It was a great honor

 James is the Chinese boy standing next to Alex. Last week he turned 7 and he invited some of his friends, including me and the kids, to his party.
James' dad is a visiting scholar from China. He is an anesthesiologist and is here doing research. James' dad speaks pretty good English. James' mom is an OG/GYN back in China. She is just here taking care of James and she hardly speaks any English. My favorite thing about her is her cooking! She makes unbelievable food! I had seconds and thirds of (most) everything on the table.
One thing I loved about going to James' birthday party was opportunities to really converse with the moms. I don't interact with them much because we are usually running home to eat dinner, do homework and get a bath after class. I got to talk to two of the moms in depth. One mom asked me, "So do you choose for your children if they will be Christians or do they choose themselves?" What a great question! I got to explain that more as well as share a bit of my own story of growing up going to church, but not becoming a Christian until high school. I love my job! It was such an honor to take part in something so special!

James is making a wish

 Last Wednesday was our last English class. Each kid received a book called, "In Search of the Greatest Treasure." It's a story book about what it why Jesus is important and how you can have a relationship with Him.
So I made a treasure map so they would get the idea of treasure and finding something. I hid the books in the classroom and we played "hot and cold" to find them. They loved the books.

 I also gave each kid a New Testament children's Bible with a personal note inside. The Bible is in English and Chinese. The note had two reasons. The first one was of course I have built relationships with these awesome kids. I wanted to thank them for being a part of my class.
Second, when they head back to China there will be a lot to pack. A heavy book might not make it into their suitcases. Hopefully if it has a personal note in it they will be more likely to lug it half way across the world.

Learning to Ride

It was a beautiful spring morning. The perfect Saturday to learn to ride a bike. Dave prepared the kids bikes the night before. After delicious pancakes we packed up the car and headed to Penn's campus. We parked at 42nd & Locust. Lilia had no pedals so she used her feet to push herself along. This is the concept of the balance bike, which teaches kids to ride a bike at age 3. It is so worth the money.
So it probably took us about 20 minutes to ride to the center of campus, 34th and spruce. We were looking for an enclosed space where the kids could bike back and forth and we could teach them. The Perelman Quadrangle, right behind Huntsman Hall was perfect! In the middle was flat and either side had a gentle slope the length to the stairs.
 We put some pedals on her bike and within 3 tries she was going on her own! It was incredible!!! We were all so excited, we celebrated with popsicles from the Lil Pop Shop. Their truck was on Penn's campus for a festival.

Perelman quadrangle

Our goal was to teach both of them. However, Alex feet couldn't touch the ground yet so he couldn't learn to balance. Since his training wheels were off Dave had to hold him up the whole time. His back was killing him by the end of the morning. The next day his hip muscles were sore from running while bent down.
Later we put Alex's training wheels back on and he was excited to keep up with his sister, who had now mastered the bicycle!

Later that afternoon we had a party in the neighborhood to go to. It was a quiet street, 49th & Larchwood. While we hung out on the porch with friends, Lilia and Alex biked up and down the sidewalk for about 3 1/2 hours. She had mastered it! She was a pro! Pretty soon Dave said the two of them could ride to school together, but not on the trailer bike. Instead she could ride her bike and he would ride his!
Lilia was so excited. She woke up this morning, also very sore, and said, "I want to ride my bike everyday!" She discovered that learning to ride a bike was like learning to read. The world opens up to you in a whole new way!