Welcome Home!

It's always so nice to come home when you have been away for a while. When you spend time away from those you love it makes you appreciate them all the more. I feel like God has put so many amazing people in my life, from my husband, to my parents and sister, Jacob's family and friends. It's really intriguing to me how we interact with each other, I feel like I am always watching people and how they talk to others, look at others and other social interactions. It has always been interesting to me to observe behaviors. That's probably one reason I became a teacher, because I do feel like I am fairly aware of people's behaviors and interpreting them pretty well, as well as anticipating reactions or solving problems between people. Not that I am an expert by any means, but I do feel like I have had a lot of practice studying why people do what they do and how relationships go through ebbs and flows. It always seems like relationships have high points and lower points, but what is important is that you are always looking for the best in people and doing your best to be considerate of them to further your relationship with them. I feel like during the school year I have so many people to keep up with... around 130 individual teenagers, which I am responsible for knowing about personally (how they learn, their struggles and strengths), multiple student parents that I keep in touch with, about 75-80 faculty members, with which I have relationships with (some more personal than others), my husband, my parents, my sister and her fiancé, my husband's parents and his siblings, their husbands and kids... that's not even mentioning the 400 people we worship God with, my closest friends and more distant friends... It is just AMAZING to me that God made us completely capable of keeping each relationship separate yet intertwining, and gave us the brain capacity to keep each relationship current and developing. He has just created us with such a capacity to love and to always be looking for ways we can help other people. Anyway, that was somewhat of a tangent! My main point is just that I feel very blessed in the people God has placed in my life and traveling with them and being away from them has made that very obvious! I looked up a few verses about family and friends, and thought that these were inspiring, or some to be mindful of. :0)

A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother. (Prov. 15:20)

She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.  She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.  She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. (Prob. 31:15-17) (This describes so many women in my family!)

Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. (Prov. 1:8)

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors, there is safety. (Prov. 11:14)

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. (Prov. 27:17)

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; (Prov. 103:13)

One of the special people in my life brought these home to my on Saturday. :0) He always has good taste in flowers!

So it appears that one of the souvenirs I bought for myself ended up being a kid's t-shirt instead of an adult size! I pulled it out of the package and it was MUCH smaller than the one they had hanging up as an example. Jacob and I laughed about it for a few minutes and then decided it could be Jacey's souvenir from Singapore. Of course she hates wearing stuff like this, but it just cracks me up.

Just in case you are wondering, the "lion fish" on this shirt is called the Merlion. It has the head of a lion and a body of a fish. There is a huge statue of this at Marina Bay, but I don't know that I got a very good picture of it while I was there. Basically this represents the old fishing village of Singapore and the lion represents the original name of Singapore. 

I also wanted to include a few pictures of some of my favorite souvenirs from Singapore. They each hold such special memories and experiences, and such good reminders of our good times there. The brown vase on the side was "Baby Vasey" that I carried through the airports and on and off the planes. I got it at the Pottery Jungle that we visited on the last day at Singapore. The colorful porcelain container is a piece of Nonya ware, which was an important aspect of the Peranakan culture I talked about, the blended families of Singaporians and Chinese or Indian people. The object in the back is a rice basket that I bought at Dempsey Village from the store where we met the friendly man that talked about our "Buddah Postures". That was definitely a special person on our trip and I'm glad I have something to remember him by. The last thing there is an ornament from Chinatown. One thing I always like to buy when we travel is a Christmas ornament. That way every year when we put up our Christmas tree, I go through looking at each ornament and remember trips we have taken in the past. That all started when I visited Austria back in college and went to the Christmas stores in Salzburg. They had thousands of different ornaments there and from then I just look for them now. This panda ornament was hand painted and really beautiful, so of course I couldn't pass that up!

Well, I hope you all have a fabulous day and say a prayer thanking God for your family and friends!!! :0)