one thousand gifts

A New Rhythm

March 26, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Note: Two new reviews for After the Snow Falls came out this week: Mom in Love with Fiction and B00K R3ViEWS. I’d be delighted if you’d check them out.

It has been good to work our way back to the normal rhythm of life here. I must confess getting back in the groove of cooking and cleaning and market-going on top of the language and cultural challenges hasn’t been completely smooth. For example, buying butter and cheese and other “Western” foods has to be done at a specific warehouse store quite a distance from our home.

When we lived here before, it was convenient to use the in-store ATM to take out the money to pay for purchases there. However, we discovered yesterday that doing so wasn’t that easy. They’ve apparently replaced their machine with a different bank’s machine, and our Canadian debit card didn’t want to talk to it yesterday. We walked to the nearest bank that would work and discovered that the machine there was broken. At least an hour later, we were on our way again.

JavaMan and I usually handle this kind of experience with a shrug of the shoulders and a philosophical, “We’re in China. What can you do?” But Pumpkin had had enough.

Nevertheless, we’re still basking in the glow of all the wonderful things about being back here again, and feeling immensely thankful. And still counting to 1000 Gifts along with Multitudes on Mondays at Ann Voskamp’s blog:

190. Our kids have made new friends! It really is a case of being completely blown away by blessing. We’d prayed for friends for them, but could never have imagined they’d find friends so quickly. And Pumpkin has even found a friend who is as enthusiastic about Star Wars Lego as he is.
191. Our new duvet. I’d promise this will be the last time I’ll mention it, but I’m sure it’s not. I had no idea how much the cold was affecting my sleep until our new custom-made cotton-filled duvet came into our lives. A friend helped me order it on Friday, and that evening we were sleeping under it. It’s glorious! Warm and soft and cushy, and under it, I had the best night’s sleep I’ve had since we arrived. In the morning, I was full of vim and vigour, ready to take on the day.
192. Our apartment is starting to look like a home! Even without our furniture (which will arrive sometime in the next month or so), we are starting to have that moved-in organized feeling. I’ve sorted some of my clothes and they are sitting neatly on a shelf in our closet, the kids each have a bin of their own clothes, and we assembled some shelves and a coat rack we had in our old (furnished) apartment, and things are starting to take shape and feel like home. We’re still eating around a collection of empty bins with a tablecloth slung overtop, but it’s cozy and we’re together. I’m learning that counts for a whole lot.
193. Memory. More and more Chinese is coming back to me. The other day, one of the kids saw something that reminded them of the shape of a deer, and I actually remembered how to say “deer” in Chinese to explain to our Chinese friend. The brain is a wonderful, mysterious thing. Just where was I storing that tidbit of information over the last couple of years when I didn’t need it?
194. Flexibility. Our kids had pretty long faces at the airport, leaving Grandma and Grandpa, and while they certainly haven’t forgotten about life in Canada or the people there, they are happy to be reunited with some of their long-lost possessions and busy playing with some of their almost-forgotten toys.
195. Reunions. We continue to meet up with old friends. I’m looking forward to a particular meeting today. We’re going to see Brandon’s former art teacher. We are taking him some art supplies from Canada, since he can’t always find the quality of supplies here that he would like.
196. The itch to get back to homeschooling. I am trying to be realistic about what we can accomplish here while it’s still very cold and the furniture is yet to arrive, but as we put our homeschool books away last week, the itch to begin again is definitely there. I think regardless of temperature we’ll move one of the heaters upstairs next week and begin afresh.
197. My view. There are no curtains on my windows right now–something we do plan to address, but when I wake up in the morning, I look out at a mountain–a small mountain, but a mountain nonetheless. We’re looking forward to climbing it, and plan to do that next week when JavaMan has to be out of town for a few days. He’s already been up it on one of his runs, and says the view is spectacular. Pictures to follow.
198. My new camera. Finally bought an SD card for my new camera. I’m looking forward to being able to take my own pictures for this blog. Up until now, I’ve had to borrow from my husband or my son. Again, pictures to follow :)
199. Language learning tools. Maybe a strange thing to be thankful for, but the urge to learn more Chinese is always there as we attempt to communicate. I do very well for having had no formal instruction, but I long to be completely fluent. I’m thankful we’ve found resources that really work to help learn the language. (For more on the resources we use, check out Hold the MSG.com.)

Multitudes on Monday

- Carey Clark

So much to do…So much grace in the process

February 6, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

{Don’t miss the latest review of After the Snow Falls at Mom Loves 2 Read.}

I am counting my gifts to one thousand along with the folks at Ann Voskamp’s blog (author of One Thousand Gifts). Thanks for joining me.

Forgive me if while I count my blessings this week it looks more like a checked-off to-do list. There is no shortage of things to be done these days and the first gift I am thankful for is:

60. More checkmarks on my to-do list.
61. After unpacking and repacking, I managed to fit quite a few more things in THE BINS for THE MOVE.
62. I was able to restore some level of order with most of the items that need sorting gone through and all of the bins safely tucked away in a closet where people aren’t tripping over them
63. JavaMan (gotta love him) and I finished cleaning the house we just moved out of
64. Everyone is safely ensconced at Grandma’s awaiting THE MOVE
65. We have tentative flight dates! This is one of THE biggest blessings of the week. Can’t express how excited we are. We will be leaving in [sct date=”3/13/2012 20:51″ align=”none” size=”1″]
66. After all the chaos was said and done, I had a chance to really connect with my kids this week in some rewarding family time. We played games together and read together. Reading together is such good therapy! I’m so thankful for good books and times to enjoy them with my children.
67. Speaking of good books I enjoy with my children, I participated in last month’s Books that Made me Love Reading Challenge with Emlyn Chand, and yesterday found out I won the prize basket as a result!
68. It’s a gift how blessed I was feeling even before winning the prize simply as a result of the stroll down memory lane with the books I loved from childhood and the chance to share them with my kids.
69. I had a chance to be alone with my youngest for a couple of hours Sunday afternoon: a rare gift indeed. We had a tea party and played her favorite game.
70. I have a wonderful husband who observes me under stress and knows I need his patience. He is more than gracious.
71. Another unexpected blessing this week: I received an email with comments from a reader–a man–who said my book wasn’t his normal fare, but he was glad he read it. He proceeded to tell me how the book touched him. I was blown away, and so humbled.
72. I received my new Mac, and I’m working my way through updates and software and finding programs similar to what I’ve become accustomed to on the PC and feeling so very blessed and grateful.
73. Received another email from a fellow author that was very encouraging.
74. I took a break from my blogging over the weekend to actually breathe and enjoy life, and felt (almost) no guilt about it.
75. We applied for passports, finally. Our old ones were still valid, but didn’t have enough pages left for all the visas and stamps, and would run out before we plan to come back to Canada (The bonus? My passport picture for the new passport looks A LOT better than the old one.)
76. I’ve been so excited about my new novel projects and the ideas have been flowing. Yay! I love this stage. I love all the stages.
77. Had a wonderful (last) visit with some great friends this week.
78. So grateful for the seasons in our lives. My kids and I sat down a couple of weeks ago to list all the wonderful things we were blessed to experience while we’ve been home in Canada–from riding on a combine in Saskatchewan to a road trip to Texas to living in rural Ontario. We were reluctant to come home in the first place, but it has been a blessing after all.
79. We had the opportunity to see the movie Courageous for the second time over the weekend (made me cry just as much or more than the first time). It made me grateful all over again for the wonderful man I married: a good husband and a good father to his children.

On the Mend

January 30, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

This week brought more blessings. On Tuesday, I visited the nutritionist I began to see when I gave up on traditional medicine to help me after my third miscarriage. My doctor had already told me I was anemic. Her prescription: more iron. When that didn’t do the trick, her best advice was even more iron. But despite my best efforts, I couldn’t seem to get enough iron, and there seemed to be more wrong than just that. There were more questions being raised than answers found.

The miscarriages were devastating. I was basically told to give up. But I knew something was systemically wrong with me.

Since seeing the nutritionist, I knew things had improved. I could tell by the appearance of my skin and hair and the improvement in my energy level, among other things. Because of the way this nutritionist does her testing, I can actually see with scientific proof how I’m improving. It’s so wonderful to have it confirmed: I am on the mend. So the first thing I am thankful for this week is:

40. I am finally on the mend.
41. I received much-needed encouragement this week, and heard from readers of After the Snow Falls with their accounts of how the book has touched them. So wonderful!
42. Despite significant financial challenges over the past year and a half, we have never gone hungry. We have never really wanted.
43. Our kids all passed their swimming levels this week! This was a big hurdle, and something they had begun to be discouraged about it. I’m so thrilled for them.
44. We’ve made friends at swimming lessons we plan to stay in touch with as we leave. Our kids are friends with their kids, and we hit it off with mom and dad. I love it when that happens.
45. We are on the home stretch. Though packing is never my favorite thing, the end is in sight.
46. It looks like some of our challenges with figuring out the visas we need for our trip are being sorted out and we may actually book tickets by the end of this week!
47. I was able to interview one of my favorite authors for my Friday Fiction Fix last week.
48. I am very energized, working on my next writing project.
49. I’ve been excited about developing a freewriting habit at 750words.com
50. We had a chance to reunite with some wonderful friends this week for a bit of a sending-off.
51. Despite the pain of having to decide what toys stay, get given away or get packed, my kids are doing better than I am about it. I am blessed with three wonderful children.
52. I have been following along with 31 Days to Build a Better Spouse, and have been blessed every day to realize what a great husband JavaMan is.
53. We had some car trouble this week, but some great neighbors and a wonderful mechanic stepped in to help.
54. I have wonderful parents, who pitched in to help on the weekend when we packed. Without them and JavaMan, I couldn’t have gotten through the day.
55. We had a bit of a financial breakthrough this week–something we’ve been waiting for for quite a while.
56. I have arranged for a number of reviews for After the Snow Falls with bloggers, but once they have it, I simply have to wait until their finished reading and the reviews come out, but three reviews in a row came out last week. That was a nice surprise, and they were all five-star reviews. That was an even nicer surprise!
57. I found a great substitute for the big heavy timeline book we were going to have to drag to China with us. I’m going to blog about it sometime soon, it’s so wonderful.
58. My recent review of Junior Writer has become very popular, and has found the attention of the children’s book publisher who brought it to the web. That was nice.
59. Today, my parents helped my kids with homeschool while JavaMan and tied up loose ends at the house where we’ve been living. The house was so quiet. I realized what a blessing the laughter of children–and even a little chaos–is in the house.

How about you? Have you counted your blessings this week? I’m counting to a thousand with Multitudes on Mondays and Ann Voskamp’s lovely blog:

- Carey Clark

A Fresh Start

January 2, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Don’t miss these recent posts on other blogs:

guest post at Tina’s Book Reviews
review of After the Snow Falls by a fellow expat and homeschool mom at Just Love Mom.

Happy New Year! Whether you’re ready for 2012 or not, here it is. Hard to imagine what this year will bring. We’re packing up and moving back to China to a known city, but an unknown apartment, a new neighborhood, new friendships, new possibilities. I’m wavering between being very excited, to very sad to leave our friends and family, to very unsure about the mountain of stuff that needs to be packed into 10 (or less) suitcases of 50 lbs. a piece.

Today, I’m thankful for fresh starts. There is something refreshing and hopeful about tearing that old calendar off and turning over to a whole year full of 365 (or in this case 366) brand new days.Today, I’m thankful for fresh starts.

But in reality, January 1st is just another day on the calendar. Today is just as full of possibilities and potential for pitfalls as any other day. What we do with our days is a matter of choice–every single day.

When my kids have meltdowns or mess up (because shockingly, that happens in our family too), I remind them that we can start again any day and any time of the day–at 7:00 a.m. or 4:00 in the afternoon. We just have to choose. And they believe me.

Sometimes it’s harder to convince myself. I’m sure that’s why these words were penned:

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:23

So here’s to a fresh start. What are you going to do with yours?