China Training Night

It was Robert’s birthday. David sang the birthday song for Robert as soon as he opened his eyes. I wish my eyes were cameras so that they could catch and keep all the vivid images of my husband each every morning. Before that invention, they had only to be stored in my heart prints … forever.

The student in Shihezi University in my home town emailed that she was so glad to see our wedding pictures. That was the first western wedding pictures she’s ever seen. David and I met her while we were on the university campus last summer. Her major was Russian. But she can communicate well in English too. She asked many questions about our life and experiences in America. We thought it was a great opportunity to reach out to her.

I opened the box Amy delivered to us. It was a box of baby magazines and other stuff! Fang gave us the same baby magazines too. It seems like American Baby is the most popular one. I can’t wait to read all of them. Before the mail man left the mail room, I dropped off the subscription for American Baby magazine.

During the lunch hour, I went home and put the marinated ribs into the over of 250 degree. By the time we came home from work, the delicious smell filled every corner of the house. David made the BBQ beans and the vegetable pancakes. I made the Asian salad and the orange cake. We had planned to make the potato salad. But I saw the potato skins turned green. They were toxic already. So I threw them away. Leslie, Donna, Mary and Ted came at 7:00pm. We had a great dinner together. Everyone liked the ribs and the vegetable pancakes. The Asian salad was still David’s favorite. We moved over to watch the China trip training DVDs after the dinner. All the reading sessions on the DVD tonight were acted by David and me (recorded back in September last year). It was wired to watch ourselves acting in the DVDs. We decided to meet two more times before the trip. After we finished the training, I was too tired to clean up the kitchen. Bobbie had asked me to take the prune juice before bed to improve the constipation and heartburn. I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

Running Errands

Heidi called at 11:00am to have lunch together. She dropped by my office by 11:35am. We went to a Chinese restaurant 3-6-9 BBQ for lunch. I haven't seen Heidi for a long time. She's been busy with her work and study. As soon as she finished her CPA exams yesterday, she was ready to eat out with me. We caught up with the news in each other's lives. She was so excited that she will be an aunt soon! "Changes" was the only word that describes our lives the best.

David came home a little later than usual because Dad met him and dropped off a box from Amy. I came home late too because several co-workers asked about the pregnancy on my way home. We decided to eat out, pick up the laundry and shop for the grocery tonight. Eric called while we were picking up the clothes. He just finished feeding the homeless at downtown area. David and I stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. We both loved the noodle dishes there. Right after we sat down, Hollis' wife Amy called. She just had a major surgery and stayed at home. We were very happy to hear from her. She heard about our baby news and wanted to share her joy.

It was 8:30pm after we finished the grocery shopping. David called Sue because she emailed us that her blood test didn't come out with good results. We appreciate her caring for us although she is struggling with her health each day. David and I prepared for the dinner for the China trip training at our house tomorrow night. We are going to have ribs, potato, beans, and vegetable cakes! I was tired after all the preparation and went to bed right at 10:00pm.

Blessed Sunday

Robert's Birthday is coming. We thought about what to do for him. But we will be busy on Sunday night, Monday night and Tuesday night. Finally we decided to give him a gift card at his favorite restaurant.

Our baby news spreaded very fast on Sunday. Everyone asked about our China trip. We had to explain that we cancelled it and we are expecting our baby. It was a joy to see the big smiles and experience warm hugs from everyone. All the people sitting in front of us, besides us, and behind us knew the news. All the single friends heard about it. And most of the Friendspeak workers and our Sunday class got the news. Paul came over and said Tuesday night Bible study at George's house prayed for us. Everyone we saw began to ask me how I was feeling. We were so blessed! We were also happy to know that Debra and Lance found their new house in McKinney. They will move in next weekend.

Maggie didn't come to Friendspeak. Hongyu couldn't come either. Both David and I studied with two new comers. I enjoyed reading with Casey very much. She came from Shan Dong province, where Heidi and Xuan came from. Xuan and Dawn happened to sit next to us. I introduced them. They became friends instantly. Since it was the first session for Casey, I told her about the structure of the Bible, the authors of the books we were going to read, etc. She was so excited when I gave her an Easy-to-read Bible. David had a great time with his new reader too. We both wished we could continue to study with them, but I guess both Maggie and Hongyu will come back next week... We didn't catch Robert and Gail for the Birthday gift. On the way home, we saw their car in church parking lot. David put the gift back on the front hood. Hope they would see it when they came out of the church.

We dropped by Owana's house and gave her the DVD. She gave us some pecans. We were very glad to hear that someone is going to come over to mow the lawn tomorrow. Otherwise, David and I were thinking to do that for her - the grass was out of control already. While we were standing outside, Bill's dog came to the front fence waggling his tail. David had pity on him: He must miss Bill badly ...

Another Day To Rest

We met Brian and Shawnda for a late lunch at Angiono's at The Colony. We told them the baby news. I liked the taco and the hot sauce we had. No wonder it was Brian and Kendall's favorite place to eat.

I rested for the whole afternoon. It was a long nap. I had no idea that David came in three times to check on me. After dinner, we wanted to go shopping at the mall. We went to the Motherhood Maternity and bought a couple of shirts. It was a good exercise for me.

I've been sleeping with the body pillow these days. I feel better with it. But not completely comfortable since the two sides were too thick for me. David gave me an idea of taking some of the stuff out of the pillow case. I will try that!

David and I had our first water melon this year. It was so sweet and juicy! We totally loved it.

A Long Friday

Last Sunday Maggie and I studied the cruxifiction of Jesus. She's finished the book of Luke, Acts. Now she is close to the end of John. I figured she has some basic knowledge about the life of Jesus. This week, I'd like to find some material to support Jesus' death and resurrection was predicted and part of God's will. In my mind I always thought Isaiah 53 is the chapter that talked this most. But after my reading, I found out so much more in Psalms. I couldn't wait for Maggie to read my handout this Sunday.

Barbara Cooper from church office called that Owana wanted a video copy of our wedding. I promised to make one for her. Later on Bobbie called to check on me. She was so caring and sweet. I just broke the news in the office. Everyone came over to hug me and congratulate. So I don't have to talk about my pregnancy with a low voice any more. My manager was so nice to let me go home early if I don't feel well. I think I'm feeling better than a couple of weeks ago. The only things bother me now are heart-burn and constipation. These too will be temporary! David is still taking excellent care of me and the baby. If there is a "Best Husband" ribbon, he sure deserves one!

We had planned to go to Mark Wood's surprise birthday party. But it turned out Mark was out of town. So we met Fred and Fang at Cici's after dinner. It was great talking to them. Fang loaded us with tons of baby information. They gave us some baby essentials, a heartbeat doppler, and a baby monitor. David went to the breakfast with guys early this morning. By the time we got home, we both were tired.

Dad's visit and Accountability meeting

Fang called in the morning that all the rice and wheat products raised high prices. I haven't done grocery shopping for a long time. So that was news for me. David has been taken care of the grocery. I mentioned one day that Kiwi has more vitamins and minerals than apple and grape. He bought some kiwis from Kroger right away! I was so moved by his thoughtfulness.

Due to the back pain and the swellness of my leg, I tried to walk around after sitting for about an hour. While I was taking the routine walk in the other side of the building, a guy walked by me. He smiled and asked, "Are you Wendy?" I said yes. He said he heard of me from Amy and Wes. His name is Jeff from Greenville Oaks Church of Christ. He was in the same small group as the Wilson's. I asked whether he know Lori and Billy. He did but not very well. I was glad to meet someone in the office who goes to the same church as my friends. I asked him to say Hi to Amy and Wes when they meet again.

Dad came in the afternoon. David went home to open the door. I had half an hour before the accountability group meeting. So I dropped by the house after work. We left the house at the same time. David and Dad went to have the dinner at Fish on Fire. I met the girls at Corner Bakery. Kyri pulled her nerve on the neck so she didn't make it to the meeting. We were happy to see Melissa back. Her little Jason was born a few days before Chloe and he experienced the same thing as Chloe. I broke the news of the baby. All the girls were so happy! The topic of the night turned to Baby things naturally. We didn't start our goals until 9:00pm! Angela was so sweet to remember my birthday and Dawn's birthday. She gave me a recipe organizer and a iTune gift card. I can't wait to use them!

When I went home, David and Dad were in the front yard. They had a great time. Dad told me that when he arrived, a UPS driver just delivered a box from Target. It was the body pillow I ordered from Target with our gift card. I opened it right away. David enjoyed so much playing the light music recently. I told him he could play at the foyer in the 5-star hotel! I mean it. He played so beautiful! He said he wanted to write down the notes and compose some Christian songs. That would be great!

In The Begining

Cathy sent an email about the wedding picture album. They had visited the studio in Beijing and picked a package for themselves. But the price for our album is 10 times more expensive than what the studio originally quoted because we didn't take the pictures at the studio. David and I decided to do the album later, when we have time to shop around in Beijing. It's just expensive to try it without knowing what the album would look like. Cathy said Annabelle and Richard's mom were sick in Beijing. They've been to the hospitals twice already! I can imagine the hassle of taking care of two sick people at a place far from home. I pray that they will be healthy and have fun for the rest of the vacation!

The hospital bill came in. That reminded me of my medical insurance. When I picked my insurance, I thought I would only see the doctor once or twice a year for checkups. But now, things changed. I hope there is a way to change my plan, although it's not very likely.

David's reader couldn't come to the Friendspeak. We decided to go to the IMPACT fellowship across the street from us. Matt Martza just started the series on God's creation. The video was very short, but very powerful! It was my first time (David saw it before) to hear the voices of the astronauts in Apollo 8th reading Genesis 1 across the space to the whole world!!! They were the smartest of the scientists and all they could say and do when they were in the space was to read Genesis 1 on God's creation! In the begining, God created the heavens and the earth ... My eyes were in tears! Our God is great!

After the class, David and I talked about using movies and videos in our Friendspeak teaching. We talked about that before. But we'd really like to implement that soon! Video + Text are powerful! David said that we are all farmers with unlimited supply of the seeds from God. We either plant the seeds or water the plant. Farmers are our occupation! I have seen how much David enjoys the vegetable garden; And I saw how much he enjoys farming on people. He is a good farmer!

Sick Day

I didn't sleep well last night because of the stomach pain. I figured maybe it was because I took in too much acid from the dinner: tomato in the cabbage dish, tomato noodle ring soup, and the orange juice. That just added to the heartburn and constipation problems I already had. David made the breakfast as usual. I ate all of them plus the rice soup. The stomach didn't get much better. So I called the office and took a sick day.

I stayed in bed for most of the time. But I could tell it was beautiful outside. I was tempted to open the windows to let a little more light and the fresh air into the house. But one side of the neighbors was doing some carpenter work in the yard. The noise dismissed the idea of opening the window. Actually I had to close the door of the bedroom to block some of the noise. Around 10:00am, the other side of the neighnors dropped by to fix the sprinkler head in our front yard. He didn't expect to see me at home. I was very thankful that he replaced the sprinkler head without any labor charge.

I got up at 3:30pm and began to cook. I was very encouraged that David liked the healthy vegetable dishes. We took a nice walk after dinner. David continued working on the vegetable garden. He bought more hardware from Lowes to divide the grass and the vegetable areas. I stayed in and read for a while. Robert Stolte called David that Gene Vance will be out of the town for a couple of weeks. He was looking for someone who can substitue Gene to teach the International class while he is gone. I told David that he can do that! I know he can! The stomach pain was gone by the end of the day. We thanked God for His healing power and for meeting all of our needs!

Food and Teeth

I got up a little bit early this morning. I called my sister in China. She will buy a radiation proof dress, a couple of maternity dresses, and an early education CD for me. We talked about the food, especially MSG's effect on people. She said more and more Chinese take MSG out of their diet now. But in restaurants and food stores, it's still difficult to find one without MSG. I didn't realize what MSG could do to people until I read this article from an interview: http://www.naturalnews.com/z020550.html Then I opened my freezer and looked at the ingredients of my favorit dumplins, vegetable buns, etc. All of them has MSG! When I told her that I have a dental appointment tomorrow. She said many pregnant women in China avoid seeing the dentist during the pregnancy. I did some research afterwards. The experts said dental cleaning is very important for pregant women since it's easier to accumulate plaque during pregnancy and any gum infection could lead to preterm or small baby. But they recommend to do the teeth cleaning during the second trimester. So I rescheduled the teeth cleaning to June. Now I'll have to be more diligient in brushing and flossing every day!

David worked on the garden after dinner. He enjoyed it so much! All the vegetable plants were moved from the cups to the garden area. They looked very healthy! After that, we went to the Plano library to return some Chinese books and renew one that David liked the most. Later that night, I thought about Owana. How can we let an eight-year-old lady to mow a big yard full of tall grasses! I wouldn't let my grandparent to do that, not to say someone who just lost her husband. David and I came up an idea to ask friends to pitch in and hire someone to mow her lawn. Hope it won't take long to carry out that idea!

Busy Sunday

David and I got to church a few minutes early. We met the Romanian family who are going to treat the son in Dallas. They live with Gayla and David right now. The son was in the wheel chair. He went to the Children's class with Gayla. His parents and other relatives came with us to the International Bible class. We enjoyed having them in the class.

Before the class started, I ran to the fellowship hall to give Alice the gift I had for her. Phil and Rebecca waved at me. Their Moscow team was here. I wished I had time to meet everyone before they headed out to Searcher's class. The David (Nelson) we met before came over and said:" I want you to meet my wife. Maybe we can visit after church." Unfortunately, we didn't have time to talk to them after church. Robert and Gail had invited us for lunch at their house. We had a delicious lunch: chicken, salad, corn, broccoli, biscuit, and apple pie. David worked on Robert's speaker for a while. We had to leave to visit Owana at 3:00pm. Owana looked great. She still exuded elegance in her face and voice. David noticed that her lawn needed to be mowed. It definitely wasn't her priority yet. We had to run for the China meeting with Gary and Danita. During the meeting, we told them that we wanted to postpone our trip. I was almost pursuaded to change my mind. But I thought about the pros and cons list I had and sticked to the decision. It was hard to do that. I know it was especially hard for David. Later on, we talked about "living in fear v.s. living in faith". I found it hard to apply my faith in this situation.

Before our meeting was finished, our readers already showed up. We started FriendSpeak right away. Maggie asked me:"Why did Jesus say that 'you didn't choose me. But I chose you'?" "What did Jesus mean when he said 'the Father is in me and I'm in Him'?" We had a great discussion on prayers afterwards. George said someone was looking for me and David. I thought it must be Heidi's boy friend Hongying. He planned to visit Friendspeak today. But we didn't see him. I hoped he didn't leave because we were busy. Igor and Natasha dropped by and gave David a Russian chocolate that someone asked them to take to David. Bobbie and Ling came over to talk. It was nice to see them holding hands all the time. Bobbie is great with her readers! They encouraged me to eat well and rest well.

We had dinner with Ted and Mary at Taco Bueno. They were very excited about the China trip. Maybe they will go with us to China again next year.