Rants, Raves, and Ridiculosity

The life of a returning waiguoren...

Monday, April 28, 2008

Peach's Last Weekend...

Our dear friend Peach moved to Wuhan a few weeks ago to get a job. Wuhan is only a 5 hour bus or train away and we go there fairly often to get cheese (and now Starbucks!!) so it could be worse. We miss her dearly! But we know how to send someone out in style. Peach had never been camping, so we did urban camping on Brad's porch! Beth did an excellent job in setting up the atmosphere...



















We played "Pin the Beard on Brad"...



















Made Smores over candle fire... (Not advisable)















Experienced tent life for about 15 minutes as Peach couldn't get comfortable. There was sleeping from the hours of about 5-7 am and only Beth ended up in a tent.















And tried to get Peach to dance one last time before boarding the train... It was certainly a memorable night of sharing, laughing, singing, story telling, and memory making!

We did it again...

Beth always does things for other people.
People love Beth.
Beth had a birthday.
We made a circus...

What was featured in this very fine circus?
Ringmaster Brad, Amy the fortune teller, a bearded lady, snake charmer, flying girl, tattooed man, strong man, sword swallower, hula hooper, elephant act, clown, seal act, midget performance, Siamese twins, a hotdog eating contest, games, and more!

There was of course, a Big Top.

For more pictures, check out Facebook.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Blog Jar Randomness

It's been a while since I've pulled anything out of the blog jar...so here goes...

1. What was your best Halloween costume?
I'd say my panda costume this year was probably my greatest.

2. What was your best subject in elementary school?
Not math or science...guess English?

3. Is there something you've always dreamed of owning?
My own cute little Pier-1 decorated house

4. What was your first car?
87 Nissan Sentra

5. Do you wish you had more brothers and sisters?
Nope, I like the one I've got just fine. Two seems like enough for me.

6. What is your dream job?
Well, if I could figure this one out I'd have a lot more direction. :)

7. Name all the places you've traveled in China.
Beijing, Wuhan, Shiyan, FengHuang, Xi'an, Yidu...not that many for as long as I've been here!

8. Who is your worst class to teach? Why?
My Thursday 10 am class this term just kills me. Half of the class is comatose the entire time. It's like pulling teeth to get any reaction from them at all. It's just a waste of my time.

9. Tell about your father's job.
Currently he is a free-lance painter, as in painting houses, not art.

10. What is the weirdest dream you've ever had?
People that know me at all know that I have the most ridiculous dreams almost nightly. Who could even begin to pick one!?

Friday, April 18, 2008

The Gift of Singleness

A friend passed on a book to me called Getting Serious About Getting Married: Rethinking the gift of singleness by Debbie Manken because she wanted to know my opinion on it and discuss it. Ok, sure. So I read the book and immediately passed it on to Beth. Three opinions are better than one, right? Here are the books main points (stolen from Beth's blog).

1. God created us for marriage. If we do not get married, we are denying our very nature.
2. Biblically, there are only 3 reasons why a person should not marry... born eunuchs, eunuchs caused by men, and those who have renounced marriage due to ministry. (Matt.19)
3. Missions is not justification for being single. If you are single on mission field then you have misapplied the sovereignty of God. There is no mission field today (VERY RARE anyways) that is too dangerous or would not permit a family/married couple doing ministry together.
4. Celibacy and singleness are not the same thing. If you remain single due to biblical reason #3, then you must have the gift of celibacy. (Basically, if you have any sexual desire you must marry.)
5. You should marry in your youth. If not you will not experience fullness of marriage.
6. Single women should not form friendships with males. If women provide things for men, they (men) will not realize that they are missing a wife. They need their "spouse-shaped void" to be filled and you could be stopping that from happening.
7. Historically, males married due to the push from society. Their aim in life was to have a family and provide for a family. Churches, families, etc. all helped couples get together and marry. Nowadays, males have been given too much freedom and little push so instead of getting married, they make excuses.
8. Dating provides too much access to the opposite sex.
9. To find a spouse, get an agent. There is nothing wrong with moving in with your parents and letting your father (or other male spiritual leader) help to find a spouse for you. Internet resources such as eharmony.com or bigchurch.com can also be agents.
10. While dating/courting put a 3 month limit on it. A ring or go separate ways. You should know after the third date whether the relationship is worth pursuing for 3 months.
11. If you are struggling or upset with being single, it is okay. There is no reason to cover it up with excuses like "this is God's will for my life", "God will send the right man along" and "because I am single, I can focus on doing ministry." The Church is wrong to say that singleness is okay.

While this book did have a few good points, overall, I was just shocked. Making a blanket statement that if you do not marry you are out of God's will is ridiculous to me. Manken uses God's command to "be fruitful and multiply" to argue that if we aren't doing that we're sinning. She even implied that married couples who opt out of having children are also in the wrong. Basically she began the book by letting women with "protracted singleness" (basically single past mid 20's) know that it is ok to want marriage. In our society single women often feel that they must justify themselves for not being married and feeling like a loser or give some excuse as to why it isn't God's time for them yet.

Then she went on to explain marriage historically, that marriage was often arranged by whole communities, everyone playing matchmaker to ensure that people got married. Being unmarried was socially unacceptable. Obviously alot of that has changed for our society. People often pursue schooling and careers over marriage, making the average age for marriage much later than in years prior. Then Manken paints a dreadfully bleak picture of the dating world, saying that since men aren't socially pressured to marry they'll just drag you on as you "wither on the vine". She is strongly against extended schooling and says that's just putting off marriage.

So after she has painted this depressing, hopeless image of all the available men playing with their toys, casually dating every available woman, and refusing to marry us, she offers a solution. I, for one, was very intrigued as to what her answer would be. She suggests that women with "protracted singleness" move back in with their parents and let the father serve as an agent for you. Basically the whole "what are you intentions"/shotgun on the porch idea. It seemed to me that the guy would be dating my father and wooing him to try to get to me. Come on. Then she says if that is impossible for you, you should try an online dating agency. Really? After all that build up and depressing imagery of no guy ever committing, you want me to go online and search and endless pool of equally desperate people. I'm not opposed entirely to online dating, just not there now. I'm not at a point where I wouldn't feel like a loser. And what about the thrill of being pursued?

So it's not long after Manken gives her amazing solution to singleness that she drops the bomb. She's Indian! I think she grew up in America, but her immediate family is Indian. That changes everything! Just from being around our Indian friends here, we know that arranged marriages are perfectly acceptable and a norm even today. It works for them. Great. But that is a completely different cultural attitude than the average American view. Sure her family was able to hook her up with an available Indian guy; it's part of her culture and heritage. Perhaps I'm not being very P.C., but I felt that her being of Indian ancestry changed everything. And I also thought it was pretty sneaky that there was no picture of her on the book, and she didn't say she was Indian until the last pages of the book.

So final thoughts:
I do feel like now I can say "Yes, I do want to get married" without feeling pitiful. There is an invisible pressure to appear content about being single even if you aren't. Do I want to get married tomorrow? Do I feel I'm ready? No. And I don't think it's wrong of me to use my time as a single person to the Glory. I do see that God made marriage and blesses it. And I do see how our society has changed dramatically in the last 30 years causing marriage to be pushed back, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to suddenly put on my dress and bonnet and hop back into the 1900's. I've often thought that if God so desperately wants me to marry that He'll help me out! Manken addresses this mindset with a "God helps those who helps themselves" attitude saying we don't sit around and wait for God to give us a job or house, so why should we sit around and let him drop a man on our laps. I disagree with that logic. And I'm hardly just sitting around expecting a man to fall from the sky. I think there's something to God's timing. And I'm reminded over and over that His plans are far greater than mine. Oh how different my life would be if God had given me what I'd asked for each time.

One last thought...
Beth and I realized we're no longer early 20's, but mid-20s! We've protracted singleness! :)

Brutal Honesty

On Beth's blog yesterday she posted about how often people only represent themselves in good light on their blogs, etc. by only putting up good pictures of themselves and telling good, funny stories. I'd like to think I'm pretty honest in my blogging, telling the good and bad about life here and how I'm living it. Plus who really wants to read about all my failures? :) So Beth double-dog-dared her readers to be brutally honest by posting a picture of themselves first thing in the morning, as to capture a true representation of yourself at your most basic. Now, Beth's morning picture wasn't too bad. So I thought sure, why not? I know I'm guilty of only posting good pictures of myself (though I don't feel guilty at all). If people across the ocean have to remember me in a certain way, I'd like it to be a pretty one :). So here goes...the hottest pictures ever posted...Enjoy.

Seriously just rolled over and grabbed the camera...

Who wouldn't want to marry this?












Maybe smiling would help...















And a cute picture to redeem myself...
...showing off the new tattoo

Monday, April 14, 2008

Recharged

This weekend Beth and I journeyed up to ShiYan, a city about 6 hours away, to retreat and be with some of our foreign sisters (by foreign, I mean American). It was such a great weekend. In my antisocial nature, I had dreaded going a little but was so glad I did in the end. Actually before I even got off the bus and stepped in ShiYan I was glad I went.

We basically just spent time in fellowship and enjoyed the company of so many girls with a common thread. We also focused on the importance of being still before our Father. Those times were precious to me. I came away so encouraged from talking with others and hearing that my struggles are not unique to me. We all basically struggle with the same things here. There are just certain specific ways the Enemy attacks us, and I took comfort in knowing I wasn't alone.

There's something beautiful when His daughters come together. I left renewed, refreshed, and ready for more!

Monday, April 7, 2008

Active Attractive April

For April we've been trying to do things to be more attractive and also just to do things actively. Attractive April kind of started as a joke, but this weekend we all got new haircuts and are looking pretty good! We went to Wuhan to hang out with Peach (she just recently moved there to start a job/internship) and stock up on cheese and cream cheese. We ate Dairy Queen and hit some other Western restaurants. There's also a new Starbucks in Wuhan!!!! So basically we gorged ourselves on pizza, ice cream and coffee all weekend. (A little counterproductive to Attractive April).

For Active April we're all trying to continue to stay physically active (which helps the attractive part). And I also actively got a tattoo. :)

I'd played around with the idea a while back. I thought it would be a great conversation starter and a declaration of faith. It says "en dian" which means Grace. Recently the idea of His abundant grace has been really overwhelming and comforting to me. It's by grace we've been saved! I stole this song as a favorite from Erin:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!
Amazing love, now flowing down
From hands and feet that were nailed to the tree
His grace flows down and covers me!
It covers me!

Did it hurt? Well, yes. But anything that lasts a lifetime is bound to hurt (my philosophical thought for the day). It certainly wasn't unbearable, and I'm glad I did it. I even drew the flower design myself. And it serves as a constant reminder that as permanent as this tattoo is, so is His amazing, abundant, overflowing grace and love. Amen!

Another goal we've found is to actively help the environment by minimizing wastefulness. For example, China is about to adopt a policy where customers have to purchase plastic bags to encourage people to bring a cloth bag or reuse old plastic bags. We also realized the other day the extreme waste that comes from disposable chopsticks. If you think of every person in China using three sets of wooden disposable chopsticks a day for a year, think of all those trees!
So we've been inspired (actually by one of Brad's students) to start carrying our own pair of chopsticks to reduce our use of disposable ones.

Beth found this from the Washington Post

"China now produces and discards more than 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year, cutting down as many as 25 million trees in the process, according to government statistics. Another 15 billion pairs are exported to Japan, South Korea and other countries. At the current rate of timber use, environmentalists warn, China will consume its remaining forests in about a decade."


Beth and I made chopstick covers to encourage our being actively domestic :). We'll keep you posted on other ways we're actively doing stuff. What can you actively do?!

Lesson Learned in Communication

So with all of my blogging, letters, and posting, apparently it just takes one personal email to get the responses flowing. I forgot how friends can fill you up with just a few words, even from the other side of the world.