There is an outside?

Today was the bake sale over at Peter Hall. 

I am proud of myself, cause all I bought was 

a chocolate chip cookie and a cup of strawberry lemonade!!

{Funny side story, one of the first bake sales I went to

the teacher doing the adding of my total got it wrong the 

first time, and his wife corrected him. We were both

teasing him since he is by no means a dummy and

we found the mistake funny. Tonight, had only the two things

on my list, one was 3 rmb the other 5. It was the same

teacher and so as I handed him my list and a 10 kuai bill

I laughed and said "The math is easy this time!" 

He laughed as well, nodded his agreement, put the money away,

and went to help the next customer. 

I guess here 3+5=10

HAHA!

Its ok though, cause it all goes to a good cause

and it means I get to laugh pretty hard about it! 

Even though he will probably never know!}

While I was there, I got to say a hello to a friend I haven't seen much

of and catch up a little bit, 

Then, I ended up talking with another friend

for hours!

It was great!

My flower now has all three blooms open!!

Its so pretty! Even with one of them beginning to turn now, 

And its still so fragrant! I am going to miss it once it is gone!

I went outside!! It was super windy today

but some friends were playing Frisbee 

so I went out and watched them for a little bit. 

I have not spent much time outside lately, and 

it just felt so nice to be out! 

I need to make sure I spend more time out 

there!

It was also really great to be able to see the 

friends that were playing, since we do not

really see much of each other either!

They play two or three times a week

so I will be trying to go out more often to meet up with them and say

hi, watch them play, and just be around people more!

I got two new bottles of perfume.

So while I was sitting there I 

decided to photograph it in the fake grass.

Gotta give a shout out for the fake grass!!

Love that I was actually able to sit outside

in the pretty green foliage! ;) 

{I am allergic to the real stuff. Can't sit in it!}

mmmm!! Yummy!

#ItsTheLittleThings

Breaks!

My boss went to ZZ this morning so I again didnt have to go in to the office.

But I got a call around noon to say that we had a meeting at 3,

and would I please be there.

The meeting was held in all Chinese, and I'd say I understood oh.....

70+% of it!!

Same with class yesterday.

As always, taking a break last weekend, 

having a long weekend

and not stressing about it all

ended up helping me improve.

"Come to me you tired and heavy laden. 

Come to me with all your weariness.

Here with Me is where you'll find your haven

and I will give you rest!"

#ItsTheLittleThings

Its made of corn, that makes the chocolate ok, right?

My Lily now has two beautiful blooms and I can smell them while in my bed! So pretty!

New life!

I had cereal this morning!

Talk about a small thing that can make you smile!

Yes, for all of you who I have ever given a hard 

time for missing Western food when you are here....

you can remind my smart mouthed self that

my morning was made by eating a bowl of chocolate chex!!

#ItsTheLittleThings

In other news, I did well in my dictation today.

 I think I had two, maybe three strokes wrong in all.

She wrote a note on it that said
"You're improving! Keep it up! Great job!" 

And she made a comment about how

I'm doing better in them. 

Today....it all just seemed to make so much

more sense! It was a good day of classes, 

quite honestly! 

I understood things the teacher was saying and

could understand the words without having to look 

at the translation first. 

Felt good! 

Hate the plateaus but love the hills after them!

Goofing around bites me in the butt!

So tonight I have to rush through this post because

I have spent the afternoon being a little

bit too lazy and now have to cram for

our dictation tomorrow!

I kinda forgot that we would have that 

and that I had some other homework to get done for

tomorrows classes as well! :( EEKK!

The little thing that made me happy today

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

is the homework I have to do!

So I am not looking forward so much to the 

amount of time it could take on it, but

I think it is going to be fun! And I am trying not to worry about it too much!

I have been allowed to pull up my quiz grade by re-writing the

essay I wrote at the end. Seems I did not complete enough characters to be 

called complete, so she is allowing me to do it over

on my own time and at my own slower pace.
{We were to write about an unforgettable moment 

while in China. So I wrote about meeting

a little boy, who ended up falling asleep on my lap,

and then five years later will be my brother.}

We also have an essay to write that is due next week.

The topic of said essay is to be an 

Inspirational person who has a disability

or something that makes their life harder.

The chapter we have been on has been

about a Chinese gymnast who broke her neck

on the vault, yet did not let it take away her smile.

Our teacher then said how every country

has their own Inspirational people.

She mentioned the names of those like

Helen Keller and Nick Vujicic 

{Many of them knew about him, but thought he was American!}

I knew right away who I wanted to write about

yet I needed to make sure that it was ok.

So after class I asked her if they had to have

a strong birth defect or some sort of a 

handicap such as a missing limb,

paralysis, deaf or blind etc. 

She said that we could write about anyone we wanted to

that was an inspiration to us because of what

they did in spite of a struggle in their life.  

I told her I wanted to write about a man I knew who

had arthritis since the time he was 5 years old, and

had found it hard to move since then,

yet went on to not only have a family and fight in 

WW2, but also to teach me how to not complain about 

pain.

She was very interested in the story and said that

it was fine for me to write about him. Even more so when I said

that he was my Super Hero. {It was a word we had just been learning...

though I forgot how to say it in Chinese! lol!} 

She said "Really? This man is your 'idol' your role model?" 

I said "Yes, he is! He taught me how to be 

thankful in spite of being in pain, and how to

get up every morning even though it hurt and say

'This is the day that Father has made' You see, he was my Grandfather."

She has asked that I include a photo of him along with my story

so that we can show the class my real life hero. 

I am excited to get to tell the story of my Granddad and all that he taught me. 

It was also told to me by my teacher, that she was asked

to help me write another essay!

My boss and the dean of our school will be traveling

to Indonesia next week.

I am to write an essay about my experiences here at 

Sias for them to show on the tour, 

My teacher will then help correct it and make sure that it is

done properly before we submit it. 

I have a very big weekend ahead of me! 

3 essays to write about three of the most important things to me!

China and my time here

My Grandfather and the amazing example he was to me

My youngest brother and the amazing way we found him!

*happy sigh* 

#ItsTheLittleThings

Now lets hope I have the right amount of Chinese knowledge for all of that! lol!

Off to study for dictation tomorrow!

Easy when its easy.

The second bloom has opened!! Its so pretty! And it smells so nice!

I got a package in the mail from my family today!

Two new pair of jeans!! 

YAY!!

Someone made the comment

"Wow, its nice that you are able to fit into jeans that your family sends you without ever having to try them on before. I can't do that, it always takes forever to find some that fit." 

Oh if she only knew! haha! 

The thing is, what it comes down to, is this just proves how AWESOME my family is!

My Mum and sis know me so well they can pick out jeans way better then

even I can! When I am the one doing it, it takes forever for me to find a pair

that feel right and fit nicely! {Second hand takes even longer!}

I look at it this way, this is Fathers way of showing

that He provides! Even in something as silly as jeans! 

#ItsTheLittleThings

I made four chicken breasts tonight. 

I ate some for dinner, and have saved the rest for

tomorrow! I got all four of these for just 8RMB! I love it!

Started back to my PT and a little of a work out tonight.

With having hit a tiny bit of a plateau 

{funny, I have hit one in both my work out life and language learning life!}

I took a bit of a break. 

In both my language and working out.

I'd also kinda overdid it a bit so I needed 

to step back and give my back a rest.

Felt good to get back to it today!

I did some leg lifts and crunches. 

It felt like my crunches were far more effective and

better this time! I am getting stronger!

Also did five of my modified burpees...but I did them

better then ever before!

I really am healing! 

It's exciting! 

I will NOT let my back keep me down!

疼不疼？

A friend gave this to me Sunday! We then went out on the balcony and belted out a few songs

to say HE HAS RISEN!

Almost forgot to post tonight!

This long weekend has been really great!

Though I did not get all the homework

and prep work done for one of my classes

I DID get a ton done in my listening class.
Tomorrow morning we will have

dictation in that class and I am 

feeling super confident that I can get all the words 

correct! That is such a great feeling!

Today I went and got a massage! 

It was a little scary, and I had to tell him

he could not twist me in a pretzel and try to adjust my back that way!

There were a few times I got 

a bit scared that he was going to push too hard or

end up hurting me, but all in all it went 

really well! I can close my jaw better then I 

have been able to in months!

That is super nice!

I am starting to get rather sore though,

so we will see how much I like this tomorrow!

{A friend went with me, someone who would be able

to explain my back condition a bit better to help 

them understand to be careful. She asked me after

if I would want to go again soon and I told

her I need to wait till tomorrow and see how I feel!

heh} 

I also had TUNA!!

I got three cans of tuna fish while out shopping 

on Saturday! So I had a tuna fish sandwich today!

Tuna seems to be the only fish I am able to have

and it is just such a nice 'comfort' food! 

For lunch I cooked up chicken breast in my new fry pan!

The room filled with smoke, but I will get it

done better next time! haha!

It was so super easy and cheap...now that

I have this little pan, I am going to be 

making chicken way more often! I am looking forward

to that! 

I return to work and class tomorrow, 

but given my already light class schedule

this week is going to be a super easy one, I think!

I only have class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Friday I will only have to work. 

Including this next week, there are only

13 weeks of class left! 

WOW!! 

On this Rock!

The Stone Was Rolled Away!

The Tomb Was Empty!

It Is Empty Today!

In one of the debates I watched, 

it was said that the sacrifice made wasn't all

that great if the one giving of Himself 

knew that He would rise again three days later.

It was this persons opinion that even if there was

a great deal of pain and suffering endured in the process

it was not a great feat knowing that there was nothing 'permanent' 

about it. 

He even went so far as to say that he too could

be on a cross if he knew that he would come back.

Oh how little we know of the actual sacrifice that was made that day!

The pain and humiliation was not the 

ultimate sacrifice! 

I don't think that we, as humans, are ever fully going to

be able to comprehend while on earth, all that

actually happened that day! 

But  I can fully understand and comprehend,

Because of that day,

Because of what He did

 Because He did not stay behind that rock

Because He IS my rock

Because He did not think it beneath Him to become human and hang on a tree

Because HE ROSE AGAIN

I can be free!

And not just me,

It was done for all.

He Has Risen!

And that is no 

Little Thing!!