Springtime beauty

I love spring! It's probably one of my most favorite seasons. It is the time that nature comes alive agian after being dormant all winter. The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and building their nests and the weather is almost perfect! We have many flowers around our house in many different colors. We have pinks, red/purples, white, and yellow. One of my favorite flowers is lilac. They are not only beautiful, but they have a wonderful scent. I was taking pictures the other day and I took this really cool picture of the lilac before they were in full bloom. I got to thinking about them as I took the pictures and then I really got to thinking. See how there are only two small blooms that are all the way out?

They are different than the rest of the bunch of flowers. I got to thinking about how we Christians are like that. Let's say that the world is the whole bunch of tiny lilac blooms. We who are Christians are the two tiny blooms among the whole bunch. We are different, we stick out and are noticed. Then I just let this thought go a bit more...are we really that different? Does what we wear and say and do and the things we watch and listen to truly reflect us being different? We are called to be different. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:" 1 Peter 2:9 God WANTS us to be different! No, we don't have to look like we stepped out of the 17th century but at the same time when we are at the mall do we look like everyone else who is there? Or are we dressed differently and walk differently and talk differently? I'm going to get on my soap box here for a minute. When talking about modesty, we need to remember that modesty is not only the way we dress. Yes, we (men and women) need to dress so that we have covered our bodies in a way that reflects Christ, but at the same time modesty is so much more! If we are dressed modestly but we walk and talk just like the world we are no different. We must make sure that our actions and our speech and even our thoughts are just as modest as the clothes that we wear. *Steps off box....

In conclusion, I'm going to try to make sure that I am like the two little blooms in the big bunch-different than the world. I would challenge you to do the same thing. Yes, it's hard sometimes but I am sure that it will be worth it in the end!

Tortillas

Last week I made tortillas for bean burritos for lunch.  As I was making them I got to thinking as one often does as they are cooking.  

So there I was rolling out tortillas and this is what I began to think about.  We are like a tortilla, spiritually that is.  God is the Maker that made us.  Our life is the filling.  What we put in makes us what we are.  Just like we chose which ingredients we add to our burrito, we get to chose which ingredients we are going to add to our spiritual burrito.  Here are some ingredients that are good to use. 

• Bible study 
  
• Prayer time
• Fellowship with other Christians
• Quality time with family
  

There are some ingredients that one should be careful of and use with much thought.  They are movies, music and books that have non Christian ideals in them and time spent with friends that may not be the best examples.  I'm sure we can all think of things that we might not want very much of (or any) in our spiritual burrito.

As we continue to live our lives for God, let us remember the things that we are putting daily into our burrito.  Check often and make sure they are what we really want to add. 

Our last outing in China, Zhangjiajie

On Friday before school started on Monday, we went to Zhangjiajie, a city about two hours from Changde. We rode the morning bus over and arrived in time for lunch. We had a very yummy lunch after talking to many restaurant owners about the price. It was a bit funny because they kept one-upping each other on the price! After lunch we headed off to see the caves, the main reason that we went to Zhangjiajie. We had a great time in the caves! I had never been in a cave like that and it was so cool! We had a bit of trouble finding where we were supposed to be but after trekking up and down the exit hall an extra time we found the right way! We went through some small parts of the cave and then a larger one. To get to the main cave, we had to get on a boat and go down the underground river. I thought it was pretty cool to be on a river UNDER the ground! We spent a good bit of time in the main cave. There was a slight overhang and we enjoyed singing together and listening to the wonderful echo. We were getting tired by now and we wanted to catch the 5:00PM bus back to Changde. By the time we got out of the cave and found someone to take us back to the city (the caves were outside the city a bit) it was to late to catch the bus. So we decided to take the train instead of having to stay the night for the bus then next day. We stood in line for a long time and finally got our tickets. We were not able to get very good tickets. We had one seat and two standing only tickets. We bought two cheap plastic stools and some food and ran off to catch the train. Leah and I started out with the standing thickets. The way standing tickets work is you get on the car and stand (or sit if you brought a stool and IF there is room to put the stool down) for the duration of the trip. And yes, some people will do this for a 18 hr ride! This does not seem like a horrid idea until you realize that there are about 75 other people on the car that are doing the same thing! The car we were in was packed! The car said "occupation 116 " and I think there were somewhere around 250 people in the car! Needless to say we were packed in like sardines! I was able to find a hole in the aisle and sit on my stool. I could not stretch out my legs and I was packed up against 2-3 chinese people at any given time. Now, the ride would be slightly passable but...every 5-10 min someone decided to move past going to another car or the restroom. AND...to top that off, every 30 min the food cart came by! So, if you were standing/sitting in the aisle, you had to get out of the way by practically standing on top of everyone else who is standing packed against the people that have seats! This went on for the duration of the trip and by the end I wanted my own space and for NO ONE to touch me again for a LONG time! Leah, a few min after we had started off, went and traded with Wade and he came down and sat/stood with me. We were supposed to arrive at 9:00PM or so but it was 10:40PM when we finally arrived. Wade and fought the crowd and he got off ok. I had a bit more trouble getting off and I could hear Wade telling the train workers that I was still on there! I had to just shove my way through the sea of people and I finally was able to get off! We did not see Leah, so Wade took off to car 16 (we were in car 8) to make sure that she got off. But she did not! This began an even more interesting end to our day. Leah did not have her phone or any money and she had the phrase book so we all felt a bit (of more than a bit) stranded. We tried to tell the train workers that Leah we still on the train and I think they maybe understood. We went to the VIP lounge and there we finally found someone who spoke English. We were able to tell them what had happened and they got in touch with the train and started getting Leah's return arranged. To make a very long story a little shorter, Wade and I waited in the lounge and kept in contact with Leah (she borrowed a phone) and the train officials. She was going to get off at the next station (an hour and a half away) and catch the next train back to Changde. She missed the first train back so she had to wait till the next one left at 1:15AM (or there abouts) Leah finally arrived in Changde at 2:45AM! We were all so tired and ready to go home! We got home, took showers (they smoke like smokestacks on the train), and went to bed! I don't think we stirred till about noon that morning (er...afternoon)!

We spent the rest of Sat and Sunday doing little. Wade and Leah spent Monday getting ready to teach on Tuesday and Wednesday. I hung around the house and did some cooking for them so they could study. Then on Tuesday I went to class with Leah in the morning. It was really neat to see her teaching. She is teaching American Culture this semester. I enjoyed getting to meet her students and talk with them a bit. We met Wade for lunch and then I stayed in for the afternoon and got all packed up. I was a bit sad to be packing but at the same time I was ready to head home! Dinner was noodles at a Muslim Noodle place. It was so good! We went to English corner that night and that was a lot of fun! English corner is where the English teachers (foreign that is) gather with any students that want and practice speaking English. Tuesday was much the same only this time I went with Wade. He is teaching Oral English. His class was different then Leah's. He has more activities and so class can be a bit more wild at times. We had English corner again that afternoon and spent the evening relaxing together. Thursday was my last day in China. We had a game night with an American couple that Wade and Leah hang out with sometimes. We had fun but did not stay very late. I had to be on the 10:00AM bus to Changsha to catch my flight.

My trip home was good once I got through Shanghai. The flight from Changsha to Shanghai was late and I had one hour to get off the plane, get my luggage, transfer to international check in, get checked in, through customs and security and to my gate before I missed the flight! I ran the whole time and part of it dragging two huge suitcases! I made it but I did not think I was going to! The flight was a bit delayed and so I was able to rest a few min and catch my breath before I got on the plane. I was ever so happy to be on that plane! The remainder of my trip went well. I didn't sleep much on the way home so I was really tired when I got into Tulsa. But, by body time it was in the middle of the day and not the night so I felt ok.

This is the end of my China adventures! I am so thankful that I was able to make this trip! I had a great time with Wade and Leah and a wonderful time traveling (even with the train trip that went bad) and seeing some amazing sights! I will remember this trip for years to come and I am so thankful that I was able to take it. I'm sure I could go on for a few more pages about my adventures but I'll bring it to a close now. I'll see you again soon! =)

Beijing, part two

Friday I headed out with different directions as to how to get to the subway on the 404 bus. I followed the directions and got on the bus and hoped that it was right! I soon spied a subway stop, but not the one that I thought I wanted. I took my chance and got off and went to the subway. It was actually a closer stop then the one that I had originally been trying to get to. I got on the subway and headed off to the other side of the city to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is a huge area with many old buildings and a huge lake in the middle. The emperors would spend time there floating on the lake, looking at the stars and other things of that nature. The Summer Palace also has the worlds longest Corridor, it was pretty cool! It took me over 4 hours to get through it all! I got hungry and today I chose to have more than a bag of peanuts! So I got one of those instant noodle soup bowls. They are really popular here in China. It was good! I actually liked it for what it was! I finished up and headed home. All the girls at the workshop were going to have dinner together and I wanted to make sure that I arrived back in time to join them. I took the subway back to the station that I started at and instead of paying for a taxi I was going to see if I could take the 404 back to where I started. I found the bus stop and waited for the 404. Some of the busses that stopped at the same stop as the 404 were packed! There was standing room only on some and they were packed in like sardines! I finally got on the 404 and headed off. It did not go the same way back but it stopped where I got on it the wrong way the day before! I got off and walked back to the Hotel, glad to be off my feet! They were pretty tired and sore by now! Three days of being on them all the time gets them really tired! I rested for a while and then we went to dinner. We went to Peter’ Tex Mex. It was the same chain as the one that Wade, Leah and I went to in Shanghai. The food was really good and we girls had a great time chatting and laughing! We went shopping at a foreign goods place. There were things that that I’m not sure you can get at one store in the US! It was almost like a health food store/grocery store type place. It was interesting seeing what the ladies that have been in China for anywhere from 2 years to 5 months wanted to get. It really made me be thankful for what we have in the states! Some of the same things that we get and eat every day that get once or twice a year here IF they can afford it and IF they can find it. We headed back and I again chatted with new friends till late and then went to bed.

Saturday was my last day in Beijing. I went out early again and went to the Temple of Heaven. This was probably my favorite place. The Temple of Heaven is where the Emperors would come and worship/offer sacrifices to Heaven. Shang Di (means above the Emperor) was the name that they gave to the god of heaven who is in fact the One God. The Emperor would offer sacrifices in a similar manner as the time of Moses. The Emperor would have to wear different clothing and go through a cleansing process. Only he could offer sacrifices to Shang Di. The sacrifice was early in the morning (4:00am) on December 21, the winter solstice. He would go to the alter and bow three times, three times (total of 9). He would then offer a bull and burn him beside the alter. It was all very interesting and I will be doing some more study on it when I get home. It’s amazing to see how the Chinese worshipped the same God as the Israelites and at about the same time as well. I highly recommend further research on this as I’m not able to give all the information in it’s full here. After a lunch of a tuna sandwich and a banana, I headed off to the Pearl Market. The Pearl Market is a huge shopping mall type place with at least 4 floors. There were vendors selling all kings of things! There were electronics, clothing, jewelry, purses, and of course pearls. I wandered around and told lots of people no, I don’t need an iPod or a whatever they were trying to sell me! I did get a couple of things and then I headed off to Silk Street, another shopping area. This one had much of the same things but more clothing than the Pearl Market. I also got a thing or two at Silk Street. I did not linger long for I was again tired and had sore feet. I headed off by subway and then bus back to the hotel. I rested again for a while and had some leftover Pizza for a late afternoon snack and waited till time to head off to the Acrobatics show. Leah and I were joined by Andy another teacher here in China. (Wade had seen the show twice before and decided to not go.) We arrived at the theater and found our seats. Andy, Leah and I had a great time visiting while we waited for the show to start. The show was amazing! The things that they did were amazing! I can’t imagine the things that they do to their bodies to be able to get into some of the shapes that they do! After the show we met Wade and went to a small mall and got a bit of dinner. I was not very hungry so I just ate some of Wade’s! We then got ice cream for dessert (surprisingly, I was ‘hungry’ for that!) and talked and joked as we walked back to the hostel. We needed to get packed and ready to head off the next morning to get to Changde but alas, we ended up talking till late again and then packed! I had another PBJ as I packed and we were off to get a few hours of sleep before we began our trip home to Changde.

Beijing, part one

We arrived in Beijing at about 8:30 am and made our way to our Hotel. After we checked in (we each had our own room) we met up with some of the people who were attending the workshop with Wade and Leah. The workshop is for English teachers that work in the same way as Wade and Leah. We had a very yummy lunch and then went shopping and got water and some other items to get us going for the week. The afternoon was spent relaxing and visiting with new friends. Wade and Leah went on a date and I joined a large group and we had dinner together. Many of the people there were around my age and it was fun talking with them and hearing their stories of living in China. Wednesday the first day of the workshop. I headed out to see Beijing by myself. I was told what bus to get on and to get to the subway. All the things that I was planning on seeing by myself were close to subway stops. But, I got on the bus the wrong way! I was able to get a taxi and I got over to the subway and was on my way! I went to the Forbidden City first. It was the Palace of the Emperors during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was built in 1406-1420 and covers 7,800,000 sq ft. It is called the Forbidden City because it was only for the Emperors and was forbidden to the common people. I spent over 3 hours looking at everything! I got the automated guide and it gave me information, stories and History about each place and building inside. It was fascinating to hear all the stories and the history surrounding the Forbidden City. There were hundreds of other people there and at times it was hard to get to different places because of all the people! It was pretty cold that day and the sharp wind in Beijing did not help things any! After I finished with that I went across the street (well actually under) and went to Tiananmen Square. I walked across one end of it and headed off to the subway again. I then headed to the Hostel we had stayed at on our way to Harbin to see about the Great Wall tour. I got the information and decided that it was not going to work. It was fairly expensive and I was going to have to be at a subway stop to be picked up at 6:30 am! I was going to see what Leah recommended when I got back to the Hotel. I then got a bag of peanuts for lunch at 3:00 (I know, not the best choice) and headed off to the Ancient Observatory. The Ancient Observatory is the oldest collection of star reading devices in history. They had been observing the stars and time for 500 years before it became an attraction sometime in the last 50 years. There was much information and I had a good time looking at the old Instruments. By the time I was done looking at everything I was ready to head ‘home’ to the Hotel. I got back on the subway, took a taxi back to the Hotel and arrived tired and HUNGRY! We went to dinner with one of the families and the food was really good! I had a noodle soup of sorts. Leah helped me find a tour to the Great Wall and we got that set up for Thursday. Some of us played a game and then I hit the sack.

Thursday, I got up and headed to the lobby to wait for my tour guide. He was about an hour late, (not unusual for Chinese) and we headed off. There were four of us in the group. Besides the tour guide there was a couple from Finland. We all knew English so we were able to enjoy talking and sharing different things from each of our countries. The first place that we stopped was a Jade carving factory. We briefly saw how they carve Jade and then got to shop in the store as well. I did not get anything…it’s super expensive! There were some amazing carvings though! We finished there and headed off to the next stop, which was the Ming Tombs. The Ming Tombs is where 13 Emperors of the Ming Dynasty are buried. The park was mostly closed off so we did not get to see much. They were at the base of the mountains and I enjoyed seeing the mountains. We took a few pictures and headed off to the Great Wall. It was so cool seeing the Wall! I had imagined it would be pretty cool and it was even better than that! It was hard to believe that this structure was over 2100 years old and still intact for the most part. Yes, they have done some work on it where the tourists go but it’s still a lot of the original work. We got our passes to get in and headed off the climb the wall! We climbed slowly up-it was very steep! We took breaks to look around and rest our legs. Some of the steps were tall! A few of them came almost up to my knee! I wanted to go all the way to the top but the Finish couple got tired before I did. We almost made it to the top and by that time I was getting hungry and we still had to get back down! So we headed back down and were off the wall about an hour and a half from when we started. Lunch was in a restaurant at the top of a huge Porcelain shop. The food was so good! (Maybe because I was starved?) We had dumplings, a pork dish, a chicken dish and a beef dish, several veggies including corn and cucumber cooked together, cauliflower, peppers and onions cooked together, rice and tea. After lunch we shopped around again in the Porcelain shop and then headed off to the next stop, which was a Silk Factory. We were shown how they make silk blankets. It was really cool! Again, there was shopping to do but the prices were very high! The silks were so beautiful and I did wish that I could have gotten something. We once again headed off to the next stop. This stop was a Tea House. We went here for a tea party! It was really fun! We were able to taste at least four different kinds of tea. It was really neat how they did the whole process, and the tea was good too! Our last stop was driving by the Olympic Stadium to get a picture. Then finally we headed home! I was dropped off at my Hotel tired, but happy after a very fun day! Wade and Leah were busy with the workshop and we did not have time to go get a real dinner so Leah and I went down to the store and got enough things for me to make PBJ! We also got a salad from Starbucks. I went back to my room and ate the salad and my sandwich while hanging out my window watching the fireworks. They were setting a lot off close to our hotel and I could see them and it was great fun! After I was done eating I went and talked for a while and then went to bed! I was tired…climbing the wall made my legs tired and I still had two more days in Beijing! To be continued….

Harbin, The land of cold and ice.

We had quite an adventure getting to Harbin! Wade purchased our tickets to leave on Wednesday. One of Wade and Leah’s friends Tom offered to take us to the airport. He picked us up and we drove over to the airport and discovered that the flight was for Thursday not Wednesday! So…we went back home and waited for Thursday to come so we could leave! The good thing was….we did not have to pack on Thursday! We left with no trouble on Thursday and arrived in Beijing at about 9:30pm. We hurried over to the train station to see about getting the 11:00pm overnight train but they were sold out. So we got tickets for the next night at 9:30pm. We spent the night at a nice Hostel and hung around for a while. After a couple of hours of doing nothing I talked Wade into going out with me and at least tromping around for a bit. We ended up going to the Olympic Stadium.

It was pretty cool! We got tickets to get into it and to go skiing. It turned out that inside the Bird’s Nest was a huge Snow World. There was no skiing but we did go sledding! We took out time looking around and finally found the skiing area…outside the Bird’s Nest and it was a small slope with lots of people on it. So we opted out and just wandered around the area. We headed back in time to grab some dinner and walk across the street to the train station to head to Harbin. It was an air-conditioned train and it was very warm! I had a middle bunk and slept really well! I met a couple of girls that were from Harbin and we enjoyed talking about it and the things to see there. We arrived in Harbin at about 8:30 am and it was cold! I’m not sure how cold it was but I think it was not even 15F! We got to our Hostel and settled in, got showers and lots of layers on to head off to see the city and get some food. We went to the main street in Harbin and found a nice Russian restaurant. It was built in 1901 and it still seemed so very old inside. The food was wonderful! I had Borsch and Cabbage Rolls. We then went down to the river. Which was frozen solid…all the way across! We looked at some of the ice sculptures, went ice-skating on the river and had fun walking and talking. It was cold and so we had to keep moving to keep warm. After a while we got hungry again and because of the New Year we had trouble finding a Chinese restaurant open. So we went to Pizza Hut! I eat out at more American places when I am not in America than I do when I am in America! After a yummy and filling dinner we decided to walk along the river for a bit. We bought some fireworks and decided to go back to the Hostel instead. Leah and I played cards while Wade did some things on the computer. We were tired so we headed to bed pretty soon after that. On Sunday we went and ate at KFC and then went and got our train tickets for Monday night back to Beijing. In the afternoon we met with a couple for Services and that was so wonderful! They are from Oklahoma and it was so nice to sit and talk for a while. We had dinner with them and then headed out to the Ice Festival. The Ice Festival was a huge park with a wall around it and many buildings inside…all made out of ice! They cut the ice from the river and then put lights in them and stack them up. It was pretty cool! We were there about an hour and a half. There were fun things to do…sledding and ice ramps that you slid down…standing up if you could! We had a good time! It was 0 degrees F where we were there! After we were done there we headed back to the hostel and went to bed. Monday, we checked out of our room and then sat in the lobby and waited till time to leave at 9:30 PM. Leah and I went to Wal-Mart and got some food. We had PBJ for lunch and lots of fruit. Finally, after I finished my book and we had watched some things on Wade’s computer we headed off to the train station. We set off our fireworks along the way, boarded the train and were off to Beijing once more.

Here are some pictures of places and things that I have seen in Changde. There is the Poem wall, a wall that has a lot of poetry on it that runs along the riverfront. There are some pictures of some boats that we saw on the river as well as a man repairing his nets. The food and meat pictures were all taken at Wal-Mart. Yes, you can get all those things here in China at Wal-Mart! There is one picture of a huge garden. It is a cabbage garden. There are over 200 different kinds of cabbage here in China. We went hiking with one of Wade and Leah's friends here and one of his friends. It was very foggy and you could not see much but it was still a fun day. We ate some delicious food afterwards and had a fun time visiting. I have enjoyed the last week here in China. We have not done much, we met with some of Wade and Leah's coworkers. One man is from England and another from Scotland. It was really neat getting to talk to them.

We are leaving to Harbin on Wednesday and from there we will go to Beijing and be back here after a good long trip. See you then!