Cliff Hanger :)

We are back in the states and missing our dear friends in China! As I was sharing with my friend Ta yesterday I realized that I left you hanging on a mysterious "gift of dirt" in the parenting class I did. That was the blog about the class on Tuesday, March 16.

Well here's the dirt! Part of the class was on giving honor to our parents and children and in general giving the gift of honor to people around us. The illustration involved giving a gift of dirt (in a nice gift bag of course) to illustrate giving dishonor to someone - and then following up with a nice gift to show how it is when we give the gift of honor. The illustration was very well received and provoked quite a discussion about some difficult parenting some had received and some current situations and how to deal with them.The woman who received the dirt and then the replacement nice gift then turned and gave a part of her gift (a chocolate) to another to symbolize sharing.

The really funny part was in collecting the dirt - this in a virtual concrete jungle around the hotel, not to mention the fact that it had snowed and the dirt we saw around trees etc. was a bit muddy. Well, we were outside Walmart (yes you heard it right - Walmart in China!) and saw a tree that was in a sunny spot and the dirt around it was pretty dry. The friend we were with was Kristy Tan who is luckily fluent in Mandarin which came in handy when I was bending down to pick up a handful of dirt with a plastic bag...

There was an older Chinese man observing us with a funny sort of grin on his face. The Chinese are quite openly curious and as I was scooping the dirt he was getting closer and closer. Kristy saved the day and said in Mandarin, "She loves China so much she wants to take some home with her!" At that, he smiled broadly!!

...and that's the rest of the story :)

Incidentally, Sharon Sanchez' husband Ken is writing wonderful stories of events that happened there which I am posting on my profile page on Facebook if you care to check them out. Thank you again for praying and loving China with us!