Birthdays

My family usually has many birthdays in June, starting with me, followed by my several family members who are now, no longer with us, and ending with my mother.

No, my mother is not two years older than me. But she didn't like the numbers the true way around. I bought the flowers, but made the cake.

My younger daughter, Destiny turned 13 yesterday, and she wanted brownies for her birthday, instead of cake. She also wanted cheesy chicken spaghetti, which I also cooked.

My older daughter's birthday is next month, followed by my grandson turning three in November.

This is her last week, ready for her first day of school.

 

Christmas 2018

Destiny went to a children's Christmas party at church. They played games, ate pizza, and watched a movie.

Out church choir had a wonderful Christmas cantata.

Destiny's school class had a Christmas party on their last day, before starting a two week Winter break.

I wrapped Christmas presents from Santa, before going to bed Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning.

Everything in the boxes was 'Disney Frozen'.

Destiny loved everything.

Sharing old photos.

First, let me introduce my older daughter, Suzanne. She likes animals, including snakes, coloring her hair, piercings, tattoos, and Harry Potter.

This is Suzanne's snake, Banana.

This is our guinea pig, Moe.

And now, this is my younger daughter, Destiny. She is twelve years younger than her sister. She likes 'Frozen', animals, watching cartoons, and playing.

This is her school, Victory Christian School, which is only a ten minute walk from home.

This photo was taken just after Destiny was baptized.

This was in Little Rock just before Chinese Spring Festival 2018.

It was very cold to go see the lanterns and performers.

This is an old car we saw in a parking lot going into Walmart.

We were at Mid America Museum in Hot Springs.

Just before baptism.

Halloween 2015 at the nearby White Oak Lake State Park.

This is a little water park our town put in for the kids to have fun during the summer.

This is from Destiny's eighth birthday part.

This is at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum.

They have a real submarine, the U.S.S. Razorback, which you can go in. You can see a video tour here.

It was the longest serving submarine in the world, serving for 26 years in the United States Navy, starting in 1944, followed by another 31 years in the Turkish Navy.

This was our 2017 Christmas tree.

My little girl's bed.

I chop about ten different vegetables to make a large salad. The salad is seasoned, and I will have a little salad dressing on it for my lunch, and sometimes dinner each day. I keep the salad refrigerated, and it will usually last all week.

Z-Visa problems.

When we were first coming to China to teach, we had to go through a process of exchanging information with the school and sending papers to get our Visa. We believed until recently that everything was alright. It turns out that the first school did not give us the correct visa. We had a Z-Visa for working, but not for teaching. As a teacher, you should also have an expert certificate book. We thought the first school had this, but kept it for some reason when we left and that the second school would get another for them. An expert certificate book is something that is gotten once and is not the schools, but the teachers. Something else that you keep with you is a resident registration book. This is something the school helps you get, but you hold onto and get a new one each time you change schools. If you are coming to or are already in China, be sure you have the correct paperwork. A sticker in your passport may say you have a Z-Visa, but it might not be the correct kind. Your passport may have a sticker that says 'resident permit', but this is only used for entering and exiting the country and is not the same as a resident registration permit. All the correct paperwork takes about 6 to 8 weeks to process. The school should pay for everything and the total cost is less than $100. you should also ask to see the schools license to hire expert teachers. It will have a license number and you should make note of this for future reference. There are places you can contact and may get some help if you have problems with a school, but the best thing is to be alert to fakes or scams.