Surgery

The patient ready for what ended up being about a three-hour surgical procedure (after 4 hours of teaching and a 3 hour commute)

Grace has had her fair share of "skin issues" over the years... her first experience with Mohs surgery came 11 years ago, when they removed a squamous cell from her other cheek in Jacksonville.  We are thankful that (at least thus far) all of the malignancies have been of the type that could be eliminated without the chemotherapy and/or radiation required by more invasive types of skin cancer.

The patient is amazing... planning to teach her afternoon class less than 24-hours after having her face carved up!

Mid-Autumn Festival

Specifically scheduled for the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar (September 19 on the solar calendar this year), this festival has its roots in the millenia-old worship of Chang'e, the Moon Goddess of Immortality...

In today's practice, the gifting of moon cakes is a way to wish friends and associates long and happy lives.  Pictured at right is 5/6ths of the delegation to express our appreciation to 18 of those who work so hard in the offices of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Languages and English to make it possible for us to teach at the two campuses of Beijing Institute of Technology.

Kick-off Luncheon

This was our English Department "Welcome Lunch" and Mid-Autumn Festival celebration, complete with toasts and moon cake exchange... tomorrow its dinner for all the foreign teachers (including those from Germany, Japan and Spain) at the main campus, and yes, we have started teaching!

L2R: Lydia, Catherine, Emily, Sabrina, Min, Greg, Grace, Ben, Valerie

Gratitude

It is only through the generosity of so many of you that Grace and I have been able to serve half-way around the world, and we feel a warm kinship with each of you whose name appears on our support list each month.
We also love anonymous gifts in that they make us thankful to all of you, and even more clearly to the True Source of all blessings!

Our sincerest thanks to the one(s) through whom He provided so very generously earlier this month!

Lunch Time

This is what our "canteen" looks like at mealtimes during the three weeks of military training that our freshmen undergo.

Full Team

L2R: Greg, Catherine, Grace, Valerie, Emily, Erika, Ben

We had our first team building meeting at full-strength this morning.  Ben was at his brother's wedding in Michigan last Saturday, and we share Erika with the main campus.

We now have 11 days to be ready for the first day of classes...

Should be a great year!