Something so small!

"How can someone so small, hold my heart so tightly?

I don't even know you, I love you completely!"

I have never met the little ray of sunshine in these photos. 

But he has this amazing ability to make me smile and laugh even on

a bad day! 

His piercing blue eyes just melt my heart and make

me miss the fact that I will never get to hold him at this age all at the same time!

His Mom and Dad do such an awesome job to keep

all of us in the loop with wonderful pictures and updates

about the little munchkin so that we don't feel like the world is so big,

I am thankful for the internet, for camera's and for their willingness

to send these amazing snapshots of their day so that I may watch

my nephew grow, even from the other side of the world!

And I am so thankful for him! This little guy who

doesn't even know that he has an Aunt half way around the globe

who misses him and loves him whole bunches!!

This expressive little man who sits for some of the most

breathtaking photos ever!

My laptop background changes every three minutes to a different

photo of him. Photos that my older brother and sister send to

me or post on Facebook. 

When I see them, he just makes me smile!

Even after having just bombed BIG TIME on my competition,

seeing his big blue eyes and calm expression along with his

ready smile, wiped away some of the blue!

#ItsTheLittleThings

谢谢爸爸给我朋友！

Sometimes I start to get frustrated that I am not able to bounce things off my ready made sounding board, because its the middle of the night where she is, she has work in the morning and school in the evening and we can't really talk about that stuff anyway given our situation. {In case I am being too poetical, my ready made sounding board is my sister/best friend, Kade!} 

And then comes Tuesday!

Today I was sitting at my desk in my room working on something or other, when there was a knock on the door. I heard a soft sweet voice say Hello to my roommate and I turned to see my friend standing there asking if we were going to lunch. {I wasn't sure if we were or not, so I hadn't gone downstairs to meet her. She asked the front desk where my room was and came to find me.}

We ate in the castle food court, and had dumplings, noodles and fried wantons. 

Why mention the food? Well, cause those are some of my favourites and so it makes

the meal even more special! ;) 

Point is though, Father is always sending me someone just when I need them!

Even when I don't know yet that I need them! 

It wasn't until later today that I have started feeling like there is no one 

that thinks like me or no one that I can go talk to about some things that are being

posted or discussed or going on etc etc etc.
But I think back and realize that I am not alone and I need to stop feeling

and acting that way! 

Every time that I have been here in China He has given me

one or more of the best people for the time that I am in! And you know what?

They stick with me after that time is over too!!

I just stayed up the other night talking to a woman who was my shoulder to cry on

during a really rough patch my first year here! 

People to understand what you are going through are never a little thing! 

So lets say that it was lunch that is my thing for today! ;)

#ItsTheLittleThings

I have dictation tomorrow, and I just went through all 12 words and got them right!

Hoping that translates {get it, translates?} into a good performance tomorrow also!

Speaking of performances....tomorrow is round one of the Chinese Competition. 

在美国，我们有一个惯用语，说:“你不是你的病”，意思是每个人有自己 特点，每个人不一样. 即使你病得很严重，但是疾病并不是你的全部，你的生活还有别的内容.我觉得这句话很有道理，我也觉得，我们遇到的所有困难，遭受的所有灾难，帮助我们成为今天的样子. 对我来说，我的困难使我成为了强人。这是今天为什么我不仅要向你们介绍我是谁，而且我想告诉你们为什么我是今天你们看到的这个人。十一年以前，我发现我的后背有问题。医生告诉我，从今以后，每天我的背都会疼，而且会越来越严重。虽然2004年我做了一次手术，但是我仍然还需要别的手术。我的背痛最严重的时候，我甚至不能自己起床，走路也走不稳。有时候我的腿也没有感觉。偶尔最疼的时候，我用这个仪器帮我缓解疼痛。也许以后我就不能走路了 虽然每天都很疼，但是我还是起床，工作，非常好地生活！我不能让疾病打败我。我有信念，上帝能给我力量，凡事都能做！我不喜欢告诉所有人我有这样的问题。不是因为我不接受他们的帮助，而是因为我不想他们觉得我很可怜!
那为什么今天我要告诉你们呢？因为我知道我不是唯一有问题，有困难的人。我觉得如果我分享我的故事，也许能激励别人度过困难。

Tell Me Once Again Who I am To You, I Belong To You

This is one of the songs I claimed when coming to  

the decision to come to China the first time. 

It has since been one that comes to mind often and that I

claim over and over again. It was just playing on the radio {Along with 'He's Always Been Faithful;

another great one for me right now to remember where to keep my eyes and to not

be fearful!! Love how He puts the right music in the playlist so that I hear 

what I need to when I need it!} 

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans,
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands,
Are you not the closest when it's hardest to stand?
I know that you will finish what you began

These broken parts you redeem,
Become the song, that I can sing

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness,
And the fear that I'll fail you in the end,
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,
I can't put this together but you can.

Here I am

Somehow my story, Is a part of your plan,
Here I am

send me!

This is always the part of the song that gets to me the most. 

Often there are days when it is very literately hard for me to stand.

And those have always been the times I feel Him the most. 

Not to mention that I am often fearful of failing Him, as I am

"Prone to wander, Oh I fear it, prone to leave the One I love" 

as the song 'Come Thou Fount" puts it. 

I'm still sad that Downhere is no longer together as a band! :( 

Today, we had a quick run through of the play we will perform

for the Chinese Language competition. 

We needed to show it to our teacher for her approval, 

feedback, and because she is our coach for the competition. 

We had her in stitches, as I predicted! 

Sadly, she said that our 10 minute production does need to be

sped up a bit as there are many performances and each one

can not take that long or else we will never get out of there!

We will figure out a way to shave some time off without losing the 

best parts!

After our rehearsal and brainstorming session, 

she took everyone out for ice cream! AAWW!

OOpps, I've been spotted!

She is looking pretty excited about her Green Tea and Milk Ice cream!

Our beautiful, kind, and extremely patient 

Comprehensive teacher! 

I think she has been my teacher for every

semester but my very first! 

Bad angle! yuck!!

That's better! 

With the stunning Asih!

Even though it has been nearly two years,

I still love saying I live in a castle!

Palm trees!! Ah, California, how I miss you!

Look!! GREEN!!

I'm sorry....I am sure that there are those that are really sick

of hearing about my work out routines....but I wanted

to share some exciting progress report,

Its my Little Thing for the day!

Its not pretty, its not perfect, its not all that great even.

But this reminds me of how much I am being protected and taken care of!

Three months ago, not even a full three months ago,
I was thinking I was going to have to hop a plane to get back

{wasn't even really sure how I was going to fly when I couldn't

sit or move without pain! How do you get 150 pounds of

stuff over the ocean when you can't even tie your shoes?} 

Last month, I had to 'walk' my feet back in order to 

complete these. Today, I could do the jump back!

This is not in any way to get a pat on the back and be told

how awesome I am or how impressive it is!

This really is to show what He is doing in my life

and how, by His strength, I am going to stave off more injury,

keep walking, and make it back to the States a fraction of the

person that left! {Size wise!} 

Thank you to each of you who has been such an encouragement 

along the way! I still have a battle ahead of me! Please stay along side me in it!

#ItsTheLittleThings

Its simple you see

Today...I washed my floor! 

It made my day people. 

My floor is clean. I will go to bed

with clean feet tonight!

#ItsTheLittleThings!

PARTY!

I AM SO TIRED!!

I went to a surprise baby shower.

The party was for friends I have not seen in forever!

Went to a section of ZZ I've never been to before and climbed

11 flights of stairs to look out the top of a tower.

I was in a taxi where I got to have a full on, long conversation with 

the driver the entire time we were driving.
{They couldn't understand anything I said, but 

it was a nice confidence boost when we got out

and the other two in the car with me had BIG EYES and 

told me how amazing it had been to hear the conversation taking place!

Also helped that the driver seemed genuinely impressed with some of my

language knowledge! Thank You Father for the little push now and

then to keep going and remember WHY I am learning this and what

works best for me!} 

Got to buy spaghetti sauce, chocolate spread, tuna, batteries and a slotted spoon at Metro!

{My weekend has cost WAY more than I expected, but it was all worth it in the end I think!}

I got to Skype for an hour with my family. 

I'm so worn out!

#ItsTheLittleThings

Gonna need to sew some more!

I took this with my new Kindle! 

Went out and got some of my favourite street noodles. 

I love how they make them, as I feel it shows a great deal of skill!

The best packing decision I made this trip has got to be to bring my garb and costumes!

They have come in handy so many times, and I am over and over again thankful to have them in my closet!

Right away, I used them in the dramas we did at camp! Not only was it nice to be able to come up with my own idea for a Gideon costume, but the fact that I owned the pieces meant that Gideon could 'revisit' the kids during winter camp. It also meant that we didn't have to scramble to find something that would fit someone of my size! I custom made these clothes for me already so there was no need for worrying. {Ok...so truth be told my black and red ball gown didn't fit when I first came to camp, but a few months later I was back to being able to zip it up! 

I had hoped to be able to get lots of use out of them by going to visit Orphanages as different characters. Sadly, however, I have not been to any O's at all this semester and very very few since I got here in the first place. Out of everything that is my biggest regret about this trip! I have not spent anywhere NEAR enough time around little kids in general, and more to the point, orphans. 

This time, my costumes are to be used in our 汉语比赛Chinese Language Competition! We had our first practice {Well, brainstorming and then practice} yesterday and decided that we would bring whatever clothing we thought might be good to use in it today for our second run around. It was suppose to be that everyone would bring what they wanted for their character and then bring things that might help others if they didn't have anything. So I brought all of mine. As it turned out, things such as my large cloak, my gypsy costume {AKA: Gideon's garb} my black and red dress, and the belly dancing coined sash will all take stage with us when the time comes. Nothing seemed right for the main character, for the first half of the act, so they all turned and asked if I had anything left behind that night work. We came back to my room after rehearsal was over and he chose a skirt that will serve as a tube like dress and a crochet vest jacket for over top of it. {Yes...you read that right. He chose a dress.} 

I'm not clear on when we will have to perform this for sure, but I will be having someone record it for me, no doubt!! It is sure to get people laughing....I just hope we can all keep a straight face through the entire thing!

#ItsTheLittleThings

Along with this play, many of us are to participate as individuals. Because I am the only

 American in my class, I will be representing the US {for my class and level at least} 

by giving an introduction of myself and being asked questions based off of that

introduction, and then also giving a performance of some kind.

My hope is to get a song from the live action production of Mulan approved as I really love 

the sound of the song and feel I can pull it off pretty well. Since I have been singing along with her on it for a long time now, even when I couldn't understand any of it, Having a better

understanding of the language,as well as watching videos that translate it,

and using translators to translate the song as well, I also like the meanings of the song

that I can find. There is the one side of it that it is written for the movie itself

and so it is pretty specific to Mulan's story. But there are lines in it like "I tell myself there is no retreat" or "I ask the heavens if it is for good or bad"

For me, I can see in it many correlations to anyone who feels they are in a 

fight of some sort. Of just wanting to be back in the safety of their families

home, drinking from their well, and yet here they are instead

having to endure these hardships and trials. 

I don't know if I am reading into it too much or maybe even the wrong way! 

I hope not, cause I really love the song and how it feels 

to sing it! {It has such a great tune to sing! I love how the Chinese

words feel in it} Not sure if my teachers will think that it is too 

sad or maybe of a touchy subject since it speaks of war instead

of a goofy fun love song like is often chosen by International students 

for this competition. I don't mind being different and shaking things up though!

Really don't feel like singing a love song, and I doubt

they would be thrilled with the other kinds of songs I listen to!

This competition is all about Language, Culture, History, and our grasp of it all!

Why not have me sing a song from something that 

depicts one of their legendary heroes!?

We shall see. 

Here, what do you think?

I will not be offended or upset if someone has a differing 

opinion from me on this! If you have any thoughts, even if they are 

against me singing this, please feel free to share them with me! 

As I said, I may be reading into the song too much and missing a more obvious 

meaning, or I may be looking at it in the wrong way and missing a glaring error

that would make my singing it just down right wrong. Or I could be not reading into it

enough and also causing myself to er! :)  

Zumba!

Lets face it, this post is pretty much

just for my sister and Mum!

I think they are possibly the only ones who 

would be interested in it at all! 

{And then only to be able to see what I am able to do 

just a few months after my injury! }

BUT

I am posting these cause I have been having so much fun!

Maybe,someone will see these and see how 

much fun they are and want to do it too!

Kade...I really think we need to do a 

class at the Y or something when I get back!

I know you will be busy with school

and me with work, but I think it would

be a good way to hang out 

and start you already on your career as 

a health care provider! ;) 

Help me stay out of a wheelchair!

I did this one two times tonight to start out and get warmed up. 

{Note, for most of the places where there is jumping, 

I do some sort of a switch foot step or something.

Jumping is not so great for me and I always

live to regret it if I do it too much!}

I love that I get to combine my work outs

with an extra reminder of where to have my mind!!

I like this one because of how it reminds me

of some of the stuff we use to do in TaiBo!

Again...I don't do the jumping they do in the chorus. ;) 

This one is just plain fun! And look,

one of the instructors is even pregnant! 

If a pregnant instructor can do it, then so can I!

Tonight was the first time I did this one,

so I was not so coordinated at it, 

but its pretty fun! 

I realized a few days ago that it is because of these silly

work outs that my arms have been sore!

They like to get your arms involved as well as everything else!

Even though I had taken a short break before doing

these last two, I was pretty worn out by the time

I finished this one! 

Felt great after....but I am WIPED now!

I sleep well though!

Its so pretty!! Thank you Father!

I wore shorts for the first time today, outside!

It was pretty amazing!

I hear that the weather has changed to icky back in the Mitt

so I feel kinda bad posting that it was so nice today,...but at the same time...

I don't!

Shorts! Shorts and t-shirt was the outfit of the day.

Even though I am pasty white! 

Oh my goodness!! 

#ItsTheLittleThings

This shirt belongs to my little colouring buddy!

She is already on the right track!

I just need to get her hooked on hockey!

Gotta love her taste though right?! 

Today was the first day of the Sports event. 

We got to walk in the opening ceremony parade. 

Think Olympics where all the countries athletes walk around the stadium!

Only here, it was a group of students from each of our schools.

The most frustrating part of the day was just the fact that

the students in our group did not actually want to march in a straight line

or stay in a line/formation as we waited to be dismissed. 

A few photos from the day:

The three of us that were representing America are all

from multi national homes! haha!

We had one Chinese-American and two American-Canadian's!

This is the first time we have taken a photo together...

and I had to end up looking like a strange, fat, umpa lumpa!

Oy!

US and India!! She looks so pretty, eh?

I went with cheesy over the top patriotic! 

See? Over the top a bit?! haha! Finally got to use

the little flags my sis gave me for my birthday last year!

{And you can't see it, but I have a

red white and blue light up bow in my hair, which

was this years birthday gift! My teachers were stopping me to take

photos of it they liked it so much!}

This was while the rest of the groups were standing at attention!

I was really impressed with the group of military!

One guy walked around the group helping to rub their shoulders

and backs as they were to stand so straight and still!

One girl {For reasons I have no clue about} was SOBBING, yet

still as could be. Other girls took turns helping her wipe

her eyes and blow her nose so she could continue to stand at attention!

Their marching past was pretty cool! Very nice formation. 

Of course, group photos have to be taken at such an event! 

After lunch, those of us that will be in the

class play for the Chinese Language Competition,

got together to brainstorm and begin to practice.

You can bet we are going to have people in stitches! 

We are a pretty funny group! ;) 

In this story I was given the part of.....

dun dun dun....

The evil step mother!

haha!!!  

I finally got a picture of my little buddy!!

We coloured again tonight! 

She said she wants to do it again tomorrow.

I love spending time with her!

She is drinking powdered milk. {Her mom made her 

add the water and stop eating the powder itself!} 

She whispered to me

"Shhhhh...don't tell anyone I am back here drinking 

milk! Its a secret!!"

Speaking of secrets! I have been keeping one!

I bought a new Kindle!

It came today!!!

While I had pretty much given up hope of getting a new one

or having mine repaired, a way was provided for me to 

replaced!

Friends of some friends here were coming for a visit,

and it was made known that they would be happy

to bring small things if someone needed something!

I asked if they would have room for a kindle,

and then had it two day shipped to them,

They came today and I was able to go pick it up this afternoon.

It is an Kindle Fire HD6,

which is much smaller in size than my last one, but

has the ability to run the same kinds of apps like

my texting app and the dictionaries I have been missing in class!!

Words can not say how thankful I am that they were 

willing to bring this to me, and that I was able to afford

this new one. While I feel I have done a good job of not flipping

out without it, class has been more difficult without being able

to look up words, and though I could text it was a pain in the butt to do!

This is going to make my life so much easier once again!

Plus...this one comes with a front facing AND rear facing camera! 

No more awkward poses to try to get photos of things that were 

not selfies! 

PTL!!

With one day of this four day weekend down

I have a boat load of things I want to get done,

and I am not sure the time is enough!

Knowing me, I will fritter away the time I do have and

so not complete even half of what I hope to!

Tomorrow, I need to make a bunch of cookies! 

I am going to a party on Saturday and need

to take something to share. 

Went out to day and got some chocolate bars 

that I hope will be better than those candies I used

in my last batch. 

In the afternoon, I have another play practice.

While I may not have gotten things on my

to do list done today

{I didn't anticipate being in the parade, nor the play practice}

I did get a work out in!

The photos that were taken this morning at the event

did nothing to help my confidence in my work outs...but

I am having fun none the less, so I will keep it up!

Feeling better is helping to keep me going,

even if I am not noticing any difference in appearance! 

But....I will post about that in another post since not everyone may care about it! lol!