Happy Chinese New Year!  We celebrated by spending the day at Blue Spring State Park (not to be confused with Blue Springs, Missouri- where I grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City).

It was ridiculously sunny and warm (82 degrees).  We hiked a couple of miles with the kids, looked at manatees, turtles, and alligators, and had a picnic lunch.

Selfishly, I much prefer this to the frigid temps of Tianjin at Chinese New Year- it is 9 degrees and foggy there now.  And of course the post-fireworks-pollution is awful.

I’m happy to breathe this air instead…

Terrible pics, but here’s a few of our faves from the day- turtles:

(Check the bottom left corner of the photo above for something special peeking up!)

Saw quite a few gators…

And we saw a mama manatee with her babies (and a fish on top!):

We had a hard time getting pics of the manatees as they were enjoying the warmer weather and were mostly out in the deeper water in the river and not up in the shallow springs.  We’ll have to go back on a cooler winter day and try again.

We ran into a Chinese family from Ningbo and talked to them for a bit.  I must have Chinese radar on lately, because I seem to run into Chinese families everywhere lately!

It was a great day, a beautiful day and a welcome start to our year of the Dragon!

I’m still here!  I can’t believe it has been almost a month!

I spent a week visiting my mom up in Kansas City (she’s doing great with chemo!) and had my dad and his wife in for Christmas and had former (Korean) students (from our school in China) visit and whew!!

I thought I’d share a couple recipes for green drinks in case you’re interested.  There’s nothing fancy about these recipes, but they taste good.

Drink 1 (fancy name!) (all measurements are approximate as I never measure anything for smoothies!)

• 1 1/2 cups spinach leaves
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 1 granny smith apple, cored
• 1 cup frozen blackberries
• 1 cup soymilk (add more if your blender fights you like mine does!)
• Juice of 1 lemon

Blend until nice and smooth.  When in doubt, blend more.  I start with just the liquids and the spinach and carrots until smooth and then add the fruit because if I am going to have chunks I’d prefer they are fruit and not spinach.   This one turns out a fairly pretty reddish color due to the berries.

Drink 2 (again, fancy name!) (pictured, above- and those are air bubbles, not chunks!)

P.S. The coasters are from >here< if you like them!

• 2 cups spinach
• 1 cup carrot slices
• 1 cup frozen mango/strawberry (some blend I picked up at Costco)
• 1 granny smith apple (cored)
• 1 1/2 cups soymilk
• 1 orange, peeled
• Juice of 1 lemon

The kids did not like this one at first because the mango/strawberry/orange was not as strong as the berry/lemon and it is less sweet.  So I sliced up lemons and squeezed them on top- and I modified the recipe to include that- trust me, the lemon makes it a lot tastier and less bland.  It is also an avocado green color when finished- so if you need to hide the color to make someone drink it, this one is not for you!

I will try to add more recipes as we try more.  I know there is no science to smoothies, but sometimes it helps to have a jumping off point!  Both of those fed 1 adult and 2 kids.  I need to get some kale and ginger and a few other things to experiment with.

Three Tips:

1. I bought a 10 lb bag of carrots, sliced them in my food processor, and frozen them in freezer bags.  Now I can take a handful out and use them in a smoothie.  I like the convenience of having them chopped up already because my blender is pathetic and doesn’t like anything thicker than, well, water.   Yes, I want a Vitamix.  I’m hoping the Easter bunny is listening to that!  Or Cupid.  Or maybe my husband.  Whatever, not picky!

2. Along that same line of thought, I bought a big tub of spinach at Costco, rinsed and dried it all and froze it in freezer bags.  It is super easy to grab a handful and toss it in and the leaves are nice and brittle from being frozen.  This is wayyyyy better than using gross frozen clumpy spinach that you buy in the freezer section.

3. Love boba tea?  I have been playing around with chia seeds by plopping them in vanilla soy milk- they expand after 15 minutes or so and get a nice gel around them that is kind of like a boba ball in boba tea.  If you do this, be sure to stir every few minutes so they don’t clump.  Chia seeds are great for you, too!  Fiber, protein, omega-3 fatty acids.  Good stuff.   I have some ideas with this I’ll be posting soon, hopefully!

Have a great day!

Whatever you prefer to call the stuff- Ro-Tel, Velveeta dip, Cheese dip, Queso- this stuff is the star of any great Superbowl party.  Or any party.

But I have issues with Velveeta.   I like that it melts all creamy and smooth.  But I hate that it tastes like plastic and is gross.

And if you’ve ever tried to just throw a can of Ro-Tel in with cheddar, well, you know that makes a hot, gloppy mess.  (And for those who may not know what the heck Ro-Tel is, check >here<- it is just diced tomatoes and green chilies in a can)

Well, today I had a little cheese dip epiphany (dipiphany?).

No photos because it was gone so quickly.

Cheese Dip (minus the creepy stuff)

1 c milk

8 oz cheddar (or real queso oaxaca or whatever you can get your hands on)

1 T cornstarch

1 can Ro-Tel

Whisk the cornstarch and milk together.  Add the cheese (shredded or diced or whatever you desire) and the can of Ro-Tel.  Toss it in a crockpot.  Wait till it is yummy.  Eat.  I cooked mine on high for 1 hour and low for 30 minutes.  I don’t think there’s a deep science here.

The cornstarch and milk stabilize so the cheese doesn’t melt into gloppyland.  I haven’t tried making a true flour/butter/milk roux on the stove and putting that in, but it might make it even creamier.

Enjoy a Velveeta-free party dip that’s sure to please!

P.S. I know some people are avoiding tin cans like Ro-Tel.  That’s fine.  I’m sure you can chop up some onion, chilies, tomatoes and toss it all in.  I don’t want any lectures on my tin cans, thanks!

Merry Christmas from our family!  Have a great season of hope, love, peace, and all that good stuff!

God doesn’t care if you bake your own bread.  He isn’t all hung up on on whether you handknit or, gasp! storebought, that hat for your daughter’s head this winter, either.

I went to a very conservative Christian college for 2 years.  Well, 1 1/2, I suppose, as I spent one semester in Hong Kong meeting Keith and falling in love.  I liked the college, but it was my first real exposure to what I sometimes refer to as “creepy” Christianity.  It’s Christianity with a whole slew of rules- fake, man-made, extra-special rules that qualify you to be a Super Christian.

I quickly realized that I didn’t care about any of it.  I don’t care if you have a tattoo (or tattoos!).  I don’t care if you kissed before your wedding day.  I don’t care what kind of music you listen to.  I don’t care if you celebrate Halloween.  These issues were such Issues-with-a-capital-I, and I never quite got it.

Do Santa.  Don’t do Santa.  Buy a million gifts for your kids for Christmas.  Buy no gifts for your kids and have them pick things out from the World Vision catalog.  Adopt 100 kids with special needs.  Don’t adopt.  Can your own vegetables.  Buy Libby’s in a can. Homeschool.  Don’t homeschool.  Drink a beer.  Never touch a drop of alcohol.

But don’t make any of those things spiritual benchmarks for other people.  Those things don’t have anything to do with God and His love for people.

God doesn’t love people because they fit in a little box.  He doesn’t even love people more because they fit in a little box.  God just plain loves people.

I care a whole lot more about you- your story, your hopes, your dreams, your fears- you as a person than about how you fit in this little (invented, fake) box of what a Christian should look like.

What other boxes do you see in Christian circles?  Does any of it matter to you?  Does any of it matter to God?

It was exactly 1 year ago when we made the decision to move back to the US.

1 year ago, we were scared, worried, unsettled, angry, frustrated, and anxious.  We didn’t know what the future held (and I’m kinda thankful we couldn’t see 3 moves and Keith losing his job in the spring, because I think that would have freaked me out even more!).

Today, we are settled, happy, calm, peaceful, and thankful.

I am so thankful we are here.  I love where we live.

I never want to falsely represent our lives as perfect.  None of us live perfect lives.

But this is about as good as it gets.  And I am so thankful.  My oldest girl is turning 9 next week.

My husband loves me, respects me, and has a job that he likes.

After struggling with respiratory stuff and constant antibiotics in China, I’ve been on exactly ONE antibiotic since moving back.

My kids are happy.  They’re involved in stuff they love and they love Florida.

So maybe it is a little saccharine-sweet and gush-gushy, but I feel like this photo below:

Thank you God for bringing us home.

I’m looking forward to this American Christmas so much.

May God bless you and yours this Christmas- and may He give you the time you need to sit and reflect on the past year of your life.  And if you’re in the valley, I pray you reach the mountaintop soon.

We went to the beach last night- out at Jetty Park at Cape Canaveral.  We only had a few hours before the sun set, so we walked the pier and watched the cruise ships go out and enjoyed the cool fall breeze.

Keith took Eliza down to the sandy beach while Kate and I stayed on the pier watching some people fish.

“The beach is good for me, Kate,” I said.

“Huh?” she asked.

“It helps restore me.  It reminds me how big God is and how small we are.  It makes me feel whole again.”

“Oh, okay.  I don’t really get it.”

End of conversation.

She might not get it yet, but someday she will.

Do you have walls around your heart?  Hurts you can’t let go of?  Are you broken inside?

When I stood at the end of the pier, salty wind against my cheeks, I let go.  I let go of that anger and the bitterness that eats at me.  I choose to step forward and embrace tomorrow.  I refuse to let the pain of yesterday hold me back from joy in my future.

It was almost exactly a year ago when our lives started turning inside out.

We’ve been in Orlando 2 months now.  We’ve made it- through the uncertainty, the fear, the moving-3-times-in-a-year-which-I-do-not-recommend.

And I thank God for where we are.  Imperfect, flawed, broken, yet whole in Him.   Embracing the beauty of where we are- the joy of the sand under our toes and the sea stretched out in front of us.   I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here.

First, apologies for leaving that hideous photo up for so long! Yikes!  I had to delete it because it is a bit yucky to have that be the first thing that pops up on our blog!

My mom started losing her hair (due to chemo) this week, so all of us kids and our kids put pink in our hair to honor her.   It has been fun to see the photos on FB of all of her grandkids with pink streaks.

Keith actually went to the National Science Teachers’ Conference in New Orleans with his ribbon.

We love you, Mom!

I know not everyone celebrates, but we had fun!

It was the girls’ first Halloween in America since they were 2 & 3, so it was just a cool time to have to remember what America is like.  They tried all kinds of candy they’ve never seen before and we had a great night as a family.

First, Eliza and I went to the Boyz II Men concert at Epcot on Monday.  It was amazing!!  Loved it!  I can’t get enough of their free concerts!

Over the past months, Kate has become increasingly obsessed with gymnastics.  I have the girls in a homeschool gymnastics class now.  Eliza is a strong kid and loves to run and swim and play soccer.  She tolerates the gymnastics class, but it is not really her “thing”.  And I can’t blame her- she’s nearly 5 foot at 8 years old (9 in December).   Anyway, she knows she’s joining either a swimming or soccer team in the spring, so she puts up with it.   And I have told Eliza that no matter what sport you do, the basic skills of gymnastics really help you become more flexible and strong, and that will help her be a better all-around athlete.  (And with her genetics, she needs all the help she can get in that area!  Keith and I are both um… not-so-athletic…)

After a few near-misses on our tile floor with a thin rug, I finally bought a true >gymnastics mat< for them to practice on.  The price was way better than I’d expected and it is great.

Eliza wouldn’t let me take any pics of her doing stuff, but Kate was more than happy to- she loves to see herself on camera and look at her form… and yes- in the above photo, I want abs like hers!  Oh well, I’m just gonna accept it ain’t gonna happen!

Eliza’s latest obsession is drawing- she’s been working through the Draw Squad book- highly recommended book if you have a budding artist!

Sometimes it is hard to support each kid in their latest endeavor- you want to support each one as they develop interests, but sometimes it feels lopsided.  But I’ve tried to remind Eliza that Kate doesn’t love swimming nearly as much as she (Eliza) does and Kate is very patient about sitting at the edge of the pool while Eliza swims an extra half hour or so… I’m not sure there’s a perfect answer to that area of sibling jealousy- I’m only human and I can’t always give exactly 50/50 to each child, you know?  Sigh.