the mundane

Sometimes it's hard to write blogs because we do so much of the same things every day. Class, take the boys outside, try to go to the market or grocery store while Johnny's home with the boys, cook, clean (sometimes--although our house helper really does most of that)...

And that's really where we are right now. Johnny just started class at the university with a new teacher--we hope it's a good relationship. Luke is in preschool, and while he doesn't love going every day, he comes home saying something new in Chinese every day. Today it is, "I love you" (wo ai ni)...It's all good stuff!!

So today's post is all about three of our favorite places:

For Johnny it's the construction market that we found a week and a half ago. See, where we live the philosophy for business is a bit different--instead of spreading out and putting a store that sells, say, wood, the locals like to put ALL the stores that sell wood all in a row. Same for lights and other things. There's a section of town that is known as the construction market. And there are rows and rows of little shops that sell wood, and wood cut outs and door handles/bathroom fixtures, paint, etc. We've heard about this market for years now and never known where it is--so we looked for it Saturday before last and FOUND it! We drove in and it was like angels were singing soprano notes behind us--it is Johnny's new candy shop (figuratively speaking)!! We bought wood cut outs for behind our couch (it has been sorely in need of SOMEthing for a while!) and wood for Johnny to build bunk beds for the boys. So he's had this really fun project to do in his spare time (which has become less now that classes have started).

The second place is in the same section of town, nowhere near where we live (which is good because if I lived near there I would go every SINGLE day, I think). It's called the wholesale market. And it's not like a market like we're used to in the states. I think it covers almost a half of a square mile or something like that. I can buy fabric, crafty stuff, stuff for the house, jewelry, clothes, toys, school supplies, and if I wanted to buy 10 pairs of the same shoes, I could buy them wholesale there...It's MY wonderland. And everything is CHEAP. Like I bought LOTS of material for a tent I want to make for Luke's circus birthday party he wants to have 6 weeks from now. I needed about 15 meters and got it for 6 bucks. I love it. I even try to think of what I need from there next. Right now my list includes cheap toys for prizes for the birthday party and some bead necklaces...I wish we could take everyone to shop at the wholesale market...

And, last but not least, the other favorite part of town is the IKEA section of town. Where there's an IKEA, and import store, and a sports store that sells everything sports related except, alas, American footballs. We go there sometimes just to get coffee (it's so cheap from IKEA) and cheap candles--it's mostly an excuse to sort of escape and be somewhere clean with a whole separate room for changing babies (it's a little taste of comfort sometimes).

So, those are three of our favorite places in town, not to mention the massage place and the Indian restaurant and the place that does awesome pedicures for a little over 2 dollars. I guess they would have to be the honorable mentions. Simple pleasures go a long way! I'll add pictures next time I post--I don't have any as of now.

new adventures in the ol' city

Luke is in preschool. And he loves it and hates it, all at the same time. He woke up really early this morning to go to school, but then he kept saying, 'I want to hang with Mommy and Daddy...' It'll be interesting to see how it went today!

We had a new experience, in that we looked for the pres

chool with a former house helper. She had scouted the preschools that weren't completely full for the year (apparently we were a month late in the hunt--surprise surprise), and we went to look for schools and then ate us some hot pot. Now

, to some people hot pot is a boiling pot of spice and yuck. But we love hot pot. And we enjoyed eating the meal, but then when it got time to pay, it got ugly a little bit. It's often a bit of a fight to pay when we are out with our local friends. But this time, there was pushing (Johnny got pushed pretty hard at some points) and arms were flying. We got to pay, but Johnny said that next time, we'll just let our da jie pay!!!

But, nonetheless, we found an awesome preschool that has puppet shows and lots of art projects, and the kids learn to dance, and they play with

blocks and all sorts of fun stuff. So, we feel like it's a successful venture! We are excited (and a little

sad) that Luke has the opportunity to learn the language here. He wants to so badly!

We'll leave it at that and just post some recent pictures of the boys!

The boys were watching t.v. together and we caught a rare picture where both are smiling!

Luke is riding his bike in the mountains. Just in front of our hotel. (We had an awesome view)

Jace gets to cruise in the Jeep while Luke is riding his bike. Someday soon he'll be riding, too!

Tower town

One of our favorite places to go right now is this place called Danba. It's really so pretty, and the leaves turn in the fall and it's been sunny every day except one that we've been there, so it's pretty much charmed its way into our hearts. The best thing about DB is that the houses there have these really cool towers that come out of the houses--it's kinda medieval looking, and we think it would be so cool to have kids in a house like that. Can you imagine being a girl growing up in the tower room? Anyway, welike it there.

So, when the road collapsed and they made u

s close the guesthouse, we took an overnight trip to DB. We drove our friend there as a favor to him, and we also stayed in a hotel and took a much needed shower, and just enjoyed being in the sunshine. When we were getting out of our car (we had been there less than a minute), we met some really cool folks who were in their early 20s, and they saw us getting out of the car, saw the white boys, and then took about a bazillion pictures of the boys (totally common). We were chitchatting with them and found out they are dancers, and that they dance sometimes in the hotel where we stay. So, me being a big lover of dance performances, we asked if we could see them dance sometime. Coincidentally, they WERE dancing that night, so we made plans to see the

m. We were excited to have a contact in this place that we really like!

Next we walked around and talked to pretty much everyone in town, it seemed like, as we looked for a place to eat a late lunch/early dinner. We were invited to sit down with some older ladies all dressed in their really cool garb, so we sat and talked and ate popsicles.

After we ate, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the big dance show (we were thinking something kinda like a nightclub performance or the like). Then, both boys bathed, full, and ready to go, we traipsed down to

meet our dancer friends. They took us upstairs to a theater/stage that looked really professional and told us to wait a few minutes. So, we're having to totally adjust our thoughts of what this performance will be like.

About an hour and a half later, the dancing starts...and it's this really awesome show (see the picture to the left). We were so excited about it, we pulled out our video camera to try to record the show for everyone to see. And here's where our cultural experience starts. See, we weren't the only ones invited to the show--there were also some guys who are probably really important who were sitting in the first row. And they came in late and really drunk, and as soon as the show started, they wanted to stand up and start talking and taking video right in front of Johnny as he was videoing. After a few songs, they decided to join the dancers right on stage and dance with them and laugh and have a great time. We were really uncomfortable with the whole experience and left early, but we do hope to see our new friends soon!!

We get to experience new experiences every day, almost, but this was something that we'd never experienced before, and may never experience again. It was a really fun, beautiful trip, and we hope to get to go back in early October during the big national holiday here...

the road collapsed...

We were driving out to the mountains last Monday (we are still here), and I was thinking while we were driving how normal everything seems here now. Things that used to feel so weird are so ordinary. I think we thought we would never get used to them! Such as the delays that happen every time we travel (lots of landslides and road construction), and the odd "semi" trucks that look more like huge blue dump trucks, and the crazy way people pass each other--even if they are on a crazy sharp mountain curve, etc. Anyway, the point is, it's all become somewhat normal--we don't really think twice anymore about the stares and the dirt and everything here.

So, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that we were going to get to have an adventure two days after arriving at the guesthouse. We got everything set up--it's nice because we have room to spread out and put out the crib and mat on the floor for the boys in sorta separate rooms from Johnny and I. And we were in for the week and a half/two weeks that we were supposed to help out here. Our second full day in the guesthouse, the boys and I walked down the mountain--we do that every day for supplies (if I get too many in one run, I can't carry them back up by myself). But our little neighbor saw us leaving and pointed out this area of the road that had a huge crack in it and said, basically, 'be really careful--walk fast and get back in a hurry!' So we did. We just got our daily drinks, fruit, and yogurt and got back up the mountain. Next thing, the power went out because the village officials were concerned about the power line that was in the middle of this cracked road. Not to0 unusual, and the boys and I like playing outside anyway, so we went for a while to play with the dog that's downstairs, and suddenly, a crowd had gathered at the road--also not too unusual here. BUT then the crack got bigger as the road fell down the mountain...

So we had all sorts of folks coming into the guesthouse telling us to evacuate--it wasn't safe. Too many landslides. We had to get everyone out, including ourselves . Picture a really well dressed woman standing in front of our bar and saying over and over again, "you have to get out. It isn't safe. You can't stay. It isn't safe." So we stayed two nights with our friends. It's defini

tely something different than we have ever experienced before!

And they absolutely won't let the guesthouse open, since there's too much danger of foreigners being caught in a landslide.

Notice the electric pole--it used to be in the middle of the road, and even though it's hard to see, it has completely fallen over!

The picture below was taken the day after the collapse (the guesthouse is the cute house on the left). All the dirt showing under the houses used to be road--I wish we had a before picture but we don't. They aren't letting anyone open the guesthouse for a while. We took the opportunity to take our friend

up north 4 hours and spent the night in one of our areas--that was really fun, but it will be fodder for another post.

Since all the excitement happened, we have been shuffling around from friends' apartments to hotels. And while we have been enjoying our time here, it is about time for us to get home and get showers and clean clothes and into different rooms to sleep.

Classes should start next Monday or the one after, and it sounds nice to be in a routine--our poor boys are really tired and we think they're ready for a bit of normalcy again...

It really is always an adventure around here--even just when I think everything seems normal...

on to the hostel

We have a bit spotty internet here where we live, but we made a purchase yesterday that helps our internet work--we can now do facebook AND blogger. I wish we could promise to keep up better with our blogging, but...

We leave tomorrow to go for a week and a half to the mountains. We delayed the trip a day #1 because the roads are bad between our city and the one we're traveling to, and #2 because Jace had some sort of virus yesterday that gave him a fever and really upset stomach. So, we get to travel all together (if the roads had been open, Johnny would have traveled today), which is a huge plus since that means we can all ride in a car together--and we can pack Luke's bike and Jace's pack 'n play. Simple and yet so significant for 1-2 weeks in the mountains!! We may even stop at Starbucks on the way out for a little treat to kick off the potentially 8 hour road trip! We have done really well this past month and a half eating at home and saving our treat money :).

So, we will be helping our friends who run a hostel--I think the business itself is running really smoothly at this point, but it's just nice to have more than one person out there managing (and/or go-fering in our case).

Life in the mountains is simple. No coffee (except what we bring from the big city, which has already been packed), no butter as we know it in the west, definitely no cheese, and it's kinda hit or miss on what meat is available. So, we're taking some simple things like this for me to cook while we're there. We will be living on the side of a mountain, and it's a good hike for me--much less for Little men, so the fewer the trips down the mountain, the better (for them, of course). I try to look at the whole experience as training for our dream of living out in the mountains someday :)!

Something really special about the mountains is that when we're there, we don't live in a high rise apartment building. We live in a place where the boys can open the door and be right outside--hence the want for Luke's bike to go with us. That is such a treat for me as a mom--simple pleasures!

We often say how much we wish everyone could see where we travel. We feel like we get to see some really beautiful places that have yet to be touched by many humans, much less westerners. We want to make it our goal to try to give snapshots into our life out there...

We'll write from the mountains!

blankets

Johnny just finished school at Southwestern. Yay!!


Well, Luke's dinosaur blanket is finished, and I have started another blanket (I really am obsessed with my sewing machine). But really, the reason I just have to make it is for our little girl that we hope and pray the Lord will bring into our lives. We have been praying so long about adopting a child for our family, and we really feel like we are getting the green light to pursue adopting in Thailand, which is probably CRAZY since it is supposed to be so HARD to adopt from Thailand. And I am still guarding my heart like mad because I know it is quite possible that it won't work out for Thailand. But it's always been our heart to be connected to a country where trafficking is just outrageous. Now we are just asking the Lord to show us the next step...(and if we never get a girl, I will use either use the blanket for myself or give it to the next girl born in our city in Asia...).

I think our next option, if Thailand doesn't work out, is Ethiopia. So we are totally not opposed to Africa...

We are just over 6 weeks away from leaving to go back "home," and we are so hoping that over the next couple of years, we might be able to actually be with our people, living with them and serving them and loving them up close rather than from afar...

Shannon for all of us!

just found out...

...my (Shannon's) best local friend back in CD believed while she was studying in Thailand. Hallelujah. But in the same email, I found out she has moved across the land and she won't be living in CD. she has a burden for the people that were affected by the earthquake, and wants to be in that area (she actually had a burden for them before she believed and went to that area before the EQ, so it's just all that much better that she's there. But I'm sad to think I won't get to hang out with her anymore. Selfish, I know, but true.

Anyway, we got to go up to Hannibal MO to talk at Hannibal LaGrange college and had such a good time visiting two of John's brothers and their wife and girlfriend! And then we got an extra treat, in that we got to stop by OBU and talk to one of Johnny's professors who may bring a group from OBU to backpack (they actually have a class that's a backpacking class...)! We hope that happens!!!

So we had a great weekend and got to spend some time together as a family, which we haven't been able to do much this semester :).

Signing off...