Friday, November 30, 2007

Especially for Grandma and Papa

I'm slacking big time in the blogging department... it's been a crazy, crazy week and I've felt like I lost my sanity several times this week but I'm still pressing on. Our life seems to have turned upside down in such a short time. LOL Nothing too major... nothing that won't work out in time... it just seems like craziness right now and not how I like to enjoy the Christmas season. But alas... I get to spend each Sat this month sharing about the Advent season with my English fellowship and I'm very excited about that!

But anyway... I need to get to sleep. They say two nights before your race is the most important night for sleeping so I'm trying to get ahead of the game. Just had to share this special video for Mom and Dad rose.





Oh wow.. just noticed that Safari now allows for editing HTML within my post. Cool!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

back from Shanghai





Well Shanghai was AWESOME!!!! I'm SO glad that this all worked out! We had a fabulous time being together and watching tennis. I was a bit nervous when we arrived at the hotel... it seemed like a very shady area but it was great.. nothing special but we were literally there only to sleep and shower so all was good. We found it very easy to get around and the metro was just a short walk from our hotel. Each morning we explored a bit of the city and by 2 we were on our way to the tournament. I have to admit that I thought I would get bored at some point watching tennis but it didn't take long to grab my attention. I have a whole new appreciation for the sport and for tennis players in general. Wow... is all I can say about those guys.

If we hadn't left Izzy behind, it would have been hard to want to come back but I guess that's always the case with holidays. Too bad we can't retire first in life and then work. LOL

Well... I have an early morning appointment so I want to pick up the flat and lay in bed and watch one of our new movies.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Shanghai at Last

Yeah.. we're here! I've been dreaming of this since early, early summer and I can't believe it's here. We dropped Izzy off at Nick and Adelina's about 4ish and then headed on our way to the airport. We decided to cap it to our hotel since we have absolutley no idea how to get around and it turned out to be a more expensive cab than we expected but alas we made it about 10:30pm last night.

So now we're just trying to figure out how to get around... and stay warm. My winter clothing supply has significantly dwindled since moving to HK so I'm praying that what I brought will be enough. LOL

Anyway... the tournament starts at 3 so we're going to try and explore a bit before hand. Wohooo!!! We're in Shanghai!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Team Pic




Blogger is still is not letting me upload photos so this will have to do. This is the team minus Mark who was using the lu at the time... from left to right ... Mike, Tim, Tom, and Howard. This was like Tim's 12th attempt, I believe Tom's second, and the 1st for the rest. The picture is of friday night about 6pm when I got to meet them. Did I mention that they started at 9am? I can't remember so anyway... this is already after a day of hiking.

Mike sure had some fun stories to share and it was great to hear about this experience. It's tempting to want to try and do something like this... to push myself harder than ever before... but I told Mike and Tim the only way I'd do it is if I could finish in 17hrs or less because I couldn't go without sleep. LOL

Well... I'll keep attempting the pictures but for now I'm going to head to sleep. We head out to Shanghai tomorrow evening so if you think of us please keep us in your prayers. This is the first time we've been gone from Izzy for this long and she's staying with friends so I'm praying she's on her best behaviour. :) And that Mike can walk a little faster (or 'saster' as Izzy says) tomorrow. Hehe

Oh yeah.. almost forgot to mention that I had my first tutoring (English fellowship) group today and it went fairly well... their English level is lower than I expected... not to sound rude because I don't mean that in a bad way but I keep forgetting that this is a local school and not international but anyway... the 1st group had about 12 students and the second group there was 4. Needless to say.. the second group went much easier and more smoothly and I belive the students got more out of it but I think the 1st group had fun too. there's a group of boys who like to goof around so I'm going to have to be more creative to keep their attention but anyway... The teacher has asked me to focus on reading the Bible, prayer, singing church songs, etc.. so I'm really excited about the focus being on God. Today we discussed being Thankful and we read Psalm 136 where it tells us over and over to 'Give Thanks' and one students said, 'oh many, many, many give thanks' and it was a great opportunity to talk about all the things we can be thankful for and how God is the one who provides those things and how ultimately we need to be thankful to/for Him.

So anyway....

off to Shanghai

Trailwalker Completed

12:49 the guys walked over the finish line for a total of 27hrs and 46 minutes!!! Wohoo!!! They ALL made it. I spoke with Mike and he shared that while they all had blisters and were incredibly sore... there were no serious health issues. Will write more later but now I'm enjoying the in person updates! Thanks SO MUCH for all of your support and prayers! I'm so proud of him!

Stage 8 Completed

Mike just texted at 8:42 saying they have 20K left which means they've completed stage 8! Once the team gets all checked in he figures they have about 3.5 hrs left and compared to the terrain they've experienced... this should be easy though I'm sure the mental side is much tougher knowing you're so close. Please continue to pray for energy and safety. He says they're all doing ok... lots of soreness and blisters but the worst is over! I have to say that this is one reason I love HK... how many places can you go hiking and aside from just a few times... be able to stay in contact via text message! LOL

24K to go!

At 8:04 Mike texted that they were at the highest point in HK and about 24K left to go putting them at the end of stage 8. Mike seemed in good spirits but glad to see the end in sight. I cannot wait to hear all about this when he gets home... sadly I won't get to see him until much later. They are walking to one of the team memebers house at the finish to rest, shower, eat, etc... and then he will get a ride home but Izz and I'll be in Hung Hom at the church. So anyway.... until next time. :)

30K to go

At 6:31am they had 30K to go which put them at the beginning of stage 8! Mike said he's got blisters but they weren't going to stop him. According to the map this stage is 'fairly difficult' and the final too are 'easy walk' so the end is in sight!

39.4K to go

At 3:44am Mike texted that they had 39.4K to go which put them in the midst of Stage 6. Mike said that he was struggling a bit but felt he would be okay to finish. He said the next 6hrs would be big and then they were on the home stretch.

Stage four Completed

Yes I'm still up. It's so hard not to be when your hubby's out hiking his heart out and I can watch his progress. But alas... at 12:05 they were halfway done!!! Mike said he's feeling sleepy but overall pretty decent though he feels the next 25K will be tough. This'll be the last update from me until morning as I need to get to bed but feel free to keep up with him on the site. On occassion the GPS system stops but if you keep checking back... it'll eventually work.

No word on the ladies (we've got a group of four women from church participating as well... all wives of the crazy husbands except for me of course and Lori Enns) so I'm praying for them as well. They did not intend to run a lot of it but they were determined to finish strong.


Okay... well I have some pics but they aren't uploading so it'll have to wait until morning. I'm beat. Have a blessed day!

Friday, November 09, 2007

Stage four Completed--Almost

Well... the latest update I got was about 3 minutes ago. They've reached a peak and are headed down. Should be another half hour and they will be welcomed with some soup and coffee. I'm not sure I'll be up in another half-hour so I thought I'd put up a brief update. This next stage(s) will be the longest stretch I believe without support... I don't believe they'll get anything until 6am at the earliest so please continue to pray. However, I do believe that once they complete this stage... the hardest climbling (up/downs) is over. So they can rejoice in that!

Thanks again for all the sweet emails... Mike will be so blessed to read how much you all care!

Stage 3 Completed

Seeing the guys walk out of the woods was so fun... I am so proud of all of them because I know they're pushing themselves and all the work that they've put into it.. just amazing. Sometimes it's not about the race itself but the discipline and hard work in training that's most important. But alas...

Shortly after 6pm they walked out completing stage 3... right on schedule. One of the members has been a bit sick so please pray for extra strength and energy for the next 12+ hours. It was fun to sit with them for a bit but it wasn't long that they headed onto to Stage four. The next rest is at about 10:30 and most likely not again until 6am. Mike was in really good spirits... having a blast and enjoying the challenge. His knee is beginning to bother him but he says it's only on the downhill and if he runs it.. he's okay.

Ahh.. it was so great, so inspiring to be able to see them at this point. And again I'm just so proud of Mike. The team is only allowed four people but there had been 5 training and since Mike was the last one to begin training with them... he's the one who's not officially in the race.. bascially this means that if he were to drop out it doesn't matter. The team has checkpoints that they cannot get through without all four memembers but Mike has freedom to do whatever. His attitude so impresses me that he's pushing himself, encouraging the other guys... simply because he wants to and he hasn't even considered dropping out... know that's motivation, dedication and I'm just so proud.

Stage 2 Completed

At 2:15 they completed stage 2! They are ahead of schedule and planning to see us between 5/5:30. I'm just praying we get there in time. He said they're doing good so far. I'm hoping to get a little more info when he stops but they're not stopping for long so we'll see.

Thanks again for your support!

Oh yeah... the GPS is working now so feel free to check in on him. Here's the link...

http://www.webtracker.hk/webtracks/trailwalker2007.php#start_here

They're team 0055 and most likely you'll need fire fox browser to view the map. You can download that here...


http://en.www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/

Stage 1 Completed

I got a text from Mike that at 10:37 they had completed stage 1 (of ten) of the race! The website isn't as accurate as I had hoped so I'm praying really hard that Mike will be able to contact me in time for us to meet him. I think I was up half the night too because I was just so excited for him. Stage 1 is an easier one, stage 2 is a bit more difficult and supposedly stage 3 is a killer and where many drop out so please keep him in your prayers and I'll keep you updated. We'll see him at the end of stage 3.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Squid and the likes...


Izzy loves her popsicles but they don't sell them in boxes here... just individually at the 7/11 so if she's been a good girl we take a walk to the Circle K and pray they have some. for some reason they always have the red bean but not orange and well... red bean dumpling... GOOD... red bean popsicle... BAD LOL

It's just one of those foods that I will not be able to stomach. I tried... and if I didn't have to look at it, I'd be okay. But the second I see some purple or little bumps... yeah even thinking about it makes me queesy. But anyway....

So today I finally got to take Izzy to a dr about her bumps. Turns out she has Molluscum Contagoiosum a type of pox... nothing serious but not very pretty. So anyway... the treatment options are 1. do nothing and hope it goes away quickly 2. use a cream 3. numb the areas and basically scrape them off. After our 5 minute consult with the Dr., he realized that the 3rd option (his preference) was not realistic for Izzy as she couldn't sit still and didn't care for him even touching her chin so we're going with the cream. I pray this works because if not, we'll have to attempt option 3 and it may take several tries. Letting it go isn't an option in my book as if they pop on their own, they scar and I don't want her chin/mouth area to be totally scarred. So anyway... we'll know in about 3 weeks if the cream is doing the trick. But let me say... that was the most expensive 5 minutes of my life! Crazy how much the consult cost for such a short time... though we didn't have to pay extra for the cream. :)

After the appointment, Adelina and Jayden met us for lunch. It was quite the experience and I'm very thankful for Adelina's patience and quick creativity as Izzy was a handful. I don't know what's gotten into her lately... she's not been sleeping well and on top of that not feeling well but my goodness... my patience is running thin this week. So anyway.... we had lunch at the flying pan and I just had to rub that into Mike because he LOVES that place. It's an American Breakfast place.. but anyway... I enjoyed waffles with strawberries and Izzy had (with Adelina's help) a huge bowl of oatmeal and bananas... just like her Daddy. Then we just walked around the island and had some great conversation.

Just 1 more day until Mike heads out to the mountains. I'm SO excited for him that it's all I can think about ... I even keep forgetting that we head out to Shanghai on Sunday.

Last night was Alpha and it was a great discussion on evil. Nicky Gumble (the Alpha video speaker) shared a statement that really grabbed my attention. He was explaing how the devil works and how we should deal with that and one thing he said was that sometimes we need to just say, 'I've escaped the darkness... I don't have to believe what you are saying.' Or something to that effect... lol... I can't remember word for word but the idea being... I've been forgiven, God loves me, I don't have to listen to what satan is saying. He was saying this in reference to when we know that the thoughts we are thinking aren't related to unconfessed sin but just satan trying to bring us down or make us feel unworthy... we just don't have to take that and sometimes we just need to say that and stop those thoughts. Anyway... it was quite interesting and I appreciated the simplicity of his words. Life is so different for me here and even after 2yrs I still struggle with my role and get down and self-conscience about the littlest things and this was a great reminder to me that I don't have to feel this way... I've been set free... I've been saved by the grace of God.

But alas.... I need to get to bed.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Cantonese Lessons

Some Daddy/Daughter Lovin
I'm so excited! I found a website that has some Cantonese lessons on it! So right now... Izzy and I are learning our colors. We know red, yellow, purple, and blue. So fun!

Well... Izzy seems to be doing better but I'm not feeling the greatest so I'm grabbing a coke zero and a book and heading to bed.

Hope you have a wonderful, blessed day!

Friday, November 02, 2007

More pics..

Princess Cinderella
Izzy and Saytaki
Izzy and Soda
Handing out the goodies (Hunter, Jill, Mousumi, Soda and Izzy)



So last night was not fun... I don't know what happened to my baby but she was up crying out lots yet half the time was not even awake. I brought her into bed with us thinking that would help but no... she actually asked to go back into her room yet every time I was about to fall asleep, she woke up again. I finally pulled out some blankets and slept on the floor next to her. Needless to say, I napped with her this afternoon and am already drousy... just waiting for Mike to get home. She did have a fever today but it seems to have broken and she was asleep until I went in to move her toys off her bed and give her some actual sleeping space. LOL Now she's awake again and hungry. Ahhh....

So my interview/meeting seemed to go well today and we actually found a school for Izzy that I think she'd really like but now it's just figuring out what to do with her for an hour inbetween her and me getting home. So we'll see...

right now I'm just more concerned about a good nights sleep and her feeling better. :)

Just wanted to upload some more Disney and Halloween pics. Enjoy!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Wohoo!!!! The parkas have come out!

At Disney
She adored Minnie this trip... lots of hugs and kisses!

Today was just a fabulous day! Izzy and I didn't get up until almost 10am, it was about 20 degrees out, I got to talk with my sister, Mike and I got our visas for Shanghai, we had dinner at CPK with David and Wendzi, Mike got Bumblebee, and it's 10:11 and Izzy's asleep!

It's been a crazy few weeks around here... good but crazy. Lots of things happening. I have yet another interview tomorrow morning. This one came totally out of the blue but based on some things... I felt it was worth checking out. I honestly don't know what God has in store for me. I totally thought it was this Saturday job but then this new opportunity came up and well... it seems like a God thing. Just crazy... and I don't totally know what to think. I was talking to my sister today and we were discussing how we often think we know what's best and even believe that this is how God should work but yet God always seems to have another plan. They just personally dealt with a situation like this and now I'm trying to learn from her experience and trust God and His plan. So we shall see. I'm hoping to have some answers tomorrow but as always... I think I will have to wait because I think these are always opportunities for me to have faith and trust God. In some ways, I'm such a planner and need to have all the answers and this is definitely one of those times though I am gettng better at just waiting. :)

So anyway.... just 1 month until my half-marathon and I'm excited but am also ready for it to be over. The training has been good but takes a lot of time and energy though training won't stop until the end of feb as I'm planning to run the 1/2 in the Standard Charter Marathon. (The race that started this all)

Mike runs his 100K race in just over a week and I'm so excited for him! I think he's crazy but am so proud and he's talking about doing the 1/2 with me in feb too so that's fun to think about to.

And we leave for Shanghai just after his race so I'm praying he's not too exhausted to enjoy 2 days of tennis and exploring. I'm really excited for this trip as well. He so deserves it and it will be so wonderful to have so much time to ourselves!!!

So anyway... just some little updates on our life.