budding entrepreneurs

Now that life is beginning to look like the chaotic-normal that usually defines us - and now that my craft pantry is getting restocked - the girls and I were up for a fun project!

While we were in the States, Emma and Samantha badly wanted to open a lemonade stand. I nixed the idea, feeling sure that somehow the FDA would come and find us and shut down our little shack for not getting some sort of approval. I told them to wait until after we moved, and we'd see what we could do.

Turns out, our new apartment complex is PERFECT for a lemonade stand! Plus, living here, everyone is super interested in whatever it is you might be doing. [And, no one is the least bit concerned about food safety. =) ]

A few weeks ago, we were reading the book Night of the Moonjellies during our morning Five-in-a-Row time. I loved this book because it had incredible illustrations, and the book followed a 7-year-old boy who had lots of responsibilities at his family's seaside diner. It was a great springboard to discussing responsibility and hard work, and watching how a young child's contribution can really help a family!

Anyway...in the book, the seaside diner is named after two sisters, Mary and Grace - hence the name Mar-Gra's. The girls then decided that if they ever opened a lemonade stand, they'd try to combine their names like this book.

The wheels in my brain started spinning and I decided we would do that long-anticipated lemonade stand that week! I first got permission for our management office (not that we'd be raking in the dough or anything, but still...) and they were fine with it it.

I put my girls to work on making a sign for their lemonade stand while I made a batch of muffins to sell along with our lemonade. [Let the reader be aware: I have never made homemade lemonade. We made Kool-aid for this initial venture. Read on to find out how the Kool-aid fared!]

Sam-Em's Lemonade Stand was the final (English) name:
Once the muffins were made and the sign was completed, we just had to wait for Saturday morning nap time to roll around. The girls were nearly jumping out of their skin. They both kept wondering why it was taking so long for Saturday to come!

But finally, the day rolled around and we carted all our stuff downstairs and found a nice place to set up. I tried to prepare the girls that as "owners" of their store, they'd have to be friendly and encourage people to try their stuff. They also were responsible for making change, keeping the table full of snacks and drinks, and clean up.

Business was a little slow at first; lots of people milling around, wanting to see what was going on, but no one willing to buy anything yet. [The muffins and Kool-aid were sold for 1 local dollar, about 15 cents each.]
Finally, one mama took pity on my girls and bought a muffin for her daughter.
We all hoped she would like it, since she ate it in front of the rest of the crowd!
During a particularly slow time, the girls were feeling a little discouraged and decided to dip into the muffins themselves. Hmmm....
After a while, business started to pick up. Once we started touting the health benefits of our Carrot Raisin Muffins (never mind those 2 cups of sugar...) people were more interested! Haha, Just kidding!

While the muffins were going fast, no one seemed interested in buying Koolaid. (Do you think it was disingenuous of me to call it fruit juice?!) We eventually started a little huodong, or a "promotion". If you buy two muffins, you get a free cup of "fruit juice". The girls were confused as to why I'd be giving stuff away at their lemonade stand, but I told them to trust me. I could tell we were going to end up with a pitcher of Kool-aid to take home if we didn't do something fast!

Several of the grandmothers in the complex bought three muffins each. Bless them.
Every time I see this group of ladies, I can't help but think of my Nana. They walk around the complex together, wave to my kids, sit and chat in the shady spots, and just look like fun people. Nana, I wish you could trade spots with them and it was YOU sitting in the gardens of my apartment!
Overall, the lemonade stand was a huge hit.

We met tons of our neighbors and had a comfortable way to talk with them.

The girls really put into practice making change - honestly, simple addition and subtraction was super easy for Emma, but down there when the rubber met the road, the pressure was on!

Western food is very intriguing to locals, so the chance to buy something for 15 cents was something everyone was interested in.

Everyone asks us now when the Lemonade Stand is coming back, so I guess we'll be doing it again soon! I'm thinking next time will be Chocolate Cake Muffins - and I'll be the one sneaking bites in the slow moments...

the eggrolls join a tour group

When traveling in our area of the country, there is a certain waterfall that is not-to-be-missed. We'd heard great things about it, and we knew our friend who came to visit us would totally want to see it. It would be like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Let me be clear: I'm not equating where we live with Paris.

I will publicly admit that initially, I was a bit grouchy about going to the waterfall. It was going to be a full day of travel - full, as in the bus picks you up at 6am and you return home at 8pm.

Josh had graciously suggested leaving the little ones home with him and me having a special day with my big girls and my friend. He's so thoughtful like that, and quick to realize that sometimes our big girls need special time with us too.

Since we'd never been there before and Josh wasn't going with us, he felt strongly that we should travel with a tour group. I was less than jazzed about this idea, since the idea of "tour group" conjures up images like these:

But Josh's perspective about time with my girls and his concern for my well-being made my mood a little less sour.

I woke the girls up just a few minutes before 6am and we made it to the pick up point just in time. We all munched on Carrot-Raisin muffins for breakfast during the hour drive to our first stop.

We weren't stopping at the waterfall yet. Oh no, no, no. Traveling with a tour group means you stop at places where you're encouraged to buy things you don't want or need in exchange for getting a discounted ticket for being with a group.

Our first stop was a ethnic minority "village" - really just an area of the woods made to look and run like a village. It was raining hard, we had to pay to get in, the entire "village" was outside, and my bad mood was returning.

I wasn't interested in looking at prehistoric cutting tools or earthen pots.

Near the end of the "village" tour, there was ethnic singing and dancing. Now that's something that I can get behind! There were several young children working there, and they encouraged my girls to get up on stage and dance with them. Samantha and Emma both were super-shy, but Emma mustered up enough courage to get up there with them.

Watching my girls enjoy the show was really fun. We were all amazed at the man who was breathing fire. Oh my.

The grandmothers of the village had beautiful hand-woven hats and clothes that are unique to their culture. They said it takes about 3 weeks to make one hat.
Emma can make a friend anywhere. I wonder if these children who worked at the village were surprised to see as many people taking pictures of the white people as there were taking pictures of them...
We got back on the bus and headed to our next destination: a knife factory. It was still raining pretty hard, so the incredible views of the countryside were foggy. I opted to stay on the bus instead of dragging my girls to the knife factory for the sales-talk and was prepared to die on that hill if I needed to. I was glad that the tour guide didn't give me any hassle for that.

No one in our tour group bought anything at the knife factory, and our tour guide awkwardly brought it up on the way to the next factory. When you buy products at these places, she told us, I get a percentage of the sales. Please be willing to buy more at the next place; it will help me.

It was very awkward. If there were ever a time for {crickets} on an Asianese tour bus, that was the time.

The next stop was a candy factory and sure enough, the kind travelers on bus 4203 bought lots of candy. My friend herself bought 20 bags. Apparently, this candy is famous nationwide. Since my friend was coming here where it originates from, she had received many requests to buy bags for other people.

Finally, after a cheap stop for lunch, we arrived at the first of three tourist spots. The time? 12:45.

This first waterfall we went to is not the big, famous waterfall. It's just a small (by comparison) waterfall on the route to the big one. It was massive and beautiful. If I only saw that waterfall, it would have been worth it.
Why a multitude of ducks chose to make their home on the turbulent waters beneath this waterfall is a mystery to me...
Tourist stop #2 was a lovely park filled with "national treasures" - rock formations and ponds that have been in existence for "millions of years".

I'm such a sucker for giant bamboo. I always take pictures of it.
There was a part of the park that had stepping stones for every day of the year. Each rock had a placard with the date and month on it. Single-file is the name of the game walking through this part...but it's made very difficult because people stop so often to find their birthdate. I found myself constantly praying that my children would not fall in the water.

Not because they'd drown.

Because I wasn't sure if I'd be willing to clean them off if they fell in.

I was so glad Abby wasn't with me. Can you imagine 365 steps like this? With Abby...?
There were some tight squeezes through rocks!
By the time we reached the end of that park, we were exhausted. We walked so much through the parks, and just barely made the tour bus before it went to our final attraction. The tour guide even called me on my cell phone and was irritated that we weren't at the bus yet.

She was definitely an interesting tour guide.

My girls were wiped out.
Then Emma noticed I was taking their picture. Maybe she wasn't as wiped out as I thought!
Ok! We made it to the big waterfall! I thought it would never happen, and if it did, I wasn't sure if it would be worth it.

You'll notice that Emma now was TWO teeth missing on bottom...
The grounds before the waterfall were some of the most beautiful I've seen in this country. There were lovely rock formations, well stocked koi ponds, and unique trees in their gardens.
We really were getting close! Just a few more minutes, I kept telling the girls.

I saw this dragonfly chilling on the leaves of this tree. He didn't move, no matter how close I got to him. I kind of wondered if he was still alive...?
I laughed when I saw this sign, because all I wanted to do at that point was halt. And rest. Ask someone to buy me a coke and massage my feet.

(In actuality, the sign doesn't mean halt and stop for a rest. It means you're forbidden from going to the area behind the sign...but it made me laugh enough to snap a picture. Obviously, I was delirious from fatigue.)
You can see the big waterfall in the background, but before we made it closer, there were enterprising locals lining the path the entire way up. Several people were offering ethnic clothes for kids to take pictures in. Since we had just visited the "village" earlier that morning, my girls were very interested to take their picture with the clothes on! They loved all the bling that was on their hats and skirts!
Everyone wanted a picture with them.




They were sad to take the outfits off when it was time to move on!

We walked a bit further up to see the waterfall head-on, but there was so much mist past this point I felt hesitant to leave my camera out. I packed it up and told everyone to take pictures in their heads!

The scenery we saw all day was gorgeous. It was breathtaking. It left me feeling so small and so in awe of our God's creative power. There were rushing rapids, sheer mountain precipices, thundering waterfalls...and all the people next to them seemed so very insignificant. It's amazing to me that of all God's creation, the thing that brings Him the most glory is not those things - not those awe-inspiring mountains or powerfall waterfalls.
The creation that glorifies Him most is...us. Hearts that are redeemed and turned toward Him. People who are full of praise and dependence on Him. Children who delight in His works and love telling Him about it.

The waterfalls and mountains and physical creation sure glorified God that day. I hope that I will be quick to do the same.

City Sights

Two weeks ago, our good friend and previous house helper came from up North to visit us. Our kids had been looking forward to seeing her for a long time, and Josh and I were looking forward to some of her Chinese food to catching up after almost a year away.

We tried to be good hosts and take her to some special, local touristy spots...but since we ourselves were so new to the area, it was our first time to go too! Her visit prompted us to get out and find out more about our city.

Our first spot was this very Asian-looking building right in the heart of downtown. It was built several centuries ago when the country used a system of examinations to place people in government and other influential jobs. The city officials wanted to encourage people to study hard and work hard, so they built a beautiful place where hopeful test-takers could come to study and reflect. According to history, the plan worked and several local people tested highly on the examinations and were rewarded with prestigious positions.

I loved how the contrast between ancient and modern was so juxtaposed here.
Blue skies followed us the entire day...
Sometimes I look through my pictures at home and wonder where this sibling love is in real life? Because my days don't always feel like this!
Our friend was thrilled to see Abby and get to know her all over again. Abby, out extreme extrovert, was thrilled to get to know her again too.
Here was one of the little study areas that are set up for visitors to use...as long as you're willing to buy a pot of tea to go with the "free" room!

First tooth gone!

With the ability to blab all my news real-time via Facebook, I sometimes wonder what's the use in sharing news through my blog. But I love that I can blab all my news on Facebook AND on my blog and then I just keep inundating you with my news.

Not that the last month has been an inundation of my news.

Anyway. This is a Public Service Announcement to alert you that not only has my oldest child has lost a tooth, but I have the pictures to prove it.

Picture #1 - Tooth still in. At this point in the Tooth Drama, Josh is sitting in his armchair with the heebie jeebies because loose teeth freak him out. I had no idea this was true until the time came for Emma's tooth to come out. I offered to pull it for him, but I think he felt like it was his Fatherly Duty.

With all the talk of teeth, Abby was convinced her teeth were loose. She was constantly raising her hand, saying, "Me too! Me too!"
Instead of just yanking that tooth out, Josh wanted to pull it out with string. I thought that seemed more heebie-jeebie inducing than just a quick jerk, but the string seemed to set him at ease. Emma was brave and awesome and totally ready to lose that tooth.
And voila! There's a hole in her mouth where that tooth used to be!
There is a fun book that our girls enjoy looking at called Throw Your Tooth on the Roof that shows various tooth traditions from around the world. It's fun to see that not everyone knows about the Tooth Fairy, but almost every culture seems to do something!

Now that Emma has lost her first tooth, we're still waiting for Silas first tooth to arrive! Almost a year old and not a single tooth!

on the path to normal

We're finally starting to get settled here enough for me to pick up posting again to my very-neglected blog. We've made tons of purchases and our place is really starting to feel like home. Much of our furniture and household items were shipped from our 0ld city, so when we sit down to eat at our dining room table, it feels like catching up with an old friend. We had initially told the girls we'd take them on a Toys R Us date (there's one here in our city, can you believe it?!) but they've been so preoccupied with the toys that were shipped from our old city they've forgotten about going. So we'll save that date for another time.

Our apartment complex has a lot of buildings that encircle a common garden/play area. It has nice shaded paths and a central area with asian-style exercise equipment.

It's on a busy road, so there is some background noise. Fortunately, for the last 5 years we've lived next to highways so we're accustomed to it.
This is the view from my kitchen window. I love that from the kitchen and other windows, I can see almost the entire garden area downstairs. There will come a day when I let my big girls go down and play by themselves, but that day hasn't come yet! I want their language to get a little better and for the people in the complex to be a little more familiar with them as well.
Just across the street from us is another apartment complex with a beautiful swimming pool. Abby wears this awesome Puddle Jumper and jumps right in the deep end. All the locals are amazed at how fearless she is!
Emma has become a pretty good swimmer with all the practice she's gotten. We bought a 30-use pass and have been swimming about five times already.
Samantha loves chilling out at the pool and floating around in the swim ring. The older girls love playing with her and floating around with her. She's probably the most popular girl at the pool.
We had to buy new couches and furniture for the girls' room...and we're now enacting a spending ban and are putting off all future purchases! There's a local saying that says, "Move homes once, you're poor for three years!" We really identified with that statement after this recent move.

But now our home is really feeling like a home. There's noise and laughter in the living room, giggles and singing and still a bit of fighting in the girls room. There's the smell of fresh baked bread from the kitchen, candles from the bathroom, dirty diapers in the trash can...hey, I'm just trying to be real. =) Books are unpacked and line the shelf, just waiting for little hands to grab them up:
We're even settled enough for josh to go buy a replacement guitar (he left his good one in America). Silas loves grooving to the music!
So. Getting settled took a lot of time, but we're so thankful for this wonderful place the Lord provided for us. We've talked to a little preschool about the girls starting to go there a few mornings a week. An older lady has started working for us, making lunch and doing some cleaning. The girls and I even started easing back into the school routine last week.

We're all glad that things are starting to feel a little more normal.