Are you "Super Safe"?

“Why does the government think that if the people obey the laws of the Bible, they won’t obey the laws of the government?”

This is the exact question Kathryn asked me as we read a great book called I Love My Bible, by Debbie Anderson. (By the way, I think she is the best author of young children’s Christian books that I have come across. Substantial, accurate, well-illustrated, meaty stuff!) Anyhow, in the book it talks about parts of the world where people have to hide their Bibles, or may get in trouble for talking about their faith. We’ve read this book before, but it sunk in a little more this time. She was trying to understand what I told her about why some governments don’t like people to read the Bible.

“Well, Kathryn, that’s a very important question, and mommy needs a little time to think about it.” (Translation—mommy doesn’t know what I should say and what I shouldn’t say!)

Later that afternoon when I was cooking dinner she brought it up again.

“Mommy, have you thought about it? You’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and you should know now.” Conveniently, her father had just walked through the door, and I sent her to him. (After all, his degree says Master of Theology!)

After this conversation, putting two and two together, she was starting to feel concerned about her safety. I have always aired on the side of truth rather than soft answers when it comes to answering hard questions from Kathryn. I don’t ever want her to tell me, “Mommy, you said God wouldn’t let this happen to us.” Yet, when you’re speaking to a 4 year old, there is a fine line between speaking truthfully and evoking fear…

“But Mommy, how do we know we are safe? Do you think it would be safer if we lived somewhere else?”

“Kathryn, what do you think makes us safe? It’s not that we live it a place that is free from danger, and its not that God promises nothing hard will happen to us. We are safe because we know that whatever hard things might happen to us, God will take care of us. That’s why we’re super safe!”

Sounds easy to say, doesn’t it? Do I believe this? I do, and I want to… It’s not that I don’t believe God will care for us. It’s just that I wish I could define what His care looks like in our lives. "I believe. Help me in my unbelief."

Having lived a good bit of time overseas, I feel that we as American Christians carry around a weight of cultural baggage when it comes to safety concerns. It’s not that it’s bad to desire safety. In fact, I think it is a stamp of God on our hearts to long for a place which is utterly free from fear. It’s just that our culture can tend to have an unhealthy obsession with pursuing it in many ways. I’m not talking about taking stupid risks. I’m talking about living lives full of trust in His goodness, free from anxiety and willingness to step out in bold faith! It seems to me that Christians in persecuted parts of the world don’t primarily ask God to grant them a safe home. They ask God to bring them safely Home. And if that is my hope, then I am “super safe!”

That’s a perspective I pray my kids will grow in, and me too!

Last Day of Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year began on February 7th, 2 days before we came back from Thailand. SO we missed the major onslaught of fireworks on the front end of CNY. But lucky for us, it lasts for 15 days, so yesterday we got to witness the end of the celebration. It was unlike any Fourth of July scene I'd ever been to. I don't quite have the right adjective for it.

I tried to take pictures, but pictures of fireworks just don't do justice. The camera just can't capture the depth and color of the human eye! (And my husband was quick to point out that my photography skills might also have something to do with it.)

We went out to dinner that night, and as we were walking home, we witnessed no fewer than 6 major fireworks displays going off in all directions. I'm not joking. I'm not talking about kids with sparklers. I'm talking about huge-sonic boom-fire department caliber displays! It felt that if you closed your eyes, you would surely be convinced you were in the middle of major battle and should run for cover! This went on from sunset till about midnight.

I told my helper the next day that in the US, individuals can't set fireworks off like this in the city. I thought that perhaps since all the buildings are made of concrete (no wood!) and there is very little GRASS of any kind to set on fire, that maybe it is a bit safer here. She said-- "Oh, no it's dangerous here too! The papers have been full of stories of buildings setting on fire and people blowing their limbs off." Not much I could say to that! Thankfully no injuries that we witnessed. Just really cool explosions! :)

Glorious Moment of Sibling Affection

"PLEASE, Lord-- They are driving me CRAZY! PLEASE you've GOT to make them FRIENDS!"

Just in case you had some crazy notion that our kids were different from other kids...

It feels like truly tedious work to get my children to SPEAK to one another in a kind manner when they want something from the other. Is it ludicrous to think that maybe you could train them to be FOR each other -- to actually give a toy away, just to be kind? I'm sure the arguments get more complex at as they get older. But at age 3 and 4, really there's just a lot of yelling involved.

I usually don't expect such immediate results when I pray... but today I did witness one of the sweetest little moments I think my girls have ever shared.

I walked into their room and they were sitting in Kathryn's bed with their respective special blankies and dollies.
"Whatcha doing"? I asked.
"We're spending special snuggle time together, mom."
Kathryn was 'reading' one of Ellie's favorites to her, "Birthday for Frances"

This is an ironic selection because, if you've read it lately, it's about how Frances deals with jealousy over her little sister's upcoming birthday party. Guess whose little sister just had a birthday.

It was really sweet.
Of course I grabbed the camera.














(Yes, Ellie loves to wear that thing on her head.)

To bring me back to reality, this glorious moment of sibling affection was quickly ousted by vehement debate over the purple tutu. But it was great while it lasted.

Popcorn, Fireworks, and Time for Bed

This is one of those posts that I will probably later delete because it's too late and I have nothing particular on my mind. But let me continue.

I'm sitting here with a dwindling bowl of popcorn where all of the best buttery-salty pieces have already been culled through. The remaining kernels look far too healthy to waste the calories on, especially when you're not the slightest bit hungry. And yet I keep picking. Another big no-no is typing at the computer with sticky-buttery-salty-hands. My kids would get in big trouble for this.

In the background, there are perpetual rounds of battlefield noises--the sonic boom of Chinese New Year fireworks, only slightly masking the hum of my husbands' snoring in the bedroom. Chinese New Year began on February 7th and runs for 2 weeks. The 'big fireworks' days are 1, 5, and 15. But living slightly outside the city's fireworks restricted areas, our neighbors didn't get the memo. I'm amazed there haven't been more accidents. But it probably has something to do with everything being made from concrete, and just about no grass anywhere. And living on the 8th floor with an open field across our building, we've had front-row tickets for each night's display.

A few nights ago we decided we needed to participate. So we pitched in with some friends to buy some of our own. I couldn't believe how expensive they were! We bought one big box, the contents of which lasted about 30 seconds, and spent about $60 US. Kathryn and Ellie decided they like them a lot more while watching out their bedroom window.

On a celebratory note, Ellie is, somewhat officially, potty trained. Only one accident this entire week. This feels the end of an era... I'm not sure how I plan to spend the liquidated assets... probably on more butter and salt for my tasteless popcorn. You see? I better just go to bed.

Controversy and Fence Sitting

I am, by nature and by years of long and intense training, a fence-sitter. Middle-man. Diplomat. Peace-keeper. I think that sitting on top of the fence gives you the best view of both sides. Don't picture a prickly-pointed fence that might be uncomfortable on your fanny. I mean more of a padded wall with plenty of width for a sleeping bag, some lawn chairs and a swinging hammock. Build a campfire and roast marshmellows. Perhaps that's why it so bothered me when I stumbled across a heated discussion yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon when I was looking up someone's name for information in the internet, I happened across a grenade war. Two heavily fortified camps launching firearms of vehement intent. Person A made some attacks against the appearance of a website advertisement, a thinly veiled construction revealing that although they didn't know what they were talking about, they really disliked person B. Person C lobbed back with passionate support of person B, full of mean-spirited, 'you're such an idiot' spirit. Not to be outwitted, person A (whose staunch supporters are also skilled grenade launchers and report back to camp with high-fives and 'you've got her this time') volleyed back in full swing. Person C was, of course, highly offended. And so the battle rages.

I'm not talking about Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama and the nation's healthcare. (Boy it's nice to live in China and not be hearing that mess all the time!) This debate was between two committed Christians, (not making a comment about the spirituality of certain presidential candidates here!) over what I call 'intramural' matters. I mean they weren't fighting over the nature of the gospel, the humanity and deity of Christ, or what is saving faith. They were pouring tons of energy and fire power into an issue that just really doesn't matter that much.

Certainly there are some topics over which I would have to disagree. I mean really disagree. But the list is super short. It just makes me sad that we who we love Jesus and proclaim His message spend so much energy fighting each other. What if, instead of pouring passion into defending our intramural positions, we spent our efforts working together to bring people to Jesus? That's a discussion I'd get down from the fence for.

We're Back

The pic at the top of the last post was clip art-- this one's for real!

It's taken me a few days to recover from our trip, but we're back. Thanks so much for your prayers! I still had on my "sunny tropical" emotional hat when I went out yesterday to catch a taxi without my coat on. Surely it won't be that cold. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Perhaps a "Top 10 most memorable experiences" list would best suffice to tell you about our time away. Not in any particular order:

1. The girls' excitement at each airplane take off. "We're blast-offing! We're blast-offing!" they would yell. Just over 4 hours from BJ to Bangkok--SO much better than crossing the ocean!

2. Watching my husband teach. He loves it. He's good at it. He blesses people. He worked hard. Every day for two weeks, he came back to our hotel room after I went to bed and left again the next morning around 5am. He's tired. I love him.

3. Praise and worship shared by co-workers from 13 different countries!

4. Fun new finds at the bookstore! (Our conference holds a great staff bookstore.) Don't know when I'll fit them in, but here are some of my fun new finds:
Christ Plays in 10,000 Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology, by Eugene Peterson
Care for the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Psychology and Theology, by McMinn
There were some other homeschooling books, but these are just for me! :) If I had time this semester to finish both of these, I would be pleasantly shocked!

5. Rubbing shoulders and enjoying many sharpening conversations with other moms and seasonsed ministry leaders. Lots of great food for thought about personal development and the girls' education living overseas. So much I have to learn; So many things to decide. More on this later. And I must note, that my ability to participate in much of the conference was due to an amazing team of childcare workers that came from a church in Iowa just to make it possible for our moms and dads to attend! Thank you!

6. Ellie's 3rd birthday! Here's a link to some pics of her party I put up on snapfish you can paste into your browser. http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=503111202736685273/l=350820482/g=114358941/otsc=SYE/otsi=SAIS
We spent two days after the conference with our good friends, Will and Tina Mayborn and Will's parents who came to vacation in Thailand too. (Ellie and Micah were born in Dallas, 2 days apart. Jim & I went to go visit Micah when he was born in the hospital, and then I went into labor myself that night! But for the record, Ellie was due 5 days before Micah!)


















7. Lots of time with my good friend Amy. Did you know we came to Asia together in 1996? Still here together. Kathryn and her daughter Makayla made some great connections too! :) Most of our time was spent outside the door of my hotel room, after the girls had fallen asleep. You take it any way you can get it.

8. Date night at the "cliffs" restuarant, Koh Samui, Thailand. Awesome. Best three hours of vacation. After our conference and development week were over, we had 5 days of vacation. We traded "date night" with a couple on our team. After this night, Kathryn ran a fever that last for 2 days, then Ellie began throwing up. Next day it was time to come home. So that's why it was the best of vacation... But it was truly beautiful! See what I mean?












9. Losing my wedding rings, and then finding them again in a guest house in Chiang Mai. I asked Ellie if she had seen them and she said "Yes, mommy, they were right here behind the bed." I assumed she didn't know what she was talking about. I was wrong. Took about an hour, (at which time there was a bit of panic), but when they were found Ellie said "See, mommy--there they are!"

10. A few choice sunrises and sunsets: (I've never seen one since we moved to China.) One on the airplane as we flew "against" time, so the sunset lasted over an hour! I also shared one amazing sunrise with a stray dog who came to join me... He came towards me, and I was about to shoo him away when sat down at my feet and began watching the sunrise too. I love that beautiful hot pink sliver that first crests over the horizon! The girls noted too that beautiful pink a few mornings from our hotel window. They are convinced that pink is God's favorite color...after all, it is the first one he shows off every morning! :)

...And so glad to be back in our own home!