My, How They've Grown!

By far the most popular feedback we received from our recent update had to do with our family photo, like this one,  that appeared at the bottom of the letter:

Tallest to shortest

"Wow, your kids have grown so much!"

Indeed they have, in wisdom and in stature! 

I absolutely love having teenagers!

Amy's artistic side has flourished in China. She spends lots of time drawing every day, and is currently working on an alphabet book for our little friend Faith, who is three years old. I'm proud of her for the time and creativity she has put in to this project, and I think the results are lovely. Playing piano is a newly rediscovered hobby for her as well, and she is learning entirely on her own to play many beautiful pieces by heart. It's so great to see her motivated to play with no need for reminding and nagging... Many thanks go to Miss Cunningham who taught her the skills she still remembers and uses to read music!

M is for music, microphone, Make Me a Servant and My Peace

B is for balloons, birds, basket and bicycle

T is for toys, train, truck, turkey, teddy, turtle, tiger and toucan

 Ian continues to love the sport of soccer. As in most of the world, it is called "football" in Chinese, but here you don't "play" football, you KICK football! Makes sense, right? He "kicks" with a large group of  kids and a few of their parents on Thursday afternoons. From there he travels with a few guys to play on a club team in the evening. The fields for club soccer are really small, made of artificial turf, and these boys are playing against adult teams from places like Spain and Brazil , so Ian comes home exhausted but happy, with his shoes and socks full of recycled rubber. He also plays with a group of nationals and foreigners for a few hours on Saturdays at a local university. 

Aside from soccer, Ian is also teaching himself computer programming and at this point is leaning towards a  major in software engineering someday. 

Ian and Barney compete for the ball.

The soccer field is in a construction zone at the moment.

Club soccer uniform

When my kids were little and mothering was a non-stop, tiring endeavor, I had people tell me that I should enjoy the "little" years while they lasted, because later it would be even more difficult. While I think there is some truth to that (it's just difficult in different ways), I wouldn't trade these teenage years for anything.  

I am thoroughly enjoying the journey with these young people God has given me!