For the Darker Days of Advent

In my adult life I have come to better understand and appreciate the church calendar. I love the rhythm that it creates and how it allows me to pace my heart to the life of Christ. Advent is a season that I particularly love. I love the idea of preparing my heart for His arrival, the baby in the manger, the symbolism of the advent wreath, and taking time each week to light the advent candles and reflect with my husband.

Each year around this time, I find myself in desperate need of Advent. In need of something to make me to slow down, pause, and set my heart and mind towards the reality that truly matters. Just this morning I was thinking of all of the questions in my own journey, and again marveled at how Advent so perfectly mirrors these questions.

Advent is a season about hope, sure, but I think there is much to be said for the agonizing wait and blind faith of advent. My mind thinks back to centuries of prophecies and promises waiting to be fulfilled. Scores of prophets looking like fools, and decades of desperate hearts wondering when the promised Messiah and redemption would finally come. What we mark in four weeks time was stretched across a dark page of history, when all that filled space and time was the waiting.

I found myself in my own place of waiting and worry this morning, I couldn’t help but think about Mary. If there ever was an unknown path, hers was certainly it. If there was ever a couple to shake their heads in confusion at the work of Almighty God, surely it was those two outcast and weary travelers. And yet in the midst of the badgering questions, their own doubt and even despair – they followed a distant star. They clung to what God had spoken to them, and matched their steps to His voice regardless of how bizarre it might seem. I wonder if Mary’s pregnancy was one that was full of doubt and questions, and it wasn’t until angels filled the sky and shepherds bowed prostrate that the hope of her heart was fully realized.

But just like Mary, I am encouraged to think that regardless of the direction of the path and weight of the doubt, the reality of who Christ is remains unchanged. Despite Mary's and my own limited faith and understanding, the infant Jesus burst forth demanding the worship of all of heaven. This Advent I am confessing that who Christ is is unchanged by how he decides to appear in my life, or whatever dark and wandering road might lead me to His appearing. I don't want my steps to ever profess that I don't believe His promises to be true, and I want to be among the first to worship at His feet, in whatever unlikely place that might find me.

On this Thanksgiving

This is the song in my heart:

The reasons I have to be thankful are truly endless this year, I am thankful to serve and know a God whose goodness is as countless as His blessings!

Picture Dump

So, apparently next week is Thanksgiving, which absolutely blows my mind. I started to sit down and write an "October recap", when I realized we're well into November. So here are a few pictures that might help explain why I have absolutely no idea what day it is:

We spent time in three different village schools giving hygiene trainings to over 1,000 of these precious faces:

Teaching the finer points of why we shouldn't just poop anywhere:

Unrelated to hygiene but a heart melter none the less:

 Attentive pupil eagerly tackling his "How To Brush Your Teeth" coloring book:

First graders proudly showing off their new toothbrush, toothpaste (with fluoride of course!) and gloves:

Not long after this we took off to another village to celebrate the local New Year (don't be confused - this one just celebrates the end of the harvest. The lunar new year is later silly!) No car trip with a car full of local friends is complete without a minimum of two stops for someone to puke. We've found most people here get REALLY carsick, REALLY easily. The little dear you see in the front seat had to stop four times on the trip to "call Roy" as my dad would say. Yikes, right?

We knew that any and all New Year celebrations here included killing a pig, but I wasn't quite mentally prepared for what that would look like when an entire VILLAGE killed a pig at the same time. I'll spare you the details ; ). Baxter, being the manly man (while still tucked in you might notice), decided to get in on the action.

This little man decided to come over and play during the pig cleaning festivities, and then stuck around when he realized I had candy in my purse. Is he a charmer or what?

This past weekend we held court . . . I mean had a picnic with friends at the park:

So there you have it. Five+ weeks of burning up the road and village hoppin' left us pretty worn out. Thankfully, my husband is a doll and realized we needed a break, so last night he whisked us off to a night away at some nearby hot springs. I'd say this view with a private hot spring and dozens of others for soaking out my door wasn't too bad . . .

 

I think that this year with a heart so full, thankful just doesn't quite describe it.

Three things I bet didn't happen to you last week

1.) While teaching kindergarten at a Halloween party in the park last weekend, I noticed a kind older gentleman snapping away with his big wig camera. Not long after, he noticed me (token foreign teacher), and asked if I would mind if he took my picture. Sure, I thought, no problem. Not the first time. But then he handed me his brown poodle, and I realized he meant WITH his dog.

10 minutes of snapping and face-licking later, I wasn't sure if I should be flattered or offended.

2.) On Sunday at one of the aforementioned parties, one of the tiny party goers looked up at me and said she needed to pee. Knowing her parents weren't there to escort her, I asked where the nearest bathroom was. It was a floor above us, so we quickly made our way towards the stairs. Once in the stairwell, little bit says again she has to pee, and before I can fully turn my head she's got her pants down and is squatting in the corner of the stairwell. Unfortunately, my inner westerner kicked in (thinking it was NOT ok for her to tee tee in the corner of the stairs, when in actuality it was the best and perhaps more familiar option) and I quickly swooped her up with one arm, pulling up her tiny pants with the other, and bounding up the stairs two at a time.

After running around the hallway desperately searching for the right apartment we reached the bathroom and I set her down by the toilet. She simply looked at me and said in Chinese "My pants are wet." Yep. So is my right arm kiddo, so is my right arm.

3.) While out doing a hygiene training in local villages last week, we were taken to dinner by the principal of the primary school we had been in that day. As the meal wrapped up I made my way to the restroom, and per usual, was greeting by a row of squatty potties. What was somewhat different however, was that this particular row of squatties was on a small raised platform, and the tank of the commode was on the floor instead of mounted to the wall. Forgetting this as I dropped my pants to do my business, my butt solidly whapped the top of the tank sending me flying face forward, pants wrapping my ankles to the cold *wet* tile several inches below. Thankfully I caught myself with my hands rather than my face, but in the process managed to take the trashcan full of *used* toilet paper down with me. As I picked myself up from the littered floor, I noticed a nice long scrape down my shin not unlike this one:

So. What did you do last weekend?

Maybe the Cutest Thing You'll See All Week

So, today was a big day here. My local bestie had her baby!!

Now, I know I haven't had a kiddo of my own yet, but I'm pretty sure it's safe to say her birth was remarkably AWESOME. She called me at seven, saying she was having "the pain", but don't worry, the baby probably wouldn't come today as it wasn't that bad. At nine she calls again saying she was going to go to the hospital, but only after she showered and ate. At eleven I texted her but got no response, and then at 1:00 she calls me and had HAD THE BABY! Apparently she got to the hospital, jumped about 12 other women in the waiting room, and after about 30 minutes of pushing had the little guy at 11:47. What?! I know I'm no expert, but to me that's crazy fast!

Regardless, the new family is thrilled, and the baby is just the cutest thing ever. See?

We are so excited to journey with our friends in this new phase of their lives, and are prayerful it would create new opportunities to speak Truth into their lives. We loooooove being his "gan ma" and "gan di" (godparents!), and have given him the English name Max, as it sounds like his Chinese name  . . .  and let's be truthful, rhymes with Bax ; ).

It's amazing how new life so clearly points to the maker of all life, and our desire is to see this precious boy raised in a knowledge of his Heavenly Father. Days like today leave my heart full of gratitude and praise, I am thankful to walk in a knowledge of Him who gives such sweet gifts!

Richest People in the World

While laying in bed one night last week wondering why I was SO stinkin' tired, it occurred to me why. In addition to the class+work+YJ+life normal aspects of our week, we had somehow managed to funnel a good 30+ people through our house in about 8 days. Realizing that made me feel a lot better, and recognize that I wasn't crazy, and had in fact cleaned the bathrooms 4+ times in a week.

A highlight was last Saturday evening when we had 6 H college students over to make pizzas. They were cute as buttons, giggly, and roughly 12 years old as most college freshman seem to be these days. We were SO thankful our buddy and co-worker Yvonne came in town for the day, as she graduated from their university last year and beautifully played the role of their "xue jie", or study big sister.

And yes, she is 100% awesome. Here they are exploring the wide world of pizza toppings . . .

And the mandatory group shot. These little dears brought me a lovely bouquet of glitter covered flowers (it's a thing here), and I did my best to keep from weeping at the gesture. Yeah, I think we'll keep 'em.

About 1/5 of those who came through our door last week were these dear friends. They've lived here for about ten years, and are such a blessing to us in the ways the encourage and challenge us. And yes, all of those humans DO in fact belong to them. 

And lastly here is a picture from the wedding of a friend in YJ this past week. She teaches English at the high school we do, and looked like an absolute doll. 

I think Baxter summarized our feelings about life these days best when he came home after taking the students back to campus. He said, "You know, I feel like the richest man in the world." And honestly, I couldn't agree with him more.

Mom & Pops

Soooo, as I mentioned about TWO WEEKS ago, my parents came for a visit. Would you believe life didn't magically slow down so that I could blog about it? Yeah, me neither. Regardless, it was a precious time that I am so grateful to have shared with my parents. All that we saw and did felt very "once in a lifetime", but I'm surely hoping they'll come visit more than that!

Mom and Dad have been my biggest cheerleaders in the 12+ years I've been traipsing the globe, so I loved getting to share in this adventure with them. Here's a fly by of some of our time together:

Mom & Dad marveling at the Forbidden City in Beijing

The four of us posing for a photo op on the Great Wall

The Temple of Heaven

Mom & Dad being cute on a work day in YJ

Dad car shopping in our complex?

Me showing Mom & Dad how you get it done buying a chicken at my favorite market 

Celebrating Mid-Autumn festival with friends and co-workers

Hopefully they were as happy as they were tired when they left, as you can see we packed a lot into their visit! Baxter and I are so thankful to have parents who love and support us even a world away, and are already looking to doing it all over again when my in-laws come in January! Three cheers for our adventurous parents!