Hello again!

Hey all! As you may have guessed, I'm married now! Nate and I have already been in our new apartment for a week (still settling in).

The honeymoon was great! We went to Victoria, British Columbia. The weather was perfect, we ate delicious food, and hit local attractions and oddities.

We are getting ready to leave for Thailand in a few weeks and then China (officially!) in August.

In honor of all the changes happening in our lives, Nate and I have started a new blog together.

Visit us at http://twopieceband.blogspot.com

I haven't decided if I will keep posting on this blog or not. I will let you know.

Big Stuff

When I thought about graduating the thought of what else would be going on in my life never really occurred to me. I knew I'd be moving out on my own, looking for jobs, and that kind of thing. I never thought this much would be going on! It seems like the reality of what is about to happen just started really sinking in last weekend. Now, however, it feels a little surreal. Here is what is happening in my life right now:
Graduation-10 days
Wedding-38 days
Thailand Trip-8.5 weeks

A bit of exciting news! Nate and I have found jobs teaching overseas in Asia! Living overseas is never something we thought we'd be able to do for awhile, let alone right out of college. However, God is so amazingly good and has opened up a wonderful opportunity for us! Things are still not completely official, but it looks like we will go unless something crazy happens. If you would like to know more, please contact me personally. It's not top-secret or anything, I'm just trying to be careful with something that feels a delicate right now. And to think I worried so much!

New Link

Hey all,
Sorry I'm boring. I'm not keeping up with blogging. Oh well. Such is life.
Anyway....
I'm going to Thailand this summer and our team is starting to blog. I've posted the link down at the bottom.
If you want to check us out go to http://thethailandexpress.blogspot.com

Summer Plans

Hey guys,
My posts have been so exciting lately! Well, the posts may not be exciting, but the events that lead to the writing of the post are exciting.

First bit of news: Nate and I have set the date for our wedding: May 24th @ 5:00pm. We should send out some save-the-dates soon. We are getting married at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard (just southwest of Wichita). It is a really great place and we are excited to celebrate with family and friends there. Plus, we will have a lemur at the wedding! We are also planning on having a California Reception at some point for those that won't be able to make it out to Kansas for the wedding.

Second bit of news: Nate and I are going to Thailand!!! We are going with our school and are assistant team leaders for one of our friends and staff members at Sterling. We are going early/mid-July. We are not sure what exactly we will be doing over there. We have a couple of options: teaching English, doing teaching/evangelism in the northern rural areas, or working with girls in aftercare homes (sex-trafficking victims). We are both really exciting about this trip. As most of you who read my blog (family members) know, my cousins have been missionaries in Thailand for almost 9 years now. It has been a place that I have heard about as long as they have been there and I had always hoped to visit. The only sad thing is that they will probably be home on furlough while we are in Thailand! There will be more information about this coming out as well.

Other than those plans, Nate and I are just waiting on God for open doors and opportunities. That includes jobs and housing and the like. Pray for us!

Happenings

I haven't posted much recently...except the post I just posted. But I thought I'd catch you up on what is going on.


Enjoy my photo montage.


About one week after I visited Nate and my Sterling friends and Camp friends I knew from last year at Westminster Woods. The whole staff was part of my prayer team for the trip so I went and talked about my experience and hung out. It was great!





For the first two weeks in July, I was in California with Nate. We went for his sister Katie's wedding (which was beautiful). I went to meet his entire family. They are all really wonderful. They love me and I love them.

While in California Nate and I also spent time at the beach,
I'm Ariel!
Fixed a gnarly flat we got on the way back from the beach,

and hung out with Nate's Filipino brothers. We also spent a lot of time with Nate's parents. That was great since neither one of us gets to see them much!

Katie and Arash's wedding was a blast! It was really neat as they designed the whole ceremony themselves and all of their bridal party members were involved in some way. They also mixed in traditional Iranian wedding traditions as Arash's family is from Iran. Did I mention their wedding was on a cliff overlooking the pacific ocean? Needless to say it was gorgeous, and their decorations were beautiful as well. We also had a rad dance party consisting of Nate's side of the family and Arash's mom (who was sweet and a whole lot of fun)! The only problem with weddings is that you hardly get to see the bride and groom (and the bride and groom don't get to eat much). Thankfully, Katie and Arash planned a beach day the day after their wedding for the families to hang out some more.

After I came home I had a few days before I went to Manhattan for Ellen's Wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony that was perfectly 'Ellen and Tony'. Ellen is by far the most beautiful bride I have ever seen. I am not exaggerating. It was a small wedding with a reception at the trendy coffee house where Ellen works.

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This past weekend the parents and I went up to KC to visit the family. Ang also wrote about it on her blog .
This is my niece Zoey. She is beautiful and very different than Jackson. See Ang's blog for more.

Right now I am getting ready for school. My responsibilities this year have shifted slightly. I am still the SGA student Chaplain, but now I have the added responsibility of leading a group of 20 other student chaplains. I proposed a new Student Chaplain structure at the end of last year and worked with our campus pastors to develop it further. This year I am seeing what was once on paper take on flesh and bone. I'm excited to train, encourage, and lead this team throughout the next year. It will be challenging. I've never done anything like this before and never really thought I would.

Just for fun, I am finally posting the picture of my bouquet-catch from David and Whitney's wedding.

This is me thinking, "Is that really coming to me? Really? I don't even have to move. This is hilarious."

Tidbits from my mind: Culture Shock

Before I went on my trip this summer I read up on working in cross-cultural contexts. All of those books warned me about re-entry or reverse shock. Wikipedia describes reverse culture shock as:

" Returning to one's home culture after growing accustomed to a new one can produce the same effects as [culture shock experienced when entering a different culture] "

I was plenty prepared to experience culture shock going to Asia, but realized on the plane coming home that I wasn't as prepared coming home from Asia. So far it hasn't been too rocky but I have experienced many of the symptoms of reverse culture shock.

Here are a few things I've thought or experienced recently:

Choices: While I was shopping at Target, I was overwhelmed at my choices.

10 different kinds of Cat litter.

ailes full of different chips, coffees, candies, butter, cleaning solutions, frozen dinners.

I found myself thinking, "Why do we need so many choices!"

Waste- It is amazing how much food we throw away.

Immigrants: Americans treat immigrants (from any country), especially those in service-related industries, like they are sub-human.

Shopping: Those who know me know that I've never been a big shopper. The mall was never my favorite place. Now shopping trips of any kind have become guilt-trips. I go into clothing stores and see the labels say Made in 'insert any Asian country'. I've been there. I've met people like the people who sewed this garment/put together this table/assembled these shoes. Some of the kids I worked with could end up in factories sewing clothes for me. More than making me want to become someone who has their own garden and sews their own clothes, it has made me more aware of where my money is going and makes me question why my money should go there.

Crying: I am more sensitive to things. Every time a commerical about orphaned children who have to take care of their siblings at a young age comes on I can't help buy cry. I am ok with that. I want my heart to stay tender towards those in need and acute to how God would have me respond.

Opportunity: I feel like I have new eyes for seeing opportunities that God has given me. I feel that my prayers, words, and actions have real weight and potential. Little things can make big differences.

These are all things that I am working through with God. I do not want to withdraw from culture here, nor boast that I know or care much more than the average person. I want to find that balance and make the changes that I need to make.

More Pictures from Asia

Sightseeing on the weekend


The whole gang from the first center we visited


Some of my favorite girls!


Craft time at the 2nd center





One of my favorites- it took me two days to say her name to her satisfaction- Hong (pronounced Hom, with a descending tone)


Some of my favorite guys


Craft time at the first center- symmetrical painting


Teaching the cha-cha

I am home.

Hey everybody! I'm back from my three weeks in Asia.

Everything was great. God was answering mine and everyone's prayers for health, protection, and learning about His world.

For now I'll post some of my favorite pictures. Just a few snapshots of life in Asia. More will come when I have more time.






Ladies working out near the lake (notice the masses across the street)


























Praying to confucious


































Laundry


















Cross at your own risk!

















Yum! Tofu, shrimp, squid, eggs, cucumber, rice, fish, spring rolls.
















The Fantastic Four: Amy, Kim, me, Kelly.











Kim and Amy are excited to eat eel soup.


















A woman's bike














Fruit. Limes, Cong cong (cum cum), Lycee (our favorite), lemons, watermelon.














Motorbikes