Style
Check out the “shoes” of the guy behind Caden. When it’s cold people wear these “shoes” that look just like house shoes to me! I guess they are warm though. Why not? I bet we’ll be doing it in a year or two 
What’s for dinner?
After living here for 3 1/2 years and cooking/eating like the locals our tummies didn’t adjust so well to the richness of the food when we went back to the States over Christmas. This may give you an idea of the difference in the way Asians and Americans eat. Don’t get me wrong! We had some wonderful food when we visited over Christmas, but I do love my veggies and the freshness of every meal. The produce here is so diverse with tons of different fruits and vegetables! We really love it!
Broccoli, chives, greens, pork, eggs, peppers, onion, mushroom, tomato, sweet potato, ginger and garlic. This will become dinner.
The sweet potatoes get cooked with rice. Sometime we add corn or pumpkin.
Washed, chopped, and ready to start cooking. From here it will be quick. . . and in the end you just have the one pot (wok) to wash!
They love some Chinese food!
Garlic-pork-greens soup, broccoli and meat sauteed, egg and tomato sauteed, peppers-onion-mushroom-pork sauteed. All of the dished have fresh ginger, garlic and chives too, so they are full of flavor and goodness!
I think they liked it. . .
This little bit of leftovers will make a yummy stir-fry for lunch tomorrow too!
Don’t hate. . . but this meal cost about $1 USD. There are more expensive veggies and meat, but this is what I happened to have tonight
Pretty much a petting zoo :)
We went to pick strawberries with a friend and ended up walking through a nearby village afterwards. The kids were so excited because they got to see/pet/chase free roaming ducks, chickens, puppies, a horse, and cows.
Home for Christmas
We surprised our families and ourselves by making the last minute decision to go back to the States for Christmas. The question was brought up many times knowing that we missed our families and all of David’s brothers were getting together for the first time in 4 years, but we decided against it since our stateside is coming up in June. However, on December 22nd, we received a gift from my Mamaw Betty with an inviting and convincing email. With our supervisor’s blessing and everything taken care of, we left the next morning. It was a looooong trip there and a loooooong trip back, but the time there was worth it. We really just focused on quality time with family since the time was short. It’s special to have the kids remember and know their family that lives on the other side of the world. The memories that were made are priceless.
So thankful we were able to be in the picture this year!
The chef (affectionately known as Uncle Dale) who pulled out all of the stops. . .
Low country boil. . .
Lobster tail. . .
Prime rib and sirloin. . .
We celebrated January birthdays before we left. Uncle Dale turned 64 and Caden 4!
The kids got to experience the treat of Mamaw Betty’s famous breakfasts and strawberry jam!
Despite the lack of snow, their was somehow enough for not 1, but 2 snowmen :)
And a small snowball fight. It doesn’t snow here where we are in Asia, so the kids were excited!!
Games with the Miles cousins and Grandma!
From oldest (top) to youngest (bottom), 13 in all. Cort, Caily, Colt, Connor, Lexi, Jack, Carter, Kylie, Bria, Will, Caden, Colson, and Claire.
Cousin time!
More fun with Grandma!
Fishing. I think only 1 was caught. But they did sit by the poles for an entire day!
Thankful for warm enough weather to be outside every day and play in sand!
The older cousins finding fish bait
They all played together really well. Thankful for this time together.
Testing out the water. . .
Grandpa and Grandma Miles with the 13 grandkiddos
The Miles Crew – 23 in all. . . we had a week of quality time together before each going their separate ways
Some pics of our travels. On the way there we took a taxi, 2 trains, 3 subways, 1 bus, 2 airplanes, and drove a car (for the first time in over 3 years by the way – scary) 6 hours to West Virginia. It took 35 hours. The trip back was longer though. We flew out of Raleigh on Thursday morning and finally made it home on Sunday morning. That trip was a lot longer, plus we brought back way too much stuff (so our luggage was heavier and bigger), and Caden wasn’t feeling well (so we carried a barf bucket across the world too). Whew. Thankful for traveling mercies!
Christmas Continues in Asia!!
At our last Christmas party, a local friend we invited was also a Sister. She asked if she could borrow the skit I wrote out and the costumes for the Christmas Story because she wanted to do it with her 3rd grade class. She sent me pictures yesterday, and it turns out they did it as their end of semester performance this past Friday for the WHOLE SCHOOL :):) This is what I’m talking about. . . the Story is being heard.
Merry Christmas!!
Christmas Party #1
So, I have never made a gingerbread house from scratch until last week. I guess the kits were always available and affordable in the States. Believe me, I would have taken a kit over this task any day Some people love baking. I’m not one of those people. BUT, my friends wanted to do it, and they assumed I knew how (though I told them I had never done it just to clarify).
We made a BEAUTIFUL house that crumbled when we put it together. Thankfully, my American neighbor friend DOES love to bake and had just given me an EXTRA (yes, she made extra, whew) gingerbread house. So, the kids at least got to decorate that. Now, should they eat it? Honestly, all of that candy and sugar stresses me out. We shall see!
Dancing Lions
Just your everyday trip to school when you come across something this exciting I used to think these were dragons. I supposed they do have dragons too, but these they called lions. I stopped with the kids to watch for a few minutes and everyone stopped taking pictures of the show and started taking pictures of us. Oh dear.
Family pic failure. . .
Out of 20, this was the best one.
When I say “smile” this is what I get :)
There we go. . .
Classic. The many faces of Caden Luke.
My 8 year old baby boy!
He’s growing up!
Our spunky little girl who cried when I made her where this for pictures. She has a mind of her own.
This would have been decent if it were in focus. The rest speak for themselves.
