Packing/Unpacking/Moving in a Day

How fast can you empty your apartment? How long does it take to organize the new apartment? Our organization is shrinking in size. We have moved from 4 apartments down to 3 apartments last semester. This semester we needed to downsize to 2 apartments. The apartment next to us has a balcony/patio which ours does not. It is not a matter of esthetics but rather that patios are used as storage, which is at a premium in Asian apartments. Therefore, we were told at 3 on Tuesday that we had permission to move next door. By 4 we started and with the help of 7 people had our apartment empty by 4:45!  When I had planned this move which we were vaguely aware of for a little while, I envisioned picking up something in my apartment, walking across the hall and putting it away immediately in the new location. …..This is not what happened. We had to be out of one apartment and signed out of that apartment and into the new apartment before night. We could not have 2 apartments in our name over...

Jet Lag/Sunday Morning Stream of Conscientiousness

Got a fair amount of sleep…considering jet lag. Very easy trip, even with the scare that we might have to pay $800 for checking luggage through, but I proved to them that our ticket said we were allowed 2 free check in pieces apiece. Guardian angels. Even my newly acquired walker made it to China. Arrived at 2:30 p.m. Beijing time. To the apartment by 4 and mainly unpacked our 6 suitcases.   Slept from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., then back to bed at 1 a.m. Now up at 4: 30 a.m.....thought it was 5. Just jet lag. Wondering if my bike is going to work. Thinking about going to the vegetable man who brings a truck close to our apartment on Tuesday and Sunday mornings. It is cheaper, but I never connect with him, but maybe this morning, because I have to conserve money until our first paycheck. Wondering if my bike is going to get me to church and knowing that Rick's bike is kaput and wondering how he is going to get to church, about a 2-mile walk. (The bike was in bad shape before we left and n...

What We Remembered Sitting in Church This Morning

As we were sitting in church in SC this morning, I suddenly remembered that it is our 46 th wedding anniversary! I also realized that this is not the first Sunday morning that the realization that we have forgotten our anniversary has happened. Doing some calculations, it must have been 6 years ago today at Crossroads Bible Church in Panama, that Pastor Steve and Heather Gunn greeted us with anniversary congratulations ….and we realized that we had forgotten. (Good memories of times spent in Panama flooded.) Of course, then I proceeded to forget again until right now in the late afternoon that it is a special day and to announce it on FB. Obviously, we do not make a big deal out of these kinds of events. (I told Paul that we wanted a big shindig on our 50 th in 4 years. He asked, “Where?” and we are a bit stymied to answer that.) However, just because we do not celebrate excessively does not mean we take our marriage for granted. We do deeply love each other. I know that we are...

Guardian Angels

Thought you might want an update on the Avalanche. We had the brakes checked out. It took 5 minutes for the mechanics to call Peter back and say the brakes were completely shot….to the point that the pads were gone and the calipers were the only things left that were stopping the car. It was spraying brake fluid every time we hit the brakes. When I told the mechanic that my husband had driven it for 10 hours yesterday from PA to SC, he praised certain parts of Rick’s anatomy. That may be true, but also I assured him that really we just had very good Guardian Angels. It cost as much to fix the brakes as we paid at auction for the truck. No idea why this series of events has happened. Peter is over his initial shock and is quite pleased now. I think there must be reasons and that God blesses our blunders and protects us from our own ignorance. We are in the last week before we return to China. Just a few things to cover now. One suitcase packed. Three more to look at and decide. ...

The Devil Made Me Do It

The Devil Made Me Do It (Disclaimer: This is just a title. I am fully aware that the devil never “makes” us do anything. He might tempt us, but it is our choice to succumb. However, having given that disclaimer, I do kind of feel like it right this minute. Haha) Living the lives that we have lived and the limited income that we have always had, our version of impulse buying is whether we settle for the regular size of M and M’s or go for King size. And if we are really daring we might get M and M peanut, rather than plain. Therefore, I find it completely outside our realm of experience to have made the impulse purchase that we made on Tuesday. We just felt like making a “dream come true” for our second son, Peter. We often have talked that one of his dreams is to own a double cab pick-up. Well, we have these really clear memories of enjoying going to the auto auction 20+ years ago when we lived in PA and how cheaply one could get vehicles there. We went to the auction sit...