Aquaponics Update (or "Why do you keep judging me b/c I believe in science?")

Yay!  Another post....and its all scientific.  Okay, not really.  But kind of.  Our newest aquaponics (AP) system is doing really fantastic.  Last Friday I went out w/ Logan to check on it and plant a few things, and we are very pleased w/ how good everything looks.  To you, this picture may not be that impressive, but to us, it represents a lot of hope and plans for life here.  Go here if you want a great wikipedia article on AP.  I'm not going to define everything for you, b/c most of you reading have heard us talking about AP, but I'll at least explain what you see in the following pictures!

Below we've got basil in the foreground, and tomatoes in the background.  That basil is looking even better this week, and has grown a ton.  Looks like its about time to make some pesto!  Which makes me really happy.

Here are a few little plants that I'm praying not only survive, but thrive and do extraordinarily well...strawberries.  Its too hot here to grow strawberries all year, but in an AP environment where the plants are grown over water, the temperature around the plants is a few degrees cooler, therefore enabling us to extend the growing season.  Right now, the season usually lasts from maybe late November to February, but really it kind of just depends on when it starts to cool off, and if you are buying strawberries that are grown more locally, or strawberries that are shipped down from somewhere slightly north of us.  

Happy little fish.  Their poop gets pumped up along w/ the water into the beds, which naturally fertilizes the plants.  The water is cleaned by the plants, and pumped back down to the fish, who enjoy less toxic water.  Happy fish, happy plants, happy us!

Since this system is only a few weeks old, we've been checking on the ph pretty regularly.  It takes some time for the system to get regulated, but we're really happy that it is, at this point, somewhere between 7.0 and 7.5.  Ultimately we want the ph to be about 6.5.  

Not planted in this system, but doing well nonetheless, is okra.  We are harvesting a few...I don't know, 7 ish?...each week right now.  Bring it home, clean it, cut it up, and freeze it until we have a bag full enough to fry.  Yum!  For some reason the Chinese don't really grow or eat okra.  I mean, sometimes you find a plant, but I've never seen it in the market to buy.  So this is going to be an enjoyable treat as well.

Thanks for stopping by and reading.  See how committed I've been??  :)

--da

10 points to the first to know the movie quote in the title.

Belly Shots (or Do You Only Own Brown Shirts?)

Many of you have asked for more pictures of the belly, so here you go.  You get what you asked for.  I'm not really one to take a picture every week of the progress (although if you are one who likes to do that, that's cool!), but I get it that not being around us every week might make one more curious to see how much I've grown.  Anyways, these first two pictures are from last Friday (Aug 26...33 weeks pregnant).  I think I'm bigger than this...its not a straight on shot.  

And this last one is from sometime at the end of April, right before Logan had finals at school.

Still feeling really good.  God has been gracious to us, and it has been a mostly easy pregnancy.  I'm always hot, and sometimes its hard to sleep at night, but really, no other complaints!  We go to Thailand in 2 weeks!

--da

Kill the Rat (or A Good Video for the Weekend)

The following was taken a week or so ago at our temporary location for the aquaponics systems.  We had run into a problem w/ rats, and after setting some traps, we (Logan and AHN) caught one.  But then they had to decide what to do w/ it (how to dispose of it) after it was caught in the trap.  Here's Logan's solution.  Enjoy.







--da

A Trivial Post (or The Home and Garden Update)

For those of you who care about what we've done to the house (not really a remodel or addition..just some minor things that are updated), enjoy the following pictures and explanations.

Here's pretty much the kitchen before.  A little messy and unorganized, at least in appearance.  But let's all face it, if you didn't have cabinet doors, your kitchen would probably look similar.  (Although I know there are those of you out there that are way better organizers than I am.)

And below is the kitchen after.  Additions to the top are a shelf for my canisters (I have now freed up about a square foot of counter space), my spice rack mounted on the wall, and some bamboo curtains to help block out some sun.  Oh, and my chickens on a string hung from the ceiling, and the red and orange cord you see from beneath the cooking utensils is an extension cord that runs all the way down to the ground to charge our scooters b/c they have been tearing up and replacing the concrete in our underground parking garage, and we haven't been able to charge our scooters down there.

And here's the bottom half of the kitchen.  I wanted baskets that we designed and measured to fit perfectly into these spaces, but that was a major fail, so we went looking for baskets this past weekend, and I got these plus two others for about 15 dollars.  Not exactly what I wanted, but it looks better!!  You take what you can get and are thankful and happy about it!

Ah, my favorite.  A front loading washer that has a heating element.  It will seriously heat the water to boiling if I so desire.  It will be a huge help w/ cloth diapers (that I am going to try and succeed at!), baby clothes, our normally sweaty clothes, and its much more gentle on clothes when compared to the top loading washers here.  We had a 7.5 kg washer picked out (about the biggest you can buy here), but it wouldn't fit thru the bathroom door.  So the next day we exchanged it and had a 6 kg washer delivered, but it was broken, so finally that afternoon we were able to install the third washer delivered to our house.  I'm sure the guys who work for the store we bought it from were happy we had an elevator.

Rocking chair for Rowan's room!  There's other stuff in this room, but the rocking chair is probably my favorite right now.  His room isn't completely done, but I'm working on it.

Here's the gardening section of this house update.  There's an awkward empty space between where our tv is and the wall/door connecting to the patio, so Logan bought some orchids and hung them here, along w/ an ivy that we already had.  Also note our new curtains for the living room.  And...note the beautiful, new, brown paint!  Thanks to friends from Fort Worth who spent a day working on painting our living room and bedroom.  We couldn't have done it without them, especially since I had spent the previous day in bed w/...I don't know...a stomach virus or something.

And last but not least...a ceiling fan, new black curtains, and gray paint for our bedroom.  The fan is an immense help.  We also purchased and installed one in Rowan's room (it looks exactly the same as this one) and then when we realized how great these are, we bought another one to install in the office.

Well, that's it for now.  More blog posts to come soon..hopefully of more substance than house stuff.

--da

Back Home in JH (or A Re-entry to Blogging)

Well, we've been back here in JH for over a month now.  Its been good, and we've been busy.  Re-settling in here has taken a little longer than I expected and wanted, but I do think I forgot just how long it can take to do things here.  You plan on getting certain things bought/installed/accomplished, and then you can't find what you need, the store won't mix the paint color you really want, something breaks, you get sick, it rains and no one can deliver to your house, the washer won't go through the door to the bathroom, the person who agreed to make baskets for you never follows through, and for that matter never calls...well you get the idea.  Not that I'm complaining, but it can get annoying at times, and it does drag the whole process out a lot.

Anyways, all that to say, we're back and time is going by really fast.  We leave for Thailand in 3 weeks to hang out for about a month..waiting on the baby to come!  Then we will be there for 2-4 more weeks working on getting his passport and then visa so we can return home to JH and pick up where we left off here.  Although I am fully aware that we won't pick up life completely the same...it will be different.

We are immensely thankful to be back, and have picked up lots of our old relationships, and made a few new ones too.  The fact that we're having a baby, and staying for the foreseeable future, makes some people more open to talking to us.  We're slowly building relationships w/ more neighbors and people in our complex, and although the advice some of the women have to give about delivery and what to do afterwards is not actually the advice I want to follow, I just smile and nod and thank the Lord that we'll be in Thailand for at least a few weeks after Rowan is born, and they won't ever know that, Lord willing, I took a shower, ate hot food, washed my hair, walked around (or simply got out of bed) in the hours or days following delivery.

I know I'm pretty unreliable on the blog and the amount of posts that actually go up.  Logan said we should just delete it and move on w/ life.  But...I am back again w/ a new commitment to post.  (I know, I know, pretty empty promise.)  I won't blame you if you don't hold your breath, or if you've already deleted us from your blog roll.  I would have given up on us too a long time ago.  But I'm going to try.  You can just be pleasantly surprised when something new comes up on your reader.

--da

Facebook

I've promised a lot of posts in the past...but I tend to not follow through on actually writing what I've promised.  One such promise concerned a post about facebook and deleting my account.  So.  I'm here today to deliver. (Disclaimer:  I am not bashing facebook, the creators, or people who use facebook.  Really I'm not bashing anything.  I'm just writing about my experience and thoughts on the subject.)

Probably around Thanksgiving I became annoyed, disillusioned even, w/ facebook.  I was ready to give it up.  Why?  Because, to be honest, it sucked up a lot of my time.  Was I addicted?  No, I don't think so.  But was I over concerned w/ what was going on w/ my friends on facebook, and even more concerned w/ how they perceived me over facebook?  Yes.  A resounding and definite yes.  For a long time I had been able to justify having my account b/c of where we were living, the distance between me and so many friends and family members.  "Facebook allows me to keep up w/ them easily and quickly," I would say to myself.  That statement is true.  But it wasn't enough to make my conscience still cringe about the time I spent on facebook (and let's just face it, on the computer in general).

I didn't really try imposing limits on myself, though, because deep down inside, I knew it really wouldn't work.  Sure, I could give it up for a week or a month, or even cut down on the times I allowed myself to log on, but after that, it would still be there.  So, essentially, I put off doing anything about it for, you guessed it, another day.

Sometime after Christmas, Logan and I watched The Social Network.  Frankly, I was disgusted...by the college scene in general, although I know this is not the norm for all college students--by the grace of God it was not the norm for me, and by the way it was portrayed that everything went down between Mark Zuckerburg and Eduardo Saverin.  Now, I know that the movie was a dramatization.  I know it wasn't a live documentary, and much of the drama that was shown was simply that--drama for its own sake and not the truth behind what may or may not have happened.  But let me tell you this, the movie portrays Zuckerburg and Saverin as close friends in college and as Saverin being the main financial backing behind facebook when it was first starting up.  By the end of the movie, their friendship has completely been destroyed, and Zuckerburg pretty much hangs Saverin out to dry.  Like I said, there may not be an ounce of truth behind all of this, but it broke my heart.  I couldn't help but think, "He was your friend when no one else really liked you!  And you were such a jerk!"  (I've been known to emphasize loyalty in a relationship maybe too much.  But it a characteristic that is very important to me.) Anyways, the movie left me more unhappy with facebook as a whole.

We arrived back in America in January, and I kept holding onto my facebook account because it was still an easy way to get in touch w/ people.  Finally though, in March I think, I just deleted it.  Just like that.  And let me tell you, its been great.

Now, really, I know, who cares about what I think about facebook?  No one really, and maybe no one should.  And I haven't really done a good job of explaining all the reasons that brought me to delete my account.  But I can tell you this.  For me it was the right decision.  For me I finally was able to recognize that it was consuming me on some level, and I was too concerned w/ how people perceived me to be, rather than seeing me for who I really was.  This doesn't make sense, or you don't think you do the same thing?  Let me ask this...how many times do you untag yourself from a not so attractive picture?  Or search for just the right photo for your profile picture?  How many times do you rewrite/update your interests or favorite books or education information so that you are presenting the most up to date, appealing presentation of yourself?  You may say..well, never.  And for that I give you a high five.  Good job.  But for me...that wasn't the case.  I'm so vain that I probably think that song is about me, and, I want you to be impressed by me.  Because deep down I'm insecure in my identity and seek to please others.

In reality though, my identity is found in Christ, and that should be enough.  That is enough.  My worth is not defined by my facebook profile picture...or by my clothes, or what I do, or what I don't do, or who I know or what books I carry around.  My worth is found in Christ.  Deep down I know that is the truth. I still have to remind myself daily, or multiple times a day, but it is the truth.  Maybe one day I can get back on facebook and use it a bit more wisely, and not have it try and define who I am.  But that day is not here yet, so until then I live happily without it and seek to spend more (actual) quality time w/ the people around me (instead of just reading about their lives from a distance) and spend less time thinking about...well...myself.

--da

永久

I'm really, really missing my bicycle today.  And when I say "my bicycle" I really mean Sarah Le's bike, which got passed on to me and then to Rachel, or Nick's bike, because when I loaned my bike (Sarah's bike) to Rachel I straight up took Nick's bike.  Which is pictured here.  (thanks, Nick...for the picture and the loaning of your bike.)

Its a very sturdy bike.  And when I say sturdy, I mean it has to weigh like 20 pounds.  Maybe not, but it is truly heavy.  And by its name 永久 (YongJiu) (Forever) you know it has been around forever (since the 1940s) and will probably be around forever, due to the massive amount of steel that its made of.

As it neared the time for us to make the journey back to America, I got excited about driving around in a car again....air conditioning, music blaring and the ability to sing along w/o anyone hearing you or looking at you strangely, etc.  Now we've done for that a few months, and although still enjoyable, and still the mode of transportation I prefer for making the trip from Kentucky to Texas that we'll make in 3 weeks, I do miss my bike.  I miss riding around on palm tree lined streets w/ my headphones on, weaving in and out of traffic.  So I'm looking forward to doing that when we return.

--da

What I like about Louisville #3

Good coffee.

I wouldn't really call myself a coffee snob.  However, I think that Logan has educated me enough to really know how to appreciate good coffee.  So..we have scouted out the coffee sites in town, and my favorite place here in town is probably Quills Coffee.  Their menu is small, but not b/c they aren't capable of making all kinds of drinks.  Its more along the lines of they are very specific about what they are willing to make.  In other words, you won't find some blended drink w/ whipped cream here.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm not knocking your frappuccino...I have to be honest and say I've been known to enjoy one as well.  But its kind of like growing in maturity in our love for food.  Eventually you move past chicken nuggets (unless we're talking Chick-fil-A here) to more grown up food like cordon bleu.  With coffee it should work the same way.  Eventually that frappuccino is just not going to be as satisfying as an americano w/ an extra shot and room for cream.

--da

(I got the above image from the Quills Coffee website.)

Honking Etiquette

In China, and maybe in lots of Asian countries, it is not considered rude at all to just lay on the horn.  Honking is more of a "I'm here, don't run over me"or "I'm turning now across 4 lanes of traffic, get out of my way."  In China, we honk and pull out or turn, and you better watch out, because if you hit me, its your fault.  None of this is rude.  Its just expected.  Its the norm.  And when you are honked at, don't be offended.  The person honking at you probably would buy you dinner if you asked them to, and really, I don't think many Chinese people can drive w/o honking incessantly.

In America, honking is usually rude.  At least I feel like it is kind of a loud, "You big idiot!" Or, we'll do it occasionally to get someone's attention, like at a stop light and we see someone we know beside us in the next lane.  But today I totally honked at the guy in front of me at a stop light because it was green and he was obviously not paying attention.  I know honking in this circumstance is not absolutely abnormal for Americans, but it did remind me of how differently we use the horn here compared to how its used in China.  I wish I had a traffic video for you so that you could hear and see what I'm talking about, but I don't.  Maybe that will be something I work on when we go back in July.  Maybe, we'll see.

--da

What I don't like about Louisville #2

I know it is ridiculous....but there are no Rosa's here.  I really can't wait to get back to Texas and, on a Tuesday night, partake of a plate of tacos for only $3.69.  There are Mexican food restaurants here, but really, can you honestly beat the amount of food you get for the price you pay at Rosa's?  I don't think so...

--da

Can someone mail me some tortillas?