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!