permeate

last weekend jarred and i went away for a couple day and spent the weekend with over 150 middle and high school students from the states and lots of other countries to hang out, listen to this guy speak, process life together, and do a lot of crazy games that i forgot high school kids did. it was awesome. i loved the whole thing. here are some pics. i hope we get to go next year too!

our friend zach was in the band.

our friends josh and roger led the band. (feeling like groupies at this point.)

the lake and mountains at the resort.

chad was a counselor all weekend too and has a natural talent for making serving pizza fun.

they stocked the leaders room with lots of caffeine to help us keep up with the high schoolers.the kids.

jarred getting a paper done during a break.

zach and chad= lots of fun.

oh, and they also fed the leaders great snacks!

the faithful, creative, and very organized leaders.

loved. it.

we bought a van!

driving out of the showroom.

they don't take credit cards here. or do car loans. $5,000 in cash. (33,000 in local currency).

us in the one we now own.

looking on the lot.

the sales people.

us in the car.

chad and kristy spent the day helping us look for a van. they are incredibly encouraging and patient and were amazing to have along. oh, and it also works out that chad knows everything about every car imaginable and helped us pick the best one for the best price. wonderful friends! we are so so thankful for them. oh, but this picture is chad and jarred, not chad and kristy :)

this is our new karry yo-yo bread van. we actually are driving in the chaos that is asian traffic. despite the fact that it has an engine the size of an american lawnmower, this van will carry 7. it has been awesome to have over the past week and a half! and it has already led us into a new level of bureaucratic red tape in this country, but i'll let jarred blog about that. we love it! well maybe jarred doesn't love the idea of driving a van, but we are so thankful for it. and so thankful for the provision to be able to get this van. we look forward to using it to bless many others out here as well! and yes, it is named a yo-yo. go figure.

sunshine

the blessing of living at 6,000 feet:
multiple mornings this week i have gone running in pants and a long-sleeve t-shirt. but as the sun warms this place up, i am wearing flip flops and a t-shirt in the afternoon. and the evening has been perfect for a walk or tennis or dinner on our porch in shorts and a t-shirt. asians here hate being in the sun because it makes their skin dark. i am just thankful we live in a place with sunshine because most cities here don't have it.

jarred's birthday

on wednesday my man turned 29! we had birthday cinnamon rolls with breakfast and for dinner we headed to this awesome hibachi place with our great friends josh and danielle!

jarred rocking his new yun nan hat and bangkok krispy kreme t-shirt :)

fun birthday dinner with friends.

what a wonderful day to celebrate the man i love more than anything in the world. jarred, thanks for being so wonderful. so glad i get to walk through life with you and enjoy the great blessing you are :)

trifecta birthday

february is birthday extravaganza with our foreign friends here! danielle turned 28 on the 19th, jarred turns 29 on the 23rd, and lindsey turns 23 on the 25th. so sunday night we all went out for italian. danielle is the master cake-maker over here, but since it was her birthday, her husband josh and i (as jarred's wife) stepped in to make the desserts. josh made a strawberry cheesecake. and i made a chocolate cake (thanks, laura, for bringing the mix from trader joe's) with chocolate ganache filling, and almond-flavored frosting. since all 3 birthday-ers are tar heels, jarred suggested an old well cake. i thought that meant just the old well until jarred printed off a picture with trees and bushes and said you couldn't have the old well without them. and since my birkman art score of 3 out of 100 validates my lack of natural talent, jarred helped me decorate his own birthday cake. and i think he did a pretty incredible job :)

cookies

me: "hey, can i borrow the computer for a minute? i want to find a new cookie recipe to make to take to the shelleys' tonight."
jarred: "WHY? chocolate chip! chocolate chip! when you already have the best cookie ever, why do you need to go find a new one. it is like driving a porsche and then one day saying you want to try something different and getting a ford taurus. the only time there is a reason to make an inferior cookie is at christmas and that is only because it has become a tradition to make inferior cookies then. no other time is there any good reason. chocolate chip."

for dessert tonight we ate chocolate chip cookies.

Lantern Festival

last night ended the spring festival here. the 15th day of the new year is the official close of the celebration, and what better to close a festival than another festival. this one- the lantern festival. last year 2 of our local neighbors had us over and made us the customary food for the lantern festival and then we went and shot fireworks. since one of our friends almost shot his head off (seriously, folks) we opted out of the fireworks this year. and we had a party instead!
a couple we are friends with that lives in the town near us came over early to help me make dumplings. even though i have learned this a number of times, the wife showed us how to fold them shut after stuffing them with the meat and veggies mixture and my friend lindsey and i thought we were doing great when the wife came over and then declared to her husband that we were doing it COMPLETELY wrong. not just wrong, completely wrong. i wondered out loud if she forgot that i could understand or if she was just that exasperated. at 6 everyone else showed up for dinner, jiaozi (dumplings) and tangyuan (i'll let you look at a picture and guess). it was a packed house with 24 people, but it was so. much. fun. i really love every person who came and am so thankful that we have been blessed with such amazing relationships with local people here. one of our favorite appearances was our friend Will who introduced us to tangyuan at last year's lantern festival, is a dear friend, and just moved back to the area. max was excited to see him again too. maybe even as excited as he was to see max! we capped off the meal with an ingenious idea from danielle. dessert dumplings! instead of meat and veggies, these were stuffed with cinnamon apples. instead of boiled or fried, these were deep fried. and instead of being dipped in a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar, these were rolled in cinnamon sugar. the best jiaozi ever! some of the asians thought they were strange, but we didn't care, it was the best "asian" dessert i have ever had! leave it to north carolinians to come up with asian deep-fried apple pies. yum! and perfectly on time at 9 pm, the fireworks commenced and we saw a show worth thousands in america right from our porch. i love asian holidays and i love asian friends!

super bowl monday? and tuesday?

last monday morning our neighbors ryan and lyndsay came over and the 4 of us watched the super bowl. or at least most of it since it started at 7 am here. needless to say, we didn't have wings or chips and dip as we watched the game. what we did have, however, was asian broadcasters since we watched it on cable tv here. one of the first plays we saw was a third down and one and as soon as they snapped the announcer yelled "NOPE" "SURELY YES." we still aren't sure if he immediately changed his mind about whether they got it or not or whether he had no idea what was going on. considering that no one in this country knows the rules to american football, the announcers for the most part did a decent job. although someone should maybe mention to them that declaring every play "BEAUTIFUL" is not necessary and 30 second periods of complete silence are unacceptable. and while we didn't get to see the commercials (although i did youtube the vw kid later and that one was super cute), we did get the halftime show. at first i was surprised, but then as i thought about "performances" of any kind are the biggest deal ever and people seriously LOVE them. i am pretty sure they aired the super bowl here only because of the halftime show. anyways, i for one am not ashamed of my great appreciation for the black eyed peas, so i enjoyed the show as well.

all that to say that tonight we are re-watching the super bowl. no, this isn't normal. but for the past 2 weeks our friends aaron and stacy have been in the woods somewhere using gps to tag apricot trees (well, in a nutshell). and aaron happens to be a huge green bay fan. so we all headed over to daniel and harrison's living room for a delayed super bowl party complete this time with chili and a green bay packers cake. jarred helped me figure out the G for the cake and do it all. so thankful i have a husband with great attention to detail because that is definitely not one of my strongest points.

working on the cake.

stacy and me with the G! love her and am so glad we are in the same time zone again!

the finished product!

the players were lifesize.

this is why daniel and harrison host most of the movies we watch. it is seriously like being in a theatre in their living room.

the gang watching the game.

cute jarred enjoying the chili.

our host daniel faithfully sat in his Bears chair the entire game.