Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs
Hi Everyone,
We’d like to send out a special thanks to the following families and people who were kind enough to send us Christmas Greetings:
The Durhams, the Cases, Aunt Betty Araki, the Ramlers, the Browns, the Drake families,the Walters, the Thompson families, the Jones family, the Wilkins, the Robinsons, the Harpers, the Taylors, the Westerfields, the Lees, Letcia & Dale Jones, the Cricks, the Clarks, P. Rose & students, the Nelsons, the Hardins, the Richeys, the Rose family and anyone else we might have forgotten to mention, might not have received yet, or might not have made it (this is China you know).
You have been a wonderful encouragement and we certainly appreciate your thoughts, prayers and best Christmas wishes. We ask for prayer during the holiday. This will be our first Christmas away from family and it is going to be a difficult, lonely and depressing day for us if we focus on ourselves. Please pray that we reflect on our blessings this day, look to our Lord Jesus and live in his “Reflected Glory”.
Peace be with you as we move toward the New Year!
The Case family
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs | Tags: Hong Kong Bowling City, Menu Restaurant
On Monday December 17th, we at the Management of Organizations Department at HKUST had our annual Christmas Social. It was a wonderful evening of bowling and dinner. We started the evening by meeting at campus to board a charter bus to Kowloon Bay where the top bowling alley in Hong Kong is located (Hong Kong Bowling City). The bowling alley was the cleanest bowling alley I have ever seen with very nice decor and reasonable prices (although it was all taken care of by the dept, thanks HKUST!). We divided into 7 teams of 4 and bowled about 3 games. I’ve never seen so many big brains together in public, it was interesting seeing the interactions and everyone bowling their humbly best. It was wonderful finally being able to interact with other staff in a setting outside the academic environment and to hear a bit of what goes on in others lives outside of school. Unfortunately the other three 1st year PhDs did not attend due to the fact we had a final the day after, but I’m certainly glad I did. I was able to win Melanie some cookies, by having the highest overall the 1st game (139, pathetic I know). Afterward we went to a restaurant called Menu, which is ironic because it is a really upscale buffet. They had just about everything, ribs, oysters, shrimp, sushi, fish, beef, crepes, fruits and much much more (many Asian dishes I have no idea what the names were). After filling ourselves to the brim, we were dropped off back home, ending a brilliant evening for Melanie & I.
We had a busy weekend Dec. 14th to Dec. 16th. It started out with a wonderful Asian dinner at Chili & Spice, one of our favorite restaraunts near home here in Hang Hau. Then, some of you may not know, but Melanie was a music (vocal) major her freshmen year at the university. She was inolved in the worship team at the church we met at, but has not been active in any worship ministry since she served as a missionary. Well she finally has come out of retirement and decided to heed the call at Island ECC for vocalists to join the worship team. Wayne was able to get some pics of their practice on Saturday and their warm ups on Sunday. Melanie led us in singing, “Away in a Manger” and she sounded lovely. It was really good seeing her use a God given gift to glorify the giver. In the middle of the slide show we have a few pics of our small group’s Christmas party that took place on the evening of the 15th. Frank and Phyllis have a roof garden and we were able to get a couple shots of their view although it was a bit hazy out that night. We had some great fellowship and great food, Turkey and Duck, sweet potatoes, mash potatoes, pecan pie, YUM!!!
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs | Tags: Causeway Bay, Central, City Shots, Hong Kong Museum, Western Market
We put together a slide show of some highlights of last week. There are some pics of Melanie and Ezri at the park. There are some city shots of Causeway Bay and Central. There are some pics from the Star Ferry en route from Central to Tsim Sau Tsui. There are some pics from the Hong Kong History Museum and finally some pics of the Western Market. Enjoy!!!
Hello all! It’s about time that we share with you a bit about our goings-on from the past several days. The parents’ visit continues, and thus, our photo journalist–Wayne Drake–is still in house, and so, you guys get a bird’s eye view of our lives!
So, let’s see. These pics start of downtown in Wan Chai and Central Districts of Hong Kong Island, where we attend church. After service, we headed up to the Mid-levels. This is an area of HK island that is accessable by escalators upon escalators—just when you think you’ve reaced the top, you find you are at another escalator that takes you even higher! Once up in Soho (a super-trendy area full ofe great restaurants, etc. that sort of resembles L’ville’s Bardstown road area, only in levels) we ate at a Mexican Restaurant called Taco Loco. It was ever so tasty and Jason comments, “They had some good ole’ nachos….like to go back there again sometime!”
Other photos here detail an afternoon visit to Causeway Bay (also located on HK island). We went over to the marina and checked out the skyline from the water’s edge, had some Haagen Dasz ice cream (always a good idea), and stood in Hong Kong’s premier New Year’s Eve spot–Time Square, HK.
Lastly, we have some shots of us at a local Chinese restaurant. They have fantastic food and even better service. They speak very little English, but luckily have pictures on the menu, so it all works out.
Filed under: JAVI's Highlights
We received Javi’s update yesterday and he seems to be doing well. He’s definitely not gaining weight like we had hoped (still only 7lbs 10oz). A friend told us to be patient, in that it takes awhile for premature babies to catch up developmentally (both their children were premies). We just praise God the doctors now say that he is healthy and that he is looking much stronger. Enjoy the latest pics. I didn’t know Santa was Guatemalan!
Filed under: Exhilarating EZRI Excerpts
As you may or may not know, our little girl, Ezri Mabel Case celebrated her 1st Birthday on December 7th. We are very grateful for such a wonderful day. The Case family was able to video conference from the States and sing happy birthday to Ezri, while Wayne & Karen (Mel’s folks) were here to celebrate with us. Ezri figured out very quickly that this was a special day for her and loved every minute of it. Not only did we celebrate on the 7th, we celebrated the next day at our small group as well!!!
Filed under: Tantalizing Travel
On December 6th, Mel, Ezri, Wayne & Karen made it to the south side of Hong Kong Island to visit the infamous Stanley Market. The trip was shorter than expected. It was about 1 hour from where we live (we thought it might be up to an hour & 1/2), they took the MTR downtown and then took a Double Decker bus to the opposite side of Hong Kong Island. They passed Ocean Park, one of the top tourist attractions for families (oceanarium, theme park & pandas), and Repulse Bay on the way out there (one of the best beaches in HK). Wayne proclaims, “This is a flea market lover’s paradise!!!” They enjoyed their time in the open market, bartering and trying to make some deals. They note that it is MUCH more laid back than the city. The treated themselves to some gourmet hot dogs (they love them here), a Chicago-style hot dog stand would do gang busters. Mel purchased some very reasonably priced paintings to decorate our walls, then they headed back home to rest up for their next adventure!
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs
On Sunday December 2nd, we ventured down to Causeway Bay to attempt to attend the final event in the Franklin Graham Festival. We were planning on taking a taxi from the MTR station to the stadium, but after the 3rd taxi driver refused to take us we decided to walk. It was only supposed to be a little over a mile although most the trip was uphill. Well we finally make it to the stadium only to be told that we can’t get in due to it being full. We are directed to the Jockey Club Stadium where they have a live feed on big screen. We set off over to this location, finally making it right in time as the big event begins. We were treated to worship music, testimonies and most importantly the Gospel. We were told that there were over 120,000 people gathered in 4 locations for the event and I believe them. The response was amazing and it truly ended up being a God glorifying ceremony.
Filed under: Exhilarating EZRI Excerpts
All I know is that cake is fabulous!!! I’ve waited all year to taste such decadence and it was yummy. Also, balloons are great, they float away quite easily though and they are quite hard to grab onto, but keep trying kids. Also, there is just something about being the birthday girl that enables you to stay up if you’d like! The adults won’t make you take a nap if you don’t act tired–i.e. rubbing of eyes, fussiness, etc.,–it’s your day!!! Live it up.
