It sure looks like I'll be updating once a quarter, which would make sense considering my next update would be in the end of June when school ends and I'll fly off to Hong Kong for the summer.
"I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill His purpose for me." (Psalm 57:2)
It's still "Sitting with Ron", as I haven't run for about 3 months now. For two weeks, I gave running a quick spurt to earn a reward in the form of sushi in Hong Kong during the CNY holidays. But I have picked up weight training again and for some odd reason, I remembered that I still have a blog out there.
It's been an amazing four months since I last wrote. Just having read my past entry, I hadn't mentioned about how the engagement and wedding planning have been going. The planning in itself was all new, and we had some trouble figuring out exactly what we wanted and what was expected of us. But that wasn't really the hard part. The hardest part was the drama resulting from unmet expectations, cultural differences, and miscommunication. Back in December, we (yes, I'm going to be using the pronoun "we" a lot more from now on) were facing an ultimatum: go on a destination wedding (get married on an island without family present), or never go home again until a baby's been born. I can't go into detail on how that ultimatum came about - that alone would require a whole blog for itself.
So for about two months - a huge cloud loomed over our heads. My parents adamantly requested that we not go back to Seattle. CNY arrived and our first week was spent in back in HK to mainly take care of wedding stuff. Then off we went...
...Seattle was a blast! Again, going into detail would require a whole blog in itself - let's just say that miracles were happening right in front of our eyes. Unfortunately we weren't able to catch up with everyone there, but we felt that the time spent reconciling and then building up our relationships with my parents were well worth it. And then as soon as we left Seattle on good terms with my folks, more drama ensued with my fiancé's family. Going into detail...yeah, you know the drill.
The bottom line was, we had spent more time crying out to God and leaning on Him.
School: The first semester just felt long. Actually, it really was long considering it took 21 weeks and this second semester is flying by with just 19 weeks. I've learned a lot from the previous five months, and the start of the new semester was relatively easy. I took on another class - the 2.5 year olds. I hadn't taught this class for two years, so I was at first a bit rusty, but soon found it to be joyful and my main source of a good body workout (singing and dancing to entertain them).
Projects: I've pretty much stayed out of the Monday group. The energy required to keep up with personal issues just wasn't there for me to help out the Monday group. Thankfully, God provided the extra hands to help lead and facilitate conversations. I've stayed focused on the Wednesday group, even though it's been challenging with a much younger demographic and so it's been hard keeping their attention. Overall the dynamic has changed: two years ago this gathering started with just the kids and the moms tagged along. A while ago, some friends came to help take the moms into their own group - and has become quite fruitful. I see my role fulfilling another purpose - teach the kids so that the moms are freed up to learn. One other activity has been Sunday teaching - and oddly this has been my happier medium. Despite the fact that there are only 6-8 kids, and that four of them constantly cause me headaches, I can at least use English completely and can go more depth in the study than I usually do for Wednesdays.
The quarter so far: God is good, and He is faithful. I've learned to be humble, realizing that I don't have all the answers to life's stressful problems, but that's okay because the Bible has the answers. I've also learned that there's only so much I could do to change other people's attitudes and their hearts - especially with other believers. For them, I can simply rely on God and trust in Him and the Holy Spirit to do the work. Most importantly, I cannot let one personal issue can block my entire view, losing sight of God's big picture.
The quarter ahead: 9 more weeks of this semester to go! And the next 9 weeks are not letting up. I just got done giving midterms to my English language students. The next 3-day weekend, May 1st (Labor Day) is coming up, soon followed by a camping trip with the 6th & 7th graders, International Day that involves the entire school, and then Kindergarten Graduation, which always involves me as being the photographer, emcee, song director, or all three. And finally - July. We're flying off to HK and spend the month tying up all the loose ends before we tie the knot. :)
0 comments:
Post a Comment