Sprouts, Roots, and Flowers

The hills are alive with sprouts, roots, and flowers. Any time we walk the back road to school our eyes are instinctively searching the brush for fiddleheads. Many folks these days are climbing the hills and walking around with a hand full of fiddleheads. Fiddleheads are the unfurled fronds of a young fern. And you can eat them. Fiddleheads taste like bitter asparagus. They are especially tasty stir fried with red peppers.

More difficult to find are bamboo shoots. A bamboo grove is the right place to look, but I don’t understand how to choose a tender shoot from the bit sticking out of the ground. That’s right you can eat them. You need a long metal tool to dig up the shoot. If you break off too much under the ground then it is wasteful. I love a big plate of bamboo shoots, but later my stomach tells me I’m not a giant panda.

GaoYan showed me a flower that she used to pick as a little girl. They grow overhanging a low muddy cliff. I climbed up the cliff and slid down and got my shoes and pants all muddy and climbed up again. I had a nice bunch of flowers to put in a flower vase for GaoYan. On the way home I passed one lady who said, “Those are nice flowers. Did you know you can eat them?”

A visit to Shaoxing

Recently we took a trip to the hometown of a friend of ours, a student named Arily. She is from a city named Shao Xing, near Hangzhou, about an hour away. We went there in order to meet and spend time with Arily's family, which we thoroughly enjoyed doing. We also enjoyed touring this charming city. We will post more pictures and update this blog post shortly.

Lady in Waiting

Please join us in prayer for Helen. Over the past year, her faith has grown tremendously. She has shown her own initiative to study her Bible, seek out and attend churches, and even share her budding faith with others. She prays and cultivates a meaningful relationship all her own with God. And recently, she has been saying that she is ready to really become His child. She has just gotten a really busy job in Shanghai, though, and is only off on Mondays, and even on Monday, they often ask her to come in and work overtime! So, it has been on hold, which is kind of frustrating, to wait on something that we find to be so important. We ask you to pray, though, that God will use this time to really prepare Helen. That she will learn more about Him, His nature, His Word, and even about the seriousness of the commitment she is considering. We pray that she will have the faithfulness and maturity for a long and fruitful life in His service.

Rescued and Rebuilt and Restored

QianQian MaMa and GaoYan out driving around found an amazing little park in XiXi Wetlands. About fifty old homes are being rebuilt and restored. From different small towns in Zhejiang and Anhui province the homes are taken apart brick by brick, board by board, roof tile by roof tile. The materials are trucked to this little area of XiXi Wetlands.





Ten years ago I thought it was such a great discovery to see quaint old homes in small villages or big cities. I always had an empty feeling, however, knowing the old house would not be there much longer. In China quaint must always face reality. No one wants to live in a 100 year old house with no plumbing or electricity. The 100 year old one family house in the city center is taking up room for a 20 family concrete apartment block.

So cool these homes can be rescued, rebuilt, and restored.

New friends

We met a dad out walking on our campus with his baby boy. We let the kids play together and we talked for a few minutes. He seemed really nice, and so we exchanged phone numbers, and said we would get together another time. The dad's English name is Oliver, and he calls his wife Olivia. We invited them to the big Easter egg hunt this past Sunday, and they had a great time! We got to enjoy chatting and let the kids play together again. Jason said that at the egg hunt Oliver asked some questions about the meaning of Easter, and about church and Bible study. When Oliver sent us an email later to send us these pictures taken with their camera, he said he looks forward to studying the Bible with us! We are really excited for him and his family. What great spiritual potential.

Quick update

I made it through the second surgery. It seemed to go much quicker than last time. I did not have as much pain this time either. That is not to say that I did not feel any pain. I did but it was much better than last time. I really never want to do this again. Ever!

Yesterday, I slept and I think that has helped some. I am sore and swollen, but it does not seem as bad this time. Maybe because I know what to expect. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for a speedy recovery. Thanks!

Prayers, please

Back in September, I had oral surgery.  Those of you that read the blog, know that it was a pretty terrible ordeal.  But I made it through and healed just fine.  (well, mostly).   Then it became apparent that I would have to have it done again on the other side.  I have been both dreading it and wanting to just get it over with. 

The surgery is finally set for Monday morning at 9 AM.  That will be Sunday night for those of you in America.  I would greatly appreciate prayers.  I would like prayer that the surgery will be successful, that it will seem quick, that I will not feel any pain during the surgery, and that healing will be fast and complete.

I am sure that I could use prayers the following week, and I know it will hurt and I will only have ibuprofen for the pain.  Pray for my family as they will have to deal with me.

Thanks!
Jenn