Fun Filled Family Day

Today was so glorious, simply because it was filled with family time. Dustin has had the past two days off due to the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. He has worked a little bit, but it has been a great time to catch up and I am feeling like we are in a wonderful new pattern. (I realize that this fall will be totally different again, as Dustin will be traveling more, and Danny will be in school, but I am adjusting to my new free time with the Ayi, and it is making such a difference in our lives).

Today we woke and spent the morning together and then got ready and went to the pool early. It is in the 80s here, so it is perfect weather. Our neighborhood may be far from the city, but you cannot complain much when you can walk across the street and go to a pool/beach on a nice sunny day. While we were there, Dustin and I decided it would be nice to have a picnic at the beach, so I headed quickly home (2 minutes walk) and packed a lunch and headed back. It was so relaxing and a lot of fun. We were amazed at how few people were actually there, but figured a lot of people must have taken the four day weekend to travel. After the pool, we headed back for naps. While Josh did not bless me with a very long one, both Dustin and I were able to rest for a short period. We ended the day with a walk down to the ice cream store. Just an overall fantastic day—perfect in everyway.

Holiday and lunch with friends

Today is the Dragon boat holiday here in China, so everyone is off (except our drivers). Today we are meeting our friends for lunch and then bringing pictures in to be framed.

We had a great time at Pete's Tex Mex restaurant, enjoying Mexican and American fair. Our friend then joined us in going to the market where they have a framing shop. The shop keeper was not there immediately, so we went around looking at some of the other shops. There were all sorts of accessories for the house and Dustin and I took mental notes, as we still need a lot of this type of stuff for the house.

The shop keeper returned, and she began working on helping us pick out frames. We had pictures that we had brought with of the family and then pictures we had picked up on our trip to Hangzhou that all needed to be framed. While we were there we also found a beautiful oil painting of the Bund (the area of Shanghai that was where all the foreign companies settled when they first arrived in Shanghai). We decided to go ahead and purchase it for our dining room.

We were so excited about our new picture, as it is the first one that is up on our walls. We have been living with large white walls since we have arrived here, and this is such a welcome change. I am looking forward to when we get our other pictures back and putting them up on the walls. It will really help to make the house more cozy and lived in.

After getting home, the boys took extremely long naps, and we finally had to wake them at 7:30 to eat dinner. We all headed to bed around 9 as we have another full day tomorrow planned.

Danny's Ride on his New Bike

The weekend before we left for Hangzhou, we had a barbecue with the general manager's family of Dustin's company's sister division. (Wow that is a mouth full). They were the couple that joined us here in Shanghai back in September to help navigate the city and look for housing and schools. They ended up moving to the community directly next to ours, so we decided to get together and have an American barbecue.

To our wonderful surprise (Danny's most of all) they had bought and hid in their garage a bike for Danny. We had mentioned previously that we were thinking of getting one for him, and they had went ahead and purchased him one. He of course was over joyed by this and so excited to ride it.

We had been practicing in our familyroom, but I decided that we should bring over a nice thank you gift and that it would be fun for Danny to deliver it on his bike.

So after our morning jaunt to the store (the one within walking distance), we picked up our cookies, card and Danny's bike and set off. I was quite proud of Danny, as he did really well for being one of his only times outside riding the bike (he rode it home they day we received it). The only problem for me was that he wanted my hand on it at all times. This normally is not a problem, except that I was also pushing Josh in his stroller. We could only have been one hilarious site with me pushing Josh in front of us with one hand, while holding onto Danny's bike handle with my other and trying to coach him into peddaling and then steering and then braking at the appropriate times (his biggest struggle was either looking at what was going on around him, or only his feet).

We finally arrived, and they were so excited to see us. We ended up staying for lunch, and Olga helped me push Josh home while I assisted Danny. By the time we arrived home he was doing extremely well. He is going to have a blast once he gets the hang of it. Now we just have to find something for Josh, as he believes he should be able to share this new toy of Danny's.

Ceiling Repair, Broken Chinese and a New Ayi

Today we greeted our new ayi and we are already getting sort of a routine. She is settling in and we are feeling more comfortable. We left shortly after she arrived to run our normal shopping trip to the Carrefour. Thankfully it was a quick trip, as the repair man came shortly after we got home to fix our bedroom ceiling.

Of course, nothing can be easy in a repair when you can not clearly speak to the person trying to help you. We spent a good 30-40 minutes trying to explain that there was no current leak, but just damage from the leak that needed to be repaired. This not only took the 30-40 minutes, but also three repair people. Finally, our third repair man, understood and began undoing part of the ceiling and fixing the damage. The only frustrating part is that the light only flickered for the first maintenance man, and by the third person, it was back to shining normally. So, in great Chinese fashion it was deemed fine although half a bucket full of water had pour out of it. Oh well, I finally gave up and decided I was not going to get anywhere and that it is only a rental property.

So, after the afternoon excitement, I was so thrilled to look around my house and realize that not only was it spotless, but she had gone through and organized all our drawers. Our socks are all neatly rolled and in their own separate spot. We are truly getting spoiled, and my life here is quickly becoming so much nicer. I now have full time to devote to my family, and that alone is the greatest blessing of our journey and experience here.

New Ayi and Getting Spoiled

Our ayi came on today and after a fairly quick tour and explanation with my broken Chinese and hand motions, she got to work cleaning and ironing and doing laundry. The boys and I were able to focus on playing and having fun. We moved our normal grocery shopping to Tuesday, so I could stay and answer any questions that our Ayi had for me. I was amazed that I was fairly comfortable having her there all day. She is very pleasant to be around, although I do not always understand what she is trying to tell me. The kids have already warmed up to her, and she is a very hard worker. I am hopeful that this pattern will continue and that it will be a nice working relationship.

Unfortunately, they never showed up to do the ceiling today, so I will have to contact them tomorrow.

Welcome Home China Style

Well today we woke up and did not have much hot water. This is not an unusual situation as we have had trouble with the hot water heater before. What alarmed us more was that it appeared to be raining on one of our balconies, but no where else. There was water coming from somewhere on the roof and unfortunately we could hear water dripping within the ceiling of our bedroom (near the windows where the "rain" was falling). So needless to say, Dustin called the office.

A nice maintenance man showed up and he looked in our bedroom, looked on the patio and then headed to the roof. Apparently, he did not understand what we said about hearing the water in the ceiling, because he focused his attention on the roof and then left. Unfortunately, between the time he was on the roof and him leaving, the water within our ceiling became a nice water fountain feature in our room, pouring water into our bedroom through one of the lights. We could see the dry wall in different spots grow wet and Dustin quickly called the office again. The maintenance man returned and this time could clearly see for himself the mess we had on hand. We also were able to explain that our water heater was not working and that the air conditioner down stairs also seemed to be failing.

So, within a couple of hours of the early morning on our Sunday home, we had a crew working in our apartment, throughout the apartment complex and on the roof. Needless to say, we called our driver and explained that we would not be making it to church today.

Thankfully, the air conditioner was just a new thermostat and is working great now. The water heater took them all day to fix, but is now in working order as well. The leak was a storage tank on the roof that was directly above our bedroom. It obviously sprung a leak and they were able to fix this issue. We had cleaning people come and fix the carpet (it was drenched even though we got a bucket under it pretty quickly). And tomorrow they come to fix the ceiling in the bedroom. Overall, a little more excitement than we were bargaining for this Sunday after our trip. We finished the day with eating at the clubhouse and giving the boys baths in our bedroom. Danny took his first shower on his own, which just amazes me at age 3. I cannot remember when I did this, but he seems to be growing up so fast in so many ways. Tomorrow will be a full morning, as our new ayi comes, and they will be coming to fix the bedroom.

Trip to Hangzhou: Day 3

We awoke today to find that it was raining outside. The amazing fact of China is that they are really terrible at predicting the weather here. If you think they are bad back home, you have no idea. Dustin joked they can only tell you what it is currently happening with any accuracy. Thankfully, we packed everyone’s raincoats, and with an adventuresome spirit we set out in the rain. (This of course got many looks throughout the day as we did not use umbrellas (we had hoods on our coats) and this to the Chinese is quite bizarre behavior. This was only heightened by the fact that we were in shorts and many whispered, I am sure, how we were committing child abuse for not putting them in pants—yet it was at least 75-80 degrees out.

Anyway, we headed out to the other side of the lake to walk this area. It is more mountainous on this side and is further from the city buildings. We enjoyed walking around a pond that had a lot of different goldfish. Danny loves fish, so he really enjoyed this section. We of course ran into more crowds and tried our best to pick the pathways that they were not walking down. There was one pathway in which we were unable to avoid the crowd. There had to be at least 80 to 150 people all bunched together. I got Josh through it as quickly as I could and waited for Dustin and Danny who stayed behind to look at some of the fish.

After the fish pond, we walked further up and found another scenic area. We walked in this area for a while and then headed for lunch. After lunch we headed back to the hotel and changed and Tom picked us up.

Overall, it was a great relaxing couple of days and we are excited that we found a place that we can go back to and feel like we have gotten out of the city and destress for our lives here in China.

Trip to Hangzhou: Day 2

Today we decided to take a boat tour onto the lake. The one we chose drops off at one of the islands in the middle of the lake. We left with a full boat of Chinese tourists, and the man in front of us was at first taking pictures outside, but then clearly turned the camera and was discreetly taking picture of the boys and I. We got off on the island and began walking the paths around it. It is basically a square with famous bridges that cross through the center of the island, which in turn created four lakes within the island. Sort of confusing, but very pretty.

The only drawback was that we underestimated that it is a huge tourist attraction for the Chinese. An interesting fact about the Chinese as tourists--they do not just travel as their immediate family, or even with another family. They always travel in large groups of at least 20-50 people. And for whatever reason they happen to be extremely boisterous and animated in these groups. So, as we walked around, we continued to first bump into different groups. First their tour guide holding their little flag and then the entire tour group. Another interesting fact is that they all have some coordinating theme. It may be a hat, a button, a shirt, etc., but they are all matched up with the flag the tour guide is holding. My final interesting fact, is that when walking towards a Chinese person, even when they see you coming, they rarely move out of your way. So heading towards a large group like this can be a challenge when pushing a stroller and trying to get Danny through the mass of humanity.

The funniest incident was one lady who even though she saw us coming literally did not move over on the sidewalk (and there was plenty of room for her to move) until she was nearly toe to toe with Dustin. We are not quite sure why they do this, but it makes it especially hard to get around a group as they sort of come at you like a wall that does not let you pass unless you push your way through.

As we traveled around the island we decided to go over one of the famous walkways. Dustin had us go a few feet ahead of him so he could take our picture. Afterwards, a nice women approached and asked if she could take her picture with us. We said yes, and boy did we make a mistake. Somehow, the yes to a picture with her turned into a yes to pictures with all 5 individuals in her group (they were a small group of friends within a larger tour group). One would think that a group photo would have sufficed, but they each needed their individual shots. After what felt like 10 minutes, we finally were able to shut it down and move on. The funny part of it all is that Josh really likes the camera and has learned to say cheese. After we left this group, the next Chinese person that we ran into (it was a couple of minutes), Josh screamed out Cheese. I told Dustin, he is now programmed to think that every Chinese person wants his picture. We tried to avoid all tour groups from that point on, but I did notice people positioning themselves around us taking photos on their phones of us. This at least was discreet and did not bother the children as much. After the photo op and the large loud crowds (we are trying to escape into some calming nature on this trip, so the crowds were not doing it for us), we grabbed the boat back to the mainland.

Back on the mainland, we continued on through the park area and headed our way to a famous street with little shops. It was a little of a tourist trap area, but it was still nice to look at what they had. We ran into a group of college students from North Carolina and had a quick visit with them. After the shops we recharged at McDonalds and then hit a few more shops. After the long morning, we headed back for naps and did dinner at the hotel.

Trip to Hangzhou: Day 1

Today we got up and I began to pack us up and get ready to leave for Hangzhou. We decided to leave after lunch to allow the boys to sleep in the car. Unfortunately, Josh decided that he did not want to do this. Instead he looked out the window and played. I just prayed he would not be a handful for us later or that night in getting him to sleep.

The architechture in Hangzhou is very different from what we have seen yet. The buildings are the same, but not the homes. They seem to have an eastern European feel or Greek Orthodox look mixed with the traditional Chinese. Hangzhou is approximately 2 hours South/Southwest from Shanghai. It is further out into the countryside, but still a large city with about 3 million residents (small town by Chinese standards).

We arrived at the hotel and checked in. They had a wonderful booklet on the area in English with a great map. We decided on going down to the lake front and walking down one of the main streets that bordered the lake. We arrived just in time to watch a famous fountain go off to different music. After watching the fountain, we continued down the scenic park area. We ran into two groups of Chinese people playing traditional musical instruments and singing. After listening for a while, we continued on and stumbled into a Xihutaindi area. This area was not very crowded and just beautiful. It also contained a lot of shops. A famous architecht/designer has made these Xihutaindi or Xitaindi areas famous in China. His desire is to revitalize or recreate (sometimes these older areas are too hard to save or they have already been destroyed) an older area to contain new shops to attract the upscale clientele. We were able to find a nice Italian restaurant and we ate there for dinner. After dinner we got a cab and headed back to the hotel for dinner.

It was just fantastic to feel like we got away to a scenic area, with less congestion and noise.

Venturing Out and the Show at Papa Johns

Today was not as early as yesterday, but the boys still woke up at 5am. They must have woke me during the deepest part of my sleep, because I was really sort of shaky for the first hour or so that we were up.

We planned to leave the house early as we were going to leave with Dustin today, so the morning went quickly. He had a convention to attend and the boys and I were going to check out this sale near our church (I believe it was to be like a garage sale). We left together as Dustin's destitionation was on the way to where we were going. While they boys and I were at the sale, Tom, our driver was going to drive something downtown Pudong for Dustin and then come back and pick us up.

The ride down to the convention location was long due to traffic and I had to use all my abilities to keep Josh entertained and not screaming as Dustin tried to conduct business with his fellow employee (he went to the convention with Dustin). We dropped them off and thankfully it was not far to where our destination was to be. As the sale, based on the map provided, was close to our church, I had Tom drop us off at our normal spot. When we got out, I remembered from Sunday that they are in the process of tearing out the sidewalks in front of the church. This meant a little more off roading than I anticipated and a lot more dust. Thankfully though the stroller and Danny held up just fine.

We walked down toward where the map said the restaurant would be that was hosting the sale. We walked about two city blocks and could not find the cross roads that were listed. Therefore, we walked back to our starting spot to check to make sure that the road was the same as the one listed on the map. (This whole distance was the scrapped up sidewalk and around loose bricks and those mini excavators--not the easiest walk and extremely dusty). When we got to the corner, I find that it is the correct street and I was heading in the correct direction. I decide to cross the street to see the side we need more clearly.

We walk down three more long blocks and still the streets are not matching. (My initial thought was that they were only listing the main roads). Unfortunately, not even the large cross roads were matching what the map said. As there was a large park on the corner across from us, I decided to give up the notion of the sale and walk through the park with the boys. We found a playground and I let the boys play for a short time. We were quite the sight as there were no foreigners at this playground at all, and we got quite a few stares.

After the playground, we made the walk back to the church and went into the Papa Johns across the street. What I failed to calculate in deciding to eat here is that unlike the one right near our house, no one speaks English. I first tried to ask for a high chair (baby chair) and had most of the word correct, but not close enough. So, I received a lot of blank stares. Thankfully, a young customer spoke some English and helped tell her what I needed. At first they were going to put us at a table for two people, and I could not figure out where they expected to put the highchair. Fortunately, one of the ladies thought of the round table two tables down and let us sit there. (We were the only ones in the restaurant beside the other customer--so they could have put us anywhere).

Once I got the boys situated and moved all items out of Josh's reach, which was made harder by them trying to keep putting things in front of him, I tried to order. Now I knew exactly what I wanted, but it was still impossible to tell them. I pointed for most of it, but for the cheese pizza they had two listed for the same price and the same size. I am not sure the difference and quite frankly I still do not know the difference. I finally, after trying to determine what the difference was, just pointed at one.

Josh began to fuss as we were waiting for the pizza. He was not happy with anything and wanted to get out of the chair. To explain the situation of him trying to get out, I have to explain what a highchair in restaurants here. There are two varieties. The first resembles one we would see in the US (think the one McDonald's uses) and is from IKEA. The other one is a wooden chair. The Papa Johns had the wooden chair. The problem with this one is it is made for a giant's child. Every other child has way too much room in them to move about. This is only aided by the fact that it does not have a seat belt. So, Josh is squirming in the seat (he is my climber if I had not mentioned it before) and was trying to crawl out the back. Of course when I try to stop him from doing this, or anything else (like grabbing my coke) he arches his back and cries and screeches.

Now, back home in the US this would not be a situation you would want to deal with, this is magnified and made wholly worse here. So what made it worse you ask? Let me explain... I failed to mention yet, that while there was only us and one other customer in the store, there were no less then 8 people working. Now you have to picture the size of this restaurant. Think the largest bedroom you have in your house and this is the size of it. Not much room (unless you live in a mansion and then you should excuse yourself from this example), yet our table was towards the back near the kitchen. There was a whole area in front of us. So please guess where six out of the eight of the workers chose to stand? Oh you guessed it. From the time we arrived until we left, all six stood in a semi circle/straight line 2 feet from the table staring--not deep in conversation with each other--just starring at us. It was so uncomfortable, and Danny of course does not understand why they stare at us, and trying to get him less focused on something else was impossible. I am not sure if they thought we were going to put on a show for them, but between Josh and me, that is exactly what we did (not that we meant to and quite frankly I would have much preferred not to).

So the show began with Josh fussing. With six people staring at us, when anything happened they immediately got involved, which they meant to be helpful, but actually only made it worse. For example: They brought plastic spoons to the table (not sure why spoons and not forks--we will get to this problem later) and while we were trying to kill time before the pizza arrived, I let Josh hold the spoon. This resulted in him dropping it and two people jumping to pick it up before I could even reach it and bringing us a new one. Of course, Josh began screaming and crying incosolably when the spoon was taken away, and continued until the new spoon arrived. If he moved in the high chair and it wobbled, two people would jump towards us as if he was going to capsize to the floor--or more how I took it--like I would let him capsize to the floor without their intervention.

And of course when Josh let out one of his signature (this actually was a happy screech) high pitch screeches we got a less than kind look from one of the waitresses as she held her hand over her ear.

By this time I was already welling up with tears, but I was trying to pull myself together. The pizzas finally arrived, but they were barely cut through, so after two minutes of struggling with it (Josh was in my lap at this point), one of the waitresses came to assist. Unfortunately, even after she helped I had to go over it a little more. I got Danny his piece, and worked on cutting Josh's crust. (He likes to eat the back end of the pizza slice only). I put him back in the seat, but he got upset when he could not put the pizza on the spoon (he was trying to stab it like you would with a fork--using a fork is his new favorite way to eat). I quickly grab my fork and his crust. This of course sends him into a major fit of throwing himself backwards--which results in the chair wobbling--and you guessed it again, more waitresses lunging to steady the chair and apparently save his life. I finally get him to focus on the fact that I was putting the pizza onto the fork for him to hold. He takes it and begins to eat it.

Then the show stopper (or finale--however you want to view it) happens. I move his chair forward and just slightly (and I am not understating this--I mean barely), get his finger between the chair and the table. He starts crying as if some serious injury has happened to him. Of course, by now we are both crying and I am trying to console him with six on lookers and of course a puzzeled Danny who is thankfully taking this all in while eating his pizza slice. I get him to quiet it a little, but not much and he is squirming and arching his back, so I settle on putting him back in the stroller. IHe is still arching his back screaming and crying while I quickly ask for the bill. At first I get a puzzeled look and then they seem to all jump into a flurry of action. All six are flying around the store getting our bill, getting a box for the pizza, one man is running across the restaurant with a bag to put everything in. If I had not been sobbing at the time, it probably would have been quite a funny scene.

We exit the restaurant and the lady runs after us to give us a to go thing of the cheese sauce. I can tell I completely confuse her as I am still crying and Josh is happy as a lark now that he is outside. I thank her, and she looks like she wants to say something else, but turns to leave. We continue on to the corner to cross the street to where Tom should be parked waiting for us.

When we get to the corner Tom is across the street, and I have never been so happy to see him. Josh, who has really bonded with Tom, reaches his arms out to him. We ride home and the kids snack on pretzels while I try and decompress from the morning. By the time we get home Josh is asleep and I quietly put him down for his nap.

While I will try and venture out again, I think our next stop will be the mall close to us and we will have lunch at home. :-) I can definitely see why Moms prefer to leave their kids with the ayis while they do some sort of errand, or they do not go out at all. It is quite the adventure here--only made more fun by Josh's age and being tired--double whamme.

Well, while the boys are still napping I am going to go lay down for a little bit. After this morning I feel weak and tired all over.

The Eerie Noise and the Interviews

Today began with an eerie noise. It repeated over and over beginning at 3 am and continuing through the morning. Both Dustin and I woke up thinking it was the kids, but once realizing it was not them, trying to figure out what it could be making the sound. Josh must have heard it too, as he woke up at 4am ready for the day. Thankfully, Danny was still asleep. Josh and I played until Danny awoke at his normal 5am. Josh of course was completely exhausted, so after crying and fussing for a while, I put him back to bed. After waking from his nap, we traveled down to the local grocery store and picked up a few items. We walked back and had a nice lunch and while the boys napped, I got busy cleaning the house. I wanted to make sure it looked sort of presentable, as we were interviewing two women for the ayi position in the afternoon. Both women were extremely nice, seemed qualified, and had great references. It was a little odd, as I have no experience in this area of having someone come in and help with the cleaning, and therefore do not know what to ask. I figure they are probably both fine and it is just going to take hiring one and just seeing if they work out or not. The end of the day we walked down to a chinese restaurant that we had not tried yet. It was very good, even though it is really small. It was a nice ending to a good day.

The Best Mother's Day Ever

Today was a beautiful day filled with family time. Dustin in his time out with his clients bought me gorgeous pastel colored pearls and numerous purses for my mother's day gift. As he did not get back until midnight the night before, the boys and I walked down to Starbucks for a mother's day breakfast. Today was a steamer--getting up to 92, but there was a nice breeze which made the walk pleasant. When we got home, we all got in our swimsuits and left for the beach pool. We had a great time playing in the sand and water. After playing here, we got ready at the clubhouse and had a quick lunch. The boys took a short nap and then we headed out to church. On our way, we saw quite a site. There was a truck in the lane next to us, that was filled with ducks. Yet, not how you would necessarily see them at home. Let's just say if PETA was allowed into the country, they would have just keeled over. There were three levels to the truck bed. Sort of like the flats you would see flowers sold in. The ducks looked like they were just sitting there out of their own good will. (This is were I pictured PETA getting excited as I doubt a duck would voluntarily ride in an open truck down the highways of Shanghai). I have never seen anything like this before, and we tried to get a picture, but it went through the toll booth before us and we never caught back up. We are always amazed at the different ways that the Chinese haul and carry things from one destination to another.

We enjoyed the church service and after service, Dustin went to get Danny and I went and picked up Josh from the nursery. They had given flowers to the children to give to their parents, and Danny was so sweet with his. When he saw me, his whole face lit up and he came running at me holding his flower. He was so excited to give it to me. It was one of those moments I will keep the rest of my life--so touching and loving. They had also made signs, and Danny just kept wishing me over and over again a happy mother's day. What a joy. We grabbed our traditional McDonalds for dinner as it was getting late and we still had to travel home. Overall, it was a great day.

The Lows and Highs of Life Here and God's Faithfulness through It all

Sorry for the absence of blogs, but these past two weeks have been the hardest for me so far in China. It was not one specific thing, but a culmination of everything together. It left me feeling so unhappy and completely lost.

I was struggling with a couple of issues that seemed to intensify over the past two weeks. First was my neck injury. I was in a lot of pain, and was not getting much sleep. I always fail to realize how much this affects how I view things and feel about things going on in my life.

The second was Dustin in these past two weeks has had to do an enormous amount of work. He has worked the past two Saturdays and most nights he would be up close to midnight. All of it is essential for the company, but left our family longing for time together--this has been a struggle for all of us. In addition, we have no one to watch the boys so Dustin and I have had no time just the two of us since we have come here. We have really been missing this here.

Another part was simply getting around here in China. Not the traffic, but just knowing where to go, being able to go (Dustin sometimes needs the car all day), taking the boys with me (not kid friendly here) and even the simplest issue of paying for things (we only have one credit card with no foreign transaction fees and one bank card between us). I also felt like I have not been able to connect with other people here within our community. It seemed that all I had was either very quick interactions with other women, or none at all (i.e.--they either do not speak English, I only see their ayi's with their children, or they are involved in activities that I am unable to participate in because I have no one to watch the boys--such as working out or even going shopping).

So how has God been faithful through this all? Well, he has been the still quiet voice (no not literally) that has once again answered each of these concerns of mine. Although I must say that some of the answers came as a result of some frustrating situations. Here are a few:

On Monday I always go grocery shopping. Tom was set to pick us up at 9:00 and before he came I realized that Dustin was in Beijing with the money card and credit card (the one without foreign transaction fees). I decided to get some cash out of the ATM so I could run my errands. Yet after getting the boys over to the clubhouse, we found out it was not working. I then decided I could use the one in the grocery store once we arrived. Turns out that this one was out of order as well. I would say what luck, but this is the situation that gave us the ammunition to require me getting a card of my own the next day, so I say looking back it was all part of God's plan. I was a little stressed upon leaving the store as I had to buy our essentials with our US credit card (I was dreading the fees we would be charged) and a little upset that I was in Shanghai by myself and did not have any cash or access to our cash. I contacted Dustin and he arranged for me to be able to get my own card the next day. This is a little complicated of a process as in China you cannot have joint accounts, so I could not just get a card on Dustin's account, and we had to work out the details of funding the account (so this involves the financial people at his company), which is what prevented us from getting it before this point. Yet, after a stressful Monday, I now have the issue of the bank card resolved.


Onto the rest of my week:

Wednesday on our walk to the store the children and I came the closest to being killed or seriously injured that we have ever come to while living here. We were in the middle of crossing one of the driveways into the shops (this is a very narrow driveway, made more narrow due to another car that decided it would just park in one half of the driveway) when this car--who clearly saw us in the middle--decided he did not care we were there. (I have come to the decision that they view it like the game of rock paper scissors--they are the rock I am the scissors, so the car trumps the pedestrian--so beware!). The driver continued to accelerate at us to the point that I knew I could not make it forward, so my only choice was to yank Danny (who was walking next to me and the stroller) and Josh in the stroller backwards as hard and as fast I could. After this incident, I was so furious and fed up with the people here that I was close to tears. Thankfully when I decided to go into Starbucks there were two women that I had met the first weeks we were here. Up until this point, I had only ever seen them in passing when one of us was in a hurry to get somewhere, and I was unable to truly connect with them. Due to the fact that I was so upset, I decided to stay and talk for awhile even though before we entered I was in a hurry to get home. By staying and talking, I was able to exchange information (i.e.--contact information) and one of the women actually mentioned that she had some information on an ayi (it has come to the point where we need this sort of assistance--first to help clean as this is a full time job and I feel I would like to raise my children not just clean this crazy house--secondly it will allow Dustin and I to get time alone, even if we are just across the street at the clubhouse getting an ice cream cone together).

As Danny, Josh and I walked home, the two women caught up with us (Danny tends to walk slow sometimes). As we all continued on back to our houses we ran into one of the other girls that I had gotten to know a little more because we go to the park at the same time. At this point a wonderful thing happened. I was invited to dinner with them the next night. The best thing is that they did not plan to leave until 7 so that they could get dinner for their families and get their youngest to sleep before leaving. It was perfect. So in one instant of nearly losing our lives to the traffic issues here, I was reconnected with two women here in my community, given information about a possible ayi and invited to dinner.

Dinner the next night was great. I have not had a moment since we arrived except for the two massages I have gotten here. It was also great to connect with these three moms. They are super kind and fun and care about their children like I do (I think I have mentioned the absent parent syndrome that seems prevalent here). Yet with all the fun, we got home really late, which made Thursday really hard on me. I was sort of blue because listening to them made me realize how trapped I feel here. There are some stores to walk to, but you can only buy so many groceries and the ladies at Starbucks now know my face and what I order (Danny also is quite skilled at rattling off how I like my mocha), but the only place besides these stores that I get out to is the Carrefour--more groceries--and then coming right back.

Thankfully, Dustin was coming out from under all his work, and I was able to sit and talk with him a little. I found that what I needed is to learn the phrase "kan kan". This means just looking. This enables me to let our driver know that I am just looking around and I therefore, feel more relaxed to do so. I am going to just pick different malls/areas to just walk around and explore with the boys, so that I know what is here and what is not here. I have also decided that I will ask my new friends, who obviously have a wealth of information to share, if they can tell me the spots they go to while I take notes (I have a terrible memory), or send me an e-mail of their favorite spots. We also were able to set up some interviews with ayis. We will not be able to get one before June (they will be coming from families that are moving back to their homes in June), but it is nice to know we are working on getting this solved.

Finally, I went to my first physical therapy appointment for my neck, and it is beginning to feel better. The past two nights I have been able to sleep the whole night, which is fantastic. I also began reading a Max Lucado book and in it he talks about waiting. It made me put what we have accomplished into perspective. We have only been here 6 weeks. The women that I have met that know there way around have been here a minimum of two years. This made me feel better in that I will be able to get to that point too, it is just not right now. I must have the patience to wait and the trust in God to realize he has a plan for us, it is just not the one I pictured, or even at times want, but it is one that is good and will be fulfilling and will meet all of our needs and more.

One great example of this is the trip Dustin and I have just begun to plan. We are going to take a mini vacation. It is well overdue, as we have not had one probably in two or more years (at least one absent of any connection to work). We are going to go to the area about two-three hours from here called West Lake. It is a beautiful area and we will spend a couple of days there relaxing and spending time as a family.

I am also looking forward to tomorrow--Mother's day. We are going to spend the day together having a good time. The morning I plan to take a walk with the boys down to Starbucks (you can see I enjoy this place a lot) and then we are going to go to the beach pool (did I mention it is already 90 degrees here). We are going to have lunch at the patio right by the pool and then go home for quick naps before church. It sounds simple, but I am as excited about it as a kid in a toy store.