The Global Petersons

2/13/2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:15:00 +0000

I got up at about 6:45 and made sure pancakes were ready for the family when they woke up. Jenny, of course, was already awake, doing her study thing that she does. The boys were down at 7:00 sharp and we all had breakfast together.

Jenny has MOPS on Mondays, so she brought the boys to church with her while I studied Chinese and read. I'm reading Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright. I'm not far in the book yet, but I can tell it's going to be good.

After nap time, we played a little game where I hid under the comforter and attempted to consume all children and then regurgitate them. It was pretty intense. I feel like I won, though no official winner was determined.

Later, Levi and I did some of his homeschool/preschool work.

I got a call asking if I could come in and do some para sub work over at the Chinese immersion school. This will be my fourth day there since last week. I've loved working there and having a day filled with Chinese! Oh. I guess I never mentioned that I'm doing that kind of work. I've been helping out at Scenic Heights Elementary School in Minnetonka. I help out in their Chinese immersion classes. So far I've worked with Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade. It's been absolutely wonderful to work there. I'll share more as time goes on.

2/12/2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:27:00 +0000

It's been a while!

I made Jenny some eggs for breakfast. I thought they looked like they were dug out of the garbage can, but Jenny insisted they were good. I guess we'll never know the truth.

I went to see "Safe House" with Aaron and Ron. It was a pretty good movie! Denzel is quite the actor.

We had some Culver's for lunch and when I got back, I took over watching the boys so Jenny and my mom could go see "The Vow". Since I "vowed" to not see it (har har), my mom was gracious to take Jenny.

I studied a lot of Chinese today. I'm trying my best to speak it at home with the boys. Oh, on that note: We are getting Levi into a Chinese immersion kindergarten. We are very, VERY excited about it. It'll be the most familiar type of school to him, since he's spent most school time in China.

Levi and I did some homeschooling for a solid hour and a half or something like that. Today he was learning about liquids and gases and how to figure out which is which and also about police men i.e. what their role is in our society. It was hard explaining how police dogs chase people down yet aren't the ones that take the crooks to jail.

We finished up with some dinner and bed!

Worship

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:40:00 +0000

Woke up this morning and did our normal routine.

We went to church then after that we came home for lunch and naps all around. (Except for Jenny - she's been studying like crazy!) Her writing class is taking up a lot of her time.

Oh, one note on my schooling situation as well: I spoke with two Chinese teachers who both recommended I start out at the highest level Chinese class they offer at the University of Minnesota. That's a bit daunting, but I'm VERY excited about it. I'm just double checking at the moment to see if that specific Chinese degree will satisfy whatever language requirements school districts require if I were to apply as a Chinese teacher in the future. If the degree will hold up and get me a teaching job, I'll be enrolled this fall! I'm starting with my major i.e. Chinese, then when I finish that, I'll plow through my general ed classes online. I think I'll have around a year (?) of Chinese. I'm told I'll get credit for the other couple years I'm skipping, which is nice.

I worked out today. ChaLean Extreme Burn Circuit 3. Brutal! They are good shoulder and leg workouts though!

These days I'm reading a few books. I'm reading through PUSH by Chalene Johnson, Simply Christian by N.T. Wright, and re-reading Love Wins by Rob Bell.

Today I was reading Simply Christian and wanted to share something N.T. (can I call you N.T? Thanks) said in his chapter on Worship.

One of the main reasons theology (trying to think straight about who God is) matters is that we are called to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. It matters that we learn more about who God is so that we can praise him more appropriately.

I believe so many people don't worship God because they are told by others that God is their enemy (unless they believe 100% what that person believes). Would you worship your enemy? Doesn't make sense. If only people knew who God truly was and how he really feels about his children.

I'm guessing with the rest of the day, we'll be watching the Packers/Giants game and will sleep at 8pm. We don't sleep like grandparents these days. We sleep like our grandparents' grandparents!

Elmo Lives!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 03:01:00 +0000

Wow! Today, along with Jenny's parents, we all went to see Elmo Makes Music, which is basically a Sesame Street Concert.

It was incredible! Liam was really cared of all the giant monsters running around at first, but he warmed up quickly. Levi loved it!

Afterwards, we went to The Old Spaghetti Factory and ate like crazy!

It was an awesome day, but tomorrow the in-laws will be leaving. It will be sad to see them go; Levi was very sad tonight knowing they are leaving in the morning.

January 2, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:34:00 +0000

My boys and I woke up and the boys watched some "Ni Hao, Kai Lan" while I studied Chinese.

The boys and I had a dance party shortly after and the boys also had some M&Ms, which is a reward for the both of them whenever Liam goes potty in the toilet. Liam wore underwear all morning and had no accidents, which was awesome!

Jenny got home then Levi watched Winnie the Pooh while we all napped. After that, we all wrestled around for a bit.

We used up a gift card to Chili's tonight. That's a favorite destination of mine, so any day I go to Chili's is considered a happy day.

January 1, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:13:00 +0000

The first day of the first month started out with our family having some fun with the new snow on the ground. Liam and Jenny were wrestling around while Levi insisted on helping me shoveling and salting the sidewalk. He's going to grow into a great helper, which makes this dad very proud.

We all napped and then played a game of Trouble. I won, for those of you who are interested.

We had a little movie night tonight and watched some Thomas. It's a big favorite of the boys.

We ended the night with watching Beyond Scared Straight. Mandatory.

Consequences

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:43:00 +0000

Jenny has been out with her friend, Kate.

The boys and I are shooting each other with darts while she's away. Just now, I shot him from across the room. He got off the couch, said "consequences!" and ran and tickled me. It was hilarious.

For dinner, we had macaroni and cheese. (Ron made four or five boxes of it) and now we're upstairs to get that last-minute play time between the boys and me. Usually after dinner, we only have less than a couple more hours to get our time together.

Levi the Giant

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:03:00 +0000

Levi says some of the funniest things. For example:

I was working on my finances on the computer when I noticed Levi loitering around near my legs. He suddenly put on my slippers and said, "I'm a big giant in my slippers!"

11/25/2011

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 22:04:00 +0000

It is great to have Friday off. I feel that I don't get much time with the boys so a morning with them outside the usual is fun. We played with some cars before breakfast.

When we finished eating, I went upstairs. Just me and the boys. All alone, I thought it'd be a great time to re-decorate the apartment. Thus:

Now, I can hear all the gasps yet, faintly, I can also hear the sound of applause. See the chair below? Useless! Goodbye sitting! You've been overtaken by your counterpart, standing! See how the height is just perfect for me? I know my wife is going to ~~hate~~ LOVE this. But, in my defense, SHE'S the one who left me alone without supervision.

Now I have to figure out what to do with a few lamps and picture frames which were once lonely atop a couple of end tables...

The boys watched a bit of Cars 2. I finished reading The Great Gatsby as a part of my attempt at reading 100 Must-Read books for men.

The boys and I played a type of monster game (I was the monster, who ate small nearby children. I just put a blanket over my head, which transforms me into a monster, for those of you who didn't know.) After that, we wrestled and threw pillows at each other. Then we ate.

Jenny got home from work at 1:00pm. Liam was napping and Levi was getting ready to go outside to play some baseball with his grandma. I cracked into Emotional Intelligence a bit, and found this interesting information from the subtitled section, "The Anatomy of Rage": When you get cut off by someone while driving down the road, do you jump to anger (or conclusions, rather) or do you try to assume the best in the situation i.e. "Perhaps he has an emergency?" If you allow yourself that initial bit of anger in the first place, it can get out of hand much quicker, but if you prevent and guard your mind from those initial angry thoughts, you can move on from the potential day-ruiner. The book quoted Benjamin Franklin as saying "Anger is never without a reason, but seldom a good one." Well said. They also mention in the book how perhaps the best way to stopping anger from rising is by stopping the negative thought process (or as they put it, "Undermine the convictions that are fueling anger in the first place). Tim Sanders seemed to echo this in his book I just finished reading.

After that, Jenny and I went on a date. We were going to go to see The Descendants but ended up seeing Hugo because the former movie was sold out when we got there. Hugo was pretty good! It was great to get some time with the wife.

Got home and played some video games with Aaron while Jenny slept. It was a good day!

Orientation

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:05:00 +0000

After work, Jenny had her orientation! She said it went well but she's a bit nervous because she feels a little overwhelmed and the schooling will probably take longer than expected.

After dinner, Jenny, my mom, and the boys went on a drive to look at all the Christmas lights. The boys were huge fans. I stayed back and worked on some stuff I had to do.

11/20/2011

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:29:00 +0000

We went to church today at 9am. The service was great. There was a performance done which included a bunch of drums and a dance by a bunch of fifth graders. The main dancer girl was Asian which made Jenny and I sad because it made us miss China. The sermon was really good - it was on King Omri. The pastor talked about how King Omri was regarded as one of the greatest kings of Israel however he is only mentioned in the bible with 8 verses. The pastor asked "What do you consider to be the requirements of success?" King Omri was one of the most powerful kings Israel ever had but now, thousands of years later, he is reduced to only eights verses in the bible and, according to the bible, he was one of the most evil. He sought power and prestige over doing the right thing. After the sermon, we went out to the little cafe they have inside and chatted with some Chinese people that go there. We really hope to get a relationship going with these people so we can continue to have a relationship with the culture and people we fell in love with.

After church, we went to the library to return some books. We got home and then Levi and I replaced the wipers on our car as well as the headlights which burned out overnight. He was really eager to help and did a great job throwing away trash for me and screwing in some parts on the headlights.

Afterwards, we went inside to watch the gruesome and sad Vikings game.

I finished up The Likeability Factor, which was a great book. I'm now onto The Great Gatsby and Emotional Intelligence.

Jenny and I ran through a Financial Peace University course which was on purchasing.

11/19/2011 - Guys Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:46:00 +0000

This morning, the boys and I went to Jenny's workplace to get some breakfast. She was so happy to see us and the boys enjoyed going as well because they have a little play area with toys and a chalkboard.

When the boys and I got home, we listened to some music and then watched a movie.

We were planning on going to Linder's for their grand opening night, but the snow was too much. We were slipping around while driving so we just stopped for some dinner then went home.

When we got back in the car to get home, one of our headlights was out, so Ron and I were working on fixing that while the boys, Aaron, and Jenny had a little snowball fight in the dark on the driveway. They had a great time and Liam kept coming up to me in the garage to throw a little pinch of snow at me.

We had our popcorn and movie night tonight so the movie tonight was Home Alone. We had a great day!

11/18/2011 - Game Night

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:05:00 +0000

Before work, I read The Likeability Factor by Tim Sanders. On page 76, Tim talks about some research done by Edelman Worldwide which was done in 2002. Did you know that 80% of people don't believe something the first time they hear, see, or read it? So if you've got a message or information you are trying to pass on to someone, you'll need to fight through that barrier. One of the main ways is through relationship. That's why going up to a stranger with information you want them to know or a product you want them to buy, you'll be unsuccessful the majority of the time. Some people will take this information and just say, "Well, then I'll ask 100 strangers and get 20 people to listen". That might work, but I don't like that method. Build relationships, THEN share what you have to say. Obviously if you are good friends with someone and you are not a total liar, they'll be more likely to listen and believe you when you tell them "this is the best shaving cream ever or this is the best computer company to buy from". Oops.

I got home and took Levi on a McDonald's date; just me and him. It was really good to get that time with him because when I'm working I don't see much of little Levi.

When we got back, Jenny, my mom, and I did some puzzle work while watching a show then the game night with Aaron began... A few hours of non-stop nerdness on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

11/17/2011 - Date Night

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:52:00 +0000

I got up today and spent a lot of time making a to-do list. This list will keep me motivated to achieve my goals and will keep me from wasting my time on things that don't matter. This to-do list was a part of the Chalene 30 Day Challenge - I'm enjoying it so far!

It was a good day at work. We are almost done finishing up a project we are working on which is going on down in Iowa. After that, we have another big window project we are starting up.

When I got back from work, we spent some time working on our budget and then went downstairs to get dinner for the boys.

Jenny and I then left the boys at home with my mom while Jenny and I went on a date to Chili's. We had a lot of laughs and smiles. She's wonderful and a lot of fun to be around. For the record, I got free chips and salsa by installing Foursquare and checking in at Chili's. I recommend doing this next time you go.

Got home, hung out a bit with Levi, showered, then went to bed. It was a good day!

11/16/2011 - Awana

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:26:00 +0000

Another wonderful morning, I got up and read The Likeability Factor. Info for the day from said book comes from a study done from Redford B. Williams, who studied 1,368 heart disease patients for more than nine years. He said "...just being married or having a good friend was a predictor of who lived and who died after a heart attack. Those patients with neither a spouse or a friend were three times more likely to die than those involved in a caring relationship." (emphasis added) Interesting, eh?

Jenny had work at the same time I did, so on these wonderful mornings we have the morning together.

When I got home, I was in some pretty bad arthritis pain, so Jenny took over our AWANA group tonight while I stayed home with Liam.

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:12:00 +0000

Waking up at 5, I immediately began reading The Likeability Factor by Tim Sanders again. Did you know that while most parents insist they don't show favoritism, they frequently do, and it is their more highly likeable children who end up getting extra attention? This was revealed in a 2000 interview with Dr. Vera Rabie-Azoori. I will, as expected, assert that I do not show favoritism. After reading, I had some breakfast and got ready for work.

We had homemade chicken fettuccine Alfredo (thank you, Jenny!) for dinner.

We went upstairs and I read the boys a few books we got from the library. I'll recommend one: Carolinda Clatter. It's really good. Super creative and different.

Jenny and I went through a course in Financial Peace University which was on credit sharks. Info of the day from FPU: Do you not like junk mail? Go to optoutprescreen.com! Do you not like telemarketers? Go to donotcall.gov!

Tomorrow is AWANA. We are looking forward to it!

11/14/2011

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:02:00 +0000

Today I got up at 5:00am to do my morning routine i.e. eat, read, read more, get ready. It's really good to give yourself tons of time before work. It's no good running jumping out of bed, slamming your alarm, and booking it out to your car where you begin speeding to work before you are even fully awake.

After I went to work, Jenny took the kids to run some errands while I stayed home and worked on two self-improvement courses I'm doing, which are Chalene Johnson's 30 Day Challenge and The Art of Manliness's 30 Days to a Better Man course. I highly recommend the former for those that want to get more organized on tackling their goals and the latter for those guys out there that want to be a... well... better man.

We had some Taco Bell for dinner and then went upstairs to hang out with the family then watch the Vikings play the Packers. After a sad first half, I went to bed.

Yes, I'd like to borrow 100 children's books, please.

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:13:00 +0000

After eating some Rhodes Caramel Rolls and watching some Word World, I hopped on Gmail Chat to talk to my brother (who is still in China). After that, we went to Plymouth Covenant Church to get our worship on.

The sermon was on King Uzziah and how his life was squandered by pride. Two phrases that may be a sign of pride are "I got this" and "I'm above the law". Pride can be so destructive; for the person and for those around him or her.

After church we went home and watched some football while enjoying Solo's Pizza leftovers.

Jenny and Levi went to the library and got tons of books for the boys. Apparently you can rent 100 books at a time. Who has time for that, really? I also rented The Like Ability Factor by Tim Sanders, which I'm looking forward to. Tim Sanders is a really good author - I highly recommend his books to anyone out there reading this. My quote of the day from the book is:

"All in all, it became clear that unlikeable characteristics are a primary reason for failure, whereas improvements in likeability offer excellent explanations for breakthrough successes."

Also, did you know? (From the same book)

"A 2000 study by Yale University and the Center for Socialization and Development-Berlin concluded that 'people, unlike animals, gain success not by being aggressive but by being nice.'"

Last, but not least... (From the same book)

"Easygoing, likeable people have one-half the divorce rate of the general population."

More football...

I played some Modern Warfare 3 with Aaron and his buddy, Josh.

After that, we had some dinner then the boys and I played some Super Mario Sluggers on the Wii.

Levi cleaned up his room then the boys went to bed!

Jenny and I spent our time learning about Dumping Debt from Financial Peace University/Dave Ramsey. My truth from the day from Dave Ramsey is:

"When you use plastic instead of cash, you spend 12-18% more because spending cash hurts."

After that, Jenny and I watched a King of Queens marathon, which is a family favorite.

It was a good day. Tomorrow Jenny is working at 4am (at Caribou Coffee) and I'm heading to work at 6:30am.

Did you throw that ball or me?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 19:22:00 +0000

I walked into the boys' room while they were playing and took a ball and lobbed it at Levi's head. To avoid being seen, I ran out, jumped on my bed, then pretended to sleep.

He waltzes out and says, "Daddy! Did you throw that ball or me?"

(Not "at me", but "or me". This is no typo. My options were to confess that I threw the ball or I could also try to convince him into thinking he threw the ball at himself. I considered this option but I decided against it and gave an evasive response.)

"Who do YOU think threw the ball?"

"YOU!" (He clearly had gathered all essential information)

"How do you know that, Levi?"

"Because I didn't see you throw it, dad. It was you." (again, not a typo.)

His logic was on such a different plane, I think. It went right over my head. Baffled, I fessed up and was consequently called a stinker. Shamed.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Liam!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:37:00 +0000

It’s Liam’s second birthday today. I’m so happy that I got to be home to celebrate with him. He’s such a cute boy and has grown up so much in the past month or so! We found out his new favorite food: Einstein’s bagels. I was actually punched in the face by America this morning when we got breakfast for $15! The financial situation is different, eh? That’s a month of cell phone use in China!

He’s a little messy when he eats. How does someone get so messy just eating bagels?

OOOOOOOOHHH RIGHT! That’s how you do it.

Until next time,
Jeremy, Jenny, Levi, & Liam

America

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:29:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

I (Jeremy) came back to Minnesota yesterday. Got things wrapped up in China pretty quickly so I got back a little early.

We are getting settled in at my parent’s place. They have been very gracious in allowing us to live here til we get back on our feet.

I’m probably going to take a week to get over jet lag then I’ll go job hunting. I’m looking forward to it!

Until next time,
Jeremy, Jenny, Levi, & Liam

Our Global Journey

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:43:00 +0000

Approximately three years ago, Jenny and I packed all of our things (along with our 10-month-old Levi) and got on a plane that would take us across the globe to a place 100% foreign to us. We couldn’t speak a single word of Chinese; we didn’t even have a good idea what it sounded like. We had no idea what the Chinese people as a whole are like. What are their goals? What are their hopes? How can we help them? How can they help us?

Now, Levi is four. He has a two-year-old little brother, and we have a decent understanding of the Chinese people. We can speak Chinese to a great extent. Many Chinese people dream of having their child. They work incredibly hard to be successful among a sea of other Chinese people trying to do the same thing. They are competitive. They hope for fortune, happiness, and peace. We have helped them; they have helped us.

Our last trip to America was our last strong push towards attaining a financial support level which would allow us to maintain our lives in China as well as provide for the health needs of Levi and myself. I found out I have Psoriatic Arthritis; in my case, my doctor needs me to be examined a few times per year. In Levi’s case, the bi- or tri-yearly visits to Beijing get costly.

Upon leaving America, we found that although many people were supportive of us, we still didn’t get to a monthly financial level that would allow us to continue living our lives in Xi’an, China. We found that if we stayed in China, by December we would be broke.

We didn’t want to put ourselves in a position where we’d have no money and we’d rely on debt to bring us through our lives in which we already can’t afford.

With that said, our time in China has come to a close. We are incredibly saddened and we are a little shocked as well. From our perspective, we’ve done all we could do and now it seems as if our lives are supposed to be elsewhere. Though we are sad, we are ready and looking forward to whatever will come next in our lives.

What’s next?
Jenny and I are going to move back to Minnesota. We’ll move back into my mother’s house. They have graciously opened the upstairs apartment to us to use while we get back on our feet. Jenny would like to pursue a career in nursing. During her college days, I’ll be working. When she’s done, we’ll swap, i.e. I’ll go to college for Chinese and Education and she’ll work. When I’m done with schooling, I hope to teach Chinese to middle or high school students. Jenny and our children will be going back to the States with my mother in two days. I will stick around finalizing things and will be back several weeks after that.

It has been a long and difficult yet rewarding time in Xi’an, China. The people were incredible. We couldn’t have done it without the loving support and sacrifices made by our loving friends, family, and neighbors.

Thank you.

Until next time,
Jeremy, Jenny, Levi, & Liam

Liam’s Responses

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:06:00 +0000

I have an inkling that Liam doesn’t always understand how to respond to yes or no questions.

For example, we were in the car through naptime this afternoon. We had a cheese quesadilla sitting there so Liam could eat it but he was so tired that he never got a chance to eat it.

I turned around to Liam and asked, “Liam, do you want some of your quesadilla?”

“Yeah.”

I gave it to him and he immediately puts it on his car seat right in between his legs and tries to go back asleep.

Maybe he just likes to sleep next to his food. Or maybe he doesn’t know how to turn down food. Either way, it was really cute.

Until next time,
Jeremy, Jenny, Levi, & Liam

Levi vs. Dora

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:58:00 +0000

This experience was too funny for me to not document, so I figured I'd throw it on the blog. Enjoy!

I don't know how many of you know about cartoons these days, but it's pretty common for the cartoon characters to ask a question to whoever is watching. They'll wait for the viewer to answer, then give out a generic response. For example, a cartoon character will look at you and say, "What's YOUR favorite color?!" Then they pause for six seconds to give you time to respond aloud, then they'll say something like, "That's a GREAT color!"

Well, Dora tried this on Levi this morning and it didn't quite work out. Here was the "conversation" they had.

Dora: "What was your FAVORITE thing we saw today?"
Levi: "Nothing."
Dora: "That was my favorite, too!"
Levi: "I SAID NOTHING!!!"

Until next time,
Jeremy, Jenny, Levi, & Liam

The Next Lil Bit

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy Peterson) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:41:00 +0000

We are on the plane from Minnesota to New York as I write this:

Our time in Minnesota was really great. We are going to miss all you Minnesotans while we’re away!

New York has many treats for us. We are going to be able to meet with many wonderful people, many of whom will be at the TWO family reunions we’ll be attending. We’ll also have some great opportunities to spread some information about what we’re doing in China.

Until next time,
Jeremy, Jenny, Levi, & Liam