Back to work 38/365

Well vacation is over and it's back to work for William today.

I don't know what that ground hog saw on February 2nd but apparently winter must be confused because it was 72 degrees today (22C) and William got to work outside.
As you can see...

it was also slightly muddy.

Moving Day 37/365

Well it's official (again). We are residents of the United States. Today all of our belongs we shipped from China via boat arrived at our door step. Every thing we own is now not only in the same country, but in the same place.

It's kind of a weird feeling. The last time I saw this stuff if was filling our living room in China. And now here it is.

I kind of feel like "China Michelle" has caught up with "America Michelle".  For so long the two were separate. I owned different things in each place and would  call each place "home". Now only one place has all my belongings, and only one place is home. 

That feels some how strange, and normal. Will my universe implode as the two Michelles merge?  As disconcerting as it is, there is definitely a feeling of relief.

Now I just need to go through all this stuff.

On the Road again and Monticello 36/365

It's amazing how light and free one feels after talking to some one not only who listens well but also understands where you're coming from and validates your feelings.

Our dear friends Joy and Andrew are gifted in all those areas.
Not only are they good listeners but they also know what it feels like to move back to the US after living in Asia. They know how disorientating it can be and they can laugh with us at our moments of culture shock.
But I think one of their truly amazing gifts is the gift to validate a persons feelings. They just have a way of making you feel ok about what ever it is you feel. Not in a patronizing way, but in a way that once you express a thought or feelings to them, they make you feel like it's perfectly natural and ok to feel that way. At which point it is much easier to grow and move on from that feeling.

It's very empowering to be around them.

Here's a picture of me and Joy that William took. I like this picture a lot.

Anyway, after a rejuvenating and healing 4 days with Joy and Andrew, we started our long drive home and we decided to make a quick stop on the home of Thomas Jefferson. Monticello.

 It was a great place to let Baby Girl run around, she slept a long time after we walked all over the grounds.

 Since I have pictures of bathrooms from pretty much every country we've been too I thought I should take one of the "privy" at Monticello. It looks pretty nice for being a few hundred years old.

 Another collection of pictures I have is of me nursing Baby Girl. I call the collection "nursing around the world"

 We got to hang out with Mr. Jefferson face to face. I love the look Bonnie Rose is giving him. She seems a little indignant about something.

 She did warm up to him though and even gave him a kiss on the nose.

 Almost as soon as we left Bonnie asked for a snack and then fell asleep.

It was her first time falling asleep while eating. It was such a sweet moment for me. My mom as so many pictures of me and my siblings asleep in our food. So here is the first picture of Bonnie Rose sleep with her food.

 

After she woke up we stopped for a nice dinner at O'Charlie's some where just before the border. Bonnie Rose has grown up so much this past week. Maybe it was following Joy and Andrew's baby girl around all week that helped her learn new things, but Bonnie has been so good about eating and trying new foods. For a road trip treat I ordered her own plate of mashed potatoes. She very much enjoyed having her own plate of food. 

Happy Valentine's Day 35/365

It's not quite midnight yet so I can still wish you a Happy Valentine's Day.

Ours was wonderful but it's been a long day so before I fall into bed I'll share some pictures with you...

Our Valentine's Day gifts to each other were simple but very fun and tasty.

Bonnie Rose and Anastasia decorated cup cakes. This was a first for Bonnie Rose.

They were such beautiful cup cakes and I took a ton of pictures of them. They made my heart melt. My sweet baby decorated her first cup cakes. 

Bonnie worked especially long and hard on the one with the up side down flag.

I ate that one.

 

 We had a perfect steak dinner...

 but what made it the best was the company.

 

Happy Valentine's day! And may all your days be filled with Love.

visiting 34/365

The last few days William and I have been spending time with some amazing people. We do love road trips very much, but we love being with Joy and Andrew even more that we have decided to stay a day long than we originally planned. I usually don't like to stay more than 3 days in someone's house. I hate intruding and messing up their usual routine and things usually start to feel awkward after 3 days. But with Joy and Andrew it feels like the longer we stay the more like family we become.

Maybe we'll never leave!

Most of our time has been spent sitting around their kitchen table and talking. It has been an incredibly healing and fun time. In their first year of marriage they lived in India, a difficult and life changing experience for them. They have also both received training and education in counseling and cross-cultural relationships. And to top it all off, they are pastors.

All this, and the fact that they are just totally wonderful people, make them perfect to talk to about transitioning back to living in the US.

I really love these people.

The Healing Comfort of Friends 33/365

Road Tippin' 32/365

We spent Thursday driving. It was probably the most beautiful drive I've ever seen. We drove over the smoky mountains with bright blue skies, big fluffy clouds and snow making everything sparkle.

This sign made me giddy

Baby was SO good in the car. She slept alot. I slept a little. William didn't sleep at all.

The morning mist covering the mountains was mysterious and magical

Rest stop cuddle time.

It was a nice drive and we arrived just in time for  a wonderful dinner and the company of amazing friends.

Fun in the Grocery Store31/365

We're on a road trip. I'm writing this from a hotel room while William watches bad TV and Baby Girl walks in circles and sings. We have sitting-in-a-car-too-long tiredness.

We drove for about 4 hours tonight. It may have been longer actually. We had to drive pretty slowly since it starting snowing just as we left Nashville. For a while it was a little difficult to see the road but luckily William grew up in the mountians so it was no problem. Plus there were really cool big trucks that were spray a salt like substance on the road.

Like Father like Daughter

Since it was cold and snowing we decided to make our dinner and restroom stop at a Kroger's instead of a rest stop. It was warmer and we could let baby walk around.

This was our first time going to a store with Baby girl since she's started walking on her own. It was SO much fun!





Baby was so cute walking around the store that people actually stopped to watch her. She brought a smile to everyone's face.

She had so much fun pushing the cart.

We walked up and down almost every isle, hoping to wear her out, and when we got to the Valentine's isle she squealed with delight and then ran to kiss all the stuffed animals.

We had such a hard time getting to come away from there. Every time William would walk her away she would turn and look for the isle again. At one point she ran from three isles away and found the stuffed animals again. She gave them all kisses again before we left.

It was the most fun I've ever had in a grocery store before. She's the cutest thing in the world.

3 Months Ago 30/365

3 months ago today I woke up at 5:30 am in anticipation of the beginning of a new adventure and the closing of an old one.

This was moving day. But not just any moving day. This was moving to a new country day.

After stuffing some more things into a suit case I decided to take a walk. I took my usual walk, the one I took every day. I loved this walk in the morning because of the hustle and bustle of people going to work. In the evening it was fun to see every one coming home from work. Hand in hand with boy friends and girl friends. Meeting for dinner. Running home with groceries. I really enjoyed this walk.

morning walks are best

I stopped by Starbucks to pick up a Christmas gift for my friend Jenny and I was so excited to see they already had their red cups. I always look forward to the red cups as a mark that the Christmas season has arrived and I was really hoping they would show up before we left. I felt like it was a little gift to me from Starbucks.

the alley walk to our house

I walked home down the alley that is a  make shift vegetable market in the mornings and took pictures of the vendors and the children walking to school. I tried to take in every detail of this walk. The vine that had grown up past the brick wall. The smell of morning bao zi (steamed bread) mixed with... was that sewage? The old people as they walked home with their produce.

our street corner and apartment

When I got to the street corner I stopped by our favorite coffee shop, Cafe 85, and ordered our favorite drinks. We would miss these drinks. As I waited for our Sea Salt Coffee I took video of the morning traffic and tried to drink in the faces of the people who walked by the window. Some of these people I'd walked pasted almost every day for the past year and half. I would never see them again.

The rest of the morning was spent frantically packing and cleaning and putting things in a pile for our friend Shelly to take home.  Shelly came around lunch time and held the baby while I threw everything left in the fridge away and tossed what ever could not fit in our suit case and that I couldn't find a home for.

Shanghai breakfast

We finally managed to get everything into the van that Shelly had lovingly rented for us and we were off to the airport. In all the rush of trying to get out in time to make our flight, while also trying not to forget anything, I tried to say good bye to each room. To the elevator and the numbers that were in a mixed up order. To the bad fish smelling hall. To the New Year's decorations for last year, and finally to the guard at the doors that we called "yeye", Grandpa. He had been there the day the baby was born.

During the drive to the airport Shelly and William and Baby got a much needed nap while I cried and said my good byes to the city that had been our home for 3 years.  I tried to take in the colors of the buildings, the last views of the World Expo site. The bridges. The smells, and finally the farmer's fields and run down houses of Pudong.  I would miss this city and I wanted to say a proper good by. I wanted to be sad to be leaving this great city, and my wonderful friends. I let me self cry.

The rest is a blur. We checked in. Shelly made us laugh.  We promised to visit her. We went through the various security check points, 5 of them I think, and we were on a plane or in an airport for the next 20 hours.

shops setting up for the day

That was 3 months ago today. We said good bye to our home in China and became residents of the United States again. We lived in China for 3 years, 3 months, and 9 days. We loved it. We hated it. We learned a lot. We grew a lot. We changed a lot.

 

the morning commute

I treasure our time in China. We got to travel and see a lot of different things, climates and parts of China. We learned to speak some Chinese, and to understand more than we could speak. We got to experience big city life, both without a baby and with a baby. Which were to totally different experiences. We had  a lot of fun as well as a lot of frustration.  We met amazing people who touched our lives and are life long friends. It was a wonderful adventure.

Now I'm looking forward to our next adventure. Life in the Midwest United States. Or is it upper Southwest United States. I'm not sure. But I'm looking forward to figuring it out.



So what are we doing today? Today we got up early to get ready for another adventure. This one is a little smaller and a lot less stressful. We are going on  a road trip to visit some good friends and to spend some time talking about our experience in China.  I've been looking forward to this trip for 3 months. I'm so glad we don't have to go through any security checks.

I love travel adventures. Big ones and small ones.