My first adventure

Hello again!
Hope you Michiganders all enjoyed your snow day yesterday. Seriously. 4 inches of snow and you got a snow day?? Pathetic. When I was a kid you didn't get a snow day unless the power was out and there was a solid foot of snow on the ground. :)

The weather here has been 40 and rain. Great, right? I'd WAY rather have snow. This business is miserable!

Anywho, I had my first adventure out in the big city today and I wanted to tell you about it. I was very brave. :)

Oh, one interjection. My friends here can atest to this and may think I'm a bit obsessed, but...you'll see. I cannot, for the life of me, find swim diapers here. Really. No one sells them. Well, I can buy a 12 pack for $30 but the Dutch in me won't let me do it. Now, my other problem is that I am also on my last swim diaper until the air shipment gets here and I'm not even sure I can access them until we get into our new place in a month. UGH! So...annoying... The next question you're probably asking is, what do they do with their babies here when swimming? Yes, I think you know the fantastic answer to that. They don't even use diapers. They just put a suit on them and when they poop they just scoop it out of the water and toss it aside and keep swimming. Yeeessss....so, I guess we won't be swimming for a bit.

Ok, back to my adventure. Today my friend, Laura, took me to the art district downtown. She had been single parenting it for a week and needed some grownup time. I love it when that happens. :) The art district is this great place that is really really old and full of all these little boutiques and restaurants. Here's a few pics of our fun-

This is right outside where you enter. You go through these arches on the left to get inside the district.

Above is one of the three entrances to the district.

That's Laura on the left going into one of the stores.

Above is me outside of this little Thai restaurant where we decided to eat lunch. Thankfully, Laura had eatten here before or I don't think I would have been so adventurous. :) I'm so glad we went, though, because we had some amazing food!! I had chicken pad thai, some rodi bread (fried flat bread with spice-good!), and some chicken satay with an amazing peanut sauce. Here are some pics- I had to... :)

So, after we had fully gorged ourselves we did a little more shopping and came across some really weird shops. This one was a bit scary-

Then we walked around a corner and saw this at the end of the street...

It actually says "I heart Dong Xi" which was the store right there but since the "Xi" was covered by a plant it was made to be much much funnier.
:)

We did end up finding a few stores with really cute stuff. I got Sophia a handmade fabric Chinese doll which she LOVES and some really cute dresses!

It was a good day and I look forward to many more like it!

Tomorrow we are trying out a new church that is WAY closer to where we live (Shanghai Community Fellowship was a 45 min cab ride away- Shanghai West International Fellowship has a bus that picks up at our development and is just around the corner! Still a Bible-based Christian church- the pastor is from North Carolina or something). Here's hoping this place is good bc it'd be nice to have a church close to home that doesn't interfere with Coop's nap! Then lunch, nap, and the usage of that sacred last swim diaper!

Dare I say life is good right now? Don't get me wrong- stuff is still hard (we're living off of restaurant food bc I'm still so scared of the meat), but I'm seeing a hint of that new normal I was needing to find. Routine is good and that helps. :)

We miss you all and were really glad to Skype with the Oostings the other day. Sophie had a show-and-tell at school and brought pics of her besties- Ava and Gerrit. It was really cute (they even beat out bringing blankie- that's huge!).

Prayer requests:
-We are in the process of trying to find an ayi. This is a nanny/housekeeper and pretty much everyone has one. They are usually Chinese or Phillipino women, some speak English, most don't. We would like one to accompany Cooper to and from school. This would save me 3 hours a day in car rides so I can get other things done. I am concerned bc some Chinese look down on the mentally disabled and I don't want anyone treating him differently bc of his autism. I have spoken with many moms that have ASD kids here and all have had very positive experiences but I'm still very protective and worried. Please pray that God places the right person in our lives that would be a good fit for our family. I'm excited about having someone here that can help me and the kids learn more about the Chinese language, culture and how to shop here, but I'm also a bit wary still...
-Please pray for Sophie and I. We are battling a lot lately- she is acting out A LOT and I'm not being patient enough with her. I know the adjustment to all-day, every day school (and just being here) has made her very tired when she gets home and there are daily tantrums and meltdowns that just drain me. Pray God helps me be more patient and understanding and to not lose it so quickly with her. :)
-Send praise to our God for answering our prayers- my headaches are basically gone and I have been breathing much easier lately. I literally felt better the day after my last post so I know He hears us and gives us what we need!

Thanks for reading and we'll talk again soon.
We love you!