The Crazy Whirlwind of MAYhem. (a long lost post from June 2010)

In the first two weeks of May I took over 500 pictures....you know what that means...lots of fun!

The first week of May was XIS's Spirit Week. This is similar to a high school's homecoming week in the states....Because I am not good a delegating and like to be busy (and maybe bossy-get that from mom:)) I was in charge! This meant lots of planning and making sure everything got done.

Monday we were out of school for the official May Holiday similar to Labor Day for China.

Tuesday- Twin Day! At the end of the day we did things like water balloon toss, 3 legged race, and relay races!

Wednesday- Pajama Day! a good excuse to wear pajamas to school! then we watched a movie in the afternoon.

Thursday-Pirate/Ninja Day- Dress like a pirate or a ninja! Then that afternoon we did a treasure hunt obstacle course...6 tasks to be completed by each team in each of 3 divisions and there were treasure maps to get you to your next task! So much fun, but it was real hot that day...

Tasks: Cannon ball toss, ninja monkey, ninja skills, swab the deck, shoot the target or walk the plank, cave diving...these were all fairly simple tasks with a ninja/pirate name...:)

Friday- School Spirit Day!- Dress in School colors and then do fun stuff in the afternoon...one of those things was to make a big XIS on the field using all of the students! Thanks to Darron, those pictures turned out great!!!

To top off the very Spirited week, we held a charity concert to raise money for one of our school's custodians. He fosters 3 children with pretty severe disabilities and doesn't really have the proper things to care for them. So we wanted to help. This was actually a student's idea! So we put on a concert. There were about 5 acts...one of which involved me singing...The headlining act was OSAW (official size and weight) which is made up of a few of our students and a couple of homeschooling kids that we know.....With all of our efforts and some divine provision we were able to raise 14,000 RMB which was way more than we had set as a goal. So the custodian will be able to do a lot to his home to make caring for these kids easier. I was so so proud of our students. They really are impressive people.

Also the next week, we had our first official XIS 'formal'...I use the word 'formal' loosely because there wasn't really a dress-code, but it was a special outing for our 9-12th graders. Because we have so few students, it didn't really make sense to do a prom/dance....there were lots more boys than girls...so with the suggestion from a really smart and creative girl I know, we decided to do a murder mystery dinner! This was so so so fun. We reserved the 2nd floor of a restaurant in Xian and had a great dinner and lots of fun solving the mystery! The kids played along really well and I think they had fun so that is what I cared about. I think it was a great event to have toward the end of the year! So much fun! It was set in the 1920's and so several dressed for the occasion which made it even more fun! Of course there are pictures.

Once that was finished, I had a yearbook to make happen....This year it was an awesome 4-day yearbook. I think that my eyesight has been damaged because of the hours that I spent looking at the computer, but after all was said and done, we have a winner! Of course I didn't do it all by myself...I had some students work on it too, but they don't stress out about it as much because they are not in charge of making sure it happens...

Also, while all of this was happening, I got a JOB for the Fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My first interview was on Pirate/Ninja Day, so I had to go home and shower and get ready for my 8pm interview :)...While interviewing with them for a math position, they asked me about my chinese....if I had been studying...I told them that I had been studying 3 hours a week for almost the whole time I had been here...I wouldn't say that I am fluent yet, but I can carry on a conversation without too much trouble...then they asked me if I would be interested in helping them start a Chinese language program at their school?!?!?!?! I of course said most certainly I would! I wouldn't need to teach the class just help in the organization and help the kids if they need help....score! They said they would get back to me....so I waited and waited and a little over a week later we did yet another interview...ugh...I was a little disappointed at this point cause I was feeling less confident about it...BUT the next day they called me and offered it to me :) What a blessing it is to have a job even before returning to America! I also have a place to live! The Lord has truly blessed me and is making the transition back a lot easier than it could have been!

Pictures from the MAYhem!

Beijing and Beyond!

Well really just Beijing, not beyond.

Even though I was on crutches the whole time I was in Beijing, and I wasn't able to do quite as much as I would have liked to, Beijing was amazing!

We flew out on Friday night, had a short layover in the middle of nowhere also known as a small city called Zhong Wei...we arrived in Beijing at about 1am, tired but excited to be there!

Saturday we went to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and Outback Steak House. In case you forgot, we don't have many American restaurants in Xian so eating at those in Beijing is a part of the vacation!

We had a great time at the wall and were able to get a bunch of great pictures! Oh yea, I almost forgot...to get up to the wall we took a ski lift and to get down, we tobogganed back down...it was really fun!

Sunday, we were able to go to a Foreign Fellowship for Easter!!! It was a great service! I was thankful to be able to celebrate with such a diverse group of people! Then, after the service, we went to eat at Pete's Tex Mex...Mexican food is definitely what I miss the most. It comes in a close third after my family and friends :) That afternoon, Carrie B. and I went to the pearl market to do a little shopping!

Monday, we did a little more shopping and touring and then headed back toward Xian. It was a fast trip, but well worth it!

You can see some really awesome pictures from this trip if you just click on these words ;)

When it rains it pours...

In addition to the emotional pains I was feeling, there were some physical ones too. At the end of March I also tore my meniscus. If you aren't sure what that is, I can explain it...The meniscus is the cartilage that sits between the femur and the tibia and fibula...It is the cushion that keeps your leg bones from rubbing together during physical activity...as you may already know, right before I left for china, I tore both of my ACLs (the ligament on the inside of your knee that keeps it from moving too far inward). The left one was a complete tear. I have been taking very good care of it, and decided that I felt okay to 'play' a little. So I decided I would help out with PE because they are doing baseball right now, and I love to play...well needless to say, I shouldn't have been playing.

So on a cold rainy Wednesday afternoon, I took my first trip to a Chinese hospital! I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure what I would encounter there, but it was actually a fairly pleasant trip. However, the doctor didn't spend much time with me and told me that everything was fine, and I just needed to rest it for 3 weeks...I was like...ummm...I'm a teacher, so that's really not doable.

Luckily, knowing what a knee injury is like (from the previous injuries) I knew that it wasn't okay. So I asked them to do an MRI anyway. They of course agreed, cause you just pay for stuff here in China, there is none of this crazy insurance scandal kind of stuff...so I paid about $80 for an MRI and that was that. A few days later, I went back to let them tell me what it said...all of this is in chinese mind you, luckily I had a great friend who could go and help with that...when I handed it to the doctor, he said that I had torn my meniscus....he said it in English too! He was very helpful and gave me some meds and told me what to do...In America, it would have been immediate surgery, but here they think that sometimes that stuff isn't necessary. In this case, however, I agree with America.

I had my mom call my orthopedist and ask him if I needed to have it done immediately or if it could wait until I got home this summer. He said it could wait, just to be careful.

A few days later I went to Beijing and climbed the Great Wall, with crutches of course. That trip (the topic of my next blog) had already been planned, and I really didn't want to miss it, so I went anyway. I stayed on crutches for about 2 weeks, and am now getting around with a very small limp and little to no pain. Don't get me wrong, I won't be playing any baseball or running anywhere quite yet, but I am getting around pretty well now.

Needless to say this has been a rough month, but I am looking forward to finishing up my time here and enjoying every last minute of it!

Love from China!

The Sun Still Shines...

When we go through tragedies in our lives, I know now more than ever that He will be faithful to give you what you need to make it another day. Here are a few examples of things that have happened recently that have reminded me that He is always faithful.

About a week after John Michael went to heaven, Jackie received a letter from a mom whose son had received one of JT's kidneys. The letter was full of encouragement, and some special small things that made it clear that the letter was sent right on time. Timing: the Lord's timing is perfect in every way. This letter could have been sent six months ago, but it was sent just in time to pick us up off the ground and restore our faith in a God who genuinely cares about everything that happens in our lives. One of the special small things that we learned was that the little boy's name was TJ. That might just be a small coincidence to some, but I think it is not a coincidence at all.

This has been quite hard for me to deal with, mostly because I hate to see my family hurting like this. There has been so much heartbreak in such a short amount of time. For several days, I had a really hard time because I just couldn't see how a God that is supposed to be good could let this happen. I was angry, and I didn't know what would make it better. I wanted to be able to say that God is good no matter what and feel like what I was saying was true. That just wasn't happening those first few days. I did, however, ask God to give me something to help me understand or just to make it through yet another tragedy while living so far away.

The Lord has always been faithful to answer in my time of need. This time was no different. I had a trip planned for Beijing shortly after John Michael had passed away, and I decided to go ahead with the trip. On the flight back into Xian the Lord showed me something about his character.

As we ascended into the sky, as usual we went through a layer of clouds and then everything was clear the sun was beautiful and bright. Only a few minutes later we were back in a layer of clouds. A few minutes after that we were back in the beautiful sunshine. I don't know why, but the Lord used this to help me understand what was going on and who He is.

A little more specifically...when you are in the clouds they block your view of the sun, but that doesn't mean that it is not shining. The sun still shines even if you can't see it. In the same way, God is still good even if its hard to see his goodness. The sun's job is to shine, it can't not shine. It doesn't have an off switch, it never changes. It has that one purpose, to shine. Similarly, God is good. He can't be anything other than that. It is clear from scripture that he never changes, He remains the same...yesterday, today, and forever...

So even though we may have clouds/storms/tragedies/heartbreaking situations, the Sun is still shining and God is still Good. We may not be able to see it clearly, but it is true...not always easy to believe because we may not be able to see it, but true non-the-less.

I still get a little angry that my family is suffering through such tragedy, but I rest assured that the Lord will be faithful to them just as he has been faithful to me.

These are just a few thoughts that I wanted to share, thinking that it might bring hope to someone else who is in the midst of the clouds. Just remember, the Sun is Still Shining.

Sometimes our Questions don't get answered...

At the end of March, my family again was hit with tragedy. One of my cousin's twins passed away. John Michael was 3.5 months old when he went to heaven. This is tragic no matter what the situation, but as you probably know, my family has experienced much tragedy in the last year and a half. This is really hard news to take especially when you live in a different country. This has been really hard on everyone. For most of us (including myself), it was hard to continue believing that God is good when there is so much sadness. Your faith is really tested in trials like these. But even with the testing of our faith, it is natural to ask why things like this happen. I know that for a little while and maybe even still a little, I was angry. Mostly, I was angry and upset that, yet again, my family was dealing with what seemed like useless tragedy. Some days I really wish that I could get a hold of the big picture so that maybe I could understand why we are going through this, but through a couple of events I have realized that I don't need to know all of the answers. Also, if I did have all of the questions answered, that might not make anything better...I'll tell you about a few things that have made dealing with this a little bit easier for me in the next blog.

Please continue to pray for my family whenever you think about us. There are still days where the weight of the sorrow feels like too much to bare.

Much Love from China!

Thailand 2010

This year's Thailand trip was just as much fun as last year's! I was able to do a few new things though...

As I have said before the Xian winter is brutal, grey skies for several months...Thailand is a great way to remedy those winter blues :) The city we were in this time was called Chiang Mai. It is a fairly small city (in comparison), but has lots of fun things to do and places to go!

I was there for about 2 weeks and during that time, I was able to adventure a lot!

I rode an Elephant, Played with a baby Tiger, and zip-lined through the rain forest!

There were lots of good things to eat there too! Aside from great Thai food, there are lots of western restaurants that we don't have here in Xian...The thing I miss the most...Mexican food. Chiang Mai had this great place called Miguel's, and we ate there a lot!

Chiang Mai also has an amazing Night Market. Here you can buy all sorts of stuff! I bought a purse, and some things I will bring home to decorate my house in America with :)

Thailand if you didn't know is very Tropical...even though we weren't really close to the ocean, you still feel like you are. The amount of green things there is also refreshing when you are used to lots of concrete! The weather in Chiang mai was like spring time! it was amazing!

Also one of the best things about Thailand is that they have really cheap, really awesome massages. Carrie B and I took advantage of that. Because they are so cheap, we were able to go almost every day and get one!

Like I said, Thailand is a really great place to go when you need some refreshing!

If you are wondering why I was in Thailand....it is sort of a required retreat for my company. We go there to learn new strategies for our work and to be refreshed!

Enough Talking! Now on to the pictures!

Babies!

In December, my family was blessed with two amazing twin boys! Jacob Ryan and John Michael were born on December 14, 2009 about 6 weeks early. In the above picture, Jacob is on the right and John is on the left. Even though they were early, they both were healthy and were able to come home after about two weeks! I hated that I wasn't there for the birth, but I got to see lots of pictures and videos, and I was even able to babysit them once over skype while Jackie went to the bathroom :) Of course they screamed the whole time I was babysitting...maybe I need to work on my long-distance babysitting skills :) I love those boys!

Back to Blogging!

Blogging has been very difficult this year due to some technical difficulties, but at this point I think that I have figured out how to make things work!

So here is a really fast catch up for the past couple of months...

November-

Ran/Walked a 5k on the city wall here in Xian!

It snowed here twice, and made everything look really beautiful!

I had a really great thanksgiving with some of my China family and woke up in the middle of the night to talk to my America family!

December-

We had our annual 'Christgiving' celebration here in Xian. If you haven't heard, our company celebrates as one big group early in december. We have a friday night game night, then Saturday is Thanksgiving and Sunday is Christmas. It is a very busy weekend, but lots of fun too!

We had a really awesome Christmas party for the school with about 200 people in attendance!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day- The original plan was to spend Christmas Day with Zach and Carrie and Kai, but a few weeks before Christmas, Carrie's mom began having some trouble with her heart so on Christmas Eve they left to go back to America for a few weeks. This was a little upsetting because they are the ones that I am the closest to, and was really looking forward to spending Christmas with them...we were gonna have a mexican fiesta!...anyway, Since they had to leave, I spent Christmas Eve with some friends of mine (Jason and Jane). Then on Christmas day I woke up early so that I could spend some time with my family on Skype for our traditional Christmas eve party. Well you know how unpredictable Alabama weather can be...so Christmas Eve was a stormy night and therefore the internet connection was not great. I did end up being able to participate mostly over the phone, and that was probably best because I cried all of the way through the Christmas story...that was the first time that I wasn't sitting in Gmom's and Gdaddy's living room for it :(. Then they asked me to pick the first Christmas Carol, and I said uhhh...cause I was thinking, but they thought that I was starting Away in a manger, so that is what we sang...I thought that was kinda funny! I like that song, so that worked out fine:) Once we got through the main traditional stuff I was okay...there were some tears but not too too many. Then I went to James and Wendy's house for dinner and fun! we played a lot of Dance Dance Revolution! Then I went home and got on Skype with mom, dad, and noah so that I could watch noah open his presents. I waited and waited for them to wake up, I thought that noah would get up early on Christmas but he didn't...

I called them at about 9.30am Alabama time, and woke them up! Not only had they not opened presents, but they weren't even awake!!!so I did get to watch noah open all of his presents! Most of which were weapons :) thats what happens when you live in the woods!

So all in all, Christmas turned out to be great!

So a few days later it was New Year's Eve, and I had made plans to go and visit my friend Jenee who lives in Xining! I left right after school and hopped a plane to Xining. It was a great and relaxing few days. It is nice to go to a place with blue skies when its really gray where you live.

January

This year has been uncharacteristically hard for me. Not awful, just harder to enjoy life I suppose. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy my life, a lot, but it has seemed to take more effort to enjoy it like I want to. However, in January things started to feel a little easier. I think that part of it was that as a team we did a 40 day prayer and fasting thing. This seemed to just clear up a lot of things for me. It brought us more together as a team and helped me to focus on what was important. And, I think I am learning how to take care of myself more. So January was school school and more school. Oh and a trip to the orphanage that we work with which was awesome. We were able to give the kids a goodie bag full of stuff because it would be our last time to go before Chinese New Year! They loved it!

February

The first week of February was our last week of school before our 3-week break! So after that week was over I was on my way to Thailand! This trip to Thailand was a little different than last year mostly because we were in a different city.

This year I spent the whole time in Chiang Mai. Its a small city in the northern part of Thailand. The weather there was amazing! It was their winter season, but it was warm! I loved the weather there! It was very tropical feeling, but only in the 70's and 80's during the day! It is great to go there in the middle of the China winter. I might save the rest of the Thailand details for the next blog ;)

When we came back to Xian the weather was much warmer, and spring was on its way!

March (so far)

Back to school for a solid 2 months! This is the long stretch! This year my schedule has been pretty busy. I am teaching 5 different math classes and health! and I am taking chinese classes 3 days a week :) I love studying chinese! It isn't easy, but I love it! I am hoping to find some chinese people to talk to once I get back home!

Now I am in hot pursuit of a job! I will be sending out resumes in the next day or two, and I am hoping that this process is quick and painless!

Also, last wednesday I bought tickets for my trip back to America!

I will be flying through Korea! I will be there for about a day so I will get to do a little exploring! I'm excited about that! I will arrive in Alabama on June 29th!

So I am starting a countdown!

School Days left: 56

Days til I get to America: 100

These of course are just the highlights, my everyday life is an adventure, and I wish you could experience it with me cause words are just not enough to explain it all!

Love from china!

Pictures! click on the months above for pictures for that month!