Our First Outing!

Saturday/ July 7th
Our first Outing!

Matt and the team went to the school today to meet with the principal. So the boys and I charted our course and were off to brave this new land. The plan was to walk about ½ a mile to Lo Fuk were there was a park and shopping center. Off we go in the thick humid heat. The road we were told to take was a bit hilly, so pushing the struggle was quite a strain! The park was nice but so hot! We decided to for go the heat and make our way to the shopping center. This was not an obvious shopping center and we are on the side of town where there is a lot of government housing and not a lot of tourist. I say all this to tell you this side of town was not developed with tourist in mind. Also on this side of town we are pretty much the only Americans that you will see. We stick out like sore thumbs! So I am trying to find my way and a Chinese lady sees me with the boys and becomes concerned about the sun shining down on them. So she walks alongside of me with her umbrella covering the boys in the double stroller. Of course she did not speak any English, so I was trying to communicate with her where I was going. She finally figured it out and took me to the shopping center. At first I was just praying that she was leading us in the right direction because she took us through an open market of people cooking food in what looks like an old parking lot (underneath the shopping center). Josh’s words explain it best- “Mommy, something stinks!” This was our first whiff of many unpleasant smells to come! This sweet lady (a God-send) helped me down the stairs with the stroller and into the shopping center- in which I would have never found on my own. This shopping center is not like our shopping centers. It is about 8 stories of tiny shops that are connected to another building that is exactly the same. You can buy groceries, shoes, house goods, flowers, junk, get your hair done, or your shoes fixed. You can also buy an assortment of dried mystery products here. It can range from sea urchins to fruit. So with each new store you have a brand new smell. I was al little nervous about this shopping center because it felt like 100 mazes just on one floor. Not wanting to venture out to far with my little treasures I decided to stay on this one floor. Caleb was in need of a diaper change, so we went looking for the bathroom. We found it only to realize that the stroller would not fit. So making an executive decision I decided to call it a day. We had only been gone about an hour and a half! We made the hot trek back tired and worn out. But, we were proud! We were proud that we made it to our destination. We were proud that we had stepped out of all that was comfortable and did something that was completely unfamiliar. I hope you are smiling with me! Sometimes it doesn’t take much does it.

That evening we went with the team to a place that is kind of like Time Square in NYC. It’s called Nathan Road. We walked up the stairs from the subway and really all you can say is “Wow”. Blinking neon lights are everywhere, cars zooming and honking their horns, people crowding and walking the streets, the smells of dried ??? coming at you. What is this place that we have just walked into? Definitely something to see, but how could this be your everyday life? We ended up eating at the Spaghetti House after about a 45 minute wait. We were all so exhausted! There have been 2 moments on our trip so far where the Lord has spoken to us through o very still small voice. And tonight was one of them. As we were walking down Nathan street with so many things to look at, all demanding your attention all at once- Josh said “Mommy, look at that star.” I looked up, there were no stars. I said “Where’s the star?” He pointed, and out in the distance at the top of the city line, nestled in between the buildings was one random star. How in the world did he see this amongst all the neon lights and hustle and bustle of the people? It is so cool how the Lord reminds us that life is truly all about Him. He is the only one that could have drawn Josh’s eyes to that star. Through Josh the Lord allowed me to be more in awe of him than in the lights of the city. “Thank you Jesus, you are so impressive to me.”