4 hours

Today was Musical Performance Day at the school. The kids and I had decided to go with Brad even before we knew. I was excited to find out the performances were today because I had seen the students working on their songs and skits for a while now.
We got to the school around 9:45 and hung around till it started at 11. The first few songs were solo's and duets. Beautiful worship songs by some very talented students. My heart especially burst as one girl sang of her love for the Father. We have had many conversations talking about whether the Creator is indeed real and in love with her or not. Recently she has proclaimed her love for Him in return, and today as she sang her heart out to him, I felt my heart burst with joy for her.
After these songs it went on to bigger group singing, then onto skits.
Please remember this was all in Cantonese, with a few songs sung in English.
By about 12:30 my kids were telling me of their hunger pains. It is common to not have lunch at a common time at the school so I told them to hang on. They did so good listening and even still able to enjoy the show. By about 2:oo they were pretty much slumped over in their chairs as far as a kid could sit without falling right off. Poor kids. At 2:3o I said they could go out and play. At 3:00 we had a bun.
As we stepped off the sampan from the school, we made a deadline for McD's to put some food into our stomachs. WRONG THING TO DO! Now we felt still hungery but sick.
When will I learn. It doesn't really matter how cheap and fast and maybe even a little teeny tiny bit tasty McD's is, it is disgusting and we always feel sick after eating it. Dumb mummy!

Anyways, it was an interesting day. A good day. I never thought I would be able to sit for 4hrs of something that I understood almost nothing of. But I did, and I enjoyed it. It was fabulous to see the students being creative, talented, and acting like typical crazy teenagers. Reminded me of some crazy skits me and my friends put on in at RJC. We thought it was hilarious, and everyone else just laughed because we were laughing so hard. Well, some people laughed. Anyways, before I digress.....

It was a good day. And today I realized again, I love those students! They have captured my heart. I am glad we are here!

From one qwailo to another

Qwailo - pronounced [kʷɐ̌i lǒu]; sometimes also spelled Gweilo) is a very common Cantonese slang term for foreigners, and has a long history of racially deprecatory use.^[1] Nowadays, Gwailo is simply a Cantonese word used to refer to Caucasians.

As I stepped outside a few days ago to check on the weather, two caucasian women were walking by. One looked at me and with a big smile said hello. Thinking that perhaps she was someone I had previously met I stepped out to return the greeting. Walking to my gate, I quickly realized I did not know this women. But often people come hiking on the island are needing a little help with directions so I stepped out to chat.

Immediately she looked at me and asked "Do you actually LIVE here???". With pride I replied that in fact we did live here. The look of shock on her face was almost enough to get me laughing out loud. Her next question was if I actually LIKED it here? Again, with much pride I replied that infact we loved living on our little island. Her look of shock now had me laughing out loud. Incredulously, she took at step closer to look at me and get a better glance at my house. As she peered quizzically at my clothes drying in the sun, she asked "Do you actually go to....CENTRAL" as if it was a foreign destination that most people would know about, but I most likely would not.
note - Central is what the main area of Hong Kong Island is called. This is where our ferries to and from Hong Kong connect. It is a business and banking and shopping hub of Hong Kong. I can not get to or from Hong Kong without going through Central.
I assured her that yes we do go to central, and I informed her that that we go in at least once/twice a week. I reminded her of the ferry that she had to take to get here, and that it is only a 35min fast ferry ride. She obviously had no issues inquiring further into my life, although her friend looked as if she wished she could melt into the sidewalk at this point. As she heard my kids in the house, she asked what school they could possibly be going to. When I informed her that we homeschooled, she was rather horrified and wondered out loud how my children could have any friends at all then!!! ( funny locals in Hong Kong only wonder how my children could possible be getting ANY form of education from home, and foreigners first thing is wondering if my children are being socialized)

I must say, this is up there as one of the funniest conversations I have ever had. I couldn't stop laughing all the way through. Maybe it is the side of me that still enjoys shocking people once in a while, I don't know. I wasn't offended, rather it was the best laugh I have had in a while.

Then today, a chinese/canadian friend of mine remarked that she thought I was chinese as she was approaching me down the path, again hanging my clothes to dry outside on our railing. As I laughed rather heartily at this, she assured me it was a compliment and that from my mannerisms I must have assimilated to island life quite well.

I will definitely take that as a compliment!!!!

Been a long time, Been a long time, Been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely time.....

Okay, so it has not been all that lonely at all, but as soon as I thought of starting this post that song started to play in my head.
I come by it honestly, this habit I have of having a song for everything. My mom ALWAYS had a song for everything. I mean, every moment, every situation, every event, every frustrating moment, and every funny moment, she was SURE to have a song to sing about it. As kids we loved it, as teens we pretended to be embarrassed and hate it, now it is one of our favorite memories of her.

Anyways, it may not have been lonely, but it certainly has been a long time.

The reality is, I just didn't feel like posting. I realize this is bad for business, or viewership. But that is my honest moment. I just had no desire to be here telling you about me.

Then a few days ago, I suddenly thought, hey, I should post something again. That could be fun.
So, here I am.

Summer is slowly fading. It is actually a truly wonderful time in Hong Kong right now. Should you ever decide to visit this part of this world, this is the perfect time to come. The humidity is down just slightly, the days are still warm, but the evenings are beginning to cool off. I am loving it. We are pulling out our winter wear and hanging it outside in the sunlight to get rid of that 'slightly moldy' smell.

We are also preparing for a visit to Canada in just over a weeks time. We are excited about this. We are talking through the myriad of emotions we are sure to go through. All the glorious hello's, and all the tearful good-byes. So important and good, but hard.

Anyways, I think I will stop there for now.

It feels good to be back.

Summer days are upon us

Summer days are here. Although, blessedly enough it is 'unusually cool' here. So the days have been a beautiful 28, very low humidity, sunny days. Well, we did have rain last week, but it was lovely. Walking to the village under my umbrella reminded me of summer camp and sleeping in a tent on raining nights.

Our schedule for now is learning, lunch, chores, unfinished work, then off to the beach until supper time. Wonderful and lovely. Perfect really.
We decided when the temps and humidity soar, we will adjust our schedule.
Then we will go the eat early breaky, swim, learn, eat lunch, learn, wait for temps to drop, then go back to the beach for the evening. Eating many fruits smoothies and salads. I have found the most delicious chicken salad ever, and we are all hooked!

Today while we were swimming we were suddenly chased from the waters as 10-15 jelly fish of varying sizes creeping up. It was amazing to see them so close up. They were perfectly clear, like many big bowls of clear jelly. In some we could even see the fish inside waiting to be consumed! They allowed themselves to be brought to the beach to the waves, then sailed off on the next current. Mesmerizing.

Nefeshya and Sammy have been swimming as far out as their emotions will let them (it gets deep very quickly), and Ethan is learning to close his mouth when he swims so it doesn't taste like he just swallowed a box of salt! These are amazing days that I am so thank-ful for.
There have been days of late that I have struggled with how to be a homeschooling mom while 'on the field'. How to balance my time and effort. There are so many opportunities to get involved in. Opportunities that are some of my hearts greatest desires. But then, being a homeschooling mom is also one my greatest hearts desire, so I choose to place that first, and ask for wisdom for all opportunities that pass my way right now.
Tonight as I kissed Feshya good-night she said ' Mom - you are the best teacher in the world'. Ahhhh, that was some sweet ointment on my soul. Thank-you daughter.

The perfect day

It was sunday, and the plans were only half made. Perfect. Made enough that we knew something would happen, but not every detail was planned. I love those kind of days. They stretch me just a little, but not too much that I can't enjoy the ride.

We walked up the hill for fellowship with friends that are no longer my 'new friends' but just my friends. The fellowship was so sweet. Truly, is there anything better than the enjoy Divine love with others that you love? We prayed for my friends who are returning to the UK. Tears were shed. I have told Dad I am actually not very happy with him for bringing them into my life and then taking them away so quickly again. But my life is incredibly enriched for the moments I have been able to share with them.


The plan was that the wonderful guy to the left was going to take the kids to the beach, and pull in the fishing nets that they had left in overnight to see what they had caught, and us mom's were going to prepare a meal of fish and chips ready to cook and eat on the beach that evening.
They brought us a live catch of small fish, prawns, and crabs to cook. There were a few squeals as we put them into the pot and one tried to jump out. (okay it didn't actually try jumping out, but it did fall to the side and we had to put it back in).

The evening was perfect. Warm enough to enjoy the ocean breeze that cleared the air so we could actually see the lights of Hong Kong. (pollution clouds this view more often than not unfortunately)

The children swam, kayaked, played hide and seek in the dark.
The adults chatted, laughed, went for walks in the moonlight.
I even had my new sundress on. I mean really, it was divine.

These are the moments I live for. The moments that nurture and feed my soul.






I am a blessed women.

I will take this weekend, wrap it up, tenderly kiss it, and tuck it away in my treasure box of moments.

For the one

We had a delightful day today at the school. A friend from Canada has been here visiting for the last few weeks and we have been waiting for a day to bring her to the school to visit and see it all. It is such a gift to be able to share our lives with someone from 'home'. Today was the day! Sunday's are a great day to go because there are no classes, so Brad was able to hang out with us. In the morning there is a service. The students lead this and do worship, then one of the staff share. Usually we spend the day with the brothers because that is where Brad is, how ever today we spent the afternoon with the sisters. (The brothers and sisters are together for classes and assemblies, but separate other than that). We had a delicious lunch (also prepared by the students) and then were able to hang out at the girls dormitory.
I have really connected with one girl in particular. Oh how I love her sweet face! What an amazing honor it is to be invited to be in someones life. To have someone want to share their secrets, happiness, and sadness with you. I felt honored. She has asked me to help her find the path to the Creator. (and oh how he is showing her!!) She is not even sure she believes there is a creator, but is wanting to explore the possibility. All I could think of was 'how fun is this, here I am, a small town prairie girl, helping this beautiful chinese girl find her path of wholeness and destiny'. Really, who would have ever thought.

I have been thinking of the line 'for the one' lately. Am I willing to lay down my life 'for the one'. Perhaps Father would bring me across the world for one, maybe two, maybe a hundred. I don't know. I have hopes and dreams, many of them spirit breathed I believe, but I have not lived that all out yet. But until those things do or do not come to fruition, will I be not only be satisfied with what I might think is small things, but see those as important as He does. How many people did He send in my path, planting seeds, watering seeds, helping me pull weeds, helping me along my journey. There was so many that he brought, too many to count really, and I see him bringing them around me still.

Today, I had a 'for the one' moment. And I tell you, if that is all I do in my time here, it was worth every small sacrifice I had to lay down to get here. Amen.

broken arms in Hong Kong

Sammy and his broken arm. About 7weeks ago we were visiting some friends, and the kids were outside playing on the playground equipment. Suddenly one of the kids come running saying Sammy has fallen and is really really hurt. When I rushed over, he was laying face down at the bottom of a slide. The first thought that went thru was had he broke his neck as he wasn't moving at all. Slowly body part by body part, we narrowed down the pain factor to his wrist. We got him inside, put some ice on it and tried to determine what we should do. He was settling down well, but we decided to take him in just to get it checked out. I was very thank-ful that the friend we were visiting has a vehicle and could drive us to the hospital. (it feels like a novelty to us know to driven somewhere) I was also very thank-ful to have her there to walk us through our first hospital visit. We got in quickly, and it was determined that he had a fracture on his arm bone (where it connects to the thumb bone at the wrist). We quickly got the finger to armpit plaster cast put on, and got back in time to watch American Idol at her house. ;). She was so kind to drive us to the ferry pier so we didn't have to do the MTR.
So every two weeks since that time we have had to travel to that same hospital to get his arm x-rayed and examined by the orthopedic dr. Travel time to the hospital is about 2 hours from door step to door step. Not really so bad, but tiring after a while. So after the first two visits he was down to a lighter cast that was from finger tips to elbow, and now he has a brace on for the last 4 weeks.
We had to go to the same hospital because our small local hospital does not have an orthopedic Dr. on site, and it was easier to go back there than transfer to a different hospital that might be slightly closer.
As Hong Kong resident we are able to access the local health care system like local residents. The initial visit to the hospital was $100HK ($13CA) and then subsequent visits are $60hk. Not too bad really. Mostly we have had a good experience with our hospital visits. The Dr.'s all speak english, and we have even had two Dr. who studied or lived in Canada! Most staff have some degree of english as well.
Sammy has been such a trooper thu it all. It has been so hard for him living on the island and everyone else going swimming on the hot days except him. I am so proud of him, but we are all looking forward to him getting it off.
He will have to have some physical therapy when the brace comes off, but thank goodness our little local hospital has a fabulous occupational therapy clinic we can go to. 5 minute walk rather than 2hr ferry/mtr trip. And the Koop children sang out 'Hallelujah!!!!!!'