“Unless the Father builds the house, it's builders labor in vain. Unless the Father watches over the city, the watchman stands guard in vain.”I am constantly reminded that I know so little, and if I take action apart from the Father's blessing, I “labor in vain.” So I wait for his direction and leading. When I feel alone, I take comfort in the knowledge that the Father is watching over me and slowly conforming me to his likeness so that my labor will not be in vain. My consistent “thought” is that “He must become greater and I must become less.”
We are grateful this week:
1. Monday's English Club on the main campus went really well. It was great to see so many familiar faces! We got everything set up and spent about 15 minutes greeting students then Peter organized a quick finger fencing tournament. After that, we sang some songs, played a few more games, and then Shannon lectured on the mind & soul again.
2. Yesterday, Wil and Courtney Corder brought some students from Tianjin and we visited the Philip Hayden Foundation. There were 19 of us total! It took five taxis! We split up between a couple different houses when we arrived and spent about 2 hours playing with the children until they had to prepare for dinner. As always, it was a great afternoon. If you are at all interested in caring for Chinese orphans, I strongly recommend the Philip Hayden Foundation. You can find more information about them at www.chinaorphans.org
3. Jess' extra classes almost done. She will only teach 6 extra hours this week, and next week she will return to her normal schedule. This has been a great blessing for us because now we will be able to return to the United States in time for Jess to give birth.
Please think about us:
1. It has been cold for about the past week in our apartment. The heat was turned off for the winter on March 15, and the weather was warm for a while. Then it snowed earlier this week! Since we do not control our heat, the end of March and the beginning of November always seem like the coldest times of the year to us. The temperatures have been dropping below freezing at night and topping out around 70F on a sunny day, although our apartments never seem to get above 60F during the day. Our apartment was 58F all morning today. Needless to say we are anxious for warmer weather!
2. My parents will be returning to Iowa later this week to be with my grandfather. They will be spending their time trying to find a realtor and an auctioneer for his house. As of now, the goal is to sell the house this summer and then my grandfather will move in with my parents sometime in August, just before his 91st birthday.
3. Jess' 3rd trimester begins next week, and we are still a couple weeks away from our next check-up. Every day the baby's kicks get stronger! We have been discussing different names, but we have not settled on one yet. If you would like to see a video of our most recent ultrasound, you can visit http://www.youtube.com/wat
Living outside the boat,
Brad
