Woe is me. I had a whole blog all typed up and that blog was deleted because I neglected to save it. This does not excuse the very lengthy amount of time since I last posted, but I’m still going to use it as an excuse, ha!

These past few months have absolutely flown by! The summer is over, fall has begun. Although, it still feels like summer and will probably forever feel like summer. I am, however, looking forward to the rainy season ending. I swear, every time Hez and I go for a walk, we get caught in a rain storm. I did learn today that the big mall by our apartment announces over the loud speaker when it starts raining, which I just think is precious, but it would be a lot more precious if they could do it maybe twenty minutes before the downpour hits so I can get home without a screaming, soaking wet child.

We just got done celebrating our first Mid-Autumn Festival! It’s a harvest festival that is apparently the second most popular holiday here, next to the Lunar New Year. It is celebrated with lanterns and moon cakes. I’m not really sure what most people actually do to celebrate, but we had a party with some friends and played a never-ending game of the human knot while stuffing ourselves with milk tea and mooncakes. If you’re wondering what a mooncake is… well i wish I could tell you, but I’m not really sure. It’s kind of like a mini pie, but add in some bean paste and a couple hardboiled eggs and there you go! A real asian delicacy! They really aren’t that bad though, I kind of enjoy them. Plus, they make some of them into the shape a piglets nursing from their mama pig so that makes them 384298x more cute (but apparently still extremely unhealthy according to the picture below).

Speaking of nursing piglets, Hezekiah is growing so quickly.  He’s a chunk and he loves to eat. He can now crawl! It’s crazy, one day he just started moving! He loves to chase the balls that he throws. He also loves cords. Anytime of phone charger or electrical cord. We probably need to do a better job of baby-proofing our apartment. He has five (!) teeth. Now that he has teeth, I think he looks more and more like I did as a baby (big ol’ buck teeth). He’s on a pretty good sleeping schedule and I just love that I can count on him sleeping certain times of the day. He’s such a good baby you guys. I just want to squeeze him when I think of how great he is. I have come to the realization that this is probably the easiest parenting will be. We’ve only got one of them, and he’s so little he can’t get too out of control yet.

This season of life is so unique. Hez is at a stage where I swear, he is changing and growing each day. Yesterday, Nathan and I were talking about what we want Hez to be like, like characteristics we want him to have as he grows up. Things like respect, inclusion, kindness etc. I realized if we want him to have those characteristics, we have to be displaying them for him. Raising a little human is such a gift, but man, it’s also kind of scary!

I cannot believe he is eight and half months old, and that we have lived here almost seven months! Living overseas is something that I have looked forward to for so long. I genuinely thought “ah, life will be great once we move” many, many times. & now that we are over here, I have found myself saying the opposite. If only I had more friends who were moms, or if only I had a Walmart (i’m an unashamed Walmart fan), if only we had a house. Oh, what I would do to go grab a mug of coffee at Shortwave, and sit with my friends and church and walk through a friends pregnancy with her, and be able to take Hez to the park and to have his grandparents come over to play with him… then I would be content!

I find myself constantly searching for the next great thing, instead of finding the great things in my current situation. I’m really good at figuring out things I would like to be different, but I’m really bad at taking the initiative and changing them.

My girl Maya Angelou said it so well— “We need much less than we think we need”  and what I need is Jesus. He is right here cheering us on. He is reminding us that we can keep going because he has gone before us. He shows me the most beautiful things about this place when I take the time to actually open my eyes. He is faithful and he is good and he calls us to do hard things, but he gives us strength to do them.

When my eyes get so fixed on what I have or what I don’t have and when I get to the point where I feel like I cannot go on anymore (I’m dramatic, I know). He reminds me that he is worth it. He always has been and he always will be.

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

My hope is not in anything this world can offer, my hope is in the grace freely given by Jesus Christ.

Here are some things I am loving in this season (because sometimes I need to stop and focus on the things I really really love in this current season):

• I love my Friday morning routine of heading to my favorite cafe for a while. Nathan watches Hez and I sip on my iced coffee while watching kids head to school. It’s great and restful and I love it.
• I love mornings with Hezekiah. Right after he wakes up I feed him and snuggle him and he just smiles and is the cutest baby ever.
• I’ve started plugging in my phone outside of our bedroom and I am loving actually spending time reading before bed. Books are great. I love them, and sometimes I forget that.
• I love watching HUGE rainstorms roll in from the safety of our apartment.
• I love my walks with Hez. We have a route we always take and I usually listen to a podcast (Risen  Motherhood, Cultish and Journey Women are my favorites right now) and it’s just great.

Here are some things that I miss this season (because I also want to share the hard things about living overseas):

• I miss driving a car! I miss being able to go wherever I want, whenever I want.
• I miss familiar foods. There are so many fresh fruits and veggies here, but I have absolutely zero idea how to cook a good chunk of them. I miss the ease of getting baby carrots instead of having to peel and chop them!
• I miss pumpkin spice (kinda funny, but kinda serious)‚ it’s apparently not a thing here!

Anyways, I just want to be real with y’all about what life is like raising a family overseas. I want you to know what I’m learning, and all that fun stuff! Here’s the best part of the blog—all the random pictures that probably more accurately display what life is like. Enjoy!

 

Thanks for reading this far! I’ll try and do a better job of updating this blog, no guarantees though. Shoot me an email  or a comment if you want to more about what we’re doing over here.