our flight from Chengdu to Beijing leaves in less than 12 hours!!!!!
from there, San Francisco...
then Atlanta.
then sweet home Alabama!!!!
i can't believe this is actually, finally happening!
we're going back to the states as a family after THREE years!
with Cassie's adoption finalized, when her feet touch American soil, she is a citizen!!!
saying my goodbyes at the graduation and then at fellowship and then tonight with our close friends, was very very very difficult...i will miss China so much <3
I'm graduating in less than 24 hours!!!! I'm sooooo excited! Pray for me as I give a speech in front of about 200 people! SO nervous! I hope we have a good day of celebration with friends and family! :) Should be awesome!!! Pics coming soon!
one week until my best friend visits from beijing!!! and i have a ton of school i need to do... less than one month until i graduate!!! and i have no idea what i'm going to say in a speech... little more than one month until we leave for the states! i'm already dreading the packing... two months until i start work at PCC! i'm going to have to resist the urge to answer the phone "wei? ni hao"... four months until i start college!!! and idk what i want to major in... sooooo much going on!!! i covet your prayers!!!
It’s getting closer and closer to time for graduation and I have mixed emotions about leaving China and starting a new phase in my life at college…the weekend of March the 20th (my 18th birthday!!!!!) was an AMAZING time with the Chengdu Homeschool graduating class of 2010!!! The four of us- Hilary, Eva, Nate, and myself- took a trip to Mian Yang and stayed in the house of some friends of Hilary’s and visited with Aric, the photographer who took our senior pictures. We had a BLAST!!! Not a fancy senior trip by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s all about perspective and the people you go with! It was amazing to spend time with what Aric described as the up and coming generation of world changers, raised in a foreign country and excited about serving the Lord anywhere he leads! Though we have our differences and disagreements (such as our two hour long heated argument on Calvinism and then later on eternal security), I know we all consider ourselves blessed to be graduating with a class who is on fire for the Lord and seeking His will for our lives!
Our senior trip and senior picture shoot was a HUGE success and SO much fun! I will be posting those to facebook soon and maybe a couple here as well. After the shoot in Mian Yang, Aric came to Chengdu and took TONS of pictures of our extraordinarily attractive graduating class at our favorite hangouts downtown.
The next week Aric came back to Chengdu again and made our family pictures! It was the first time getting to make family pictures with Cassie officially OURS and also our last chance to make family pictures with me before I leave home! Monger family photo shoot day 2010 will always be an amazingly fun bittersweet memory… <3
I’m going to do a little bit of an advertisement here, you can see a selection of our family pictures and my senior pictures on Aric’s website: www.aricberger.com
It is 48days, 4hours, 25minutes and 42secondsuntil Saturday, May 22, 2010 (Beijing time).
A countdown website has become my new favorite toy. lol If you’re wondering, May 22nd is the day I *officially* graduate from highschool. I have to give a speech and I still have no idea what I’m going to say.
A few days ago I received in the mail a Circle Journal, a project that’s been a couple of months in the making by the 2010 freshmen of PCC. The journal started out in Arkansas and has been to Malaysia and now China, and next is heading to Scotland to my own dear future roommate, Jenni. Each person decorates a page, pasting pictures, drawing doodles, sticking stickers, whatever it takes to show their personality. I finished my page the night before last, SO much fun and such a good idea!
Yesterday we got Cassie’s travel papers, which is funny because it’s basically just permission for us to come to China (lol) to GET her. Joke’s on them? Typical Chinese governmental way of doing things, done under the table but with a paper trail a mile long to make everything appear official. Who cares? We have our girl and we would do anything to have her. <3
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and we have a fun day planned with our International Fellowship. A picnic, an easter egg hunt (without the eggs, just candy), and little girls wearing their best dresses so that moms can take lots and lots of pictures for the grandparents back home. You always hear this around Christmas time but I think even at Easter it’s important to remember “the reason for the season.” I often remark on how thankful I am to have grown up here and one reason that I say this is that I have been protected, in a sense, from many things that grow up like weeds and choke the Christian walk of believers in wealthy nations like America. When I think of Easter, I don’t automatically have the images of commercialism that an American would have. I don’t see pastel colored marshamellow poultry, chocolate rabbits or dyed hard-boiled eggs. Yes, all of those things are wonderful memories I have with my parents, grandparents, siblings, and cousins, but when I think of Easter, what I really think of is the fact that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead so that souls of people who’ve never even heard of the Easter bunny can be saved from an eternity of separation from God in hell, raised to life everlasting, and given the gift of this life to live more abundantly. Oh, Death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, thy victory? One thing that makes Christianity unique is that we serve a living Savior. Without the resurrection our faith is vain. The apostle Paul expresses it much more eloquently than I ever could.
1 Corinthians 15:1-22
1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. 12Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
PS: I do miss all of my family in America very much at Easter time, even our silly traditions like making half-grown people still hunt for easter eggs with candy and quarters inside…thank heaven for Linds and Cassie, maybe Johnny, Dana, and I will finally be allowed to nap with the dads instead of tromping through the grass looking for our plastic eggs now. Granny Dianne, Granny Barb, Uncle Bobby, Aunt T, Johnny, Dynasty, Lindsey, Uncle Robert, Aunt Michele, Dana, Dawn, Uncle Bubba, Aunt Joyce, and others…miss you all, love you, and make mention of you always in my prayers. <3
this is probably the most joy-filled post i will ever have the blessing of writing!!! today we got our referral letter, Cassandra Joy is officially OUR baby girl!!! she's my little sister...for real...forever... i half sobbed, half laughed and screamed like a maniac in the middle of the street when i heard my mother say the words "she's ours!" over the phone! right now i'm rejoicing and spreading the news with just as much energy and enthusiasm with which i prayed for this day to come! of course Cassie has NO idea what is going on, she's wondering what all the fuss is over, it's like she's having a birthday! when we got the news, Mom asked her, "Cassie, do you want to be our little girl and only ours, forever and ever?" she thought about it a while... "uhmm...no...i wan' pizza!" spoken like a true Monger! :) so we celebrated with family dinner! thank You, Father... thank You, Jesus... thank You, Spirit... she's ours... she's really really finally ours!
a lot has been going on since i actually WROTE a post... Qiao Qiao left our family...i am so thankful for the blessing of having him to hold and love and pray over, even though he was only with us for a short while...he's now living in Chong Qing with some amazing girls and is awaiting his cleft lip/cleft palate surgery...please continue to keep him and the girls caring for him in your prayers! chinese new year was...amazing! so many good memories made with friends and family! the fireworks were breathtaking as always but i was actually ready for them to STOP this year after the 15th day...we sent off lanterns off of our rooftop this year, something we'd never done before, that was beautiful...and oh my, the food! so much delicious Sichuan food! it was bittersweet for me because it's probably the last time i'll be in China for Chinese new year in at least four years, so i was very thankful for the special time i had with my family! it was a very relaxing vacation and we were all very sad when school started back... it's been a roller-coaster of a month as far as Cassie's adoption...first we got news that we don't have enough money to adopt...yeah, we're not exactly in this country for the money...then my parents found a way to be able to clear things up there, so that was a relief...but for the last few days all the feedback has been very positive and we're all becoming hopeful that we're nearing the end of this painful process! please keep us in your prayers, we greatly appreciate all the prayers and words of encouragement! some good news i received just a couple days ago was that i have been hired to work as a secretary at Pensacola Christian College over the summer in the A Beka Academy Offices! this is a huge blessing and answer to prayer since i really need the funds and work experience! my mother and i will be heading back to America sometime soon after May the 22nd (my graduation) and i will begin work at PCC on June the 21st. i've been wondering about so many things lately, stressing out about leaving my beloved China (which is home to me), having my first job, learning how to drive, starting college, figuring out my major, what exactly i want to do with the rest of my life...i just keep reminding myself that no matter what happens, God will see me through it, if i keep my focus on trying (to the best of my ability, though sometimes unsuccessfully) to live HIS will for my life...i know there's going to be trials and tribulations and i'll make mistakes (lots of them) but i'm so thankful for the peace of mind that i can have because of my relationship with Jesus Christ, knowing that that is the ONE thing that will never change...i'm also thankful for the amazing family He has given me who will support me no matter what and the friends and church family who all believe in me and want to see me reach my full potential, even when i don't have faith in myself...my parents, who have always been my best friends, counselors, teachers, and confidants...the girls in my bible study, sarah, sami, kristina, aubrey, and taylor...you girls have such a sweet godly spirit, and i appreciate your heart for serving others and the encouragement and accountability you are in my life! adam & candice, who are always there if i need people older and wiser to talk to, even if they don't like to be reminded of that fact! haha! i am thankful for my dearest friends that i know will be there for me if i need anything! so this is it...my last three months living at home...my last three months (at least for a while) living in China...i'm sure i'll have much more to write about after graduation and all the transitions and adventures of starting life on my own begin, for now, life is in limbo. on a much lighter note, my 18th birthday is this month! i don't have any plans but i'm super excited to turn 18! :)
