The Kids...

So we have some fun posts coming up, mainly ones about Heather and I's hair. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It's been a while since I've updated you on our kids, so this one's for them.

Sydney - Sydney just turned 7! It still seems like just yesterday when Heather and I were walking around Target and looking at outfits for kids much older than our new born daughter, Sydney. As we looked at them   Heather and I were talking about how it was crazy that our girl would fit into them someday. Well that day is now. Sydney has been doing home school with Heather and I lately; she continues to practice her phonics, sight words, and we're working on math with her also. She continues to love her art and Chinese classes. She's had some funny lines lately that I will need to post.

Lily - This past week marks two years since Lily joined our family! This year both Heather and I will be turning 30, which means we can begin applying to adopt Lily. Our little girl is still enjoying ballet, art class and Chinese. Recently she had some tests done to see how her medical condition is and she's doing really well! This is good news, it means her medicine is working and that we're doing well at giving it to her.

Aubrey - I would say that over the past 6 months (or so) our little Aubrey has changed the most. In the past she's been our child to get into the most trouble, but lately she's mellowed out. I think it's her old age. She will be turning 5 in March. Like her sisters Aubrey is loving art and Chinese class. And little Isaac is finding her to be an incredible big sister.

Caleb - Our little man is really growing up! We got two loft beds for the girls a few weeks ago and Heather and I talked about how in a year or so we would need to start dealing with Caleb climbing the bed's ladders (these beds are really high, by the way). Well a year turned into a week as Caleb has already discovered how to climb up (and down) the ladders. It gives me a heart attack to watch. He usually goes up there to terrorize his sisters and to throw their toys down. He's been a good big brother to Isaac, so that's wonderful.

Isaac - And finally, Isaac! His health is doing well and he continues to get bigger each day. He didn't get the job at Su Jin Pao's Wonderful Noodles, but we think it's because they were showing favoritism towards a relative who got the job.

I hope you like the new picture at the top of the blog. Keep an eye out for some fun posts coming up soon and news of an old friend who has come back into our lives...

much love,
the petersons

So this is what the 80's were like

We're in our new apartment!!!

But...

We don't have doors, a kitchen, and we don't have internet. Not having interent makes me feel like I'm living in the 80's. And I personally think the 80's were the worst decade since the 90's the 1890's that is. Right now I'm at a coffee shop writing this.

We're doing well though. We love our new place, Heather has done an incredible job setting it up and making it a wonderful home. And the pregnancy is going well also, Heather is 36 1/2 weeks. Almost done! She is doing well overall minus the normal pregnancy symptoms.

We're going to take this week and get all we need for the baby's arrival. Heather needs to bring a lot of her own supplies to the hospital here, so it's important that we prep well.

I hope each of you are doing well. I will try and post as I have a chance to use internet.

With love,
the petersons

Get House Painted. Check.

Like my last post this too is hampered by controversy. This time its in the form of our main computer's hard drive not working... So. Yeah. I had made some notes of things I wanted to blog about and don't have those. But with the heart of a warrior I will push on.

First off, Heather and the pregnancy are going well. Tomorrow she will be 33 weeks! Lets keep that bun in the oven for another 7 weeks, remove, and enjoy (sorry was that wrong to say?). Like I have said in the past few updates Heather has been pretty exhausted and at times has been having painful contractions. We will continue to keep you posted.

The girls all LOVED their ballet class last week! And this week they got to go to an art class that they all enjoyed as well! The art class is taught by a Chinese teacher so its a great way for them to get some exposure to Chinese. When we were in Xian all of our girls had regular Chinese classes and as we settle here in Xining we would like to see them continue to study it.

The houses are moving along slowly but surely. This week we had one of the apartments painted and it looks great. Yesterday I went to the market and bought tile and the rest of the materials to have our bathroom, kitchen, and washing machine area tiled.

I will say this; the process of doing this is exhausting and frustrating. Of course, it's cool to have our apartments coming together, but it's not without it's difficult days. Yesterday in particular was difficult as I spent time picking out tile and bartering for a price (I'm not sure if it was a good price or not) gave the tile store their money only to drive over to the warehouse and find they didn't have the tile they just sold me. When the grout company delivered the materials I bought from them they refused to move them into my apartment without me paying more. Every step has taken longer than expected and with everyone doing their best to get a few more bucks out of me.

I have a feeling that ten years from now my family and I will be sitting around our dinner table laughing over a meal when one of my kids will say "Dad tell us about the time when you finished this apartment." Silence will then fill the air as I look down at my plate and vainly try to push around rice and eggplant with my fork. Heather at this point will probably reach over and gently grab my hand knowing the pain involved in the question at hand. I will simply utter something to the effect of "I don't talk about such things."

With that said I will close this post with what we have looking ahead. In the next few days I will seed one of our backyards with grass seed. Tomorrow the tile guys are supposed to start, but I'm not holding my breath. They said it should take a week. After that we will put in floors and move our stuff in that we had shipped from Xian. Oh and at some point I need to add; a tub, water heater, vanity, stove, curtains, couch/beds/dining room table, counter tops in the kitchen and install the toilet our landlord graciously gave us... and doors... I can't forget the doors.

"I don't talk about such things..."

with love,
the petersons

More On Xining

I’m posting twice in one week! Whoo hoo!

Actually I just finished writing this post when my computer died and I lost it. Let me assure you the first copy would have made you laugh out loud and cry with delight. This one, however, will just make you regret taking two minutes out of your day to read. Don’t blame me I warned you.

Yesterday felt like a super productive day. I finished cleaning up our neighbor’s garbage from years past and the weeds that threatened to overtake our building. The yards are looking good and we will need to plant some grass at some point. I would LOVE to put in a sandbox for the kids, but we’ll see if I can pull it off seeing as how I’m slow of brain (wait, what?).

We also met with a guy who finishes apartments to talk about cost and what needs to happen. I also think I learned words like; tile, install tile, grout (or something like that), and materials. Basically super useful words. I was also able to get the water and electricity turned on and our heat checked. It gets cold here, like, really cold. Everyone I told we were moving to Xining’s first response was usually something like this “It gets really cold there”. Well guess what? I’m from Minnesota and we invented cold! This week we will hopefully start painting. Also, Heather and I will go check out a market to compare prices and look for flooring/tile.

My first weekend of teaching English went well. Towards the end of my first day (Saturday) after I posted on our blog, I found out that the classes I had on Saturday were the same ones I would have on Sunday. So I don’t have 12 classes but the same 6 classes twice. This is a bummer for me as my shtick will get boring a lot faster with the kids having me teach them twice a week instead of one. For example.

Me: “Hi everybooooooody!” (accompanied with an enthusiastic hand wave)

Ever Chinese Student I have: (Eye roll) “Not this guy again” (but said in Chinese)

Lastly, Heather and I found out this week that there is a ballet class and art class that we can send our girls to. We were both really excited to find these and are looking forward to the girls meeting new friends and having some fun.

Ok. I’m sure I’m forgetting no less than 5 super funny jokes from my first post. I guess this will have to do.

much love,

the petersons

We're In Xining!

Before I go another month without an update let me quickly get you caught up. We're in Xining! We got here this week.

We are staying in our friends guest apartment for the time being and are currently finishing/furnishing our two new apartments. Dan and I have been cleaning up garbage and overgrown weeds for the past couple days in the yards that are in front of our apartments. It's been fun to see our kids literally playing all day outside in our dirt yards (someday we will have grass... however, that day isn't today. Today we just have garbage left from our neighbors and weeds.)

Our stuff from Xian arrived yesterday so we're seeing our home coming together piece by piece. Next up is getting the apartments painted and putting tile in both the bathrooms and kitchen. We hopefully will start that this week. After that we put in floors and we're, as they say, gold.

I started teaching English today. I teach 12 classes a weekend right now and am really liking it so far. It's a similar setup to the one I had a couple years ago, so it's nice to come in with some experience.

And now for that which you really want to know. Heather and the pregnancy are both doing well! Minus extreme tiredness, heartburn, discomfort and difficulty sleeping that is. Thank you for all your prayers! We look forward to the day we get to meet this little guy!

I'm sure I'm missing a ton of things, but this will have to do for now. I will leave you with a classic Sydney quote.

Me: Sydney your Chinese is so good! (Or some slight variation)
Sydney: Sometimes my Chinese goes a little ghetto.
(Alternative translation "Sometimes my Chinese isn't very good.")

much love,
the petersons

Pieces Coming Together

So we’re moving to Xining if you didn’t catch our last post. Some pieces are coming together for us to make this move and one of those is that we found our future apartment! Actually two of them…

When we were in Xining a month ago we heard that there were two apartments for rent that were side-by-side. So we went to check them out. They were on the first floor and both of them had ‘yards’ (the yards are small, maybe 6 feet by 20 feet each). The area was nice, but at that time we were just looking and not sure if we could even move to Xining.

Well shortly after we found out that we could move to Xining we started dreaming of renting the two apartments and knocking down a wall to join the two. I called the landlord to see if we could rent both of them and knock down a wall, he said we could. So a few days later I was on a plane out to Xining to sign on the apartments. When I got there I found out that we couldn’t knock the wall down... so I left Xining empty handed.

On a side note. The apartments in China are small. Not only are they small because we live in huge cities, but they’re also small because the average Chinese family only has one child. Apartments in China just don’t take into account the crazy American family that has five kids. It just doesn’t. That’s why we were so excited to get these apartments and join them together (among other things). And that is also why we were so disappointed when we couldn’t get them.

A few days after I got back to Xian Heather and I began talking about renting the two apartments regardless of whether or not we could join them. The second apartment could be a place for a home school room, an office, and a guest room (for when all you lovely people come to visit us!). A few days ago I called the landlord and agreed to rent the two apartments. It’s nice too because the two apartments together are STILL cheaper than the apartment we’re renting in Xian.

The one difficult thing about the situation is that both apartments are just concrete shells. Oftentimes here in China you buy an apartment that is completely unfinished and you finish it yourself. So it will take some money on our part to put in floors, doors, and paint the apartments.

And we’ve tentatively picked a date to move to Xining, September 10^th. After that tt will only be another couple months before we’re having our new baby, in our new city, coming home to our new apartment. I, however, remain to be old.

much love everyone.

the petersons

Goodbye Xian

Well we have some big news to announce.

We’re leaving Xian, China. It’s been four years since we first moved here and we’ve seen plenty of changes in our lives and family since coming here. Xi’an has been our home and it feels weird to know this chapter is coming to a close.

Our new home will be in a city called Xining. It’s an hour plane ride west from Xian and 2 million other people call it home. I (Matt) will be teaching English there and helping out with a few other opportunities that we are looking forward to.

Why Xining? Why not Xian? Over the past year the landscape of Xian has changed drastically for us. My brother and his family moved away nearly a year ago and our good friends the Faillas headed home in June. We’re also coming through one of the most difficult seasons we’ve faced as a family. After Heather came back from her trip to America we had a very honest conversation about where we were at. We knew that something needed to change if we were to continue living here in China. It’s funny too, because a year ago Heather and I were coming home from Xining and we joked about how we would move there if Jeremy and Jenny and the Faillas ever left Xian. And, well, that’s what happened. The biggest thing that we’ve learned about ourselves over the past season is that we need community to make life here sustainable. We feel we can have that in Xining.

Email me if you have any questions. We will keep you posted about what life looks like for us in our new surroundings, but we are hopeful of the things ‘He’ has in store for us.

much love,

the petersons

A Light Rebuke

I was lightly rebuked after my last blog post by a dear relative of mine (thanks Grandma) for not including enough of the important stuff in our update (i.e. how's Heather and her pregnancy). So let me update you all on what you really want to hear about, Heather.

This has probably been the easiest pregnancy Heather has had. She's had normal pregnancy pain/discomfort, but overall it's been her best pregnancy experience so far. When we traveled to Xining Heather was able to meet the foreign doctor that will be delivering our baby. She felt a lot more peace about the situation once seeing the hospital which is a lot nicer than anything we have here in Xi'an. There are some more questions I was told to answer, but they conflict with a large announcement we're going to make in the next couple days. So until next time.

much love,
the petersons

P.S. I don't know many people who are as strong as my wife. To see all that she endures living away from family, friends and comforts is nothing short of amazing. I'm blessed to have her as my wife, friend and teammate. Thank you sweetheart!

P.P.S. When Heather was in the States we found out that we're having a.... BOY! So our little Caleb will have a little brother! It doesn't get much better than that!

No I’m not dead… not yet.

Well this has certainly been the longest break I’ve taken from blogging in the past four years. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to write about, but just no energy or desire to. I apologize for those of you who thought I was dead (nobody thought that).

We left off with Heather and Caleb taking a trip back to the States. It was a great three weeks of catching up with family and getting some much needed rest for Heather. The family, of course, was totally in love with our little Caleb. It had been nearly two years since the last time they saw him.

The girls and I did our best to fill the time here in Xian. We had plenty of adventures and made some fun memories together. I really enjoyed the time I had with them.

After Heather and Caleb got back we had a couple weeks together before heading off to Xining. If you remember, and I trust that you do, Xining is where we took our family last year. It is also where we will be going to have the baby in a few months, so we wanted to check out the hospital and connect with some friends of ours there. We were there for three weeks and got back to Xian this week.

That’s a lot of history in a short post, but I’m feeling life return even as I write this.

much love,

the petersons

A Look Back... And A Look Ahead...

Sorry… again… it’s been too long since our last post. So here’s a look back.

A look back…

The day came for us to say goodbye to Sammie and Ellie. And it was sad as to be expected. After Heather and the kids said goodbye to Sammie and Ellie in our apartment I walked them down to the taxi. The organization we foster through sent a couple workers to help with the move. So they all climbed into the taxi together and pulled away. As they did Ellie stood up in the back seat and looked out the back window at me. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t cry.

A few days after that we were down again at the street saying goodbye to our family the Faillas. They loaded their stuff up and we hugged and cried and said our goodbyes. I’m so grateful for this family and all that they have done for Heather, our kids and I. It was sad to see them go.

On a brighter note. That weekend we went to a nearby park to hang out and have some family time. At the same time we were there, a class of Chinese kids that were studying English showed up. It was a pretty big group. Anyways, they setup this game were the kids walked blindfolded through a course and had to listen to the kids shouting instructions to them in English. If they made it to the end they would win. Well after a little while they convinced Sydney to play and she did. Then they asked Aubrey to play. As soon as they told Aubrey to go she just walked through the course without any hesitations and without walking where she shouldn’t. The rest of us stood there speechless. She walked through it as if she had memorized it. It took me a moment, but then I realized that the blindfold sat on her face in a way that she could look out the bottom and see the course perfectly. I laughed pretty hard. Aubrey always delivers the laughs.

A look ahead…

So I need catch you up on some more stuff. So here it goes. A while back Heather’s dad decided he was going to come visit us; besides me, we were all excited (just kidding.) Well a couple months ago Heather and I chatted about instead of her dad coming here; maybe she could go visit her family. We wanted to wait until the fall when we knew that Sammie and Ellie would be in another foster home before Heather would go on her trip. Once Sammie and Ellie had another family to care for them and because Caleb turns two next month (which means he can fly REALLY cheap still) we decided that we would try and move Heather’s trip up and get Caleb to go to.

Soooooo Heather and Caleb are flying back to the States tomorrow! I know. I know. I know. I should have communicated this earlier.

Then when Heather gets back we will head out to Xining to check out the facilities where Heather will be delivering. We have a handful of friends in Xining and it will be a good family time together. (In fact, if you remember we went last year and the kids still talk about that trip. We’re glad to give them some more memories to talk about!)

So that’s our life right now. Thank you to everyone for your love and prayers during this tough transition. We are deeply grateful for all of you!

A Tough Season

I’ve been putting this off for too long. So here it goes.

Heather and I have been struggling these past 3-6 months. Taking care of Sammie and Ellie, with Heather being pregnant, has been an incredibly difficult thing. It’s been very exhausting and that has made Heather and I not so good at parenting. So a little while ago Heather and I finally came to a conclusion; we were no longer a good fit for Sammie and Ellie. So we felt the best thing for them and us would be if we found another foster family to care for them.

It’s not been an easy road. There haven’t been any foreign families that are willing to take them. We found out about a family who was interested and started the process of getting Sammie and Ellie transitioned into their home. After one full day (play date, we hadn’t moved them over yet) the family decided that they couldn’t take care of them. We were devastated as we had high hopes for them and this family. (That was about 2-3 weeks ago.)

And then a week ago we found out that there is a local Chinese family that is willing to care for them. For Heather and I, we had mixed feelings about this. We feel like we’ve seen Sammie and Ellie’s English really improve as well as seen them start the adjustment to western food and parenting style. It’s hard to swallow that they will now have to readjust to their own culture. We know that this new family will love these guys, but it will be different from how we have loved them.

But the truth still remains, even if this new situation isn’t ideal, Heather and I had no choice, what we’re doing right now is not sustainable.  It’s super hard right now because with this we feel a whole range of emotions. It’s hard to even put into words all that we’re feeling.

If this weren’t enough for us to be going through we’re also saying goodbye to our friends the Faillas. In fact, it’s inappropriate to call them friends as they have become our family. We’ve worked with them for the past 8 years and our kids have grown-up together and I suppose we grown-ups have also grown-up together. They leave on Friday and we’re not sure when we will see them again.

So this is how it’s unfolded and is unfolding. Yesterday I took Sammie and Ellie over to the new foster family for a chance for them to meet. It went well. Today they went over again with our friend Julie. Tomorrow (Wed) we will move them over permanently. (We’ve known about this for a little while, I just haven’t had the strength or desire to write about it, so it’s not as sudden as this post is making it sound.) Then on Friday we will say goodbye to the Faillas.  Our hearts are aching and feel like they’ve been through a grinder. It will be one of the hardest weeks we’ve ever faced.

We have told our kids about the upcoming change and they’ve handled it well although they are very sad. One of the best decisions we’ve made in this season was telling our kids from the beginning that there would be another family that would adopt them (we’ve also reminded them of this from time-to-time). So instead of them being confused about why Sammie and Ellie are leaving they knew from the beginning that they would leave us at some point.

Let me end with this. To say that we’re limping to the finish line of this season would be a gross exaggeration. Our Father is literally carrying us one day at a time. There have been so many people who have reached out to us to love/support us. Thank you, honestly we couldn’t do it without you! Please pray for us during this difficult transition. Also for Sammie and Ellie, this will be extremely hard for them. They will be with this new family until they are adopted to a family in the states.

Thank you for your prayers and support,

the petersons

Sydney Loses A Tooth

So last week I didn’t get to mention some little news from our big girl Sydney. She lost her first tooth! I would say it was a few weeks ago that Sydney first started to complain about “something” behind her front bottom tooth. I told her it was probably food or something and to not worry about it. Later when Sydney complained again about “something” behind her tooth, Heather (the loving and caring parent of our duo), discovered that Sydney had a new tooth coming in with the baby one still in there. That’s when we discovered as well that the tooth was quite loose.

When we were on our little getaway near the mountains a friend of ours, Sarah, told Sydney to pull the baby tooth out. Sydney reached in and pulled it out! She was pretty excited!

A few days later she went to bed with the tooth under her pillow and the Chinese tooth fairy (like the American tooth fairy, but speaks only in Chinese) showed up and left a stack of one Yuans under Sydney’s pillow (13 of them to be exact).

It was a fun memory for all of us.

much love,

the petersons

P.S. A couple days ago I sent out our email to those who asked to join it. If you didn’t get it, make sure to check your spam folder. If you want me to add you to our ‘talking to Father’ list, please let me know.

Our Time At The Hot Springs In China

Like I said yesterday, Heather started to feel sick with a bug by the second day of our trip and spent most of the time in our room. That same day the girls and I went with a bunch of our friends to a hot springs near the hotel. We got there in the first van load and after spending ten or so minutes working out the cost I headed into the changing room. I had my board shorts on and was ready to conquer the hot springs, but was greeted by an employee who told me I needed to wear different shorts. He showed the ‘appropriate’ swim wear needed Speedos. I frantically grasped at my limited Chinese to persuade otherwise, but a few minutes later found myself donning the ‘appropriate’ swim wear.

My friend, Jeremy, and I were both sucked into this and to our dismay the folks that took the second van ride over wore their own shorts after pretending not to speak Chinese. Well played.

I was SUPER proud of my daughter Sydney. When we were at the hot springs she went down the big slide all by herself TWICE! (Picture the big yellow State Fair slide in water park form.) So brave!

I will end this post with one funny story from our hot springs trip. When we made our way back to the kid’s part of the pool my girls all were so excited. In the center of the kids part was a large jungle gym that had water spraying out of it and multiple water slides. All the girls quickly went up the stairs. Sydney and Lily came down the slides first; happy as could be. Aubrey... Not so much. She was stuck at the top of the jungle gym semi-freaking out. She hates having water poured over her head; so as water rained down on her she was not happy. Then to my shocked surprise a huge bucket of water that was filling with water that was just above her tipped and dumped water everywhere. I tried to reason with her to come down the slide, but was unsuccessful. In the end I was forced to climb a torturous monkey bar staircase that was more than likely designed by Satan, in my Speedos, to the top of the jungle gym to rescue my little girl. We came down the slide together and my friend Jeremy laughed the entire time at the bottom. It was funny and he had every right to laugh at me.

That’s it.

much love,

the petersons

Our Time Near The Mountains

Well a lot has happened this past week. So please allow me a minute to catch you up.

If you remember last year we got to met with some of our friends in Xining and had an incredible time (minus our trip home!) Well this year some friends of ours came to Xian for a little get together. So this past Tuesday our family (minus Sammie and Ellie) headed to a hotel near the mountains for a special time together. We are incredibly blessed to have some good friends here (Rick and Cheryl) who took care of Sammie and Ellie for us for the two nights we were away. Thanks guys!

I was surprised  because when we arrived we were kinda expecting a rustic environment (similar to our time last year), but instead we got a nice hotel room. I felt silly having packed three sleeping bags. The time was good, being together with other foreigners that can relate to us. The kids also have a good time playing with other kids their age. They had a blast running around the hotel with their friends.

One super cute moment was during the second day when the kids all performed a few songs for the parents. Aubrey danced most of the time and Lily and Sydney also got into it. I'm so proud of all my little performers!

By the second day Heather started to not feel so well (and both Ellie and Sammie were not doing so well with our friends) so that was a bummer. We (the girls and I) did manage to go to a hot springs though and I was forced to wear speedos… I started writing about it and realized it was a post in itself so you will need to come back tomorrow to read about it.

In the end it was a refreshing time with our friends and very encouraging!

After our time at the hotel, I, too, started feeling pretty sick. It was my birthday, which was not fun. But my sickness couldn't stop me from turning 29! And here’s to another year of life!

Come back tomorrow, you won’t be disappointed.

the petersons

Ultrasound Ultra-Success!

A couple weeks ago Heather went to get an ultrasound and the experience was horrible. The lines were long and she waited forever to see the doctor. When she finally did see him he took a full 3 seconds to tell Heather she hadn’t drank enough water and to go. Heather was disappointed (luckily Sydney was with her and comforted her.) A little after that experience a friend of ours here told Heather that the hospital across the street from us could give her an ultrasound. So this week both Heather and I went to the hospital across the street. It was quite a different experience. First, it was a nice sunny day (the other week it was rainy.) There was no line to wait in. And we got to see the baby. We found out that the baby’s length is good and we even watched as ‘it’ moved around. They even printed off a couple pictures for us. One thing that’s tough about living overseas is just not knowing things like “the hospital across the street is the best option for an ultrasound”, hopefully the longer we’re here the more we can learn these things. On a side note it cost us a full $7.50 to have an ultrasound done. There are things you gotta love about living in China!

One thing I didn’t really expect was a question that we were presented with at the hospital. When we were asking about getting an ultrasound the nurse asked “Is this a baby you want or don’t want?” She asked it as if she were asking us if we wanted to add a side of fries to our burger. It was pretty cold.

I also wanted to update you on my teaching at the university. In a word it’s been ok.  I would say 10% of the class is very involved in what I’m teaching and 10% of the class is sleeping/playing on their phones. The other 80% falls somewhere in-between those two. It can be extremely discouraging to look out and see some students not involved in the class. I have to remember that I’m teaching in their second language, which is tough, and that these students are (typically) overworked. If they can have a moment of rest, at my pride’s expense, I suppose that’s ok. I was touched though when the teacher, in her class, challenged her students by using Heather and I as an example. She asked them “would you take care of these orphans?” and the students replied “no” and she told them she wouldn’t either. She then asked “why is that?” I felt moved that our lives were challenging these students (and teachers.)

Thank you to everyone who wrote us to be added to our email list after this post. We love you and couldn’t do this without you!

The Kids and Life Lately

Caleb has gone from hardly being able to crawl only a couple months ago to climbing up, on, and over everything in sight. He is an explorer right now and keeps us chasing him around. It’s so cute too, because he’s starting to say some simple words and in Chinese! He will say things like “bu”, which is “no” in Chinese and "bu yao" which is "I don't want it". He also says "Shoes" and "Please" in English.

Ellie’s English is really coming along. I can’t believe how much she can say and how well she can speak. It’s cute to continue to see her become herself.

Sammie has the most wonderful smile and is so fun to be around. Honestly he’s taken more time to adjust to our home, but every month he blossoms more and more.

The girls, Sydney, Aubrey and Lily have all been out of school for the past few weeks. Their school had an outbreak of the mumps. (Don’t worry, they are all caught up on their vaccinations.) It’s been tough for them not having school, but this week they are supposed to start back up.

So last week I did something that I’ve never done before. I started lecturing in a Chinese University! That’s right, last week I started the first of eight lectures I will be doing. I have around 70 students and each lecture is an hour and a half. I felt like the first session went well; I talked to them about their value and how each of them is special and unique. And why we need to have a healthy self-image. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the first person to tell some of these students that they are valuable, that they matter, and that they are special. It’s a great opportunity to serve and love these students. This week the teacher invited some other teachers to also attend my class. We talked about the influence others have on our self-image. (This lecture series is with the Red Cross work that I do here.)

Now that I’ve gotten all of that out of the way let me tell you about what you really care about; Heather and how she’s feeling. Well these past couple weeks she’s been sick and tired, which is good; it means everything is going how it should. She went to have an ultrasound last week and it turned into one of the worst days she’s had in China. Hopefully we can go back in the future to get another one. She’s already a little over ten weeks!

much love,
the petersons

Happy Birthday Ellie and Sammie!

Hi everyone! Ellie and Sammie's birthday was on the 3rd. When Ellie and Sammie were found, they were found together. So it was assumed that they were twins, however, it's pretty clear that Ellie is older. So even though their birthdays are on the same day, we said Ellie was turning 3 and Sammie was turning 2. Not that it's up to us, but this seems pretty close to their ages. Enjoy!

"Sammie gets what every boy needs, fake crocs. He loves them!" 

"Ellie got a coloring book. I like this picture because it looks like the coloring book is the size of a movie poster." 

 "Sammie got a firetruck. He loves it and so does everyone else. Of course, it sings some gosh-awful song."

"Ellie ecstatic about her new Dora doll and a new head band." 

"Sammie checking to make sure the firetruck is up to code. He seemed pleased." 

"Ellie's Birthday card!" 

"Sammie's Birthday card." 

"There we go Ellie! We've told Ellie ever since she moved here that Dora was her (they kinda look alike.)" 

"And of course the wall of birthday signs." 

"A little song and a little cake." 

"Another tradition in our home, tea candles instead of birthday candles. This is China."
(Heather wants me to make sure and say that she's not mad in this photo nor is she forcing Sammie's face into the cake. But the photo shows otherwise.)

"Ellie showing me how old she is." 

"Sammie called Caleb to confirm his inspection. Both of them love playing with this toy."

Thanks Grandma for sending presents! This post reminds me of what I said on this list, there's always a birthday!

much love,

the petersons

Questions And Answers

First off, you want your blog audience to trust you. So I’m sorry I said I would post this yesterday and didn’t. It was my plan to do it, but yesterday was a busy day and by the time I realized I hadn’t made good on my promise I was already too tired to write a post. My apologies.

Here are some answers to questions I’m sure some of you have. If you have more questions please comment below and I will answer them.

When are you due?

According to the Chinese Farmer’s Almanac Heather will be having this baby November 15^th. We haven’t seen a doctor here yet, but her due date will be around this date.

Where will you deliver?

We have a couple options for delivery; one being in Beijing and one being in Xining. We have some friends in Xining and there’s a good support system there. Beijing is where foreigners traditionally go when they are going to have a baby and we’re not counting that out yet. The problem with Beijing is that we don’t really know anyone there. Plus we love Xining and the people there.

Why won’t you deliver in the States?

Well as you know we haven’t yet adopted Lily (we can’t because we’re not 30, which is the minimum age requirement to adopt in China) so we can’t bring her to the States. We also wouldn’t want to leave her here by herself.

What about Ellie and Sammie?

We want to continue fostering Ellie and Sammie. We will also take them with us when we go to either Beijing or Xining to deliver.

Have you told your kids?

Yes! And they were beyond excited! They love helping Heather and remind us often that we are going to have a baby. They are also taking every opportunity to tell everyone in our life about the new baby.

Are you scared?

Ummm… Next question.

Will you find out if it’s a boy or girl?

In China they don’t allow you to find out the gender of your baby. So no, we can’t. The Chinese gender predictor says we’re having a boy. So we’re pretty confident that that is what it will be.

Was this planned?

No it wasn't planned. But we're thrilled to know that we will have another child.

much love,

the petersons

Heather's Pregnant!

Look at what we have.  A Chinese pregnancy test that says "you have a baby!"

We found out a couple weeks ago that Heather's pregnant!  Tomorrow I will share more about all the details, but for now let's celebrate!

much love,
the petersons

The Worst Kid's Haircut Story Ever!

The other day Heather was resting on the couch, the boys were playing, I was on the computer and the girls were playing with Heather's hair... or so we thought.  I don't remember exactly what the kids told me, but I knew Ellie was looking guilty.

So I made my way towards her only to spot a chunk of hair missing from the front of her head. Here's where the story takes a twist from the millions of others about kids cutting their hair.

"The face of a criminal."

I couldn't find Ellie's hair that she cut off, so I looked in the garbage.  As I opened the garbage can I noticed Ellie's dark hair and … blonde hair… yep, she also cut Heather’s hair without Heather knowing it.  

"The chunk of Heather's hair that I found in the garbage." 

Heather walked over and was in shock at the turn of events.  Truth be told as I looked into the trash can the first thought that came to my mind was “Blog story!” Needless to say Heather wasn’t feeling quite as excited.

We can laugh about it now, but for days that bald spot in the front of her head was a visual reminder of her crimes.  It’s only now that I can type this with forgiveness in my heart.

What's your worst kid's haircut story?

much love,

the petersons