Land of Milk and Honey

We head out of China and home to Michigan twice a year.  FORD grants the Big Guy ‘home leave,' for 10 days to refresh and renew and not lose touch. So we book a flight well in advance and start planning.

Since we chose to keep our Michigan home during our three year assignment in China we maintain two homesteads. I'm sure you are not surprised that both are very different.

A community with tree-lined streets, big box stores, franchises, a few Mom and Pop places, neighborhood schools and places of worship surround our USA suburban ranch-style home. It's very comfortable there with a population of 100,000 living within 36 square miles/58 kilometers.

In China we rent a 6-level (I wish I was kidding) town home in an affluent gated community. That Nanjing home is just outside a vibrant urban sprawl & the activity of close to 7 million people.  We partake in an urban lifestyle that is markedly different than either one of us have experienced.  Taxis, scooters, street people, unusual smells and total traffic craziness is part of our everyday existence there. 

We literally have our feet planted and our toothbrushes perched in two opposing life experiences on two very diverse continents. Such a privilege.

Several of our Nanjing ex-pat friends sold or rented their homes before moving to China.

Therefore their home leave does not necessarily find them back in the
town they left.  Our choice of keeping our Michigan home has kept us feeling quite connected there. Luckily, our adult son returned from Arizona to become the caretaker of our largest tangible asset and it’s 27 years of memories. So we come home to a very familiar place.   We are fortunate.

Top 25 Things I've appreciated during this USA visit

• Family
• Friends and Neighbors
• Church
• Independence
• Blue skies
• White puffy clouds
• Sunshine
• Fragrant pine woods
• Lake Superior
• Breathtaking beauty of both Michigan and California
• Mackinac Bridge
• Mexican Restaurants
• Target-Home Depot-Fabric stores
• Hugs
• Beef
• Grocery Stores
• Chicken Tawook & Hummus
• Thunderstorms
• Current TV shows
• Clean public places and restrooms
• Being understood the first time I speak
• Uncensored emails and text messages
• Speedy internet
• Large capacity washer and dryer and so forth and so on…

Things I Miss About China

• The Big Guy
• Ex-pat friends and their wee ones
• Our dog Casey Marie
• Learning more about Chinese culture and its people
• Our Mandarin Lessons and our instructor
• Clean floors & bathrooms without expending my energy
• Super fresh produce at unbelievable prices
• Warm hellos from Chinese friends and co-workers
• and Yes, some of the local cuisine

While out and about this USA trip and driving or walking from place to place, I kept saying out loud to whoever would listen: "Drink it in!  Drink it in!"

Immediately I/we would look up, breathe deep and be "present" in that moment with our feet planted on US soil and the rich cool smell of clean air. We are grateful.

Like you have been told throughout your life...

Our Grand Niece and Nephew

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till its gone?"

Thankfully, "it" is not gone. The appreciation of home and life and those we

love on two continents is tangible and accessible.  This reality fills us up and
wells over on to the green grass and clear streams in the USA.  We are proud.

It has been a great home leave and I get to stay awhile longer and "Drink it in,

Drink it in." right here in the Land of Milk and Honey.

Let me be clear: Our non permanent privileged life in China ain't so bad either.

A few days after the Big Guy returned to Nanjing following a harrowing 48-hour escapade to get back to China I asked for a report on how he was really feeling.

He paused a moment and said, "Well you know, Carol, this is HOME, too."

And he is so right... 

 

Thanks for Reading,

  

Cricket

A Few Highlights from our Home Leave                                < photos-AJD-RCJ-CEJ >



At the Getty Center in Los Angeles with Allison and Josh & the Original Monet's "Irises"

Great Aunt Carol and our Little Niece with her signature bow on Lake Superior

Mike and Laura

  

Sandy and Jim

The Big Guy playing Pin the Tail on the Moose...

...Trailing a Moose is not Easy in the Hiawatha Forest...

...with a Blindfold on...

Thank goodness our nephew Brad was there!

Round Lake Round-Up - 2012

Run Stitch Run

We're back vacationing in the good old USA - and I am dreaming and scheming.

Below is a post on my FaceBook wall.  I am following my heart on this one and also modeling the adage my mother and grandfather drilled into me: 

"If you mean to do a job, and you mean to do it, really; never let it be by halves, do it fully, do it freely."

Dear FB friends who are Feeling Crafty or Love to Sew:

♥ Hailing from Michigan, we are spending a 3-year assignment in Nanjing,
China. We are one year in and I took my Janome machine and a wall of
fabric to play with. It's been fun and a real learning experience.
The young mothers I have befriended have benefited from my hobby in
little quilty ways.

Somehow, it hasn't been enough. I have been drawn to helping out 2
Chinese orphanages. I haven't the nerve to visit (YET!) but wanted
to help out, someway, somehow. http://mifanmama.com/
<http://mifanmama.com/> (The blonde is my neighbor, Julie Ann
Martens!)

  I've created a little grass roots organization I've named
"Run Stitch Run: Stitching to Support those Less Fortunate than
Ourselves" My first project is to make 95 custom, novelty
pillowcases for ALL of these orphans. This will be a great beginner
project I'll start in September for the young Moms of my China neighborhood who want to learn some basic sewing skills; I will teach, they will learn and the children
will benefit with something that has been crafted specifically for THEM.
Imagine the love!

I thought I could easily find good quality fabric in China, but it is
not the case. Fabric is sub-standard and not Quilt Shop Quality (QSQ)
at all. So my visit home this summer has me dashing about, purchasing
thread, adopting my sister-in-law's little Viking machine to tote back and hunting for
cute novelty prints on Clearance! Mailing things to China is not worth
the risk of theft or loss so I have an extra suitcase to fill for my
mid-August return.

My intention was for me to provide all the supplies, fabric and
stitching but now I see that it is pretty unrealistic at approximately
$10/USD per pillowcase.

♥ If you are willing to donate fabric or make a pillowcase or two I would
be happy to place it in my suitcase to make a difference on the other
side of the world. ♥

Specifics:

One yard of Fabric will provide a body for one pillowcase (26") and
a cuff (9") for another.

The second yard would do the same.

In other words you would need a yard of two Fun fabrics plus

A 2" – Width of the Fabric & folded in half
for the band.

There is a wonderful tutorial by Crafty Gemini as to the
"sausage" or "tube" method that I will be teaching.

Please take a look at it if you are not familiar with the
method. It is REALLY a great way to keep all seams enclosed…these
pillowcases will be well-loved and washed repeatedly so please use this
method.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAomYjHzUQk&list=FLtrzgYdL3x9P-L3XMghHEtg\
&feature=player_detailpage

Please use only Quilt Shop Quality fabric for the same reason...they will get continual use. I stalk
the online shops Clearance and Sale Rooms for the best Deals of 100%
cotton quilting fabrics. I will help you find some bargains if you like. The hunt is half the fun...Think FUN and
BRIGHT!

I could also use white/ivory Guntermann thread for this project.

Poor your LOVE of Sewing and your HEART into whatever you do.

I thank-you from the bottom of my button basket!

[If you are unable to help I ask your prayers to guide this project to
benefit the children]

Please direct any questions or concerns to me through a personal message and I will send you my USA address.

Please send by August 10, 2012 to:

I will send you an email confirmation.

 ♥ Carol Johnson - DivaMom@aol.com <3

     

Thanks for Reading,

Cricket

http://willett.smugmug.com/photos/i-DpDvDmn/0/M/i-DpDvDmn-M.jpg

Photos of one of the orphanages