Faith Like a Child

This is an email that I sent to my son today after he prayed a prayer of salvation with me. Scott and I created email accounts for our kids so that we could keep a journal of sorts of their lives. (I think I saw this in a google commercial or something). Anyway, today is an amazing day! Rejoice with us!

Timmy,

This morning on our way to preschool we were discussing tornadoes and how the mostly come in the spring and summer. You said you hope you never see one because you're afraid of the wind. I told you that if you ever are in a tornado you just need to be smart and then pray that God would keep you safe. You said you'd pray for the tornado to stop. That works too. :)

Anyway then you were asking lots of questions about all kinds of things and you said "I wonder if all the people would die like your grandma did. She died right?" I said yes. And you said, "so we'll never see her again right?" I replied, "I will see her in heaven because she believed that Jesus was her savior and so do I, so we'll both be in Heaven someday." You said you believed in Jesus too. I asked if you believed that Jesus died so that your sins could be forgiven and you said yes. I asked you if you wanted to pray and ask Jesus to be in your heart and you said. "Yes mom, I believe all of those things." So we prayed, and you repeated after me to be forgiven for your sins and that Jesus would be your savior.

It was such a sweet moment. I am not sure I ever would have said that I think a four and a half year old can fully grasp what salvation is, and I still don't know if you understand everything you said today. I do believe you meant it and that the Bible teaches us to have faith like a child. Today you expressed your faith. I'm so proud of you, and Daddy and I will continue to pray that you would walk with Christ every day of your life. We love you and are celebrating with you today!

Love Mommy & Daddy

Progressive Dinner

So I forgot to take any pictures at our progressive dinner last night, but Scott's new iPhone 4 takes video. Here is a few second glimpse at the craziness that ensued after the second course of the meal...where there are boys there will be wrestling, or in this case, throwing of bodies.

The dinner was a family event with donations that will benefit Family Shelter Services of DuPage. Our house was the cheese fondue course (Queso Fiesta, 4 Cheese & Artichoke Fondue and Cheddar Beer Cheese Fondue) delicious. Erickson's had the main course and Brenda out did herself with a dessert spread like nothing I've seen before!

Bedtime Prayers

So most nights we try to pray with Timmy before he goes to bed. Last night as we turned out the lights and sat down next to his bed he said, "Pray, Pray!" It was so cute. When Scott was done praying, Tim said, "More, more." So we prayed more. I asked him to say, "Amen," and he did in his tiny little voice. It just makes you feel all warm inside as a parent, like maybe, just maybe, you're doing something right.

Shanghai Flashback...

I got an email the other day from my friend Meg in Shanghai. She sent me some pictures she took at our Mom & Toddler prayer group on the last day that our other friend Tanya was attending before moving back to Seattle for good. On the left is Tanya with her two kids, Caleb & Chloe (I think Chloe lookes like Dora the Explorer). In the middle is Meg and her daughter Maddie, then Me and Tim, and finally Belinda and one of her kids, Abigail. Its such a great group of ladies and kids, we are really going to miss Tanya.

Old Town and Ovens

We made it to church on Sunday. The place was packed with people from every country you can think of. It was a pretty traditional service, but powerful none the less. It was a cool experience to worship with people from around the world. It seems like there are quite a few small groups in our area, which means quite a few families that we can be friends with!

So on Monday we went to the super ritzy area of the city for dinner. They told us to pick what we wanted to eat, so I picked Lawry's Prime Rib. I felt bad at first because two of the girls that were with us looked disgusted at the meat. Then I realized that is probably what I look like when they serve me gross Chinese food. So then I didn't feel so bad. The dinner was amazing!

Monday was a holiday for the Moon Festival, so Scott had the day off. We went to Qibao, which is like "old China". Other than the rain, it was a beautiful area. The pictures above are all from Qibao (pronounced kind of like chi-bao).

So a quick follow-up to the potato fiasco...I bought a real oven yesterday! I was walking down the street in our neighborhood and a woman came up to me and asked if I spoke English. Turns out she is Mexican and is leaving Shanghai. She had a practically brand new oven that she was trying to sell before she left. Apparently I looked like the kind of girl that needed an oven. So I bought it from her! What a blessing. I was able to cook a chicken breast for dinner today without having to fry it! We ate our first home cooked dinner the other night here in our new apartment after finding some Barilla bow tie pasta. It wasn't the best dinner because at the time we had no spices or seasoning or even salt in the house, but it definately felt good to cook instead of eat out.

Our pictures from Week 2 are here: http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=122395&l=c0f31&id=1145683473 By the way, you can view these even if you don't have a facebook account, its a public link. Enjoy.