never cease to be amazed

"O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.



You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me,

Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me." (Psalms 139.1-10)

::i need you to love me::

"I have wasted so much time
Pushing You away from me
I just never saw how You could cherish me
'Cause You're a God who has all things
And still You want me"

isn't God's love amazing?

honestly, i don't think that i could go on enough about it.

He keeps surprising me. keeps showing me his many little (and BIG) blessings. keeps loving me. and yet, isn't it interesting how often i take advantage of it all?

I AM SOOOO BLESSED TO BE BACK IN TAIWAN!

that is truth.

but honestly, these past few weeks/months (year?) i've gone through some of the hardest times in my life.

from trusting God, cherishing Jesus, lovin the family, being there for friends... idk. it's been hard.

yet through it all, God always shows himself to me.. and He's MORE THAN ENOUGH.

isn't that weird?

I could rant and rave on and on about God's love. yet i find myself forgetting all the time... and it isn't until i reach that beautiful, quiet moment that i find myself thinking... "wow. He really does love us just this much"

i don't think one thing brought about this train of thought... it was more like a million and two little things... :)

i don't even know how to explain it.

all i know is that God really does love me.

yes, things happen. shake our faith. make us feel lower than ..er, dirt. friends may leave us. people may change. and yes, those closest to us hurt us the worst.

but if we take a moment and look at the overall picture... doesn't it all just bring us closer to God? and therefore, doesn't it make us even more beautiful in His eyes? so... what else matters? <3>

So... what is this all coming down to?

idk. just letting you know that God loves me.

and if He is amazing enough to love someone like me, His love for YOU is un-doubtable! ...just sayin :)

Things that iliked this week:

- letter/pictures from mi madre
- PACKAGE from granny Ruth <3>
- nightly fireworks
- moon festival
*at Yellow's house (BBQ, fireworks/sparklers/food/sleeping on the ground in their garage)
*at Blanche's church - what AMAZING fellowship <3
* with our newly-found american/asian friends around the corner - AMERICAN BBQ :) :)
- starting our WEEK-long camps (the kids came in this morning... SO STINKIN CUTE!!)
- skypE-ing w/ my amazing ppls back in the states :)
- watching God *continue* to change my heart and draw me back to himself <3>

世界有你會更美好
有人能像你
我們眼中你是寶貝
在世上你就是唯一
喔你是如此如此特別
在世界宇宙中
沒有人能夠像你

喔你是如此如此特別
在世界宇宙中
沒有人能取代你

喔你是如此如此特別
在世界宇宙中
沒有人能取代你


so this is a song we've been learning w/ the kids every week.

i love it a TON.

if you want a little portion of it being sung, i found this youtube clip... not quite accurate, since we're not usually in costume. but i still think it's cute :)
((click here to hear it))

我的號碼不見了，我可以要你的電話號碼嗎？

((hehe... can't help but LOVE the title of this post. we taught it to our Taiwanese teachers today - they' LOVED it ))

Aaannnywho. life is ________ (fill in the blank w/ any {positive} word and it'll work)

We just got done with our 3rd practice week. it's considered "practice" because we only have the kids for the day... they come from 8a-5p. but today was the last day of that...

we have all next week to super-plan/clean up/whatever.else (and we have Wednesday off cuz of the moon festival -- yayness)

and then we have our first week-long group coming in on Sep. 27th -- SO EXCITED!!

These kids who've come only for the day (for a week) have already stolen my heart... how in the world will i be able to come up with enough love for these kids coming for a whole week?!? the answer is simple... it's going to be totally a "God-thing" (and that keeps me constantly amazing/grateful)!! <3

so let's see... some highlights from this last week...

- went to 7-11 and saw my little angel again... ((she's so cute))
- picked up a few more chords on the guitar ((still miss the piano though - praying that i find one soon... ))
- got an email from my HOPIE!!! (i legitly miss my little sis like craaazy) <3
- opened a bank account over here... pay day is coming soon (which means my laptop is coming soon = happiness)
- i'm getting to know my fellow teachers better... and THEY ARE FABULOUS!! the American teachers are great... but the Taiwanese teachers i work with... goodness, i couldn't have asked for better teachers. they are all so stinkin cool!! and i luv them. a lot :)
- i was told by one of my students that i looked like the actress from "mama mia" (great :P)
- picked up on quite a few more Chinese words. looking forward to spending a weekend watching more Chinese films, going through more workbook review, and hanging out with the Taiwanese teachers!!
- started getting txts from my favorite Mel-mel!! ...so glad she's learning how to use skype :) :)
- dyed/cut my hair... go onto fb for pics ;)
- is watching God Ooperly change my heart... in major ways. more news on that to come later... <3 <3

lots of love <3

meeting angels in disguise...

i had a terrible headach today.

thus, i took a walk.

didn't really want to be around ANYONE, cuz i honestly felt like i was going to cry... or my head was going to explode. so i just took off as soon as school let out.

took my headphones and just walked. however, i didn't get far. my head hurt soo stinkin bad. i couldn't think. couldn't really cry.

oddly enough, i walked past a 7-11 (kidding. that's a joke cuz there are litterally more 7-11's here than there are ppls! lol).

so... i walked in to get something to drink.

i saw a little girl sitting alone on a stool, eating ice cream and though nothing of it. i had such a headach that I really didn't feel like talking, or attempting to talk, to anyone.

however, God apparently had other plans.

i had taken out my headphones before entering the store, and i got in there and all of a sudden, my head no longer hurt.

as i was looking at the drinks, i heard a voice next to me. i was surprised to see the little girl standing next to me - most of the children don't approach you unless they know you.

well, she stood next to me and started telling me about her favorite drinks.

oddly enough, i understood everything she was saying.

totally a God-thing, cuz my chinese-skills are not quite there. but i literally understood everything. she told me about the cofffee and how one coffee was better than the others because it had milk in it, thus it was sweeter. and she told me that i had to get an ice cream cone, like she had, because it was the stores best kind.

we talked for a while, i bought my stuff (including an ice cream cone), and we sat down and talked for about 15min!

it was GLORIOUS!

I told her that i was an english teacher at the school nextdoor, and she flipped out, telling me that she went to that school! she was so excited!

needless to say, i just had a prayer come true.

i asked God to show himself to me.

to PROVE to me that this is where i was supposed to be (about time, eh?).

and He did.

i have a feeling that this year is going to be difficult if i try to take in on by myself...

but w/ God's grace, i believe that this is going to be an amazing year of growing...

shoot. i really do hate growing. well, er... i should say, ME hates growing. but in the end, it's for the better... right? :)

i miss you... and i wish you were here.

PICTURES


these make me pretty happy... not going to lie


goodbye mn .... i'll see you next year <3

Kyle O'Brian - a wonderful traveling buddy... though we were both so tired that we barely said a word throughout the whole trip :-)

late-night touring of taipei.... how i missed this city (and yes, i still know my way around here better than i know my way around minneapolis...) :)

JenJou NiCha <3

squatty potties.... speak for themselves...

trying on glasses... ilike :D

see? i'd look great in them ;)

we were all lookin pretty shnazzy... not gunna lie :D

moving in to Yunlin County - my new home <3

These are merely pictures randomly take throughout this past week. but a lot more has been going on... but since it's getting late, i'll tell you all about it tomorrow... or sometime soon <3