Love is in the air... :)

Joy was in for a big surprise when her best friend and lil sister came to visit a few weeks ago! Ryan proposed on a famous tower overlooking the city...precious!!! That's right...she's engaged!!! They'll be getting married later this year.

Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self seeking,

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts,

always hopes, always PERSEVERES...

love never fails!

And speaking of love, Val's teacher, Judie, got married last weekend.

After Judie saw the cake Val made for my birthday, she asked Val to make her wedding cake...and once again Val did a fabulous job!The wedding party!
Wedding food...always special. If you look closely at the center dish, you'll notice it resembles a turtle...b/c that's what it is :)

Cheers! Judie in her traditional wedding gown.Now cakes at weddings here are few and far between, so Val went and got it and started passing a few slices out to guests. And since nobody really cared if they got a peice or not, we dug into it with our chopsticks!!!

We were also a little surprised when Judie called us the day after the wedding inviting us over to "play" (that's the word that's said here instead of "hang out"). So we headed over to see their new house, eat dinner, and play games. That was definitely the first time I've hung out with newlyweds on their honeymoon! And they sent us home that night with lots of leftover drinks and snacks from the wedding...fun!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!! The girls and I had a little photo shoot with Sarah before she left...these are some of our favorites... I've learned so much through these 3 girls the past year! Thank you 3 for being friends that love at all times...the Hobbits :)

Sweet Reunion!!!

Ahhh...my family came to visit just a few weeks ago! These next 3 posts are some play-by-plays of wonderful times we shared together!!! While I was dying of anticipation waiting for them to arrive (above), my poor family was suffering through the stressful journey of traveling half-way around the world (below)! Somehow Ross captured this little moment on camera...hahaha...this one's a keeper!!!
But after a couple of days of traveling were over, we finally experienced the moment we'd all been waiting for...our reunion!!! (This is for you Mama... ooxxOOxx hug hug kiss kiss BIG hug leetle kiss)

Exactly 1 year from the day that we'd last seen each other! Oh how I thank you Father!!!

We stayed up super late after they arrived the first night just talking away and enjoying being with each other, and we when we finally got up the next morning we got to share Christmas presents with each other!

One of the things that we love to do together as a family is watch old home movies, so as we were out and about each day my sweet Daddy made sure to capture it all on video...just like he's been doing for the past 24 years!!! :)

We had the best time exploring around the city, and it was awesome getting to watch them take it all in! We all felt like our week together was the best quality time we've ever spent together as a family. Since Val was outta town with her parents, the whole family got to live with me while they were here!

After the first couple of days of being together my heart was overwhelmed with love, thankfulness, and awe at how Father's moved in our lives...I couldn't believe we still had a few more to go!!!

East to West

Thanks for introducing that song to me Daddy! After a couple of days of completely immersing the family into the culture, we took a day of REST and celebrated Mama's birthday! Here's a shoutout to my Mama: So Mama was really craving McDonalds after I'd given them nothing but Asian food...so we started trying to figure out how we could get some without us all having to go out...and Sarah ended up discovering that the McDonalds in our district will deliver to our apartment!!! What what!!! Go Mama!

That night Joy cooked lasagna, and Sarah and I tag teamed on a red-velvet cake!

Ross and I were really enjoying the statues throughout the city!

And the people were really enjoying Ross and Daddy! :)

Nice tights!

Somehow I ended up getting us into one of the busiest districts of town on one of the most crowded nights of the year, New Year's Eve...but they handled it great!!! And we ended up getting to share Pizza and lots of laughs for dinner!!!

Such PRECIOUS times together!!!

Pure Fun!

One of the things that had us laughing the hardest was when we all tried to squeeze into these little mini-taxis together! They're definitely not made for 6 ft. and over (or wider ;) hehe) One of the 1st times we all piled up in the taxi together, the driver immediately got out and went to check the tires on the passenger's side to make sure we hadn't caused them to go flat! Haha...and then another time we could hear part of the tire rubbing on the fender when we were going around curves! Oh, good memories!
Dad got the "priveledge" of riding in the front seat...and his hair always touched the ceiling while his knees were touching the dash!

On New Year's we enjoyed a Western buffet, then headed down to the river for a stroll!

I love my Daddy!

And I love my sweet Mama too!!! For dinner that night she cooked some black-eyed peas and other fixings and Cat came over to enjoy it with us!

The next day my friend from the Yellow Umbrella told me to stop by b/c she wanted to give my parents a gift. Funny story...we had eatten at her restaurant earlier in the week and it was my family's first Asian meal here, so they wer still new at the whole using chopsticks thing, and we were eating noodles (which Daddy's not a big fan of). So after eating a little while my friend, the restaurant owner, was concerned that we didn't like the food b/c it was taking a while for us to eat it with the chopsticks, so I assured her that we did and just told her that they just weren't used to using chopsticks or eating noodles. After a little while later she came back to the table really concerned that Daddy didn't like the food at all b/c he was the biggest and had eaten the least...so Dad let out a big belch for her to show his approval...hahaha...sadly she didn't even notice when he did it, but we sure did get a kick out of it!!! So anyways...she gave them this really nice hanging sign that says "blessing."

Later that afternoon I took them on a tour of my campus, and I talked them into going to my class for just a short while to meet my teachers and classmates. The girls couldn't stop saying how handsome Ross was! :)
We ended that last night together at one of my favorite restaurants, and they got to meet the owner, Mariah!

WOW...what an incredible time together! Words just can't describe the overwhelming feelings of gratitude and amazement that I still have thinking about our time together, the sacrifices they made to come, and the comforts they left just to be here with me! I realized over the past few weeks the depth and dearness of our relationships as a family...that goes beyond love, to deep care for and commitment to one another! Aww...the tears are welling up and the heart's getting all fluttery again just thinking back...

"He has done GREAT things for us, and we are FILLED with JOY..." ps 126

Love you Daddy, Mama, and Ross!!! Thank you Father!!!

Joy to the World...

He has come!!!

Sorry these pics are a little late...I'm thankful for good internet access again!!!"...the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world..."
So thankful that Val's parents were here for Christmas!Along with some special friends!!!I told Santa that he didn't look the same as the one in the States...and he said, "I know." ;)One of our favorite gifts that we opened on Christmas morning...a can of Easy Cheese and a box of Wheat Thins!!!

Christmas Eve

This Christmas Eve was spent like never before! This was my first time going to school on Christmas Eve...and it ended up going really great! Joy brought her guitar and we packed up the manger scene and took it with us to class! We're thankful for the incredible opportunities that day brought!!

That afternoon Joy and I headed out to visit store owners on our street, and deliver goodies. These pics are a few of the highlights of our day. Our first stop was lunch at our favorite restaurant, The Yellow Umbrella (we call it this b/c there are tables with big yellow umbrellas sitting out in front). We brought them a gingerbread house that Sarah had given us...and they loved it! This is the family that runs the Yellow Umbrella.

We went to another of our favorite restaurants to share tea with the owner. We call her Mariah, and her restaurant Mariah's (b/c she used to play a Mariah Carey CD everytime we came in).
This lady and her husband opened the first bakery on our street...something we were very thankful for!!! She gave us these lil Santa hats.

We're so thankful for these neighbors, and the day we were able to share spending time with them!