It is Saturday morning. Been a while since I journaled. This morning all 3 kids went to help with a Christmas party at a Chinese pre-school. I am looking forward to the report. The sun has continued to come out, and it is wonderful! Although the temp has dropped dramatically. It's at these times I think about the shop owners and their large garage like doors open all day.

Chinese New Year is coming soon in February. I am becoming a little intimidated about how to prepare for this time. It is common for everyone to return to their home town/village for 2 weeks. Apparently everything shuts down during this time and it is imperative to stock up. How do I stock up when everything is so perishable? Nothing really last over 2 days. I am especially concerned how to stock up on water. Of course everyone survives so there must be a way right?

We have been trying to simulate some kind of Christmas here. Very strange. Our Christmas Eve day is going to be very full! We are hoping it will be a blessing to our Chinese friends with the true meaning shining through.

We have turned a big corner in our language study! We have finally concluded the pronunciation portion and have moved on to grammar and vocab. Hallelujah! Man, was that grueling and tedious. It was hilarious last week when Lexi decided that she wanted her Chinese name to be Star or Shing Shing. The crazy thing about Chinese is that you can pronounce a word 4 different ways and it will have four different meanings. We were practicing with each other, and Savana's pronunciation of Shing Shing was off so she was calling Lexi a big guerrilla. Our teacher who is a pretty serious character was in tears from laughing so hard. It was nice to laugh!

Yie Yie, Xiao Zhang's daughters has pneumonia. I'm very concerned about her. Xiao Zhang came to work yesterday and Yie Yie went to pre-school while still having pneumonia. She is 3. Ugh! It is so difficult to communicate with the langauge barrier and being sensitive to the customs and her desperate need to work. I am not her only employer so it's not just about what I say. Please pray for Yie Yie and please pray for me to have wisdom and the ability to communicate. It is a very tricky world with house helpers. The locals get very frustrated with the foreigners coming in and over paying and paying when they don't show up. So I have two good Chinese friends that insist that we should not pay when our house helpers don't show up. They feel that this sets the house helpers up to take advantage, and it's true some do take advantage and are inconsistent about showing up.

But, I feel like Xiao Zhang is like a daughter. Her mother has passed away and her father lives far away in another village. As far as I know she doesn't have anyone local to help her. Since it is Christmas time, I didn't pay her for the days she didn't come, but gave her a Christmas bonus that made up for it and a little extra. But, I am concerned for the future. How do I honor my local friends that work so hard to train, love and place these women and care for Xiao Zhang in a meaningful way? The key is to not keep the locals dependent on foreigners or their money. It is not sustainable. Yet, everyone needs a little help from time to time.

Tomorrow night the foreign language department is putting on a skit show. We have been asked to do a skit. Oh boy. Of course we thing the kids will be sufficient to entertain. Savana and Lexi are planning to sing a Christmas song and then all the kids and some of Wyatt's buddies are planning a skit. Should be interesting!

B