Ten years ago today...

I heard someone on the news talking about the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  Then I realized that 10 years ago today, I was on a plane on my way to China.  Wow!  10 years!  Is it possible for 10 years to seem like the blink of an eye & also feel like 2 lifetimes all at the same time??  I hope so, because that's where I am!

Ten years ago right now, I was flying for the first time in my life!  I remember how the pilot on one flight said we'd made good time & arrived early because of Katrina (tailwinds or something).  I remember that on the last leg of the journey - the flight from Tokyo to Guangzhou - I started feeling really sick.  I mean, the smells of the food we'd been served made me nauseous.  I couldn't hardly make myself eat the food, which left me hungry.  Throw in some turbulence and exhaustion...and I was done!  Seriously, I was done.  On the last flight, I had it out with God.  I told Him, in no uncertain terms, that the moment we landed & I got my luggage, I was putting a return flight on my credit card and staying at the airport until I flew home.  There was no way I could do this...I am not adventurous enough to eat foods that the smells make me sick.  I could not live a year where I couldn't understand the language (I already couldn't understand the flight attendants).  Others on my team had a shared history, so not only was I feeling bad, but I was already the odd-man out...and we hadn't even landed yet.  So I waited until the light changed signaling I could go to the restroom, walked back there, threw up and then bawled my eyes out and threw up again.

The more I told God I was going back home, the less nauseous I felt.  I figured that meant I had God's approval & it was His peace.  I thought He must have been testing my faith like He did with Abraham...just seeing if I was truly willing to make the sacrifice He asked, then at the last minute He was saying He wouldn't hold me to it.  As I walked back up the aisle and took my seat, I could see beautiful city lights.  The pilot began to speak (not in English)...the only word I understood was "Guangzhou" ...the city I was to live in.  I looked out the window at the lights again and heard God, in His still, small voice, say, "This is why you're here.  Take a good look.  There are MILLIONS living in this city.  They don't know Me.  Some have never even heard of My Name.  And they WILL spend eternity in Hell when they die if they don't know Me.  You have to tell them about Me."   Then He said "Yes, this is going to be a hard year.  Yes, you're going to feel left out at times.  Yes, there will be times you will cry out to Me fearing I've forsaken you.  That's because you're still living on Earth.  This is life, there are seasons.  Yes, this year will be more intense because you're away from all you know and all that is familiar.  But know this, the fire is where purification takes place.  It will be hard, you will want to quit, but I am with you.  My Word's still true - I will NEVER leave or forsake you.  And I love you!  I want you to share My love with others this year just as you do at home, but know that I am drawing you even closer to Me...  I am jealous for your heart and I will take full advantage of the fact that you're physically away from all you know & love to show you My love, to grow you in Me, to become your best friend, to become the 1st One you turn to.  Yes, this year will be hard, but I promise you will be blessed as well.  And, I love you and will never leave you!  Do you trust Me?"  Well, He'd never not kept His Word to me before, so I had to trust Him.

So, when the plane landed, we got our 3000 pounds of luggage - or maybe it was 2-70 lb suitcases & 2 carry-ons :), met teammates I'd only met online prior to that night and got on a bus that took us to our apartment.  It was around midnight, I was starved, exhausted and still an emotional wreck.  I remember a couple of us going to the C-store across the street - I got Pringles & a Coke Light.  Ahh, a little comfort. :)  I remember calling Mom to let her know we'd landed & "yes, I promise I'm fine".  Yeah, it was a lie you tell your Momma when you're on the other side of the world so she doesn't freak out.  I think I cried myself to sleep while feeling extremely claustrophobic in the bottom bunk and more emotional than I'd felt in a long time. lol

No, the year was not easy.  But, I did fall even more in love with Jesus than I thought possible.  And God continued to keep His Word - He never left me.  Every tear, every sniffle, every doubt, every giggle, every "arrgghhh" moment, He was right there with me.  And though it wasn't easy, I am forever thankful that I followed when I heard His voice.

John Hancock Observatory

The view from Hancock Observatory...94 stories up in the air! The elevator to get up all those stories takes somewhere close to a minute. Talk about ear-popping!

Washing windows is hard work that high up!

Another view of the city.

Mom & Daddy on the skywalk...all that holds you in are those steel beams and window screens.

Fountain at the ground level of the observatory.

Skyline cruise

After Wrigley Field, we went on a cruise down the river and into the lake. The Skyline cruise was lots of fun!

Photo-op!

The new Trump building that's going up now. It seems very economical. I think they said the penthouse has already been bought for something like $27 million.

Mom got tired waiting for the cruise...so she found a couch. She seems to think that she's royalty, perched on her golden couch!

Apparently Oprah lived in the building at one time...it has an awesome view of the lake.

It was a little overcast on Tuesday, but I still thought the skyline was awesome!

The tour guide had really corny jokes about Chuck Norris all of the time, but it was still fun.

The lighthouse was really cool, but this was as close as we got.

Awesome sailboat tour taking place...I think theirs was more expensive than ours.

This building has connections to Al Capone. Apparently, the top of the building was a speak-easy. The elevator is big enough for a car. So, Al would pay the elevator operator to leave his car in the elevator on the 54th floor with them. That way if the police were coming after him, the elevator was up and they had to walk up 54 flights of stairs....giving him plenty of time to ride down and escape. That's some smart thinking!

Wrigley Field

Daddy has been a Cubs fan for, well, since before I came along. So on Tuesday, we got up and hopped on a bus to surprise Daddy. Here's the shot of his face as he realized we were across the street from Wrigley Field! Talk about priceless!

It wasn't a game day, which was nice - no crowd to deal with!

Daddy was so happy, it was cute!

More cheesy tourist shots! "Take me out to the ballgame..."

Arlington House Youth Hostel

Since this was a "backpacking" trip, we stayed in a youth hostel. Plus, it was a lot cheaper. It was an experience for Mom & Dad. We got a private room with a private bath, so they didn't get the full experience, but it was still an adventure.

Since this was a "spend as little as possible" trip, we stopped at the grocery store on the way back from Chinatown and had sandwiches & such in our room. You'll also notice the map on the desk...I was plotting out Tuesday's events.

My bed was broken...like the springs were literally coming out of the mattress, so I put extra blankets and sheet on the floor. Roughing it!

Here's our air conditioner...along with an open window! Once the sun went down, it wasn't really too bad. Actually, we could hear a bunch of students out playing/writing music down the street, so it was a pretty interesting night.

Chinatown!!

We didn't make it to Chinatown until after 6 PM....so most stores were closing and it was beginning to get dark. But we got a shot of the mural..

These people acted like they didn't want their picture taken...but I know they were ecstatic that I snapped their picture!

The gate...
Mom does not like to try new foods because she is so picky. This proved to be something she didn't like! haha

Daddy, however, enjoyed his very much!

You can see a guy walking toward us in the picture I took of Mom. He wouldn't quit talking to us and he was talking about "super-rats" that were biting people's necks and were bigger than raccoons. Anyway, he was a little strange and we couldn't shake him, however, he was hungry and we gave him a dollar. Since we gave him money, he showed us the escalator so Mom & Daddy didn't have to walk up the steps to the El train. He said he wanted to earn his money. See? When you're going about God's business, He provides protection!

Navy Pier

We found out about the free trolley ride that you can take to Navy Pier, so of course we hit that up since it was free!

The famous Navy Pier....

The Ferris wheel...actually we found out interesting information about this during our cruise. Apparently the Ferris wheel was built for the World's Fair when it came to Chicago. Well, it's a long story, but an interesting one...look it up sometime!

Mom & Daddy...yeah, look close, they're in the green and blue shirts under the sign!

Chicago Cultural Center

OK...so we did go to the Center, but yet we didn't really. lol We needed a city map and to buy a visitor transit pass. So we went to the tourist info at the Cultural Center. This is definitely a place of interest on the next trip we take there!

I can't remember the story...but I know there's some significance to this bull.

The tiled ceiling in the entrance.

The beautiful Tiffany stained-glass dome...another thing that I've found makes me dizzy to look straight up.

Millennium Park

First stop of the trip was Millennium Park. There was a concert going on...it was a pretty good local group.

Then, we saw the Bean. It was actually kinda cool. Although, I found that I couldn't stand directly beneath the center and look up without getting dizzy!

Cheesy tourist shot!

Then we saw the awesome fountains...they're huge water fountains with Chicago citizens' faces on them that switch every so often. The kids line up every so many minutes for water to spray out of the person's mouth. Some of these little guys playing in the water were just so precious I had to take pictures!

Sheila, Dad's cousin, decided she should join in on the fun with the kids!!

Amtrak in Effingham

The first part of this exciting trip was the train ride. Mom's never ridden a train before, and I'd never ridden one in the States. Everything was an adventure from beginning to end!

The train was running about 20 minutes late...so I kept walking out to look down the tracks!

We're finally on the road...er, tracks!