A Normal Day with Our Three Little Superheros

Yesterday I took the kids to an indoor playground to meet a friend.  The kids were able to get some energy out and play while we talked here and there for 20 minutes. We stopped at the restroom on the way out and as I was busily helping the kids wash their hands while washing mine with Sayde in my front pack carrier, many of the other ladies in the restroom were watching us closely. One handed me a paper towel to dry my hands with and another one brought up the fact that I have three children. This is brought up on a constant basis as soon as we step outside our door :) This time the lady gave me a thumbs up and basically told me that I am doing a good job. That meant the world to me.

 Our kids have been having fun with their new superhero costumes from Gamma and Gandy. Even before they had them they would improvise with just about anything to create costumes and capes. Now even Sayde enjoys dressing up with the other two... 

Below, Hudson likes to play "Abe Lincoln" after we read a story together about his life, how he would bundle up his belongings in a hankerchief and tie it up on a stick to carry over his shoulder and travel around through the woods practicing speeches. He packs all his clothes, underwear and pajamas in blankets and carries them with him everywhere...

Below is our school shelf with books we are reading together throughout the year. Some Annalise will be able to read by herself soon, others we are reading aloud as stories. Little take-out containers when washed well make good crayon and marker containers later :)

Sayde loves to hold the music player and hum along, dancing and bobbing up and down to the kid's songs...they are memory verses for the kids to learn set to songs, such as "Children obey your parents..." which is set to a salsa music tune. I wish I could share the video!

Another lunch date with Jeremy at the coffee shop next door. The new Chinese year's animal is the ram sheep. For the new Chinese year fireworks will be set off all the time the next couple of weeks. We live far enough in the inner rings of the city where they are not allowed to be set off, but right next to the border line area, so people will be setting them off still quite close since it's kind of a gray borderline area. Whenever we do hear them we immediately say, "oooh, pretty" to Sayde so she will not be scared of the loud sounds!

This is our third bedroom which is the guest room where my parents stayed. Right now all 3 kids share a bedroom, but after Sayde is ready to sleep with Annalise in the big double bed in their room Hudson can then move into this room. After reading The Boxcar Children story together, about some orphaned kids who lived in an empty boxcar in the woods until they were happily adopted by their Grandfather at the end of the book, we now pretend that this is the "boxcar room" and the kids play in here...

We are exploring possibilities of hosting a small group in our apartment from the international fellowship, but haven't heard of any interest in it yet from other families with small children in our area. We are hoping that can come together eventually. 

-Lisa

Lisa's Parents Visit in January

We just spent a very blessed three weeks with my parents staying with us. They arrived safely on January 9th in the evening just in time for some Chinese beef stew I had made, and the next couple of nights they were in bed quite early recovering from the jet lag. We remembered our flight with the kids and how we felt that first couple of weeks, the dizziness and tiredness. In Shanghai, you often feel dizzy from all the tall buildings. But my parents recovered within a day or two and were excited to get out and explore our city with us :)

The first week we went to two of our closest parks, all three of the large shopping malls that surround us on every side, the Shanghai Museum, and to our international church which they loved. We have a very good worship service, but I often don't hear the messages after singing is over because Sayde is up. She is not happy in the nursery so I won't leave her there. She is still very dependent on me and nursing day and night, but Jeremy and I were able to go out on a date one evening while my parents babysat. We went to a restaurant close by and came home just in time, Sayde had been crying for one whole hour. So, no overnights away from Sayde for me yet! I have yet to be able to go on any women's retreats either. There is no way it would be appropriate to leave my baby at home overnight. Maybe by the time she turns two...

Later on in the middle of the night we were up with both Sayde and Annalise sick, they were throwing up. The rest of the week everyone in our home was sick at different times, but the nice part is that my parents decided to change their plans and extend their stay for one more week! My parents were able to attend Jeremy's company dinner and watch him dance the hip-hop penguin shake on stage with all his co-workers, and help me with the kids at our table with all the many fancy, delicious food dishes. The next weekend, Jeremy and my Dad were able to go the Crossfit Iron Dragon for a WOD and brought t-shirts home for us to proudly wear. I would have loved to join them. It is still not very popular among Chinese women's fashion to be strong; rather, the fashion is to be skinny. This crossfit gym is the first authentic crossfit gym within China, and hopefully "strong is the new skinny" will become popular here also. We did some crossfit workouts at home as well. My mom and I did a 50 squats, 40 sit ups, 30 pushups, 20 lunges and 20 burpees WOD and the kids did stairs in our building to the top floor with my dad. I think our building has over 40 floors.

We also spent the last week of my parents visit shopping for clothes, something we normally never have time for! My mom and I went out twice looking at sweater tunics, shoes, and coats. Annalise and I found some boots at a sale next door to our building. Hers are pink with fuzzy material on the inside and mine are black ankle boots with silver crosses dangling from the zippers. It is easy to find my size in clothing and shoes here! And, Jeremy visited a local taylor shop at our market and had a complete suit sewn up for him, and it fit perfectly. Although he mistakenly had white pants made instead of black ones that he had to have for his penguin dance, but luckily he had some black ones already at home that he wore.

The rest of the time we spent on homeschool. We started the Sonlight curriculum core and get to spend time every day reading fun books together like the Boxcar Children. We also are reading lots of Bible, geography, history, and travelling adventure stories. Having a schedule with plenty to do each day has made homeschooling so much easier for me. We try to take field trips and outings as much as possible (lately it has been cold and rainy outdoors), and include as much practical life skills as we can. Rather than trying to imitate the classroom experience as if our kids are missing out on not attending school, we believe that they have an advantage over school attending children in that they learn more practical life skills by not sitting at a desk all day.

Now we are feeling kind of lonesome and homesick, our apartment feels so empty with no visitors. But we know we are placed here for a reason and have a destiny that we cannot yet see. For those last few weeks our home was very similar to a Chinese home with extended family living with us. Many Chinese families have parents living in and they take care of each other in many ways, leading to not only a more lively home but a more orderly one as well with so many adults around to care for the kids. Here are some pictures of our time together...

Annalise and Gamma

Sayde is wearing one of my baby dresses

Sayde with Gandy

Sayde loved having the snake tied around her waste :)

Annalise playing resturant

Jeremy is up on stage doing the penguin shake on the right

family photo in some bamboo

blowing bubbles

Happy New Year - 新年快乐！

Jeremy has two days off from work this week and we have been resting and recovering from our colds.  Last week Jeremy did not have any days off from work. I am so thankful to have him home and have a few days free. Yesterday we went to the Mr. Pancake House for brunch and tried to take a walk in the park, but it felt too cold with our headaches and earaches. We should recover soon though, especially by next week when my parents come to stay with us for two weeks!

Here is some artwork of the nativity and manger scene Annalise and Hudson made, and our simple, fun Christmas tree, called a "Shengdan shu." Annalise also made a piece titled "heaven" which we used as wrapping paper for a gift to a friend of ours.

The manger scene by Annalise & Hudson

"Shengdan Shu"

Remember to think about the lives that were lost on New Years Eve and their family members. We care a lot about the people in our city and want them to find hope, faith, and life.

Merry Christmas

Taking a few minutes after 1:00 am on Christmas day to say, Merry Christmas! Winter season is surely here in Shanghai. We can feel the cold here and have turned into wimps. The temperature is still above freezing, but it feels much colder. So now I am being told to bundle up the kids more. There is usually something with how my children are dressed. Either too warm, too cold, or something is too long or too short...or maybe not fashionable? I don't always know whether I am translating it right. The other evening on our walk home from the Christmas Eve service, I thought I heard some girls saying that I was too small to carry Sayde in my baby carrier! Maybe so...compared to my very tall, 6'4 husband walking next to me :)

Our family is still celebrating the birth of Jesus this week. Had some adjustments with the kids, being too loud at the service and having to leave early when they couldn't sit still in their chairs. But we were there for the best part at least, hearing and singing Christmas carols in Chinese. Singing Silent Night on Christmas Eve in China is very special.

It has been a rough couple of weeks with heater going out, electricity out, cold water, and workmans at our apartment to fix things. Hudson has taken up an interest, sometimes concern, in plumbing. He says he wants to grow up to invent some drains that will help save people from being flooded. He really is concerned over any drain that gets backed up and always listens to the bathtub draining, just to make sure the water isn't going to come back up. He is starting to open up more and both of them are truly getting into the sunday school program for kids at our international church service each week. Before we moved here, Hudson had just left the nursery back home. This has been huge for him! I would like them to be able to sit still through a grown-ups service too sometime though.

And Sayde is a very sweet, independent little 16 month old. She can say so many words in English, not to mention that her first two Chinese words are "hao" and "yu" (fish). She was a given a little stuffed animal fish and we play "where is fish?" with her. Whenever we say "where is something" in Chinese she answers "yu?" In English, she can say "play" and "people," and will look out the window to look at people.

Jeremy and I have been able to go on a few lunch dates since we have our ayi who watches the kids for us while we are gone.

I am struggling lately with my time. I can't fit everything into one day all that I want to! I want to homeschool my children excellently and do so much with them. At the same time, I really want to learn the language here and I don't mean just speaking it. I love to study reading and writing in Chinese and really want to become fluent... It is a danger that many moms who homeschool their children in the home in other cultural and language contexts never end up learning the local language.

Jeremy needs to learn the language well too, but that is also hard for him when most in his office will communicate with him in English.

Well it is now 2:00 am. Here are our recent pictures...

感恩节快乐, Happy Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving dinner was a success! We had a wonderful, blessed time with our Chinese teacher and her husband over for dinner, and included was plenty of quiz time for the kiddos. The kids have learned some phrases in Chinese, "zhe ge hanyu zenme shuo?" and "ni zai zuo shenme?"..."how do you say this in Chinese?" and "what are you doing?" We are so proud of them! Our teacher tutors our whole family two evenings a week. Our children are usually bouncing up and down, jumping on and off furniture as she works with them.

After Thanksgiving we shopped for homeschooling supplies with black friday deals going on in the U.S. and we actually have Rosetta Stone now for the family. Jeremy is impressed with it and encourages everyone we know back home to try it, especially if they plan on visiting us :)

I discovered the other day that Annalise is now reading at a 1st grade level so we have had to think alot about what to get for next year...

We have also been getting to know our neighborhood better and found several outdoor/farmers style markets nearby that we love to frequent for most of our groceries now. We had 2 chickens, sweet potatoes, corn, and sichuan fried green beans for our Thanksgiving dinner and all came from our closest outdoor market. It was our first Thanksgiving away from home, in our new home, and prepared all by myself! It has been so much fun getting to meet and recognize all the sellers at these market places, practicing our Chinese with them and getting better each time. Last week we bought all the ingredients to make Chinese dumplings from the market and made them at home.

As we explore our neighborhood more and more, our eyes are also opened to many other business establishments we hadn't noticed before. There are also many modeling agencies here. It is very sobering, and to only just now start noticing this after living here for nearly four months now.

We have also had a difficult time as a family and as individuals (Jeremy and I) with knowing where to be involved, keeping commitments and getting to places on time as a family. We like to take the subway system and it truly is the best way for us to get around, other than on foot, it just may take up to an hour sometimes to get someplace! We need to figure out better ways as a family to be on time places...

November in Shanghai

This month on the 11^th we celebrated Annalise turning 6 years old. We went to the nearby park and brought cupcakes to share with some friends Annalise and Hudson’s ages. I am so thankful that our children have had so many opportunities to make friends.  I am also thankful for such a wonderful daughter, Annalise. She adds so much joy and humor to our lives. She is so thoughtful, kind, smart, and funny. We love her so much! I am so impressed with her sensitivity to the Lord. She has matured so much.

Life in this large city has been busy for our family. There are so many options available, so many groups and activities to be part of. There are homeschooling coops, field trips to museums, and parks to visit. It is hard to find time to sit down at our computer, when it is not being used already. The computer is not a normal part of my life here on a day -to -day basis! I am so unfamiliar with this thing and so out of practice. Since homeschool began with the kids, language lessons and practice, and with the now 15 month old Sayde so busy, sitting at a computer is very rare.  Bare minimum, I have 5 minutes before someone complains. 

Next week we celebrate Thanksgiving with our Chinese co-workers and friends. I want to be prepared for our dinner in many ways, being a blessing not only putting delicious food on the table but also being a blessing to hearts as well.  Be thinking about this for us next week! This is all I have time to write for now. I am obviously having trouble with computers, cameras, and anything technological, for many reasons. At the bottom of this post I will include photos if I have the time to upload them and it works!

God has been speaking to me about being faithful with the little things first, that is what I have been doing lately. So many people here are doing huge things. We are just starting and it’s very important to remind myself what God has called me to do right now. He’s given my three beautiful children to love and care for and invest in, and that is huge in it self. We are raising them to be a blessing. Chinese people are impressed when they see our three children, it is so rare for them, and we are to never take that for granted that we have three.

I cut bangs for Annalise :)

Beautiful Annalise

Another picnic with friends at the park

Hudson's new rainboots he is very proud of.

 

Our apartment building is the one in the background with a round saucer on top

Picnic Outing

The past week was a Chinese holiday and Jeremy had a whole week off from work. We went on a picnic one day with a couple co-worker friends to a small mountain west of the city. They brought a tent with them and set it up to keep out of the sun during the day and take naps in, however none of our kids took naps...They were too busy playing with the neighboring Chinese children and making friends with them! They have come a long way in two months. At first it was difficult getting them to just say "hello" to another kid at the playground. While picnicing Annalise spent hours just talking in English to this Chinese family next to us and sitting next to the water lilies with a girl her age. Hudson was playing with water toys and playing tag. He chased the other kids in a game, pretending he was a dinosaur, and learned how to say "konglong." It is so cute to hear their little voices learning and saying Chinese words. And Sayde, she just enjoyed running around all over the grass in her onesie and meeting all the other little Chinese babies her age. I mistakenly thought the sun would not be so bad, and everyone got sunburns by the end of the day.  Plenty of vitamin D for us city dwellers!

We have learned over the past two months that putting too much pressure on our kids isn't the best for them. We decided to let up and just let them figure out how to make friends, learn Chinese and adjust to the culture. We are thankful for the international friends we have met who encouraged us and told us we were doing just fine and don't worry too hard about how or when or how many friends our kids are making. Their biggest influence should be at home. Not long after that, sure enough they are playing with other kids every day we go to a park. All they have to do is bring a soccer ball with them and their is always someone else to play with. 

When we came home that evening of the picnic, we noticed Sayde had a fever. She came down with roseola the next three days, so for the rest of the holiday we just remained at home keeping her fever down. She is finally over that part and just has the rash. I am so thankful I know what it is and that it is not serious. She is teething at the same time, we are surprised at how well she has been acting in spite of all that.