September 8th

Last week was a tough one.  By the end, I felt like it was week one again and wondered if we could just hop a plane home.  My heart tells me it is fall and the crisp air and fall weather/fall food/fall activities calls to me.  It is my favorite season. I knew it might be hard missing it right in the beginning.  Going through some challenging times during the week didn't help.  By Saturday night I was toast.

Our internet broke Wednesday.  A fiber cable was truly broken.  Of course, the holiday started Thursday so no luck until Monday.  Marcus and I have both commented on how much this affects us both.  I had no idea how much of life revolved around the internet for us.  Maybe it is worse being far from everything but we can't access finances, talk to family, plan or schedule anything, research anything, look up phone numbers or addresses etc.  It really takes the wind out of your sails. Marcus' phone also had some problem so it wasn't working either.  I think it about drove him crazy.

Sunday I woke up feeling a little better and was looking forward to the routine of church.  We have been working on getting to church a little earlier so we are not late.  I think we live the closest to the church house but have still had a hard time leaving on time.  I got a message on my phone through wechat 20 minutes before church started that they wanted to meet with us before the meeting started.  We quickly left and arrived at church 10 minutes before the meeting started.  The District President ( a leadership position in our church) was visiting and we quickly met with him.  They asked Marcus if he would serve as the 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency (part of the leadership over our particular congregation).  He agreed and we headed down to the meeting.

In the meeting they sustained the new Branch Presidency and I don't think my kids even heard.  We didn't have a chance to talk to them before the meeting started.  When they asked the new Presidency to go sit in the front, my kids suddenly noticed and were completely confused as to what was going on.  We are in the middle of the meeting and I am getting bombarded by kids wondering what is going on and why is Dad sitting up front instead of with us.  It was almost comical.

So that was Sunday.

Monday.....

WE CAUGHT THE RAT!!!!

Seriously the best thing ever.  We finally outsmarted Renaldo.  We knew where he was coming in so Marcus made it impossible for him to enter the house without stepping onto the sticky trap.  It worked.  We woke up to a live, trapped rat.  I never even looked.  The kids were all over it though.  They watched and Marcus handled the disposal.  It was such a relief.  I cannot tell you.  We are suspicious of other rats knowing the same hole so are keeping a fresh trap in the same spot.  Hopefully, we are done with rats for quite some time.  Rats and snakes are not my thing.

In other good news, the fish in the pond are still alive.  We wondered if they would make it but so far, so good.  I even saw them swimming a few times today instead of hiding.

Second best news... THE INTERNET IS FIXED!!!!!  This is huge.  I wanted to scream out loud for joy.

I am feeling a little more confident in cooking and am determined to make good meals this week... that we can eat AND enjoy.  My friend left for the states for a month so she lent me her blender (ours is still in the shipment) and I am making smoothies again.  This has been another huge mental blessing.

Another enjoyable time in China has been after dinner time.  There are no dishwashers and I have been very impressed with my kids and there overall willingness to help with dinner cleanup.  They have become dishwashing pros.  It is almost an enjoyable time each evening.  Except the nights where there is fighting but no one said we were perfect:)!

Tuesday...

Paige and I visited one of the international preschools nearby.  I have to admit, it was nice.  Paige really enjoyed it and it was clean and well cared for.  The kids looked happy and engaged.  Much better than the first preschool we visited.  I am still on the fence on whether or not we will send her.  I have to decide soon.  The classes are almost full.  I think I would still only send her a couple of days during the week.  The lady giving me the tour was surprised by this and asked why I wouldn't want her to be in school.  She is three years old, it is time!  I explained that I think there is value in what I can teach her at home.  She asked, "You would teach her?"  I assured her that I can teach her and help her to be a good person.  She wasn't convinced.  Luckily, it is my choice, not hers.  It did make me realize that part of what we are missing in our home is toys.  They are in the shipment.  We just have to be patient.  It is still set to arrive in port on the 25th of this month.  Hopefully customs is quick.  We are crossing our fingers.

The only odd thing about our visit to the preschool is that they change the kids clothes after recess.  I asked why and she said that the kids are sweaty and they don't want them to get sick by coming into air conditioned rooms in wet clothes.  The Chinese have a strong aversion to all things cold (I think this is why the hospital is not air conditioned as well because I noticed the mall has air conditioning in the hallways).  The intentions are good though.

And that brings me current.  Hopefully this week continues to be a good one.