See the world in green and blue, see China right in front of you....

Hello friends and family
Yes, it has been a long time. Life is getting increasingly busy, but at the same time our internet has not been working so well. We got a new router yesterday so we will see.
I thought I would give you an update on each person and what their life looks like.

Mark our official bank and the boss, leaves us every Tuesday morning and returns on Thursday evening from Zhangjiagang. He typically has meetings the other days in Pudong or he works from home. While this isn't the greatest situation it is working. He spends long days at the plant in about 40 degree (celsius that is) weather, so he typically gets home, eats, calls me on skype and goes to bed. When he comes home on Thursday we always go visit our friends at Head to Toe for date night and have foot massages. Yes, they are really becoming our friends. They think we are so funny. (yeah I know funny is a relative term) Jeffrey told me last time we were there "Natalie everybody loves when your family comes here your family make everyone happy here." We just love them! Last night I threw the word church at them. It was fun watching them roll that one around in their brain and trying to say it. We always have mini Mandarin lessons while we are there. They teach us a few Mandarin words and we teach them a few English words.

Natalie (that's me) I have been crazy busy shopping! But not for me! I had a blast spending my aunts money and let me tell you my pearl ladies Jane and Vicky thought they hit the jackpot. There are many new ladies here and I have been showing them where to grocery shop in Shanghai. Once you figure that out life is much better. I have also been gearing up to start my bilbe study with my friend Carol. We are doing Beth Moore's study Believing God. Very excited to start that. Every Thursday morning we play Mahjong, which is this awesome chinese game that is sort of like rummy cube with way more rules. I have also been cooking more. It is getting easier and I have even had a few successes in the kitchen, where nothing went wrong and the food tasted good. My evenings are filled with get your homework done, get your pjs on, brush your teeth, go to bed and will do this all again....because because because I'm your mom and I love you! (this is for my sisters from the conference we went to this summer). So you see my days can be busy:)

Elise is very busy with school and her friends. She is taking her algebra II and geometry this year. Loves the algebra and not so much love going on for the geometry. Her chemistry teacher isn't the best, but I'm sure she'll figure it out. She also has English, some History class, Religion, Mandarin, Health and PE. She really does have a few hours of homework a night. On the weekends she spends time with friends watching movies, school functions or hanging out at Starbucks. Elise is also a brat because (yes I'm very jealous) she has the oppertunity of a lifetime to go to Egypt. They will be swimming in the red sea, hiking Mt. Sinai, riding camels and the list goes on. She will be doing this in February over Chinese New year. We decided to let her go because she will not have an interim trip next year. Since the olympics will be in china next year the government has mandated that no school can start before the olympics are over. So the high school can't allow the kids to miss another week of school for the trips that they usually get to take. We'll know in another week where she is going at the end of September. They had 6 trips to choose from and they had to pick their top 3, which they could get any one of. They have 2 service project options, 2 history trips and 2 adventure trips. The goal is to have one of each before they graduate since most kids are here 3 years.

Jacob loves school. He loves Mrs. Frerking and he loves Mr. Cameron even more. That would be an exact quote. So I guess to think your team of teachers in the 7th grade are pretty cool is a good thing. After waiting patiently for a week after school started, Jacob finally got his Macbook. He is totally and completely enthralled with this laptop. I often hear myself saying, "Jacob are you doing homework or just playing" Jacob did indeed pass level one of Mandarin last year in just three months and so he gets to be with all of his friends in Mandarin two. He is also playing touch rugby right now and seems to be enjoying that.

I will do Noah and Levi together because there lives are pretty much the same right now. They have the same teacher that Jacob had last year, which is a good thing all around. While she's not a warm fuzzy kind of teacher, they will definitely have a good foundation after they leave her class. They also have had more homework then ever before. They are pretty sure they did more homework this week of school then ever before in their lives. They had glazed looks in their eyes by Thursday night and were wondering when there next day off of school was. But they made it through their first full week of school with only having to ride their bikes back to school for forgotten homework oh say three times this week. Last night we treated them all to their favorite restaurant and to haircuts and head and shoulder massages from our favorite people at Head to toe. They haven't started any sports yet, but something will be coming soon for them. Their down time is spent playing PS2, Wii, chess and the occassional game of basketball when it isn't so smokin hot outside that might faint.

Well it is indeed a beautiful day, we are seeing green all around and have had more days of blue skies than I ever imagined possible in China.
We're off to Hongqia to the pearl market because Jacob needs a laptop bag and then we are spending the day with the Pippenger's swimming and having dinner together.
I promise the next blog won't be so far off. Until then have a beautiful day!!!