Off to Work!

Ryan heading off to work this morning... Is it crazy that I miss him already?

These last 2 1/2 months have been amazing. We count ourselves so blessed that we were given so much time together - something most couples never experience until retirement. Yes, it will be nice having an income again. ;) And yes, a daily job will give us both a more structured routine, which we've been missing. But months of having Ryan by my side hour by hour, whether we were reading the Bible, working on details, playing with Hadassah, singing, stressing a little about all the crazy things going on, trying to catch up on sleep, or visiting with family and friends was amazing. Not to mention being able to kiss him whenever I wanted! He truly is my best friend. Never in all those weeks did we ever get annoyed with each other or want some space - we were truly made for each other. :)

So, he looks snazzy on his new electronic bike, and is excited to get to apply his mind to a new job. But while grateful for all of the new opportunities ahead, both of us will miss the sweet season that has just passed. Thank You, Lord.

Home :)

We moved in to our apartment on Wednesday and it feels SO good to have a home. :) It's still bare-bones - just what we brought in suitcases plus the furniture there and some linens our landlady graciously let us borrow for now - but it's home. :)

Ryan starts work on Monday, so we're busy getting things ready for that. He bought a cool electronic bike today that will make it quick for him to get to and from work, meaning he'll still be able to make it home for lunch!

We don't have internet at home, so we're taking advantage of restaurants with wi-fi. Lots to set up, but already God has blessed us again and again, and connected us with some great people. We are very thankful.

Reflections of Romans 1:1-15

Just want to reflect a little on what Anna and I have been reading in Romans recently.  We just finished Romans 1:1-15, which is probably a good place to stop and reflect.

And I want to choose a theme to dwell on in it.  There so many themes you could pick out.  Verses 3 and 4 are all about Christology.  The theme of "calling" comes up again and again (verses 1, 6, and 7).  But what I want to meditate on is Paul's sincerity in ministry.

In verse 9 Paul says he does his service "in his spirit", which many commentators (e.g. Moo and Martyn Lloyd Jones) take to be a statement of his sincerity.  He serves Christ with his Spirit.  And then in verse 10 he talks about how often he is praying for the church at Rome "always making mention of them in his prayers."  You have to wonder how the mind of Paul worked.  When he was waiting at Pizza Hut for his pizza to cook and with nothing to do, was he just serially going through all the churches he could think of and praying for them one by one?  That is the way he talks.

He saw himself as "called to be an apostle" (verse 1) and "set apart for the gospel of God", also verse 1.  His life orientation was towards ministry.  What he says he was set apart for was not just "Jesus" or "God".  He was "set apart for the gospel of God".  Ministry.  It was what Paul lived for.  Even the noun he uses for himself points to this: He was a bondservant.  When you think of slavery, you think of all the crazy work slaves have to do.  That is what defines them.  The thought is not so much chains or the status of being bought as a slave, as it is service and sweat and energy all being expended for Christ.

Paul's entire relationship with the church at Rome is gospel and ministry oriented.  It's not like that is something on the side, or even something at the core that is surrounded by other kind of stuff.  Paul, no where in the letter, does small talk kind of stuff.  In verse 11 he says he wants to impart or demonstrate to them a spiritual gift.  In verse 12 he says he wants there to be mutual encouragement and edification from their meeting.  In verse 15 he says he wants to preach the gospel to them.  And he states this at the outset.  He was a man of purpose and I want to be like that.

You know, when was the last time you said, "Hey, I want to come over to your house so that we can have an experience of the Holy Spirit together"?  That kind of thing is only born out of a dedication to a calling.  It isn't natural.

You see this again in verse 14.  Paul, when he is referring to his ministry to people, says he is a debtor to them.  He doesn't say that it would be a good thing, like a cherry on top, if he preaches the gospel to the Greek and the barbarian.  He says he's in debt to them and won't be out of the debt unless he tells them the gospel.  It's a very unique thought and gives you a glimpse into how Paul's mind worked.  He felt under obligation.  Compulsion.  Like it would be awkward and just wrong if he didn't.  God, please give me that mindset.

A Girl and her Dad's Hat

Seriously - could anything be cuter?

Apartment: Found!

Wow. When friends said things can move fast in China, they were right. We found our apartment today! Our God answers prayer.

Both Friday and today, we walked around for 5 hours each afternoon, looking at apartments. Some were obvious no's, others were ones to consider. But none clicked like the last one we looked at...

We tried to see it earlier. We waited at the door for a while, finally sitting down, at which point the neighbors invited us in. The mom spoke English and they had a 17-month-old son, so it was fun to converse with her. She was really friendly too, so the thought of possibly having her next door was great. So we waited and waited, only to finally learn that there was a mix-up with who the key was given to, and the owner wouldn't be back for another hour. So, these sweet new friends gave us a tour of their place, saying the set-up of the other one was similar.

Instead of waiting for the owner to arrive, we walked to see another place. Only to find that the owner of this one had left, since we'd waited so long at the other place. Oh well - we hadn't really been interested in that one anyways. So we walked back to the other place... Hopefully it'd be worth it.

And it was!! Right away we both felt that this was it. Open, clean rooms, airy and cheerful, with more modern furnishings . The master bedroom even had a more western-style mattress - not thin and hard like all the others we'd seen. It fit pretty much everything we hadn't liked about the other apartments: the tv's were small, so they'd fit easily in a closet (we didn't watch tv in the US so we don't plan to start here!). The 3rd bedroom didn't have a bed so we'll have more space (one guest bed should be enough!). The furniture already had guard things on the corners because the previous renters had a baby - it's like it has been prepared for us! Little things like the curtains in the living room and kitchen just made me happy... It should only take Ryan 5 minutes to get to work on an E-bike (kind of like a motorcycle but cheaper) and is close enough that I could walk it! And to top it all off, we've already met the neighbors and at least one speaks great English!

The owners are also really nice. They teach at the university (which is across the street) and want to make sure things are kept nice. Having seen many very dirty apartments as we searched for one, I'm happy to keep this one nice as we find it so! They're very caring and told us to call if we needed anything and promised to fix a few things that were broken. We are blessed!

The only downside: it's on the 3rd floor and there's no elevator. So, we'll get nice and strong over the next few years! ;)

Knowing that our favorite from the previous day had JUST been taken by someone else, we went ahead and told the owner it was a deal. We'll sign the papers and put the down payment down on Monday.

We have a home! I nearly skipped as we made the trek back to the subway. I did sing with all my might "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation!" Ryan accompanied with some cool clapping patterns, as he'd completely lost his voice. Walking for hours and talking with people isn't the best treatment for a bad sore throat... my man is amazing.

We celebrated at McDonalds - the only thing by the subway. And never had those Golden Arches looked so good!

As we rode towards our hotel, I leaned close to Ryan and said, "I can picture it now! We have a home!"

And boy does it feel good.

Thank you Lord! And thank you to everyone who was praying - we could definitely feel it!

Longing for Home...

"I'm longing for a City...

Not made by human hands.

And I'm longing for a Garden...

Where God once walked with man.

For eternity is written on my heart;

And I'm longing for a day,

When we'll never be apart."

*

Yesterday was hard. It seemed like one thing upon another was going wrong... I was just getting better after being sick for 3 days with fever, chills, and an awful sore throat, and now Ryan was coming down with the same thing. This wasn't our plan for our first week in China. We'd planned to see the city, try new food, and enjoy the experience! Have I mentioned that a hotel room gets boring after a while to a 7-month-old?

Food was hard to find - especially when we weren't sure what we could trust (hearing that contaminated food is more prevalent these days) and wanting something fresh since we were sick. Fresh and safe is expensive in Shanghai. Going to CarreFour for fruit & veggies we could peel had almost resulted in me fainting, as I was in the midst of fever. Then we'd finally found some lettuce at a store that looked safe but when we brought it home, it was covered in bugs. Red bugs. Black bugs. Minuscule bugs. And the worst - gooey white worm bugs. Not just one bug here or there, but multiple bugs on every leaf. They didn't wash off with bottled water either, since there's no strong pressure...

There was more. We really really wanted to get into an apartment, where we could have more room to spread out and get organized and have Hadassah sleep in a separate room so we didn't keep accidentally keep waking her up with our movement. Plus, after 2 months of traveling, we are SO ready to be settled again. But getting an apartment in China requires that you know an agent who can take you to see some. Most agents speak Chinese. And how to get in touch with them? Ryan's work was helping some, but it was going slow... all they'd offered so far was out of our budget. 

We laid on the bed as Hadassah napped, and whispered our frustration. We just want to be home. We miss Iowa. We miss being able to make our own food. We miss when getting groceries for a week took just over an hour - now just getting ONE meal takes that much time or more! We miss having our own home, with a car that Ryan would drive 5 minutes to work. Trying to find an apartment close enough that he can walk or bike home for lunch seems like an impossibility here... We miss blue sky. We miss having a dryer. We want to be home...

But then we decided to count our blessings:

     - We hadn't gotten sick at the same time, so there was always one of us with enough energy to play with Hadassah

     - Hadassah hasn't gotten sick!

     - We're in a very comfortable hotel

     - We're together

     - This time will make us stronger

     - We're learning to rely on God more

I admit, it didn't make things all better. The list of blessings seemed shorter than the list of frustrations. But it also reminded me once more that this world isn't our home.

Yes, soon, Lord willing, "home" for us will refer to an apartment hopefully close to Ryan's work. But how long will it last? Three years? And even if we then move somewhere else, it will still be temporary. So we started to think about our true Home:

     - We won't need the sun, because the Lamb, Jesus, will give us light

     - There will be green grass for Hadassah to run and play on

     - The air will be completely pure

     - There will be no sickness

     - There will be no contaminated food - instead, we'll feast with the Lord!

     - There will be no more tears

     - Best of all, we'll be with our Lord, worshiping Him with family and friends and Christians through the ages forever.

     - There will be no more longing... we'll be home.

"Behold, the tabernacle of God will be with man;

He will be our God, and we will be His people.

And the Bride she will marry the Lamb...

But until that day, I'm longing for the new Jerusalem."

*lyrics by Matt & Alexia Gilman

Happy 7 months!

Look who's 7 months! Hadassah is becoming such a big girl, and her personality is really coming through. She's so sweet, gentle, funny, playful, inquisitive, and people-oriented, always looking for people to look at and smile at (and finding plenty here in China!). She also loves other babies - when she sees pictures of them, she smiles a cute smile and reaches out, and when she met a little boy on the subway, she reached out to hold his hand.  She fills our lives with joy - we're so thankful for our little 'Dassah!

 She stuck the leaf in her mouth JUST before I took the picture - silly girl! ;) But oh so cute...

Dimples!! Just when I thought she couldn't get any cuter!