November 2013

Okay, well Donn has told me that I need to get our blog up to date, which I might add I totally agree with.  So I will start with November and see how it goes.

As November is the month of Thanksgiving, I would be remiss if I didn't express my gratitude to my family. I am grateful for my sweetheart.  For his tolerance, his love and his support through both the good and bad times.  I have always been his princess and he still makes sure that the last thing he does before he leaves in the morning is to give me a kiss goodbye and the first thing when he comes home is to kiss me hello.  When I listed my perfect man, I listed:  tall, dark and handsome.  I got all three of those, but my special guy also came with a sense of humor and that is what gets us through the hard times.  I don't know what we would do without all of the laughter in our life.  I also strongly rely on his wisdom.  He is my sounding board, and I appreciate that he listens to my constant chatter.  And I especially appreciate his forgiveness. I am also grateful for my wonderful children.  I hated to see them all grow up and leave our home.  But now when I see them with their own children it brings me joy as I know they feel the same way about their own children as I do mine own.

Adam, my firstborn, taught me that I could love children.  (Sadly up until that point I actually didn't believe that I could and I was really scared to have a baby.)  I see in him goodness and love.  He is a great father to Miles and is very hard-working, which I have appreciated so very much.  I knew I could always count on him for gutter cleaning as well as any other odd job he was asked to do.  He was my meal maker and started cooking in kindergarten.  He has always been there to make my life easier except when he learned the "art of massaging my wallet" and then he has made me a little poorer.  Brittany is my bestest girlfriend.  I love that we can talk for hours about everything and nothing all at the same time.  We have laughed together and cried together and have built a wonderful relationship.  She is beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.  She makes raising five children look easy when I know it isn't. She is a go-getter and once her mind is made up, she gets things done.  I appreciate her creativity as she has sparked some in me as well.  And of course, who couldn't love Eric.  He is fun-loving and kind and has helped me be a better person through his great example of knowing right from wrong and holding me to a high standard.  He drove me crazy nervous when he was learning to drive, but I love the fact that he let me be a part of his life all throughout high school.  We shared many secrets and through this can still talk about everything.  I appreciate his honesty. 

So . . . I decided to take a bike ride around Jinji Lake today to enjoy the great fall weather we are experiencing before the monsoon rain start.  I stood waiting for the elevator for over 5 minutes. It appeared to be stuck on Floor 26 (we live on the 19th floor). Decided enough was enough so I ran upstairs and jumped on the elevator. The worker told me in Chinese that it wasn't working (or at least that what I thought he said).  So i jogged back down to my floor and grabbed my bike and hauled it down the 19 floors to the ground level. Then a 9-mile bike ride.  My whole body hurts. Oh I forgot to mention I had already jogged and done an hour worth of gyrokenesis stretches. This all would have been great, but then I ate half a dozen cookies.   Boo on me!!  Love sugar too much.

On Wednesday, my friend Effie Okeson organized a tour through the Eden Chocolate Factory here in Suzhou.  When Donn and Seth Hiatt heard about it, they decided to tag along with the women.

It was so interesting to look at the process that brings us delicious, edible chocolates.  We all scrubbed down and added a lab coat and a hair net to make sure we didn't contaminate the line.  First stop:  a buffet style receiving area when you could try all types of chocolates.  There were so many goods ones, I was sick before I even started the tour.   This was the best tour ever because we sampled all kinds of goods as they come fresh off the line.  Chocolate truly doesn't get any better than freshly made. 

(Front Row:  Kathy Nimmer, Amy Curtis, Linda Reinherz, and Paula Hiatt  Middle Row:  Effie's friends from Golden Lough  Back Row:  Effie Okeson, Seth Hiatt, Donn Nimmer, and Heather Swope)

Once we finished the tour, we did a little shopping in their gift shop.  Chocolate here in China is so expensive, but these prices were great.  We got a little carried away and took home about 20 lbs.  It only cost us 270 RMB ($44 USD)  After we had checked out, they told us they had a big sale on November 11.  I am thinking of running over and doing a little more shopping.  Please stop me someone.  Please!!!  (This is our "before" picture.  Not sure after we eat everything that I should post an "after" picture.