Valentine’s Day conveniently fell during our Chinese New Year break.  It was a great excuse for the girls to have a party with friends.  Living in Tianjin, we don’t have the convenient Target Retail Store to run down to for party supplies and goodies.  The girls came up with some creative fun…homemade cards and fresh flower bouquets in creative vases.    Jessie scavenged my pantry for empty jars and containers, and spray-painted and removed old labels to provide vases for decorating.  Rachel made a delicious 6 layer red velvet cake, and Maddie came up with party games (the old familiar Spoons card game).  Most of the girls attending came from Maddie’s 9th grade class.  We also had 12th and 10th grade friends of Jessie and Rachel.

The cake, it was spectacular!

Flower vases, card game, cake pops and Jessie’s creative card.

Chun Jie  Kuai Le  translated Happy Spring Festival.  In China, this celebration marks the coming of spring, at the start of the lunar calendar.  Our new apartment complex had an array of light displays, including this one below.   One could liken it to how American decorate their yards with Christmas lights in December.  We ventured out during the evening of Chun Jie to see the displays and enjoy the fireworks.

Our city of Tianjin is dramatically changing each year, bringing more choices in activities, shopping and dining.  In year’s past we have gone ice “chair” skating on frozen canals near our previous apartment complex.   In our new neighborhood we found an indoor ice skating rink.  Our friends from Malaysia have only been ice skating a few times in their lives.  Jessie, Maddie and Rachel were patient teachers, helping their little 4 year old guy to get steady on his feet, Maddie and Megan pair up to help the middle daughter, and Rachel helps the oldest.

Michael created for me this beautiful laser-cut acrylic free standing snowflake.  First, the job of designing the snowflake in CAD.  Next, the tedious job of marking all the laser cuts, and finally the actual cutting.  Two beautifully identical snowflakes that fit together into a free-standing ornament.  Thank you Michael!  You are so talented.

Sunday after church we walked to a new mall that we heard had a Starbucks coffee shop.  Along the way we had to side step cars parked up on the sidewalk.   Chinese drivers will park anywhere there is opened space….diagonal, perpendicular and parallel.

Unfortunately the Starbucks was not opened yet, so the girls went home for lunch, while Sean and I stayed to have date at a nearby bakery.

Many of you may have read in your news about the horrible pollution we have experienced in northern China over the last 10 days.  Today we see the sun!  What a beautiful sight.  I am so grateful to the Lord for HIS gift to us today and for HIS grace on our health.  We have stayed strong physically, without cold or cough.  Here is the sunrise from our 9th floor apartment window.