You know what happens when Howard and I commute home? I get back, eat dinner, take a shower, and promptly fall asleep. A commute means I am completely useless once we're home, so please pardon the extra late blog entry. I also apologize if it doesn't flow as well as it should, but I just got up from a 4+ hour nap and ate a cup of peaches and some "zha jiang mian." This was written in a half-asleep, hungry stupor, haha.
Even though it's summer vacation right now for me, I still enjoy the weekends because it means spending time with my husband! I'm thankful I get to see him every day anyway since I have friends who have husbands who are in the military or who have jobs that require them to be away from home for periods of time for work. Personally, I don't think I could handle that.
Though Howard and I have been married for over 2 years at this point, we're not sick of each other, haha. We've had a few people ask whether or not the honeymoon phase is over and state that it's good to fight once in a while. Hopefully, there's nothing wrong with the fact that we don't really argue about things. We explain to them that we had a rather rough first year of marriage with my having to be taken to the hospital twice, so the other minor issues are nothing in comparison. We both have made mistakes, and there are times that we get slightly frustrated with each other, but we just stay quiet for a little bit (that's how I process things) and then we come back together and can talk about what happened and what might have been hurtful or why we felt the way we felt. I actually think we're harder on ourselves when we do something "incorrectly." I can kick myself and get really upset if I "mess up" when making dinner, and Howard ends up having to comfort me whereas I have heard of other couples where the husband gets upset with the wife for making a mistake.
Haha, I'm sure things might be different when we have little ones and there are other human beings in the mix too. Until then, we'll enjoy this time we have in our "honeymoon phase." Maybe it's also because we only saw each other on the weekends while we were dating and engaged, so being able to see each other every day is such a treat! Or maybe it's because people bond when there's a common dislike. You know how you can get along with other students in your class when you complain about assignments or talk about how challenging a teacher is? Well, maybe we get closer because we bond over our mutual dislike of whatever cleaner or spray that is used in the hallway of our apartment.
Yeah, it can get pretty disgusting and nauseating. I've mentioned it before that I started buying scented candles so that our apartment could smell pleasant. Unfortunately, candles would NOT have helped today at all! As we were getting ready to leave to take our walk to meet my parents to go to church, the smell started seeping under the door. The spray or cleaner hasn't been used in a while, so this was unexpected. It overtook our small space, and all we could do is leave earlier to escape the odor! While we waited for the elevator, I took the above picture. I commented on Instagram that as much as we hate the smell, I think that even the "negative" things should be documented as it will definitely be a memory of our first place together! I have to say though that I'd much rather have an issue with a smell every once in a while than an infestation of bugs or other creatures!
Our pastor was back at the pulpit after returning from a short term missions trip to Japan. Actually, all of our STM people were back, safe and sound! How wonderful that was to hear this past week! Though I can't imagine ever going on a mission trips (so far, missions has always been the gift where I consistently score a big fat ol' 0 when taking spiritual gifts tests!), I felt better when the pastor recently mentioned that those who pray for the people who are away are actually taking part in it as well and that if they are victorious, so are we. I know I'm completely butchering what he said, but that's what I took away from it. So yes, even though Howard and I did not physically go to any of the 3 trips this past summer, we were keeping them in prayer.
Anyway, I totally digressed, but who's surprised? The pastor continued his sermon series on 2 Corinthians about what it means to be unveiled (2 Cor 3:12-18). I have to say that the messages and the Sunday School lessons have really shown me just how amazing the Bible is. We're in the Survey of the New Testament class even though I initially wanted to do the Old Testament. I actually preferred the OT more than the NT probably because it was "easier" to some degree. I mean, other than the difficult to understand prophecies, reading the stories and the history can be fun! Yes, I even think that learning about Leviticus can be interesting! But that could be because I took Intro to Judaism in college and took two semesters of OT Survey in seminary. Ending up in the NT class has actually been a blessing because it "forced" me to open my eyes to new things. As we are in the midst of Paul's letters in both Sunday morning service and in Sunday School class, I'm like, "What the what?!?" I mean, how could one dude write these wonderful letters full of theology, correction and thanksgiving years and years ago so that it was applicable to those in the early churches yet also applicable to our lives today? CRAZINESS. Seriously.
So with my Bible, my notebook (yes, it is a Wall-E notebook!), and a "paigwut cheung" (it's pieces of sparerib and rolls of noodles aka "pillow" to me), I get ready for Sunday School almost every week. The few times I was too sick to attend church or when we had to attend a local church close to home, I was like, "But we're missing class!!!" Though I admit that I don't always understand the history that is presented (um, I'm horrible with modern day geography, so the geography of biblical times can be a little difficult to grasp too), I try to take in as much as I can. I especially love when there are pictures. Haha, I know that might sound juvenile, but it really makes more sense when there are visuals! Though I might not get too much from the maps other than understanding which cities were port cities, sometimes the pictures from today make the Bible come alive.
For example, when studying Corinthians, we were shown a picture of the modern day Corinth Canal. Suddenly it made sense as to why the city of Corinth was the way it was during Bible times with all the different people passing through and all the sins that might accompany a trade city. Then we were also shown a cross section of the Roman roads, and imagining all the traveling that occurred over those roads is mind-boggling. Today we were shown a picture of Paul's jail cell. All of these things would be such sights to see in real life!
All of that to say that I definitely have a greater appreciation of the New Testament now!
Once Sunday School was finished, Howard and I went to pick up our lunch. The "paigwut cheung" usually fills us enough so that we can wait until we get home to eat lunch, which is helpful for me. I appreciate a hot cup of tea when I eat a lot of Chinese food, and having the "cheung" is already testing the waters for my sensitive stomach. Since my parents had to take care of a lot of things regarding my grandma and the home care worker, my dad suggested we get a ride back home with my uncle who is in NY for a bit. Neither of them would be leaving until much later, so Howard and I decided to commute home since we were already exhausted and really wanted to be home. Before we started our trek back, I met up briefly with my cousin Karen who had custom ordered something I'll post on another day.
Though commuting can be rather long and tiring, the one thing I like about it is talking to Howard. Even though we do see each other every day, I really like our Sunday conversations because we usually comment on Sunday School and things like that. Having to walk to the bus stop, wait for a bus, take the ferry, take another bus, and walk home gives us plenty of time to do that!
The heat on the last leg of our journey was getting to be a bit unbearable especially since I was wearing dark colors and my "blanket" (aka hair, haha) was on my back. Since the bus that's closer to the apartment doesn't run on Sundays, it can be quite a long stretch to get to our final destination, but we had a rather lively conversation about this article about kids sharing I had seen people post on Facebook last week. I brought Howard up to speed with what it said and we talked about what was right and wrong (in our eyes) about the blogger and/or the commenting readers' views. By the way, in searching for that link, I found this blog in response to the original article, which I think I like more. I won't recap everything we talked about, but in summary, we both agreed with the way things are done with the little kids at my school. Yes, the kids have to share, but they also have to wait for the original kid to have his/her turn with something first. The times that I've subbed and watched the Pre-K and K kids on the playground equipment in the courtyard shows just how well that works. Two kids get to the swings or whichever toy first, but others also want to ride too. They just sit patiently by the wall until the few minutes are over before it is time to switch it up and give others a chance to swing as well. There you go. Both points are taught in that simple exchange: sharing and waiting patiently. Does it really have to be that complicated?
Anyway, the "how we're going to raise our kids" chats are always fun even though it's obviously going to be much easier talking about all the things we'll do versus having to implement them in real life, but it's still good to discuss beforehand, right? Right.
Hey, this update came full circle. I like my best friend, I like going to church, I like my best friend. Done. Good night all! Oh, and by all, I mean the 5 of you who read this, haha.
No comments:
Post a Comment