our trip was "bu hao"

"Bu hao" is Chinese for "not good".

SHENYANG-first flight. 
"Your flight is cancelled."
"Why?"
"Because of the snow."--(that stopped at least 5 hours ago and had completely cleared up).
"Can you get me on another flight?"
"No."
"Well... who can?"
"Customer service."

Customer Service:
"Can you get me on another flight?"
"Yes, at 3."  (an hour earlier than scheduled--that makes sense...)

Rush to check in.
Get the cool China lighter Christmas present taken away. :(
"You will have to claim your bags in Beijing."
"Why?"
"Because you changed your flight."
No... You did...
Rush to security.
Take off the knee brace.
Put it back on.
Rush to the gate.
Fly to Beijing.

BEIJING
Practiced over and over on the plane saying, "I have 3 large bags, my knee is bad, can you help? in Chinese.
Finally, after trying it on 3 people I found someone who spoke some Chinglish and helped me.
Went to check in.
"You're too early."
Okay... lugged 3 large bags, 2 carry-ons, and a child around for an hour.
Checked in.
Took off knee brace.
Put it back on.
Was asked to take all my change and keys out of my bag and re-check.
Witnessed a limping bat almost give 2 people a heart attack.
The maintenance guy captures the bat in a bag and carries him off squealing.
I bought 2 waters for our 12 hour flight.
Went through the gate.
Surprise.
MORE security.
They took both brand new bottles of water and trashed them.
And the girl sitting beside me manged to sneak by with a beer.
Nice.

LOS ANGELES
Departed the plane 45 minutes late.
Tickets said to board in 45 minutes after our arrival.
Needed to claim my bags again.
Waited 15 minutes and never saw them.
Asked the lady in baggage what I should do.
She said, "Run."
Left customs.
Ended up by an elevator and a meeting room.
Interrupted the meeting and asked for help.
The manager said put her in a wheelchair and wheel her to the curb.
The knee brace paid off.
Finally.
They shuttled me to my terminal.
Found security which was a mile long.
The security lady let me go to the front.
Took off the knee brace.
No time to put it back on.
Looking for gate 44.
There's 42, 43, 45.... seriously?
Around the corner...  a sign.
Gate 44... take the escalator down to catch the shuttle.
Argh.
Caught shuttle at the time the plane was supposed to be departing.
Rushed to gate.
He looked at my tickets and then gave them back.
"Can we go in?"
"Oh, we haven't boarded yet."
Oh my word.
But "phew"!

ALBUQUERQUE
I am EXHAUSTED.
File a baggage claim.
Stay in a hotel.
Pick up bags the next day.

Our trip was "bu hao".  But we made it. We have our bags. Have already enjoyed great shopping, great food, and a great time with my parents.  Off to see the rest of the family in about 4 hours.  Yes, I should be sleeping.  But jetlag's gotten the best of me.

Here's to hoping our trip back is "hao"!

Em on "TV"!

I've always been told Emily should be on stage. From Gerber Baby to commercials, to entering her in photo contests, to trying her role as an actress. She has no interest though. She is set on being a cheerleader for her WHOLE LIFE. :)

But after her Reading Rainbow production in first grade, I at least can see news broadcasting in her future. Go Em! :)

*This is a video of her retelling a story using the "somebody, wanted, but, so, then" method.

 

 

 

She was sooo excited about this day.  She woke up saying, "I have to dress nice. I'm going to be on TV today!"

it's been an off week...

This week has been a little unusual for us.  In a full week, we've only been at school 2 and a half days.  School was called off at lunch time on Monday because of a mini blizzard!  I can't believe I didn't get pictures of this, but here's what remains a few days later....

Since we had a half-day, our Chinese friends invited us over for dinner and to help them set up their Christmas tree, "the way foreigners do".  We had originally planned to do it the weekend before, but it didn't work out, so we were excited that we had this extra time to hang out!

Everybody is watching me do the tree.  I eventually got them to join in!

Emily adding tinsel to the tree.

Joy and Emily playing "Hide and Seek"

After going back to school for 2 days, we found ourselves staying home for 2 days to fight off Emily's sickness.  She has a rough cough, a raspy voice, and a low fever.  We are hoping it subsides in time for her Christmas concert tomorrow!

She's growing so fast and acts like a little adult now, so I definitely soak up and take advantage of the time I get to "baby" her. 

Emily tried to set up our Christmas decorations 2 weeks before Thanksgiving!  I finally let her set it all up Thanksgiving night.  Just 2 more weeks and we get to do this with our own family... in AMERICA!

 

our Protector

Night time at our house has been really, really hard the past couple of months.  Emily has been struggling a lot with fear and anxiety, a mind that wanders, lots of questions and lots and lots of nightmares.

She worries about things like kidnappings and mommy dying.  She needs to know that I always come back and where she would go if anything happens to me.  My six year old knows what a will is and what's on mine.

There are several factors that play into this, but the hardest part has been figuring out the solution.  We pray and recite Scripture.  We tell the enemy to go away and we cry if we need to.

Every single night we pray for His peace and comfort and that He would protect her.  Protect us.

Tonight, as we were leaving a friend's house and trying to catch a taxi, a stranger tried to take my bag off my shoulder.  Emily turned around just in time to see his hand on my bag.  She told me right away, and as I turned around, he had turned around and walked about 5 steps the other way.  When I turned back around, Emily saw him walk towards us again.  Thankfully, we stopped a taxi at that very moment.  As I got in the taxi, I made eye contact with the man.  I knew he was guilty.  And he knew that I knew.

After telling the taxi driver where to go, Emily and I had this conversation:

Em: "Mommy, that scared me."
Me:  "It's okay to be scared.  But it's also really cool to see how God just protected us.  Even in situations THAT CLOSE, He protects us."
Em:  "Oh yeah... that's cool!  We should tell this story!"

Teachable moments...

He is God, our Protector.

our mini staycation

This week was a holiday in China.  October break is similar to the 4th of July. In addition, China also celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival. And as a result, we got a week off of school!

With the chaos of my knee adventures and the busyness of starting school, Emily and I were both ready for some R&R and some quality time together.

We rented a hotel room for 2 nights, here in Shenyang, where we enjoyed the swimming pool, a nice comfortable bed, bubble baths, sipping hot chocolate on the patio, taking walks (without my knee-brace, whoop, whoop!), western-style breakfasts, lounging in our pajamas, watching movies and eating pizza.  It was a fun and relaxing get-away for a reasonable price. :)  We both could have stayed another day!

The Maritim

The big, comfy bed!

Yummy breakfast

We had the entire pool to ourselves this day!

Sipping hot chocolate on the patio in our pajamas

Pizza, pizza, pizza... and a movie!

Enjoying a nice walk without my knee brace!

I love this little girl!

setting priorities

When I came across this title in my devotional this morning, I immediately started creating my priorities list in my head and before I knew it, the list was really long and a bit overwhelming.

But these words by Stormie Omartian simplified my list and helped me to re-focus this morning.  Hope they do the same for you!  It really should be this simple.

SETTING PRIORITIES

We can't live successfully without right priorities in our lives.  yet some of us try to do that every day.  Correct priorities are not something we can figure out on our own.  We have to be led by the Holy Spirit and have a clear knowledge of God's Word in order to understand what we should be.

Our two most important priorities come directly from the Word of God.  Jesus told us about them saying, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' " (Matthew 22:37-39).  If you maintain these two top priorities -- love God and love others -- they will guide you in setting all the other priorities in your life.

~God's Promise~

 

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

 

Matthew 6:33

the REAL knee update

No ice or freezer in the hotel, so Coca Cola it was!

So, unlike the the information in the knee update, this information is accurate to the best of my knowledge!

After about 10 days of the Cortisone, I knew the shot wasn't going to cut it.  It got me through the first week and a half of school, though.  So, for that, I am very grateful.  Unlike last year, I know the students I am lesson planning for, the teacher who is currently teaching my classes and the students know me, my rules, and my expectations.

This will make it a smoother transition to WALK back into my class next week!

Anyhow, the REAL knee update is this:  I was very fortunate to come across an American orthopaedic doctor who was visiting Shanghai for a week.  He was able to do my appointment, pre-op, surgery, post-op and physical therapy all within one week!  Unbelievable!  And I'm so grateful.

This guy has operated on Bill Clinton before, and members of Congress and Senate.  Figured I could trust him a little... ;0

He was able to see on the MRI that I had a condyle defect (or "hole") in my meniscus.  Originally, he wanted to take cartilage from somewhere else in my knee and fill the hole.  But once he got inside my knee, he realized the hole wasn't quite big enough, so he had to drill holes in my bone (ouch!) to form scar tissue over my condyle defect.  Basically, using the body to heal itself...  pretty cool.... but hurts like crazy!

He also found loose cartilage that he removed.  Oh, and a microfracture on my tibia.  So, I had been walking around on a broken leg.  No big deal.

Physical therapy has been going well.  I got a new exercise bike that I love and am trying really hard to get to where I can walk into the classroom on Wednesday!  Yesterday, I walked around and up and down stairs WITHOUT crutches.  Happy Birthday to me!

I still have the fracture, which will have to heal on its own.  But, I'm on my way to recovery!  In the meantime, disregard most of what I told you about my knee caps, ligaments, etc. in the knee update.  It just simply isn't true.  And for that, I am also grateful!

 

Carol and Me
Carol has willingly been a fabulous
nurse to me on this journey! :)

 

Foreigner in a wheelchair--great photo op!

 

Jenny and Me
Jenny came to take Carol's place in Shanghai and has taken on the
role as my Physical Therapy Coach! :)

 

Emily came to visit me in Shanghai, and
of course, wanted a ride!

Thanks again to all you awesome people who are helping us through this!