First day of School/New Apartment

Here's Malachi on his first day of school. He was all smiles until we actually got inside. He's still having a hard time, but it's much better. The first day I asked him "did you play with any friends?" He replied "no." I asked "why not?!" And he proceeded to tell me that he "didn't want to, I love me!"





Charis is helping us get organized in our new apartment! We are still getting settled, but here's a sneak peak at it so far. We're on the first floor and have really enjoyed it. We get tons of ahhhs and oohhhs at the number of children we have, but it's fun.






This view above is as if you walked in our door and are walking down the hallway. Living room on the left and dining/kitchen on the right.





This is our dining room/homeschooling area.



This is the bathroom/laundry room. Things are very efficient here. I've always loved the bathroom/laundry room concept!





We've got more, but by this time we realize that the apt. pictures are a little boring. So we added one with the kids. That's really the only pictures people want to see anyhow :)




This last one is the living room. We feel like we're finally getting settled. I, Carrie, was able to actually cook a Western meal for the family. Hamburgers!! We have a May holiday coming up where we will attend a friends wedding. Selah and Malachi will be in it, but we are not really sure what that will mean. We'll let you know!

Random musings

1) We just exchanged some text messages with a national friend; we asked him if he could help us on Saturday morning make a purchase (we need translating). He replied, "I would like to help but I have a wedding to go to in the morning. Maybe I can go to the wedding before lunch"

huh? How do you decided when you'll go to a wedding?

2) Why do dogs greet each other my smelling each other's rear and run in circles?

a challenge to pride and encouragement to faith

"We think we are thinking outside the box only because we can't see how big the box really is."

--Daniel Gilbert, "Stumbling on Happiness"

We have a home!

We got an apartment!

3 bedrooms, great size in a growing part of town, a bath tub, a bedei (sp?), furnished, 2 bathrooms with western toilets, 1st floor (but with some stairs, which is a good thing actually), even basement for storage, near a KFC for special treats, a 5 minute taxi from campus, maybe 5-10 from downtown, 20 minute bus ride to either, a kindergarten nearby, an elementary school next door, a children's playground (which are rare here; most are old person's parks). On top of that, our landlord has pretty decent english.

We had two very good national friends help us negotiate. We think we got a fair price.

We may be out of touch via Internet for a few days. We'll see. We have more to share about the kids' first day at school.

Great Hospital Signs

If you are squirmish about anatomical vocabulary, then cease reading. We just couldn't help but post this.

The other day we took the kids to the dr. for a check up needed for the pre-school. The English signs here never get old and there were quite a few funny ones in this hospital. They attempt to translate their signs into English and more times than not it just doesn't work.

These were all found on a sign inside, directing you to a particular hallway in the hospital. Here’s a few we remember simply for your entertainment:



Analyse the room with blood



Vagina Mirror Inspection Room



Mammory Gland Mammography



Neck Pain of the Palace



Women’s Anus Intestine Room



And all of these took place in the “Inferior Medical Health Center”

luggage apologetics

We got our luggage this morning!!! We had one bag left in the States and the two others were taken by an Arizona woman by accident. Well, this morning they arrived at our hotel! We decided that this is a great apologetic because there has to be a higher power in order for us to be able to get our luggage this quick. Amazing.

luggage apologetics

We got our luggage this morning!!! We had one bag left in the States and the two others were taken by an Arizona woman by accident. Well, this morning they arrived at our hotel! We decided that this is a great apologetic because there has to be a higher power in order for us to be able to get our luggage this quick. Amazing.

We’ve arrived already and we have plenty of material for the blog.

We took off at 7:30 from Houston and went to San Francisco and headed to Bejing around lunch time Our flight was delayed, but all was well. Charis slept for about 2 hours of the entire day of traveling. She was an absolute mess the entire trip. We flew with friends of ours that also have three small kids, so we were quite the crew.


Already, Malachi has asked me, “How many sleeps until we get to China?” I said, “We are in China”. He replied, “No, we’re far away” Then he added, “…then where are the panda bears?”

Already, Selah almost drank water from an ashtray.

Already, three of our 16 check-ins are MIA.

Already the fun has started! :)


Here’s a brief recap:

As we were landing, we hit massive turbulence. Drinks were flying, Chinese grandma’s throwing up, it was awful. Carrie got sick, but fortunately made it to the bathroom in time. And for those women who have had babies, you understand that bladder control is an issue. So not only did she throw up in an airplane toilet, but proceeded also to pee on herself and the floor. We then walked out to discover that three of our bags were missing. Out of the 16 check-ins, the three bags that were missing were the ones with our clothes. Carrie, having just peed on herself was not so excited about the prospect of wearing the same clothes for the next week.

Well, we loaded in the one van and one car that came to pick us up and headed to our city. Selah and Daddy in the front seat with the luggage and Carrie, Malachi and Charis in the car. We all gave in to fatigue and slept most of the three hour trip. We got to our city around 8:30. Some friends were there to greet us and give us some snacks that ended up being dinner.

We actually slept amazingly and were ready for breakfast by 6 am. We’ll do the apartment search today and meet our friends Iris and Dawson for lunch.

We made it!

I'm always amazed at how the Lord sends us traveling mercies through wonderful people going to the same place. We met a flight attendant who was writing a book on purity who wants to interview Brad and I. She feels strongly convicted that she is to get girls to understand the importance of waiting for their wedding day. Then in Philly we met a woman who teaches Sunday school. She watched our things as we walked around and then we had a wonderful conversation about the Lord and were able to mutually encourage one another. She was on her way to visit her grandkids in Vermont. Then we sat by a woman and her daughter on the plan and they both endured the screaming and entertained our kids. Amazing. Every trip we take, I start to get anxious and EVERY time traveling angels are provided.

We've sat by a nursery worker who felt led to put new girls clothes in her carry on's that just so happen to fit Selah-2 at the time. We've sat by a Vietnamese man who spent 21 years in a Japanese prison camp. The list goes on. God is good.