End of Summer Photo Diary

I am loving reading LaurenConrad.com these days & she recently posted an End of Summer Photo Diary. This post is entirely inspired by hers. :) 

The summer started with the birth of this cutey, Elijah! We've tried to spend at least one day a week in the company of this gorgeous little man and his mommy and daddy, our close friends, Justin & Catherine. Photo by Catherine.

 We went to an awesome & super patriotic 4th of July Party.

Then, we zipped on over to Shanghai for a day, and then red-eyed it to Manilla.

We took a tour of Zachary's future new school & explored a little of Manila.

Then spent a heavenly week in Bohol...

 where we saw the Chocolate Hills, pet a giant snake, saw the rare tarsier, zip lined, motor biked, snorkeled...

 stayed at this fantastic resort..

 fed monkeys for the first time..

 and kayaked the gorgeous Loboc River.

 As soon as we got back to China, Zachary bought a scooter which has improved our summer immensely.

 

The scooter has inspired me to start wearing sleeveless shirts, which is, seriously, quite an accomplishment for me. All the Vitamin B is doing my heart & soul some good!

We checked out the pseudo-jazz band at the Himalayas with our good friend & Himalayas GM, Sonny & stuffed our faces at Z1 (Pseudo because there's just a keyboardist and singer, NOT because they don't sound awesome, because they do!).

 We rode our scooter tons!

 And helped Trent and Angie by their own! (Scooter gang in the works, ya'll!)

 We went to a dinner party at our friend's new apartment where they have this view.

 We explored some of Lao Shan's hidden gems, like crystal clear lakes and green tea fields.

 After a few weeks of tutoring, snuggling up with our girl dog & enjoying our new bike, we headed to Beijing, stayed in the Hutongs and hiked the Great Wall.

 Exactly, one week later we jumped on a plane and headed to another famous city in China, Xian.

 Where we saw an entire army of Terra Cotta Warriors!

 

And to close out this fantastic summer, we are now officially an aunt & uncle, with the birth of my sister's first little boy, Sebastian. 

And here we are guys, 2 days out from our first day back at work. It's been an awesome summer. One of the best, actually. We are feeling so blessed.  What does your End of Summer Photo Diary entail?

An Art Show

This past weekend we attended the Young Artists of the Year 2014 art show. By attended, I mean we went to, by Young Artists of the Year, I mean really young! There was art displayed from ages 4 to 18. There was even noodle art on display, super cute!

 

 The whole event was put on by our sweet friend Bruna for one of the local international schools. The exhibit showcased their students work to be judged by a group of judges. All the proceeds from the event went to a Chinese orphanage. We bought a few of these raffle tickets once we got there.

 And.....spoiler alert: We won all the above!! :) We are super excited! I know cans of soup, peanut butter and cereal may not look like much to you Western readers, but let me tell you, this is hitting the gold mine here.

 I loved these little taxi books that YCIS (the International school) made! They are filled with local attractions, restaurants and stores with their English and Chinese name & address to show taxi drivers. Such an awesome idea as a welcome gift for people who are moving overseas!

 Dave, Bruna's husband, giving Zachary the verbal tour of the art work.

 Dave, from the States, and Bruna, who put on the event, from Brazil. 

Zachary and I really loved this piece of art. It's about taking exams but we think it would be awesome if the book was instead in the shape of a heart with God's love & redemption type words, the hands were pierced, and the stuff running down was blood with lists of sins. Maybe we'll have to recreate it!

 Loved this, a sketch of all the different main attractions in major Chinese cities, Qingdao's May 4th Square tornado at center.

 Such a beautiful picture but dark. I really love the eyes.

 Nicole, Erin and Rosanna rocking the event by helping Bruna work the booths.

 Qingdao and Street food

 Bruna made these delicious bon bons for sale.

There were a bake sale booth with tons of goodies with all the proceeds going to the charity.

The children who attended the even got a real treat! I was a little jealous I'm not gonna lie! They have tons of fun colors, paints and glitter to create a masterpiece on their own square of canvas.

Fracasse de frango! Delicious Brazilian food was available for lunch! I'm definitely going to look for the recipe online! It was awesome.

The little guy was all ham. He kept coming over and playing with Zachary, when he saw Zachary was interested in playing, he ran away and came back quickly, decked out in glitter and glasses for Zachary's viewing approval. So cute!

We had a great time! Thanks Bruna for all the hard work you put into this and for your huge heart for Chinese orphans!

A Little from March

I know it's been awhile since I've done a life lately post. Sorry family, you're probably wondering what the heck it is that we are doing over here all the time. We are, as usual, crazy busy. The good kind of busy and the bad. Some days we feel so extremely blessed with all the friendships God's given us here, all the students He's entrusted to us and all the experiences we have. Other days we feel like we want to cry or pull our hair out from getting to bed at night and it being the first time we've stopped the whole day, our kids not listening or our internet not working and Zachary having to fix it for 2 hours every 2 hours and 5 minutes. It's life, though, you know? We live real life here. We pay bills. We work 50 hours a week, no really, 50. We make dinner, clean, buy groceries, meet with friends, go to church. Anyways, more on that later. Overall, we are so thankful for the life that God has given us, the good and bad, the crazy and peaceful. 

 

Because we've been so busy, we've been trying to squeeze in set aside, just us, date nights. We have usually been really great at this and honestly most nights feel like dates, but these days, with the business, it's nice to be more intentional about them. This week we opted to stay in for some dumplings and wine & watermelon juice.

 Our favorite dumplings are kimchi and pork dumplings.

 Spring is in the air. I don't enjoy warmer weather, I know, I'm like the one person on Facebook and blog land not longing for summer. I will say though that the blooms that are starting to pop around out complex are just gorgeous and they smell so, so, so very good.

Love cherry blossoms. Aren't they just so beautiful?

 We love our time with this sweet girl and her parents every week. We try to have dinner with Amber and CJ every Sunday to catch up and connect with the Lord. They are such an encouragement to us. This past week, Jessica and Marrick came too, which of course, we were so, so very happy about.

 One of the high school students I tutored last year, Cindy, went to Canada for school and just came home for a visit on her Spring Break. She brought us some Tolberlone and these Lindt balls. Who knew those were Canadian brands?!

 I recently went over to a coworkers house for lunch. We spent the afternoon admiring the little ones while he admired his new toys.

Nicole, our new house guest and roommate, had a friend over the other night and they made Oreo cheesecake. it was amazing and has got me craving cheesecake like everyday. I'm resisting though. :)

Oreo cheesecake... the bomb diggity.

 Zachary has insistently tried to persuade me to move this shelf in the front hallway. I have insistently refused his requests. I just.. don't like it. It throws off everything. The other day I took a nap, and what do you know, the shelf magically appeared in the hallway. It's been there a week now and I haven't moved it... so I guess, it might, just maybe stay there.

He washed all the shoes that were on it in the washing machine. In the washing machine! I didn't even know you could do that. But he did. So, I couldn't complain too much. ;)

 This is currently our lunch 3 to 4 times a week. Subway salad, with extra veggies, with tuna and mustard on top.

I'm bringing back my reward system for my tutoring kids. They are getting a little cray-cray. And the office just looks so very dreary. It's in need of color and a new paint job!

 For now, these colorful pockets will work.

 Check out those gorgeous tape skid marks on the wall. Really, we need a paint job!

 One of my classes at school earned a party this past week. If I could play match maker and only had one chance to make a couple out of my kids, I'd put these two together. Really, you guys. I'm convinced they will be married in 20 years. They really would be perfect for each other. I mean I know they are only like 8, but still, I just know it. :)

Love you guys. Mosby's Out. :)