1st round of Christmas photos

Merry Christmas!

We are having a blast with my parents in town...especially Grace! I've never seen her so happy. I hope to post more pictures soon, but for now, Merry Christmas, everyone!

more pics

Yes, that is a mushroom...
Grace found this doll at the studio and cried when we took it away, so the photographer ended up taking pictures with it...um, wish I could photo-shop it out!
You should see some of the baby outfits they had at the picture place. There was another baby at the studio, probably 6 months old, wearing a HUGE curly blonde wig for her pictures. It just didn't look right!

pictures

Well, the story surrounding these photos is an epic saga in itself, maybe someday I'll feel like sharing the details. But, for now, here are a few pictures we had taken several weeks ago. There are several more pictures (particularly of Grace) that I'll post in the future....

But, we wanted to wish Kevin's dad, Pat Godin, a happy birthday, today! We love you, Dad Godin!

The family photos didn't turn out so great, because at the time it was several hours into the photo shoot and well past Grace's lunch time, but we retrieved what we could!


This one is my personal favorite...

role reversal

Today Kevin played Mr. Mom and I went out traveling to take care of some things in preparation for visitors we have coming over the holidays. I also went to try and encourage a friend. It was actually my first time to travel alone in this country. I think everyone enjoyed having a change of pace today! I know I did. Hmmm, perhaps more day trips are in my near future. I'm really sad, though, that I forgot to take my camera. I'm the only picture-taker in the family, so if I don't take them it just doesn't happen. Oh well, next time. Anyway, when I got home tonight Grace seemed really happy, like she'd had a super fun-filled day. Makes me wonder what kinds of things she got away with today...:) Ok, probably not much and she just enjoyed some good ole' fashioned play time with Daddy. We've been getting over strep throat here but are on the mend. We are most excited that my parents will be here in a few short days!!

Grandpa George

One of the toughest things about living overseas is missing out on big family events, funerals included. There's something healing about being able to get together with the whole family and remember a loved one. Of course, we knew this was a possibility when we decided to move to Asia. But since we have moved overseas, my Pop Wallace and Grandma Gerlt have both gone on to be with Him. On Thursday, Kevin's Grandpa George passed away. Currenlty Kevin is in the other room, composing a letter to be read at the funeral. He just shared some memories with me I hadn't heard, like Grandpa George taking him to watch the airplanes in Borger years ago and always making sure there was sugar involved! I always wanted to ask him what his secret was...the man could eat 3 desserts a day and still remained a bean pole! I'll remember Grandpa George as the sugar-loving, gentle man who really loved Him and wanted His grandkids to work overseas. In fact, 3 of the 6 grandkids currently are. He and Grandma George used to get up very early and lift up all their kids and grandkids together. PTL for family who points us to Him! We will miss you, Grandpa George...

3 years ago...

Three years ago tonight, we landed in Asia. The university where we would attend language school met us at the airport, and on the way to the hotel we stopped to eat a meal which mainly consisted of pig stomach and random chicken organs. We had the privilege of treating the school official and van driver to that meal. After being harassed for how much luggage we brought, we stayed in a dumpy hotel that night, all the while wondering, "what in the world are we doing here?!" Those first few weeks we went into survival mode, getting super excited over little things like finding peanut butter and jelly at the supermarket. And we had our own little pity party on Dec 25. After being in Asia for only 2 weeks at the time, we really had a rough first Christmas. What a difference three years makes. Today we had lunch with some Asian friends and were able to converse in a quasi-articulate manner. We don't get as grossed out any more at people spitting and kids peeing on the street. Kevin's even been known to throw down more than his share of animal organs at a meal! Even though we are still considered outsiders, there are times when it seems like home here. How does one sum up three years of cross-cultural living? It's just impossible. But, we definitely are different people than we were three years ago. In some ways I think we've changed for the better, maybe in some ways for the worse. I don't think we are as fun-loving as we used to be; we don't laugh as often. (But, we're trying to work on that!!) Discounting those first few days of thinking "what have we done?" we've never regretted moving overseas. Sure we miss our loved ones and all the great stuff living in America has to offer. But, it's been a fun, wild ride. Kevin and I sometimes comment on what a weird life it is to live overseas. But it's a fun kind of weird. We're thankful Dad's allowed us to see some cool stuff, and we hope it's only the beginning of great things to come. It's hard to believe this time next year we'll be celebrating Christmas with family in the States!

30 days old

We have friends who recently returned from Hong Kong to deliver their baby. In this country, when a woman delivers a baby, she is supposed to stay indoors for a month and rest. ("zuo yuezi" is literally translated "sit for a month.") Often, when a baby is 30 days old, the family will prepare red eggs and give them out to friends they might see while outdoors. If someone gave them a gift, they are supposed to give out two red eggs.

So today, baby Levi's mom (a foreigner who decided to go ahead and follow the fun tradition) gave me 2 red eggs and passed out a total 18 eggs to commemorate Levi's 30th day. Now she can leave the house without getting scolded by the grandmas!

Grace wanted to love on baby Levi, so we let her hold him. He's a sweet and very laid-back baby!

school-time

Well, these are not great pictures and this post may only interest the grandparents, but being the still relatively-new parent that I am, I of course feel the need to post about it...

We were shocked a few weeks back to discover our new local mall was offering gymboree-type classes for babies and toddlers. The place was sparkling clean. I mean, one day I went and they were actually cleaning the balls with bleach water if you can believe it. Plus, the teachers have VEEERY standard asianese (hard to come by over here). So we went for a trial visit, took the plunge and bought the 12-class package to get Grace and Mom a little more socialization and to hopefully let Grace pick up more of the local language.

After our first 2 classes, I wondered what we had done because Grace was very clingy and didn't want to participate. But, by the third class she was getting into the routine and started enjoying herself.

So now, when we go:

Step 1: We take off our shoes and the teachers give the kiddos special skid-proof shoes so no one hurts themselves with all the running around they're going to do.

Step 2: Decide which of the fun toys to play with before the hour-long class starts.

Step 3: Grace runs into the classroom and sits on her mat right away because she's so anxious for class to begin.
Step 4: Sing the welcome song, take roll, shake hands with the teacher, sing songs, read stories, learn about stars or animals or body parts or whatever fun curriculum the teachers have in store. (Here, Grace is still doing the motions to the welcome song.)
And of course, be sure to sway your hips and dance.
Step 5: If Daddy is in town and doesn't have class of his own, join him for lunch.

(Angela, if you're reading today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Love you, sister!!!)

what's that?

Well, I am attempting to upload pictures tonight but it appears that won't happen. Maybe tomorrow. Instead, here's a short story. I know it's a bit unusual (for this country, at least) that we live around so many trees. In fact, our city is nicknamed, "the green city" because we actually have a few parks. Anyway, yesterday my helper suddenly called out, "Brigitte, come here, look out the window! There's an animal that looks like a rat but it has long hair! What is that?" In her 34 years of life, my helper had never, ever, ever... seen a squirrel.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're finishing up Thanksgiving in Asia and thinking of you in the US as you begin the day. Hope it's a great one! We've had a really fun day. Some friends of ours had 5 family members come to visit, and they brought all sorts of traditional food from the States. They made an absolute feast and hosted over 40 people. I'm telling you, they worked their fingers to the bone! I felt down-right guilty that I got off so easy this year, only making a pumpkin pie and bringing drinks. But it was such a special time, and after we ate each of us shared what we are thankful for. There truly was a sweet spirit there. It's amazing how you become "instant family" with folks when you live together overseas.

It's true, we should be thankful everyday. But I'm glad we have a day to be reminded of that which we so often take for granted.

Sending love from Asia!

picture of a picture, of a picture

I'm letting you see the messiness of my dining area because I thought this was funny. We had dinner guests over tonight. They arrived 2 hours late. (Yes, 2 hours...schedules change on a dime here and time isn't always viewed like we're used to.) So, because they arrived at 8:30, Grace had already gone to bed. Our friend wanted to take a picture of Grace's picture to show her friends. She also got me to go into her bedroom and take a photo while she slept, but it didn't turn out so well.

fuzzy jammies

It's finally gotten cold enough for warm fuzzy jammies.


Here, Grace is asking to go outside and look for an "ayi" (auntie) neighbor who sometimes porch sits at the same time.
"Thanks Nana and Pappaw for my new jammies!"

porch time

Grace loves to go outside and play. So, of course I take her out every day. Problem is, it's 63 stairs to get to our 4th floor apartment. So, sometimes when she is cranky and I don't want to lug her (again) up and down the stairs I opt to let her read books on our back porch. For her, it's the next best thing to getting out.

Asian food festival

I do enjoy the fall, in the US and in Asia. Here, each October brings a "beautiful food festival" where you can sample any kind of meat-on-a-stick and a variety of other exotic foods. OK, not all of them are exotic, because they had cotton candy, too! About 10 days ago, 5 of us headed there for a night of "eat-at-your-own-risk" fun. By the end of the night, the 5 of us (including Grace) downed deer, ostrich, alligator and shark meat, cotton candy, sesame bread, milk tea, and fruit crepes. Almost as healthy as a night at the state fair! At least I brought some carrot sticks to redeem some nutritional value for Grace. We passed on things such as stinky tofu (yes, real name) and fried insects. And, happy to say, no one got sick.

This guy was so proud of his sesame flat bread.

Keeping the meat really fresh
These guys did a fun dance while trying to sell their barbecued squid-on-a-stick
The pineapple crepes were great!
Kevin's theory is that anything tastes better on a stick (or fried)...He's quite the carnivore.

He's got it taken care of

You know those kind of days... The ones where you feel at your whit's end, then something happens where Dad totally ministers to you... I had one of those today. Grace has been sick off-and-on all week, nothing truly serious, but last night she woke up with a spiked fever around 104 degrees. She was burning up, sweating from head to toe, and her hands were shaking. (Why is fever always worse at night?) I had visions of having to go to the ER, not an experience I want to repeat after a trip there during my pregnancy. But fortunately the fever came down quickly with some tylenol and a wet sponge. We prayed over Grace and went back to sleep about an hour later. This morning, Grace didn't have fever but was still fussy. I was feeling down about it because Kevin had to leave today for 5 nights/6 days. At club, we heard a US shepherd speak on trusting in Him, and some of the story illustrations were even about being in Asia without good medical care. It was timely for me to be reminded that my faith should not be in having handy-dandy ER's with the latest medical equipment, but in Him. Sometimes, when all that other stuff is taken away from us, we really get to the heart of trusting Him and realize He is enough. This afternoon, Kevin left and 30 minutes later Grace woke up with a spiked fever again. I called an American doctor friend and asked him to recommend an antibiotic, knowing tomorrow I'd try to search for suspension (liquid) antibiotics to give Grace. They are hard to find here, so I wasn't looking forward to getting out and searching all morning for that. But, our doctor friend just called back and told me he found the needed medicine while out shopping and went ahead and bought some for Grace. I started crying, realizing how stupidly tense I've been over this. Such a small thing, yet such a big Dad. He takes care of our needs before we even know them.

wedding bells

We had another Asian-first today; we finally got to attend a friend's wedding! This wedding could best be described as east-meets-west. Typically, in this country, the couple throws a big banquet and a certificate is read that makes them "man and wife." (There's not usually a big ceremony.) But, our friends wanted to have a ceremony to let everyone know of the hope that they have, and it was quite a celebration! They had several brothers and sisters who helped them write the marriage vows and marriage charge. The whole wedding was very participative, and I might add, "relaxed." After the couple was married, there were performances, and many family members came to sing and offer blessings to the couple. Then the chairs were cleared and a big banquet was served.

Confetti...lots and lots of confetti! The symbol in the background is the "double happiness" character and is most often used in weddings here.
This group danced to a song called "love one another..."
The two little kids in the front did a great job singing. They knew their stuff!
Grace was so happy that our helper BoLing was there. She had a good time at the wedding, even though she woke up with a fever (again) today. We gave her enough Tylenol to get through but had to leave before the banquet started since she was going downhill fast.

real or fake?

Yesterday, while grocery shopping, a man approached me and asked: "Excuse me, is your child's hair color real or do you color it?" I informed him that yes, my child's hair color is natural. Not an hour later, Grace was playing in a play-land area and I saw an elderly lady come and ask a store worker, "Is that child real or fake?" The worker laughed and pointed to me, saying, "yes, she is real and her mom is over there." Apparently, Grace was standing still and looked a little too much like a store mannequin. I can't make this stuff up!

this week

I have some random thoughts swirling around in my head.

Over the past week...

• I realized once again just how much I miss my husband when he travels.
• This week, I was reprimanded many times for not giving my daughter enough clothing to wear (because here, 70-degree weather obviously warrants at least 2 layers!) And then, when I showed a woman how Grace was sweating her only response was that she didn't have enough calcium. Huh?
• One day, as Grace and I were walking to a bus stop, a woman asked me for milk for her child. Now, we sometimes encounter beggars and usually they want money but we will offer to go buy what they ask for. This woman surprised me in that she was willing for me to actually buy the milk instead of giving her money. She would not walk alongside me (only behind) because she feared others would scold her for begging. But she really did just want milk. It broke my heart to see how grateful she was to have something so simple for her daughter.
• This week, (today in fact) someone stole my shopping cart at the store! Now, I had waited a while for the "special" shopping cart. You know, the one with the kid-car underneath so your child (and therefore, you) can enjoy the shopping experience. I had let Grace get out for a few minutes to play in the kid area, and before I knew it someone had taken the things out of my cart and put them in a regular cart so they could have the kid-cart! Ugh, very classy.
• This week, after several weeks of relative calm, Grace decided to re-test several boundaries to see if they're still there. Yes, definitely still there.
• This week, I made guacamole! Good Tex-Mex and Dr. Pepper are two of the foods we miss the most from America. One would think that since we live in a sub-tropical environment that avocados would be easy to find. But actually, most folks here don't know what they are. So, when our little western pantry started selling them recently, word traveled fast among the foreign community.

Here are some pictures from this past week...

We had another fun outing with Qiao qiao and his mom, Liu liu. You can tell from the look on Grace's face that she is absolutely freezing in the sunny 70-degree weather...
But no worries, because Qiao qiao's mother gave her extra clothes to wear!
Good friends must be sure to shake hands.
Guacamole! We enjoyed it for several days. Ok, I admit, one night for dinner all I ate was chips and guacamole! Grace even ate it, too!
Now we find excuses to put guacamole with just about anything. Here Kevin's enjoying it with some ribs from a friend's birthday party that he had to miss. Grace had just finished eating but had to go mooch some off of her dad, too.

a surprise

Kevin has to be out-of-town quite a bit this month, so he surprised me a few days ago and told me he had arranged for Jeff and Amy to keep Grace so we could have a day-long date on Saturday! Our day o' fun yesterday included a trip to the zoo, lunch at a Thai restaurant, a shared fruit smoothie at our favorite drink stop, wonderful hour-long massages (for a whopping $3.50 USD), and finally to our favorite coffee shop. It was fun to be carefree for a few hours. Thanks Jeff and Amy for babysitting! You are wonderful!


I was pleased with the landscaping at the zoo. We've lived here almost three years but this was our first trip. Aren't we terrible for not taking our child with us? (We will later, but this was a scouting mission!) Can you tell from this picture we are in the year of the pig?

The dolphin and sea lion show we saw was ok, but the real show happened when some monkeys escaped from their cages! It was ironic, because not even an hour earlier I was talking with Kevin and conjecturing about how often they have animals escape. For some reason, there was a hole in the monkey cage, and the smaller monkeys made it through. Soon after I took this picture, a small crowd gathered. One lady (I assume a zoo employee) put her umbrella over the hole so more monkeys couldn't escape while another worker chased the 2 fugitives to a separate monkey area.
The white tigers did not have a big place to stay. This particular tiger was put into a smaller cage before a zookeeper came to attend to him. We thought he was going to give the tiger a shot, but he just put some sort of yellow liquid into his cage without actually touching the tiger. Not sure why he just "spewed" the liquid at him, but the tiger didn't like it and swiped and growled in protest.
Just remember, you should never stride around ferocious animals...
Here's our Thai lunch (not authentic, but good enough), which included pinapple rice, barbecued beef on a stick, shrimp cakes, and cucumber with Thai sauce. Deee-lish!

On another note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to my mom, Judy Gerlt. We love you, Mom and wish we were there to celebrate with you!

play dates

We had a fun outing today with a new friend I met at the gym (Liu liu) and her son, named Qiao qiao. Qiao qiao is only 3 weeks older than Grace. He truly is a cutie, very well-behaved. I am really thankful for today's playdate, because I've been looking for some closer relationships with local folks. I think Liu liu and I can become good friends. I love my foreign friends who live here in our city; don't know what I'd do without them. But I really need to develop deeper friendships with Asians, too. I am a nerd and sometimes get a little nervous before meeting with a new friend. For instance, sometimes I think, "Will she get frustrated if I can't understand what she says?" "Will I do something culture-stupid?" But, we had a great time and I don't think I did anything too stupid! She even taught me a few new words today. It's funny how in spite of cultural differences, we are so much the same. Our kiddos had fun playing today and we enjoyed talking.

Grace was afraid to get in the ball-pit, but Qiao qiao made sure she had balls to play with anyway!

time for a hug...

Qiao qiao would smile really big when his mama asked him to...

We had a little mishap on the way home, but thankfully it turned out ok. As we were flagging down a cab, I saw a huge concrete truck driving way too fast and heading right for the cab. He didn't have time to stop and smashed into the back bumper of the cab. I'm thankful both drivers were ok and that the cab didn't run over us in the process!

Yesterday Grace and I also went to our first ever play group. It's made up of several foreigner ladies and includes 12 preschoolers! Whoa, that's a lot of kids! Apparently it's the first-ever "foreigner" play group in our city. I guess there is a need for us to connect with other like-minded moms and for our kids to play with other kids who are just like them because everyone jumped at the idea. Again, Grace had a blast. She gets a little bored with ole' mom that she really enjoys getting to play in a new environment.