It's been a year!!

So many things have happened in this past year. I thought I would share with those of you who continually check back to this blog for updates, and continually find NOTHING new, a little about how we are feeling after one year of living in Hong Kong! The first thing I have to say is, WE LOVE IT!!

Our Father has continued to show himself so faithful in our lives. We have been stretched in just about every area and have fallen more deeply in love with Him and with each other. It all began a year ago leaving both our family and church family. What some of you are not aware of is that Mike and I had never looked for a new church together and we had never lived outside of the TC area. Living Hope was the only church family we had ever known and TC was the only place we both considered home.

So, we said goodbye to small town TC and landed in one of the largest cities in the world. This began a year that would stretch and grow us in ways we never imagined. We started by looking for a new home church. This was a 6 month search, through which the Lord taught us how to wait on Him and be anxious for nothing!! He was faithful and in December, after attending at least 6 different churches, we finally agreed. There were still a few more bumps but He is faithful. He also really taught me how to really submit and allow my husband to lead through this. I know you are thinking, what? didn't you do that already!! LOL This was a huge lesson for me in which I am still growing but I feel I have grown so much!! The best part is our new home church is starting to feel more and more like family!

My kids have also been stretched and have grown a ton! They have been learning right along with us. There faith has increased and there dependence on prayer has grown beyond anything I could imagine. They are worshipers and prayer warriors!! Through all of the growth the Lord has given our whole family a heart for the people of Hong Kong. We love our village and the people here make us feel right at home.

In the midst of all of the stretching and growing we continue to do lots of fun new things. I will continue to do my best at sharing more on here. I know I am stinky at keeping up on this. I continually try to try harder!! LOL :-)

It's been a long time

So many things have been happening in the last month since I posted. Work has been crazy so I have not had a chance to update our blog :-( Here is a quick run down of some happenings

• said goodbye to our good friend Lori who returned to the states for a year with family. Of course before you leave you must try something CrAzY. Her departure food was dried shrimp from Cheung Chau.
• Mike had his first public speaking opportunity. He did AWESOME! He was so nervous but he really pulled through. Afterwords he even jammed with the worship team. They were very impressed as you can see by there faces!
• Jodie had an opportunity to speak at children's church (sorry no pics). The best part of this was after the first service I went and sat down next to Mike and he so kindly said "great job, Jodie, but your zipper was down the whole time." So the next service I made sure that was taken care of before I began!!
  

and...
a few things that deserve their own blog update. to be continued...

CRAYON BOX CLUB

Since we got adjusted here in Hong Kong we have been looking for ways to reach people in our village. This concern was first voiced by my kids. I told them I didn't know what we could do and that we just needed to pray. As we began praying things started happening. The first thing that we all started feeling we could do, was to start a bible study for all of the kids in our village that we had been meeting. So...we kept praying. The next thing that happened was the Lord gave Jezrielle the name for the group. It was to be the Crayon Box Club. There are so many different nationalities in our village like there are so many different colors in a crayon box.

So, at this point we had a name and ideas but still had no direction or idea on how to make this a reality. So...we kept praying.

Then one day it happened!! We could see things falling in place for the Crayon Box Club to become a reality. Zoee called one of her Chinese friends to see if she could play. The girls mom answered the phone and asked Zoee if we were Christians. When Zoee answered yes she asked Zoee if I could teach the Bible. Zoee said yes right away! And the birth of the Crayon Box Club was only weeks away!!

Within a few weeks I learned that there was another mom who had been wanting to start a bible study for kids but was looking for someone to teach it in English. I guess I was to be that English teacher!!

This Saturday will be our 4th week. We have this every Saturday morning in our home. It started with 6 children, and last week we were up to 11 (plus my 5). I know that there are 4 other children who are trying to arrange their schedule to be able to come.

Here are some pics:

This weeks lesson was on Noah's Ark. I have found that when teaching children who know very little English it is important to have visuals. So I was talking to my kids about how I wished we had one of our old toys from the states with Noah's Ark and all the animals. Jez is such a genius, she suggested making it out of legos!! The kids all loved it!!
Noah's lego ark!!
and the lego animals entered 2 by 2!
Here are some of our new friends.
God had a plan for providing us with what is considered a very large home in Hong Kong! On Saturday mornings it is now busting at the seems with kids. Please keep the Crayon Box Club in your prayers! We don't know what He has planned for this but we are excited to be a part of His plan!!

Easter!!

We celebrated our first Easter in Hong Kong. We had a cook out with the Sweeney's and Whitford's. We decided that it would be fun to have an easter egg hunt in out home!! The kids all stayed on the first floor while the moms hid the eggs around the second and third floor. It was lots of fun!!

On your mark, get set, GO!!!

Leave no lego unturned!!
(of course little Kennedy got a head start!!)

Be sure to look everywhere!!

I am happy to announce that all eggs where found!! Lots of candy for everyone, including the moms and dads!! Happy Resurrection Day to all!!

USS Halsey

The kids and I had a great opportunity a few weeks ago to go out on a US Navy Fighter Ship. It was so much fun!!




This is our crew on the boat ride out to the ship. Our friends Brooklyn, Savannah, and Jennifer joined us on this adventure!!

More home school friends listening to the commander teaching about how the ship works.

PROUD TO BE AMERICANS!!

Dru and David with mommy in front of one of the helicopters on the ship!

"If I were just a little taller!!"

"Hmmm, If mom wasn't looking I could...."

This is the POWMIA table set up in the mess hall on the ship.

TAI PO KAU NATURE RESERVE

We went out on an outing yesterday with the home-school meet-up group. We went to the Nature Reserve which is very near our home. The hike was not to hard and the kids had a great time playing with all of their friends. We had lunch on the hike and then headed down.

A couple things worth noting: First, the kids all brought a back pack with our lunches and water bottles in them. This way momma can go without a back pack!! :) The only downside is when 2 of the 5 leave there back packs half way up the hill and you have to go back up to retrieve them!! On the positive side, I had decided to skip my morning run since we were going on the hike, running back up the hill, I think more than made up for my missed run!! Zoee, Kyle and I ran up the hill in 7 minutes (On the way up the first time it took us about 15-20 mins to walk up). The second exciting news is that while walking back down for the second time David took a drink of his water and his 4th top tooth fell out. You can see from the photo that he is beginning to have more gums than teeth!! He actually started crying, because he is worried about what he is going to be able to eat!!

Here is toothless David and a picture of the most recent lost tooth!!

Here are the kids on the hike with some of their friends. You will notice that Zoee and Kyle are missing!! That is because they went ahead with some other friends so I don't have any pictures of them on this hike!! Oops!!

This is a Lizard that Jezrielle spotted on the hike!! I'm just glad we spotted it outside and not in our house!!

House Tour

Many people have asked for pictures of our house. I decided to do a video tour!! This is my very first attempt at editing a video so please excuse the mistakes!! Enjoy!!

Few more Pics of Thailand!!

Thailand

We spent 5 days at a retreat in Thailand. It was a nice time of rest and renewal on the ocean. The kids had a great time getting to know other children whose families live in Northern Asia. I thought the best way to share would be to show a short slide show of our stay.

With all of this swimming fun you can imagine that we had a couple pool mishaps!! Mom even had to jump in (with all of my clothes on top of my bathing suit) and rescue one of the boys from their brave attempt at breathing under water!!! All was well in the end, and from that point on we left swimming to the ocean only!!

I also wanted to share with you my first experience with eating fish with the head and fins still attached. I had no idea what I was ordering, but when it arrived I wasn't sure that I would be able to eat it. I was very proud of myself I overcame and ate it!! It was really not very good. It tasted about as good as it looked!!

BEFORE

AFTER

Here are a couple more pics I wanted to share. Did you ever wonder how they transport pineapple? Or where you might find motorcycles riding down the side of the freeway? Or did you ever wonder what happened to the good old days of riding around in the back of a pick up? We we found the answers to all these questions in Thailand!!

Yim Tin Tsai Island

I went on an adventure with my friends Sarah and Lori. I don't know much about Hong Kong yet so Sarah and Lori planned the whole day. I was really just along for the ride!! :) After taking a train and a bus to get to Sai Kung we got on this boat:
After we got on this boat my friend Lori noticed that she left her cell phone somewhere between her house and this boat!! So she spent the boat ride making phone calls trying to find her phone. She left my cell phone number with several places hoping we might get a phone call back from someone during the day saying they found her phone. I felt really bad for her not only because she lost her phone, but if you can imagine trying to make a phone call on a boat while it sounding like you are sitting on top of the motor.

This is a picture of the pier as we came to the island:
Then these were some of the old village houses. The main site to see on this island was an old catholic church. There used to be missionaries on this island. These ruins are from the housing of the priest. And then the bell is in front of the old catholic church that is there.We received a phone call from Lori's phone at this church!! But they hung up before I could answer and then shut the phone off. :(
On this Island you can even see the evidence of Christianity being brought to the island in there old cemeteries. There are crosses on almost every grave. You probably wouldn't think that is strange in the US but here in HK you don't ever see crosses. There are graves every where you go. We have one on the corner of our village as you walk in and I have never seen a cross before going to this island.
Once we hiked across the island we came to a gulf coarse which we were hoping to be able to cross to get to another island. But as you can see from the photo it was all fenced off. Lori called the gulf coarse office to see if they would let us cross and they said no. :( So we turned around and took a boat back to Sai Kung.
We had lunch in Sai Kung and walked around for a bit. The one thing worth mentioning while we were there was this sign:

It is hard to read but it says Duran District. If you haven't had this fruit than this might be a little confusing. It is horrible smelling but I guess tastes great. I have not yet had the privilege of getting to try it. This restaurant makes a special section for those ordering Durian so that it does not bother those not eating it. I have heard mixed reviews on it. Mike and Lori both think it is awful. I will let you know my opinion once I get to try it!!

The rest of our day was spent shopping at the biggest Ikea in either HK or the world I am not sure which. But it was definitely big!! We did end up getting a phone call from the bus station adn Lori's phone was found and we went and picked it up!! She left it on the bus!! :)