Gloria

Gloria has really taken charge of her own faith. Before she left for winter break, she was unsure if she was truly a believer. I asked her to share her experience with me. I came to the conclusion that she was a genuine believer. I also asked her the "3 Questions" I'm kind of known for asking students.

1. Do you believe you have sin? Do you believe you have offended God and disobeyed Him?
2. Do you believe Jesus can erase your sin through his life and death? Do you want his forgiveness to cover you?
3. Do you want to commit your life to God and be faithful to Him always and only?

She answered yes to all the questions. And was kind of shocked that how easy the whole process was. I told her if she believed all those things to be true and wanted to commit her life to Jesus, then all she had to do was believe it in her heart and affirm it with her mouth. She did. She's been blossoming ever since!

(Gloria is on the right. Yvonne is on the left.)

Starting in March, she and others have been reading James together. Coco asked, "How can God make us stronger and give us peace?" Gloria wanted to share a personal story.

Gloria shared about how she always felt guilty going to the temple and bowing down when she believed in God. She never felt like she could stand up to her parents. After she made her confession verbally, she felt much more strong spiritually. She told us how she stood up to her parents over the winter break. She felt great peace and power. Like she could do anything! She feels stronger and stronger each day. She was not disrespectful, but lovingly said no, that she would not go to the temple and bow down. She would not burn incense. She would not give offerings.

Listening to her story and her witness to the other students almost brought me to tears. She has such a sweet soul. She's so gentle and kind. She could've been disowned from her parents, it could've caused a lot of drama and conflict. But she stood her ground. This is a great difficulty for many brothers and sisters in Asia. Many festivals and holidays are focused around the afterlife and worshiping ancestors or temple activities.

I'm excited to continually be a part of Gloria’s growth and just watch her blossom. I'm not doing anything. It's all the Spirit alive inside her.

Whole30 rocked my world...

Oh yes. I have followed the trend. If you don't even know what Whole30 is, just goes to show how much cooler I am than you ;) 

But seriously, I don't want to be dramatic. However, Whole30 has kind of changed my life. I'll first tell you the Purpose...

It's like the healthiest, most intense detox of your life!!! It's meant to boost your energy levels, give you more regular bowels, up your metabolism, boost your immune system, eliminate certain conditions or aches. The food we eat has more of an effect on us than we know or can to admit. Stripping certain foods from your diet for 30 days can have wonderful health and psychological benefits.

The Rules...

• No sugar of any kind: raw, organic, artificial, etc.
• No dairy: no raw milk, goat milk, soy milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, etc.
• No legumes: no beans of any kind, black, kidney, white, pinto, lima, peanuts, etc.
• No alcohol or tobacco.
• No grains: wheat, barley, oat, corn, rice, etc. This also includes quinoa and couscous, the pseudo-grains.
• No white, red, purple or gold potatoes. In any form.
• No carrageenan, MSG or sulfites. It's really important to check the labels of things you are buying or going to cook with.
• No paleo-ifying baked goods, desserts or snacks. You are trying to break those habits of snacking unnecessarily and eating "junk food." For the next 30 days, don't try to replicate food you miss. Just eat good, real, wholesome food.

My Whole30
I'm going to do my best to put it all into one paragraph. In the beginning, I honestly thought I was going to fall asleep at the wheel. Well, hypothetically. I live in China, so I don't do much driving. Okay, I do NO driving. But if I was behind a wheel, I think I would have fallen asleep during the first week. Depriving my body of sugar was the hardest part. I mean, I didn't gorge myself on it before, but my morning coffee always had sugar and milk. Which leads to my second challenge. COFFEE. I thought I wasn't going to make it! I was sure I was going to give up coffee altogether before the 30 days was up. But other than that I had fun cooking and trying to create new dishes with what seemed limited ingredients and spices.

Okay, I can't do one paragraph. It's going to be more like four. Week Two. I was feeling it!!! They call it Tiger Blood. I was SO energized. I was sleeping better, more fully and deeper. I was guzzling black coffee. My bowels were better than they have ever been. If you know me, I've never had good bowels. I'm almost always constipated and I usually have to drink a special tea to get things going. TMI? Get over it. I was even feeling lighter. And I was past the icky bloated stage, so that was nice too.

Week Three. Not much to say. Things were still going well. I was getting a little frustrating/bored with food. I was having a hard time feeling like I wasn't eating the same thing over and over again. And I was craving sweets and breads more than ever. But I didn't give in!

Week Four Plus 2 days. At first half of the last week, I had this anxious, can't wait to be done feeling. All I wanted to do is eat chocolate and pumpkin bread and banana bread, ANY bread! But I didn't give in or entertain those thoughts too much because I knew I was almost done. The second half was full of ideas and thoughts. How was I going to go on after Whole30? What habits did I want to continue? Was I going to allow sugar again? How can I be healthy about the amount of breads and grains I eat? Why did I EVER taint my coffee with sugar and milk before?! I'm trying to figure it all out.

Cons/Hard Stuff

1. Don't let my optimism fool you. It was tough to stick to. And I did mess up a couple times because I was a little absent-minded. But I'm not a die-hard Whole30ist, so I didn't start over at day 1 when I did.
2. I was super tired the first week-ish.
3. There was one day around day 9 or 10 that I had really bad stomach cramps. Like fetal position style.
4. After a while, it got hard to be creative with food.
5. Living in China, it was tough not having some things that could be easily purchased in America. Like seasonings or sauces other Whole30ists used.
6. At first, cooking/prepping/planning was a hassle!! What a time consumer.
7. I had trouble with breakfast. I'm not a breakfast eater. So, that was tough to do.
8. I also had trouble with the portion sizes. It felt like SOOO MUCH food sometimes.
9. Always having to cook at home. China is a social-eating society.
10. Having to go to the grocery store more often.
11. I missed yogurt a lot!

Pros/Things I've learned

1. I feel like my tastebuds have been enhanced.
2. I have more energy.
3. Better bowels and movements.
4. Sleep has improved. I fall asleep faster and longer and deeper.
5. I lost about 12 lbs/5.5 kg. Arms, legs, tummy overall skinner.
6. For the most part, I've broken my nasty snacking habit. AND if I ABSOLUTELY have to have a snack, I make it a healthy one; fruits, nuts, etc.
7. My close fit better.
8. I feel healthier and lighter.
9. I know I can live without sweets, sugar, breads and other things I thought I couldn't do with out.
10. I LOVE BLACK COFFEE.
11. My mouth salivates when I think about wholesome, all natural, unprocessed food.
12. I don't crave bad foods or junk food.
13. Having a healthier relationship with carbs. And food in general.
14. Enjoying cooking again and getting better at it. Or at least I think so.
15. Connecting with my body. That sounds so "spiritual" and "hippie." But I mean, I know when I'm truly hungry and when I'm not. And making a wise decision accordingly.
16. I have a good sense of how different foods effect my mood, body and energy levels.
17. Starbucks will be a special treat. I won't over do it.

Here's the site. Check out Whole30 and decide if it's something you want to try.

Hahahaha, and please ignore my face in the photos above.

Kids say the darnedest things...

As my taxi pulled in to my city, I had a rush of excitement in my heart. Familiar signs, characters, places and people were all around. Ok. In a city of 1.5 million, I wasn't really seeing familiar faces. But the swarm of Asians was comforting. I was anxious to be in my apartment again and unpack.

My super awesome friend, Sarah was waiting for me. She's the sweetest. She had bought me dinner and a drink and anxiously awaited stories and hugs. We chatted and caught up as I scrambled around unpacking.

After she left, I settled into the silence around me. After two months in America, it was soothing to hear...nothing. My apartment felt SO small after living in the giant homes of the USA. I decided to cuddle with my beloved Edith to detox from the stress, anxiety and hours of traveling (33 hours to be exact). I popped in The Avengers and tried my darnedest to pay attention and stay awake. I told myself I would stay up until 9. Half way through the movie I told myself 8:30. By 7:45, I was hoping to make it just 15 more minutes. But at 8:00 pm, I was cozy in my bed and fell asleep before Harry even blow up his aunt Margaret (I fall asleep to Harry Potter movies, among others).

Monday morning was rough. I took an hour nap, even though it went against all my jet-lagging beliefs. I knew I needed some Z's if I was going to make it through afternoon classes. And boy am I glad I did.

Here are gems from Q&A time this week talking about American taboo topics: politics, religion and sex.

Is sex great?
Have you had sex before?
Did your boyfriend pressure you to have sex?
How did you become a Christian?
Are there special requirements to pray?
Do you think anything happened between Obama and Beyoncé?
Are there witches in America?
Have you even been in a demonstration?
Have you been in the White House?
How would you feel if your husband has a lot of sex experience?
Will you have sex before marriage?
Have you ever supported a war?
How do you feel about America monitoring other countries' Internet?

I'm also teaching an English freshman class. Here are some quality comments from them:

You like cooking. I like eating.
I am so lucky to have a beautiful, cute, elegant teacher.
I hope we can be friends.
Modern Family is one of my favorite shows.
Do you have QQ?
Are you married?
What about a boyfriend?
Do you want to find a Chinese husband?

Week 2

It's Week 2, here on the East Side. The semester doesn't really feel like it's in full swing, but I'm sure by next month, I'll be ready for a little break.

In my normal oral English classes, we are learning a couple of new vocab words and idioms. As well as having a discussion on questions students brought to class. So, far, these are some of the questions we've discussed:

What is your opinion on Syria?
Why do you prefer tattoos? (Just to clarify, I never said I PREFERRED tattoos. I have one, so I must prefer them, right?)
Are you for or against Cosplay? (I had to look that one up!)
Is it possible for you to marry and Chinese man and live in China forever?
What was your impression of Chinese before coming to America?
How do you deal with your meals on the weekend? Eat at a restaurant or cook at home?
What do you do when you face difficulties?
What kind of music do you like?
Do you like horror movies?
How many kids do you want to have? (They were shocked by my answer, 3 or 4.)

In the Bible class, we are discussing the creation of humankind. We also talked about human freedom, peace and love. When I asked "What is freedom?" This is what I got:

To be an individual
To have choose your own personality
To do what you want
To say what you want
To be able to NOT do something
Financial independence

When I asked, "Can you have rules and freedom?" There was a resounding YES. They thought there is no way to have a concept of freedom if there are no rules.

We also discussed how there is risk in love. You can give your love to another person, but there is a chance that they will reject that love and not return love to you. Rejection can be painful. They could easily understand this idea of freedom and rules and love and risk. When I related that to man and God, it was a little more difficult to accept.

Why would God give them a rule?
Why would God test man like that?

Overall, good discussion and good questions. What a good time.

Pinterest

So, this is my first Pinterest post. I first saw the idea last year. I REALLY loved it and was determined to figure out how to do it in China. Things take more time here and it takes more effort to find stuff. I first realized it was possible after I bought a few canvases from the local art store. I didn't like the paintings I had done and tore off the canvas. Not like a crazy person, but I was just bored. AND low and behold a simple frame waiting to be painting and hot glued!!!

So, after choosing some "color schemes" I got more canvases, tore off the canvas and got busy!

I suppose this is Stage 3. I should have taken a photo. On the back of the frames I hot glued twine to stretch across the back. I soon realized, a tighter line across was better than a looser one. And then on TaoBao, the Chinese Ebay, I orderd some adhesive velcro like 1" square. I stuck them on my wall and stuck the opposite one on the top corners of the back side of the frame. No measuring needed.

Getting some photos clothes pinned.

The Final Stage. I really love it. I think the colors work well, but I might have to repaint the center right frame. It was supposed to be bright pink, but it looks more red than I want. I'm thinking orange...We'll see...

More home repairs and Pinterest posts to come!

Pinterest Welcome Sign

 About a month ago, I painted this "Welcome" sign for my door. Originally, it was going to be a monogram, but there is too much confusion about which is my first name and which is my last name in China. So, I just decided to go with "Welcome"

It was a lot harder than I thought. Well, the chevron look anyway. You have to draw out a grid and then tape from corner to corner. Sorry, I don't have photos of that stage. Just look on Pinterest ;) 

Here is the final project and a photo of it on my door. I feel like it looks much more welcoming. Its a big hunky, green, steel door. Not very friendly. I wish I had thought through the colors more. Originally, it was going to go in my house, but I thought it would be a nice touch on my door. Next, I need to scrape all the locksmith stickers off.