Month One

Can’t believe it has been one month since landing here in Shanghai…it feels like forever since we left home and yet still feels like we arrived yesterday with all the newness around us here in Shanghai. As with living and moving anywhere, we have had our Shang-hai and our Shang-low days. Thought we would share some praises & prayers regarding the past month and looking ahead…

Praises:

• We have all been healthy - minimal bouts of ‘digestive issues’ (despite eating food from places I never thought we would!) and no other issues at all!
• We moved right into our furnished townhouse – given that our air shipment won’t be arriving until the 2 month mark, we are so thankful that we are at least living in our townhouse versus a temporary living space!
• The girls have settled into Concordia International School – quite an impressive educational institution. As I write this Megan is riding camels in the Black Gobi desert tracing the history of Buddhism and Kelly is digging ditches to deliver clean water to a very rural village in Yunnan Province in South China – amazing opportunities!
• We have joined a great church – Abundant Grace International Fellowship. They have a heart for the nations as well as strong families.
• We had some pretty low expectations moving here regarding sunny days, blue skies and green spaces (this is a praise to have such low expectations!) and Shanghai has over-delivered! In preparation for the World Expo (which has been going on since July) the Shanghai city government made a lot of changes – which thankfully we have gotten to enjoy! Praying they continue after the Expo is over!
• Mr. Xu and Ayi Shi are both wonderful – the ability to speak English definitely is secondary to being trustworthy and doing an excellent job!

Prayers:

• Despite climbing 4 flights of stairs every time we go anywhere, we need to find a regular outlet of real exercise for everyone. Moving from 2 acres to the 3^rd & 4^th floors of a large living complex definitely changes what you do in your ‘spare’ time.
• Continued protection (sometimes from our own poor choices) regarding what food we eat!
• At church, we are trying to figure out which community group to join – so far, the ‘perfect’ or even ‘near perfect’ group (regarding when they meet and what kids the families have) has not been revealed (and no we aren’t comparing to the group we have back home since there couldn’t ever be a comparison!!)
• Regarding school, we have been disappointed to date in the Christian elements of Concordia – seems more Christian in name only. As the girls have noted they have heard more cussing in both English and Chinese from teachers and students already than in a whole year at Haas Hall.
• Managing expectations (especially for the task oriented, list makers in the family!)– you can’t accomplish as much in a day as you would back home (traffic adds time, the city itself is huge, communicating to figure out what you want to buy/do takes longer, etc). This is a bit of a struggle as we still have several foundational things to get finished (like opening a bank account, getting our ‘permanent’ car, buying a safe…)
• We know what a blessing and opportunity it is to be here, we also never really imagined how hard some elements of this move would be. Everyone has moments of ‘just wanting to go home’. We need to lean harder into our Jesus during these moments and have Him comfort our hearts, still our fears and give us strength!

Thank you all for your prayers and support…we couldn’t be here if we didn’t have you there!