HOME!

Just a quick post to say we made it home. Our flights went really well. Having my mom there was a huge help. On our long flight, there was an extra seat for Emma Grace and on our last flight we were moved to business class! Since we flew through the night, EG slept for about 6 hours of the long 14 hour flight. The flight attendants also took her and played with her for a while to give us a break. I love Korean Air, by the way! Jack was just incredible. He did a lot of eating and sleeping and surprisingly little pooping!

Well, we should go to bed now. It's 3 am here. Oh, I get to sleep in my very own bed. HOME SWEET HOME!

Instant Grits? Yes, I am Impulse shopping now

When packing to go overseas for a long long while, there are "must take" items like clothes, computers, deodorant, chrisco, and chocolate chips. Then there are "will take if you have room" items, like Andy's stuff. HEHE, just kidding, I mean like certain toys, scrapbook stuff and grocery items like cake mix. Then there are items, like instant grits and a banana saver, that you end up packing because you make a last minute run to walmart and know you have a few more inches of space in that last bag. (The banana saver is really cool-you clip it on the end of your banana so it won't turn brown. I feel like I am always wasting half of a banana so this thing will come in really handy if it lives up to its big claims. Ok, I am digressing here.)

The point is that we got all our stuff in our bags-the must haves, the will take if there's room items and even the instant grits, which I hardly ever eat, by the way. But just not having the option to buy them in China and the fact that we're down to 16ish hours before departure, the instant grits seemed like a really good idea when I was booking it through Walmart.

I will breathe a big sigh of relief when my family finally sits down on an airplane in Raleigh and and even bigger one when our wheels hit the ground in our city in China. These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of packing, goodbyes, and fussy babies. EG is getting teeth and has a cold. Jack now has the same cold and we made a quick trip to the doctor today. He's ok to fly and we will just have to manage the symptoms for both of them. Please pray for health for our little ones and peace and safety for us as we make this journey.

I have some good photos from our time in NC and of Jack's 3 month birthday, but those will have to wait til we're settled in to our home in Zhong Guo.

Thanks to all of you who made us feel so welcome and loved while in the US. It's been so encouraging to see you and we'll be missing you!

HUFFMANIA

We love the Huffmans. We're down to our last hours with the Huffman gang. We've had a GREAT time hanging out with Andy's family while living in WV! From multiple trips to Chuck E Cheese, to giant bubble baths, and Chocolate Milk and Cakes, Emma Grapes (my favorite nickname for her) has had a great time with this crew! Jackie Boya (as EG calls him) has also enjoyed the fun! Thanks so much Kathi, Tim, Katie, Al, and Mary for loving us and especially for showering our kiddos with so much love. Here's a photo recap of our time with them!

Aunt Marv, Aunt Kay and the Awesome "Unca" Al!

Kacki has changed A LOT of diapers for me! Thanks Kathi!

Poopaw has stolen EG's heart!

The muscially talented Huffmans!

Ready for CAKES!!

Playing outside on the deck!

JACKIE BOYA just hanging out!

Oh, we're gonna miss these dogs!

The four of us enjoying the great weather out on the back deck!

These are the days we'll think back on and smile!

My child is obsessed with Chuck E Cheese now and even dreams about him!


Those fajitas were amazing Tim! (check out my new glasses!)


We're sad to leave but so grateful for all the fun times we've had together these past few months! We love you guys!

Thank You!

Thank you for praying for us. Andy is feeling better today, Jack's rash is going away and we made some GREAT progress today on our house. The whole Huffman clan came over to help us pack up. We enjoyed a picnic lunch out on the driveway because the weather was gorgeous! Then this evening we had some delicious Tex Mex out on the deck at Tim and Kathi's house! I am so glad that spring is getting here. Hopefully it'll be warm when we get back to China. If you're reading this from China, please comment and let us know what the weather is like where you are!

Prayer Please

Please pray for us. Jack has a very strange rash on his forehead, Andy is feeling the flu coming on, and we're packing up our house today and tomorrow to move out. Please pray for us-for health for our family, that Andy would feel better, that the rest of us would not get sick, that we could figure out the strange rash, that we could get everything packed and get ready to go and most of all that we would have Christ's peace ruling in our hearts as we head into a very busy and somewhat stressful two weeks of preparations and goodbyes. Thanks!

It's begun

We invite you to join us via the blog as we begin this journey of packing up and moving our family back across the globe to the land of chopsticks, noodles and 1.4 billion people. Now that's a lot of people, eating a lot of noodles with a lot of disposable chopsticks.
Our time in America is quickly coming to a close and our packing efforts began in earnest tonight. We dropped EG off at the grandparents. She's great at UNpacking so we desperately needed a helping hand with her! After we took a quick trip to Walmart to get some last minute items and some STRONG coffee, Andy and I began stuffing and re-stuffing our bags as to fit as much as possible in each one. I've never been good at staying under the weight limit and it's getting even tougher for me as our family grows and the weight limit shrinks with each trip we make!

Along with our clothes, a 3 year supply of deodorant and a stash of new books, we are packing many random items like Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner, extra fat crayons (for little Huffman hands to use!), Zesty Italian Dressing Mix, and Crushed Red Pepper Flakes.

It's always a challenge to pack up my American life into a few bags and even more so now that we have two little ones to think about. In the short 2 1/2 months of his life, our little man has already gotten a total wardrobe makeover 3 times! He's a growing boy so we have to have lots of sizes for him to grow into! EG loves to read these days (no English books where we're headed) and she's grown attached to several new toys so we're packing those up as well!

The good news-it's just stuff. And stuff won't make me happy, though I often buy into the lie that it will. Though I really really don't like the process of packing up my family and living like a nomad, it's good for me. It's good for me to be reminded that it's all just stuff and that the bag of starbursts that I had to leave out won't make me happy anyway.

So here we go...packing, repacking, saying goodbye to our families and emotionally preparing for a brutally long flight with 2 under 2-all to land us in a foreign place. We're either insane or in love.

Yes. It's love. And the one we're in love with is worth all of this! Now that makes packing exciting! It's 2:30 am and we're just getting started!

Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

My house is a wreck. A total absolute wreck. We had sandwiches for lunch and dinner. I am still wearing the PJs I had on when I got up this morning. This is my life. Taking care of two little ones and packing to move across the globe is just about all I can handle at one time. There's really no time for non essentials like cleaning, bathing and cooking fancy meals. I was encouraged as I read this poem just now, to remember what's really important during this season of "survival." Hope all you busy moms out there will be encouraged as well.

Song for a Fifth Child.

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.