just pictures

Texan at heart Dancing like sister playing with a sweet friend who brought us dress up clothes

First time to be willing to get her hands dirty with finger paint

Finger paint which turned into body paint

too cool for school

yogurt face

Her rendition of Lammy

the treehouse

I can look around my apartment and instantly have memories of friends who have moved on and left their belongings behind. Life overseas is filled with transitions, with people coming and going, giving and lending and receiving and sharing and packing and moving on. I truly believe it's made me hold on to things a little more loosely. When we first moved to Asia 6 years ago we filled our entire earthly possessions into 6 bags, or was it 7? It was so long ago I honestly can't remember now. But boy we have certainly expanded since that time. Loved ones are so good to send toys and clothes and gifts from home. Grandparents have been known to package an entire tent into their suitcase all to bring some joy to their granddaughters! And they've also notoriously paid for overweight luggage because they know how much fun it is to get goodies from America. Last week some of our favorite people moved into town. (Can I get a hallelujah!?) And their oldest daughter, Miss H, is growing up. She decided to pass on her American Girl doll treehouse to my girls. Now let me tell you, when I found this out I almost cried because I know that her sweet Nana brought this over from America in her suitcases (I would have loved to see how she did it!) and this was certainly no small feat. I think it would be great for Miss H to be able to pass this down to her own kids someday, but I've been told there's likely no way to get this back over the ocean once again. So, Miss H has now made my 4 year old one happy girl. We've already had lots of fun playtimes with the treehouse. Hopefully we can take really great care of it and (one of these years) pass it on to another little girl who will love playing with it too!

I'm so thankful my little girls have such a sweet friend to look up to! Thank you, H!

the grandma club

Before moving overseas, and even for a long time afterward, I figured there would be a magical day in which cultural differences wouldn't really "get to me" anymore. A day in which I was so integrated into the culture that I was no longer seen as an outsider and I'd be just like one of them. I figured wrong. Or maybe I just haven't arrived there yet. I think if you talk with any expat living in this country, most would say there are periods of loving the culture and life overseas and then there are seasons where the stress of being the outsider really gets under your skin. When I take my girls out to play in the mornings, some days I feel like I'm back in junior high, not quite sure where I fit in the social order of things. Because the other kids playing outside are being cared for by their grandmothers. I've only met one stay-at-home mom in the entire apartment complex. Even at night, when the parents are off of work, it's still usually the grandparents who are outside playing with the kids. This group of grandmothers seems pretty tight and knows each other well. They are nice enough to me, but some of them are still not sure how to take these foreigners just yet. I had the most hilarious conversation with one grandmother (nai nai) just two days ago. Mind you, I've already met her on several occasions but she still can't seem to get over my, well, foreign-ness (is that even a word?) Nai nai (not even giving a morning greeting or saying hello): "Your skin is very weird. Why is your skin so white? Does your skin not get dark even if you stand in the sun?" Me: "Well, you can see I have freckles. If I stay in the sun my skin turns red and then develops freckles." Nai nai: "Well, I think your skin is very strange. Look at us, our skin does not get freckles. It just turns dark." Me: "Yes, us white folks have different skin." Nai nai: "Your daughter's eyes are not right" (yes, she literally said bu dui). Why are they blue? Our eyes are dark. Her eyes are just not right." Me: "Have you never seen a foreigner before?" Nai nai: "No, never." Yes, there's some pretty funny fodder that goes on in our morning play times. I might have to start a series on the subject because it's where all my parenting/cultural/generational gaps with the grandma group seem to loom the largest. But I'm praying and hoping we'll be good buds before long. Once they can stand to look at my white skin, that is.

in her words

On Granna's last day in town, she and Grace spent a little time remembering the fun things we did together. They even wrote a little homemade booklet to commemorate the time. So, here is Granna's visit in a nutshell, as told by Grace (with a little help, of course!) The new van picked Granna up. We live on the 4th floor. I am 4. It is my favorite number! Granna loved our new apartment.

I showed her my new pink bike and rode it for her.

She read many, many books to me.

We played school together. Granna was the teacher and all the kids came to my room.

We went to N___. I got to sleep in H's bed because he wasn't home. His bed has a big slide on it! I was so excited I could hardly sleep. At the hotel, Granna and I were roommates. We had princess beds. We played with L__. We talked and laughed in a tree. (Editor's note: no actual pictures were taken on our trip to N___, therefore you get the random picture added below.)

Back at home, H, E, J and I played with finger puppets. Granna enjoyed that.

Granna also flipped a lot of pancakes that night.

Later we had fun with Daddy and some other friends at the Stone Forest Park. Granna, Daddy and I all rode on the motorcycle together.

Granna made silly movies of me. Sometimes I call her Gran for short. Granna has to go home to Papa now. She will be back. Granna loves me and my family! Guess what? I love her too!