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.
At this year’s Scipmylo day, Megan’s team won a pizza party for being the individual team with the most points. Megan enjoyed the elementary field day of bag races, 50 meter dash, water balloon toss, long jump, etc., while I spent the morning photographing the event for our school’s media relations.
At the end of the event, I asked a friend to snap a photo of us two. Megan tends to not smile with her teeth these days, since she is missing her two front ones.
The week before Susan’s wedding I organized a bridal shower for her. This is another event that is not typical of a Chinese bride. Although the recipe for the cake and frosting are both Rachel’s, and tasted great, I can say that my decorating job is not nearly as pretty as hers. Luckily Maddie was there with the inspiration to put little icing stars on the heart to add some final touches. Maddie also found these cute printables that we used to decorate.
Susan has worked as the elementary princial’s assistant, so most of the elementary teachers on our team know her well. We had a great turnout of ladies to bless Susan in her upcoming life with her new husband, Rock (his English name).
Toilet paper brides maid dresses game
Jessie and Maddie made a quick appearance at the shower to help me decorate and take photos.
Wedding traditions are different in China than in Western cultures. Most Chinese weddings are held in a fancy restaurant. Guests are seated at 10-12 person large round tables with nearly table-sized lazy Susan, in the center are bottles of Coke, Sprite, juice, red wine and baijiu (Chinese alcohol). Wedding favors like candy and cigarettes are also located at each place setting. Fireworks are set outside the restaurant just before the bride comes into the banquet hall. There may be a few words given by a friend or MC, then a tea ceremony with both sets of parents, then a digital photo presentation of the couple’s story, then the bride and groom will begin to make their way around to greet guests at each table. Servers will begin to bring out very unique Chinese dishes. Guests will pour baijiu and toast with the couple as they come the the table, then each guest at the table will hand the bride and groom a red envelope with money (this is their gift). At some point the bride will disappear and change out of her wedding dress into another banquet dress. Then continue greeting guests until the couple has made their way around to each table. The bride may change dresses 3, 4 or 5 times during the celebration!
Our friend, whose English name happens to be Susan, got married this past weekend. She and her husband are believers and wanted a more Christ-centered Western-style wedding ceremony. A very talented event planner at our school helped to organize a beautiful ceremony in which Megan was the flower girl. The location was a new “wedding chapel” type place with outdoor courtyards.
The guests were so surprised when the fountains started up forming an archway for Susan to walk down. 
Maddie captured these neat photos with water droplets from the fountains.
Exchanging of rings and vows.
Wedding cupcakes for the guests
Megan and Susan
Megan’s class has been studying about plants and how they grow from seed, to stem, to flower to fruit. At the end of their science unit the class had a plant party at lunch time. Each student was asked to bring some type of edible plant. Megan brought broccoli flowerets and grapes. One mom prepared a unique edible cucumber with cauliflower display. Here’s Megan with two friends and one of her 2nd grade teachers.
The Admissions and Public Relations office where I work is growing as our school’s student body increases. My work is all media related. However I do get grabbed to give a school tour on occasion. One of my biggest responsibilities is maintaining and updating our school website. Each week I lead a team to publish a parent newsletter in four languages. Last week Megan was featured in the cover photo, go here to check out The Eagles Nest.
The ladies I work with are a neat and diverse group. Pictured here are ladies from China, Korea, Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand and of course, me from the US. I learn lots of things from each of these ladies about Asian culture.
High School Fall Camp is upon us. Jessie, being a senior this year, was teamed up with a fellow classmate to lead their group of underclassmen for the camp’s competitions. Groups engage in team building challenges, earning points throughout the camp time. In the evenings students gather together to hear from the Guest Speaker. This person will encourage and challenge the students for the upcoming school year, to focus their attention on what God has in store. Sean has been asked to be this year’s Guest Speaker!
One big blessing for the girls, Maddie was placed in Jessie’s fall camp group. This is an extra special blessing since the advisors don’t usually put siblings in the same group. See them pictured above, working on props for their group’s skit.
The start of a new school year is always a good time to do something make some changes. Sean has been wanting to make his classroom a more “welcoming” environment for students to hang out. This year he had the help of Michael and Jessie to give his classroom a new look. Also a family in our city is moving back to Texas this fall and had some items for sale, which Sean was able to purchase for a good price. New furniture along with some plants, the rearranging of desks, projector and white boards has turned Sean’s classroom into the new hangout place for students before and after school and during lunch times.
This year Sean is teaching a new Competitive Robotics class which will take he and his team to Tokyo, Japan this fall for their first competition.
The four new info-gram boards that Jessie and Michael created to display different technology related topics.
Michael returned again to Hong Kong this week to begin his final year in Architecture at The University of Hong Kong. We all will miss him so much, especially this little sister.
As a last outing together, Michael and I went to the historic Astor Hotel in downtown Tianjin for high tea. There is a lovely park just outside the hotel where we found this Chinese pagoda.
Saturday, August 17th, 2013, I was busy in the kitchen making breakfast scones for the family before everyone woke up. Megan had been awake for a while helping me in the kitchen. All of the sudden she said, “Mom, I want to be a Christian.” What sweet words. We made our way back Sean’s office to have a talk with daddy. Sean asked Megan some questions and she said, “I know that God created me and I want to love HIM all my life.” We said a short prayer with Megan as she followed along. What a treasure to know that Jesus has come into Megan’s heart.
That night we had a toast around the dinner table in celebration.
