Who's who at HEU

About a month ago, we got the names of our new teammates for this coming fall. We were excited that another family would be joining us. They have two small children about Olivia and Joel's age, and I thought about how awesome that is. We've loved having the Taylors on our team and being able to love their children and our kids all play together. In addition to the family coming, we are having two single girls who have been in China a year already. Another win for us! :)

Then came the surprise right before we left for the summer. We are not getting one new family but two! Wow! The second family also has two kids around our kids ages! Yeah! The family was supposed to be at another school in Harbin, but for some reason that didn't work out and our school "won" the family. ;) So, out of the nine children from our organization that will be in our city, SIX of those are at our school. AMAZING and wonderful.

As the Fergusons and Wylies are packing up their lives, I am sure they are being flooded with emotions and questions. Some of those I can answer; some I cannot. I do know that the One who called them to China is faithful to help them transition and thrive there. Please lift them up.

Even though Lauren and Kellie have been in China, moving to HEU is still quite and adjustment for them. They are spending the summer with their families and friends and I am sure trying to squeeze every moment and memory they can out of it before returning to China. Please remember them as well.

We are excited about the year ahead and welcome these ten people into the Harbin family with open arms!

In America

We’re here is the States again for another summer of fellowship with family and friends. It is always nice to see people and catch up, but it also feels like we have missed so much about American culture while we were in China. New words and phrases have popped up that we don’t understand and can’t make them fit into our understanding of how those words make sense. We are amazed by how many times people say, “I’m sorry” even though they are three feet away from us and nowhere close to being  in our way. Not so in China where you bump into people all the time and your head may be in someone’s armpit on the bus!

And all the choices! I was going to just run in and get milk and ice-cream yesterday. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, any combination of the three, coffee, Bunny tracks, Moose tracks, choc. chip cookie dough, mocha almond fudge, light, regular, fat free, half fat free, less sugar, no added sugar, natural sugar…. It took me forever to choose and then I saw I could get a buy one get one free with the store card. That made it twice as difficult because then I had to choose TWO! Olivia just said, “Just get one and let’s go.” Little did she know, while sitting under the cart, how hard that was to do!  I ended up with cookies and cream and a coffee brownie something or other by the way.

Recently, I was struck by how so many workers in America are white. I know that sounds funny.  I was driving through a grocery store parking lot and saw a tall white man collecting and organizing the buggies. I thought to myself how everyone that I normally see doing that kind of work is Chinese. The white population in Harbin is mostly made up of teachers, students or businessmen.

I was picking up my niece from volleyball practice the other day and noticed all the diversity of people.  Whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians were all in the same parking lot and all very much American. That is one of the joys of America for me. Sometimes I get tired of standing out in China and being stared at by all the passers-by. In America, I am just another face in the crowd. But is that my goal? Should I be trying to hide in the crowd? Now, I don’t think I need to toot my horn or draw attention to myself, but I should aim for the Spirit that is in me to be a fragrance to others around me. (2 Corinthians 2).  One reason being pointed at and “noticed” bothers me so much is that it is drawing attention to me.  I really hate that, but when the attention is being draw to Christ, then that is something to relish and rejoice in, don’t you agree?

So, here we are with AMERICA again, and I’m looking forward to seeing how SHE and I have changed since we were last together.