Don’t you just love that picture of Brooklyn?  Goodness, that little girl is a cutie!!

There have been a few things going on around the house lately that I have found to be too incredibly funny not to share.  I’ve posted a few things on the JonesLife Facebook page, but the little blurbs that are possible through status updates simply do not do justice to the laughs life with five brings us.  The babies are toddling around more and more these days and are of course expanding their horizons in ways we have expected/anticipated and also in ways that are entirely new to us.  We only have our experience with Eliot’s toddler days to inform us of what lies ahead so raising five through the same stages has brought more of the unexpected than the expected!

So Lila has decided she no longer likes to wear her diaper…at night…when of course no one is around to tell her to take her hands off of that diaper!  She took her diaper off three nights in a row, making a nice mess of her crib and sheets each time she did so, and was even taking it off at nap time…we told y’all she was the sneaky one!  So we decided to take action to prevent her frequent disrobings and we put her in a onesie thinking she wouldn’t be able to figure out the snaps and wouldn’t be able to wiggle her way out of the diaper while wearing the onesie.  Problem solved!  For a few days, that is…

After a few nights of no morning surprises from our little Eliot Look-alike, we figured the battle had been won and were thankful that she did not put up too much of a fight.  WRONG!!  Lila had a little surprise for us on the fourth night of onesie sleeping!  When we went to get the babies out of bed in the morning we hear Lila saying, “Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh” over and over again.  I’m guessing you can figure out what she was referring to!  There she was, standing in her crib, onesie still on and intact…diaper on the floor!  Apparently the “uh-oh’s” were Lila’s defiant taunts over the diaper and its inferiority in this battle of the butt cheeks!

In spite of this setback, I am happy to say that Lila has been outwitted since that night by the dastardly backwards diaper – no duct tape, backwards zipped up jammies, or any other tricks necessary…at least for now!  However, that is not the end of the story…

In true Lila fashion, she was not content to keep her new found diaper removal knowledge to herself.  Remember, she is the one who refused to keep her DOC Band on at night and readily explained the proper removal technique to Jack once she had mastered it on her own!  This time, she imparted her wisdom to Ryan, who in true Ryan fashion, took the skill to a whole new level.  Ryan also managed to remove her diaper several times, but was not as persistent as Lila, giving up after the onesie went on.  Before giving up, however, Ryan had to show Lila a few tricks of her own!  Here’s how it went down…

The babies had been down for about an hour when Ryan started pitching a fit.  So I go up there to check things out and I find Ryan in her crib with no diaper on…thank you, Lila, for teaching her your tricks!  I pick her up and take her out to get her cleaned up when I discover that she had pooped (thankfully in the diaper) before removing it.  And don’t you know she got it all over herself…awesome!  So I clean her up, put her back down and all is well…for the moment.  I head back downstairs to finish off the evening before going up one last time to check on things before Casey and I turn in for the night.  When I go in that last time, I am hit with the wonderful aroma of baby poop as soon as I walk in the door…sweet, sweet baby poop!  And so I begin the all too common poop check, starting first with Brooklyn then onto Britton, Jack, Lila, and finally Ryan again.  All was clear…but still that smell!  Alright, let’s do this again because I must have missed something…boy, oh boy did I miss something.  Upon further inspection of Lila’s crib I find that Ryan had been having some fun in her crib before I got there the first time to clean her up earlier in the evening.  Laying in Lila’s crib close to her chest as if it were her stuffed bunny that had been released from her arms as the Sandman softly passed her way for the night was a nice-sized, perfectly round ball of Ryan’s poop!!  Eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww, Ryan!!!!!  Thanks for sharing, but really, sisters do not share EVERYTHING!!!  Well, poop smell mystery solved and resolved, all were sound asleep, and thankfully the rest of the night was as peaceful as they come around our home…..

And needless to say, potty training will be starting soon!!

Wow, as if the poop story wasn’t funny enough, I’ve got to tell you about a dream that I had the other night.  So we were all at someone’s house for Christmas – the whole gang was there as well as my brother and his kids, my parents, Casey’s parents, and our good friend, Jennifer.  We are all hanging out on the couch doing the normal night before Christmas kind of thing – playing with babies, watching TV, decorating the tree, etc., etc.  Everything was perfect except one thing:  there was a sixth baby there that I did not recognize or know anything about.  As if that wasn’t strange enough – an unknown baby hanging out with the family on Christmas…huh? – making the scene beyond bizarre was the fact by that this baby, a boy named Marlo, was clearly one of my babies (clear to everyone except for me, that is)!  After sitting and watching this baby and the family interact for a while, I finally sidle up to Casey and ask her in a very hushed tone, “Casey, who is this Baby Marlo and what is he doing here?”  Her response:  “What do you mean?  He’s one of the quints!”

What???!!  Casey, “quints” means five and we still have Brooklyn, Britton, Jack, Lila, and Ryan so how could there be a SIXTH baby?  And how could I have missed that we have a sixth baby for the last 18 months?!  Her less than satisfying response was simply that Marlo is one of the quints and he has always been with us. Needless to say I was thoroughly confused!

Jumping to the next “scene” of the dream, I am in the babies’ nursery – which still has only five cribs, by the way – and I am holding Marlo, about put him down for the night.  Jennifer is in there with me and she is also putting babies down and once again, I am completely confused.  Six babies, still called “quints”, five cribs, Jack has a brother, 18 months and I didn’t know we had a sixth baby…what, what, what??!!  The most pressing concern for the moment, however, is where does Baby Marlo sleep if there are only five cribs?  So I ask our helper, Jennifer, where he sleeps and she looks at me like I am crazy – which by this point is the only logical conclusion!  She says, “He sleeps in the crib with Brooklyn like he always has!”  End of dream………………………………..foggy eyes meet the morning’s light as I wake up and start the day.

So life around the house lately has been fun, if nothing else.  I don’t think I can provide any further commentary on the dream that would come close to explaining what on earth that all means!  As for the diaper battles and poop wars, the fragile truce has not been broken for awhile…we are hoping for the best, but prepared for a call to arms before the war is over!!!

God bless,

Ethan

And it is finally official…part of it at least – “Too Many Babies?” returns July 14th with a brand new one hour special!!    The show airs as part of Baby Week on Discovery Health on Wednesday, July 14th at 9pm Eastern/8pm Central (double check your local listings to be sure of the time).  There is a link to the show schedule and a separate link to the Baby Week website and video in the right hand column of this page under “News Wire.”  This time around, the show is being called “Too Many Babies?  The First 16 Months” and you may also see it as “Too Many Babies?  How They Do It.”

We just got a sneak peek viewing of the show and I can confidently say that if you loved the first show, you are going to love this one as well!!  This episode has a totally different feel from the first one.  It is comprised almost entirely of footage that was shot the first year along with some newer video and interviews.  Consider it a behind the scenes show that goes more in-depth into how we were able to manage to make it through the first year+ without losing our sanity!! :)

As far as the other shows that are coming up on TLC, here is what I know (which isn’t a whole heck of a lot!).  The show that is about to air on Discovery Health has also been picked up on TLC and will air on that channel closer to the time that the newly filmed episodes will begin airing.  We began filming for the new episodes a few months ago and will wrap on those in the next few weeks.  I believe that TLC is working on another name for the series, but nothing is official on that for now.  These new episodes will begin airing later this summer and as far as we know they will only be on TLC.  We have only seen little bits and pieces of the new footage, but I can assure you that the shows are going to be super fun!!  We have been having an awesome time with the filming and all of the events that we have had going on in our lives lately…we can’t wait to update everybody on all of the happenings lately!!  Of course, we will make an announcement here on the blog as soon as we know more about the TLC air dates!

Here are some new photos of what has been going on around here in the last few months on our days away from the cameras…..

This one was taken today!  Lila Bear is wearing some pajamas that were handed down from Big Sister Eliot…

One of the more exciting events for us this summer was being on stage at Riverbend as part of Dr. Dave’s series, Men of Honor!  This time just Jack and I made an appearance, but we had a couple of beauties in the audience cheering us on…..

For our first chapter of “The Adventures of Being Eliot,” we see our little hero knee boarding for the first time…she loved it and did great!!

Chapter 2:  horse back riding – thank you, Ann Marie and the granddaughters!

Chapter 3:  camera girl and big-time TV producer!  She was totally in charge on this day – she told the guy under the umbrella that all he had been doing all day was sitting around…hilarious!

And now for some fun in the sun with The Fab Five….

So, do you think Jack likes the pool? :)

And finally, the sweetest little thing you ever did see…Brooklyn Faith…..

That’s all I have for now!  I hope y’all are enjoying your summer as much as the Jones Family is enjoying ours!!  Y’all take care…..

Ethan

Wow, it has been a little while since I have updated the blog and I apologize for that.  Believe me, I have my excuses.  The rhythm of life has picked up the pace in the last few weeks and I am lagging behind a bit still.  Things haven’t just changed for me individually, they have changed for the entire family.  Filming for the new episodes is in full swing and is demanding much more time than production on the pilot required.  We film 3-4 days a week now which is crazy, but is also crazy fun!  Graduation day was a few weeks ago at Baylor and was quite an event – the full Jones and Krueger contingents were present, all 14 of us, converging on little Waco from three different locales.  And then we all met up again a couple of weeks later at the Krueger home in Shady Shores for the Memorial Day Fish Fry, a 30+ year annual summer kickoff party hosted by Casey’s parents.  And of course I am still working the day job while Casey lays around all day, eating bon-bons and having her feet massaged…….you know that’s not right!

So we have been busy, as I am guessing many of you have been as well.  But the good news for us is that all of the busyness is of the good, fun variety and we probably wouldn’t have it any other way if we could!

The Memorial Day party was really awesome!  It was our second road trip with the crew and I think we are learning some tricks to traveling more efficiently with our little circus – there was no huge trailer this time around!  We only made one stop on the way up and that was for a stretch break for someone who will remain nameless until now:  it was Casey.  We got there on Saturday afternoon and went straight to the pool – I think Eliot set a land speed record for quickest time from car to swimsuit to pool!  The big party was on Sunday and the day was filled with lots more swimming for the whole family, tons of fun for the babies as they were passed from person to person and pool to pool (there were a few baby pools set up for the day), and the biggest pile of catfish and potluck dishes you have ever seen!  Aside from a few minor meltdowns from some very tired babies, the day was a huge success for all involved!  The ride home was not quite as smooth as the ride up, but we still managed to make it with only one stop (Casey behaved herself this time around).  The trip was brought to a perfect close by two of our superstar helpers, Megan and Jennifer, who were at the house waiting for us when we arrived with bags of Rudy’s Barbecue in hand!  The ladies took the babies off our hands so we could unpack, unwind, and fill our bellies…SU-PER-STARS!!!!

Sidebar for the funniest dynamic of the weekend:  Lila would not let Grandpa Bill (Casey’s dad) out of her sight all weekend long – it was adorable and also hilarious!  Every time he would set her down or try to leave the room, Lila made it clear that she did not approve!  So of course, being the good grandfather he is and also being a little proud that she was making such a fuss over him, Grandpa Bill would do whatever it was he needed to do with Little Lila in tow…not an easy task considering all of the work he was doing to get ready for the party!

Each of the members of our little Six Pack have been doing very well these days.  Eliot just graduated kindergarten and has an awesome summer of fun lined up, complete with camps, her sixth birthday, vacation Bible school, and at least a week in Denton with the grandparents.  Meanwhile, the babies are not really babies anymore…as their daily toddling and babbling clearly indicates.  We have been trying to venture out of the house with them more and they are really taking all of the adventures in stride.  The only thing growing faster than their little bodies is their personalities!  Here is a little breakdown of how things are developing in the personality department:

– Brooklyn Faith:  she is still our little sweetheart, the only one who sucks her thumb, and the best cuddler of the bunch.  But these days she has added a little quirkiness to her disposition – she is a total goof ball!  She makes all kinds of funny sounds and faces and is often by herself, dancing to her own little tune.  What a doll!

– Britton Grace:  still a fireball from her tiny head to her tiny toes, but she has evened out a bit.  She has some really good days where she barely fusses at all…and then she has her more normal days.  She has become daddy’s little girl, insisting on being in my lap whenever I am around.  Oh, and she is also quite particular about just about everything – sippy cup color and type, the exact type of snack she would like to eat, and pretty much anything else…the girl knows what she wants!  Her newest nicknames are Little Mighty and Itty-Bitty…. :)

– Jack William:  Happy Jack is still Laid Back Jack and continues to live in his own little world, perfectly content with life.  He has become more adventurous lately and is the only one who will bait you into chasing him around.  Since he can now run pretty well, instead of crawling over the girls to get to a toy (or milk, or daddy, or whatever), he now pushes them down and out of his way in his haste to get to the object of his desire.  Can you spell B-O-Y without J-A-C-K?  I don’t think it is possible!

– Lila Addison:  Lila is pretty happy also, more or less all of the time – except when Grandpa Bill leaves the room!  She is also our little adventurer.  Lila is constantly exploring a.k.a. wandering off from us!  She is the first to look over the rails to see who is coming up the stairs, first to walk off in pursuit of excitement, and she does it all with a shiny sparkle in her deep blue eyes (the only one with this color eye – all of the rest are hazel like Casey and Eliot).

– And then there is Ryan, still “The Lion” Elizabeth:  still quite vocal, still quick to anger, but just as quick to smile and laugh and put on a show!  She is the star of the crew, at least she thinks she is anyway.  She is the most developed in her speech and coordination as well.  Ryan loves to play and loves to laugh and she will do just about anything to have fun!  Ryan is usually the first one to greet me at the gate when I come upstairs, arms up with a pleading look in her eyes…that girl is fast!  I think she is going to challenge Eliot for best athlete in the family and she will definitely put up a fight for the biggest personality!

The next six weeks are going to be busy, busy, busy with the production schedule so I’ll post as often as I can!  We are really excited about all of the new episodes that are coming out late this summer!  Until then, keep up with us on Facebook, Twitter, and right here for more pics and posts on our adventures with The Six Pack!

One more note:  I get to be onstage at Riverbend Church tomorrow with my main man, Jack William, talking about life as a father of one lonely boy and five crazy girls!!

God bless,

Ethan

We got a special treat this Mother’s Day and we took advantage with the whole crew! One of my clients owns a lake house on Lake Travis in Lago Vista (about a 45 minute drive from Austin) which they rent out over the summer. They took it off of the rental schedule this weekend so we could get away with the gang. It was such an incredible place and we are so grateful for the chance to have been able to use it!!!

We headed out late Saturday morning along with Megan and Jennifer, two of our good friends and baby helpers, made a stop at HEB and Rudy’s on the way, and arrived with plenty of time to get settled before hitting the pool! Of course, Eliot was the first one to make a splash and she made it clear to everyone that the water was just perfect (the weather didn’t cooperate fully, but the heated pool made up for it!!) After The Fab Five was fed and full, we all hit the water…the babies all loved it! Of course, Ryan was the most animated about the experience, squealing, giggling, and wiggling out of our arms as if she could pull off an Olympic-style butterfly stroke! Lila and Brooklyn were pretty relaxed about it all, but there was no question they were having fun. Jack had a blast splashing the water with his hands and cracking up every time he did it…so funny! The biggest surprise was Little Mighty, Britton Grace. The little spider monkey, Queen Diva was extra-super chill the whole time she was in the water! Huh?? Who is this child? Seriously, she just laid back in her little floaty and took in the scene – she didn’t do much laughing or giggling, shot us a few good smiles, and did not fuss one time in the two hours we were in the water…cue the theme music from The Twilight Zone…

After the swim we fed the kids and fed ourselves then got everyone under the age of two down for the night. Jennifer and Megan left a little while later leaving me, Casey, and Eliot to the most quiet, relaxing evening we have had in a long, long, long time…aaaahhhhhhhhh!! It’s funny because it wasn’t much different than most other nights – the babies usually go down by 7:00 and we do not hear from them for the rest of the night, leaving the house pretty calm after dark. I guess there is just something about being out of town, in a different place, away from the city, and knowing you are near the lake that just put a different kind of calm in the air. Oh yeah, all of that and the fact that our phones were not blowing up, we had nothing to think about doing on Sunday except for more swimming, and neither of us had our laptops tugging at the gray matter in our brains, distracting us from our singular focus: relaxation. Yeah, some of that probably had a bit to do with it as well…

The next morning, Little Miss Sunshine was warming the pool with her radiance by 9:00 am, begging daddy to join her with no delay – I told her I at least had to have breakfast first! So after grabbing some grub, helping Casey with the Fab’s feeding, and holding out long enough to get the babies down for an early nap, Casey and I hit the water again. We played Marco Polo, tossed rings to the bottom, swam races, and did just about everything else a five-year-old can think of to do in a pool, most importantly of which was having a blast!

After that, exhaustion set in as we begrudgingly packed the car for the trek back home. It was pretty awesome being away for just a little while with only our family though…that was a first for us! We did pretty good with packing light and managed to get everything there and back without having to call United Van Lines to haul our stuff so maybe we’re getting a little better at this mobile-family-of-eight thing? Maybe we’ll even take a road trip this summer…who knows? One thing is for sure, you can’t hold me, Casey, and Eliot back from some serious summer fun so it is time to figure this mobility thing out pretty quickly!

Thank you, thank you once again to my clients for allowing us to invade your little slice of serenity on Earth this weekend! And I apologize for the redecorating we did while we were there…. ;-)

Really quick before I go, I wanted to mention that “Quintuplet Surprise” aired again on TLC last night and as my email in-box can attest, it was very well received once again! Thank you so much to everyone for the support and sweet thoughts you have been sending our way! We have been moving pretty fast and furious on filming the new episodes so life will not be slowing down anytime soon. We’ll be sure to let everyone know when we have more details about the show, but in the meantime when you think of us think of this:
yeeeeehhaaaaaww!!! :)

Y’all take care,
Ethan

Anybody out there ever return from a vacation and wonder why they ever came home??  As the dazed and dismayed look on Casey Ann’s face plainly showed yesterday, she was feeling the “joy” of returning to her day job…I mean, her loving, caring, eager-to-see-her family!!  It did not help that yesterday was just one of those days.  You know the type – it starts early and goes long, “challenges” hitting you one right after the other, seemingly nothing going as planned along the way…yeah, it was one of those days.  Welcome back, Casey Ann, this is your life!!

Yes, Casey finally got away for some hard earned R&R, thank God!  She is hardly able to leave the house for anything more than a grocery run these days and has taken on a tremendous amount of extra work around the house to accommodate my school schedule.  So when the opportunity came up for her to take a quick and relatively painless (aka: cheap) trip to Vegas, we jumped!  She stayed with a friend who lives out there for a couple of days, then bummed with some Austin friends in town on business for two more days.  And while she was there she did a whole lot of……….nuthin’……..unless you consider laying by the pool, walking the strip, and then laying by the pool again to be more than nuthin’!  Poor girl can’t catch a break, though – when she got home, our sweet thing, Brooklyn, gave Casey the cold shoulder!  She wouldn’t even look at her for several hours…it was heartbreaking!!

Meanwhile, back on the home front, Nana came down to save The Six Pack from my shorthanded parenting ineptitude.  Oh sure, I can handle the diaper changes, the bottles, the nap times, and that kind of thing, but you don’t want to eat my cooking and the babies probably shouldn’t eat pizza for four days straight!  And there is only so much tender loving care you can expect out of this man which I’m pretty certain would have been used up about mid-way through the first morning!!  And of course, you can forget about the cute matching outfits, the fun little games, learning, general hygiene, and anything else above the level of sheer survival.  So thank you, Nana, for saving us all from our own little versions of Hell.  And more importantly, thank you Casey Ann for coming home!!  Really, we know you had a choice……..

Earlier this month the babies went to the doctor for their 15 month and final baby wellness check…my checkbook is eternally grateful!  All is well with every single member of The Fab Five, aside from the slightly stunted growth of Little Mighty Britton Grace.  Little thing is not even on the charts in percentiles!!  But, oh my gosh, that little girl has spunk and attitude in abundance!  Here are the weights and heights:

– Brooklyn Faith:  20 pounds, 4 ounces, 29-3/4″

– Britton Grace:  16 pounds, 9 ounces, 27″

– Jack William:  23 pounds, 15 ounces, 31-1/4″

– Lila Addison:  20 pounds, 11 ounces, 29-1/2″

– Ryan Elizabeth:  20 pounds, 4 ounces, 30-1/2″

Other than a ravaging cold that has currently taken hold in the house and has struck all five of the tots, they have been doing great!  They are working on sign language thanks to Vanessa and the Baby Signing Time video she sent to us.  If you have a little one and have not heard of this, check it out because it is quite amazing!  The babies have been learning to sign things like “eat”, “more”, “milk”, and other little things to help them communicate with us in ways that do not involve screaming, biting, kicking, and screaming!  It only took two or three days for the babies to start using the signs!  (by the way, Vanessa sent us the video as a friend, not in exchange for an endorsement.  However, she is being endorsed nonetheless!  She has a store at www.signingtimeacademy.com/vanessa so go there to buy the videos and other stuff!)

We are gearing up for our first summer with a home-bound Eliot McKenna which ought to be very, very interesting!  Considering Casey is just about as home-bound as Eliot is, it is going to be quite challenging to keep the little girl entertained while Casey manages the rest of the brood and I manage my end of the bargain – my construction company.  Can you say week or three away at Grandma and Grandpa’s house…oh yeah!!!  We are really looking forward to getting out with the whole gang and doing as much as our bank account, our free time, and our will allows!  I see a whole lot of community center pool time in our future and I cannot wait!  Hopefully they won’t charge us for the extra chlorine that will likely be necessary after the Quint Invasion has passed through…. ;-)

So if you can’t tell from my words above, let me state it plainly – we are having fun with life and looking forward to each and every new day as our family continues along in this adventure!  With my trip and my efforts at finishing up my MBA, Casey’s trip, the cameras beginning to roll again, and a few little surprises here and there, April was a super stressful month on both Casey and I and we are very, very happy to have it behind us.  May is looking to be just as hectic, but the difference between this month and last is that Casey and I will be together in confronting the many challenges that lie ahead.  With our two trips, we spent nearly half the month apart from each other and I’m  telling the truth when I say that most of our stress was due to the fact that Casey and I were not able to begin and end each day as we do every other day – with each other.  What an awesome reality!!

Y’all take care,

Ethan

*Dangit!  Casey just told me this wasn’t their last baby wellness check…d’oh!!!  Grrrrrrr………. :)

If you are wondering why this blog has not been updated in nearly two weeks, wonder no more. I have been on the other side of the planet for the last 10 days and am almost fully recovered from the whirlwind that I experienced while away. My journey took me to the East – way far East, actually – five days in Beijing and three days in Tokyo (and two days of planes, trains, and automobiles)! The trip was the final act of my MBA program which has been on-going for the last 21 months. That’s right, I said FINAL ACT* – can I get an amen??!

*Technical note – I missed one class when Casey was in the hospital and the babies were being born. Classes are only offered once a year with this program so I will be taking an accounting course next February to complete my course work. My official graduation will happen in May 2011.*

The trip was much like the program has been – overall very good with heavy doses of challenging, exhausting, and sleep deprived all in the mix. The schedule was jam packed with touristy stuff (Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square) and even more jam packed with company visits, factory tours, dinners, and more. In between all of the visits and bus rides there was little sleep and even less eating – oh my gosh they eat some nasty food over there! Yes, I tried the squid (as in a whole squid, plucked from the ocean and plopped on my plate!), but I resisted the fish gut, the super-bony goose, and the donkey meat, thank you very much! Let me just say it is a very good thing that I am a fan of the trail mix (HEB brand, of course)!!

While I was away, Casey and Grandma Stevie held it down with the Six Pack…I am pretty sure I am never allowed to leave the house again…ever! They had fun, but just like my trip away, their time here was also challenging, exhausting, and sleep deprived much of the time! I have to give the makers of Skype some major love, by the way. Casey and I were able to video call each other every day and I was able to talk to Eliot and see the babies most of the time…and it was all for free! The Skype highlight has to be Lila constantly pointing at my face on Casey’s computer screen and exclaiming, “Da-da!” over and over…it was so awesome! Nothing felt better than coming home to my family after such a long time away! Coming in as a close second would be coming home to American cooking!

Of the two cities, without a doubt Tokyo was my favorite – what a vibrant place!  It had a very New York City kind of feel which is great because I love The Big Apple!  It was huge, clean, active, and colorful, the people were incredibly gracious and forgiving of our band of ugly Americans…and did I mention it was clean??  After spending five days in Beijing, cleanliness was a valuable asset!  I am sorry to say that I am not a huge fan of Beijing.  It is a filthy place – the smog was so thick that it appeared foggy every day, the water and food is not safe for consumption, and I won’t even mention the restroom situation!

The trouble I have with Beijing goes much deeper than the layers of dust and grime that seem to cover every surface of the place, however.  As I traveled through the city, seeing the sites and listening to our tour guide proclaim the greatness of China, its history, and its leaders, I could actually feel the weight of oppression which bears down on this country and on its citizens.  No doubt Beijing has many beautiful cultural relics from China’s dynamic history and it is booming economically – our hotel was world class and was a short walk from both a Ferrari and a Lamborghini dealership, two banks, and several high end retailers.  But walk a little further past the glitz and look just beyond the facade of the great historical structures and you will see a different picture.  Not two blocks from our hotel and those car dealerships and seemingly everywhere else in this city of 20 million people, the poverty declares its dominance as the real story of Beijing’s past, present, and future.  The buildings are broken down, tattered shells which unbelievably are still occupied.  The great historic buildings and sites are rotting relics, ill-maintained and ill-suited as symbols of a country’s strength and prosperity.

And the people?  They are wonderful, gracious, and beautiful…and they are also shamefully beaten down by their history and their omni-present oppressors (we complain about stop light cameras, they have cameras EVERYWHERE).  Their students are not taught about the student revolution which took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989 or other cultural uprisings in China’s history (read about Tiananmen Square here) and they also do not know of the atrocities committed by their hero, Mao Zedong, whose policies are widely believed to have caused 50 to 70 million deaths yet whose face is ever-present on buildings, souvenirs sold in the public square, and on the local currency (read about Chairman Mao here).  About Chairman Mao our tour guide said, “sometimes it is necessary to rule with an iron fist.”  This was shortly before he recited some of Mao’s “beautiful poetry.”  Wow.  And about the communist government he said, “sometimes the people cannot be trusted.”  No one asked about the PEOPLE running the government and if they also cannot be trusted…

I could go on and on, but I won’t bore you with my political rantings…sorry, sometimes I can’t help myself.  I do not want this to overshadow the fact that I had a great trip and an even better return home, however!  Baylor University once again put together a fantastic program and as always took great care to ensure the quality of the programs that we engaged in.  Most importantly of all is that this marks the official end of my 20-30 hour per week “second job”!!  No more Monday and Thursday nights away from the family, no more weekend study groups, no more projects or papers, and a whole lot less stress…………outstanding!!!

God bless,

Ethan

P.S.  The top three pictures are of Beijing and the bottom two are of Tokyo…notice the difference?  The Great Wall is hardly visible because of the haze!  That is pollution, not fog – the view actually got worse the higher you climbed on the wall because you were going higher up into the smog!