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.