a story

As Nanjing continues to ease on into winter. I turned on the heat in my classroom for the first time yesterday...and boy did we need it! Even my kids were cold...and when Koreans are cold, you know it's cold. They walk around in sandals and adidas shorts in this weather and complain at the same time. Drives me crazy. Anyway. So as the easing into winter continues, Catie's health becomes interesting. I was completely and utterly exhausted yesterday from the weekend and still feeling a bit of it today, in addition to a stomach problem that I'm chewing on Tums for. Pr for me...I don't want to be sick this weekend during all the Thanksgiving preparation.



Speaking of which...is leaving me lingering on homesickness. As Raul and I delve more into our plans for married life, it leaves me wondering if/when we'll be led back to the US. And as the holidays get closer and closer, it also leaves me thinking something I didn't know I'd want to think...that I actually want to go back to the US for awhile. We'll continue to see where He leads, and I can't give y'all any information right now. But please lift us up. Every decision is huge and needs to be 100% covered in thoughts to Him, so we'd appreciate any extra thoughts y'all could lift up as well.



A little story...

Last night I woke up at 2am to the heat of my bedroom (I'm weird...too hot, and I wake up unable to go back to sleep), tossed and turned, took a bathroom trip, went back to bed, tossed and turned some more, decided to turn off the heat, then also decided (to cool down) that I'd stand out on my balcony for a minute. It was almost 3 in the morning by that time, and for once, pukou was pretty much silent. From my balcony I could see a few cars going around the Tai Shan Xin Cun roundabout, then I saw a car go past my building and down the way and out the gate of my complex onto the street. I saw one light on in the building across the courtyard and wondered what that person was doing at 3am. Then I looked up and realized that I could see stars. It must've been a really clear night, since that's often rare. Feeling really peaceful, I went back in my room and managed to fall back asleep. Quiet moments in China....they don't happen that often.

I remember Maryann telling me a story about when she first moved to China, when she was a student at Nan Da and lived in what's now the old Xi Yuan building. She said that she felt so frustrated often times because she could never truly be alone with her own thoughts or to pr. Then she discovered her place of solitude...the toilet. In a communal living situation, this was her only option, and it worked. The toilet became her pr closet.

That story has stuck with me since I first heard I think almost 2 years ago, and it reminds me that peace and quiet can be achieved in this fast-paced, noisy, sometimes abrasive and rude environment. And that that peace can sometimes only be achieved when you're spending time with Him...even if it is on a toilet.