Updated on July 31, 2011
The Art Institute {Chicago}
In my mind, the Art Institute is a must for all making a stop in Chicago. It had been a number of years since I had visited, making our visit a few Saturdays ago that much more enjoyable. Here’s a snippet captured by my lens.
Updated on July 31, 2011
Reunion
Five and a half years ago, Angie, Katie and I headed out on an epic journey across China and Thailand. They say ignorance is bliss, and we were most definitely blissfully ignorant of the ambition and absurdity of our plan. Knowing what I know now about a China, and knowing how little we knew then about China (not to mention how little Chinese we spoke), I shake my head in sheer wonder that we actually survived the trip.
The three of us taught at the same private university, and when it came time to plan how to get down to Thailand for our company’s annual meeting, we opened up a lonely planet, found some pictures we liked, and decided to somehow get there.
Only thing is we were traveling at the peak of the massive spring festival migration. A factor we were terribly unaware of. Well, we knew it was around spring festival. We knew people traveled. We just didn’t know train stations became massive camping grounds and train tickets were worth well more than their weight in gold.
Luckily, we had the family of a student helping us along the way. That family had a random “uncle” who with a special piece of paper ushered us through the throngs of thousands waiting at the Guangzhou train station and deposited us on a train. Without tickets. Eventually we managed to purchase sleeper tickets while on the train. How we managed to do that without language skills is a bit of a foggy detail.
Due to our lack of foresight and wisdom and frankly common sense, we ended up seeing and doing a lot.
Including staying in the smallest hostel room EVER in Hong Kong.
And riding elephants in Thailand. Which, by the way, if you’re planning on riding on an elephant head, wear long pants. Their heads are very hairy. And their hair is very sharp.
After leaving a gorgeous island off of Phuket, I learned a very important lesson that served me well in the next five years of winter traveling. When traveling, ONLY go south. Do not travel in China after the warmth and beaches of Thailand. You will be cold. You will be miserable. You will just want to go home.
The three of us did make it home and lived to tell about it. Currently, I’m staying at Katie’s house in Wheaton while I study pretend to study for comprehensive exams. Angie lives a couple hours away in Peoria, so Katie and I decided to drive down to catch up and meet Angie’s beautiful new daughter Eloise.
There was much catching up to be done, and we were even joined at lunch via skype by another friend who taught with us that year. It’s amazing to look back at where we’ve come from and the changes of the past five years. Who knows where we’ll be at by the time of our next reunion!
Updated on July 31, 2011
Weekend in Rockford
This past Friday I took part one of my comprehensive exams, and directly afterward headed out to Rockford to visit friends from college. I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend comprised of catching up, lazing around, and food. Lots and lots of good food. Turns out Matt has turned into quite the chef in the past couple years, and Chrissy and I quite happily indulged in the fruits of his labor. And mercilessly teased him about starting his own cooking show.
Thanks for the perfect lazy summer weekend Matt and Chrissy!
Updated on July 31, 2011
Where did I disappear to?
No, that’s not me in the picture, but it pretty accurately describes the activities of the past few weeks. Kirsten and I were roommates once again, but we probably saw the least of each other this year. I’ve been hopelessly submerged in “operation get me OUT of grad school.” Don’t get me wrong; I’m incredibly thankful for this program. Even more than any accumulation of knowledge, I’m thankful for the transformation it’s brought to my life. However, I must admit, I’m so very much mentally done and over it. Unfortunately, I’m not actually done. I finished up my last class on Friday, and am now cramming for comprehensive exams which will be taken this weekend and the next. It’s so close…now to find the wherewithal to focus and memorize this last bit of information. You can tell I’ve been doing grad work non-stop by the fact I just used the word “wherewithal.”
I did briefly surface from the books and papers this weekend. There was a certain someone in town to celebrate our commissioning (aka “fake” graduation). It was the first time for him to meet the parents, and the first time we’ve actually been in the same zip code since April. Can you find us?
As is becoming a pattern, for some reason I just don’t take many pictures when he’s around. Turns out he’s a mighty good distraction. We did make a trip to the art institute in Chicago where I played a bit with my camera, but that deserves a post of it’s own.
My dad got some shots of the two of us…so eventually there should be better photographic evidence that indeed the weekend was spent together.
And just because he’s wonderful, I came home from studying to these today.
Life is now a matter of countdowns. Three days until exam #1 and then jetting off to visit friends in Rockford. Ten days until exam #2. Thirteen days until I say farewell to Wheaton for the time being. Seventeen days until I make another happy airport pick-up in Indiana. Eighteen days until we begin the long drive down to Tampa for the start of the next chapter and hopefully some lazy days on the beach.
Updated on July 31, 2011
Last day in pictures
I’ve now been back stateside a little more than a week. Jet lag is conquered and graduate papers are semi-conquered. Tomorrow I head up to Wheaton and Monday, yes Monday, as in the fourth of July, I begin class. I’m two weeks and some comprehensive exams away from graduation. And we all say together, hallelujah.
It’s amazing how just a week away can make China and that final flurry of activities feel so removed. But today as I was sorting through some pictures I stumbled upon some taken my final day in my city. Bags mostly packed, I headed out for some fun experimentation with Stella and one of my former students. Billy had the rare privilege of having me as a teacher for three years as an undergraduate, and then an additional semester as a graduate student. I know, poor kid. Billy shares a love of photography and was gracious enough to let me play around with his much nicer camera body that last afternoon. It was fun to experiment with a new toy, and one thing I learned is there is still much to be learned in the land of photography.
Here’s a peek at that last afternoon spent in the middle kingdom.
Updated on July 31, 2011
Day by day
So where am I and what am I doing?
I’m currently in Indianapolis recuperating from jet lag and move-your-life-back-across-the-ocean exhaustion.
And I’m writing grad papers. At least I should be writing grad papers. Turns out I’ve got a bad case of writer’s block. So I’m writing on my blog instead.
I’m also sorting through and purging boxes upon boxes of stuff. When I left for China six years ago, I threw boxes, bags, and baskets of stuff in a closet in my parents’ house on top of other baskets and boxes of remnants of my childhood. I planned to return to it all a year later, when I thought much of it would still be relevant and useful. Turns out six years later, not much of it is relevant and useful. And after whittling my life in China down to two fifty pound suitcases, I was in a purging mood.
So that’s where I am today. But what’s next?
Good question. And if you happen to find the answer, please be sure to inform me.
Here’s what I do know: come Sunday I head back to Wheaton to {hopefully} complete my graduate degree. My grad program? It’s been great. But after four years I am very ready to be done.
After July in Wheaton? That’s where things get a bit foggy. Most of the time, we have a pretty good idea of what the next six months or year is going to look like. We may hold that idea loosely, but in our minds we’ve got a course set in front of us. That’s not so much the case for me right now.
I thought I learned to tolerate ambiguity when I lived in China. Apparently the Father’s not done teaching me that lesson yet. Don’t you love it when you think you’ve aced a course and then you get told that was just the kindergartner’s level? Apparently I finished Ambiguity 101. And now we’re moving onto Ambiguity 501.
Not that there aren’t some hopes and plans in the works. After six years apart, there’s a plan for a college roommate reunion in the fall. There’s the plan to attend at least one Ohio State football game {and please don’t get me started on how I feel about the program completely falling to pieces right as I regain the ability to attend a game for the first time in six years}. And there’s the hope that a certain long distance relationship might be transformed at some point in the fall to a short distance relationship.
But right now, it’s all about living day to day. And I’ve been drawn back again to one of the pictures that the Father loves to use with me when it comes to trust and dependence–manna. You can only gather what’s needed for today; anything more than that is guaranteed to spoil. And so I collect what is enough for today, trusting that tomorrow, just like today and so many mornings leading up to today, that there will be manna waiting just outside the door.
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. Isaiah 50:10
Updated on July 31, 2011
The best going away present
He stole my heart the very first time I held him. It was June 2009, and I wasn’t sure this little three pound miracle would survive the summer. I prayed over him and prayed over his future family and left him in the hands of the Father. I returned in the fall, and his dimples and eyes and grin further cemented the bond I had with him, and I rejoiced in the fact that he was quite obviously thriving. Over the next two years, he wrapped me quite tightly around his perfect little fingers. I love every one of the kids at the orphanage, but with this little guy we call Alex, there was something special. Were I a few years older and in a slightly different life position, I would likely try my darnedest to adopt him.
Rewind even further, to five years ago and my first year in Siping. A family came to adopt another child that was near to my heart in Siping, and I was able to meet up with them in Changchun. Thus began a friendship with this family and my first real connection with the adoption community. This family wanted to adopt from Siping again, but as you may well know, finding files for specific children is quite difficult, or some would even say, impossible. A couple years ago they attempted to find the files for a few children at our orphanage, but their son was waiting for them in the south of China.
A few weeks ago, the mom in this family asked for the full names and birthdates for a few of the toddlers at our orphanage. I gave them to her, but with a very doubtful heart. Finding one of their files would be like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. Consequently, when I woke up one morning a couple weeks ago to the news that they had not only found Alex’s file, but that the file would be held for them until they could get the paperwork in order, I literally wept tears of joy. Big ugly tears of joy. And when PA arrived earlier this week? More tears.
Knowing that Alex will be with a family that will give testimony to the Father’s work and healing in his life? Knowing that I’ll be able to see pictures and receive updates as this little boy grows up? Knowing that the Father loves and has a plan for each little life at the orphanage? Pretty much the best going away present a girl could ask for.
Updated on July 31, 2011
Signing off from China
Six years ago I arrived in China with two seventy pound suitcases (that was the international limit way back when) and some obscenely heavy carry-ons. In just a short while, I’ll be headed to the airport with two (hopefully…trusting a shifty scale) fifty pound bags, a backpack and a camera bag. There’s a lot being left behind in China, including a piece of my heart. Thanks for sharing the journey with me! Stay tuned as I trust in and wait on the leading of my Jehovah Jireh. He has been abundantly faithful these six years, and I know that faithfulness will continue. Thank goodness for that one solid foundation that doesn’t change with a zip code!
Updated on July 31, 2011
Food for thought
Most of us go through life praying a little, planning a little, jockeying for position, hoping but never being quite certain of anything, and always secretly afraid that we will miss the way…There is a better way. It is to repudiate our own wisdom and take instead the infinite wisdom of the Father. Our insistence upon seeing ahead is enough, but it is a real hindrance to our spiritual progress…the Father constantly encourages us to trust Him in the dark…It is as if the Father were saying, “What I am is all that need matter to you, for there lie your hope and peace. I will do what I do, and it will all come to light at last, but how I do it is My secret. Trust Me, and be not afraid.” from The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
Chewing on these words as I head off to enjoy the last day in my city.
Updated on August 2, 2011
Sunday snapshot: Week of Lasts
This week has been all about “lasts.” Last time giving finals. Last time using the trench squatty potty in the teaching building (too much information?). Last visit to KFC. Last time bargaining with stubborn taxi drivers. Last time buying eggs from my egg lady. Last time in the student dorms. Last time walking down the hall ten feet to borrow sugar. Granted, some of these things I won’t miss, but I’ve been trying to soak in every last minute…without my face being soaked with tears. The latter of which is quite a feat these days.
Many of the “lasts,” not surprisingly, revolved around mealtime. The week started off with the last single girls dinner. I will miss these ladies. So very much. Kami’s sass. Lauren’s witty remarks. Life will be a bit duller without them.
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