First Day of School.

I remember that the night before the first day of school I would always be too excited to sleep well...I would be going through my mental checklist over and over again making sure I didn't forget anything. Last night was no different except this time I was anxious about being a teacher instead of being the student.

There are a couple ways to describe my first day at B Elementary but none of them remind me of how elementary school was for me. My first impression was that little black kids are so cute, especially when they're in their uniforms! The pre-K and Kinder kids were so tiny and many were carrying around backpacks too big for them. I really wanted to take pictures but we're not allowed to unless they're for classroom purposes. I used to hate uniforms...but they really do save one the trouble of having to worry about what to wear. By the way, I am in need of having to go shopping because I don't have enough business casual clothing. I miss the good ole days when I could just throw on my sweats and a t-shirt and head out for school. :p 

I spent the day in Ms. M's classroom and all I can say about it is that it was intense. We spent all morning going over procedures...the breakfast routine, fire drill, how to line up, bathroom routine...we probably went through each procedure 3-4 times. Ms M is this small black lady but she's scary...I wasn't even a student and I found her intimidating. lol She was yelling at the kids and calling them out on everything. This poor boy was trying to tie his shoe and she made him take off his shoes and place them in the front of the classroom so he wouldn't get distracted. Today was the first day of school and she already sent 4 kids out into the hallway, one boy to time out for not being prepared with an answer to a question, and two boys to the middle of the classroom to stand for almost an hour. I've heard that her kids are always really good and it's obvious why.

These poor kids also don't have recess. They have an hour of auxiliary where they might have P.E. or art but even that is very structured. When I went to go check up on them they were all in rows under the cover doing jumping jacks and stretches...it reminded me of a military camp. Maybe it's what these kids needs because of their background but I'm definitely not used to it. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the week plays out, I'm pretty excited for teaching to begin so I can start doing something.

A Whole New World.

My task at work this past week was to get settled and prepare for school to start on Monday. As I was walking down the halls I was caught off guard because people immediately greeted me by saying, "Hi, Ms. Wu" without me ever introducing myself. I quickly realized why. I am the only Asian person on campus...staff and students included. There are only three other Caucasians...my two colleague tutors and the school nurse.We had an open house on Thursday and none of the parents/students knew how to interact with me. lol I'm pretty sure that I'm the only Asian person they've seen in the area for a loooong time.

My school, B Elementary, is in the Third Ward, aka the ghetto. Basically all the students live below the poverty line and many of them are exposed to things at home that I cannot even imagine. I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into but I know that this year is going to be a year of challenges. The demographics at the school are 80% Black and 20% Hispanic. Less than 40% of the students are passing any subject on the standardized tests and many of them have been retained. Being in this kind of an environment I am reminded of how blessed I've been growing up.

Just so you guys have an idea of what I'm doing here, I am part of an organization called the Apollo 20. It started out four years ago when the Superintendent of HISD (Houston Independent School District) received a letter from the state saying four of his high schools were on the border of being shut down because of extremely poor test results. A couple months later he received another letter saying that five of his middle schools were about to be closed down. As he brainstormed on what he could do, the Apollo program began to take shape. Eventually they added 11 elementary schools so there are now 20 school involved. This program is part of a research project through Harvard Ed and they've received a grant for three years. This is now the third year and because the results weren't extraordinary last year with the implementation of a new standardized test, there is a lot of pressure for dramatic improvement in test scores. I went to a Apollo 20 rally on Wednesday and they didn't sugarcoat it for us...we have to a tough year ahead of us.

I leave you with a few pictures of my classroom...it was hard to get it all.

No Longer Homeless.

As I am typing I have oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. I was hoping to use mini oreos but apparently everyone knew about the 99 cents deal at Krogers because they were completely out by the time I got there. Oh well, humongous cookies it is I guess.

On another note...I finally have a place to live. It was a long and somewhat frustrating ordeal but I'm thankful that God allowed it to be a not so smooth process. Erin and I were able to find an apartment pretty soon after I got here; rent was $945/month for 1290 sq ft., a basketball and tennis court, a pool, and the guy was in a hurry to move out so he was offering to pay us $500 upfront when we signed the lease. It was a great deal and I thought that this must be what God was giving to me. The only problem was that we wouldn't be able to move in until the end of the month. I'd already been staying at the Yong's place for a week or so and I didn't want to trouble them any longer so I had to figure out where I could stay until I could moved in. Then I was reminded of a friend that lived around the area so I asked if I could crash at her place for a couple days, she said yes. I thought that things couldn't get any better.

Yea, well God had other plans for me and shortly after we turned in our application we found out that something went wrong with the guy's mortgage at the condo he had just purchased so he wouldn't move out of the apartment until Sept 27th. This left us with two options, we could either wait until the end of September to move in or we could move on to another place. We decided to start over but since Rice and UH are both starting in the next week or so apartments were being rented out fast and we had a hard time finding places within my price range. Then on Wednesday we went to look at a townhouse and we arrived with checkbook in hand ready to make a deposit if the place was decent. It was. But, the landlords weren't willing to accept our offer because they had two other people coming later that they and I think that wanted to see if they could get a better contract from them. I left feeling really frustrated at God for making we wait so long to find a place.

At this time I was reminded by a friend of a very simple lesson that the Lord was trying to teach me, to place my trust in Him. It's a simple idea yet a difficult one. I was reminded of the saying, "Either He is the Lord of all, or He is not our Lord at all" and of the theme of WCCC this year that Christ is to be all and in all. These two phrases humbled me immediately because I realized that all this time I had not allowed Him to be the Lord of all in my life. It has only been a couple weeks since WCCC and God gave me a simple test of whether or not I had come to understand what I had heard and it was clear that I had not. So often we hear these ideas and phrases and we agree with them in our head, yet we fail to make them a reality in our lives.

I thank God for giving me this bump in the road so early on in my arrival to Houston because I know that there will be many more to come. The school I will be working in will not be in an easy environment, many of these students come from broken families and they grow up in a culture where education is not highly valued. If I can't trust God in everything right now, how will I be able to trust in Him when things actually get tough?

I move in August 25th so after I get settled I will post pictures. Can't wait to make my trip to IKEA!

Moving Onward.

Praise the Lord that my parents safely arrived in Houston late Friday night. It was nice to spend some more time with them away from the busyness that seems to be associated with being at home. Even during my last few days at home it seemed like we didn't get to talk much because they were occupied with church matters. I appreciate the fellowship that we're now able to have now and will miss being able to do that on a more regular basis.

The last couple days have been a blur, there isn't much you can do when you don't have a car so I've been watching a lot of TV shows. I'm all caught up on Rookie Blue now and am watching the second season of Downton Abbey. Jessica and I went to go workout at the UH gym the other day which was fun, I think it's smaller than the IMA but it's still a very nice gym. I start work tomorrow and am a bit anxious because I'm not sure what to expect so pray for me as I transition into working life.

Brother Dale shared a message with us today about moving onward that I feel fits perfectly with what I'm experiencing right now. God is a God of movement and He is constantly moving forward towards the completion of His perfect plan. We have been called like Abraham to come out of our present situation and move onward with the Lord, to be sojourners towards a "city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Heb 11:10)". We have a choice as to whether or not we want to obey this calling but the only way to please the Lord is to follow the path He has set before us, a path of self-denial and selflessness. I'm not yet able to fully comprehend what the Kingdom is but I know that the Lord is working in my life so that I can learn this lesson of moving forward so that one day I may be fit for His Kingdom.

After my parents left today I was reflecting upon why I am here in Houston. I know that it is the Lord that gave me this fellowship opportunity but I've been struggling with what my purpose here is besides my job. It's never easy/fun being in a new group, especially one that is so large, and I'm not an extroverted person making it hard to meet people. The Lord has truly blessed me over these past years with a comfortable life. I never imagined myself to be somewhere so far away from home; and yet, He has called me out of my comfort zone and has asked me to move forward in the direction He has set before me. I have to admit that I was reluctant to move forward but Brother Dale's message reminded me today that my walk with the Lord needs to constantly be moving forward, it can not be a stagnant one. Sometimes the Lord needs to physically move us so that our spiritual life will also be able to move forward.

I hope that I don't come across as saying that I couldn't grow spiritually in Seattle, because I have...I believe that we all have grown this past year...but maybe I have been too blessed by you guys that I am not actively pursuing after the Lord as I should; I have forgotten what it means to rely on Him in all matters. Over these last few days, in a foreign environment, I have already been forced to turn to Him in even the smallest matters. I know it's silly but not having a car has been very inconvenient...especially with working out...but as I brought that matter before the Lord I was reminded that I still had WCCC messages to catch up on which are definitely more beneficial to my spiritual life. My prayer is that the Lord may continue show me His will for me while I'm here so that I can continue to grow in my walk with Him.

Luke 9:61-62
Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “ No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

It is clear to me that it was the Lord that called me to leave Seattle and although I am not sure why He has brought me here I must learn to follow after Him wholeheartedly without looking back. He has always proven Himself to be faithful and I know that by His mercy and grace I can face tomorrow.

Sorry that this post has been text heavy...hopefully I'll have more exciting things to share tomorrow after my first day! Hope that Seattle weather is treating you guys well. :)

Settling in.

Praise the Lord that I'm adapting to Houston life quite well. As long as I stay indoors most of the time the weather isn't too bad, I do miss being outside to enjoy the sun though. Hopefully things will cool down in the next few months and I'll be able to be outside without feeling like I've walked into a sauna. Here are a few pics that I've managed to take, I'm not used to having to take picture because usually someone else has that area covered.  

 Trail that I went running on in the morning by the bayou...pretty sure I was the only non black person there. 

I went at 7 in the morning and I was already sweating like crazy, I can only imagine what Michael would be like :p

 A sample of the houses that are around the area I'm in right now. There are some really nice ones like this and then some not so nice ones. 

The car that the Yong's have so graciously allowed me to drive. Honestly, it's the first time that I've driven this size of a car on the highway but it has been fun. I'm slowly finding my way around here but I'm probably still going to invest in a GPS. 

 Living at Tim's aunt's place is quite interesting because they rent out some of their rooms to international students. The house has been quite empty during the days because most of them are still finishing up summer school so I have to entertain myself. We try to eat dinners together and I'm mentally exhausted afterwards because the conversations are always in fast-pace Chinese. It's okay though because Jessica's Chinese is worse than mine. :)

I do miss Seattle a lot. As kind as the people are here at HCA it still feels weird to go to prayer meeting and not see you guys. I'm sure it'll get easier but for now I'm still just the new girl. 

I should be finalizing an apartment soon so I'll keep you guys updated, then you guys can come visit me!

This is it.

It's 11:52 PM, August 5, 2012. In about 12 hours I am going to be on a flight to Houston to face a year of uncertainty. I know that I've had time to process this but reality has only begun to sink in. Never did I think that I would end up in Houston. I am not the adventurous type and would much rather stay at home but clearly the Lord has a different plan for me. I do not know what is in store for me this next year but I am confident in Him who holds my tomorrow and I am confident that His power will be made perfect in my weaknesses because His grace has always been sufficient for me. Looking back on this past year I can only give praise to the Lord for all that He has blessed me with. Many times we don't understand what the Lord is doing in our lives but given a chance to reflect we see how our trials and sufferings actually became a way for Him to bless us. I hope that in this next year I will be able to share about both the good and bad that I encounter and even more so I hope that I will be able to share about His many blessings in my life.

Sometimes I look at how far our group has grown both as individuals and as a family and I have a hard time believing that it's only been four years. Thank you all for the wonderful fellowship and memories that have been created and I pray that the Lord may continue to do His good work here at SCA. I will see you all soon! :)