Adoption

For the past several years, I have thought about adoption. I didn't have a big magical moment where I thought it'd be a good idea, but watching a few families around me go thru the process was a huge part of my understanding of it.

I don't feel that every person is supposed to adopt. Just like I don't think every person is supposed to live overseas. But I think everyone (believers) should be involved and play a role somehow.

About a year ago, i was looking for books to read about adoption to learn more about the subject and hopefully be more prepared whenever the time comes. This book came very highly recommended.

(If you have adopted, what books/resources do you recommend?)

I'm in the middle of reading it now. There have already been several times that i just wanted to walk away and quit reading. Moore brings to life the reality of the conditions that most orphans are currently living in and the cruelty they are subjected to. It's been painful to read. I don't want to think about it. It's easier to ignore it. But I can't. There has been one passage in particular that keeps haunting me. I know that I can't solve the world's problems or adopt every single child, but i can do something.

Moore says (page 83)

"Think of the plight of the orphan somewhere right now out there in the world. It's not just that she's lonely. It's that she has no inheritance, no future. With every passing year, she's less "cute," less adoptable. In just a few years, on her eighteenth birthday, she'll be expelled from the orphanage or from "the system." What will happen to her then?

Maybe she'll join the military or find job training. Maybe she'll stare at a tile on the ceiling above her as her body is violated by a man who's willing to pay her enough to eat for a day, alone in a back alley or in front of a camera crew of strangers. Maybe she'll place a revolver in her mouth or tie a rope around her neck, knowing no one will have to deal with her.

Can you feel the force of such desperation?

Jesus can."

Those are hard words to read.

It's easier to ignore it and go on with life. But thinking of the millions of children who are living without a family, without love, and without the necessities of life is not okay. It's inhuman.

When Daniel and I were dating, the subject we talked the most about was adoption. It's something we both have felt led to do as individuals and now as a married couple. We're not sure about all the details, the timing, and all that. But it's something we are being led by Father to do.

This past month we officially started our "adoption fund."!!!!!!  It's not a lot, but it's something, and it's exciting! Most likely it will be a few years before we adopt, but i love knowing that somewhere a child is a little closer to having a family and people that love them.

love

Laura

Sarsae

This post is pretty random, but also important to me. so here ya go...

Three years ago i went on a trip to Bali with some friends and we spent the night in Macau on the way there and back. I found this drink called Sarsae, which tasted like root beer on crack. I tried looking for it everywhere and managed to find it again when I spent a few days in Hong Kong.

A few months after my trip to Bali, a friend told me she had found Sarsae in a local store in the city i live now. I looked several times where she had bought it, but never found it.

Yesterday i went to our local supermarket and lo and behold!!!!!!!! AND it was only 50 cents. Score!! We can buy A&W Root Beer here at a few import stores but each can is $1.50, so 50 cents is sweet!

My can looks a little different than the one i've had before, but i think it's the same. And after doing a little research, i learned that it is sarsparilla based. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds cool.

love

Laura

Health Exam

It's two words you just don't want to hear in the EA. While i truly do love it here, and enjoy most parts of life here, i'm just not in love with the health system available here.

Daniel and I needed to have a health exam/physical for our university application.

Let me walk you through our day.

We arrive at the larger-than-we-expected health clinic to find tons of people standing in several lines and swarming about. We find 2 other foreigners and they give us a quick synopsis of how the system works.

We stand in the first line.

When we get to the counter we're told we need to go to another line to get an application. I had to sign that i agreed to the following.

It says " I am responsible for the deception."

That really should have been our first clue to how the rest of the day would go.

We get the application, fill it out, go back and get in line #1.

After a quick glance they send us to line #2 which is quite long.

I need to use the bathroom. I leave line and am about to use the squatty and realize a. i don't have any tissue or anything even close to resembling it, and b. i have no hand sanitizer. (i know what you're thinking, i'm in a health clinic surely.....but no). There is a local girl doing her thing too so i waited and begged asked her if she could give me 1 piece of tissue. She does, and i'm grateful. But then i realize we're going to be there a while and I might need to go again. So, yes, i rip the small tissue in half and i'll spare you the rest of the details. Again, no hand sanitizer and i'm already feeling pretty contaminated.


While we're still standing in line #2 we realize everyone else has small pictures to go with their application. We do not.

We ask the kind man behind us and he points to the little shack out front. They will take our pictures for us. We know line #2 was about an hour wait so we took turns leaving the line to go get our pics taken.

We get our pictures and continue standing in line.

We take another picture at the end of line #2 and are told to go to #4. I don't see anything that looks like a #4 and ask the lady more specifically where i'm supposed to go. She told me floor 2.

I go to floor 2. The lady tells me to go to floor 3.

At floor 3 i have to do a urine sample. I'm ever so thankful that i had half a tissue to use for a urine sample using a squatty. I'm mentally preparing myself for any illnesses that might spring up in the next few days as a result of today.

After the urine sample i get in line to have my blood drawn. After waiting a while i get up to the front and the lady tells me i haven't paid yet. (we were actually told to pay at the end, but whatevs)

I go back to floor 1, pay, get another receipt and stamp and go back to floor 3 to have my blood drawn. There are 2 other foreign ladies in front of me and they asked the technician to change her gloves before she draws their blood. I notice that the technicians hadn't been changing their gloves the entire time i've been in line. Not wanting to be the snobby white american, but also not wanting to die, i also ask ever so nicely if my technician will change her gloves too.

Get blood drawn, and am given a long Q tip to put on my arm. No band aids to be found. This is when i start praying and asking that Father protect us from anything and everything that we could catch while at the clinic.

After the blood I get my height, weight, BP, and all that checked. The lady totally rounded up a full pound on the paperwork. I was tempted to change it, but didn't. I tell myself "Big picture Laura."

Then i go to a series of different rooms and have to lie down on the table in each one. Things were really busy and i also noticed that they're not changing the blue liners on the beds at all. One table had hair and wet goo on it. Que prayer.

I reallllllly wanted to ask for a new liner at each station, but i also wanted to get out of there ASAP.

In one room a lady is on the phone and starts putting these very strange looking clips on me. Like huge chip bag clips. I have this intense fear that she's going to do some type of electric shock on me so i started calling for Daniel. Turns out she was monitoring my heart, which  should've been obvious when she put the clips on my ankles.

I also had an eye exam and had to put the same cover over my eye that everyone else had used. Note to self: always carry my own alcohol swabs. You just never know.

The last stop was X Ray. I was warned that females had to take off everything on top and put on a gown. Which would seem normal if you weren't standing in room full of people watching you get your x ray. I was able to change behind a curtain, but have never felt so exposed. i'm trying to block this part of the day out.

After X ray we realize we have to go back to where we received our application to get some stamp thing and a free carton of warm milk. Yummmmm.

Then we go back pick up our x rays and learn we have to come back in 2 days to get our final results.

At this point it's been a confusing day and we are both feeling infected.

We celebrate by going to Subway (yes we have a few here!) and chase away our contamination fears with coke and chocolate cookies. We found a public restroom that had soap and we both scrubbed at least 2 layers of skin off.

Welcome to my life :)

love

Laura

2 Months

Today we celebrate 2 months of living in East Asia.

It's been a ride already, and i know it's only the beginning.

If i'm going to be honest, it's been hard. Much much harder than i ever imagined or anticipated. Daniel and i had both lived overseas before and had relatively easy adjustments. We both weren't ready for the big changes that came into our lives so suddenly.

I've never moved overseas married. I didn't realize that moving on a semi-permenant basis would look so different than knowing a specific time frame, like i knew before.

In the last 2 months, we

- searched, found, and signed a 2 year contract on an apartment
- prepared the apartment to be lived in : paint, cleaning, bedding, misc. furniture,
- learned how to cook in a toaster oven (still a work in progress!)
-tried and failed miserably at making my own ricotta cheese
-rocked my own world with the amazing homemade crescent rolls i made
-completed 6 weeks of intensive language study
- faced with feelings of guilt and exhaustion
- living thru moments of being constantly overwhelmed and defeated
- made and spent time with local friends
- learned more about marriage in 2 months than in 2 years
- enjoyed amazing time with Father and seeing Him work miracles
- soaked up fellowship with our community around us

I could go on and on. Each day can consist of a variety of emotions. This past weekend has been such an amazing blessing! Daniel and i have been so eager to make local friends in and around our community to share life with. In the last 2 days there have been wonderful opportunities for both of us in this area. Even today, i met a new friends for coffee. We've both been able to have meaningful conversations that are priceless.

One thing that Daniel and I are blessed with is an amazing community of other foreign friends that support us. I moved to East Asia in desparate need of community, to share life with those around me that 'got me.' I am so grateful for the old relationships we've reconnected with and the new ones that have enriched our lives so much already.

I know in the big picture 2 months is not a long time. But i want to remember this part.

I know it's the very beginning of what will be an amazing, rocky, life changing, difficult, and yet beyond rewarding part of our lives.

love

Laura

When all else fails

If you've noticed, i talk about food alot. I rarely post without a picture of something we've eaten from the week. i did this in the states alot because i was still learning how to cook and wanted to document all the new meals.
Here, cooking is just different. I have to make some ingredients first and improvise, so cooking can be a challenge. I try to still plan our meals 2 weeks at a time. And if a meal comes out good, i feel the need to document it. :)

Thursday night we made pizza. Cheese is SO expensive here so we try to use it sparingly, but last time we did it on pizza it just didn't taste so great. So we splurged this time!

Friday night we had burritos. There is a local business that makes and delivers flour tortillas for pretty cheap (for here). And they are GOOD!

This weeks menu is:

Sun/Mon: Tortilla Soup

Tues: Daniel's cooking!

Wed: Dinner at friends house

Thurs: Local dishes

Fri: Enchilada Ring

Sat: Western

Schedules change quickly here so i won't be shocked if our week looks different than planned, ha!

Also, i want to start making homemade granola bars....anyone have a good recipe?

And, we might buy a blender soon, so any smoothie recipes (that don't require yogurt or things i can't buy here, ha) are welcome!

Onto running....it's been going really good! I was able to log 14 miles this week, which hasn't happened since April. I find the earlier i go, the more i enjoy it. There are far less people out and i use up less energy dodging around people. I was even up at 6:30 this morning to get in a few miles. It was hot and humid so i rewarded myself with a (maybe 2!) iced coffees! They are so addicting!!!

We're travelling in less than 2 weeks and i am behind myself with excitement. We'll be going to the mountains, which means cooler temperatures!

What did ya'll do this weekend?? (and yes i realize that you probably haven't even started your Saturday yet!)

love

Laura

Get Lost

All day yesterday i worried about running this morning. I hadn't run in a week, and it was only 3 miles. I really want to have a consistent running schedule, even if it's just twice a week. And i really want to get my mileage back up....there are so many good things i want to eat, haha! Seriously though.

So of course last night i prayed that I would have the motivation and ability to run, because i just wasn't feeling it.

This morning i got up a few minutes after 6 to hit the road. I knew i could do 3 but would be happy if i did 4. i was going to try a new route this morning that i thought would be close to 4 miles. The first 2 miles were regular territory and then it got interesting.

I knew (or thought i knew) that this one road would intersect with what we call "the river road." It's not that big but you can run near a canal that leads back to our house. So i was running and before i got to where i thought i should've turned i noticed a girl running down some stairs and it looked interesting. I followed her and OMG there was this hidden path that was a few feet below the road that followed both sides of the river, AND it was lined with trees! i SO wish i had my camera, but don't worry i will post pics in the future.

At this point i was already at 3 miles, but i thought i would just go a bit further because you just cannot beat a good running trail!! Ya''ll know i can get worked up about running here with dodging all the people, avoiding being swept up by a street sweeper, dog poop, people poop, and the millions of motorbikes. Words cannot describe how excited i am about this new find!!!!!

Anyways, i ran by the river until i came to a bridge, then turned around to where i came from. I got back on the main road and was still looking for the river road so i could go home. I never found that road.

Instead i just kept running until i hit a huge intersection that i was familiar with and realized i was NOT close to home, ha. So I turned around and made the trek back. Thankfully, i had some clue to how to get home from there.

While i wanted to run 4 miles this morning, i ended up with 6! 6 miles people!!!! With no hydration or food. I'm actually shocked i made it. But being lost kind of motivated to keep running, ha!

Anyways....SO thankful that i got lost this morning, that i found a new running path, and that I realized i had it in me to run 6. woo hoo!!!

love

Laura

Weekend Rewind

WOW, i haven't done one of these posts in a long time!

Friday, we studied, ran some errands, and went to a new (to us) market to explore and see if we could find anything good. We did buy fresh asparagus, which has been very hard to find here. I was able to get 3 lbs for $3, totally worth it.

But it was also pouring down rain the entire day so when we tried to get a taxi home we waited a long time!

Friday night we went to friends house for dinner and games. I love a good game night and love that we have friends in our city that do too! We got home about 11:30 and found that our freezer was practically thawed. The fridge wasn't super cold, but the freezer was bordering on room temp. We weren't sure if we left the door open, or if it was broken. Because of the weird humidity here we keep a lot of things in the freezer-spices, cheese, bread, etc....I did not want to lose any of it. We unplugged the fridge and plugged it back in to see if that would help. We waited a little while and things seemed to be getting a little cooler.

I set my alarm for 2 am to get up and check it. If it still wasn't working i was going to put the $ items in the fridge to save what i could. Thankfully, it was all working and we haven't had a problem since. I totally took for granted coolers and bags of ice readily available in the states, ha!

So Friday made for a long night and i was EXHAUSTED on Saturday! Daniel helped me out and went to the market for me so i stayed home and cleaned and got caught up a bit on life.

Saturday Daniel and i had a date night. It was SO much fun! Daniel had given me a note earlier in the week inviting me out. It was really sweet!

Daniel took me to a huge nearby park that i had no clue existed! There were trees, water, and little trails to walk on, very unusual in our city to see. And the weather was perfect! It was cloudy, but with a slight breeze and in the 70's. Amazing.

We walked around for about 1 1/2 hour and didn't even see the whole park. My absolute favorite part was sitting on a bench, talking, and listening to the wind blow thru the bamboo trees. We live in a city of 11 million people, foliage is um shall was say rare?

I can't remember the last time i was able to sit and listen to the wind. It may be a small thing, but it's def something i've missed. You just can't put a price tag on some good nature! I see some good visits to this park again in my future!

For dinner we went to a Western restaurant and got completely spoiled with good bread! We had pesto, oil, and an olive spread. Words cannot express how delicious this was. Nor is it important how many pieces i ate.

I'm planning on running tomorrow. I have to be honest and say that i have zero motivation. Mostly because i've missed a full week and it's always hard to come back. But i'll let ya know :)

love

Laura