Christmas Baking...Hong Kong Style

I made Christmas cookies yesterday. Sounds pretty easy, right! Here is the toaster oven I had to work with...

Still think it sounds pretty easy? I was able to bake 8 cookies at a time.

It was worth it! Yum!!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

How lovely are thy branches...

I know you may be thinking, "Lovely? That is a very small tree." Yep, it is very small and it is artificial but to me it is very lovely. You see, Niel and I are about to celebrate our first Christmas being married and this is the first tree that we picked out together. :)

A glimpse into Niel and Mara's story...

For those who are visiting this blog and would like to know how we met, started dating and got engaged, you can check out the story here and here.

Home Sweet Home

We have a new home. We haven't moved in but we have signed the contract and will move at the end of December. If you prayed for us to find a place, THANK YOU. It wasn't easy. Rent in Hong Kong is VERY expensive and the options were very limited.

The apartment is on the ground floor of a three story building. Before we came in Hong Kong I said to Niel that I was feeling sad that I would never have the "white picket fence." By this I meant that we live in Hong Kong and at this point do not have a house in the US close to family. I was sad that our future children will not have the stability and comfort of a home close to their extended family. God sure has a sense of humor because the home he provided for us in Hong Kong has a white picket fence. I think this is a sign from Him that He is knows our hearts desires and will provide everything we need.

This is the living room/dining room. In fact, the place will be even smaller than this. They have taken down the right wall and will push it forward a few feet so that they can make the bathroom larger and install a shower. Have I mentioned that apartments in Hong Kong are TINY? 

The place has three bedrooms and this is one of them. The rooms as small but one of them can fit a queen sized bed!! It can not fit anything else but we are thrilled to be able to fit the bed. Most of the apartments we looked at would not be able to fit a queen bed. We will use one of the rooms as our closet and put in some wardrobes. One room will have our bed and the other one will be a guest room. If you are ever in Hong Kong, please stop by!

Our little kitchen. It will be an adjustment baking and cooking in such a small space but I am ready for the challenge!

Again, thank you for praying for us as we returned to Hong Kong and were apartment hunting. We have been very thankful that we could live in Niel's place as we searched but we are very excited to be moving into "our" first place!