April 30th memorial.

White Hydrangea

Gardenia Jasminoides

April 30th, 2014, started out good enough. I was getting divorced, a much happier time in my life than when I got married. But, the day took a turn for the worst that afternoon when my grandmother died. Seven years later, almost to the hour, the man who raised me, my step-father,  died. Now, two years on, we gathered together with several of his Christian Motorcycle Association friends, we planted two memorials for both him and my grandmother. 

Christmas Prayer

Yahweh, Great and Mighty Father in Heaven, Provider, Lord and Master of all, hear my prayer.

I give thanks to you for bringing to us light and hope through Your Son, Jesus Christ.

It is only by Your mercy, His Love, and our faith that we can approach You.

May we continue to recognize You in our lives, and listen to Your guidance.

May we be good servants to You, and good witnesses of Your Love.

I pray now for the world, the world You created, and the people, Your children.

In this last year, we have suffered greatly. Sin of all forms have plagued us.

I pray that You will show us Your Mercy, and deliver us from all that tries to prevent us from seeing You and Your Love.

I pray that Your Will be done, and that it will strengthen us, unite us, and draw us nearer to You.

I pray for our nation Lord. We have been torn apart, selfish, and foolish.

Help us to see the errors of our ways. And I pray for forgiveness for our many sins.

Lord God Almighty, I also pray for my family, and our friends. Continue to be with us as we struggle in this world. Lift us up when we fall. Strengthen us when we are weak. Carry us when we think we can no longer continue. Remind us of Your Love for us. Help us to see Your Presence in our lives.

Father, I pray now for my mother. Thank you so very much for providing me with such a kind, caring, and wise mother. She has always been a good example of Your Love, even when sometimes I didn’t deserve it. Just as You always love us.

Yahweh, I also pray for Gil. When I fell, he picked me up. When I wandered, he showed me the way. When I was in error, he corrected me. When I did not know, he taught me. He has been an example of Your Love, by being Your servant.

God the Father, I give thanks and praise to You for my children. They have been a blessing that has sustained me. I have tried to do my best to raise them and care for them as You do us. I have learned so much being a father to my children about what I should be like as one of Your children. I pray that You will always be with them, in good and bad.

Merciful and Mighty Lord, I also pray for my grandson. He is as innocent as Your Son, Jesus was when He was born into this world. Just as Jesus had You watching over Him, I pray that You will watch over my grandson, and see to his needs according to Your will.

Finally Yahweh, I pray for myself, that You will forgive me, protect me, and guide me. Give me the knowledge and opportunity to be the kind of child that makes You happy. I return Your Love.

Amen. 

From before to after Thanksgiving 2018.

Every year, right around Thanksgiving, the leaves of a tree in the middle of our front yard turn golden and fall to the ground.

I bought 200 Christmas lights and put them in my new car. 

Destiny had a friend stay one night, and I took them to see a Christmas light display. We met my older daughter, Suzanne there.

I decorated the front of my new car for Christmas.

Destiny loves to play in the leaves.

The day after Destiny had her friend stay over one night, Destiny went to two different birthday parties for her friends.

The second party was at night and outside. They had a fire to first tell stories around. And then after going on a hayride, the kids had S'mores.

I took Thanksgiving week off from teaching. We had family all Thanksgiving week.

Destiny's 9th birthday party.

Destiny will be 9 years old in a few days, but we had her birthday party this last Saturday. She had ten of her school and church friends come to her party. My other daughter, Destiny's older sister, had a cake made. The theme of the party was Jurassic World. The kids had fun playing games, and Destiny really enjoyed all of the gifts from her friends and family.

My father came to the party.

Thanksgiving and Deb's birthday dinner.

DJ and May and Deb.

One of our friends from the thursday social meeting we attend was kind enough to come with us to a restaurant to help us order and celebrate Deb's birthday and Thanksgiving.

 May also got Deb a scarf for her birthday.

George and Connie and Roxanne.

 

Chloe and Adam and May and Suzanne.

Carl, May, Deb, Suzanne, DJ, Chloe, Adam, Connie, George, Roxanne, Debbie, Archie.

DJ and Suzanne.

DJ and Spot taking a nap on the couch.

DJ trying to escape.

DJ loves her big sister.

DJ's new winter hat.

Some old friends stopped by to say hello and give Suzanne some early birthday presents.

Suzanne loves her little sister.

DJ's birthday party.

Deb had planned a birthday party early because I was going to be working all day on the 28th. The party was for everyone that could come, including Ivy, but most of them had to work or rest. We were going to have the party at our apartment, but then Deb changed it to the 2nd floor of one of the KFC's. When she showed up to set up for the party, she found that they were part of the city that had it's power and water turned off, without notice, for a little while that afternoon. So, she changed plans and had the party on the 6th floor of New-Mart at the food court instead, because they had power. It all worked out great in the end. Everyone that was coming finally got together and we all had a wonderful time. At first DJ didn't know what was going on and really didn't care. She was out of the house, at the mall and the center of attention. As she began opening the gifts, she started to look forward to the next one, but not without first complaining that she hadn't finished playing with the last one. She hated the candles, but loved the cakes. When I first went to buy the cakes, they wanted to sell me a layered cake, but Deb and DJ had already picked out what they liked and the bakery couldn't make them into a layered cake, so I bought two cakes.

Thursday lunch social.

DJ was ready to go when I got in from my morning classes. 

We were going to our friends apartment for the weekly social meeting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJ tried on some of her new clothes she got for her birthday when we came home. 

 

See if you can guess this song.

Saying goodbye to Nicole.

Nicole has been a friend almost since we first arrived and has always been willing to try and help us in anything we needed done.

She is moving to the provincial capital, Harbin, where her husband has been working. I know she will miss her family and friends here, but I also know she will enjoy being with her husband again. 

Several of her friends gathered to say goodbye. 

On the left is Sharon. She had just returned from a vacation back in the states. She has been a long time friend of Nicole's and hosted this going away party. 

Nicole was very moved by the love shown by her friends. 

Sitting on the right is Harold, Nicole's son. I know that he is looking forward to seeing his father more regular, even though he will miss his friends. 

We had a short Bible lesson. 

The man on the right is Leroy, Sharon's husband. He works at one of the local factories over-seeing an American companies interest. Leroy and Sharon have lived here for around five years. 

Some friends of Nicole's.

Latest update.

Howdy all. We haven't been doin' a whole lot around here. Momma has been busy helpin' sissy with her schoolin'. Daddy has been workin' at the school. Sometimes we go out for a walk together. We did have a few friends over a couple a times for dinner.

This is Nicole. She is a friend of momma and daddy. She came over one evenin' for dinner 'cause it was her birthday.

This is Nicole's son, Harold. He's kinda fun. We had a good time, even though there wasn't any cake.

We had some other friends over another evenin' for dinner. The little boy in front is Mike and the big boy in the back is Ted. The girl closest to me is Alice and the other is Cindy.

I really like it when they come over for a visit. We have so much fun.

Mix of pics.

The local convenience store has some small kiddie rides. They play music and move back and forth with a little up and down motion. DJ does not like it.

Suzanne gave DJ a pony tail.

These are DJ's new summer shoes.

We had some friends over for dinner. They brought DJ a new stuffed toy to add to her collection.

The boys name is Mike.

The two girls names are Cindy and Alice.

I went into KFC early one weekend and this was inside.

This is a picture from a forth floor window of the public school I was teaching at. The kids were practicing for something.

DJ found this friend to play with down by the river.

This little boy was a little shy.

This kid came along with his bike.

The kids loved the bike because it played music.

All the kids gathered around the bike.

That's a six pack of kids.

This building looked like it was new when we moved here but wasn't used by anyone. Now they have gutted it and are remodeling it.

Kite, kids and ...

Nichole, Harold and friends, Suzanne and DJ.

This is our friend Nicole's son, Harold.

Harold and a couple of his friends.

DJ and other kids in the park.

She was listening to the man playing.

She wasn't sure what to do.

It looks like an Albatross.

They attach foam to the outside of the buildings for insolation because they are all concrete.

This was an empty lot a month ago.

Back to work.

The Spring Festival holiday is over and it is time to get back to work. We had Rita over for chili one evening. I found cumin already ground-up for the chili, but since I already had the mortar and pestle, I purchased the whole cumin. Next time I will buy the ground-up; cumin seeds are hard to grind by hand. I did go ahead and buy the chili powder instead of making my own. If you check the packet of chili seasoning mix, you will find that chili is not the only ingredient; here it is. I made the mistake of putting in the whole packet and it was too hot even for me. Rita ate a whole bowl. Other than the heat, it was very good and I will have to make it again. As usual, DJ enjoyed the company and had a good time. DJ took a bath and played with her toys after Rita left.

Debora had the social meeting again this week and will for the next two weeks before Sharon comes back to take over. One of the kids that came brought their dog to make friends with Spot. It looks like he had a great time. Another boy gave us a drawing he had done of Confucius. It is beautiful. And still another person gave us a special calendar that their grandfather does calligraphy for that is very beautiful. Our Chinese friends are so nice and special to us.

Like I said, it is time to get back to work. I went in on Monday to prepare for classes that started back yesterday. Andrea and David got their schedules. I had to cover for Connie's first two spoken classes, since she was still on a plane from Beijing, coming back from Canada. David just sat in on some classes, but Andrea was given a couple of George's classes, since he won't be back until next week. I also learned that we will be having a total of seven foreign teachers this year. The last teacher is arriving from America on Sunday. Mei is very excited that the school will have five teachers from America.

Social meeting.

Fellowship

Debora hosted the Christian fellowship and Bible study yesterday. We had music with songs, and talked about how all things are possible through God. We told the story of Abraham and Sarah having a son at an old age. This meeting is not against the law but is against Ivy rules because it is their apartment. So this is simply a social get together where one of the topics of talk is of a religious nature. Sharon and Leroy will return the first week of March and they will have the meetings at their apartment again. DJ really enjoyed all the company and Susan even had some kids close to her age. Most of the people spoke some English. In true Baptist form, where there is a meeting, there is food.

Difficult but possible.

I went to Bible study with Deb yesterday morning. Some of the ladies brought their kids since they were out of school. It was a really good time. One of the ladies gave Deb a gift just like she had given Sharon. It looks very beautiful and is now hanging in our living room.

The school had provided furnishing for the apartment when we came but ours didn't have a table. We decided to buy a table since we are staying another year. Yesterday, after Bible class, Deb and I went to the local furniture outlet and found a table and chairs for our apartment. We looked at several kinds, glass and wood, small and big. We had an idea that we wanted something that could change from small to large so we could put it to the side when we weren't using it and pull it out and make it bigger when we have company. We found one that we liked and they wanted 2000 RMB but we wanted to finish looking around before we made a decision. We found one just like the one we liked at the end of our search, and they only wanted 1650 RMB. We negotiated down to 1400 RMB and got them to throw in delivery and assembly. We did all this by ourselves without a translator. The only help we had was the name of our housing area, building and apartment number that was wrote down on a piece of paper by one of the Ivy School staff when we first came here.

We also bought a new wireless router for the computer so we could move it from the office into the living room. Then we changed the office into DJ's new bedroom. Now we have our bedroom to ourselves again. When I buy something like this in the states, it comes in English, Spanish and half a dozen other languages, but here it is only in Chinese. It wasn't easy to install without knowing any Chinese but thank goodness I have a natural talent with computers.

Starting next week, for six weeks, Deb is going to have the Bible study group over here while Leroy and Sharon are on vacation. Suzanne and I moved things around this morning. Deb went shopping for some slippers and stools for our guest, and some Chinese new years decorations.