From sea to shining sea

What is up peoples?! 

Im back!

Back to blogging,

Back to China

Back to Shepherd's Field

Back to having to figure out  new things in this thing that I call my life!

Lets take a step back here. 

Before leaving the country of my birth, I was given the blessing of 

visiting with some amazing friends in California. I always find it cheaper to 

fly to China through the West Coast. And I have the great fortune of knowing really 

great people in the great Sunny State of California. 

Along with being able to see two of the teachers that became such a needed 

support for me while I was at Sias that first year, I got to spend some time on the ocean

side, just me and Father. And I got to stay in bed till whenever! haha!

They are such a fun couple to be around, and have never made me feel like the third wheel.

Thank you B and R for being such a great example of a loving married couple! 

You two are too cute, with your nicknames, notes and kisses before you drive. 

I love you two!

I love where B and R live!!! 

I could so get use to doing my 17 miles a week again

if I had this to walk along every week!

Hey guys, why didnt we take any pics together? That was dumb! :( 

The week before I left for the start of this journey, I had been telling Mum that

I was going to really miss driving once I moved to the other side of the world. 

She had said she could help me get my fill since we were down to one car and 

the schedule was full! {Ain't she the best?} 

Sorry Mum, you got topped! 

In order to go from staying with my SIAS friends to staying with my BMH friends, I had get down

the coast. Last time, I took  the train. But it got stuck on a hill and took a lot longer than it should have, I looked into it again, but we decided to instead look at renting a car. Turned out to be less expensive to rent it and I could decide the route and could stop along the way if I wanted and and and. It just all seemed like a better idea. So I put a hold on a hold on a four door five person car online. However, I stupidly put the check out time for 9am. We didn't get there till 11:30, sure that Alamo held their reservations for 12 hours. They hold them for 2. We had just missed the deadline and they were out of cars they could rent to me! :( But then, they said that they would check and see if there was anything else instead. Rather apologetically he said that they only had one car left.

"Do you mind a mustang?"
He queried.
I tried to look unphased and agreed that it would be fine.
He then went on,
"Well, it is a convertible! That should be fun for driving down the coast, right?!"
Just as he was getting ready to check it out to us {He though that B and R were going with me,
and when he mentioned convertible mustang they wished they were!} he noticed that I was
not making the trip back but instead dropping it at their LAX location.

"The mustang isn't one that can be left at another location"
he informed me sadly.

"Oh well, we can bend the rules this time and make an acceptation!"
Again, I was trying to play it cool and make it look like I did this kind of thing
all the time so that he would not feel bad about giving me a soft top mustang. But
upon hearing that not only would I get this awesome car, but really he wasn't suppose to rent it
to me given my needs, I really did nearly fall over!
The car was gorgeous people!

I couldnt get over it! I was allowed to not only get in this thing, 

but DRIVE it all the way from Monterey to Los Angeles. 

I didn't drive it with the top down much, cause I put my suitcase in the back and I wasnt sure how that would work out with driving on the highway. It was a tight squeeze, but I wasn't complaining! 

See that blown away look I got going on. Yeah, it was still sinking in that I 

was the proud temporary owner of a Mustang! 

If I had known I was getting a mustang when i woke up, I would have dressed more like a mustang owner and less like a compact car owner the way that I did. Lesson learned. Always dress for the car you WANT to rent! ;) 

It was a very long drive to LA, and I got lost once I got to the city since I had really only gotten the directions TO the city and not to my friends house! Cause Im brilliant and all ya know.
I was pretty proud of myself for getting down there without a GPS, but that all blew up in my
face as I sat in the Warehouse district, in a 2015 Mustang, at a gas station, nearly in tears that I
had made it so far but was probably going to destroy the car in the city traffic and not make it to
my next destination.

No need to fear though, my friends talked me through it and I made it not much later than I expected.
{I had been told it was a 6 hour trip give or take, without any stops and with light traffic. I stopped
many times along the way, got lost, and still made it there in like 8 or so I think it was}

For the next few days, I got to send time with some of my longest and dearest BMH friends.
One couple I have not even seen since their wedding years ago and they are now the proud parents of two young boys!
She was the first BMHer I met, actually. She came to my house
all the way back in 2008 as a tour stop and gave presentations at 3 different
brick and mortars.

I took this knowing my younger brothers would get a kick out of it

We went to the local Botanical Gardens and they

happened to have a special display going of Lego creations!

The boys thought these were real! At first they were a little scared of them.

Can y'all say awwwww

Palm trees are my happy trees. Gotta love a place that grows palm trees!

My friends live in the coolest places!!

I mean look at this! 

I don't even go to Lake Michigan all that often, 

but I know it is ALWAYS freezing so I just 

assumed that the ocean would be the same way.

It was surprisingly warm, actually,...well no, I guess

warm is not the right word. Surprisingly not freezing. 

I walked out into it a bit and let the gentle 

{it was actually gentle at the time!} 

tide splash waves on my feet. Made me think

of the year that I was in Yantai and took a scared little boy out into

the ocean to swim. He clung to me and didn't like being out very far,

but he did enjoy sitting on the edge and playing in the water.

Tommy was so little then! That was the first wave of 

"Oh my goodness,I am going to miss my family so much" that hit me!

My flights went pretty uneventfully. I even was able to get wifi for the longer of the two flights,

though it cut out  a couple hours before the flight was over. It was still pretty awesome. 

I was in a plane, soaring thousands of miles above land, making a trip of thousands of miles

and yet I could still log onto facebook! lol!

I have now been here at SFCV for less than 48 hours. When I am not occupying myself

with something, I am actually finding the jet lag getting to me! 

My roommate is a friend from camp, and it is so nice to not only get to catch up

but room with someone I know! One of the things I really love about it, is that she hardly

ever speaks English to me! And even times when I do speak English

she will often answer in Chinese, or repeat what I said in her tongue cause she knows

I said it cause I didn't know how to yet. 

I have been allowed to take the weekend to get settled and not have to work. 

Then Monday morning, I will head to the school at 8:30 to start as a teacher....of some sort!

I was talking with the head teacher and she was saying that she thought she might have me teach the older kids English. However, for now I will be helping with preparations for a performance 

on June 1st, which is Childrens Day.  There is so much to get ready. She said she was very glad that I was here when I am so that I can help with it. 

There was even talk of me helping with the English MC position and

singing a song as well to celebrate. 

We shall see how this all pans out and what I end up doing. 

Monday is the day!! 

It is strange to be here and 

1. No Tommy!! 

2. Know that this is not temporary.
This is now home!

WOW

I serve an amazing Father who has placed in my heart a dream to be here....and

then He gave me that dream come true not long after placing it there. 

I really hope to be an important part of the team here and that I can prove

to them all that it was a good choice bringing me in. 

In some ways, I feel like the new teen in school, on the night before the first day of high school

going "Oh I sure hope they like me!" 

Thank you to everyone who has gotten me here! 

I love you all! Please keep the buzz support up!