Glorying

I think the word for how I’m enjoying this place is “glorying”. When I hike, when I work, when I meet new people and when I wake up and look at the mountains (or fog! ) every morning, I glory in it. I guess “revel” would be another word.

I’ve met so many people, and am constantly amazed at how they love to talk and share and are so friendly. And there are people here from all over!

Plus there are Christians everywhere. There’s two people that arrived the same day I did, that worked with ministries in the park and will be doing some kind of services here in June. There’s a guy from Philadelphia in the kitchen, who goes by “Philly” cause his real name is too long. He became a Christian after he got shot in a gang war in his home city. There’s a guy that drives the shuttle that was also involved in the ministries in the park. He whistles hymns as he drives. There’s another guy working in the kitchens. Yesterday I forgot my keys and went downstairs to the rec room, and after a few hellos he asked, “Are you a Christian?” He prayed for me – a girl came down while we were holding hands, ha ha. She was kinda freaked out. XD I love how God connects people, how the Holy Spirit instantly gives you something in common and how you can share about personal things in your life and pray for others. If they know Jesus, there is a connection that is weird to others and wonderful and hard to explain. Love it!

I loved hiking and getting wet and feeling my body get stronger. I love working and cleaning and talking to people and pushing the mop and joking with my co-workers and having employees here know me and talk to me.

I love having spare minutes here and there – not enough to do something, but enough to sit and read Lewis or Miller or the Bible. I love it when my room’s empty, and playing worship music and singing and signing to it.

I love it all. I revel in it. I glory in it. I love living, but even more than that I love living with and for God. He gives me joy, and I am so thankful that He continually gives me life, life abundant and overflowing.

Thank you, my Lord.

Nanowrimo Update: Day 21

Drawing near to the finish line now, only nine more days! I can’t believe how much I’ve written, yet there’s still a lot more to the story before it’s finished.

My word count is currently at about 32,500 – and I haven’t written any for today so far, so I’m a day and a half behind. =S Finding time to write will be rather difficult, as these last days are also the last days of school, and I’ll be taking my driver’s test on the 30th. Why must it never rain but pour?

Speaking of the weather it SNOWED today!! It was so beautiful, but I still can’t believe it’s winter. I suppose it’s because I’m getting so old that everything is just feeling like a cycle. Winter was just here, how can it be here again? Ah, years are just traveling faster and faster.

But I am super excited for the holidays! Although Caleb will be in Korea we will be sending him a package with a lot of fun things *rubs hands in glee*. This will be the first Christmas we’ll be missing a member of our family… there will definitely be sorrow beneath our happiness.

But I hope the month of December does not get flooded with busy-ness, and that there will be time to relax. And enjoy some free time, before the winter quarter starts. *Sigh* Who came up with this idea of quarters and papers and exams for school anyway?

Enjoy this week – and Thanksgiving!

A Chinese Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a marvelous day yesterday – we did. We drove 2 1/2 hours to visit our grandmother and uncle (the traffic was horrendous). She didn’t have the energy to go out and her place was too small to cook a turkey dinner, so we brought in Chinese take-out. It was from an amazing buffet with 101 different choices – they even had turkey, mashed potatoes, etc for Thanksgiving! We got a great deal and ended up taking away eleven of the large take-out containers. Everyone had their fill and more, and enjoyed eggnog, Martinelli’s, and pumpkin pie as well. Since I had just gone down to my grandmother’s less than 2 weeks ago (as my previous entries mention) I was able to show the rest of the family my work on the photo albums.

But finally we had to head home – about 2 more hours of driving and driving… our dogs had been tied up for nearly 12 hours (sadly!!) and… it ended up that the last person out (we will not name names) didn’t close the door all the way. It was wide open – to the vast enjoyment of one of our dogs – and our house was about the same temperature as the outside.

We lit both stoves in our house, though, and got it heated up in a jiffy! =) all in all it was a great Thanksgiving. My dad was simply bowled away by the Chinese buffet and wants to make it a tradition! If only it wasn’t so far away!

But let’s not forget the real meaning for the eating (he he, instead of reason for the season, get it? Just doesn’t rhyme as well…).  I know it gets rather cliche and mundane – “A starving child in China would love to eat those leftovers!” but it is good to remember, wherever we are, that God has blessed us tremendously. So here’s some good quotes for the season – things that we should remember all year round:

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought,
and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton

You cannot do a kindness too soon
because you never know how soon it will be too late.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think I learned
to appreciate and treasure each day,
because you don’t know
how many you’re going to be given.
US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

If you haven’t all the things you want,
be grateful for the things you don’t have
that you wouldn’t want.
Unknown

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant,
to enact gratitude is generous and noble,
but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.
Johannes A. Gaertner

Blessed are those that can give without remembering
and receive without forgetting.
Author Unknown

Truly appreciate those around you,
and you’ll soon find many others around you.
Truly appreciate life, and you’ll find that you have more of it.
Ralph Marston

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast,
a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today,
and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.
Ralph H. Blum

One more:

“I like to walk alone on country paths,
rice plants and wild grasses on both sides,
putting each foot down on the earth
in mindfulness, knowing
that I walk on the wondrous earth.
In such moments, existence is a miraculous
and mysterious reality.

“People usually consider walking on water
or in thin air a miracle.
But I think the real miracle
is not to walk either on water or in thin air,
but to walk on earth.

Every day we are engaged in a miracle
which we don’t even recognize:
a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves,
the black, curious eyes of a child–
our own two eyes.
All is a miracle.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, “Miracle of Mindfulness”

Do you have any to add? What about Bible verses about Thankfulness? Put ‘em down below – and enjoy the Christmas music on the radio!

Sarah