A NEW FRIEND

Emma playing a game with the girls at the orphanage....she's doing so well with teaching English to anyone who wants to learn.

Joseph and his friend Thomas at the orphanage.

Yesterday Emma and I went shopping. She still had Christmas money from Grandma and Grandpa and was making me crazy about spending it. She had it in her head that she wanted a shelf for her room. When out without her, I found what she wanted so we ventured out together to try to buy it. We first went to a new grocery store (new to me not to Hunchun) so we didn't have to carry a large shelf with us to the grocery store if our shopping was successful. Emma and I were talking in an aisle when a woman approached me and asked if I was from America. Her English was very good and she was so excited to meet Americans. We visited a little while in the grocery store and then we exchanged phone numbers. I asked if she could come to our home the next evening for dinner (tonight) and we made plans for her to visit our home. Her name is Rose and she came this evening with her 5 year old son. Even though she is Korean/Chinese she has studied English for a long time and her profession is an English teacher. She teaches adults and a few children private English classes in her home. I was excited to fix dinner for them but was unsure what to fix. So I decided to fix the perfect American meal for a five year old boy. We had chicken nuggets, french fries and macaroni and cheese! The first time I've ever entertained with such an easy meal! We had Country Bobs, ketchup and mustard for dipping and lemonade with oranges. Rose and her son Allan really seemed to enjoy it.....kinda funny! I may just be giving good cooks in America a bad name....I hope they don't think chicken nuggets is the best we have. We enjoyed the company and next visit I promised to cook adult American dinner. Rose's husband is an emergency room doctor.....I hope that never comes in handy! And Rose helped me with my Chinese pronunciation. She will be a great tutor. She has time to help me and the excitement to also. Chinese women are never shy to ask me my age, so when Rose did I asked in return. She will be 40 this May.....how nice to make a friend close to my age. What a blessing and productive trip to the grocery store......Emma thought so too......we ended up carrying home a green free-standing shelf she bought with her own money.

Last night was our night to go to the orphanage. We love going there and I always have to play with the 8 month old boy, Feng Sian. It makes me crazy that he doesn't like me so I took cookies for him this time......and wouldn't you know......he just got done eating and wasn't hungry!! I can't win. But I still play peek-a-boo across his nanny and visit with her about this sweet boy. How my heart aches that he will be in an orphanage his whole childhood. Most of the children there have some type of family to visit and have lived with family at some point during their childhood, but Feng Sian has no one outside the orphanage. For our class time we played Go-Fish using phonics sounds and we talked about the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration. We try to teach a little English and then teach a little about our culture....so we introduced Sweetarts! No one spit theirs out, so they must have liked them.

Our days zip by and we keep very busy. We're amazed at how fast the days fly by....except I feel like we have been away from the States longer than we actually have. I feel like we've been gone forever....our past life seems so long ago.....and this life becomes more natural and normal to us every day.