Gifts

Our language school put together a commemorative album of the first semester of classes. Look who made the cover! Can you pick out our own A.A.? We have enjoyed looking through this album to see where all of our fellow students are originally from, and to get to know their names a little better.

This beautiful calligraphy set was a gift from our spoken Chinese teacher, Miss Li. It is truly a lovely gift, and we are grateful for her thoughtfulness towards us. She wants us to practice over the break and show her our progress in the spring. I just need to find out where to buy the proper type of paper.

On Christmas Eve we were blessed to spend time with a UCLA student who is here studying for the year and with our friends Lucy and Lenny. For dinner I cooked chicken parmesan, roasted sweet and purple potatoes, steamed broccoli, bread, and pasta with marinara sauce. We sang carols and read the Christmas story together, and then enjoyed chatting for awhile. AA made a tasty pumpkin pie for dessert.

We met Lucy and her daughter on the Subway one morning on our way to church, and our friendship has continued since then. Originally "Lenny" was called "Kitty," but for some reason she decided "Lenny" was a better English name. We tried to convince her that Lenny is a boy's name, but nothing can sway her loyalty to the name, and she insists on being called "Lenny," NOT "Kitty."

Funny Lenny Story:

In Chinese the word for Christmas Eve has a character in common with the word for "apple," and giving an apple to someone on Christmas Eve is a symbol peace and friendship. Lenny received one such apple from a school friend, but didn't open it right away. At our house she remembered the fancy box and asked to see what was inside. She refused to believe it when her mom told her that it was an apple and eagerly tore off the top of the box expecting to find a toy or a doll. When she saw that it was, indeed, a plain old apple, she cried, "An apple is NOT a present! I wanted a pretty doll!" Efforts to explanation why her friend gave her an apple on Christmas Eve were of no avail, and she continued to cry. I tried to make her laugh by suggesting she could draw a pretty face on her apple and pretend it was a doll. She was not amused, but wailed, "I want to put a dress and shoes on my doll. You CANNOT put SHOES on an apple!"

Funny, stubborn little Lenny! We have sure enjoyed getting to know her and her mom, and pray that Lenny would grow up to love and serve the Lord.