following an unknown path

great is the Lord

Running through my head this morning:

"Great is the Lord, He is holy and just, by His power we trust in His love.
Great is the Lord, He is faithful and true, by His mercy He proves He is love."

"For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods" (Psalm 96:4).

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable" (Psalm 145:3).

"But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, Great is the Lord! (Psalm 40:16).

there is hope

I was crying within 5 minutes of listening to this Focus on the Family program, and tears streamed down my cheeks for the rest of Ann Kiemel's talk.

She talks about her desiring to have a baby and her struggles with miscarriages and adoption.

Just a small taste . . .

I knew I had a choice.  I could make sorrow my friend or my enemy.  Sorrow could make me hard and cold and bitter or Sorrow could be my best friend and teach me things I had never learned before.  I reached out and took Sorrow's hand in that quite moment.  She removed all the sham and fluff from my life.  She taught me what it is to be real. She taught me what it really is to celebrate because only when you really know sorrow do you know how to laugh.  She taught me what it is to love; it is to be vulnerable.  It's to hold you hand out and to never hang on to anything.  It's to let Jesus take out or put in anything he wants, and it is to say yes.

If you are waiting for a husband or baby or struggling with sorrow, listen.  (On the Focus on the Family page click "listen now.")  It will be 15 minutes well spent.

HT: Kelly's Korner 

bicultural people seem happiest when . . .

Some one gets me!! Someone totally gets me!!

I found this quote while visiting the World Missions 101 Site last night. It SO resonates with how I feel . . . I've explained it before as being a milkshake.

“We can get out and learn to live in the new culture, and, in time, we will feel as at home in it as our own, possibly even more so. Something happens to us when we adapt to a new culture, we become bicultural people. . . .

In one sense, bicultural people never fully adjust to one culture, their own or their adopted one. Within themselves they are part of both. When Americans are abroad, they dream of America, and need little rituals that reaffirm this part of themselves—a food package from home, a letter, an American visitor from whom they can learn the latest news from `home’. When in America, they dream of their adopted country, and need little rituals that reaffirm this part of themselves—a visitor from that country, a meal with its food. Bicultural people seem happiest when they are flying from one of these countries to the other.

(“Crucial Dimensions in World Evangelization”, Paul Hiebert, 1976, 4th printing, William Carey Library, Pasadenia California pg 51,52)

SO true!!!  So . . . very, very TRUE!!! :)

Any of you other "bicultural" or milkshake people out there totally identify with this passage??

ten years ago, I wrote my first "blog"

Ok, so actually it was written on what is called a website . . . but still I was trying to make it like a blog before blogging platforms were abundantly everywhere. 

Ten years ago, in a school's computer room somewhere in northern Taiwan, I became a blogger, and I didn't even know it!

To get my printed photos online, I began using using a scanner in Chinese and yahoo's geocities to record my daily life here in Taiwan.  The photo quality is terrible . . . and the layout was tedious, but, if I do say so myself, the design was better than many "homemade" websites from the late '90s. 

But OH!  if I had had flickr and blogger back then, not to mention a digital camera  . . . how sweet that would have been!!!! 

In fact, I carried my mom's 35mm film camera in my purse daily for a year.  Soon after that I got my first digital camera, and so for nearly 10 years now my purse has always housed a point and shoot camera.  It is essential--more important than lipgloss and a driver's licence!

Anyway, Geocities is closing later this year, which made me want to take a walk down memory lane.  Feel free to click through and see what life was like for me as an exchange student in Taiwan in 1999. 

Here was my very first "blog." (nothing is there now besides the "first blog," which I didn't even know was a blog at the time.)

I had an index/home page (which originally was set up kinda of like flickr's sets page), that I changed when I started using another site and then changed again when I moved to blogging.

Here are the "1st pages of each group of photos":

flying cows in taiwan
summer in taiwan
studying in taiwan
residing in taiwan
friends in taiwan
sightseeing in taiwan
holidays in taiwan
classmates in taiwan
religion in taiwan
vacation in japan

Based on these "album" names, can you guess what I called that very first site? 

That's right "amanda in taiwan."  And, yes, my love for not using capital letters in my online world titles started with this very site . . . ten years ago!! (Can you tell I'm having a hard time accepting it was a decade ago that all this happened!?!?!)

Bye-bye, my dear first online home.  Rest in peace.

confessions of a newlywed who surrived "extended singleness" #1

Here is the first of several confessions I've been thinking about  . . .

Before, watching others fall in love, get engaged and marry was VERY bitter sweet.  I was happy for them, but the pain it caused inside could be intense, the struggle it reawakened difficult.

Now, I love weddings!  I love watching people fall in love!  I've even cried in joy at youtube videos of strangers weddings and even teared up watching this news reporter propose on air to an anchor! 

It's so fun to be able to experience sheer joy at watching people commit to marriage! :)

And, you know what? It's fun to have a husband who celebrates right along side me as we watch (and sometimes encourage) others as they fall in love. :)

free mp3 download from christianaudio.com

Each month christianaudio.com offers a free download of one of their books. 

This month they are offering Don Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. 

Ever since finding his Ten Questions to Ask on your Birthday article, I've been wanting to read more of his stuff, particularly this book.  This free download is the entire unabridged book--so that nine hours of recoding.

Directions for the free download can be found on Whitney's homepage or by signing up at christianaudio.com.   It's simple really, just use the coupon code they give you during the "check out" process.

Only thing is you have to hurry  . . . this is March's last day.  And since Whitney's book was a March special, the free download expires once it is April in the PDT time zone (wherever that is!).

Disclaimer: I cannot vouch for the content of the book--as it is has been on my "wish list" and not my "I've already read list," nor can I vouch for the quality of the audio download--as I only downloaded it this morning.

amazing photos of lantern festival

Simply amazing photos from China.

english spelling is dumb

I am a terrible speller.  I openly admit this to all my students. 

As someone who is incredibly detailed and struggles with perfectionism, it stands to reason that I should be a good speller. 

So, I blame it on the fact that I am a visual learner, and when learning spelling as a child I was always required to spell orally and listen to the words orally.  I just can't do that.  Gotta see it.  I was probably someone that actually would have benefited from a written kill and drill approach to spelling or at least a more creative visual approach. 

Speaking of . . . My bloggy friend Jimmie creatively teaches spelling to her daughter.  I love observing all the fun stuff they do . . . I wish I could have done that too.  Another friend (this one IRL) has her son, a tactile learner, spell out words with his body letter by letter on the floor or spell the words by "writing" them with his finger in mounds of rice or salt on a tray.  Fun stuff.

Back to the topic at hand . . . I also blame the fact that I can't spell on the fact that I can rely on spell checkers to help me.  In fact, since I can "teach" Word to auto-correct my most commonly misspelled words things have only gotten worse. :)

But, some people like this (now) 103 year-old man blame the fact that I can't spell on the fact that English spelling is dumb.

our wedding vows

When we were wedding planning, I'm not sure how but I stumbled onto Adrian & Andrée Warnock's wedding vows.  I printed them out and showed them to Lawrance.  We both loved how much Scripture was in the vows.  But, we also loved the vows that my dad had written . . . so we used both. 

Also, one of the engagement ceremonies I went to here in Taiwan had the future bride, future groom, and the future in-laws answer several questions in a row.  I really liked that.  To be asked lots of questions and then only answer with one simple "I do" . . . too easy.

Also, I remembered my dad telling me after one of the many weddings he has officiated that brides and grooms are so excited and/or nervous (ie. just plain full of emotion), they don't really know grasp all that they are actually agreeing to.

Refusing to be in that group, we paid careful attention to our vows.  We probably discussed our vows more than anything during the beginning planning stages of our wedding.  And, we also separated the questions, so each of us said "yes" several times.

Speaking of the "yes."  I told my dad when he was planning the ceremony that we wanted there to be a focus on grace, the sovereignty of God, and of the idea of a covenant.  So, my dad changed the simple "I do" to " I do so covenant with the Lord and Amanda/Lawrance" (depending on the speaker).   We loved that change!

So, here are the questions posed to me:

Dad: Do you Amanda Nicole Parmley, in the presence of Lord and all who are present here, promise and covenant yourself to walking with the Lord as the ultimate priority of your life, will you commit yourself to a life of spiritual maturity in the Lord, a life of the pursuit of physical purity, and emotional purity?
Me: I do so covenant with the Lord and Lawrance.

Dad: Do you receive Lawrance as your God given husband, to accept him as a precious gift from God, to commit all that you are to the Lord and to Lawrance, to submit to him just as the church does to the Lord Jesus?
Me: I do so covenant with the Lord and Lawrance.

Dad: Do you commit yourself to Lawrance to receive him and accept him just as he is. To remain sexually faithful to him, and to him alone. To abandon the pursuit of all others?
Me: I do so covenant with the Lord and Lawrance.

Dad: Do you promise yourself to Lawrance, spiritually, physically, and emotionally, to cherish and to keep him, to meet his needs in sickness and in health until the Lord separates you through death or his return?
Me: I do so covenant with the Lord and Lawrance.

After we answered these questions, we then made a profession of our covenant to each other in both English and Chinese.  This is the part we borrowed from the Warnocks, and Lawrance translated them into Mandarin for us.

What's interesting is that we both thought before the wedding that hearing the other speak our heart language was important.  But, actually, hearing the other one speak their vows in their heart language was more important to each of us. 

I held it together while Lawrance made a commitment to me in English, but I totally lost it (ie. started crying) when he started to say the exact same words in Chinese. The same was true for Lawrance.  Hearing me make my profession in English was more meaningful to him that hearing me speak it in Chinese.   Although I cried through all the way through speaking in both languages.

So, I am very glad we both decided to do it in both languages even if it did take a lot of time.  Our vows weren't short.  ;)

Here is my profession of our covenant--I LOVE the last part.   I'm not sure if it is the last version we ended up using or not, also I can't seem to find my copy of Lawrance's profession at the moment.  Lawrance made the Chinese phrases less "formal" in my part so that they were using words and phrases I was more used to.  If there is a bunch of goobly-gop after the English below, your computer doesn't like Chinese. :)

I, Amanda Nicole Parmley take you, Lawrance Aaron Wu to be my lawfully wedded husband. I promise, by God's grace, as He enables me to submit to you and to obey you in everything, as I do to the Lord. I recognize you as my head, even as Christ is the head of the church. In so doing I resolve to put my trust in God and not give way to fear. I will cultivate the beauty that comes from a gentle and quiet spirit knowing that this is of great value to God.

I will speak the truth to you in Love. I will encourage you and strengthen you in your walk with God. I will not let the sun go down on my anger; instead I will be gracious to you, tender hearted, forgiving you even as God has forgiven me. I will trust in the Lord with all my heart and not depend on my own understanding; I will acknowledge Him in everything, knowing that He will direct our paths. I will follow Him wherever he leads us, putting the extension of his kingdom before all worldly possessions and pleasures. I will be peaceful, content and joyful in every situation we encounter knowing that He is at work for our good and that we can do all things through his strength.

I acknowledge before the Lord my continuous need for his grace in my inability to do all these things, and rely on him alone for the power I need to live in a Godly way as your wife.

我，李樂恩，選擇你吳裕仁為我的丈夫。 我倚靠神的恩典使我能凡事順從你， 如同我順服基督一樣。 我認定你為我的頭，如同基督是教會的頭。因為我完全相信上帝，所以我不會怕。 我將培養上帝看為寶貝的智慧　那就是溫柔跟平靜。

我會用愛心對你說誠實的話。 我會鼓勵跟幫助你跟神同行。 我將不會對你生氣到晚上， 反而給你我的安慰、溫柔的心而且原諒你如同上帝原諒了我一樣。我將我的信心完全給上帝　不是我以前的經驗。
在我們所行的事上， 我相信上帝會完全帶領我們。無論祂帶領我們到什麼地方， 我都會緊緊跟隨祂。 擴張神國度的事　 比屬世的財富跟享樂重要。 我有平安、滿足與喜樂來面對所有的光景， 因為我完全明白上帝祂在掌權 而且透過他的能力，我們凡事都能做。

我在上帝面前承認，我會單單倚靠神來當你的妻子 過一個合神心意的生活。因為離開了上帝的恩典，上面說得一切我完全沒辦法做到。

fragrant rice

My neighbor friends were watching a new music video this weekend.  As I watched it along side them I loved how very much it captured what is TAIWAN. 

I asked my husband (how fun it is to say that!!) to help me find the video online.  And he did.  As we watched it together he exclaimed several times how very much this video was "Taiwan" too. 

If you are remotely interested in Taiwan, take a look at this two minute music video that shows scenes that are just pure Taiwanese.  Even if you don't know Chinese I think you can still understand the story and enjoy the views of Taiwan shown in the video.

The song is entitled "Fragrant Rice" (稻香) . . . and basically says "if you are feeling like a failure and don't know what to do follow the smell of the rice back to your roots and find your family who will love you and support you no matter what.  Come back home and remember the simplicity of where you came from."

The song is by Jay Chou (周杰倫), a rather well known Taiwanese musician.

some posts to check out

Since I'm in the middle of enjoying family and getting ready for marriage and planning a wedding, writing about life in Taiwan is not on the forefront of my mind.  But, some bloggers I enjoy reading are still posting some great stuff . . and not just about Taiwan either. 

A new addition to my blogs to watch list is stevewebel.com.  Recently he's been posting about "third culture kids." 

What is a TCK?
You might be a TCK if . . .
Would this stress you out?
TIME Article on TCKs

Guy Muse has an excellent quote about what is ministry at Ministry is . . . .

The Desiring God Blog has been doing an excellent on going series on "Day to Day Observations in Asia" written by a 'Cross-cultural gospel spreader" (what a great term!).  So far the series includes:

Do You Believe in Djinn?
Praying For and Burying the Dead
Faithfulness and Fruitlessness
The Traffic Jam

Of course if you are interested in what life is like for places in the world where cell phones are not the norm check out this really cool video on Mobile Phones in Uganda.  Mobile as in big yellow phone travels around village by bike. :)

And, the Taiwan Prattler posted about idols in Taiwan recently: are they Cute? Solemn? Stately?.

Another site/blog I love to keep my eye on is the Missionary Blog Watch.  The author is always keeping us up to date with great things going in the "missionary blog world."  Recently he's featured Blogs You've Never Read.

the faces of persecution

A Believer dies for their faith in Christ every 3 minutes according to Voice of the Maryts.
{RSS Readers: Click over to see the embedded video.}

Join me today in praying for our brothers and sisters around the world.

wanna be

Blog posts like this make me wanna be a missionary!!! :)

Myths Single Women Believe

Suzanne Hadley, one of the regular Boundless authors, wrote an article recently debunking seven of the myths single women often find themselves believing.

Here are the 7 myths:

1. God will give me a husband when I'm ready.
2. God views me more as a useful tool than a beloved child.
3. When it's the right guy, I'll just know.
4. When I get married, then my life will begin.
5. Marriage will/will not meet my deepest needs.
6. There must be something wrong with me. If I could just figure out what it is, I could fix it and guys would start showing interest.
7. The older I get, the less likely it is that I will find someone.

In the past decade (aka "my twenties"), I have believed or at least pondered all of these at some point.  The ones that I have had to fight with the most in the past year are numbers 1, 2, 6 and 7.

If you are single and find yourself believing any of these, I highly recommend checking out Suzanne's article.  If you are married but have friends in that "extended period of singleness" I also highly recommend you checking out her article so that you can help debunk the myths you find your single friends believing.

 

i now "officially" look like my mom!!

I saw this over at An Open Book, and thought I'd see if a computer algorithm agrees with most casual observers that I look like my mom.  It did. :)

(P.S. My dad's name is not "dan" . . . I mistyped "dad.")

buying books overseas

Living overseas has seriously helped me to curb my book-buying addiction.

My mom says she can always tell when it is time for me to come home because packages start arriving.  I start shopping my wish list and sending books to my parents' home to wait for me the month or two before I leave.

Amazon.com's international shipping on books is SO high--sometimes more expensive than the book itself.  So, last year when I read on a blog about a company that ships books overseas for under three USD ($2.97) a book, I was giddy.

I've ordered from BetterWorldBooks.com twice.  The first time it took about two months or longer to get my books (I was beginning to think they had been sent to Thailand), but the second time it took less than a month.  The first time they come in an M-bag (I had ordered several) and the second time, they just came in a simple box.  Both times they had been shipped from Switzerland?  Sweden?  I don't remember, but some "S" country. :)

I've been pleased.  It's nice to once again be able to order (cheap, used) books and actually have them shipped to me.  I've not found every title I've searched for, but I have found many.

If you live overseas and need a book craving filled, you might wanna check out BetterWorldBooks.com.

Oh, yeah, and the profits go to fund literacy, and shipping is free to US addresses, so even if you aren't overseas, you still might wanna check 'em out. :)

(I thought I'd read about it on a "girl blog" in the fall.  But when I searched my g-reader, I only found a mention of it on the Bell Site in the summer.  Anywho, thanks anonymous girl blog; sorry I can't give you a hat tip.  And thanks to Jackie Bell for recommending good stuff to others too.)

ways to bless missionaries for free

13 awesome postage free ideas can be found here on the Desiring God site.

Please know that I'm NOT asking for any of these!!  I am simply passing on some great ideas that I know would bless the missionaries in your life. :)

I specifically recommend the ones that do not cost a penny at all:

• Commit to pray for them on a specific day of the week for a year. 
• Write a song or poem or story for them. Email them the text and a recording of you reading or singing it.
• Get friends and family together to create a holiday video greeting for them using Google Video or YouTube.  Include lots of people you know they miss.
• Pray specific Scripture for them and their ministry, and then email it to them.
• Call or email their parents—Christmas might be just as lonely for the ones at home as the ones away.
• Donate frequent flier miles to them. (I don't know this one might cost you a penny or two, but would be a great idea if you know what airline they already have frequent flier miles with or if you have enough for an entire free trip.  I know of several missionaries who have flown to the field or gone home during crises by "paying" for tickets this way.)

editing pictures online

Inspired by Jimmie's weblink wednesday . . . I thought I'd share my two favorite online photo editing tools.

1. Picnik is just awesome. 
It used to be 100% free, but now that it is out of beta, they will soon start to charge for their "premium  services" (but they are free this week). It interacts with flickr, facebook, photobucket, and picasa.  I don't know about the other sites, but I know it is a seemless, painless process with flickr--beautiful really.  You can crop, edit, fix, create, frame, add text and graphics, and more . . .  Too bad it won't continue to stay completely free.

2. My other favorite photo tool is bighuge labs--and it is 100% free. 
There are tons of fun things to do there.  Some are productive and worthwhile, while others are just creative time-killers.  I use their Mosaic Maker a lot!  My students loved making their very own magazine covers and CD inserts.  You can also add captions and/or bunny ears and santa hats to your photos.  You  can also make billboards, photo cubes, calanders, motivational posters, and more . . .

All of these work best with flickr api, but if you know the image's URL, you can use any photo online, or upload one from your local harddrive.

Here are some of the things my students have created using bighugelab's flickr toys:

These two online photo tools really work for me.

whatever my God ordains is right

Whatever my God ordains is right
In His love I am abiding
I will be still in all He does
And follow where He is guiding
He is my God, though dark my road
He holds me that I shall not fall
And so to Him I leave it all

Whatever my God ordains is right 
He never will deceive me
He leads me by the proper path
I know He will not leave me
I take content, what He has sent
His hand can turn my griefs away
And patiently I wait His day

. . . read the rest

This beautiful seventeenth-century hymn is on Sovereign Grace's latest CD: In a Little While, a father and son project.  I love the gentle melody and simple but powerful truth of this song! Plus it matches my path theme. ;) 

I've listened to it over and over.  What a great addition to my "Trusting God Playlist" (which started after reading about Carolyn McCulley's list)!

You can listen to a minute long clip of the song online.

To give credit where credit is due: the original was written in German by Samuel Rodigast in 1676. Catherine Winkworth translated it to English in 1863.  Then, Mark Altrogge updated the English for the CD and wrote new music for the song.

the states

Can you tell I'm a southern gal?

States I've been to are in red.  You can make your own map here.

[HT: Sandy's Neipu Notebook]

women on the harvest

Women of the Harvest is a neat online resource for women serving cross-culturally.  I can't wait to have more time to pursue this very rich treasure trove of info for people just like me. 

They also have a quarterly online newsletter for POMs (parents of missionaries) called Harvest Legacy.  Skimming some of their back issues brought tears to my eyes.  I had a choice in whether or not I was going to make sacrifices to come serve overseas.  My mom and dad didn't get to choose whether or not they did--I made the choice for them.

[HT: Rays of Sunshine]