Plans

Plans

I don’t know about all of you, but I like to make plans.  I like to wake up in the morning and know that I am going to leave the house by nine for playgroup, come home for lunch, put the kids in bed by two, have dinner at six….the list goes on.  I’m even less flexible when it comes to long term plans.  I like to know what is going to happen.  I also having a burning desire to know how exactly its all going to fit together.  I like to know this so that I can plan the alterations that will make everything work.  When I have errands to run, I like to plan the order I will do them so that I never have to back track and I always make a right handed turn coming out of the parking lots. (Really, I actually do this.)  Its efficient.  It makes things easier.  Smoother.  I like to plan.  And really it doesn’t seem all that unreasonable to me to plan on knowing when one is going to make a major life altering move to the other side of the world.  Also, how exactly does one pack for such a move?  Or, what exactly do I need to know about bringing young children to this new place?  How exactly will I communicate with people once I get there?

I must tell you, that it isn’t because of a lack of desire to plan out all of these things.  I have tried.  I actually ordered a book called “Living in Shenzhen” over month ago.  It has sections on how to find an apartment, bring children to China, how to use public transportation, and tells about something called “squat toilets.”  Did you catch that?  OVER A MONTH AGO!  Hasn’t come.  We keep sitting down in the evening and planning out when exactly we should be looking for plane tickets given best and worst case scenarios on our Visas.  And once again tonight all of our expectations are blown to smithereens.

We have, however, managed to purchase, download, and begin audio lessons in Mandarin.    I can now tell you that “Ni Hao Kai Lan” means “Hello Kia Lan.”  And that if I wanted to know how Kia Lan was doing I could say “Ni hao Ma, Ki Lan”.  Beyond that, I think I may have to become the world’s best at charades, because, and I truly mean this, the Chinese language is no less than mind boggling.

So as I sit here tonight looking at my calendar counting the days before I move to China  I feel a little bit like I’m listening to my son count…. You know how a 3 year old counts right?  “One, two, three, five…eleven, seven, sixteen, ten, four.”  But I also wonder what exactly is it that God is doing here? And will I be patient enough and open enough to learn what He is trying to teach me in all this?

“’For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord…” Jeremiah 29:11

“Woe to those….who say, ‘Let God hurry, let him hasten his work so we may see it.’” Isaiah 5:19

“Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.  For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.  Praise the Lord.”  Psalm 117

Insanity

The time has come for me to inform all of you that Rob and I are certifiably insane.  I know.  You all knew this.  But I am now offering you documented proof.

I have accepted a position as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in Shenzhen, China!  Our paperwork is in and we are left waiting of the efficiency of government to tell us when exactly we will be going, but it’s looking good for sometime toward the end of January or the beginning of February.

 I don’t know exactly what this blog will look like, but consider the following:

 We are moving a family of four to a country that has had a “one child only” law for over 30 years.  We will become one of those families that is odd even by U.S. standards where there is a stay-at-home daddy.  All the Chinese we currently know comes from “Ni Hao Kai Lan”. ( For those of you lost on that one, it’s a show geared for toddlers that for the most part makes parents a little nutz).  There’s also that “anti-Christian” sentiment that we have all been raised hearing about.  And last but not least, I will finally, after I’m not exactly sure how many years of trying, have my own classroom as a Teacher!   I guess what I am saying is that I am pretty sure I’ll find a topic or two to write about and I hope you are all stick around long enough to witness us emerge from this insanity which we are about to voluntarily jump into!

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention the little matter of our little rural Northern Michigan family moving to a city  with more people in it than the entire state of Michigan!