I feel like my soul just wants to yell AGGHHHH at the top of my lungs!  It has been a long couple of weeks and the speeding train that seems to be rushing upon me doesn't look like it will be stopping anytime soon.  PTL at least my computer is fixed now.  Friday night it stopped working and that was a period of stress, though now I have a whole pile of work for grad school to do in the meantime, so at least now I can attempt to get it finished.  Last week Saturday we took the orphanage kids to the lovely science and technology museum so that was fun.  I had spent time helping to organize it so it was rewarding to actually go and see the joy that it brought the kids.  This week is our last week of school so that of course has been crazy.  Lots and lots going on there.  There has been a lot going on with my contract with the school for next year, and they aren't exactly sure what I'll be teaching next year.  Please lift up that the Father will have me exactly where he wants me.  This coming Saturday night I'm attending a small and free steven curtis chapman concert, so that is exciting. I leave for America on Sunday morning early, and I'm excited to be home and to see my family.  They're looking forward to seeing me as well :)  Lots planned for the week while I'm home before I head to TN for grad class, but if you want to see me, give me a holler.  My body seems to be tired a lot lately as well, so that is also a thing to lift up.  Maybe it is just the stress.  I really have missed taking ballet this semester (the dance teacher left our school) and i can feel it in my body that it misses the exercise.  The wierd thing is the back of my knee is not very happy with me, and i can't figure out why.  My massuse seems to think it has something to do with the fact that "i walk too much" but honestly there is nothing i can do about that one, so i'm not sure if it is something else or not.  Anyways. I'm listening to And So It Goes by Billy Joel and it feels very appropriate to my life now, though sung to the Father instead of to someone else.  Oh another random thing to be thankful for, northwest now allows 70 lbs per bag, and that is really a reason to be joyful. 

Last week Wednesday we had a end of the year ice cream party in the garden with all of our cooperating teachers.  We had such a good time, I am thankful that I am only going home for the summer because we've built a lot of relationships this past year and I can see the Father's hand at work.  I feel priveleged to work such great people and that He would allow me to be a part of their lives. 

I'm sitting here in my apartment listening to music, and lately I've been thinking about how there are certain songs that remind me of certain people, or certain times in my life.  I've put my window's media player on random, and each one brings to mind a different experience.  The one currently playing is Elmo's song which reminds me of Alyssa Prins and Natalie Pulido.  So here's to you girls!  The other ones that keep coming up are music by Steely Dan and also Crosby Stills Nash which my family has always played growing up, but in more recent years we've played while boating.  Which they are actually doing today, so guys, I hope you are having fun out there on Lake Michigan, only two weeks and I'll be joining you, I can't wait!!!!!!  For the rest of you, I've probably thought about you tonight as well, so I hope all is well and that I'll see you soon!

Saturday the young adult group at BICF visited the orphanage again this time to have field day!  We had different races, a waterballoon toss, popsicles afterwards and an abundance of fun.  Every time I go there I feel the Father's presence and I feel filled with joy and love.  These kids come from hard backgrounds and have next to nothing, yet amidst their sorrows and struggles the Father is so present in their lives and can be seen.  The joy that they have in Him is evident.  I feel priveleged that the Father allows me to visit with them every other week.  I only wish I could do more for them, and that the language barrier wasn't such an issue for me.  They long to talk to us, and I long to encourage them. 

Friday our kindergarten went on our spring field trip.  Pretty much every field trip we've gone on this year has been some outing revolving around a park, flowers, or vegetables.  Friday was no different.  We went to the Beijing Garden of World's Flowers.  Self described as "In this garden, one can see the beautiful reflections and harmonious combination of world flower culture and garden artistry".  Basically it was a giant botanical gardens/vegetable growing experiement/place to see how they cultivate seeds.  What they don't tell you is that it is that their green houses are not air-conditioned or cool and we were walking around in 103 degree heat.  That and four and five year olds can only take so much of looking at things like flowers that they aren't allowed to touch before they start going crazy.  Walking all over tarnation is not something they are thrilled about either and unfortunately the tram drivers with their little cars refused to pick us up though they were happy to pick up the old people touring around.  I will say at least it was a day spent out of the classrooms which also have not turned on the airconditioning so either way it was going to be a hot day, and at least we weren't in class.

There has been a recent baby boom among my friends it seems.  Friends in China are no exception.  We've had three babies born among friends here in Beijing in the last two months, so I've been lucky enough to hold them all and witness the Father's amazing design and love.  Cuteness is also abounding.  So congrats to those have let me share in their joy by holding their children and spoiling them rotten :)  A couple of pictures are in my albums. 

Last Friday night I attended a fundraiser/concert for the orphanage that I've been volunteering at.  The kids did an awesome job performing and even though some of their stories were in Chinese, it was very impacting and moving.  I've posted a few photos. 

On Friday Gretchen (the other foreign teachear i work with) and I were expecting to go to a park with the kindergarten to watch some of her students perform.  We were told we would play some games with our kids and their parents and that they wanted more than one foreign teacher, which was why I was pulled from my usual classes. We were also told we'd be gone from 9-4, so we didn't really know what to expect, but we thought, okay, it is children's day (june 1 in china) and we're going on a field trip.  Haha.  Silly us. We showed up at the kindergarten at quarter to eight, and ten girls from Big Purple Class went down to the dance room with us while their dance teacher and english teacher furiously dressed them in fancy sparkely outfits.  Then after grabbing a number of things we headed out to a van with one of the leaders of the kindergarten and off we went.  At this time I am thinking wow, only ten kids?  That isn't too bad at all.  We drive about twenty minutes and arrive at the "Haidian Public Safety Museum".  The outside is WAY decked out with banners and giant blow up chinese lanterns (think macy's thanksgiving day parade) and LOTS of people.  At this moment I thought to myself...Haidian Public Safety Musem? That isn't exactly a park...(to be fair they did say we were going to an indoor room at the park) in fact as far as I could see there wasn't a park, though it could have been hiding behind the big blue construction fences that seem to be everywhere nowadays as they are preparing for the olympics.  So we get out of the van and we see tons of other kids in dance outfits and uniforms.  By this time I am thinking...what ARE we going to?  We walk into the building (which is huge by the way) and i see the highly decorated booths each with a different kindergarten's name on it...and it hits me.  We are at a KINDERGARTEN TRADE SHOW.  Imagine a trade show in the states and instead of selling something like computers or something else, the whole thing is geared to kindergartens and children.  Apparently the idea is that kids can come with their parents and go around to the different booths and play games and do different fun crafts and recieve free stuff.  It was actually kind of cool if you were a kid cause there was tons of neat things to do.  We walked and walked through the rows until we found our booth.  Most of the booths were decorated with art work or other themes that were pretty neat.  Ours was different in that it had giant pictures on the wall (one of them being me with my kids from two years ago on a field trip), other than that we only had two tables and a basketball hoop game which i will admit is pretty fun, but on the whole we could have done a lot more to our booth in my opinion.  Take a wild guess what the attraction was at our booth.  Haha. Me and Gretchen.  There were other booths that had pictures of foreigners, but there were only two other booths that actually HAD foreigners besides ours.  So basically for the day I was a glorified advertisement.  The ten girls we had with us were there until about eleven when they got to leave to go back to the kindergarten.  I did get to wander around some of the booths for a little while and it was kind of interesting to see all the different things they were doing.  This apparently is a three day event where they asked us if we could attend all three days, and thankfully before we even knew what we were up against we said, we can attend on friday, but we have other commitments on Saturday and Sunday (which was true).  Pretty much it was a long day.  This is a great example of how in china you can think you are going to a park, and end up doing something COMPLETELY not resembling visiting a park at all.  Did I mention that this can be a usual experience?