a friend's birthday party

Catherine and I attended the 6th birthday of her closest local friend. Below you can find a video of the kids singing "Happy Birthday." Only the last few words of the minority language were recorded, the remainder is in Chinese. 

I wrote in our newsletter about a sweet encounter Catherine and her friend, Shiny, had along the way. Aside from the spiritual implications of their conversation, it's also just really good for our girls to have friends and be able to interact normally with local kids. 

After the party, the mom wrote me a heartfelt message thanking me for being so willing to help her manage the kids during the games (who said being a recreation major had no purpose). 

I'll be honest. She didn't invite us to the party until the day of the party. It was already a stretch to make it work for Catherine and I to go (James had to be able to be home early from work to keep the other girls) and I wasn't exactly "excited" about being asked to help with the games with such short notice. And then there was the problem of the gift. I wasn't going to have time to go out to a store to buy and gift and an afternoon's time wasn't enough to make something so I was left scrambling around our house to find something still wrapped up that a now-six-year-old girl might like. I found a light-up snowman from last Christmas, a cross necklace left over from some gifts we brought from US to China our previous trip back, and a chap stick. I might have found some candy too. With a few hours notice, it would have to do. 

In addition to thanking me for helping with the games, she said that Shiny loved the necklace and sent me this picture of her wearing it to bed that night. Then she told me that after they finish this current busy season she'd like my help to know how to teach her two girls the stories of the Bible. I was so humbled that the Father could use the gift that I put so little no thought into to work in potentially bringing His word and His stories to this family. And that He would do so and allow me some role despite my grumbling attitude about the situation. 

While I'm writing....when we met this girl in January of 2016, her English name was Tiny. Sometime this summer, she decided that she was no longer "tiny" and told her mom she wanted a new English name and they decided on Shiny. About this time, Catherine also became acquainted with the story of God changing Saul's name to Paul. She, too, then needed a name change and started the third session of our homeschool asking everyone to call her Katie. Then, after arriving back in the States when she lost her first tooth, she decided she needed another name change. Since then she's been asking most people we meet to call her Tiny. 

Ann, on the other hand pretends to be a cat most of day, almost every day, but that is another topic for another day.