Reflecting on 2010

Even though I've been on holidays at home (enjoying a week long stay-cation) I haven't made a lot of time to reflect on the past year. I've sat down now for about, oh 30 seconds, and I'm flooded with so much that has happened this year and so many reasons to be thankful. The year has certainly flown by as I'm sure time does when there's so much going on that you don't even have an opportunity to look at the calendar and process what day it is and how far along in the year we have come until, look at that, it's December 30th!

Here is the recap of 2010 for me:

The first third of the year was spent on an extended business trip to Beijing, China. God showed me so much about the Chinese people, the country and the culture. As a result, the experience caused me to analyze myself on a deeper level and the country and culture I was brought up in and have lived in most of my life and how that has influenced some of my thought patterns and expectations out of life. He showed me how to rely on Himself only. He taught me how to depend on Him and how to trust in Him to provide, to lead, to take care of me and those at home that were so far away. He also taught me to let go and exercise my faith in Him. Yes, four months certainly is not that long of a time but it's long enough to help me realize exactly just how important certain people are in my life. And as well, to reconsider whether the dreams I had for my life really were dreams worth pursuing.

One month into my trip to Beijing, I had to come back to the US because I had already planned to attend a Women's Hockey game at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. My sister and bro-in-law also had made plans to fly over to Seattle and together we were going to enjoy the games. I was able to spend three weeks back in the US for this reason! We had a great time at the game and even spent some time with my cousin who lives in Vancouver with her husband. Perhaps it was even during this time that my family decided they must take advantage of the circumstances and pay me a visit in Beijing. More of this later...

During my time in Beijing, I took up my first ever Bible Study Fellowship study of Philippians. Their approach to Bible study helped provide a framework for disciplined and focused study and the questions helped me get a deeper perspective for the Word. I am so thankful for the women that were in my group, especially my group leader -- her leadership and compassion for the women in her group were inspiring for me. The stories she shared with me helped me understand what it was like for a Christian foreigner to live in Beijing -- and with two children as well. She was a great example of a woman who loved God and who had joy in her heart no matter what the circumstances were.

While in Beijing, Hmma came to visit and together we spent a short vacation in Singapore. What a wonderful tropical place to visit! I was so thankful for our brief time together enjoying new sights, and new foods and getting to explore a new place together. He took off to Cambodia while I returned back to work in Beijing. Upon his return, I could see that his experience in Cambodia gave him fresh energy to continue to see Mira Scholars Foundation established.

I am also so grateful for the opportunity to study Mandarin while in Beijing. My laoshi really loved to teach mandarin - you could tell because she used the teaching aids only for homework assignments and to provide limited guidance. Instead, she catered her lessons specifically for me according to my level. She clearly enjoyed working with an Asian female -- I still remember our first meeting, she exclaimed that she was overjoyed that i was not a big Caucasian man as my name, somehow, seemed to indicate. i wish we could have spent more time together outside of our lessons however, 3 months passed by extremely quickly. and now i have probably a toddlers knowledge of mandarin when before I had absolutely none.

What's also interesting is that during my time in Beijing, it so happened that two good friends from Seattle happened to be also in Beijing during my time there. They weren't always there when I was but they certainly provided familiar and welcome company when the surroundings were becoming overwhelming unfamiliar. You cannot imagine how nice it was to share a smooth flowing conversation in English after weeks of broken communication.

And the last thing to say about Beijing was that my family came to visit during the last couple of weeks. Now, as much as I love my family, living together in such close quarters (about 500 sq ft for 5 people) is not such a good idea. especially when the bathroom has a bathtub with a ceiling to tub glass wall that is covered with a curtain OUTSIDE the bathroom. It was nerve racking to take a shower and trust that someone on the other side of that glass wall was not going to suddenly and utterly expose you to everyone else because they were unaware that someone was in the shower. We saw sights together and enjoyed good meals. We navigated ourselves through the city on the metro system and K did his best to use his Cantonese-Mandarin to communicate to locals. Sadly, we ended on some bad terms -- my mother wouldn't even say goodbye to me at the airport -- but our family always bounces back and she was glad to see me in Toronto in August. Through this experience, I am reminded how much i need to change in terms of how i love my family and how i extend God's grace to them in very tight situations (literally, TIGHT).

After returning to America, I wasn't sure what the rest of the year would bring since my time in Beijing was already full of enough life experience to last the rest of the year. However, God had other plans. After a relatively quiet summer, I made a rather difficult choice to live on my own again and said a fairly abrupt goodbye to my housemate of nearly 3 years. But it seemed good timing for her as she decided to move back to Toronto shortly afterward. And since I was going to be living in my condo alone, I made a choice to start a renovation project -- the kitchen.

The kitchen renovations went rather smoothly. I had to do some of the leg work but Hmma was very insightful and had a better eye for colours than I did. Together we picked out tile and grout, kitchen sink, faucet cabinetry and granite countertops. After a couple of months of planning, the kitchen renovations started and then two weeks after that, I had a new beautiful kitchen. I am grateful for my contractor, a friend of Hmma's, for doing such a good job and that I'm now able to fully enjoy using the kitchen rather than feeling like things are going to fall apart.

In August, we took a trip to Toronto to witness a dear sister in Christ and lifelong childhood friend get married. During this time, Hmma apparently asked my dad for permission to marry his daughter (me!). Back in Seattle, we made a somewhat casual trip to Tiffany's and other jewelers to take a look at engagement rings. Very casually.

September, I decided that after my experience with BSF in Beijing, I must join BSF locally. So i did -- this year we are studying Isaiah and I'm finding it to be challenging and fully of insight and knowledge - i love it! How could i have possibly read Isaiah recently in the past and missed out on the full message of the prophet??

September also brought about a certain and special proposal! While in Beijing, I had contemplated very deeply why I felt a rush to get married? I spent a good deal of time praying for peace over the matter especially because I was approaching the rich and ripe age of 30 years. Society and my parents convinced me that I was much too old and beyond my prime to be a blushing blooming bride -- if i waited any longer, no one would possibly want to take such an old lady as a wife. And i bought into that for many years thinking that maybe I needed to apply pressure in order to prevent such a catastrophic thing from becoming reality. I prayed for peace while in Beijing and God graciously granted me this through the Holy Spirit. And of course, right at the moment when peace and trust is attained, God and Hmma surprised me with a marriage proposal -- i said YES!

The rest of the year has been a bit blurry. There has been wedding preparations and planning. There has been a quiet and yet meaningful Christmas in Seattle. There has been some work environment reorgs and moving to a new building. However, as I write out all my thoughts about 2010, I cannot help but feeling very full of God's blessing in my life and that He has taken me through an uncertain journey, always full of surprises and adventures. It hasn't been all easy and there has always been a good dose of struggle and resistance but reflecting back, I have a heart full of thankfulness for what God has done in my life this year.

i Still haven't written a Dream letter for 2011 but after a good time of reflecting on 2010 and writing all this out, I'm excited for 2011 and what new challenges and experiences it will bring! I am certain I have not documented everything and likely have missed out on a few things for 2010 but no worry, i can always return and add more. :)

Happy New Year to you, dear reader! I hope your 2010 was as full as mine.