We (Christa, I, and the girls…) are pretty blessed people.  I realize this more and more.  Being where we are in the world this becomes even more apparent.  In celebrating our anniversary, some of our "community group" back home found a way to really bless Christa and I. (I have to brag on these people because they are sooo cool, giving, and creative.)

For our anniversary these amazing people mailed us (what I like to call) dates in a bag/box/can.  Because they know us well and because they know that our "dating" options are limited here in Xining, they found ways to send the date to us.

For example, we were mailed the necessary ingredients to enjoy a romantic Italian dinner.  And when I say ingredients I don’t just mean the delicious pasta, salad dressing, and bread sticks, I mean everything down to the placemats, Italian music, candles, etc. The only thing that was missing was a subservient mustachio-ed waiter–who wasn’t really missed.  As another example of a date in a box, our friends sent us the necessary ingredients to enjoy a romantic movie together.  Microwave popcorn, the actual DVD of the movie, Red Vines, Dots, etc.  They even suggested we build a tent in our living room…which we enjoyably DID!

And this is just a samplying of the dates that were given to us.  (I can’t tell you about all the dates because we haven’t gotten to some of them yet with our visitors arriving AND some are still in progress, i.e. the 1000 piece puzzle will take us a while…)

I mention all this only to say how great it is to be a part of a community the way that we are. I hope each of you have something like this in your life.  Christa and I are in a unique situation here, I know.  Not everyone gets the "spotlight" like we do.  But the thing is; our community makes us feel this warmth whether we are near or far (and hopefully we reflect that same love and acceptance back to them.) 

Even without the gifts…we feel the love.  These gifts are just bonus.  And that’s exactly the way God is, too.  His love is an amazing and incomprehensible blessing and His other gifts to us beyond that (or as a direct result of that love) are ALL bonus.  (Thanks, to all of you, for showing us this kind of love from afar.  It’s reciprocal.)