Abundance of Blessings

So many blessings this holiday season...where to begin!!  I was very fortunate to take a trip back to Fayetteville to spend Thanksgiving with Kelly and celebrate her 19th birthday!  Andy & the kids held down the fort in Shanghai and celebrated Thanksgiving with a catered turkey dinner!  Again the oven isn't big enough and you can't really find a turkey big enough to buy anyways...so catered dinner it is!  Back in Arkansas, Kelly and I spent lots of time talking, shopping, watching Parks & Rec, going to the movies and out to eat...wow, such fun!  We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with the amazing Schwartzman's (such delicious food and awesome company!).  Lots of talk time with friends (something I have missed terribly in Shanghai).  Also spent a day at Wet Cement pre-school and watched the amazing leaders love on these precious kiddos (including Kelly with her 2 year old class).  We had our Thanksgiving tradition of pizza on the square at Tim's and then walking around to see the Christmas lights...must say that either the square is a lot smaller than years past or it just doesn't take as long to walk around when you don't have little kids along!  New twists on old traditions...not bad, just different!

Days after returning to Shanghai we then celebrated Joseph's 4th birthday!  Very sweet time at SHINE pre-school with his class, a celebration lunch at where other than McDonalds (since there is no Chick Fil'A here!) and after dinner (before heading to elementary Christmas concerts at Concordia) birthday cake & present fun!  Last year Mr. Xu gave Joseph a Transformer for his 3rd birthday (a toy probably rated for Ages 8+).  This year Mr. Xu gave him a Shape Sorter Elephant (rated for ages 6 months+).  So sweet and still some things just make you go hmmmm.

Immensely blessed this Thanksgiving season by family & friends both near & far!

Photo taken by Joseph our budding photographer!

Surprise look while opening super-hero Fisher Price Little People!

Beautiful People...

For our high school Interim trip this year, I went to Mijiazhuang village, Yunnan, for a trip called YEP HEAL. YEP stands for Yunnan Education Program, a program that focuses on helping the people of Yunnan through service projects, such as water projects and eyeglass clinics, and health education. The HEAL program focuses on Health Education Advocacy and Literacy, so much of our time in Yunnan was spent promoting health knowledge. 

We stayed at a school near the village center, the only school within a two-hour walking distance. Our first two days were filled with service projects. We picked corn and sunflowers, dug a giant hole that was eventually to be turned into a latrine, and got to know locals with whom we worked. A special aspect of the HEAL program is the involvement of locals in supporting health, so we also did presentations in the evenings to village advocates who were to carry on the work when we left. The villagers—both the adults and children—were incredibly friendly and hospitable. The adults looked decades older than they truly were, aged by years of hard labor under the sun and inaccessibility to suitable medical care. The children, though, were what made the trip. We got to play with them for only three days, teaching and doing educational skits in their classrooms during school and playing countless games, teaching them the Macarana, and talking during breaks. 

I became very attached to two little girls who played with me during the week but also in the evenings even of the first two workdays; one of them is named Sun Si Qi, and before we left, she gave me a note written in Chinese characters. I asked one of my team members to translate it for me, and the meaning was something much deeper than I expected a five-year-old girl to come up with. She wrote that she loves me like a big sister, wishes to come visit me and go to college where I live, and that I touched her heart. Tears still come to my eyes when I think about the look her face as our bus pulled away, and a smile still comes when I think of her laughing. I was also touched by a group of fifth-grade girls who gave me plastic jewelry—quite valuable to them—gave me a Chinese name, Yi Fei, and talked to me for over an hour despite my broken Chinese.

After our time in the village, we drove to Kunming and visited cultural sites before returning to Shanghai the following day. My team grew very close as friends during the trip as we bonded with the kids and each other as well. The memories of this trip, the knowledge I gained about Yunnan culture, and the people I met and got to know will always be near to my heart.

Hainan Island Service & Play

In September, I (Lindsey) had the chance of going to Hainan, China with a group of people from my school for a week.  During our week there, we had the opportunity to serve at a school for three days doing service work on their campus. We painted a mural, cleaned up trash, sorted their library, made ping-pong tables, and played with the kids. Each day after doing some work at the school, we took a 5 minute walk down to the beach really close to the school. 


Each afternoon was spent swimming in the ocean, surfing, snorkeling, playing cards, and hanging out till supper. On our fourth day there, we had the opportunity of going out to a sea turtle hospital on a floating village. We took a 10 minute “taxi” (taxi boats) ride out to the hospital, which was a wooden shack floating in the ocean. We learned about the history and the science behind sea turtles and learned about how endangered they actually are. We also got a chance to hold some of the smaller ones!! 


On our last full day there, we volunteered at an orphanage. They specialize in helping kids with Cerebral Palsy and Autism. We spent the day helping the few workers with the 40 kids that they have. We played with them and helped feed them and get them off to their naps. We had a lot of down time each day, plenty of time to swim at the ocean and to play at the beach!!!  

Green Spaces

So while the air quality wasn't the greatest this weekend (as you can tell from the picture of the kids by the lake!), we had a number of outdoor activities to keep us busy.   For starters Abigail, Joseph, Zoe and I (Andy was sick all weekend so he is noticeably missing!) went to Century Park.  We were hoping to play some soccer...but all of the grass spaces were roped off (yes that's right a park where we can't walk on the grass - green

spaces to look at, not play on!).  So we bought some bubbles and let Zoe have some fun shooting up about 300 pictures (thank goodness for digital cameras!).  One sight you will just about always
see at the park is a bride getting her picture taken...this time Zoe captured it (and runs back to me screaming "Mom, I got her picture and she's beautiful!"...cute but not very subtle!).  Tradition is that ~4-5 months before the wedding the bride/groom go to a bridal picture studio...they have their picture taken in about 5 different wedding dresses/tuxedos out & about in the city.  So you have a bunch of wedding pictures, in a bunch of different dresses, none which are the one you wear for the wedding - kind of funny!

Saturday night our girls scouts went camping...city style!  Lots of tents set up on the school soccer field - surrounded by all the city buildings!  Very fun with games, skits, songs, s'mores cooked over a fire pit, and eggs cooked in a baggie in boiling water for breakfast!  Oh...and our house was really quiet for the night!

One hour after the girl scouts vacated the soccer field, the Shanghai Ultimate Frisbee Association took over for their day long Halloween Hat tournament.  With Lindsey dressed as superman and Megan as a nerd, they joined up with this mainly adult league (plus their normal Sunday Concordia frisbee friends) and played hard all day!  They are both sore tonight - which is probably nothing to how they will feel tomorrow!

Love, Peace & Chocolate Cake

Love, peace, & chocolate cake...what a day celebrating Abigail and her 8th birthday! 

For late breakfast, Abigail, Joseph & I went out for pork buns (one of Abigail's favorite Chinese foods!).  Then we added in Baba & Zoe to go play at the playground before heading to get some street food (outside HuaShan Hospital so it has to be safe right?!?!) - Shanghai fried noodles and fried rice - to eat at Bubble Tea, where Abigail got a bubble coke no bubbles (yes that makes it Coke with 'Sonic-like' ice!).  She opened presents after returning home...her first comment was "They are all in bags, I thought at least one of them would be wrapped."  Now I know...bags don't count as wrapping to Abigail!  We had chocolate cake (compliments of Lindsey) and then played some card games & an intense game of CLUE.  To wrap up the day we went to Johnny Moos for dinner (another favorite to get chicken wings) before a great night at  church.  

Quality time and all her favorite foods...right up our 8 year old's alley!  How sweet it is to watch Abigail grow & be her unique, fun loving self!

It takes a team...

Two days after October holiday ended, Andy boarded another plane - this one headed back to Arkansas for a wonderful 10 day visit with Kelly!!!  We wished we were all on that plane...but work & school kept the rest of us here.  The Arkansas visit was a '10' just from being with Kelly, nothing else required!  2+ months since either of us had seen her - longest in our lifetime (clearly have a few issues still 'cutting the apron strings')!  Holding down the fort at home took a total team effort...

• Abigail and Zoe 'sacrificed' their normal breakfast fare of toast & eggs as upfront I told them cereal & oatmeal only during the week as we all try to get out the door before 7:30!  Abigail's first morning...can I have cheesy eggs?  No Abigail just cereal...okay can I have a fried egg?...No Abigail just cereal...okay How about egg on an english muffin?  (at this point I started the 'do you know what just cereal' speech means because she didn't negotiate any other morning!)  On the first Friday Andy was gone, however Abigail comes down searching for Dad - after I explain he comes home the next Friday, her first response is..."Ugh, it's cereal again."  Clearly a sacrifice! 
• Megan & Lindsey pitched in...in all ways!  Such big helpers!
• Joseph moved from 1/2 day preschool to full day - which was great fun to have lunch at school and then have nap!  He only missed school one day...as Mr Xu had a funeral so we didn't have a car and the thought of catching a taxi from home and then again from Joseph's school at rush hour (and then doing it at the end of the day again!) was just more than I could grasp!  
• Ayi took on walking Gobi each day she came
• Mr. Xu offered one day to pick Joseph up from school and indicated that he would love to take Joseph to his house so his wife could meet him!  Clearly trusting Mr. Xu (and with only mild hesitation!), he did take Joseph one afternoon for about 3 hours.  Oh how we were wishing Joseph could tell us more after his visit to Mr. Xu's house!
• As for me, I definitely had the spreadsheet, by day by person - who was where, when they needed to be picked up, what stuff they needed.  Happy to say I never forgot anyone anywhere!

It was so comforting to know that Andy was with Kelly in Arkansas...but we were sure more than happy to have him arrive back in Shanghai!

More pics from Shepherd's Field!

Zoe and Bill

Abigail with Chris

Lindsey and Moses

Blowing bubbles with Kennedy

Snuggling with 5 month old Charlie 

Zoe and Hamlet

Megan and Josiah who is getting a forever family in NYC!

A piece of our hearts will be here forever!

When our original plans for the 9 day National Holiday to teach at an English camp fell through at the last minute, we needed a quick plan since the idea of a 'stay-cation' at this point in the year causes me some level of panic about what we would do here all day every day besides go stir crazy.  So when you have holidays and no place to go, the choice becomes pretty obvious - if my kids can't be in Fayetteville Arkansas, there is one other place they all gravitate to here in China...Shepherds Field Children's Village (SFCV) outside of Beijing.

Quick run-down on SFCV - they currently have 57 special needs orphans ranging from 2 months old to   20 years old.  They have one complex including a school, dining hall, medical clinic, a therapy house, 4 children's houses, an Inn, a huge playground and are building a vocational center.  In a word it is amazing!

Maggie & Abigail

Days are spent simply loving on the kids!  The kid's houses are open between breakfast-lunch and again after nap to dinnertime.  During that time you can go into any house and hold the babies/play with the kids/take them to the playground.  Most times everyone (old enough) ended up on the playground because the weather was so nice.  Maggie buddied up with Abigail the first afternoon and wanted to play with her every day after!  Bill & Luke just adored Zoe and did not leave her side every minute they could play together - at one point she came up to me and said "They called me Mama!"  She loved playing and

Zoe taking Bill & Luke back to their house

helping to take care of them!  Lindsey could often be found taking Kennedy in his wheelchair for walks around the complex or inside playing with Moses, Josiah and Cody.  Megan actually got connected with the SFCV doctor the first full day and helped him the balance of mornings giving all of the kids medical check ups and updating their files (a great chance to see so many of the kids, learn about the medical procedures SFCV has already gotten for them or future treatment plans, and personally love on each of them!).  Andy & I mainly played with all the kids along with Joseph out on the playground.  There was also a

Lindsey and Kennedy out for a walk

 team of local Beijing high school students each day - they loved on the SFCV kids and also took quite the liking to Joseph so he enjoyed playing with them too!

We had some great local Chinese food at the nearby restaurants for dinner (gotta love the pictures on menus because no one speaks English in this more rural city!).  We also took a quick trip to the local WM - quite an experience but we did purchase some ping pong balls that the Ayi's loved and got into some intense games as they waited in the dining hall for the prepared food to

Megan with Natalie

 take back to their houses!  Also as 'icing on the cake' someone abandoned a puppy at the SFCV gate on our second day...so the girls named him and provided him lots of love too when we couldn't be in the kids houses!

Lots of smiles & laughter....playing with the kids, hearing about who has forever families, watching the kids in each house take care of each other as family, seeing kids go off for cleft lip/palette surgery.  And also some tears...listening to the cry of a 2 month old (when you're already holding a 5 month old and no one else is around), thinking

Joseph enjoying the swings

 about the parents who tried to get their infant son surgery but it was more complicated and ended up abandoning him, saying goodbye to those kids who won't be there by the time we visit again as they go off to their forever families and promising the girls we will go to SFCV at least one more time before repatriating so this doesn't have to be their goodbye.

God has immensely blessed SFCV as they carry out His command in James 1:27!  And we were so blessed to spend one week with them!

15 Wildly Wonderful Years

Last weekend we celebrated our wonderful Lindsey as she turned 15!!  Given that quality time is one of Lindsey's love languages we decided to make a day of her celebration...started with foot massages for Andy & Lindsey after church on Saturday night (somewhat relaxing, unless it tickles too much!).  Sunday morning after some coffee cake, Megan, Lindsey & I headed off to cooking school!  We made Shanghai Fried Noodles, Stir Fry Veggie Greens and Salt & Pepper Ribs.  The chef didn't actually speak English (despite what the website said!) but cooking appears universal and we were able to follow his directions.  A few lessons learned - the Chinese cook with oil and a lot of it!  Also (and we have noticed this in restaurants) they don't use black pepper, but use white pepper.  So we would cook the dish with our desired amount of white pepper and the 'cooking chef' would then add lots more pepper!  It was fun and the dishes were good - now we just have to try and repeat them at home!  Next on the schedule was a manicure/pedicure treat for Lindsey and I before heading home for a little comfort of home - White Chicken Chili (still one of our favorites Anita!) and pumpkin bread!  And finally 15 candles on cupcake with the Eiffel Tower!  (Lindsey's latest desire is to go to Paris after graduation...seeing that her sisters went to Italy, Africa and had a road trip around China we are thinking Paris is definitely a possibility!)

So it was a wonderful celebration day of an absolutely wonderful daughter!  We are so blessed!

SHINE

Not sure if after dropping Kelly off to college Andy & I were really ready for this, but Joseph started pre-school this week!  We were the first ones to show up Wednesday morning (really hard to judge traffic with rush hour!) so we stayed and played and talked with his teacher Ms. Katie until some other kids arrived.  Then we told Joseph it was time for school and we would be back soon.  At this point he got up from the kitchen set as we started to walk away and simply said "Wait for me, I'm coming".  So we tried to have the new teacher help distract him with the fish tank but shortly after leaving the room we hear him running down the hall after us (arms flailing in the air!).  I pick him up and immediately start crying (yes a little emotionally unstable still!) and look for Andy - who is already down in the lobby area putting on his shoes (because he is upset too and trying to make the quick exit!)...but he sees me and knows I can't take Joseph back to his room.  So Andy successfully transitions Joseph to the experienced teacher who engages him in a book and we leave.  He has fully loved every day - no issues at drop off since (for him or us!) and totally engaged in playing when it is time to go home!  

 His school is brand new and designed to be integrated special needs/non-special needs and is called SHINE Academy.  Joseph goes for half days 5 days a week (at least this is the base plan.)  His class consists of 4 other kids - ages 2.5 to 4.5.  His teacher is Ms. Katie and seems wonderful.  Let's just say on his first day she sent home an 11 page powerpoint individualized for each child to journal their day (and he is only there for 3 hours!) and each day after has sent multiple pictures along with an email of what he has done & enjoyed.  Friday she let Joseph use her camera and he took 135 pictures for her!

Next week the school is closed on Wednesday already because they are shutting down electricity for the entire building (we just don't ask questions!) but we are thinking we might like this schedule - two days of school, a day off, then two more days.  Not sure we are ready for him to go to school EVERY day or ready to give up the Andy & Joseph time that they have each morning either!

First one in college and last one in pre-school within two weeks of each other...it has been all good (although emotionally exhausting!)