they made it!

mom & sarah

They're boarding the plane and headed to Hong Kong! We'll see them tomorrow night. I'll take good pictures [for once] and show 'em to you soon.

And pray for no peanuts to be around sarah on her little journey here. Add mom to that prayer too. She's not even allergic and we all know she'd probably have a worse reaction than my sister.

shoulda

Duh. I should have put a picture up yesterday. These are the girls that sent a little delivery on over this way. All these girls [plus katy and grayson who aren't in the picture] and I were in a bible study together up until i left for hong kong. I'm so excited for what God is continuing to stir in their hearts. They are so fun and of course there was never a dull moment with them.

[And I'm sure they're already taller and even more beautiful than this right now]

a delivery!

and the delivery man:

[Our friend, John. He's here for a couple weeks and brought something special. Scott and I met him a few summers ago in Swaziland. Just thrilled that he's here. There's the explanation for these super random pictures that I found on my computer.]

He brought something from a group of fun girls in Auburn.

My little package had some sparkly ornaments to livin' up our tiny tree. And sweet cards.

Thanks girls, this was such a great surprise to wake up to! And to you, Abby for getting it all together. Means so much.

craft & cookie time.

we had some girls over to create little ornaments and cards. and of course, some cookies too.

they were really into it. it was so fun to watch because they never just sit around and do these kinds of things. it's funny because when i think about it, that's pretty much what all my christmas memories are about. just making things. so how neat to be a part of introducing creative get togethers with them.

they were like little kids again. glitter ALL over their fingers and funny decorations on their cookies. it was a good day.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Surprisingly. The city is covered in Christmas lights and decorations. So we decided that even though Christmas is going to look a little different than we are used to that we would not let that keep us from making our home feel like Christmas. So we decided to go find ourselves a tree...

Sorry for the blurriness but if you can make it out that is our little tree wrapped in plastic

So we got home and put it up and hung the stockings...

I know this may look like a Charlie Brown tree but this is the best we could find and it works just great for us. In all seriousness it is somewhat crazy to walk through the streets and the malls here and see everything and everyone so decked out for Christmas and as I thought about it more it really is pretty disturbing that the vast majority of the people here have no idea who Christ even is. I would venture to say that 95% of the people here would tell you that Christmas is just when Americans give gifts to each other, which may not be far from the truth in much of America. I pray that it looks different from that for us. I pray that as we (as the Church) prepare our hearts for the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior we would be overwhelmed by the grace of our God. That while we were still sinners, he made a way for us.

happy birthday to our mimi.

[mimi with my sister]
[this one is me and mimi]

Wish I was with you to give you a huge hug mimi! I love you so much.

and just because i can't resist putting up my favorite picture of you three...

[mom, mimi, and aunt beth!]

super awkward picture

Especially the one in the middle, where Scott is doing a surprised smile and I'm not looking.

BUT it sums up our time with the conversational english class [this semester has flown by]. This picture was given to us by the people who headed up the class. Sweet Chinese collage.

the neighbors.

I know I've talked some about the sweet little one, Breanna, but her Mom is also just something else. She just knocked on my door to give me this:

Oh yeah. It's an ice cream maker. Cracks me up. She probably thinks I'm somewhat obsessed because of my little ice cream trips with her daughter. When I opened the door, she said:

Breanna told me that you have made ice cream before

and that you enjoy it. So here is

a gift for you.

{The only time I have ever made ice cream is with Mrs. Barbara [Scott's mom] the VERY FIRST time I came to their house to eat dinner with the family. She handed me the recipe and said it could be my job. We laugh so hard thinking about it because she now knows how much I didn't know about cooking. I was terrified. I love those kind of memories.}

Oh, and Ben... here's to you:

You say you need to see some more of us, so i figured this face should last you a while. This is the one he does to make me laugh so hard. He crosses his eyes and it's just too much. I hope you've seen this side of him.

this weekend:

the one year anniversary.

oh happy day.

update on number 2.

Breanna and I had our second ice cream date yesterday.

It was lots of fun. We have Haagen dazs in our club house. She got vanilla. I got strawberry. And we sat and talked. Just like little girls do. She told me that she didn't have a very good day because she was busy with ballet practice and class. What would she rather be doing?

"Skipping"

A simple little thing she is.

This time she didn't bring along her grandparents, so I'm thinking she is getting more comfortable with it just being the two of us. She's precious. Let me introduce you:

[yep. cold enough to wear a little sweater. finally.]

And because I just can't resist, here's the little brother on the playground.

a little bit of this. a little bit of that.

What in the world have we been up to?

missing snow [not me. but scott]

.:learning about prayer.

booking flights.

[These two are visiting over the holidays. yay!!]

spending time with university students.

[this is my friend, Cecilia]

[picture from our conversational english class that we help out with on sundays.]

running. playing basketball. soccer. blah blah blah.

and i bet you can't guess what happens in lots of our free time.

[hint. hint.]

reading through this book of the Bible as a team.

[thank you stevens family for this commentary. scott is loving it.]

missing random expressions that can only be found in spur of the moment kind of things.

[I was dying for a perfect time to put this one up. You can thank mom.]

pressing repeat

[shane and shane's new album]

asking scott to get off of repeat.

[Our thanks can usually go to my Joyful Noise Maker right here if we ever have a song stuck in our head, whether it's a normal song or not. So this is the face he usually makes at my reaction -- my sweet, patient reaction -- to his repetitiveness. Of course repeat is in his very nature. He just can't get enough.]

dreaming of rocking babies.

[I met a woman who does this weekly at an orphanage near where we live. I asked her how many babies were in the room last week, she replied 18. Really? Yep, 18 little babies waiting to be rocked. Tell me that doesn't make you want to just pack your bags and head over here...]

peace

Chinese.

.. It's gone from his eyes to his hand ..

and don't you want to just pinch those dimples.

reminisce

I love to do this through pictures. It's a slight obsession of mine. Old pictures, old memories. I can't seem to get enough. My sister makes fun of me and my mom for this. Our conversation usually looks a little like this:

Hey Sarah, remember that time when...

[I'm usually holding up a picture when saying this]

That's usually when Sarah inevitably uses these particular bunch of words:

Memory Lane is closed.

[then that's usually followed by a "go away"]

It's true, I love looking at old pictures. So, yesterday I was going through this old album and stumbled upon what might be the first picture of me and Scott. It's hilarious to me.

We had just landed in Swaziland, Africa and got on a this little bus with our team to head toward the place we would be staying. I happened to sit by this guy named Scott. Of course the whole time he was singing [to HIS OWN tune] and making noises, the very things that absolutely drive me up the wall. I remember us being some of the only ones who didn't fall asleep on that bus ride, so we took this picture.

And because I just can't stand to not show you some more, here the few I had:

It was the most unexpected trip of my life.

treasure chest

We are really beginning to know individual people here. When first saying "yes" in coming to HK, these chinese people just had question marks on their faces [I usually have a visual of people, so this is the picture that I would draw in my head].

But now there is much more. It is becoming so real to us.

God is now giving me more than just question marks. He is giving me treasure chests.

Treasure chests that I feel like are just waiting to be opened, with all these unique treasures inside. It's as if they've never been discovered and are now being known. It is so special to be a part of unravelling what may have been kept tight.

chinese blogger.

Who knows why I thought Chinese people probably didn't blog. But they do. My friend Christy [from a conversational english class we're helping out with] gave me her blog address. So I went to it and found lots of pictures. Of course i had no clue what the rest of it said. 

But it was so fun to scroll down on it to find a few of us from last week.

 [having tea at kt, malorie, and mary's apartment]

a ballerina

Tell me you don't want to just reach through the

 computer screen and twirl this little munchkin.

color wheel

I've seen one in a whole new way this past week.

[yes, our tall jason created it.]

I love looking at this sweet piece of paper in our office [slash] guest bedroom [slash] not really because it's way too small to have anyone stay in there unless you sleep indian style. 

Rich conversations have led up to this paper having colors and facets of people, passions, and giftings.

When i stare at it, my eyes do that blurry thing. You know the one... Where you want to stop staring but you can't because it feels so good that you keep doing it until your eyes water. Looking like this.

And i love the blur. While I know we each have particularly unique + individual color we express in life, the blur allows me to see beyond myself. I so need my name blurred way more than I choose to make it. 

When i zoom out of my name and stare at the big picture, I can see how brilliant the Lord is with all the shades He has created. 

I love a good color wheel.