Hardin Clan

What's for dinner? "corn dog muffins"

2012-01-26T03:49:00.000-08:00

One thing that is always a challenge for moms is deciding and fixing dinner most night. Jon can and will cook, but it is usually my responsibility. Living in China adds both great opportunities and extra challenges in this. I usually enjoy cooking (at least when it goes well). I hate trying to figure out what to cook. I like when I have a menu planned. Then I don't have to think about it as much every night. From time to time, I will try to blog about some of the things we cook. If I remember, I might even post pictures.

The other day for lunch I made " corn dog muffins". I got the idea from Pintrest. I tried it once with the kids, but I did not add enough hot dogs. This time, they turned out great.

Getting hot dogs here is a challenge. I really do not like Chinese hot dogs. They are more like big Vienna sausages. But I can sometimes find "one bite beef sausages" by Hormel. They look like lil' smokies and taste like regular hot dogs. I sliced up two packages, and just added them to my corn bread recipe. We ate these with ketchup or mustard (depending on what we like on corn dogs).
You could use a corn muffin recipe if you want, but I think that Jiffy muffins are too sweet for this kind of muffin.

The kids really like this lunch. We will make these again.

Hallie's birthdays.

2012-01-16T04:41:00.001-08:00

I am very far behind on the things I should have blogged. This blog should have been posted back in November, or at least at the beginning of December. Oh well, better late than never. By now this is old news, but you have not seen the pictures!

On November 9, Hallie turned 11. This year she wanted a banana cake. I made it from scratch. which is good because cake mixes have been hard to find in Hangzhou lately.

A couple of weeks after her birthday, Jon found a letter in our room from Hallie. She said that she wanted to be baptized. She felt that she was ready. I am not really sure why she decided to write a letter.....

About a year ago, she thought she was ready, but when we asked her some questions about it, she did not have an answer. Jon told her to study some and do some more praying and thinking on it. I kind of expected something to happen this summer. I kept praying for her but was very careful not to push her. This had to be her decision and it needed to be for the right reasons.

After we found the letter, we talked to her again. She told us why she felt that she was ready this time. She told us that she had read that book twice...Am I Ready to be Baptized? (AP press).

We encouraged her to write all of her reasons down, so that if years from now, she has any doubts, she can look back at her thoughts and decide if she really did know what she was doing.

Then we decided that she would be baptized that coming Sunday. We were all super excited. Jon sent a message to EVERYONE in his phone.

Jay Beamon and his daughter came from Jinghua! Some of Jon's students came.

Here Shelly is showing some of Jon's students how to find the passage we were reading.

The two girls in the front are part of Jon's English corner group.

This is Shelly. She was very happy too!

We all shared gave her encouragement and advice. It was really nice. Jon did not cry (hardly at all).

Margaret and Elaine talked about how Hallie is an example to us all. Margaret had some family in town and they wanted her to not go this morning, but she told them that she HAD to go and could not miss this. They were actually interested and wanted to come to, but Margaret thought it would be too many people.

Lots of smiling faces in the hallway outside of the bathroom. They were all so excited for her and our

family.

I am so proud of her and the young woman she is becoming!

Looking back!

2012-01-16T04:15:00.001-08:00

At the beginning of 2012, I thought I would take a quick look back at 2011. I looked back at my blogs and Facebook status since last January.

In January, we gained a new sister as Jane (Ge wen) was baptized. We also had snow twice. Our breaker box broke and we were with out electricity for one night. Our washing machine broke at the beginning of Spring festival time.

In February, we celebrated Chinese new Year, and after a few weeks, the washing machine was finally fixed.

In March, Hallie cooked dinner for the family, and we paid off our school loans and are debt free!

In April, I had my second oral surgery. It was not as bad this time. I was very thankful to have that behind me. We met a girl from Ningbo that needed someone to baptize her. (Jon did it) Jon’s computer died.

We celebrated Easter. We had 18 at our apt. to color eggs, and we had 56 at the Easter egg hunt.

In May we went out to the country- side with Li wen’s family and had a cook-out. Our Ayi (on her e-bike) got hit by a bus . Thankfully she was not hurt too badly.

Liam turned 8!

In June we found out that Jon’s job situation was not what we had thought and he had to start job hunting. It was stressful, but it all worked out and he signed a contract two hours before we left Hangzhou to start our trip to the US. Hallie had a Bible study with her friend Bliss. We flew home to the US for a needed visit with friends and family.

In July, Jon worked fireworks, Hallie went to camp, and Jon and I celebrated our 16^th wedding anniversary. We got to spend some time with our Clear Creek family. The kids made friends with Odie (the Golden’s dog). We drank as much Dr Pepper and Sweet tea as we could and loaded up on American junk food for a year.

In August, due to some paperwork issues Jon could not make the trip back to China at the same time as the rest of the family. Many people were nervous, but the trip went smoothly and I was fine. Eryn turned 7! I learned to make yogurt and granola. Eryn had an ear infection but we treated her and she was fine.

In September we had ants in the kitchen and Hallie and Eryn had their first modeling shoot. Jon also started teaching classes at his new school.

In October, we took a trip to Shaoxing. The Rays and Proyers visited and Jane (a different Jane) was baptized. Shane was also baptized. Our oven broke, but we got another one for free. Hallie shot a commercial. We celebrated Halloween with real orange pumpkins, cool costumes, and too much candy.

In November, Hallie turned eleven. She was also baptized! Her school computer died, but she got a new one. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a huge dinner (30 + people) at our house. The Russells came to visit.

In December, the Zhengs ate lunch with us after church and we celebrated Christmas.

I had thought that especially last school year had not really been a good year, but when I looked back on it. I could really see the blessings.

We were extremely blessed in 2011! We are looking forward to another great year in 2012!

New Beginnings

2012-01-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

The holidays can he hard here in China. We miss our families. We miss tasteful decorations. We even miss the commercials on TV. China kinda celebrates Christmas, but they don't get it right most of the time. It is just weird. We also do not have time off of work. We do get Christmas day off, if we push it, but Christmas usually falls during or near final exams, and we must make up the class. Thankfully, in the last 4 years, we only had a problem with this our first year. Every other year, Christmas fell on a day that we already did not have class.

As far as being homesick, this year was not that bad. But the holidays seem kind of...anti climatic. But the really cool thing about being in China, is that once the New year rolls around...things start gearing up for Chinese New Year (aka Spring Festival). This is China's biggest holiday. It is a HUGE deal. ( here is an video I made last year about the holiday)

In preparation for the new year, many people will get a new hair cut, new clothes, sometimes new jobs or homes. They clean their apartments from top to bottom. They want to start the new year with a "fresh slate". I am not sure the Chinese exactly make new years resolutions but they do have the idea of a fresh start.

I feel like it is sort of a second chance for a new beginning. I did not really make any New Years resolutions but I do plan to for Chinese New Year. One thing I want to do better for the "new year" is to post more on this blog. I have plans to post about 3 times a week. Some posts will be very simple... like Thankful Thursdays, and maybe a picture with not much writing to go with it. But I need to post more.

We also do the whole deep cleaning the house thing too. Jon just emptied out the vacuum bag and we (he) just vacuumed the whole couch and all the corners in the living room, plus the heating/ ac unit. I put cotton balls in the bag with tea tree oil and eucalyptus essential oils. Everything smells fresh and clean!

I love new beginnings!

Hallie the Star

2011-12-04T19:12:00.001-08:00

I mentioned in a previous post, that Hallie was in a commercial. The commercial was filmed over two days. The days were very long. We arrived at the first location around 6:30 am and were not finished until 9 pm the first day and about 5 pm the second day. Hallie was great. She got up early and did not complain.

The production director is a Chinese born Canadian living in China. The camera guy or filming director was from New Zealand. The main director working for Turner (CNN) was from Singapore and spoke English with a British accent.

The commercial will be shown on CNN in the US and Europe. It will be about a family visiting Hangzhou on vacation. It should be on very soon.

It takes a big crew of people to shoot the video for a 30 second commercial.

Hallie on a boat on West Lake with some of the crew and her "parents".

Wherever they were filming, lots of people took pictures.

Hallie's "parents" taking a picture of their girl.

Simulated sun set.

Our Super star!

Trick or treat

2011-12-04T19:11:00.003-08:00

The Chinese do not really celebrate Halloween. Like Christmas, Halloween is starting to catch on here. But it is not really a big deal. However, for my kids it is a very big deal. It is difficult to get good costumes or even the stuff to make a good costume, so I have to plan far in advance.

I got the stuff for the girls' costumes this summer while we were in the states. I did not get anything for Liam. Luckily I found the idea and directions to make this spider costume on the Internet. Liam thought it was cool, and I could get the stuff to make this costume here!

Eryn was a princess. She was going to be Rapunzel, but decided that she did not want to wear a wig. I am glad she told me before I made the wig.

Hallie was Big bird. The feathers were boas that I bought at a fabric store in the US

Hallie was big bird and her best friend Bliss was Elmo. (I made Elmo's hat too) Jon helped.

Bliss, Hallie, Eryn, Carissa, and Liam ready to go trick-or-treating.

Margaret brought over several kids to all go trick or treating together. This is not a normal Chinese activity, but she told several families to be ready for us.

I am thankful that the kids were able to celebrate and have a good time with their friends.

We found pumpkins!

2011-12-04T19:10:00.001-08:00

Every year in October, we look for pumpkins that actually look like pumpkins. This year, we were able to find three small orange (and round) pumpkins.

When we cut them open, they looked like real pumpkins too!

Hallie actually carved her own pumpkin this year!

Here are the finished products!

And here they are all lit up! They molded in a week--I did not take a picture of that.

Guest Blog: the Russells

2011-12-04T19:09:00.003-08:00

This past week, Marti and Ray Russell from Clear Creek were visiting China. I asked them to write something about how they saw China. We have been here long enough that we do not see it as other people do. Ray wrote this before he left our house. They continued their adventure by taking to a train to ShaoXing, staying a couple of days, and then taking another train to Shanghai. They are at a hotel in Shanghai right now and will fly home tomorrow evening. You should ask them about their trip!

Here's the guest blog:

This week my wife Marti and I have had the unique experience of spending the week in Haungzho. As our week with the Davis and Hardin families come to an end Jennifer asked me to write down some thoughts and reactions to our first time in China. The first thing I would like to express is our gratitude to both families for allowing us to intrude their homes to experience what life is like. They have been so gracious and loving to us while we have been here. Now to the experience.... First, China is very different from what we imagined, it is full of life and is very modern in many ways. It is not however at the same level as we are when it comes to toilet hygiene. That may have been our biggest challenge when in public. Another challenge is of course the language, in many countries you are able to function through reading text or finding an English speaking individual, China is not one of those places. The language is so different that it is very hard to get where you need to be without a base knowledge of Chinese. We also realized the modern amenities we take for granted like clothes dryers and dishwashers, these things make our lives so easy and the lives of the families here in China so much more difficult. The final thing we have notice on the negative side is the second hand smoke! China has not received the news that smoking will kill you yet and they do quite a bit of indoor smoking! On the positive side, the food is outstanding! From the first morning where Jon took us to street a vendor the eating experience has been fabulous! The food is full of flavor and so very healthy, it is also very different from American Chinese food. I was also able to go to class with Jon and Josh this week which was a great. They both allowed me to to answer questions and ask questions Of the students who were so excited to speak to a 'real' American! Also I was given a Chinese name meaning 'so very handsome' much to Jon's chagrin. These students were fun to interact with and I was even given a demonstration of real Chinese hip hop dancing, if only I had thought to video! Finally, is it so very obvious to both of us that God is at work through the team here. The study I was able to experience was amazing and the believers here truly want to serve and follow. God is blessing these families and the work they are doing here in China!

Thanks for sharing Ray.  We had a great time with you!

Visit to ShaoXing

2011-10-31T23:57:00.000-07:00

Last year, during the National Day Holiday in China we went to X’ian. Since it was the holiday we had trouble getting back home and ended up staying a few days longer than we had planned. This year we did not want to get stuck anywhere, so we went somewhere much closer. ShaoXing. ShaoXing is only about 40 minutes away by train or bus.

We did not stay very long in this city but we did have a good time visiting with the Clarks and the Taylors while we were there. As and added bonus, Joanna was visiting the Clarks as well.

We actually got to ride in one of these boats

Joanna took pictures too.

The boat ride was fun.

Then we rode in these little carts pulled by bikes.

Another view in this interesting city.

Super Models!

2011-10-31T23:47:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting story that starts the second day the kids and I were here in Hangzhou this year. We were walking down to the Police station. You are supposed to register at the police station within 24 hours of arriving in a city (if you stay in a hotel it is done for you). Usually Jon goes and registers all of us, but since he was still stuck in the US, I did it. Anyway, back to the story… As we were walking an older lady can up to us and started asking how tall Eryn was. She asked some other things too, but I don’t really remember what they were. Then she started talking about her son taking pictures of the kids and something about clothes. Hallie translated most of it. It sounds crazy, but I ended up giving her our address. Later that day, a guy came by. He could speak semi-decent English. The lady we had met on the street was indeed his mother and he was a photographer with a Studio in the North part of town.

He took some quick pics of the kids with his phone, and mentioned a modeling job for the girls. A couple of weeks later, he called and the girls went to their first modeling shoot. They just played with some stuffed animals. They even got paid for their job. They did discover that modeling is not as simple as just taking pictures, there is a lot more involved. The did enjoy the job though. The pictures were used on a Taobao (Chinese Ebay) sight. If you are interested the site can be found here

http://loveitoy.taobao.com/

Since then, Eryn has had a photo shoot modeling some clothes and Hallie has actually shot a commercial that will air in the US! But that is another blog post.

At the last photo shoot, I saw a Bible in the studio. We hope good things can come from this relationship.

Shane

2011-09-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

We may have talked about Shane before. He was a student at ZUST (Jon's old school). He started studying the Bible with Josh and came to believe. He was ready to be baptized, but he told his parents about his decision and they were against it. It was very disappointing that Shane decided not get baptized.

Thankfully God has continued to call him and he has continued to study and attend worship services. Shane lives and works very close to our apartment. He has been coming to our house on Sundays. Shane is very serious and thoughtful. He knows what he really needs to do.

At the beginning of the year (right when we came back from the US) he announced that his goal this year was to be baptized. He is still fearful. Then he said that he would set a date after the October holiday (next week). He has set the date for October 16.

We are very excited about this! Shane is a great guy! He will be an even better Christian. He will already lead singing, and is working with Jon to learn how to do other things in our service. He is also interested in teaching. He does talk to his friends about his beliefs.

Next week Shane will go back to his hometown for the National Day holiday. His parents just want what is best for Shane, and they do not see how in a country of atheists how being a Christian would be good for him. Please pray for him. Please pray to protect Shane and his conviction. Pray that he can be a good influence on his family.

Smooth trip

2011-08-17T20:21:00.001-07:00

Jon's paperwork finally came through. He has his passport back with a visa in it, and he has a plane ticket! He will leave Memphis early, early Thursday morning, and arrive at our apartment about 10 Friday night (we hope). That will be Friday morning in the US.

Our trip went very smoothly. I almost left the passports and boarding passes at security in Memphis, but someone picked them up for me. It was a little crazy getting everyone and everything through the security. It wasn't bad, but I was trying to put back computers, shoes, jackets, our few liquids... I just forgot one thing. I would not have gotten very far with out those!

All three of our planes were on time, and very smooth. There were people along the way that helped when we had trouble (not much trouble). I even had time to grab some snacks for our lunch before we left Chicago.

Everyone was worrying about me handling all the luggage in Shanghai, but it was not that bad. Two of my bags were delayed in San Fransisco, but that was really a blessing. I did not have to worry about those two bags. Two bags makes a difference. They were delivered to my apartment Sunday evening. I did not have to carry them up the stairs. Hallie helped push a cart and Liam and Eryn took care of their carry-ons.

We checked into the hotel with no problems, and went and got something to eat.

Then we crashed! We slept until 4 am. Then we skyped Jon.

We were told that a bus went to Hangzhou at 11. We ate breakfast, and rested a bit. We got two carts and I loaded them up while the kids watched a video on my computer. When it was time to go check out, I discovered that the carts would not fit through the door with the bags on them!!

I had to unload the bags into the hall, push out the carts and reload them again. It was kind of funny.

We went down to where the buses are, and discovered that the one we wanted, did not leave until 1:00

We went back to the airport and found a place to sit down. We ate snacks for lunch and then played Uno.

When it was finally time to go back down to the bus, I sent the girls with one cart down the elevator. Then before I could do anything, there was a long line at the elevator! It took forever to get down to the girls. The lady that works down there, was worried that we would miss the bus. She took me to the front of the line and got our tickets. We gave the bags to driver to load under the bus, then we got our seats and were off.

When we arrived in Hangzhou, Frank had got us a small moving van and two guys to help with the luggage. We found them before Frank did. We loaded up the bags on the back of the truck and then set out to our apartment.

It was so nice to be home! We went back out and bought some milk and fruit and stuff. We ate a small dinner and then went to bed. I took a shower and just fell into bed. My bed felt amazing! It was so comfortable.

Now, we are pretty much over jet lag and things are almost back to normal. We are looking forward to seeing Jon tomorrow night. We are also looking forward to enjoying some cooler temperatures next week.

We are thankful that this have gone as smooth as they have. Please pray for Jon's trip.

paperwork headaches

2011-08-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Jon will be working at a different school this up coming year. We were not sure how it was all going to work out. Jon actually signed the new contract 2 hours before he left Hangzhou. With a new job, we need a new visa (and not renew our old one). In order to get a work visa (which allows us to stay in the country longer than 90 days) we need an invitation letter from our school. We do not have that letter yet. It has been sent, but is not here yet. We thought this might be a problem, so Jenn and the kids got a regular tourist visa, and will change over to z visas. We were told that Jon cannot do this. Well, we still do not have the invitation letter, so Jon has no visa. We are scheduled to start flying at 6:57AM Thursday. Jon will not make it. Jenn will be making the trip with the kids and most of the luggage. Right now, we don't even know when Jon will be able to make it. The tracking number on the letter shows that it arrived in New York in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday. It has not moved since then. We do not know why. It is possible that it is on the way and just not scanned. We hope that is the case. If it arrives tomorrow, it is possible that Jon will just be a day behind us. We will just wait for him at the airport hotel. If it will be several days, we will continue on to Hangzhou on Friday.

Please keep us in your prayers. Pray for safe and smooth travels for Jenn and the kids. Pray for helpers when she needs them (luggage). Pray for the paperwork issues to resolve themselves and for Jon to just be a day or so behind us. Pray for the up coming school year to be a good one for us.

Laundry

2011-07-30T18:43:00.001-07:00

I am sitting in the Golden's basement . It is a little loud right now. No, the kids are quiet. Hallie is playing a game with Jon (Dungeons and Dragons), Eryn is watching a movie (Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles) and Liam is in the bathtub. But the dishwasher is finishing our supper dishes, the washing machine is washing a load of clothes, and the dryer is drying a load I washed a few minutes ago.

I am thinking about how nice it is to have machines that do the washing for you. This post is about laundry, so I will skip talking about the dishwasher. We have to do laundry a little different in China.

This is a picture of our washing machine in China.

Don't worry those wires are not always hanging out, this was when it was broken and we finally got a repairman to come and fix it.

This was also before it was fixed. Our washer machine is much smaller

than standard US washing machines. We just wash smaller loads. We are very thankful that we have a working washing machine. This winter, our washing machine broke just before Chinese New Year holiday. We had to wait two weeks before anyone could come and fix it.

Our washer only washes in cold water.

We do NOT have a clothes dryer. Once our clothes are washed, we hang them out to dry on our back balcony. In the summer they dry pretty quickly, but on wet cold days, it takes a long time for clothes to dry. We usually bring some inside to finish drying during the winter.

Especially in the winter, we wear our clothes for more than one day.(just not undies) Everyone does.

Since washing machines are so small, it is pretty hard to wash comforters and blankets. On sunny days you will see blankets put out to "sun". Sunning clothes and blankets not only freshens them, but it also kills germs. When there is a sunny day, we also sun our blankets and pillows.

This is not all bad. Many of these habits could carry over to the US. It could save a lot of money. If you washed your clothes in cold water at least most of the time. You could save a bunch. You could wear your clothes more than one time before washing them. How many times do we wear something for just a few hours and then throw them in the laundry? You could hang your clothes to dry. Dryers use a lot of electricity. It is also healthy to let your bedding sun occasionally. Just something to think about.

Right now, I am thankful for the luxury of having a large washer and a dryer.

culture shock

2011-07-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when people return from overseas they have reverse culture shock. Reverse culture shock is just culture shock that you experience when returning to your own culture. We have not had it that bad this summer, but I have noticed some aspects of American culture that the kids do not understand.

Church culture is a little different here than in China.
Liam and Eryn were a little confused as to why we had another worship service on Sunday night. In China we only meet once on Sunday.
In the past, my kids were pretty well behaved in Church. We usually sat near the front and they were expected to be quiet and well behaved. When they were little, we had times when we had to take them out, but for the most part they were pretty good. I think they have forgotten how to act. In China, we "have church" in our home. We sit on our couch and the kid are allowed to play quietly in their room during the adult Bible class. They are expected to participate in worship, but the atmosphere is more relaxed than here. So if you see my kids doing something strange or not acting like they should, please remember that it is really different here.

We have gone to the movies a couple of times here. We had to see Cars 2 and there was a movie shown the last night of Summer Jam at Clear Creek (VBS). My kids kept forgetting to be quiet and whisper if they needed to talk. It was a little funny, but I had to keep shushing them.
In China, it is more common for people to talk (and not necessarily whisper) during movies, speeches, etc.

Going to the bathroom is different here too. Eryn was very excited to see that the toilets were "western" and not squatty at the airport. I get a little embarrassed because I know that people can understand what Eryn says in the bathroom here. In China, if she comments on sounds, smells, or what I am wearing, I know that probably no one understands what she says. Here, they understand. Jon took her to the bathroom at a restaurant and she had a guy cracking up with her comments.

When we were waiting to board a plane in the San Francisco airport on the way home, Liam wanted to go to the bathroom. Jon was not with us, because he was getting us something to eat. I told Liam he would have to wait a couple of minutes. He told me that he knew where the bathroom was. He had no concept on the fact that he could get lost and he really has very little concept of "stranger danger". In China there are very few white kids. He really can't get that lost in a crowd. Also, no one is going to take him (probably). The criminal justice system is such that there is a deterrent for that sort of thing and because my kids look so different than everyone around us. I am not saying that we let our kids run around anywhere, but they do have a little more freedom than here. They do not understand when we suddenly shrink their boundaries. Even if we explain it to them, it is still an adjustment.

On another note, the kids love water fountains! They do not exist in China. They are much fun.

We went to eat Mexican food the other day. When we finished our meal, Jon went to pay the check. The kids and I were finishing our drinks and getting our things together. Then Liam noticed the tip that Jon put on the table. He grabbed it and started to bring it to Jon, he said,"Daddy you left your money on the table!" We put it back and then tried to explain why we did that.

Funny! Overall, the kids are doing very well. They have jumped back with their friends and are enjoying English television, time with grandparents, and eating "american" food.

We are Here.

2011-07-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

I am so far behind on the blog. I am sorry.
Well, we made it home to the US. We can't say that our trip was uneventful but it could have been a lot worse. We made all of our connections, and we have all of our luggage. We thought that we might have lost one piece, but we did not. The worst part of the trip was on the last leg. We flew through some weather as we were coming into Memphis. We were in a small plane, and it got a little rough. Liam did not do very well. But that is why they have those bags available on airplanes. Everyone around us was very sympathetic and sweet.

We spent the night in a hotel in Memphis. Most of us were tired enough from traveling to go to sleep right away. I think that helped our bodies adjust quicker to the new time and jet lag was not that terrible this time.
I spent several days in Milan with my family. Hallie went to MSYC for a week, and now we are in Hixson with our wonderful church family here.

We will be here for about 2 weeks (3 Sundays). Then we will be back in Henderson for about 9 days and then we head back to China early morning August 11.

(This is how Hallie waited for our flight to Chicago. I think all the kids slept most of that flight.)

It's that time!... well, almost

2011-06-11T03:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is almost that time of year again. We dusted off the suitcases that have been stacked on top of the wardrobes. I have started packing! We are come to the US for the summer. We will be in the U.S. for almost 2 months this summer. We are pretty excited about visiting our friends and family. We will do some shopping to stock up for next year, and hopefully get to enjoy some peaceful time with family and friends. We will leave our apartment and head to Shanghai on Wednesday. Our flight leaves Thursday around noon. We will fly to San Francisco (11 hours) then a short lay-over (2 hr. 40 min) then fly to Chicago (4? hrs) another short lay-over and then fly to Memphis. We plan to spend the night in Memphis and be in Henderson the afternoon of Friday the 17th. We will be in Hixson on July 17 and stay for a couple of weeks (actually 3 Sundays) (I think). Please pray for smooth travels. When traveling that long and that far and with 3 kids anything can happen. We can't wait to see everybody!

Cook-out (part 2)

2011-06-02T01:28:00.001-07:00

Benjamin called these " water trees" I don't know what they are called, but they were really green and growing in this swampy area.

We did not go fishing this time, but there were several ponds.

There were many rose bushes planted on the hills.

The kids played hide and seek among the terraces. This is Eryn running.

Jon LOVED being here. He is not a city boy. Spending time out here was good for him.

It was beautiful, and so peaceful.

The drive back to the city. The highway and mountains almost looked like the smoky mountains, except for the huge buildings in the middle of it all.

This Saturday was great. Li Wen and Li Hong are so sweet. Their family is welcoming and relaxing to be around. We are thankful to the beauty of God's creation. We are thankful for Li Wen and her family. Please pray for her as we continue to minister to her and she to her family.

Cook- out

2011-06-02T01:26:00.001-07:00

This post is going to have a bunch of pictures. As a matter of fact, I had so many pictures that I felt like I needed to break them into two separate posts. About the time, I finished uploading them all to Blogger, I thought that I could have made a video out of them. Oh well, maybe next time.

A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to go with Li Wen and Li Hong's family to a barbecue. We drove for about an hour. We were outside of Hangzhou, but not very far. They called it the country side. It was really a great day.

Right away, we found a HUGE snakeskin. Thankfully we did not see the snake that shed this!

Honeysuckle! Jon taught Grace, Ching Ching, and Benjamin (an American) how to eat honeysuckle. My kids already knew how to do this.

Setting up for the cook- out.

Grace (Li Wen's daughter) and Ching Ching (Li Hong's) watch as Jon prepares to build a fire. This is where we cooked the potatoes.

This guy is studying art. He drew Benjamin's picture. He also drew one of Liam, but I did not take a picture.

Barbecue!

Don't worry, we had veggies too! See the beans?

I think Hallie and Ching Ching are playing "Mother may I"

They called these wild strawberries. They were good. They were like raspberries.

They spotted some more berries up this ravine...

The berries on the plant. Li Wen and Li Hong said they used to pick these when they were kids.

Some of the scenery. It was beautiful and very peaceful!

Easter egg hunt!

2011-05-01T03:58:00.001-07:00

Our first year in Hangzhou, I think that Josh and Gao Yan found this wonderful park. It is not really that far from our house. It is pretty, and usually very peaceful. Not many people know about this park. In fact, when I ask for the ladies to tell me the name or address of the park, no one knows it. This is the third year we have had an Easter egg hunt here. It is the perfect place to have an egg hunt. This year was the biggest hunt we have ever had.

Some of the kids, while they were waiting for the eggs to be hidden. They are crowding around a guinea pig. You should have seen and heard the excitement, when they let the guinea pig out of the cage!

Hunting for eggs! (and Josh taking a picture)

After the eggs were all found, the guests sat around and enjoying the day and fellowship. We also passed out cupcakes and had fruit and drinks.

Some stood around and talked. This is Bob talking to some of Jon's students. Pray that Bob will find time to start coming again.

Margaret had the good idea to get a group shot. I counted that seven people had already left and three guys were taking pictures. If I counted right, that makes a total of 56 people! It was a great success! We definitely plan to do this again next year.

Boiled eggs and vinegar!

2011-05-01T03:56:00.000-07:00

When we started talking about having an egg hunt again this year, the ladies asked about when would we dye the eggs. It was quickly decided that we would have an egg dying party the afternoon of the day before Easter. We had several people to bring boiled eggs. I think we boiled about 40 ourselves. Elaine even looked up on the Internet how to boil them so that the do not crack. (you start with COLD water, and use medium heat).

The kids and their helpers dying the eggs

The ladies and some of Jon's students thought the egg dye smelled strange. I used vinegar int the dye. I used regular white vinegar instead of Chinese vinegar. To me the smell of boiled eggs and vinegar reminds me of dying eggs when I was a kid.

Elaine had the great idea to wrap the cracked eggs in foil and then to decorate them with stickers! Then they made some interesting "creatures".

Li Wen (center) brought over 100 plastic eggs and some small toys to fill the eggs with. Everyone helped fill the eggs with toys and candy.

The lady in the center of this picture is Li wen's cousin. She has a daughter that is about Hallie's age. Li wen also brought her to church the next day and to the egg hunt. Pray that we can continue to build a relationship with her.

We shared some peeps with everyone. Eryn and Carissa really enjoyed the peeps!

Jon said I should not have done it, but I did put all the (real) eggs in this basket. :)

Quick update

2011-04-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

I made it through the second surgery. It seemed to go much quicker than last time. I did not have as much pain this time either. That is not to say that I did not feel any pain. I did but it was much better than last time. I really never want to do this again. Ever!

Yesterday, I slept and I think that has helped some. I am sore and swollen, but it does not seem as bad this time. Maybe because I know what to expect. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for a speedy recovery. Thanks!

Prayers, please!

2011-04-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

Back in September, I had oral surgery. Those of you that read the blog, know that it was a pretty terrible ordeal. But I made it through and healed just fine. (well, mostly). Then it became apparent that I would have to have it done again on the other side. I have been both dreading it and wanting to just get it over with.

The surgery is finally set for Monday morning at 9 AM. That will be Sunday night for those of you in America. I would greatly appreciate prayers. I would like prayer that the surgery will be successful, that it will seem quick, that I will not feel any pain during the surgery, and that healing will be fast and complete.

I am sure that I could use prayers the following week, and I know it will hurt and I will only have ibuprofen for the pain. Pray for my family as they will have to deal with me.

Thanks!
Jenn

The BIG city

2011-04-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

Jon's passport will expire next April. But, when he gets a new visa, it is good until July or August. They will not put a visa in his passport if it extends past the expiration of the passport. So we needed to renew his passport. The best way to do that is to go to the U.S. consulate's office in Shanghai. Shanghai is about a 2 hour train ride away (on a slow train. fast trains can get you there in 45 minutes). We decided to make a weekend of it. We left Hangzhou around 2 pm. The kids love to travel by train. Actually, I do too.

We met a girl on the train that spoke very good English. At first, I noticed her vocabulary was very good, and then I noticed that she spoke with a distinct British accent. Actually, it was an Australian accent. She said that she grew up in Australia. She is going to high school in Hangzhou. She was traveling to Shanghai to go to a concert. She was going to see Bob Dylan.

Once we were in Shanghai, we took the subway to the area that our hotel is. On the subway, we met a guy that talks to us because he noticed a bag that Hallie is carrying. The bag is a reusable shopping bag we got at the Bible book store here. It has a Bible verse in Chinese and English on it. It turns out that the guy is a Christian too.

When we got off the subway we were a little confused about which exit to use to come up to ground level. Some lady asks us in English if we need any help and points us in the right direction. The first thing we see is a huge Hershey's sign. There is a Hershey's store right by the subway! We go in, and before you know it, we have spent 100 RMB! But we did buy some of our favorite candies that we have not seen anywhere else in China. They had almond joy's Mounds bars, Heath bars, Skor bars, Reese's cups, and others. Yum yum!!!

We walked about 10 minutes to our hotel. We liked this hotel because we could get a triple room that has a queen size bed and two twin beds. Eryn got to sleep on a pallet, but she loves that. The hotel was pretty cheap, and we quickly discovered that you get what you pay for.

The place was not grossly dirty, but obviously very run down. The linen seemed clean but the walls were in need of repainting. The beds were hard, and the pillows were flat. The worst thing was that it was really hot in our room and the air conditioner did not work. It just seemed to blow out hot air. It was about 80 degrees in our room that night. We did not sleep very well at all. The next day, we told them at the desk. They were surprised to hear that our room was too hot. They told us to open a window. They said that the AC does not work unless it is 20 degrees outside. (that's 68). We keep the windows open, and our room does cool down. The next night we all sleep much better. But now that I am home, I am fighting a cold or allergies from the air.

Two good things about the hotel, is that it was very close to a lot of things, and the shower was really good.

On Saturday we just walked around in the morning looking at some of the old buildings around. I love old buildings, so this is something I really enjoy. We ate lunch with our old boss from Changsha. He and his wife moved to Shanghai the year after we cam home from Changsha. It was neat to see him again. His wife was really really sweet. We have always really liked Mr. Tu and were very happy to see him again.

After lunch we went to the cheap glasses market and I got 2 new pairs of glasses and a pair of prescription sunglasses for 700 RMB. That is about $125. We probably could have gotten it a bit cheaper, but we did bargain for those. I am happy with them.

We met Matt Kirk (from Henderson) for dinner. We ate at a Mexican place. It was pretty good. The thing that was so weird, was seeing all the foreigners and foreign families. I really had a bit of reverse culture shock. The kids did too. Hallie and Liam both told me that they felt uneasy and a little shy when they saw the other foreign kids.

After supper, we went to an import store. They actually had POP TARTS!!!! But they were like 45-50 RMB a box. I did however buy a few things like, crunchy taco shells, and fig bars, and black eye peas.

We were very tired by the time we got back to the hotel. I was thankful that it was cooler in the room and I fell asleep quickly and did not stir until the next morning.

Sunday afternoon we met with a group of foreigners living in Hangzhou. We have known of some of this group, but had not actually met them in person until then. We ate dinner with a couple of the families. It was fun. It was interesting to see my kids interacting with the other American kids. One family has a 12 year old boy. Liam thought he was great and said that they are good friends now. Hallie was really very, very quiet. It was another late night, but it was good.

The next morning we packed up, checked out of the hotel, left our bags, and went to the consulate (which is kind of like an embassy). Jon discovered that the picture he brought for his passport renewal was too small. Grrr... so we had to go and have another picture taken. Jon dropped off his paperwork and we were free for a few hours until our train left.

We really packed a lot into the weekend. The weather was really great too. We were really comfortable all weekend.

We are glad to be back in our home. I was very thankful for our bed and our pillows. It will probably take us a few days to recover from our weekend.

I didn't take many pictures, but I will share some things that I thought were cool.

Spring is coming!

2011-03-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest things about living in China is the Winter. Even here, in the relative south, the winters can be brutal! It is really hard to explain why it is so hard. If I tell folks how cold it gets here, it doesn't really sound that bad, but let me tell you, it sure seems like it. I have already written about how cold it can feel here, so I won't do that now. Instead I will announce that it is almost SPRING!

We will have some cold days, but I am nearly positive the bitter cold is gone for the year! All around us we are seeing signs that Spring is really here (or coming). Soon we will be packing our thermals away. It won't be long until we will sweat every where we go, but for now, I will rejoice that it is another day that I do not have long johns on my legs!

Hangzhou is a beautiful place. Spring is one of the best times to live (or visit) here. Soon I will post about many of the gorgeous blooms here. For now, I will leave you some pics of the signs of spring.

Banana Pudding

2011-03-12T05:56:00.000-08:00

If you were to list typical Southern desserts I am sure that banana pudding will be at the top of the list. Seldom do you have a church fellowship meal (in the South) without at least one bowl of banana pudding. I LOVE banana pudding, but I am a banana pudding snob. In my mind, real banana pudding can not be made with instant pudding! If you make that kind, I am sorry.

When I was real young (5-9 yrs old) we lived in Key West, FL. The church was a small and close-knit group. Whenever we had a fellowship meal, my mom would make a double batch of banana pudding. She always put it in the same orange Tupperware bowl. And there was NEVER any leftovers. I think they thought they could not have a meal without "Debbie's banana pudding".

I remember helping my mom make it. She did not have a recipe written down. It was kind of a joke that it was a secret family recipe. My Nanny used to make banana pudding too. The first time I ever tasted it still warm was at my Nanny;s. Mmmmmm....I thought it was good cold, but when it is warm...it is like heaven.

My mother only used Nilla Wafers to make banana pudding. No other brand would do.

After Jon and I married, I made banana pudding for a fellowship meal at the small country church we attended. In my mind that is what you made for fellowship meals.

Basically our banana pudding is a vanilla custard poured over the layered vanilla wafers and sliced bananas. It takes time and patience to make the custard. I won't give the exact recipe here, but it has lots of sugar, eggs, butter, and milk. When I was a kid, I would stir this mixture for what seemed like forever. It is important to keep stirring so that it does not stick and scotch. My mom would have me stir (and stir, and stir) until it started to get thick. I remember stirring and thinking that it must be getting thick, but really my arm was just getting tired.

They sell these little tiny cookies here that look a lot like vanilla wafers. They taste a little like them too. You can buy them by the jin (about a pound). Ever since I discovered these, I have been wanting to try my hand at banana pudding. I have not made banana pudding in years and years.

My mom always used evaporated milk when she made this. I actually had a can of evaporated milk. However, when I started to open the can I notice that it was really expired and the inside REALLY did not look right. So I made it with regular milk instead.

I have discovered that I can use my wok to make sauces easier than my thin sauce pan. I can control the temperature easier with the wok.

Yesterday afternoon, Eryn and I made banana pudding. She helped me layer the cookies and bananas. She watched me while I cooked the custard. When the pudding started to thicken, I got so excited. It was almost like magic.

My Nanny died a little over a year ago, and my mom died 9 years ago next week, but the tradition of this "secret recipe" lives on.

I know they would both be "tickled" that I cooked it in a wok. It was delicious!

Soda bread

2011-02-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share a staple recipe that is in purple mouse.

First you take a cup of milk and add 1 teaspoon of vinegar. You let them sit a while (10 min, at most) and the milk will start to curdle. Cool, Science!! The milk in China is different, and I wondered if this will work here. It does. You will probably have larger curds if you do this in the US, but I am not sure. I will try it out this summer. You could probably use Chinese vinegar too, but I just use this since I have it.

You mix together 2 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. In China, baking soda is called Su da fen (second tone, second tone). We bought our at a market. We bought a jin (500g) it has lasted for more than a year. I have seen some arm & Hammer baking soda at our market near our place.

Sometimes I use bread flour (high glutton) and sometimes I use regular flour.

Then you add the milk mixture to the flour and stir it up, after it is mostly stirred, I scrape the bowl out onto the counter, or in this case a clean tray with flour. I knead it some to incorporate all the flour. Many times I add some herbs at this point. I like to add rosemary or Italian seasoning. I don't usually measure it, but I guess it is about 2 teaspoons of herbs.

Then you shape the bread into a squished ball.
If you want to be traditional, you can cut a cross (or x) on the top of the bread.

I have started spraying the pan with a little Pam, you could butter or oil it a little. When I don't grease the pan, the bread sticks a little.

Put it in a 400 degree oven, or if you are in China about 200 degrees C.

The recipe calls for it to be cooked for 15 minutes. I usually just watch it, and smell to see when it is done. For a while it stays pretty flat. Then it puffs up!

I did not notice at first, but someone had turned off the top element in our oven, so the top did not get done when it should. I switched on the top element and got the top browned.

Yummy, yummy fresh bread!
This bread makes fantastic toast! I have been experimenting with adding raisin, and dried cranberries. I like the way it smells when I add cinnamon, but when I add sugar, to the bread, I have trouble getting it to cook all the way through. The kids love this and I never really have any leftovers.

Try it, what works for you?

A journey and a Map

2011-02-27T03:55:00.000-08:00

We have recently discovered a really great place here in Hangzhou. It is a mall, called the MixC mall. It is huge. It is beautiful. There are many, many nice stores here. They even have an ice skating ring. Most of the stores are too expensive for us, but we do enjoy window shopping here. They do have a Toys R Us and a Best Buy. More importantly, they also have an awesome foreign super market. They even had some Dr Pepper (it is all gone now, and has sadly not been restocked).

The mall is way on the North side of town. It takes a good while to get there. It is a journey, but it worth the hassle.

We went to the mall last Friday. We had plans to meet Jon there. Jon was subbing at the international school that day. I had been told that it was easy to get to the mall from the school. Just take the B6 bus a few stops after the #3 bridge and then walk about 10 minutes. I had the name of the bus stop and even the address of the mall. I gave Jon all this info and told him I would meet him there.

As Jon and I were traveling to the mall, I kept thinking about how the situation is like our journey through life.

The kids and I took different buses because we were on different roads. We used to take a 502 bus and then a 156. (the numbers aren't that important to you). However, the 502 bus is no longer running. So we have to take a B2 bus. This bus is really uncomfortable. It is extremely crowded!
After a little bit, I really felt that we should get off the bus. The kids were getting squished and it was a little hot, no one was happy. I told the kids that if we got off the bus we would have to walk, and I did not know how long it would be until we reached the place where we could catch the next bus. They were OK with that. We got off the bus and started walking. We walked for about 30 minutes before we reached the bus stop.
We did find our stop and got seats on the next bus and just rode it until the end.

Sometimes in life, we make great plans, but our plans are not always God's plans. We planned to take a 502, but could not. Even the B2 was not the bus for us. But in the end, it all worked out.

Jon's journey was not as easy. He really did not know the way to go. Someone told him the way to go, but he only partly understood the directions. He took the right bus...he started out good. However when he got off the bus, he was really lost. He was not even sure he was on the correct road. No one around him seemed to even know about that road. His problem? He did not have map. If he had a map, or looked at a map, then maybe he could have gotten on the right road. He walked around for about an hour. He felt lost the whole time. Eventually he did get a taxi, and he made it to the mall. Of course his journey was more expensive than mine.
In life, sometimes we listen to people who do not really know what they are talking about. We do not check the map for ourselves (the Bible). When we end up on the wrong road, there are consequences (paying a taxi fare). However, there is still hope and if we do correct our ways and get back on the right road, we can reach our destination.
Then we can join our loved ones and have a nice time together.

Jon did make it to the mall in time for us to eat dinner together. We were happy to see him.

How is your journey? Are you trying to do it all by yourself, or are you checking the map and making sure you are on the right road?

Hospitality

2011-02-19T07:02:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine, Becky, is teaching a lesson on hospitality and asked for some stories, recipes or thoughts on the subject. This is really something I have thought a lot about. Hospitality is one of those things that I CAN do. I am not a great leader, I don't sing well, and I am not even a great conversation starter. However, I can be hospitable.

I think that being hospitable could also be defined as being welcoming. Some of the details are different, but it is the same in most cultures. It is often the small things that really matter. The small things are the details that are different in other cultures. We pay attention to what has been done to us, and keep an open mind.

I have actually gone to a different Bible class in the past because no one said anything to me when I came to the class. I am not blaming anyone, because I could have been more out going and I was not exactly a new face...but if I was a new person or if I were visiting, I would not have felt welcome.

I remember Valerie Watrous introducing herself to someone, and she saying, " I don't think I have met you yet". That way she even the person was not new...no biggie. She had not met them before! I have used that line many times, now.

Here in China, we meet on Sundays in our home. Sometimes folks come for the first time. It is important to make people feel welcome and a part of the "family" here. The culture does not really support what we do, so we have to make them feel a part of a family. If they do not feel comfortable in my home, I might not be able to develop a relationship with them, and then I will not have a chance to share Greater things with them.

We don't wear our shoes in the house, so we have slippers available for our guests. On Sunday mornings we lay all the slippers out near the door, so friends can just slip into a pair.

I make sure there is extra toilet paper out where folks can see it in the bathroom. (no one wants to dig around looking for toilet paper).

I make sure there are a couple of boxes of tissues available in the living room. Someone always has to blow or wipe their nose.

We always make tea and sometimes coffee on Sunday morning. Jon will actually pour cups of tea for our guests even if they have turned down our initial offer for tea. (This is a Chinese thing). Sometimes he does not even ask if they want tea, he just hands them a cup.

A few weeks ago we had a new sister over for dinner. I made pot roast with vegetables, it was not what we would call Chinese food. We ate with forks, but I asked her if she would prefer chopsticks. She did. I made her feel more comfortable.

I don't think hospitality is difficult. A simple smile or hello can go a long way. The biggest part of hospitality is to be thoughtful of others.

2011-02-04T22:29:00.000-08:00

I really hope this works. Instead of just writing and showing you a few pictures, I put together a short video describing some of the things we see around here at this time of the year. Enjoy!

This song is played everywhere! We catch our selves singing it at random times too. It is very catchy....

Now you can sing it with us:

gong xi, gong xi, gong xi ni....

Not a good day

2011-01-27T05:45:00.000-08:00

We were going to have Chili tonight, and I wanted some cheese to go on top of it. The main and closest store that I buy that kind of cheese at, did not have any last time I was there. I decided to go further downtown to Carefore. I don't know a good way to take a bus down there, so I usually take a taxi.

I decided to take Liam with me. It is his week (each kid has 1 week a month that is "their week). I really don't get to spend one-on-one time with Liam that often. I sometimes worry about him being the "middle child".

Liam gets carsick sometimes. He has since he was just a toddler. Usually we can calm him down and help him feel better....but not always. Today was a - not always day.

Yep! He threw up in a taxi. Not good. The driver was not happy at all. He wanted to know why he didn't throw up out the window. He fussed at me and a Liam. Seriously!? He is 7.

I wanted to get out of the cab right then, but I could not think of how to tell the driver. He just kept driving us to the store. When we got there, I let Liam out and the guy started to yell at me. I tried to pay him extra money. The fare was 25, and I gave him 55. But he kept yelling at me. I did not know what he wanted. I tried to say sorry. At one point he said something that I did not understand... I guess most of what he said, I did not understand. I asked him,"what" in Chinese, he just mumbled, I said what again, and then he just stared at me. It was a little scary.

There happened to be a young guy standing by, and I asked him if he understood. Thankfully, he could speak a little English. He said that the driver wanted me to clean it up.
So I took out the mat and dumped it ,and then wiped it off the best I could with tissues. I also wiped down the seat cover.

All taxis have a white seat cover covering all the seats. It can be taken off and washed easily. I wonder who decided to make it white!
There were a few people starting to gather around at this point. The guy started to fuss at me again. The guy translating said something about him not being able to do business. He wanted me to pay him more. He wanted 44 more on top of the charge for the fare. I paid it gladly and went into the building as quickly as I could. I sat down in McDonald's to try to compose myself. I called Jon and cried and told him the story. (When I mentioned that to Liam later, he did not know that I had cried. Liam and Eryn have said that they have never seen me cry.)

I understand the driver being upset. And I really wanted to make things right, but he was really ugly about it. While I was wiping the seat, I heard the translator guy ask Liam something. Liam answered, We are from America and Tennessee. I threw up in the taxi and now that guy keeps fussing at my mamma. That just broke my heart.

It was frustrating because we could not understand each other. I was embarrassed and worried for Liam. Did I mention that it was cold and spitting rain?

I have been studying Chinese all semester, but it doesn't seem to stick in high stress situations.

We had to take a taxi home, and Liam started to feel sick again. It was really warm in that cab. We got the driver to roll down the window, and then Liam stuck his head out the window. When he started feeling really bad, I got him to stop. We stopped about 3 blocks from home and walked the rest of the way. I really did not want to have a repeat performance.

I am not sure when I will get in a taxi with Liam again! I am very thankful that the young guy was standing by the road when we pulled up. I am also very thankful that Liam is not really sick.

A chilly morning

2011-01-23T04:49:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday evening, we were relaxing in the living room. It was about 9:30 and the kids were already in bed. Our American friend Benjamin was staying the night. We decided to watch a video and then the lights went out. We have plenty of windows and light outside so it was not too dark. We checked around and the electricity was not out in the building, just in our apartment. Jon looked at the breaker box and the breaker was pretty warm, but it was not thrown. After trying to get the electricity to come back on for a few minutes we realized that we were going to be out of power all night. It was too late to call anyone. The bedroom heaters and bed heaters had been on for a little while, so it was not as bad as it could have been. We gave Benjamin some extra blankets for the couch and went to bed. Our bed was not toasty warm, but it was not freezing either. We snuggled down in the covers and went to sleep. The kids did not even notice anything was wrong until the next morning. We had hot tea and oatmeal for breakfast (we have a gas stove). It was quite chilly. We could even see our breath inside! We called Margaret (a Chinese sister) and she called someone to come look at it for us.

"Right here is the problem" Jon is on the phone with Margaret who was our translator. This guy left to go buy the part and I took pics of what was wrong.

ooooh, I don't think that is supposed to look like that! The electrician said that the breaker was really too small. He bought one a little bigger and replaced it for us.

Including going to buy the part, he was probably finished in about an hour. The cost for this repair, parts and labor? 80 yuan! That is about $15.

We were very thankful to have electricity that evening!

Apple Butter

2011-01-09T05:05:00.000-08:00

I promised that I would share one of our "Purple mouse" recipes. We made this Saturday night. We made Apple butter. First we peeled, cored and sliced the apples. We bought this contraption last year when we were planning on making applesauce. We have not made any apple sauce this year. It makes things go much faster.

Each of the kids got a chance to help.

We had a crock pot full of apples. Then I added the sugar and spices and mixed it all up.

You cook the apples on high for an hour.

This is the apples after about an hour. Then you let them cook on low for 9-11 hours. I guess most people do this overnight. We started the apples in the late afternoon, so they had been cooking several hours by bed time. I was afraid to let them cook overnight, so I turned my crock pot to the "keep warm" setting.

In the morning they looked like this. They are a little wet, so you should let them cook with the top off the crock pot for about an hour.

We run our apple butter through the blender to make it all smooth.

Viola! Apple butter. We ate some for breakfast (while it was still warm) on some toasted cranberry bread I baked. Yum yum!

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com:

Apple Butter

5 1/2 lbs apples peeled, cored and chopped

4 Cups of sugar (this is way too much!

I used about 1/2 cup of white sugar and a little less than one cup of brown sugar, you could use even less)

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/4 tsp salt

Cook in crock pot on high for 1 hour. Reduce to lo for 9-11 hours. Uncover and cook 1 hr longer. Mix to smooth.

Purple mouse

2011-01-09T03:29:00.000-08:00

This is Purple mouse. In case you can't remember, the words "purple mouse" are on the cover of this photo album three times! It is pretty common to find totally random English words or phrases on notebooks and photo albums ( and lots of other things). This Purple mouse is a very important item in our house. Really it is just a small photo album, but we use it for our recipe book.

It is filled with recipes that I use nearly every week.

Cooking in China can be very tricky. There are many ingredients we do not have and some things we just can't do here. I do have an oven, but it is really just a large toaster oven. We have learned to make lots of things from scratch and sometimes we just have to be creative. I do get a feeling of satisfaction when I make things that are tasty for my family,

When we moved to China two and a half years ago (can you believe it has been that long?) we had very limited space to bring all we would need. I did not bring a recipe book. I did however, copy some of my favorite recipes on some 3 x 5 index cards and tuck them in my suitcase. Over the years I have added to my stash with recipes I have found online or other places. I love allrecipes.com. I can look up specific recipes or recipes that use certain ingredients. Other people review the recipes and add comments and from that, I can get ideas of substitutions that work for the recipe. I found a great recipe for some cookies that don't use butter, or shortening. I made 4 batches of them this holiday season.
(I'll share the recipe another time). Some of the recipes in Purple Mouse are cornbread, dinner rolls, pizza crust, different kinds of cookies, banana bread, boiled custard, apple butter, pancake syrup, dressing,potato soup, and muffins.
When we find a recipe, we try it out and if it meets our approval, it goes into Purple mouse.

I guess we could call this book our recipe book, but it is more fun to call it Purple mouse. Next blog, I will share a recipe we have in Purple mouse.

pajama day!

2010-12-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

Some times you just need a pajama day. Every once and a while we plan a pajama day. This is a day where we stay in our pj,s all day long! Last Friday we had an unplanned pajama day. Thursday afternoon we got a package from Poppa and Granny. They sent the kids matching warm pj's. It is a Christmas tradition. Friday morning after the kids had dressed, they decided that they needed to try the pj's on "to make sure they fit". Once they got them on, they did not want to take them off!

In the package there were also some comics. The kids spent at least 5 quiet minutes looking at the comics. It was very peaceful!

I did make Hallie put on her regular clothes to go to Chinese class, but when she got home, she put her pj's back on. We had the kids put on long johns on ( some older matching pj's) under their pj's and we went out to eat. We had to walk to the restaurant.

The kids thought it was great fun. No one blinked an eye at what the kids were wearing. You see it is not uncommon to see people out in their pj's. We see it all times of the day. We once asked a Chinese friend about this. He never thought about it being weird at all. We see it most often on the weekend, but it can be at any time. See?

When in Rome... The kids are looking forward to their next pajama day!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-02T03:50:00.000-08:00

We had planned to have our big Thanksgiving celebration the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not a Chinese holiday and most people had to work. I had originally planned on making some chicken and dressing for our family. I ended up inviting 3 other people. We dined on chicken and dressing mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, and pineapple upside-down cake. It was delicious (if I do say so myself). Afterwards we played charades and laughed until our sides hurt.

Saturday we had our BIG celebration.

We got a turkey.

We had so much food! Heather brought black-eyed peas! BLACK-EYED PEAS!!! We were very excited. They were so yummy. Everything was so good.

We all ate as much as we could. Some of us were miserable. It was a nice time to be with Americans and eat some good Western food. After everyone left and took some food away, we packed the rest up and put it away. Our refrigerator was stuffed.
For supper that night, Jon made some sandwiches with left-over turkey and rolls. I had a little taste but was really still too full to eat.
We ate left-overs for at least 3 full meals. There are a few things still lurking in the fridge, but finally our fridge is back to normal.
We are truly blessed!

She baked a cake!

2010-12-02T03:29:00.000-08:00

Recently we have been talking about the fact that Hallie needs to learn to cook. She loves to help me in the kitchen. I started thinking about what she could cook by herself. I thought that she could try her hand at a cake. She has helped and watched me enough that it was not that difficult for her. It was hard for me not to jump in and help her too much. A few times, I just left the kitchen and told her to call me if she needed help.

She did wonderful! She made a pineapple upside-down cake (from scratch). We served this cake for dessert on Thanksgiving day.

Beautiful and yummy! Way to go Hallie!

Hallie's 10!

2010-12-02T03:18:00.000-08:00

November 9th was Hallie's 10th birthday. It is really hard to believe that she is 10. It seems like just yesterday she was a baby. We gave her a cell phone for her birthday this year. She was thrilled! I actually wrapped the empty box and we hid the phone behind the pillows on the couch. We were going to call it when she opened the present. However, Jon had entered her number in his phone incorrectly. It would have been funny to have the phone ring. Oh well. She was still very excited! Now she has a new way to tattle on her brother and sister. We went out with out the kids (the ayi stayed with them) and she texted us to tell us something the younger ones had done.

Hallie picked this butterfly cake out of a decorating book that we have here. She really liked it, and enjoyed helping decorate it.

The weekend after her birthday, she had a slumber party. She invited her BFF Bliss and another American, Michaela. Bliss lives near us. Michaela is from the Chicago area but lives here in Hangzhou. She goes to Bliss's school and Hallie met her at the Halloween party. They were instant friends.

The girls watched movies, painted their nails, ate more cake, and played on the computer. They also stayed up until past 4:30! I know because their giggling woke me up again at 4:30. Poor Bliss had to get up and leave a little past 7.

They had a blast!!

venting

2010-11-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me say that I am happy living in China. I feel this is where I am supposed to be right now. I feel very strongly that we were called here and God worked things out to get here. I feel a sense of purpose and I do love it here. But it is not always easy living in China. Some days are harder than others. but then again, I could say the same of living in the US. When I have a bad day here, I can always blame it on living in China. But really it could just be a bad day.

When we moved to China, someone told us that there seems to be a bigger culture shock that happens the third year. Many people go home after their third year. Guess what, this is our third year. We went into this year aware of this theory. But we felt energized by our visit home. We were ready to get back to work and get our routine going. We were really excited about the year.

We are not as excited anymore. Sometimes I feel a little guilty about that. Good things are happening with the WORK. We are engaging new people, we have started some new studies, old friends are branching out. Things are happening the way they are supposed to. But I am still having a hard time shaking the blahs.

This semester has been really hard on Jon. His work load has increased and work stress is bad. That always spills over a little into to home. So we all feel his stress.

I have had a hard time with dental work this semester too. It has been painful and frustrating.

Jon's grandmother passed away a few weeks ago. That was really hard. It was hard because we know we are going to miss her. Grieving is weird when you are away. You grieve for the deceased but also that you can't be with the rest of the family. You feel a little left out. My grandmother died in January. I grieved some then, but had another period of grieving when I went home and visited family.

This time of the year is hard on us too. I sometimes think that Halloween and Thanksgiving are as hard or harder than Christmas.

So the question is, is this that terrible "culture shock period" that we have heard about? Or is this just life?

Teachers have bad semesters, and bad years. I could have dental problems in the USA. MawMaw would have died if were were living in Henderson or in Hangzhou.

So what do I do? I just have to keep looking at the positives, and our blessings. And there are a lot of those!

I also enjoy baking and being domestic. If things start getting to me, I can straighten up the living room, or bake some cookies. That makes me feel a little better and maybe slightly more peaceful. If that doesn't work, chocolate usually helps.

So keep us in your prayers, and send us some chocolate!

**I actually wrote this back at the beginning of November. We are still somewhat stressed. This is just a bad semester. With the holidays coming up, we have fresh bouts of homesickness. I also feel a little guilty that my mood is so terrible. But, the semester is almost over. Hopefully we can have a good break and have a better semester next year. In the mean time, keep those prayers coming!

Warriors

2010-11-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

In 1974, some farmers near Xi'an were digging some wells and found some pottery fragments and bronze weapons. What followed was probably one of the largest archaeological finds ever.

People knew that Emperor Qun ShiHuang Di the first emperor of China's mausoleum was nearby, but no one knew that more than 1,000 terracotta warriors and horses guarded it. The statues were buried for more than 2000 years.

Emperor Qun is credited for uniting China. He conquered the six other states that existed in ancient China. He implemented a standardized system of weights and measurements for the country. He is built the Great Wall. Well, actually he connected several smaller walls that were already there. He died in 210 BC. If you like history, you should look him up. He was and interesting character.

These terracotta warriors are all different. They have different hair styles and they say that no two faces are alike.

At one time all of these statues were painted. You can see a little paint on a few of them.

They are still unearthing relics from this active archaeological site. There are three main pits where the warriors, horses, and weapons were found.

We know where Emperor's tomb is but it has not yet been unearthed (that is another story).

This is the farmer that first discovered the warriors while digging a well. Now he signs autographs and poses for pictures.

After this picture was taken, he shook their hands.

Eryn was too shy to take this picture, but she did say that we should say "xie xie" (thank you) for finding the warriors.

*Before we took this trip the kids kept saying that we were going to see the "teriyaki warriors".

The hostel

2010-11-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

While in Xi'an we stayed at the Shuyuan Youth Hostel. A hostel is usually cheaper than a hotel. This hostel had some private rooms that had attached bathrooms and some rooms that shared a bathroom. This is one of the things that make it cheaper. Often times travelers can book just a bed in a dorm room. This is a really cheap way to stay. I booked us 4 beds in one room. The bathroom and showers were shared for the whole floor.

The atmosphere of this place is really nice. It was clean and really pretty.

This was our room. It was cozy. The third night the air conditioner started dripping. It woke us up that night. It dripped from then on. We told them and they kept saying they would fix it "tomorrow". We only paid $200 yuan a night (less than $30). The location of the hostel was fantastic too. We were in walking distance of several tourist attractions.

It was good that the hostel was cheap because we could not get tickets to come back to Hangzhou when we wanted to go. We ended up staying an extra 3 days in Xi'an than we had originally planned.

This was one of the residents of the hostel. He was really lazy. The kids were okay as long as the dog did not bark. He only barked when he saw another dog. The kids only got scared twice.

Another good thing about staying here so long is that the kids got really good at using a squatty potty. The bathroom on our floor was a squatty potty. The western toilet was downstairs.

We have lived in China now for more than 2 years. The kids could use a squatty, but I still had to hold Hallie's hand (so she wouldn't fall) and most of the time, Eryn had us hold her over the potty (which is hard if she is going to be there for a while!). Now the girls are pretty good at it and do not need my help. Yes!!

Of course, we still prefer good ol' western toilets, but we are more versatile now.

train trip

2010-11-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of October, Jon had more than a week off due to the National Day holiday. We decided that it would be a good time to take a trip. It was a good time because Jon did not have classes, but it was not a good time because most other Chinese were also off of work and could travel as well. We had a hard time getting tickets. We did get train tickets to Xi'an. We had "hard sleeper" tickets. That means we did have a beds but they were in an open car. There are 6 beds in each compartment and several compartments in each car. It is not as nice and comfortable as " soft sleeper" but it is not bad. The train to Xi'an from Hangzhou is about 24 hours.

This what the train looked like from my bunk.

What do you do on a train for 24 hours? Well, you sleep some... you eat some meals...you play cards...

You play video games....

You read.... You stare out the window....

The country side on the way to Xi'an is very beautiful! I enjoyed just watching it all go by...

Train travel is one of the ways to really see China. We love traveling by train (it's cheaper than flying too).

Pumpkin

2010-11-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin or nan gua is easy to find in China. But what the Chinese call pumpkin we would probably call squash. There is no different name for pumpkin or squash, it is all nan gua. The big one in this picture is not really carvable. We did find a small regular orange pumpkin. A lady was selling them for decorations Most of the ones she was selling, had Chinese characters on them. Unfortunately this one grew too many gross black moldy spots before we could carve it for a jack-o-lantern.

We did however cut up the big "pumpkin" and made a bunch of pumpkin puree.

We baked the pieces in the oven for about an hour (until soft) then we took the peel off and ran it through the blender. This pumpkin yielded at least 6 cups of puree. I have already made 3 batches of pumpkin muffins and one batch of pumpkin cookies. I will need to get another one before Thanksgiving. We love pumpkin!

Since we could not carve pumpkin this Halloween, what did we do?

We carved orange candles! I brought these from the States this year. We "carved" them with tooth picks and then colored the carved spots with black marker (Jon did not color his).

These won't rot or get moldy!

Update: I saw two orange pumpkins at the market today. Where were those 2 weeks ago?!

Rights

2010-09-08T06:06:00.000-07:00

Our apartment is on the corner of two pretty busy streets. We hear all sorts of comings and goings. Many times I hear people yelling but when I look out I can't tell if anything unusual is going on. Today was a little different. I heard some yelling and looked out. There were a few guys around a cart on the far side of the street. One guy was on the ground (maybe sitting) and another it looked like, was under a cart. Another guy was yelling at him. He was dragged out from under the cart and they had his hands behind his back. The guy that was sitting was handcuffed too. I guess I missed seeing the actual arrest. Three or four guys put the two handcuffed ones into the back of a silver mini van. Then they took the less cooperative guy out of the van (the one that was under the cart). They brought him to the side walk. They were not gentle with him at all. He was not fighting them but they were pretty mad at him. They slapped him some and I even saw a few kicks thrown in. We watched it some, and then decided to video it. I am not sure why. We did manage to get a few still pictures but you can't really tell what is going on.

The guys doing the slapping and arresting were wearing plain clothes but we think that they were police because they had real handcuffs. Normal citizens do not have handcuffs in China. Eventually some uniformed police came in police cars and took one "criminal" away. They also videoed and took pictures of whatever was inside his cart.

It was really weird . As an American it was disturbing to see the guy getting hit and kicked but he was caught
doing something bad. The criminal justice system here is very different than in the States. There are no Bill or Rights, Miranda Rights, or Innocent until proven guilty. But we really feel safe here. I don't fear for the kids like I sometimes do in the US. There are few repeat bad guys here. Bad criminals (murders, rapists, drug dealers, corrupt government officials) don't get second or third or fourth chances.

We enjoy many rights and privileges as Americans. Sometimes we forget that other countries do not share our views about what rights people should have. Today was a reminder that this is NOT America and this country can be VERY different than home.
This is the cart that was involved some how. There is a box in the back that they opened and took pictures of.

New Snacks

2010-08-22T04:28:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about living in China is all the different foods we get to try. I miss many snacks and foods from the US, but there are some great snacks here.

We ate all our Chinese snacks before we left for the US so we needed to replenish our pantry. I saw these cracker/ cookie things and thought I would give them a try. There were a couple of different varieties. I chose these because I thought they were grape flavor from the picture.

I tried one. They are a little sweet, but those are not grapes on the package. They are green peas! The kids won't even eat these! I admit they are pretty gross. I won't buy this again! Oh well! It is a learning experience.

Public Bathing

2010-08-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

Man, it is HOT! It is strange though, no one really knows how hot it is. You see, in China when it gets above a certain temperature ( I think it is 40 degrees C. or 104 F) then people don't have to work because of the heat. But it NEVER gets above 40 degrees. It is amazing how hot that 40 degrees can feel! We are VERY glad that we have air conditioners. However, to go anywhere you have to get out in the heat. It is not the same as in America. In the US, you have to walk in the heat to your overheated car and then blast the AC until you feel better, then when you get out, you have to walk a minute or two and enter an air conditioned building. Here, we have to walk to the bus stop or at least to the gate of the apartment complex to get a taxi. Then the air in the bus or taxi may or may not work. Then we get out in the heat again and walk some more to the store or where ever you are going. The AC here is not as cold as in the US. Also it does not really cool down that much at night here. I think it is because we live in a big city. All the buildings and stuff just hang on to the heat.

Our apartment complex has two swimming pools. We heard that they did not open until 4 in the afternoon, but when Jon and I were out the other morning we saw that the gate was open and there were people swimming. So we decided that we would go swimming after lunch. The kids were really excited.

I smeared them all with sunscreen, we grabbed towels and floaties and were off. When we got to the pool, the gate was closed and locked. But there were people swimming. So a little locked gate didn't slow us down much ( it was only two feet high).

The people swimming were really just three little boys, and when we got closer we realized that the boys were naked as jaybirds!

Their clothes and house keys were strewn about on the steps of the kiddie pool. They were also using the lifesaving rings as their personal floaties. They were having a great time.

After we were there for a little while a couple of guys showed up and then 3 teenage girls. Then one boy about 9 or so yelled something at Jon and he answered. Jon thought he asked us if we paid and then when Jon told him, "no" the kid jumped the gate and started to strip out of his clothes. I wondered if he really asked if Jon was wearing clothes or not....

That kid jumped in naked and started having a conversation with us. He wasn't shy at all, on any level. We only stayed about an hour. The water was really very warm. Then we came home, took showers, and had a long nap! We will go swimming again, soon, but probably in the morning when the pool is really open. Maybe everyone will have their clothes on then.

P.S. Just for the record, all of the Hardins were wearing bathing suits.

MSYC

2010-07-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hallie went to MSYC for the first time this past summer. She was a little nervous, but she had a great time! She really wants to go back again next year!

This is what 9 year old girls look like after a week of camp!

She really had a GREAT time and I know that she made some great Christian friendships that will continue for the rest of her life.

hair cut

2010-07-21T17:30:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, Hallie decided to cut 11 inches off her super long hair and donate it to Locks of Love.

She decided to do it again this summer.

Before....

Then Mrs. Brenda measured her braid just to make sure....

Snip, snip, snip

Ta Dah! She loves her shorter hair too!

And mom is very proud!

Eryn's first study

2010-07-21T17:26:00.000-07:00

This is Jane. She is a young single professional girl that used to live very near us. She is super sweet. We only met her two weeks before we went back to the US for the summer. We did manage to study with her a few times. Over the summer she hooked up with the downtown group and really plugged in. We are excited about that.

While she was at our house in June, Eryn got out her picture Bible story book...

She started telling Jane the Bible stories that go with the pictures.

It was super cute, so I just had to take pictures of Eryn's first Bible study!

First Meal in th US

2010-07-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

As soon as we booked our plane tickets to the US, we started doing some research. We flew into the the Detroit airport, so I looked online to see the restaurants available at the airport. So what was the first meal we ate in the US?

Taco Bell! And even in Detroit, they had Dr. Pepper! Yum Yum!

This was also the last thing we ate before boarding the plane to come back to China. We really miss Mexican food while we are here.

Dragon Boat Festival

2010-07-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

Dragon Boat Festival is held in June. It is a strange holiday. It can be fun because there are usually boat races and they are fun to watch. Like most holidays, there is special food. Zongzi is sticky rice that is wrapped in bamboo leaves. The rice is often mixed with different things, like meat, or sometimes fruit or nuts. zongzi has a triangular shape. Jon really likes this food, but it is not my favorite. You can find zongzi all year round, but it is even more popular near Dragon Boat Festival.

Dragon Boat Festival, also called DuanWu remembers a great poet and scholar called Qu Yuan. When he was 37, he drowned himself in a river. The local people searched and searched for him in their boats. (That's where the boats come in). Then they were afraid that the fish would eat his body (ewww) so they threw zongzi in to feed the fish so they would not eat Qu Yuan. I told you it was a strange holiday.

There is a river that runs right in front of our apartment complex, so we went out to watch some of the boats.

See the dragon on the front of the boat?

After the "race" This guy was hot, so he jumped in to cool off. I really don't think I would have jumped in that water!

They let this boy take a ride in the boat. Look at his grin!

Busicut Night

2010-05-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on my blog. These pictures have been uploaded to the blog since May, but I have just not written about them or posted. I have lots of other things to post soon. I hope to get to that in the next few days.

We are in America now and have been for about 4 weeks. We are enjoying ourselves, spending time with loved ones, and eating lots of yummy "American" food. We are also anxious to get back to China in about two weeks.

This post is about a party that we hosted at our house. Jon had been talking to his English corner group about biscuits. He told them he would teach them to make them. One Saturday before school was finished they all came over.

Shirley is greasing the pan with a butter wrapper.

Then she cut out the biscuits.

After they were all cooked, they ate the biscuits. They were all gone in five minutes.

Carol liked them.

They also brought stuff for jaozi (dumplings)

Eryn loves to make jaozi

They eventually got enough to eat.

After we ate, Eve picked up a Bible.

I just Love, love, love to see people reading the Bible. I think this was the first time she had ever read any from the Bible.

This summer

2010-05-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we ended up buying all the Dr Pepper that Wal-Mart had! A manager told Jon that they would have more next week. So far none. However, I found some more at Trust Mart. Trust Mart is another hyper market in town. It is some kind of branch of Wal-mart. I bought some more and we had pizza and Dr Pepper for supper last night. It was great! Maybe Trust Mart will continue to carry it. We will see.

In other news, we will be flying home in 3 weeks! We fly out of Shanghai Saturday June 19. We arrive in Detroit a mere 2 hours after we left! Funny, it sure seems longer than that! (Actually the flight is about 14 hours!) We have a 3or 4 hour layover but that is ok, because we have to clear customs and try to get lunch. I have already looked up to see what kind of things are available in the Detroit airport. There is a Taco Bell and Chilis, plus hot dogs and Subs. Yummm, I can't wait.

We will be in the US until August 3. We will spend time mostly in Henderson and Hixon, TN. The last two weeks in July we will be in Hixon. The kids are excited to be able to attend VBS at Henderson and Summer Jam at Clear Creek. As well, Hallie will go to Mid-South camp. She is really excited.

Hallie has a list of some things that she wants to do this summer:

My Summer:
1) Swimming
2) Play with my cousin
3) Eat hot dogs, Dr Pepper, tacos and cereal with family and friends.

We can't wait to see you all.

Look what I found!

2010-05-14T06:34:00.000-07:00

I was just going to get a couple of bottles of water...and all of a sudden Hallie yelled out "Dr Pepper!!"

I stood there with my mouth open staring in disbelief, then I did a little happy dance. I bought 5 cans that day, and then we bought 7 a few days later. We asked and the store said that they would get some more next week. We will see... For now I am happy.

Tea village

2010-05-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

Jon does not have any classes on Thursday. This makes an ideal time to get out with the kids and do a few things. We like to go to the store, shopping, or other places, but it is more enjoyable when we do not go on the weekend. Anyway, the weather has been lovely, so we decided to take advantage of this and spend some time outdoors. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out. Of course it ended up being one of those days that we just could not get going as quick as we wanted. For several reasons we did not really get going until around 11:00. As we were leaving, Jon and I were still deciding exactly where we were going....

We decided to go to an area called something tea village. We saw it in the Hangzhou magazine. We just showed the taxi driver the page that had the address in Chinese. We did not exactly know where we were going, but I knew that it would be one of those days that we would be glad we went. I told everyone that. It was a frustrating beginning and we were really wondering if we should still go... the trip was worth it!

We drove though an area of town that had many tea houses along the road. There were tea farms or plantations on both sides of the road, before and after the "village". We got the taxi to let us off. Our plan was to find a nice spot for our picnic. I could tell the driver did not get it. He drove us into some area that was a restaurant or something (we did not go in). He drove away very slowly...

Anyway we walked along the road and watched people pick tea and other things from their gardens. We found a quiet place almost in a tea field and ate our lunch. Then we walked back to the "village" area. I don't know how many people asked us if we wanted to eat. The next time we go, I think I will just eat at one of those places. When the tour buses are not going by, it is very quiet. You can hear birds, and the running water in the creeks.

This was the wall of one of the tea houses.

I am fascinated by old houses. I wonder if this was really an old house, or just built to look like one.

Some of the views that we saw...

What are they looking at?

Oh, that is what it is. These guys must like tea plants because we saw several of them.

If any of you come to visit us in the spring, we will take you out to this area. It was gorgeous!

At the end of the trip we were waiting at the bus stop to go home. A few cars came by and slowed down to get a better look at us and the kids. One guy stopped and asked us where we were going. Jon told him where we lived and he offered us a ride. We were a little leery at first, but when we asked him how much it would cost, he said, "no money!". He was just a really nice guy. He said he was going by our place on the way to work. He had a really nice car. I was really proud of the kids, because they behaved super! Jon and this guy conversed some almost all in Chinese. At the end of the ride, they exchanged numbers. I don't know if he will call or what, but it was really really nice. See, I was right we were glad that we went! Very glad.

Our secret

2010-05-07T05:33:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on this blog. I have been meaning to type up this entry for some time. It almost seems silly now. The weather has finally turned warm. Actually a few times I have thought that it was hot! I know it is nothing like it will be in just a few weeks. I did wonder when it was going to get warm. I was getting jealous of folks back home wearing t-shirts and shorts, and we were still wearing long-johns! But those times are behind us for a few months now.

Anyway, do you remember the post I had about how cold it got here? I will share with you one of our secrets to how we deal with the cold.

You know in the winter time, when it is chilly and you are tired and you climb into bed, and it is cold? I hate that feeling. Those minutes that you are trying to warm up the bed can be agony. Sometimes it seems as if your feet will never get warm. Well, that doesn't happen in our house!

This is why. This is our secret:

We call it a bed warmer. It is like an electric blanket, but it goes under the sheet. In the winter time, we make it a habit to turn on the bed heater about 30 minutes before we go to bed. With the bed made, or at least all the covers pulled up, it will pre-heat the bed. It is wonderful!

We can now climb into a warm bed. I think it feels like climbing into a hot bath, to soak, only I don't get wet.

We inherited one of these bed warmers from the short term team. It only lasted a few weeks before it burned out, but that was long enough to get us hooked! We bought another one (the one in the picture) but it eventually burned out too. We have another one now. I am not sure if they are supposed to last more than one season or not. This year, we made sure the kids each had one too. We watch very carefully, and don't let the turn it on too high or leave it on when they should not. On the few occasions when we have forgotten to "turn on the bed" we have REALLY missed it!

Well, I took the bed warmer off the bed today. I will put it away until the fall, but you can be sure that it will be back on the bed when the nights start getting cold! This is one of our secrets.

Easter egg hunt

2010-04-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

On Easter afternoon we held an Easter egg hunt at a local park. We had an egg hunt here last year too. It is a really nice place. There are lots of flowers, trees, and quiet paths. It is a perfect place to have an egg hunt.

While Jon and some others went to hide the eggs, the kids ate cupcakes and brownies (made by Josh).

Everyone loves cupcakes!

Then the kids went hunting....

We hid about 50 eggs. Some were real, and some were plastic. There were 8 kids hunting, so it did not take very long.

After all the eggs were found, the kids ate some eggs, candy and more cupcakes. Then they played while the grown ups chatted. The weather was wonderful and the fellowship was even better. This is a tradition we will try to continue the whole time we are in China.

grilling out

2010-04-04T07:15:00.001-07:00

Barbecue grills are becoming more popular in China, but they are pretty expensive and usually not very sturdy. Jon decided that he could make his own . And it would not really take up that much space. He took a flower pot and added some charcoal. The charcoal here is made from chunks of wood. The briquettes in the US are made from charred compressed sawdust. They work about the same.

On top of the pot, he added a grill...

Then we had to find something to grill...

These look like hot dogs, but the taste is far from Oscar Myer! I smothered mine in mustard but could really only choke down one. The kids loved theirs. Jon said the big one in the middle tasted like spam. Hmmm.... grilled spam on a stick.

Since we have no back yard (we live on the 4th floor), we sat around the "grill" on our balcony. This is where we usually hang our laundry to dry.

After we finished the "hot dogs" We toasted marshmallows and had s'mores. Well, sorta. We did not have any graham crackers, so we used digestives (a kind of cookie a lot like graham crackers). The chocolate was a little too thick, but they were still pretty yummy.

We have to be creative and substitute here, but we still can have a taste of home (almost).

Dying the eggs

2010-04-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

I thought we might be too busy Saturday night, so we colored our eggs Friday evening. We covered the table with newspaper and got to work. The girls just had on their long johns because if they got stained it wouldn't matter.

We used two different coloring kits this year.

This was the traditional egg coloring kit.

This is one of those things that the kids look forward to every year!

It is a lot of fun to see the colors.
It seems that the colors are much brighter now than they were when I was a kid.

We colored the second set of eggs with a "tie dying" kit.

You add drops of liquid dye to the egg and you kinda smoosh it around on the egg. You hold the egg in a plastic bag and use the bag to smoosh the colors around. The bag is supposed to protect you fingers from getting too stained....

It doesn't really work!

But the eggs turned out great! We colored a total of 35 eggs.

making cupcakes

2010-04-04T07:04:00.001-07:00

Maybe I mentioned that Hallie has a new friend...
Bliss and her sister, Carissa were both born in the US. They moved to China this past summer. Although, she speaks Chinese she does not read or write it very well, so going to Chinese school would be very difficult. Bliss goes to the International school. Since they have met, Bliss and Hallie have spent every Saturday (and any other chance they get) together playing, talking, and giggling.

This past weekend , I invited her and her sister over to help decorate some cupcakes for Easter. I put out bowls of colored icing and sprinkles and let them decorate! It took the girls about 10 minutes to ice and decorate 24 cupcakes.

Carissa said she wanted to eat a cupcake, so, when they finished, I let them. Then she said, " I want to eat two cupcakes." I sent them home with a few.
I think they had an enjoyable afternoon.

Ever since we met this family, Hallie has been praying for them. She asks that we will say the right things and that God will open their hearts. We know that they attended a Chinese church in the States but do not go here in China. Jane (the mom) asked if we go to church. Maybe they are looking. Will you join Hallie in praying for this family?

zoo

2010-03-30T00:06:00.001-07:00

This semester, Jon has no classes on Thursday. Since it is a week day, there will not be as many people out at the stores, the lake or other tourist spots. We plan to take advantage of this as the weather gets nicer and before it gets too hot.

Week before last, the weather was pretty nice so we decided to surprise the kids and go to the zoo. We packed a lunch and made the day of it.

China is not known for very good zoos... But the one in Hangzhou is pretty good, especially for China.

We even met some other foreigners while we were there. There were times that we thought we and the kids were on display, but overall it was a nice day.

Eryn poses with a tiger

There were a few kiddie rides at the zoo. Some ladies called the kids over to ride the ride, it wasn't until the ride was over that they mentioned the price of the ride. It was 5 yuan per kid. Not really that bad.

And they got to shoot guns! I don't know why there were guns on bumble bees...oh well, the kids loved it.

We had a few chips left over from our lunch, so we fed a few of the animals...

The kids posed with an elephant...

Liam said his favorite part of the zoo was watching the ducks...

Eryn really liked watching the lemurs and monkeys

Truthfully, this zoo is not as good as the Memphis zoo, but we had a great time. If you come to Hangzhou, we will take you (they do have a panda).

Baby Shower

2010-03-29T23:59:00.001-07:00

We had a baby shower for Jason and Cecily. Our friend Heather and I had planned to have this shower right after Spring Festival and before the baby was born. Well, it didn't really work out that way. Cec ended up spending about 3 weeks on bed rest and 2 of those in the hospital before Phoebe was born.

So we had the shower on Feb 27, when Phoebe was 5 days old! We had it at Jason and Cec's house since the baby was here and so small.

Heather had to go to Hong Kong earlier in the week, but she got stuck down there and only got back minutes before the shower was to start. Heather had all the decorations with her so.......

Everyone helped with the decorations. The Chinese ladies loved it! they thought it was great fun, and we had to get them to stop trying to make bows and stuff so we could eat and Cec could open her gifts.

Cathy was also a great help to me to get as much as possible ready before Heather got there.

Nothing rarely works exactly as you plan in China, but over all I think things came together nicely.

This was the table. We had pink punch, and cupcakes and nuts. The centerpiece was a "diaper cake". ( more on the diaper cake in a later blog)

Hallie got to be the "punch girl".

The gifts! They got some really nice things.

Hallie got to hold the star of the show!

Lantern Festival

2010-03-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

Chinese New Year is also (and often) called Spring Festival. It begins with New year's Day (lunar calender) and ends 15 days later with Lantern Festival.

At lantern festival children go out to the streets and carry lit lanterns. Now days, there are many huge lit "lanterns" on display in public areas like squares and parks. It is a time to go out and enjoy the decorations and community.

Last year we stumbled up on an area preparing for the once a year display. We came back that evening. It was crazy crowded, but really really cool.

This year we planned to go to a public area called "Season Square". A few days before we discovered that they were also preparing for a large display.

We ate an early supper and walked to this area. Wow! we were not disappointed!

This "lantern" is about 10 feet tall. Do you see the year 2010 and the tiger? This is the year of the tiger according to the Chinese zodiac calender.

This tiger moved!

I actually saw a lion dance on this night. I did not take any pictures because I really wanted to just watch and it would have been too hard to get a good picture because of the crowd. I have wanted to see a real lion dance' parade since the first time I came to China in 1998! I was so excited! Maybe next year I can snap a picture.

This is a picture of the crowd in the square. It was crazy!

We bought the kids lanterns. These are battery powered. They light up and play music! Maybe next year I can be organized enough to make homemade lanterns.

Even though we have to fight huge crowds, this is one Chinese tradition that we really enjoy.

Just some thoughts

2010-03-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

OK, I am still behind, but I will catch up....eventually. For this post, I decided to do something a little different. I am just going to share my thoughts. There will not be any pictures (sorry).
The first thing I will share that has been on my mind relates to homeschooling.
I guess I am just having doubts to my ability to do an adequate job. Hallie is doing fine, but I really think she is the kind of student that will do great no matter who the teacher is. She probably still needs to work on writing, spelling, and handwriting, but I don't think she is really behind. She is doing great in math and reading. Her Chinese is improving too, but since her lessons are now emphasising characters, she is....I won't say struggling but not enjoying it as well as she does spoken Chinese.
I am a little worried that Liam and Eryn maybe a little behind. They are doing great with math, but reading seems to be going slow. They are only in kindergarten, but.....
I want them to do great.
Lately I have been wishing I could send them to school. Sort of wishing. I also worry about them not having very many friends.
There is an international school here in town. But it costs about $20,000 (USD) per year per student. Ha! There is no way we can afford that now.

We could send them to Chinese school, but I really hate that idea. They don't speak enough Chinese. It would be miserable for them. Chinese educational philosophy is way different than the American style. It is not an environment I want my kids in all day. Also, they would still be behind in reading English. However, their Chinese would improve very quickly.

So really my only option is to homeschool them. Don't get me wrong, I really do like homeschooling. We homeschooled even before we came to China. I like spending time with them. I just wonder if their teacher is the best for them. I second guess myself. I just wish I was one of the super homeschool moms that does really neat stuff all the time and has kids that are reading college textbooks in first grade.
Sometimes, I wonder if my standards are too high. How well should kids be reading at the end of kindergarten?
I also know that research says that students that are allowed to learn to read "naturally" do usually catch up by the time they are 7 or 8 (or is it 9?)

A seasoned homeschool mom once told me that this time of the year is one of the times that parents usually get the most discouraged. Really, they kids are doing pretty well. I just need to put a little more focus on reading, and finish out the year.

One of the real reasons, I wish they could go to school is to have friends. I worry a little bit about their social skills.
Actually just a couple of weeks ago, Hallie and Eryn made some new friends. There is a family that lives near us (with 2 daughters aged 10 and 5) that lived in the US for several years. Both the girls were born in the US and speak wonderful English.

The 10 year old goes to the international school because she does not read or write Chinese very well even though she speaks it at home. It is great that Hallie can have a friend that she can communicate with. They have spent the last two Saturdays together. Eryn also plays with the little sister, and I get to visit with Jane the mom.

I don't know where I was going with all that ranting, I guess I just needed to vent.

This past Saturday, Jane asked me if we go to church. She said that she went to a Chinese church when they were in the US. Pray that we can develop our relationship and can get them to come to church. (I did invite her).

Shopping for food

2010-03-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

While my dad and Karen were in Hangzhou, I took my dad to the market and let him take some pictures. These were taken at one of the nearest markets. We often buy veggies and eggs here.

This is an assortment of some of the fresh vegetables available.

We can buy eggs at a store or supermarket, but they are cheaper at the market. They are sold by weight.

I think these are preserved eggs. We don't eat these because we think they are gross.

You can buy meat at this market too. I think they only have pork here. I have not been brave enough to buy any yet.

You can buy fresh seafood. Here are crabs and eels. They are still alive. (that way you know they are fresh)

You can also buy a chicken or duck here too. You just pick it out, and the worker kills it and defeathers it. I don't think they gut it though. I have not bought a live chicken.

Usually I only buy veggies, fruit and eggs at markets like this, but one day I may be braver.

Usually we shop at places like this:

Yes, we have a Wal-mart supercenter near our apartment (one bus ride away).

This is actually a very nice mall with several nice places to shop.

Wal-mart does not carry many foreign goods, but this Wal-mart has a decent bakery section and good prices on other things we buy.

My Dad took some pictures of some of the things you can buy at Wal-mart in China.

Sea food....

Yeah, that is a ray.

Dried fish...

Dried Pig face...

on the back of this you can actually see teeth...gross!

You can also find packaged...um....snacks...

These are two pig snouts.

Chicken feet anyone?

We can find stuff that we do like, but still no Dr Pepper or Salt and Vinegar Kettle chips in this city. Let us know if you want us to bring you any snacks this summer!

The Forbidden City

2010-03-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

The Forbidden City also known as the Palace Museum is one of my favorite places in Beijing.

For 500 years this "city" was the residence for the Chinese emperor and their court. It was off limits for anyone else. Now it is the largest and best preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China.

I could spend all day wondering around the grounds. This day we spent 4 1/2 hours there. We did not see everything.

This always reminds me of the opening scene of Shanghai Noon with Jackie Chan.

Look, she is so excited she is walking on air!

The grounds cover about 720,000 sq meters. Only about 1/3 to 1/2 of the complex is actually open to the public.

These huge vats were used to store water in case of fire.

Actually, fire destroyed large parts of the palace on more than one occasion. At least some of these fires were probably set intentionally by eunuchs.

I love the different passage ways and courtyards. I could really get lost in here.

These guys always remind me of Mushu from the Disney movie Mulan.

I love history and old buildings, so this place is great! I find is fascinating!

I was seriously tempted to buy one of the many books they had at the gift shop, but I couldn't chose just one, and they were way over priced. I think I may look on amazon or E-bay, so I can pass on even more trivia.

The first time we visited the Forbidden Museum in 1999, we took a picture here at this wall. Then again when we came in 2002 when Hallie was less than 2 years old, we took another picture here.

We searched for this wall again, and found it right before we left....

And here we are again in 2010!

Right before we left the palace grounds, we found a bathroom. It was even rated! If you have traveled in China, you know that finding good bathrooms can be tricky...

This one was pretty good. It was a 4 star!

Beijing Duck

2010-03-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

Beijing Duck also called Peking Duck (after the old Anglo- pronunciation of the capital city) is one of the most famous dishes in China. If you visit Beijing, you really must try this treat. This is probably one of the most famous Duck restaurants in Beijing. This was Jon and my third time to eat here.

They have a window where you can watch them cook the ducks. They bake or roast them in large brick ovens.

We ordered two ducks, because we had 7 people eating. The guy brings out the duck and carves it expertly in front of you. Then he takes away the bones and makes a soup with them. The soup is really not that great, but the duck is fabulous!

Hallie enjoyed taking pictures of the process.

You wrap the pieces of duck meat in these "pancakes". They are a lot like tortillas. They are made from corn or flour. I liked the flour kind, but Poppa and Granny liked the corn ones. You can add duck sauce and leeks, cucumbers, or peppers if you like. Everyone ate well this night. The kids even liked it.

This was one of the places I really wanted to go to while in Beijing. It did not disappoint.

Tienanmen square

2010-03-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

Another day we went to Tienanmen square. Really there is not much here, but it is the largest public square in the world.

There are now security checkpoints and metal detectors to pass through before you can enter the square.

We walked around and took pictures. There are several important and famous buildings that surround the square.

This guy was very nice. We spoke to him in Chinese (a little). He asked where we were from, and then I asked him his hometown. He followed us and talked to us a bit. His English was not good at all, but he made an effort. It was really sweet.

The Great Wall

2010-03-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

Of course while we were in Beijing we had to take a trip to the Great Wall. The trip did not start out great. Eryn threw up in the van on the way there! yuck! Thankfully, she was wearing "snow pants" and we were able to wipe it off and clean up pretty quickly. She did not smell great, but she was not wet and it was too cold to smell much outside. It could have been much worse. I think she was just car sick, because she did not act sick at all after that.

You can see the Wall at several different sites. We decided to visit Ba da Ling. This is the most popular site and probably the best "preserved". We figured that the climb would not be too hard (ha!). We did take a cable car part way up the mountain and then we could walk along the wall.
The problem was that it snowed the day before so the wall was covered with a film of ice. It was very slippery. Liam fell four times before we could even make it to the first set of stairs. Jon and the girls continued up, but Poppa, Granny, Liam and I stayed behind for some of the climb. Liam was not the only one that fell both Poppa and Granny took a tumble. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt.

We did manage to walk along some parts of the wall, but it was slow and icy. As you can tell, it was also very cold up there!

No, Hallie has not started wearing glasses. These are not real glasses, well they are real, but only with only clear glass. She bought them on the street in Beijing. She bargained for them too. The lady wanted 25 yuan but Hallie got them for 13 yuan (I think). She thinks they are cool. I was proud of her for bargaining (in Chinese).

To help pay for her glasses and other souvenirs, Hallie charges one yuan if someone wants to take her picture. It doesn't always work like she wants it to, but when it does she has an sense on empowerment (and a little extra pocket change).

This day was really not the best. Lots of things went wrong.... but we did get to see and actually walk (or slip) on The Great Wall of China. That's pretty cool!

And now for the folks in Henderson:

Hallie and I take a minute catch up on some hometown news!

Poppa and Granny

2010-03-04T03:44:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I have updated; sorry. I have a bunch to blog about so I will just dive right in. In February we took a trip to Beijing to pick up my dad and Karen. We took a train to Beijing. It was pretty nice. We ended up taking soft sleeper because we were originally trying to get round trip tickets. That didn't work, and we had to fly back to Hangzhou. Traveling around this time of year (Spring Festival a.k.a Chinese New Year) can be tricky. Anyway, we had a whole compartment to ourselves and it was pretty comfortable. To be honest, Jon and I did not really sleep that well, and we were up early the next morning, but it was comfortable. One time that night, I woke up and looked out the window. I actually saw stars!

Liam playing a video game on the train, Jon is watching.

Hallie is reading to them before bed time.

We arrived in Beijing around 6 am. It was pretty cold. But we were well bundled. The first day we spent checking into our hotel, and getting acquainted with the area. We bought a few groceries and took a nap. That evening we found Peter's Tex Mex!!! It was so very good.

They even had Dr Pepper!! We were so exited that we eve let the kids have some!

They had hard tacos.

We also ordered Nachos, but they were eaten quicker than I could take a picture. We don't get food like this very much.

The second day in Beijing we went to the airport and picked Poppa and Granny up! The flight from Chicago is about 14 hours--that is a long time to be on an airplane. The kids were very excited (me too) and Poppa and Granny were excited too!

Hugging Granny (not a great picture)

Hallie and Liam hugging Poppa ( Eryn is probably still hanging on to Granny)

From the airport we were going to take two taxis back to the hotel, we met a guy with a van, we negotiated a price we could all agree on and we were off (all together). It worked out well, and we hired the same guy to take us to the Great Wall and also back to the airport when we left Beijing.

We took Poppa and Granny back to get settled in and then went to dinner. Eating in China was a new experience for them! I will post more about the trip very soon.

Brrr

2010-01-27T18:04:00.000-08:00

It is cold.

I know it has been cold in the US lately and many places broke records for how cold it was a few weeks ago. The temperature was much lower than it has been here.
But it is cold here.

People always ask us, "What's the weather like there?" I always say that it is about like it is here (TN)... But.....
It feels colder. It really does. Let me see if I can explain it...
Are you cold right now? No, not really. It is cold outside? How may layers of clothes are you wearing?

Right now I am inside, and I am wearing wool long john pants, and long wool socks under my jeans. (on really cold days, I might wear two pairs of long johns) On my top, I am wearing a thermal top, a long sleeve tee shirt, and a fleece sweatshirt. I am still a little chilled.

I own a couple pieces of clothing that were always too hot to wear in America. One of these is an acrylic fleece sweat shirt. It works just fine here, actually I usually wear two shirts under it!

I promise it FEELS colder here. It is wet (another rainy day) but it is more than just that. You can never really get away from the cold here. Our apartments are made of concrete. There is very little wood and NO insulation. The floor is either tile, or warmer wood, and that is on top of a concrete slab. It is a little like living in a cave. We have heaters but they rarely work like the ones in America. We do not have central heating so the bathrooms can be quite frigid.

In America, we leave our nice warm houses with carpet, insulation, and central heat and walk in the bitter cold to our cars. We turn on the heater and drive to a heated building or store. We are outside for very little time.

In China, it takes longer to go anywhere, so we are outside for longer. The larger stores usually have some heating, but most smaller stores do not.

Almost all the classrooms do not have heat. When we teach in the winter time, we never take our coat off, and sometimes we keep our gloves on. I really feel sorry for the students because they usually just sit there, and that gets really cold. At least the teacher gets to move around.

That being said, we are blessed. We do have a heater in most of the rooms. We have lots of warm clothes that we can layer up. We usually do not HAVE to be outside when the weather is at its worst. Not many people are as blessed. I am thankful.

P.S.
We are going to Beijing next week, it is much further north. But they say that the cold is dryer so it feels different. We shall see.

Meet Alex

2010-01-25T23:49:00.000-08:00

I wrote more about this on our team blog, so you can look at it if you wish....

www.clearcreekinchina.blogspot.com

Any way, I would like you to meet our new brother Alex....

Jon has been studying with Alex for nearly a year now. We were super excited about his decision to put on Him.

Alex is really a great guy. He has helped us out a bunch over the past year or so. We are blessed with his friendship.

Please continue to lift him up. We pray that he will continue to be faithful, and that he will continue to grow.

New smile

2010-01-24T05:19:00.000-08:00

Liam has a new smile! This is not the first tooth he has lost, it is his third! But it is his first top tooth. He pulled it himself. He has pulled all his teeth himself!

I knew it would come out soon. The other day, he was having a tough time leaving it alone. We were out and on a bus, and he kept putting his hand in his mouth! He bothered it enough that day that he made it bleed some. I was worried that we would be out on the street or on the bus and not have a good way to rinse his mouth. Anyway, this morning, he got up and said that it was really loose. Jon said, " good, pull it out". Liam wiggled it twice and then pulled it out! He was pretty excited.

He looks so cute snaggle-toothed! All day long he has made me grin when he talked because he now has a bit of a lisp.

Sad today

2010-01-19T16:58:00.000-08:00

Please pray for my family. I got news this morning that my grandmother (Nanny) is very ill. She has been ill for about a year. They feel that the end of her suffering is near. She has been brought home from the hospital and they are trying to keep her comfortable. However, the doctor says 2 days to a week.
Please pray for her comfort. Please pray for my granddaddy. I feel he will be so lost without her. Please pray for my aunts and uncle as they care for her.

It is really hard to be here in China right now. I am sure I will write more later.

Chinese lessons

2010-01-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

For a long time, Jon has really wanted to take language lessons. We both really would have loved to have just gone to language school instead of teaching. As the semester was winding down, Jon was researching some schools here in Hangzhou. So, both he and Hallie signed up for lessons. It is not cheap, but we really think it will be worth it. They go every week day morning for two hours of class. (I can't go right now, I am watching the little kids). It is hard, they both have homework, but they are also really making progress. The plan is for them to go everyday the entire month. Hallie may continue a couple of days a week when the new semester starts. Jon wants to do some more late in the summer after we come back from America and before his classes start.

One thing I have noticed, is that Hallie has more confidence in speaking Chinese. She is not as shy with it. So far, I have not heard her say anything she did not already know how to say, or something I did not understand, but she is a little more bold.

For example ( I mentioned this on my Face book status), at lunch yesterday, she wanted to know if something was spicy. She piped up "Auntie, is this spicy or not?" Before, she would have asked us, and then we might have told her to ask. I was proud of her. I told her so, and she said, well, if I spoke English she would not have understood me!

I wasn't just proud of her for speaking, Chinese. I was proud of her for speaking at all.

Oh, yeah, Hallie and Jon are also learning to read and write Chinese characters. Wow!!

Team Christmas

2009-12-30T04:48:00.001-08:00

The day after Christmas, we had our team celebration. We also had a short prayer meeting before. We ate snacks goodies and exchanged presents.

Another one of my traditions is to make this fruit tree for the kids. I use Granny Smith apples which are pretty expensive here, but it is tradition and Christmas is only once a year. I made it to share with the team, but I think that my kids ate most of it.

We drew names for Christmas. I had Jason's name and got him some mocha powder and caramel sauce from Starbucks. (no picture)

Jon had Josh's name and got him lots of Chocolate. He seemed happy.

Jason bought Jon a dozen donuts!

Cec. got Yan this cool bracelet. It has a dog on it (Caleb's sign) and a Tiger (the new baby's sign) very sweet.

Caleb got a truck!

I am so glad that we have a team that we enjoy spending time with.

Christmas Day

2009-12-30T04:41:00.000-08:00

I think Santa has come!

Look, someone changed the countdown!

Someone ate the cookies we left (well, most of them)

Look at all the stuff. Stockings are full and other stuff too!

Hallie got an mp3 player!

Eryn likes the stickers from her stocking.

Yeah, he will probably shoot his eye out....

Liam got several transformers, Jon is trying to figure one of them out.

Jon cooked a big brunch for us with Christmas shaped biscuits!

We got to talk to Jon's family on Skype.

Eryn is dressed up to go out to eat.

We had plans to go eat dinner at a Western buffet a couple of blocks away. We dressed up and bundled up and set out to walk there.

We also brought a bag of apples.

Apples are a symbolic gift for Christmas here.

The kids handed out apples to the guard at the gate and several of the workers that sweep the streets. It was fun to see the kids give them an apple and wish them a Merry Christmas (in Chinese). I was not able to get any good pictures of it.

When we got to the buffet, we found out that they added an extra 100 yuan to the price because it was Christmas day! We thought that was too much so we walked back home, ordered pizza, and watched The Muppet's Christmas Carol. We promised the kids we would go back to the buffet in a few days when the price was back to normal.

It was a good day, but a long one. We had a great time, and were exhausted!

Merry Christmas! Sheng dun Kuai le!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-29T23:48:00.001-08:00

It is our tradition to have a nice meal on Christmas eve. When we are in the States we eat with Jon's family. Here in China it is just us. Last year I made a roast this year we had HAM!! We ordered it cooked from the Hyatt. It was pricey,but oh so yummy. The rest of the food (mashed potatoes, green beans, and sweet potatoes) I cooked. We invited Frank to eat with us.
We ate until we were stuffed (we also had leftovers!).

We gave Frank a Christmas present.

When Frank left, we finished decorating the cookies.

Then we called Poppa and Granny on Skype and opened presents. Poppa and Granny got up very early to watch the kids (and us) open presents. After we cleaned up the mess and calmed down, the kids put out cookies and milk and settled down for a long winter's nap...

Stockings!

2009-12-29T23:38:00.001-08:00

You know, we have some pretty strange holiday traditions. Usually we don't think about them, they are just traditions. But when you are faced with trying to explain them to another culture... well, the results can be interesting to say the least.

An example?
Christmas Stockings...picture it in your head. As Westerners we all know what a stocking looks like, but now try to translate that into Chinese. hmmm... socks!

Some of Jon's students got together and gave him a gift of Christmas stockings. I thought it was great!
They tried to find smaller socks for the kids but could not. Liam and Hallie can wear theirs but Eryn's feet are still too small.
Oh, yeah, they put candy in the socks too!

Another example along the same line is this picture. I noticed something odd about this mannequin. Can you spot it?

here is a closer look:

Yep! Those are stockings!

Makes sense to me!

Chinese Christmas party

2009-12-29T23:37:00.001-08:00

The Sunday before Christmas we were invited to a Christmas party hosted by the W3 group (or the local family).

The Chinese version of a party is very different than our idea of a party. The biggest difference is that they almost always have performances. This party was no exception. They also had games. And this time, square dancing! I tried to video the dancing but it was just too crazy to make any sense on the video.

Jon is telling the story of the first Christmas, and Shelly is translating.
This is Chuck and we can't remember her name. They sang a song in Chinese. Chuck is one of the guys that Jon studies with on Sunday evenings.

You can see Joseph in the background here. Notice all the peanut shells, and orange peels? You can't have a party without snacks!

The party was very well organized, we think by George. We left right before they played "dirty Santa" but that is always a lot of fun too. I will look forward to this party every year.

Christmas traditions at our house

2009-12-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

I saw on facebook, a friend had an album based on traditions and decorations they put up each year. I thought it would be interesting to see how we (the Hardins) decorate for Christmas in China.

The holidays in another country can be very strange. We have a mix of our old traditions and we make some of new ones. The next several blog entries are about how we celebrated this year. This is our second year in China so we did not have to buy as many new decorations this year.

We have had this guy for several years. I think I might have got him at the Young married class Christmas party (dirty Santa!) The kids like to keep up with how many days are left...

We have a tradition of taking a picture of the kids in matching Pj's in front of the tree.

This is one of Jon's favorite decorations. I remember having one when I was a kid too. You light the candles and the angles move and make the bell ring. We need to find replacement candles for next year.

This was a new tree this year. The kids wanted a white tree, so I said if we found one, I would get it for them. We found it for only about 20 yuan! A great deal! This stayed in the school room most of the time.

I found this guy last year. I have one similar to this at home, but did not bring it. I love snowmen!

The top box was one that a gift card came in a few years ago, but it is great for packing small ornaments in. The bottom one held some of my favorite ornaments that I bought last year.

Every year my dad and Karen (a.k.a. Poppa and Granny) give us a family ornament. This is the one for this year. They also gave the kids Hallmark ornaments and we let them choose a new ornament. I brought all the kids yearly ornaments when we came on the survey trip before we moved here.

I found this little guy at Toys R Us. It is small and wooden. The kids really like it. It will be a tradition from now on.

Every year we make cookies and some of the cookies we make and decorate are the ones we leave for Santa. The kids love to do this.

Last year we bought the biggest tree we could find. Almost all the trees in China are pretty Charlie Brown, even the tall ones, but if you put enough garland, lights, and ornaments it does look pretty good. It is still magical, even if it is a little different.

It's begining to look a lot like....

2009-12-06T00:12:00.000-08:00

...fall.

Just last week, I noticed a small tree along the path outside our building. The leaves, were bright red! I started to look around and noticed that some of the trees have changed color. I don't remember ever noticing the fall colors here. Most of the trees are not the kind that change color. I know the leaves changed a while ago back home. After I noticed the change, I got my camera and snapped a few pictures. Hangzhou and Shan shui ren jia (our apartment complex) is really beautiful.

a closer picture

This is my favorite picture, it is now the background on my desktop.

this one is near the lake.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-05T23:07:00.000-08:00

Once again, our apartment was the place to be....

We hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for our team, and others. We held the dinner on Friday because of teaching schedules. We had tons of food, it was so yummy.

We actually got a turkey this year!!! Heather ordered one from Shanghai, and she got a hotel to roast the turkey. It was gooooood. We ate green beans, carrots, dressing, corn, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, turkey, brownies, homemade bread, pumpkin bread, pie, pumpkin pie, apple cider, and boiled custard. We were stuffed. It was a good evening of good food and fellowship. We are very thankful!!

Jon carved the turkey, and Jeff helped.

The spread!

Everyone eating...

Eryn eating the turkey

Hallie eating the turkey

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is the holiday season! Please remember us in your prayers. The holidays can be a hard time for us since we are away from the States. The holidays in China, are not the same. I have had some homesickness lately. Still, we love what we are doing and where we are.

Halloween

2009-11-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

Halloween is one of those American holidays that has not really caught on here yet. That did not stop us from celebrating. Last year we went to a party that someone else hosted for their students. This year none of us were having a party so we decided to go to Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is a treat for us anyway, and Pizza hut is usually decked out for Halloween. All week the workers were wearing costumes. However on the day of Halloween, they were wearing their regular uniforms. We were disappointed but we still ate pizza!

Hallie was Hermione Granger, Liam was Harry Potter, and Eryn was Tinker Bell (in the arrival dress). We caused quite a stir on the bus and walking to Pizza Hut. The kids often turn heads, but it was a little more pronounced when they were in costume. See the attached video.

We met up with Jeff, Cathy, and Tanner at Pizza Hut. They brought along some of their students. The students gave our kids candy!

Nothing say celebration like pizza!

It was not quite an American celebration, but it was fun!

Weird weather

2009-11-11T18:24:00.001-08:00

One question lots of people ask about China is "What's the weather like there?" I almost always answer that is pretty much like it is at home. Some parts of China (north) are very cold and some parts (south) are very hot. Where we live, is about the same at home, (maybe a little warmer). One thing that is different is that we do not usually get thunderstorms. Actually, when we lived in central China, I only heard it thunder one time all year. Hangzhou gets a little more thunderstorms, but usually nothing like what we have in west Tennessee.

However, the other day we had a big storm. The sky got dark as night, literally! I have seen it get dark in Tennessee, but nothing like it did here! I took a picture. It was so dark for a few minutes that I wondered if there was an eclipse that I forgot about.

This picture was taken about 3:00 in the afternoon. It was already beginning to get a bit lighter.

Liam is terrified of thunderstorms, and I really don't like them that much either. I do NOT miss this kind of weather. I am thankful that we do not have to deal with this often!

Party!

2009-11-08T22:27:00.000-08:00

I feel like we have had one party after another the last few weeks! We have had a bunch of people in our apartment lately. The last several Sundays we have had about 20 people too! Phew! We have been busy, but I love it!

I am so thankful that we have an apartment that people feel comfortable visiting. I have several events that I need to blog! This past Saturday, we had a party for Hallie's birthday. She chose who she wanted to come. I made a cake (from a mix, thanks!). We also had pumpkin squares (from scratch), brownies (from mix--Jon made), and peanut butter cookies. Sugar rush!!!

Hallie opened some presents too. Actually she has been opening presents for three days! She opened the gift from Grandmamma on skype on Saturday morning. She got an American Girl doll (Kit). She loves it, and does not let it get too far from her sight.

Saturday night she opened presents at the party. Sunday morning she opened more presents on Skype (from Poppa and Granny). Finally, this morning she opened gifts from her brother and sister and parents. She has been very busy playing with her presents. Tonight we will go to a new restaurant for the final celebration!

notice the doll in the background?

Yep, this about describes how we all feel! But that cake sure was good!!!

Hallie

2009-11-08T21:50:00.001-08:00

Today is Hallie's Birthday!

Hallie Elizabeth was born November 9, 2009. I remember saying that it was the hardest thing that I had ever done (birth) but the best! It was most certainly love at first sight! I don't have that many early pictures with me here in China, but I thought I would share some from the past nine years.

Brand new family!

She was 4 weeks old in this picture.

She was 19 months here. This was her first trip to China in 2002.
Two years old.

Four years old!
6 years old!

Seven Years old (in Henderson)
8 years old (in China)
This year! (9 years old!)

I noticed that she is wearing the same shirt in the last two years (it is one of her favorites). Boy the last years have flown by!!!

Happy Birthday Hallie!

Party

2009-10-10T02:18:00.000-07:00

This Post is a little out of date. Oh well, better late than never. A few weeks ago ( more than a month now) Chuck and Nelda Harle were in town. I had wanted to have a get-together with all the foreigners in town, so I decided to do it while Chuck and Nelda were here. Nelda helped by sending out e-mails. I did not really know how many to expect, and I am not positive of the final count but I am sure that there were more than 45 people at my house. This was some of the food we had.

This is the sign of a big party in China. Lots and lots of shoes. ( You do not wear shoes inside houses)

These are pictures of folks mingling. It was very loud, but I think folks had a good time. It was a lot of fun. It is amazing to see how many workers He has in this city. We rarely see these folks so it was nice to get together.

These folks are either from Henedrson or at least lived there for a while. See anybody you know?

This was the entire group except for Heidi, who had to leave early. It was great fun. I loved hosting this, but I would not want to do it every week.

Romans 8:25 (Hope)

2009-10-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

I snapped this picture as I was strolling through the local pet market.

On the bus

2009-10-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

I don't remember where we were going. Liam and I were sitting further back. Hallie and Eryn were in one of the front seats. On some of the buses, there are seats that face backwards. We learned a long time to avoid those seats if possible. With a bumpy, hot bus, it can make matters worse to sit backwards (motion sickness). So the girls just turned around and watched out the front. I snapped a picture!

National Day

2009-10-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

October 1st is National Day in China. It is the anniversary of the founding of the PRC (People's Republic of China). This year was the 60th anniversary. Everywhere, all over town there were decorations.

At the gate of our apartment complex

Near the Lake

Along the tops of buildings

On light poles

outside shops and restaurants

Even on the bus

and some shop girls were wearing hats that were decorated

We have found that the Chinese people are an extremely patriotic people.

We watched the huge parade and review of the troops in Beijing (on TV).

We have off from school for several days. The legal holiday is about 8 days this year, so most folks are also off for a week. The stores are packed. The lake was crowded. Traffic is weird. In some places around town it is really good and then in some places it is crazy. We went to the lake today, but two different taxis would not take us there.

I am sure that the train stations and normal tourist places would be beyond crazy. We chose not to travel outside of HZ this time.

I will try and post some of the things that we will do and did this week.

Temple visit

2009-09-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

I am really not as computer savvy as I would like to be. Often my blog posts take a really long time. I just posted on the team blog, and it felt like it took all day! I would really like to post it here, but I don't have the patience. I could just copy and paste, but that does not take care of the pictures, so instead, I will just put the link to the blog. This posting is about a recent visit to a tea house and temple. It has a bunch of pictures and even a short video. Really, it is worth looking at (IMHO).
http://clearcreekinchina.blogspot.com/

New furniture

2009-09-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

We are very blessed with our apartment. For the most part the furniture provided is great! They are neutral colors and look very good (especially for China). There was one thing we were lacking though....

The wall with the TV in the living room had no place to put the cable box or DVD player, we just kept them on the floor. We decided we needed something to put the DVD player on and a place to store stuff like DVDs.

Before:

So we went to the furniture market and looked around and even took some measurements. We saw what we wanted at one of the showrooms...then we went home to think about it and all of that. We went back to the market about two weeks later, but the showroom we had looked at was gone! But another lady said she could get the stuff for us, we could just pick it out of the catalog. We showed her what we wanted, and bargained and arranged a delivery in two weeks (in pieced together Chinese).

Then the furniture arrived, and the guys put it together with a power drill in our living room and put them where we wanted. The book cases actually ended up being much bigger than we had thought and we were afraid that they would not work, but I think it ended up working very well. And we still have some empty shelves that we can put stuff if we need to.

After:

Fermenter?

2009-09-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

This morning Mr. Li called Jon and asked him if we had a fermenter. Jon said no. Why would we have that? What is it? Do you use when making beer? Then he said that the school has decided to give us one because of N1H1 (swine flu).
A fermenter!? How is that going to help? Then he said he would give us five and if our temperature is over 38o we should call him immediately!
Oh!
Now do you know what a fermenter is?
Yes, he meant thermometer.
Of course in his defense Mr. Li speaks three languages, Chinese, English, and German. It is ok that he makes some mistakes. Sometimes even if someone speaks English it can still be hard to understand some things. But it does make for a funny family joke.

I guess it was good that we did not have the fermenter last week. I know I had a fever, but I did not know how high it was. I don’t guess I had the flu because so far no one else in the family got sick!

We go Monday to have our annual Chinese physical exam. It is always interesting. Maybe we can get some pictures this time. Last year they told Jon he had fat in his liver and I had gallstones. I wonder what they say this year.