Mulan Signed Up For This (China Part 3)

After my two hour drive to Auburn, our two hour drive to Atlanta, our two hour flight to Detroit, our three hour layover, our twelve hour flight to Beijing, and our twenty minute taxi ride to the hotel, we were finally able to stumble our way into bed after a very exhausting day.

 Due to the thirteen hour time difference, we actually lost a day. We left on Thursday morning and got to Beijing late Friday night/Saturday morning. How that all works is still a mystery to me. But thanks to being heavily medicated on Dramamine, I had no problem adjusting to the time change.

Saturday began our whirwind tour of China.

First, the Great Wall.

 You have no idea how hard it is to climb the Great Wall. Uneven steps. Unbearable heat. Steep inclines. You look down so much you start to get dizzy.

 Clearly, you can't tell how hard it is.

 The other nationalities at camp were very perplexed by our chacos.

 And this is how we got down from the Great Wall. Total Cool Runnings style.

 First legit Chinese meal. And the only time we had dumplings.

 Chopsticks really are difficult to use when you're hungry.

 The tea shop.

 We never could find a good place to stop and get out at the Bird's Nest, so we just drove around it like 20 times.

 Wafujing Street.

After a good night's sleep, we boarded a train for 10 hours to our camp city.

The train station was a cultural experience. We were the ONLY white people there and tons of people stared at us. It was like they were seeing unicorns and telling each other, "They do exist!"

 Once in our sleeper cars we played Pass The Pigs. I always got out like five rolls in.

 You have no clue the body language and charades that took place to get us these noodles.

 And as if a ten hour train ride weren't enough, we got stuck at the train station for an extra hour because there was some mix up on where to pick us up. I was ready to walk to the nearest hotel and call it a night because I was so exhausted. We finally got to camp at 1am. Bless it.

This Was Before We Were Friends (China Part 2)

Before I go any further, I should probably give you a point of reference for who was with us.

Meet the FBO team. Left to right is Natalie, Me, Jenna, James, Blake, and Tori is the one in the front.

Besides Jenna being my bible study leader, none of us knew each other before meeting each other at the airport except for seeing each other from a distance at FBO. So this is our first photo together. AKA the time when we weren't really friends.

Let's be real, there was a lot of potential for this trip to be awkward.

Instead, we were incredibly blessed to become fast friends. We quickly figured out that everyone was extremely funny in his or her own way and brought something different to the trip. And just in case one of us didn't realize we were totally MFEO (made for each other), we climbed the Great Wall together, had a 10 hour train ride to bond, and regularly talked about the bathroom situation all before we got to camp.

Meet Tori. She's an occupational therapist in the making and the lightest packer I've ever met. Besides bonding over movie quotes (I knew I should have yelled "Yo Tie Dye Girl!" the first time we met) and having the same love language, Tori brought plenty of spunk to this trip. And we owe our trip to Disneyland to her since it was her idea. She was so wonderful with her two orphan boys as well as engaging with the other kids. She was always a source of encouragement and knew just when I needed a hug to get through. And she ate butter straight out of the packet on the plane ride home because she missed it so much. Just wanted everyone to know that little bit of information.

Meet Natalie. She's an English Education major, so naturally we bonded from the beginning. Our translators were roommates and stayed with our kids, so we got to spend extra time together. I would have gone absolutely crazy if it weren't for her stepping in when I needed help. Her patience with even the most difficult kids was so refreshing and I loved watching her love on them. She also has some mean vocal skills, which were put to good use karaoking with the translators one night. Not only that, but she can make the funniest noises I've ever heard (Chewbacca excited to go to Disney was my favorite). And she has the greatest poker face I've ever seen, granted this is coming from someone who wears her every emotion and thought on her face.

Meet James. He's in Health Administration but should really be majoring in Fatherhood. All of the female translators had a crush on him and our team affectionately referred to him as Dad of the Year. James likes to call women "doves" and write in his diary. Only not really. Maybe? Sometimes his humor was so dry it took us all an awkward silence and shifty eyes to catch on to his jokes. But he has such a kind heart and not only took care of his kids, but everyone else's. When my little girl developed a crush on him, he was sweet enough to sit with her at meals and tuck her into bed at night. And this all from the guy who had never changed a diaper before this week and still isn't comfortable talking about poop.

Meet Blake. The Pre-Med guy of the trip and the one who kept us all sane and relatively normal. Out of all of us loud-mouths, poor Blake didn't have a lot of chances to interject. But when he did... oh man. If nothing else we knew we were funny when we heard his giggles. And he is the most fun person to ride Disney rides with. His camp family seriously looked like a Chinese family vacation. Stinking precious. He was so good with his boys, even when one had to leave the movie theater screaming in terror at Madagascar. He not only took great care of his kids, but constantly checked on and encouraged his translator. Poor thing got violently ill while we were there, but he kept persevering like a champ. Plus, how else would we have kept tabs on James without him?

Meet Jenna. She's my Auburn mom and likes to call me special. But really, she is the reason I was even on the trip and has turned my flicker of interest in orphans into a full blown forest fire. There were moments on the trip that I looked at her and realized there was no way I would be able to navigate China without her. I am amazed that she even puts up with me, but I sure am thankful that she does! I needed her encouragement on the first day of camp when I was crying that I couldn't do it and I needed her strength when I was bawling my eyes out because I had to put my kids on the bus on the last day of camp. I'm so excited to learn under her again this year and spend time with her family.

This story begins with wishful thinking, a group of ladies, and a pan of brownies... (China Part 1)

I should probably start at the very beginning. So here it is.

We're an unlikely band of misfits, otherwise known as Jenna's Tuesday Night Girls. And this is where it begins...

Bible study with Jenna brought about more than any one of us could have expected. Fellowship. Learning. Prayer. Encouragement. Challenges. Laughter. Occasional tears. Weeks of I-didn't-do-the-study-this-week-because-it-was-on-fasting and I-ran-after-the-Taco-Truck-again. In other words, true and deep community. All around a pan of freshly baked brownies.

For all the fun we had, we were also up to some challenges. Weekly plans. Life plans. Summer plans were a major concern even from our first August meeting. Each of us needed some clarity in one, if not all three, of those categories. Which is when China was brought up...

Jenna has four kids, and two of those are adopted from China. They're precious and just downright spunky. She likes to tell us she's left her heart in China and every two years or so she has to go back and visit it. So when she gently encouraged us to think about a short-term trip to work with special needs orphans in China, we all gave it some thought. Or at least I did.

We studied James in the spring. Underlined in red is this verse: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" James 2:27.

That was it. I knew I had to go.

I Love The Flowers And The Trees, I Want To Say It In Chinese (Start Here)

I don't even know where to start this. I got back from China a few days ago and I don't think I'll ever be the same. I was so challenged, encouraged, stretched, blessed, broken, and filled all in twelve days. I completely understand when Jenna says her heart is in China and she has to go visit it as much as she can.

I've never blogged such a long trip before, so just bear with me as I do my best to organize my thoughts and photos in the most sensible way possible. I'm not going to upload all 800+ photos I took, but there are about 200 on facebook plus the rest of the team's. It's going to take me some time to get through this since I'm still processing everything that has happened.

If nothing else, I hope you're affected to take action whether that's through prayer, donating, volunteering, or even adopting. 

Let's bring them hope.

Lights Will Guide You Home

 Last night I got to experience one of my favorite things in the world: seeing Coldplay live. I just can't speak highly enough of their shows, if you leave and don't feel like you got your money's worth, then you probably were at the wrong concert. 

We were handed these after clearing security scanning in. We all got different colors and were only told, "It's part of the show." Kendall got nervous that we they were supposed to go somewhere beside your wrist and we all looked like idiots with them in the wrong spot. (They were supposed to go on your wrist, by the way.) Dad deduced that there was a battery inside of the plastic shell. Meanwhile, I flipped the thing over and found a website, which I promptly looked up and spoiled the fun of the show.

 Huge thank you to Daddy who scored us the most perfect seats we could have asked for, except maybe for the first five rows on the floor. But we couldn't have jumped around that much, so these were perfect!

And here's when we figured out what the wristbands really did. I wish I had a picture that did it justice. Imagine everyone having their phones out, in perfect unison, and all different glowing colors.

 They weren't glow in the dark wristbands, they were battery/radio operated to be in sync with the show. So they didn't just glow the entire time, mostly during songs from the Mylo Xyloto album.

 Maybe a better idea of what it looked like. The concert was sold out, and people even had seats behind the stage.

You can count on Coldplay bringing out fun things during the show. Butterfly confetti included.

 And whatever this is. But they were placed throughout the arena during Paradise.

 And what would a Coldplay concert be without an acoustic set placed on the opposite end of the arena? (This was another point at which section 115 had to sit down because we were tired and the songs were slow. Kendall and I were surprised at how many families were there, but it was nice having normal people sitting around us.)

It was a wonderful evening and I was so glad we were able to go to Atlanta for the show! I was a little disappointed Rihanna didn't make a special appearance to sing in Princess of China and I didn't see Gwyneth, Beyonce, or Jay-Z out in the audience, but hey, those just would have been major perks.

Wouldn't It Be Nice

The fam jam just returned from a week at the beach. Let me tell you, I wasn't sure if we were going to make it... there were some touch-and-go moments in the car when traffic was backed up and we had yet to eat lunch. But that's okay, we're here.

We celebrated Father's Day...

This was all I could get him to muster up. Poor kid, he got nailed in the eye with a football on the beach that day. It's not a Schilling family vacation without blood, sweat, and tears.

Kyle's friend, Connor. What a character to have join us on this trip. He and Billy are kindred spirits, if you can't tell.

...and flew kites.

Billy means business when it comes to his kites.

Got some reading done...

I ended up packing more than this. And then buying more at the beach because I ran out of stuff to read. (Except that Bonhoeffer book. Still working on that one.)

...and these were the albums of choice for beach music. No rhyme or reason, it just happened.

Mat Kearney's City of Black & White

Adam Hood's The Shape of Things

We also had to call AAA about 5 hours after arrival because the car battery died. So, yeah. That was a fun way to start the trip off. 

I managed not to get burned. Mostly by just staying inside a lot, but also lotioning up with SPF 50 and 70. And you know what, after the first day out the fam was begging to use that 50. I've learned my lesson the hard way. Awkward sunburn from Amplify and afternoon Auburn baseball game? Yeah, just got rid of the lines from those. Pity, they were so pretty in pictures from formal.

And now the rest of the summer disappears. Thankfully there is still plenty to enjoy! Coldplay concert, East Asia, and Pi Chi duties, and playing with my favorite exec staff on the Plains all before classes begin!

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu

 This week I had to say, "so long" to another dear friend embarking on a big summer adventure! Caroline is headed to Austria to take some classes and I'm insanely jealous! 

The girl who was a nun every. single. year. in our camp skit (I'm talking 8th-12th grade, people) is going to the homeland of her sisters. (Even though the "homeland" is probably Vatican City, but we're going The Sound of Music route here.)

Naturally, we had a little going away party. Complete with nun themed presents as parting gifts.

That's a real gem, right there.

Here's to hoping you clim ev'ry mountain, ford ev'ry stream, follow ev'ry rainbow, 'till you find your dream.

P.S. I expect you to full-on imitate the opening scene where Julie Andrews runs with arms wide opening singing that the hills are alive. Or puppeteer a production of The Lonely Goatherd. It's a toss up.

How To Win Friends And Influence People... the Kelsey Edition

I like to think I know myself pretty well. I know my strengths and my weaknesses. I know my spiritual gifts. I know my personality type in basically every kind of test you can take (ESFJ, yellow, tortoise... if you work in student involvement, you know what these all mean). I like to think I know how to use all of these to my advantage. 

I may not be good at a lot of things, but I do know my way around the kitchen. I'm no Betty Crocker, Mrs. Fields, or Paula Deen, but I do know what I can manage.

Granted, there have been a few unfortunate instances when my attempt at royal icing was anything but glamourous. Or when some orange rolls took a sad turn for the garbage disposal. But that's another story for another day...

Plus, this is the South. We cook and bake for every possible occasion. You know when life calls for a casserole or a quiche. Momma taught me to never show up anywhere empty-handed. And hello, I'm Baptist. Hunger is never an option. There's a reason it's called "comfort food." 

But here's the thing, I'm not one to hoard my recipes. 

Unless you ask me for my grandma's oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. Then I might hesitate. But I'll probably give it to you cause we're friends.

So I feel obligated to share with you how ridiculously easy these cookies are to make and how insanely good they are.

You'll eat the whole batch if you're not careful.

I'm talking Girl-Scout-Thin-Mints-on-CRACK kind of good.

Listen, I don't just toss that phrase around.

I was a Girl Scout. That stuff is sacred.

Okay, I quit after Daisies in kindergarten. But once you're initiated, you're in for-ev-er.

So here it is, the easiest and most delicious cookie recipe ever. You'll make friends wherever you bring these. And if you don't, then we might need to work on your social skills.

--1 box devil's food cake mix (I use the Betty Crocker kind)

--2 eggs

--1/2 cup vegetable oil

--1 Box of Andes Mint Chocolates (but you'll probably want two, because it's REALLY hard to not want to eat a few while you're unwrapping them)

Mix together the dry cake mix, eggs, and oil. (Your mixture will be kind of spongey.)

Use a cookie scooper and scoop out ~24 cookies onto a baking sheet. (Do not flatten them out! They'll do that on their own when they bake.)

Bake at 350 for 6-9 minutes.

While the cookies are in the oven, unwrap all of your Andes mints. Eat a few if you were smart enough to buy two boxes.

As soon as your cookies come out of the oven, plot an Andes mint on the top of each cookies, pressing down slightly.

Watch and wait patiently for approximately 2 minutes as the chocolate melts down. Take a spoon and swish around that chocolate so that it makes almost a frosting on top of your cookies.

Here's the hardest part: you can eat those cookies immediately, even though they're piping hot.

But I like to wait and let that chocolate set. It's much easier to transport the cookies if you're not dealing with ooey gooey chocolate. But hey, I've never heard anyone complain.

Enjoy watching people sneak off with two or three in their hands. Or an entire plateful. It's happened before.

April Showers Bring May Flowers, But What Does May Bring to June?

Having a mother who firmly believes you should never show up anywhere empty-handed, I kind of loathe May just a little bit for getting the sweet end of the deal right after April and then hoping June can stand on its own. Rude.

Well hasn't May just flown by? Or has it not? Oh bother, I really can't tell. I'm not even sure what I did with my month. So naturally, I looked back through my photos on my phone to assess the important happenings of the month...

Saw this little gem as I was waiting in the drive-thru breakfast line at Chick-fil-A before my final departure from Auburn for the summer. State Farm, you really win creativity points for this. And for this.  

Realized Taylor Swift and I actually have a lot in common. I need to warn her the next phase isn't quite as pretty as the donuts. Right, Hill?

Just enjoyed some time with the fam jam. As cats. Best $0.99 I've spent on an app.

Prepared for my Pi Chi babies. 

Prepared for East Asia. Clockwise from left: emergency eating utensils just in case I can't seem to make the rice and chopsticks work out, practicing at P.F. Chang's and this was my fortune, packing all dri-fit material, new dslr camera to record all of this in action

Cavity free! 

Got some new jazzy stationery for summer pen pals! P.S. if you want to save $25 on your Minted order,  use this link!

And things that were supposed to be of a somewhat serious nature suddenly became ridiculous.

Our exec loves each other more than we love coral. And that's seriously a lot.

 Here's to a happy June!!

Summer Tales from Suburbia: Part One

(Before we get any further, is it jumping the gun if I titled this as part one? I feel like there's probably going to be a part two, heck, maybe three or four. But if it doesn't happen, well... lesson learned.)

I'm back in the land of aggressive carpool moms, cul-de-sacs, and monograms. Not to mention Taziki's Friday Pasta. It's not all bad. It's not all good. It's home, but it's not.

While I'm incredibly thankful to just be away from Auburn for a season, all this moving around for the third year (and still not being exactly sure where that one suitcase I lost freshman year is) takes its toll.

*On a side note, I would love to see a psychological study done on the development of adolescent nomads.*

Maybe I'm just going through a quarter-life crisis?

Yeah. Definitely.

I'm no longer a patient at my pediatrician's office. This happened a few days ago and I'm still upset (as you've probably discovered via social media or being around me in the past several days). It was like a bad breakup I didn't see coming. It was the whole, "it's-not-you-it's-me" thing except I was CLEARLY the problem. Can't we work through this and still be friends?

Back to my original point of being back in suburbia (with which I have a strong love/hate relationship), I'm tapping into my potential of being one of those Over the Mountain moms. I walked laps at the high school track. (Total Mom Move.) My own mother insisted on making sure I'm packed and ready to go to East Asia, hence why I was even in the pediatrician's office in the first place. However, for her that means making sure I have all of my "outfits" coordinated. Heavens to Betsy. Only here. Oh, and I don't even leave for eight more weeks. Craziness.

However, it's been such a sweet time catching up with all of the old girls at work and seeing the Auburn favorites here in on our old stomping grounds. Both occasions have involved tremendous amounts of Greek food. Thank goodness for that.

Everyone keeps saying to savor this season of life. I sure am trying before life catches up with me.

P.S. If you want to be pen pals this summer, whether we're countries away or just down the road, send me your address so I can add you to my list. :) I'm never going to give up pen pals and snail mail.