New Job

So, after much searching, crying, frustration, and energy, I finally have a new job. Praise God! They are able to get me a real visa-legal that is-pay me on time, give me some security in my job, and provide a great environment that I feel comfortable working in. I am a young professional now too, I can no longer wear jeans, t-shirts, sneakers, shoes that lace up, sweatshirts, or sandals to work. Those of you that know me know that will be an adjustment, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. The classes are great, I love the "students"-I'm teaching adults- and my coworkers are so helpful and nice. Let's hope that this one doesn't fall through!!

Bailey's First Birthday!!

So it happened, Bailey Grace Alford turned 1-year-old on Tuesday, one of the most historic days thus far in America! But over in Kunming we were happy to celebrate the birthday girl and forget about our political differences for one special little girl :)
The yummy spread for Bailey's birthday dinner. She didn't actually get to eat any of the food though :(
The birthday girl!!
Brought the high chair down with the rest of us. It is her party after all.
Bailey and her parents!
Liz presenting Bails with her very first birthday cake. An all-natural no sugar banana cake...except for the yummy cream cheese frosting :)
Gettin' into the frotsing, oh yeah!!
My favorite Bailey faces. She does these if you just breathe loudly :)
Oh yeah, she knew all those presents were for her.
Enjoying her presents with Daddy.

Ahoy Matey

So for Haloween Jeff and I partook in a mystery night dinner. It was great fun and we can't wait to do another one. The night was full of mystery, mayhem, cheatin', stealin', chaos, and swindlin'. I think that Jeff and Chris had the most fun swindlin' and cheatin' seeing as they were the ones to come out with the most cash from questionable acts. Here are a few pictures to show how the night went :)
Liz and me all glammed up :)
Commodore Cleary and Cutthroat McPherson
The Governator and his family
The fun tables with Mariann, Danielle even had tin plates and gold coins on the table. She's such a great decorator!!
One eyed Wanda and Cutthroat McPhearson
Mad Rose and Commodore Cleary
Basically how the entire evening went, Chris and Jeff swindling the governator for under the table deals.
And the killer is...

Sea leg Sam!! We all thought it was the shady guy behind him...

The hosts are appalled that such things would happen in their house :)

Confusion at an Interview

Okay, so if you don't know by now, Jeff and I are having some difficulties with our jobs. Getting visas, staying in business, yada yada yada. Sooo, we're looking for new jobs. We responded to this one advertisement on gokunming.com, like the best place to find out what jobs are available in Kunming. Anyways, we sent our resumes and pictures into this one school. They called Jeff back and said that they needed a female teacher, so I applied. I got a call back and asked to come into an interview. Great, so I got all dressed up and went to an interview. After about an hour and a half of negotiating salaries, picking a schedule, making a curriculum, looking over the contract multiple times, I'm about to sign the contract. One more thing left to do, meet the headmaster of the school. He doesn't speak a lick of English and I hardly can say I speak any Chinese. The lady doing my interview says she'll translate everything and do what needs to be done in communication. Great, I think, this will be great, the past hour and a half she has been telling me how great I am and how qualified I am for the position. This will go by smoothly, I'll finally get my visa. The principal walks in and in 3 seconds flat says no. When asked upon why, he says, in CHINESE, she's Asian. Okay, so yes, it's true, because my face is not white, I'm not considered American enough to teach at this school. Well, I storm out and just start crying because I'm so frustrated. Yeah...this is a true story. About five hours later, I get another call from the lady, seems that the superintendent of all these schools feels that I am qualified and should get the job, so now I'm being reevaluated by the principal to see if I can get the job while not factoring in my race. Odd, I'm being discriminated for being Asian in an Asian country. Some things may never make sense to me...

Empty vessel

Lately I've been sort of blah about religion and God. I'm not sure why, I'm not sure what caused it, it's just something I'm going through right now. It's so easy to self pity yourself and sit around and complain rather than going out and making an effort to see the wonderful things around me. I was listening to a sermon about how to love your husband, and she kept saying over and over that if things aren't good with God then things aren't going to be good with any of my relationships, including my husband. I don't necessarily think things are bad with God, but they're just...well...there. I'm starting to listen to this new series by Andrew Wommack, someone that Jeff and I both really like, called the 4 keys to staying full of God. It's pretty amazing and convicting. The same message is over and over in the first talk, it's not God that turns away it's me. And how true is that, I haven't read my bible in...well God knows when, I haven't really been learning lately, I haven't found a fellowship that I have really felt like being open and honest with, I have yet to find my purpose in Kunming and being okay with it...and yet, I keep being reminded how much God loves me and that I am not a disappointment to Him, no matter how much I may put Him off, He is always there, helping me along, even if I don't ask for it, He is faithful to me. He understands me, He knows me, He has compassion on me, He never gets tired of listening to me gripe and complain, but instead He patiently waits for me to realize how amazing He is over and over until I am in complete surrender. What I'm sick of is going back and forth to these points, it's annoying. "I am empty but I know your love does not run dry. And so I wait for you. Broken I run to you for your arms are open wide. I am weary but I know your touch restores my life. So I wait for you."