This morning I went for a run/walk in the patch of woods across from my house.  I was blown away by the way that the Father has created this world.  I ended up stopping and staring and eventually crying at the fields of purple wild flowers(most people would call them weeds) and and wild black eyed susans.  I know it sounds crazy that I'd end up crying over a bunch of flowers, but I felt near to the Father in a way that my heart has been searching for in the last few weeks.  It was like the dam finally broke over all of the emotions and thoughts running around in my head in the last month and a half. 

This past week has been particularly hard.  I finished my grad classes which was a feat in itself.  Harder still was going home.  Don't get me wrong, home is great, but it is hard when people around me expect me to be something I'm not.  I long for "home" and yet home doesn't fit.  Yet increasingly when I'm in Beijing, that home doesn't fit either.   

So when I just stood there and stared at the flowers, I kept thinking, maybe I'm not supposed to ever feel like this is home, yet the Father still gives us gifts like whole fields of wildflowers to enjoy in the meantime.  I guess that is what Paul means when he says that our only home is in heaven, and we are already citizens here on earth.  Maybe that is why my heart just cries out and wants nothing more than to be 'home'.  My heart is at peace with the Father, and resting in the fact that he has a home in my heart, and that I can trust him to do immeasurably more than I can ever imagine.

Saturday a few friends and I went to the Bird's Nest (the National Olympic Stadium) where all of the track and field events, football finals, and ceremonies for this Summer's 2008 Olympics will be held.  They were holding qualification trials for various events and it was really interesting to watch.

The amusing thing about this photo is that in the foreground is a generator...no construction is STILL not finished...and we have only like seventy something days to go.

Bill Gate's new apartment Building with his very own (currently un-usable due to government regulation) helipad on top.  Guess it looks like he'll have to deal with horrid fourth ring road traffic just like the rest of us.

The AWESOME bathroom that actually looks like it belongs in a night club.

The FuWas were there, which made me really happy.  I love them!  Cheesy, I know, but maybe it is something only a kindergarten teacher can appreciate...my students are absolutely in love with them.

I love the Javelin event.  The little remote control cars that bring them back were awesome too...driving the cars that brought them back looked like by far the funnest job at the stadium. 

This photo REALLY amuses me.  In a stadium full of people there is just this one little guy who for some unknown reason is sitting in a lawn chair on the side of the track.  WHY??  He literally did nothing all day.

One of three drinking fountains I have ever seen anywhere in China.  They are rare.  SO rare in fact that people were walking by them and would stop and look at them oddly and not know what to do with them.  Then they took pictures.  The water tasted a little odd, but as one who has ended up hospitalized from bad water before, I can safely attest that the water in the drinking fountains at the stadiums are totally safe. 

I just went to our little tailor shop around the corner.  My teammate Debbie went with me because she speaks Chinese and also needed some tailoring done.  I brought with me several things that needed some hemming, as well as one shirt that I wanted altered.  The shirt I brought I had bought in a street market when I when I was in Thailand last year, and being as I couldn't try it on then, I didn't know that it in actuality made me look fat and pregnant.  So I thought, well, I'll get it altered, I'll tell him what I want and it should be no big deal.  HA.  Apparently, Chinese tailors will not do what you want, they'll do what they want.  My tailor refused to even take the shirt because He did not like what I wanted done to it.  I told him that it didn't matter if it didn't look good when it was finished cause  I'd never wear it now, so could he just please cut it up?  Nope.  I'm pretty sure that in America they'd do what ever you asked them to, regardless of what the end product looked like.  So now I have to try to doctor the shirt myself.  At least the cost of getting four other things taken care of only cost me thirty four kuai, so roughly five dollars. 

For the past week I've been working on packing/cleaning my house because the powers that be will be painting it this summer while I'm gone, and I plan on also moving one room over.  It can be pretty unbelievable how quickly one can accumulate items when people continue to leave every year and deposit large amounts of their stuff with me.  Today I helped my teammate with a little of her packing (cause she's lived in China since '85 and it is time for a year of home leave for her).  Since she doesn't know exactly what she'll be doing when she gets back (other than NOT teaching kindergarten) she is giving away tons of her books and resources to me.  This was very helpful for me, and I am thankful, however, now I have a ton more stuff to pack up.  For some reason teaching kindergarten or even primary school  one has an endless amount of stuff that they use to teach.  I always used to judge some teachers at all the crap they had in their classrooms...and now I am seeing how they acquired it all.  Maybe it is just part of having a creative mind or something...cause I look at all the random stuff I have and I say "oh I could use this this way".  Realistically do I have a present need for colored foam popsicle sticks, no...but I can envision them in a craft later on.  While packing up I filled an entire rice bag (for those of you who do not know what one of these is it is basically a bag that fits more than fifty pounds of rice in it) with saved toilet paper and paper towel rolls.  All because next Halloween we'll make bats out of them in my classes.  At least we have an attic, cause we are running out of places to put things.  I can see how Martha Stewart has an entire room devoted to crafts.  I need one devoted to teaching materials since we don't have our own classrooms here. 

Last week my friend Liz and I decided to head to the zoo specifically for the purpose of renting a dog to walk.  I had heard about this available practice from a woman who had taken her children to the zoo and ended up spending over an hour with an array of furry friends.  So armed with a zoo map and lots of hand sanitizer we braved the massive may holiday crowds and went in search of dogs to befriend.  For those who have not been, the Beijing zoo would not make it onto my list of places that one should visit in Beijing.  You'll probably leave feeling sad for the animals.  The children's section of the zoo is equally sad, however, the dogs there seemed to be quite happy, probably due to the large amounts of treats they receive from visitors.  Liz and I were pretty thrilled with the whole thing, mostly because we do not get to have any contact with anything furry and cuddly where we live.  I have only recently realized how much one of my 'love languages' is physical touch.  Going without it is really hard.  I am thankful I at least receive hugs from my students.  So visiting with something fluffy and lovely was pretty great.  Now I just have to find someone who has a dog I can walk without having to pay them :) 

I chose to walk a Samoyed mostly because it was cute and fluffy.  Liz chose a chow puppy that was equally cute and fluffy, but pretty much didn't want to walk anywhere.  The zoo even had St. Bernards, which for China is really rare.

Two weeks ago we went to the Olympic Basketball stadium down the street and got to watch the US women's team play the China team.  The US won the game that night, but unfortunately China took the second game they played.  We had amazing seats though, we were in the 9th row!  There were about thirty of us.  It was nice to hear the national anthem, as well as to be able to cheer on some people from home.  It seemed to make a difference to the team as well, since they were thanking us after the game.  It was by far one of the best times I've had at a sporting event because were pretty much the only Americans there in a sea of Chinese people and we were able to out cheer them (maybe that just perpetuates the stereotype of how loud Americans can be)!! 

I've tried to post this for aprox. two weeks, but our internet has been horrible lately, so here it is much later:

Last week Thursday Isabel (a girl whose family lives on my floor) and I went to the Olympic Synchronized Swimming Qualification Meet.  It was UNBELIEVEABLE.  Not only was it gorgeous, but I can hardly believe the strength it took for those women to swim like that and never touch the bottom of the pool.  Here are some photos from the afternoon.  All of the swimming events for the Olympics will be held in the Water Cube.

This is a photo of part of the security before the event.  The large grouping of people to the left is where we had to claim check our water bottles if we ever wanted to see them again.  We tried dumping out water out and just going in with the bottle, but that wasn't allowed either.  It is a HUGE hassle, and I'm thinking that all the people showing up to events will not know about this water bottle thing beforehand.

We got our pictures taken with the two FuWa in attendance--BeiBei and NiNi.  My favorite is JingJing, but he wasn't there.  

Good Luck Beijing is written EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING.

Sadly we didn't get to see the above Chinese team perform. 

In the practice pool the duet teams were preparing for the following day's events.  It was pretty awesome watching them prep.

Another photo of the practice pool.

One unique thing that is not really found anywhere else in Beijing--a DRINKING FOUNTAIN!!  The sign said it was safe drinkable water...lets hope so.

This building--the water cube--is pretty incredible.  Basically it is made out of this stretchy plastic and there is this HUGE space between the outer wall and the inner wall and in-between there are all these tubes that then basically inflate the whole thing.  The structure itself is made out of metal but making up all the little geometric shapes are sections of plastic that are then blown up.  

A Chinese man explains the design to his friend.

The future Olympians of China, I got to talk with them for a moment, they are really sweet.  I cannot imagine the amount of pressure they must live under.

The main Pool and Diving pool.  They had all these flags hung from the ceiling, yet not one of them was an American flag...not sure why it was omitted.

They stuck this HUGE banner over the pool.

One of the teams as they came out.

Afterwards we walked around the outside of the birds nest which is the main stadium and is right across from the Water cube.

This is coming way out of order of things I've done lately but mostly I just feel kind of like I want to pour myself out now, so here goes.

I'm sitting in Starbucks (Beijing has TONS of them, they've even started giving out maps) and listening to Billy Joel's "A Matter of Trust", and while the lines of the song don't totally fit to my life (though some do), the idea of things being a matter of trust is so true.  This does not only apply to relationships, but to all areas of life.  I've been thinking a lot lately how much we have to trust the Father, and how we are dependant on him while the world sometimes goes crazy, and for someone who is a 'feeler' this can be difficult.  This morning I got a call from my parents saying that they had a fire at my father's business.  My heart broke for my Father, because I know how much it meant to him, and how much of himself he invested, heck I feel like I invested a bit of myself there and I'm sad to think of all of that just gone.  On the other hand I see how much my family was blessed by God and the way that He took care of them by keeping everyone safe, and that there wasn't as much damage as there could have been.  The other thing I've really realized in the last few years is how important it is to have community and people who will help you out when something disastrous like that happens.  People responded to my family in their time of need, and that makes me so glad, especially because I cannot be there to help them.  Anyways, so basically I just feel like that this 'matter of trust' is something that I'm always having to give up to the Father.  That I have to give over my family, friends, and my singleness over to the Father and trust him with it, because He is able and will take care of it better than I ever could.  So here goes...may I be able to trust Him moment by moment regardless of the situation. 

Last week Wednesday my students and I went on a field trip to 'world park'.  Now you may be guessing what world park is.  Basically it is miniature replicas of famous places around the world.  They created this park way back before many Chinese people were able to travel overseas.  While it was by far the best field trip our school has been on in awhile, it would not be my first choice in a place to go. 

Part of why we were at this park is to perform their morning exercises for the kids parents.  They did a good job on the dance routine they've been learning for months.

Me with a group of my students, they are so much fun, this particular class is one of my favorites to teach.  The student standing behind me is one of my favorite kids, he is so sweet and has just the best smile ever when he is really happy.  

I don't actually remember my co-teacher doing that...

This was taken in the America section.  The kids had a great time here because they got to ask me what everything was :)  They particularly loved this eagle...

The cherry blossoms are all in bloom right now, and the park was so gorgeous.  Even better than that though, was the fact that the whole park was covered in giant lilac bushes that were in bloom and very fragrant.  I went around sniffing all of the bushes.

I love this photo...she is washing her glasses in the sprinkler.

Pretty much the kids climbed all over all of the monuments, even though there are all of these signs saying not to.  I ended up yelling a lot in Chinese while we were there.

All over the park they had various animals.  This is one of my students and her mom riding a horse around. I really wanted to do it, but I had to walk around with everyone.

This woman was getting wedding photos taken while we were there.  They had the whole place covered in doves or pigeons.  Notice she is actually wearing combat boots under her dress.

Checking out Egypt

We had great fun with this camel.  The kids LOVED it, and the camel's owner had walked away, and the camel, though tied to this stand, kept coming over, and let us pet him.  After I decided that the kids were getting too close, we backed off a bit, which turned out to be a good thing, cause then it sneezed and snot flew everywhere, which thrilled the kids even more.

Oh yes, they had peacocks that we could pet.  That was loads of fun.  They are really soft and beautiful, but I felt kind of bad for them actually cause I don't know that the one with his feathers extended really liked being that way.  Every now and then a man would run behind its' rear end and do something to make the feathers go down so he could rest. 

Two weekends ago our youth group had their spring youth camp, and I went as a counselor. It was an awesome time of refreshment, meeting new people, seeing old friends from other cities, and playing some awesome games.  Here are some photos:

A couple of weeks ago I had one of my best friends in China visit on her way back to Canada.  She left due to circumstances here, as well as at home, and as sorry as I was to see her go, I was really, really thankful for time together before she left.  Love you Ros!

I did not go with her, but I helped her carry her stuff out to the school gate.  And yes we are wearing matching outfits.

We had lots of activities and I taught the ladies how to decorate blown eggs.  It was pretty fun!  They got way into it, one of the ladies below did at least four or five of them.  She could give Martha Stewart a run for her money :)

On my recent trip to Thailand, I went kayaking in Krabi with some friends from my Beijing International Fellowship.  We had a great time.  It was the one day we weren't all sick!

Looking for crabs among the coral!  They were really beautiful!

This is called a slack line, which is essentially a tightrope extended between two large giant rock formations.  Since I am not so great at walking a tight rope I pretty much hung off it and then tried to army crawl across.  I didn't last long though before I fell fifteen+ feet into the water below.  It was pretty fun.

After the beach we headed to Siem Reap to check out Angkor Wat, something I've wanted to do since I was a kid.  While there we went to a restaurant that Angelina Jolie helped create called the Red Piano.  It was a gorgeous place with excellent food, if you ever head to Siem Reap it is worth checking out. 

While visiting the city we passed a local hospital.  Cambodia has very poor health care, and covering the large lawn of the hospital were tons of people awaiting health care for an outbreak of Hemoratic Dengue fever that had occurred.  Pretty much I wore heavy bug spray after that.  I'm not really sure if it is just the fact that a lot of Cambodia is kind of jungly or if it is because it is a third world nation that they have diseases like that there.  Generally Cambodia needs help with their health care system, so I was really blessed to not get sick while I was there.

The streets of Siem Reap

The first night we got there we went to see the sunset high upon a hill.  I have always wanted to visit Angkor Wat since I was in Jr. high or high school when I went through my long phase of wanting to be an archeologist.  I had read about it in National Geographic and Reader's Digest, and it is really an amazing place.  Everything was built between the 8th and 12th Century AD, and all right there in the middle of the jungle.  It was home to at least a million people during the time which it was a city.  It is is quite spread out over a great distance, and takes a bit of a ride in a tuk tuk to get to each place.  

Brad and I in a doorway

The following morning we left at 5 am to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat.

At the back of the temple where there were a lot less people were some rather large monkeys.  While we were all watching the monkeys play across from us, I was standing six inches away from a pillar on a small platform of steps where there wasn't any room for me to move, when we suddenly head some shuffling.  I turned my head but didn't seen anyone.  However, then I looked up into the face of a huge monkey as it was maneuvering down the pillar directly behind me.   I let out a little shriek as the monkey climbed down beside me, ran between my legs and down the stairs to where the other monkeys were playing and the tourists were stupidly feeding them. 

I never realized monkeys had such long feet.

I personally love the hairdo.

I really want to know why the monkeys appear to be holding clubs that look like baseball bats...

they had all these horses all over that they were occasionally using to pull carts, but the horses were just allowed to run around all over free wherever they wanted. 

Nice backside brad.

Then it was off to the Bayon temples in the park:

There were twelve of these identical outbuildings spread across a clearing were supposedly used to "settle legal disputes and matters of criminal justice.  The belligerent parties were kept in the towers for a few days.,  The one to emerge in ill health was declared the loser, guilty by divine decree".  Some justice system.

Off to Preah Khan.  This place used to be a Hindu monastery, but then the Buddhists took over and lobbed all the heads off things (at least I think so) and defaced the images.  Then when the Hindus took control again they did the same thing to the Buddhist images.   This place was really cool because It was really extensive, falling apart, and had TONS of nooks and crannies to explore.  I really felt like Indiana Jones here :)  Heidi and I had a lot of fun exploring all over.

An amazing tree.  I love this photo I took :)

The roots of the above tree.

The next place we went to was one of my favorites with all of these ancient trees that were hundreds of years old that are literally taking over the ruins.

Seth among the rubble

one very small doorway :)