Beach Goodbye

Beach beauty. (btw, credit for most of these photos goes to Lorne Christensen. Thanks Lorne!)

All the ladies carted lunch for 25 people to the beach. Not an easy feat when you have to take a ferry, bus, and taxi to get to there!
Carol and I...Carol joked when we got Maddie Rae that she would be my "surrogate sister." And that she is! She is like a sister to me, and I will miss her so much (I just said goodbye to her this morning, so I'm still liable to launch into the ugly cry).

We headed out to Cheung Chau beach on Saturday for a beautiful day of sun, sand, and sausages. This was a relatively clean beach with just enough waves to allow the kids to have a lot of fun in blow up innertubes and boats. I don't think we heard from the kids for the entire 4 or 5 hours we were there! This day was in honor of sending us off, and we were so thankful for the sunny weather and good friends. I have never been more scared and sad than I was when we got on a plane to Hong Kong 3 years ago. I grew up in one house, left that house at 18 for University, and lived in that University town for the next 12 years. Moving was not on my radar...especially moving to CHINA!?! It was not always easy, but I am so thankful that we took the risk and stepped completely out of our comfort zone. God has blessed us with friends who feel like family, a daughter from China, and an understanding of Chinese culture that we would have never gained from just a short visit. We have been blessed with a wonderful church family, ministry opportunities in Mainland China, and connections with people from all over the world. Our kids have internalized China, and China is and always will be a part of us now.