Maddie found this great idea online, and thanks to grandma and grandpa Headrick who sent us candycorn and malted milkballs in a fall carepackage, we were able to make these cute turkey treats. Megan had her friend, Naomi, over to play the weekend before Thanksgiving and Maddie put her creative skills to work teaching the girls how to make these turkeys.
Our sweet Chinese friend who has been working at our school for a few years now, and who recently got married and Megan was the flower girl, took a job at another company in our city. Although it was sad to say goodbye knowing that I won’t be able to see her each day when I go to work, I’m happy for her to have this new opportunity and I’m glad that we can still be in touch, since she did not move away from Tianjin.
Upon Sean and Jessie’s return from Tokyo I found out that although Jessie’s robot came in dead last in the robotics field competition, God blessed her with a big boost of confidence as she received an amazing award based on her design and engineering notebook. I am so proud of her and her team!
Below here are a few exerts from Jessie’s notebook.
This weekend Sean and Jessie were in Tokyo for the VEX Robotics Challenge. So Maddie, Megan and I had some fun of our own. Friday night we ate at a new Vietnamese restaurant in Tianjin…yum, then walked through the park adjoining the restaurant to watch night-time Chinese line dancers. Then Saturday we had an afternoon of shopping and errands. All our running around lead to three hungry gals, so we tried a new cafe that Jessie told us about. It’s a Korean cafe which is typical of most coffee cafes here in Tianjin; the menu has more than 6 pages of special drinks and one page of food. This particular cafe serves hamburgers as one of their three food choices. Surprisingly, it was one of the better burgers that I’ve had in China. Sunday we spent the morning chatting with Rachel over skype and having devotion time; then the afternoon cooking and watching American football. Rested and ready to start another week at school!
Jessie and Sean are in Tokyo this weekend for the VEX Robotics Competition. This will be Sean’s first time to take his robotics team to compete. They have worked very hard since the beginning of school designing, building, and programming their robots. Mostly this will be a learning trip, since other teams at the competition are well experienced teams. Sean was blessed to have our school’s Japanese family liaison accompany them to Japan to help with logistics and translation. Jessie designed a t-shirt for the team, using her graphic skills. Can you find the hidden words, “TIS Robotics?”
Amidst college applications, AP classes, social engagements, and her rigorous competitive robotics class demands, it’s hard to get a few minutes with Jessie this year. I’m so proud of her diligent and determined spirit, but have to admit I’m a little sad that my time is slipping away. Today we had a nice lunch date, then a walk home on this gorgeous fall day. I must take each moment I can to enjoy her.
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.
