Baby Stats

OK, just a little update on baby Easton. We had another utrasound and with great UNcertainty our little one was once again declared a girl. Although, we don't have tons of certainty we are going with that. I am currently weeks along, and everything is going just fine. The Dr. said our baby was a little bit large, but I can't decide if that means that it's actually large, or just large in comparison to the 95 lb Chinese women that he's used to seeing. But I was a chunk so it could be actually large. I guess we'll just wait and see. (Sorry, no baby bump pics - I took some but they all seem so awkward). I recently heard a statistic that 80% of babies born in China are C-section, and that women often prefer it.

For this reason and others we will be having our kiddo in Thailand. The airline won't let us fly after week 36 so on Dec. 23rd we'll be leaving cold rainy China, and headed to sunny Thailand. Too bad I'll be way too preggo to enjoy it. Our due date is Jan. 17th, but like everyone we're hoping for sooner. My parents are going to be coming and I'm hoping for a little recovery time before they get there.

The only tricky thing is that we will be hosting a team of 10 volunteers around Christmas. The Father has blessed us with really capable team of students that have been here this past semester, so they will be running most of the show. Please pr@y for the Christmas season and all the volunteers that will be coming. Sorry this post is kinda boring, just wanted to give friends and fam. the low down on what's going on.

We are three

If you received our latest update you read a story about my friend Jessica. Here's a quick recap in case you missed it (PS - if you want to be added to our update list just let me know). A year and a half ago a student volunteer came to Jessica's campus and shared the Good News with her for the first time. A year later I ran into her, she started attending a Good Book study and heard the good news about six more times. Then her classmate invited her to come to his group where she accepted the Father. Woot. PS - Isn't it so great that the guy that really made it click for her was a young local brother?

Anyway... After a "delicious" meal at the school cafeteria Jessica suggested that the two of us go for a walk around the campus. We walked for a while and then she suggested we "have a sit." I said, sure and pointed to a cement bench and said how bout here? Then she looked at me and very seriously said. "That place is made for two and we are three." (Referring to the baby) Then she suggested an identical bench about 20 yards away from the first bench.

I started laughing and since she has a great sense of humor I accused her of calling me fat. She denied it and said I couldn't tell Mike that she called me fat "He is so tall, he will pick me up and yell at me." Oh what a funny girl.

Food Button

Yesterday were were talking with our supervisor about culture shock and he said something that explained it pretty well. We are all conditioned to expect certain outcomes based on our actions. He explained it this way...

So when you push the "food button", you expect to get your biscuit. When you go to another culture you push the food button but instead you get a kick in the pants.

mmm... so true.

Here's a quick list of Chinese Tips on Pregnancy

Nail polish is bad for health
Pigeon soup is good for pregnant
Make-up is bad for health
Computers and cell phones are bad for health - therefore one must always wear a protective reinforced smock when using electronics
The mother should not shower for 30 days after the birth of the baby
The mother and baby must stay at home for 30 days after the birth
Rubbing your abdomen too much will cause the child to be spoiled
Cold water is bad for health

Fun Fact this week someone offered me their seat on a crowded bus. It was a monumental day. I think it was almost as exciting as when we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time.

It's a Possibly!!!

On Thursday we had an ultrasound and the gender verdict is... drum roll... so much anticipation... can't wait to go shopping.... "possibly a girl." Huh. Possibly a girl. So I guess it's also possibly a boy then? The ultrasound technician was really friendly this time. I actually got to see the screen this time, and she answered my questions and explained things in simple Chinese, which we really appreciated. If we get a more definitive answer we'll be sure to pass it along. This is week 24 and the baby is healthy, so we certainly can't complain.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Woo Hoo! Mid-Autumn Festival = Holiday = No school, right? Well Sort of. The school gave us two days off for the Festival and then scheduled make up classes on Saturday and Sunday. Umm - yeah right, like the Easton's are gonna get up early on a Sunday morning and go to class. So far here, Chinese holidays have felt much like any other day, but this year I really enjoyed the festival. What is Mid-Autumn Festival? Well, it's based in lots of old stories, but when I asked my friends about it they basically said you eat a lot of food and watch the moon. It was raining so we didn't watch the moon, but we did invite a bunch a friends over and we did eat lots of food.


Once again, Mike mastered the art of indoor grilling. This time in the hallway of our building. All were wowed and amazed at his ham bao bao (hamburger) skills.


I make a killer jello cake from scratch for one of the guy's birthday, which Johnny proceeded to eat with chopsticks.





Another important aspect of Mid-Autumn Festival is moon cakes. Not to be confused with Moon Pies, which are delicious, moon cakes are sort of like a crumbly crust filled with miscellaneous thick jelly. Mike I decided that they are kind of like the Christmas fruit cake of America. Some of them are tolerable, most of are terrible, you eat them to be polite and you always have too many of them. Some of this years' moon cake flavors included, fruit (these are alright), egg, green bean, and kidney bean.

Oh Baby - 23 Weeks

Folks back home keep asking for belly pictures - which would be really strange if I weren't pregnant - Anyway it's time to give the people what they want. Here's the belly at 23 weeks



Also a picture of our little nursery - hopefully we'll be able to find out the gender at next weeks' appointment, and start decorating. At our 20 week appointment they did an ultrasound, but they weren't sure. Hopefully we'll know for sure next week when we go in again, but I'm not going to hold my breath. We'll pass it along as soon as we know. The nice thing is that an ultrasound in China only costs about 30 dollars so we can get them often.