Easter

I hope you all had a wonderful Resurrection Day!


The construction going on in our house is moving along. From about 8:30 - 6 EVERY day, there are workers in and out of our house. Can I just tell you, there are several little old men, carrying bags of sand down the stairs. I am sure they make at least 50 trips each, per day. They are mixing the cement by hand and laying it in the rooms. They are supposed to be done with all of it by next Saturday - we'll see. I am tired of the smell of mud mixed with old water... blech!


Friday, we ended our "Beijing Tour," with the Forbidden City. I think every other person in China had the same idea. It was super crowded, but an amazing site. In Katy, there is a miniature version of the Forbidden City - as wonderful as that is, it pales in comparison. I am anxious to go back and take more time to go through the museums. I think we were the only Westerners I saw - and laughed when Chinese people would come up to Samantha and want to take their picture with her. They are amazed to see blonde - blue eyed people. I think many of them were from the country side. The terra cotta statues are about 1 1/2 hrs. away, by plane, so we are hoping to go see them someday soon.


James brought his daughter over Saturday, so we could meet her. She is so cute! She is an English major at a University here in Beijing. She will begin teaching us Chinese next Sunday. We took them to eat (Chinese food), and then came home and played badminton. I laughed so hard! James is the bomb! I think he and Matt could totally dominate a senior badminton circuit! ha! James has quick swings, and put the hurt on Jaycen, when they played 1 on 1. This is a picture of us with him and his daughter. He's always smiling, so I am not sure why he looks so serious here. =o)


We spent Saturday night with some friends eating good American pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, and cheese cake... The kids dyed eggs - had a good time. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends, having only lived here a few weeks. It is something you can't describe - this experience has been something that is amazingly indescribable for me. We are a blessed family.


Oh yeah, Matt picked up Shelby from the airport Saturday evening. I don't think she was ready to come home. This picture is of her at the airport - only Shelby. I am amazed at how the Lord is expanding our friend base - each one of us. She took over 2,000 pictures while she was there - I am not surprised. She is going to start playing with a club volleyball team here this week. They play other Chinese teams and adult women's teams. Should be a lot of fun! She is beyond excited, imagine that!


Sunday, Shelby was up and out of the house by 4 am, to go to the sunrise service at the Great Wall. I can only imagine how incredible it was. I am hoping to go next year. Samantha and I were singing at our church, so we couldn't make it to the wall. The jr. high kids did an incredible stick routine to end our service - I cried - it made me so thankful for the cross. We didn't know where to get a ham, so we ate a family favorite - curry and rice. Afterwards, we had a huge badminton game (yes, our activities are limited... lol), and then Matt took Jaycen to the airport. I think he had a good time here - I hope he did. We saw so many things while he was here. I can't wait to have more house guests, and share the wonderful (not to mention hundreds of years worth of) sites here in Beijing.


We spent the rest of the evening catching up on all the American shows we have recorded this week - on our slingbox. Can't wait to watch baseball!!


Today, we are reentering the school zone... as I type this, I should be getting everything together. It's hard to stay focused. I would rather go buy some pretty flowers and plant them in my flower beds. Our landlords gave us the keys to another house they have in our compound, so we can go do school there in silence. It's tennants won't move in until the end of this month. Our landlord wanted us to have a nice quiet place to do school work. Isn't that just sweet! (the girls didn't think so) ha! Between hammering, vacuuming, and people walking through our house - it's a little distracting.


I hope you all had a great Easter! We sure did. We have purchased our tickets to the States! We are on the countdown! Can't wait to see everyone!


Be blessed.