July in BJ

The 4th certainly looks different here than in the states (not too many bar-b-ques and fireworks), but we had fun celebrating anyway. Aaron and some guys headed up to the Great Wall for a bachelor party, so a few girls and I stayed at a hotel with a pool for the night. Our dessert was at least festive!

Our home group does a life night (or fun night) every month, so when it was our turn to plan it, we definitely went bowling! It was guys against girls, and although the girls may not have won, we certainly looked cuter in our bowling shoes!

Mike and Aphi's Wedding Weekend

My stepbrother got married this past June in California, so we were thrilled to be able to make a trip home for the wedding. The rehearsal dinner and wedding were both beautiful, the weather was nice, and we had great time with family. Only wish we could have stayed longer!

Gadsden with family

We made a quick trip to the states last June for a family wedding in California, and detoured through Alabama to see other family and friends. We were able to help celebrate our niece's birthday, and have a bar-b-q with old Gadsden buddies.

Bethel Blind Orphanage BJ

Bethel is the only designated blind orphanage in China, and we had the opportunity of going to the grand opening last May. A few friends and two of my Chinese teachers came along too. Despite the rain, we all had a great time. The kids even put on a performance for everyone. Fun was had by all!

Henan

We have been traveling to the Henan province for a little over a year now developing relationships with a few of the orphanages there. We feel blessed to be a part of helping better the lives of the kids. We always go ready to serve however we can, and this time we were given the job of helping paint the Lily Room doors, that's right, the doors (we had nothing to do with the cute murals on the walls), and we still managed to get paint everywhere. It was fun regardless and we can literally say we left our mark in the Zhengzhou Lily Room.

We are unable to post pictures of the kids (for their safety), but we hope you enjoy the ones of us and can get a feel for what we've been blessed to be a part of in Henan.

Easter in BJ

Hi family and friends!

We know it has been a while since we updated our blog, so we're trying to use our October Holiday to play catch up. We hope you enjoy some of our "highlights" over the past several months...

Aaron and I had all of our Care for Children friends over for dinner and a game night the week before Easter, and then took the opportunity of having local friends over to experience Easter for the first time. From dying eggs to having our own scavenger hunt, fun was had by all!

In the midst of all this, Aaron and I decide we needed a pet. We went out to buy a goldfish, and came home with a kitten. Check out pictures of little Phoebe below and you'll see too why we couldn't leave the store without her! (Did we mention she was free??)

We hope each of you are doing well, and we hope through our blog your feel a little bit a part of our lives here. Please let us know how each of you are doing too!

Quick trip home

I (Hayley) made a quick trip back to the States last April to visit my family, and was blessed to get to celebrate my grandmother's birthday and go to my good friend Natalie's baby shower :) She is now the mom of two precious twins that I will get to meet at Christmas!

Can't wait!

My brother, grandparents and me

Uncle John, Aunt Bee and me

Uncle Bill, Missy, my grandmother and me

Me, Natalie, Juliet, and Jessica