Wednesday

Look what I checked out from the library today.

After a lovely evening with jaymichaelmargureitenikkijennicarlyrich (friends from work) I woke with a continued "to do" list. The day was sunny which lent to a enjoyable day of walking to all of my errands.  The packing of stuff continues to go slow.  I should post pictures...but I haven't and probably won't.  :)  Tomorrow?! Packing bedroom and bathroom; talk to friend in Beijing; begin laying stuff out to pack.  Woot!

Roller coaster Week

After waiting for three hours yesterday I was able to turn in my visa application to the Chinese-visa-people.  :)  I was nervous about a lot, but they glanced over my papers and said "come back on Friday".  So, I'm going back on Friday.  What does this mean?  This means I could be leaving this weekend for China!  So, let the countdown begin.

Goals for today:

• Continue/begin the packing process of all the items I will not be bringing to China!
• Laundry, so I can pack for China.
• And dinner with friends from work.  

My Excuse for Poor Punctuation

...borrowed from a friends blog

“With educated people, I suppose, punctuation is a matter of rule; with me it is a matter of feeling. But I must say I have a great respect for the semicolin; it’s a useful little chap” - Abraham Lincoln

I love Abraham Lincoln even more after reading this.  

Fearless

Does anyone else ever feel weary remaining faithful?  Reflecting on these moments of weary I find much of my exhaust comes not from remaining faithful, but from trying to do life "right".  It's exhausting living up to pressures and bars that were never meant to be there.  Taking the pressure of perfection off myself and learning to accept grace.  Grace from myself to be ok  with not being perfect and the eternal grace of God that affirms his love for me.  My fears of "messing up" or "doing it wrong" or disappointing someone are washed away.  They are washed away in the grace of encouraging friends, loving family, Creation...the grace that God accepts me as I am.      


We just welcomed two little foster girls into our home.  They are one and three, and for the first 24 hours were very quiet and scared.  Today will be the second full day with them, and already they are "waking up" into who they really are.  I know I'm not a parent, but it's in the moments of co-parenting with Susan and loving on the girls that I constantly ask the question "Am I doing this right? What if I mess up?!  These aren't even your kids...DON'T MESS UP!".  Whew.  Not a very realistic way to live.  I will mess up.  I do mess up!  I keep finding that living in fear of anything (mine being messing up) does not allow me to love well.  Maybe John knew what he was talking about when he said " There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:18-20)  


Just taking baby steps to live a life full of love spurred on by Christ's love and leaving fear behind.  

Re: China Leave Date

Dear Bethany,

...I hope to have you here in China by some time mid March.  This is a little later than I would like, but no mater how fast we work we can't move foreword until other offices open back up from the New Years holiday.


Sincerely,


Supervisor of International Operations
Sias International University


"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness...On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand!"


Looking forward to what will happen for my extended time in Chicago.  :)

Waiting Games

For those of you wondering.  I am currently waiting to hear from the University in China when they receive my work visa.  After they receive my work visa I will find out when I need to be there.  I was told at one point to be ready to leave at the end of this month.  It is getting closer to the end of the month...  I will keep you posted as I find out information.  

Weekend Wednesday

Today is my day off.  Some people get weekends off, I get Wednesdays.

When living life, does anyone else have a small list of "to blog about" things? Sitting down tonight I can scroll through the list, but I'm feeling too lazy to write any of them.  Instead, I'll write a list of this exciting weeks happenings.

• Monday: 11:20am - Driving out of my driveway, my car and a large utility van met abruptly, taking the entire front of my car with him.  Leaving, me without a front of a car and him with a scratched fender.  No one was injured, except my car and...my heart.  (New blog idea:  Ode to the Corolla)  
• Monday: 2:45 - 10:55 pm - Work...making the big bucks. 
• Tuesday: 9am - Tax day.  Though I do get along with my tax guy, I was not planning on spending two hours with him, and find out I owe taxes instead of get a refund.  Yuk.  
• Tuesday: 12:30pm - Minor foot surgery including the doctor's comforting words "This will be the most painful thing you've ever felt for 5 seconds then everything will be ok"  Thank's doc.
• Tuesday: 4 - 11:05pm - Work...late!
• Wednesday: OFF

After my full Monday and Tuesday I felt as if enough had happened for an entire week.  So this lovely weekend Wednesday was much appreciated!