#3

1. I bought my plane ticket. One way westward. I will be home Thursday, August 13th, at around 10am. I almost cried though when I saw the price. I know hard times are going on worldwide- but honestly I am struggling not to revert to my old self and worry about finances. Trusting sounds so simple, cliche and easy. In reality, it hard to let go of things and remember that I can be confident He has the world completely under control.

2. March. I love March. Spring time. I have been really happy about the weather here and have mentioned it a few times in recent updates. Then China had to go and let me down. It has been raining and cold (okay like 60's) for the past 3 days!! AHHHHHHHHH! I was so upset. I realized that my mood generally is effected by the weather. It has been hard staying awake through the day without wanting to watch TV or a movie- which would put me to sleep and defeat the no nap policy that I have recently implemented in my life. I find I sleep better at nights without a nap.

3. No more mice! The men came and did whatever people do in order to rid the world of rats, mice and other disgusting disease carriers. Cats are still hanging around but I am hoping that by the time I leave they will have moved on to pester someone else.

4. Thursdays. I love Thursdays! It is a tie for my favorite day of the week with Wednesdays. Followed by Sundays and Tuesdays. Thursdays I go over to my American families home for dinner and an English corner hosted in their house. This past Thursday we did a craft activity and if you know me well you know I don't do creative craft making at all because I am not very good. Shockingly I made a very pretty card that I was quite proud of. This Thursday we are not having a get together and I am sad.

5. When Daisy, my roommate and I, started talking about what to do on Thursday we decided to have the group come over to our place. Now our apartment is not the cleanest in the world mostly because Daisy and I are really busy or really tired. So this weekend and Monday and Tuesday our goal is to clean the entire apartment. It's a bit scary...

6. In addition to hosting Thursday night, we will also be cooking dinner. No joke. I don't cook. That's why Wednesdays and Thursdays are great. Because I don't have to figure out how to feed myself. Daisy doesn't cook- unless you count hard boiling eggs. After talking about it for about an hour we came up with a menu. Daisy will teach me how to make Chinese dumplings and I will be making vegetables, cookies and mac and cheese. I feel like a bit like Holly Homemaker and have decided if this is what I want to do with the rest of my life (meaning that I am considering an interesting graduate program and have just about settled on it) sharing, inviting and learning, then I better start practicing now.  It is a blessing to have them because although they are not what I pictured when I asked for friendships, they are very special and play important roles in my life.

7. April 2nd promises to be a good day. It's a Thursday so of course it will be a good day- but I was invited to join with my New Zealand family and my Thursday night group to go see a London Drama Company perform Oliver Twist. I know the story from Wishbone on PBS but can honestly say I have never read the book. It's on my to buy list when I go to Macau on Tuesday afternoon in order to UPS some things to my parents.

BRRRRR

Just when I thought spring had arrived and I could put away rainy day/cold weather clothing.... China has to go and change it's mind. You would think I would be use to this country's indecisiveness. I'm not. 

It's yucky outside and damp in my classroom. I am not a fan. 

My GST today may be done with a twinge of bitterness as my laundry has yet to dry. Grrr.

1. Eating friend rice for lunch. One less meal I have to figure out.

2. Missing one class today because they went on a field trip.

3. Discussing my love of chocolate with my employer and finding out she made chocolate cupcakes that would be shared when I went over for Wednesday night meeting.

4. Wednesday nights and being able to share and to learn. I will really miss them when I leave.

5. Watching "Horton Hears a Who" with Mahlia and Liam and laughing through it. 

A bonus- the weather is suppose to be sunny and 70 tomorrow on Thursday. I believe I will celebrate if and when that is true.

Autumn

Autumn, my favorite 2 and half year old, and I were playing the English room on Sunday after church. The conversation as we were getting ready to leave went like this:

Me: Autumn can I come play at your house?

Autumn: No.

Me: Well.... Why not?

Autumn: Because I don't like your shirt.

I laughed.... pretty hard. 

Tuesday GST:

1. Watching my oldest class have a BLAST today in English and knowing that they were learning.

2. Funny text messages that make me smile. Even though the messages are suppose to be serious. 

3.  Watching Madea goes to Jail and laughing a lot throughout the movie. Truthfully the endings in Madea always seem unrealistic for a "realistic" movie- I prefer the plays. 

4. Not having a lot to do and finding that I should clean my room.

5. Cleaning my room didn't take a long time. :)

GST

Leslie had a better explaination for GST than I could come up with. Here it is:

Grace in Small Things "exists because we are choosing not to allow the noisiness of life to rob us of the time and energy to be mindful of ourselves and those we love and to recognize the grace that exists in small things....it is a challenge for every day, because there's no time like the present, tomorrow, never comes, and some other cliche about seizing the day.  Oh right: carpe diem" (http://graceinsmallthings.ning.com/).  The idea is to find five things everyday where we can see God's grace and be thankful for those 5 things. 

Here are mine for the weekend. Be advised that I will probably not do this every day as I should. 3/4 of 365.

1. Honest conversations with my friend Cara about my future and knowing she not only listening but semi-caring about  me rambling on about my life.

2. Inviting myself over to Cara and Joel's on Sunday and still having a great afternoon.

3. Sunday morning worship. I always wonder if our churches in the US were to lose everything how real would we be- Sunday mornings prove that we can worship without things that make usually make life more comfortable.

4. Making Hamburger Helper and having leftovers for at least 2 days.

5. Sleeping in later that I probably should have on Saturday. Needed and incredible.

6.  Reading the rest of my book on Sunday evening. Kind of weird Paulo Coelho.

7. Talking to Leslie and Annie in the same day.

8. Finding plane tickets to NJ to see my best friend when I get back to the states in August.

9. Finishing 2 pages of scholarship stuff and only having 1 more left!

10. Knowing all my lesson plans are done for the week so I could relax in the weekend.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. The Mickey Mouse Saga. Last week I mentioned that a mouse had taken up residence under my couch. I then spent Thursday and Friday trying to convince my roommate that something was under there. Finally on Friday we found it. 4 adorable kittens and one less than pleased momma cat. Watching my roommate and I try to get these out from our apartment would have been fun. She whacked the broom and I with no gloves attempted to capture them. However the plan backfired as I grabbed one and it bit me. Needless to say I throw it down hard and now believe cats should only be in cages. The story then takes a strange twist as the next day I was in my kitchen fixing lunch when I looked out my window to see the largest RAT I have ever seen. I then wondered where all the cats were.

2. Thursday nights are starting become my favorite night of the week. My American family has me over for dinner followed by working with 5 or 6 Chinese students on their English. I have enjoyed getting to know these students and am really looking forward to working with them!

3. Classes at the kindy are still going well. I am starting to get a bit nervous due to the fact that my middle class is so spread out in their English levels that I am not really sure how to handle it. I will be talking to my boss sometime this next week to see what we can do.

4. Sundays continue to be a joy. I actually really disliked going to International Fellowship because it was held at the kindy. I know it's complaining but sometimes it's hard being in a place 6 days a week and sometimes 7.  But the people they make it worth going every time. We have 2 very new believers with very honest questions- I always looking forward to hearing other peoples answers and even though at times I have my own- I love seeing things from a New Zealand, French or Chinese perspective.

5. March is around the corner. The weather is changing and I love every second of sitting outside in the 85 degree weather and drinking kiwi strawberry Snapple that I recently found in the supermarket.

6. Plans for attending Seminary seem to be falling into place. I am working on getting all of my financial aide applications in and filling out that kind of paperwork has been to be more annoying than filling out the application for admissions. Don't ever just wish someone would give you a million dollars no strings attached? Until that day I must answer 4 questions that are exactly alike give or take a word. And I find it annoying.

7. In a world with possible rabies infected cat bites (no I don't think I have rabies). paperwork that makes me want to scream and classes that tire me out, I have been reading my friend- who lives in Budapest- Joanna's blogspot. She has decided every day to list 5 things which she labels Grace in the Small Things (GST). So today that is what I decided to do:
    a. Not having my first class today because they went on a field trip.
    b. Watching 24 online uninterrupted by cats or rats or animals in general.
    c. Being able to communicate and have a conversation with a Chinese woman in the grocery store. I know have I lived here for 2 years- but being able to have a conversation is still a big deal!
    d. teaching my 2 youngest classes and watching them have fun.
    e. sitting outside for 2 full hours in the warm sunshine reading my good- but very unique- new book.

Facebook and Freedom

I am a frequent facebook user. I am not really sure how I got here. I am sure that it happened in college- but I am not sure that in those days I check it or play around on it as much as I do now. I use the excuse that I am "keeping in touch". Although I am really unsure about how that happens considering I am 12 hours ahead of people. 

In the past few months, I have watched people write politic notes and change their status to mourning the historic event that will happen in D.C. today. I have read things that make me embarrassed to be grouped with these believers. I have watched many friends join different groups saying that they are against our new President. I will be the first admit that he was not my first choice- but a part of me is proud. Proud of the freedoms that our country gets. Proud that our country is somewhat able to move past race. Proud that people cared enough about the troubles we are in to vote- even if I disagree with his policies.

My newest Chinese friend and I were talking today and comparing China to the US. She mentioned that she thought one day China would become more like the US. I chuckled a little bit knowing that China would probably never be as tolerate of race, religion, or any of the things that the US has made progress on. 

I know that today is a sad day for most people. Sadness because of the pro-lifer, the small government, and the socialism-is-evil side of a person that is screaming this is wrong. But my hope is that people can see the freedom of the day. The freedom to not only pray for our president but to pray in general. The freedom to that in four years- those who are not satisfied can change things. The freedom that many around the world want and few have. Freedom to believe what we do- and know that because of Who we believe in we can have true freedom. If anything today should not make us sad- but to remind us that no matter what happens we have One greater on our side, still in control.

Conditions

Recently a friend commented on Facebook how fast October went. Although, it now being the middle of November, I feel as though time is going too fast.

Being November, I realize that I only have a little time before solid decisions must be made. These decisions which I want to ignore by reading a book and drinking whatever instant nasty coffee that's in my apartment. I blame my parents and a few others for my reading addiction. Not to say that its bad- but I do wish that my overactive imagination would sometimes leave me alone. Like the other day when I approached a familiar topic in my devotion time.
The conversation in my head went something like this:
ME:"Please don't make do this forever- living and working overseas- alone."
SMALL VOICE: "Would you obey even if you don't understand?"
ME:" Well.... I suppose, if I had too...."
Silence.

I was midway through the sentence in my head when I saw it. A picture that was clear and I realized my error. The picture of the cross- where One made the ultimate sacrifice, willingly obedient even though He didn't understand and asked for another way. I wondered how I have become so selfish, so unwilling. That I would place conditions on my obedience rather than simply saying, "Ok. I will do whatever you ask me too. Even if its something I don't like."

It hit me fairly hard- how unwilling I was being. How unusable I would be if I placed conditions and limits on a God that knows no bounds. Even now as the decisions for next year begin to approach- I place limits on where I will or will not go. Some reasons are legitimate. Others- not so much.

But its more than just my decisions for the future- its every day. How I say, I will only love this person if they are nice in return- or I will only pay this driver if he manages not kill me. I suppose its a basic truth that I have heard all my life and yet I guess I haven't learned it as well as what I thought I did.

The days are going by faster- and each one brings me one step closer to actually having to face those decisions and bring them into reality. But more than that Christmas approaching (yay!) and its this time when we take the time to celebrate how a tiny baby was born- grew and walked a road- paid the ultimate unconditional price- so that we could live, laugh and love freely in Him.