August?

Ummm... So we don't live in China any more... I'll fill you in a little more on what life is like for us these days, but before we came home we did a little bit of traveling. First to Turkey to visit my cousin and her family as well as connect with some of the ISU students who volunteered there this summer. Here's a few highlights. It's old news, so I'll keep it short.

Visiting cousin Owen
and his mom and dad of course

Making friends
Checking out the rugs at the Grand Bazaar

Hajia Sophia
(if you don't know about this place check it out - the history is amazing)

Nora found it to be a very educational experience that she will remember forever
Mike and I got a day away to tour the ruins of Ephesus. So sweet to walk the same streets as apostle Paul and the gang. The other thing I like about overseas travel is that everything is so open. In America they'd have everything all blocked off but overseas - if you wanna climb on the oldest stuff ever - not a problem. Heck you could probably take a pillar home with you if you want.

Then we were off to Kiev, Ukraine to see my friend Lindsay and her family
Lindsay and Andre are committed to sports ministry in Ukraine with FCA.

That's right - puttin' out the vibe in the capitol city

Foreigner No More

Everyday for two years we walked down the street where children and adults point and call us "foreigner." In just a few days we will be leaving the city that we have called home for the last two years and head back to Ames, where people still might laugh and point, but probably not because we are white. Our last few days have been filled with good-byes, packing, debriefing and rest.

Eating at one of our fav. restaurants

Nora takes a spin on the turn-table.

As we wrap up our time here we are feeling thankful and excited. Thankful for the things we have been able to see and the ways we have been used here. Excited as we look toward the next season of life that the Father has in store for us. Mike has accepted a job working with international students at our home church. I am going to be Nora's mom and hopefully a little part time social services work mixed in there somewhere.

In other news we were doing a little online shopping and bought a house!!!

We'll be around after mid-August so stop on by. Jello molds, casseroles, and gifts of manual labor will be accepted throughout the month of August. :)

And Just for fun -

Things we're looking forward to in America

• Spending time with family - especially those Nora hasn't been able to meet yet
• Frozen food - Seriously the thought of having the option of cooking dinner in 30 minutes makes me a little giddy.
• Eating steak
• Mt. Dew
• Fixing up our house - oh, yeah and seeing it for the first time
• DRIVING
• Seeing the stars
• Cornerstone

Things we'll miss about China

• Cheap fruit and veggies
• Riding our bikes
• Talking to people who have never heard the name Jesus
• FOOD
• Our awesome friends who are so hospitable, loving, genuine and a little goofy.
• Every day being an unpredictable adventure

Things we won't miss about China

• Every day being an unpredictable adventure
• Living on the 5th floor
• Advice about how our baby is too cold
• Pollution and traffic
• Getting my feet moped with toilet water at the super market
• squatty potties

If you didn't receive our final update summarizing our term overseas, send us an email and we can certainly get it to you.

Italy Noodle and Manliness

I wish that you all could meet this group of friends. Some have been brothers and sisters for a long time, some are still young, some are still making up their minds, but they all have amazing stories. And they are hilarious. They started the semester as strangers, but now they are starting to study together and laugh together like a family, and we're so glad to be a part of it. Here we are in one of the study rooms in the dormitory. Check out the decor in this room, it's especially special. Winnie the Pooh stickers, soccer posters, Christmas tinsel, and a still life portrait of fruit.

I don't think Nora learned much at this particular study

Last weekend we had them over for Italy Noodle aka spaghetti.
Everyone was very impressed with my cooking skills , even though they watched me dump the pre-made sauce into the pot. The garlic bread was especially interesting to them since they don't use butter. I explained that butter is like oil. They wanted to dip into the tub with a spoon to have a taste, but I convinced them to wait till it was on the bread.

Man picture

Belated Father's Day

A little bit late, but still fun. A big fat THANK YOU to Jeff Ritzman and Doug Easton for being awesome dads and awesome grandpas. We'll see you soon!!

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Summer teams

We need a bigger place!

One of my favorite sights is a gigantic pile of shoes at the front door. This week we had ALL the summer volunteers come to our house and it was awesome! Look how much fun we're having... Makes you want to come to China doesn't it?

Wedded Bliss

This weekend our friends Pei Pei and Kiki got married! They are some of the first people that we met and we were so excited that they invited us to share this special day with them. They have been so faithful to the Father with their time and resources and I can't wait to see how the father will use their marriage.

Ode to Gu La Rou

As our time in China gets closer to an end, I'm realizing that there are still so many awesome things about this place that I still want to tell you! Mostly food. So this is my ode to gu la rou aka sweet and sour pork. I don't know what it is about this dish, but for whatever reason we just can't get enough of it. Chinese people don't eat it very often, but that's probably because it's mostly made of ketsup and sugar. I can't begin to tell you how many conversations we've had over a plate of gu la rou. Here are few more of the "the usual" dishes that we often eat.

cabbage

Green Leafy Vegetable

Sugary corn pancake with sprinkles

Eggplant
Potatoes

And many many more

Disclaimer: These pictures were maliciously stolen from Micheal Anderson

Coming soon to an America Near You

I'm not exactly sure what that title means, but if you haven't heard we will be returning to the motherland in less than two months! We initially committed to two years in China, but had the option of staying longer. This was a HARD decision. There were just so many things to consider...

God is really blessing the things that we are doing here - does that mean we should stay? We are really passionate about some of the opportunities we'll have in America - should we go home? The work here will never be done - so maybe we should stay? We miss our community of family and friends - should we go home? In America we can have a house and a car and Hickory Park and Mt. Dew - hmm, we should definitely go home. Shoot, now I have to think about right and wrong motives too? After many conversations, some tears (which I'm blaming on pregnancy) and much deliberation (seriously, we deliberated our buts off) we decided the right thing for our family is to come home. We still have lots to do in these next months and want to finish well here, but we are also looking forward to things to come.

Mike has accepted a job with at Cornerstone in Ames where he will be reaching out to international students at Iowa State as well as convincing American students to come overseas. We feel like our time in China has given us lots of life experiences that will help us in this new role. We know what it's like to be in a place the doesn't make any sense to you. We know what it's like to feel lost and stupid and confused and frustrated. But we also know what it's like to feel loved and thankful when someone takes the time to show you the ropes and share their life with you. We have been shown so much hospitality here and I hope that we will be able to do the same for international students at Iowa State.

To close this post, here a few pics of our lil' Cyclone.

Easton's vs. Summer

Summer in China is full of 100 degree weather, "special" smells, and lots of sunbrellas, but for us summer means volunteer teams. Which means summer is coming in 5 days! Yikes! This summer 46 people are coming in six teams to our city to work with university students. We have a team of high schoolers from our home town and a mixed ages team from Virgina, and the rest are students from Ames and Iowa City. The most effective people to reach college students are college students so we are really excited to see what the Father will do through them this summer. Most of the teams will be on the ground for 1-2 months. Each team will have a campus or two to focus on. They will live near campus, eat at the cafeteria, and meet friends with the hope of sharing their lives and some Good News.

Mike and I were both positively influenced by workers on the field in the past. We love hosting students and we consider it a big part of our decision to move overseas, but it's a lot of work. Finding hotels and rooms to meet in, making schedules, partnering with locals and casting vision to all those people on top of maintaining the groups that have already been started AND having a three month old kiddo is a recipe for one insane summer. We are up for the challenge, but we do ask that you keep us in mind as you are talking to the father.

Oh and I forgot to mention that we are moving back to America at the end of July (more on that later). For us that means that we'll also be trying to pack and debrief ourselves from our time abroad. And for the on going work it means that there are some very new student groups that only have a few more months left to learn to function on their own.

Here we are with the teams from last summer.
This year we'll have twice as many - I hope our couch can handle it!

Easton's in the East(er)

Apparently I'm getting a little post happy, I'll keep this one short. We spent Easter with our Suzhou family, and it was awesome for two reasons. Reason one: Because He is Risen. Reason Two: Potluck. About four times a year we get together with co-workers and have a good old fashion potluck. It doesn't get much better than feasting on home made American dishes. Can I just say that I think potlucks are a lost art? Seriously, you only have to make one thing, but you get to eat like twenty things. It's brilliant. Following dinner was an all ages Easter egg hunt.

Unfortunately Team Easton only found two eggs, one of which was stolen from someone else, then re-hidden to be re-found by it's rightful owner. Leaving us with a grand total of one. Maybe next year Nora will be able to find her own eggs.

This picture makes Nora looks like a puppet

Easton's vs. Suzhou

I always think it's sorta weird to live in a place that your family has never seen, so we were really excited to have Jane and Marie come stay with us. Suzhou is a bit of a tourist destination so there are lots of sights to see and things do, but mostly we were excited to show them some of our daily routine. Some of our favorite things were taking them to the supermarket, introducing them to some of the students, eating and hanging out at home playing with Nora.

Fruit at the supermarket.
Don't be fooled, these particular fruits look a lot better than they taste.

Suzhou is famous for it's gardens.
Nora decided to stop and smell the roses at Tiger Hill, except they were tulips.

Suzhou is known as "the Venice of the East"
These boat rides are one of my favorite things to do here.

At the silk factory we learned everything I ever wanted to know about making silk. (which isn't really that impressive because I have never pondered it.) The white silkworm cocoons are placed in water and then this machine unravels them and winds them into strands of silk which is then woven into cloth. Yep, now you know.

When in China...
Em and Jane going to the mall to get some Subway and Burger King.
This was fun, but I'll appreciate the drive through in America.

Grandma Jane and Aunt Marie

Grandma Jane and Auntie Marie came for a visit!!!

First Chinese food in Beijing.
Chopsticks - 1
Jetlag Jane - 0

Aunt Marie at the Forbidden City

Chillin' on the Great Wall with a Panda

Hanging out with Aunt Marie on a wonder of the world. No Big Deal.

Mini Van Excitement

To most of you this may look like just your average mini van, and you would be right, but to us this picture represented a day of independence and freedom! We have traveled to many a Chinese city, but a couple weeks ago we took our first road trip in a year and a half and it was awesome! The seven of us piled in a friends borrowed mini van and away we went. The drive was only about an hour and a half but in true road trip fashion we brought along plenty of snacks and music, and stopped at a rest stop along the way. Usually traveling includes lots of taxis, trains, pushing through crowds, bad smells etc. but this was amazing! I felt like a teenager riding in a car without adults for the first time.

What was our destination? Changzhou Dinosaur Park. Complete with rides, museums with mostly real dinosaur bones, and gardens. I would say this picture does it justice.

After the park we ate some Korean BBQ with friends. Nora is only two months older than their kiddo, but I had already forgotten how little and floppy she used to be.