life ebbs and flows

this picture is now a false representation of what is happening in mongolia, since it is snowing right now. but this is what the week of fall looked like...it was beautiful. that's our sweet church dog, joni, the one who is possibly pregnant [soon to give birth to puppy popsicles] this is a gathering of the praise team at our apartment. these are some of the senior citizens enjoying dancing with each other at a gathering a few weeks ago. they LOVE dancing. and last but not least, dobby and luna. i call this dobby's emo picture. i think she scowled so long that her face is now permanently like that.

like all good stories, this one begins with a case of never ending strep throat. a self-diagnosed case but a case nonetheless. there once was a girl who moved to a country far, far away. in the beginning it was difficult to figure out all the ins and outs of this new place but after a while she figured it out and even got comfortable. she has been there for a while now but the time is running out. one day, while she was dealing with the pains of this chronic-like strep throat, she decided that she needed a reprieve from this intense pain. so, she went off to find buy some yogurt and juice, thinking a smoothie might be just the right fix. she was generally a talkative girl but due to the throat ache-age, she was unusually quiet. because of this she had been thinking a great deal about what would soon be happening in her life in the near future. a few days earlier she had received news that she would be returning to her home that is far, far away from the home she's found in what was...

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....