I Promise We Love our Kids

Ok, so here it goes...Spring Festival Children's Performance.  I promise that my camera is not just filled with wedding day blackmail pictures.  And I also promise that we do indeed love our children, despite what we subject them to once every semester at kindergarten.  

This one went much better than the last.  Malachi actually danced as if he was enjoying himself.  He even showed me "his moves" at home once or twice.  I'm not sure why he's 2/2 in having to strip down to his skyvies for his performaces, but he is.  This time it was a towel and underwear (as opposed to his plastic see thru bag from last time) and of course a good slathering of make-up.  Not too sure about Selah's costume here.  Little Bo Peep heads East.

It was crowded and smokey and exhausting and wonderful.  Malachi danced around like a champ and Selah was on cloud 9.  She absolutely loves the whole dress up, put bright make-up on and strut your stuff on stage type of events.  She actually had 3 costume changes throughout the performance.  

She's become quite the animated girl.  Full of emotion and enthusiasm.  Most of the time it's a wonderful trait. :)   So I'm not sure why my font is now blue, but we'll just enjoy the quirk for now.  I've got more to worry about at this stage in life than font colors.

 

Then they had some of the parents play a game where the mother tried to keep a feather in the air by blowing on it, while the father tried to button a shirt that was put on over her clothes.  We had a great time.  I've had a few conversations with friends about the fact that if a teacher put make up on their boy students in the states, most fathers would have some choice words for those teachers.  Not so much here....obviously.

This last picture is of her solo.  She and a boy sang a solo together.  Her Chinese has gotten stellar and she did a fantastic job.  Malachi's Chinese has also gotten really, really good.  It's fun to see them on their own turf. I was proud of both of them.  These are the character building events we all talk about when they are older, right?!  

Difficult to love

I was 30 seconds from getting the kids into rest time and getting a little devo and rest time myself, when the bell rang to let someone in.  It was my friend from a local store.  She only gets an hour rest all day and works 15 hours, sleeps in the store, only to wake up and start the day over.  So any time with her is much coveted.  My first reaction is, "ugh, it's almost rest time.  I don't have time for this today."  Even worse is that I've been praying for my relationship with her.  So now that I have the opportunity to hang out with her, I am disgruntled and put out.  

She had to go back to work and I've spent the last little bit reading Proverbs 3:27 "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it."  For her, a relationship is the 'good' that she is in need of.  She is far from home and works horrific hours at a really tough job.  She needs friends.  I've been convicted of just how easily I love those that are easy to love.  It's not all that difficult for me to love my  husband or kids.  It's not difficult to love my friends in the States.  It is however, difficult to love a lot of the people around me.  They mock us, scold us, ignore us and try to get us to leave their country.  And yet I am supposed to love them extravagantly??!!

And I have to confess, that there are many a day that I want to just look them in the eye and say something incredibly rude or offensive.  But then I am reminded that it is not our friends who need to be loved as much as it is our enemies.  Friends are easy.  

But that takes time, inconvenience, forethought, and much prayer.  I have to choose to be bothered in love.  If I'm not, then I'm not loving the hard to love.  The people that are hardest to love take much perseverance.  I am reminded how many times Jesus was confronted with the hard to love and yet he gave them his time, his ear, his healing, his touch, his food, and his words.  I don't have as much to offer, but what I do have, I am to give to them in abundance.  

The Big 4!

Today is Malachi's 4th birthday!! He woke up this morning mesmorized because he told us "now I can reach the sink. Last night I had to use my tippy toes, but this morning I can reach it all by myself!! Because I'm 4!







We had pancakes and had our normal birthday tradition. We go around the table and we all tell the birthday person a few things that we love about them. Then we left and fellowshipped with some friends. We had a birthday lunch of pizza, American brownies, ice cream and "The Jungle Book." We found some legitimate Transformers for him.  We had to ask the lady at the store downtown "which ones are the real ones and which are the illegal, fake ones?"  She told us the real ones where the real ones were :).  

 Malachi's not having a party because we're going to celebrate again with some friends next week. We'll be leaving for a few weeks and will be out of pocket, so we decided to postpone a party. He was okay with that, because the girl he has decided he is going to marry will now be able to attend his celebration.
Here's everyone flashing their "4's" in celebration of Malachi.  He's really turning into a wonderful young man.  He's really curious about life and how things work.  He spent most of the night trying to figure out how to manipulate the transformers.  He loves to read and run.  He loves his sibilings and loves to entertain them.  He's got a really sweet spirit that loves to tell us that he loves us, very consistently.  Malachi's also got a great dry sense of humor.  He's got a sense of adventure and intrigue that I love.  We love you, buddy and can't wait to see what this year has in store for you.  

Providence over hair

Since there's a hair theme to our lives here of late, I will disclose our latest hair debacle. As most of you know, Charis goes to a baby sitter every morning while Brad and I are in language class. She's been wonderful. We've had her and her family over several times and had a great time with them all. We've only had to guide her on a few things such as don't feed Charis ice cream everyday and don't let her nap in the mornings. We've really been fairly loose with our instructions to her.

So Monday, Brad goes to pick up Charis and discovers this:




She has cut Charis' hair with no prior permission granted. Brad didn't say anything at the time, wanting to make sure I didn't cut it or something. I hadn't touched it. So we had a friend call her and tell her that we did not want her cutting Charis' hair. It was a breach of trust and this is something we need to give permission to, not done on her own volition. We weren't harsh with her, just clear. Our friend spoke to the girl who lives with her and then the message got passed along. Because we were not sure that the message got to her (because we were working through a friend talking to a friend, talking to her), we decided to call the girl that lives with her to make sure the message got to her.

In the end, that night she came over really upset and offended and said she quit. After an hour and a half of discussion and apologies, she didn't change her mind. She says that because we called twice, it showed that we didn't trust or appreciate her. There were lots of tears and no forgiveness from her whatsoever. We told her we have learned a cultural lesson (we really did want to understand what we did wrong) and still wanted her to watch Charis. She would have none of it. Her pride was hurt.

So that night, we went to bed, laying this out before our Father. The next day, a friend and I went to Selah and Malachi's school to ask about Charis starting. Previously we have been told that she had to be able to use the potty before attending. Well, the principal informed us that there's a class for small babies where they help them learn to use the potty. So after Chinese New Year, she will start to attend kindergarten. We are thrilled because now she can have more kid interaction and learn the discipline of being in a class structure along with more great language practice.

Again, we are rejoicing at the Providence of His will over ours. He works all for the good of those who love Him.

Roger Clemens and the lack of decency in our society

Honestly, something is beyond broken when people get such thrills in assuming a person is guilty rather than innocent when the person has been nothing but a class act throughout his career. Roger Clemens is right,… how in the world would he prove a negative anyway, that is, “That he did NOT take steroids”? It’s an impossible charge to defend. Yet, bored, gossip hungry people feed this story on the basis of an accuser with thus far no proof.

 

The media is so manipulative. They’re manipulating this story and the political campaign. Every time on person gets up in the polls, a week follows of negative stories in order that the field will be leveled to make a better news story.

 

It’s easy to chide “the media”, but how often do we not give others the benefit of the doubt simply because we hear this or that. How many of us say, “They say…” when really this phrase is a cover for “I think….”

My Perm

So I got a perm. I've only had one in my entire growing up, and that was in college. I just really like change, so this time my hair was the victim. Brad always gets really nervous when I decide to change my hair. The first picture is right after I got home. The second one is my first attempt at doing it myself.

Here's some of the fun things about getting a perm (a friend told me to call it a body wave, because perm is a throw-back -to -jr. high -word). I walked in having looked up the word for 'perm' in my dictionary. They wanted to cut my hair and I kindly told them not to. So then, she handed me a magazine to pick out that kind of perm to get.




Back to get the hair washed. At this point, everybody in the store is a buzz about the foreigner who is getting a perm. I told the guy I was nervous. He reassured me as he took the comb out of his nicely permed and teased hair, only to comb mine out with that same comb. This same comb went from his hair directly into mine the entire time. Convenient, I guess. At least I wasn't with the guy that picked up his comb in between puffs on his cigarette. I studied my flash cards as I sat and he worked. We chatted about counterfeiting, my vocabulary words, hair, Yao Ming, and tons of other fun things.

About half way through, most of the other customers had left and they decided to make me feel more comfortable by putting on an English CD. They wrapped plastic wrap around my curlers and stuck me under a revolving hot fan thing. All of the time enjoying "You Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em" and "Puff the Magic Dragon". 3 hours later, I was done. I'm pleased and even better, Brad likes it.

God is Serious about our joy IN HIM

If this verse doesn’t send us to our knees pleading in pray, making us examine our hearts, and sober us from lazy and apathetic Christianity, perhaps nothing will!

 

Deuteronomy 28:47-48  Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,  ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.

 

This begs the question: Do we spend more energy trying to enjoy LIFE or fighting to enjoy GOD?!

The Shorter (Westminister) Catechism... put to music

For those of your looking for really edifying music, with a blend of historical orthodox theology, or those interested in teaching yourself or your kids the The Shorter Catechism, we just got turned onto a album by Bruce Benedict (go to ITunes) called “The Shorter Catechism, Vol 1”, which uses the exact words from this 1600’s catechism, but put to folk rhythms. Already, even our kids have started singing the words (and reinforcing a similar catechism that we’ve already been doing with them). Check it out if your interested. We just wanted to pass the word for those interested. Usually, songs kids enjoy are not enjoyable to parents or vice versa. At first, it sounds strangeto hear such substantial lines put to music, but they begin to grab you after a listen or two.

Most Encouraging Christmas.

Here's my big guy at 3 months! Also his 1st Christmas!

So here's the juicy details of our Christmas month. It's been the most encouraging month by far. It started out with 4 separate Christmas parties hosted by our family and visiting friends. While crazy, it was wonderful! It has had much relational fruit. Selah got to go over to her friends house for dinner, Brad now plays basketball every Sat. night with some men (this is wonderful, because the men here are hard to meet because they are ALWAYS at work) and we got invited to a party by a Korean friend. All of these friends, and hopefully more, were made through these parties. We also got to have a local store worker over for a little bit-also a hard task because they work 7 am-10 pm and sleep in the same store.





Then, last Sunday, we had another small Christmas party with some local friends. We've also gotten to know some friends better this month and done lots of dinner hosting. Here's us at Christmas dinner with a friend who's family is out of town right now. We even got to introduce him to real American apple pie!




Christmas morning we had a friend and his wife over for cinnamon rolls. They wanted to come over and give the kids gifts before they had to leave for work, so 6:30 am and we're hosting. He's been incredibly busy, so it was nice to see them both. They stayed and had coffee with us while we opened our stockings. After that, we talked with some family in Texas and then it was off to open more gifts. We rested in the afternoon and did a little of our Christmas story reading of "One Wintry Night" by Ruth Bell Graham-fantastic book about the entire story of Christmas from Creation to Easter. The pictures and story are beautiful That night, we had a friend over for dinner (see picture above) and then crash into bed. It was a wonderful holiday.





This month was our anniversary also. We decided to go to a hotel and eat some Indian/International food. It was wonderful! The back drop to dinner was a choir of Santa dressed young people. The best was when I was about to sit down, what did mine ears hear? Nothing other than "Feliz Navidad" sang by the aforementioned Chinese choir. It was actually a "Feliz Navidad"/"Rudolph" medley. You just can't pay enough for that type of entertainment.



Here's a family Christmas picture. We are no longer worried about if everyone is smiling, but rather if everyone is sitting down in the same place.

We are also getting more and more encouraged at our language skills. Are we there yet...hardly. But we are getting more comfortable in speaking and actually having more in depth conversations. Life here is getting to seem more like life rather than this frantic, confused existence.



Sorry for the random pictures with few captions, but I figured the pictures weren't hard to figure out, so I just did them randomly. We have spent much time rejoicing this month. For answered requests, fun care packages, new friends, more mad language skills, wonderful and healthy family, the season itself.




MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A Christmas Offering: "God's Gift"

Inspired by Isaiah 53:11a on Christmas Day 2007

God's gift to the world is rejected
not initially embraced
it is covered in flesh wrapping
bound in suffering lace

Opened in anguish
smells of death raise up high
but oh what joy awaits us inside

Such pompous for rags
a waste of time seems his shame
who will awake early and eager?
so profane is this thing

Though no eye can now see
yet a rattles shakes noise
how quickly we'll put aside all of our toys

To accept such a grace that joy may be won,
for glory eternal, let no one lament,
cannot be apprehended
efficiently or in a moment

by BV

Seeking Contradictions!!

First of all, some qualifiers… (1) We are not against “big churches”, rather we’re against the mindset of those in big churches who hide in the big group, apathetic in living like Christ. We’re not against “seekers” (as in “seeker churches”) as should be obvious. Rather, we against the notion that the church exists for seekers rather than for God. Romans 3 makes clear that actually, no one seeks God! In fact, by definition, “church” in Scripture is the assembly of God’s people, of whom “seekers” are not a part. Therefore, in fact, it’s impossible to have a “seeker church”.

 

With that lengthy qualifier made…it dawned on us what a walking contradiction “seeker churches” are in much of what they do. For example, every seeker church will be very quick to say we’re saved by faith, not by works. {So far so good}. However, in stead of being places where the content of this faith is fully declared and articulated, “seeker churches” tend to be the last place one will find thoughtful, comprehensive theological teaching. Rather, every church I hear that praises a “seeker sensitive” mentality spends all their time on “how to” teaching {How to be a good…How to live…. How to find…} Catch the irony….the necessity of faith for salvation would seem to compel more rigorous preaching and certainly more God centered sermons. How to’s concern works, which they supposedly minimize (in the conversion process). Seeker churches, of all places, claim to focus on the unsaved, nonChristian.

 

In short, “seeker churches” fill their building with a lot of people who don’t love Jesus (after all, they’re “seeking”) to tell them how to live (i.e. do works), despite the fact that they can only be saved through faith (the content of which is barely if ever taught).

 

Consequently, the very method attempting to win seekers may be sending them to hell!! (since they are being taught how to do works but unfamiliar with the content of our faith).

9 years ago, today!

We were walking down the aisle to get married! I cannot believe it was that long ago. I wish I had pictures, but that was pre-digital cameras.


4 kids, 4 continents, endless moves, deaths, and many starbucks later, we are still having a great time being married. Anyone who says that married gets boring the longer you're married have just stopped trying. My wonderful husband does a fantastic job of taking me on dates, serving our family and leading us all in Godliness and intentionality.

We're going to enjoy some hot pot after the kids get to bed and go out this weekend. We've got some friends baby-sitting for us! We'll get some pictures and post them this weekend.

To my wonderful husband-here's to 9 years and the next 90-I love you!

Romans 9--Passionate Love and Rigorous Thinking

There is a terrible lie that abounds saying essentially that one is either “loving and practical” or “aloof and theological”. Similarly, it is said that if you truly believe in God’s sovereignty of all things, even the human will, we’ll become cold, lazy, and fatalistic. (Of course, this runs absolutely counter to history’s greatest kingdom laborers, like Spurgeon, Edwards, Whitefield, Judson, Carey….to name a few.) In Romans 9, ironically, both one of the most neglected and yet hotly debated chapters in Scripture, we see both coming together. In most of the chapter, Paul lays out a very full argument on the sovereignty of God in individually electing who would be His people (i.e. what people today call “Calvinism”). However, notice 9:1-3, where Paul pours out his heart more sincerely and passionately that perhaps any of us have for His people: “I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit-- ² that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  ³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Let this convict us not to compromise Scriptural teachings for the sake of worldly logic and in the so-called name of “love”. Let our hearts not grow cold for God because we think we are growing warm towards people. We are pierced in heart at how deep, hard thinking and zealous, consuming love come together not only in this text, but throughout the church’s history….but how easily we separate them.

Song Lyric of the Week

Robbie Seay wins it this week with his song “New Day” which says, “If you’re like me, you need a hope, a coffee, and a melody, so sit back down and let the world keep spinnin’ round…”

Honor and Shame in Practice

A lot of people know that China is more of an honor-shame culture. In America, we really have no parallel. It’s far more than mere pride or peer pressure. It’s a group dynamic where conformity is valued, sought after, and enforced holistically.

Recently, we’ve seen a few noteworthy examples of the daily implications of this honor-shame dynamic. Example #1: Bank loans—we asked one of our tutors about what would happen if she did not pay back her student loans, what would happen? She replied that they bank would post her name on the internet. “So…?” we thought. When asked about it, she explained how horrifying it would be for that to happen to her. We asked, “Who would read it?” She said probably no one, but nevertheless, she would know and be humiliated. Example #2: No Smoking in Beijing Taxis—recently it was announced that smoking in Beijing taxis was prohibited (at least by drivers, we think passages but can’t recall). The punishment was that people would have their pictures posted online.

Though we laugh at how crazy this sounds to American ears, we see again how much we all desperately need help if we are to learn to communicate with so many people in the world who think so differently than we do. When we surround ourselves with like minds, it’s easy to forget our narrow our vision can become.

Christmas Idol?!

Today,the girls that come over everyday were taking notice of our Christmas tree. Twice I looked over at one of them and she was on her knees, hands folded and murmuring something. I think she was praying to the tree. I asked her, but she didn't seem to understand why I'd ask that.

Brad thought I was crazy. I see NO other reason why someone would be kneeling in front of a tree, hands folded and eyes closed-murmuring. The verdict, she was praying...to the tree.

From Selah's eyes

These kids are my friends from my Chinese school. But they're Koreans. They don't say very much because they don't know very much Chinese. But they are also very nice. These pictures are from my camera that I got for my birthday from Mimi and Grandpa. I took them all by myself. This little girl is my friend from school. She also has a brother. These pictures are from the Christmas party we had. We decorated lots of cookies, we did a play and I was Mary. Then we all sang 'Silent Night" together. That's all. We had a great time.



This picture is Mrs. Christina, when they were visiting us in China. But they left today.





This woman at the bottom is also Korean. She is the mom of the girl above her. But I've never seen her husband, when she picks her daughter up from school. Maybe she doesn't have a husband. All the pictures are of my Korean friends. They are all Korean....except Mrs. Christina.

Why are more people offended by lack of choice rather than abortions themselves?

China is well known for their one child policy--that a family is only allowed one child, otherwise, they will be fined severely. Abortions are normal here, encouraged or compelled either by family or other authorities. Consequently, many in the West, especially America, scorn China for its abortion views and practices. It is regularly decried by Americans that such "forced" abortions are immoral and unjust. What is interesting however, is comparing the differences between America and China related to abortion views. We read an article recently saying that there are about 2.5 millions abortions a year in the United States. Strangely enough, only Christians bemoan this number so strongly. More typically, the fight is over the choice to abort or not to abort. Yet, on the whole, there is not the "outrage" in America against herself as there is again China. What is the difference? The only difference appears to be CHOICE.

The issue apparently is not abortion itself. Apparently, the outrage is that people in one country are not getting to choose abortion. In contrast, where there is choice, there is no outrage. Abortion then becomes an arbitrary matter. The real "issue" for many people is CHOICE. Consequently, we could just as well expect such outrage is the people in China we denied the CHOICE to drink Cokes whereas Americans were given the choice. Would we see the same outrage and cries of injustice? Would other countries be so hated because of the lack of "choice"? I doubt it. The truth is that our society uses the hot issue of  to give stronger persuasion to the value of choice. Pro-choice-abortion advocate have no grounds to malign China or any other country so long as they defend its existence in America. It's an evil everywhere it exists.

A related aside, a quote from an article I read this morning about a woman charged with killing her unborn fetus, "Freeman was initially charged with murder under a 2005 law that allows murder convictions of people who cause the deaths of fetuses that could live outside the womb. However, that law contains a specific exemption for women who cause the deaths of babies they're carrying." Contradiction?

Sometimes you just don't need words...

Last few from the parents trip

Here's a few more pictures from my parents trip. We had a wonderful trip with everyone. It went by much too quickly, for sure. I'm having trouble with blogger, so pardon my wayward 'the' that's dangling in space.































Here's Kesed-about 9 weeks now! He's rolling some and smile often. He's been a great baby so far. I'll tell you, it's hard not to spoil him when you know he's probably your last.





The grandmother's got these costumes for the kids! Now we'll have some things to go along with the various objects Malachi uses as a sword-pencils, sticks, half eaten bread, crackers...pretty much anything will do.



We have some good friends of ours visiting right now, so we'll try and post some of those pictures soon. We also had a great time having some Christmas parties this weekend. We'll blog that later also.

Olympic Park and Urgent trip to Beijing

Here's a few more pics of our trip with our family. Right now, actually, Brad is on his way back from Beijing with my sister and her husband. She has an abscessed tooth and needs a root canal. But the doctor was able to drain it (ouch...) and she can get the rest done in the States. Then they had to take the slooow train back to our city. The fast train takes 2 hours. This bad boy that they are riding comes in at a whopping 5 hours. Just what my sister wants to do, I'm sure. But at least they will get back tonite and tomorrow we will celebrate Selah's birthday.




Malachi's got Uncle Casey right where he wants him.




Aunt Kim and Selah posing with a random statue at the Olympic Park.



Here's part of the gang sitting with these three fat rolling men at the Olympic Park. I'm not sure there's an Olympic event that includes "fat, rolling men."



Post Thanksgiving meal. Getting our crew to all sit still and snap any kind of picture is nothing short of a miracle. But my sister's the master photographer and she got some.


Selah and Malachi are with Mimi and Grandpa at their hotel and watching Shrek 3. Carrie and the smaller 2 are at home and are going to bed by 7:30. Pathetic, I know.

This is just a small update on things here. We're having a great time!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Curried fish, peppered noodles, pizza and Indian tomato soup....just like every thanksgiving. We ate Thanksgiving at my parents hotel's International Buffet. It was wonderful and NO dishes! We all had a great time eating and swimming and then headed to our house for some dessert/dinner.




Here's my parents, sister and brother in law and us as we ate. What a blessing to have them here.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Family Coming!

Carrie is going to pick up my family tomorrow and we are sooo excited. We'll get them from Beijing tomoro and come on back here the same night. They will be here for about 8 days. We'll post some pics when we've got 'em.

Wretched I am! Who will rescued these kids from these parents of death?

Every parent knows the frustration of constant reminding, of seeing your kids continually not trusting you, of seeing your sins grow legs and live in your house for 18 or more years….We see what it does to our hearts…sometimes anger, other times hurts, other times their sin discourages. We then see so quickly that we are enflamed against the same sins that linger in us, that are so slow to die. How the Lord must fees both anger and sadness in view of our sin! Our Jesus grieved and “marveled because of their unbelief,” (Mk. 6:6). Yet, how little we rage against our own sin! How indifferent and excusing are we! How awful is our sin. How I learn every day to hate my sin more and more. Oh how beautiful grace is for those who have trusted entirely on Christ for the forgiveness of this wretchedness within us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SELAH!!!

Here's our sweet 6 year old! I can't believe it. She told me this morning "I, like, even feel bigger today, because I'm 6! Like, taller and stuff!" She's full of life, curiosity, joy, empathy, concern for others, and love for the spotlight. I could go on and on about how much we love our Selah. She's such a blessing and it seems as if the Lord is growing in her daily. She LOVES to pray and worship through song and dance.

And that hat she's wearing- I made it!

We're going to wait to have a party when Carrie's parents, sister and brother-in-law come to visit. Only 4 days!



Here's our lazy Saturday morning. We try not to get out of bed until 7:00. One day a "lazy saturday morning" will actually include being lazy.

For all you 30 somethings

Since the Christmas season is quickly approaching, I just couldn't help but dig into the archives of greatness.  This is from the classic "The Christmas Story"-one of the greatest of all time.  So long as you forgive the unsantifiedness of the plot.  Is "unsanctifiedness" a word?!  I'll leave it because it works here.  

Well, I have discovered here on the other side of the world, another Randy Parker (Ralphie's Brother).

For those of you who have never seen the movie-to you, I am sorry for your deprived upbringing (and the totally confusing blog).   But those that can relate, I love Ralphie's brother Randy.  So here's our tribute.

Good Times

Last night, we had over Charis' baby sitter, her husband and a girl that is living with them (she is also my tutor).  We had a spaghetti dinner followed by dessert.  My tutor can speak decent English, but we told her that we wanted to try and speak Chinese most of the time.  So we did!  About 85% of our evenings conversation was in Chinese!  We were really excited and only made about 785 mistakes :).  But they were gracious and kept telling us to just slow down and take our time in speaking.  

Both our helper and tutor love kids.  The kids were watching VeggieTales in this bottom picture, so we all joined them for a minute.  The idea of singing Christian vegetables was very interesting to them.  

We had a great time and can't wait to have them over again.  My parents (Carrie) come next week and they are all excited to meet them!

Simple Pleasures

Ok, it's time for a "simple pleasures" blog. This week has been blanketed in thankfulness at how grand our Lord is and how He has allowed us to recognize the things we are to be thankful for.

1. Being able to read signs in Chinese.

2. Watching the old man clean his plant, leaf by leaf, each day at 11:45.

3. Having your 5 year old daughter come to you saying "mommy, I'm sorry for my disobedience today. My heart wasn't right." And the most amazing part was that it was unsolicited by mom and dad. Totally her initiated.

4. Singing worship songs with our kids at night. Charis (our 21 mo. old) sings at the top of her lungs with her hands raised straight above her head.

5. Watching our newborn sons eyes get huge so he can take in everything.

6. iTunes

7. Making homemade volcanoes

8. Being able to see my feet (that's for all my recently pregnant friends)

9. Apple cider and Pumpkin spice candles

10. Introducing the concept of Christmas to those who have NO idea why it exists.

Kids and Trials

It's been a weird week and Kesed here has beautifully captured how we feel now. Over the last few months, we've known probably 10 people who have had babies. Some with emergency c-sections, some at 23 and 25 weeks along, some totally healthy. And then we've got friends who are suffering from terminal illnesses or lost jobs. We've also listened to quite a bit of teaching on suffering. As I process our friend's suffering and try and make sense of it in Scripture, I am reminded of Paul. He suffered insurmountably. And he continued in joy and continued in faith. Why...because he knew that Jesus was worth it. Do I really live as if "dying is gain"? Really and truly, do I believe that heaven is better than life now. Paul KNEW heaven was worth it. But to have joy in the MIDST of it is hard for me to imagine. To treasure Christ in both suffering and times of peace. Brad and I were talking that sometimes treasuring Christ above all, in times of peace, can sometimes be the more difficult task.

Through all of this, I have been brought to a place of thankfulness. Thankfulness for today. For today, all my kids are healthy, my husband is wonderful and life is good.

But the key is my continued thankfulness when God decides to take away, when he decides to break me down.

I know this is heavy, but it's also healthy. Too often, we don't ponder on our suffering and eventual death. And we should not merely ponder these things in order to appreciate this life more (to cling to life can easily become and idol of worship.)

but to appreciate our Savior who suffered and died and yet overcame death because of his perfection. It is THAT that we are to rest in. That Jesus is worth it.

I added the pictures in order to come up for air.

Suffering and Death

It's been a weird week and Kesed here has beautifully captured how we feel now.  Over the last few months, we've known probably 10 people who have had babies.  Some with emergency c-sections, some at 23 and 25 weeks along, some totally healthy.   And then we've got friends who are suffering from terminal illnesses or lost jobs.  We've also listened to quite a bit of teaching on suffering.  As I process our friend's suffering and try and make sense of it in Scripture, I am reminded of Paul.  He suffered insurmountably.  And he continued in joy and continued in faith.  Why...because he knew that Jesus was worth it.  Do I really live as if "dying is gain"?  Really and truly, do I believe that heaven is better than life now.  Paul KNEW heaven was worth it.  But to have joy in the  MIDST of it is hard for me to imagine.  To treasure Christ in both suffering and times of peace.  Brad and I were talking that sometimes treasuring Christ above all, in times of peace, can sometimes be the more difficult task.  

Through all of this, I have been brought to a place of thankfulness.  Thankfulness for today.  For today, all my kids are healthy, my husband is wonderful and life is good.

  But the key is my continued thankfulness when God decides to take away, when he decides to break me down.  

I know this is heavy, but it's also healthy.  Too often, we don't ponder on our suffering and eventual death.  And we should not merely ponder these things in order to appreciate this life more (to cling to life can easily become and idol of worship.)

 but to appreciate our Savior who suffered and died and yet overcame death because of his perfection.  It is THAT that we are to rest in.  That Jesus is worth it.

I added the pictures in order to come up for air.

The Humility of Guanxi

There is a very important dynamic in Chinese culture we see daily here. It’s called guanxi (“relationship”)…which basically means high speed relational networking. We’re reminded of the mob but without the crime, shooting, etc… In other words, relationship is everything. Who you know makes every difference in daily life…not merely getting a job interview, but dictating every cause and effect of your life. Anyway, while guanxi can created various injustices and frustrations, we see that there is yet an inherent humility to the system. At least, they see with humble, realistic eyes their need for others. They do not presume an independence from others such that casual persons can be brushed off so easily. From their perspective, it is worth asking, “Who knows who is connected to who? Or what “use” they may have?” While distorted manipulation is far from love, some lessons are worth learning. In our home culture, we think we are self sufficient individuals who don’t need other people. It’s far from humble and grossly naïve on our parts. In our day of ipods and other isolated hobbies, we fear our generation has lost the skill of relating, the art of conversation, and a genuine appreciation for people. Just think about it, people pay 4 bucks at Starbucks everyday to stick headphones in their ears, stare at a laptop, and not talk to anyone….yet [so we think] we are “in community”. It’s a sad reality.

Reason 27 why we love China

Yesterday, we had to get our dining you light fixture worked one, including some rewiring. Our light would not turn off ever. I saw a big flass a while back when I turned the light on and it was never the same. The wiring was a joke. Together, the electrician and supplies cost about 75 cents!