He amazes me every day

Good morning to you all. It's after 9pm here, which means I am going to be heading to bed in the next hour or two. But I hope you all had a very restful night.

God just continues to amaze me more and more every single day. It really is incredible. 3 things happened today that blew me completely away and can only be described by my Mom as "A God Thing". First, Drew and I had lunch this afternoon and during lunch she asked me how I was feeling about the trip so far. We were in a situation and in a conversation where I felt completely comfortable with telling her some of my feelings so far about fitting in with the group. She seemed quite taken back, but I think she was listening and I think that she understood to a certain extent. Then, a little later in the afternoon I was hanging out with my roommate Amara and her boyfriend, and they asked a very similar question. Again, I felt very comfortable explaining to them how I have been feeling. They too seemed very receptive to my feelings. Amazing huh? Then to top it all off, I got a call asking me to come to dinner with the group. It's making me teary eyed just thinking about this day. God really does listen to prayers, and He really does answer them. It's all in HIS time, rather than ours.

I'm sure my Aunt Nanc Bykerk can attest to this today as well. She got the call last night saying that she can go down to Guatemala to pick up her new little girl, Katherine. Isn't God huge? He answers so many prayers, all in one day. (Mom, I REALLY hope you are going on that trip!!!)

Besides all of the answers to prayers, my day ended up being a good day! I had my first Chinese class with my new professor today and she is great. She has taught Chinese to English students for 3 years now, so she really seems to know what she is doing. Today I learned a lot, and she spent a lot of the time talking to Kendall and I (in English mind you) about what we want to learn in our next 6 class periods. I can't believe that I only have 6 more Chinese classes! Boy will I be happy when it's done. What a rough language. Please just put me back in Spanish!

Then for my Eastern Asian Studies class we took a fieldtrip. We went to a local "Social Sciences" University nearby where this female Chinese professor is a worldwide known Sociologist. Her English was not very good, so she spoke in Chinese and Ni translated for us (It really does awe me to see this happen. He is SUCH a smart man). She spoke to us about some serious underlying issues that China has been facing while their country is developing. It was SO interesting! I could have listened to her (and Ni) all day! One huge issue is that the Chinese people have a culture in which they work EXTREMELY hard. So much so that people are beginning to die from exhaustion. The intellectuals of the society and the manual laborers are working such long hours and are sleeping so little that more and more are dying every day. She told us that certain jobs only get one day off in a whole year (many times by choice) and all of the other 364 days of the year they work 13 hour days. CRAZY!

Another issue that is being faced is College Entrance Examination pressure. The pressure is on the students because with the one-child law, these kids are all that the parents have. They put so much pressure on the student that China is having serious issues with suicide. Also, the parents are going nuts too! Many parents worry so much about their children that they are being diagnosed with "Pre-examination anxiety disorders". During the testing parents are getting laws enforced so that all of the roads around the testing buildings are closed down to eliminate noise. They even shoo birds away from the trees outside of the building. Also, with all of the studying that the kids have to be doing, there is no time for dating. So parents go out and try to find mates for their kids. It's like a dating service... only the parents are running it.

There was so much more that she talked about, but I'm sure I would bore you completely. So I will go on to all of the wonderful emails that I received in the past 24 hours.

First, I got a wonderful email from my Aunt Nancy Bykerk. It was so sweet. And at the time she didn't even know about Katherine! She still managed to brighten my day. After all, she is a HUGE part of the reason why I am here. If she hadn't adopted Emma and Lili, I probably would have no knowledge or interest in China. She is my inspiration for adopting from here someday :o) And I am SO excited to meet this new member of the Bykerk clan! I'm just sorry that I can't meet her at the airport.. I feel as though I've been to all of the others!

Sister Erin, (we really do call each other "sister Erin" and "sister Stacey"!) thank you for another email. I did get the email from Bridal Elegance and don't worry, so far your dress is safe. Unfortunately the cute dress with the overlay is discontinued :o( So sad. I loved that one! Oh well. Hopefully they will get a few new ones in too. I'll be praying for you for your orientation this weekend! Have fun! Man, I can't believe you're going to college in a month. The house will be lonely without you. Of course, I deserve it after ditching you 3 years ago :o) Oh and thanks for sending out the bridesmaid cards... that leads me into my next email.

Mrs. Megan TerVeen. You were the first to email me back! Thank you SO much for the email. It was so heartfelt that it made me cry. I will be emailing you tonight, but I just wanted to publicly thank you.

Katie, thank you for your email as well. It meant a lot.

Dad, thanks for your email. Your advice is just what I am doing... looking forward to Tibet! It will be such an awesome experience that so few people in this world get to experience that how can I NOT look forward to it? Often it is that week (along with coming home!) that gets me through my days. I cannot wait to see what it is like there. Ever since I saw 7 Years In Tibet I have wanted to go there. What a terrible movie though.. although Brad Pitt was looking rather nice in it :o) Please call again soon. Although, with the weekend, it might be best if you wait until next week so I can for sure be in my room. Just give me a heads up on when you are going to call. Oh and you better have another joke with your next email. I miss your jokes terribly. Nobody appreciates your humor as much as me :o)

Mom, thanks for your 2 emails as well. I'm glad you keep Grandpa Ludema updated with my blog. Give him my love. And give my love to Grandpa and Grandma Kingma too. Oh that Grandpa.. always fainting from pain. At least I know where I get it :o) Thank you for all of your kind words as well. I know that's part of your Mom as a job, but you are an extra special Mom because you tell me these things all the time. :o) I love you. Oh, and I told Erin that you said Thanks to her for being there for me and she said:

"Tell your mom I would have liked you the most, even if the other kids were carrying you around, fanning you with leaves and feeding you grapes. When I was in China the first time I had no one and I was lucky or blessed enough to have people come into my life that were willing to help me and show me anything. I know how you felt and I would have helped you even if I didn't have to sleep in Amara's bed. I just got lucky that you're a cool girl. You can thank your mom for making you normal!! :)"

God really did bless me by sending me at least one person who understands my situation huh? P.S, did I tell you that she is possibly getting us into an orphanage this weekend? She has a connection. I might be coming home with like, 10 kids. We'll see :o)

Oh and Mom, I also got an email from Kim Fettig today. Tell her I said thank you.

Lastly, I got about 3 emails from Joe :o) One of which was song lyrics to a song that he guessed, and was correct in saying, that perfectly describes how I'm feeling. I thought I would put it in here:

Another day has almost come and gone
Can’t imagine what else could wrong
Sometimes I’d like to hide away somewhere and lock the door
A single battle lost but not the war (‘cause)

Tomorrow’s another day
And I’m thirsty anyway
So bring on the rain

It’s almost like the hard times circle ‘round
A couple drops and they all start coming down
Yeah, I might feel defeated,
I might hang my head
I might be barely breathing - but I’m not dead

Tomorrow’s another day
And I’m thirsty anyway
So bring on the rain

I’m not gonna let it get me down
I’m not gonna cry
And I’m not gonna lose any sleep tonight.

('cause) Tomorrow’s another day
And I’m thirsty anyway
So bring on the rain

Good song huh? It fits my feelings perfectly. I actually pulled out my iPod and listened to it a few times. And, not only is he taking a whole week off to come up to Glen Arbor with me to vacation with the Hidalgos (I CAN'T WAIT!!!), but he is also going to take the day after I get back off so we can spend time together before I head off to camp. Simply The Best :o)

Alright, well that is all for now. I may miss the blog tomorrow night depending on if I have time for it. Erin's train comes in around 7:45, so if I can write it before then you will hear from me. If not, I'll try to get one in this weekend. We are taking a day-long side trip on Sunday out to the suburbs on Shanghai so who knows how the rest of my weekend will go! Hopefully Erin and I will find some amazing American food though. I'm getting quite sick of this stuff over here! :o) Goodnight everyone, and I look forward to reading more emails tomorrow! Love you all!