Retrospection

Well, here we are at the end of the year already and I can't believe that we have gone nearly 4 months without posting anything. We sincerely apologize for that. We have been consumed with the kids' new school year, our language studies, trips to the orphanage, and, well, you get the idea.
I will try to catch you all up on the past few months' happenings as briefly as possible.
We are making progress in language school, even though sometimes that progress seems rather small. It seems as though I can hear and understand Chinese far better than I can speak it. (Jaime, on the other hand has the opposite problem.) We have been actively learning the language now for six months and now only have the rest of our lives to master this thing called Mandarin Chinese.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with another family here who also have 4 children. We then had a great Christmas with some of our other team members.
We have recently been experiencing the season referred to as "winter". Apparently there are places in the world where it actually gets really cold from November to March. Living in South Texas all our lives did not prepare us for the kind of cold we are enduring presently. (And these cold winters will only get worse when we move out NW.)
We have had a wonderful year watching our father do all sorts of miraculous things on our behalf to get us to this place. We are very excited at the new year's arrival and all that it has in store for us. We hope all of you truly enjoyed the holidays this year and are looking forward to a great new year. Don't forget to check out our "flickr" photos!

Elevator Troubles

It wouldn't be living in another country if you didn't have weird things happen to you. This "thing" actually happened about a month ago, but I thought y'all would enjoy it nonetheless.

Over here your electricty is set up very different than the states. What you do is pay in advance for your electricity, and when you use up that amount, your electricity gets cut off. Then you go downstairs to the desk and buy more. Well, we had run out of electricity, so I decided to go and buy more. Our desk is just downstairs in the lobby at our complex, so I decided to leave the kids in the apartment while I went down and paid. I told them I would be right back. Well....on the way down the elevator decides to stop working...with me still in it! Mind you...these elevators are not equipped for people getting stuck in them. There was no phone to call anyone like you see in the movies. Just a little "alarm" button that buzzes when you push it. And not very loud either. Well, I pushed that button and hollered for AN HOUR! I even pried open the doors to see if I could crawl out, but I was stuck in between floors. I wasn't scared for myself, just worried because the kids were ALONE upstairs, and I had told them I would be right back. Well, finally a guy comes and rescues me, I run up four flights of stairs to our apartment and check on the kids. Thankfully, the kids were perfectly fine. No panic. But I still have to go back down and get more electricty...

Ah, welcome to life in another country.

More Flickr Pictures

Added more pictures to flickr, so sheck 'em out!

Summer Break

Right now we are on our three week summer break. It's really nice. No worrying about going to school or getting up early. We are REALLY enjoying it. We haven't gone to see anything yet. Every time we ask the kids if they want to go somewhere, they say no. But I'm thinking we'll take them somewhere tomorrow. Maybe downtown. There is the Bell Tower in the middle of the walled city (which is downtow), and a bunch of cool shopping. I'll take plenty of pictures if we go.

Well, that the update of our summer break so far.

It's Just Been Sooo Busy...

I haven't forgotten to write, not really. We've just been soo busy here.

So, we have been here 2 mos. now. Language school has started in full swing. Yikes! I'm sure most of you know that Chinese is not the easiest of languages to learn. But I think Keith and I are doing pretty well. It's fun to be able to use it outside on the streets. We can only say a few words and a few sentences, but it's really exciting when people understand you. So, I'm trying to use it as much as possible, even if it is just one word.

We haven't done a whole bunch of sight-seeing. Really everything we see is new anyway. I think we've gotten pretty settled in so far. I know how to do all my grocery shopping, and things like that. It is more of an effort here to shop than at home in the states, but I'm learning my own ways to do it as efficiently as possible. Our fridge and cabinet space are really small, so trying to keep food in the house is a bit of a problem, but we're working on it. I'm think of getting a small deep freeze. I think that will really help out.

We get a "summer break" starting next week. It will be three weeks long. So, we're hoping to take the kids to see a few things. It's insanely hot here, so it's not really fun to go out walking during the day. But we'll see what we can. I'll try and put more pictures up on Flickr. I don't alway remember to bring my camera with me, but I'll try to do better.

Well, speaking of being busy...I guess I better go off and study, or clean, or take care of kids, or....

How We're Doing So Far

Pretty good, I must say. We've had our struggles with some sickness--stomach issues (to be expected) and cold/sinus trouble, but we seem to be recovered or almost recovered. Glad that's behind us.

I went today for the first time by myself (well, Nicole was with me, but that doesn't count :) to the market across the street. It's in the back of a village. I bought some chicken--interesting experience--and a bunch of veggies/fruit. I love buying the veggies. It's like a big farmer's market. Fun. And everything looks so good and fresh. The chicken is fresh too, I mean like just killed a few minutes before. Yikes! But I forged ahead and bought some chicken breasts and a whole chicken, with head and feet intact. Yeah! But that's not freaking me out so much anymore. I put the pictures on Flickr.

Now we are just waiting for Keith to come back with Chinese take-out. We decided that Tues. are take-out night because I will be getting back from school on that night around 5 pm. (School begins June 29th.) Take-out is insanely cheap here. We got take-out last week. We got 3 meat dishes and 2 veg. dishes and it all cost about 8 dollars! Crazy, I know. And it is sooo very good.

Well, it looks like the kids spotted Keith downstairs. So, off to eat!

Note About Pictures...

I am just NOT able to upload pictures to blogger. So because of that, I have created a Flickr account so that anyone can view our pictures there. The address is:

www.flickr.com/photos/kandjwommack

It is still a work in progress. I'm still uploading our pictures and I haven't organized them yet, but at least you can see what we're doing. Please leave a comment and let me know if you are unable to view them or if I got the url wrong. Enjoy our pictures!

First Birthday in NA

We have officially celebrated a first birthday here in Northern Asia. Keith's birthday was on May 29th. A friend took us to a Chinese restaurant (very good) and even brought a birthday cake. She told the waitress it was his birthday, so later they brought him a bowl of "long life" noodles. They were good (yes, we all tasted them), a little sour. His goal was to be here in Northern Asia before his birthday, and he made it two days before. So, I would say he had a great birthday.

We're here!!!

We officially made it to Northern Asia last night around 11 pm. We have been kept pretty busy here our first day, and needless to say we are EXHAUSTED, so I'm just gonna leave it at the announcement and follow up with a post about our trip here, our apartment, and what we're up to. Til then...

We're Done!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, you read that right. We are completely done and have already purchased our tickets. We leave May 26th from Houston. It's still hard to believe that we are actually done!

Right now we are just passing time...continuing with kids' schooling...packing here and there...and finishing up the last of our shopping of things we want to take with us.

I do apologize in the lack of posting...my mother-in-law has unreliable internet and I just now made it to the library to post this. I'll try to do better, but I'm sure we're only going to get busier from here on. So, until the next post...

We're all moved.

We finished up all our moving this last Wednesday. I can't believe we got the house completely emptied, but we did! We moved down to Keith's mom's on Wednesday but are now back up in Houston for a few meetings.

My mother-in-law doesn't have internet in her house...well, she has dial-up, but it's soooooooo slow! So, we have to go to the library in town to check our e-mail and update the blog. So if we're slow in updating, you'll know why.

I'll have an Update posted in the next couple of weeks with our departure date. I can't believe we're finally at this point! Yay! It was a long road, but so worth it. We've been visiting with some friends from Northern Asia, and we're getting soo excited. We can hardly wait!

Garage Sale

Today we had our garage sale. We were able to sell just about EVERYTHING! (This picture is after we sold almost all the stuff.) It was great. It far exceeded our expectations. It was a little hard to get rid of some of these things, but it had to be done. I will say that it was amazing how we accumulated soo much junk! I am SURE that we didn't need half of the stuff we had. I am looking forward to living with less. The clutter really gets to you.

Going through all our stuff was like walking down memory lane. I could remember when I got it, and who got it for me, and for what occasion. Some of the things I forgot I even had and would be like "Oh, this was from so-and-so for such-and-such!....aaawww". But that's ok...we can't take this stuff with us, and it's best to live without the clutter.

Anyway...so now that the sale is done we can move onto the next thing.

Still Truckin'

We're still here, finishing up the last bit. And I mean the last bit. We should definitely be out of here by the end of April. I can't believe we finally got here. It seems like it took forever, but yet it seems like we're rushing here at the end. Funny how that happens.

Well, William had his second (and last) surgery last Friday. He had his post-op appointment this afternoon and the dr. said he's doing just fine. Yeah! He goes back again in a couple of weeks to continue to check his progress and then that should be it. I will be so glad when that's all over. I know William will be too. But he has handled this like a champ. I'm really proud of him.

We have our mega-garage sale this weekend to get rid of EVERYTHING. I can't believe all the junk we have! It has been a really stressful week getting everything together, going through every nook and cranny, figuring out what we do and don't want, dealing with William's surgery....whew! Then...we head out next Tuesday to move in with Keith's mom. We just figured it would be easier to do all this a little early, so when we get our clearance to head to Northern Asia, we'll be ready. All we'll have to do is board the plane! So, we are looking at being at her house for a month, tops.

Keith is at a meeting tonight, so I'm stuck here tagging all the garage sale stuff by myself. Guess I better get a move on.

She FINALLY did it!!

More History Eating

First, we learned about ancient India, and we made Chicken Curry.  Then, we learned about ancient China, and we made Broccoli and Beef Stir Fry.  Sorry no pictures on that.  Forgot.  Then this week we learned about ancient Africa, so we made African Peanut Butter Stew!  Yummy!  This is actually a recipe I've been making for years, but it seemed fitting to eat it for our history lesson.  History is turning out to be very delicious.

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Last week someone blessed us with free rodeo tickets to see Clint Black.  So, we packed up all the kids and headed on over.  It was cold and rainy but luckily everything was inside.  We opted not to go to the carnival since that wasn't inside.  But the kids didn't miss it at all.  There was so much to see there.  This was the kids' first rodeo to go to.  And it couldn't have been a better one.

We got there around 2 and stayed through til the concert (around 8).  We only stayed for a few songs though because we didn't want to get stuck in bad traffic, plus it was already pretty late.  The kids each got to pick whatever they wanted to eat, and they each got a souvenir.  Nicole ate a sausage on a stick, William picked corn dog and fries, and Josiah picked a 1/2 lb. cheeseburger (which he ate ALL of).  And for souvenirs...Nicole picked silver horse earrings, William picked a cowboy hat, and Josiah picked a lasso rope (which he made himself).  (In case you're wondering...Caleb ate tamales, and got a stuffed toy frog for his souvenir).  We had a great time, and we're really glad (and grateful) we got to go before we left.     

Packing Up

We want to make sure everything makes it to Northern Asia.

Update to the Update

We are now at 90%! YAY!!!!!

March '09 Update

So much has happened since our last update.  We are now at 86%!  Yeah!  That doesn't leave us with much more to raise.  We are packing up the house and selling a lot of things in preparation for moving to Keith's mom's house at the end of the month.  Our goal is to be leaving sometime in late April or so.  With the way things have been going lately, it may be sooner than that.  We just want to be prepared so that we can leave at a moment's notice.

The kids are getting really excited.  We've already packed up their rooms.  I think it was a little hard for them to get rid of a few things, but moving always gives you a chance to pare down.   We are wanting to take as many of their favorite toys as possible.  We don't want them to ever be bitter about moving overseas.  But overall, they are really ready to go.  So are we!

My (Jaime's) mother is doing much better.  She has started on a trial medicine which seems to be benefitting her.  She is now doing much of what she did before she was diagnosed.  I think she is really glad that she can be more independent now.

William is completely back to normal.  Yeah!  He is running around and acting like his old self again.  We take him back to the doctor on March 18th to see if he needs the second surgery or not.  We are really "hoping" that he will not.  Please be "hoping" with us.  

I guess that's a sufficient update.  Hopefully our next update will be to tell everyone that we are leaving!

Blowing Flowers

Already Pre-Teen??!!

Nicole has officially been accepted in the Pre-Teen Club.  Last Friday she turned 11 years old.  I can't believe she's getting soo old.  I can't believe I'm old enough to have a child so old.  Oh well...  It was a bittersweet birthday for me.  I'm excited to have my children getting older.  They just get more fun that way.  But also sad that she's no longer a baby.  *sniff sniff*

Note:  Just to throw this in there because of all the cake decorating I was learning...The birthday cake up there was made by yours truly.  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.  

Playing Outside

We finally broke down and bought ourselves a video recorder. I've been having lots of fun recording lots of random things. What I have missed! So, needless to say, I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more videos on here from now on. And speaking of which, here is a video of the kids playing outside the other day. Enjoy!

Update on William

Today was William's doctor's appointment to remove his stitches. That went just fine, and the doctor said he is healing nicely. Yeah!

William has been a trooper. He getting up a lot more and playing with his brothers and sister more, too. So, I am really glad to report that William is just fine. :)

What's Going On With William

Well the last few days have been some interesting days for William (and the rest of us!). On Friday William had surgery. It was a personal surgery, so I will not go into details. We actually found out about it a couple of weeks ago, but I failed to mention it here.

So, the surgery was Friday morning. He did VERY well. I actually requested that they give him that "goofy juice". It's the medicine they give people before they go into surgery to help them relax and not remember anything. Well, it must have worked because William asked why they didn't give him the medicine that makes him not remember anything. :) He was very brave, though, and has hardly asked for any pain meds.

I'm very grateful that he is doing so well because it looks like he's going to need another surgery in a couple of months. We are believing that this will not be the case. I'm asking for everyone to believe with us. So, until the next update...

History Comes To Dinner

This week we've been studying about ancient India for our history lessons. So, for dinner tonight I made Indian Chicken Curry. Along side it we had rice and naan. This is the first time we have ever made Indian food. And we loved it! The naan was especially good. Keith and Nicole made the naan (well, I made the dough).

Here's Keith rolling out the dough:

And Nicole cooking it:

Here's our yummy food (I added potatoes to my curry to stretch the meat).

Next week we learn about ancient China. Wonder what yummy food we can come up with then. :)

Note: This are just mini lessons, not comprehensive studies on these countries. It would take a lot longer than a week to fully study India or China. Oh, and I use Story of the World for our history.

Back from the West

We just got back from a really busy week traveling. We had 5 meetings all west of here. Last Saturday we traveled over 10 hours to go to meetings in Odessa and Midland. Talk about a long drive! But the meetings were great and we met some wonderful people. It was our first time there, also. Not much to see, though. Just dead grass and small bushes. :) We calculated, though, that out of the three days we were there, we spent one whole day on the road!

Then after being home for only two days we took off for San An-tone! I love San Antonio. I think it's a really cool place to visit. We had a meeting Thursday night and Friday night. Both were enjoyable, and I spoke for the first time on Friday night. I was really nervous, but I enjoyed it.

Then on Saturday we traveled to Boerne. Another place we had never been, and we really like it. It's a very "touristy" town. Pretty. We stayed at a really neat hotel called the Ye Kendall Inn. It's over 150 yrs. old and we learned that Robert E. Lee stayed there.

So we are back home today. We actually get to stay home for the next two weeks since our meetings this weekend are in the area. As much as we enjoy traveling and meeting new people, it's really nice when we get to stay home.

How They Play

January Oh-Nine Update

I know I'm getting terrible with the updates. I keep forgetting. Sorry.

We are still keeping busy...we're giving this itineration thing all we've got these last few months. Our goal is to be out of here in March. We believe that goal is VERY possible. So, we are doing LOTS of traveling, pulling out all the stops. :)

Kids are doing well...school started back up again after a nice long holiday break. I don't know how happy they are about that, but that's life, right? Josiah is reading really well now. I'm very pleased with his progress. I think he's excited about it, too.

Other than homeschooling and constant travel, not much else is going on.

"Call 9-9-1!!"

That's what William told Caleb today when they were playing with some Star Wars toys.

I guess I've been slacking in "the little things that everybody knows" department.

I'll get on that this week. :)

1-1-2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!