Back to Life....

After a wonderful, relaxing summer in South Carolina, we are back at work here in China. Bob came back the first of July and I returned with the kids and 15 suitcases and 9 carry-ons the end of July. We brought back 6 suitcases of food...the extent we will go to for the foods we like!!!
That was a very big praise though- that we made it safely, in good humor, with all our baggage....good day!

School is starting up so right now all of my energy is going toward getting my classroom set up. We will only have 6 students to start the year, but it will still be a lot of fun. Great opportunity for me to really mentor Julia in her teaching and help her build her confidence up before she flys out to get a teaching job. She wants to teach in a "like minded" Chinese school....yes, there is such a thing...

We had a lot of the staff over for dinner 24 hours after arriving. Yes, I am crazy. But it was fun- casual dinner and Apples to Apples for hours and hours. Lots of new staff with the same lost look in their eyes that we had last year- the first few weeks are completely overwhelming.

Bob has been continuing with the English corners and building relationships with other school families while we we re still stateside. I look forward this week to going to English corner and planning weekend activities with our Chinese friends.

One limiting factor has been the heat. This Friday the high t emp is expected to be 105 with a heat index of 136 !!!!!! Kinda hard to do anything in these conditions. If I remember correctly, it should cool down a bit by the end of August....highs in the low 90s....yes, that is a cool front.

So, I will try to update more often. Please remember us often as this is the year we want to give all we have and come home completely exhausted for HIM in June....not a single wasted opportunity.....

After school each da, weather permitting, Bob and I head outside to play with our kids....and now all the neighborhood kids from our school.

Kinda our own "kids club". They really love the attention and some do not get a lot at home.

This is another way for us to "reach" people-most here are not b-lievers.

They love to play basketball, go on bike rides, and take goofy pictures!!!

If nothing else, it is good for them to see a family that enjoys spending time together....

Wrapping up Year One

I can't believe it, but our first school year here is about over!!! We have 5 weeks left and then we head home for the summer.
It has been quite a year. Now that we feel pretty well adjusted, it is time to go back the states and mess it all up! No, I am kidding really, but next year will be a lot LOT easier since we know how to go places, how to communicate a little, and are forming wonderful friendships with friends from English corner.
I hope in the fall to do even more English corner type work at the university near our school. College students love talking to us and they are a lot of fun. I feel like this is an area I am called to serve. And when we return home, that is an area I can continue working in- helping Asian students adjust to American culture, since I will have lived here and can see/ experience the difference. It has got to be as hard for them in America as it is for us here.

Before we wrap up the 2009-2010 school year, I hope to finish up strong with my students, especially teaching them truth, continue to build relationships with Chinese staff and English corner friends, and spend time with all of the above enjoying the weather now that is has finally gotten warm. Did I mention it was close to 90 today?

Thanks for all your continued support. We will be visiting churches this summer to share what G-d is doing in China and in our lives. If you would like us to come to your church, let me know- we still have a few open dates and we love to share as much as possible, where we can openly.....

Until next time,
Angie

Spring is here!!!

The weather has changed- we are now actually seeing the sun occasionally. It is still not warm- around 50-60, but we are on the up-side now. We are excited and our moods( all 6 of us) seem to be feeling a lot better mentally. It is hard to be up-beat when it is cloudy every day, very cold wherever you are, and raining. For the past 2 months, really even since Christmas, I have really doubted why we are here and wished I were back home.
But then the weather change came and with the nicer days came a nicer me...lol.
I know that this is where we are to be. It has been an extremely difficult winter for us. The boys have had a hard time, but with spring coming and a trip home soon, we all see the light at the end of the tunnel.
My dependence on Daddy has grown so much this year. He can handle my anger at the way my kids have been treated, he can handle my frustation at the way this society squelches "individual thinking", and he can handle my depression from the weather and being sad from lack of opportunities to do what I feel soooooo strongly led to do.

We are building relationships here, that like the beautiful cherry blossoms all over Wuhan, are beginning to bloom and grow. We have a few close Chinese friends, plus all the school staff of Chinese locals, and others we are now meeting at the English corner we help run on Wednesday evenings.
We go out to dinner with our local friends, go on picnics, and even roller skating.
Several of them visited our school last week which was a great opportunity to share with them all of our curriculum.

I continue to pr-y daily for opportunities and the right timing for things to fall into place for us to do as we have been led. Patience is definately needed here, as we take advantage of times here and there to share.
There is a staff member at our school who doesn't know Him. She asked me the other day why I sing all the time. I told her because of Him I have joy. I may not be happy all the time, I may have problems ( which they have all seen our family go through), but I have HOPE and thus, joy....so I sing.
I hope that little things like that make a difference. We are planting, but may not be here for the harvest, but that is ok. As long as we are being used.

So with spring comes new life. We just returned from a short trip to Hong Kong for the kids mostly. They needed a "China time-out" and a day at the amusement park helped with that!!

Continue to remember us as we finish out our first year here. We will be stateside for most of the summer getting medical help for Jack's anxiety and OCD. We hope and pr-y he will have a better year next school year as he starts middle school.
Remember us as we try to raise more funds over the summer to help with expenses, as well as m-ssion opportunities we have here to go to other areas of Asia and really speak truth.

Thanks for all your support!! Hard to believe we have been here for 8 months already!!!
Spring is here and we are ready to grow, be green, and share new life.

Trip to Thailand....

Mountain Hostel Painting the Girl's home

Children's Hostel in Mountains of Thailand

The fam all went to Thailand for our Chinese New Year break. It was fantastic....here are the highlights....

#1 Went on a 3 hour trip through the mountains and jungles to a village to visit a Childrens Hostel and deliver gifts- a computer, supplies, some clothes, and toys our kids gave them. It was so humbling to see those children so thankful for our visit and everything we brought to them. They sang for us and then thanked us for everything we did. They also pr-yed with us- they were so respectful and humble. Seeing kids who have nothing but clothes and mats to sleep on was eye opening, for me and our kids. It was a great day though. I loved seeing the kids that live there.

#2- Working at the new home for orphan girls. There are 3 girls there and 2 more to come in the future. The ones there now are 2.4. and 6 years. Their stories are very sad-parents dying of AIDS, no one to care for them, extremely poor families and villages.

We took clothes, toys, and Cheetos to them (hey, the Cheetos were a big hit- they had never had them). We bought paint and supplies and painted the whole interier of the house- 3 br,bath, common area, hall, kitchen, and the house dad even painted some on the outside.

We had a ball playing with the girls and making them smile and giggle. I was having a wonderful time with the littlest one and Shirley told me I may be the first person ever to play with her. That is enough to break your heart. They were still in semi- self- peservation mode- not sharing food and stuffing it quickly in their mouths.

By the end of the week, we were so thrilled- they were reaching for us, playing with us, and hugging us. We had formed relationships, even though we never spoke a word to each other- they speak hill tribe, no Thai and no English. But by the end, we had them saying No No...that is worth something, isn't it?

Please remember these little ones as they further adjust and start school in June. It is harder than anything I can imagine- starting over with complete strangers at such a young age.

#3 - English Classes- Bob,Madeline and I helped teach English classes to Thai children that came to Faithful Heart. Bob worked with the older kids and Madeline and I the beginners. It was fun, once they got over their initial shyness. They were eager to show how much English they knew. We did body parts and then taught them Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. Then we taught them Jes-s loves me in sign language. These were just random Thai kids, many of other faiths, so it was really cool.

#4- Meeting Thai people- Thai people are very friendly with big smiles and happy laughs. It was ver different from China where most are more shy and just stare from a distance. We made several friendships and hope to keep in contact with them. One is not a "brother" but very close we believe. He is afraid of family pressure. We are remembering him daily and hope you will do the same....just call him Dune....Our Father knows who he is....

#5- Dinner with all the Faithful Heart Children... We went to a special dinner, thrown it turns out, just to meet us!!! All the boys from the 4 homes and the 3 girls were there. All the house parents too!!! They all sang for us and it was a wonderful blessing!!! We so hated to leave. We felt so welcome and at home there.

We are back in China now, gearing up for school to start back on Monday.

Please remember us as we continue to work for Him. Also, special prayer request- we are trying to come home for the summer- our parents are paying the airfare- they insist we come. So please pry we find cheap rates and the best deal out there. It is very expensive for 6 people.

That is about it for now. I will try to update more often. I was reminded I was slacking off so I will try to do better (ok Rick?)

Blessings to all,

Angie

Christmas in Shanghai...

We were there for a week. It was really fun seeing all the buildings, historic sites, and shopping til we dropped. We were having fun right up until Christmas day and then it hit us just what we were missing. We all we kinda bummed the whole day, wishing we were back in the states, if only for one day!!!

I am glad we went to Shanghai, but next year we are heading somewhere much warmer,the "Hawaii of China". I think that time on the beach and warm weather will help us to live through the hard separation at the holidays.

Above are a few pictures we did take.

The group with Santa hats is our new friend, Justin from Charlotte and his co-workers at our Christmas 101 Night, where he shared ALL about Christmas.....

Christmas in China

#1- Christmas is not even a holiday here...at all. No one is off work, kids are not out of school....nothing.
#2- Christmas is slowly infiltrating in. Decorations are more and more common. Christmas carols, even the ones with real meaning, are played in every store. People are more and more curious about what it is all about.
#3- Santa is not a g-d. We heard one national ask that question this year...if Santa was a g-d. That is how much they do not "get it", that is how much work is to be done, that is motivating and depressing all at the same time.
#4- The devil even celebrated- The people here like to wear costumes to celebrate Christmas. I guess it all stems from dressing in Bib-ical attire. But the costumes are really random...and weird. Devil horns, tails, and pitch forks are popular costumes. We saw several over the holiday, even one girl performing in the Christmas program at our apartment complex. All this relates back to #3- don't get it.
#5- Christmas here makes us realize what we are missing there. We really would have loved to have gone home for Christmas like many of our staff, but they are all single and have only one person to pay airfare for, while we have 6. Sitting in a cold hostel, eating random Chinese dishes for Christmas dinner, and being without family really made it tough. We were all fine until Christmas day and then it hit us all. Next Christmas we are going to head south to the beaches where it is warm and sunny and we can at least have that as a diversion.
All this to say, enjoy every Christmas at home with friends and family. It is truly a blessing to be able to, one that we really missed this year.

Hope you had a great Christmas, wherever you are!!!
More to come...