Christmas

Our celebrating this year took on a whole new meaning. A few days before Christmas we met up with our two closest western friends here (Sam and Charis, and Andy and Natalie and their two kids, Jenda and Blaise), grabbed some McDonald's to eat on the way, and had a hired driver in a 16-passenger van drive us about an hour and a half away to an orphanage in a nearby town. We had several of the seats in the van filled with toys, diapers, and some clothing items that the orphanage coordinator had requested. The 3 hours that we spent there with the kids and touring the facility was absolutely amazing--more than we could have asked for or imagined as far as an "experience" that was incredibly life-changing and fulfilling for all of us involved. We had literally only walked up the steps and through the child gate on the second floor when we were swarmed with Chinese toddlers, all lifting their hands up with huge grins on their faces. The experience was so surreal that we all agreed that we had wondered at the time if the kids were put up to such lovable behavior by the women in charge of the kids or if it was instigated by themselves alone! Our time with the kids over the next several hours made us believe that it was genuine--with no one forcing or even encouraging these kids to reach out and embrace us with such warmth and enthusiasm.

Each of the kids at the orphanage we visited (called Shepherd's Field in Lang Fang) had some sort of disability. The orphanage housed between 70 and 90 kids at a time, ranging in age from a few months old to 18 years. We were blown away by how well-run everything seemed to be, and how much the staff seemed to care about the children there. The facility itself was remarkable, and we were told it was started by foreigners and has a huge financial support system in the States. The people we met who worked there were all like-minded on important things, and the love they had for the children was evident in the way they cared for them.

I was amused by our kids' response to the experience as we reflected on it over dinner upon our return that night. When we asked the kids what they thought, Eli immediately responded that "Dad sure did like being there!" When we asked him what made him think so, he explained that he was constantly holding little kids or playing with them when we were there (which was true; in fact I couldn't even get to my camera before Kevin had two little toddlers in his arms immediately upon our arrival in the first dorm we visited). Neither Kevin nor I are what I would call "kid people"; we love kids, but don't naturally warm up to them or get re-energized from spending lots of time with them like some friends we have. But when Kevin reminded our kids that those children didn't have mommies or daddies to hold them whenever they wanted, it really struck a chord in them. Kevin asked them to think about how many times in a day they wanted Mom or Dad to hug them or hold them; then explained that theses kids NEVER had a mom or dad to go to when they felt that way. It was silent in the room for a minute while our kids processed this--which is a small miracle in and of itself! Other than Noah pushing through his normal afternoon naptime and having some seriously cranky behavior as a result, our kids did really well playing with the other kids and handing off Christmas gifts to the kids at Shepherd's Field.

Besides our big trip to the orphanage, we got to do some more celebrating with friends for Christmas. On Friday before Christmas I hosted a cookie decorating party for some of the kids friends at our house. Talk about being thankful for holiday care packages with baking goodies I can share with friends! On Christmas Eve we hosted a brunch with some of our western friends--26 of them in all!--and enjoyed a feast and a time of fellowship, complete with egg nog and some special mint coffee (also courtesy of a care package!). Christmas Eve night we ordered jiaozi from a nearby restaurant (a staple in the Chinese diet, and one of our families' favorite foods to eat these days!) and managed to catch a taxi to get to Gymboree, the place where Kevin's best friend Lief teaches toddlers English. Gymboree was having a big Christmas Eve party and Lief and his boss, who we've become friends with, really wanted our family to attend (the western faces in the crowd!). We stuck around for over an hour with our friends Sam and Charis, laughing at how "Chinese-ee" it was, meaning that the party was filled with games and silly dances and performances, before heading home to finish preparing for Christmas morning. Christmas Eve here is treated more like a holiday than Christmas day is, with stores staying open all night on the 24th for shopping and a general party atmosphere wherever you go--lots of revelry and even some fireworks in the streets! My ayi explained to me that this is because the Chinese compare American's Christmas to the Chinese New Year--during which the celebrating actually starts the day before the New Year and goes on throughout the night, in spite of how old you are or what your usual bedtime is! She was shocked when I told her that this is not how we do it in the US! Especially if you have kids, you're aiming for an earlier bedtime on the 24th so you can get up early for the opening of gifts on the 25th.

On Christmas day we decided to stay home from our usual fellowship (we always feel rushed getting out the door by 9:30 and can never get home before 1:30, so knew that it would take up our whole morning and decided on family worship at home instead). After a big breakfast and opening of gifts (which the kids had an abundance of, thanks to the grandparents and their generous care packages!), we had a lazy afternoon of lounging around in our pj's (I had matching pj pants made for the whole family; a luxury of living here in China! I was able to buy the flannel at a fabric market and had a seamstress come to the house and measure and custom-make the pants for each of us to wear with our white t-shirts. I know, a little cheesy, but even Kevin was willing to participate to humor his wife [probably fearing a potential homesick meltdown if he didn't!]). We did change clothes in the afternoon for me to do a quick jog and the 3 older kids to ride bikes along with me through our apartment community. We were sooooooo thankful for the weather! We haven't even had our first snow yet, and the temps are regularly in the upper 30's! We'll take it!

Christmas night we had our two closest friends again (Sam and Charis and Andy and Natalie and kids) over for dinner. I made lots of my favorite comfort foods (my mother-in-law's pork tenderloin recipe with jelly I asked her to mail me from the US, twice baked potatoes, cinnamon red hot jello salad, green salad with FETA cheese on top--which was a HUGE treat, as you don't come by feta very often here at all, and even a chocolate pie for dessert). Can you see why I had a jog that afternoon?!

Christmas was a sweet time. It was simple. It was refreshing rather than exhausting. It was great time building Magna Tile towers and playing Sorry with the kids. There were moments when we all had that knot in the pit of the stomach feeling that never seems to quite go away when you live so far from "home" and family, but it was a sweet time of remembering what is important, why we are here, His goodness in it all, and the joy of the friends He's given us on this side of the ocean!

Let the Celebrating Begin!

I can't believe that Christmas is only a week away now! It's amazing how quickly it comes! Seems like only yesterday that we were packing our bags for our first trip back to the US for Christmas last year. While we are definitely feeling the miles of distance between us and those Stateside, we're also really loving so many aspects of the intentionality of celebrating the season on this side of the ocean!

This past week we had a few celebrations: Eli and Hud had their school Christmas performance--and it was precious! Some of the pictures are from there, including the one with Ms. Barbara in it (the kids surrogate grandmother here in China, who has yet to miss one of their special events!). I also had a morning off from our usual family time last Saturday when I got together with a group of Western friends for a cookie and soup exchange and luncheon. We had sweet time enjoying one another's company, eating, and even exchanging gifts (usually fun finds that are hard to come by here--a bag of coffee, a full-sized mug, non-gaudy earrings, etc.). After the luncheon, I took off for my last study with a group of Chinese moms (as shown in the other photo--with my Western (and Aggie! Whoop!) friend, Natalie--who helped me lead the month-long study we did.) More on the study later...

I thought I'd include some of my favorite snapshots from the week that came from each one of the boys. Noah's was a few days ago as we were walking through our apartment community to bring some food to a friend. Karis was kicking the soccer ball on the way, and kicked the ball close to a little Chinese boy out with his grandpa (he was probably about 3 or 4 years old). The ball obviously startled him when it rolled past, and he responded with sort of a yelp! Noah's reaction was to immediately cry out to him, "LOOK OUT, GEGE!" (Gege is the Chinese word for older brother!) It was so quick and so natural, Karis and I both burst out laughing, especially since it seemed so odd as this word in particular is NOT part of our usual Chinese vocabulary. I'm guessing he's just practiced with Ayi, but I was unaware that he even knew what the word meant! Hudson's came on our walk to school on Thursday morning. He was telling a story--which is not at all a-typical for him. He was explaining to me what had happened on the episode of Tom and Jerry he had watched the previous afternoon (in Mandarin, of course). He explained to me that Jerry had come down with a bad case of leprosy, even getting it in his mouth! I stopped Hud and told him that he probably had the chicken pox, not leprosy, but he was convinced of his diagnosis! Eli's was this morning, as we were preparing to go shopping for Christmas presents we are taking to an orphanage next week (sure you will have a full post on that one next week!). During our discussion, he very pointedly asked me, "Mom, when are we going to get one?" I responded with, "One what?", assuming he was referring to a specific gift or something. He shocked me by saying instead, "An orphan." After I put my eyes back in their sockets and caught my breath, I asked him what made him think we were going to "get one". He stated very simply that he'd heard me mention it before (as Kevin and I have talked about the possibility of adopting some day). This prompted a very interesting discussion in which I talked with the boys (who were the only ones at the table at the time) about the possibility of us adding to our family through adoption, what this might look like, and their thoughts on the matter. It was pretty precious, them discussing the pro's and con's of another brother vs. a sister, the possibility of it being a child with extra emotional or physical needs, etc. They then explained to me that they knew all about adoption because of how many friends we have who have done so--elaborating on one family we know who lives in Shanghai and has 10 kids (I think 2 or 3 are adopted), one of whom is missing a few digits on one of his hands. The boy from Shanghai and his brothers had apparently told Eli and Hud last year when we were with them that the boys missing the digits had had dipped his fingers in a pool of water and had them bitten off by piranhas! After I stopped laughing, I was able to argue with my boys that I was quite certain this was not the real story, but only the brothers having fun and having a good attitude about something that could be a real downer in one's life.

So back to the parenting study. It finished up, I am happy to say, a total success. So much so that the ladies were really wanting to continue meeting. As much as I LOVED the time with them, it was also a big burden on Kevin and a lot of time away from the family. So we left it with me encouraging them to continue meeting together and encouraging one another (which they were very open to doing) and then maybe re-upping to meet again for a series of weeks in the Spring. I don't know of any other activity I've participated in here that has felt like a more natural bridge to building relationships and talking about things of importance. And it is sooooooo needed here! I was amazed each week at how the "normal" things that we think every parent knows just aren't talked about or considered here. Things like giving your kids boundaries or limits (or telling them "no" to anything at all!), teaching them B verses, communicating with them, finding out how they best feel loved and giving that to them, all these things are simply not known or practiced. It was so encouraging to see these women take simple basic truths and try to apply them each week, then come back and share their stories. We spent a lot of time laughing (at least they did--the parts I could understand, I was laughing along with them!). And the study was a HUGE help to my language learning. I tried to do most of the teaching time in Chinese, with resorting to Chinglish as needed and an occasional clarification in English, which I could get away with as all the ladies spoke at least some English themselves. And I also had Natalie there as my crutch--her language is incredible and we prepped together a lot, so she could help me in a bind. I found as I was lying awake one night this week not able to sleep for some reason, that as I practiced Chinese in my head, for the first time I was able to express my heart about what I feel like is important in raising kids in Mandarin. And this is a really big deal because I literally have opportunities almost every day to use this kind of language to open doors--people asking about which kid is my favorite, how beautiful they are, how important the outward appearance and their success in the world is, etc. All these things that go along with a godless culture that I see as signs of being so lost, I now have the ability to explain that there is more out there than the empty and vain pursuit of what the world has to offer! It's exciting and invigorating all at once!

I'd better head to wake Noah up from his nap. We have dinner guests coming shortly--a girl headed to the US for a time of study whose parents are both coaches of the professional athletes in town (one coaches trampoline and one softball). Kevin assures me that in spite of it being a little uncomfortable for us to host this crew (they are what we call, "full Chinese", meaning they don't really have other Westerners they hang out with, so aren't used to our custom and food differences!), it will hopefully be a beneficial relationship in which to invest! Sure to have more fun stories as a result... :)

Here With Us

I just made a big purchase this weekend--a ($.99) song off of iTunes--Joy Williams "Here With Us". Most of you probably know this one well, as it is become quite popular to hear during Christmas time. I'm not too embarrassed to say that I've pretty much had it on repeat the last two days. It has been a poignant reminder to me of His abiding presence--something I've needed to experience as of late in a way more intense than my "normal". I think I've mentioned before that one of the blessings of being here in China is that we are away from the commercialization that comes with the holiday celebrating typical of the States. And it really is a blessing in so many ways. Without trying to create too much distance and give the persona that the Joseph family has arrived at some sort of spiritual level higher than the rest, the simplicity of the season, the lack of many materials things here we would WANT to spend much money on, and the fact that so many around us have so little in comparison make it relatively easy to truly say from our hearts that our Christmas wish lists are quite short. So I am thankful for being here in China during the holiday season largely for these reasons.

I will add, however, that the times of being away from family and dear friends around holidays is that much more felt on an emotional level. Add that to the fact that Kevin and I are both feeling the weight of the burdens we feel many close friends around us right now are dealing with, and I have to admit that I was feeling a bit of a knot in my stomach this morning. A feeling of restlessness. Anxiety. Like I had something to do that I'd forgotten or somewhere I should be going. I was very subtly convicted when Kevin returned home from class. After asking how I was and if he could do anything to encourage me, he offered to help however he could and give me time to go shopping or have some girl time if I needed it. I immediately started laughing, thinking back to how I'd spent at least some of the previous two hours that he'd been away from home--partly looking through recipes (all desserts!) that could all qualify as comfort foods by anyone's standards; and partly looking at clothes on-line! I might add that this is something I RARELY do (like maybe once a year!), and that it's also probably good that international shipping is too expensive to make purchasing anything much of a reality!!

So after noting that even though I thought I was doing great, I had actively participated in two activities (baking/eating and shopping) that were great windows to show the condition of my heart and my emotional state--and it wasn't where I'd hoped it would be! I had a great time listening to some music (specifically "Here With Us" and was reminded of how I've recently been encouraged by my husbands' reminder that should all else fall away, we still have Jesus--and He is enough!). My afternoon at class was much brighter after this perspective change, and because I'm sure I'll still need a few reminders through the season, I plan on keeping Joy Williams at the top of my playlist!

On a much lighter note, two shocking events this weekend that still leave me giggling--eggs and bruises! One of our Chinese friends came over this weekend who had celebrated Thanksgiving with us the week before. I've mentioned several times that the normal here is to bring gifts when you come to someone's house as their guest. So we usually get fruit, juice, or some other sort of food item. This time, we got eggs. LOTS of them. As in a box with 60 in it! And no, that is not a type-o!! I currently have a box with 60 eggs sitting out on my yang tai (a balcony-like area that is enclosed and really cold this time of year, right off of my kitchen and used kind of like a pantry). So I'm getting creative with how to use them all up in a timely manner. Lots of omelets and quiche this week, for sure!

The other big shocker was the bruise on the back of my friend's neck that I noticed on Saturday night. My two best friends here offered to come over and watch the kids for Kevin and me to have a date night. We did so, and had a blast eating at a hot pot restaurant we just discovered that is walking distance away and then getting coffee afterward (actually, hot chocolate, as we didn't want the caffeine that late and it's hard to find decaf coffee around here!). When we were visiting with my friends upon our return home, I noticed a bruise about 2 or 3 inches in diameter in the middle of the back of one of the girls necks. As I asked with panic about what happened, fearing one of my rowdy crew had caused the damage, she laughingly told me how the other friend there had used her index and middle fingers to repeated pinch her, all at the request of the friend wearing the bruise! The reasoning was all tied to the Chinese idea of medicine and well-being. The girl with the bruise had gone outside the day before with her hair still wet after showering, allowing cold air to "get in", as she explained to me. The purpose of the pinching was to relieve the cold air by causing the heat to balance it out, thus relieving the mild headache that the girl had had since going outside the day before with damp hair.

After hearing the explanation, I kind of just stood there with my mouth open, mainly because these two girls are my best friends here and I feel like I really know them well. But then I hear something like this, that they mean with all sincerity, and I realize how many deeply embedded differences we have! It really is quite mind-boggling some days, and can make me discouraged at times, feeling like the differences are more vast than any person can reach beyond. And then I remember back to the Work that has already been done, and the reminder by Joy Williams of just who exactly is "here with us"!

(The pictures are of Karis from her school Christmas performance this past weekend--which was precious! She sang and danced with the whole class and even had a speaking part. She was having an absolute blast the whole time, making Kevin and me so thankful for the school the kids attend! The other one is of Eli with our bunny, Bo!)

Holiday Weekend

After my last post describing the "wall" that I hit, we've had a refreshing two weeks of slowing down (somewhat!) and then getting back into our usual routine--with, of course, the rapid pace that comes with any holiday celebration. Our first big piece of news was a new purchase--a swing! I've mentioned before that swings here are incredibly hard to come by. But would you believe our apartment community actually has a post all set up to hang swings on (even including all the hardware needed to attach the swings), that happens to be only one building over from us?! I've noted several occasions where grandparents have brought their small grandchildren over, hung their swings, and then removed them again for their walk home! It's always amused me that someone doesn't just invest in a swing to put there that cannot be removed, but in our 2 years here so far I have yet to see a community swing installed. So about a week and a half ago another family passed on a used infant/toddler swing for us to use (after I discovered Noah and Hud's love, in particular, for swing time while at the international school playground); and then I discovered a family operating a very small retail operation out of their home--with the items they were selling being displayed in their window to attract customers. One of the items was a swing! So I purchased the swing, with the plan being that I can actually hook two swings up to the already established poles and swing both Noah and one other big kid at the same time! We had a blast. In spite of the weather turning much colder and more windy, they boys have loved time outside on the swing set, and I'm loving the time with them in a contained area that allows them to return home without being totally covered in filth from outdoor exploring! A win-win for everyone!!

Our second big piece of news is the mother's study I've now done for the last two Saturdays. Talk about re-energizing and exhausting all at the same time! I am LOVING the time with this group of Chinese moms--all with kids younger than mine, and all desperately trying to figure out how the heck to raise their kid. You think moms in the US get overwhelmed--the moms here have a whole other world full of challenges. All (except one) of these moms are working (mostly full-time), so their small kids (all under the age of 4) are being raised either by their own mom or their mother-in-law, who oftentimes lives with the family full-time. But this generation of grandparents didnt' raise their own kids either (also had them raised by their parents), so these grandparents raising the kids have zero experience from which to draw. Add on top of that soooo many cultural issues--like short-term thinking rather than long-term, competition being the driving force to everything, discipline being based on humiliation rather than focusing on correcting behavior, etc.--and what you have is a group of moms in totally over their heads. And yet what a great opportunity to see and really feel a need for Something bigger than your self to come to you in your hour of need! We are reading Shepherding a Child's Heart (which is printed here in Chinese) and then discussing it each week for a series of 4 weeks. I have been so encouraged each week by the womens' response to the teaching time and their willingness to share, ask questions, and encourage one another. I feel for them--to be trying to have a vision for the big picture of what they desire for their child and how they want them to treat others in a society that just doesn't think about or emphasize such things leaves them feeling really alone and isolated in most instances.

The language aspect has been a real stretch for me. My goal has been to do as much in Chinese as I possibly can. I must confess that by the second week, my "Chinglish" was coming out more than I'd hoped! The good news is that all of these women do understand English pretty well, so I think that all I was hoping was clearly communicated. And it's really stretched my vocabulary! The other women only use Chinese, so I'm getting to strain myself (so that I'm pretty wiped out afterward) to make sure I'm understanding the gist of what all is being shared. I am super blessed to have one of my best western friends here (Natalie) doing the study with me. She has lived here for over 7 years so her Chinese is great. And also, my best Chinese friend here (and teacher) who is not even married yet is attending, mainly with the purpose of being moral support for me! She has been diligent to take notes for me each week over the questions the other ladies have, just in case I miss some of their meaning! I'm loving doing this so much, that besides missing the time away from the family (we're doing the study on Saturday afternoons), I can really see how this could be one of my most favorite ways to try to serve others here in China.

This past weekend was filled with Thanksgiving celebrations. We had a group of our closest Chinese friends over on Thursday to join us for a full Thanksgiving feast. We dined in full southern style--complete with sweet and sour green beans, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, spiced peaches, creamed corn, cranberries, homemade rolls (thanks to my friend, Charis!), and of course turkey! Followed by apple and pumpkin pie, with apple cider to top it all off. I chucked when the turkey was delivered from the import store and the tag said it came straight from Minnesota! Oh, and my favorite question as of late was when I ordered the turkey over the phone. The man on the other end at the import store asked, "When we deliver the turkey, would you like it frozen or melted?"!!

Our friends seemed to really enjoy the meal, which honestly surprised me a bit, but I'm thinking they are getting more and more used to our western-style of eating and can handle more of our heavy dishes and large quantities of meat! It was my first turkey to cook by myself, and other than being a little bit dry (I went with the on-line suggested cooking times rather than when the pop-out thermometer said the bird was done), we all decided the flavor was quite good. After we ate together, we had a sweet time of singing together and then sharing what all He has done for us that we are thankful for this past year. It was so encouraging to hear our friends bubbling over with the joy that comes only from Him and being able to rejoice together in His goodness!

The following day (Friday), we had our group of western friends over to celebrate--27 in all (including 16 adults and 11 kids)! Talk about a full house! Our almost 2000 sq. ft. apartment definitely felt the weight of that many guests (as I'm sure our neighbors down below did, too!), but we were thankful to have as much space as we do for the kids to run around together and to set up the multiple tables needed to seat that large a number. In spite of having so many guests, my preparation was not nearly as great, as my only contributions to the meal were purchasing and carving 6 rotisserie chickens, mashed potatoes, gravy, pecan pie, apple cider, and turkey cookies (which the kids made with sugar-cookie hand-print cut-outs and then decorated with icing and sprinkles). The kids had the day off from school (and only went a half-day on Thursday), so they had fun helping me set up all the table decorations and even making individual name cards for each of the kids. (They also spent a good amount of time playing with Bo, the bunny, and building with Legos--like the one in the picture with Eli holding his T-Rex creation!) One of the couples who came even downloaded a football game for us to watch on tv, making the feel of Thanksgiving and being able to celebrate with precious friends that much more complete!

Hitting a Wall

I experienced another first this past week--hitting a wall in a way I never have before! This past week was full of the usual activities of meeting with friends, hostessing, having some foreign friends and their kids over for playdates. We've also had some pretty heavy stuff lately we've been dealing with concerning future decisions, things we're doing here, who we're spending time with, etc. All this to say, I think that it all finally added up and ended up landing me in bed for the better part of two days! After being completely exhausted and barely able to stay awake while we had friends over on Thursday night, I crashed as soon as I could and managed to get up and the kids out the door on Friday morning. But once Noah and I got back from the bus stop, I literally could not pull myself off of the couch, even in response to Noah's persistent requests of "Read book, Mommy! Read book!" I struggled through several Dr. Seuss books from the library while still in a horizontal position (during which time Noah decided that sitting on my stomach was a good substitute for sitting on my lap!). Once our ayi came at 9:30, I explained to her that I was exhausted for some reason and just needed a little rest. Noah was only too happy to run outside and play with her so that I could retreat to my bed upstairs--where I spent the next 3 hours! I managed to pull myself out of bed to welcome Hud home a little after noon, sat with the boys while they ate, then again returned upstairs to lay down. After a SECOND two-hour long nap, which included skipping my scheduled Chinese class for the day, I spent a little time with the kids once they got home from school. Kevin graciously offered to take them all out to ride bikes, giving me another hour of down time before dinner. We did a family movie night, largely because that was about all that I was up for, and I again went to bed shortly after the kids did at about 9pm, sleeping through the whole night!

Now some of you reading might just be thinking this is my norm--but it certainly is not! I've never been so tired that a two-hour long nap couldn't cure my fatigue, so this has taken it to a whole new level!

Saturday was kind of a repeat of Friday for me, this time only taking two naps during the day and still being able to prepare dinner and host some of our Chinese friends who came over that night. But what has baffled me about the whole thing is that I have had no "sick" symptoms this whole time, other than a mild lingering cough that came with a cold I consider myself recovered from. So what is my self-proclaimed diagnosis? I'm thinking fatigue, and my body's way of telling me to shut it down for a little while. Which kind of feels like a terminal illness to me in some cases! Kevin has helped me intentionally weed out any "extras" in our schedule this week, something that is incredibly difficult for me to do myself. Dr. Kevin's orders are that I am to be focusing only on those things that I really want to do that would refresh me and preparing for a parenting study I'm leading that will begin this Saturday (I have a group of Chinese friends who have been asking me to teach on parenting--I seem to have fooled them into thinking that I'm some sort of expert largely due to the fact that I have more kids than anyone else around!). This study itself has taken it out of me already, as I'm trying to do it all in Chinese, and feel like my language ability really is not there yet! I've spent lots of time preparing and translating, and have learned probably a hundred new vocabulary words in the process. So thrilling, yet exhausting all at the same time! I'm sure I will have all sorts of funny stories to tell after our first meeting on Saturday!

So this evening my enjoyable activity was just to spend time with my kids--specifically trying to teach them all to two-step around our living room to Randy Travis' "Deeper than the holler" (which brought back great memories of this summer when we happened to see Randy at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse where Kevin and I were being treated to an absolutely amazing dinner--and smiles over the memories of my brother-in-law Rob's enthusiasm at the performer's presence only tables away from where we were sitting!) The easiest-to-lead award of the night definitely went to Noah, NOT because of his disposition, but because I could pick him up completely and spin him around with fewer inches of arms flailing to contend with. The most enthusiastic award went to Karis, who thought she was just being carried away by the rhythm, begging me to put the song on repeat again and again. Hudson was a little too busy practicing his blocking moves on his littlest brother that he'd just learned at Tai Kwon Do practice to be too interested in which foot should go forward first!

My favorite quote of the week was by Karis, who was desperately seeking her Daddy's full attention this weekend. I can tell this story only because Kevin is SUCH an attentive and engaging dad pretty much all of the time, making this story even more laughable! While Kevin was doing something on the iPad on Saturday morning, Karis stuck her nose in between him and the screen and stated very emphatically, "Dad, I'm here! It's Saturday!" (In other words, "I'm ready to play--give me your undivided attention!") So thankful for the frankness of our kids in expressing just what exactly their little needs are at any given moment! :)

Lots of Posing!

Yesterday after rest time I took all of the kids to Trash Mountain to try to take advantage of the beautiful fall colored leaves that are sprinkled throughout the park on many of the trees. We originally planned to go on Saturday, but due to a constant drizzle and the cold that has become more of a daily presence we decided to forgo that plan and head to the supermarket indoor play area instead to let the kids expend some energy. Unfortunately, maybe a little too much energy was put forth, as one of our friends' daughters who joined us there ended up falling on her arm at an awkward angle, leaving us concerned that she had possibly broken a bone. Kevin took the little girl (Katelynne) and her dad to a Chinese hospital for an x-ray, with one of our best national friends here, whose mom is a doctor and whose friend owns and drives a car, guiding them along the way and through the process (the Chinese hospitals kind of work on a take-a-number and get in line system, and can get really difficult to navigate if you're not very familiar with the process--and if you're not ready to be a little bit on the pushy side in order to keep your place in line!). We were all so relived to find out that Katelynne's arm was okay, and had the added blessing of having her dad have his ear checked out, only to discover that the pain he's had for the past several weeks was due to a pretty serious ailment--an infection along with a perforated diaphragm. Again, thankful that he was able to be checked out and get the medicine he needs too to be on the road to recovery! It was a great reminder of how blessed we are to have such an incredible network of friends here who will drop whatever they are doing to help us when we are in need--even when it means spending literally all day at the hospital working the system!

Anyway, back to the photo op. I wondered if we maybe wouldn't draw a crowd, as most of the time when I have all 4 out in public together this is our trend. The funny part was how many others there at the park had the same thing in mind of trying to capture the beautiful fall leaves--which meant LOTS of people and LOTS of cameras at the park! The kids handled it beautifully, with Karis turning a little bit pink in the cheeks as she murmured between her lips while smiling, "Mom, all these people are watching us!" And sure enough, the crowd and the flashes that were present were pretty unbelievable. If I wasn't so intent on capturing the most ideal expression on each of my four monkey's faces I would have stopped to count how many were gathered around at any given moment. But alas, I was determined (and I think succeeded!) in getting all four of mine at least looking in the right direction at one time! The other truly humorous moment was when one mother was bold enough to step right up to where my kids were posed on the rock wall and insert her probably 2 year old into our family photo op! I didn't have to say anything, but made it clear that I was intentionally NOT trying to include her little one in our family shot, hoping not to offend to greatly!

After we took the pictures for 20 minutes or so, I rewarded the kids with some free time to explore. They had a blast making "jelly" out of the red berries they found and squashed between leaves and collecting sticks and other treasures under the cover of the low-hanging branches near where we were. The kids loved the outside play time, and we finished up our evening by trekking partially up the mountain and then back down closer to where the three wheeler awaited our return.

As we finished our walk, I took note of the array of clothing that the people jogging past on the path were wearing (they have added in the last year a path that is paved officially for jogging or walking, which is truly a rare find indeed, making the path well-traveled most times of the day). We saw a little bit of everything, but the most amusing was the man jogging (and I'm pretty sure not just in a hurry to get from one place to another!) in a dri-fit style t-shirt, but also wearing a men's blazer (or sport coat)! I wish I could say that this is unusual, but I regularly see people on the jogging trail in clothes not very many Westerners would consider proper sports apparel. Especially in the shoe category! Authentic running shoes that are of good quality here are REALLY expensive, much more so than most nationals could afford, which I assume is why I see so many people walking or running in shoes that definitely leave something to be desired in the support category. It makes me sad and concerned for their joints, knees, and backs each time I see it!

The other photo is of the boys last week and their first week of Tai kwon do lessons. We found a place here in our apartment community and after a few times of observing the instructor at work, decided it would be a great fit for our boys. And they LOVED it! It was so fun to talk with them about it after their first class, hear their enthusiasm over the kicks and punches and the possibility of moving up to eventually achieve a black belt. Kevin stayed with them the whole time to help translate as necessary (their instructor is a young Korean man, who we discovered is like-minded, which probably has much to do with his a-typical kind demeanor towards the kids). The teacher uses both Chinese and Korean in class, and occasionally sprinkles in some English for the sake of Eli and Hud! We are super thankful for this opportunity for them to be able to participate in some sort of organized sport, and Kevin and I both feel strongly that sports are a great way for kids to have character-building opportunities and life-growth chances that they could otherwise not be confronted with as much. It should also provide some great exercise, which will be especially beneficial as the winter is fast approaching! We have just started counting down the days (only 8 now!) until the heat is turned on as our apartment floors are starting to feel cold in spite of the wool socks we're wearing! :)

A Thread of Old Woven Throughout the New

How I wish I could transport each of you reading this into our living room right now. As much as I try to capture our life here in China and the daily activities as well as the challenges and differences, it really is just kind of one of those things you have to experience to really understand. There is still (after 2+ years of living here) a sense of strangeness in how many things seem the same and yet are so different! We've lived several of those differences out this past week...

The first was this weekend. Kevin took off early on Saturday morning to meet a group of ex-pat guys at a local sports bar that opened early in order to show the final game of the World Series. He got to watch an hour of the game with the guys before taxiing off to the International School where he had previously committed to help coach Karis' soccer game. So he was able to enjoy watching the big game with the guys--only instead of doing it in our home or someone else's, he was in a Chinese sports bar (which is unusual in and of itself) eating breakfast burritos because the game started at 8am!

Karis' soccer game would have felt like any other Lake Highlands league that we would have been a part of before we moved here to Tianjin, except that she was the only girl AND the only Caucasian (besides Eli, who was the guest player for the 2nd grade team as they were short a few) on the field. The kids had an absolute ball and they didn't notice anything strange about their team make-up or the environment (it was a pretty bad day on the pollution index, leaving Noah confused as to if the light in the sky was actually the moon or the bright enough to be the sun!). But I looked around me and observed the languages being spoken to encourage the young soccer players by the parents and felt again the uniqueness of our situation of being "foreigners" in so many different situations.

After the game, Kevin took Eli and rushed back to the sports bar to catch the end of the game while I kept the other three on the playground to play. I finally looked at my clock to discover that Hudson and Noah had both been on the swings for a solid 40 minutes before either of them was willing to get out! Swing sets are rarely ever found around here, and the boys were taking full advantage of the time being able to do so, chatting and singing the entire time. After getting off to stretch for several minutes, I was again taken by surprise when my incredibly active 2 and 4 year olds only wanted to return to the swings for more time of, as Hud put it, getting to "fly like a bird"!

After lunch we indulged in a super-fun treat--going out to eat lunch at a new Mexican food restaurant that has just opened, and happens to be close by our home, too! We were elated to find out that the food was really good and the atmosphere even conducive to bringing the kids along. And the place was crowded enough that it looks like they have a chance to stay in business, which, after one meal there, Kevin and I were thrilled about!

Saturday night we had a group of Chinese friends over for dinner and a movie night. After watching the movie "Soul Surfer", Kevin was fulfilling the role of the host by "song-ing" our guests home (which is when you walk your guests either to the taxi stop, bus stop, or their car; it used to be that you went all the way back to your guests' home to make sure they arrived safely, so we feel like this slight change in what is considered polite is a change in the much more convenient direction!). The group split up, leaving one single girl left alone to walk to her car. Kevin decided that it made the most sense to walk her to her car, and was really glad he had done so when upon arriving at her vehicle, they discovered that the car next to her had double-parked and had left no reason to believe that they were returning any time soon! Kevin was able to solve the problem by pushing the car that was double-parked (and apparently had a driver unfamiliar with the concept of using a parking break or leaving the car parked in first gear?) down the street and out of the way! Kevin said that the entire time his mind was worse-case-scenario-ing as he imagined bumping into the closely packed surrounding vehicles or losing control of the car he was pushing and watching it roll away.... Thankfully none of the scenarios played out, and he was able to push the blocking vehicle out of the way and then push it back (and least close to the original space!) to where it was previously parked with our friend being able to move her car out of the way and off down the street. Definitely a feeling of "where am I?" in the midst of the common courtesy of seeing a guest to the door!

Today in our International Fellowship that we attend on Sunday mornings, we were blessed by a student's spontaneous outpouring of worship. Our fellowship has about 200-300 in attendance on any given Sunday, all required by the government to be foreign passport holders, and a large number of those attending are students from Africa (mostly studying medicine of some sort). This weeks' worship team was being led mainly by several of these African students, and therefore had more of a African cultural feel to it. About half way through the time of worship, one of the young men who is a leader amongst the group jumped up on stage with the worship leaders, clapping his hands above his head, dancing around, and encouraging those of us in attendance to raise our voices. Kevin and I just looked at each other grinning, both thinking how refreshing it was to see such a genuine overflow of the heart in a way that was so culturally normal to so many in the pews, and yet how strange the scene would appear in any of our home groups with which we have fellowshipped in the US. We are thankful for the diversity in worship and cultural norms for which we get to engage in weekly with those we serve and worship with!

The last thing I've been taking note of this past week is Noah's responses to things that we experience here. As his language is developing, it is so fun to see what he says, what he notices, and how he pieces together both the world around him and the way he desires to express what he sees. His regular response to seeing those around us noisily clearing their throats and then hocking large loogies is, "Ew. Gross." Might I add here how thankful I am that this aspect of acceptable culture here in China has NOT become normal enough to him to think that it is okay to participate in! Another is the daily dodging of dog poop on the sidewalk as we walk through our apartment community. He has taken to announcing for all to hear (and avoid traipsing through), "Yucky! Doggie poo-poo!" His final, and my favorite, in spite of the severity of the situation, is his reaction to the electric bikes, three wheelers, or bicycles that regularly speed by, often times frightening him in the process because of how close they are to hitting you. His standard response once they pass: "Missed me!" Thankful for his ability to be able to laugh at situations that could be (and probably should be!) considered dangerous, knowing in Whose hands we reside.

Indonesia

One of the benefits to living in Asia is the travel that otherwise would probably NOT be very likely for our family. We were blessed to be able to enjoy that benefit this past week when our family traveled to Indonesia. Now before you get too green with envy as you read, let me start off by stating that actually getting there was NOT necessarily part of the enjoyment. Between our going and our returning home, I calculated that we spent 16 hours flying, 6 hours driving, and 17 hours waiting at the airport in order to make the trip a reality. My conclusion: my kids are amazing! I know that they are mine and therefore I am necessarily biased, but I've got to say that for a 7, 6, 4, and 2 year old to be able to travel they way they do, with the patience, creativity, and attitudes that they display MOST of the time, it is nothing but His hand of grace being evidenced in them! Oh, and did I mention that MANY of those hours of travel were in the wee hours of the morning? (For example, our flight leaving Indonesia departed at 1:30am, causing us to arrive at the airport at 10:30pm and wait several hours, in an airport with no seats, no carpet, no designated "waiting area" until we were actually able to enter the gate--which was 30 minutes prior to the plane taking off--which was, in essence, when it was time to board the plane.) It's this kind of "normal" for our kids that makes me see how people often say TCK's (third culture kids, a term for kids growing up in a culture that is not their parent's home culture nor fully the culture in which they live (for us, that is Chinese), making their culture an entirely different, or third, one, unique to them alone) are so travel-adept and willing to go and see new places. The fact that my two year old can pop out the hand-held remote in the seatback in front of him on the airplane and operate his tv on his own, knowing which button NOT to push because it will "call the lady" (aka the flight attendant) is proof enough that our kids do more time on planes than the average!!

Besides the time away being incredibly helpful to our family in thinking through our life in China and having sweet time meeting with dear friends, we had two scares (one big, one not so much) while in Indonesia. The first was an earthquake that hit on one of our last days on the island. While we were meeting on the fourth floor of our hotel, everything in the room suddenly started shaking violently. Even thinking about it now makes my heart beat faster and my stomach drop. Kevin and I immediately stopped what we were doing and ran out the door with a quick agreement that he would get the boys and I would get Karis (who was at that time in a different location). We ended up meeting in the hallway and all flew down the four flights of stairs to the open-aired courtyard below. Supposedly the earthquake was rated a 6.4 on the richter scale, but I'm not sure how far away the epicenter was from where we were. Close enough to be too close for comfort from my perspective, for sure! Later that afternoon, when we felt another aftershock and repeated the same drill of running to pick up kids and race downstairs, my stomach again was churning for about an hour after the last pulses of the quake had passed. My comic relief was Noah's reaction--his repeated "Shake! Shake!" that he continued saying with huge eyes and raised eyebrows as I held him close outside in the courtyard.

The second event was not quite as scary, but still a bizarre phenomenon. A shuttle from the hotel took us to the beach our last day in town, with the plan of letting the kids play in the sun and waves for long enough to wear them out so they would take afternoon naps, thus preparing for our late night at the airport. When we arrived at the dirt parking lot near the beach, we all disembarked from the van, only to find out that there were huge red ants all over the ground. I never saw an ant hill or even a large hole from which they came, but they instead seemed to be swarming all around, right near the door of the van. The kids were immediately fascinated, and, as they usually do with our friendly Chinese black ants, stopped to investigate and have a closer look. As soon as they did, the ants started climbing into their Crocs, causing screams from the kids as some of the ants began to bite! Before we knew it, we had screaming kids dancing through the parking lot, as the vicious ants bit several of the kids and clung to their shoes and clothes with a vengeance. I was shocked when I tried to knock them off of my own flip flops at how aggressive the little creatures were and how tightly they clung to whatever they wanted to keep a hold of! We finally managed to rid our shoes of the little red devils and continued on to the beach, with the kids screaming bloody murder any time any sort of any crawled close to their path. Pretty sure we discovered the Indonesian cousin to our Texas fire ants.

One of our highlights was Eli finally loosing one of his front teeth! The tooth has been loose for MONTHS--literally since we were back in the US this summer, and has just been hanging in there! The photo of him up close (and with a messy face!), is him showing off both how untidy he can be while inhaling large quantities of pizza and how wiggly his tooth was just prior to it falling out!

The other shot of Eli and Noah together was taken at the Hong Kong airport, which we became quite familiar with after spending about 7 hours there on our return trip. We were sooooo thankful to find a kids' play area that was ideal for little ones running around and stretching their legs some!

National Holiday

(Sorry for the delay!) The first week in October China celebrates it's National Day each year, giving the kids a much-anticipated break from school and a chance to sleep in past 5:45 in the morning!! We spent most of the week getting together with friends. The first picture is of Karis with her brothers and her friend Michelle from school who came over for a play date. Michelle is a precious little girl (who also happens to be a twin and share the same birthdate as Karis--June 17th!) that Karis became friends with last year. She is Chinese, but is a foreign passport holder (she was born while her parents were living in the US), and therefore is allowed to attend the International School. As you can tell by the looks on their faces, the kids all had a great time playing together for the morning!
We also got to spend time with some of our closest friends here--Natalie and Andy and their two little ones (Jenda, who is Hud's age and Blaise, who is Noah's age). You can see from this pic that even Andy got into the theatrical performance that Karis prepared for us all to participate in as our evening's entertainment. The final two pics are of the kids playing horses with their stall being located under the kitchen table. I am continually reminded of how creative kids can be when you let them run with an idea, and am challenged to join in with them in their imaginary worlds.

Kevin and I had a break from class as well, and with the beautiful fall weather and the kids at home I kept busy trying to find the balance between getting a few home projects done and taking time off just to "be" with my kids, playing outside, walking to the local joint to get milkshakes, and finding lots of preying mantis. Which, I might add, I found pretty freaky after I watched one that Eli caught kill and eat a spider that we put in the insect catcher with it! Our down time was a much needed respite from our usual routine and a great chance to be able to spend more quality time together as a family and with our friends!

Wedding Mania

This past weekend Kevin and I actually had to split up in order to make the rounds on the wedding circuit! He took the younger two boys to one wedding and I headed across town with Karis and Eli for another. As usual, we had quite the cultural experience at both events!

The wedding Kevin, Hud, and Noah attended was supposed to be the shorter of the two. It was close in proximity to our apartment, and the ceremony was only supposed to be a max of 45 minutes. It was supposed to start at 10:48 am (Chinese weddings almost always start at a time ending in 8 due to the fact that the Chinese word for 8 sounds like the Chinese word for wealth--with the idea being that you are hoping for wealth and prosperity at the beginning of your new life together). Unfortunately, not enough guests had arrived at that time, so the wedding ended up starting much later! (In Chinese weddings, they actually have the bride wait to arrive on the scene of the wedding--usually which takes place at a restaurant--until there are enough people there to properly welcome her, which is done with LOTS of fireworks, usually displayed in a heart-shape laid out on the ground throughout the parking lot. Kevin texted me around 11:30 informing me that the boys had already eaten their weight in Sprite and wedding candy (hard candy that they have strewn all over the tables of Chinese weddings). Kevin made it out of the wedding scene unscathed without any of the kids causing too much of a scene in a negative way!

The wedding I attended with the oldest two kids and two of my friends here was more of an all-day event. We had to be at a supermarket parking lot by 7:45 (leaving our house by 7am) to wait for a bus that was coming to pick us up after picking up a load of police officers from the train station! My first teacher here has now become a police officer herself, and this was her wedding, to which she invited (and provided transportation for) her fellow police-officers. The bus was running late, but we finally made it to the Tianjin suburb where the wedding was to be held by 9:30, about an hour before the wedding was to start. Karis was the flower girl and Eli the ring-bearer, and they both did their jobs really well. They did look a little bit wide-eyed as they listened to the MC, who in Chinese weddings sounds more like a loud obnoxious game show host trying desperately to get the crowd riled up, trying to figure out when they were supposed to make their way down the aisle. Our friends getting married adore the kids, and were so sweet and excited when they came down the aisle--meeting them at the end of the stage with huge hugs and words of encouragement. One of my two favorite moments of the wedding was when the two fathers stood up to give speeches during the ceremony. After thanking the two men of honor who had come (the bosses of the bride and groom who sat in special seats right on the runway/aisle), they thanked the foreigners who had attended the wedding (that would be me, Karis, and Eli!)! I was so tickled, trying to imagine a comparable scene in the US--a situation where the father of the bride is saying thank you to the Chinese person in the room. I wanted to remind them that while I appreciated the thanks, I had come on the bus from the city center with all the other guests in attendance--not exactly making a jaunt across the ocean just for the sake of attending a Chinese wedding! Deciding this not appropriate to mention, I simply did the polite thank you and nod and Princess Diana-type wave!

My second favorite moment of the wedding was afterward when we had moved to another floor of the building for lunch. The father of the bride walked up to me confidently with his entourage following close behind him. In his hand he held a set of apparently lost car keys that he was convinced belonged to me. When I saw the keys in his hand I had to stifle a chuckle as I explained that they were definitely not mine--they were to a Mercedes Benz! I thought it ironic that he assumed that the foreigner in the place was the one with the fancy wheels, and wished he could have seen my normal mode of transportation--my electric three wheeler!

The rest of the week preceding the weddings on Saturday and then following was again, super-busy. I had invited our friends who were getting married on Saturday to come to dinner that week, and we'd decided on Thursday night. Since it was only two days before their wedding, I wasn't totally surprised when my friend asked me if she could invite several other friends over to dinner to join us as well. I WAS surprised, however, when the three girls I invited to come (in addition to the couple getting married), asked me a few days before if the dinner was actually a wedding shower! My immediate reaction was that it was not--and I confirmed that they don't do wedding showers in Chinese culture. To this they replied that they indeed do not typically have wedding showers in China, but that I was not Chinese, and they knew that we do have them in the US! Based on this, and the counsel of my wise Chinese friend, we decided it was best to deem our formerly casual dinner gathering as an official wedding shower. I had to scramble a bit to find an appropriate gift and cake, as well as flowers and a few other touches to make it more shower-like!

My other fun hostessing surprise came that same day, when I discovered that the baby shower I was hostessing for a western friend due with her first in October was not for the 6 of us that I thought it was for, but that the evite guest list actually had 18 names on it! After getting over my initial panic, I was able to pull together a Sunday afternoon shower with the help of two of my other friends. The guest list went from Americans only to Chinese friends, too--which I was of course thrilled about, but also changed the hostessing dynamic (I added more fruit to the menu, more nuts for snacking, and Chinese tea). I found it pretty hilarious at the results from the evite we sent out. Out of those invited, all of the Americans replied pretty quickly with either a yes or a no; whereas our Chinese friends all either didn't reply at all or responded with a maybe! My teacher just recently explained to me that saying no to an invitation in China is too direct, so if you say maybe, then it actually means probably not. This was obviously the case with our baby shower this weekend, as I knew there would be between 9 and 18 of us there--and there ended up being 10!

The pictures I'm including are of the different weddings (and showers!) from this past weekend. Karis also had a school performance I attended in which she was "water". Pretty cute! The other photo is of our boys' favorite past-time--beating on our guests who come over to play!!

Celebrating in Perspective

This past week we had some fun celebrating to do! We first celebrated the birthday of one of my best friends here in China, Ying Ying, with a group of our closest friends and a fancy cake! We then had Eli's 6th birthday celebration on Sept. 10th. He had a great and pretty low-key day. We have had two families come to Tianjin in the last 2 weeks (one is Jennifer and Cameron, fellow Dallas-ites, of all places!, and the other is a family from Idaho who has 3 little kids). We are thrilled to have new ex-pat friends here, and have been BUSY beyond compare in trying to help them get situated! (more on that later...) So Eli's bday morning started off with heading to the kids' international school where Karis had her first soccer practice. Her school has a 6 week long program for the elementary school kids to participate in, and since I am the "mom on duty" to help with bathroom runs, water breaks, etc., I had the other 3 boys in tow with the intention of staying and watching (while they played) during the hour. The kids ended up having an absolute ball! There were about 15 1st and 2nd graders playing--and Karis was not only the only non-Korean on the field, she was also the only girl! I was so thrilled that she didn't even seem to notice, but had a great time bouncing around kind of chasing after the ball. The coach decided that Eli and Hud could be of assistance as well, as they could use a few more for their scrimmaging, so he invited both boys to play with the older kids. The only disappointment was that Noah wasn't invited onto the field; but I'm pretty sure the coach was considering it at one point! I watched him eyeing Noah dribble the ball and kick it into the goal several times after watching the older kids, yelling loudly enough for anyone on the field to hear if anyone got too close to him! I think he was trying to figure out just how old this little fireball with a mean dribble really was :)

We then came home for lunch, and were joined by both of our new friends, their kids, and one other couple for lunch. I've gotta say--a year ago, I probably would have been pretty stressed out, but I think it's a great indicator that I've made significant progress in "life" here that I was able to throw together a lunch to feed 8 adults and 7 kids on very short notice! We were thankful to have so many friends with us to both eat lunch, sing happy birthday, eat some Batman decorated cupcakes, and cheer Eli on in his present-opening. His themes this year for gifts were science experiment stuff, building things (like Legos), sports gear, and weapons--all of his favorite things! Oh, but his definite favorite gift was one that I picked (in a moment of insanity?)--a whoppie cushion! Trust me, probably even the neighbors are aware of its presence in our house at this point. And Kevin's Chinese guy friends, who have never heard of such a thing, think it's about as great an invention as every other American guy thinks it is!!

We planned to go out that night for dinner at Papa John's, but between the rain and the excitement that we'd had all day with friends over, decided instead to order pizza in and hunker down, enjoying putting together some of the new Legos Eli had gotten as bday presents. One funny language blunder that Kevin made (that happens very rarely!), was when he was ordering the pizza. He was (of course) using Chinese, and mixed up two words that are very similar, asking for a microwave on top of his pizza rather than pineapple to go with the canadian bacon!

Lately I've been reading through the prophets in my time in the Word, and have been amazed at what all many of them were called to endure for the sake of reaching out to make His people understand. The most recent example this last week was when Ezekiel's wife was killed and He told him not to mourn. I was shocked! Poor Ezekiel! I can't imagine if the same thing was asked of me. The thought of losing my soul mate for the sake of His people gaining understanding, and then being asked to show a stiff upper lip. I KNOW this is not because we serve an uncaring or an unfeeling God. I KNOW that He causes all things to work together for good. So why then does He allow horrible things to happen--even to the extent of a life being lost? As I've pondered this over the last week, I think the answer is that our perspective is oftentimes off, and is always limited. We view life in a whole different light than He does. We live for the here and now most of the time. We might say that we believe in heaven, but most of the time we think that being taken from this world is the worst thing that could happen.

Now don't get me wrong; I'm not here to say that we should all be finding the nearest bridge to jump over. But I also know that I have a good amount of room to grow in the way I think about things that are temporal. Even birthdays. I celebrate the life of my friend, Ying Ying, and especially the life of Eli, during their birthdays. I thank Him daily for the gift that my loved ones are to me. But I also want to have the perspective of Ezekiel, who even when the most precious thing is taken from him, he is able to press on in obedience and faith, knowing that life only really begins beyond the grave...

So that has been my personal challenge this week. We've had our usual earthly frustrations--too many responsibilities, not enough time, the internet not working for days on end, a city of 12 million with way too many people driving around in cars that they have NO CLUE how to drive. And yet my goal is to look beyond this world. To be reminded that this time here is super short, and I have a choice in both how much I gripe (over those things that can just rub you the wrong way) and how much I praise (for the little things, the blessings that I have in abundance). To set my eyes on things above...