Singapore Day 28: Only 2 more days ... and zentangles

I love blogging. And I like being part of the "aha!" moments when students set up their own blogs.

Zentangle #1: Going Places.
(one pen-stroke at a time)

This morning, W asks me to help his tech class set up new blogs. Before long, they're up and running. I can't wait to see what they've come up with. Each blog - whether poetry, prose, photography, or art - is unique and reflects the student's personality and interests.

K left for home in the early hours of yesterday. W took her to the airport for a 5am flight. The restlessness of waiting for the 2am alarm kept us all awake. None of us got more than a few hours of sleep.

En route, K sends a reassuring update; her flights have been uneventful. When she arrives late at MN airport, she's worried about missing her connection home. (She'll have to wait 7 hours for the next flight.) However, at the gate, an attendant comes for her, grabs her bags off the conveyer, whisks her through customs and immigration in the diplomat's line, and gets her to the last leg of her journey on time. What a relief!

These feet are made for walking:
the flower painted on my toenail
has stayed on, all these miles

W taught the full day yesterday before we walked to our old neighborhood. Meanwhile, I graded papers and did some art. I have discovered Zentangles, an artistic way of adding line to line that is perfect during meditation and prayer. It takes me an hour or so to complete a 4" square, letting my pen wander over the paper. I find it soothing and the results pretty as they emerge.

In our old neighborhood, the shops on Tampines Market Street are booming. The food is excellent: we walk around the entire complex and explore.

We neither want nor need anything, but it's amazing how much "stuff" is on every shelf. I'm fascinated by housewares (how other people set up their homes). W compares prices on electronics to see what he should bring from home next year or would be better off purchasing here.

Coffee makers include options for
Milo, Teh Tarik, and cappuccino

Today we have an hour or two at home after class before hopping the buses for an hour-long ride into town. We share supper in Little India with Augustine and Sumathi, friends from Cambridge days.

"It seems like we're following you around the world!" we exclaim. They landed in Singapore eight or nine years ago, and have been teaching in Indonesia for a year.

"Now we'll have a place to stay in Bandung. And I'll have a friend to visit," Sumathi exclaims. We've stayed in touch all these years, since hitting it off in England. Our youngest, Jono, who came along to the UK, and their kids (Adarsh and Amitha) became friends during our stay. All are now adults and on their own.

Augustine specializes in Old Testament studies at a university. "I mentioned that I know someone who teaches New Testament," he smiles at W. My TESOL studies may also come in handy: their post-grad (doctoral) students need help with English.

Zentangle #2: The Winding Road

Augustine and Sumathi know a young husband and wife who will be moving to Bandung. They'll connect us. I pass my business card to Sumathi. (As usual, I should have paid attention to the Voice: it said, "Take two." Sigh.) Sumathi promises to pass the card to the couple so we can get in touch. Their interests include working with children.

W and I get home at 10pm, happy with another piece of the puzzle unexpectedly falling into place. Wow. We'll definitely need a guest room or two while we're in language school. And these dear friends will be most welcome visitors!

Read more:
*But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me  and my family, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 NLT

*The Lord said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city?” Jonah 4:10-11 NASB

*Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:32 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Dear God, please let Jesus call on us so you may forgive us of our sins. In your name we pray. Amen.

Lent Day 26: Always the same thing

I blogged 391 pages in 2008. I was astonished, scanning in the writing that amassed.

"When did I have time for that?" I asked myself. That year, I set up the first NU groups on Facebook, wrote looong gossipy alumni enews each month, and kept my private journal. I was stressed between work and courses for my doctoral studies (including 4 big papers and a few projects). I probably wrote myself out of insanity that year.

Dad prints out my blog ramblings so my mom can read it. I have posts going back to 2006 and earlier. I'm scanning them to my computer, and compiling the paper copies into categories for future publication.

I peeked at lines from the blog posts while I was sorting them. Several things are constant:

• I love change, the new thing. 
• I'm like a heat-seeking missile on a hunt for information and I delight in passing it on. 
• I enjoy connecting people to resources they need (especially if someone else feels good about sharing their abundance or knowledge.)
• I've always hated being micromanaged.
• People function best in their gifts and strengths, not their weaknesses. Demanding that someone work hardest outside their gifting creates chaos internally and organizationally.
• Secure people create realities that enrich the world, regardless of what others say. In contrast, insecure people think everything is a negative reflection on them.
• Follow your intuition! Just because someone says it can't or shouldn't be done doesn't mean they're right.

I learned a lot of other things that year, but those are a few things I'll be mulling over in the next few days.

What lessons from a few years ago have stuck with you and shaped what you do or how you think?

Read more:
*Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Psalm 16:5-8 NIV

*Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing. Psalm 92:13-14 (NKJV)

*That in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. Luke 8:15 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Creator of all that is, we pray for this remarkable, fragile planet: your gift, your creation. Today may we plant seeds of gratitude and hope so that your world will flourish for generations to come. Amen.