I'm not...

one of those people that can hold a big secret for too long and I've been dying just to scream at the top of my lungs for a few days now about how the Lord blessed us this Christmas. So with great joy and excitement, I announce....

I can hardly believe it! There's a bit of a story that goes into all of this but it's hard to write out to where it would make sense to most people (believe me I tried...hehe) so I'm not going to go into it aside from saying that this was a total blessing from the Lord!!! So over the next few months, I would appreciate your prayers as this makes major adjustment number 4. :)

Hope your Christmas was amazing and that the New Year lying ahead brings great joy, growth, and love!

It might be time to clean when....

Your child asks for a certain type of cracker based on the crumbs at the table.

My goodness yes this happened to me this evening. Izzy was eating cereal, picked up some crumbs off the table and said, 'Mamma I want dis cracker.' Maybe it's time I put all this Christmas stuff away and start cleaning. LOL

Another cute Izzy saying recently is... 'My arms broken.' Whenever she doesn't want to do something it's... 'Mamma my arms broken.' Where'd this come from? Just ask her daddy. Hehe

A huge praise... I think we have a home!!! Wohooooo! This is so exciting! I'll write more and hope to have some pics soon.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

This was ALL I needed this morning! I received exactly what I was praying for (actually I got it earlier this month but with an extra surprise today), I think Mike was quite happy with his surprises and I know Izzy was thrilled with the gifts under the tree. She showed most joy with her

'twinkle-bell' underwear, her 'Mater' car, the Dora card games, 

and of course her new Snow White bike. But she loved everything once we were able to open it up and show her what everything did. We took a walk outside after opening gifts so she could test out her bike

and now she and Mike are resting. Sadly, Mike is not feeling well today but we didn't plan on doing anything anyway... just relaxing and being together. We were blessed to have Christmas with Grandma/Papa/Aunt Nikki/Uncle Juan/Shay/Addison/Karly too! We skyped the whole time we opened gifts which was loads of fun!

This evening I'll hopefully speak with my sister and then tomorrow morning I'll get to talk with everyone.  So lots more fun lying ahead! We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

2 minutes 'pa-lease'

Izzy's favorite sentence right now. :) I always give her a two minute warning when we're about to change what we are currently doing so I guess she has picked up on that and always says... '2 minutes pa-lease Mamma' when she doesn't want to do something.. like go to bed. :)

Well it's hard to believe that Christmas Eve is tomorrow. While it still doesn't feel like Christmas in Hong Kong.. I am excited. I think Izzy is going to be so excited with the gifts that her grandparents have gotten her. What a blessed girl she will be on Christmas morning and it will be so fun to watch her open them. She's already had a few practices and she thoroughly enjoyed it. My joy will come from just watching her and Mike. I enjoy receiving gifts but I find more joy in giving them and watching them be opened. I've got everything I could possible need... a great husband, a sweet daughter, a family that most would only dream about, and most importantly a relationship with the Lord. What else could I ask for?

Tomorrow Mike gets a special treat... he's been invited to play golf with a few men at church in the morning. So he'll do that while I run a few errands and then we'll head to church in the evening for a potluck and game night. Will be fun.. I'm sure.

I was blessed with a special treat last night... my friend Jocelyn took me to see the Nutcracker! It was AMAZING! I really, really enjoyed it. I knew I would like it but I was surprised how much I enjoyed myself. I loved Act 2 as probably most people do but the dancing and music was phenomenal. I especially loved the Arabian and russian dances. But seriously... I was just glued to the stage all night. it was so wonderful to do something like that again. I've pretty much decided I will use my Christmas money to buy tickets to a symphony or something... I had forgotten how much I enjoy being a part of the arts. At WVU, I was required to see so many concerts, etc each semester and while I at times complained about having to go to something... I was never disappointed. But alas...

It's been a filled month of activities but it has been great to be surrounded by people when this is the time I miss my family the most. I've been reminded over and over why we are here and it's been great to focus on that rather than feeling sorry for myself.

Well... I'm off to catch some zzzz's. I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas Eve Eve... :)

Nothing too important

Wow has life been crazy the past few weeks but it seems (I should be careful about saying this... haha) that things are calming down... at least I hope some things are falling into place. At least I can say that my responsibilities for the holiday season are pretty much done so I can relax and enjoy making cookies, crafts, Christmas shopping, etc... with the fam.

This morning it was quite hazy/rainy out but it made me smile because it looked slightly like a snowstorm (ok so maybe I'm reaching a bit but a girl can dream). So Izzy hopped into bed with me and we snuggled for a bit. :) Then we got ready and went to Kowloon Tong (festival walk mall) and did some Christmas shopping. Actually I was looking for icing to use for our cookies but they didn't have any so we went to the record, book and toy store. So anyway... while we were there a school choir came in to sing and Izzy was so excited. She danced around and leaped for joy when they began singing Jingle Bells or 'Twinkle Bells' as she calls it.

Then we headed out to meet Grace (one of about 15 real estate agents that are looking for a home for us.) She actually showed us one that's shows a lot of potential. We are looking at another tomorrow and hopefully can make a decision soon. I just can't get over how there is so little available and how much rent has gone up. rent in HK is like 1000's US monthly. The flat that we live in right now is going for 2400US a month. Crazy!

But anyway....
This whole process of getting kicked out and flat hunting has been difficult but such a good reminder and test of faith and trust. I was about to lose it (mentally...hehe) the other night when I sat down to read Izzy's devotional to her and it was all about faith and trusting that God is in control. funny how many children's things hit adults hard and many things about Izzy teach me about God.

We got home and since it was late I didn't want Izzy to nap so I put on 'Cars' and made her sit on the couch to rest. I only planned on making her sit for about 20 minutes so I could get some cleaning done but about 10 minutes into sitting, I hear... 'Momma, more treat (aka Yakult... a yogurt type drink)' but by the time I got it from the fridge and went to hand it to her she was out cold. Sleeping sitting up. It was so cute.

So I worked on all these forms I have to fill out to teach so I can get them mailed off. Yep... I'm gonna be a teacher but that's a whole other story. :)

On a much less important note.. today I got my certificate from my race and I was excited to learn that I was #22 in my age group. I don't know how many runners there actually were but it made me smile.

But tomorrow's a busy day... my school is having a carnival that I'm taking Izzy to, then I have to hit the markets in Mongkok and then we'll be looking at a flat in the pm so I'm off to bed. Have a great day!

christmas reversal carnival

So we've been trying to figure out what a Christmas 'reversal' carnival and so far the only thing we have come up with is that it was outside. But anyway... it was quite nice. They had some blow up jumping things, some electronic cars, some games, etc... The lines were long so we didn't stay long but we waited so Izzy could jump. Here's one of the videos. She was so excited but I was convinced once it was her turn she wouldn't want anything to do with it. I was SO wrong. She had a blast as you can see.



Enjoy your day!

2 Corinthians 12:9

I love this picture of the tree at Disney.

'My grace is sufficient for you.'

I find it easy (at times) to think about what I feel I deserve, to compare myself to others, etc... and forget what God has done/and is doing in my life, to lose confidence in what I feel He has called me to or how He guided me, etc... Today was one of those days. In an instant, I felt like a failure in so many ways but the more I thought about things... God gently reminded me of how He had worked in my life, the beliefs that have come from a personal relationship with Him, the desires He has laid on my heart, etc... and then I read this... 

"the Truth is, whatever you are going through right now, whatever you will go through tomorrow, or next year or fifty years from now.... HIS grace is sufficient." ~Nancy Leigh DeMoss

I have a verse that I quote when my mind goes into fear mode but when dealing with the above mentioned issues... I've never found something that helps me to refocus quickly enough. "My grace is sufficient" that's exactly what I needed to hear and what I need to remember. These thoughts do nothing but bring me down and/or frustrate me and all I need to do is focus on my God. I just need to seek Him and have confidence in Him... 

One thing I also was reminded is that I need to be in constant communication with the Lord... listening, talking, seeking Him. I need to know that I am seeking Him... that my heart is right with Him.

Peace

Well... after weeks of uncertainty I feel like God is finally bringing some things into place. I knew He would but when so many things come at once... I find it very overwhelming and at times I struggle with trying to do things on my own. The past several months have been very humbling for me. I've felt knocked down and put in my place on numerous occasions but it has reminded me that I need to be close to God and that I can't take even a step away from Him and even that my identity needs to be in Christ. You'd think that after years of following God, I'd have some of these things figured out and dealt with by now but it's amazing how satan creeps in and grabs ahold of some things and brings you down. But alas...

A few weeks ago, we watched Evan Almighty and there was one conversation that just grabbed my attention and I haven't been able to forget what was said. Evan's wife was talking to a man (who happened to be God.. she just didn't know it) and God said... 'When you pray for patience, does God automatically give you patience? Or does He give you the opportunity to be patient? When you pray for...etc and He went on.' And I began to think about some struggles that I was having and I thought... well this isn't going to go away overnight but God will give me opportunities to deal with it and grow. And wow... what a different attitude and perspective I've had on some things. I can honestly say that in one specific area... my heart has really changed because of this question and I'm so grateful!

In my last post, I mentioned how many things were weighing heavily on me to where my race was just one more thing on that list and now that it's over... I feel like a new woman. Not only that but my job situation has really perked up and I will know (well most likely) by the end of the week.. what my job will be and we are starting to have some success in finding a new flat. In fact, we found such an ideal place but we're ultimately leaving it in the hands of God because He knows where we'll be best used. So things are finally calming down and I feel excited about life again. I'm anxious (in a good way) for the next race in feb, I'm anxious (again in a good way) about our new home and new job. It's very difficult at times to wait upon the Lord but I've constantly been reminded that His time is absolutely perfect and this is once again... proving my point. While I have wanted to know some things months ago and wish they had been settled... I believe that I would have missed out on how God wanted to use me.

But anyway....

I have a second interview on Thursday morning for a possible teaching position at a local school. I'm very excited about it as I may have the opportunity to teach Music but I will patiently wait and see what happens. I have also been offered another position so after Thurs I have a big decision to make. This weekend begins our holiday parties and I'm excited about that. Helps to make the holidays more enjoyable when you don't have your immediate family around.

I've finished most of my Christmas shopping. I hated to do it but for everyone in the states... I shopped via Amazon.com It was just the money wise thing to do and while I hated not being able to wrap the gifts or walk the isles.. I still had fun trying to find some unique items.

Well... I better hit the hay. The pics below are of our most recent visit to Disney. Izzy was into riding this time so we didn't meet a single character. She was super excited to see 'The Lion King' and danced the whole way through it and of course the rocket ships. She couldn't get enough of those despite Mike and I begging to try something else so we wouldn't lose our lunch. We hope to go back one more time before the Christmas decorations are taken down but we'll see. We may be busy moving!

Daddy and Izzy... but she doesn't look at all like him.

She didn't want to ride Dumbo just sit and take pictures and give him a kiss.

The rocket ships... she just loves these!

UNICEf Half

Well what can I say.... I'm DONE and SO glad it's over. Not the same attitude I had last year after completing my 1st 10K. There has been a lot going on for us over the past few months... a few quite stressful things that I attempted to just put behind me and trust that God was in control but it was clear to me this morning how heavily these things had been weighing on me... including this race.

I was neither excited, nor nervous... all I could find myself saying was 'let's get this over with' and '1 thing to cross off the list.' NOT a good mental state to begin a 13.1 mile run. I jumped into the middle of the pack and when the countdown finished... I let others pass me as I picked a slow pace to begin with. One of my biggest struggles is starting too fast and then after just a few miles I'm done. So I had my Nike+ with me to keep track of my pace. This was so supposed to be a flat and fast race and in comparison to the Standard Charter... it is... but it did have some slopes that caught me off guard and I began to panic about how many hills there were going to be due to my lack of training in that area. However, I was actually quite surprised in how I handled them and found them easier to run than other areas of the course.

I was doing well... (despite my mental weakness already) until I hit 11K and looked down at my iPod to check time and turn it on for awhile. And that's when I lost it and literally almost broke down in tears. I have used my Nike+ to train... it tells me the distance that I've run and the pace I'm going. I calibrated it against my treadmill and thought it was right. However, at 11K (approx 6.8miles) my Nike+ said 8. At first I was stoked.. I though wow.. I'm doing much better than I thought (I was thinking the 8 was Kilometers) and then I realized it was miles... 8 miles. A bit off? So all my hard work in timing things, pacing things... was wrong so at the point I knew I wasn't going to make my 2hr goal and I was just discouraged and disappointed.

It was at that point too that the sun starting beaming pretty good making it much warmer out than anticipated and well... my body just doesn't do well in the sun. I'm not trying to make excuses for my poor training but the sun really took a lot out of me... I just haven't trained under the sun and I paid for it. I seriously just wanted to cry and quit because I knew my goal had just gone out the window and I just wanted to get it over with. I tried a gel pack but it just made me sick to my stomach. I don't remember much until 15K and then I was just happy to be on the down stretch. At 19K, I felt my toenail going... and it became harder to push myself. When I saw the sign for 20K... I just started to book it... I just so wanted to be done. I finished at about 2:20:28. Ugh... what's even worse was that I looked at my Nike+ again and at this point it was 2.5 miles off! That's crazy!!!! So while my time wasn't even close to what I wanted... I feel somewhat okay as based on the terrible calibration of my Nike+ system... I've never run 13.1 miles before! Based on what it said... my longest run was probably about 10.5 miles and my average runs about 6/8 miles. Not good in preparing for a half.

So I learned many lessons today....
1. Don't depend on my Nike+
2. Don't use gel packs
3. Don't drink sports drink along the way... just water for this girl
5. Bring a hat
6. Train in the heat
7. Train on hills more often
8. and most importantly....Don't carry burdens... lay them at the feet of God.

I'm proud that I could finish sprinting as usually the last thing i want to do after a long run is to sprint and I'm proud that I had the energy to do that but aside from that... I'm just glad it's over. Now... on to the Standard Chartered half. I'm beginning to think I'm crazy for wanting to do this but once the heat comes back around I don't think I'll be doing any racing so this may be my last chance for awhile and plus Mike's running the full so it will be fun to share this race with him.

Especially for Grandma and Papa

I'm slacking big time in the blogging department... it's been a crazy, crazy week and I've felt like I lost my sanity several times this week but I'm still pressing on. Our life seems to have turned upside down in such a short time. LOL Nothing too major... nothing that won't work out in time... it just seems like craziness right now and not how I like to enjoy the Christmas season. But alas... I get to spend each Sat this month sharing about the Advent season with my English fellowship and I'm very excited about that!

But anyway... I need to get to sleep. They say two nights before your race is the most important night for sleeping so I'm trying to get ahead of the game. Just had to share this special video for Mom and Dad rose.





Oh wow.. just noticed that Safari now allows for editing HTML within my post. Cool!

back from Shanghai

Well Shanghai was AWESOME!!!! I'm SO glad that this all worked out! We had a fabulous time being together and watching tennis. I was a bit nervous when we arrived at the hotel... it seemed like a very shady area but it was great.. nothing special but we were literally there only to sleep and shower so all was good. We found it very easy to get around and the metro was just a short walk from our hotel. Each morning we explored a bit of the city and by 2 we were on our way to the tournament. I have to admit that I thought I would get bored at some point watching tennis but it didn't take long to grab my attention. I have a whole new appreciation for the sport and for tennis players in general. Wow... is all I can say about those guys.

If we hadn't left Izzy behind, it would have been hard to want to come back but I guess that's always the case with holidays. Too bad we can't retire first in life and then work. LOL

Well... I have an early morning appointment so I want to pick up the flat and lay in bed and watch one of our new movies.

Shanghai at Last

Yeah.. we're here! I've been dreaming of this since early, early summer and I can't believe it's here. We dropped Izzy off at Nick and Adelina's about 4ish and then headed on our way to the airport. We decided to cap it to our hotel since we have absolutley no idea how to get around and it turned out to be a more expensive cab than we expected but alas we made it about 10:30pm last night.

So now we're just trying to figure out how to get around... and stay warm. My winter clothing supply has significantly dwindled since moving to HK so I'm praying that what I brought will be enough. LOL

Anyway... the tournament starts at 3 so we're going to try and explore a bit before hand. Wohooo!!! We're in Shanghai!

Team Pic

Blogger is still is not letting me upload photos so this will have to do. This is the team minus Mark who was using the lu at the time... from left to right ... Mike, Tim, Tom, and Howard. This was like Tim's 12th attempt, I believe Tom's second, and the 1st for the rest. The picture is of friday night about 6pm when I got to meet them. Did I mention that they started at 9am? I can't remember so anyway... this is already after a day of hiking.

Mike sure had some fun stories to share and it was great to hear about this experience. It's tempting to want to try and do something like this... to push myself harder than ever before... but I told Mike and Tim the only way I'd do it is if I could finish in 17hrs or less because I couldn't go without sleep. LOL

Well... I'll keep attempting the pictures but for now I'm going to head to sleep. We head out to Shanghai tomorrow evening so if you think of us please keep us in your prayers. This is the first time we've been gone from Izzy for this long and she's staying with friends so I'm praying she's on her best behaviour. :) And that Mike can walk a little faster (or 'saster' as Izzy says) tomorrow. Hehe

Oh yeah.. almost forgot to mention that I had my first tutoring (English fellowship) group today and it went fairly well... their English level is lower than I expected... not to sound rude because I don't mean that in a bad way but I keep forgetting that this is a local school and not international but anyway... the 1st group had about 12 students and the second group there was 4. Needless to say.. the second group went much easier and more smoothly and I belive the students got more out of it but I think the 1st group had fun too. there's a group of boys who like to goof around so I'm going to have to be more creative to keep their attention but anyway... The teacher has asked me to focus on reading the Bible, prayer, singing church songs, etc.. so I'm really excited about the focus being on God. Today we discussed being Thankful and we read Psalm 136 where it tells us over and over to 'Give Thanks' and one students said, 'oh many, many, many give thanks' and it was a great opportunity to talk about all the things we can be thankful for and how God is the one who provides those things and how ultimately we need to be thankful to/for Him.

So anyway....

off to Shanghai

Trailwalker Completed

12:49 the guys walked over the finish line for a total of 27hrs and 46 minutes!!! Wohoo!!! They ALL made it. I spoke with Mike and he shared that while they all had blisters and were incredibly sore... there were no serious health issues. Will write more later but now I'm enjoying the in person updates! Thanks SO MUCH for all of your support and prayers! I'm so proud of him!

Stage 8 Completed

Mike just texted at 8:42 saying they have 20K left which means they've completed stage 8! Once the team gets all checked in he figures they have about 3.5 hrs left and compared to the terrain they've experienced... this should be easy though I'm sure the mental side is much tougher knowing you're so close. Please continue to pray for energy and safety. He says they're all doing ok... lots of soreness and blisters but the worst is over! I have to say that this is one reason I love HK... how many places can you go hiking and aside from just a few times... be able to stay in contact via text message! LOL

24K to go!

At 8:04 Mike texted that they were at the highest point in HK and about 24K left to go putting them at the end of stage 8. Mike seemed in good spirits but glad to see the end in sight. I cannot wait to hear all about this when he gets home... sadly I won't get to see him until much later. They are walking to one of the team memebers house at the finish to rest, shower, eat, etc... and then he will get a ride home but Izz and I'll be in Hung Hom at the church. So anyway.... until next time. :)

30K to go

At 6:31am they had 30K to go which put them at the beginning of stage 8! Mike said he's got blisters but they weren't going to stop him. According to the map this stage is 'fairly difficult' and the final too are 'easy walk' so the end is in sight!

39.4K to go

At 3:44am Mike texted that they had 39.4K to go which put them in the midst of Stage 6. Mike said that he was struggling a bit but felt he would be okay to finish. He said the next 6hrs would be big and then they were on the home stretch.

Stage four Completed

Yes I'm still up. It's so hard not to be when your hubby's out hiking his heart out and I can watch his progress. But alas... at 12:05 they were halfway done!!! Mike said he's feeling sleepy but overall pretty decent though he feels the next 25K will be tough. This'll be the last update from me until morning as I need to get to bed but feel free to keep up with him on the site. On occassion the GPS system stops but if you keep checking back... it'll eventually work.

No word on the ladies (we've got a group of four women from church participating as well... all wives of the crazy husbands except for me of course and Lori Enns) so I'm praying for them as well. They did not intend to run a lot of it but they were determined to finish strong.


Okay... well I have some pics but they aren't uploading so it'll have to wait until morning. I'm beat. Have a blessed day!

Stage four Completed--Almost

Well... the latest update I got was about 3 minutes ago. They've reached a peak and are headed down. Should be another half hour and they will be welcomed with some soup and coffee. I'm not sure I'll be up in another half-hour so I thought I'd put up a brief update. This next stage(s) will be the longest stretch I believe without support... I don't believe they'll get anything until 6am at the earliest so please continue to pray. However, I do believe that once they complete this stage... the hardest climbling (up/downs) is over. So they can rejoice in that!

Thanks again for all the sweet emails... Mike will be so blessed to read how much you all care!