The Little Things

This week has been so full of little insights and heartbreak, complete randomness and incredible blessings...as well as apparent adjective over-usage. Anyway, just a few little things to show you how He is taking care of and entertaining us over here.

• Rediscovery of the 80's thanks to YouTube. Watch TAKE ON ME, the literal version...I have seen this video 18 times in the past week, and am only slightly exaggerating. Thank you Kat and Trent!
• Visit to Xiangfan: Carie's homemade potpie, Amish American survival cookbook with inappropriate tips and complicated breadfruit recipes, and Mexican Twister ala William. (Shiyan representing!) We had a great time, and were able to visit a local orphanage as well. I named three boys John, Mike and Sarah, and showed off my impressive sling shot skills - what a blessing to be around those kids! "I miss having kids around"
  
• Angelyn and I exercised our American democratic right - and BARACKED it!
  
• New author I am aspiring to be like: G0d. We've been discovering his incredible writing style through our morning studies in Isaiah. Hemingway has nothing on him...that's for you Finn. Faulkner...
  
• Wildflowers, turtles and flip books
• One of my favorite students, Lawrence, has been working his tail off to get to America and just found out he was accepted into a really competitive program at Ohio State University. I'm not sure if America is ready for this guy, he is going to shake up their world...
• Learned that no one should ever, EVER, ask me to explain a participle...you would think by now they would know I am only pretending to know what I am doing as an English teacher
  
• Talked to my top 5 international callers, even got to hear Dane's voice
  
• Had the opportunity to do an English Talk Radio Show with one of our Qi Yuan favorites, Crazy Christina, which hopefully had some value. Educating the girls on campus about self-protection, safety, and wise choices when surrounded by strangers during the International Wushu Festival. There will be hundreds of foreigners arriving in Shiyan next week, and there is already concern that some of them may have come with dishonorable intentions. Please lift up the safety of the Chinese girls over the next few weeks, they are so trusting, its truly terrifying
  
• Old-fashioned Wushu restaurants with meat dish, after meat dish, after inedible meat dish...
• Singing nothing but Hard, Fighting Soldier these days. A friend from the Children's Home of Lubbock and an inspirational warrior for the Father passed away last week...can't sing it without thinking of you Billie, bet you are rocking that heavenly choir!

Cool verse of the week: I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand - I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion 'You are my people'. This verse really impressed me this morning, looking at how G0d holds us close one moment, comforts us and brings us into these safe, comforting arms...then not-so gently reminds us that he is also the ruler of the world and bigger than anything we could possibly imagine. Its like He's saying, "I'm your best friend, your Daddy...and by the way, I am ALMIGHTY G0D" I love that about Him!