As seasons come and go

 

Where the time has gone is hard to say. I cannot believe this much time has passed since my previous posting (8 months...seriously). Fall and winter, spring now into summer...it seems like nearly last week that I wrote the last post. And to think of all that has transpired since…

I read a blog post a few months ago titled "Much to Say" and I immediately thought "Yes! I can definitely relate!" But then busy-ness and planning and transitioning crept in and more and more time passed.

So here, in a nut-shell is the recap on the past 8 months and hopefully a kick-start back into the writing that I love to do.

So here we go....

Most of you know that Mikey and I got engaged while we were both home last November (old news, right?)...

Another highlight of the visit home was getting to these some familiar faces on the other side of the globe...

"Jillian/Jiji" at MBHOH, now Breana

Isaac, one of my precious preschoolers at MBHOH

"Cadence" at MBHOH, now Jack

"Jeremy" at MBHOH, now Jon

Christmas back in the Big Blue House...

Our Chinese teacher, Bei Bei, helping wrap slippers for the nannies

Loved a visit from sweet friends Meredith and Brandon Greer on their way to pick up their little Ella Hope

 Lots and lots and lots of slippers

Christmas morning with the Martins

Then a mid-morning flight to Beijing to spend time with my fiance', his mom and brother, and our Beijing family...

Our snow-covered cottage

Seeing winter off and welcoming Spring....

In China, it is customary for families to make jiao zi (dumplings) on New Years Day

I won the jiao zi making contest :)

Fireworks galore' all night long!

Celebrating with some of my favorite little peeps

Getting to eat the jiao zi, yeah!

Following day we were off for a park outing

Sometimes a large group of foreigners can draw quite a crowd...it gets a little unnerving ;)

Ending the day off at one of our favorite Western stops!

As spring arrived, wedding planning and prep was in full effect. Planning a wedding in China had its challenges, but the end result was nearly perfect! We made it to May and welcomed many family members and friends that came half-way across the world to celebrate our wedding with us.

By the way, if you'd like to see all of our wedding photos, please visit www.vhobbsphotography.com, go to portfolio, and click on McCoy/Shook wedding or either of the China albums. Our friend and photographer, Ginny, did an amazing job capturing the week for us.

Mikey and I are now living in Beijing at New Hope Foster Home, in what we like to refer to as our little cottage. It is actually a guard house turned home, but we have made it homey and ours, and we love it. One of the best parts is hearing babies from the foster home playing on the playground just outside our window.

We will be traveling back and forth to Luoyang this summer to help with Show Hope teams and then I will begin a teaching job at an international school in August. I will be teaching 1st grade.

Married life is great, though we are daily reminded of how selfish we can be. I have a sweet husband and we have much to be grateful for. 

Needless to say, transitioning out of Maria's Big House of Hope has been/continues to be difficult and I know it will take a lot of processing as I leave a place and children that I dearly love. My hope this summer is that even as I transition I will be able to share through this blog and that it will continue to be a way to process through all these changes (and hopefully be somewhat of an encouragement to those of you who are still reading...)

A few nights before I left MBH for the wedding, I was sitting with some of the kids in the Tinkerbell room. There is a little guy in there who cries when I simply look at him; if I say his name, it's all over! This particular night, sweet "Fahlin" was sitting on my lap and when I looked at "Colin", he began to frown. I told her, in my minimal Chinese, "he doesn't like me very much." Her sweet hands grabbed my cheeks and she looked me in the eyes and said:

“Ni bu shi lao wai, ni shi Becca” 

Which means "you're not a foreigner, you're Becca." My eyes welled with tears and I held her close and I thought about what she had said; essentially, she knew that I was saying that he didn't like me because I am a foreigner (and he is scared of me), but to her I am no foreigner, I am just me and that's all she sees. These were such sweet "parting words" from one whom I have grown to love so dearly.