Easter (I know, I'm late) and other activities

Hello again!
So, the blog about Cebu took it out of me for a bit so I had to take a break. :)

But, now I'm back because two days after we got back from Cebu, it was Easter and I really do need to post about how China (well, at least the Racquet Club) celebrates this most holy of holidays.

We got back from Cebu on Friday evening so Saturday was pretty much doing laundry and unpacking. We also put Soph's training wheels on her bike and headed out for our first family bike ride. We headed across the street to the Forest Manor development that has the gigundo, humongous, ridiculously huge marble houses. It also has flat, quiet streets- perfect for bike riding with a 4 yr old. It was great to get out and do a normal family thing here. Sometimes it's so hard to feel like that's possible with the pollution and crazy traffic.

I got a text from a non-Christian friend that day asking me about our church. She had a baby a few weeks ago (her third) and said that, even though she wasn't religious, she was feeling this deep need inside herself to go to church on Easter with her children. I mean, hello!! Can we say, God is speaking directly to you and you are just seeing it as a 'hmmm, I wonder why I'm feeling this way'??? Why is it so easy for me to see that it is God speaking to her, wanting a relationship with her, but yet she cannot? I guess it's all in what you choose to see.

Anyway, Easter. What a day!
Ben and I had hidden some eggs around the house and then made some really ghetto, makeshift Easter baskets. Thankfully my parents and sister had sent a few Easter things and Ben had also brought some stuff back from when he was in the US.

Soph came down the stairs and immediately saw the baskets and eggs. We had a FAST egg 'hunt' with Coop and Sophie basically running around and getting eggs from windowsills and corners and then had some French breakfast puffs while Skyping with family. So nice, so normal, good stuff.
Part of the egg hunt had these eggs my mom had sent called Resurrection Eggs that told the story of Jesus and what he has done for us. We ran out of time to go through them before church so I said we'd do them after church.

Then it was off to church where 'packed' was the ultimate term to describe the scene. See, our church is much too big for its britches already (which is awesome) and then you tack on all those who come on this day. Soooo crammed! I was working with the 4 and 5 yr old kids that day and we had about 20. Guess what a big part of the class was?? The Resurrection Eggs! Couldn't believe it! Here we are in China, doing the same things we'd be doing at home. That was pretty cool for me. My 'non-religious' friend came with her kiddos and her parents. Her daughter was in my class with Soph and just loved it. After church she told her mom she loved it and asked if they could come back next week. From the mouth of babes... :)

After church we had a simple lunch so we could head out to the celebration that the Racquet Club was putting on for the kids.
We had already missed the crafts and face-painting but made it in time for the games which consisted of egg-in-a-spoon races, grab-the-tinfoil-eggs-with-a-pincher races, and other races. Then came the acrobats.
You heard right, they had acrobats. Very bendable, painfully bendable, acrobats.
The show went on for about 40 minutes. And I just couldn't keep my poker face on. It just wasn't natural. They didn't seem like they were in pain, but...I'm still not sure. :)

Here's Soph standing in line for a game with her friend, Colin, in front of her.

 Me and Coop hanging on the sidelines...

 The kids getting ready to watch the acrobats-

 "I'm going to get you!!"

 These girls were about 10 yrs old...

 So...no one should ever be stacked like this. "They're bendy!" Sophie declared.

While this was going on, other volunteers were dispersing paper eggs all over the soccer field and surrounding area. When the tortuous bending was over, the kids hauled rear to go get some eggs. It was a really brilliant way of doing an egg hunt. The kids got all the excitement of picking up as many paper eggs as fast as possible and then they brought their eggs in to either the girl booth or boy booth and each child got a gift bag. So each child got an equal gift. There were some candy-filled eggs, wall stickers and a stamp. I just loved the idea that each child, no matter the age, got the thrill of the hunt and the gift!

That's me and Soph in the back. We always go to the back and make our way forward. :)

 Soph showing off her egg "booty".

 Soph and I checking out her loot-

After the hunt there was a tug-of-war that was supposed to be just for the kids but many parents couldn't help joining in. :)

It was nice to be able to put together an Easter that was fun for the kids and meaningful for all of us! Still confused how the acrobats fit in, however...

So, a few days after Easter it was pouring rain and I heard a weed wacker outside our apartment. I thought it was a bit odd, but, it is China and they constantly do things here that make no sense to me whatsoever. Here's what I saw out our window-

The man is mowing the lawn with a weedwacker in the pouring rain with his poncho on (of course), whilst his buddies sit nearby smoking cigarettes (again, in the pouring rain). Honestly, sometimes I wonder....

Ok, what else have we been up to? Oh, so, we also put Sophie into a ballet course here at the clubhouse. She'd been asking to get back into it for a while so we signed her up and she's really liking it! The teacher is totally hardcore, though. I had to be super sneaky to get these pics- sorry they're blurry...

She's 2 weeks in and learning all sorts of new things!

The elementary kids at Sophie's school had Book Week last week. It was a week where they focused their learning on books by various artists and then at the end of the week, instead of wearing their uniforms, they got to dress up as their favorite book characters for the day. At the beginning of the day there was a big assembly where all the kids got to parade in front of the other kids and parents in their costumes. It was a mad house, but really cute to see all the kids dressed up.

Here's Sophie coming in to the gym-

 The 2 girls in the pink dresses are some of Sophie's good school friends- on the right is Ciana, on the left is Rachel.

 A picture of the gym from the viewing balcony where a bunch of us moms watched-

 I could tell Sophie and Colin were getting a bit bored with the event...

The lady on the right is Sophia's teacher- Ms. Kristina Hafseth. On the left is Colin's teacher, Ms. Harries. Both are leaving next year- the first to Vietnam and the other to Budapest. Wow.

 Sophie was so distracted doing the parade wave that she never looked up at me to get a proper picture. She had a lot of fun that day.

Last weekend I was getting breakfast ready when I looked up and this was what I saw. Soph was quietly coloring and the whole picture with the development in the background just looked pretty to me.

You will only occasionally get me to admit that some parts of China can be pretty. You see, when it smells like diesel outside and there's trash everywhere you go outside the development, when people are peeing and spitting in the street and everything is so dusty and dirty, it's hard to see what China can give. It's a weird life, here, but we're doing alright. Especially now that we have a grill. :)

Prayer Requests:
-Cooper has really been struggling lately. Crying and acting out a lot. Screaming and thrashing during meals, not eatting well. It's weird because it doesn't seem to be related to any event or issue. He just got over a bout of GI issues that he had for a few weeks so I don't think it's that. It's hard on Ben and I for the obvious reasons. We just wish he could communicate what's wrong.

-I have been struggling to feel fulfilled out here. I am used to working, maintaining my own home, having kids around all day. Now I'm not working, someone else cleans my home, my kids are gone half the day. I'm volunteering at the school, exercising, going to Bible Study, but I'm still struggling. I'm considering not having an ayi, I dunno...

-Praise that the food thing feels solved. Having a grill has made life A LOT easier and I feel like normal eatting is occuring everywhere. Some of it has been embracing the higher prices of 'safer' food and some of it has just been taking chances.

Ok, bed time!! We had the group over tonight for a cookout after a day of shopping downtown and I'm toast. God bless you all and thanks again for reading!