending crowd.

After our picnic lunch of pb&j, we concluded our park adventure with a carousel ride!


We returned home to nap out the afternoon, and to continue our high-calorie day with cupcakes and a Mexican Pile-On Feast with guacamole and all. Avocados cost a pretty penny kuai here, so we broke them out in celebration of Brandon today!
Happy Birthday Brandon! I love you and look forward to many many more of your birthdays!


Your kids love you more than their tongues can express!!

Weird Apple

Some things in China are just weird.

Yes, I said it. Maybe that sounds harsh. Over dramatic. But I live here, so I'm allowed to be a little dramatic on occasion.

Specifically...stuffed animals in China. They're strange. Odd. And occasionally, creepy.

But the other day when we stumbled upon the store where we found Eden's bike, hidden toward the back of the shelf was this Adorably Cute Stuffed Alligator. I'm all about jungle themes in boy's rooms, so I begged Brandon to let me get it for Salem and Caleb.

My case was easy to plead. It was very obvious how cute this alligator was when lined up next to all the loser stuffed animals. Brandon could see that rare gems of stuffed animals were going to be few and far between.
So, Adorably Cute Stuffed Alligator came home with us that day.

Salem has yet to even care. I'll admit, he's never been a big stuffed animal guy. That's why we left almost all of his in the States.

I was hoping the alligator would convince him otherwise. I was hoping to convert him into one of those kids that totes around an animal, as opposed to, say, a pacifier (that we so desperately need to break him of!)
But no. It looks as though Adorably Cute Stuffed Alligator will be relegated to shelf status, just to look cute in his room.

Instead, Salem has found a new companion.
Within our first few weeks here, we visited a local restaurant and the kids were each given a stuffed animal.
That's how we roll here. We tote around our white kids. They get free stuff.

Eden got this bright yellow mouse/bear thing that has already lost it's nose.

Salem was given Weird Apple.


Those lines out beside Weird Apple's eyes? No explanation.
Except to say that they are a common feature on stuffed animals around here.

And Salem?
Well, he's attached to Weird Apple.


He calls him his baby...


I call him Weird Apple.

Salem thinks Weird Apple is cool. And makes weird faces with weird squinty lines beside his eyes like Weird Apple.

I, however, am harboring hostility toward Weird Apple. Because he's, just. plain. weird.

Clicking...

You know that feeling you get when things start coming together and "clicking" and making sense and you start getting the hang of it all?

We're clicking now. We're getting the hang of it all. It's all coming together and making sense! Minus the language aspect, which hopefully we'll have mastered in, oh, about 27 years.

I mean, we've been here a month now, so it would make sense that I've finally figured out how to work my oven, right?
And I'm not at all ashamed to admit that one of the first things I baked was my mom's recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls. Even with wonky yeast and inadequate rising times, Pillsbury got nothing on these babies...


Brandon is glad that the putting-together-all-of-our-furniture aspect of moving is over. (mostly) I'm going to out him and say that he even slapped down some cash to buy an electric drill just for putting together our IKEA furniture. But when said drill costs a mere $9 here in the Big Chicken, it's very much worth it.


The kids are still troopers. With our big box of stuff still yet to arrive, which has most of their favorite toys from the States, they've been resorting to other means of entertainment.



I'm wondering how much longer the fascination with our front loader washer will last? I'm milking it for all it's worth. Bored kids? Start some laundry!! Brights are Eden's favorite. Swirling purple and pink in a sea of soapy water...the kid is in awe.

We inherited some treasured from-the-States Crayola finger paints....so, we painted rocks.




So after a month of having played with the same small toys that we barely had room for in our suitcases, Brandon and I broke down and decided we'd find some new toys for both of them. Eden got a new bike, with Mermaid Ariel's face prominently displayed, much to her delight!
And Salem got an inside riding toy, and a set of tools with welding goggles and all.


So, we're figuring things out. Slowly but surely, it's all coming together. We have couches. We've found the right type of milk to buy. We know which bus to take to Chinese-Wal-Mart. We can order drinking water and have it delivered to our front door.

Soon enough we'll have our big box of stuff hopefully. Soon enough we'll have gas so we can use our stove top.

We're functioning! And enjoying our functional status!