This past month I haven spent time reading and re-reading college applications, yet again — this time for Jessie.   But the time I have spent is nothing in comparison to the hours of work Jessie has put into her first college application.  She is applying in the early decision phase to Carnegie Mellon University, in hopes that God is leading her to join Rachel there next fall.   She has poured over her art pieces; having them photographed in high quality images in order to be uploaded to the online portfolio, writing unique descriptions for each and creating PDF files of sketchbooks and other design-related pieces she has created.  I am so proud of the artist that she is, multi-talented both on paper/handheld mediums and on software applications like PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator.

Here are Sean and I pictured with Jessie at last spring’s art exhibition at TIS.  Also pictured, Jessie with the wall of her artwork behind and “The Flying Parrot”, one of my favorite pieces.   This piece involved drawing  the parrot in colored pens, then cutting it out and placing it on a new background.  Next, Jessie glued crayola crayons to each tip of the wings and used a heat gun to melt the crayons and give the appearance of flight!

On Saturday while Maddie was at the TIAN-MUN conference and Jessie and Sean were working on robotics, Megan and I spent some time outdoors at the school’s early childhood playground.   Megan has fond memories of playing here in kindergarten.   Hers was the first kindergarten class to use this outdoor classroom after our school’s move in 2012.  That  spring her class helped create a garden which has grown to provide a home for caterpillars, who have metamorphed into beautiful butterflies.  It reminds me of the summer we spent  in South Dakota (2003); the girls raising swallowtail butterflies from caterpillars they found eating dill weed in Grandpa Larry’s garden.

Here’s a view of the garden from a 2nd story balcony.

A walk down memory lane with Jessie (same age as Megan is now) and her caterpillar eating dill on her lap.

China continues to grow right before our eyes.   Construction cranes line the skies, along with concrete dust in the air and on the streets.   From our 9th floor apartment window we can see the large power plant that generates electricity for the Hexi district in which we live.  Just adjacent to the power plant we have watched a set of tall apartment buildings, one of many in our area, as they rise into the sky.   The first photo was taken in January 2013, and the blue sky pictures was taken in September. 

Did you know that Amazon delivers in China?  Well if you are expecting a package don’t look for the brown UPS truck to deliver your order.  Here is how one can expect to receive their goods if you live in China!  Most delivery men have a designated spot on a street corner.  We often see deliver bikes waiting near the gates of most university campuses.  Student come out to the street corner to claim their packages.

At our friend’s recent wedding we had this family picture taken.  It is so hard for me to believe that the little girls below are all grown up now.   Jessie pictured below was the same age as Megan is now.  And Maddie, now in 10th grade was only in Kindergarten.   A friend encouraged me today “don’t be robbed of the joys of today because of worry or sadness about yesterday or the future.”  I am challenged to lean on God’s strength each day and have joy in the journey.