Leaning In with Mike

Recently we were blessed by a visit from this dear friend, teacher and mentor.

Mike is the kind of person whose very presence pushes you to think more deeply and love more fully, and we loved having him step into our world here. He recently wrote on his blog an entry that encapsulates so much of what we're experiencing, and the things that have been recently pressing on my heart and mind. I hope that as you read what he wrote you will know not only how to better pray for us, but be challenged in your own journey as well.

Sheng Dan Jia Kuaile! (or Merry Christmas!)

Honestly, I have no idea how this happens. I could have sworn I just posted last week, but alas, it's happened again. Two weeks has past with no blogging. Whaddya do.

We had a fantastic and exhausting Christmas, but I guess that tends to be part of it, doesn't it? I realized that living here entails Mom isn't around to adorably wrap gobs of presents, decorate the house to perfection, or make a scrumptious Christmas breakfast magically appear. To all of you women who do this year after year, I applaud you. I'm looking into hiring a live-in elf for next year.

We had a great time hosting a large Christmas party the weekend before Christmas, and I think our head count topped out around 36. It was wild, crazy, and simply precious in every way . . . thank goodness we had a group of college students visiting to help! I can only imagine cleaning up the popcorn-garland/snowflake cutting/cookie decorating stations without them - Lord have mercy!!

Here's a pic of our sweet little Christmas tree, just ignore the strand in the middle that went out!

 

My favorite Santa helping make Christmas cookies for friends (thanks for the new pj's mom!)

With some dear friends opening presents after Christmas breakfast:

With our co-workers Tim, Molly and peanut (not pictured, he/she still has about 5 more months until he/she is ready for his/her closeup!) after dinner on Christmas night.

Do you think the Bentley's have the photo head tilt down or what? SHEESH!

All in all it was a great Christmas. We were able to Skype with our families, and participate via interweb in Christmas merriment. We of course missed them and being with our friends, but I feel like this quote best captures my feelings:

"When you have everything, you can see Christ in everything. When you have nothing, you realize Christ is everything."

Without question, we could hardly count ourselves in the "having nothing" category; quite the opposite really. But in the absence of some dearly loved faces and places, we were able to more deeply celebrate He who is everything more sweetly than ever before.

Apologies & Advent

Well, what's there to say. Life happened, blogging didn't. You understand, right? Of course you do - it's December all over the world for goodness sake! December all too often = complete madness. In a different but refreshing way, this holiday season has been unlike any other.

While songs on the radio, lights on houses, and crowds in stores have been the cultural cues of Christmas for the majority of my life . . . those cues this year are noticeably absent. At first it was a bit odd, almost as if we were the only ones in on the secret that Christmas was coming.  But as December has sped on, I have found myself looking elsewhere for what tunes my heart to the coming of Christmas.

Since our Truett days, I have had a growing interest and appreciation not only for the liturgical calendar, but Advent in particular. This year I found myself scouring the internet for Advent wreath lighting liturgies, tales of the Jesse tree, books and devotion to guide me through the season. And in true Katie fashion I might have gone a bit overboard (3 online and 2 pdf devotionals is too many to daily follow perhaps?), but I can honestly say my heart has never more fully anticipated and marveled at His coming.

While listening to one of my many Advent podcasts, I heard the following quote which perfectly encapsulates all this season has come to mean to me: "If we say that the birth of Christ 2000 years ago changed everything, then it has to continue to change everything." I love this, because it makes Christmas about so much more than a singular event thousands of years ago, but turns our eyes to see how Christ's birth continues to change absolutely everything.

I think I have spent much of my adult life wanting to make sure that "special" happened each Christmas; that I had just the right music, went to a poignant Christmas performance or two, and that our family was beginning and continuing just the right traditions. I think my heart has been in the right place, but I was missing something. Christmas isn't a magical lamp to be rubbed in hopes that nostalgia and warm feelings coming pouring out, but rather a season in which we are to reflect on how Christ did and does change us.

It's amazing to know that the God of all of creation, born in a pushed away corner to unremarkable people, loved so deeply that he stooped down and became one of us, part of us. Innocent, vulnerable and yet entirely perfect . . . becoming like us so that he might fully know and love us. In his birth, he brought hope that the ages longed for, peace that was desperately needed, and love that is unparalleled.

This season as I have marveled at the God who defied all logic for the sake of love, I have rejoiced in knowing that He continues to bring the same gifts as that first Christmas into my life.

Hope - For all the dreams He has put in my heart.
Peace - In knowing that He is Lord of all in it all. 
Love - Rejoicing that I am called His own, intimately known and treasured. 
Joy - Marveling that the God who did is the God who does.  

My prayer is that this Advent season would find you not only rejoicing in the miracle of His birth, but in the miracles He continues to bring. He was, is and will be all that our souls long for. And that my friends, is reason for "a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices!"

The Greatest Thanksgiving Ever

While myself and my kitchen are still recovering from the weeks events, I think I can confidently say that it was quite possibly one of our greatest Thanksgivings ever. We knew that cooking for, seating, and entertaining about 20 of our local friends was ambitious, I don't think we had any idea how special the evening would be.

Here is the first (of a few) grocery store/market trips to prepare all the bounty:

Lesson learned: when you buy new furniture, make sure it's not scheduled to come the day (4) rented tables and (15) chairs are also scheduled to be delivered, or that it's not the day before you host a major event in your home. Your home turning into a furniture warehouse in a 15 minute time frame can be a bit stress inducing. 

 

This is my "hair back, no makeup or shower in about 2 days, pretending it's all under control and you are confident that the 10 lbs of potatoes you put into this dish you've never made is delicious" look.

Table set and ready! (and yes, I am a bit OCD and had tablecloths made and stole colorful leaves from the park so that the table would look "pretty")

 Friends arriving and making "hand turkeys" of thankfulness. 

Friends sharing what they're thankful for, and me using the camera to hide my tears at the meaningfulness of it all.

My hand turkey:

 And quite sadly, there is no video evidence of our dramatic reading of "The First Thanksgiving". My genius husband wrote a brief summary about the history of Thanksgiving, and assigned a friend or group of friends a role in the story. When he read their name at any point in the story, they were to say a sundry of hysterical things. For example, every time he said the word "pilgrims" a group would say "ENGLAND STINKS", and give a big thumbs down. The Mayflower would say "All aboard! TOOT!! TOOT!! (I almost wet my pants every time this group said their part! The word "toot" is foreign to most locals here : ) But perhaps the best was Squanto, who said "HOW . . . can I help you?" It was an absolute riot, and our friends participated and enjoyed it immensely more than we could have hoped.

All in all it was a wonderful night, one that moved me to laughter and tears on several occasions. I can't imagine a sweeter way to celebrate all that we're thankful for!

Thankful and Thoughtful.

As I approach this week and all that it holds (a test (boo), THANKSGIVING, friends in town, and the Iron Bowl to name the big events), I am already giddy with excitement. There's not much more I love than hosting parties, laughing with friends, and delicious food - and this week I get to do all of it!

However, as I was perusing my usual blog reads, I couldn't help but be struck by my friend Callie's post. (Tip: the little link means you should stop reading and go there now). Callie was a roommate of mine in college, and I mentioned her situation earlier here. Long, super crazy story short, Callie is now in remission from brain cancer. (Yes, that's right. And yes, she is about to be 28.) Her bravery in the post above is one of the things I love so dearly about her, that and her faith that found new depths and life through her ordeal.

In her post Callie also mentions our friend Katherine, who suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke a few years back. (And yes, you should again stop now and read about her miracle at the link above). While both Callie and Katherine's stories are the kind that shake us to the core, what stirs me the most is not just what happened to them, but how they responded.

These beautiful women, who faced medical, emotional and spiritual challenges I can't even begin to fathom, were not embittered by what they endured. But rather they weathered the storms of treatments, doubt, and despair, and found themselves rejoicing in the sweetness of the God who gives new life. I think Katherine's husband Jay said it best in a recent speech at our alma mater:

"We have become less concerned with healing, and more concerned with our relationship to the healer. And we are less concerned about deliverance  and more concerned about our relationship to the deliverer."

Tears fill my eyes as I read this again, and my heart so desperately longs that each day of my life would echo his words. This week is absolutely a time to be thankful, because goodness know how much we have been given. I am overwhelmed this season in particular at the new and abundant blessings before us, but in this, I don't want for a second to miss the heart of He who gives. My prayer for myself and you as well this week is that the remembrance of our blessings would not only compel us to give the deepest thanks, but move us to a greater love and intimacy with the Father.

A Few Things.

Today finds us neck-deep in the whirlwind that is mid-November through mid-December. We're on the road quite a bit these days teaching all ages and topics. Seriously - this week we will cover how to say "apple" as well as the dangers of HIV. You've got to be ready for anything around here!

I honestly have about 4 semi-meaningful topics whirling around in my brain, but for now here are a few things that have made this past week both interesting and great:

Don't worry, this is not my oven. Our situation was not so dire!

• My super awesome/huge for Asia oven caught on fire
• We began planning the "Ultimate Original Thanksgiving Party" for about 20 friends (meaning Baxter has plans of making foil pilgrims' shoe buckles and talking to our local friends about squaws and firewater)
• I was able to not entirely freak out about the oven and the implications on the aforementioned party
• I was able to locate AND communicate with an electrician who successfully FIXED the oven!! There was great rejoicing in our wigwam!!
• We taught 200+ itty bitty ones and did not catch any kind of airborne illness
• I taught my high school students the word "toot" (don't worry, it was completely appropriate for our lesson)
• We went joy-riding (legally! Teammate Tim got his license!! Woohoo!!) in a rented car on part of our travels and shaved a good 1.5 hours off of travel each way. SCORE. 

And to think, the craziness and adventures for this month has just begun! I often find myself truly astounded that this is my life, it's fantastically bizarre and wonderful all at the same time. While there are inevitable lows and moments of missing or frustration, I can honestly say the sweetness of these days overrides it all.

Here's to hoping for another wild and wonderful week!

A Lazy Girl's Blog

So . .  things are busy. There is so much swirling around around and inside of me, but somehow I haven't found the time yet to spill it all out for the remaining 4 faithful readers. But to pacify these faithful readers, I thought a few pictures of late might be appropriate. It's what's most interesting anyways, right? So here's a bit of what's been going on:

Our teammate and buddy Tim-o-tai had a birthday party for his 16th birthday . . .

 

Kidding Tim! I know you turned 21! (We like to give him a hard time because he's 2-3 years younger than us. What a young'un . . . )

At said party we carved pumpkins!

 

Ok fine, they were actually watermelons. The pumpkins here more closely resemble gourds, which wouldn't have had the same spooky/awesome affect as a watermelon.

Right after we got back from teaching in KM I got a nasty head cold, which I saw as the perfect opportunity to get all cultural and practice traditional Xnese medicine. What you see below is my tutor administering the "guasha". Basically it's a process of light scraping, thought to help the body release bad toxins and illness through the skin. (The red dots you see are the sickness coming out.) I would show you the final product . . . but I think my parents are still recovering from the picture I sent them. It doesn't hurt at all, but basically looks like you lashed yourself for a few hours with a cat of nine tails. Awesome, right?

 

So, here is Team Bentley (one of us slightly washed out from said head cold) hoping you had a Happy Halloween and are enjoying the greatness of fall! More to come soon!