Our Shanghai Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hi friends and family,

Earlier this month as the Christmas season began, we put up decorations around the house.  I was in one room setting up our Christmas nativity while Josiah was in his room putting up the paper one he had made last year.  I learned a great lesson from my son this year when I walked into his room to look at his scene after I finished setting up mine.  His set-up looked quite different from mine.  I had (in my mind) laid out all the nativity pieces just right by facing them out, a good distance apart from each other, and in a semicircle so that all the pieces could be viewed easily.

My Nativity Scene

When I walked into Josiah's room, I noticed his pieces at the front were turned backwards and away from the viewer so that you couldn't see their faces at all.  I was just about to ask him why he placed them backwards and to turn them around so they could be seen.  And suddenly it hit me.  So when I asked him why he had set them up that way he said very matter of fact, "They're bowing down to Jesus. It's His birthday!"

Josiah's Nativity scene

It really made me stop and think.  If I'm really honest with myself, I spend a lot of time thinking about how I look to others (or how great our family pictures turned out or how I need to clean my house when people come over) and less time on what really matters.  And how appropriate it is that my five year old son has reminded me that the real focus and worth of Christmas is found in my Savior and how amazing He is.  Truth be told, I really have to keep letting that lesson sink in again and again whether it's Christmas or not.

This Christmas we had the joy of being able to visit Shanghai to see family friends Dennis and Tamara Wilson, who spent Christmas with us in Hong Kong last year.  The kids and I hadn't been to mainland China yet so we were really excited to go.  The flight was just two hours, although securing our visas was a much longer process.  It was really fun to see the sights and spend time with them, as well as the two little ones they are fostering right now.

They are taking care of a two year old named Mateo and a baby (who we guess to be about four months old) named Catia.  And yes, they were just the sweetest kids and were cooed, fawned, and maybe a little too smothered over by Josiah and Ava.  Both Mateo and Catia have hydrocephalus and have had surgeries through Baobei Foundation, which raises funds and provides life saving surgeries to Chinese orphans born with gastro intestinal or neurological birth defects.  If you would like to learn more about their work, you can do so here.  Mateo and Catia are also in need of families they can call their own.  I pray that they will find forever homes because I know they will fill them with lots of love and joy.

Here are some other favorite pictures from the rest of our trip!

Shanghai has a beautiful skyline on clear days. When completed, the skyscraper to the right will be the tallest building in the world. Doesn't it make the other skyscrapers look puny already?

Can you find the bridge in this picture? This was the view from the Wilsons' apartment on a very smoggy day where the air quality reading was 400.  It was 100 in HK that day.  I think I'll stop complaining about Hong Kong pollution now.

Getting to decorate the Wilsons' Christmas tree

Thrilled that she got to help in the kitchen :)

A delicious Christmas dinner made by Tamara

Shanghai Science and Technology Museum

The robotics area was very cool. Robot vs. Shannon in a game of Go

Shanghai Marriage Market in People's Park- The papers are personal advertisements, and matchmakers sit at little tables and arrange dates. In the open area at the end of this long row of papers you'll see parents sitting behind umbrellas looking to find a good spouse for their children.  It's an interesting place to visit and you can read more about it here

Trying some green onion pancakes from a friendly street food vendor

Best hot pot I've ever had at Hai Di Lo, complete with an order of the dancing noodle man. 

When you don't have Walmart where you live, it becomes picture worthy. 

At Yu Garden, which is less garden and more shops, department stores, and persistent sellers

We enjoyed the architecture of the old style Shikumen buildings in Xintiandi and the historical artifiacts in the Open House Museum 

We discovered that the birthplace of China's Communist revolution was just around the block in Xintiandi at the Memorial House of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China.  We walked into the room where the first secret meeting was held and found the historical information and artifacts in the exhibit area very interesting.  

Shanghai was full of the old and the new. The Wilsons said a year ago there were rows and rows of the traditional older houses behind their apartment, and now when you look out their window you'll see that they're all half demolished like the one in the foreground.  

I loved walking down the side streets and alleys where you would see the homes with the old Chinese style tiles on the roof.  This particular unit caught my attention because of the combination of meat and appliances being sold outside.  

The kids loved the Shanghai Natural Wild Insect Museum and catching some fish which proved to be a difficult task. The place is worn and the animal enclosures could definitely be bigger, but we were surprised by the large number of live animals there.

If it wasn't so cold, we could have spent a lot more time in the Antique Market.  It was full of interesting knick knacks such as the old Communist memorabilia you see here. 

Ava and I loved the colorful baby shoes, hats, and skirts in the Antique Market

The highlight of the trip for the kids was the dancing noodle man at the hot pot place.  I couldn't get a picture of him that wasn't blurry because he moved so fast but if you imagine a man stretching out noodles while doing kung fu moves, it gives you an idea of what he was doing.  Ava's favorite part of the trip were the squatty potties.  Seriously, she thought they were a hoot and giggled every time she had to go to the bathroom. We have them here in Hong Kong too, but we've never had to use them because they usually have both the squat and sit down toilets in bathrooms here.  The best part of the trip for us was being able spend the holidays with our friends, meeting Mateo and Catia, and getting to go on a date!

We've been in Hong Kong for a year and a half now, and we are thankful for God's many blessings. We've met incredible people, learned about amazing organizations, and have gotten to see how God is actively working and demonstrating His love each and every day ALL over the world.  Shannon has signed on to work at ICS for another two years, which means we'll be living in Hong Kong until at least June 2016. (although we'll be in the States this summer!)  We truly miss the people and especially our families back at home, along with events that happen that we can't be present for.  One of the hardest things is when you just want to hold your family member's hand or be able to give them a hug and you have to be happy with the second best thing, skype! :)  But as hard as the distance is from loved ones, we don't think God's done with us here yet and we look forward to seeing what He's going to do the next two and a half years here.

As always, thanks for reading and Happy New Year!  Many blessings to you all in 2014!

Beautiful Mongolia Part II- The Countryside

Hey all,

I'm finally posting part two about my trip to Mongolia.  On the second half of my trip, I experienced a different side of Mongolia that showed off its natural beauty.  I went on a guided tour with two friends through the Mile With Smile tour company for two nights in the countryside. The owner of the company is a young man that actually shares the same hasha (yard) with the Tvrdiks and is the adopted son of the missionary that was in Mongolia before the Trvdiks moved there.  We were happy to support his business and had a great time.

Out in the countryside I marveled at the wide open spaces, grassy hillsides dotted with herds of sheep and goats, the various hues of blues in the sky, and being able to experience the crispness and colors of fall again.  The countryside felt vast and yet still and quiet, except for all the praise and folk songs that we sung along the way.  You just couldn't help but sing and be joyful just taking in the beauty of God's creation.

For $15US, a horse is yours for the day. You definitely feel wild and free galloping through the countryside!

Jumping for joy

We stayed with nomadic families camped near the river. Our host the first night was a hardworking woman with friendly, twinkling eyes. She served us homemade yak butter with bread and salty milk tea that warmed us up quickly when we arrived.

Early the next morning we watched her milk the cows and unsuccessfully attempted to catch some sheep and goats in her pens. 

The second night we stayed in this young family's ger. They had a son about Ava's age that wasn't so sure about us.

He was a cute little fella though. I loved the details on the traditional jacket his mother had stitched together for him. 

During our trip, my shoes began to fall apart.  I hoped no one would notice, but our guides did.  Our horse guide not only knew the countryside and her neighbors well, she was extremely resourceful. She insisted on fixing my boots and using the thread from a potato sack, she sewed my shoes back together so well that you couldn't tell where the hole ever was.  Her kindness and know how were humbling. 

If you're wondering why families would ever move from such a beautiful place to the capital, nomads have been moving to urban areas because they hope there is a better future for them there.  During the winter when the weather gets to negative forty degrees C, their livestock can be wiped out.  There are no stores, no refrigerators, and you live off of what you have. When we stayed in the families' gers, we discovered meat stored under the bed since it's the coldest spot to put it.  As beautiful as the countryside is, it's not any easy place to live.  In Ulaanbaatar, nomadic families imagine stability and success. So they sell all they have, move to the capital, and discover that life is difficult there as well.  If they are able to find a job, all their money goes into basic living expenses like food, water, and rent so that they can keep their ger in a small fenced yard they share with others.  I read an article in National Geographic that I think tells the story well here.

It makes me all the more thankful that Flourishing Futures is giving real hope and help to impoverished families in the ger district, where many nomadic families have no choice but to move to when they arrive.  If you are looking to support an organization that is making a God sized impact on its community, you can do so here.

Thanks for reading and sorry that took so long! Our post about our Shanghai Christmas is coming soon!

Beautiful Mongolia and Flourishing Futures

Beautiful Mongolia






Hi friends and family!

I've been working on this blog post for the past month, trying to figure out what to write and how to share about the week I got to spend in Mongolia with a team of students, parents, and teachers from ICS at the beginning of October during the school's fall break.  I've been telling people that it was an amazing trip and that I need an hour to tell them all about it if they really want to hear what it was like.  So bear with me if this ends up being a long post.  I hope you think it was worth the read.

Our group with some of the girls at the shelter we visited

What do I want to tell people about my trip to Mongolia?  I want to share about Flourishing Futures, the humanitarian organization that hosted us during part of my stay.  I want to share the story of Troy and Shari Tzrdik with as many people as I know, of how God basically told this family from Illinois to sell their house and move to Mongolia with their four kids.  Their testimony alone is a lesson in faith and trust in God, even when they didn't know what the next steps would be, how they would get there, or what they would do.  And I admit that their story is one that I want to focus on, to show how God uses everyday people like YOU to do amazing things each day.  If you want to know more about their family, visit Shari's blog here and sign up for their newsletters.  You will be blessed.

But most of all, I want to share that this week was really all about God, and Him showing me how He works and how He loves more than we could ever know.  Want to know what Mongolia is really like and what He is doing there?

A view from atop a hillside overlooking part of the city

It's a beautiful country.  We went during the fall when the weather is brisk but not freezing.  Almost everyday I would wake up, open the door, and see the bluest skies I've seen in a long time. (The best we can get here in Hong Kong lately are slightly hazy bluish skies.)  At night on my way to the outhouse and back I would look up and see the sky completely covered with stars.  Even though we stayed in one of the most polluted cities of the world, I never noticed it except for one morning when our team took an uphill hike that took us to a spot that overlooked the city.  It was only then that I could see the haze below.  I have been told that the pollution is worst during the winter when people need to use coal for their fires in order to survive the negative forty degree weather.

Roadside coal and wood for sale

Our nights were cold, but we were warm and sometimes a little too toasty when we had the fire going provided by the wood stove in our cozy ger.  Gers are round, single room tent homes made of wooden frames covered by felt and canvas.  About 45% of the population lives in gers.  In the ger neighborhood where we stayed, many of the front gates to the hashas (yards) provided beautiful pops of color to the landscape. I spent half of the week in the ger district in a neighborhood consisting of gers and small houses in Ulaanbaatar, the country's capital.  The rest of the week I spent in the countryside with two friends and stayed with two different nomadic families in their gers.

One of the many beautiful gates we passed by while walking in the neighborhood

The cozy ger I shared with two friends

The bed I slept on inside our ger, which was pretty hard but clearly beautiful!

Learning how to make a fire in our ger

For the first half of the week, we learned about the work that Flourishing Futures is doing in the community.  Their goal is to meet the needs of the most impoverished families in the ger district. While we were there, here are some of the activities our team was blessed to take part in.

Home visit with a very hospitable and friendly family

We visited families in the ger district.  The organization visits the families they support each month to check up on them and to make sure their needs are being met.  We learned through one of the homes we visited that alcoholism is a major problem in Mongolia that has devastated and broken many people's lives and families.  I also learned that people, especially children, are strong and resilient and can overcome harsh adversities such as these.

My new friend, one of the Desert Rose girls at the temporary shelter

We met the girls at the Desert Rose Shelter, a home for girls from ages 5-24.  We visited the temporary home for girls that have just entered the shelter and then their more permanent home in the ger district. The girls that live at Desert Rose come from very difficult backgrounds, whether it be abuse or neglect and here they are loved, cared for, and restored.  The goal is not only to providing healing to the girl but to her family as well.  Desert Rose provides counseling for the entire family in the hope that the children can eventually be reunited and returned to a healthy, loving environment with their families.

Desert Rose girls at the permanent home in the ger district

Not only did we get to chat with the girls, we also got to surprise them with new bedding.  They loved the new sheets and blankets and were so thankful that we had come all the way from Hong Kong to visit them.  We shared words of encouragement and love with them, and ICS youth and Desert Rose girls bonded despite language barriers through their love of Korean music!  I'm truly amazed at how far the Korean pop culture extends here in Asia, and also how many Mongolian people I met were able to speak Korean fluently.  We also learned about how tirelessly the house moms and director of Desert Rose work to provide and care for the girls as their own children.

So happy to have her new bedding that she laid down in it right away

Look at my new bedding!

We participated in Flourishing Future's poverty workshop, where I learned about the realities of the choices an impoverished Mongolian family must make in order to survive.  If I had to decide whether to send my son to school or drop out in order to get a job just to meet the minimal needs of our family, what would I do?  These were the type of questions we pondered as we sat in one of the emergency gers that the organization uses to house families that need immediate assistance and housing.  To summarize that experience, please watch this video that we watched while we were there. Believe me, it's worth it.  

Fetching water at the water station in the ger neighborhood

Taking water home

"You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." Matthew 5:14-15

When I think about Flourishing Futures, this is the passage that comes to mind.  As they literally share their light by providing coal to impoverished families during Mongolia's brutal winters or bringing joy and laughter to children's faces during the summer camps they run for the children of government orphanages every summer, they are flinging that light far and wide.  The community around them sees the light they share because they love the community with the same love they would give to their own families.  Jesus' love is displayed through English classes in the evenings, Bible studies in their homes, teaching women to create beautiful handmade crafts to provide income to their families, mentoring and fellowship for youth, and so many other things I don't even remember.

Beautifully handmade felt slippers that the women in the community have created

In addition to all of this work that happens at the community center, the NGO is in the process of completing a second community center in a different ger district in Ulaanbaatar.  Troy, the director of Flourishing Futures, used to own a construction business before his family came to Mongolia, and he is using his gifts and talents to multiply what God is doing there.  Our team visited the partially finished center, which is nicknamed "the Ark".

While visiting the center we got to meet some of the young men that were hard at work.  They took a break to share their testimonies with us, and we heard stories of extreme hardship and pain but also restoration and hope.  Hearing their stories and standing there inside the new community center I thought about how the new center will one day be used to create more God stories like the ones we saw and experienced that week.  I don't know what God's going to do there but it makes me excited just to think about it.  

The Tzrdiks and Wards (who led the trip) in front of the new community center

I could go on and on but if you've read this far, I think you get the point that God is doing incredible things in Mongolia and with Flourishing Futures.  It's not so much that he needs people that are super heroes (although Troy, Shari, and all the workers and volunteers at Flourishing Futures are super), but simply people that love God that are willing to follow his command to not only love Him but love your neighbor as yourself.  If there was one overarching lesson God inserted into my brain that week, that was it.

If  you would like to learn more about Flourishing Futures or support their organization, make a visit to their website here.

Thanks for reading!  I spent the second half of the week in the countryside and hope to blog about that soon.  Sorry this one took so long!  Besides the trip to Mongolia last month, we had a family birthday and Josiah turned five!  I'm so proud of my little man.  He's a thoughtful, creative, intelligent, and handsome son.  I love him to pieces and thank God for what a blessing He is to me each day.

Love,
Carol