It has begun...

After the relentless urging of a friend who has mastered the art of persuasion, I'm posting the first "belly" picture. Don't be alarmed though, this is a G rated photo...as they all will be of course, because I can't bring myself to doing those bare belly photos.

So this is the first of belly photos for the next 5 or 6 months. I'm even clad in horizontal stripes because every good girl knows that horizontal stripes accentuate "curves."

preggo belly at 14 weeks:

and to even out the pictage...here's Brandon on our recent trip to a nearby district (because I know you want to see his smiling face as well!)

Go & Row

Many of our friends have pets. Fish, turtles, birds...
But we don't have any pets. Well, until recently that is. Actually I wouldn't say that they are ours so much...but maybe the neighborhood's pets. Our neighborhood has local Dumpster Dogs. Ok ok so maybe not dumpster dogs...but more like Trash pile Dogs. (we don't have dumpsters here just a cement barrier where we throw our trash and it either gets rummaged through or lit on fire and slowly disintegrates.)
So we have these two dogs that roam our alley. You may remember one of the dogs we're speaking of from one of our very first posts upon arriving here. They look identical, we can't tell them apart. We're not sure who they belong to but we often see them playing with the waiters and waitresses from the restaurant across the alley. (consequently, we don't eat at that restaurant any more!)
Because we see these dogs daily and because we indirectly contribute to their livelihood by throwing out old food & scraps in the cement barriered trash pile, we feel like we have some sort of involvement in these dogs lives.
So, Brandon came up with names for the dogs the other day. We've decided to call them "Go" & "Row." Why?
Well, in Chinese, "Gou" (or "Go" spelled phonetically for our non-chinese speaking friends) means 'Dog.' And "Rou" (or Row...) means 'Meat.'
Again, referencing back to the first time we saw Go & Row (if you don't know what I'm talking about you should check it out), we thought they were being scrubbed down for someone's tasty meal. Thus, we've dubbed them Go & Row...or Dog & Meat, if you will. (disclaimer for any PETA supporters...we've yet to see any dog meat actually on display or being consumed)

So come visit us and you'll get to meet Go & Row as well. We don't advise petting them...no telling where they've been. But they seem pretty friendly and content to rummage through the trash pile. Maybe we'll get pictures up soon of them. Despite what may be matted in their fur, they're pretty cute dogs & do help keep the alley cats & rats (same thing right?) at a good distance.

I must become a responsible person

Sometimes I CAN NOT BELIEVE I AM GOING TO BE A DAD. Othertimes, I AM SO EXCITED THAT I AM GOING TO BE A DAD.

These are the two thoughts that continually run through my head all day long and even into the night. I am beginning to realize that I must become somewhat of a responsible person. Most of you who know me would say that I am a responsible person, but also say I still act like a kid sometimes. I usually act like a adult, but my tendencies go toward childhood. So therefore the those two thoughts continually go through my head.

April has been reading a book about pregnancy, thanks to our sister-in-law who has two kids herself, and she suggested that I read one of the chapters. The chapter was called Husbands of Pregnant Women. In it the author puts my thoughs and feelings (or any other guys thoughts and feelings) about having their first child, into words. These thoughts and feelings are also knows as FEARS. I will list the ones that really apply to me.

1. When I become a dad, I can not be the baby anymore
2. I will have to deliver the baby myself
3. When the baby does come, the doctor will insist that I cut the umbilical cord
4. And, labor and delivery will hurt April, and I won't be able to make it better

These points are somewhat of a joke, but somewhat true as well. All I know is in 6 months April and I are going to have a very small little baby, and the truth is that I have never held a brand new baby before, and I don't know if I know how. My friends reassure me that I will be able to do all these things.

So I just wanted to announce that to the public that I am really excited, but I don't know what I am doing. As one of my old teachers used to say, "Can I get a witness?"

A Short History of a Little Bit Less Than Everything

What could easily be just a picture/caption form of a blog I'm going to turn into a lengthy story-telling time just for your benefit! Hopefully it won't be too long...but here goes!

*EDIT - We've updated our Shutterfly account with new pictures of our vacation & elephant adventure if you'd like to check those out! ----->

We've had a heck of a past three weeks! And it's been wonderful almost every step of the way. We had so many creative ways to announce to the blogging world about our most exciting news...but alas I may just resort to just saying it. I'm pregnant! That's right. Preggo. I begin my second "trimester" today. How exciting! So visiting a "qualified" doctor with an up to date ultrasound machine was one of the things we did in the last few weeks. Upon hearing that we're scheduled to deliver in Bangkok, Thailand, we quickly asked around for recommendations of doctors at the hospital there (rated among the top 10 hospitals in the world!). So we made a pit stop in Bangkok amidst all the other travel around Thailand and got to see a doctor. This hospital amazed us. Their efficiency was incredible. Maybe we'll include more detailed stories about our visit there in later posts. But for now we'll just say that we're so thrilled to be delivering there. If only our parents happened to be residents of Thailand...that's the only thing that would make it more convenient.

So, while in Thailand we got to do all sorts of stuff. Our first couple of weeks we got to see Shane & Shane perform just about every day. That was one of our most favorite things ever.

After eating lunch with them, seeing them roam around our hotel, & hearing them play for four days in a row...Brandon really started to feel like they were best buds. Another fun friend was in this picture also...that's whose hand is resting so delicately on Shane's shoulder, but sorry friend, we cut you out just to be a little safer. :)

Brandon even pulled a ridiculously romantic stunt and requested from Shane B that he play the song that my sister sang in our wedding (by Shane & Shane). It was great. I mean, it was no Bekah, but it was great. :)

While there we ate some great food as well. Turns out that our stomach may have adjusted too well to Chinese food though, because each time we ate some tasty American food we got the not so fun diarrhea afterwards. But that usually didn't stop us from digging into Outback, Tony Roma's, or Burger King. And one time we even spotted lunchables in a grocery store so we stopped and had those for lunch!

Another favorite of those two weeks was of course getting to spend time with some wonderful friends we met just before coming over here. I could post a million pictures all day long of their beautiful faces, but for their security and your sanity, I won't.

Another thing we did...and I'll refrain from saying that it was a 'favorite' also because it definitely was not...was ride elephants.

You might be thinking, "Can you ride elephants when you're pregnant?" Well, I have no idea if you're supposed to or not, but I wouldn't recommend it, not because it made me sick (it seems hardly anything has made me 'morning' sick the last three months) but because I'm not sure I'd recommend it for anyone. I mean, it's one of those things we're glad we did because it's cool to say, "Yes, as a matter of fact I have ridden an elephant." But it's not one of those things you'd want to do everyday. Maybe riding on the elephant's head, or actually sitting on it's back rather than up on a stool strapped to the things back would have been more comfortable. There's really no good way to describe how rough it was, but again...at least we can say we've done it! And hey, after the ride we got to stop and eat some fruit for awhile and it was the BEST pineapple we've ever eaten in our lives. So that made it totally worth the jostling about.

After our couple weeks of meetings and such we headed to Bangkok for a night where we did all the medical stuff at the amazing hospital there, and then began our week long vacation/anniversary trip of Tropical Thailand Paradise. The first night we spent in Phuket with some friends from a neighboring country. It was great to catch up with them, swap culture-shock stories, watch a few episodes of Lost, & get a tan. Then we headed over to beautiful Phi Phi Island by ferry. There are two sides to Phi Phi Island. One more public, partying-scene, type of vacation...or one more private, serene, secluded side, with private beaches type of vacation. We chose the quiet side since we live in the land of 1.3 billion people. It was so wonderful to get to see the stars at night, watch the sunrises and sunsets, & feel the warm tropical breeze. We stayed in those cute little bungalow style houses. It was so beautiful. This is a picture of our hotel's little private beach with all the long tail boats that took us in and out to the ferries.
This part of the island wasn't damaged too much by the Tsunami but much of the other side was. It's incredible how much they've already built it up in just a few years.
We went on a snorkeling day trip and got to see some amazing fish & also some beautiful islands.

Here's Brandon way out in the water with all his snorkeling gear on.

It was a wonderful vacation...a place I highly recommend.

After leaving Thailand we got to stay a few days in Hong Kong to meet up with my sister who happened to be traveling through with a group from her University. Our families did an awesome thing and sent us all sorts of goodies to bring back with us. Mostly maternity clothes, but there were a few food items that were much appreciated, and some birthday gifts! Thanks fam! It was so nice to see her, jet-lagging and all!

We returned this past saturday...the day before our anniversary. And we were so tired from all the travel that all we did to celebrate was to eat cereal for dinner. Sounds strange, but that's quite a celebration for us here! We brought back four boxes of cereal with us (we would have brought back more if our suitcases had room). So we celebrated by eating some Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Kellogg's Blueberry Delight for dinner!

It's nice to be back in our home!

English, Physics, & Culture Shock

I had a beautiful little blog all typed up and then my computer went byzerk (hey, my mom says it) and it didn't work. So here's a second, probably not as good, attempt.

This morning we left bright and early for our first journey ever to Hong Kong. We had a taxi driver pick us up this morning from our apartment and he showed up (on time! wow!) wide-eyed and excited about his one hour trip with two whities. He's a nice man and we probably shouldn't be complaining but had we known it was going to be an hour or so of English language tutoring we might have mentally prepared ourselves a little better. Don't get me wrong, we appreciate what patience it much take to tutor people who butcher the language. Trust us, we're proficient at butchering. But he spent the entire trip practicing what little English he knew with us, which wasn't so bad until he got to the point that he was more focused on learning English than driving. He kept asking Brandon how to pronounce words like 'cell phone,' 'what,' and 'friends.' Whish is fine, but at one point he was focusing so much on Brandon speaking that we almost slammed into the median. Brandon reached over to the wheel just in time for him to realize we were a little to close to the huge concrete embankment. He kept slowing down at each billboard or street sign that had English on it so he could ask us the meaning. It got so bad at one point that when he asked Brandon how to say 'What Time?' and pronounced it, "Wha tie o' clock?" Brandon just said, "Yes, Yes, that's right...look!" and pointed towards the road that we were swerving off of. Alas, we made it to the airport in one piece and we'll probably stick with just being the guy's friend and language helper only without the local transport!

Our next taxi ride was incredible compared to the first...but really, what wouldn't be? First of all, Hong Kong, having recently recovered from being owned by the British, still drives on the left-hand side of the road. The man that drove us was amazing...flying down the highway, swerving in and out of cars, buses, motorcycles. Brandon called the front seat since I've experienced the left-hand side before so he got a better view of all the action but I think this guy was probably breaking numerous laws...maybe even defying the laws of physics. It was unreal. And what's crazy is how much safer we felt with him than the previous driver.

Hong Kong is not your usual China experience. Its got its own "Chinese" feel to it, but I think that any city with a Pizza Hut just around the corner is not really 'authentic.' But that's probably just because I haven't seen the likes of such Pizza beauty in three months. We didn't think that traveling within the same country (even though flights to HK are "international"...but don't get me started), would give us such culture shock. In one evening we've had carry-out from the Pizza Hut just 100 yards away, ate Haagan Dazs ice cream from the 7-11 across the street (sorry H, not Dr. Pepper slurpies here!), and visited a mall with a Toys R' Us. At the mall there was a huge grocery story with sliced turkey sandwich meat, hot dogs, & CEREAL! A whole aisle of just cereal. We'd forgotten what it looks like. We stood in awe for about 10 minutes before we decided that on our way back we're going to have to mail a huge box of just cereal to ourselves. Seriously, what a gift to be able to live in China AND eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch. We've yet to experience it.

So that's been our journey in the left-side-driving, formerly-ruled-by-a-Queen, cereal-loving, land of Hong Kong...and it's only the first day!

Here's a video. It's not very exciting, but it'll give you a little glimpse of HK.

Go Carts

Yesterday we did what we do just about every day...went out to see a little part of the city we haven't seen yet. Only this time, we found a nice little run-down theme park/creepy carnival. I don't think the place is very old, but like I've said before, acid rain really does a number on things. Those carousel horses did not look happy at all. It's not your usual theme park though where you pay at the gate...although it may look that way from the outside. We actually just stepped over a chain that went across the gate and went on in to venture around the park. There were lots of old men there flying kites and a few fishing from a small pond, but other than that we were pretty much the only people wandering around the place. That is, until we saw a man in a bumper car. I've never done bumper cars by myself, but he sure was. I think it kinda defeats the purpose of the name "bumper cars" but whatever. So we decided that since he was doing his thing in his bumper car that apparently these other rides were up for grabs too. There was the carousel that I told you about, a "roller coaster" that I wouldn't dare get on, one of those plane things that goes around in a circle that little kids like, and bumper cars. None of them looked like they were up and running but apparently if you go over and wait long enough, someone will come over and help you. But we decided not to do any of the rides and just continued our walk throughout the rest of the park. And then we spotted...drum roll please: The Go Carts. Brandon's automatic response: "Hey Honda engines...ooohh I bet those things go fast!" Again, this theme park is going for the more 'creepy carnival' type look, so this is what the go cart place looked like.

Look closely and you'll see chickens, and one rooster, fenced in behind the Go Cart building. Now, you're average creepy carnival visitor might not risk their money and life at this sort of Go Cart business, but keep in mind that as of yesterday we've been here six months, haven't driven anything for just as long, and therefore that disqualifies us for having any sort of sane reasoning. So we went over, did the waiting thing until two men came out of the shack in front of the chicken coup, and we paid our dues for Brandon to ride No. 01 Go Cart. (I wasn't quite as brave...and besides, someone had to take pictures) So Brandon gets in and the man straps up Brandon's seat belt, which was one strap that looped around his left arm...which in all actuality would probably do better at making him lose his left arm if he were to crash and roll...into the chicken coup.

And Brandon takes off!

I took video as well but someone decided to ride the airplane ride while I video-d and so there's some sort of strange laser gun sound in the background of the entire video. oh well.

So that was our outing to the creepy carnival, which I'm sure we'll be visiting again as soon as Brandon needs to drive something again.

6 Months

Well today marks our 6th month here. I can't believe it has been 6 months since we arrived in the big chicken. At times it seems to fly by, but other times I seem to just be caught in the moment. Things have really changed a lot, and will continue to change. The Father has grown April and I in many ways. We are continuing to learn to lean on Him in all things. Many funny things have happened, many goals met, many challenges and difficulties, many successes, and we have many more opportunities in the future. Thanks for all the support and continue to keep us up to date on your lives as well.