If you're a bird, I'm a bird

As I get older I'm noticing I do not anticipate Christmas quite like I did as a child, or even a few years ago.  In my opinion, that's not necessarily a bad thing. To me there are so many other priorities that trump decorating the house and sending out Christmas cards. Those things seem trivial compared to salvation and eternity. My mind is thinking about my Chinese friends that are still living in oppression on the other side of the world.   I'm thinking about family members that grew up in the church and know about Jesus, but do not really  know  Him. ...by their fruit you will recognize them.  Matthew 7:20 My heart is filled with compassion for the 18 girls in my class and their families. Praying that I can be "a witness in the silences when words aren't enough".    I'm thinking about the Christians who go to church every week, but go just to see people or chat in the foyer. The people that walk in and out each week without c

On my way to school this morning I noticed a decal on the car's window in front of me. It caught my attention. I like arrows.  There is pallet art hanging in our hallway bathroom. We were recently given some arrow art from Joseph's friends, David and Stephen. Joseph and I both have arrow tattoos on our arms. Joseph got his arrows first after he told me what he wanted and the backstory behind them.  His arrows are identical in design, but one arrow is drawn further down his forearm than the other.   For my 37th birthday (2016), I made an appointment to get a tattoo after I took off a half day. I didn't even tell Joseph about it. I showed him when we went to bed that night. There were so many arrow images I liked so I chose two different ones- one masculine and one feminine.  “Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed i

A couple weeks ago, I was asked to return to China for 4-8 months, as early as this month. It was a paid position to travel all over the province I taught, to visit all the 80 teachers that were in the Teacher Training Program over the summer. We would visit the trainees at their schools. I assume, check-up on them, see if they are teaching English in English, as well as  practicing the techniques they were taught. That would be so neat to see all their schools, see them in their work environment, give them advice and encouragement, and visit other parts of China !  Oh, the offer was so tempting! I thought about it for a short 2- minutes, contemplating if it was at all possible. Obviously, already possessing a full-time job and belonging to a family, I couldn't dwell on it long! 😊 R

When I feel like I need to write something, I have to get it out of my head.  You may have noticed me being more vocal about my faith and spirituality. "Geez, what has gotten into her?" you may have thought. You've noticed all the scripture memes and worship songs and church promotionals. I'm aware that I've been more up-in-your-face about the Great Commission and missions too.   I've read my Bible several times a day consistently for 25 days in a row. I have reading plans on my You Version app that I am committed to reading daily. I'm actually excited about them and it's typically the first thing I open on my phone when I wake up. Oh, I'm devouring every scripture I can read. I'm ravenously meditating on them. I have another teacher devotional, Morning Meetings with Jesus, that I read when I get to school. Sometimes I share scriptures with others in hopes they will be encouraged by God's words as well.  As for prayer, sometimes

Today, November 5, is National Redhead Day. Ever since I can remember, elementary school, I have had an attraction to guys with red hair. I've had several crushes and boyfriends with red hair. Owen Grey's Anatomy I don't know what it is. I once told Joseph that my attraction stemmed from feeling sorry for them; thinking they were made fun of growing up. They usually have pale skin and excessive freckles to go with the red tresses. That is our running joke in our house "You just felt sorry for me." I love how their eye lashes are almost non-existent and even the hairs all over their bodies are so orange. I was watching an episode of Brain Games when I realized how different I am from society. You had to rate the attractiveness of the images in pictures. I chose the red headed guy as the most attractive, but compared to most humans' brains, that image was considered the least attractive by the people polled... Brain Games  Laws of Attraction