life ebbs and flows

For a wonderful update on our pet-life, please read Erin's blog from today, here . Also, my church's dog, Jonnie, might possibly be pregnant. Oh yes, right at the beginning of winter--so they will be little puppy pop-sicles.

For a while I knew pizza day was coming. Initially I thought I would be making 30 pizzas. 30 pizzas is a daunting task for most people, however our pizza situation was even more daunting with our tiny ovens. When the day began approaching I found out I only needed to make about 15 pizzas. Music to my ears, that was. The pizzas were for the youth at my church. A fellowship activity--just to simply enjoy one another's company. It definitely was joyful. I created, with a team of my Mongolian friends, a little pizza shop [or factory] in one of the classrooms at my church When the pizzas were finished we all gathered to watch a wonderful performance of Tektonic--the dance craze of the millennium. If you don't know what that is, you should educate yourself here . And after we enjoyed our 15 delicious very meat-y [about 3 kilograms of meat] pizzas, we played Honey, if you love, you'll smile. After some hesitation about playing, they realized that it was a ridiculous and fun game ...

Chopsticks, Asian food, an obscure language, bundling for -35 degree weather, talking without words, having relationships purely through Skype, including meat in every dish, singing in another language, cooking and making things from scratch: bagels, tortillas, pretzels, etc., learning to be at home on the other side of the world... These are just a few of the things that I have learned this past year. It is unbelievable to even think about the fact that I've been away from every thing I have ever known for a year [I realize a year is a tiny amount of time], much less that where I am now is familiar--also my home. There are some things I wish weren't so familiar, though. I wish seeing dead frozen puppies as I walk to work weren't familiar. I wish the constant awareness of the difficulties of everyone's home life, whether it be because of money problems or relational problems, weren't so familiar. I wish it weren't so familiar that the lack of jobs causes people ...

"For we are God's fellow workers; God's field, God's building." 1 Corinthians 3:9

Snow is so beautiful. Growing up in Alabama, when it snowed everyone got really excited because it was a rare happening. And by rare I mean it maybe, maybe snows once a year--and usually doesn't stick. Today is October 1, 2010. I have almost been in Mongolia for an entire year. I.cannot.believe.it. There are so many things that have changed in my life, some of which I'm not even sure I have noticed. The things I think, the things I eat, the things I wear, the things I can understand--there are a myriad of things that are different. One of the biggest things that has changed is my affinity [well, and adaptability] to the snowy life. When were first arrived in Mongolia, last October, there was already a lot of snow on the ground. Immediately it was different than anywhere I had ever lived. With every passing day the weather got colder and colder and the snow became a regular occurrence. I soon realized it wasn't strange, it was a normal part of life--just like rain is to me....