Excitement and fear

Boating

At Nine Ethnicities Park

Sam in cable car

He would have happily sat here all day if we'd let him

Last night I hung out with the Baptists across the street (they're the local English church, and they are always hospitable). There I met another American with an older kid and then two younger ones, almost the same age (one was adopted). He offered this folk advice: the transition to marriage was not hard for him, but adding a kid was a huge adjustment, adding the second was not bad, but going to three was the biggest change he's had. He suggested the type of bargain I've seen others make, where one parent is "on" for a night or two and then the other is on. He said you can only see hope if you know you'll get a good night's sleep eventually. He also said that initially they would sometimes each take a kid, but in the long run it was better to just have one parent take both children. This is sounding about right to me, even if it's a little depressing.

I know we shouldn't be this scared, but it's still a bit scary to think of the adjustment it will be. (I will also say that most parents of twins have said basically, "it will be as bad as you can imagine it will be.") I think I will have to rotate the following mantras: this isn't forever, we can ask for help, it's suffering now but then a lifetime of knowing each other... Any I missed? Our situation actually isn't bad. We're probably going to need to consolidate language study into blocks (5 hours 2x/week) and I'll have to figure out some ways to make the limited teaching better. Ok, enough of the frightened rant.

We just came back from two days of retreat, and it was a great experience. We went to a touristy destination, but were surprised that there seemed to be no foreigners. I'm not totally loving it when people take lots of pictures of Sam, but I guess if he doesn't mind it's not a big deal. He's gotten to the stage where if people are too touchy he let's them know. He learned to say "rain" and "boat" in Chinese on this trip, which were both good things. I got in some bonding with some pastors and their families. All in all, a good trip.