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...
