Catching Up...June

The end of school was fast and furious as usual.  We survived through the parties, exams, field trips and goodbyes.  Emma graduated from elementary school...which is a big deal at ICS covered by a luncheon and graduation.  We will miss Mrs. Hunter very much. She gave Emma a lot of challenge and confidence, as well as super preparation for Middle School.  Grace was honored at the end of the year, receiving the award for Member of the Global Society for her missions work...doing trips to Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia.  Abby had a super year and finished it off strong.  We all loved Mrs. Miller and will continue to stop by for hugs (both Abby and Mom:) And Josh made it through a challenging year, but didn't let it change him too much, as he was awarded the Compassionate
Award.

Emma and Kaylie at the 5th grade graduation lunch

The day after school ended, Sarah and I were on a plane for home.  It was a very LONG 15 1/2 hours direct to Newark, NJ...then a 2 1/2 hour drive to my brother's house where I picked up our car and drove another 2 hours to my parents house outside of Harrisburg.  Needless to say, we finally arrived around 8pm and I was exhausted.  Sarah was a trooper and did great with jet lag, as did I.

Saying goodbye to "Meena" for the summer

Sarah made some new friends at the gate as we waited to board

We had a great week with my parents and sister, and it was super nice to be there just the two of us...getting in a lot of quality time. The following Friday is when the rest of the family made it stateside, so Sarah and I met them at my brother's house, where we stayed overnight that weekend before moving into a hotel. Unfortunately, Abby got sick just before landing...and thus began a virus that fortunately did not include a stomach bug, but it did include a high temperature for 5-7 days.  This basically took our family out of commission for most of that following week, which was a bummer since we were planning on doing sports and arts camp at our church.

By the end of the week, Andy and I had finally recovered (we were the last to get it), and just in time because Andy and friends had put together a surprise party for my 40th birthday...and I was actually truly surprised! We had celebrated earlier in the day with my family and then he told me that my brother and sister in law were going to watch the kids while we went out.  I thought we were meeting some friends for dinner, but we went to this amazing Mexican restaurant in Kennett to find a room full of my friends.  It was such a great night, and while there were a few out of town friends that were missing, it was a joy to visit with the people who were there...and fun for them to meet and talk to each other...worlds colliding:)

Finally, Grace and I left on another plane the following Monday for Seattle...first stop, Olympia, WA and the Gilday Family!  I had gotten to see Jen the summer before, but it was so fun to see this family who lived life with us as our family's grew in DE.  Emmie and Jack enjoyed Grace's company and the three of them got along very well while Jen and I chatted away.  Of course, while we were there we got to see the U.S. Women's World Cup team beat Germany! We tubed down a creek, went to the pool, and did a little shopping...all things you do in unseasonably hot weather in Washington. It was such a great visit...picking up where we had left off like no time had passed.  I'm very grateful for friendships like that:)

Catching Up...July

So July 1st brought a huge adventure to fruition...I went to Young Life camp as a leader, again!  My friend Jen brought Grace and I (and three HK teens we picked up from the airport on our way) to a beautiful home north of Seattle where our group was gathering for a picnic.  What followed was a rapid paced tour of Seattle, filled with the Starbucks Corporation, Boeing Factory, the Gates Foundation, University of Washington, an MLS Sounders game, and ended with an epic 4th of July celebration on the water with a clam bake and fireworks.  It was amazing!!! The morning of July 5th, we boarded a bus and drove 6 hours to Antelope, Oregon where Washington Family Ranch is located.  We had a fabulous week with 38 teens from HK, hanging out and having awesome conversations.  Lives were changed as we got to share the truth of Jesus with them, and we all came out of the experience bonded...and tired:) Here are a few other highlights of July...

Visits from Ron and Rebecca Werner and Paul and Linda Puffenberger!  It is always so wonderful to visit with the Werner's...we our forever bonded, not just because Ron knows Andy almost as well as I do, and thus appreciates me:) and Rebecca and I share tips on how to love our similarly type-casted husbands well, but they have spent the most time in HK with us and understand that part of our lives.  We had a great time with them, and even got to spend a beautiful day at Hershey Park.  Andy's parents came a couple days after the Werner's left, and it was so nice to catch up with them. They are in the middle of transition, as well, so our time was short.  But we crammed in as much quality time as we could, and even did some shopping and a trip to the trampoline park.

The following week, Andy and I were out catching up with friends every single night.  We had some wonderful meals and enjoyed catching up and having quality time with people we miss during the year.  During the midst of this week, the kids were doing Wipeout Camp.  I volunteered a few days as well...and yes, by the end of each day we were all wiped out.  Another highlight of this week was Andy and I got to go to New York City with three friends to see U2 in concert.  What a fabulous day!!  Luckily, we went with people that knew how to get around.  We also went with out an agenda, but after getting up there, decided we wanted to see the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. What a powerful experience.  I couldn't believe how fast it takes you back to that day, as I clearly remembered holding/nursing a three month old Grace while I was glued to the tv as the events unfolded.  After the Museum, we got a quick bite to eat and then we were off to Madison Square Garden to watch U2...what an amazing concert.  And the kicker was that Jimmy Fallon made a surprise appearance!

My final highlight was a week's vacation in Myrtle Beach with my family. We left at the crazy hour of 4:30am and it still took us 13 hours, but it was worth it.  We had gorgeous weather and it was wonderful to spend the week with my parents, and my brother and his family, and our dearest friends, the Hertzlers.  We missed my sister a ton, but was so glad she was able to meet us when we got back.

All in all, our summer was another crazy circus.  I changed locations more than five times, and I spent time with countless people.  It was great to be connecting with the community that we will be a part of again, but it is nice to be home in HK.  We won't be able to call HK home much longer, but for now, we will soak it in and enjoy and appreciate every day we are able to be a part of life here.

My Last Day with a Two Year Old

It's interesting to me that this has been a little more challenging than I expected.  When Sarah turned one, I wasn't emotional.  And when she turned two, I didn't really give it much thought.  But now she will be three...why is this so different?

One reason could be that her birth is so entrenched with our transition to HK, and now that this is our last year, it is emotional and bittersweet. When Sarah, Abby and I came, Sarah was six weeks old. This is her home and the life she knows.  Now that she is older and talking, she verbalizes this.  Over the summer we heard, "I miss Meena (Marina)" and "I want rice." And with all this transition, I have definitely been more lax in some behaviors.  She will be my first three year old who is not potty trained.  At first this was frustrating to me...I'm tired of changing diapers and I'm tired of buying them, too.  But, I can't blame her for not taking that step.  The girl just took her 13th, 15+hour plane ride...and she is three.  Let me tell you how convenient it is for that trip that she is wearing a diaper.  The other behavior is she still uses a binky...or we call it a sass (thanks Chesemores:) Another very useful tool on the formentioned flights.  Both these will be worked on in the coming year...hopefully this fall:)

But with these behaviors my little girl keeps that "baby" quality just a little bit longer.  She will always be my baby...and the last child that was a part of me for nine months. And as time has gone on, I've gotten used to that idea...even become a fan of that idea.  But on special days such as this one, it's easy to become nostalgic and want to stop time...even for just a little bit. Sarah Jane Puffenberger is turning three.  This idea seemed so far away when we first moved here to HK, but now it is right in front of us. And it reminds us that our time living here has almost come to an end, as well. So we will be excited for age three and all that comes with it...including soaking up every moment we are here:)

Another Mountain to Climb

Just a few weeks ago, Andy and I had the unbelievable opportunity to run the Great Wall half marathon.  One of the great things about this run is that you do not do it for time.  There is so much congestion on the wall, that there are many place you have to walk or are stopped.  And while this lessened the pressure for us as we trained, my competitive nature started to kick in leading up to the day.  I didn't really have a time that I was shooting for, but I wanted to run the race well. That no matter where we stood in the end, I wanted to feel good about how we ran this race.

A couple weeks before this race, another mountain presented itself. My dad...healthy and recently retired...was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer.  This has been a shock to all of us and a very unexpected mountain to climb.  The first few weeks were simply an emotional roller coaster...meetings with doctors gave us mixed signals and the distance became a huge stumbling block that I wanted to remove immediately.

We are now about 6 weeks post diagnosis and my dad is a third of the way into his treatment (6 weeks of radiation and oral chemo).  It is that crazy time of year when my head spins...kids end of the school activities (parties and awards and field trips x 4) plus my own goodbyes to friends...some for just the summer, and some for who knows? And then there is also the packing, which is extra complicated because of a staggered start (Sarah and I leave a week before everyone else) and Grace and I will be on the west coast for two weeks of YL camp.  As of now, we still don't really know where we are staying  and when...and I am leaving in four days!

In these 6 weeks, I have had a lot of time to pray and contemplate, and there are a few things that I deeply desire out of all this...1) my dad would live abundantly now, on earth, and in heaven 2) God would be glorified 3) I would run this race well

I am not in control of the circumstances, but I am in control of how I respond...and I want to be able to look back and feel good about how I ran this race.

My very dear friend introduced me to this song that has been a heart song to me these few weeks...reminding me to keep my eyes on HIM...that the waves and wind still know HIM...and that one day the mountain will be thrown into the midst of the sea.
Here is the link to the song:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNqo4Un2uZI

A Visit to Remember

We just had the wonderful opportunity to have some of our dearest and oldest friends come for a visit. We have known Jeff and Jodi for almost 20 years...got married a year apart, grew our families together, did ministry together, did life together...until the Lord called them to Colorado seven years ago.  They were actually one of the first couples we spoke to about the opportunity to move to Hong Kong, since we got to see them in Florida just after we got the news.

So having them here was surreal. It wasn't at all lost on us the effort they made...not just physically getting here, but the logistics of taking care of the boys while they were gone, not to mention being away from their jobs.  We were so grateful to be able to share this life with them.  We knew that, moving this far away, we would not be a very accessible destination.  But as our lives grew in Hong Kong, the more we hoped and prayed that we would get visitors. Because it just doesn't matter how much time you have, one can not answer the question, "what is Hong Kong like?" in a complete way.  You can not communicate the smells of the streets, or the way you feel on a crowded train, or the energy of the city at night...these things must be experienced.  So we have been very blessed when friends and family decide to make the trek to the other side of the world...and our Chesemore visit was no exception.

When we first started discussing this visit, I was praying that we would have good weather.  I guess "good" is a relative term.  It wasn't oppressively hot, but it literally rained everyday but one.  In fact, they got to experience an amber rain and a black rain...the firsts of the year:)

But we made the most of it...hiked Cloudy Hill behind our neighborhood, checked out Sai Kung, visited almost every market we could find, had some great food, witnessed a very cloudy Peak, took the tram to the very cloudy Peak, had a family day at Stanley where we ate a very large pizza, and ended the visit with wonderful foot messages.  And all of that wasn't even the best part.  The best part was just being together.  We laughed and talked and cried and laughed some more.  It was just so great being together, that I didn't even stress about the weather.  It was pure joy for me to watch all of our children be so normal with them...maybe a little too normal, since Abby, Josh and Sarah thought Jeff was the human jungle gym.

Hong Kong has forever changed us...it just has.  And there aren't enough stories to tell or pictures to show to explain why.  So I am grateful for the times when it has worked out for friends and family to come and take a taste of Hong Kong...a taste of our life here.  It is something that we will never forget, so we appreciate it when there are others in our lives who have an understanding through experience.  Please know, we realize that there are many who would love to get here and can't for a ton of reasons, but as in the case of Jeff and Jodi, we need to share our appreciation for those who have made it happen...and our God who has opened the door:)

Our rainy day in Sai Kung...at least it kept the crowds away, and we had a great lunch at Jaspa's

Sarah didn't seem to mind...especially with a bribe:)

Our cloudy hike up Cloudy Hill

The bird market

Having coffee in a mug

Waiting for Korean BBQ

Jeff found his new car

Our one sunny day in Stanley

Same-same

Jeff and Sarah reading...and it's hysterical

Our view at Hutongs...with a bit of a reflection of our food

Great food, beautiful view, priceless time with friends

Nope, that's not a blank wall behind us...at the Peak in the clouds

Getting ready to use our "10-inch" voices during our messages (with Ben)

Ahhhhhhhh

The Great Wall 1/2 Marathon...Race Day!

So, it was finally here. 2,500 runners from 70 different countries. After thinking about it for 18 months, May 16, 2015 was upon us.  Because our bus was scheduled to leave at 3:30am, we went to bed and was asleep by 10pm.  Unfortunately, its tough to stay asleep after you have spent a whole day and evening trying to hydrate, so I was up at 12:45am. Yes, this was two hours before my alarm was to go off.  I tried to read, pray, lay quietly with my eyes closed, but nothing worked.  Finally, at 2am I decided to get up and shower...my day had started.

I did appreciate not feeling rushed, and we were outside with hundreds of other runners by 3:30am. Then it was the stampede to get on buses.  We were shut out of the first four buses, but then after a 10 minute wait, another driver came.  One of my favorite lines came from the director, addressing our pit stop on the way to the race.  He said, "We will shorten the pee stop." since we were 20 minutes behind schedule.

On the bus, it was quiet.  Most people slept, hardly anyone talked.  Andy fell asleep, but again, I closed my eyes and could not sleep...way too excited!!! It turned out, we didn't stop at all but went right up to the race...so there was a quick trip to the port a potties before we found our seat.  It was definitely a better feeling than the last time we headed up there, because this time we had our packets:)

Andy and I sat and took it all in.  We ate some banana, took some pictures, applied sun tan lotion, and kept drinking water. Both of us still couldn't believe it was finally happening!!! When it was about 7:30am we dropped off our bags and made one more stop at the port a potty, then it was time to get in line for our 8am wave of the race. We had been freezing when we arrived, but the sun was finally  out, the breeze stopped and the sun was warming us up.  We just took in the scenery again, being surrounded by such beauty was breath taking.  Then the gun went off and we were on our way!

Me and Caroline

The first 5k was uphill switchbacks, with a little reprieve in the middle.  We had planned on walking the steeper inclines and running the flatter course, but we found that we had trained hard on hills, and we changed our strategy to running as long as we could...especially since we knew that  there would be a lot of areas on the Wall where we would have to stop.  There were also a lot of local kids who loved to say hello, cheer us on and give us  high five.  I LOVED this part...it was so energizing and brought us a lot of joy.  In fact, I think it's a major reason why Andy and I made it all the way of the 5K without stopping.  And because we ran all the way up to the top and the base of the Wall, we created a lot of momentum.

Running/hiking/walking the wall was actually probably the easiest part of the whole thing.  We had already walked the same part, so we knew what to expect. And there were also several areas where we had to stop and walk or wait since we were bottle-necked at the more narrow, single-file parts of the course.  We did have the occasional participant, usually a younger kid, who was running the 8K, who was not patient and just wanted to push themselves through.  But overall, people were patient and considerate. The stairs were everywhere, with not too many flat or "runnable" areas, and then the descent, "Goat's Path" is CRAZY!! Our strategy was I would lead on the way up, and Andy would lead on the way down, and this worked great for us...minus a couple times when Andy got out his phone to video some of the run:) By the time we ran through the Square and off to the village, we were feeling great and felt like the hardest part was behind us.  Mentally, this was great...but this thinking may have been a bit overly optimistic:)

The second half of the race is pretty flat, and moves through a village.  To get to the village, you run about 3K on a paved road, where you can see people who have already run the village and are headed back to the Square. Then, when you get to the village, the road turns to dirt and gravel.  This is also where the marathoners and the half marathoners split for awhile, as the marathoners must do significantly more.  The village and road back were our toughest parts.  There were a few steep inclines in the village, and while they didn't even compete with what we had already run, they were unexpected.  It was also getting much hotter, and there wasn't much shade.  We made it through the turns of the village and were finally on the road back to the Square and the finish line.  This became very difficult for a couple reasons...we had already run 11 miles, most of it stairs and hills, it was significantly hotter, there were no more water stations (which had been pretty consistent over the rest of the course), and there was no shade. Andy hit a wall, and while I was feeling pretty good aerobically, my knees were feeling it and I was trying to find a balance of pushing him and supporting him.  I knew we just needed to get it done. Andy did a great job pushing through the pain and dehydration, and we crossed the finish line together at 2 hours and 49 minutes...we were thrilled!

After we were done, and we drank lots of water and had lunch, we met up with our friends from HK.  Caroline was waiting for her husband, who was running the full marathon.  He finished in 18th place and did amazing...it was fun to celebrate with them, too.

Our friend Ivan finishing the marathon

By 12:30pm we were back on the bus and on our way back to the hotel.  Both of us slept a bit, but most of the time we just reveled in what an amazing experience it had been and how happy we were that the race had gone so well.  I will attest that it was only by God's grace and strength that I was able to run my first 1/2 marathon on the Great Wall of China on 3 hours sleep!!

After getting back to the hotel, we relaxed and got cleaned up, then went back out to our celebratory dinner...a place called Capital M. We sat outside...weather still gorgeous...and enjoyed a delicious meal. We even saw three stars in the sky...which if you have ever been to Beijing, know that that could be miraculous.  It was a great ending to a great day and memorable experience!!!

The view on the way back to the hotel

Put a fork in him...he's done!