December 6: Happy Holidays!

Hello and Happy Holidays!

Brad and I are currently preparing for celebrating the Christmas and New Year's holidays for the first time in China! We hope that you are each enjoying the season, the snow, and most of all--the real reason for celebrating.

The past two weeks have been full for me as I have joined in Brad in his running routines. Believe me, waking up at 5 am on Thursdays and Fridays to run in the pitch black darkness is not an easy task! Brad still runs twice as fast as me, so I'm not keeping up by any means, but I think Brad appreciates the company. :) We have also been keeping busy with the upcoming Finals, as we write tests, schedule oral English interviews, grade papers, finish classes, and file grades. Finals will continue from mid-December until early January as classes end at different times.

Our routine of meeting with kids continues as usual! The team had our usual "big family dinner" on both Thursdays, hosting about two guests per leader. It's a great time of sharing toasts, delicious dishes, customs, and stories about ourselves. Vicki and I visited the seamstress together last week, and Vivian (a sophomore) and I visited the Kodak store twice together to develop photos. I used the photos to decorate the hallway in our home, so that we can share you with our friends here! Brad arranged a soccer match with some of the boys, during which I watched and chatted with a freshman named Vivian. On Tuesday I judged a debate competition and was asked to give a short speech to the group (about 150 people) when they were finished! I was very nervous, but it all went well. Yesterday I also had the opportunity to go out for lunch with Vicki for a delicious lunch (fish, corn biscuits, noodles, broccoli, carrots, and cucumbers), and we had a great time talking.

Brad and I have also had a lot of fun this week sharing "our story" with my students. The unit in our textbook was on marriage, so I spent the first half of classes showing digital slides of our wedding and sharing our love story. Then Brad showed up for the second half of my classes for a delightful question-and-answer session. The college kids really enjoy talking about relationships, so they told me that it was a wonderful presentation. It was great for Brad and I, as we were able to voice many aspects of our relationship, including our common musical interests, and love for our father. We hope that our presentation may provide fertile ground for many future conversations.

In the meantime, we have been preparing for Christmas. Claire has returned home, and again it is just the team here in Langfang. We are hanging decorations, Christmas shopping, baking, and sharing Christmas with our students. Please continue to think about us and our work here. We long to be with you during the Christmas season, but we know that we are here for a purpose as well. Thank you for your support and encouragement as you think of us daily.

Love,
Jess (and Brad)