Welcome Fall

Today, Liz, Laura and I made some AMAZING pumpkin pancakes to welcome Autumn to Bangkok.

It's September 20th and the only hint of Fall we have here is a sign I saw at a Starbucks that featured Salted Caramel Lattes as a part of their Autumn menu.

While we will never have cool, crisp mornings here, i.e. this:

And it will always be a bit like this:

I have the blessing of friendship that makes those things about Fall so meaningful. Tasting the pumpkin pancakes brought up so many memories of times spent with family, college friends, Thanksgivings and Halloweens past....

So, while I'm temporarily away from the setting in which those memories were made, I have a new different setting here in Thailand in which I can make new memories and cherish the ones with whom these memories are made.

Liz and I at Belvedere Plantation in VA

“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.” 

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

What I'm Reading

I know, I know. I'm overdue for a blog post as I was reminded by an avid fellow blogger...thanks for that.

To be honest, I have no idea how to be consistent with this blogging thing. I make off like I'm some sort of blogging expert when the reality is is that I'm a blogging newbie.

There are no rules in blogging! With my creative writing degree, I should embrace this paradigm instead of shying away from it like a horse shies away from a dark, scary forest (or at least the cartoon horses do in movies like Beauty and the Beast). I don't even know who reads this thing besides the above mentioned blogger and Liz. Maybe one of you has some advice on how to be a consistent blogger...?

So in between lesson prep, church, classes, tutoring, and social activities, I am reading four books right now. That's right, FOUR. This is pretty typical for me post college. The only difference between now and when I was at university (what they call college in Thailand) is that I get to choose what I read and...oh yeah, no pesky deadlines (oh deadlines, how I miss you).

Here's what I'm reading:

1. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. I'm only on page 14 but I feel like this book is going to teach me a lot about communing with God wherever I am. The blurb on the back says: "Brother Lawrence was a humble man who followed the direct path to communion with God. For him, there was no distinction between a time of business and a time of worship. He felt the presence of God whether he was working in his kitchen or worshipping in his church...." This is a good quiet time book.

2. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. This book is MASSIVE. It's almost a thousand pages long and not a fast read. I am however highly motivated to finish for two reasons. First, my friend Jen from LifePoint is also reading LM as a part of our casual book club. She was an English major in college too and we both miss that sort of intellectual dialogue about books and things. Second, the movie comes out on December 20th (in Thailand) and it is my goal to finish by that time. My Kindle tells me I'm more than 10% of the way through so I should certainly finish well before December.

3. Orphanology: Awakening to Gospel-Centered Adoption and Orphan Care by Tony Merida. I've been thoroughly convicted for quite some time that God is directing me towards the plight of orphans in the world. I'm reading this book to better understand how to answer "the question that faces us as present-day followers of Jesus [which] is, How do we, in our context, live out God's heart and continue the church's history for orphan care?" I'll let you know (maybe if you're good) what comes of asking this question.

4. Moonblood: Tales of Goldstone Wood Book #3 by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. In case you were wondering, this is a "fun read" but not altogether without value or purpose. I'd compare this series to C.S. Lewis' Narnia tales--a romp that goes somewhere. I found the first book in this series on one of my favorite websites, Gospel E-books fo' free!

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey

I just realized that I did a "Snapshot Saturday" post on a Thursday or so the time-stamp on the post says...

Life here can sometimes be very disorienting. Let me give you a few examples:

1. University students just had their commencement last week--in AUGUST. They got their diplomas handed to them by one of the royal family and had pictures of the celebrations, professional photos, flowers, gifts, etc all on Facebook. Liz wrote a post about one of their commencement traditions here. In my mind, graduation is celebrated exclusively in May/June. Disorienting, right?

2. Setting up Skype dates is a huge hassle (a worthwhile hassle but nevertheless) because I have to figure out the time difference with friends/family scattered all over the place--Wyoming, Texas, Germany, Virginia, etc. I almost missed a Skype date yesterday evening because I confused the time difference...thankfully she was late too.

3. The weather here gives no hint as to the season. According to some, Thailand has three seasons--hot/dry, rainy, hot and humid. To me though, it just feels hot all the time and less hot after it has rained. Sometimes though I feel convinced that it's mid-January, or springtime, or the beginning of June. I think it's just deja vu triggered by bright flowers, gray skies, a particular outfit. Who can explain deja vu anyways??

4. It's the first of September here which is the beginning of my fourth month in Thailand. The next term begins next week at which point I can develop some semblance of a routine. I think the lack of routine is the most disorienting thing. I have these patterns that are so easy to follow back home--patterns that center around time of day (most of my ministry is done in the evenings), time of year, holiday seasons, etc. Those patterns are somewhat removed here.

Alright, those are four examples of ways in which life here is confusing, disorienting, and always somewhat of an adventure.

Per the title of this post, let me insert a short Doctor Who clip: