Clarks: Happy Sick New Cold Year [& Elaine's Departure]

Dispatch from Jason:
I'm sick. I've got a cold. This is my first cold of the year. Actually, it's not just my first cold of 2009, it's my first cold of the school year--that is, the first time I've had a cold since coming to China. So, that's pretty good, I think. I'm thankful to have been so healthy so far.
Our cat is also out of the hospital and doing well. He's been sickly pretty much from the start. He's been in and out of the vet so many times, we can't even keep up with it. We thought we were real smart for getting such a good discount when we bought him; now we've well more than double-spent on vet bills the amount we'd saved initially. So, go figure...
Anyway, now introducing... Cecely! With news about Elaine:
Today Elaine called to say goodbye. This afternoon she will head out on her journey to America and Harding University. I've tried my best to prepare her for some of what she will likely see, do, and go through. I was happy to hear some friends of ours, the Hadwins, will pick her up at the airport. I think being at Harding will give her so much valuable experience and insight, although we really hate to see her go for nine months! The thing I wanted to say though, is that today she called not only to say goodbye but out of genuine concern for her little group of ladies. She feels true ownership. The kind that makes her want to make sure that Margaret, Shenli, and Christina will be ok after she leaves. She called to give me last minute advice for how best to minister to Shenli and Christina, reminding me that they need gentle encouragement. She thinks Shenli is really in a time of thinking seriously about what she needs to do for her spir. life, and she believes that Christina really wants to be more involved in our group, but just hasn't been able to like she'd like to because her daughter Lingling has had so many flare-ups with her asthma recently. I felt so good about her calling to tell me all of that. She feels responsibility and care for the other ladies, and I am truly grateful to Him! Elaine also mentioned that she got to spend some time talking to Gaoyan yesterday; I haven't talked to Yan about it yet, but Elaine said she enjoyed so much talking with her, and that it was so encouraging!

As I think I have mentioned before, I have been having a weekly time with the ladies from Wen San to get to know them better. A couple of weeks ago, however, one of the ladies brought her roommate who is severely depressed, and it was a pretty difficult situation to deal with. She seems to have some issues with trust and she must be handled with kid gloves. I really need your prayers for her; I want to know how best to proceed.

Also, please be thinking of Julia's friend May, who isn't a sister but is interested in studying more in-depth just with me and Julia. Please ask that Julia and I will be guided in what to read with her, that her heart will be softened and her mind sharpened as she looks into the Word. Also pray that Julia will learn about one-on-one studies from this experience and be able to replicate it in the future.

Julia took some kids' books about The Book that she borrowed from me home for Spring Festival, by the way, and shared them with some little relative kids. She said one kid in particular loved it, and asked to hear the story again and again! She was so happy about that success! Be praying that the seeds planted in the hearts of those children will grow through the years, and that Julia can continue to minister to them.

Thanks again, Clear Creek, for making it possible for us to do this work that we love. By giving us so much loving support, you are involving yourselves deeply in this ministry. We are thankful daily as we realize how happy we are to be here, and what amazing supporters you are. We love you.

Chinese New Year

Today is the Chinese New Year’s Eve. People all around China are traveling to their hometown to celebrate this holiday with their family. People from the countryside have worked in the cities on construction sites, in supermarkets, restaurants, barber shops and various other service jobs. They have worked hard and saved all year long. Now they can go home wearing nice new clothes and neatly cut hair to see their family and friends in their hometown. Banks are crowded with people withdrawing money to carry with them to some remote area of China. Bus stations, train stations and airports are crowded with travelers. Some people had to stand in line three to four hours to buy tickets.

Tonight, January 25th, families are gathered together to eat a big meal of pork, fish and chicken dishes. Fireworks are exploding everywhere. The children are all dressed in new clothes playing with fireworks. Every kid gets a red envelop of cash money as a New Year gift. At 8:00 pm tonight, about one billion Chinese people will watch the New Year dancing and singing performance on TV. At midnight fireworks will light up the sky all over China.

This New Year celebration continues for the next seven days. People visit relatives and friends to eat a meal together. People are off work and students have no school. As a nation it is time to take a break from a whole year of hard work.

Pray for us as we spend time with friends during the holiday!

Phew!

I finally got all the pictures and posts up! Unfortunatly they are not in the order I want them, but I can't figure how to change them. I am officially caught up...and just in time...tomorrow is the beginging of Spring festival. I hope to have a bunch of pictures from that.

bamboo path

On January 14 we were invited to a dinner with a bunch of the teachers at our University. The dinner was at a resort area in HZ. While some of the teachers had to attend a meeting we went on a walk. At first we thought we were going to hike up a mountain but that is not exactly how it went.
We walked for about 15 minutes next to a fairly busy highway and came to a famous bamboo lined path.

It was really pretty peaceful. There were lots and lots of bamboo...

Some very old and large trees...

Some interesting buildings...

This was a meditation pool fed by a spring.

A Steele with some famous calligraphy

This would be a great spot to sip some tea...

some guys in camo with guns!!!

Ok, they were just playing laser tag. They had on vests and hats with binkers and stuff.

This guy let Liam shoot his gun while he was in between games.

Cambridge ( one of the guys that really helps us a lot) said that they rented the equipment from a company. He said that perhaps next time we could do that! We all thought it would be a lot of fun.

You never know what you are going to see in China.

snow

On January 6 we woke up to a light dusting of snow! It was pretty. The kids were disappointed that it was not really enough to play in and it did not last all day, oh well!

ginger bread house

We were sent this Ginger bread house kit! Unfortunately it did not arrive until Christmas eve and we were just too busy to put it together. After the holidays and all our grades were turned in, things calmed down. We did not put this together until just a couple of weeks ago. But as you can see, they loved it! Thank you!

Christmas

Christmas in China is very different than in the U.S. You can keep some of the same traditions but you should probably add some new ones too.
Christmas eve after I got out of class we began our family celebrations. I had made dinner in the crock pot. Jon even baked some bread to go with it. It was all delicious! It was not what we would traditionally have for Christmas dinner, but it was still good. (we had roast and potatoes)

After dinner we opened presets! We set up Skype so that my folks could watch the kids open their presents.
We had a bunch of presents. I was going to be very good and keep track and write lots of thank you notes, but I got very crazy very quickly! Thank you for all the love and gifts you showered us with!

After that we cleaned up the living room, put out milk and cookies for Santa and went to bed.

The next day the kids got up around 7. They opened their stockings and played with their toys. We chatted with Jon’s family on the Internet. Then we got dressed and went out for the kid to enjoy their new scooters! (actually Eryn did not make it, and went in to take a nap)

Jason and Cecely were on their lunch break (they went to class that day) this is Jason trying out Hallie's Scooter.

Then we went into town for a nice family dinner.

We walked through a market to get to the restaurant.



We ate at a steak place. It was late for lunch so the place was quiet. They also had a salad bar. This is the first salad I have eaten in about 5 months! Not your traditional American Christmas celebration, but we may make a tradition of going out to a nice restaurant on Christmas day.

This is a picture of all three kids on their new scooters. They enjoy riding their scooters whenever they can!

Thank you so much for all that you did for us over the holidays! We greatly appreciate it! We love you!!