a summer well spent

he was seriously happy to see me... but not take more selfies!

We are thankful to be back together again in the same city and blessed that the weather is reasonable once again. We aren't too thrilled that our ceiling still leaks and the landlord refuses to do anything other than tell us to, "leave the window open." However, we know that our Father has a good plan and we still have a nice, comfortable place to sleep and college classes are about to begin. Yay.

riding around

While on his retreat, P spent time reading, praying and riding his bike, at least twice each day. He managed a swim or two, as well. He also did lots of projects around the house - including getting rid of his old bike and putting a basket on his new bike. These are WAY exciting improvements. 

Pres cleaned up the exhaust fan ... not our grease!

K on the other hand, spent a great deal of time not riding a bike. She took the bus, subway and a few cars to see our friends and family around the hot and humid big city. K got to spend two full days hanging out with Ling and the two girls, Crystal, 5, and Bella, 3. We played in the park, made dumplings and celebrated K's birthday together. It was a blessing and also lots of fun. Crystal was curious and interested in leading and managing our time together. We played hide and seek and "catch the butterfly." It was WAY too hot most of the time, so we spent a lot of time indoors and took long naps when we could convince the kids to settle down long enough for their eyes to get heavy. The kids were heading back to their hometown to live with grandma and grandpa for the school year, so we squeezed in as much family time as we could. Maybe we will see them again at the new year. Our Father always has a good plan.

with Ling and the girls, making dumplings

K also managed to have dinner with Mark, Zona and Samuel, 4, who lived about 1.5 hours away. But the public transportation is comfortable and the neighborhoods familiar. It was a great time of fellowship and catching up. The family was headed to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia for business and a bit of pleasure that same week. It was good timing that we got to connect with them and encourage each other, while we ate and ate.

We also had dinner with another sister,
Melissa, who sells medical equipment around the country. She is doing well and continues to go to small group and fellowship times. She isn't married and isn't in a hurry to do so. She knows that there is a plan, so she is confident in the waiting. This is a good thing.

Mark, Zona and Samuel

When not running around the city meeting family and friends, K spent lots of time with baby and Melissa and YX. Melissa and YX were up late most nights and K got up early and did some babysitting while the parents slept in. K and Eli Grace (9 months) read, prayed and sang together and found lots of joy in our togetherness. 

We've continued to be motivated to improve our language skills. Thanks for keeping us in prayer this summer as we have managed to make progress and remember more words. There is still lots more to do, but we are thankful that we had the time to focus and do a lot of learning. 

Since returning to our little community of more than 1 million people (as opposed to the big city of 20 million plus), our days have been full. We had homemade tacos with a medical student, Vincent, who apparently taught at our college last semester. That's how he got our social media account. He is 25 and doing his residency at a local hospital. His English is great and he enjoys speaking. We enjoyed the wide-ranging conversation. We are scheduled to meet him at an agricultural fair soon, where he will be doing some interpreting for our other acquaintances-friends (a Belgian and local) who own a factory nearby. The opening ceremony starts at 9 am, which means we should get on our bikes about 8 am. 

hot pot southern style

Our dean for the past 4 years took a new position this summer in another province. She had been with our college for 25 years and just completed her Ph.D. She is waiting for a British journal to give her feedback on her most recent article and she will be guiding grad students in her new locale. She was in town for a few weeks and wanted to treat us to a goodbye lunch. So we happily celebrated her new adventure together.

Paul came over for a peaceful chat again the first weekend we were back. He said, "I'm so thankful that you are back. I can have more meaningful things to do." That makes us smile. And we are also thankful for Paul and his friendship.

sleeping baby... yay!

a great time of celebration

Every day we have His grace!