Hectic Holidays

The weekend of December 8^th Courtney and I went to Xiasha District for a retreat with the other American teachers. Xiasha is technically still in Hangzhou but is a 2 hour taxi ride away. We spent the weekend there and finally got to meet the rest of the Americans that came to China at the same time we did. It was nice to see a quieter, less busy part of town, and the hotel some of the other teachers live in was heaven compared to our apartment. We heard some more experienced teachers’ thoughts on spending time in China long term.

While their talk highlighted many positives about this country, there are still its drawbacks. The day we got back from Xiasha, Courtney got sick. We’re still not quite sure what it was, (the hospitals are, in a word, terrifying) but it was probably some bacteria from the sink water she used to brush her teeth. The level of caution required to keep your health up in China is much higher than in the states; our first few weeks here we had to tape our sink faucet down to remind us “tap water = bad.”

Then the great American holiday of Christmas loomed its head. Surprisingly for me, I actually missed the Christmas atmosphere. Normally the sheer amount of Christmas spirit pouring into every facet of my daily life borders on annoyance. But here, having very few signs that the biggest holiday in the states was even approaching, I craved any hint I could get. Starbucks had holiday themed drinks, a few restaurants decorated their doors with a small Santa face cutout, and I cherished those more than I would have at home. The worst part wasn’t missing all of the decorations and music but missing our families. We had a quiet Christmas morning, one that I will remember all of my life.

Because this is China, the day after Christmas I learned that finals had to occur the very next week. This is typical of the amount of planning one is given here, but the extra problem was that the next week would also be New Year’s break from Monday to Thursday. They decided to tell us that a few days later, however. Oh, and did they mention that you have to make up those classes the next few Saturdays and Sundays? In China, when you have a break, those days aren’t already scheduled out of the calendar; you have to make them up, cramming the weekends before and after with classes.

So on top of learning about the finals schedule, the break, and how the two coincide, I then had to change the rest of my classes for the week to prepare the students for the test. The only problem was that the Monday classes I had were cancelled for Christmas; the next week they’d have off for New Years, so I wouldn’t see them until test day, which they had no idea would be coming. Instead of letting the school control our schedule in its own hectic way, we made our own. From other teachers we’ve talked to, American and Chinese, this is a normal thing to do. There is often little organization; Courtney even had two classes scheduled for the same timeslot, which she found out about in the middle of said class.

So we decided to hold the Final preparation last week, have off this week, and give the final the next. I have never had as confusing of a week in any job I’ve ever had. So what better way to relieve all of the stress of confusion through language and culture barriers than by singing some Elvis? Last Friday Courtney and I were able to perform at one of the school’s shows. We sang “Hound Dog” by the king, and while we’re definitely not getting approached by any record companies, we had a lot of fun. Of course, it wouldn’t be China without some performances involving nunchakus, tea history, sappy love songs, and boy/girl dances. Did I mention the Japanese cosplay? Males cross dressing? How about the fact that there was another performance we were supposed to be at, scheduled for the exact same time? Our waiban decided to text us about when we were performing on stage.

This week off from teaching before finals is nice, if a bit nonsensical. It wouldn’t be China without it. This country has its own quirks and eccentricities, but don’t we all?

3 Wheels on the Tut Tut Go Clink, Clank, BUMP

As many of you know, it was Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago.  We were so blessed to be able to have not only one real Thanksgiving meal with American and Chinese friends, but TWO Thanksgiving meals.  Thursday was the actual day of Thanksgiving, on which we ate a feast with the OrderWithMe gang.  Saturday was a Thanksgiving feast with all the Americans in Hangzhou (well, all the Americans connected to the program in some way).  Needless to say, we ate mighty well on those days.  We had almost forgotten how 'American full' feels.  Yuck.  In our classes, we showed A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and had everyone stand up and tell us one thing they were thankful for.  This school is a bit different from my last school in Wuhan, China, so I wasn't able to take them to the cafeteria and sit around the table for 'Thanksgiving'.  Sad day. 

What else has gone on in the past few weeks?

This past weekend, we got wireless internet in our apartment, thanks to our Chinese friends Coral and David.  David is an IT man, who is the boyfriend of a Chinese girl named Kathryn that comes to studies on Wednesdays and Sundays.  Coral and Kathryn have been the steady Chinese girls to come on Wednesdays and Sundays.  They are not believers, but they are interested and have become some of our good Chinese friends here. 

So, back on track - we now have wireless internet at the apartment!  We can now both get on the internet, and we can now connect to the VPN in our apartment. 

After Coral and David helped us, we then proceeded to go to Coral's apartment to make dinner.  Davis left with David on a 3-wheel (tut tut) to get the groceries, and I left with Coral on a 3-wheel to her apartment.  She lives about 5 minutes from us.  To give you an idea, and although you haggle the price, it cost us 8 RMB to travel 5 minutes to her apartment.  That is roughly a dollar and a half, US currency.  When Davis and David returned to Coral's apartment with groceries, we began making...  dumplings!  I should have taken pictures, but I did not. :(  The dough that's used to put the filling in and is folded over, is already pre-cut into circles, so it was super easy to make them.  Davis and I just helped with the filling and folding part.  David did the chopping of the chicken meat, beef, and pork.  He also did the frying and boiling of the dumplings.  They. Were. Delicious!!!

The following morning was Sunday morning.  We were so blessed to have Ronald and his wife and daughter come join us.  Please pray that they continue to come meet with us.  He works at our school, and he is a believer.  He says he has been studying for 8 years, and became a believer 6 years ago.  He is a part of the three self church in Hangzhou.  This is the government sanctioned church in China. 

Yep.  That's about it.  Again, we appreciate all of the prayers and thoughts! 

Where to start

It's been so long, I don't know where to start.  I usually like to update once a week, so I don't leave out any wanted information.  I guess last time I updated, we had been Bieberfied.  Since then, a lot has happened.  I'm even starting to talk in Chinglish to my husband when we are in conversation together.  I have also started talking in Chinglish to my students every now and then, so they can UNDERSTAND me.  Wow.  That's sad.  Simple words like, 'the' and 'it' I have to omit when speaking to them.  For example, the sentence "Please write in your journal for at least 15 minutes.  When you are finished, I will choose 6 people to read it out loud"  becomes, "Write journal, 15 minutes.  When finished, I (pointing adamantly at myself) choose 6 (LIU!) people to speak to class".  They didn't even know what the word PRACTICE meant.  I tried explaining it to them, but I think only a select few understood me.  I finally found a definition that makes sense to them, which is "try, try again!".  However, I love to teach them new information.  As a teacher, that is my job - to present new information and broaden their horizons.  This not only happens to them, though.  I probably learn just as much, if not more, from them. 

On a personal note, the last two weeks have been spent enduring a common cold.  I still have a small cough every now and then, but all is much better with a little Vitamin C and water (shui).  It is very hard to teach a class when coughing, I already knew, but luckily there was only one day of uncontrollable coughing.  For those of you wondering, Davis is still healthy.  He has not caught the cold from me....  yet.

Last week, Davis and I started a second job, teaching little kids.  The lady in charge of the classes is very high energy (the kind of energy that leaves you exhausted after being around it, and you haven't even said a word).  I have never met anyone that loves to talk as much as her.  The kids are high energy as well, but they are fun to play with.  Davis has more energy than I do, so this job caters more to his abilities than my own.  I also enjoy teaching with Davis.  It's nice to be able to share the responsibility during that couple of hours. 

A week or two ago, two American couples came back to Binjiang (a district in Hangzhou).  They all work with Heather at Order With Me, a company that provides smaller quantities of items to smaller businesses for the wholesale price.  I don't know how that works, but that's what they do.  It's been really nice to have more American friends here.  Davis and I found out that one of the American couples was at the Global Missions Conference in Dallas last year, when we were there.  Small world. 

Yesterday, after lunch, we all played flag football with each other.  I was not looking forward to it, but when we played, I really enjoyed it.  We had to play on concrete, in a large open area, at an apartment complex near Starbucks.  It was also funny to watch little kids try to pick up our orange cones that marked the boundaries of the 'field'.  One lady was even brave enough to ride her bicycle through the middle of our game.  Haha. 

I don't know what happened, but I bruised my finger from playing flag football.

Bieber-fied

A few of the most popular songs in China right now are 'Gangnam Style', the infamous Titanic song, and 'Baby Baby' by Justin Bieber.  This is the type of music that dominates Chinese radio stations and loud speakers on school campuses.  This culture thrives on pop music.  Last night, we went to the MixC Mall in Hangzhou with Heather and Ryan.  We ate inside the mall at a Thai restaurant.  At this restaurant, there is a live band, very similar to a mariachi band.  They go to tables in the restaurant and play music for people, and if it's your birthday, they play 'Happy Birthday' for you.  Although, Heather says they even play that when it's not your birthday.  Needless to say, they love to come play at foreigners' tables.  We stick out like a sore thumb.  So, what did they do?  They came to our table.  Heather said, "Don't look!  Don't look at them!  They won't come to our table if you don't look at them!"  You may be asking why she said this.  Well, when this live band comes to your table, they grab you by the hand and pull you out of your seat to dance with them.  Yep.  It happened.  We got Bieber-fied.  They started playing 'Baby Baby', and Heather and I got pulled out on the dance floor.  Not only this, but they decided to play another song for us, 'Gangnam Style', and all 4 of us were pulled onto the dance floor.  My decision to let loose and dance came from my reasoning that we are only going to be in China for a short while, so why not make the best of such situations?

Today was a beautiful day outside.  The sun was shining, the wind was slightly blowing, and the temperature was in the mid 70s.  It was especially great because it's the weekend.  On weekends in Binjiang, the amount of traffic and people on the streets decreases drastically.  On this fine sunny Saturday, Davis and I met Heather at a spa to get foot massages.  We met her at a pet shop, first and foremost.  We were able to hold and pet puppies and dogs.  Then, we walked next door to the spa.  Davis opted out of a foot massage, so he sat in the same room with Heather and I while we each received heavenly massages.  The order of events during a foot massage are as follows: 

1. Bring tea and fruit to foreigners in massage room.

2. Bring wooden bucket of hot water, and put foreigners' feet in it.

3. Put warm damp towel on top of feet in bucket.  (Caution: very hot!)

4. Massage foreigners' thighs.

5. Bring another bucket of hot water and pour in the wooden bucket.

6. Foreigner stands up in the bucket and turns around to sit on ottoman.

7. Back massage follows.

8. Stretch arms and make the joints pop.

9. Stand up, turn around, and sit back down on the chair.

10. Take bucket of water out of the room, and return with packet of massage cream for legs.

11. Wrap hot steaming towels around each leg.

12. Put packet of massage cream on each leg and massage them.

13. Wipe of cream with hot steaming towel.

14. Proceed to massage foreigners' legs with rubber mallets.  

15. Stretch out foreigners' legs and test their flexibility.

Is that enough steps?  Would you believe that process takes an hour and a half?  Oh,  it is wonderful!  

The last wonderful thing about today is getting to play basketball!  Heather and Ryan took Davis and I to an outside basketball court near her apartment complex.  We played 4 on 4 a few times, then left to work on lesson plans in our office.  Here are some pictures:

Tomorrow we will meet with the other believers at Heather's apartment.  Davis is going to talk about the sermon on the mount in the book of Matthew.  Please continue to pray for fruitful efforts over here.  That goes both ways, however.  If you need us to pray about anything for you, let us know! 

You Heard it from Davis

This past week was Mid-Autumn Festival. That means that we got an entire week off from teaching. Chinese usually go on vacation somewhere or go visit family. For many Chinese, that means coming to Hangzhou to visit West Lake. For us, that means avoiding West Lake and touristy areas as much as possible.

Courtney and I had originally intended to go somewhere for the break, but by the time we decided where, train tickets were already really expensive. This ended up being a good thing, because we were able to relax and enjoy a quieter city. We live in Binjiang district, which is south of the river; West Lake and the tourist places are north of the river, so where we live was pretty quiet and empty (for China).

This has helped us not only have a peaceful break where we can enjoy exploring the district at a leisurely pace, but we can do so while learning how to ride our new bikes. Not that riding bikes is particularly difficult, but doing so in crowded sidewalks with other cyclists, pedestrians, mopeds, and even the occasional car can be daunting. Thankfully there are not as many people as normal, so Courtney and I can learn to navigate tight streets. We’ll see how next week goes.

In addition to the population increase next week holds, Courtney and I will also be starting our full schedule of classes. Freshman in China are required to receive military training; so for the past 3 weeks we have not held our Freshmen classes, because they’ve been marching around campus in blue and green camouflage. Next week though, our full 16 hours of teaching will be in full swing. We’re a little nervous, because those are a lot of classes to keep track of. I still don’t know many students names in the 8 hours of class I’ve had so far; it’d be easier if I saw them more than once a week, but next week will be twice as difficult.

This week, unrelated to school or festivals, we got to see the Tidal Bore. What is a Tidal Bore, you may ask? A tidal bore occurs when the tides come in, but instead of simply raising the water level little by little, they raise it all in one giant wave. This occurs in only a few rivers on earth, and Hangzhou is the biggest of them all. This natural phenomenon has something to do with the bottleneck shape of the bay; it allows the tide water to come in easily, but it can’t leave, so it builds up into a giant wave that rushes upriver up to 25 miles per hour for at least 60 miles. Here’s some pictures.

I think that’s a pretty neat natural phenomenon, and to get to watch the biggest one that exists makes it more special. Also, hearing the Chinese ooh and aah over every little wave was pretty hilarious too.

The waves usually reach over the railing, but this year, either it wasn’t the big tidal bore yet (and this was just a preliminary build up), or this year’s bore was simply not very big compared to others. Either way I’m glad, because I would not want to get splashed by that water. It looks disgusting because it is disgusting. I don’t want to think about what’s in there.

Owl City

This week, Davis did the Sunday lesson on Numbers 11: the Israelites complain about being in the desert, and God provides manna and meat for them.  In my adult years, I have found the old testament to be more interesting than I used to find it as a child.  There are so many interesting things about this passage in Numbers.  Another passage I will tie into this post is Exodus 16; same story, different accounts.
1. I could never fathom living in a desert for 40 years, waiting on the promised land.  It's easy to brush off the Israelites as ungrateful and weak - but think about it.  Forty years?!  I can't imagine how hard it was for them.  Now, that makes me feel silly for complaining about trivial things that I already know my God is going to take care of.  Sheesh.  AND if Moses started complaining to God (Numbers 11:10-15), you know it had to be bad. 
2. I never knew that God told the Israelites to save some of the manna so that generations to come will know that God provided manna for them in the desert (Exodus 16:32).
3. Manna was said to look like white coriander seeds and resin (Exodus 16:31, Numbers 11:7).  I was curious what exactly these looked like, so I found some pictures:

Coriander seeds

Resin

 

 

 

4. The foods that were listed in Numbers 11:5 (cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlic) are commonly eaten and used to cook with in China.  That is awesome.  I don't think leeks are commonly used to cook with where I am from in America. 
5. I think it is a message of faith.  The people got manna for 40 days because they complained.  They asked themselves why they ever left Egypt (Numbers 11:20), essentially meaning they wished God had never rescued them out of Egypt.  In this, they lost sight of the promised land and didn't fully trust that God was going to deliver His promise.  It teaches me to have faith that God is going to lead me to a greater promise when I am going through something hard.

In other news, Davis and I found this awesome store right down the street from our apartment that have birds.  Originally, there were 2 mangy birds in 2 separate cages sitting outside the front door of the store.  I didn't even think why they were there.  A couple days ago, Davis discovered there was a live (and hooded) falcon on a perch inside the store.  He also saw a professional photo setup - the white screen and 2 large photo lights in front of the screen.  Our initial thought was that people could pay to have their photo taken with the birds, professionally.  Last night, we were walking by and saw a man in the store holding a little owl on a perching glove.  So naturally, we stood there and ooh'd and aww'd until the men came outside to let us have a closer look.  We then found out that it is a place that takes professional photos of the birds only, not people with the birds.  Dang.  They were nice enough though, to let us take a photo with the bird with our own camera.  Made. My. Night!

Settling In

Ni hao!  Wo jiao Courtney Keck.  Wo yao gali chao fan.  (Hello!  My name is Courtney Keck.  I like curry fried rice.) 

Davis and I have finished week 1 of teaching.  I had 2 classes, and he had 4.  Our first day of teaching was pretty rough, as our students wouldn't stop talking and would not listen to us.  The next class we each had was on Thursday, and they were surprisingly much better than the first classes we had.  Our spirits were drained, and then lifted again, thankfully. 

The first time I taught English in China, I was determined to give all of my students real English names.  If there was a 'Seven', 'Mountain Fist', 'Yellow Dirt', and so on, I made them change it to something more appropriate.  This time around, I'm just going to let them keep the English name they already have.  Besides helping me remember them better, their peculiar names give them character and a story.  I have one girl whose English name is Bruce.  She explained in her journal that she was named Bruce by her friends because she liked to fight with classmates, and that reminded her friends of Bruce Lee, the famous Chinese kungfu artist.  So, for this reason, she said she does not ever want to change her English name. 

Now, let's move on to the city of Hangzhou itself.  I have done a lot of comparing in my mind between Hangzhou and Wuhan, probably because they are so different.  Hangzhou is more laid back, at least the Binjiang district we are in.  I was also surprised that I haven't been able to find any meat markets or animal markets on any streets.  Wuhan would have outside animal markets where you choose the live animal you want, and they kill it right there for you.  I remember my friend Drew telling me one time a man's dead fish jumped out of his grocery bag he was carrying it in, when he was waiting for the bus.  The man simply stepped on the flopping fish and put it back in his grocery bag.  One thing I love about Hangzhou is that it rains almost every day (while we've been here), which somewhat cleans the pollution out of the air and brings cooler temperatures.  Wuhan was a hot mess, and it didn't rain as often.  Another major difference between the cities is that food is not spicy here!  I always had to say, "Bu yao la jiao" (I don't want/like spicy pepper) in Wuhan, but not in Hangzhou!  It's great.  The scenery is much better here.  There are so many mountains around Hangzhou.  It's probably 30 minutes bus ride to West Lake, where we can hike in the mountains. 

I'm starting to like it more and more here, but that's my character I suppose.  I become attached to places once I've stayed awhile and built a routine.  Who would have thought this shy, quiet girl from Devil's Den State Park, Arkansas would become a world traveler?  I'm sure my mom did not suspect that.  How the Father does surprise us with the plans he lays out for us! 

Davis and I have also started making friends with the other American brothers and sisters here, and have a pretty decent size group of house fellowship members.  This is comforting to Davis and me.  Heather is one American that has been so helpful to us and makes us feel welcome.  She has lived in China for a decade now, so she is fluent in Chinese, and works for a business now, instead of teaching like us.  Her place is in walking distance from our apartment/school.  It only takes 30 minutes from school to walk there, which is great.  Speaking of walking, Davis and I also plan to buy bicycles very soon.  This should cut down on our walking time dramatically.  The traffic is not too bad in this district, and there are bike lanes on most of the roads.  The bike lane is shared with mopeds and tut tut's as well.  I'm nervous, but it will be a good skill to learn here.  My last memory of riding a bicycle on a busy-ish road was in Dublin, Ireland, where I crashed in a walkway on a bridge.  Graceful, I am not.

To all our friends and family back home:  Davis and I sure appreciate your prayers, love, and support of our time here.  Things are going well now, we're starting to settle in, and we're making some permanent friends already. 

P.S. If I forgot anything, please email us with questions.  We'd love to hear from friends and family other than on facebook!  ;)

Four Days in China

                Uganda prepared me for China. If I had to sum up China, in my own experience, using only my own experience as a guideline, I would describe it as in between Uganda and America. Now this analogy is easy to generalize when I have only really been to the USA, Mexico, Uganda, and now China. But in many ways, China is in between Uganda and America.

                China is cleaner than Uganda, but dirtier than America. It is crowded like Uganda, and people stay very close to each other, but it is about the same as Uganda. In China we have electricity and running water, much the same as in America. The traffic is similar to Uganda, with motorcycles weaving in and out, buses and vans driving quite close to pedestrians and other cars, but much less so than in Africa. In fact, they obey traffic laws more than I thought they would. The food is like Africa, but generally more industrialized. Instead of eating off of roadside markets and locally grown fruits, vegetables, and animals, we eat at restaurants and in cooled buildings.

                China is unlike either my experience in Uganda or America in that it is a sprawling city. There are taxis and buses, lots and lots of buildings, concrete in most places. But nothing I wouldn’t expect in New York or Los Angeles in the US. China is also different in that they obviously speak Mandarin, and things are written in Mandarin. But surprisingly, many things are in Pinyin or English, and even in totally Chinese things they use roman numerals for food prices or room numbers. There is smog, but on a good day it just looks like its cloudy outside, which it honestly is most of the time. It has rained all but one day since we’ve been here.

                There are more people here than in America, but there is never a massive blob of humanity swarming across the streets. At its busiest, there are as many people as there were in between classes on OSU’s campus. Not unbearable.

                Things are much similar to America as well. They drive on the right side. They read left to write. They have electricity, running water, hot food, paved streets, grocery stores. They understand a smile, a pointing finger, a shake of the head. The Chinese are really not that different.

                And really, America has had a lot of Chinese influence over the centuries. Maybe it was because I did a lot of research before, but everything here I had seen in some way. Pagodas, dragons, Chinese characters, watercolor art, noodles, and lotus flowers are all familiar to me. I’ve seen martial arts movies, the Chinese at the Olympics, eaten at Chinese buffets. While still different and filtered, they were at least familiar to what I experienced here.

                China was not that different. Maybe because I didn’t want it to be. Maybe because I’m very open to new things and have experienced other cultures from teaching English in the states. Or maybe it’s because the Chinese are just people like us. Both nations share the most basic and essential human state, and that is the state of humanity. We are drawn together by the fellowship of humanity, and because of this anywhere in the world can feel like home.

Important Information

Here is our updated information for our time in China:

EMAIL - keckyes@gmail.com

MAILING ADDRESS -
English:

No. 528 BINWEN RD, BINJIANG DISTRICT, HANGZHOU
310053 ZHEJIANG PROVINCE
CHINA

CHINESE CHARACTERS:
中国浙江省杭州市滨江区滨文路528号310053

You will probably have to put both the English and Chinese characters on the package/letter/card.  If you choose to send us any mail or email us anything, PLEASE do not mention the work we are doing there.  We could get in trouble and be sent back home if that happens.

BLOG - You're on it right now!  We will use the same blog while over there.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Davis and I just got back from a week spent with my parents in Arkansas, for the last time before we leave for China.  We ran a few errands while there, including buying a pair of jeans (all of mine had holes in them), buying some gifts for our waiban and other bosses in China, figuring out what to do with my phone plan once we're gone, and buying fabric to make our cute and manly laptop computer bags.  We needed something to protect them while they sit in our backpacks on the plane ride over to China.  I didn't want something as bulky as a computer bag that's carried separately on the shoulder, and I didn't want to pay a lot to buy one of those cute little zipper bags that's made out of 'surfer suit' material.  So far, I have only mine completed.  This is the website I followed: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2010/07/29/laptop-sleeve/  I had to figure some things out on my own, as I'm not too familiar with sewing and didn't understand some of the sewing lingo on that website.  I also had a nifty mom to help me.  She been sewing since before I was a baby, if that gives you any idea how helpful she was.  Here are some pictures of the finished bag:

I found out that fusible fleece is fun to work with!  The four things I bought to make this were: 1/2 yard of patterned fabric, 1/2 yard of lining fabric (it is thinner than patterned fabric), 1 yard of fusible fleece, and a zipper.  Wa-lah!

So where are these aforementioned 'series of unfortunate events' you ask?  Well, last night it started at Walgreens.  Davis and I went to pick up a year long prescription that was called in by my doctor, but Walgreens said it would be more than $900 (and this was just 1 of the 2 medicines I have to get for a year), so I had to call my doctor back today to see about changing the medicine to something more affordable.  Another unfortunate event happened this morning when Davis and I had to leave for a doctor's appointment scheduled at 9:00.  We hopped in my car, tried to start it, and NOTHING.  Not a single sound.  Unfortunate event number three that could use a lot of prayers by all out there, happened at the doctor's appointment this morning.  My doctor was checking my thyroid and noticed an enlargement, which led us to the ultrasound room where he checked it more thoroughly.  The good news is there are no nodules or goiters, just an enlargement.  I have my next appointment July 15, 2013.  Please pray that the medicine I take for my thyroid will keep the enlargement from getting any bigger.  Another, but smaller unfortunate event that happened today was when Davis and I went to get our immunizations at Walgreens today.  We were scheduled to get typhoid and hep A shots, but we were told they didn't have the typhoid medication.  On the flip side, they said they could get it in as soon as tomorrow, and that we should take it a week before leaving.  

So the good news to end the day with....  

Davis and his dad fixed the car!  The grand total to fix it was $4.20 and a little hard labor.  It turned out that the cables connecting the battery to the car had eroded from acid.  The boys just bought replacement connectors and brought it back to life.  

My doctor quickly responded today and got my medicine changed to a different brand that is much more affordable.  

I got some Mary Kay from Davis' mom today!  

We baked some blueberry muffins for dessert and had a delicious dinner.

Psalm 16:8 

Made You Wait

Three weeks without a blog post?!  That's just crazy, and we apologize.  These last weeks have been nothing short of busy.  On July 28th, Davis and I moved out of our apartment in Stillwater.  We successfully moved all of our belongings to Edmond, Oklahoma for a few more weeks, until departure.  Here is a view of what it looked like as we slowly packed things up in our apartment in Stillwater:

 

All done!

Davis also sold his car:

Our friends, David and Kelsey got married: 

Then, we took off to Pagosa Springs, Colorado that night! :

We stopped at Santa Fe, New Mexico along the way: 

Drove to Mesa Verde National Park: 

We played mini golf, badminton, shuffleboard, and croquet in Pagosa Springs: 

We drove to Telluride, where we rode a gondola up the mountain.  We drove to Trout Lake, Ouray, and Durango. :

Trout Lake

I'm happy to be on this gondola!

Mountain Village

Mountain Village

Not very steep, so it was fun!

Ouray

And did I mention we saw a double rainbow across the sky?

This was the view from our cabin in Pagosa Springs: 

We also went on a hike about 30 minutes from Pagosa Springs: 

This trail was SO steep!  Hello, Rocky Mountains!

I should also mention that we had a not-so-little visitor 3 nights in a row at our cabin in Pagosa Springs:

Last but not least, we visited the sulfur springs in Pagosa:

So, that was our week in Colorado.  Fun?  Yes.  Eventful?  Yes.  Our week back in Oklahoma has been filled with moving boxes from the garage into Davis's old bedroom.  While doing this, we've been picking things out that we want to take to China with us.  3 more weeks until takeoff!  Oh, I'm so excited to see what our Father has in store for us there, and I'm looking forward to the 'house church' atmosphere with other Americans.  Most of all, I'm looking forward to working on my relationship with the Father while I'm there.  I know it was good for me the first time I went over there, so I am looking forward to that time with Him again.  Most MOST of all, I get to do all these things with my best friend in the world - my husband!  (Can't you tell I'm excited?!)