I am overwhelmed with gratitude right now. It's Thanksgiving Day, but it doesn't really feel like it. I woke up this morning at 6 am to get ready for my 8 am class. This is the first time I've worked on Thanksgiving - but I told my students this morning that if I had to work today, I'm glad that I got to come teach such awesome students. I could see little smiles all around the room - I love it when they smile.
I'm not watching the Thanksgiving Day parade or smelling any amazing food that my mom is cooking...instead, I'm waiting for a student's reply to my invitation to come over and eat peanut butter and jelly with me. We tried to do it yesterday, but she called me in tears to let me know she had to cancel. I've never seen anyone as excited as this girl was to have peanut butter and jelly - she'll truly be overwhelmed with gratitude if it works out. :)
I was reminded this morning before class that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. At the moment I don't feel sad about not being at home with my family - I definitely miss my family and all the wonderful food we usually share this day, but I've been brought to China for this time right now, and for that I am so thankful! Plus, I've been showered with "Happy Thanksgiving" messages today - it's only 11:45 am, and I've received 18 text messages from students and teachers telling me thank you and wishing me a great Thanksgiving. The first one came at 7am! How awesome is it that they care enough to recognize the importance of this day for us? Tonight, my team will cook some American food, bake some cookies, spend some time thanking the One who brought us here, and replace the football watching tradition with watching a movie. :) Then this weekend, we will all travel to LangFang to meet up with the other 7 members of IECS plus our leaders Newt and Claire and Tony and Lily. Here we'll have some traditional Thanksgiving food!! Can't wait...
My heart and mind are so easily distracted by what I do not have sometimes. This week I've battled to have the right focus of being thankful for what I do have: an incredibly loving team who fulfills the call to carry one another's burdens, amazing friends who love me and encourage me even from across the world, an opportunity to experience my Maker in this new setting, and a chance to pour out Love that has so richly filled me and can no longer be contained.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
In Need of a Lil Fixin'
The coolness of fall has finally settled over Baoding. Fortunately, it’s been an abnormally warm autumn, because China has a regulated “heat day” which starts on November 15th. Until then, our rooms will continue to be about as chilly as it is outside.
It’s been fun to experience fall in China – I mean it’s no “Boston in the fall” – but I’m finding that I appreciate it differently than I do at home. I have to look for the slight color changes in the leaves, but when I see it, I’m elated. Elated is one of the vocabulary words for my writing students. : ) Recently, I assigned students to write a scary short story in honor of Halloween. It was a fun assignment to give, and now I have the wonderful task of reading almost 80 scary stories, and many of them are legitimately terrifying! One day after class, I was sitting in my cold room by myself when I received this text message from one of my students:
If you found yourself in a dark room…
Walls around you are red…
And blood comes from everywhere…
Don’t be scared!
You are in my heart!
I couldn’t help but sigh in relief and laugh, cause I was spooked out at first as I scrolled down on my phone to finish the message!
Anyway, I think reality has set in a little deeper that I’m in China for this next year. I’m realizing that people at home can’t possibly understand everything that goes on here, and it seems even more impossible for me to adequately relay it all in a nutshell. Accepting this a hard pill for me to swallow sometimes, and this is when homesickness begins to set in a little. However, there’s always something pulling at my heart to look at the bigger picture. The same something also always reminds me that hard times are necessary for growth and strength. The most ordinary thing happened today that made me remember this.
After a couple of weeks of knowing that my bike tires were getting flat, I finally decided to stop to pump them up. There’s an alley that we often use to exit campus and two bike-fixing businesses are always there day in and day out fixing bikes. The husband and wife duo were the ones whose business I chose to use. At first, the guy handed me the pumper thing to do it myself. I successfully filled the front tire – and, as always, I was a spectacle for all the passer-bys. But when I tried to do the back tire, it wouldn’t fill. The man had to come and help me. Quickly, he found the problem and carefully showed me what needed to be fixed. I can’t tell you how quickly he tore the bike apart and pulled off the tire and kept track of every nut and bolt he was unscrewing. He knew exactly what he was doing, because fixing bikes is probably the only thing this man has done his whole life. It might sound strange – even a little cheesy- but I couldn’t help but relate my life to my poor old bicycle as I was standing there waiting. I often think that I only need to be filled up with a little air and I’ll be all fixed up and ready to go. But really, I need so much careful detailing and pulling apart to get to the heart of what really needs to be fixed. Especially since I’ve been in China, I’ve appreciated so much more the great Bicycle Fixer in my life. He cares for every nut and bolt, and carefully examines me to show me where I’ve gone wrong. He knows what He’s doing – because loving and caring for broken lives is His occupation. There’s no reason not to trust Him, and even when I feel a little isolated or disconnected, He is there to put my old and broken thoughts back in order and make them new and whole again. I’m sure I’ll have to return to the bicycle guy again sometime – but it’s okay, cause I know that only means I’ll have a stronger bike in the end.
And just for fun, here's a picture of the building I live in. This was one of my favorite weather-days in China.
And this was when we celebrated Ryan's birthday. Tony was with us from Beijing, and he thought it'd be funny to write numbers on our faces in frosting and line up to take a picture. :)
So, that's all for the beginning of November...
It’s been fun to experience fall in China – I mean it’s no “Boston in the fall” – but I’m finding that I appreciate it differently than I do at home. I have to look for the slight color changes in the leaves, but when I see it, I’m elated. Elated is one of the vocabulary words for my writing students. : ) Recently, I assigned students to write a scary short story in honor of Halloween. It was a fun assignment to give, and now I have the wonderful task of reading almost 80 scary stories, and many of them are legitimately terrifying! One day after class, I was sitting in my cold room by myself when I received this text message from one of my students:
If you found yourself in a dark room…
Walls around you are red…
And blood comes from everywhere…
Don’t be scared!
You are in my heart!
I couldn’t help but sigh in relief and laugh, cause I was spooked out at first as I scrolled down on my phone to finish the message!
Anyway, I think reality has set in a little deeper that I’m in China for this next year. I’m realizing that people at home can’t possibly understand everything that goes on here, and it seems even more impossible for me to adequately relay it all in a nutshell. Accepting this a hard pill for me to swallow sometimes, and this is when homesickness begins to set in a little. However, there’s always something pulling at my heart to look at the bigger picture. The same something also always reminds me that hard times are necessary for growth and strength. The most ordinary thing happened today that made me remember this.
After a couple of weeks of knowing that my bike tires were getting flat, I finally decided to stop to pump them up. There’s an alley that we often use to exit campus and two bike-fixing businesses are always there day in and day out fixing bikes. The husband and wife duo were the ones whose business I chose to use. At first, the guy handed me the pumper thing to do it myself. I successfully filled the front tire – and, as always, I was a spectacle for all the passer-bys. But when I tried to do the back tire, it wouldn’t fill. The man had to come and help me. Quickly, he found the problem and carefully showed me what needed to be fixed. I can’t tell you how quickly he tore the bike apart and pulled off the tire and kept track of every nut and bolt he was unscrewing. He knew exactly what he was doing, because fixing bikes is probably the only thing this man has done his whole life. It might sound strange – even a little cheesy- but I couldn’t help but relate my life to my poor old bicycle as I was standing there waiting. I often think that I only need to be filled up with a little air and I’ll be all fixed up and ready to go. But really, I need so much careful detailing and pulling apart to get to the heart of what really needs to be fixed. Especially since I’ve been in China, I’ve appreciated so much more the great Bicycle Fixer in my life. He cares for every nut and bolt, and carefully examines me to show me where I’ve gone wrong. He knows what He’s doing – because loving and caring for broken lives is His occupation. There’s no reason not to trust Him, and even when I feel a little isolated or disconnected, He is there to put my old and broken thoughts back in order and make them new and whole again. I’m sure I’ll have to return to the bicycle guy again sometime – but it’s okay, cause I know that only means I’ll have a stronger bike in the end.
And just for fun, here's a picture of the building I live in. This was one of my favorite weather-days in China.
And this was when we celebrated Ryan's birthday. Tony was with us from Beijing, and he thought it'd be funny to write numbers on our faces in frosting and line up to take a picture. :)
So, that's all for the beginning of November...
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