Blonde Hair=little celebrity
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Just like Dad
Jack has changed so much over the past few weeks. His vocabulary is exploding and he understands A LOT of what is going on! He's a really playful kid. He loves to hide from us and wait until we come and find him. He loves to wrestle with his dad and asks for more when we tickle him! Everyone here says he looks just like Andy!
Yesterday, while outside playing, he saw Andy roll up his leaves. Immediately, he came over, wanting Andy to roll his up as well! I love that he wants to be like his Dad! What great footsteps to follow in! 
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Getting Taller
Emma Grace is more and more like a kid everyday! Here she is learning do to jumping Jacks with Abby! She is really good at skipping and loves for you to watch her jump! Everyday when she comes down the stairs to reaches up to this ledge on our wall to see if she can reach it yet! "Maybe when you're four, you'll be able to reach it" I tell her. But she doesn't really understand age just yet. To her, everything is based on height...maybe when I'm taller I can have chewing gum. or maybe when I'm taller like you I can get married or (my favorite)....maybe when I'm taller I won't disobey anymore!
We'll your momma is quite tall, and she still disobeys! Thank goodness for grace!
Monday, April 26, 2010
It's Raining
You might remember last summer Andy and I had a bet about how many days it would rain during the rainy season. I lost terribly, as it only rained a handful of days in several months. Little did we know, that was the beginning of a very severe drought in our part of the country. It has barely rained this entire year and we've recently gone months without rain.
In the last couple months, the drought has really begun to affect people in our area. Especially farmers and those outside the city. People walk for miles each day to wait in line for water for themselves and their livestock. Rivers are dried up. There are no crops. Some people have no drinking water. Thankfully the government is helping but many people are still facing extreme conditions.
In the past week it's finally started to rain! We've never prayed for rain until just recently and we've never been more excited about it raining until now! Today is stormed on and off and Xiao Li's dad called and said they got their first rain today! Praise the Lord!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!
We celebrated Andy's 29th Birthday on Saturday! We had a fun low key family day. I'm thankful to be married to this man for so many reasons!
Andy, you are a man of integrity and I love and appreciate that so much. You are honest, you are humble and you are quick to apologize. These are noble qualities. You are smart-I'm always learning from you. You are faithful and hardworking. You make me laugh. I am so thankful for the man God made you to be and that I am your wife!
As we stand on the edge of this cliff, about to jump into a new chapter of life, I am so grateful that we are jumping together! I love you! Happy Birthday!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
REMEMBERING CHINA 13
"Hot Pot" with friends (It took me 7 years to actually try it-turns out I really like it!)Saturday, April 24, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
A HOW TO GUIDE
HOW TO GET RID OF ALL YOUR EARTHLY POSSESSIONS IN 8 not-so-easy STEPS
1. Take photos of all your junk. (8 hours)
2. Compliment your husband on the amazing job he did with the photos.
1. Take photos of all your junk. (8 hours)
2. Compliment your husband on the amazing job he did with the photos.
3. Write everything down in spread sheet with details like date of purchase, original price, and current condition. (3 hours)
4. Try to stay awake and help your husband write descriptions and set prices for everything. (2 hours)
5. Post photos and prices online for friends to see. (8 hours)
6. They email you and tell you what junk they want. Keep detailed list of who wants what, conduct silent auction on items more than one person wants. (4 hours)
7. Clean and pack up every item in your house (days???).
8.Plan to get an Ants Moving truck to move all the stuff into the city. Get cash for the goods and you're done. (6 hours? Ants movers are quick)
So in 8 easy steps and just a few days of your life down the drain, you too can get rid of all your earthly possessions!!!
Seriously-we are in the middle of selling almost everything we own and thanks to the awesome job Andy did on the photos and online sale, we have sold most of our stuff. We will move it into the city a week before we leave. So far it's gone really smoothly, just a bit more time consuming than we'd like!
God is so faithful to provide for us! We actually already have some stuff waiting for us in the US-including a free car and a good amount of furniture!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Picking berries
You might remember Uncle Wang. He is one our regular drivers and is most famous for giving us two live rabbits and the hare. "Shu Shu," as we call him, is beyond kind to our family. While Tim and Kathi were here, Andy and Tim took the kids on a bike ride to his field to pick "Mao Dou," a kind of bean-harder and bigger than lima beans, but that's the closest thing I can compare them too. They had a really fun time so I decided we should go back! This time we went to pick a Chinese version of blackberries-not as sour-great in cobbler.EG picked a few.
Then she discovered my bag and started eating the fruit of my labor as fast as I could pick it!
Then she discovered my bag and started eating the fruit of my labor as fast as I could pick it!The only problem with the trip was the Uncle Wang had something else to do after he took us to the spot to pick berries. I guess Uncle Wang thought I would be tough like most of the Chinese farmer women he knows and be able to haul my goods and my two kids all the way home, about a mile walk. But, I am a wimp compared to the hard working farmer ladies here. We walked to the road and I decided to flag down a guy on an electric scooter to help us. He happily took us home and EG and Jack loved the ride.
While I was trying pick berries, I also had to make sure Jack didn't inhale too much dirt, and I had EG eating the berries as fast as I could pick them. Therefore, I ended up coming home with about a cup of berries and two cups of rocks. (Thanks Jack for the rocks!) Nothing like a Blackberry-rock cobbler. Just kidding. In the end, I went out and bought more berries and some strawberries to make a cobbler. That was a lot of work for one cobbler.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
The Really Large Ferris Wheel
A year or two ago, our city got this-
A GIANT, ENORMOUS, can-it-see-across-the-city-skyline Ferris Wheel. From the moment I saw it I was floored by it's size and told myself I would never, ever, ever get on that thing. Then, some of our dear friends decided they would put together a fun "Huffmans' last shabang" night for us. First on their list of things to do...
I still can't believe I agreed to get on this thing! Especially after seeing the welcome sign! 
But we did!
The view from the top was pretty amazing. We could see the city, the mountains, the lake, the sunset, and our lives flashing before our eyes. 
I would say most of us were slightly to very scared for at least some portion of the ride-especially when the wind started to blow at the very top!
We survived and I'm glad we will have those fun memories with our friends! Though I was more than relieved when I got my feet back on solid ground! After the ride, we hung out for a bit at the park and our friends made a little film of them asking us and each other funny and interesting questions about our last 7 years here in China! It was silly and fun and so meaningful to us. We felt really loved. Here's David interviewing Andy.
A GIANT, ENORMOUS, can-it-see-across-the-city-skyline Ferris Wheel. From the moment I saw it I was floored by it's size and told myself I would never, ever, ever get on that thing. Then, some of our dear friends decided they would put together a fun "Huffmans' last shabang" night for us. First on their list of things to do...I still can't believe I agreed to get on this thing! Especially after seeing the welcome sign! But we did!
The view from the top was pretty amazing. We could see the city, the mountains, the lake, the sunset, and our lives flashing before our eyes. I would say most of us were slightly to very scared for at least some portion of the ride-especially when the wind started to blow at the very top!
We survived and I'm glad we will have those fun memories with our friends! Though I was more than relieved when I got my feet back on solid ground! After the ride, we hung out for a bit at the park and our friends made a little film of them asking us and each other funny and interesting questions about our last 7 years here in China! It was silly and fun and so meaningful to us. We felt really loved. Here's David interviewing Andy.
John says, "I own that Ferris Wheel!"
After the park, we headed to a Japanese style steak house for dinner! YUM YUM. 
In China, dinner is almost always family style so it's really important to be able to order well. Some people are great at picking out delicious dishes that compliment each other. You need just the right balance of meat and veggies and spice and salt and you just gotta know restaurant does which dishes well. We joke that one of John's spiritual gifts is ordering great dishes! We always love eating when he's ordering. He did an amazing job picking out the eats at the steak house-that black pepper beef might be my new favorite food.
In China, dinner is almost always family style so it's really important to be able to order well. Some people are great at picking out delicious dishes that compliment each other. You need just the right balance of meat and veggies and spice and salt and you just gotta know restaurant does which dishes well. We joke that one of John's spiritual gifts is ordering great dishes! We always love eating when he's ordering. He did an amazing job picking out the eats at the steak house-that black pepper beef might be my new favorite food. Andy had the camera most of the time, so we really only got pictures of the women.
Thank you guys so much for making Andy and I feel so loved. We are blessed.
Thank you guys so much for making Andy and I feel so loved. We are blessed.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
REMEMBERING CHINA
This idea was inspired by my friend Laura and a wife/mom blog I like to read. Laura mentioned that I should start taking pictures of things around town, or in our life that I don't want to forget as we move back to the U.S.-you know, places we go or things we do that we might not ordinarily think to take pictures of. And one of the blogs I read is currently doing a series where they post pictures each day of ordinary life happenings, in order to help them and the readers stop and reflect of the beauty and glory of everyday life as a stay at home wife and mom!
So, with those ideas floating in my head, I have decided that for the next 60 days, I will post a picture each day featuring some aspect of our life here in China. Some of them will be places or faces I don't want to forget. Some will be things unique to life in China and some will just be pictures of what we do everyday. I think you will enjoy and I hope this will be a great chance for me to stop and reflect and praise God for the life he has given us here in China!
So, with those ideas floating in my head, I have decided that for the next 60 days, I will post a picture each day featuring some aspect of our life here in China. Some of them will be places or faces I don't want to forget. Some will be things unique to life in China and some will just be pictures of what we do everyday. I think you will enjoy and I hope this will be a great chance for me to stop and reflect and praise God for the life he has given us here in China!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Our first goodbye
Our friends, Daniel and Kayla are going home for the summer and won't be back before we move to America. So that meant saying goodbye to them for who knows how long. It was our first goodbye and I was surprised at how emotional I was. I am very emotional, let's face it but I wasn't expecting the tears to start flowing until later in this process. But there they were, welling up inside of me and running down on to my Papa's John's napkin as I watched them and their 3 little boys head out of the restaurant. (Thankfully I didn't wallow for long-just a few minutes later Kayla called me and invited me to join her and some friends for some late night Karaoke. Nothing soothes the soul like singing 80's songs at the top of your lungs with a bunch of other stay at home moms. It was awesome and I will post about that later.)
Anyway, back to the saying goodbye thing-It's weird. I feel like this uprooting and moving to a "new life" is more than my brain can comprehend. All that we are leaving, all that has happened here, all that we are looking forward to, and all of the unknowns. It's just too much for me to wrap my brain around. On top of that, my brain is full of details like, "what date should we fly home? And how much should we sell our couches for? and should we go ahead and buy that table and buffet from Melinda? (We bought it, by the way!) It's all so overwhelming that I'm having trouble thinking on much more than a surface level. But my heart on the other hand , seems quite in step with this whole process. Though intellectually I haven't been processing things much deeper than details, my heart seems acutely aware of what my brain cannot put into words-thus the waterfall of tears while saying our first goodbye.
Thankfully we have some great mentors and friends who are helping us to put into words what is going on in our hearts. Today we met with one of them. Over a McD's big American breakfast, I was able to really process out loud some of what I am feeling and thinking. Our friend asked great questions. What are some of the highlights of your time here? Most difficult things you've faced while here? Who will you miss the most? Do you have any regrets? What would it be like if God had given you everything you thought you wanted when you first came here? (first of all, I wouldn't still be in China 6 years later!) There were lots of tears this morning at McDonald's as well.
It was so good to slow down from the mad dash that is our last few months here and look back, remember and rejoice. Seeing God's hand at work in our lives over the past 7 years fills me with hope and excitement for what he has for us in this next chapter.
*Picture from '04 with my first good Chinese friend, Antler!
Anyway, back to the saying goodbye thing-It's weird. I feel like this uprooting and moving to a "new life" is more than my brain can comprehend. All that we are leaving, all that has happened here, all that we are looking forward to, and all of the unknowns. It's just too much for me to wrap my brain around. On top of that, my brain is full of details like, "what date should we fly home? And how much should we sell our couches for? and should we go ahead and buy that table and buffet from Melinda? (We bought it, by the way!) It's all so overwhelming that I'm having trouble thinking on much more than a surface level. But my heart on the other hand , seems quite in step with this whole process. Though intellectually I haven't been processing things much deeper than details, my heart seems acutely aware of what my brain cannot put into words-thus the waterfall of tears while saying our first goodbye.
Thankfully we have some great mentors and friends who are helping us to put into words what is going on in our hearts. Today we met with one of them. Over a McD's big American breakfast, I was able to really process out loud some of what I am feeling and thinking. Our friend asked great questions. What are some of the highlights of your time here? Most difficult things you've faced while here? Who will you miss the most? Do you have any regrets? What would it be like if God had given you everything you thought you wanted when you first came here? (first of all, I wouldn't still be in China 6 years later!) There were lots of tears this morning at McDonald's as well.
It was so good to slow down from the mad dash that is our last few months here and look back, remember and rejoice. Seeing God's hand at work in our lives over the past 7 years fills me with hope and excitement for what he has for us in this next chapter.
*Picture from '04 with my first good Chinese friend, Antler!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
THE BATH TIME CHALLENGE-update
You might remember the bath time challenge I gave to Tim, Kathi and Mary-find a way to get EG to not scream, cry, or flail violently while we rinse her hair. Some of you had great suggestions about special cups, shower head attachments, and visors all made specifically for keeping the water out of kids' eyes while washing their hair. The Huffmans brought none of these. With no weapons in hand they still somehow managed to coach EG through the washing hair routine without crying. There really wasn't any special trick they used, that I know of- and now-a few baths out from their departure this girl is very proud of her no-crying-during-the-rinse abilities. "Mommy, I didn't even cry at all," she says! We can lay her down to rinse or rinse with the shower head or dump water on her all at once, and she still manages to hold it together emotionally. Way to go Huffmans. I have no idea what you did, but it worked!!!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Huffmania Recap
We had a great time with the Huffmans! What a blessing to have them in our home for 10 days! There was lots of quality time with the grandparents! 
We enjoyed lots of long talks, several WVU games and more than one Wii bowling tournament.
We were really glad Aunt Marv could come! She is now EG's hero. Mary is great with kids and it was so fun to show her our life here! She and I enjoyed more than one bowl of popcorn and M n M's! (OK, more than three) Chef Timbo taught Xiao Li to cook a delicious western meal. They were both be in the kitchen and we could hear Tim jabbering away in English to her and then she'd respond back in Chinese. It was really cute! They definitely managed to communicate and turn out a phenomenal meal.
We loved showing Mary around our town. Can you find the two red heads at the market?
By the second day she was out buying drinks and taking EG and Jack to play! By the end of the week, she had been awarded honorary Mayor of our town and got to drive the police car! 
We all crammed into this "bread van" more than once for trips into the city!
We enjoyed a trip to the wildlife park, where we got to feed lots of animals! 
We got to get up close and personal with some of them! 
EG had a great time feeding the animals.
Especially this guy! 
We celebrated all birthdays falling between February and April. We discovered that EG is a really neat eater. She is very meticulous about eating her food and wipes her hands after every bite! 
Jack on the other hand....
We enjoyed lots of long talks, several WVU games and more than one Wii bowling tournament.We were really glad Aunt Marv could come! She is now EG's hero. Mary is great with kids and it was so fun to show her our life here! She and I enjoyed more than one bowl of popcorn and M n M's! (OK, more than three) Chef Timbo taught Xiao Li to cook a delicious western meal. They were both be in the kitchen and we could hear Tim jabbering away in English to her and then she'd respond back in Chinese. It was really cute! They definitely managed to communicate and turn out a phenomenal meal.
We loved showing Mary around our town. Can you find the two red heads at the market?By the second day she was out buying drinks and taking EG and Jack to play! By the end of the week, she had been awarded honorary Mayor of our town and got to drive the police car! We all crammed into this "bread van" more than once for trips into the city!We enjoyed a trip to the wildlife park, where we got to feed lots of animals! We got to get up close and personal with some of them! EG had a great time feeding the animals.Especially this guy! We celebrated all birthdays falling between February and April. We discovered that EG is a really neat eater. She is very meticulous about eating her food and wipes her hands after every bite! Jack on the other hand....
We are so grateful the time, energy, and money you spent to come visit us. We were blessed tremendously. We are looking forward to more opportunities to see you guys in the near future!
A side note: In my five years of being a Huffman, there are a few things I've learned about Huffman family rules. These rules were confirmed once again during their time here. These are unspoken rules but very important nonetheless.
First off, all Huffman women are REQUIRED to wear extremely big sunglasses. I am working my way up to "extremely big." Mine are still considered medium.
Secondly, all Huffmans must be slightly obsessed with Tim's Red Wine-Dijon Mustard Salad Dressing. I've never spent more than like 5 days with them where we didn't have this dressing.
Thirdly, all Huffman women must have the stamina to shop for purses for hours at a time in harsh, extreme conditions. I was pushed to my limit this trip. All Huffman men must be slightly annoyed by the dogged determination they see in Huffman women when it comes to purse shopping.
Finally, all existing Huffmans must be extremely warm and welcoming to new Huffmans and make them feel like they 100% belong. You guys are great at this one. (And the big sunglasses one as well.)
A side note: In my five years of being a Huffman, there are a few things I've learned about Huffman family rules. These rules were confirmed once again during their time here. These are unspoken rules but very important nonetheless.
First off, all Huffman women are REQUIRED to wear extremely big sunglasses. I am working my way up to "extremely big." Mine are still considered medium.
Secondly, all Huffmans must be slightly obsessed with Tim's Red Wine-Dijon Mustard Salad Dressing. I've never spent more than like 5 days with them where we didn't have this dressing.
Thirdly, all Huffman women must have the stamina to shop for purses for hours at a time in harsh, extreme conditions. I was pushed to my limit this trip. All Huffman men must be slightly annoyed by the dogged determination they see in Huffman women when it comes to purse shopping.
Finally, all existing Huffmans must be extremely warm and welcoming to new Huffmans and make them feel like they 100% belong. You guys are great at this one. (And the big sunglasses one as well.)
Love you!
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