Creepy Kids: Chinese Urban Legends

 

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In lieu of Halloween month, how about some Chinese Urban Legends, shall we?

Our local Expat magazine, The Red Star, featured an article that featured some Chinese Ghost stories/legends, so really, it would be much easier to just let them share the first with you. :)

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"According to traditional Chinese superstition, if a child gets extremely frightened or experiences some type of heavy trauma then his or her soul will leave the body. So if a young child is endlessly crying without any reason it probably got scared soul-less. The tradition of ridding the child of this unknown ailment is to take one article of clothing the child has worn that day to the nearest intersection and waving it about while calling out the child's nickname commanding it to return home. For example, 'Come back home baby, come home to mama and daddy.' Next, go home and lay this article of clothing over the child's sleeping body and rub his or her earlobes. The crying and feeling of emptiness your child is suffering from should clear right up as it lays there confused about what got into their parents."-The RedStar October, 2013 Issue

Our close Chinese friend, Abigail, is from a village in China, and she said this sight is so common for her. She has often heard people doing this and seen parents on the side of the road waving their kids clothing.

My goodness, poor children!! Can you imagine the amount of counseling they will need later in life for the major trauma they experienced that scared them "soul-less "?! Not to mention the fact that they were told that they were soulless and  from waking up in the middle of the night to their parents rubbing their earlobes, rejoicing that their soul was back?! Major issues people, major.

I'm not gonna lie though, part of me really wished I had seen this before, in order to take a picture and show you of course. But of course, for the sake of the child, am delighted I haven't! 

Beauty for Ashes Expat Conference: Qingdao

A few weeks back I mentioned how I had had a fabulous weekend! Here in Qingdao we had an expat women's Beauty for Ashes retreat. I was so blessed to be apart of the team of women putting it together. Our vision for it was that it would be a weekend for women to be Refreshed, Revived, and Reconciled to God and each other. The Lord fulfilled that vision, His vision, that weekend in so many women's lives.  It was a weekend of tears, joy, blessings, encouragement and freedom!

Forty expat women attended the retreat, where we provided tons of snacks & coffee, speakers, prayer, worship, and small group time. The talks were amazing. They spoke into who we are in Jesus.
We are cherished, sought after, delighted in, rejoiced over! We are so very loved by Him.
We were taught how to recognize the lies that the enemy has spoken over us about who we are and we prayed for freedom from those lies in our small group times. The Lord set free! As He always does, He made beauty out of ashes and it was beautiful. I was set free of an identity and image that I had believed and spoken over myself for as long as I can remember. He replaced that horrible image with a new image, an Oak of Righteousness. **I promise I will share in more detail about that lie.. but not today. :)** This new image breathed life into me, into those places that were dead from pain & lies.

My job in the retreat was my very favorite job of all things social, hospitality! In the past few years, I have began to realize that God has really gifted me in hospitality and that I just love it . I love  to create spaces and parties where people feel excited, comfortable, loved, thought of, cared for and drawn closer to each other and Jesus.  I love to create things that people can delight in and feel delighted over by and I feel so alive when doing it. I feel closer to Jesus & more apart of His plan for my life.

God provided for every detail, including the space. A month before the retreat I realized that me and my procrastinating self had still not booked a hotel. I started calling around and found that most of the hotels here charged ridiculous prices for their meeting rooms, meeting rooms that even if we could afford them, were already booked. I started freaking out, slipping in the "Jesus please provide!" desperation prayers in my freak outs, and what do you know, of course, as He always does, He faithfully provided. Not only did He provide a hotel, but He provide one that was freaking awesome and a fraction of the cost compared to all the others. As soon as I called and found out this hotel had available dates, Zachary and I rushed out the door to check it out. Walking up to the entrance, on the wooded walkway above, I started feeling sooverwhelmed by How amazing, good and kind God is. The rest of the hotel continued to blow me away. It was just so me! It fit my personality and idea perfectly. It was cozy, yet eclectic and cool.
 It was just perfect. A gift.

 On the first day of the retreat I got there early and started brewing coffee, placing food, placing flowers and setting everything else up. I was so excited about the way everything turned out! It's crazy how just flowers, mason jars, and an accent color can really liven a place up. The women were so encouraging all weekend complimenting and thanking me. It, of course, always feels good to have someone delight in and enjoy something you've spent so much time praying over and thinking about and it felt beyond awesome to be doing something in my "element." Their words were so encouraging to me & I enjoyed doing it, but really, it was all Him and all for His glory and praise.

If you are interesting in working through this Beauty for Ashes course that was taught at the retreat, in a small group - or even on your own - you can buy the study guide (and leader's guide) here: Crown of Beauty.

"Journey with God through this twelve week Bible study and allow God to set you free to rest in His love and delight. You will display His glory as God's Spirit renews you. These studies will enable you to discover the root issues that are holding you back from a more intimate encounter with God. Discouragement, distance, or defeat will be replaced by joy, intimacy, and victory. This is most effective when studied with at least one other person, though it can be done alone. Preparation time: 30 - 45 minutes per lesson. Small group time: 1 1/2 hours. You can also purchase the Leader's Guide and teach this Bible study to a small group or to your church's women's ministry."

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,  because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,  to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,   and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy  instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord  for the display of his splendor.

Isaiah 61: 1-3 

***All pictures are taken by the extremely talented Catherine, from the blog Traveling with JC! 
Follow their blog! You'll love it!***

3 Wave Coffee Club

3 Wave Coffee is a Coffee club founded by our dear friend, Denny and his business partner and friend, Norman. Denny is an American entrepreneur, based out of Tempa, Arizona and loves all things coffee. He spent the last year in China, with his wife April, developing 3 Wave Coffee. The 3WC is a coffee of the month club where each month every customer is provided with a months worth of high end 3rd Wave coffee. Sounds like my kind of club, right?! This is a fantastic deal for coffee lovers living in China, where it's difficult to find quality coffee!

While living in China Denny an April became some of our closest friends. Now that they've moved back to the States Denny is on a monthly mission to find the very best roasted coffee to be exported to China. Denny has found coffee that would convert even the non-coffee drinker, like coffees with hints of blueberry, tomato, fruits, and some that even resemble tea.

Each bag of 3WC coffee gives the taste description and roaster. Know any great roasters in your hometown? Let me know and I'll be sure to pass their info on to Denny to help in his hunt for the best roasters!

We were privelaged to attend 3 Wave Coffee's launch party at a local Resturant and bar in Qingdao. We had such a great time supporting this new business, watching the baristas carefully pour each hand dripped coffee, and of course, trying new roasts! *Check out April's highly professional and informational recap of the event. Really. Check it out. It's much better than mine. :)

Glimpses from  the launch.

At the event, 3WC provide free hand poured coffee and pastries. Hand poured coffee is fabulous! If you've never tried it I highly recommend you do! If you're not in a rush, hand poured coffee is a great treat and some coffee lovers even insist on having it daily. You know, as they say, "Once you go hand pour, you don't go back." Or something like that. ;) The hand pour style originates in Japan where it's enjoyed as more of a ceremony, similar to tea ceremonies.

For such high quality of coffee 3 Wave provides hand pour is the way to go to really enjoy & savor the flavors & complexity of each cup.

"The benefits of pour-over compared to other brewing tactics lie in the timing and control in the wrist. Infusing the ground coffee for the correct length of time with a controlled hand will produce a fuller, fruity taste, often accented with floral notes" -Samantha Reichman at CNN 
To find out more about hand poured coffee, like what the heck it is and how to do it, check here. :)

So, what is 3rd Way Coffee?

Third Wave Coffee is a movement where coffee producers seek to produce the highest-quality of coffee. The movement considers coffee as an "artisanal foodstuff, like wine, rather than a commodity." Third Wave Coffee is coffee that has been improved in all levels of production, from bean growth to micro roasting and brewing. To further explain, I'll let the highly factual ;) wikipedia do that for me, "Third Wave Coffee aspires to the highest form of culinary appreciation of coffee, so that one may appreciate subtleties of flavor, bean varietal, and growing region – similar to other complex culinary products such as wine, tea, and chocolate. Distinctive features of Third Wave Coffee include direct trade coffee, high-quality beans, single-origin coffee (as opposed to blends), lighter roasts of the beans, and latte art." via

i.e. Third Wave Coffee is just better. And awesome. :)

You know if your coffee provider has a tattoo, he's legit. ;)

April, his wife, is the cutest & such an amazing woman. She of course, photographed it all! You may remember April from her blog & 10,000 Smiles Project!

If you're in China and want to sign up for the 3 Wave Coffee Club you can do that here.