Frist day time post

Well this is my first blog post from America where the sun is up! We've been up every night between 1 and 3 am, which seems to be a great time for blogging. But hopefully we are getting back on the right track with sleeping and I will be able to start doing some regular business hour blogging.

Aside from the jet lag factor, we are doing well. Just trying to keep warm in this surprisingly cold NC fall weather! We all miss China but are glad to be here as well. EG talks about her A Yi and her friend NaNa everyday but she's also enjoying some special American treats-like playing outside in my parents' yard, chasing their cat and picking up lots of sticks and rocks.

The view from my parents' back yard. Fall is amazing.

What's an NC fall without pumpkins?

There's lots of room to roam here...

And plenty of rocks and sticks to gather and throw in the pond...

Heading to the water...

Trying to get Dan to eat a stick...

And my personal favorite-what a contrast-my sister, ready for her Fall Homecoming dance and me, still in my airplane clothes, no shower, and about to fall asleep...

I have showered since this picture and even found some maternity clothes that fit me! I was starting to think the maternity clothes industry had a conspiracy against me-all the jeans that fit me were high waters and the ones that were long enough fell off me. Yeah for clothes that fit. I am starting to agree with the Chinese maternity clothes philosophy-From the time you are showing til the baby is a month old, it's standard practice to wear pajamas-all the time-everywhere. I like it.

On a serious note, every time I return from China, I realize that I have been greatly affected by our time there. I am not the "American" I used to be. But I am not Chinese either. It's a hard and strange and wonderful thing that is happening in my heart and I wouldn't trade it for anything. There's a constant tension of feeling not exactly at home in either place, yet an often intense longing for whatever place I am not in at the time. I've been praying that I would enjoy the wonderful things about each place and that these strange feelings of being "not at home" in either world would make me long more for my eternal home-the place I will feel totally at home. Everything about China and America that fill my heart with joy and delight my soul are mere reflections of the "at homeness" I will feel with Christ. And the ways each place falls short and leaves me longing for something more are meant to point me to the one who will fulfill all my longings in himself. In him, I will be at home. I look forward to that day. Thank you Lord, for not letting me "settle in" here on earth. I am a pilgrim and I am glad to walk my earthly journey in two great nations that both delight me and at the same time leave me longing for my real home. Thank you sweet Lord.

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Another 3 am post...

Due to some serious jet lag I haven't been much for picture taking but here's a list of a few things I should have taken pictures of:

Emma Grace's first taste of Chic Fila

Emma Grace gathering rocks in my parents' driveway-there's more than she knows what to do with but she's determined to pick them all up and hold them all at the same time

Our first spin at driving a car...we drive like we are Chinese. Dangerous.


The "medium" drink I ordered today which was way bigger than the large in China. I will be going with the small next time.

The deli ham I had on my sandwich at 1 am last night. Amazing. I think I'll make another.


Emma Grace grabbing a picture off the fridge of some of her "A Yi's" from China, bringing it to me and saying "A Yi" over and over! Precious.

Emma Grace playing "quietly" with her toys the living room at 3 am due to jet lag. It's a little louder than "quiet"-she is currently pushing buttons on a firetruck. The little fireman just blew his horn and told her to call 911 in case of an emergency. Wow, I bet my parents are having a hard time sleeping right now. Sorry about that.

But due to some serious jet lag, I haven't been much for picture taking! I am hoping my little one will is gonna get over this need to have a 3 am snack and playtime really soon-otherwise I'll be doing more incoherent/no pictures 3 am blogging for a while!

We Made It!

While getting on our last flight to Raleigh, Emma Grace starting saying, "No No No!" She was excited to fly at first but when it was all said and done she'd had enough of "airpanes." Overall she did great and we are thankful to be hanging out in our PJ's at my parents house!

To our disappointment, Emma Grace didn't really like Chic Fila. We'll keep working on her though!

Well, I am so out it that I can't think of anything else to say. I am pretty sure I need about 3 days of sleep.

30 hours...

I'm playing a mental game-wanna join?

If I was given the choice between these two, which one would I choose?

30 hours travel from door to door-which includes 3 flights, 3 people (one of which is 16 months)and one has a big pregnant belly and only 2 seats. OR....

30 hours of labor

I mean labor is more painful but then again, there is always the epidural. Wondering if I could sign my family up for some sort of "knock out" drug for the flight?

Ok, well I don't have a choice. One thing is for sure: 30 hours of travel with my big belly, a toddler and 2 seats is definitely in my very near future. I just hope and pray that 30 hours of labor is not!

We're packed and pretty much ready to go. Heading over to the K's to eat some of Xiao Li's Chinese cooking one last time. (by the way, she came over last night to visit and brought some homemade cookie dough for us to bake cookies-how is it that she is Chinese and can out bake me? Not fair.)

We'll leave our house at 9:30 tonight and fly from here to Korea. We'll have 5 hours in a hotel there before our long flight-landing us in Atlanta at 1:00 pm Sat. Then we'll eat our Chic Fila and hop on our last flight to RDU. We'll be seeing those NC fall colors in less than 2 days! Though we aren't excited about the flights we are excited to see our families really soon! Yipee!

Please say a prayer for us-for safety and smooth travel and especially for EG as she adjusts to a new place, new time zone and lots of new faces! (and an extra seat on the flight too!)

Conceding Defeat

Today, October 21st, 2008, I, Erin Ashley Huffman concede defeat in the Gift Giving War with Milky G. As you know her reflexes are quick-she threw me a quick jab in the gut with the bag of bananas immediately following my flower arrangement punch. I thought I would be able to get back on my feet, recover a little and figure out what gift I should reciprocate with but I thought wrong. She shows no mercy to this rookie gift giver! While I was still in shock from the banana jab and stumbling to pull it together, she totally knocked me out. I had no time to come up with a gift. Today, just a little over 24 hours after the banana jab, she put me down for the count-with another bag of dumplings.

I should have expected to lose...I mean, I was battling on her turf and let's face it-she's a pro and I'm a newcomer to this whole gift giving war. I wonder how many others she has out-gifted in her 60 years? I was a piece of cake for her, I'm pretty sure!

But I may come back for more Milky G-I got moves you've never seen! Come February, when I'm back from the land of plenty, I'm gonna show you a gift or two!

I know-she looks mild enough holding these sweet kids, but don't be fooled-when it comes to her maintaining her Gift Giving Championship Belt, she's fierce!

My little helper and the war I can't win

Emma Grace is my very wonderful little helper. Whether I'm doing the laundry, sorting bathing suits (see above) or outside looking for trash, she's great at helping me! Ok, I don't really pick up trash outside but she's great at finding it and bringing it to me! She and I have become the official trash collectors for our apartment complex! Her "helping" is much appreciated but can lend itself to things getting a little misplaced! I found a necklace washed and dried this morning-that would be from her helping me with a load of laundry a couple days ago. And when I just can't seem to find things I'm looking for, they always seem to turn up in a random drawer in which she was playing! We're in a very fun stage where everything is interesting to my little girl. Here she is picking some flowers for me! I like those a little better than trash!
And of course hanging out with Xiang Xiang in the courtyard...

Seeing her best buds in the world, Nana and Ydia (Julianna and Lydia) walk into the courtyard...(check out my belly!)Nana with a cute puppy...
Remember my last post where I was proud of myself for being "chinesey" and giving Milk G a gift? Well, here's what I've realized-I've gotten myself into a gift giving war that I am pretty sure I can't win! My kind gesture was reciprocated two days later with a big bag of bananas. I am not sure what to do at this point! Do I just keep trying to one up her to show my love? Do I stop giving and concede that she loves me more than I love her? Not sure. Still working on that one. Aside from giving her my firstborn, I am pretty sure there is no way I can win this war. Along the same lines-we had Uncle Qi and his wife over a few weeks ago and they of course returned the favor this week! Matt kindly reminded us that we needed to bring a gift to their home. In this culture it is very polite to bring a small gift when invited to friends' homes. It was kinda last minute when we realized we hadn't prepared anything...but I figured a bag of bananas would do the trick! SHHHH....don't tell!

With three little girls running around, the place was lively! I think they really enjoyed it and Emma Grace ate her weight in some type of green beans with peppers. That was encouraging to me as a mom, since I had managed to feed her McDonald's for two out of the three previous meals. Here she is going night night with their giant bear!

On a final note...this week is going to be really crazy for us! We decided to head back to the America 10 days earlier than we were originally planning. (That puts us on American soil at 1:00 pm Saturday and at Chic Fila at about 1:17 pm-we have to change terminals to get to the Chic Fila in the Atlanta airport so that explains why we'll be on American soil for a whole 17 minutes before we have those mouth watering chicken sandwiches in hand!) With only two weeks planned in NC and a list of a gazillion things to do while there, we figured we needed a little extra time to rest and recover from jet lag and spend good time with the family! We are super excited but my packing is coming along a lot slower than anticipated. Might be because I have such a wonderful, sweet, cute, but totally inefficient little helper following me around, undoing most of what I accomplish! Ok, off to do some organizing while my helper rests from all her hard work!

I'm so Chinese...or not

Some days I feel so indigenous. I do something that feels really Chinese and I feel super proud of myself, like "yeah, I'm getting the hang of this culture." And then other times I realize I have so much to learn about this place.

Here's an example of me feeling proud for being "chinesey": After our flower arranging lesson I was trying to decide what to do with my very Chinese arrangement. (I am proud of it because I felt like it was so non-western looking but I also didn't actually like it very much for the very same reason) Anyway, so what do you do with a something you're proud of but don't really want to keep yourself? Give it to your grandma of course! That's what I did! I gave it to Milk Grandma. It was kinda my turn to give a gift. She gave me the dumplings recently so the ball was in my court. She seemed to like it and I felt really proud of myself for being so Chinese! Gift giving is not my love language but it definitely speaks volumes in this culture. Yeah me for making a Chinese flower arrangement and then giving it to my neighbor!

And here's a recent example of how far I have to go in learning this culture: Last night Andy and I were out in the courtyard with some other foreign friends and their kids. We were having a great time playing our American game of freeze tag and decided to teach the 10 Chinese kids out there how to play with us. It was going great at first but there were too many kids running around so they were getting "unfrozen" way to fast! We decided we needed to make the "get unfrozen" process a little harder. So I suggested that they had to crawl through the persons legs that they were wanting to unfreeze. Sounded good to me. Andy told them this rule in Chinese and they all busted out saying, "NO! NO! NO!" Why didn't they like the new rule? First I thought that they just didn't want the game to be harder. But then I decided I knew for sure what they were thinking...THE GROUND HERE IS SO DIRTY! WE CAN'T CRAWL ON THE GROUND. That made total sense to me but they were still yelling, "No! We can't!" It turns out they didn't care about the game being harder nor did they care about the dirty factor...they were scared of ghosts! Little did I know, in this culture which believes heavily in superstition, they think that if you crawl through a persons legs you will call out the ghosts. Talk about coming from two different worlds!

It's the little things like learning how to love people in their "love language" that encourage me and make me feel like I am a part of this world. And it's also the little things, like seeing how my American child game is unthinkable in this culture, that keep me humble and make me realize I have so much to learn!