Who Says White Boys Can't Dance?

We can't listen to Adele very often for risk of Caleb shaking his head right off...

With A Cherry On Top

When I was growing up, there were certain things we did at Gigi's house. And at Gigi's house alone.

Gigi's house was where it was ok to have baked honey-buns for breakfast.

Gigi's house was where I got my yearly fro-perm.


oh yes, I was rockin.

Gigi's house had tons of scrap material for outfitting Barbie in any fashion she pleased.

Gigi's house was always stocked full of homemade cherry jelly.

...because Gigi's house was where we climbed up rickety ladders to pick the cherries off of the cherry trees in her backyard.

It was one of those summer traditions that happened nearly every year.

We put on old clothes. Only wore shoes if mom made us. And felt grown-up wearing Gigi's old belts that strapped our pitchers and buckets to our side for carrying our cherries.

Eden got to participate in the yearly tradition a couple years ago. She still remembers it. Doing things in nature, being in God's creation, makes memories stick. 

So when the opportunity rose for us to go cherry picking in China...

... surely there's a song for that ... "Goin' cherry pickin' in China..."   no? Well, maybe there should be.

rabbit trail.

I felt it my duty as a mom to let my kids participate in something that I so enjoyed doing growing up.

So we joined some friends this past weekend on a cherry picking adventure. 

And yes I do declare it an adventure, because in The Big Chicken, one can't truly know what might be included on a cherry picking outing.

I was told our tour group bus (oh yes...did I forget to mention we were joining a tour group?) was leaving at 8 am. When I agreed to that, Brandon knew this was no joke for me. 

Getting 3 kids, 2 adults out the door, dressed, fed, flagging down a taxi, taxi-ing 20 minutes across town to the tour bus stop by 8 am is not something a sane mom readily agrees to.

Nonetheless, we set out. Astonishingly, we made it by 8 am. And climbed on the bus with 30 other people ready for a full day ahead of cherry picking.

After an hour ride in a cramped bus we arrived at the cherry orchard. In order to reach the area where we were allowed to pick though, we had to navigate ourselves down a 2 foot wide concrete embankment with a 15 meter cliff/drop to our left and 5 meter drop to our right. At this point I believe I made up a ridiculous song about walking on a sidewalk in the sky to keep myself Eden from realizing how dangerous it was. Salem, who I was carrying, didn't seem to notice the drop of impending doom right next to us, but was more focused on a butterfly that he swore was going to eat his leg.

Not exactly the green soft grass of Gigi's back yard. But, I got over it. We were going to pick cherries after all. Certain safety measures must be disregarded!

We arrived at the orchard and it was really pretty. Tons of cherries. Huge, red, $3 per pound cherries. 

As I was pulling cherries off the trees I was telling Salem stories about picking cherries at Gigi's house when I was little. About how sometimes we'd just sit at the top of the ladder and eat them and spit seeds at each other.  

And then he got preoccupied with killing ants.

Ok, so reminiscing isn't for 2 year olds.

And then the grandma of the family who joined us killed one of the ants with her fingers, set it in Salem's hand, and motioned for him to eat it.

That's when I decided maybe we'd had enough cherry picking for the day.

We made our way back across the sidewalk in the air and at the prodding of the tour guide, ate lunch at 10:45 am. Then we proceeded to wait on the rest of our tour group to finish lunch until about 1 pm. Praise the Lord for iPads. How did people parent before there were iPads? Surely it was impossible.

There was a wedding ceremony taking place there also that sounded like a horse auction. This is what I mean when I say you never know what to expect on a cherry picking adventure.

We came home, washed cherries, made a cherry cobbler, and devoured almost half of it that evening.


It wasn't anything like what I did growing up. Ok scratch that, we did still pick cherries. But it was drastically different from every time I've ever picked cherries before.

I guess though if my kids can't pick cherries in Gigi's backyard, then "Goin' cherry pickin' in China" is the next best thing.

On that note, I'm off to write a little jingle...

Hungry For More

A new widget has made it's appearance on the sidebar of our blog. A dear friend of ours recently published her first book. Kandy Persall has been truly influential in our lives. We cherish her advice, prayers, and thoughts on the word, and now those thoughts are available in her book!  Many of her experiences from living in Asia for 20 years she's recorded in Hungry for More. Check out her blog. Hop over to Amazon and grab a copy, even available in Kindle edition. Run. Fast! Do it!! NOW!!  :)

I know you'll enjoy reading her stories and gleanings from the word as much as we've enjoyed getting to know her over the years!

R.I.P. Weird Apple

Almost a year ago, our family (accidentally) acquired another family member. One might say that it was fate that brought us together.
But they would be wrong. It was just some random Chinese waiter who thought my kids were cool, thereby deserving some poorly constructed stuffed animals.

Weird Apple had a good run. It's not easy being a toddler's toy.

Early this morning, he met his ultimate demise.


Though only Caleb is pictured, his older counterpart, Salem (who had clearly gotten over his "this is my baby" fetish with Weird Apple), pulled out all his insides.



When I was gathering all of the stray pieces of fuzz and tossing them into the trash, I'll admit I was quite smug and satisfied with Weird Apple's passing. After all, he's been staring at me with those weird squinty eyes for almost a year now. Harboring hostility toward a stuffed animal can be quite exhausting, you know.



I'm sure tomorrow he'll have one last foray in the Chancler household when I'm discovering more of his cotton stuffing in a diaper.

When Salem didn't argue about Weird Apple being tossed in the trash, I didn't feel guilty at all about not even offering to try to patch him up. Yes, I am THAT mom that dances a jig while getting to throw out an old toy.



Farewell, Weird Apple.
You'll be missed. 
Live long and prosper.
You're in a better place.


You were just. plain. weird.

Worlds Collide

Remember that Seinfeld episode where George's world with Susan starts colliding with George's world with Jerry, Kramer, and Elaine?
It's a strange thing when your life reminds you of a Seinfeld episode.
Maybe I need mental help.

My parents spent the past two and a half weeks with us in our Chiner world. It was their first trip to The Big Chicken, which means we did the obligatory Great Wall trip on a blustery day.


It was surreal to have them here. Wonderful.
Which explains my absence from the blogging world. I couldn't bring myself to sit in front of the computer while they were sitting in my living room.


I was so incredibly proud of them. They're willingness to speak a new language, make new friends, eat new foods (even foods I was barely willing to try) made me so proud to introduce them to Chiner.





Moments when our tendency is to cover our eyes (and noses) and run for cover, they came out of their shell and spoke with strangers who really just wanted to pet their arms and call them "hairy foreigner."



We walked through the tourist-friendly parks and saw picture-worthy pagodas; Salem consistently on his favorite perch: Granddad's shoulders.



But we also did our best to expose them to "Real Chiner." Forgoing they're preference for independence, they braved mass transit.





They learned what it really means to draw a crowd.



And we taught them the delicate intricacies of mocking The Big Fat Man Statues.






Mostly, we did a lot of this:



Granddad and Salem are best buds.



And these two are pretty smitten with each other too.



Of course tears flowed when we said our goodbyes.
But saying frequent goodbyes are a heck of a lot better than going so long without hellos.
So thankful for parents that love us and invest time, money, and energy to insert themselves into our world over here.

China-versary

One year ago, after a slight delay in Hong Kong, we arrived in our new home. April 20th marked our first China-versary.
Lots of things are different than they were a year ago. We've added another human this past year. Our daughter has started speaking Chinese. Our son refers to every Asian man as "Shu-Shu" now.  I can now carry a plastic bag full of eggs (not in a styrofoam carton) on my bike handlebars and arrive home with them all in tact. Yep, we've grown so much.



Within the past year we've experienced many differences between the US of A and the Big Chicken.
What follows is by no means an exhaustive list...by any stretch of the imagination. But just a few things that we've picked up on within our past year. Bear in mind that the B.C. is huge, and our observations are from living in one city among thousands, so things probably vary all across this vast country.

Also remember that we've got the "Big Sister" complex going on with this country. You know, the complex where it's ok if YOU make fun of your little sister, but if someone else dares to, you'll be all up on their grill lettin' em have it. Maybe that seems a little hypocritical. It probably is. So until I learn how to grow up and act like a mature (not-hypocritical) adult, I'll continue to not allow you, dear reader, to poke fun at my new home, all the while I finish my blog post...

-  In America, if you come home to your house on fire, you dial 9-1-1.  In the Big Chicken (where supposedly there are no fires) you would dial 1-1-9.   Not even kidding.

-  In America, people like to have sophisticated-looking, brushed metal appliances.
Exhibit A:

In the B.C., it's the opposite. Your choices of humidifier are either pink elephant or green teletubby.
Exhibit B, my current waffle maker:


-  This concept extends to cars. You'll have Mr. Successful Banker driving his black Lexus with a snoopy steering wheel cover (except it'll probably say Snoppy) and stuff animals in the rear window.

-  In America, when you talk about directions on a map or compass, we say "North, South, East, West."   Here, it's "South, North, West, East."

-  Kids in the B.C. don't play "Hide and Seek." They place "Seek and Hide."

-  In America, come summer time, women slather on the self-tanning lotion to get that summer glow. (at least those of us afraid of cancer but still wanting bronzy skin!)

Here, it's always a bit of a gamble when I buy skin products, besides the point that it's usually in Big Chickenese, but because women here want their skin to be sparkling white! When we come back from Thailand trips, I'm often scolded for letting my skin become slightly darker.

-  In America, when school or work lets out for a holiday, you get yourself a 3-4 day weekend.
Not so here. If school lets out on a weekday, they make it up by having school on Saturday and Sunday.

-  In America, it seems like playgrounds can be found in any and every neighborhood or apartment complex. In the Big Chicken, in any and every neighborhood or apartment complex, exercise equipment for the elderly can be found.  Our apartment complex is fairly new and we just got our token elderly exercise equipment installed. Not a single kid's swing to be found within a mile radius of our home, yet grandma can get fit right outside our door.

(source)

-  In America, you get treated to dinner and birthday cake on your birthday. In China, you treat others to dinner for your birthday.

-  If you stand in line at Best Buy in America and are within 2 feet of the person in front of you, you're probably giving them the creeps and they're thinking that you're trying to steal their PIN code. In the Big Chicken, if you stand more than 4 inches behind the person in line in front of you at the grocery store, you are leaving too large a gap and WILL get cut in line.



While on any given day, these differences might annoy me, they also remind me of how small I am. How insignificant I am. And how my worldview was so limited even just a year ago.
I wonder how many China-versaries it'll take before I'm used to all the differences...if ever.
Regardless of all the differences and flat-out opposites, I'm still maintaining my Big-Sister complex and will defend my new home if the bullies come prowling.

Happy One Year China-versary!

Dear Caleb,

Eight months. Has it really been 8 whole months? Will I say this every month? Will time always fly this fast?



You've decided to begin exploring the world by way of army-crawl. Which is a near constant reminder of my carelessness at keeping fuzz off the floor.



Watching you discover the world brings so much joy to my heart.



Your smile. Your dimple. Your amazingly blonde hair. It makes my heart flutter. The Lord is so good to me.



Your ear-piercing squeal. It makes me crazy. Soon enough, it'll be replaced with "MAMA!" Until then, I'll learn to enjoy the screams.



Sweet Caleb Turner Chancler.
Nugget, as your sister has dubbed you.
Won't you please stay 8 months old just a little longer?