The Thaw

Spring has sprung...

We're thawing out and perhaps now the author's mind will begin to release creative post for this blog again. The spring has been so busy... we've traveled to see the famous tomb of the Terra Cotta Warriors...we've housed over the past 4 weeks two different families each with 3 and 2 kids respectively...we've begun some very promising meetings at the very core of our work here...and we've spent lots of time on our bicycles! (It should be reported...though I have no idea when you will see photographic evidence...that the author now has wheels, too! The "Green Goose" is a real humdinger of a bike!)

Thanks to all of you who have chastised me for not posting here. I hope some folks still will return to check up on us. Recently I sent an update about the Junior H's to our eldest daughter...since it talks about where the kids are to date...I'm ripping it off for this post...

Magpie, 9, continues in her Chinese progression of language. She's delighting in the opportunity to show off those skills to her dear friend who's here visiting. Both these childhood friends have grown up quite a bit and it's been sweet to see their devotion to each other. It has really soothed some of Magpie's sore spots over missing friends. The balance in the classroom has really shifted too. Magpie who has really struggled with feeling "friendless" has savored this time of having her lifelong friend along for her life Here. We see it as His mercy...

The Bug just got over some illness she picked up at the Terra Cotta Warriors. (You know how nasty those 2000 year old bugs can be!) She was really tired on the train home Sunday night and just told me that she wanted to go to bed. (Can't ever remember the Bug doing that...EVER) She slept all night but ate little the next day, preferring to sleep on the couch instead of playing. Tuesday early morning she woke me up to help her while she threw-up. But, amazingly, by 1 PM she was much improved and was back in school today. She helped me last night by organizing the table set up for the big dinner and instructed her dear friend on what to do. They are SO well suited for each other. Today, I struggled to get them out the door because they wanted to play one more hand of cards! She's settled down so much in her school work and is proving to be such a great speller and English champ!


Potato cracks us up as she continues to amaze us with her quick-witted responses and her attention to detail. Her size continues to be so slight...but our friend Ms Pan traveled with us to the Warriors with her son, Frank. (The one I've posted a picture with Potato before who LOVES her and wants to do everything for her) Anyway, he's her age and not much bigger than her...so they make quite a pair. She's speaking much more Chinese now, interchangeably with her English, and she's such a HAPPY, HAPPY heart. What a spitfire!

Brownie is steady and predictable. I don't mean to say that she is easy...as she is far from that. But I can always tell well she's going to sound the alarm that she's not comfortable or does not appreciate the direction her family is heading. She has begun to reveal an prominent sense of musicality...certainly rhythm. Her music teacher keeps encouraging us to put her in some special classes. Although she is really maturing and is able to get herself mostly together in the morning, her DEMANDS REGARDING HER HAIR are about to drive me over the edge! She has a particular hairstyle that she's developed (a sole ponytail, high on the back of her head, but not including 80% of the hair on her head, and a clip pulling her bangs over to the side, bluntly) and no matter how I try to cajole her to do her hair in a more becoming or at least "less random" fashion...she CANNOT be swayed! "This is NOT a mountain I need to die on...think of those ahead"...I keep telling myself.

Bub...oh...my little man. He is a total charmer and my heart literally SWOONS at his smile. At his tender age of three, he is, of course, unable to judge the good/bad behavior of his fellow classmates. He, a formally perfect child in the classroom, has become a challenge. Recently he had to undergo a "reformation week" in which he resisted re-education. (Background...he had to have 1 week of spankings for trouble in school each day.) I'm pleased to say that he has drastically improved from those days of blight...but he still struggles from the temptation to join the dark side. He's a dreamer, I think, just like his Daddy. He has a marvelous sense of timing and he can already work a room when he wants the attention. Most often his ploy, a most successful one, includes a mixture of giggles, tickles and kisses while his eyes snap with mischief. His sisters spoil him, quite literally, rotten. He is the prince around here. But he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his family and shows great sensitivity to our devotions in the evenings. Recently, when it was his time to pray he began to list every single blessing he could conceive of to bring to light....cups, plates, shoes, trucks, papers, buttons and that 'today momma and dad didn't 'pank me!" I am on the verge of devouring him...

I had a woman tell me something that yet another couple repeated to us last weekend about this business of following Him...it's really been on my mind...because I understand it much more now than before... That this is the greatest life of all to lead....not living Here...but living in obedience.

Times are difficult. Tears are frequent. Our souls are joyful. We are blessed...

This is the story thus far of our life Here. We often wonder why us? Surely there are millions better suited!

Yet we see that this work...this place...was prepared for all our quirks, eclectic histories and our gifts.

My friends, we are sure of this...

There is a Master Designer and He is intimately involved with the plan...

We've given Him all that we have...for all that is better...