Hello! Wow! It has been a REALLY long time since I have posted anything! I have forgotten how!
Things are going very well--the kids and I are quite busy each week. We have been having multiple playdates, girlschool, adventures out, grocery shopping,... the weeks are flying by!
Anna loves school--both at home and her girlschool. We are beginning to put sounds together to form some words which she is very excited about. It is so fun to see her excitement to learn. It is wonderful to see her having so much fun with friends too. She loves to have people over to our house and to get out when she knows that one of her friends is going to be there. She seems to be adjusting to life here much better having girls that she enjoys spending time with. I know how that goes! It makes a big difference to have friends!
Elijah is getting so big! He loves to talk! Sometimes it is hard to not laugh out of pure love because he will just string one sentence onto another and they have nothing to do with each other. He just wants to have his share of a 5 minute monologue (of course using hand gestures and great facial expressions the whole time). He still loves his race cars--they go with him everywhere, and to "fight" anyone who will fight him, but of course if available, Daddy is #1 fighter. ("Fight" = tackle, tickle, chase, jump on top of...)
Rachel is also getting so big. Sometimes it hits me more than others. I will look at her and do a double take because it seems she has doubled overnight. She is a wonderful baby. She sleeps 14 hours on a good night (and even then sometimes I have to wake her). She is normally very happy. She loves her sister and brother and they adore her. Just this week we have been putting her in the exersaucer which is fun. This puts her at a different angle to watch Anna and Elijah play and also for them to play with her. I still am very nervous having her on the ground to play because I am afraid Elijah will smother her with kisses or decide he is going to "fight" her and jump on her, :) so another option to have her off of the ground is good.
I am doing really well. It is nice to have our weeks so full (for the most part). I am so thankful for the people that God has put in our paths for our time here. He has again and again shown how faithful and merciful he is. Sometimes it is hard to always be on the go, to have to nurse and change poopy diapers in the car (while driving, of course, because even if I could communicate with our driver, where would he pull off to?) but I keep having to remind myself that we will not be here forever so we need to take advantage of it while we can. One week, when I was sitting on a small stool in the corner of a little shop nursing Rachel, I really wondered if I was crazy. It was one of those moments when it seemed as if I was an outsider looking at my world, realizing how out of the ordinary it is.
I am loving doing homeschooling. It is hard to get to all that I want to do with building into relationships, experiencing China, and all of the normal life stuff that needs to happen, so I have to keep reminding myself that is one of the benefits of homeschooling. What we don't get to now, we can work on this summer or catch up next year.
Girlschool is a real blessing. Like I said, Anna loves it, and Elijah loves the playtime that he has while Anna is in school. A couple of the moms and I have decided to use that time to pray and study together. We talked about forming a Moms In Touch group but decided with no childcare, it would be too difficult to dedicate that whole time to praying so we are going to read The Power of a Praying Parent during the week and then talk about it and pray together. I am really looking forward to it.
Let's see... the pictures... the first 2 are of one Sat. outing that we had to a part of the city the kids and I had not explored. We walked all over and went to a bookstore, a toystore, an insect market (amazing!) a park, I don't even remember what else! It was a full but fun day.
The next ones are of the kids and I with some of our good friends. They live in Puxi (east of the Pu river) in an area where we had never been (I think that will always be the case--in such a big city--there is always going to be somewhere where we have never been) anyway... they have a really fun park near them that they took us to. I was thinking US park--I should have learned by now, that is not the case. I guess parks are a place where the retired congregate to dance, play card games, and play music so we enjoyed listening to this man play his Chinese instrument for a while. The park had wild animals (bears, lions, monkeys), farm animals (goats, horses, deer?) chained in cages with nothing but cement. It was very sad, but the kids enjoyed watching and feeding them when available. There also were rides for the kids to ride on. Anna and her 2 friends chose to ride a roller coaster and Elijah and his friend rode on the carousel. We had a really fun time exploring a more traditional Chinese park with our friends. The amazing thing is that there were many things available that we didn't do! This park had it all, and then some!
There are many more pictures of the kids that I want to post but I can't find them! I will try to have Ryan help me soon so those can get on as well.
Aimee
Things are going very well--the kids and I are quite busy each week. We have been having multiple playdates, girlschool, adventures out, grocery shopping,... the weeks are flying by!
Anna loves school--both at home and her girlschool. We are beginning to put sounds together to form some words which she is very excited about. It is so fun to see her excitement to learn. It is wonderful to see her having so much fun with friends too. She loves to have people over to our house and to get out when she knows that one of her friends is going to be there. She seems to be adjusting to life here much better having girls that she enjoys spending time with. I know how that goes! It makes a big difference to have friends!
Elijah is getting so big! He loves to talk! Sometimes it is hard to not laugh out of pure love because he will just string one sentence onto another and they have nothing to do with each other. He just wants to have his share of a 5 minute monologue (of course using hand gestures and great facial expressions the whole time). He still loves his race cars--they go with him everywhere, and to "fight" anyone who will fight him, but of course if available, Daddy is #1 fighter. ("Fight" = tackle, tickle, chase, jump on top of...)
Rachel is also getting so big. Sometimes it hits me more than others. I will look at her and do a double take because it seems she has doubled overnight. She is a wonderful baby. She sleeps 14 hours on a good night (and even then sometimes I have to wake her). She is normally very happy. She loves her sister and brother and they adore her. Just this week we have been putting her in the exersaucer which is fun. This puts her at a different angle to watch Anna and Elijah play and also for them to play with her. I still am very nervous having her on the ground to play because I am afraid Elijah will smother her with kisses or decide he is going to "fight" her and jump on her, :) so another option to have her off of the ground is good.
I am doing really well. It is nice to have our weeks so full (for the most part). I am so thankful for the people that God has put in our paths for our time here. He has again and again shown how faithful and merciful he is. Sometimes it is hard to always be on the go, to have to nurse and change poopy diapers in the car (while driving, of course, because even if I could communicate with our driver, where would he pull off to?) but I keep having to remind myself that we will not be here forever so we need to take advantage of it while we can. One week, when I was sitting on a small stool in the corner of a little shop nursing Rachel, I really wondered if I was crazy. It was one of those moments when it seemed as if I was an outsider looking at my world, realizing how out of the ordinary it is.
I am loving doing homeschooling. It is hard to get to all that I want to do with building into relationships, experiencing China, and all of the normal life stuff that needs to happen, so I have to keep reminding myself that is one of the benefits of homeschooling. What we don't get to now, we can work on this summer or catch up next year.
Girlschool is a real blessing. Like I said, Anna loves it, and Elijah loves the playtime that he has while Anna is in school. A couple of the moms and I have decided to use that time to pray and study together. We talked about forming a Moms In Touch group but decided with no childcare, it would be too difficult to dedicate that whole time to praying so we are going to read The Power of a Praying Parent during the week and then talk about it and pray together. I am really looking forward to it.
Let's see... the pictures... the first 2 are of one Sat. outing that we had to a part of the city the kids and I had not explored. We walked all over and went to a bookstore, a toystore, an insect market (amazing!) a park, I don't even remember what else! It was a full but fun day.
The next ones are of the kids and I with some of our good friends. They live in Puxi (east of the Pu river) in an area where we had never been (I think that will always be the case--in such a big city--there is always going to be somewhere where we have never been) anyway... they have a really fun park near them that they took us to. I was thinking US park--I should have learned by now, that is not the case. I guess parks are a place where the retired congregate to dance, play card games, and play music so we enjoyed listening to this man play his Chinese instrument for a while. The park had wild animals (bears, lions, monkeys), farm animals (goats, horses, deer?) chained in cages with nothing but cement. It was very sad, but the kids enjoyed watching and feeding them when available. There also were rides for the kids to ride on. Anna and her 2 friends chose to ride a roller coaster and Elijah and his friend rode on the carousel. We had a really fun time exploring a more traditional Chinese park with our friends. The amazing thing is that there were many things available that we didn't do! This park had it all, and then some!
There are many more pictures of the kids that I want to post but I can't find them! I will try to have Ryan help me soon so those can get on as well.
Aimee
5 comments:
thanks for the update Aimee ;)
Thanks for the pictures! and the update!
Great Pictures! I have a request...could you put a video of the kids on for us? Maybe of Rachel in the exersaucer, or just whatever. I miss those kiddos! Thanks. Beth
Hey Bowmans!
So glad to get an update! I was about ready to call Ryan a slacker! Aimee - a prayer group, you GO, girl!!
Glad to hear all is well. Ditto that for life here in Hawkeye country.
You're all missed and loved a bunch!
Linda
Hi Aimee, We are so glad that everything is going so well. We are praying for you.
love,
Shonda
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