Mele Kalikimaka!

That's Merry Christmas...in Hawaiian! This year we celebrated Christmas in Hawaii with the Strack side of the family - the 'half way' point to meet between the East Coast and Shanghai! Eight days in Kona on the Big Island - simply beautiful! Our days were spent sleeping in (jet lag really seemed to hit all of us!), going to the beach in the morning and then the pool in the afternoon while Joseph took his nap. Really roughing it! Here are some highlights:

* Kelly & Megan spent one morning with their cousins Andrew & Daniel scuba diving - it sounded amazing (if you don't mind being 40 ft below the water!). A 'school' of dolphins swam over them, they saw sea turtles, pet an octopus and held a sea cucumber - not bad for their first dive ever! The next day the four of them plus Andy took surfing lessons - a bit harder than scuba diving but they all got up for lots waves.

* The beaches were wonderful and the water just amazing how clear and the shades of blue. Our first beach was actually a lot of lava rock and black sand and really made us question our paradigms of what we thought Hawaii was going to look like. After that we did find some gorgeous white sand beaches - which definitely matched the vision!

* For dinner one night we attended a luau...delicious food, lots of fun hula and flame dancing. Not exactly Joseph's favorite because it was a bit loud but he hung in there as long as we moved farther away from the stage. Zoe however loved the hula dancing and even more getting up to get her own drink of punch like a 'big girl' (thus the reason we think she had about 25 servings and was willing to refill everyone else's cups too!).

* We went to a wonderful outdoor church on the side of Mauna Kea mountain for a Christmas Eve candlelight service. Joseph's favorite part was blowing out the candles & having us relight them!

* The little girls especially just LOVED playing with their grandparents...out in the waves with Grandma, Uno back in the room, swimming at the pool, digging in the sand, staying up 'late' watching a movie. It was definitely, as always, very special time!

* We went to Target shopping - more than just a few times! We also ate at Taco Bell - again more than a few times! Can't get anything like a Burrito Supreme no onions with Raspberry tea easy ice in Shanghai!

We all appreciated the sunny days & blue skies, and mostly loved being with family again. Thanks Mom & Dad for an amazing time together! At the end of the week we actually sent Kelly & Megan on to Sante Fe, New Mexico to meet up with their wonderful friends in the Linn, Morrison & Schwartzman families for a fabulous week of snowboarding. Just got off the phone with them as they await their flight at LAX back to Shanghai - exhausted even before the 24 hours of travel, but definitely renewed by the time with friends. Now landing at 10pm in Shanghai tonight and having school at 7:30am tomorrow morning...not so sure how that is going to work but they agreed in advance to be cheerful (hummm....)!

As for New Year's in Shanghai I would call it woefully uneventful - Lindsey would call it pathetic! There is no ball dropping in times square, although we did watch earlier in the evening the fireworks display at Sydney Harbor Australia. With several of us still recovering from jet lag, the little girls & Joseph went to bed early and Andy & I fell asleep on the couch - we definitely owe Lindsey for being the only one to stay up to sadly celebrate on her own! As we look back over 2011 we are amazed at all the ways God has revealed himself in our lives and all that He has provided. We look forward to following Him in 2012 and wish all of you an abundance of blessings in this new year!

Birthdays and Breaking Records

We have yet another reason to celebrate in the month of December now...Joseph's birthday! Our little guy turned 3 this year and we had such fun celebrating with him! To start the day, Mr. Xu showed up early bringing two gifts for Joseph - a Transformer action figure and also a cake! Not sure if Mr. Xu knew we had been looking for a cake the day before (without any luck as usual) - suspecting he did as he is usually one step ahead of our plans! It was amazingly sweet of him and can we just say that in China everyone loves Hello Kitty - so I'm sure a Hello Kitty cake for a 3 year old boy is perfectly normal!! After some fun with his first action figure, it was off to the aquarium....sharks, sting rays, turtles, jellyfish, enjoyed them all except the section where there was a 'fake' thunderstorm (that part wasn't cool!). And for lunch - what other than Josephs's favorite - hamburgers! Unwrapping presents...what great excitement as he opened each one! Fun to buy boy's toys too...swords (good for balance!), cars and cash register! What a precious gift he is to us!

We also were celebrating as Andy crossed the finish line at the Shanghai Marathon this month. 4 hours flat...his personal record and personal goal since he started running races! Persistence & patience...oh and lots of training...finally paid off!

Changed Hearts

And last and late but not least...Megan's interim reflection blog post from her trip to the orphanage in Shaanxi province...

Getting off of the bus, you are greeted by bunches of smiling, yet uncertain faces. The children at the Duanmin Children’s Welfare Centre range in ages from a few years to seventeen years old. They are sometimes deprived of fun and interaction as the caretakers struggle to meet their daily needs, and they look forward to the hugs, smiles, and words from visitors. For four and a half days, we were immerged in the culture and family mindset surrounding the orphanage. It isn’t looked upon as a temporary place for children with special needs; rather, it is a home where the sisters who work there strive to make it a place of love, enjoyment, connection, and protection as the kids grow older. To spend even a short time there was a blessing, an insight, and a reminder.

The children stole my heart from the moment I arrived (leaving presented me with some of the most painful goodbye’s I’ve ever had to make). As I left, my mind filled with memories of the strong bonds we had formed over the short time we’d spent there...particularly to my time with Dang Tian Qiao, who is six years old. During an interim meeting at Concordia, I was matched up with her to be her special caretaker for the week we were there. I figured she would be a challenge because she is autistic and tends not to interact with others. However, God took my expectations and let them fall away slowly but surely when she took my hand, walked around with me, and sat with me. I spoke to her in my broken Chinese, knowing that she could not speak back, and my heart softened. She played with my hair, giggled, wanted me to hold her, and gestured where she wanted to be carried. For many other children, this would be no extraordinary event. But for Qiao Qiao, it was a step forward towards interaction with others, recognizing familiar faces, and building relationships.

The sound of her laugh as she played with me, as well as the sight of a smile on her sweet face, are memories that I will not soon be forgetting. They constantly come to mind, as they did when I kissed her on the head, told her goodbye, and cried over our departure from the orphanage for the last time. I have so many stories from interim, and I will treasure them in my heart and readily share them to make known the impact that can take place and the lives that can be changed—even if I was changed more than the children—with little more than a willing heart and God’s love.

Thanksgiving - China Style!

Celebrating Thanksgiving in China is somewhat akin to celebrating Chinese New Year in Fayetteville...it's just a little hard when you're one of the only ones doing it! For Thanksgiving day, the girls had school and I had work and then we did celebrate Thanksgiving night and went out to Johnny Moos for burgers! On Friday we actually did have our official celebration - including Joseph's first official Thanksgiving as an 'almost' US citizen! The side effect of having a Chinese kitchen with an oven that doesn't even fit a cookie sheet is that literally you can't even cook a Thanksgiving dinner despite wanting to! So we had dinner catered...that's right we ordered a turkey, a ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans and pies! While we missed the smell of it all baking in the house - I must say it sure was nice not to fix anything! We had Joseph's previous foster family from Belgium over to celebrate..Gerard, Monique, Manon and Victor...along with two friends that have been in Shanghai the same time as us but are heading back to the States this month. Fayetteville or Shanghai...still a zillion reasons to be thankful this holiday season!

Saturday was the traditional day to decorate for Christmas! Very fun to see the excitement from all six of the 'kids' and especially Zoe, Abigail and Joseph! We had Joseph officially put the angel on top...the first time. After it fell off, then it was Abigail's turn and finally Zoe got the angel to stay! Hung our stockings on the staircase and watched 'Miracle on 34th Street'!

Sunday....18 years ago...one of the best things ever came into this world...and this weekend she became an official adult...wow how time flies! We had a wonderful day celebrating Kelly! Since we already had the big birthday barn bash back home with summer with none other than her best friend Katie Sue we opted for some smaller gifts on her birthday - a 1000 piece miniature puzzle and Phineas & Ferb Wii Game. As Megan asks...how old is the birthday girl turning - 8 or 18?!?! Her friend Missy (who sadly is headed back to Michagan at the end of this semester) came over for dinner & brought an ice cream cake...she knows us so well!

Also included a picture of our book characters...Fancy Nancy (Zoe's second year with this favorite character) and Eloise!

A Day Trip for Dumplings

We recently took an adventure slightly out of Shanghai on the metro to Nanxiang - the home of xiaolongbao (the yummy small steamed dumpling filled with pork!). There is the official dumpling street with numerous restaurants all with only one item on the menu! It was neat to see all their steamers out on the street, 4-6 ladies in the back whipping up the delicacy and baskets everywhere waiting to be cooked. We dined on our 4 baskets of dumplings and then headed for the Guyi Gardens. The 450 year old gardens were just beautiful and the rules before entering were some of the funniest Chinglish we've seen yet! Here are the highlights of the rules to abide by in the park:

• Children under 1.2m or spiritual disease patients are not allowed to enter the park alone
• Don't be barebacked, lie down at will, or wash and air clothes
• Don't relieve the bowels or urine everywhere
• Don't play, catch or terrify the animals like birds, crickets, cicadas
• Embrace green beings

So clearly we left our laundry at home, went to the bathroom before entering the park and saved our napping for the metro ride home! We grabbed some cotton candy off the street (yes our standard of what we will eat and where we will eat it from have changed greatly!) and headed back to Shanghai. A very fun day out of the city!

I have also included a picture of the scary man who sits at the corner near our complex and is often available with his turtle for sale - apparently just one turtle at a time, that hangs on a stick for hours on end and even if he holds up the tail it still just looks like a poor dying turtle! Oh and I learned that he doesn't like his picture taken...good thing I don't understand being yelled to or yelled at in Chinese! Maybe he just wanted me to buy the turtle...I didn't stick around to find out!

Sacred Mountains and Yak Butter

Hi - this is Kelly. My interim trip this year took me trekking in the mountains of northern Yunnan province. Talk about amazing! We flew into the small city of Zhongdian, also known as Shangri-la. Walking down the narrow, cobblestone streets you pass little shops and open stalls selling all sorts of jewelry and things indigenous to the culture. A large square in the center of the city is filled with stalls selling food, the perfect place to go if you’re looking for an adventure. They had everything from greens to fried yak on a stick.

The first full day, we went to the Songzanlin monastery. It’s the largest monastery in Yunnan and it’s built to look like the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Inside the temples, the walls were covered with colorful paintings depicting the life of Buddha. Though the paintings were beautiful and the visitors were constantly going in and out, it had a feeling of darkness, the curtains closed behind us as we went in, the smoke and smell from the incense hung thick in the air, and the monks sat through the hall continually chanting their prayers. As we walked though, it made me sad that these people had most likely never heard of Jesus. I prayed that God would shed his light in the dark places of Yunnan. We went to the “home” of one of the high llamas, where we had the opportunity to sit and ask him questions, but I had trouble paying attention to what he was saying because I was distracted by a little boy, no more than nine years old, sitting on a rooftop near us reciting the prayers. How sad that he is essentially bound to be a monk for his life. It was eye-opening to see first hand what I have heard so much about, though New Heights, Perspectives, and such, and as my heart was broken again for people who don’t know Jesus, it reminded me that our God is a God of love that extends to all people, in all walks of life.

The second day we started into the mountains - our school group, four guides, and a group of Tibetan nomads with their horses. Our first campsite was set in a huge field in a deep valley, surrounded by mountains whose peaks were lost in the clouds with many little nomads’ huts at the base of them. The Tibetan horsemen drove the herds of random horses away from our campsite and we set up our camp. Two people to a tent and one larger dining tent. Our cook was a Tibetan man named Tenda. He was sweet, friendly, and an amazing cook. Considering we had to carry everything that was cooked with; our meals were amazing, every night it included some type of green, a soup, a bread, cooked veggies, and some form of yak meat, which isn’t near as bad as it sounds. While I lay trying to fall asleep, in the cold and on the hard ground, I could hear the horsemen singing and talking in Tibetan, and hear the horses’ bells ringing from where they were tied up near our tents.

The following morning I woke up a couple hours before everyone else, so I walked across the field to sit near the river. The time that I got to spend the three mornings alone in the mountains was my favorite part of the trip. After being in the busyness of Shanghai for so long it was cleansing, I guess, to spend sometime alone to think and pray. When we started the hike up the mountain it began to rain. The trail was hard; it was all mud, straight uphill, and slippery. I was completely exhausted by the time that we got to the top. We had planned to go further but the mountain we were on is sacred to Tibetans and the horsemen were too nervous to go to the valley on the other side. Naturally, I was completely fine to stop where we did. Once we had set up our camp I hiked with a small group over the hill to the sacred lake Abujee on the other side. We reached the top of the mountain that looked down onto the lake below. The top of the mountain was at an elevation higher than Mount Blanc in Europe; the hoesemen who had never been to the lake took off their hats and sat silently looking. When we turned back to leave it was incredible. We could see far over the mountains beyond where we started, and our campsite on a little hill below, the colorful tents made it “a pod of cheerfulness.”

The next morning we trekked out from our camp to an overview of what seemed like all of Yunnan where we sat and rested for several hours, then continued back down the mountain. We spent our time talking and singing as we hiked. When we got to our final campsite we got to wash our hair and faces in the river. With time to burn before supper, and not enough energy to do any small hikes, we got a couple games of ultimate Frisbee and wiffle ball going. We built a huge campfire and our guide/translator Sonam helped Tenda tell us his life’s story, which was pretty amazing and humorous. Then the horsemen started singing… after the horsemen sang; they expected us to sing. The singing went on for a very long time, well past 11:00. But it was fun, lots of laughs were shared, even across cultural and language barriers.

The final morning after an oatmeal breakfast with chopsticks (it takes skill!), we hiked back to town. We had a Nepalese lunch, which was so good after having yak for four days! We all took showers, despite the cold water and cold rooms at our hostel with no heat. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the back roads and outskirts of the village, enjoying the sights, smells, and culture. For supper we went to Tibetan hot pot, for those of you who don’t know, it’s kind of similar to fondue. More yak and yak butter tea (tastes good but upsets your stomach later).

The trip was incredible. The places we went were beautiful. The people we met and culture we were exposed to were amazing. Interim is great because it is a time to get out of Shanghai and the routine of everyday life and experience something unknown and exciting.

And he's off....

That's right...Joseph decided one night last week that he was ready for walking - and so he started and hasn't stopped since! We are so thankful to Jesus that our little guy is walking now! When he first arrived over Chinese New Year in February this year he barely was cruising the furniture and really lacked confidence. With lots of practice, therapy appointments and new glasses (!!!) it has finally clicked and he is so happy with his new mobility! He loves to just walk everywhere and we just love it too!

We also celebrated Abigail with her 7th birthday! She was simply so excited to have people say 'happy birthday' to her...I think that was the best gift of all! It was a wonderful day of celebration with Dad, Joseph, Grandma & Grandpa for lunch, a special birthday snack of Dunkin Donuts at school, some very fun gifts (playing cards - Abigail's favorite!, coloring pencils & books and a new umbrella & lunch box), and dinner at one of her favorite restaurants (she calls it 'the one with the round meat', we call it Little Sheep hot pot). One of the oldest kids in her class now...but still the smallest!

Starfish Foster Home

For my high school interim trip, I (Lindsey) went to Xi'An to serve in the Starfish Foster home and learn a lot about Xi'An history & culture. It was a wonderful experience and I would go back in the blink of an eye! I worked with this one boy named Malin, he was the sweetest thing! He and I had a connection from the moment we met! On the first day, Malin walked up to me and asked for me to pick him up, not wanting to say no, I did. From then on we were always together when I was there. We bonded over the next few days and Tuesday afternoon when we were leaving, all the kids were going down for a nap. So Malin and I left the dining hall where we were coloring and went to find his Ayi. She was in his room and told me to put him down on the floor, when I did, he began to cry, so I quickly left so I wouldn't cause a problem. I went to the front of the Orphanage and got on the bus. Three minutes later, Malin came to the door, saw me on the bus and started coming outside. I quickly ran off and took him back to his Ayi. As I was leaving for the second time, I heard footsteps running down the hall, and turned around to see his smiling face with tears in his eyes. It was the hardest thing to leave! On Wednesday, I found out that he is going to be adopted in December which makes me so happy! I had a wonderful trip and really want to go back!

A few things I got from the trip:

-A wonderful experience serving in an Orphanage for a week

-A beautiful new friend

-Knowledge of the history of Xi'An

-Great relationships with my group leaders and members.

-Oh, and immunity to chickenpox ;)

Blessings from Buffalo!

Once again it was a wonderful reunion at the airport as Andy's parents arrived for two fabulous weeks in China!! They didn't have much time for jet lag after arriving Wednesday night and leaving for Beijing on Friday with Andy and Kelly. Andy was headed there for the Beijing Marathon (yes the full one this time!)...it was good - running by lots of famous sites, lots of people and running with cramps for 12 miles (I ask again why people do this?!?!). Kelly was the tour guide! Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, the Olympic village...the hot spots for a weekend in BJ. Back in Shanghai there was the sightseeing (Zhujiajiao water village, Century Park, Pearl Tower, the Bund at night), lots of eating out (Little Sheep hot pot, Johnny Moos, Sherpas order out) and shopping at the fake market (although US border control was quite interested in the Uggs that were being brought back for the grand-daughters and kind enough not to confiscate them!). The best times were had simply being together - going for walks, having lunch at school with the little girls, trying out bubble tea, watching our latest favorite TV series "White Collar", and playing cards. How good it is to be with family, to share our world with them and spend time with the ones you love! Dropping them off at the airport is another reminder of what we truly miss about back home!

More Pictures from the desert!

An Oasis in the Desert

Sunday we flew to the northwest of China - Dunhuang; a small town of 180,000 people, an airport with just two gates and located literally in the middle of the Gobi Desert. It was SO COOL! It was also quite cold being so far north (almost into Inner Mongolia) - ~32F in the mornings, but then warming up to mid-70's by afternoon. Also given that China doesn't do any time zones (everyone is on Beijing time) the sun rose ~8am each morning and set ~8pm each night. Helps to keep the little ones sleeping later when it is freezing cold and pitch black at 7am still! We stayed at the Silk Road hotel - with a sand view room!

On the first day we went to Mingsha Hills - 25KM wide and 40KM long range of sand dunes. We boarded our camels and, after convincing Joseph that it really was okay to ride it with his Baba, we were off! The views were just breath-taking and for everyone else we were quite an attraction too as we were just about the only foreigners there! We rode up a couple of hills and 'parked' our camels to then do some bamboo sledding down the hills. Finally we took off to the Crescent Moon Spring - a small oasis at the edge of the desert. It was just like nothing we had ever seen before! For lunch we went into town for some local food - noodles and donkey meat. We all tried it...Zoe cried thinking of lovable donkey's from TV (aka Eeyore) and Abigail decided she loved donkey meat (along with all other meat!). It was quite a lunch (and we all had Snickers mid-afternoon to curb the hunger before dinner!).

Tuesday was our historical tour day - Great Wall of the Han Dynasty (built completely different with stones/sand/straw and over 1000 years before the Ming Dynasty Great Wall that everyone sees in Beijing today), Yumenguan Pass (built in 121 BC as an important point on the Silk Road - also named Jade Gate pass for the large caravans of jade leaving China to Central Asia on the ancient trading route) and the Black Gobi Desert (large rock formations in the middle of the desert that is completely covered with small black stones on top of the sand). While the sites were amazing just at how they have survived for so long and the history behind each of them, what will be most remembered is our van ride...lots of laughter in the car, traveling at 'high' speeds over the desert not on any roads, and eating peanut butter with chopsticks for lunch!

Wednesday morning we visited the Mogao Grottos - one of the three famous rock grottos in China and regarded as a storehouse of Buddhist art in the world. There were over 492 grottos each containing murals painted over 1000 years ago and colored statues. We saw the third largest Buddha in the world (over nine stories tall) - still not impressed with him but did have a great opportunity to talk to Zoe about the one true God and how Buddha is not. Thankfully our tour only visited 10 caves - although Abigail & Zoe did amazing touring each cave (I think by cave 5 Kelly & I were more bored than the little girls - sorry shallow, I know.) Joseph & Lindsey (along with Megan who has already been to the grottos) also decided to stay outside and watch all the people as the caves were a little too dark & crowded for their liking. Wednesday afternoon was our favorite time of all - we just went back to Mingsha Hills - with our backpack, some food/drinks and a frisbee and played in the sand for hours! We did splurge and have Lindsey & Megan each take an ultra-lite/paraglider trip over the desert to see the view from above - they both loved it! We climbed some hills to slide down the sides - which Zoe & Lindsey especially found most amusing. Kind of like being at the beach and the mountains at the same time - beach mountains - it was wonderful!

We did have some favorite vacation quotes (mainly from Abigail who was just on a roll during our trip!)...

Upon seeing the only option for going to the bathroom was a squatty potty, Abigail says to Kelly "One of us is going to get pee-d on, it's either you or me!"

After a tough evening of being upset, Andy says to Abigail "Remember the Bible says to not let the sun go down on your anger." Too which our very literal Abigail says "Too late."

It was a great time as a family to just relax, refresh and see new parts of China! We are glad to be back home in Shanghai with still a few days to catch up on things before work & school kick back in!

A weekend in Xi'An

This year we decided to brave the popular travel season and head out of town for October holiday (the seven day long national holiday to celebrate the beginning of the People's Republic of China - works for me!). Our first stop was a weekend in Xi'An - home of the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. An amazing historical site dating back to before 221 BC - yes that is BC! The Emperor Qin Shi Huang (who unified China) built the army starting when he was 12 years old to protect his tomb when he died (now that's planning ahead for you!). They remained buried, unremembered, for thousands of years until 1974 when farmers were digging a well discovered them. It was just amazing to see rows upon rows of them and the unique faces on each one! After a morning at the warriors, we walked on the city wall (one of the few preserved ancient city walls remaining in China), had a treat of ice cream and finished up with a walk through Muslim square (Shaanxi Province with Xi'An as the capital has the largest population of Chinese Muslims).

A few updates on daily life before the holidays: We had a major scare with Joseph who woke up one morning with a seizure. After a day at the doctors and hospital, with blood tests, an MRI and answering lots of questions, we recognized that this was most likely his second seizure (he had one the day before we left the US that we didn't see, but saw recovery from) so it is officially epilepsy. He was an amazing trooper through it all. During the day we also saw the doctor who operated on him when he first arrived in Shanghai with his encephelocele - the doctor was absolutely shocked to see him in such good health, almost walking & lots of talking and said he never would have predicted this progress for Joseph - yes that's right we have a really BIG God who continues to have His hand on our little guy! He was not surprised about the seizures (based on how much Joseph's brain has been through since birth) and started Joseph on medication to hopefully eliminate them. A long day and several long nights as we sleep a bit lighter now listening for him should there be any issues...but all is good now.

Shortly after that we also discovered an unwelcome house guest...a RAT. That is correct - not a mouse, but a full sized rat. Completely disgusting. I saw it one morning as it ran from the pantry to the dining room - I'm pretty sure I was blocking its path to the kitchen so I really think it started chasing me - which only made my screaming even louder. We had about 4 days of trying to trap it - finding it had holes under the kitchen cupboards and behind the electrical box in the pantry (who else would have put the gummies in there??). Our landlord's first solution was to tell us to get a cat. Umm, allergic, that won't work. Their second solution was three 'sticky' traps that we saw the rat jump over, our dog eat the treats from and Zoe step in. Umm, that's not working either. Their third solution, close up the holes in the house - using wood in the kitchen and packing tape in the pantry. Seriously - these people think packing tape is going to stop a rat. Ugh. Finally, one night Andy actually cornered it behind the water cooler and he resorted to the trusty tennis racket and garbage can! After a short duel in a small bathroom, with lots of the racket hitting the wall and me still screaming from the other room, Andy (my hero!) trapped it in the garbage can and took it outside across the street for its freedom. Zoe was happy we didn't kill it (although I had pretty much convinced her on why it should die!) and I was happy it was finally gone. We have thoroughly disinfected every bit of can/box/bag of food from the kitchen & pantry, every square inch of counter & floor...but still look intently every time we turn on the lights at night for anything that moves!