Monday thoughts, on the last day of May

The girls are next door on the neighbor's trampoline. The boys are across the street at school, playing basketball with friends. I am sitting out on our little deck, having just finished preparing some chicken to bake for our supper tonight. Scott has probably finished up work for the day and is getting in the car about now to make his way across the river home to us.

There are less than two weeks of school left before summer vacation, and only a little more than two weeks until the kids and I head back to the US for the summer. Only one month until Scott heads back to the US to join us and together we join his family for a week at the beach, something we've all been looking forward to. I am excited for summer and the time we'll have with the people we love, but I'm not anxious to leave as I have been other times. The characteristic steamy, sticky Shanghai summer is late in arriving this year, so the weather has been lovely, but more than that I am more and more aware of how much I love this community, the people we've been privileged to meet and the life God has given us in China.

I said good-bye to a dear friend today. It's the time of year for good-byes in Shanghai. She and her family are moving back to the US tomorrow, after nine years here in China. Oh, how I will miss our honest conversations and her listening ear. She and I walked together, through the city streets on the Puxi side of the river where she lives, chatting as if it were any other day and not our last day together. She had a few last minute purchases to make, so I joined her in her errands. On the walk back to her house we stopped at a little stand for a made-to-order sushi roll. We chose the fillings, watched as the woman working the stand put the rice on the sheet of seaweed, added the fillings, and rolled it up. It looks so easy, I told my friend. Maybe I'll try to make it at the beach this summer...

It's Memorial Day in the US. I heard a patriotic song on a US radio program I was listening to online, and I felt a pang. It's not Memorial Day here. Have I taught my kids enough about the great country America is, the sacrifices made for the freedoms enjoyed there, unlike anywhere else in the world?

I've been holding babies recently, beautiful, sweet babies with bright eyes and wide smiles. They are orphans with varying medical needs, being cared for through several different venues run by expats here in Shanghai. God has opened up several opportunities for me to be a part of these ministries, right on the heels of Madelyn starting school. I am in awe of how God has given me significant ways to use my time.

Speaking of school and Madelyn, she is doing beautifully. She tells me many details each day about her friends, her teachers, the games they play in PE, the conversations at the lunch table, the prayers they say before lunch, the songs they sing in music class, etc, etc. It's wonderful to see her blossoming. Her writing, one area I felt I was weak in teaching her, has amazed me. She is incredibly creative! God makes a way when I thought there was no way.

I have more I could say, but I think I'll stop for now. Thanks for listening. :-)