Concordia Class of 2012

Senior year - very fun!

First round of class pictures at the Bund.

Look Who's 14!

We've had such fun celebrating Lindsey's 14th birthday!! Bowling with friends, a steak dinner at Yasmines, Dairy Queen ice cream...quite a treat! We also decided to take in a few more of the local Shanghai tourist spots we hadn't seen yet....

* Science & Technology Museum - the favorite ride with cool 3D sunglasses was a watermelon cart that started in the mouth went all through the digestive system and yes ended in the toilet! Despite being in Chinese, everyone clearly got the jist of what it was. Also a great colorful & fun place for Joseph to climb around.

* Wild Animal Safari Park - we had been warned to stay away from the section where you can feed a live chicken to the tigers - good call on that one! Beautiful park...a spattering of animals, but a fun day to be outside walking around seeing people & things!

Shanghai - Again!

It was yet another tearful farewell at the XNA airport...this time more aware of where we were going but also even more aware of what we were leaving behind. We learned very early in our trip back that God is continuing to go before us and protect us. In Detroit, due to a 5 hour delay with Joseph napping on my chest, we found that he was having difficulty breathing and after a paramedic visit & two ambulance rides he ended up staying at the Ann Arbor UM Children's Emergency Room for the next day. Not sure if it was asthma or a virus but lots of breathing treatments later he was released to travel!

Now back in Shanghai, life is once again crazy and busy. School is in full swing - Kelly in her senior year, Lindsey in high school, Zoe & Abigail loving their classes and Megan with lots of homework! Both Kelly & Megan have started as Ambassadors for the school - hosting new students, touring new families - helping kids who were in the same position they were just one year ago.

It has taken a couple of weeks to get used to Shanghai again - the humidity, the lack of blue sky, the people (everywhere), and the work schedule (long hours, lots of travel). We've also seen a little more of Shanghai - going to the eyeglass market (for Joseph's new glasses!), the camera market, and music street to buy a Ukelele! Today was also a new experience as Kelly & I were walking through People's Square, where they were holding the monthly Shanghai Marriage Market! Doting parents there with hundreds and hundreds of fliers 'advertising' their children with all the critical details (height, weight, salary & education). The children are not present - that just wouldn't be right! Some things you just have to say hum....

Scenes of Summer

Home...what a wonderful word, what a great place, what fun we had!!! Family reunion at the Outer Banks, swimming in the pool every day (without a required swim cap!), a complete evaluation for Joseph at Children's Hospital Philadelphia, the 8th birthday party for Zoe & Solomon, Joseph 'driving' in Josh's Jeep first thing every morning and an 18th birthday barn bash for Kelly & Katie Sue. Throw in lots of time with friends, lots of visits with family, eating at our favorite restaurants, driving ourselves and shopping and you've got yourself one wonderful summer vacation!

Crazy Summers

So we thought the school year was busy...then summer vacation hit! We started off with Lindsey's graduation from 8th grade...a wonderful celebration as they close the chapter of middle school and head into the wild world of high school! Along with the end of school also came a few good- byes for each of the girls. Not one of the nicer parts of an expat life - the constant flux of people as they move back home or continue on to different countries. We already have Megan planning to spend the October holiday in Japan with her friend Gillian.

Graduation night the University of Arkansas team arrived...very fun to be surrounded by a bunch of college kids so in love with the Lord! They loved on our kids (named themselves Team Joseph) and served at the Shanghai Healing Home (home to cleft lip/palette orphans). They stayed for 6 days and then headed off for 6 more weeks into the depths of China. They will return later this month for some final work with the healing home and also Home Sweet Home (for disabled adults) before having a few days of fun in Shanghai before heading home.

We had an ABSOLUTELY marvelous month with Maggie Morrison - a trip to Beijing, the girls serving at the Shepherds Field Village (private home for 75 orphans outside Beijing), lots of Shanghai sight-seeing, a trip to the peasant painting village and many funny & random pictures & videos!

In the midst of it all, Kelly & Lindsey headed back to Arkansas for a sweet 2 months! And as of last week, Andy, all the girls and even Joseph joined them! Now they are enjoying a Thielman family reunion at the Outer Banks - clear skies, fresh air, the beach...what could be better (unless I was there with them too!)

M&M Reunited!

288 Days (1 more than we expected!) and lots of Skype calls later, Maggie Morrison has finally arrived in China...we can't begin to describe the joy as they hugged at the airport and then shortly after that got into a conversation about fish tacos (just picking back up right where they left off!)

Thanks for sending her for a month Keith & Lynn!

Baobei Internship

For the last two weeks of school, Concordia has the Junior class go to 'work' with internships. Kelly had the great fortune to intern with the Baobei organization - the same one that has sponsored Joseph since he was just two days and provided for his surgery & healing homes. Baobei translates to 'precious child' and how true it is! It was an amazing experience as it completely took hold of her heart and her passions! The work ranged from meeting babies as they came off the train with the ayi's from their orphanage to holding babies at the hospital to helping at the medical clinic to organizing sales of Baobei gift items for the Concordia teachers. I think the best way to sum up the two weeks is to include some quotes from Kelly's daily reflections (that were written for school/Baobei):

• When we got to the hospital today, we were told that two new little boys had arrived. Nick and Caleb, they both are recently abandoned. Nick is almost 5 months old but Caleb is only 19 days. When I look at them I think about how incredibly hard it must have been for their mothers to say goodbye.
• At the medical clinic today it only confirmed for me that I do not want to go into medicine!
• It was really cool to hear how all of these babies’ stories start in the orphanages. As the director was talking she mentioned that they had to say no to lot of babies. I got the same feeling that I did seven years ago when I first visited an orphanage in Beijing on my first trip to China. Jesus again broke my heart for the Chinese orphans, particularly the sick and disabled ones. It makes me feel so helpless when I think of all the kids who need operations and families and it makes me sad to know that I can only help so much; but at the same time it gives me so much hope that I can help in little ways.
• First we went to the hospital to visit the babies and give their ayis a break! I love how something as simple as going in and sitting with a baby while their ayi showers or go grabs something to eat is so helpful to them. I don’t feel like it’s doing a lot but it makes a significant difference in the long run. As we were sitting in the hospital room today we made use of our time by washing the floor, or rather wiping them down with a wet wipe.
• Another thing that I loved today, while we were visiting the kiddos, especially the boys, I was taking pictures of them. Photography and kids are two things that I have a passion for so it was a perfect match. The kids had such sweet smiles! That’s why I love photography, I want to show the pure beauty that God has put into things, not beauty as the world sees it, models all dolled up and cars, but as God created it to be. Like a precious child smiling, or even their tears. There is a beauty in the children that Baobei supports that cannot be captured in words. Each little life is so valuable and has so many possibilities in their future it is amazing. Their stories blow people away because they are the stories of young and weak children many of whom theoretically should not have survived considering the conditions that they had and where they came from. The only explanation for this is that God is working in it. God saw each of the children’s value and directed them to Baobei, he protected them through their surgeries, and he provided the care and love that the child needed to begin to grow.
• It is sad to see our internship come to a close. Having a Baobei baby being adopted to my home, it was really neat for me to see how Baobei functions under the surface, and it has also been rewarding to be able to help out with the ministry that saved my brother’s life.