Visits from Family!

We have been so blessed to have family from the US and Germany visit us in our first week in country...

These four as part of a group from our home fellowship in Jacksonville, Florida... "just happened" to be dining a five-minute cab ride from our hotel four days after our arrival...

Sabine Brauer is a cousin from Germany that I (Greg) had never had occasion to meet... until last night, our sixth day on the other side of the world!



"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He Who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -and all the more as you see the Day approaching." -Hebrews 10:23-25

Life in a New Lane

Grace was kind enough to allow me to post this picture of her struggling with her chopsticks during our first restaurant meal without interpreters... not really sure what we ordered; the beans were delicious, and we think the meat may have been donkey... perhaps it's better we don't know!

您好, Beijing!

We left the campus of the University of Northern Colorado at 6:15 p.m. Monday; arrived at our hotel in Beijing 4:15 p.m. Wednesday... with a 14-hour time difference that's a total travel time of 32 hours!
Here we are ready for the 14-hour hop from Newark-to-Beijing...

...and our hotel room, "home" for the next four weeks!

Our Departure and the Anniversary of an Arrival

We fly out tonight... Denver-to-Newark-to-Beijing, arriving Wednesday afternoon, local time. What many of you may not know is that Grace's Mom spent a few years in China (pictured below being tutored in Chinese in the mid-40's)

She left this earth July 30, 2002, making today the 10th Anniversary of her arrival in Heaven. Some would call that a "coincidence"... Knowing the Author of the Fifth Commandment the way I do, I see it as His way of allowing a daughter to honor her mother's memory on this occasion...

再见, Jacksonville！

Grace and I took a quiet moment to give thanks for her 14 years in this beautiful home (photo taken from the back porch)...

...sealed and weighed the last of our luggage a little after 11:00 p.m. I (Greg) am really proud of my bride's ability to hold lightly the things of this world... and to get everything in 4-50 lb. suitcases, 2 carry-ons and a briefcase!!

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...got 'em all in the back of the Explorer for our 5:00 a.m. run to the airport!




Here she is in our dorm room at the University of Northern Colorado, where we'll be housed through next Monday during phase 1 of our training!

Our Apartment

One of the benefits of teaching at BIT is a furnished apartment... Grace and I have been in touch with a couple who has been teaching there two years; they've been kind enough to send us pictures of their 3BR/1BA apartment saying that ours will have an identical lay-out!
This will be my (Greg's) 8th move in 8 years, so not as challenging to adapt to a housing change... and beautiful as Grace's home of the past 14 years is, she's excited about our "new digs" which will reportedly be on the third floor of the complex. One thing that might take a little getting used to is what our future colleagues call the "shoilet" (pictured below)... it is combination shower/toilet/sink/washing machine... now that's efficiency!














We look forward to having you all come visit us once we are settled in!

Specifics of our Assignment

We found out tonight that we'll be teaching at the Liangxiang campus of the Beijing Institute of Technology (one of the top-tier universities in China with a student body of over 45,000) Liangxiang is a "satellite town" (suburb) of the capital; it is located in the Fangshan District on the southwest corner of the Celestial City (population 20 million... roughly that of the entire state of New York... NYC is home to 8 million)