Endings

Today wrapped up teaching--tomorrow(Thursday) is just a closing ceremony and then the students leave around lunch time. If this summer was a baseball game then I felt like I had to steal home...I was rounding third at a pretty good clip but then the field became hostile...I wanted to finish strong and I suppose I did, but I had to work for it.

The soil is very rocky here...many seeds have been sown but have fallen through the rocks, or the birds have gobbled them up. Sometimes I feel like there is a giant wind blowing and the seeds can't even reach the soil--they are carried away before they touch ground. It has been frustrating to face rejection--either subtly or openly...and so many things get misconstrued or misunderstood...I hate the notion that the foundation of my life can be compared to other major foundations out there because my students have failed to understand grace...and that we are all lost...that my good works are as filthy rags without the ONE who ordains and inspires them. They just don't get it...and I am simultaneously frustrated and saddened as I have to leave the seeds I have sown to either take root or to perhaps blow away, without a future chance of there being more seeds. As I look deeply into each of their eyes and reflect on our relationships, my heart hurts--this may be the last time I ever see them--on earth or on the other side, and that stings. I have come to love each of them deeply--even the ones who have frustrated me most--because I know WHOSE they are and that they bear his image, even though they will never see his face. I think of their lives--their lack of desire to question or inquire about why they work so hard and what it is they are really living for...for them, values seem abstract... too tricky to discuss...I have been petitioning the father for them...that my work here (and I am only a conduit or a vessel) will not return void. I know I cannot stay to watch the end of the game, but I do so dearly hope that one day I will be able to call some of them my brother or sister and they will know the hope I have and the saving grace of you know who.

Please remember these lost ones...they are just like you and me in so many ways. They are educated. They are mothers and fathers and they want their children to have a good life...they desire harmony and peace and happiness--it dominates their lives...in fact harmony may be their compass. And yet even as they succeed and excel in hospitality, graciousness and generosity, they have built their homes on sand...on shifting sand and the torrents are falling. I often wonder how they can get some things SO right and yet they cannot (or will not) grasp the heart behind it all. Just please remember them during your quiet times...they will go home tomorrow to their lives and their families and some of them will tuck this summer away as a nice memory but nothing more...remember them most of all. Ask the king of the harvest to send more workers...

On a more logistical note, we will be flying to Beijing on Friday morning (Thursday night in the U.S.). We stay for two nights and then begin the trek back to Gville on Sunday morning (Saturday night for you). We arrive in FL on Monday morning and drive to Gville from Jax...I cannot wait to hug and kiss my children--I may not let them go for a few weeks. It has been getting harder each day...Ty was crying on skype this morning and that set the course for my entire day...I am at the point now where if I think about them crying I start and I have a hard time stopping. What an odd thing to be a mommy and desire to be obedient to the father...I have learned further the meaning of "sacrifice." I deeply desire to use this summer to catapault me into new arenas when I return...but I also want it to clip my wings slightly so that I am home more and present with my kids more and I appreciate more of life right where I am at...I do know this--I am a born-teacher...I can feel it in my bones that when I return to work it will be in a classroom. That was an issue I had hoped to gain clarity on this summer and I can honestly say that being a teacher is my calling--no matter how hard I have tried to resist it. Anyway, this has shaped up to be a long post. Hope you don't mind :) I can't wait to see everyone...friends and family...I will try to write again from Beijing and then after that you will just have to hear the stories in person :) Zai jian!!

A Christmas presentatio where we sang silent night and lit candles:

VBS package from home!

Our team:

Picture RANDOMNESS!

So, this post is by M. The "Two Little Pencils in China" blog-process thus far has been this: K will send me text and sometimes a few specific photos to upload. I then post exactly what she sends. In addition, she also sends me a separate link to her snapfish photos which could include somewhere between 150 and 400 pictures per album. This past weekend I spent some time perusing these photos and decided that you all needed to see more of China via the camera. So I picked out some that I liked. Hehe.

Because K is not directly involved in this particular post, I will be commenting to the best of my ability...and I warn you now that these comments might...or might not..be an accurate reflection of what K and T were hoping to convey when they took the picture. They can clarify when they return to the States. There is absolutely NO ORDER to these following photos because they uploaded so randomly. I am sorry about that...but when you have looked over 1000 pictures, you simply want to post them. :) Here goes...

I'm thinking hokey pokey? What about you? In all seriousness, K mentioned that she had to teach folk dancing one evening and this may be from that night. I really think it's the hokey pokey. Don't you?

T teaching:

Calamari anyone?

Random

Not sure what the fireworks were about but I like to think that K and T got to celebrate the US 4th of July while they were there...

Todd celebrated his birthday in China...

Wonder what kind of meat it was...wonder if T knew...

Not totally deprived if you can get to Starbucks and McDonalds:

And when you have four kids...

Looks familiar...

They performed a wedding...in English I think...as an exercise:

Asian cuisine:


Out and about in town.




I have NO idea:

Dorm life:

Teamwork:

Oh my...

Late-night TV?

This and That

So we finally made it to the weekend! This has been an off-the-charts busy week for us, not to mention the day of sickness for me. Thursday and Friday were both 10-12 hour days--not teaching all that time, but having to be "on" in the lecture hall or one-to-one's with students. We returned to the restaurant where I had imbibed the suspect tea--this was last night for "dinner." I was already cranky and tired and I was fairly certain this place was not on its "A game," but we went nonetheless. The menu offered some western food--"pizza" and "spaghetti," although you can imagine this was more of an interpretation than an exact representation...anyway, our whole team was there and our leader ordered a couple pizzas and then a bunch of Chinese food...sadly, it took nine of the waitresses to come tell us that they were out of pizza...there were more people serving us than were in our group--i guess we were the biggest show in town :) so we ended up eating several Chinese dishes and our leader ordered a steak for the table...i did not drink the tea :) This weekend we have a few scheduled activities and then some down-time, which is much needed. Tomorrow morning we will visit a house--the same house we visited last Sunday...if you squinted you would think you were in a house in the USA. Hymns, choir (and robes no less!), a bulletin, and a similar format...only with some fun Chinese differences :) Anime' cartoon figures decorating the screen for the lyrics for the songs, giant AC units scattered around...and people who were very curious about us...last weekend one of our teammates (who is a former male model and very handsome) had almost a flash mob aorund him outside of the house wanting to take pictures with him...we got a good chuckle out of it (and took some pix oursleves)...perhaps you have seen some of them? Hard to know what you are seeing but I suppose we will explain a lot when we return. OK we have a meeting now so I have to run. All is well-the kids are great and in Jax and we come home in two weeks! Cheers to you all!

Wow...the Midpoint Already!

So we are past the half way point and I am already beginning to become nostalgic about our experience here. It helps that I had an entire day off due to tummy troubles and did nothing but sleep and think. I am on the mend after a couple doses of cipro...but let me tell you that being sick in China is an entirely different proposition than in the US. Our teammate likened the spread of the news that I was sick to Paul Revere's night ride...by the morning every single Chinese teacher knew I was sick with stomach issues...they made me a card (we are blue without you!) and one of my students brought me fruit--dragon fruit, "dragon eyes," and a watermelon. They ALL asked me today if I was better...all 90+ of them :) It was touching... and I was sad to miss a day of teaching because so much happens in a day...today we did a north american wedding with the Chinese teachers...it was awesome--sparked so many discussions and thoughts that perhaps they have not thought of before...and I had a "date" with three of my teachers to a foreign language bar...we discussed their marriages--one lives in a different city than her husband, one seems happily married, and one's husband left her three years ago (and she has twin girls)...so much brokenness and a society that is not set-up to deal with these things in public. We have been able to speak boldly here but in a culturally sensitive way and they are receptive...i think they are longing for the hope and joy that we have and can't figure out how to get it...glad we have a few more weeks to discuss. Anyway, tonight we have additional teaching activities and finish around 8..it has been a long but worthwhile day. Interestingly, there is gatorade in Changsha :) and mountain dew... :)

Update in Pictures

Today's post will be in the form of pictures. K promises that text will accompany the next one...