Atlanta with the Beckleys

This post has been slow in coming, due to the great amount of pictures I had to sort through! Grandparents who take a ton of pictures are great at preserving memories - it's just hard picking which ones to use! :)

From Alabama with my family, my parents drove us to Atlanta for the annual gathering of Ryan's mom's family. She has 6 brothers and sisters, and they all make sure they're there, and the cousins all try to come too. 

We were still battling sickness, as I had a bad cold and Ryan was getting over the stomach bug. So Sunday I spent  most of the day at the hotel resting and making sure Hadassah got a good nap as she was tired from late nights and lots of activity. But on the up side, I read a book in one day, which hasn't happened in forever!

 For a few moments, Hadassah had her grandparents all together. It can't get much better than that! I've never seen a baby so in love with her grandparents... it always thrills her to see them on skype weekly, and she loved being with them in person. She often asks for them at home now, and it's hard to tell her we can't go see them anytime soon... So we look at a lot of pictures. :)

With Evan just three months younger than Hadassah, it's fun to be raising a child at the same time as Ryan's sister, having common things to talk about and relate on.

With her shoes bought in China wearing out a month after getting them, we went shoe shopping with the grandparents on Saturday morning :)

A glass-topped coffee table provided many happy times of play :)

It was a beautiful day, so we enjoyed some time outside

 Nothing is quite as fun as being swung around by Daddy!

 You've got to love Christmas in the south, where you play in the leaves instead of in the snow! :)

I was also happy that Hadassah finally got to wear a dress I made. I cut it out in China, only to find the sewing machine I was borrowing wasn't working. So, I brought it along and made good use of the jet lag by staying up 'til Midnight on Christmas sewing it together. It's already almost too short, but I like how the colors turned out, using fabric from aprons made for our wedding and from curtains for our first home.

One of Hadassah's 2nd cousins was also a year old! They didn't play much together, but had fun playing side by side at times.

 We stayed at the same hotel Ryan's parents were at, and whenever we were there, Hadassah always wanted to go down the hall to "G'ma and G'pa." And no wonder, when she'd get extra love and crackers! :)

For the first big family gathering, the cousins organized an ugly Christmas sweater competition. Hadassah's face says it all... her parents looked pretty crazy!

Some of the other awesome contestants!

 "I fish you a Merry Christmas" won the guy's trophy, and I took home the girls' award, with the tackiest sweater ever, a girl's pajama topped with sewn on ornaments and accessories. Ryan won in a category they made up just for him...  ;)

Sunday night we had the traditional caroling. So much fun to hear everyone singing out heartily! 

Hadassah loves to dance to music, and when she found an empty space, she went at it, twirling and smiling. Made this dance-loving mama proud. :)

 The whole group. So inspiring how every year they come from different states (and now we were the first to come from another country!) just to be together. 

Hadassah found out that if she's not careful, her grandparents might put her behind bars...

...but all for the purpose of giving her lots of fun!

 Monday morning we set out with Ryan's parents for an all-day drive to Indiana for the last week of our time in the US...

Just another night in China...

Last night was pretty crazy.

I don't write this to complain or say "oh we have it so hard!" - plenty of other people have it hard enough! There are challenges to getting sleep wherever you are, especially if you're a parent. But, sometimes being in a foreign country does add to it...

We got to bed a little later, due to a co-worker of Ryan's inviting us over for supper that ended up taking longer than we thought. But, it was fun to meet some of the great people he works with, and enjoy some delicious dumplings.

So we got home, put the snuggle bug to bed, ate (we had to leave early before all the food was done for Hadassah's sake, so leftovers came in handy!), I tackled the dishes while Ryan worked on learning a Chinese rap song his company asked him to do a part of for their annual dinner (yeah, my husband's amazing like that!), and then we turned on the electric blanket as we got ready for bed. That thing is the best invention ever. I never got the point of them before; I was always warm under the covers, so why have heat going through your blanket? I know now: it's all for the initial plunge. It used to be so so icy under the sheets that we'd dread getting in bed and then shiver for the first five minutes once we did... now, getting in bed is something to look forward to, as the sheets are warmed by the blanket. We turn it off soon after getting in bed, and usually settle in for a great night's sleep.

The first disturbance happened at 2:15 AM. We heard our American cell phone ringing. Yes, thanks to Republic Wireless, we have a cell phone with a US number that works via the internet, allowing family and friends to call and text us from back home. It also comes in handy when we need to call our bank or airlines or answer questions about a US order, though that sometimes disturb sleep, as business hours in America are sleeping hours here. We jumped out of bed and made it to the phone just as the call ended. It was one of our parents. To add to it, we saw the previous hour we'd missed a call from a number with our other parents' area code. Uh oh. Were they trying to get a hold of us? Had one of them suffered a heart attack or gotten some bad news? Your mind doesn't work logically at 2 AM, and it's easy to imagine the worst when surrounded by darkness. It took two tries, but we finally got a hold of the parent who called, only to find out their cell phone had dialed us by mistake. We weren't upset, just relieved that there wasn't any emergency. We had a laugh when we listened to the voice mail from the other number to discover it was someone looking for a "John and Mary" to talk to them about their pet. Oh yeah - reminds me I should probably call her back and tell her she has the wrong number. But maybe I should wait 'til it's day there. ;)

We went back to bed, and tried to settle back to sleep, trying not to the think about the alarm going off in 2 hours. I'd JUST gotten back to sleep in the middle of a weird dream about people breaking into our house (since we've been warned that there are more crimes here in China around this time leading up to the Chinese New Year) when cries pierced the night. Hadassah had thankfully adjusted to jet lag and slept through again a few nights ago, but this time her waking seemed to be caused by teething pains. As I stumbled out to attend to her, Ryan asked, "what's that smell?"

Coming back after she was settled down, Ryan was trying to figured out the source of a burning or gas smell in our bedroom. It thankfully wasn't strong in any other parts of the house, but it was almost unbearable in our bedroom. We discovered it was definitely coming from outside, but didn't see any fire or anything abnormal looking. Earlier that day we'd noticed our curtain blowing in the wind - with our window completely shut - confirming our suspicion that they weren't sealed well at all. Something to work on... We brought the BlueAir purifier back into our room, but that didn't help the smell much, so we moved on to the living room. Literally.

Oh, but first Ryan took a trip outside. Realizing if it WAS a fire, and was in our building, we'd have no way to know, and couldn't see up above us from our windows. The lack of smoke detectors or any alarm system in the apartment is a bit disconcerting. We'd already checked our gas to make sure it wasn't leaking, and a man had come by on Friday to do a test for leaks as a precaution, so that made us feel better. Ryan looked around but couldn't see anything abnormal... By morning the smell was gone from outside, so who knows what it was. Maybe a factory was burning plastic or something...

The living room rug is more comfortable than you'd think. We turned off our alarm, knowing we needed sleep to start another busy week of work. So, though it took a while, the next thing I knew was waking up at 7 AM. My back ached, but it's good to know that in weird situations, I can still sleep on the floor.

So, there's another one for the books. You never know what will happen when you live overseas. 

Breakfast with Hadassah

 Preparing breakfast used to be quite stressful. Hadassah was always hungry and ready to eat (even after just nursing!) and would come find me and pull at my clothes, wanting whatever I was making or at least to be held so she could watch. So, I decided to involve her. At first, I just held her while she watched, and let her press the button on the water boiler, but lately I'm realizing she can do more and more...

Toddlers are fascinated with pouring things out, and she's no different. So, I put that to good use in measuring ingredients :)

If I'm stirring something, she wants to too! Just takes some mommy guidance or we have flour all over the floor. But, cooking with toddlers always leaves a mess no matter how hard you try, so you just have to accept it as part of it. ;)

 In the spirit of honesty, this happens more than once with each cooking session. She often ends up stuffing some of it in her mouth, covering her face with flour. And it hardly ever bothers her as she goes back for more (yuck!). The other day a chunk of sugar fell on the counter as I was measuring and quick as a whip, she stuck it in her mouth (oops!) so I'm sure that doesn't help!

But, though sometimes after too many grabs I just put her down so I can finish in peace, I like the training opportunities cooking provides. Teaching her when it's okay to touch and taste, and when mommy says "do not touch" or "do not eat" that it's off limits. We're still working on it. ;)

Trained by my mom to have vitamin C each day, I'm passing it on to my daughter. She loves to throw things away, so I'm giving her opportunity with things that are meant to be thrown away. Though, more often than not she'll try to sample the peels along the way - another thing we're working on!

Though cooking with Hadassah does make it a little slower, I love that I'm combining something that needs to be done with time with her. The fact that it's instilling in her an enjoyment of work is also such a great thing. And when I catch site of her face of wonder as she helps, it fills me with such joy... I love my little cooking companion!

She's also HUGELY motivated by praise. Recently she's started finding Daddy when she has the orange peels, watching him closely as she puts it in, to see him cheer. It lights her up. :)

And last but not least, egg cracking. :) She LOVES it! Anytime she sees an egg, she says "crack crack crack" and reaches for it. She's gotten pretty good too, often cracking them just enough for me to break open and dump in, though we end up with a puddle on the counter sometimes. I'm amazed at how young little ones can understand and do things!

Cooking

My wife is an incredible cook.  And I'm not just talking about the deliciousness of the food she cooks.  I'm talking about the circumstances under which she cooks.

Let me go over a few of the things that impress me.

1. No microwave.

Did you know it was possible to put food on the table, morning, noon, and night without a microwave?  It's a little known fact that the microwave, invented in 1945, was what propelled us into the age of technology.  People were able to eat better meals with less effort.  With the extra brain power of food and the spare time generated from having the microwave, people invented computers and everything else we know today.  Yet, my wife somehow stands in mysterious defiance of the laws of mankind and manages with just as much efficiency to put amazing food (even leftovers - the reason the microwave was first invented...) on the table every day.  My mind is blown almost every time I think about this.

2. Any circumstance

It doesn't matter the kind of day or the impossibility of the task, there will be some sort of amazing dish on the table.

Recently, we just went on a perilous and exhausting two week journey.  The morning after we got back, in our completely jet-lagged condition, my wife made these - delicious pancakes - from scratch - no pancake mix!  Better food than I could have had at any breakfast joint, prepared the morning we woke up from our harrowing journey.  ("We'll just have to do pancakes this morning.  I don't have ingredients for anything else since I haven't been grocery shopping yet.  Sorry."  A wife that is sorry for cooking delicious homemade pancakes from scratch?  Sometimes I have to do a serious paradigm shift to try to figure out how how she has such perspectives...)

3. With Hadassah

Recently, we've been having the same amazing food, but I'll wander over to the kitchen and see that Anna is teaching our little daughter how to cook.  It takes extra time and I'm sure makes the process more complicated, but she takes time out to prepare our little daughter for cooking and it makes her feel like such a big girl (and, well, she is growing every day!)  I think/hope Anna's going to do a post on that soon, so I'll let her post the pictures :)

Thank You God, for a wife who is so amazing at what she does.  Thank you for our food.  Thank you for Your many provisions.

Alabama with Anna's Family

After arriving in the middle of the night on the Saturday before Christmas, we were blessed to spend until Friday with my (Anna's) family in central Alabama. It was amazing to have 25 of us together, all staying in my parent's house and guest house!

It wasn't without challenges... getting over jet lag while staying with Hadassah in the same room and trying to get her back to sleep when she wanted to get up and play (which we did plenty of in the middle of the night those first nights!) without waking up all of the others sleeping in the same house was difficult. Thankfully, everyone was understanding. And I survived 36 hours of travel and arriving with just 1 hour of sleep, when Hadassah woke up an hour after I finally got to bed in the middle of the night we arrived. The 24 hour stomach bug also hit the family on Christmas Eve, making its way through, and hitting Ryan the day we left and Hadassah later on - who then spread it to other friends and family members. There were times, usually in the middle of the night, that I thought "I can't do this - I don't want to do this ever again!" I have a new respect to those who travel cross time zones as a way of life, especially with kids! But, looking back it was definitely worth it. The pictures can attest to the memories made...

 Hadassah got to be a part of cousin caroling...

Since my parents often sang her "Hallelu, hallelu... praise ye the Lord!" on skype, with clapping and arm raising, she started clapping her hands and raising her arms each time she saw a picture of them. So, finally, she got to do it with them in person!

 Polka dots and playing with Grandma :)

 We got to see SO many friends, at a party some friends had on Sunday afternoon and at a stop-and-go party my parents hosted on Monday. I was jet lagged and often busy chasing a toddler, but it was good to see so many familiar faces and get and give tons of hugs!

 Brothers-in-law and both former employees of Rockwell Collins sporting their Rockwell jackets

 When our family goes out for Mexican, it takes a LONG table!

 Pictures with Grandpa, comforted by Nigh-night lamb while Mommy's away

 Sweet Daddy-daughter time while Ryan gave me a morning out to go thrift store shopping. I found 8 shirts for just 60 cents a piece plus shoes, kids books, a sweater and friend's baby gifts... only spent about $30 for everything and it felt SO amazing to be on the bargain hunt again :)

 Seeing Hadassah and Tabitha (3 months younger) play together was one of my favorite parts :)

 All the girl cousins! So far girls have guys beat 7 to 5 in the grandchildren count.

Conversation with siblings is such a blessing. Especially when we have ones that are steps ahead of us in this journey of life. So great to learn from them and laugh together.

 A very very dear friend drove over for an evening. So wonderful to see her and spend time as couples as she came with her man. :) From 5 year old friends to email penpals to duo bloggers to married women... we've come a long way!

 We opened gifts Christmas Eve, and my sister knitted these cute little slippers for Hadassah!

Hadassah absolutely positively LOVED playing with a cat and dog she was allowed to touch. She said "Meow" and "Woof!" so many times... :)

 Christmas morning sunshine and swinging with my little sweetie... the weather was beautiful and the air so clear and fresh!

 Hard to get cuter than these two! We gave them each a doll for pictures, but of course they each kept taking the same doll from each other ;)

 Family picture, Christmas 2014!

 Conversation in the car with sisters on the way to a movie!

 Our little Christmas star :)

 Bath time with a cousin! I can't wait to see these girls become great friends as they get older! And a lot of fun to have a girl the same age as my older sister's daughter... amazing how time changes things!

After being super clingy to Mama all week, Hadassah finally warmed up to others Friday morning...

  ...especially when they took her on a wagon ride! She didn't want to leave it even when she saw me! (and my sister and sis-in-law were great in taking care of her so I could pack!)

The gang was all together for Christmas... 

Grandparents and grandkids, with one showing off the back of the shirt my sister designed for us. It had outlines of states and countries (Alabama, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennesee, China, and Eastern Europe) with little stick figures for each person in the family. Tons of fun.

It was a Christmas to not forget, and the time with family felt the sweetest ever, knowing we'd not been with anyone for 7 months and wouldn't be with them again for months to a year more...

A Cardboard Kitchen

When people asked "what do you want to be when you grow up?" my answer was always the same: A mommy. 

It's a lot harder than my little girl dreams made it seem, and some days are more enjoyable than others. Some are just tough all the way through. But today was one of those really fun and sweet days... we got time outside, she colored a pretty picture while I studied Chinese, she took a good, long nap allowing me to get chores done, and she woke up in such a good mood. She helped me unload all of the groceries, carrying things from the box to me at the fridge with such delight on her face. Then I had time to make her something, and as I worked and tried to involve her, she kept snuggling me so we took lots of breaks for cuddles and giggles.

One thing we never have lack of is cardboard boxes. I often just throw them out, we have so many. With about 75% of my grocery shopping done online these days, we get a steady supply.

Not knowing how long we'll be living here, and with it almost certainly not being more than a few years, if that, I don't want to buy many big toys that I know we'll have to leave here. But I wanted a kitchen for Hadassah, as she's been doing more imaginative play recently. So...

  It's not perfect, but it was fun to make!

 Some amazing friends sent us a care package in a box taped so many times to make sure it wouldn't break that Ryan just cut around the sides to open it. Which started me on the idea for this kitchen, seeing it worked perfectly as a "door."

 It didn't last for too long, but Hadassah enjoyed playing with it for a while. And I think it's something she'll continue to like as she grows.

 Having a bear to feed makes a kitchen more fun! 

Especially when it's one of her favorite little friends. :)

Thank you, Lord, for the joy of being a mommy...

A New Year... a Growing Girl!

We got back to Shanghai on Wednesday evening, after 2 crazy days in airports (more on that in another post!). It's been somewhat of a blur since then, with jet lag, unpacking, getting back into routine, and trying to get sleep. Thankfully, after waking up every 2 hours wanting to play and/or nurse the second night home, Hadassah is now just waking once. It's later in the night each time, so we're hoping she soon sleeps straight through again.

She's growing so fast...

 Playing dress up with fun accessories...

 Saying "Meow!" when I put on her new warm kitty hat this morning, though it's been a few days since I told her it was a kitty. She remembers so much!

Using a fork... she's getting pretty good with a spoon and today wasn't enthused about eating her avacado (which she normally loves) so I brought out the fork and she loved trying to stab them, usually needing our help, but eventually cleaning her plate. 

She also says "uh oh" in the cutest way when things fall, often with her hands out, as she's doing in the picture above. :) 

 She just looks so grown up!

At 14 1/2 months, she's talking so much, mostly gibberish, but surprising me each day with how many "real" words she repeats. She's got most of her animal sounds down pat, and this morning as she was saying "ff" when she saw a dog, the dog barked a deep bark, and she started imitating the sound it made - so much fun! Context is everything though, because so many of her words sound alike: the basic sound of "na na" can mean "no no" (she's great at correcting herself!), "night night" for her lamb blanket, and "noodle" - I can distinguish some difference, but they're pretty slight!

Today felt like the true start of the new year, as before we were traveling and things were just topsy turvy. Today we'd gotten enough sleep to get up early, start back on normal routine, and I even got good time for devotions and journaling. I've forgotten how much writing helps me get perspective and remember to trust God and not focus on the hardships. Because somewhere along the way, I'd given up.

China was just too hard. We talked about moving home. Things were overwhelming, with pollution, all the extra work, being far from family, and other health risks, plus not being in community or having a babysitter close by. They're legitimate concerns, and we haven't made a final decision. But, I'd pretty much decided things weren't ever going to get better and stopped really trying.

It's humbling to admit. Growing up, I never thought I would go overseas myself, never had that urge or "call", but always knew I'd support my husband if he wanted to go. It was worth doing - and how hard could it be? A lot harder than I thought. I'd heard that the first year is the hardest, but until you're in the situation and having thing after thing pile up, it's hard to understand. I know now.

But there are also a lot of blessings. I wouldn't trade this time or opportunity, no matter how hard and uncomfortable it is in the here and now. God is working, often in ways we can't yet see.

Thankfully Ryan, while also facing some struggles, has a good perspective. He weighs the pros and cons, is praying and seeking solutions, but also has determined to not be negative. It's so easy, when the culture is different and things aren't the way you think they should be. But he's inspired me. We're helping each other remember not to say negative remarks about the way life is here, and are renewed in wanting to persevere.

So while getting back to life here, combined with the exhaustion of travel and never wanting to fly that far with a toddler again prompted a meltdown on Saturday, I'm praying for joy and feel a renewed sense of purpose. If nothing else, being here is refining me; it's causing me to see my sin, and making me fall again on our amazing, gracious Savior. Knowing Him is so worth it all.

And, He gives good gifts to His children. Each day is a gift just because we have life and breath, but today felt like a special gift from God. The last three days were really badly polluted... between 200 and 270 on the air quality index, termed "health warnings of emergency conditions." Last night as we looked at the haze yet again through the window, I prayed, "Lord, please make tomorrow a less polluted day." I didn't have much faith... I just was desperate to be able to take my daughter outside. But this morning I checked it when I got up and...the AQI was 50. "Moderate." We enjoyed quite a few outings today, and the blue sky lifted both of our spirits. We are blessed!

So, life goes on. Who knows what 2015 will hold? 2014 definitely held more than I ever imagined! But God has been and is faithful. Who's with me in praying for joy and seeking to glorify Him in 2015?