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

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)

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

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!