On Christmas Break our family went to Hong Kong for a vacation we left our first day of break and came back the 23rd so we could celebrate Christmas at home in Tianjin. We stayed the nights in a small hostel named “Embassy Hotel.” When I say small, I mean really small.  Dad rented three rooms with two twin beds in each.  There was barely enough room to step in, set down your suitcase and get on the bed.  We were always out from dawn to dusk, so really all we did in our room was sleep. The first day in Hong Kong we went to a beautiful park. Everything was so nice and clean I enjoyed it so much! Lots of the other days we got to go shopping for Christmas presents. One of my favorite times was almost every night when we would go sit down outside on stools at this nearby vendors shop and get a snack of Coconut Bubble Tea and waffles. It was so yummy I loved every part of Hong Kong and hope one day I can return to have more fun and enjoy Gods creation.

On Christmas me and Jessie made a Gingerbread house. Mom bought a kit on a shopping trip to Beijing. Although it didn’t have any frosting or candy included we had some. Jessie and I spent a good amount of time on it. Part of the reason it took so long was that the first attempt fell apart after trying to move it. It was a fun way to spend Christmas afternoon.

A few days ago I made Christmas Cookies with Megan while everyone else was out and about. Well lets just say the cookies weren't exactly the best. So mom and I made a plan to decorate them to make them taste better. We made the icing, got out the sprinkles, and turned on the Christmas music 🙂 I had so much fun just spending time with family and eating what turned out to be yummy cookies.

Sometimes living in China is very hard especially when Christmas comes around. There is no Christmas music playing in the stores or lights and decorations hung up in every shop window. I realized that sometimes you need to think about the things you do have instead of what you did or could have. I realized that even though things can come hard you can always make the best of it! This weekend we put up our tree and decorations. I had so much fun spending time with my family and eating some of our stash of American food, I didn’t think about any of the differences I just thought about God’s blessings and His amazing plans for us being in China. I don’t think God wants us to dwell on what could be but on what we are blessed with. It’s so amazing how He is working in my life.

Yesterday I went out shopping with mom and Rachel. On our way back home in a taxi mom stopped to put money on
her phone. Rachel were sitting in the taxi talking to the driver while I was playing on my ipod. I returned home watched a movie and was about to go to bed when I needed my ipod. I searched everywhere and couldn’t find it so I prayed about it and went to bed. The next morning I got dressed and searched again but found nothing. I was thinking that I had left it in the taxi and there was no way to get it back. Me and my family prayed again about it and then went to church. When I got home I searched once more just in case I might have forgotten to look somewhere. I looked all over the house and then finally looked under a couch cushion, there it was! lying under the cushion was my ipod. What an amazing God! In conclusion to this whole experience I learned a couple of lessons, firstly that I need to be more responsible with my belongings and secondly that God does answer prayers, not always in ways we like it but I know that God has plans and reasons for his answers and we shouldn’t justify them.

Today I decided to help mom prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. Although we are having it tomorrow it's always good to be on time 🙂 While mom was making the Pumpkin Pie I decided to wait till she started the Pecan Pie ( I specially asked to make it with her). First I helped make the yummy whole made crust, and after that I made the actual filling of the pie yummm…..! Now I'm waiting for the pie to finish cooking I can't wait to eat it tomorrow! Thank You God! What would we do without pies on Thanksgiving?!

On November 11 it was a holiday for the Asians at our school, called Pepero Day. Well first I have to introduce Peperos they are little cracker tasting sticks dipped in chocolate. Well on Pepero day people buy many boxes and gives them to their friends and teachers. They are actually really yummy. There are many different types other than chocolate. There  are kinds like Strawberry, Banana, Almond, etc. I had lots of fun giving boxes and getting boxes of these yummy treats.

Finally fall is kicking in. Candy Corn, Haloween, and snuggling up in my warm covers drinking hot chocolate. I never thought  I could miss fall but I think I actually did!

In America I never thought eating a pretzel or a cheez-it would ever change my whole day but in China it does. I think so many people in America take for granted everything you can get there. For example food. When I went to America this summer I was overwhelmed of all the amazing things you could get there! I ate my first String Cheese in two years this summer… and it was so yummy. Well I guess my point of this blog is that you shouldn’t take for granted all the things that you can get in America. And remember we always love to get care packages 🙂

Almond Joy Pieces! My Favorite candy EVER!

In a store in America… you can just tell by our faces… YUMM

We do have a Dairy Queen in China but not with these perfect ice cream bars

Before our October Holiday Middle and High school had Fall Camp. During our camp the Middle School competed between houses. These houses are made up of all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. There are four houses and I’m in house 2. In the end House 2 got in 3rd place 🙁 Although it is a bit sad we didn’t do well I still had bunches of fun.All of the Middle Schoolers play games and did lots of fun things such as worship time, and relay races. I had so much fun getting to know more of the 8th and 6th graders and I enjoyed this Fall Camp so much!

All of my cabin mates.

Me and my friends in a Paddle Boat.

my friends waiting to get started on an activity.