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.