We were planning to head up to Niagara tomorrow (Sunday) but we decided to spontaneously pop up over the border and stay here for the night- we booked the hotel room at about 1 this afternoon, had an advising meeting from 2-2:45 and then were on the road by 3:15!  We had a free hotel night we redeemed, so a super cheap (free) night away!

We’ll be heading back tomorrow afternoon- but we’re enjoying our little adventure! We drove on some seriously hilly back roads that were up and down and around and whew, kinda made me sick to my stomach! We saw several Amish families out in their horse & buggy carts too! We don’t see that in Texas!

And we had some seriously delicious poutine tonight! If you’ve never had or heard of poutine, it is french fries topped with cheese curds and a brown gravy. It sounds kinda gross, but it is seriously seriously good! Yum! Not a health food or something to eat on a daily basis, but definitely yum!

Today, we had to take Libby in to the doctor for her eye. In 2005, she had a serious eye infection- she’d gone to bed with a little red spot on her eyelid and woke up with it swollen shut.

Here’s a portion of a scrapbook page I’d done back then of her experience (doesn’t she look so young? She was 2 1/2).

Well, she had the same experience again- she had a red spot on her eyelid yesterday and this morning it was much worse. I definitely knew it was not just a bug bite reaction, don’t know if that is maternal instinct or Dad speaking to me or what, but it was definitely clear to me.

Our friend Rachel was seeing a doctor in a nearby (30 min away) town for something else, so we thought we’d try to squeeze in at that doctor’s office. They ended up treating Libby- even her antibiotic injection- for FREE. How amazing is that? We were truly touched by that gesture- we’ve never had a doctor give us free treatment before- and it was just such a sweet and thoughtful thing for them to do.

She has the same thing she had in 2005- periorbital cellulitis. We are so thankful we caught it early again this time- it can spread easily and cause meningitis, brain abscess, and other really nasty stuff. Both times we’ve been able to avoid in-patient treatment which is pretty standard for kids who get it. We’re relieved we’ve been able to skip that part!

So, she got a shot of Rocephin (antibiotics) and we have a prescription for Augmentin if we need it. I love that he put Novocaine in her shot- such a nice way to give a shot!

Here’s a pic of Libby today- she’s looking better already tonight!

Today was a very tangible reminder of how loved we are by Dad, and how wonderful it is to have that worldwide network of “family” who will be there for us.

Because this was Libby’s second time having this it was recommended that we see an ENT and have a CT scan to see if she has any abnormalities in her sinus/nasal cavities.  So after we get settled in overseas, we will see what we can do on that end.  If there is an abnormality that can be surgically corrected and prevent this from happening again we’ll have to see if that is a possibility.

Okay, bear with me, I have several pics of our new apartment- we will be living there in 3 1/2 weeks!!  Crazy!  Alrighty, first off you have to know that the apartment was being painted so it was in a state of disarray.  It will NOT be this dirty/messy when we live there!  So just imagine no dirty stuff ok?

These pics were given to me by a friend who was just in Tianjin and took the pics to show us.  Thank you Rachel!

The furniture and entertainment center/appliances all stay.  I’m excited to show some “after” pics after we’ve moved in and settled a bit! :)  I’m sure there will be some slipcovering on some of this stuff!!

It is SO neat to see our REAL place and know this will be our home soon!  Really makes everything more “real”!

Alright, this is the living room.  We’re on the 3rd floor of the complex and the outside/light area in the back is an enclosed patio area.  We have two of them (they are called ping tais).

This is our kitchen, It has a TON of stuff stored in it right now, so it is really hard to envision what it “really” looks like!

One side of Libby’s room.   Cute storage!

The other side of Libby’s room, just her bed…. note that is wall-to-wall, about a twin size bed.  Note2: That bedspread thing is SO not staying.  Libby has asked for “bright purple” walls, not sure that we’ll go “bright” purple, but maybe a decent lavendarish shade.

Katie’s room is a lot like Libby’s.  I’ll have to see it in person, but we may see if we can put them together and have one room as an office since I’ll be working some from home.  Not sure on that!

Here’s the master bedroom- cute kiddo NOT included, although she will be in Libby’s class next year!  LOVE that teddy bear mattress!

Bathroom- also has a bathtub.  The green thing is the washing machine (the laundry is hung to dry on the ping tai).  We’re hoping to purchase a dryer and put the washer and dryer on the ping tai.   We’re still discussing the bathroom options- maybe a little fish or underwater theme with the unique aqua shade there?

And this is the front of our building…. we’re on the 3rd floor up…  our neighbors right next door to us will be locals (not expatriates).

And to get some size perspective, this is one section of the apartment complex (not even close to the full complex, which is HUGE HUGE HUGE)….  so we’re somewhere in this portion of the giant complex.

Sorry, that was a ton of pics, but how cool is that?  We’re totally excited to have seen real pics of our real place!  And my mind is spinning with ways we can make it feel more homey and comfy and such!

Oh, and since we’re on the topic of homes, our other home is still on the market and we’d love thoughts about that! :)  We’re honestly so busy we have kind of forgotten about it for the most part!  It has been shown quite a few times though.

Have a fab Friday!

We went out tonight with all of the other adults who will be teaching in China. Houghton is a small “town”. I mean, SMALL. It has a minimart, a post office, a Subway, and a Chinese restaurant. I think that’s the entire “downtown” area. So we thought it would be fun/ny to go to the Chinese restaurant- here’s all of us (I’m taking the pic) at “China Star” tonight.

The restaurant was in a converted barn (?) and I think we probably shocked them to pieces when we walked in with this huge crew of people! It was fun though, and it’s always good to get to know people outside of workshops/classes!

Katie has had a little blooming romance… during the kids’ field trip today (they went to a park in a nearby town) she was holding hands and kissing our friend’s son, Isaiah. He’s a month older than Libby (4 1/2) and she’s almost 3, so this is quite the older “man”… pretty funny, cute, innocent, sweet!

I asked her tonight if she could go get him so I could take his picture with her and she put her hands on her hips and yelled “ZAYAH!” (that’s how she says his name). Hilarious.

It was HOT and humid out (no air in our apartments) so they are a little sweaty, but they’re so cute!

Alrighty, we’re off to finish up our Book study for tomorrow morning.

First off, I have to confess that I skipped a class tonight.  In my defense, I attended all of the other classes today- but the girls were a little clingy and seemed to need a little mommy-kiddo time, so we stayed at home while Keith went to a Q&A night with a set of “third-culture kids”- real kids who have been raised overseas.  He filled me in on the details, and it did sound interesting! I think sometimes I do have to stop and listen to the kids and take their emotional needs into consideration.

We ended up just hanging out, playing chase around the townhouse (they LOVE the stairs) and then we went swimming for a bit.  They seemed a bit more content tonight, so I think it was a good decision.  That little teeny tiny “rule-follower” voice in my head was freaking out though- “NAUGHTY! You’re gonna get in trouble!!!”  I hope I don’t end up in time out tomorrow!

After they were tucked into bed, I scrapped a page, just a quickie, but it is so nice to sit and get some creative flow for a second!

Oh, and we’ve had I think 10 showings on our house since it went back on the market in May.  So that’s good!  We’re really in the “ignorance is bliss” stage- we try not to think or talk about it and just give it to Dad and trust that He will provide in His time.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!  We’ll be learning about building a “cross-cultural raft” as a resource for leaving one culture and entering a new culture.

I’ve had some people ask what we’re actually DOING in all of these classes.  Well, this set of classes is focused on learning to work with third culture kids (both our own and the kids Keith will be teaching).

Today we did an apparently “old-school” 4-culture activity where there are 4 defined cultures and you get in groups and “act out” one of the cultures and interact with another of the 4 cultures.  It was our lesson in how to utterly humiliate yourself in front of other adults.  Roleplaying is seriously so far beyond my comfort zone- even as an extrovert!   I think I’d rather hide under the desk than act some of that stuff out!

Comfort or no comfort, we did have a good discussion after that class.  And we get to know other people in the silly group activities.  At the last class, we actually had to draw on balloons things that represented us and make playdough figurines of significant events in our lives.  I just pinch myself and remind myself it is character building to do things that make us squirm.

Keith learned in the playdough class that he doesn’t have a future as a sculptor.  Actually, I made a mom holding a baby (motherhood) and my playdough mom kept dropping the baby, so I can’t say I was any better!!! But his chopsticks with the dim sum that he made- seriously it was hilarious- people had NO idea what they were! (they represented Hong Kong)

And we do LOTS of personality tests and profiles and inventories.  LOTS.  I’ve lost track of how many of those we’ve done!  But today we talked about our Myers-Briggs personality test results.  I am a pretty clear ENFP (Extrovert- DUH! I was 100% extrovert!, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving) whereas Keith is my near-perfect opposite at ISFJ (Introvert- again, DUH!, Sensing, Feeling, Judging).

Me: ENFPs have what some call a “silly switch.” They can be intellectual, serious, all business for a while, but whenever they get the chance, they flip that switch and become CAPTAIN WILDCHILD, the scourge of the swimming pool, ticklers par excellence. Sometimes they may even appear intoxicated when the “switch” is flipped.  <NO COMMENT ON THAT LAST LINE!!>

Keith: ISFJs are characterized above all by their desire to serve others, their “need to be needed.” While their work ethic is high on the ISFJ priority list, their families are the centers of their lives. ISFJs are extremely warm and demonstrative within the family circle–and often possessive of their loved ones, as well.

Soooo, what are you?  (Other than bored reading this!)

Tomorrow is our FOUR WEEK marker!! When did that happen??? Hello!!!!! That’s like SOON!

Tonight we had a little “block party” between our townhouses on the college campus we’re staying at here in New York. We’re in a 4 bedroom townhouse with 2 dorm beds in each room and a kitchen. It has been really nice, and between the rows of townhouses, there is a picnic bench and a big open grassy area. So we let the kids play (it is only in the upper 70’s here! LOVE that!) and just enjoyed the nice weather.

We’ve met several families that will be going with us to China- to various schools, not all with us, but still it is really cool to connect with others and share together. The last 2 days were spent getting to know all of the other people going to China. Now we’ll be joining with about 250 families/couples/singles who are going all over the world to various international schools. It is so cool to meet so many people with unique stories and common passions.

Here are some pics from tonight:

Note to Grandma Cindy: Katie loves her Old Navy tank top!

Libby blowing bubbles.

Here’s some of the kids tonight at the block party…. all of these kids are going to some part of China with their families.

And this is little Isaiah. He and his family will actually be on our flight to Beijing! The girls have really fallen in love with this family- his sister Jina is holding Katie in the group pic and Hana is next to her. Hopefully having friends on the flight will make it more interesting for them! The other Korean-American family (there are many Koreans in the international schools- so having Korean-speakers on staff is a huge benefit!) in the group pic is also going to be on our flight. It was a great comfort to us to learn that we’d have so much good company on our flight!

Sadly, they will not be in our city with us, but we will just have to go visit them!

It’s so cool to meet all of these people- we’ve made friendships through these conferences that will be with us forever! And I think we could seriously go anywhere in the world now and stay with a friend!

Driving through Pennsylvania today on our way from Cleveland to Houghton, we passed this awesome stop- I mean it really is a one-stop-fits-all kind of place. Need some souvenirs? Check! Jelly Belly? Check! Stun guns? Check! Gifts? Check! Swords? Check! Fireworks? Check!

Slightly random little combo of things there, eh?

We did stop at a delicious little cheese place with fresh cheese curds and yummy other stuff! Fresh cheese curds are just the best!! Keith got a hunk of habanero cheddar too. Yum!

We stayed with my aunt Pat last night. I hadn’t seen my cousins Stacey or Jason in several years- they’re both married now and Stacey had her son Jake (11 months) and daughter Emma (same age as my Libby, 4 1/2). The girls splashed in a playpool and we had a nice overnight stop there.

This pic is Stacey, Jason (they are brother/sister, not husband/wife, just clarifying) and Stacey’s kids Emma and Jake.

And can I just say that driving through Western New York is like 10 bazillion times prettier than Texas? Amazing- just gorgeous! Here’s a couple shots outside the window of our van as we were driving…

And here’s a shot of all of us who were at our previous training in Indiana- we’re all headed to schools in places across the world- Indonesia, Haiti, Ecuador, China, etc..

It is sooooooo good to ahve the girls back, we missed them like crazy! Alright, we start classes in the morning tomorrow so I gotta get some rest while I can!

And one scrapbook page….

We got our visa paperwork (letter of invitation and work permit) in the mail!  We will be shipping off our passports to get visas tomorrow!  So happy to have one more step completed!  We leave in 33 days!!!  When did that number get so small?

The girls headed up to us today- it was SO good to see them again!  It was 10 days apart from them- and that’s just a very long time at that age!  It will be good to have them with us in New York!

Tomorrow morning we head up to Ohio to stay with my aunt Pat and then we head up to New York on Friday.  Okay, I need sleep!  Have a fab day!

I love you sweetie!  We’re all so blessed to have you!

And to my dad, my stepdad Warren, and my father-in-law Jim- We love you!  Happy Father’s Day!  And I’m sorry your cards are late!