Water anybody??

 

Many of you know from my weekly e-journal that our running water has been shut off for some unknown reason.  One day it was off for 12 hours (retuning at 11:00 pm... turned off again by the time I woke up at 6:00)  and about 5 hours the following day.  I was beginning to wonder when our next shower would come... when our dishes would be washed... or better... when we would be able to flush the toilet. 
As soon as it came back on Wes said "Avery, grab your towel... water's back on"  We got a quick shower not knowing when the next one would be.  I thought it would be wise to wash the dishes that were beginning to pile up.  I filled our bathroom sink with water and brown water comes out.  After saying-- "GROSS I just showered in that"... I thought to myself... the dishes can wait :)  I did fill up two buckets for flushing the toilet ... just in case we had another 12 hours without water.
I never thought about hoarding clean water... but maybe it is a good idea :) 

 

Meet Terence

This is our friend Terence. Wes met him one Friday night and they exchanged numbers. Last night he came over for his first Western dinner. He ate and ate and ate... until he said "I am up to here" (motioning to his head :)
He is a great guy. I asked him what he liked to do for fun- he said something like-- reading, hanging out with friends... and then shopping :) He said- sometimes when I feel sad, I will go shopping, buy some things and then feel better. Love it :) I taught him "retail therapy" So... since he loves shopping and I love shopping... we are all going out shopping. Wes is a good sport... and a new handbag is in my near future.

Monsoon Season

We are in the midst of Monsoon Season here in South Central China. Last year, I think that we had a very light "rainy" season... but this year we are in the middle of 3 weeks straight of rain. This isn't any normal rain either... it is a soaking, open-sewer-overflowing, get-your-pants-wet-up-to-your-knees, mud-puddle jumping, rats-swimming-down-stream... rain. So needless to say... Parker and I haven't left the house much (or at all really) What does our day look like...
After Parker's first feeding, he goes back to bed. I have made it a bit of a habit to get up and get my day started. I start by spending some time in the Word.

Then I get my workout going. I have been doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, but I just added Billy Banks to my exercises just to mix it up a bit.

My goal is to shower and get ready before P wakes up again.

After that... play time. It is a mix of reading books to P, singing songs, dancing, tummy time... you know all the fun things you do with a 6 month old. Of course with eating and nap time in the middle of all the play. Nap time is my time to do some cooking/baking, catch up on e-mails, clean the house, wash laundry and check out pinterest :)

This past weekend, Wes and I did get one of our teammates to watch P, so we could run to the DVD store. My mom and dad sent an amazing packaged filled with tons of goodies... included - movie candy. We had a home date (after P was in bed) of a movie marathon. I would give any high recommendaitons... but we saw- Jack and Jill and Big Year... all while eating our favorites.

Cancer Milk??

A little bit about our common life here in China.
The month of February, Wes and I have been living on a mao (or a dime) Our school couldn't pay us income on-time for some reason or another... so we have been pinching our jiaos (coin monies) We didn't go to the big supermarket- but rather bought items as we need them (right before cooking) around our apartment. A couple times I sent Wes out with a list of veggies and then sometimes a box of milk... followed by - NOT THE CANCER MILK :) haha. I am sure this is NEVER a phrase you have used in America, the UK or Australia, but it has become a common phrase in our house :) haha.
Why you might ask?? What is this cancer milk??
Recently there was a new story about one of China's largest suppliers of milk ... the milk has been tainted with cancer causing toxins. YIKES.
Check out the story-
Cancer Milk story

We almost had heat...

One of our "space heating" units is a big tower that sits inside... and connects to a box on the outside of the window. Once our breakers started working... the "box on the outside" stopped :) haha. We almost had warmth. There was a THICK layer of ice all around the coils. While Parker was napping, Wes and I dumped buckets and buckets of warm water on the coils in hope to melt the ice. After about an hour of water pouring, we were able to get the ice off in chunks. Then... happy day :) we have warm air blowing again. I am so thankful for a husband that can fix things -- even Chinese things :)

What we came home to...

I have noticed recently that the most adorable little boy in the world has taken over my blog. :) We are still in China :) so I thought I would share a story about our Chinese home.

We were in sunny hot beautiful Thailand where the average temperature was 85 degrees for a little bit. (I mentioned before we have our Annual Company Conference in Chiang Mai)
We came back to Hengyang to a temperature of 40 degrees and rainy outside. The school requires us to unplug all electronics while we are gone... so the temperature inside was 41 degrees F.
So... you might be thinking- plug the house back in and get it warm. We are below the Yellow River- we don't have central heat but we do have space heaters. We plug them in and start to knock of the chill when the power goes off.
That is where these pictures come into play...



These beauties are the breakers outside our door (in the stairwell) Wes went out to flip the breaker and it wouldn't flip. Wes is a super amazing man that can fix anything... but here in Hengyang-- there isn't a Lowes Home Improvement or Home Depot or even a Brukes Brothers Hardware. We called for a repairman- he was suppose to be at our house in the "late morning" 2:00 pm rolls around- we all have on layers of clothes and Wes decides take things into his amazing fix anything hands. He shuts off the power to the whole apartment complex and removes the breaker. About 20 minutes later... he comes back with the right parts. Just about the time he has it all put together - the repairman shows up. End result all the same- we have power :)