Adventures in Losing it All

Advantage: China

2012-02-07T21:51:00.002+08:00

The birthday cake in China is horrible, but the candles...

Since the cake is no good we boys made a donut cake. The candle turns and sings also.

The Perks of a Less-Than-Ideal Visa

2012-02-07T21:06:00.007+08:00

Our visas require us to leave the country every 180 days. Chinese New Year also causes the country, including our orphanage, to shut down for a few weeks. Thailand was our visa/Chinese New Year retreat last year. This year we did cheaper, easier, and less exotic, but a great time was had nonetheless. We went to Hong Kong, and to spice it up we went to Macau for a couple days.

We stayed on Cheung Chau Island. The most underrated aspect of Hong Kong is its outlying islands. It was a 30 minute ferry ride from Hong Kong Central, but the flavor and pace could not be further away from the international rat race that is Hong Kong Island. No cars, no streets, boat taxis (see below), local dried seafood fare (see below) and lots of great places to explore. they even had a pirate cave on the island, so of course Keegan had to bring his pirate bandana (birthday party favor from his cousin Carson's birthday party), his knight sword, and his Buzz Lightyear laser gun bought the day before at Hong Kong Disneyland (see pics below).

We went to HK Disneyland and it was wonderful. Short lines, 75 degree weather, and all the magic of Disney with a Cantonese flavor. They were all into the Chinese New Year spirit with a dragon parade and all. Beckett even got to get in on the action of some of the rides.

Macau is an interesting place. It was a portuguese colony for a long time before it was handed back over to the Chinese. The portuguese influence is a stark contrast in southeast Asia. The only problem with Macau is that, being there for Chinese New Year's Eve, they are not as excited about the holiday as Beijingers. As we were flying into Beijing on the day after New Year's Day at sunset we could see the fireworks exploding beneath us like twinkling Christmas Tree lights as far as the eye could see. And for the next 13 days, back at home in Beijing, the fireworks woke us up each morning and serenaded us to sleep each night.

Happy Birthday Beckett!

2012-02-07T17:19:00.005+08:00

Happy 1st birthday to our Very Hungry Caterpillar. Our baby is now 13 months old and has been to 5 countries and 9 states. He is a trooper whose flexibility and tenacity make our lifestyle possible.

2012-02-07T16:59:00.001+08:00

The kids in China had a special Christmas treat this year - they didn’t have to go to school on Christmas Day, or Christmas Eve. This was not, however, due to the enormous upswing in Chinese interest in all things Christmas. It was, of course, due to the fact that Christmas was on a Sunday. The Chinese do not (yet) celebrate Christmas as a national holiday (when Christmas is not on a weekend the kids do have school on Christmas Day), but the Chinese celebration of Christmas is growing by leaps and bounds.
This is our 3rd Christmas season in China and I would say that I saw probably an 900% increase in Christmas decorations, songs, Santa outfits, etc. We even went to visit Santa this year at a Beijing hotel. He was fat for a Chinese man, which means he was a bit on the light side for being Santa Claus. He knew 3 words in English - merry, christmas, and ho repeated 3x.
Christmas is a great time to be in China for people in our line of work. The Chinese are very curious about Christmas, and the one whose birthday we celebrate. It is also wonderful to spend Christmas day with around 50 kids who are delighted when they get a new pair of shoes and some candy, and they are quick to share that same candy with their guests.
Beckett was excited for his first Christmas. You can see by the photo below that he was ecstatic about what Santa brought him this year. Keegan and Reese were also excited to help their little brother learn all about Christmas.

I saw a shepherd the other day...

2011-12-24T23:18:00.000+08:00

I saw a shepherd the other day on my way to work. I’ve never seen a shepherd before. He was leading about 30 sheep across the street and we stopped briefly to let him and his flock pass. He offered a slightly embarrassed wave of thanks and we went our way as he went his. He was wearing the standard issue Chinese winter coat with the typical communist style hat. It was obvious that his garb was no match for the cold and wind of that bitter December afternoon. His face appeared prematurely aged by years of weather and dirt. His crooked and rotten teeth and the callousness of his hands suggested that he hasn’t been invited to many social occasion recently, or maybe ever. His companions, who did not even have the good sense of a dog or a squirrel to get out of the way of a moving car, surely did not offer much in the form of friendship or pleasure.

I couldn’t help but think about the shepherds from the Christmas story. Surely this Chinese shepherd had much in common with his ancient near eastern brethren. I wondered how this shepherd would have fit if I would have invited him to our Christmas party. I imagine his social skills would have been awkward at best. He would have had no gift to bring – unless it were a white elephant party, then I am sure he would have plenty of gifts we could have laughed at. His hygiene and attire would have set him apart from the rest of the crowd, and if the crowd was not gracious, his odor would have literally set him apart.

The obvious question that this timely meeting brought to mind is “why?” Why did God choose shepherds to be the first witnesses to the birth of the King of kings, and Lord of lords? Why would He choose to have the angels invite guests to the birth of his Son who could not even bring a gift? Was their awkwardness in the stable the same as if I would have invited the Chinese shepherd to my Christmas party?

When I look at the Christmas story, however, the shepherds fit perfectly. They fit perfectly with a nameless, common, unwed yet pregnant teenager who was chosen to give birth to, change the diapers of, nurse, and raise the Christ. Shepherds fit well with a story whose setting is Bethlehem, a small insignificant town about 6 miles south of Jerusalem. They fit with the barn and feed trough where the Messiah spent his first night. They fit with the rest of the crowd – sheep, horses, and cows.

They also complement the rest of Jesus’ story. His ministry was to harlots, adulterers, tax collectors, “sinners.” His love was not, and IS not based on some diving merit system. His economy doesn’t know the word deserved, but it knows well the ridiculous concept of grace. His mission was not to sit on the throne, but to kneel in humble service. His job was not to rule, but to wash feet. He came not to be robed with splendor, but to be crowned with thorns.

Why Shepherds? An equally confounding question is, Why Me? With worldly, rational eyes, I deserve to be in the Lord’s presence about as much as shepherds deserve to be witnesses of His birth. In the economy of grace, the shepherds…and myself, are exactly the sort of company that the King of kings and Lord of lords wants.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T20:51:00.002+08:00

Who knew they were so festive in China.

#1 - Fellowship

2011-12-13T21:19:00.000+08:00

Simon and Garfunkel, in 1965, agonizing with heartache from a broken relationship, sang the words “I am a rock, I am an island.” With hyperbole in their harmonies they proclaim their disdain for love and laughter. “I touch no one and no one touches me,” is their solution for the danger of love. It is one of the most desperate songs that has ever been written. Some people use this mantra as a guide to life. Isolation equals safety.

This is obviously not the way the New Testament commands followers of Christ to live. In fact, I think one of the disservices the contemporary western church has done to the New Testament has been the isolation of the individual. We talk about having a “personal relationship” with Christ as being the end all-be all of the gospel message. Protestantism has thrown the “baby” of accountability out with the “bathwater” of Catholic confession. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” was the question that Cain not so rhetorically asked God after he had murdered his own brother. In the evangelical emphasis on personal quiet times, individual spiritual gifts, and consumerist church attendance (we Americans even take our capitalism to church with us on Sunday mornings as we choose the church that gives us what we want, and when we don’t like it anymore, we find a new one with better customer service), we seem to be asking God the same question that Cain posed to Him.

While I don’t believe one can get to heaven on someone else’s coattails, it is a dangerous thing to undervalue the necessity of community. In the Old Testament, when someone sinned, the entire nation of Israel paid the penalty. When they repented, they repented on a national level. When they were victorious, there was national celebration. While I believe it is an exegetical fallacy to compare America to Old Testament Israel, or even to compare the New Testament church to Israel, there are many things we can learn about community from the Hebrew Scriptures.

In all of Paul’s commendation of individuals or chastisement of individuals, he only praises or rebukes as their actions have affected the church. When Paul speaks about the virtue of a church, he praises the body. When he lectures a church for their wrongdoing, such as the Corinthians, his words are for the entire congregation. He holds them all responsible for selfishness, immorality, etc. In the giving of individual spiritual gifts it is only as they help the body that they have any value. When we fast-forward to the wedding feast talked about in Revelation, it is not you (individual) who is the bride of Christ, it is the church (universal and communal) who is the bride of Christ.

When we first signed up to come to China we were not sure about what access we would have to English speaking fellowship. We knew one family that would be here in Beijing also, and we knew there was an international church, but we didn’t know how much access we would have to it either. When we got to Beijing we were amazed to see what a network of like-minded people we would have. The Beijing International Christian Fellowship has been an essential blessing in our lives every Sunday morning. It takes us an hour and a half on the bus/taxi to get there yet our kids complain when we don’t go to church some week. Our kids are also part of a homeschool co-op which includes around 20 families and meets weekly. There are 2 foreign co-workers that work at the orphanage also who an essential part of our success. There is a team of English teachers in our small town which includes 2 other couples and Chyloe and I meet weekly with them for prayer and accountability.

Most importantly, we are a part of a team. Our team meets together regularly for fellowship. Our team is our family this side of the ocean. When we first arrived in Beijing we could not even count to 10 in Chinese. You can imagine the difficulties we faced multiple times every hour while we were still linguistic infants. It is only because of the aid of our teammates that we survived that first year. And now that we are the seasoned veterans and linguistic experts, we have been able to return the blessing to new team members who have arrived in the last 2 years. Now that we don’t need our hands held every step of the way, we don’t see our team as often as we used to. However, whenever needs do arise (and they always will), I know that we have a group of people, both at church and on our team, who would do anything to help us.

I will go so far as to say that if we did not have this fellowship that we would not have survived in China. Whether we leave tomorrow, or stay here the rest of our lives, we will forever be indebted to these people who have been our community. Our success is intertwined with theirs. Our failures affect them, and theirs affect us. When they mourn, we mourn with them. When they rejoice, we rejoice alongside them. If we would have been forced by our circumstances to live on a relational island, we would have failed. If we would have chosen isolation, so that we touched no one, and no one touched us, it would not have led to safety but rather to misery.

All of the other things on my Top Ten list we could survive without. I know there have been people in history who have done it by themselves, but we are not those people. And, if I were to be honest, I don’t think those people should have done it either – they should have done it with a team. Had they had a team also, then perhaps we would not have read about their destroyed marriages, alienated kids, and crippling depressions. More than anything else in Beijing I am thankful for fellowship, and it is the only item on the list that is indispensable.

#2 - The True Heroes

2011-12-03T10:05:00.003+08:00

We work at an orphanage. We love our job. We love the kids. We have fun with them, teach them English, and help guide them in their lives. However, we do not wake them up in the morning, discipline them when they get in trouble, change their sheets when they wet the bed, do their laundry, or hold them in the middle of the night when they miss home - that is the job of the house parents. They do the hard stuff, we do the fun stuff. If credit is due anywhere for the success of these kids then it should be given first and last to the house parents. Their job is difficult, exhausting, under-appreciated, and pays poorly, but it is for these, the true heroes, that I give thanks this holiday season.

#3 - McDonald's

2011-12-03T09:20:00.003+08:00

I can hear your scoffs, you judgmental health food types, all the way across the Pacific as you have just read the title of this post. I am not going to apologize for it. I am not going to try to justify it to you Trader Joe's shopping, organic produce buying, Super Size Me quoting folks with culinary superiority complexes. The fact is simple - I love McDonald's! There, I said it. I know this is an unpopular thing for a healthy, fit, slender 33 year old male. I feel like it is on par with claiming my love for Justin Beiber, Wall Street, crack cocaine, Darth Vader, high gas mileage vehicles, and Iran - it is not the "cool" or healthy thing to do. You are trying to make me feel like I am rooting for the bad guy. Well here I am, saying it loud and saying it proud...I love McDonald's!

I love that I could go to lunch 4 days in a row and get a different sandwich. I love their breakfast. I love that McDonald's is cheaper in China than in America. I love that we have a McDonald's only 400 yards from our house. I love that the golden arches emit a welcoming glow 24 hours a day. In a land where people are trading their tea for coffee more and more every day, I love the new McCafe, which not only brews up good coffee 24 hours, but also will prepare a mocha, latte, or cappuccino to brighten my spirits as well.

My wife doesn't like Chinese food. This is not that big of an issue except for the fact that WE LIVE IN CHINA! This has forced my wife to become a fantastic starting-from-scratch cook. It has also increased our appreciation and thankfulness for McDonald's. When we feel like we just can't eat any more gongbao jiding, there is always the option of a Big Mac and fries (I am getting hungry just thinking about those golden fried potatoes).

A friend of mine who own stock in McDonald's was telling us recently that their stock has done incredibly well over the last 2 years. We just smiled and told her, "you're welcome."

#4 - Skype

2011-12-02T10:50:00.002+08:00

Thank you Jesus for giving us Skype!

#5 - Slingbox

2011-12-02T10:29:00.003+08:00

I know Thanksgiving is over, but as they say, Thanksgiving should not just be a Thursday at the end of February, it should be a state of mind... so the list continues.

With the advent of smart phones and tablets some marketing genius thought it would be a good idea to invent a device which would make one's TV portable. The true value of this invention is for those of us who live overseas. Completely legal and with a fairly cheap one time price tag, the slingbox allows me to watch television on my computer in China (or your smart phone or tablet). I purchased my slingbox at bestbuy.com and had it shipped to my in-laws house. They then took the box, and using an internet connection also hooked it up to the TV in their guest bedroom. Magically, as long as my in-laws pay their cable and internet bill, I am able to watch TV on my computer as long as I also have an internet connection.

I was let in on this gem of a secret by a friend of mine who lived across town. We had a small group of guys that met weekly on Monday mornings, and occasionally our meeting would be at his house to watch Sunday Night Football (which is Monday morning China time). After suffering through 3 entire baseball seasons lost to the lack of Chinese interest in the divinely inspired sport, I decided enough was enough. I purchased the slingbox for this year's MLB playoffs. I was vicariously excited for my Father and my brother who are both lifelong Cardinal fans (side note - I was watching game 6 and had to leave for a lunchtime appointment in the 7th inning when the Rangers were winning by 3 runs. I assumed the series was over when I checked the score later that night. If you watched game 6 then you understand my agony).

You may think this is a shallow item to be #5 on the list of things I am most thankful for as a foreigner living in Beijing. While it is true that life in Beijing is possible without it (we did it for almost 3 years), it is these little treats that make a huge difference when the larger issues are driving us to insanity. We could do without it, but I am thankful that we no longer have to.

#6 - Peace of Mind and BJU

2011-11-25T12:14:00.004+08:00

There are many scary scenarios one can imagine living in a foreign country like China. Now that we have substantial language skills we have crossed many of those situations off the scary list. However, no matter how well we speak the language there will always be a list. Many (actually, most) of the situations on the scary list are medical related. We actually encountered one of those scary scenarios in 2005 before we even lived in China. We were here with the family to adopt our sister-in-law and our not-quite-two year old Keegan pulled a glass table onto his face. Blood was everywhere. We grabbed our passports and wallet and rushed out the door. The hospital we were taken too was...well...scary. Once we got past triage and into the place where they actually stitched him up it was less scary. They used sterile equipment to stitch him up and did a good job.

The acquisition of the language has reduced the scary list significantly, and the discovery of Beijing United Family Hospital has further reduced that list. BJU, # 6 on my Top Ten Things I Am Thankful For As A Foreigner Living In Beijing, is a hospital which is focused on treating foreigners. All of the nurses and administrative staff speak English and most of the Doctors are foreigners. The bad news is that the prices are also foreign, but as I mentioned earlier, there are some things that you cannot put a price tag on.
There are many areas where the Chinese practice medicine very well. There are many medical situations where communication between doctor and patient are essential. Giving birth is one of those instances. Our third son was born at BJU (as a bonus, he gets 15% off every visit at BJU for the rest of his life). The facilities probably even nicer at BJU than at the hospital where are first 2 sons were born in Ohio. As a bonus, they gave us a candlelight steak dinner our last night there.
Peace of mind is priceless. BJU gives us peace of mind living in China. We are thankful for peace of mind, we are thankful for BJU.

#7 - Jenny Lou's

2011-11-25T11:43:00.001+08:00

Have you ever been to a Chinese restaurant and ordered a dish that included cheese? Unless you ordered the cheeseburger then I’m sure you haven’t. Cheese is foreign to China, as is sour cream, baking powder, tortilla chips, spaghetti noodles, anything in a Campbell’s can, baby cereal, and the oh so important yet underappreciated – butter. These items cannot be purchased at the local grocery store – enter Jenny Lou’s, #7 on my Top Ten Things I Am Thankful For As A Foreigner Living In Beijing list.

If you think paying 60 RMB ($9.50) for a can of Bush’s Baked Beans is crazy, so do I. If you are telling me that you would never pay 72 RMB ($12) for Cheerios, then I am telling you that I used to say the same thing. Supply and demand is a capitalist ideal, and the folks that own Jenny Lou’s, Beijing’s foreign grocery store chain, have figured out the demand and have offered the supply. I don’t like paying import prices (not all import prices are as ridiculous as the aforementioned examples, they are extreme examples), but I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to pay import prices.

If you want to try to understand the situation, take your 10 favorite recipes in your arsenal and see which of them would be possible to make with only Chinese grocery store ingredients. I would be willing to bet that less than 5% of all of those recipes would be possible (and for those of you that don’t use recipes but eat everything from boxes and from the freezer aisle, then you would be completely out of luck). It is Jenny Lou’s that makes spaghetti, pancakes, tacos, etc. possible to make, and this Thanksgiving season it is what has made Stove Top stuffing, squash casserole, and even turkey possible – and for this we give thanks.

#8 - California County

2011-11-22T14:01:00.003+08:00

My family had moved from LA to Arizona when I was six years old. When we would return to the coast to visit our family my grandmother would always sing us the song, “California here I come, right back where I started from.” Often times I sing that same song to myself as I return to my apartment in China. Our complex is called California Water County (a new version of this song was conveniently stuck in my mind as we devoured the entire series of the OC last year).

We love the California County. There are many reasons why California comes in at #8 in the Top Ten Things I Am Thankful For As A Foreigner Living In Beijing. We have a real bathtub. Our elevator. Rent is cheap! Our water doesn’t stink (of course it is still not potable, but at least I don’t gag when I wash my face). These things are all great, and I don’t mean to understate any of them, but the truth is that they all pale in comparison to the real reason why California is on the list.

You see, in China people don’t have the same control of their own lives that we have in America. To find stark evidence of this truth one need not look any further than heating and cooling. Most, in fact almost all, Chinese people cannot control the heat in their home. On November 15th the heat turns on, and on March 15th the heat turns off. They cannot control when, and they cannot control how much. Some apartments are stifling. In others, the residents will only take off their coats when it is time for bed. In California we control our own heat!!!!!!!!!

The winter temperature in Beijing in similar to Columbus, Ohio. There are 2 main differences, however. The first difference is that it is very dry in Beijing. Last winter we went 108 days with 0 precipitation - great for us bike commuters, awful for air quality. The second difference is that in Ohio you can escape the cold. In Beijing trying to escape the cold can be like going to the beach and trying to avoid getting sandy. In California we have a radiator system which is controlled by us at the push of a button. In California we also have a heating unit on the wall in every room, which can be used for reinforcement if the radiator is not cutting it (these same units are AC units in the summertime). As I type these words the extra large unit in our living room is blowing blow dryer warm air on my thankful body. Our electric bill is probably higher than any other apartment in California, but our family motto is that there are some things you just can’t put a price tag on.

Notice two different spelling mistakes in the same word on 1 manhole cover. There are literally hundreds of these in our complex.

Thanksgiving Top Ten - #9 - 宫保鸡丁

2011-11-21T11:08:00.005+08:00

As a foreigner in China you can find yourself in some culinarily challenging situations. Imagine that you are hungry, real hungry, and the only places to eat in the near vicinity are hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Since you are on foot, there are no other options (drive thru’s haven’t caught on in China, and it wouldn’t matter if they did because you don’t own a car). Your schedule dictates that you will not have another opportunity to eat for a long time so you decide to roll the dice and you pick the nearest dive for lunch. If this were a swankier joint then you would have an elaborate full color picture menu which you could flip through and point to a picture to indicate to your waiter that you want to eat that, but since this restaurant doesn’t even have a name or a front door then your menu is a (long time ago) laminated piece of paper with a lot of chinese characters and some numbers. You also have to realize that at this point in your adventure you have no language skills. You can’t just ask the waitress, “So what’s good here?”. You don’t even know how to say, “Give me something with pork in it,” so forget about telling her that you don’t want bones in it and not too spicy. You take one look at the menu and can see that the good news is that your meal will cost less than 3 USD but the bad news is that were it not for the numbers you wouldn’t even know if you were holding the menu right side up. This might sound like a scary and overwhelming situation, but you have no reason to fear. Don’t worry, you will not end up with chicken feet on your plate. You need not fear the potential of having some unidentifiable meat on your plate mixed with something that looks like some sort of vegetable. You are not scared because you know how to say 4 things in Chinese. 1) ni hao = hello. 2) xiexie = thank you. 3) cesuo zai nar? = where is the toilet? 4) gongbao jiding = palace insurance chicken (it could also be translated as ‘uterus protection chicken’, I’m not sure which one is correct).
In America you would probably call it kung pao chicken, in China it is 宫保鸡丁- gongbao jiding. The literal translation is a little bit fuzzy but everyone knows what you mean, and literally every restaurant in Beijing serves gongbao jiding. The main ingredients are chicken, onions, and peanuts, but they only tell half the story. The concoction of spices and seasonings are what put the gong in gongbao jiding. There are two kinds of spicy in chinese food. The first is what we call in chinese la, which you would call spicy. It is the red peppers in the gongbao jiding which make it spicy. There is another form of spicy in chinese food which we call ma, but which you would probably call numbing. The numbing effect is caused by little black pepper like balls (the first thing you do is attempt to separate all of these peppers from the rest of the food). It is a cruel sort of duel that one plays with the gongbao jiding where the ma spice adds the perfect amount of tingle to the mouth until one of the sneaky ma peppers is smuggled into your mouth while clinging on to the underside of a peanut and letting out a sinister cackle as your teeth bite down on him sending his venom mercilessly carpet bombing every nook and cranny of your mouth. Realizing at this point that rustic chinese dentists probably use these as a crude form of Novocain you smile and congratulate your nemesis with a “touche,” or a “well played my friend.” If you have vetted your gongbao jiding properly and thoroughly then you will get just the right amount of spice, but if you are careless...well it is a risk that one has to be willing to take. But as they say on Wall Street -high risk, high reward. The spicy oily goodness has the perfect texture of chicken, followed by the slightly crisp onion, finished off with the sublimely crunchy peanut. Combine these ideal bedfellows with the spices and by the time the gongbao jiding has worked its magic your mouth feels like a cool spring breeze.

As you pay your 15 RMB for your meal and move on to your appointment which prohibited you from finding a McDonald’s you realize that the hole-in-the-wall turned out to be a great choice. The surroundings were far from appetizing, you are glad you didn’t have to brave the bathroom, the service left room for improvement, and you were too cold to take your coat off. However, in that moment your heart is grateful, and you pause to offer a brief word of thanks to the Lord for gongbao jiding.

China Football Update

2011-11-21T10:57:00.005+08:00

An update on the last post - China was eliminated this week from World Cup Qualifying. It appears that the football powerhouses of Iraq, Jordan, and Singapore just proved too tough for the world's most populous nation. The World Cup is still 2.5 years away in Brazil but the hopes of the Chinese are already shattered. It appears Club Football has a tough road to hoe.

What I'm Thankful For - #10 - Club Football

2011-11-14T13:09:00.004+08:00

That upon which we place our focus, will become greater. This works both positively and negatively. There are many challenges to living in China. Some of these challenges we laugh at, others we scream at. Last week as I was teaching my students about thankfulness I said (in Chinese, of course), "we cannot be simultaneously complaining to man, and thankful to God." If our prayer is that He would "give us this day our daily bread," how can we then complain that the bread is too stale, or too bland, or too...?

So, in an effort to focus on the positive, and therefore magnify the positive, I will be posting The Ten Things I Am Most Thankful For As A Foreigner Living in Beijing. I could make a bottom 10 list as well, and many of those things I have blogged about in the past, but this is November, a time to give thanks, so here goes.

#10 - Club Football

I did a short post last year about our kids playing soccer in Beijing, but I wanted to add it to my Thanksgiving List.

Coming in at number 10 is Club Football. Club Football as an organization sees it purpose as to teach football for kids, organize leagues for adults, raise the level of Chinese football (they can only go up from here), and make the game fun for all who participate. There is also a humanitarian side to Club Football as they give much of their time and energy to do "pro bono" football instruction for kids who cannot afford to join their leagues. They have even offered to come to our orphanage to do some classes with the kids but their schedule and our schedule don't jive.

The organization is run by Brits of different flavors. They also employ many Chinese for office, translating, and assistant coaching work. It is always a treat when you call the office and talk to one of the Chinese staff when they say "cheers" as a salutation. The coaches are very well trained, professional, and work great with the kids. My boys even get a kick out of learning new English vocabulary words like "bum" instead of bottom, and "bogies" instead of boogers.

I am thankful for Club Football because my kids love to play football. It is a lot of work for us to make it happen each week, but we do it because they love it. They love getting uniforms, they love getting medals, they love winning, they love scoring goals, they love playing games, and we love watching them. It paints for me a beautiful spiritual picture as I watch my kids play football - I love to watch them do things they enjoy, when those things are healthy. How much more does our heavenly Father love to watch us do things we enjoy. There is an unspoken sentiment in many churches that enjoyment is for when we get to Heaven. What a disastrous instance of missing the point that is both devastating to the church and the individual. I can only imagine that the joy of their heavenly Father is so much greater than my joy as they run and smile and kick and celebrate scoring goals.

We Make Do With What We Have

2011-11-02T11:06:00.004+08:00

We love Halloween, and no, I'm not going to apologize for that.

Halloween, as you can imagine, is difficult to get excited about in China. The weather is here to make us feel like watching football and drinking cider, but no one here watches football, or drinks cider, or goes trick or treating. We made do with what we had. Chyloe bought a pumpkin at the foreign grocery story. Since we had 1 pumpkin and 2 kids of pumpkin carving age we made a 2 faced pumpkin. We baked the seeds and watched Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin movie. We also made Halloween sugar cookies.

It just so happened that one day we saw a parade of people in Halloween costumes at our neighborhood. They were handing out flyers advertising a local kindergarten, a bit disappointing, they didn't even give us candy. However, as you can see from the pictures, we did OK with what we had.

Because Chinese People Are Too Many

2011-11-02T10:55:00.002+08:00

We had an interesting experience riding the bus yesterday. Riding the bus in Beijing is always an experience. There are almost always more people on the bus than there are seats. Often times there are more people that want to get on the bus than there is space on the bus. Because of this, when a bus arrives at a bus stop and opens it doors, the people trying to push and shove there way on the bus is reminiscent of when you are at the lake and you throw a piece of bread in the water at the spot where the carp are jumping on top of each other in an effort to eat the bit of bread. What makes us sit back and laugh is when 15 people act out this very scene at the open door of an empty bus that has 40 seats. "Just slow down," my wife shouts to the flopping carp every time we witness it.

The craziest part of this phenomenon for us foreigners is not that people are pushing each other to get on the bus - we are Americans, we understand selfishness. What blows my mind each time is that they never get mad at each other. Everyone accepts it as part of the rat race and deals with it. My wife...not as much.

Yesterday we saw 2 fights on one bus ride, one was verbal and the other was physical, but both involved the same lady. This was very unusual for China. We see fights every once in a while but usually not over bus conflicts. The verbal fight was over an empty seat and the man wanted it and the lady didn’t want to give it to him, she wanted to give it to someone else. In the end the man took it anyway, but the lady did not get out of his way. The physical fight was between this same lady and another man. It was difficult to understand exactly what was going on. It looked like he wanted to get off the bus and she would not let him. I guess they were together? Alcohol? Mental illness? I’m not sure what caused the fight. It was happening at the stop where we were getting off. We passed by her and got off the bus while the skirmish continued as the bus pulled away.

The fight was not the surprising part, I’ve seen many fights before and I understand people getting angry. What was shocking to us was that as this lady was (pardon the anti-pun) manhandling this guy, she and he were falling all over the two young ladies sitting next to the abused man. They said nothing to her and did very little to get out of her way. I was shocked that they didn’t rise up and join the fracas.

When I ask Chinese people why things like this don’t bother them as much as they bother me their answer is always the same - “因为中国人多” (because Chinese people are too many). The Chinese people tell me that they complain inside their own heads, but they never do anything about it because there are a lot of people in China. This, I have found, is a fundamental difference between my culture and theirs. As an American, it is written into our DNA that when we don’t like what is going on, we do something about it (for examples see the Occupy Movement, Martin Luther King, Women’s Suffrage, the founding of our nation, etc.). As a Chinese person, it is written into their DNA to just accept it (for examples see the blockage of Facebook and Twitter, the one child policy, the license plate lottery in Beijing, etc.). The Chinese don’t all follow this culturally accepted norm. Some have voiced complaints (last time it didn’t go so well for them), but for the most part they toe the company line and realize that even if they did want to implement change, there are just to many people in China and something about holding back the tide. I, however, as an American sometimes see it as my duty to show them the “better way”. As I do so, I am only shouting my naivete, and my Americanness.

An Answer to Prayer

2011-10-01T14:53:00.003+08:00

This was on our International Fellowship's weekly email this week. It is a wonderful answer to prayer and a beautiful picture of Chinese thankfulness.

Last week we as a Church lifted up the Ayi that helps clean the Church. Her mentally challenged son had gone missing after a walk and the family was unable to locate him. Praise the Lord, her son has been found! This is a wonderful answer to prayer, both of her family and our Church. She would like to express her thanks to God and the Church. So in gratitude she has gifted several bottles of Sprite to the Church. We would like to invite you to enjoy a cup of Sprite this Sunday (available at the Coffee Corner) as we join her in giving thanks to God for the return of her son who was lost and now is found!

Greatest...Wife...Ever!

2011-09-02T10:09:00.003+08:00

The original title of this post was My Wife Is Better Than Your Wife, but then I realized that it is not a competition (although at our house we can make anything into a competition). I can hear the naysayers already who are wondering about how bad I screwed up to necessitate such a brown nosing post, or who are guessing that I am only just hoping to get lucky tonight - to you doubters I will tell you that my wife does not even read this blog.

Living in China presents a certain set of challenges. We have no car. Our kids do not go to Chinese school. We have no dishwasher. Our grocery store does not carry any products made by Kraft, Campbell's, or Betty Crocker. The butcher does not understand words like "Ribeye," "Roast," or "Bacon." These unique obstacles make wifehood and motherhood, and any 'hood for that matter, much more difficult in China.

Now, in all fairness to your wife, mine does have few advantages. We have an Ayi (Chinese word for "aunt") who helps us out as a housekeeper three mornings a week. Also, for most of the month of August I did not work due to the fact that the kids and staff at the orphanage went to visit their hometowns. However, in spite of these couple bonuses the scale still dips heavily to the challenges side.

Last night we had sesame chicken with mango salsa and coconut rice for dinner - it was 特别好吃, or as the kids at my house say, "scrumdiddlyumptious". The day before we had chicken tacos with half a dozen ingredients where the only thing that came from a can/box/bag was the black beans. She even made a cilantro and lime ranch sauce for the tacos. You can't buy ranch in our town so she first had to make the ranch from scratch and then make it cilantro and lime ranch. She had a hankering for green bean casserole last week and due to the absence of all things Campbell's she first had to make cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup plus she fried her own onion rings just to use as ingredients in the casserole. (Explanation - many of these ingredients can be purchases at the foreign grocery store, but the downsides to that are that you have to pay imported prices and the store is located in East Beijing which would be and hour and a half away if we had a car...did I mention that we don't have a car?) Then, to supplement that night's watching of Glee, she made an apple cake with brown sugar glaze. Sure, it could be argued that much of this effort is self-serving since my wife loves to eat more than just about anything, but many people would intimidated to the point of surrender when presented with challenges so daunting.

"I make things from scratch all the time," might be the argument that I hear rising from those trying to make a run at the top spot. But do you do it while homeschooling a 2nd grader AND a kindergartener? Oh yeah, and did I mention that our youngest (8 months) is now displaying all of the facets of sin nature that we read about in Genesis 3 -he never wants to be where he is allowed and play with what is his, he wants only wants what he can't have and to go where he is not permitted.

Did I mention that she does it all while looking radiant! While the radiance is always there, the delight sometimes wanes. There are moments of frustration, to be sure, but the joy with which she does it all is the prevailing attitude of her efforts.

How does she do it, you ask? I say she does it by the power of He who calmed the waves and hushed the storm. She would add that regular mani/pedis are an indispensable secret to her success. Even though she has always wanted (and undoubtedly always will want) a girl, it is obvious that she, like my own mother, was born to be the mother of 3 boys and the wife of 1, but to do it all in the context of China, with all its challenges and disadvantages, gives her the title Greatest...Wife...Ever!

You Probably Did Not Know - Baseball Edition

2011-08-25T20:42:00.002+08:00

I recently procured Ken Burns' 10 volume documentary on Baseball. It is so good that my wife even enjoys it. I have only got through the 1940's but have learned some fascinating baseball history. Here is a list of "You Should Know's" followed by some "You Probably Did Not Know."

You Probably Did Know - 1. Connie Mack was one of the greatest managers of all time, managing in 7,755 games, and was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.
You Probably Did Not Know - 1. His real name is Cornelius McGillicuddy

You Probably Did Know - The Chicago Cubs last won the World Series in 1908.
You Probably Did Not Know - The only reason they even made it to the World Series that year was what was affectionately referred to as "The Merkle Boner." Fred Merkle of the New York Giants was at the plate in the bottom of the ninth with 2 runners on base. He got a hit which scored the runs and the Giants apparently won the game and the National League pennant. The Cubs infielders noticed, however, that Merkle, because of the pandemonium, forgot to touch 1st base. The Cubs players had to chase down the ball in the stands, which they finally did. The Cubs petitioned the powers that be that they legally won that game. Two days later the decision came that the game was to be replayed. It was - and the Cubs beat the Giants, and then went on to win the Series. Had the Merkle Boner never have happened, this would be the Cubs 104th consecutive year of futility, instead of their 103rd - the Cubs also won the Series in 1907.

You Probably Did Know - Joe Dimaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games in 1941 - a record which many believe will never be broken.
You Probably Did Not Know - The day after his streak was broken, he started another streak which lasted for 16 games. Dimaggio hit safely in 72 out of 73 games. Even so, he lost the American League batting title that year by a whopping 49 points!
You Also Probably Did Not Know - Joltin' Joe only struck out 13 times that season. To put it into perspective, Joey Votto, last year's National League MVP, struck out 125 times.

You Probably Did Know - Jackie Robinson was the first black player to play in the Major Leagues on April 15, 1947.
You Probably Did Not Know - Robinson, years before he played for the Dodgers, when he was in the US Army, was told by the Army bus driver that he needed to sit in the back of the bus. Robinson refused. He was court marshaled for his protest. He won the trial.

The Swimming Pool as Cross-Cultural Training

2011-08-05T10:09:00.005+08:00

It happens every time we go swimming. We show up to the pool, pay to get in, and prepare to jump in to the water when inevitably a lifeguard will stop us and show us where the locker room is where we can put on our swim clothes. Before I had the language skills necessary to navigate this conversation it was an extremely confusing and awkward situation. Now that we can say what we want to say (and have them understand us), we simply tell them that in America these are our swimming clothes. Yes, Michael Phelps' swimming clothes do look different than mine, but then again I am not here at the pool to set any world records. I have been tempted to go speedo (when in Rome...), but my more-easily-embarrassed-than-me-wife has quickly nipped that temptation in the bud.

Actually, it is a neat and tidy lesson in cross-cultural work. We are not Chinese. No matter how hard we try, we will never be Chinese - and truthfully, they don't expect us to be Chinese. Chinese are different than us - in many ways - and we can never expect them to behave like us (or like we think they should). There are 1.3 billion of them, and we will never change their culture. Us foreigners need to learn where we need to act like them and assimilate to their culture (using chopsticks, walking everywhere, cutting in line, not tipping the waitress, taking off our shoes when we enter someone's house, etc.), because after all, it is their culture. On the other hand, we also need to decide where we are not going change (swimming trunks, air conditioning, eating dog meat, split pants on babies, littering, drinking cold drinks in the winter, public urination, etc). We do this for our own sanity, and because in these instances of us retaining our American culture we are not offending theirs.

Where in the World Is...

2011-08-05T09:59:00.002+08:00

A quick update on our whereabouts and our doabouts. We made it back to China at the end of July. I had to hit the ground as my first day back was the 2nd day of English, of which I was the Camp Director. It is the best way to get over jet lag quickly. Well...it would be the best way to get over jet lag if Beckett was not in the picture. Jet lag takes on a whole new level of ferocity when there is a 7 month old involved, especially when one has to work 13 hour days. Alas, English Camp is finished, and it was a fantastic 10 days with a great team from all of the "O" states - Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, and New York (Thanks guys for blessing our work here).

Maria Renetta Angelina (Pizza) Trumbo 1920-2011

2011-06-29T07:19:00.007+08:00

I had the privilege of giving the eulogy at my Grandmother's funeral on Monday. She passed away last week at the age of 90. For part of the service I used an old Italian Bible that she had from 1944. From it I read Ecclesiastes 9:7-10. It was one of the greater honors of my life preaching at her funeral.
By the numbers Grandma was an impressive lady. She lived for 90 years, was married for 63, had 3 sons, 7 grandsons, and 7 great grandchildren. As a matriarch she started a streak of 12 consecutive male Trumbo births, a streak that lasted until 2006 when the first female Trumbo was born in 89 years. Scientifically we know that the male seed determines the gender of a child, but as has been the case in this family for 67 years, Grandma has determined their courses.
Ecclesiastes 9, in a book which is mostly about the meaninglessness of everything, tells the reader to eat his bread with joy, drink his wine with a merry heart, enjoy the spouse who he loves, and to take pleasure in his work. This was Grandma's modus operandi, and it was this sort of robust life that she passed down to her family. Her Italian blood gave her black hair, an assertive nose, a propensity for good food, and the volume level at which she and her family live life. Its not just any family that can get away with giving their mother/grandmother the nickname "Poopsie".
There are some coincidences that happen in life that are too strange for fiction. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died about an hour apart from each other on July 4, 1826 - the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Grandma worked at Dodger Stadium from the day it opened in 1962 until 1987. My Grandmother's funeral was on Monday - the same day on which the LA Dodgers declared bankruptcy.

Top Ten Lessons Learned Leading 9 Chinese Orphans On A 6 Week Tour of 5 US States

2011-06-20T23:32:00.004+08:00

1. Trampolines are God's third greatest gift to children.
2. Hugs and smiles transcend language and culture.
3. Home Alone also transcends language and culture.
4. I don't see how I could love any kids that were not my own with any greater love.
5. I have never in my life as a teacher taught on such "fertile soil".
6. If the American church took care of its own with the same love and hospitality with which it took care of us then it would be a revolutionized place.
7. Kids are kids. American, Chinese, orphaned, adopted, or otherwise - kids are kids.
8. Adoption saves lives. It saves lives both physically and spiritually. We had the privilege of meeting scores of adoptive kids and families while on tour and it was one of the greatest blessing of the 6 weeks. We performed at the National Christian Orphan Alliance Conference and met dozens of other orphan care ministries and some of the most giving families I've ever met. Adoption is not just our spiritual reward (Romans 8), but I am trying to decide if I can even go so far as to say it is the earthly spiritual duty of those who can, because...
9. ...there are 163,000,000 orphans in the world.
10. It is a blessing to do the work we do.

...I don't care if I never get back

2011-06-07T12:41:00.004+08:00

If the batting cages at the Louisville Slugger whetted the appetite of the orphan boys for baseball, then a trip to Great American Ballpark sealed the deal. The game of baseball is a difficult game to explain; throw in a language barrier and it is darn near impossible. Instead of trying to come up with the Chinese equivalent of "stirke" or "run", I just taught them the English words. Every time the crowd would cheer they would ask me why another point was not added. I explained to them that the runner had to touch the fourth white place in order for the team to get another point. The Redlegs were lousy that night, they only touched the fourth white place 2 times.

There was so much more I wanted to tell the boys about the game - about curve balls and stealing signs, the Hall of Fame and the infield fly rule - but it was sufficient that evening to simply teach them about home runs and the 7th inning stretch. It was enough. Enough for the boys to want to come to another game, and enough for the boys to ask us to bring a bat to the orphanage when we got back, to go with our 5 gloves and 4 baseballs.

A Lifeguard's Worst Nightmare

2011-06-07T12:36:00.001+08:00

9 Chinese children descending on the pool at the local YMCA, none of whom have ever been in water deeper than a puddle after a rainstorm. Its a lifeguard's worst nightmare, but the kids had the time of their lives.

A Story of Culture Shock

2011-06-07T12:23:00.002+08:00

While eating dinner last night I learned a few cultural lessons in one story. The girls were sitting at one table and the boys at another. All of a sudden the girls ran over to the boys table and started laughing loudly, pointing behind me, and laughing, without really trying to hold it in. I turned around to see where there amused fingers were pointing and my eyes were greeted by a young man's (fill in whatever euphemism your prefer for "butt crack") hanging out for all the restaurant, most obviously 8 pre-teen Chinese orphans. My response was a failed attempt to subdue my own laughter and hush the kids. My laughter, of course, not directed at the unintentional yet still indecent exposure, but at the hysterics of kids.

It is OK in China to tell someone they are fat. It is perfectly normal and accepted for a potential employer to discriminate against someone because they are ugly, short, etc., and to tell them so. Apparently it is not normal in China to ignore the draft you feel on your backside and neglect to pull up your pants. It is OK to gawk, point, and stare (I know, I am a white guy that lives in a town with 10 other white guys and 2 black people). I understood all of these cultural nuances before last night, but just never saw them displayed by a group of 10 year old Chinese kids in America, where we only laugh and point on the inside.

*** Sorry, I do not have a picture to attach to this post.

Attention Followers

2011-05-19T23:35:00.001+08:00

You can now follow the blog via email. Just enter your email in the box to the right where it says "follow by email."

2011-05-19T23:17:00.004+08:00

If you can't get enough of blog posts about the kids on tour then go to http://www.livinghopeintl.org/blog.asp

Dollar Store

2011-05-18T10:36:00.003+08:00

Each kid was given $15 and a few hours in The Dollar Store/Wal Mart. First off, I want you to imagine what your kids would have bought at the Dollar Tree with $15. Candy? Toys? Probably some of the same things my kids bought. Now imagine this image. Mike, who may not a have a single toy in this world to his name, buys his house parent a multi-tool screwdriver, his brothers and roommates some little trinkets, and his grandfather a jug of laundry detergent - he says his grandfather has never used laundry detergent before. He spent $3 of his $15 on himself - sunglasses and a squirt gun. You might be thinking that Mike is an exceptional kid, which he is, but not one of the 9 kids spent more than half of their money on themselves. But here is the kicker - they had a BLAST doing it.

The $3 that these kids spent on themselves led to an entire afternoon's worth of waterfight that was a delight to watch. Knowing that these kids put others before themselves made the joy on their faces even that much more joyful.

Louisville Sluggers

2011-05-18T09:50:00.006+08:00

The Chinese care nothing about baseball. They are surrounded by it, though. The Taiwanese, South Koreans, and Japanese are all lovers of the game and all have multiple representatives in the Major Leagues - the Chinese have none, and probably never will. I have tried on many occasions to get the kids at the orphanage excited about baseball. They have shown little interest.

Our current tour stop is Louisville, KY, home of Churchill Downs, Muhammed Ali, and of course, the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum. The place is obviously all about baseball. I was wondered how interested our kids would be. I was ecstatic, and quite frankly I didn't really care if the Chinese kids liked it or not, because Keegan and I were very excited (this part of our tour was actually not planned by me, our tour planner scheduled it and I offered no objections). I figured that even if the bat making and museum parts of the tour did not interest the kids they would at least be drawn in by the free mini-bat that they would receive at the end of the tour and the batting cages.

We gave the kids some quick pointers of how to hold and swing a bat, put a helmet on them, and threw them in the cage. They LOVED it. We first put them on the slow pitch softball machine. They then saw Uncle Jared step into the fast baseball machine. As you are choosing your bat you have a few Hall of Famers' bats to choose from. If it worked for Ted Williams then it can work for me (side note - Ted Williams said that without a Louisville Slugger he only would have hit .290). As I was in the cage channeling my inner Splendid Splinter the kids all decided that they wanted to try the fast machine as well which meant I had to buy another for every kid. It was my pleasure. The best $7 I have spent in a long time.

The girls were hungry and we had a 3:30 appointment rushing us along or else the boys and I would have spent all of our money and all of the skin on our hands in those cages. I'm not sure if their interest in baseball will stick, but for one afternoon in May of 2011 my boys were baseball fans, and I was the proud uncle of 5 Chinese boys with huge grins and horrible swings.

Unfortunately for Chad, it takes more than determination to hit a baseball

As the picture shows, Thomas how no idea how this works

Nashville Zoo

2011-05-07T05:55:00.004+08:00

Today was spent at the Nashville Zoo. A nice zoo and perfect zoo weather. The noteworthy experience of the day was when the kids noticed that the water had money in it. I can’t tell you exactly what their thought process was (Why do Americans put money in water? Do these people have so much money they can just throw it in the water? Is American money good for fish to eat?), but about $0.39 was extracted from the stream before I could tell the kids they were not allowed to take the money out of the water.

Kids Being Kids

2011-05-07T05:55:00.001+08:00

Today we had a much deserved day off. The morning was spent doing homework so the afternoon was free for the kids to play. The house we are staying at is located in a small community of houses built on an airstrip. There is 1/4 mile driveway and a couple of ponds around. The kids played as well and as hard as I have ever seen kids play. Pant legs were rolled up and were still wet. Band aids were used on multiple occasions. Not paper cut type band aids, but big band aids which usually mean that bikes and asphalt were involved. The kind of band aids that mean kids were doing what they are supposed to do.

New Experiences

2011-05-07T05:53:00.000+08:00

We had time to kill today as one of our vehicles was being fixed in the shop (I have a strange feeling that this will not be the last we have time to kill while waiting for a vehicle to be repaired), so we took the kids to a local park. The weather was perfect and we found a beautiful park in Johnson City, TN. The best part of the day was teaching kids some of small joys in life which they had never previously experienced. The first thing the kids noticed was the swing set. Swinging is not something that just comes naturally, so we had to teach them how - most of them picked it up right away and they enjoyed it thoroughly.

The park was on the river and as we were walking along the river I saw a flat pebble and picked it up and skipped it on four bounces across the lake. The kids had never seen this apparent suspension of the laws of nature. About half of them figured it out and proceeded to skip rocks for 30 minutes. My arm was sore.

Heavenly Chicken

2011-05-07T05:48:00.001+08:00

Every time our kids come to America they go home raving about the fried chicken. We decided that if they like KFC then they would love Chik-fil-a. We were doing a performance in Kernersville, NC and the local CFA manager heard we were coming and invited us to have lunch at their restaurant on the house. When we arrived at the restaurant the kids were asking what the name of this restaurant was. Since Chik-fil-a doesn’t really translate into Chinese I told them the restaurant was called 天鸡 (tian ji), which could roughly be translated as heavenly chicken. The kids agreed that the chicken indeed was heavenly. They loved the playground as well.

A huge thanks goes out to the staff and management of Chik-fil-a on S. Main St. In Kernersville, NC.

A Photo Negative

2011-05-06T06:17:00.002+08:00

For the past two years this blog has been a narrative of a western family’s life in Beijing, China. Cultural nuances that we either we weren’t expecting or are just plain humorous have fascinated us to the point that we had to start a blog to share our wild adventures with the world. I hope you have been entertained by our scorpion eating escapades, funny Chinese signage, culture shock, and the wonders of Asia. For the next 6 weeks we are going to look at the negative of the photo. Its sort of like we are now transitioning to the 2nd half of Crocodile Dundee.

We will be taking 9 Chinese orphans on a dancing tour through five states in the eastern United States. You will hear stories of their culture shock, of their eating escapades, and their discovery of the wonders of North America. We consider it a joy to be a part of this experience. We still have the pleasure of working with Chinese orphans but we also have the joys of watching Sportscenter, eating Chik-fil-a, and experiencing the beauty of an American spring.

Schedule Released

2011-04-22T23:56:00.006+08:00

The schedule for our tour with the orphans is now online. If you are in or near NC, TN, KY, or OH, please come out and see us. You will love the show and you will fall in love with these kids and with the work our organization is doing in their lives.
go to http://livinghopeintl.org/chinaangelstour.asp

Flat Cara

2011-04-13T02:41:00.002+08:00

We were delighted to have a visitor with us in China for the month of March. Flat Cara joined us from Wisconsin and we had a good time. Instead of shipping her back in an envelope from China, we brought her with us on the airplane and then shipped her in an envelope from Virginia so that she did not have to be sealed up so long. It was too bad that we did not get to take her to the Great Wall, but we had some fun adventures anyway. Thanks Vances for sending her to us, we had a blast!

More Thailand Pics

2011-04-13T02:36:00.002+08:00

Thailand Again

2011-04-13T02:12:00.002+08:00

We went to Thailand in February for a conference, to renew our visas, and to enjoy the sunshine. One of the greatest things about living in China is that Thailand is next door. During the month long celebration of Chinese New Year, when almost every single Chinese person returns to his or her hometown, all of the foreigners living in China go to Thailand. February is the perfect time to go to Thailand - 85o every day and the jellyfish don’t show up until April. In many ways, Thailand is the perfect vacation destination. The weather is warm all year round, the food is fantastic, the beaches are sublime, the forest is exotic, the people are hospitable, and it is cheap.
There are 2 things one cannot escape, however, while traveling in Thailand - idols, and street sex. I don’t know why Thailand has become synonymous with prostitution and transvestites. This is especially confounding when coupled with the ubiquity of Buddhism in Thailand. It there some tenet in buddhism which would, either explicitly or implicitly, encourage prostitution? Or is it just a because Thai women are beautiful and Thailand is a large tourist destination? I don’t know, but I am curious as to why? It is such a dichotomy because Thailand is far and away the most religious place I have ever been in my life. Gleaming temple cast long shadows over crumbling shanties in every neighborhood. Makeshift idols are setup at every place of business.
It is undeniable that Thai people are beautiful, inside and out. The food of Thailand is perfect vacation food. The beaches and the tropical flora and fauna bring with them an enchantment that cannot be verbalized.

Back in the USA

2011-04-13T02:05:00.003+08:00

We are back in the States, and will be until July. The best part about being back in America is family, friends, food, and baseball, not necessarily in that order (I don't have a picture of Taco Nazo or Mom's biscuits and gravy but they should also be pictured below).

Sir Waldorf, Duke of Nashport

2011-04-13T01:55:00.002+08:00

I would like to introduce you all to the newest member of our family. Waldo is a 1977 Dodge Tuffy, 318 engine, sleeps 4, 2 burner gas stove, sink, bathroom, and coolness oozing out of every orifice. As you may or may not know, our family is leading a tour of 9 kids from our orphanage around NC, VA, TN, KY, OH, and WV. I will be driving the tour bus with the kids and helpers, and Chyloe will be following in the Waldorf. When we stop at a location the kids will be sleeping in homes, and fellowship halls, but our family will have a home coming with us everywhere we go. Jealous? you may have a chance to make Waldorf your own in July when the tour ends. I will keep you posted.

Catching Up

2011-04-13T01:54:00.001+08:00

My writing sabbatical has now lasted 3.5 months, but I am back. I am going to post some items as they happen, and i going to post some items that happened in the last 3.5 months. When the post is a review I will clarify. Enjoy!

A Sabbatical of Sorts

2011-03-01T11:11:00.000+08:00

I usually try to write every day of my life. I enjoy writing and TV in China bites. Those of you who follow my blog know that it is the outlet of my writing only about once a week. You may also have noticed that there was only one post in 2 months. The truth is that I wrote nothing in the entire month of January. It's not just that I didn't write my blog in January - I didn't write anything in January. At the time I thought I might be having a month long writer's block, but you must also know that for a month of my life I didn't work (I took 10 days off when Beckett was born and then everyone at the orphanage went back to their hometowns for Chinese New Year), I didn't travel, I didn't write, I didn't study (I could have gotten well ahead in lesson preparations for after the New Year), I didn’t exercise.
This is not normally my style. Not only have I never really had that much time off in my professional career, but I always dreamed that if I ever were to get that much time off I would... Here was my opportunity, and for a month I realized that there was nothing more important to do in the whole world than to hold my baby, serve my wife, and play with my 2 older boys - for a month - and I loved it!

Happy New Year

2011-01-06T20:47:00.003+08:00

Beckett Dash Trumbo
born: 12/31/10, 11:15 pm
8 lbs. 6 oz. 20 in.
Everyone is doing great.

Best of 2010

2011-01-01T21:13:00.001+08:00

Best of 2010

Best Movies - I have a Jared’s 100 Favorite Movies of All Time list. Only 2 movies that came out this year have made my top 100 list which means it was either a bad year for movies or else I didn’t see the good ones. Granted, I don’t watch as many movies now as I did when I was in college, but I watched 3 bad movies for every decent one this year. Probably due to the fact that my wife picked most of the movies this year. She says I need to lower my expectations.

2. Inception. If you have ever heard my rant about the 13 movie scripts in the Hollywood Movie Script Library, this movie is not in that library. Inception is an original movie which does not fit the mold. Instead of simply being a system bucker, Inception bucks the system and blows the mind - a rare combination.
1. Toy Story 3. Nothing short of movie making perfection. So my kids were a bit scared by the Orwellian vibe but this movie was not aimed at my kids (ages 7 and 4), it was aimed at Andy’s age group (18 and headed off to college). However, it still managed to capture my kids’ attention. And the 3D sequence to begin the movie was surreal.

Best Books - I don’t think any of these books were written this year but all of them I read this year.

5. A Million Miles In a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. Even though I feel good about the story I am telling it inspired me more toward others-centeredness.
4. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Even though I knew what was coming at the end the story was told with such vivid imagery and grammatical precision that I was still floored by the time I finished
3. Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A reread this year but will probably be on my top 5 list every year I read it.
2. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. McCourt died this year and I had been meaning to read his Pulitzer Prize winning memoirs for some time so I dove in, and am glad I did.
1. Ghost Wars by Steve Coll. Recommended by a good friend of mine who works for the State Department about the history of the CIA’s work in Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion to Sept. 10, 2001. A 700 page detailed history which reads more like a novel. Published in 2004 but never more timely.

Best New Places I Visited
3. Fatburger. The best burger in Beijing. My wife actually wanted to switch churches because a different church is closer to Fatburger for Sunday lunch. I disallowed it on account of there is only one thing in the world more important than my wife’s appetite.
2. Walt Disney World. I have been to Disneyland many times but not in the last 20 years. I enjoyed it so much more as a father of a 7 year old than I did as a 7 year old. Keegan was old enough to ride Space Mountain and still young enough to believe he actually went into space. Thank you Walt for reminding me that my imagination did not pass with puberty.
1. Phi Phi Islands, Thailand. Would actually make my top 3 “Best New Places Visited Ever” list.

Best Albums Added to My iTunes Library - Also not all 2010 releases but 2010 discoveries by yours truly. I do not add as much to my musical library now that I am old and set in my ways but these albums have helped to keep my iPod shuffle bike ride to work each morning fresh and new.
5. Ray Lamontagne Trouble - I love the singer/songwriter genre, and Ray does it as well as anyone.
4. Stephen Kellogg The Bear - Americana, honesty, and darn good songwriting make Stephen Kellogg one of my favorites.
3. The Strokes Room on Fire - I know, I know, where have you been Jared? This is old news. Not new, but new to me. Doesn’t make it any less rockin’
2. Otis Redding The Platinum Collection - I don’t usually like to tell other people what to listen to, but if you are not regularly listening to Otis Redding then your life is not as enjoyable as it could be.
1. Mumford & Sons Sigh No More - I have never heard a banjo played with as much fist-pumping rock and roll gravity as on this album.

Christmas at the Orphanage

2010-12-27T21:36:00.003+08:00

Plenty of good Christmas posts and pics at the LHI blog. No need to repost it all here, just go there and check it out.
http://www.livinghopeintl.org/blog.asp

Foreign TV Stars

2010-12-21T13:48:00.002+08:00

The local TV station wanted to do a story on foreigners celebrating the Moon Festival. It is mostly in Chinese but is definitely worth watching. We hosted a party at our house and invited our friends - some foreigners and some Chinese. I think you will enjoy it.

Stay tuned. Last week we filmed the sequel - Foreigners celebrating Christmas in Beijing. We will post the sequel as soon as we can.

Gao's Turkey

2010-12-21T11:42:00.004+08:00

Mr. Gao is our driver. We call him up when we need a driver to take us places. We have used him many times and have developed quite a good friendship with him. He has a nice car and is one of the funniest men in China. We called Gao to take us into town (about a 45 minute drive) for Thanksgiving Dinner. We would normally take public transportation (about an hour and a half with favorable traffic), because it is so cheap its almost free, but since we were bringing a warm dish to the smorgasbord we thought it would be better to take a driver. We found our own way home from the party.
When I saw Gao later that week he asked me why I didn’t bring him any Turkey from our Thanksgiving Party. He didn’t get to eat Turkey this Thanksgiving and he thought that was a shame since he had American friends (Turkey’s are native to North America so most Chinese have only heard of such a bird, or such a meat - this also means turkey is very expensive in China - our Thanksgiving turkey was $147). I felt guilty that I was not able to give my driver/friend some Thanksgiving turkey.
Fast forward 3 weeks. Our family was going to attend the Beijing International Christian Fellowship’s Christmas Banquet. This was a swanky affair and the Beijing Marriott and my wife was having contractions to the point that her doctor told her to slow down so that the baby didn’t come out so early. Because of the doctor’s prescribed restriction on Chyloe’s physical exertion we called Gao to take us to the Christmas banquet. When we got to the end of the buffet line we saw a man carving a scrumptious looking Turkey (it tasted even better than it looked). We were not going to miss this opportunity to bless our friend with some holiday turkey. Instead of having to wrap it in a napkin we used one of our gift boxes to deliver the stolen meat.

This was what the gift box looked like before - chocolate coins (gold), a sachet (incense), and some flavored oil (myrrh), and a small booklet explaining the good news of Christmas in English and Chinese.

This was the gift box as we used it. We also gave Gao a real gift box with the other gifts.

Christmas Frivolity

2010-12-14T12:19:00.002+08:00

We wanted to host a Christmas party at our house for the kids. This was not possible since we have a small apartment and there are 73 kids so instead we decided to host 4 Christmas parties. The first party was 24 of the youngest kids, ages 6-11. We did a hot potato gift exchange with them, ate some snacks, sang a couple Christmas songs, and they prepared a small performance for us. The second party was all of the older boys, 19 of them. They verified the old youth ministry axiom, "they will eat as much as you buy." With these boys we did a gift exchange with different rules - you could either open a new present or steal a present from someone else (we didn't implement the thievery into the young kids' game for obvious reasons). The attached video shows a bit of the skullduggery that went on at the boys' party. The chocolate was stolen from Matthew after about 3 seconds. The "give me your money" ski hat was stolen from Samuel very quickly as well.

To see their excitement over yo-yo's and chocolate makes us wish that we had enough money to lavish all 73 of them with gifts galore. Or maybe if we did that then they would not get as excited about yo-yo's and chocolate. Either way, these kids deserve it. The beautiful simplicity of seeing their joy and contentment has been refreshing this holiday season. If we can't be with our family this season then there is no place else i would rather be.

Thank You Ridgeview

2010-12-09T10:27:00.002+08:00

When Chyloe’s family was spending their last day with us her Dad tried, fighting through tears, to tell us how proud he was of us. It is one of those things that one never doubts but always enjoys hearing. He then proceeded to tell me that Ridgeview wanted to encourage me by buying me a new bike. I think being an encouragement was only about 60% of the true reason they were buying me a new bike, the other 40% was that he was little bit embarrassed by my old bike. I was only mildly offended by his comments on my old bike.
I had been saving my RMB to buy a new bike. I was about halfway to my goal to buy a bike I had seen, liked, and could afford. The budget Don gave me was quite a bit higher than I had been aiming. The search for the new bike was almost as fun as the purchase. I was able to buy the bike 3 models higher than the one for which I had originally been saving. I was also able to buy a “luggage rack”, a speedometer, and a quality lock.
In the States a nice bike may have been more of a recreational purchase, but in China it is my lifeline. I don’t have a car. Traffic is nightmarish even if I did. The bike is the fastest way to get most places - and now it is even faster. I have had the bike for 3 weeks, and according to my bike computer here are the stats: it is 14.77 km (9.1 miles) round trip from my house to the orphanage, I have biked 211.8 km (131 miles) in 3 weeks, and my top speed has been 41.9 km/h (26.03 mph).
When the family came they also brought with them 8 extra suitcases full of baby clothes, pacifiers, oatmeal cream pies - the essentials. I would write more about this stuff but it doesn’t excite me like the bike does (if you want someone to gush over pacifier sterilizing wipes you will have to wait until my wife starts a blog). I have included a picture.
Thank you so much, Ridgeview, not just for the bike, but for the support, the prayers, the baby items, the love. We love you all and couldn’t be doing what we are doing without you.

Let It Be

2010-12-07T14:57:00.003+08:00

Last week we had an third trimester ultrasound at the foreign hospital in Beijing where we will have out third son in the next few weeks. Everything is looking great. In the ultrasound room I saw the picture posted below hanging on the wall. I'm not even sure what to write about it. Abortion in China is a VERY different issue than in the States. It is not a political issue. It is not even a moral issue for most. It is simply a medical procedure. I have to assume that the poster is a part of some sort of governmental campaign since they do not have pro-life advocacy groups in China.

You can fill in your own commentary.

If you cannot read the English translation of the Chinese text it simply says, "boy or girl let it be."

Finished!

2010-12-07T14:53:00.002+08:00

For those of you who have been wondering (and I know all of you have been dying to find out) how long it takes my family of 4 to eat 4.5 lbs. of Hot Tamales (see blog post on October 12th http://consideritrubbish.blogspot.com/2010/10/team-of-12-people-from-prescott-az-my.html), we just finished. Answer: 57 days.

I would really like to know...

2010-11-29T22:41:00.002+08:00

why my hot water has been yellowish brown for the last 2 days...on second thought, I'd rather not know.

A Visit From Family

2010-11-24T17:41:00.002+08:00

The McClure/Woody 8 came to visit us in China last month. Obviously are family is deeply connected with the country of China. This is not the first time all 12 of us were in China together. In 2005 we all travelled to Changsha and Guangzhou to adopt Graycee. The 2 youngest were both in utero on that trip.
We had a wonderful time together. Transportation was not easy but it was worth every ounce of hassle. The fam brought with them 8 suitcases full of encouragement. Most of it was baby stuff brought as gifts from people at Ridgeview. You can get very little baby stuff in China, and as for the stuff you can buy see post entitled "China Stuff Just Doesn't Work As Well."
We went to the Great Wall, Forbidden City, etc., did plenty of shopping, and introduced are guests to our favorite Chinese cuisine: roast duck, jaozi, kung pao chicken, and Annie's pizza.
Hosting visitors in China always makes us feel hardcore. We have been here for almost 2 years now and life in China has become, dare I say, easy. When our family came and experienced with us a typical day of traveling in Beijing and all the difficulties associated with language, traffic, food, buses, etc. it reminds us that what we are doing in anything but easy. We are encouraged when we realize how easy it has become for us. Our Father has given the provision and the grace we need to make it work. And we are making it work. Much of the reason we are making it work is because of the encouragement from family. It is not only encouraging for them to visit us but they encourage us regularly with their prayers, their financial blessings, and their support. Two weeks is not enough time for friends and family to visit (some of them may say that 2 weeks is plenty thank you very much). It is not enough time to truly experience China. Heck, its barely enough time to get over the jet lag. It is enough time, however, to be greatly encouraged and blessed. Thanks for coming McClures and Woodys. We love you!

But Some Stuff Is Even Better In China

2010-11-24T17:38:00.003+08:00

Safety is often time an afterthought in China. Sometimes it is scary, but sometimes it makes things more fun. In this instance it was a combination of the two.

Chinese Stuff Just Doesn't Work As Well

2010-11-24T17:05:00.004+08:00

This could be the title not just of a blog post but of an entire blog. Don't get me wrong, they make great stuff in China. Much of the stuff you enjoy and works well in America was made in China. There is a BIG difference between the stuff that is made in China vs. the stuff that is made in China and SOLD in China. It is rubbish, almost all of it. Instead of giving example after example I will simply give you one. On Halloween night we went to TGIFridays for dinner. Unbeknownst to us they were having a Halloween party - the place was packed. It was a lot of fun too; kids dressed up in costumes, waitresses being even more festive than the usual TGIFridays waitress, and some nice young girls painting faces. No child can resist a good face painting and we saw no harm in it (especially because it was free), so the kids got painted up. Keegan was Spiderman, Reese was a skeleton, Kaylynn was a glittery princess, and Carson, well we're not real sure what Carson was. Anyway, the kids loved it! The TGIF staff loved it even more than the kids did, and they proceeded to take picture after picture of our kids making rock star and skeleton faces for the camera.
The fun continued as we got some of the most confused looks from strangers on the buses on the way home. We usually get stares just because we are foreigners, but now we have kids with crazily painted faces (most Chinese people would have had no idea that October 31st is Halloween in other parts of the world). The fun wore off very quickly when we got home. It was time for bed and the face paint had to come off - except it didn't. The picture below is Keegan's face after about a dozen wet wipes of hard scrubbing. It took a full on hot bath with more hot soapy rag scrubbing to get their faces looking semi-normal again. The boys looked like Robert Smith or Adam Lambert for another 3 days but I don't think there was any permanent damage done. I have no idea what they used to paint the kids' faces, I just know that next time our kids have the option of getting their faces painted in China we will probably say, "no thanks."

Bugs, Disneyworld, and Paul's Journey to Rome

2010-11-24T16:57:00.002+08:00

We just completed a very long study in the book of Acts. If you are unfamiliar with the end of the book here is a brief synopsis of the last chapters:

Paul is heading back to Jerusalem. The Jews in Jerusalem hate him and wish him harm. He is well aware of the dangers involved in returning to Jerusalem, not to mention the fact that everyone he knows is telling him not to go because of the dangers involved. The Lord tells him that not only will he be a witness in Jerusalem, but he will also witness for the Lord in Rome (19:21 with a reminder in 23:11). The Lord tells him to “take courage” as he gives him the promise that he will testify also in Rome. In Jerusalem, as was expected and even prophesied, he is beaten and arrested. The next few years he has to deal with imprisonment of varying levels of security, all the while standing trial before a few governors and even a king. Instead of wasting more time with trials that are more entertaining than judicial, he appeals to Caesar (a privilege which his Roman citizenship allows him). On his way to Rome he endures a plot by the Jews to kill him, a storm on the high seas which prompts the Roman guards to want to kill the prisoners to save on food, and a shipwreck. He even shakes off a snake bite without any negative affects. The end of the story, as God promised, is Paul’s arrival in Rome.

When we were at Disneyworld in January we went to the Animal Kingdom. One of the greatest attractions there is the Bug’s Life show. It boasts of being a 5D experience. We were ushered into the theater with our 3D glasses and took a seat. The next 8 minutes were a full on assault on the senses - all of them. There was larger than life bugs on the screen zooming past our faces, and as they did we could feel the gush of wind from their wings. We were spayed with bug spray (this was the 5th D). There was even a point in the show when we heard and felt bugs crawling under our butts.

It was amazing!

It was so amazing that about two thirds of the way into the show, just about the time when we were being attacked by grasshoppers who were 5x larger than us, Keegan began to lose it. “I want to leave” began as a whimper. A minute later this kid was on the floor, balled up in the fetal position, crying, and screaming at the top of his lungs, “I WANT TO LEAVE!” (which, of course, I could barely hear amidst the roar of attacking hoard of bugs). My fatherly instinct was to pick him up and put him on my lap while plugging his ears and assuring him (which I had to do before every ride the entire week) that it was not real - that nothing was going to hurt him. My other fatherly instinct was to get out the video camera - this would have been real funny to watch at his graduation party or his wedding rehearsal dinner.
The show ended. No one died. The bug spray had no effect on any of us. The parents thought it was the coolest thing we had ever seen. The kids did NOT want to do that again. Ever. It made every ride from then on a scary experience for them. What is Walt going to throw at us on the next ride? And before every ride we had to reassure them, “it is not real, you will not get hurt, I promise.” For those of us who had been on enough of these rides before to believe the promises our parents told us, the rides were a blast. They were a blast because we knew without exception that these things only have the appearance of being scary or harmful, they will not actually harm us and we therefore have no reason to be afraid.
I think Paul’s experiences on his way to Rome were similar to the Bug’s Life attraction at the Animal Kingdom. He had a promise from his Father that he would end up in Rome. Everything that happened in his life, from the moment of the promise until he arrived on the shores of Italy, told him that he would NOT end up in Rome. Paul had more faith in the promises of his Father than he had in life’s circumstances.
Our lives are no different than Paul’s. We also have received promises from the Lord. We also have circumstances in our lives which could lead us to doubt God’s promises. These things are scary - I don’t think it is a lack of faith on our part to be scared. It is when our fear outweighs our faith that we are in trouble. Keegan's fear was far greater than his belief in my promise to him that the bugs were only fake - this caused panic. It would have led to him to give up if I would have been willing to leave the theater with him.
Every analogy has its fault, and here is the fault in this analogy. Because I know the bugs are fake I enjoy the show. Even though I have more faith in God’s promises than in the hand this world deals me, trials are not fun. I do not make this analogy to understate suffering. Suffering is real and it is scary. I make this analogy to say that when suffering does come, and it will come, we can follow the exhortation of James to consider it joy when we are enduring these trials. We are not entertained by them, but when we endure, or even while we are enduring, we can take refuge in the promises of our Lord, our Rock, our Redeemer.

A Taste of Home (Sort Of)

2010-10-28T19:09:00.002+08:00

Setting the alarm to wake up at 7:15 am - inconvenient
Getting on the bus, then another bus, then another, then the subway - necessary
A 1.5 hour trip turned into a 2.5 hour trip because of Beijing morning traffic - frustrating
Watching the last half of game 1 of the World Series live while eating breakfast at Tim's Texas BBQ - priceless

Chinese Coffee

2010-10-27T10:22:00.002+08:00

Starbucks, McDonald's, and a host of other coffee shop chains are trying to get China addicted to coffee. If China falls in love with something then there is serious money to be made. Yesterday I was asked by one of the house parents if I liked coffee. I replied in the affirmative. She then went into her room to get the bag of coffee grounds she was given by an American. She gave it to me because she said coffee is “不好喝” (not good to drink). I thanked her for the gift. Throughout the ensuing conversation I discovered exactly why she thought coffee was not good to drink. I asked if she added sugar, she said no. I asked her if she added milk, she said no. She said all that she did was put hot water in a cup and stir in the grounds. She then pretended like she was drinking and followed it with a cough, cough, cough. It's no wonder she doesn't like coffee.

Day Camp Posts

2010-10-13T11:53:00.002+08:00

For more pics and stories from the October Holiday Day Camp with the kids go to http://www.livinghopeintl.org/blog.asp

Encouragement from Arizona

2010-10-12T09:39:00.005+08:00

A team of 12 people from Prescott, AZ, my hometown, came to do a day camp with the kids over October holiday (In China, October 1-7 is a national holiday every year). They stated from the beginning that one of their main purposes in coming was to encourage our family. This is a symbol of the magnitude of the encouragement they brought with them. If you cannot read the fine print that is 4.5 lbs. of encouragement!

My Bike Basket: A Eulogy

2010-09-27T13:06:00.002+08:00

As we have come to the end I feel like I must say I’m sorry, and thank you.

I’m sorry for taking advantage of you and abusing you with little care for your well being. I’m sorry for the attitude of treating you with little respect because I know you can be replaced for only 10 kuai. I’m sorry for not showing my appreciation as much as I should have. I’m sorry for killing you.

But thank you.

When they called me a sissy for putting you front and center on my handlebars I know that deep down it hurt you more than it hurt me. Amidst the taunts of “Mary Poppins” and “are you going to put your purse in that basket” you never let it get you down and you always conducted yourself with the utmost integrity - thank you.

For the time we went to the Great Wall and you carried not only my lunch, but Rob’s lunch as well because he didn’t have a basket on his bike for fear of what it might do to his image - thank you.

When I almost killed that lady (see post on July 2009) as she carelessly tuned into us without looking you did not go placing blame, you did not take her side like the cops did, you did not abandon me, but you held strong and did not even spill my book bag in the collision - thank you.

Thanks for carrying my backpack to school each day so that my back wouldn’t get sweaty. Thanks for carrying my groceries home from the market so that I could ride safely with two hands on the handlebars. Thanks for carrying my bike lock everywhere we went so that we were never separated at the hands of a bike thief. Thanks for carrying my water bottle since I don’t have the bicycle water bottle accessory that attaches to the frame of the bike - I don’t need one thank you very much, I have a basket instead.

Tomorrow I will go to the bike man and I will have you replaced by a basket that is not rusty, broken, falling off, and showing the signs of thousands of kilometers of wear and tear. He will probably throw you away and not even recycle you. You will be gone but not forgotten.

Moon Festival - Its Not Really a Holiday

2010-09-21T14:00:00.001+08:00

In China they don’t really have holidays. Oh sure, they celebrate Moon Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, etc., and they celebrate them by not working on those days, but they are not holidays. Leading up to Moon Festival (Wed. - Fri.) the whole country goes to work and to school on Sunday of the weekend before. They also go to school and work the Saturday after. THAT IS NOT A HOLIDAY, IT IS SIMPLY A SHUFFLING OF WEEKENDS! I can just imagine our government trying to tell Americans that they have to go to work and school on Sunday. This is a straaaaange place.

Moon Festival - Its Not Really a Holiday

2010-09-21T14:00:00.000+08:00

Construction/Deconstruction

2010-09-21T13:36:00.005+08:00

In China labor is cheaper than materials. When a building is being torn down they bring in scores of workers with hammers and chisels and they will chisel the concrete off of every individual brick in the entire building so that they can reuse the bricks. Just recently the orphanage lost about 5,000 ft2 of building. The kindergarten lost about the same. That is a lot of bricks. As if that was not enough work, they even dig 3-4 ft. underground to get out those bricks (in China they don’t pour a concrete foundation and then lay brick on top of that, they dig a ditch about 3 feet deep and start building the brick wall there).

About four times each day I scratch my head and say, either to myself or to my wife, this is a straaaaaange place we are living in.

The good news is that all of the construction that needed to be done to facilitate the apartments and classrooms that were going to be lost happened before the destruction.

In this picture our old apartment was right in front of the cameraman.

20/20

2010-09-14T14:49:00.003+08:00

The good news is that Keegan was given the OK to ditch his glasses today.

The bad news is that if ever a kid ROCKED the thick rimmed glasses it was Keegan!

Eating Dinner in a Muslim Country at Sunset During Ramadan

2010-08-31T17:07:00.002+08:00

I pride myself in my geography skills. Maps, flags, trivial (read: unimportant) facts and tidbits, languages, religions, etc. We were planning a trip to Thailand and Malaysia, you would think a geography buff like myself would have polished his geographical chops regarding his vacation destinations. Confession - I did not. Before arriving at the airport in Tianjin, China to board a plane bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and standing in line with burka clad women, it had not even donned on me that Malaysia is a Muslim country. If I would have thought hard about it I would have realized that Malaysia’s flag bears the Muslim crescent and star (picture the flag of the USA and replace the 50 white stars with a yellow crescent and star and that is the Malaysian flag).
Malaysia is a country that has no concrete identity, much like the States. It is an interesting fusion of influences coming from Indonesia, China, Thailand, India, and England. Imagine eastern Asian looking people (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) next to southern Asian looking people (Pakistan, India) eating delicious curries and Krispy Kreme donuts, speaking India style English, or Arabic, or Malay, and shopping for flower print burkas.
You would think the religious conglomeration of Malaysia would be equally as heterogeneous. While we were there I guessed the Muslim population to be about 70%. When I got home wikipedia corrected me, it is actually 60.4%, while the buddhist population is only slightly above 20%. There are laws on the books in Malaysia that show favoritism to Muslims and give incentive for non-Muslims to convert, so it is, in the true sense of the term, a state religion.

On our way home from Thailand we had one evening to spend in Kuala Lumpur. On our first trip to Malaysia Chyloe learned that KL had a Chili’s restaurant. The entire time we were in Thailand she was looking forward to eating dinner at Chili’s as the crown jewel to an already fabulous vacation.
We went straight from the airport to our hotel, dropped off our luggage, and made a bee line to the Petronas Towers (when they were built they were the tallest buildings in the world) which house a Chili’s on their third floor. When we rounded the corner and Chyloe saw the green letters with the red pepper behind them I think she heard angels from heaven singing Handel. As we got closer to the restaurant we realized there was quite a crowd gathered outside. It was about 6:15 and we didn’t see waiting at a restaurant as too unusual. Whatever the hostess told us for a wait time, it didn’t matter, we were eating Chili’s. We gave her our name, she asked “smoking or non” (which at this point in history sounds strange to American ears), and we told her whatever was fastest. She told us that there were a few tables which were not fasting so we should be able to be seated in about 25 minutes. Fasting? But doesn’t this restaurant serve...Ramadan!
For the Islamically uninformed, Ramadan is a month in the Muslim calendar where they will fast from sunup to sundown. I quickly briefed my wife on why there were people who were fasting sitting in a restaurant at dinner time. We waited patiently for half an hour and then were seated. As we walked to our seat we noticed that almost every table in the restaurant had plates of food piled on them but no one was touching the food. At this point you have to realize that we didn’t eat lunch that day and my wife has not eaten Chili’s, one of her favorite restaurants, in about 2 years. Some Muslim women are obvious, as their head’s are covered. Even the head coverings come in sort-of-covered, mostly-covered, and all-but-the-eyes covered varieties. However, not all of the women who were participating in the Ramadan fast wore a head covering. I’m wondering if its not sort of like the difference between Methodist and Lutheran.
Somewhere around 7:08, all of the TV channels were interrupted by some Muslim Imam who read some passage, said a prayer, and then everyone began to dig in. You could audibly hear the entire restaurant beginning to eat at the same time. Our food came, and my wife thanked the Lord for his grace, for his love for us, and that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus - all of which are theological and practical truths that the Muslim world is missing.
So what is my point? It was one of the most culturally interesting moments of my life. We are in a Muslim country yet eating at Chili’s. We ordered the chips and salsa yet the lady sitting behind us was dressed in black from head to toe and the only part of her that was uncovered was her bespectacled eyes. Some foreign businessman was sitting at the bar drinking a margarita while the family sitting next to him was waiting for the sun to set before they partook of their meal. ESPN sports highlights were showing on the TV until they were interrupted by a religious leader telling his people to dig in. There is much tension, especially currently, between some people in the western world and Islam. It is easy to make inflammatory comments offending a person or a group of people when the commenter is disconnected from the offended. If we can dehumanize a situation (Islam, immigration, etc) then we free ourselves from the need to be morally responsible to those on the other side. However, upon closer inspection you may be surprised to find out that they are also human, and we are therefore once again bound to a moral responsibility.

*** If you are interested in reading the rest of my conclusion to this article let me know and I will email it to you. For issues of sensitivity and location I have not posted it here.

Thailand Vacation Recap pt. 2

2010-08-24T18:52:00.005+08:00

We then took a ferry to our next hotel on Phi Phi Don Island. From our ferry we had to take a longtail boat to our hotel - there are no roads on this island. The welcome drinks we received upon arrival said it all - made with real local fruits that made our taste buds do cartwheels. We could snorkel at the beach at the hotel. It was the best snorkeling I have ever experienced (until the next day topped it). I saw Scar in his natural environment. I told him I liked his work in Finding Nemo and thanked him for letting me visit his home.
I was very excited to take Keegan out for his first real snorkeling experience. He is a bit of a science nerd actually. He loves to read books about animals, especially sharks, so I thought he would really be fascinated by all that we would see. He had been perfecting his skills in the pool for the previous 4 days and he was getting quite good. Now that he had the skills to prevent a perpetual flow of saltwater into his lungs we ventured out into the wild blue sea. We had to swim about 80 meters away from shore to get to the coral, which was no problem for Keegan. The problem happened about 30 meters away from shore when we saw what I thought at first was a pink garbage bag floating in the water. Keegan noticed it before I did and heard him scream “JELLYFISH!” through his snorkel. Before I could even confirm that it was a jellyfish Keegan had turned around and was sprinting back to shore, still screaming (you might think “sprinting” is a poor word choice considering we were swimming and not running, but the pace with which he swam was kind of like how you see it on the cartoons when arms and feet are spinning like a propeller and the cartoon character is literally out of the water with only his propeller like limbs touching the water).
When I caught up with him I tried to explain that it was no problem, we would just swim around the jellyfish and not touch it. I tried to use the fatherly “its more afraid of us than we are of it.” This, of course, is completely not true. First off, I don’t even think jellyfish have eyes. They have no idea we are even there. They just float cluelessly through the water expanding and contracting and mindlessly taking in some sort of particles which it calls food. Second, there is no way in a jellyfish’s underdeveloped nervous system that it has the capability of experiencing fear in the same way that my son just experienced it. There was no convincing Keegan and when we got back to shore he said something about not wanting to “electric-ed” and I realized that he was getting his marine biology knowledge from Finding Nemo.
The next day we rented a longtail boat to take us to some nearby islands. Our driver’s name was Aud. He was a pimple faced boy who perfectly depicted the globalization of our world. His Che Guevara t-shirt and his Real Madrid shorts were tastefully accessorized with a cross necklace. His English was extremely broken. On the way back to the hotel I asked him how old he was, to which he replied, “fitteen.”
We went to Maya Bay, filming location for the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach. While we were there we did some more snorkeling which was unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life. We brought an underwater camera and tried to take some pics. If the camera worked right there should be pictures which have 300+ fish in one frame. Keegan, still not completely recovered from his first snorkeling experience, would only stick his head in the water with goggles on while holding onto the ladder of the boat. We also made a stop at Monkey Bay and watched the monkeys while they curiously watched us. Monkeys are scary when they are not behind the glass. Also, I almost lost my life at the hands (or rather beak, wings, and talons) of a wild goose once so I am a bit skittish of wild animals in their homes.
Since the back end of our itinerary was somewhat open ended we wanted to stay on Phi Phi Lei for another night but unfortunately our hotel was all booked, so we headed to Krabi. Krabi is just fine as a consolation destination. The limestone cliffs in Krabi make not only for scenic beauty but also for great rock climbing. The unfortunate thing is that for the one full day we spent in Krabi I was only feeling at 60% health-wise so I missed out on what would have been some world class climbing. My apologies to all of my climbing friends for letting this opportunity slip through my fingers.

Our 15 year old boat driver

The infinity pool at our Phi Phi Island hotel

Keegan getting ready to brave the waters around Phi Phi Lei Island

Phi Phi Lei Island

Thailand Vacation Recap pt. 1

2010-08-23T17:54:00.004+08:00

Phuket Island in Thailand is famous for three things: prostitution, the 2004 Tsunami, and picturesque scenery unmatched in the world. We went to southern Thailand for 12 days. The first two things we fortunately avoided with no problem. The third couldn’t be avoided even if it was your desire to do so.
Our first destination was the Evason Phuket and Six Senses Spa. The way it worked out on our itinerary we stayed at the nicest place first. I have stayed at hundreds of different hotels all around the world and this is my favorite hotel in the world. It is a bit slanderous to even call it a hotel. The Evason is a spa, and not just the place where you get a message, the whole place is designed with the holistic wellness of the guest in mind. It has also won awards as being one of the most environmentally friendly resorts in the world. The Evason owns its own island (Bon Island - see the top 2 pictures of the previous post) which drew my lips to hum Jimmy Buffet melodies followed by tunes of Hallelujah.
Our next hotel hosted a couple guests that we got to know very well during our stay there. Their names are Lily (4) and Lucky (2.5). Lily and Lucky are elephants. They came out to play each afternoon. They gave back massages, rides for kids, kisses (see photo), sprayed the kids with water, and at the end of the day they got to play in the waves just like all the other kids.

My new friend Lucky

The juice bar at the Evason's breakfast buffet

Fun Vacation Factoids

2010-08-09T21:13:00.003+08:00

#1 - The train from Beijing to Tianjin topped out at 330 km/h (205 mph). Unless you have also ridden this train or are an Indy Car driver you have never travelled that fast on land.

#2 - In Malaysia and Thailand they drive on the left side of the road

#3 - Malaysia is known for its varied and robust cuisine. This would be an exciting part of vacation were we coming from America. However, coming from China, the exciting part of Malaysian cuisine for my wife is Wendy’s, Krispy Kreme Donuts, and A&W Rootbeer.

#4 - Geckos reside at the Evason Six Senses Spa and Resort in Phuket, Thailand. This has led our children to rename our resort “Lizard Mansion”.

#5 - Fun fact #4 might lead you to believe that our hotel in Thailand is shady, rustic, and maybe even a bit scary. However, (as the pictures will attest) the Evason has quickly moved its way into my top 10 favorite places on earth list.

Visa Travel/Vacation/10 Year Anniversary

2010-08-09T21:04:00.002+08:00

It is no exaggeration to say that the last 8 months of my life has been the most difficult stretch of time I have endured so far in my 32 years on this earth. It went from hard to harder but the last 3 months have gone from good to better. It is because of this difficult stretch, and also because of the recent upswing that I can say that I have never in my life needed a vacation as badly as I do right now.

Our visas say we must leave China every 180 days, this time is coming due in August. August 12, 2010 marks Chyloe's and my 10 year wedding anniversary. The orphanage is empty since English Camp is over and our kids don't come back from their hometown visits until the end of August. All of these things put together led us to plan our 12 day vacation in Malaysia and Thailand. Very few Americans get to enjoy this part of the world and we consider ourselves lucky to able to to enjoy the Thai/Malaysian peninsula.

Our itinerary is as follows: Train from Beijing to Tainjin. Fly from Tianjin to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Stay in KL for one night. Fly to Phuket, Thailand where we will stay 6 nights. Ferry to Phi Phi Islands where we will stay 2 nights. Ferry to Krabi, Thailand where we will stay for 2 nights. Fly to KL where we will stay for one night, then return is the same as our outgoing trip. We are looking forward to a lot of beach and pool time, snorkeling, riding elephants, kayaking, and maybe some rock climbing, fishing, scuba diving, golfing. We’ll see.

LHI Blog

2010-07-18T17:36:00.002+08:00

If you are interested in some of the things going on at the orphanage I have been commissioned to write a separate blog solely for the purpose of chronicling the goings on at our orphanage. http://livinghopeintl.org/blog.asp

English Camp

2010-07-18T17:12:00.003+08:00

Almost all of our kids go back to their hometowns to visit relatives for a couple months in the summertime. During this time we use our facilities to host English Camp. Many friends from the US come to help us out (maybe you can come next year!). We are in the middle of 2 ten day camps. We have 109 campers and it feels a lot like the good old days at KRBC leading the Jesse Coles Memorial Day Camp. Kids are kids no matter where you go. English has a few purposes. 1 - Build "Meaningful" relationships with the kids. 2 - English camp brings in much needed revenue for our orphanage. 3 - Camp also helps us to build bridges to the community and to the schools. All of these goals are helpful for our place in the long run. You can read more about English Camp at lhienglishcamp.blogspot.com.

Baby #3

2010-06-25T15:58:00.001+08:00

Due January 11th!

Why Not Us?

2010-06-24T00:24:00.002+08:00

If you care nothing for football (soccer) just humor me for a minute.

My good friend Josh Foor recently wrote a wonderful piece about why the USA will never win the World Cup (http://thevoxveritas.com/). We actually collaborated a bit on the piece but i want here to write a counterpoint - Why Not Us?

My son thinks we might win the World Cup. He is six. I let him stay up until midnight (China time) to watch the USA match tonight. I'm glad I did, he was just as into it as i was. But maybe Keegan is right?

Before you start calling me crazy and questioning my soccer knowledge please hear me out. The match against England (whom SI picked to make the final) was well played and most importantly we got the result we wanted - a draw. Admittedly we played awful in the first half against Slovenia. That happens, it is a long tournament (Italy drew with us in the last tournament in the first round). But did you see the 2nd half? We scored (what should have been) 3 goals and looked dominant. Tonight, against Algeria, we played superbly. We did everything right for the first 90 minutes except score a goal. Bradley was excellent. Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore will get chances no matter who we are playing. Demerit was possibly the man of the match at right back. Enough review, let's look ahead.

Our next match will be against D2, which will be decided tonight (China time). This could be either Germany, Ghana, Serbia, or Australia. I'm hoping its not Germany, but even they looked less-than-stellar against Serbia. So lets say it is Ghana. If we can beat them we will face the winner of South Korea vs. Uruguay. If we win that match we are in the Semifinals.

There are some real good teams in this tournament. Spain, despite their opening loss to the Swiss are great. Brazil is Brazil. Argentina has found it at the right time. The Dutch are always dangerous. However, we don't have to beat all of them, only 2 of them. And they all have their flaws. If i had to mark Messi I would take Bradley as much as anyone else in the world. We beat Spain last summer. Italy is a mess. France ain't winning it. Germany lost to Serbia. I know, I know, now I'm just trying to talk myself into it. But don't miss my point, this is a funny game where anything can happen and not always the best team wins (Swiss vs. Spain). Plus, our back line and goalkeeper are playing as well as anyone in the world right now.

I'm not saying we are going to hoist the Cup, I'm just saying that us USA fans need to begin rooting for our team knowing that it is possible. You may still call me crazy, but someone has to win this thing, so why not us?

Spaghetti

2010-06-21T11:08:00.002+08:00

One of our beginning level English classes was studying food words. In an effort to put their language skills to real life use we hosted a spaghetti dinner after class. Half the class opted to eat their spaghetti with chopsticks while the other half attempted a fork. When we asked the 10 class members how many of them were eating spaghetti for the first time, everyone of them raised their hand. We then went around the table and asked each student, in English, what their favorite food was. Eight out of ten of them said, “spaghetti is my favorite food.” I couldn’t tell if we made really good spaghetti, or if that was the only thing they knew how to say in English. Either way, the spaghetti dinner was a big hit. The final evidence was that there was nary a noodle to found on any child’s plate at the end of dinner.

We're Still Here

2010-06-10T23:35:00.003+08:00

Thanks to those of you who have showed concern over our housing situation. We are still here. My apologies for not updating you all sooner. May 25th came and went and our home still stands. The situation has been solved for us as we have decided to live off-site. Our decision to move off-site is actually unrelated to the impending destruction of our current home. Living on-site has many challenges and we feel that by living off-site it will be better for our family and will in no way compromise the work that we are doing on-site. We will post pics of our new digs as soon as we can.

S'more of what?

2010-05-17T16:38:00.003+08:00

S'mores are hard to come by in China. Chocolate is abundant. Fire is easy. Marshmallows are imported and therefore pricey. Graham Crackers are near impossible to find so we used the Chinese alternative, "digestives" - they are close enough. Altogether we had over 100 people attend the bonfire. These kids and staff work so hard during the week, it is nice to be able to let down on a Friday night. Chyloe made the fatal (almost literally) mistake of opening up the marshmallow bags before the fire had died down. Try telling 74 kids, none of whom have ever roasted a marshmallow before, that they need to have patience and wait for the fire to die down a bit before roasting their white, sugary, puffs of goodness. Not a single Chinese person present had ever eaten a s'more before. We had enough supplies to make about 100 s'mores - enough for everybody to have one (after doing the math we ended up paying about $1 per s'more, and it was worth every penny). I asked Thomas (age 8) how many s'mores he had eaten - he said 2. I then asked his sister Ashley (age 9) how many she ate - she said 3. Thomas then admitted the truth, "i had 3 also."

They Both Play With Smiles on Their Faces

2010-04-29T10:14:00.004+08:00

I'm not one of those fathers who makes his children play sports because he did. My kids absolutely love playing soccer. We didn't think they would be able to play soccer with us living at the orphanage because it is too far from town. Chyloe found out that Club Football had a Sunday afternoon session, and since we are in town every Sunday morning it worked out perfectly. Reese is actually 6 months too young for the Sunday afternoon session but they told us that if we are OK with it then they were OK with it. Keegan plays at 1:15 and Reese plays at 2:30, and both of them play the entire session with smiles on their faces.

We Are Losing Our Home

2010-04-29T09:49:00.002+08:00

In December a new subway stop is opening about 400m from our front gate. This subway will make travel to Beijing substantially cheaper and easier. That is the good news. The bad news is that our property has quickly become more valuable than the purpose for which we are using it. Our operation would be fine anywhere, but apartments on our site would bring a high price. Also, our immediate concern is that the road outside our gate needs to be widened for the potential increase in traffic. Currently, our kitchen sink is about 6 feet from the road, so this means our entire house is going to be bulldozed. They said this demolition will happen at the end of May.

If you look at my sketch drawing everything in red is coming down and all of the black buildings will remain. All of the apartments the kids live in will remain, but 6 apartments worth of leadership staff housing is coming down in May. The catch-22 is that our whole outfit will probably be asked/forced to move in the not too distant future. They have said 1-2 years until this move, but one thing we have learned about living in China is that whatever you are told today will not be what you are told tomorrow. Either way we need a place to live - and we don't want to build a garbage apartment and then we end up staying here longer than 2 years.

The silver lining in this cloud is 1) our current apartment should be bulldozed anyway - the quality is awful, and 2) a new family moved to our orphanage last week and the husband is a general contractor. His timing is perfect! We are going to begin turning 3 unused classrooms and storage rooms into apartments immediately.

8 More Kids

2010-04-29T09:03:00.003+08:00

We found out on Monday that we were getting 8 new kids on Wednesday. These kids came from the same hometown that our last batch of 12 kids came from in November. This is an incredibly exciting time for all of us as we feel like our family has expanded. One of the most exciting things for us in the process is giving the kids English names. Chyloe made a list of names, I crossed off all of the names that would be too difficult for young Chinese mouths to pronounce, and then we put the remaining names up for a vote by the kids. We got 2 boys and 6 girls. I was thrilled that the top 2 boy name vote getters were Ryan and Chad (actually Brian was the 2nd highest vote getter but you can't have a Ryan and a Brian). My apologies to Tyler and Jeremy but Tyler got only one vote and Jeremy doesn't jive with the Chinese tongue. Our 6 new girls are Emma, Maggie, Hannah, Claire, Mandy, and Summer. Summer was the highest vote getter. Sorry Nikki and Graycee, we already have a Nick and a Grace living here, and Molly, Miyah, and Lacey didn't get enough votes. We'll put them in the hat for next time.

Lantern Festival

2010-03-25T15:48:00.003+08:00

The Lantern Festival is 15 days after Chinese New Year. Our town had a Lantern Festival parade. The Director of the Propaganda Department for the next town over has a 5 year old who attends our kindergarten. When her son told her about us she thought it would be a good idea to have a foreign family on their float. The float was promoting the new Central Shopping District in Changyang (and let's be honest, what foreigner better embodies the spirit of shopping than my wife).

We told them that it would be an honor to be on their float for the parade. When we arrived that morning (as you can see from the pictures, it was a cold morning) we received many instructions on what to do as we stood on the float.

1. They told us that we could wave at the people

2. Jan (translator) recommended that when we pass the dignitary table Chyloe should blow kisses to the government officials because "I think in your country this is special thing to do."

3. The boys were giving tiger stuffed animals to wave since it is now the year of the tiger.

4. The Propaganda director told Chyloe that they needed to trade scarves since Chyloe's was black and hers was a brighter turquoise color.

Our float consisted of a golfer (there are 4 golf courses in Changyang), two Chinese models dressed as shoppers, and us, the token foreigners.

Many of our students were able to attend the parade. They were excited to see us on the float.

After the parade we were invited to attend a banquet with the propaganda department. It was the best meal we have had in this country. We sat around the table and ate and talked for well over an hour, all the while the waitresses kept bringing out more and more food. The manager from the restaurant had her picture taken with us because she was so pleased that foreigners came to her restaurant and enjoyed the food (you have to realize that this town is about 45 minutes outside Beijing so not a lot of foreigners make it down this far). The Roast Duck was to die for.

Mutianyu as Metaphor

2010-03-18T16:48:00.003+08:00

Josh came to town for a couple days. The last time he came to Beijing, he and Caleb opted to go to visit the orphanage instead of going to the Great Wall. Since Josh was going back to the States the next week, he wanted to see the Wall before leaving China.

We hired a driver and ventured out to Mutianyu. At Mutianyu there are 3 options to get up the hill from the parking lot to the wall: ski chair lift, gondola, or walk. We opted to walk because walking is free. After about 15 minutes of uphill hiking we reached the Wall. We were told that our best option would be to go to the left to begin our hike. So we did. We hiked the wall’s ups and downs for about a half mile. All the while passing tourists of many flavors, student groups, and Chinese families. Upon reaching the 12th guard tower we came to the end of the road.

It was not the end of the Wall (the Wall is 4,000 miles long), but it was the end of the restored wall. There was a sign placed on the small fence which blocked tourists from proceeding which read, “Danger: Do not go any further,” in 4 different languages. Josh and I took it as a challenge rather than a command, and we daringly stepped over the fence. The shame of it is this is where the real beauty of the wall begins. At this point you begin to see the Great Wall which was built centuries ago (this particular section was first built around AD 550 and was rebuilt in 1569), not the Great Wall which was restored in the 1950’s.

Leaving behind the European tourists with ugly socks and the Chinese families with octogenarian Nai-nais (who hike the wall’s vertigo inducingly steep steps with the best of them), we entered the “Wild Wall.” We hiked for 8 more crumbling guard towers among the trees and bushes which were naturally reclaiming their position atop the Wall. From the time we passed the danger sign we only saw two more people for the next two hours.

The eighth guard tower past the sign was perched atop the highest peak we could see in every direction. We scaled to the roof of the tower and ate Oreo cookies and apples. It was the best apple I’ve ever eaten.

Josh is working on a “don’t cry for me” list in which he is listing all of the things he has been able to do in his life which should preclude people from crying at his funeral. Hiking the wild section of Mutianyu while talking about Chinese history, waxing poetic about our creative God, and eating oreos and apples is on that list.

On the return trip down the mountain, there is really only one option - we call it the Mutianyu luge. Sure, one could conceivably take the chair lift down. I suppose one could even walk down to the parking lot. But the only real option is the luge, because it is the second funnest 4 minutes anyone can have.

They have built a rounded metal track, about the diameter of a 50 gallon drum sliced in half, which winds down the mountain for about a mile and a half, complete with bermed turns and straightaways where one can build up a ridiculous amount of speed in the modified skateboard on which you sit. The track looks like a small metal luge course. Essentially it is the sort of thing that every twelve year old wishes he could build in his backyard.

There are a few reasons why this luge is so fun. 1) You can go as fast as you want. You control your own speed with a simple hand brake. 2) Something like this would NEVER fly in America. 3) It is extremely dangerous. To imagine someone dying on this course is not a difficult proposition (also, we rode this luge about 3 weeks after the Olympic luger died on a practice run in Vancouver).

There is something about pushing the edge of the envelope which is attractive. It is not everyday that one is allowed to take his life in his own hands in a situation where the closer you get to danger, the more fun it is. It is what leads some people to become bull riders, extreme sports athletes, bomb techs, stunt pilots - and leads other to say, “no, thanks.” Not that I am an adrenaline junkie, it is just that our safety driven society has tried to sterilize everything, which in a lot of ways takes the fun out of it.

Kids are Kids

2010-03-12T22:53:00.001+08:00

There are some things in this world that are universal. I do believe that beauty is objective. Beauty is not so much a matter of taste or opinion as much as it is inherent in certain things. To be sure, there are some things that are socially constructed and environmentally ingrained into people which do not transcend cultures (see the above article about seaweed). However, there are certain elements of the creative world, be they music, scenery, food, art, etc. which are objectively enjoyable or beautiful. We experienced three such things Friday night.

As an end-of-the-week celebration we decided to host a movie night for the new kids (we have 12 kids who just moved here 3 months ago and are all younger than the other kids). Some of them were struggling with homesickness since returning from their trip back to their hometowns for Chinese New Year, so we wanted to cheer them up a bit. It would be difficult to find a kid anywhere on earth who would not thoroughly enjoy popcorn, 7up, and classic Goofy cartoons. In fact, one of the reasons we watched the Goofy cartoons was that I thought it had a Chinese option; it turned out to be Cantonese - so the kids didn’t understand any of the spoken words. I think Mater said it best when he told his friend Lightning McQueen, “I don’t care who y’are, that’s funny.” The video began with a 45 second highlight reel of Goofy best spills and tumbles. If I could have bottled up the steady giggle that persisted from the belly of every child for the duration of that intro it would cure the world of all its ills.

Before moving to our orphanage some of these kids had never had running water, never lived in a house with a real floor, and they all have experienced pain enough for five lifetimes. On movie night you could not have distinguished these kids from any other 8 year old in the world who has it all. Friday night I learned that kids are kids, laughter is powerful, and Goofy is hilarious.

A Kind Gesture

2010-03-09T17:36:00.003+08:00

One of the house parents noticed that our kids were not eating much at mealtime in the cafeteria (we usually eat at home and go to meals to hang out). Her concern for our children's well-being led her to bring them a gift. This is what she brought:

Underneath the wrapper is what looks like paper seaweed. But here's the kicker - it IS paper seaweed. Apparently she thought since the cafeteria was not tickling my kids' fancy, paper seaweed would. You can probably guess the odds on my kids eating the seaweed. However, it was perhaps the nicest gesture we've received since being here. She also brought 6 apples to compliment the seaweed, and they were delicious.

Our New Wheels

2010-03-09T13:57:00.004+08:00

The trasportation disadvantage of living in the orphanage is that it is quite a bit removed from the small town of Liangxiang. This makes access to simple things such as groceries and restaurants more restricted. The transportation advantage to living at the orphanage is that now that we live outside of 5th ring road in Beijing we are permitted to drive 3 wheeled motorcycles.

This is the 飞鸽. Translation: The Flying Pigeon.

Top speed: 20 mph

Power: Electric

Battery Life: 30 km

Price: 2400 rmb

Capacity: 2 adults, 2 children. Though we have done 3 adults and 2 children on multiple occasions.

Pedals: In case the battery runs out and you are away from home

Coolness: Off-the-charts!

A Slight Improvement

2010-02-23T15:17:00.001+08:00

On the first day we went to Ikea. We bought a beds, mattresses, and a couch. We couldn’t complete our furniture purchases because we forgot to bring the measurements. It was Chinese New Year (actually the New Year was on the 14th but they celebrate for 15 days) so Ikea was somewhat reminiscent waiting in line at Disneyland - the entire store!

We made our purchases and headed home. Usually Beijing’s Ikea will do same day delivery, but because of the busyness of Chinese New Year it had to wait until the next day. That night we spent again in the bed that is not ours. What made night two better than night one is that we put a space heater in our bedroom. The electricity is real delicate so we are only allowed one space heater per apartment. The kids were just fine in their 20 degree sleeping bags so we put the heater in our bedroom and closed the door. We were sweating and sleeping without covers by midnight.

Again we awoke at around 4:00 a.m. and again it was difficult to get our of bed for all of the aforementioned reasons, and it was still cold everywhere except our bedroom. Had the jet lag not woken us up these first few mornings then surely the fireworks would have. We actually heard our first fireworks at 5:00 a.m. on the 18th. Apparently this had something to do with it being the day of the god of wealth. They say louder the display, the more of his attention your family will receive. The competition was fierce. From 7:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. I could not count to 5 without hearing an explosion.

When Ikea arrived with our beds and couch we piled them high with blankets. It was quite difficult to roll over with the weight on top of me, but we were warm. Also, by day 3 the kids started to return home from visiting relatives over the New Year holiday so they started burning more coal, which made our house a bit warmer, but still far from warm.

The next hurdle is the water. The heat issue we have, for the most part, been able to manage. The water...that’s a different story altogether. The good news is that the water is warm (in the bathroom it is warm - we have no warm water in the kitchen). The water smells bad. The toilet flushes sometimes. The plunger is the most important tool in our house. The sink has a dripping leak which we have remedied the old fashioned way - with a bucket to catch the drip. It is hard to get (or at least feel) clean when the water itself is dirty. Not only does the water smell bad, but whatever aroma is coming up from the drain pipes is unbearable. Combine that with an often unflushed toilet and it makes for a room in which we spend as little time as possible. Fortunately, a closed door keeps the problem contained.

The Harsh Reality

2010-02-23T15:11:00.000+08:00

In my last entry, while griping about living in other peoples’ houses during furlough I wrote, “at least in China I can close the door, pick up the remote, crank up the heat, and tell my wife what I want for dinner.” To quote my good friend Willy Wonka, “wait a minute, strike that, reverse it.” That was the case at our old China apartment. Of all the aforementioned luxuries, the only one we are afforded while living at the orphanage is that I can close the door.

After traveling half way across the globe and arriving at our new home 26 hours after we left our last, we were rudely greeted by a bitterly cold apartment. Obviously the 12 hour time change got the best of us and we headed straight to bed - in a bed that is not ours, with borrowed sheets, in an apartment that is not ours, with the temperature reading around 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Luckily, I knew exactly where the kids’ sleeping bags were. I tucked the kids into their sacks, inside of which they still had another 30 degrees to spare before they would start to get cold. I had no idea where chyloe’s and my sleeping bags were. We spooned for warmth.

If you have ever traveled 12 time zones in one day then you know what sort of confusion your internal clock experiences. The boys woke up at 4:30 a.m. so we put a movie on for them and I returned to the spooning position. We didn’t want to get out of bed.

The first and most obvious reason is because it was so cold outside of our bed. On top of that, we had only had bread, peanut butter, and Oreos to eat, we had no means of transportation, all of our stuff was still in boxes, we couldn’t unpack because we had no place to put anything, and it’s not even 5:00 yet.

Bye Bye USA

2010-02-19T08:47:00.001+08:00

We have returned to China. For Chyloe and the boys it ended up being a 4 month visit. I was back and forth, but was there for the last 2 months. Altogether we will have endured 32 airplane hours (60 for me as I had another round trip to China mixed in), 75 car travel hours, 9 states, over a dozen different beds, and I was asked, “so, how’s China?” 9,286 times. Being spread out over 2 months it did not seem like we were constantly running around (except for the last week and a half). We got to spend 10 days in Florida, and plenty of time in Ohio and Virginia. Living in someone else’s house for 2 months (4 months for Chyloe and the boys) can be an exhausting endeavor. We never get to decide when and what to eat, others people must constantly be taken into consideration when choosing what TV channel on which to stop, the temperature inside the house is never determined by us, and the obvious situation which is not so obviously a problem - there are always other people around. That might sound strange coming from someone who lives in the world’s most populous nation, but at least in China I can close the door, pick up the remote, crank up the heat, and tell my wife what I want for dinner.

It sounds worse than it really is. We were blessed in many ways on this furlough. Jeremy and Summer gave us complete reign over their Toyota Corolla. It gets great gas mileage, and they supplied us with a pair of car seats for the kids. Don set up our old bed in the upstairs bedroom; it is the greatest bed in the history of beds. The people and groups we visited took good care of us. The friends we were able to visit are an enormous encouragement in our lives. And the best blessing of all is that our kids are the most flexible kids, no, people, on the face of the earth.

I've Missed You, Bucky

2010-02-12T10:59:00.003+08:00

For those of you pronounce it Prescott (like "scott"), you probably have never met Bucky. For all of those readers who correctly change the "o" into a short "i" sound (read: Prescott like biscuit), then of course you recognize Bucky O'neill. As one who grew up in the shadows of Thumb Butte (pictured below), Bucky and I go way back. I very much enjoyed a trip back home last week. True, none of my family lives in Prescott any longer, and I myself have not lived there full-time in 13 years, but I still tell people that I am from Arizona. One of the things that remains in Prescott that is still something I connect with my formative years is FBC.

FBC has gone through myriad changes over the last decade. However, it still remains the one place, outside of my own home, that has done more to shape me into who I am today than any other place. We are so thankful for their support of us. We are also thankful for their hospitality this past week. A lot is different about the Mile High City. They now have a hockey team in Prescott Valley, I no longer know at least one person in every restaurant I enter, they now have In 'N Out Burger, and they chopped off the entire top of a mountain to build a mall. But some in Prescott are constant - Whiskey Row, Patty Rummage, Yavapai College Soccer, Bucky O'Neil, and (for the last 130 years) FBC.

To Our Good Friends in Cincinnati...

2010-02-05T13:32:00.003+08:00

...we want to thank you for welcoming us so warmly. For those of you who were not at Mt. Washington last weekend, they welcomed us back with open arms. They even had a Chinese tea/fortune cookie reception during which many of the hostesses donned Chinese attire. It is exciting for us to be able to continue this relationship. So, to Ken and Judy and all the rest of the gang - thanks so much for having us and thanks also for your faithfulness.

Sincerely,

Your Yellow Pushpin in China

The Trumbo Family

The Happiest Place on Earth

2010-01-21T08:01:00.003+08:00

The McClure/Woody/Trumbo family spent a week with Mickey and Co. in Orlando. It was a very timely trip for all of us as it was a time for us to get away, be together, have fun, and celebrate life. It was really a perfect time for us to go (aside from the weather - the highs for the week were in the 40's) with Keegan being 6 and Reese being almost 4. Reese is the perfect age (and personality) to enjoy the characters. And Keegan is tall enough to ride Space Mountain, yet young enough to ask me afterward, "did we really just go into space?"

Aided by imaginative genius from the likes of George Lucas, C.S. Lewis, the guys from Pixar, and of course Walt himself, I must say that I enjoyed Disney more now then I did when I was 10. Objectively speaking, I realized that the Magic Kingdom is not as big as I remembered it, and neither are the drops on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. However, when I was 10 I was more captivated by the size of the park and the speed of the rides, now that I am 30 (actually 31) the thing I enjoyed the most was the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle. At the risk of sounding dorky, I believe more in the magic of Disney now then I did when I was Keegan's age.

The Fairy Godmothers at the Bippity Boppity Boutique will make your daughter look like a princess for a small fortune. But for $7 they will make your son look like a "Cool Dude". My wife doesn't have any daughters, and she may never have any daughters, so she took full advantage of the Boutique's lure to mothers without daughters and had our boys mohawked and sparkled. I don't know who loved it more, Chyloe or Keegan.

Ryan's Clan

2010-01-07T10:21:00.003+08:00

We had a wonderful time with my big brother Ryan, his wife Lacey, and their four kids at their new home in NC. Bowling (or "rolling" as Ainsley calls it) is always a fun time. In fact, my wife even beat me (with a BIG asterisk since her 3 spares were all bumper aided). Here you go Nonny, we took a picture of all 6 just for you.

Glad to be in Florida

2010-01-07T09:57:00.002+08:00

Even though we are experiencing record lows in Florida, we are glad we are not in Beijing, we they are experiencing the coldest weather they have seen in 40 years. Biking to school in the morning would not be fun in single digits.

A Message to Heaven

2010-01-07T09:49:00.003+08:00

While in Florida we decided to have the kids send messages to Tyson in heaven, and what better way to do this than to write those messages on helium filled balloons and release them into the Florida sky. Of course, the Lord planned for us to have a beautiful blue sky into which we released the balloons. And, according the wind that day, we must assume that heaven is somewhere due east of Orlando.

It's a nice day for a (pause) white wedding.

2009-12-24T05:59:00.004+08:00

Billy Idol sang the theme song for the day. On Friday and Saturday it snowed 30". The wedding was on Monday and it was a nice day for a white wedding. I have spent a lot of time with young men in my days. I have said that if I had a daughter of marrying age, there are 2 high school/college age guys who I know who are the type of guy I would approve of my daughter marrying. Tyler McClure is one of those guys (Lucas, I already told you that you are the other, nice work Heather). Welcome to the family Nicki! Here are my 3 favorite pics of the occasion

Back in the USA

2009-12-15T22:07:00.002+08:00

It was great to be reunited with my family yesterday. We made it. It was only 3 weeks but it was the longest I have ever been away from any of my family members. We are looking forward to the wedding and holidays and visiting with many of you. Be watching for an email update letter in your inbox in the next couple of days.

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