life is... different now

We are a walking bunch. We'd go for walks in Tianjin regularly, especially during my pregnancy when I couldn't run. But recently, as construction has picked up more and more in Tianjin, finding walking spots is a little more difficult. But when we did go out during the day or at night, we'd explore all different alleys and roads, finding people everywhere and street food in abundance. Well, this is our walking path now. Pretty isn't it? And yes, it's the end of August and the leaves are beginning to change. We had frost 2 nights ago and I have a fire going in the cookstove tonight. Not so much because I'm cold but because our gas ran out and I needed to cook dinner. So, being the pioneer woman that I was raised to be and living in the log cabin that we live in now, I made a fire in the cookstove and made an omlette and boiled water for tea. Almost like camping.
But back to walking... we don't see too many folks out, unless we stop by people's homes. Which I grew up doing. I guess I was an extraverted kid because all in a day's outing I would bike around to all my neighbor's homes and stop by for a visit. And I still do now--3 times so far.
Carol Park, here are the cute shoes you sent Josie when she was 4 months in utero. At almost three months out of the womb they fit her... and we love them! Thanks!!
So back to the walk- it's lovely here. There's wildflowers and trees and streams in abundance. The roads are basically clear which is fun, except for when the cars drive WAY too fast down them. Seriously people, if you live on this road and drive a car or a truck or whatever, please slow down. There are babies out on this road trying to go for a walk!

And we want them to be safe now don't we? This is Josie's new jogging stroller that her uncle Derek got her in Columbus. It's for a 6 month old infant but we've found a way to secure her in ok. She loves it except when she screams, which so far, has only been at the end of our walks. And if we actually jog with the stroller which I'm finding hard to do still because my body feels like jello and bounces in places it's never bounced before, but if I do jog a little, she stops crying. So, a good incentive I guess.

The cool thing about this stoller is that we can go off roading. We started down this path for a few feet but then I remembered that it's hornet season and I remembered times as a child stepping on hornet nests and getting 20 stings so we turned around pretty quick... I'm not ready to chance it with Josie yet. But I might go for a little hike in our trails pretty soon. We've got miles of them around our property that I would run and ski on growing up here.
This is our neighbor Claire. When I was her age my job was to feed her parent's chickens. Now I don't know if they still have chickens but I bet she can feed them just fine. We stopped by to say hi (of course) and had a good chat. They were off to tend the school garden (which I think is very cool) and then to go canoeing in the Adirondacks for the afternoon. Something else I should do more of!



And this next shot is just for kicks. Josie is always wide awake at 6 am, and now that Dave has a job worked from 6 pm to 2 am washing dishes (it's only for a month, thank goodness!) I try and minimize crying activity in our room. We will probably move out of her room sometime, but it's just easy to get up for the 2 am, 4 am and 6 am feedings. It would be NICE if there was only a 6 am feeding but no such luck so far. Anyway, here's Josie at 6 am with my dad before he goes off to the hardware store. They are both reading their Bibles (Josie got this cute one from Dave's friend in Ohio:) She absolutely loves this Noah's ark book with the finger pupet animals.

We're trying to instill good habits from the start. And I'm trying to find someone to watch her for a little while so I can sleep. Sleep, now that's something I miss!

So, yes, life is different here. Really, nothing is the same at all except that I'm home with my family, and my newly expanded family, and glad to enjoy the fall approaching. But there's a lot me miss... our friends in China for one. And our jobs-- we miss our kids and the purpose packed vocation that we had at TIS. It's been hard to watch facebook updates of school starting and a new year and realize that we aren't there and probably won't be again. Things are starting to sink in now more than ever that we left China. Not having a job is a pretty good reminder! Dave is starting to sub at my old school though next week-- working as a kindergarten aid:)
My brother Dave and his new wife Lauren are now in China starting their 2 years of teaching at a school in our same company only north 6 hours. It's fun to watch them go through the same process I did 8 years ago, and I'm missing it.

But new chapters are beginning and I'm excited to see what happens next. We went to Church this morning and sat next to our friend Ellen who is a Tianjin native. It's fun to chat with her and nice for me during chuch because she held her the entire service! Also, there's a Chinese ministry that we will try and get involved with soon (when Dave isn't working nights) for college students in the area. We'll try and keep our language up to date. Dave did spot a chinese studnet while working and acutally pinned her from a city in southern China. She walked by him looking lost so he struck up a conversation and found out that she was from the exact city in China he thought... pretty funny! We shall see what this fall brings and after that-who knows?