Semester 1: 2014-15

Well, we had a new reason to keep you uninformed during the first semester of the 2014-15 school year:  our camera finally died.  With all that happened this semester, replacing the camera took a back burner to everything else.  However, with about a week left in the semester, we splurged and purchased a new camera on Taobao, a Chinese cross between Amazon and Ebay.  So the family photo above was one of the first pictures we took with our new purchase, and the setting is Da Guan park during our Christmas Holiday.  We actually all rode on the large Ferris Wheel in the background, in celebration of Oswin's fourth birthday.  This particular wheel is similar to the London Eye--much smaller, but similar--affording riders an unobstructed view of Kunming and the north end of Dian Chi lake.  In any case, without pictures, I will give you some of the things that made this first semester a struggle, an adventure, and a blessing.

Family Tragedy:

Over the U.S. Labor Day weekend, my twin brother's daughter passed away in a beach accident.  Ever since I can remember, people have asked my brother and I if we ever "feel each other's pain."  We have always thought that question was ridiculous:  when he broke his finger, when he broke his nose, when he broke his arm, when he tore his ACL, I never once felt any of his pain.  However, when I heard that his daughter had died after being accidentally buried in the sand on the Oregon coast, I began feeling real pain for him, his wife, and his son.  That pain continues today.

For me, the only "positive" thing to have come from this tragedy was that I got to fly back to the U.S. to see my family for about forty-eight hours.  While Suli and the boys did not get to travel with me, getting to see my parents and all but one of my siblings was truly a much needed time of family bonding.  With China and the U.S.'s new 10-year tourist visas, we hope that Suli, the boys, and I will all be able to travel together, should any other important events occur.

KIA's Near Tragedies:

Number one:  Shortly after I returned from the States, a family, whose children attend KIA, nearly lost their own son.  The family's younger son somehow managed to fall from their fourth-floor apartment one morning before he was to be coming to school.  However, he must have been aware that he might fall because he actually landed feet first, sustaining no head injuries--not even a scratch.  However, he did break both his legs and some ribs.  After stabilizing his condition at a local hospital, the family flew their son to Hong Kong for medical treatment.  Not long before the Christmas Holiday, he was actually walking again.  Slowly, but walking.

Number two:  Because of the special nature of our school, we often think that KIA's walls somehow shield our students from the cares of the world.  However, around the time of U.S. Thanksgiving, we were reminded that the troubles of this world have long arms.  One of my own students had to be rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital because of heart problems due to on-going bouts with eating disorders.  According to the international medical professionals who counseled the young woman's parents, if she had gone even twenty-four more hours without immediate care, she could very well have died from a lack of nutrition.  This has a been a very difficult situation for the girl and her parents, who all feel great shame, even as they struggle to overcome the issues that have led to the daughter's rapid weight loss.

So far this year, we have felt some real pains:  personally, as a family, and as a school.  Through it all, God has provided peace.  Certainly, these struggles are greatest within the families who are most directly affected, but even as members of extended families, we have felt the pain and suffered in our own way.  Suli, Oswin, August, and I look forward to this summer when we will be heading back to the States to reconnect with our U.S. family, the Franks and beyond.  Please pray with us as we remember all three of these families.  In some cases, the hurts most likely will last a long time, if not a lifetime.  And in the case of my brother's daughter, those hurts extend directly to us.  Please pray that God will continue to send peace.

Praise Report:

During the recent holiday break, my wife and I were able to spend an entire day (10.00-20.00h) with one another, soaking at the spa and eating out for dinner.  On the way from the spa to the restaurant, as we drove our electric scooter along the bike path, we passed a former student of mine who was home for the Holidays (her parents and grandparents are from Kunming, even though she and her brother carry both Canadian and U.S. passports).  She rode with us for a while, and she informed us that her grandmother had recently passed away.  Since this loss, her grandfather, a "staunch atheist" has started to ask her and her brother, the only Believers in the family, about what their Faith is.  So she asked us if we know of any books in Chinese that her grandfather could read to help in his search.  We found her two books and pray that Truth will be revealed to him.