Time with the Gurrs

Here we are with the Gurrs - Miranda and I at the top and Monty and Nigel below. Nigel is the English pastor at Clear Water Bay Baptist Church in Hong Kong. Miranda is my twin born in HK. Don't you see the resemblance? It is funny how much alike we are - even after so many years of being apart! The Gurrs are one of the great couples we can spend time with and we all have a great time. Monty and Nigel love to talk theology into the wee hours of the night and Miranda and I talk about home schooling, child training, being godly wives etc etc. It is always refreshing to spend time with them.

The sleep over. . .Kai, Sien and Miranda had a sleep over in the flat where we were staying while Monty, Nigel, Judah and Marie slept over at the Gurr's flat. Miranda and I took the older children to see the Nutcracker ballet - we all loved it! Henna has been humming the songs ever since. Here Sien and Manon are up whispering and giggling.

Here the children are after a big day at Ocean Park. Monty, Nigel and Judah got in some "guy time". Nigel surprised Monty with a new PDA phone for Christmas and he spent the day showing Monty how to operate it.

I have been to Hong Kong many times but have never played on the beach. Miranda knew all of the fabulous places to take children. We had such a good time.

Here is Judah enjoying a beach sunset.

Kai giving Manon a piggy back ride.
Monty giving Sien a piggy back ride.
After a big day we went for a fun dinner out at Fat Angelo's (A landmark Italian Restaurant in HK). It was amazing how nice the restaurant staff was to us considering our group - can you imagine be the waitress that hears, "we have 3 adults and SIX children."
The girls enjoying swimming. Miranda and Nigel just moved apartments the week before we arrived. Their new place has a club house with an indoor pool. Needless to say -The kids loved it!

The rest of the story. . .

When Henna, Manon and Judah were all vomitting from some virus they picked up, we decided to change flats where we were staying (we were sharing with a family with 4 children and did not want to risk them getting sick as well) and so extend our time in HK a couple of days to let them recover. In the process I took great care of packing our belongings - putting everything valuable into our backpack and planning to keep it on me in the shift. Somehow in the process I got distracted, Monty was busy unloading our bags and the taxi driver made off with our back pack. It had our passports, work permits, cash, my jewerly, video camera, camera, ergo baby carrier, plane tickets etc etc. Needless to say we were sick over the loss. Monty met with the police and a detective and followed up with the taxi driver's plate numbers but nothing was recovered. It was a learning process and in the midst of it Jesus was real. It forced us to get our eyes off of ourselves and our earthly possessions and really thank Him for the gift He has given us of eternal life. We got emergency passports, tourist visa's and were finally back in China on Dec 23rd. Thankfully we have great insurance that we think will cover almost most things. In the meantime we made the most of our extra days in HK. At the end of the trip Manon's comment was "Mommy, that was too much vacation." Monty did go out and buy me a pocket camera so we could still document what was left of our adventures. That is what these photos are from and I am still figuring it out.