my little brother started college this year. i helped him move in only three days before i left for china. and i worried that i wouldn’t be there to help him through the transition. i worried because he was always the quiet one, because all through high school i saw him pick up my bad study habits, because he was the one that was often taken advantage of.

but fast forward two months and i can see that i worried unnecessarily. he is completely in his element. straight a’s no problem, getting involved in fellowship, taking initiative. he might even go to jordan next summer to work in refugee camps with a public health class.

and when i take a step back, i realize that in the time between the boy who blew up a furby in the church microwave and the one who taught english in gansu and now, he grew up.

and i’m very proud.

so happy 19th birthday, little brother!

here is an embarrassing photo of us at his junior high graduation, four years ago ;]

i would love to do an actual decent post but truth be told… i have bags under my eyes and my body is begging for sleep. life has been moving a mile a minute, and i’m heading to korea on wednesday. hope i’ll get some rest there.

more to come, but meanwhile, here’s a snippet of my trip to zhongshan park. one of the slower moments of the past weeks :)

are that my boss, for some reason, gets hooked up with some great gigs. one of which was the race of champions at the bird’s nest last monday. this happened to fall on perhaps the coldest day we’ve had yet in beijing, but all in all–an amazing experience! suwen, jason and i had a great time despite getting our toes frozen off, nearly. don’t have much time now but i will post a couple quick ones:

seeing the bird’s nest full of people and snow on the track… pretty thrilling sight.

watching them race around the track made me miss driving!

the beautiful bird’s nest glowing at night:

much more to come: great wall hike, xiangshan hike, jase & steffen’s birthdays, peking duck, auntie judy & uncle john’s visit, FOOD

sorry i have been MIA! so much for trying to blog daily. i won’t even address how (not) far i’ve gotten in my novel for nanowrimo.  the past week was absolutely insane, but i’m going to be a hermit for a little bit to catch up on life. also, must get ready for korea! see you soon. :)

p.s. i think i love beijing.