Thanksgiving '09

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a fun Thanksgiving celebration in the Huffman home. For the past couple weeks, we've been decorating our Thanksgiving tree.
Each day at dinner we read a portion of scripture and prayed in response-over crying kids, while cutting up bananas, to try and stop the crying-that went well. HeHe.Then we each wrote reasons we are thankful on our leaves, shared them and hung them on our tree. Our hope was that the week leading up to Thanksgiving would prepare our hearts to give thanks, to remind us of all God has done for us and to look forward to what he promises for our future. Here are the things that we wrote this year:

EA is thankful for:

God is faithful. he never gives up on me. He continues to grow me.

Jesus

God created each person in our family-each person is so unique.

A nice warm house

We have enough money to buy the things we need.

My husband who constantly challenges me in my view of God, encourages, serves and loves me unconditionally

Family who love us unconditionally and support us. Thankful that our kiddos have such loving grandparents.

For great, deep, fun friendships here in China.

God's grace is enough to cover all my sins. He loves me and wants the best for me.

Thankful that our kids are healthy.

Andy said:

I'm thankful that God has made each of us to be unique and special. I'm also thankful to eat lots of turkey this week.

I'm thankful that God has given me a precious little girl named Emma Grace!

I'm thankful that Jackie is a part of our family now

I'm thankful for my sweet wife and for how she always takes such good care of EG, Jack and me.

EG said:

I'm thankful that the kids are not sick. She said this EVERY time we asked her what she was thankful for. If you call our house right now and ask her, I guarantee this is what she will say. For some reason, she got that stuck in her head and she's very thankful the kids are not sick. Who's kids? I'm not sure. My kids i.e. she and Jack ? Her kids? Not sure. After some prompting for us, she also came up with some other things she is thankful for:

Mamma Nette

Papa Dan

Poopy (Poo Paw, aka Tim)

Kacki

Daddy

Xiao Li A Yi

Jackie

Mommy

Elephants

Oranges

Apples

Bananas

Milk

spoon (Can you tell she was just looking around the table and naming things?)

Lydia

Julianna

Mr. Matt

Mrs. Laura

Isaac

My cup

Zhang Nai Nai (Xiao Li's mom)

The corn

Mary's coin in heaven (What? I have no idea)

As you can see, we have LOTS to be thankful for! In order to celebrate, we invited some local friends over to share a traditional American Thanksgiving meal. (Minus the sweet potato casserole and the mac n' cheese-we thought they might not like those-too sweet and too much dairy)

I made these really fun name cards for the feast!

On Thursday, we started the day with pumpkin lattes. As you can tell from the name card photo and this photo, Andy is really into our new camera. I'm so glad. I am terrible at taking pictures so I'm thankful our new gadget has Andy interested in taking photos again!

For lunch, we added the mac n' cheese and the sweet potato casserole back onto the menu and had our second Thanksgiving meal with Xiao Li and Matt and Laura and gang!
We celebrated who God is and all that he does for us with a giant feast. On the menu:

Turkey

Stuffing

Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potato casserole

Corn pudding

Deviled Eggs

Mac n Cheese

Green Bean Bundles

Rolls

Cranberry Sauce

Broccoli Salad

Apple Pie

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

We actually bought the Turkey already cooked from a western restaurant in town. We made the sides ourselves. I don't want even want to think about how many sticks of butter I used. Xiao Li chipped in and made a perfect apple pie. Perfect.
She also made the crust for my pumpkin pecan pie. It turned out great.

After lunch, we napped, played outside, had leftovers, and an all adult game of settlers and another round of pumpkin lattes! So fun. A great day! Thank You God-you bless us so abundantly. Your most wonderful gift is your Son. We give you thanks.

COOOOLD

We live in a mild weather city, for the most part. We don't have extreme weather, for the most part. So there isn't really a need for heat or AC, for the most part. Except...when we do have extreme weather...like this past week. It got down to 0 degrees. That's Celsius. For all you Fahrenheit junkies, that means COLD COLD COLD, freezing actually! It snowed on Saturday which is pretty rare for our city.

Like I said, there isn't really a need for heat for the most part. But when it's needed, it's painfully absent! So, we pulled out the space heaters. They helped a little in warming our concrete apartment. But we aren't allotted a ton a power, so three space heaters is the max we can run at one time. I skipped my Thursday laundry day-I'd rather have some heat than clean clothes. I am pretty sure it was in the 40's at some points in our home!! So we decided we should study the local way of handling the cold and apply their techniques. You really need to regulate your core body temperature and since you can't do so by sitting in a toasty apartment, you have to employ other methods. First off, there is Chinese torture quilt for sleeping. (I bought my parents this really great quilt a few years ago-they loved it...until they used it. It was so heavy that it didn't breathe and caused them to sweat profusely and feel like they were in a sauna. Danny started calling it the Chinese torture quilt.) Maybe not so great for sleeping in your warm 70 degree bedroom, but perfect for sleeping in my 40 degree one. Andy and I have a torture quilt ourselves and there is NO NEED for a space heater in our room when we use that thing. It works remarkably well. You won't find these in America, but if you ever need one, most stores here carry them! Along the same lines as the torture quilt, you need to find ways to prevent your body heat from escaping. You could possibly take the quilt with you wherever you go, but it's really too heavy for that. So, you dress in layers. Lots of layers. I had 3 to 4 layers on myself and the kids while playing in our home. Even Jack had on tights under his clothes! He looked like a marshmallow man with all his poofy layers. And finally, HOT WATER. It does wonders. You can put it in a water bag (like old people use for aches and pains) and carry it with you wherever you go. Or you can drink it! This is what we like to do. It's great for raising the core body temperature. We have a water dispenser that puts out really hot water for drinking and it's wonderful. We sip on hot water throughout the day and it really helps to stay warm. Even EG enjoys hot water!

Thankfully it's warmed up quite a bit! Today I think we were up in the 50's! These pictures were taken on the first toboggan wearing day of the season (not on the super cold days) But I thought you might enjoy the toboggan pics!

Well, it's getting chilly in our apartment so I'm off to get a glass of hot water!

She's Silly!

Andy told me I should write down some of the funny things EG's been saying lately. For the sake of our blog book and for interested family, here goes:

"Jack is destroying it!" (talking about Jack shoveling food into his mouth. Guess she heard that from Andy?)

EG: What are those cars doing?
Me: Well, they are driving on the road.
EG: That's ridiculous!

While riding in the car and saying silly things to make me laugh
Andy: What are you doing back there?
EG: I'm cracking mommy up back here

EG: Jesus is going to come back and take me to heaven to see the disciples!
Me: Well, which one do you want to see?
EG: Peter!

Currently I can hear her telling our helper, (in Chinese) "I don't want cabbage" (we're not eating right now) ...I have no idea what she is talking about. Silliness.

Little Helper

Emma Grace loves helping me in the kitchen! She's actually becoming quite a big help! Her favorite tasks include washing dishes, clearing the table and snapping green beans!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!

This picture was taken almost exactly one year ago today!

Happy Birthday Katie! We miss you and we're praying you have a fun day! We love that you love good Mac and Cheese, Asia and Hello Kitty. EG wears her Hello Kitty socks often. You are dear to us and we miss you so much. God has given you a tender heart to the needs of others, a tenacious, hard working spirit, and you love our kids so much. Don't tell your mom, but Asia's door is ALWAYS open for you to move back over! We love you! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY from the Huffmans in Asia!

Tender Warrior

Jack is 11 months old! This is the best picture we could get of him. He's on the go all the time so getting him to sit still and smile is almost impossible! Last month was a big month for our little man. While trying to take some video of his newest accomplishment-standing- he also decided to just go ahead and take 2 steps! (so we got his first steps on video along with his nose dive into the carpet-but I need to edit it before putting it on the blog) That's just the way it is with him-he learns new skills in no time! Within a week he was zooming all over the house. He loves walking! He still has little interest in talking- though that's not stopping him from making his presence known. This guy is L O U D!

One of the best things about this past month has been Jack's new love for snuggling. He is just precious and Andy and I argue over who gets to put him down for the night. He loves to lay his head on our shoulder and snuggle. He leans in for kisses and will even walk across the room and lay his head down on my lap for some snuggling-then he's off to conquer again. I'm praying this little guy will be a Tender Warrior, like Jesus. Jack we love you!

My Grandma's Feet

"Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day...For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling." 2 Corinthians 4:16, 5:1-2

This has been my mantra for the last few months. Over the last few years, something has started to happen to my body. Ive intellectually assented to the fact that I would get old but as it's started to happen, it's been quite unsettling. I am built just like my mom, who is built just like my grandma. My hands now look just like my mom's hands did when I was a little girl. Sometimes when I look at my feet from the side, I almost think I am looking at my grandma's feet. Though hers look older and more wrinkly than mine, we have the same exact foot structure, we both have lost a few toenails, and I know my feet will look just like hers one day, Lord willing.

Carrying, birthing, nursing, and caring for two children is the primary force that's gotten this aging thing rolling full speed. But even if I hadn't done all that, I know my body would be slowly wasting away. To be honest, this has been a real struggle for me. I never realized how much I cared about my outward appearance until it started to deteriorate. Over the last few years God has been revealing this idol to me and is slowly setting me free. Andy and I have talked about this quite often as I have struggled with this. He has helped me to see that wanting a body that won't fall apart is good-that death, and sickness and decay are part of the fallen world we live in-a world that Jesus died to redeem. He reminds me that I will be given a new body upon his return, and that now I can joyfully pour out my time and energy, my body, in service to the Lord. It's OK if I am falling apart, outwardly wasting away. I have an eternal body that will be given to me and therefore I can "spend" this body on things that really matter.

And God is at work renewing me inwardly. I am more alive to the things of eternity than ever before. I am more filled with the knowledge of my heavenly Father than I was as a teenager. I am more aware of my sin and the awesomeness of my Savior than I was 10 years ago. And by his grace, I am more like him. And one day, the sickness in my heart and the sickness in my body will be no more. I will be healed. Whole. Perfect.

I'm not free from the idolatry of outward appearance yet. God is working on me. I love my Mom's hands-every hard working fiber of them. How many hours have those hands toiled for me and my siblings? I love my grandma's feet-every missing toenail and all the other cute painted ones. How many miles of life have those feet walked? How much wisdom and love is stored in the soul of the one to whom those feet belong? These women are precious to me, and not because of what they look like on the outside. I want my toenails to fall off, if it means I'm being spent for the things that really matter in this life. Eternal things. Lord, help me to live with my heavenly dwelling in sight.

Ready for a New Day

These guys both have colds. Yuck. Jack has been in quite a bad mood for the past 2 days.

Andy isn't feeling so hot either. Jack was in bed at 5:30 for the night. Andy is asleep on the couch-it's 7:02. I bombed dinner tonight so we ordered Chinese. I am thinking our whole house will be lights out by 8:00. I am ready for a new start tomorrow morning!

Breakfast At Panera

One of my favorite memories from our first six months of marriage is getting up on Saturday mornings and heading to Panera for coffee and bagels. The cinnamon crunch bagel is on my top 10 list of foods that have changed my life (and my waistline). The best part about the Charleston Panera is the giant fireplace and comfy leather chairs.

Here in China, when we discuss what's for breakfast, I still often suggest a Panera run-though we are thousands of miles away from the nearest cinnamon crunch bagel. This is the closest thing to a "Panera Run" we've got....

Load the fam in the minivan...

walk about 1/4 of a mile to the market...

And decide between the Baozi (a steamed bun with meat or veggies inside) and the Erkuai...kinda like a breakfast burrito...kinda...They grill up this donut type thing and fold it up and stuff it in the rice wrapper. (which is like a tortilla but made with rice) Then you pick what you want to go inside. Andy loves the sweet peanut butter sauce. I like that, but I also add the spicy sauce and some pickled veggies. It's the most indigenous thing I eat. Jack enjoyed the Baozi.

EG, on the other hand, was more in the mood for a Cinnamon Crunch Bagel...Bon appetit!

FPO-Winter is Upon us

I am not sure when winter officially starts, but for us, today marks the beginning of winter. Not because it turned extremely cold all of the sudden, or because all the leaves have fallen off the trees but because of something I like to call the FPO. That means the First Power Overload of the season. As you might recall, we have limited power in our home. (and unfortunately the living room, bathroom and laundry room all happen to be on the same circuit.) Throughout most of the year, there is just enough power to run our dryer, the oven and other random little appliances. But as it gets cooler at night, we start running the space heaters...and those put us over the edge. This morning while drying my hair and running the washer and dryer and running one space heater, the breaker flipped. So it begins-I have to decide which is more important-dry hair, heat, or clean clothes! Today I turned off the dryer while I finished drying my hair. Winter is officially upon us! Last year we assumed we would not have this same problem in America but for some reason our house totally had the same issue. I guess that was good for helping us remember things go wrong in America too.

So fun

I'm back from my Mom's retreat and it was FABULOUS. I was praying this past week for our time and God really answered my prayers. I had sweet sweet fellowship with friends, going to new levels in our relationships, great teaching from God's word about hope and faith and God's love for us. Great teaching on loving my man. I had a great, long, uninterrupted, no clock ticking time with the Lord. I had A LOT of coffee. That's because I didn't have much sleep. (10 hours total. hehe) It was just too tempting to stay up and talk with friends. After I finally decided to go to bed, my roommate and I talked for a couple MORE hours before finally falling asleep. So, much coffee was in order. I decided to skip out on the pedicure since I was in desperate need of a nap Saturday afternoon. But since I had already consumed so much coffee, I could not sleep. So I watched TV. That was amazing too. I had not watched TV since we lived in America. I watched this fascinating program on the National Geographic channel about Landfills in America. I was so proud to be an American. I mean, we produce a lot of trash, but we have a pretty amazing system of recycling and putting it into landfills. Americans do a lot of things with excellence. Amazing. (Especially amazing considering that we live beisde this construction site where they dump garbage at night...pretty sure it's illegal and also pretty sure our apartment complex is built on top of a garbage dump.) Ok, that is random. Back to the Mom's retreat...

I told Andy last night that this retreat will be one I will remember for a long time. From the topics the speakers choose, to the topics of conversation with friends, I can so clearly see how God was in charge of the time. He is so sweet. I've been thinking lately about his goodness. This weekend was a great reminder of that.

Andy and the kiddos had a good weekend too! Andy was a real servant to me this weekend and to our kids. They were happy I was home and I was excited to see them and to give them the gifts I bought for them! I got Jack some really cute slipper/sock things-now that he's walking 20ish steps at a time, I figured he needs some house slippers for the approaching COLD. I got EG some cute socks and some brown winter boots. She loved them.

So fun. Thanks for praying for us.

Where are my Red High Heels?

While this handsome man....

is hanging out with these cute kids....

I'll be.....

FREE! For a very brief 48ish hours I will be away for a mom's retreat. A bunch of mom's will all gather together for some fun, fellowship and freedom. Don't get me wrong, I love love love my family. But I am really looking forward to 48 hours of having absolute freedom. I hope it will be a refreshing and encouraging weekend and help me to be a better wife and mom upon my return! I told my roommate that I was torn. Part of me wants to stay up super late and talk with her til the wee hours of the morning, like I'm in high school again. The other part of me wants to get in the bed at 7 pm and not wake up til 9 the next morning. I'll let you know what ends up happening!!!

Andy will be accepting calls of encouragement and your prayers throughout the weekend. Actually, he's a GREAT dad (he's like Tim in that respect) and he'll do great. He has loads of food to eat and David and his little girl, Sarah are joining them for the weekend. 2 Dads + 3 kids = still out numbered. Oh well.

I, on the other hand, will only be accepting calls if you are offering to pay for my Caramel Macchiatos (hope to have one each day) or my pedicure! Well, I best be going now. I've got to dig through the back of my closet and pull out my red high heels!

Harvest Festival

There's really nothing quite like fall in the South. The leaves, the crisp air, the football games...Andy and I both love fall and all that comes with it. But in our mild-weather city, we don't have many of the "fall fixins" that make this season so amazing. But thankfully, there are other foreigners in our city who want to recreate the feelings of fall for everyone to enjoy. Last weekend, we took the kiddos to a Harvest Festival-hotdogs, caramel apples, lots of costumes, and candy...For me, the anticipation of the whole event was half the fun! EG and I talked about her wearing her Butterfly costume. As you can see, she looked great as a butterfly...At the last minute, I found a football jersey (thanks LUKE!!) and asked EG if she preferred to be a football player. Of course! In the end, we all followed suit and went as the Mountaineers!!! Andy was just thrilled. I think our growing love for Mountaineer football is linked to our growing disconnect from all that is "home." Diving into a love for something familiar, something from home, somehow makes us feel more connected to the place and people we love and miss. So part of what made this harvest festival so fun for our family was the connection we felt to all that is home-the feelings of fall, the people, the football.

Though it was really hot and super crowded, we still enjoyed our time. EG played a Bean bag game and while putting the last bean bag in the pumpkin, a scary man jumped out at her. She was terrified. We left immediately. HEHE. Just kidding. After she stopped crying, we played for a few more minutes and then took the obligatory family pictures.

Happy Fall, Ya'll!!!

Jack is almost 11 months!!

But here are his 10 month pictures! I am just now getting around to getting them on the blog. It's the beginning of November, and just as it should be, it's getting cold here! I love it!! The mornings are cold enough for a jacket and hat and the afternoons are just delightful. We've been spending lots of time outside, eating pumpkin cake, and listening to Christmas music. You know we like to start early in the Huffman house!!!

As for Jack-Phase Danger has turned into Phase Extreme Danger. I can't leave him for a minute without him eating something non edible, climbing the stairs or hacking my computer. He has taken several steps this month but I would not classify him as a walker just yet! He's not nearly as interested in talking as EG was at this age. He's too busy wrestling things, eating books and cruising around the living room via the furniture and walls. He's pretty much eating table food-which is a great relief for me. He ate about a third of my double cheeseburger this weekend. It's nice not to have to make baby food anymore. He will be moving to whole milk next month and a strict diet of cupcakes and ice cream come Dec 12th! I have no doubt he'll love them. Just like EG at this age, his hair is quickly moving towards baby mullet status.

Happy 10th months-almost 11, Jack-o-latern. (EG calls him Jack-staaaa, Jackster, Jackson, Jackafer, Jackeus, or buddy buddy buddy) We love you!!