Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Thanksgiving from the Judds
 (Yes, this is the best photo we took)

Here's our Thanksgiving recap:

some of our guests

more of our guests

• 28 guests spread over 2 celebrations representing 6 countries (tonight, the day after we can add one more guest and one more country)
• 2 water outages, the day before and day after Thanksgiving (made prep and clean up quite interesting, but THANKFUL we had water Thanksgiving Day).
• consumed: more than one pound of butter, 2 kg cream cheese, 5+ chickens, 20+ green chilis, 3 packages of bacon, 2 kg flour, 2 large pumpkins, 10 USD worth of walnuts, 3 dozen or so eggs, plus carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, red peppers, celery, fruit, and someone brought a dish of spicy chicken feet to our second celebration. (I just sent them home with our house helper :)) 








Catherine made this banner with help from me. She did most of the cutting and traced the letters. 



proud mom :)

This was the only turkey we had. I like turkey, but not enough to pay $60-75 for one.

We had chicken instead. The guys arranged it on the platter, as you may have guessed.

part of the spread

more of the spread

brought by friends: some kind of sausage/ham, dried fish, and pineapples 

What we're thankful for this year:

• Our return to China: although we always miss family and friends this tie of the year, we are thankful to be back on this side of the world after an extended time in the US last year.
  
• Aibigail Joy was added to our family....and she has truly been a joy! As babies go, she's fantastic!
  
• our time in Chengdu before and after Aibgail's birth. It was so great to reconnect with some of Jill's friends from college and the girls had so many friends to play with everyday.
  
• We're also so thankful Mary Caye was able to join us both in Chengdu and in our home city. We're thankful Delton could visit our home for a bit too.
  
• Business registration complete! It took most of the year and having it complete is a huge weight off our shoulders. We are especially thankful for new people to influence for the Kingdom through the business.
  
• Catherine and Ann growing in their love for one another as sisters.
  
• our current home. The place we've been living since March is by far the best place we've lived in China. It's not without its frustrations and inconveniences, but the space, the heating we control ourselves, the fact that no one lives below us, and the comfort make us so grateful for His provision for us.
  
  
  
  

more about our visa process

We completed all that we needed to get our employment license. This is the step that was supposed to take 10 days but got finished in three! Then, we just had (have) one step left, the foreign affairs office, to have everything we need to complete our new visa.

James went on Tuesday and they said to get whatever stamp we need, our company has to join some organization. (perhaps something like a chamber of commerce) He went downstairs to join said organization. Finds out he needs to write a letter introducing our company. Writes letter. Puts official stamp on letter. Turns in letter.

Boss of organization says he can't accept our company because the minimum investment required for membership is 5 million RMB.

You may be surprised to realize that we did not invest 5 million RMB in our company. That would be $ 806,451.61. Surprising, I know, but we invested slightly less than that :)

The interesting thing is, currently there is no minimum investment amount for foreign owned enterprises.......apparently unless you want to get a visa. And then the minimum is 5 million :)

The good news is, the foreign affairs office said there's another way to complete this step without joining the organization, but it's more complicated, requires more paperwork, and we only have two more working days before our next required country exit. There is yet another way that requires joining a similar organization on the district level instead of the city level, so we're trying that.

The first step of this method is to take some papers to the district government office. We tired to go pick up the papers we need from the city government (foreign affairs office) to take them to district government but the district workers were all out of the office this morning getting their required health exams. The organization's office (where all the documents are) had a meeting and so couldn't be available until tomorrow.

Here's to hoping that all the more complicated, more paperwork method can be completed with just Thursday and Friday to do it. Hoping, not holding my breath.......

Abigail cooing

because she's cute :)

fall at our house

We continue to be so so so very thankful for our house. The public heating in our city turns on on October 15th and off on April 15th regardless of the outside temperature before or after those dates. The public heating also doesn't allow one to change the temperature much once it is on. 

However, our new house isn't on the public heating system, which means we can regulate it ourselves! We may not be as happy with this feature once we've paid for gas all winter, but so far we love it!

Another thing we love about our house is the vegetation! Here are some pictures from around our complex from last week and the week before. Now, the leaves are almost all gone already!

Business Registration and Visa

This is my husband holding our not-so-easy to attain business license! We've been moving toward this goal generally since late 2012 and fervently since March. The process (thus far) has taken us 7 months, piles of paperwork, and at least 30 trips to various government offices. 

Our business name is Caide Consulting (pronounced tz-eye  duh) which is one of the transliterations of our last name but means virtue and talent in Chinese. It's also how the Bible translates "noble" as in Proverbs 31 or other passages that mention a noble wife. 

We first had to rent office space and take care of registering with the appropriate city district. From there, we had to submit stacks of documents and get approval from the Industry and Commerce Department and the Commercial Affairs Bureau. Sometimes the documents we submitted needed small changes. We'd have to re-print the documents with the corrections and make another trip. The craziest part of the process was having to authenticate our passports........twice! This required taking our passports to the US Embassy to be copied, notarized and attested that they are true and real US passports that belong to us, then having the copies sent to an agent in the US to take them on our behalf to the US Secretary of State to sign, then taken by the agent to the Chinese Consulate in the US to be stamped and signed. Each step had a fee, plus postage, plus the agency fee, each time costing about 500 USD each time. Other than those fees and the investment, the registration fees were low, less than 150 USD total.

After those 20+ steps we were given the license above in September and can begin operation, but still had to finish moving the investment capital to China, setting up a bank account, registering with the taxi bureau, and changing our visas to an employment visa. 

We were in a hurry to change our visas because 1) once we change to the employment visas, we don't have to exit the country every 90 or 120 days and 2)because she was born here, Abigail wasn't given an actual visa, but a document that allowed her to stay until the time of our next exit, which is Nov 3. 

The stack of papers we had to submit to the employment bureau was about the thickness of half a ream of paper. We submitted them last week but were told the processing time would be 10 days and there are still a few steps after the employment bureau. So, we wrote a nice, gushy letter similar to this one asking if they could please please pretty please process it quickly. We got it in 3 days! 

Our next hold up came because both the girl we've hired to help us with the registration and our office manager are related to one another and they both had to leave town to attend a wedding so we will start our last step at the Foreign Affairs office this week without them and hope we can handle it ourselves until they return later in the week. 

All of us have to exit China before November 3, but Abigail has to apply for a new visa before she can re-enter. (The rest of us are valid until next February). We had planned for all of us to go to Hong Kong but then we found out Abigail's first visa has to be applied for in her home country. Now our plan is that I (Jill) will take Abigail to the US and get my work visa and Abigail's visa. James will take the girls across the border to our north and then get his work visa at a later time. (The border town isn't able to process visas). It's not worth the expense of all of us going to Hong Kong if we can't do all that we need to do there. 

Custom Canvas Print Photos

Abigail and I are making an unexpected trip to the US to get her first visa and change my visa to a work visa.

 I'd like to recoup some of the cost of this unplanned trip by selling canvas prints with the photo of your choice!

Prices are below. Simply send me an email to jandjjudd@pobox.com with the photo you'd like attached and the size and shipping address in the email. Use the link below to pay with paypal, or contact me to make other arrangements.

I'll mail them to you during the first week of November.

SIzes

8 inch square $15.00 USD 8X10 $20.00 USD 9X12 $25.00 USD 11X14 $35.00 USD 16X20 $45.00 USD 18X24 $50.00 USD 24X36 $55.00 USD

the birth of Abigail Joy: long version by Jill

alternatively titled: Midwives do it better!

There we were in Chengdu. My mother-in-law had arrived and we felt settled enough in our temporary home that we felt like we had everything in place for the baby to come at any time. The other girls were both roughly a week before their due date so we were expecting about the same. Then came Catherine's birthday on August 13. (Catherine and Abigail had the same due date. I didn't care when the baby came, as long as it wasn't on Catherine's birthday so that they could each have a special day). Now that Catherine's birthday had passed, we REALLY felt ready for her to come whenever she was ready. I had multiple nights of having regular, steady contractions through the night but as soon as morning would come, all labor progress would stop. The night of August 19 they were regular and steady enough that we called our doula somewhere between 4 and 5. She came even though by the time she arrived the contractions had already slowed a bit. We called the doctor and he suggested we come to the hospital. By the time we got there (maybe around 7) the contractions had mostly stopped. After a check and some discussion, we decided we would wait at the hospital since we knew a) labor should be starting soon and b) our payment package at the hospital included 4 days and we did not plan to stay that long after the birth so it made economic sense to use them before instead of wasting them. (no refunds on unused portions of package).

James and I had a relaxing day hanging out in our nice suite-like room, which the hospital calls the "home birth room." (NOT LIKE A HOME BIRTH!!!!! more on that later). We watched some movies, chatted without being interrupted by our girls,took some naps, and just enjoyed each other's company. We did not, however, have a baby. I didn't even have any kind of regular contractions.

Hanging out waiting for a baby

After a full day at the hospital and another consultation with our doctor, we decided to stay overnight. Most of my contractions had been at night so we thought labor might start again overnight. It didn't. When morning came, we decided if nothing was happening we should get back to our girls and perhaps being back at home and not having the pressure/stress of being in the hospital would get things moving again. We went home the morning of the 20th, but the doctor we requested we come back to the hospital after dinner to stay the night again.

Throughout the day (August 20th) no steady contractions. Evening came and still nothing significant enough to merit another trip to the hospital. We went to sleep. 

Above is a screenshot of our contraction timer. Two contractions around 11 pm, those next few between 12 and 1, then BAM! that one at 1:12? That's when I knew we needed to go. We called our doula, called the doctor, grabbed our things, and made our way across town. (about a 20 minute taxi ride). Abigail was born at 2:25 am. When James said she was born in a whirlwind, that's what he meant. It happened SO fast it was pretty crazy for all of us. Here's what happened between 1:12 and 2:25.

After making the calls we had to walk to the gate of our complex and get a taxi, which was thankfully very easy. I had three serious, heavy contractions in the taxi and moaned like I didn't care who heard me. At the last stoplight before the hospital the driver says, "You guys have good Chinese. Where are you from?" He did not seem phased that I was in labor or making crazy sounds in the back of his car.

When we got to the hospital the doctor was waiting for us and our doula arrived within just a few minutes. When we got to the room I was feeling light-headed so I got on the bed to get some oxygen, thinking we would still have a few hours. I was trying to make myself comfortable between contractions and James and Maria (our doula) were so helpful. The doctor did not want me in the position I was in and I could hear him occasionally give me instructions but I was basically tuning him out. At one point I heard Maria tell him, "She can't hear you when she's having a contraction...why don't you wait until it's over to tell her something!" I know there were other nurses and staff but I was never sure how many or who they were.

I was expecting that we would have a few hours of labor but after just a few contractions (relatively few) I was ready to push and our baby girl was born. James says she arrived so quickly that no one caught her! The pads underneath me kept her from falling until our doula and the doctor got her!

Why did I not take out the oxygen tubes for the first photo with my new daughter???????

Abigail Joy Judd born August 21st at 2:25 am
49 cm and 2.98 kg

They placed her on me for a few moments of relative peace and enjoyment until things got crazier. James went with the baby to the other part of the room for weighing, measuring, and then went with her upstairs for other checks and while he was there the doctor wanted to do something I didn't think was necessary so he was yelling at me and I was crying. James came back and scolded him for yelling. There were still what seemed like so many people milling about.

Our other two girls were born at home. We were able to control who was there and were given freedom to make decisions about what to do and what not to do. We were given as much time as we wanted with the girls after delivery and nothing was ever rushed. At the hospital it seemed like everything was in a hurry and there were so many people and so much movement!

We knew giving birth in a hospital would be different. We knew giving birth in a Chinese hospital would have even more challenges. I still feel like we made the best decision we could have with the options we had and I'm thankful she is healthy. However, James said if we have another baby, we are having another homebirth!

Also, in our doctor's defense, he did ask us to come back after dinner and we didn't. I'm sure he felt like we were being non-compliant and that we made things rushed by not being there sooner. But truly NOTHING was happening in the labor department until after midnight and we had no idea she would arrive THAT quickly. Also, after the delivery, the doctor returned to his calm, friendly demeanor and even mopped the floor himself!

After the delivery, the staff were truly quite helpful and accommodating to us. We stayed the day and night of the 21st and went home on the 22nd.

We spent most of the day getting to know her and falling in love with her.

We had some name ideas, but James especially likes to meet the child before we settle and decide. With the other girls this happened fairly quickly, but with Abigail she was so sleepy we felt like we hadn't gotten enough interaction with her to know which name was fitting until later in the day.

She was born with long fingernails and very long eyelashes. 

Big sisters, Grandma, and a friend, Carolyn, came to meet Abigail in the afternoon.

One of Catherine's first comments was, "She's real!"

Our doula, Maria. (half Italian, half Swiss mother of nine who lived her adult life in Brazil and China)!


Pictures of our hospital room and its view

Abigail's birth: short version by James

The short story: It was a whirlwind crazy delivery. Jill had contractions both nights before and thought we were going to have her then, but then everything slowed down when morning came.  Then at around 12:30 am Jill's contractions started again.  1:15 water broke, 1:45 and a taxi ride later we were at the hospital 

(Jill is having contractions and groaning in the back and about the time we are almost there the driver turns around and says as though it is a casual thing to have a foreign lady in birth pains in his taxi, "Wow, your Chinese is good.  So where you guys from anyway?" (If he had been slower he might have delivered the baby in his taxi.)
  
We got up to the room and endured our worst but thankfully fastest birth experience to date.  The doctor had been great before, but during the actual delivery he was barking orders to Jill and was most unhelpful.  Thankfully at 2:25 am the baby popped out... and I do mean popped out....like the doc, nurses everyone missed her and she almost fell off the bed.  Thankfully some of the pads under Jill caught her!

Then there was a whirlwind of activity where they weighed, measured the baby, made me run her up a floor to get her Hep B shot.  I came back and the doctor was basically yelling at my wife and wanting her to agree to something she didn't want.  I had to warn him to stop yelling.  We finally agreed that the procedure wasn't needed and everything calmed down.  We held our sweet baby and the doctor turned back into a normal caring man. He actually mopped up the floor himself, which is unheard of for a doctor here.

We brought her home the next morning and have been trying to figure out the operations manual ever since.  Thankfully she is a close model to our other children, but apparently she came with some new features and programming that Jill and I are still working on.

Catherine's 4th birthday: by Jill

There's a park near our house that has a ferris wheel. For months, Catherine has been a bit obsessed with it. We told her she was too small to ride it now, but that she could when she was bigger. This led to her asking at almost every meal for months if she was big enough yet. The recent ferris wheel fascination sparked the idea for a carnival-themed birthday party.

This was not the best cake I could have made or party I could have hosted, however, it was the best I could do a week from my due date and living/working/cooking in a home that isn't mine and shopping in a city I'm not familiar with.

Our "carnival tent" was streamers hanging from the light fixture

Thanks to a Curious George episode, Catherine has been asking for weeks to wear a red birthday party hat. Thankfully, Grandma was coming from America and could make her dream come true. 

In the morning we opened presents as a family. Family from the States had sent things with Grandma. :)
This is a book about ferris wheels that has a CD of songs. 

This birthday card played a song and she LOVED it. 

opening the play doh set from Mimi and Grandpa

I'm 4!

And I'm cute!

Again, under the circumstances, the best I could do. 

I didn't take very many pictures at the party because there were a lot of little people here, and because we were busy with the carnival games.

We hosted a party in the afternoon and invited some friends to celebrate with us. Catherine really enjoyed having so many new friends at her party, but it was especially meaningful for me. Most of the attendees are children of people I went to college with. Even though I haven't stayed in touch with all of them, it's fun to see our kids play together and be second generation friends. I think the girls having so many other foreign kids to play with will be the thing we will miss most about Chengdu.

This is one of our carnival games. The kids had to try to throw bottles caps onto the mat to land on the red circles.

Toss bean bags to knock over stacks of bottles (notice she's still wearing the red hat)

ring toss

It's still hard to believe we have a four year old, but we like it. We like that she is able to do more by herself. We like that she has decided she can try more spicy foods because now she's four. We like all that she is learning and her increasing ability to communicate with us. She has a great imagination and is developing quite a sense of humor.