hong kong hospital days.

there's a growing list of things that i never expected would happen when moving halfway across the world to east asia. i think the show-stopping, list-topping experience happened last week when i got to spend four days in a hospital in Hong Kong. granted i still have seven months to go, i can't imagine anything else more unexpected, frightening, yet faith-building could happen. 

things started when i got a call from our international doctors tuesday morning advising i needed to travel to "a medical center of excellence outside of mainland" in order to see western doctors. if you know me, you know medical things just FREAK me out to the max. naturally, instant tears burst forth. i had been having health issues for about a month but had seen the global doctor here in town and just kept thinking things would get better. i guess after a month of persistent symptoms, i was at a "danger level" of concern. thus, my wonderful friends scott and cat helped make arrangements, and the next morning at 3:45 AM, my roomie, kathleen, and i were up and headed to the airport to jump over to Hong Kong. 

having not seen the sunshine for the past couple months, when we landed we were mesmerized by the grandiose of blue skies and sunshine! we readily decided we loved Hong Kong!! everything we kept seeing made us conclude that HK felt like America. about an hour after landing, however, we were at the western-trained doctor's office where he deemed i needed to immediately be admitted to this hospital for observation because my health was at a dangerous concern. (instant tears once again...beginning to see a theme? i later found out this doctor wrote that i was "emotionally unstable" when he admitted me to the hospital because of all this crying...go figure asia. i wanted to ask him what he would think if he was in a foreign hospital with words like 'disease', 'condition', 'procedure' being constantly thrown around...). so about an hour later i was checking into the hospital.

maybe that's a mixture of terror and shock...what is my life these days?!

the next few days kinda feel like i blur as i endured many medical things i'm still pretty scared of! after about 17 IV stab attempts, they finally got that in. thus through IVs, blood work, x-rays, so many medicines, a restricted diet, and even a colonoscopy...i emerged on the other side of it. shockingly each medical procedure kept yielding negative results so finding the root of my problem proved troublesome. finally (the doctor might've just been tired of my tears), after four days in that hospital, he released me with a simple diagnosis and meds for the next month. 

some Hong Kong nuns came a' christmas caroling for us!

although this tops the charts for undesirable circumstances while living abroad, i cannot deny the abundant opportunity to learn while i was there and the clear blessings the Lord bestowed while in HK:

• kathleen was SUCH a gift to have as my travel companion, friend, and nurse. she tirelessly served me in the sweetest ways, had the most calming presence, and even willingly slept on foam mats on the hospital floor one night...talk about a one-of-a-kind GEM of a friend who loves me so well!
• we were home for CHRISTMAS: leaving for HK on december 18th left me quite uncertain what the holiday would look like. with each passing day my fear that i would be spending this christmas in a hospital seemed ever more likely. sweet kathleen bought us christmas decorations and everything. thankfully the Lord answered the prayers of many people and got us home just in time!
• the most precious nurse who came each evening. i have no idea what was different about her (i pray it was that she knew the Lord), but this sweet lady who didn't speak a lick of english just brightened my days in the best ways! she had such JOY that radiated forth. we would giggle together, attempt to communicate in mandarin (our semi-common language), look at pictures of our families, and just laugh each time she came in my room. she was such treasure of a gift!
  
• the reminder that NEVER ONCE DID I EVER WALK ALONE. this song has gotten my sister through some tough seasons in her little corner of the world, and it did just that for me. not just in lyric, but in the near-tangible presence of the Lord i felt with me in that hospital. as i was wheeled into different rooms for various procedures and all seemed so foreign, the one constant i could cling to was my Jesus! 
• scott's father-like presence in taking care of literally every detail of our week in HK. he was constantly checking on me, my health symptoms, my emotional state, and handling every little and big detail of getting things worked out. his aide kept us at such peace each day!
• HEALING: praying for healing is something i've always been a bit nervous to ask because it often feels like the impossible. while laying in that hospital bed i was often reminded of mark 11:23 and the Lord's power to move mountains when we truly BELIEVE. saturday morning (the day i was released), i woke up with such a feeling of hope and a confidence in His healing power. i finally just asked with full faith for healing to come over my body because the medical tests sure weren't finding anything. (along with my prayers there were hundreds of others lifting me up....and wow does He answer). not even three hours later, i was being released from that hospital...i can so confidently say that i have been privileged to feel that our God truly is a HEALER!

i mean just look at those smiles: besties.

this is my journal from the morning i was released...He SURE does answer.

now that i'm back home (it's still a bit weird i now call this place home), i have been reflecting upon this hospital stay and just seeing God in it in so many new ways. His provision is perfect, His timing so incomprehensible, yet His love so evident. despite crying more in five days than the rest of my life combined, despite longing for my parents to be at that hospital with me, despite never knowing what was going on or why my body wasn't getting better, despite seemingly everything going against me...the Lord continues to give me such contentment here, and i can still say i truly love my life here in EA! thank you for praying with me, texting me, emailing my mother, and any/every other way you've helped support me in this process!!

before we flew back, kathleen and i had a quick chance to see this spectacular view of HK!

not your typical class field trip.

i'm a big fan of field trips. they're often a way to get a hands-on learning experience that can impart far greater knowledge than simply sitting in the classroom. i would say my first asian class field trip did exactly that! we've been studying language for 3 months now and are finally to the point where we can converse simply with people around town. thus, our teacher (laoshi shen) decided she would teach us to make "jiaozi" (aka dumplings): from start to finish.

we began our day meeting laoshi shen at the busiest market in town. if i ever doubted that i live in asia, i just needed about one second in this place to be reminded of the absurdity of my surroundings. we joke about it, but you can literally find ANYTHING in this place: flowers, vegetables, dental work, heat lamps, scooter repairs, woks, key makers, masseuse...i mean anything. (sometimes we longingly say somewhere in this market there must be FRO-YO...oh how i wish!) as you can see below, the rumor about asians eating dog proved ever too true as we saw an entire pup for sale amidst the other meat; welcome to asian life. this might've been the most SHOCKING hour and a half in all of asia....

just your local dentist...

yes, that's right: an entire dog worth of meat for sale. help me.

cause who wouldn't want blood with their fish heads?
(fraser's steppin a little too close, no wonder we take our shoes off before coming inside) 

duck dynasty aint got nothin on asia...

finding an asian teacher amidst hundreds upon hundreds of asians was a challenge in itself. however, after our class finally all met up, we were given assignments of various ingredients to locate, ask the price of, and bargain for the specific amount we wanted. it was an empowering experience as it forced us to utilize our language and yielded successful results!

veggies on veggies on veggies on veggies

a whole new view on buying meat...stabbed with a metal hook means it's fresh, right?

talk about fresh.

tongxue (classmates) explorin'

after gathering all of the needed ingredients, we scooted over to our teachers house to begin making jiaozi. this was a cultural experience in itself as it took 4 hours to chop, prepare, and cook the jiaozi properly! laoshi shen invited over some of her asian students to join us. due to their cultural norms, they would let us help with very little but did 'teach' us quite a bit. it was a joy to hear about their hometowns, fellowship together as classmates, and truly feel welcomed and at home in our teachers house. 

choppin' for hours.

assembling the jiaozi

one little, two little, many little jiaozi.

the final result: we made hundreds...

in the end we got to eat the long-anticipated jiaozi. it was DELICIOUS! we fried some and steamed others, but my favorite were the fried jiaozi (no surprise to those who know my eating habits). i love that we had a chance to put our language to the test and the opportunity to learn to cook such a traditional asian food! i'm excited for more class adventures to come...

abundant thanks and a big asian WAR EAGLE.

i feel like the Lord was graciously preparing my heart for what this holiday season would look like, but WOW did He exceed my expectations in how He lavished contentment, grace, gratitude, joy, peace, and so much more upon my asian thanksgiving! the two weeks leading up to thanksgiving offered opportunities for us to share thanksgiving with some of our new friends. it is neat to be able to share not only an american holiday but also the true reason for our thankfulness with these sweet friends! we even shared our kindergarten tradition of making "turkey hands" together...i guess when you're new to something it can be fun at any age!!

our actual thanksgiving day was full of fellowship, food, and family (as i'm sure most of yours was)! wednesday we commandeered the boys house, pooled our decorating resources and creativity, and set some festive tables for our crowd of 30. then we got busy preparing all the thanksgiving classics we could accomplish. i was pretty impressed with the bounty that filled our table and provided the sweetest taste of home: pumpkin bread, mashed potatoes, fried turkey, green bean casserole, apple caramel spiced cake, sweet potato casserole, eggplant casserole, and everything else you could imagine. i don't think i've ever been so full after a thanksgiving meal...while living in asia i think my stomach forgot how to handle normal american feasts! it was a delight to celebrate this day of thanks with my new kind of family: my asian family. these people i'm living with are far from just friends or classmates but have truly become family in every sense of the word: and for that i'm so thankful! 

we continued our holiday weekend by hopping on a 2-hour fast train to another city. we found some of the best american food we've had since we arrived, some great shopping, and wonderful time with friends we've made who live all over this region! saturday morning we woke up to a good ole turkey bowl where our guys got their game on. we had a blast watching them play and fellowshipping with friends we don't often get to see! this little bit of football made me feel right at home. after a quick two days out of town, we took a late night train back home to make it in time for the IRONBOWL!

and oh my goodness are we glad we did!!! i'm pretty sure no one could have missed what happened in this game (unless you've been hiding under a rock)! never have i ever been more proud to be an auburn tiger! cheesy as it sounds, it was a glorious victory!! we set our alarms for 4 AM and gathered 14 deep to watch this epic game. we were on the edge of our seats most of the game, and i very much enjoyed texting back and forth to america and uganda as friends and family watched together. then the last couple minutes of the fourth quarter happened, and i'm think i might've had a heart attack of excitement!!!! that was literally the craziest, BEST, most ridiculous football game i've ever seen! running 109 yards to score the game-winning TD begs only one question: hey nick, ya got a sec?! we were jumping around, dancing, screaming, crying, and every other emotion of happy you can imagine...we might've woken up the entire 22-story building! watching the entire stadium storm the field only fueled our disbelief and excitement. in a lot of ways it still feels like a dream!! since we couldn't join in the typical toomer's rolling, we made our own asian toomer's corner which earned us quite a few funny looks! nevertheless, a big WAR EAGLE was raised from our little corner of the earth!! it was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend...and provided yet another thing to be thankful for! 

i am amazed that each day the Lord continues to do abundantly and exceedingly more than ALL i could ask or imagine. He has given me great contentment in this place and His faithfulness continues to draw me to Himself. the JOY He offers is truly INEXPRESSIBLE and FULL OF GLORY! today i'm thankful to know who to give thanks to.  

home for the holidays?

as the holiday season approaches, this has been a recurring thought and question in my mind. i've never been so far from home for such an extended time. in two days i will have officially been here 3 months-WOAH! that's such a long time. it's the longest i've gone without seeing my family, the longest i've spent living overseas, the longest i've been so far from all that is familiar... 

and yet, i guess after 3 months, it makes sense that this place now feels a lot like home. it's different in just about every way, but this is my new normal. this is the portion the Lord has given me for this season, and in that i take JOY! coming into this year i imagined a pretty constant burden of homesickness--boy has God's grace been abundant as i've only been homesick one day of the past three months. i have honestly come to LOVE LIFE in this place! i love what my days look like, and i wake up each day so assured and content of my purpose. talking with a sweet friend this week i was reminded of what a blessing this is-such contentment is a rare thing in our "grass is always greener" culture. sure there are times i miss being in auburn for football games (side note: WAR EAGLE-my heart might've stopped on that final TD throw), weddings weekends, classrooms full of children, and holiday breaks at home, but all in all i could not be more content with where the Lord has me.

thus it is with this mindset of contentedness that i seek to enter this holiday season. my wise mother told me it will be a choice whether i accept and indulge in the portion the Lord has given me or whether i choose to dwell in what i'm "missing". my prayer is that i will continue to CHOOSE JOY! even though i won't be turkey trotting on thanksgiving or driving through audubon park looking at lights on christmas eve, i am blessed to have a new kind of family in this place, and i will get to make some new holiday memories (and maybe even traditions) with them! 

even though i'm 7,000 miles from what i've always known as "home", i'm excited for the holidays in this new home of mine. i'm excited to try to make green bean casserole using all asian ingredients; i'm excited to watch our boys scrimmage in a 'turkey bowl'; i'm excited to share about these holidays with all my asian friends and get to welcome them into our home for a taste of "america". i read a blog this week that said "thanksgiving always translates to thanks-LIVING". so for now, i'm seeking to live in that thankfulness and let transcendent joy direct my steps!

halloween asian style: despite what our faces may reveal...

we actually really LOVE getting to celebrate together here!

daring to be uncomfortable?

"it is time: we are all done with the drug of comfortable and dare to live the dream of the uncomfortable. it is time: we're all hungry for God--and He is OUTSIDE of our comfort zones. this is what faith is." -anne voskamp.

dreaming of what's uncomfortable? this is rarely my first response. i cling to what is comfortable and fight my hardest to keep it close. i run from the uncomfortable and build walls to keep it out. i like the known, the expected, the safe, the plan...and yet, here in this place i'm realizing that is not usually where the Lord will let us rest. there's not much in the Bible about being comfortable. it talks about sacrificing everything for the sake of the Gospel; it speaks of going to unknown places and awaiting what the Lord might have; it talks about leaps of faith. that little red thread running throughout each page weaves the story of a Savior who surrendered all that was comfortable and took on a life of ultimate discomfort--for our sake. 

if i say i want my life to look more like Jesus, i think i am going to have to give up this 'drug of comfortable' more thoroughly. i sure don't know what that means, and it scares me a bit even to type it. what i'm learning is that in giving up what is comfortable (life at home, family and friends close by, chick-fil-a, my dreamed of 'picket fence' life...), Jesus meets me in the uncomfortable and brings me closer to Himself. He tells me He is enough, and here He shows it to me firsthand. He tells me He is my one true comfort, and i'm finally starting to grasp what that looks like. in my tendency to surround myself with what is comfortable, i also tend to forget about this call to ABIDE. the comfortable lulls me into a sense of self-adequacy, and that is not where i want to land.

so in a place that is severely uncomfortable, i'm asking for more of Jesus. to know more of Him, to trust Him more deeply, to believe Him more wholly. i long for His kingdom come...what would it really mean for it to come on earth as it is in heaven? our purpose is His glory: may the uncomfortable make that goal ever more clear! we are not yet home, so for now, i ask for the uncomfortable.

explorin' the grand canyon of asia.

rode a train for 8 hours and saw some pretty beautiful countryside...

peanut butter pumpkin bread helped make those 8 hours go by a bit faster.

best little sketch hole-in-the-wall you can imagine. 

on our way to see the canyon: 2 hours up windy curvy roads--they even passed out vom-bags just incase...

majestic mountains (we climbed to the tops!)

exploring the gorge below.

thankful for this reminder of faithfulness.

explorin' and posin' (everytime we pose for a picture, bunches of asians snap our pic too...)

a little glimpse of fall.

roomie love!

bros lookin hardcore.

because who wouldn't want this as a snack after hiking 8 km?

glory! glory!

finished our weekend with a 12 hour train-ride back...might've been the most culturally real thing i've done yet. here was my seat buddy.

promises to cling to.

living in a place that is so far from comfortable and different than normal, i regularly seem to evaluate what i truly believe. so often i forget the identity i have been given as a daughter of the king, and i stray from the truth of His promises. one of my first weeks here i made a list of His unwavering promises that i must cling to and know as true...it's been a neat exercise to turn to these again and again, remembering WHOSE and WHO i am. hope you might enjoy being reminded of these truths and can cling to these promises wherever He might have you:

• God is FOR me (romans 6:23).
• His Spirit intercedes for me (romans 8:26).
• He works all things for my good and His GLORY (romans 8:28).
• His ways are higher than mine (isaiah 55:8-9).
• when I have merely plans, He has PURPOSE (proverbs 19:21).
• He goes before me and will not forsake me (deuteronomy 31:8)
• He has called us to nations and will go with us (matthew 28:18-20).
• He calls us BELOVED children and has LAVISHED grace upon us (1 john 3:1)
• He WILL answer what we ask of Him in prayer (john 14:14, 15:16, 16:24)
• He promises streams of LIVING water to flow forth from our hearts (john 7:38)
• He formed me and created me in His image: fearfully and wonderfully (psalm 139:13-16).
• His word guides me to purity (psalm 119:9).
• He WILL be exalted among all nations (psalm 46:1)

watermelon tasting.

i keep thinking the "weird" of this place is becoming normal...and then something so absurd happens, i know i'll never really get used to it! today's moment happened at the grocery. going to the grocery in america is usually pretty average, easy, and unsurprising. the grocery is asia is about the exact opposite: saleswomen shout at you on every aisle to buy their product, chips have flavors like 'spicy shrimp', and it is rare to feel successful upon completing your shopping.

i was shopping for our family dinner and simply needed some watermelon to use for our fruit kabobs. turns out this grocery only had GIANT watermelons that certainly wouldn't have survived the scoot ride home. i mustered up the courage to gesture and ask if i could buy only half of a watermelon (another thing i'm learning about this place: rules are more of suggestions and asking gets you pretty far)! i successfully communicated my request, and my new fruit lady friend disappears to cut my watermelon.

when she returned holding the dripping, juicy melon, i'm so pleased to see she has half, and it looks like i can buy it. she begins shouting to me in her local dialect (of which i know ZERO), so i just keep telling her "wo yao" (i want it). next thing i know my new friend sticks her FAR from clean fingers straight into the watermelon, snatches a bite, and shoves it into my mouth...dirty fingers and all. laughing in shock, i taste the watermelon and try to ignore the dirt kernels crunching alongside. my little friend was so pleased that i liked it and seemed pleased with herself for allowing me a taste. it was a perfectly asian moment where i had to laugh instead of cry, because what can you even do? and in that moment be thankful that although i live in a place of utter chaos, i am developing a weird love of the absurdity. fortunately the melon was good and our kabobs were a hit!

a day in the life.

i have a wonderful roomie...and we have a lot of fun.

just your typical mode of transportation.

home sweet home.

i get to do life with this really incredible family.

first day of school!

buildings on buildings on buildings on buildings on buildings.

7 AM gameday kickoff, war eagle to that.

just a normal rainy day at the library.

i'm making the coolest friends...and learning to drive them side-saddle...

sometimes we do insanity in this sketchy parking deck...as in most everyday.

big city night life. 

what would i even do without them?

a day of dance aerobics with my new friends...in a whole new language.

after a little scooter crash we got to learn a lot about socialized medicine. fortunately our patient is alive and well!

nature never ceases to reveal the Lord's majesty.

just an average weekend of exploring.