Esther

For the last several weeks, I've been spending regular time with a local friend who's a family member, going on outings, learning how to cook, and then studying our favorite book together with David after the kids are in bed.
This was the first time she taught me how to cook, and we had a good time going to the market together and picking out what we wanted.
Caleb came along and helped, choosing some of his favorites as well... lotus root, mushrooms, corn, cabbage, and cucumbers. He had fun looking at the chicken feet and pig's snouts, but didn't choose those!
Nor pig skin, eels, seaweed, or any of the collection of undetermined plant species...

Though we've eaten many of these things in restaurants with friends, I don't think we're quite ready to make them part of our regular menu!

When we got home, the kids enjoyed some lychee fruit,
and then Susanna helped wash the veggies.
It's been fun to learn about some of the local cooking methods. Some things I've learned:
- No matter how many dishes you're cooking or how many people you're feeding, you only need the following to cook a good meal: a rice cooker, a wok (just one!), a pair of chopsticks, a wooden spoon, and one stove burner (or a fire!).
- Most of the time required to cook a meal here is in the preparation. Actual cooking time is about 3-5 minutes per dish (they use extremely high heat to cook), while preparation time can takes 1-2 hours. Lots of chopping!

- Seasonings include fresh garlic, fresh ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt, vinegar, pure MSG, chicken stock, pickled chopped greens, fermented tofu,

sichuan pepper or pepercorns (known among foreigners as "tongue-tingling" pepper-corns), many other types of locally grown spices, and all manner of peppers--fresh, dried, ground, or otherwise!

This is the meal we prepared: Thinly sliced pork tenderloin with mushrooms, corn and beans, green squash and potato soup, lotus root and pickled vegetables, and squash leaves. Fresh...simple...healthy...yummy!

A simple meal shared with a special friend, among many other times shared together since we met over a year ago. Remembering times like these brings both joy and sadness to my heart now as we said goodbye only 2 nights ago--one of many goodbyes we will be saying over the next few days, until we leave for our new home this coming Wednesday. Only a few years ago, Esther was an alcoholic with a difficult family situation and a complicated, painful relationship with a man in her life. Suffering from depression and feeling hopeless, she attempted suicide by jumping off of the highest building in her small village--four stories tall--that left her right leg permanently disabled. After a long recovery and some other significant events, she was introduced to the Father and began a new life. Now she is a wonderful sister, growing and loving and strong. She has generously shared her friendship with us, loved our children, learned with us, laughed with us, and enjoyed with us food for both body and soul. We will miss you, Esther, and will never forget the way His light shines in you. Looking forward to the day we'll meet again...

Preview

Two nights ago I participated in a small group in a rustic setting. With my limited language ability, I was able to communicate some simple truths from the beginnings book and Matthew's book. Quite exhilarating.

So much of our time right now involves studying and patiently waiting. It was special to get a preview of what the future might hold for us. Thank you all for always remembering us as we are your hands and feet in Asia.

Variety

We have really enjoyed our language and culture studies these last few months. Every Monday we got out with our teacher to experience an aspect of culture related to the topic we want to study that week. We take pictures while we're out, and afterwards record our teacher telling about our outing so that we can listen to it and begin learning vocabulary related to the topic. Tuesday we go through the pictures we took and record her telling us about what is in the pictures, allowing us to learn more vocabulary, more information, and more culture. The rest of the week is spent learning the new information and then talking about the topic with our friends.
It's a great advantage for David and me to study together and learn about the same things. Sometimes Susanna and Emily get to join us in the lessons too! In the last couple of months, we've studied several topics, one of which was jobs and businesses. The beginning of that week, we took a walk down our street, up to the main road, and around the back way home, taking pictures along the way of businesses that we passed.

It's amazing the variety found within our city, and any big city for that matter. This is the left side of the main road...





...and this is the right side of the road--the alley we walked through that leads back toward our home. Behind all the nice big buildings on the main streets and roads are what the locals call the "village in the city"--where generally people from outside the city live. The same types of businesses are on both the main roads and in the city villages, but they look a lot different.


For example, the shoe repair place on our street...















and the shoe repair place in the alley behind our street...










Laundry mat on our street...











Laundry mat in the alley...
















Liquor store on our street...












Liquor store in the alley...

















So many differences in the way people live and meet their needs, but when it comes down to it, we're all pretty much the same:

we all need food...


















shelter...














love...


















...and we all hunger for more than this world has to offer.

Susanna's Preschool

For the last couple of months, I've had the privilege of taking Susanna to a local preschool program for 2 year olds two mornings a week.

Moms (or grand-parents) attend with their children and help them do teacher-directed activities such as singing, painting, exercises, and motor skill building exercises.

Susanna loves it, and is learning so quickly--already counting, singing songs, and saying phrases in the language. It's been good for our friendships with locals too.


























Most of the moms and grand-parents who bring the kids stay afterwards and let the kids play on the playground for an hour or so after class, so it's a great chance to get to know people better. Seven of Susanna's classmates live in the complex we lived in last year, so it's been fun to see the babies who used to sit outside on their grandma's knees grow into toddlers who now play and learn together at preschool.

This is one of the grandmas we know well from our old apartment complex, Auntie Wang, who befriended us not long after we arrived.












This photo on the right is her holding Susanna with her grandson on her back. I posted it on our blog in March of last year. Now she's holding Emily, who's the same age Susanna was when we first met, and Susanna and her grandson are classmates!






A few weeks ago was a national holiday, Children's Day, which the school celebrated by having each class do a short performance for the parents. Susanna's class was so cute--the girls wore ballerina skirts and the boys wore sashes, and all wore little bunny hats and tails.








We moms led our little "bunnies" out and helped them perform their dance. Susanna had fun and was so proud of her outfit, but she was even more excited about the little cake they gave each student as their gift for Children's Day!




























Unfortunately, it was so crowded that Dave and Caleb could hardly see anything during the performance!

But Caleb was determined to see as much as possible, though, so he ended up climbing to the top of the playground equipment to see over the crowd!










It's always a joy to see our kids loving other people, and other people enjoying our kids. Susanna's little heart is so open to those around her--it's always a great reminder to us to love and give with the faith of a child.

Real life

As one of our friends here always says, "Life is not so ideal!" A long time family tradition for me is to take family pictures on Easter, and I tried two different times to take family photos that day. BUT... Caleb's pants got stained, Susanna got into my makeup and had it ALL over her and her outfit before photo time, and Emily cried every time I tried to take pictures! This was the best of three different times of taking photos of the kids together...

The rest looked like this!

That evening we all took a walk and the kids started making funny faces at each other. I thought to myself, THIS is our real life--getting out, having fun, laughing, making memories from the simplest of things. So here are our real life Easter photos...