My hero

I feel like I should share this because I am grateful, thankful for Kevin's ingenious mind and it concerns the continued life of this blog.
It began yesterday evening when I wanted to catch up on reading blogs from friends. I tried to log into my blogger account I typed in my user name and typed in the right password I thought...WRONG! I typed the password and multiple of other passwords, none were correct. I was so bummed... It doesn't help that I have multiple passwords I use at work! So I used the link that helps reset your password when you forget.
The catch was that my blogger account has my pobox email as my primary email and in reality that email is no longer in use. - I have tried to figure out a way to change the primary email but I haven't figured that out. :(
So last night seeing me bummed out, Kevin in his sweet and sensitive way tried to help me figure out a way to reset my password. But since my pobox account was obsolete I could not receive any emails from blogger, and to top it off I had the wrong phone number connected with the blogger account! Ahhhhh,I was tired and stressed out so I quit and went to sleep. The next morning after messing with it before work I just had to leave it alone.
So here is the best part...half way through the day while I was at work I received a text from Kevin telling me he worked some magic and reset my password! I was so relieved to see the text. When I returned home Kevin told me how he used his pobox (yes, he has an active account) to reset my password! Simple but crazy solution.
God has been working in me in multiple areas of my daily life. Today he reminded me He is in control in every detail of my life. I remember to seek His direction in the big issues and today I was reminded I need to seek Him in the small issues. The small issues are the ones that seem to stress me out the most.
Thank You God for giving me Kevin to encourage and support me.
Kevin, my hero! 

Oh my, it has been a long time since the last time I have posted on this blog...I guess I am a better reader than a writer.
Here are some recent pictures. This will give a glimpse of how October has been for us...

October 6th Kevin and I celebrating our engagement a year ago.

Enjoying the fall weather at a park in town

My birthday package from Oklahoma! Seeing it by the door brought back happy memories of receiving packages in China!

I had a wonderful birthday!

life as of late

Again I am slacking on updating my blog. I enjoy reading other blogs from friends so I give them credit for my motivation to post this blog!

The end of this month marks 8 months of marriage! August also marks 1 year since returning to good ol' USA. There has been many life changes since returning to America. Here is a glimpse:

• reverse culture shock
• seeing friends/family again after 3 years
• sharing my experiences from East Asia
• driving to KY to meet Kevin's family
• a lot of discussion and prayer about the future
• Engaged *followed directly about prayer and discussion
• planning my wedding with just 2 1/2 months!
• Thanksgiving and Christmas with family after 3 years
• Wedding 12/31/2010
• honey moon in Texas
• pack up my few belongings begin the drive to Kentucky
• travel through 5 states visiting family on the way to KY

Reality, me finding a job, Kevin preparing for spring semester at Southern.
I apply for multiple jobs, particularly wanting a full-time job.
After 2 weeks I am employed as a sales associate at Forever 21 *experience there is a whole different story
After about a month into the spring semester Kevin is employed at Chick fil A. His job helps with the rent plus on grocery bill!
After working at Forever 21 for 3 months I accept a full-time position as a medical records clerk at an allergy clinic. With this job comes insurance, pto and consistent work schedule, we are blessed.
Presently I am still at the allergy clinic becoming accustomed to the daily routine of the medical records department. I am also intentionally building my relationship with my coworkers. It has been a struggle to share my faith there. They have expressed there distaste for 'organized religion' as they put it. I understand my actions speak louder than words there.
Kevin has started the fall semester at Southern. He is enrolled in 9 hours. He has just completed his papers from the 9 hours he took of summer classes. We are glad they are finished, it was a busy time over the summer. Kevin probably doesn't feel like he had a relaxing summer break. Throughout the summer we both needed to remind ourselves that his studies were why we were here in the first place.

In April Kevin and I found a group and we have enjoyed building the relationship with the church family there. We are involved in the sunday morning worship, Kevin plays the bass guitar, I sing in the choir. I am helping in the wednesday evening with 'CIA' Children in Action. We focus on a 'M' each month, I like to tell them my stories in East Asia.
This fall semester I am volunteering in the upwards soccer league at the church. I am an assistant coach of team 'storm'! The whole league is weather related, I don't know why. So I will be 'coaching' on the weekends throughout the fall.

 8/22 free concert - Franseca Battistelli/ Tenth avenue north

competition exhibits

another week in summer

I have had a busy week. I volunteered to help out with upwards soccer camp at Lakewood BC.When I arrived there after work I was informed I was a 'coach'! At first I was confused because I have never played soccer, I felt I was not a good candidate for a coach. But it turned out everyone was a 'coach '! So in that instance coach = encourager, I can handle that. The week was long/tiring with working all day then going to camp my days last from 6am to past 10pm.
I learned some soccer drills that were quite fun. The kids played soccer very well. Some had amazing feet/kicking action! Not only did I enjoy playing with the kids I enjoyed getting to know more of my church family. I am glad Father led us to Lakewood.
While I was 'playing' Kevin was working/reading. He is getting prepared for another week-long summer class. This one is philosophy class. He does explain some of his reading to me but in the end I am confused and my head hurts. Poor Kevin he appreciates all the prayers; He still has over 500 pages to read.
加油(jia you - a cheer of encouragement),加油, Kevin! Keep up the reading. The classes you take after this one will be easy compared to this.
Today(saturday) I need to clean the apartment. It has been neglected this past week...

life as of late

  This has been an unusual week compared to recent months. I have actually have been working as usual so M - F 8am - 5pm hasn't changed. The unusual part is that Kevin took a whole week off of work for his OT class. That means he is home every evening with me! Well he is reading half the time but it is better than him working the evening shifts.
As you can see from the pictures I finally was able to have my forever 21 friends over to the apartment. It was more of 'how is life after working at Forever21'catch up! Kevin and I enjoyed having the girls over, eating Mexican and playing Wii. If only they were not returning home at the end of this month. I am praying I build more relationships with other friends and keep practicing some Chinese.

May 五月

Hey it's May! I sure hope there will be a lot of flowers with all the rain we've had. Kevin and I have been married 4 months! Still newlyweds by many people's standards! There is always things to be thankful for and I want to share some with you. 1) I have a full-time job that has benefits 2) Kevin is finishing his first semester of sem classes 3) We are both enjoying our individual jobs 4) found a church that we are looking to plug into 5) enjoy the fellowship of other EA friends that live in this town 6) spring weather is just around the corner!
I am looking forward to this summer seeing what Father has in store for us.

Please be lifting up the victims of the on going spring storms that have taken many lives here in Kentucky and parts of the south.
Lift up my Uncle David in Oklahoma, he has melanoma that started in his lip now spreading, he is finishing radiation now and will start chemo later.
Join me in asking Father to give me clear direction in a ministry. Since I have a 8 - 5pm job I have more consistent time on my hands.
Lift up Kevin as he will finish the spring semester and then starts summer classes in June.

my week

while I am sitting here checking Facebook and my blog I will share about my first week of working as a medical records clerk.
I am sure you all know what a medical chart is, I am sure everyone has one with their name on/in it. Well my job practically is organizing/maintaining medical charts at this allergy clinic. My daily routine(currently learning) is filing charts read/signed by the physicians from the previous day, making new charts for new patients, printing old charts from over 3 years ago from cds, pulling charts for future appointments... All in all it is a simple routine of keeping the charts in flow. The interesting part is that this clinic has 13 different locations surrounding Louisville! The clinic I work at is the home office and that means the charts are kept there. So when the physicians travel to an outer clinic the charts must make it there for the appointments! Along with having great filing skills investigating skills are used when charts disappear. What celebration there is to be had after all the searching results with the chart being found! It is a good perspective of the shepherd and the one lost sheep, huh?! ;)
Well no rest for the weary, I need to do the dishes...

April

I couldn't come up with a good title so I will just call this April. It has been a month since I last posted some news. I am a slacker for blogging.
I am surprised how cold spring has been here in Kentucky. It reminded me of winter weather in south China. I thanked Father continuously for heated cars and buildings!
There has been so much rain, but in Oklahoma there is a drought. The drought of course brought on wild fires, no fun.
Since end of January I have been working at Forever 21,a clothing store. Yesterday was my last scheduled day to work! The feeling is bittersweet but much sweeter than bitter! I will miss my co-workers but I will not miss the odd hours and the gossip. I will forever have Lady Gaga, Beyonce singing in my head.... the songs are surprisingly catchy.
Tomorrow(4/4) I begin my new job as a medical records clerk. It is a full-time job Mon - Fri, with paid vacation! Added blessing is it is also 10 minute drive from the apartment! I am excited about my first day.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon with a F21 co-worker, she is Chinese and a graduate student at University of Louisville. I enjoyed brushing up on my conversational mandarin. I look forward to spending more time with her and other Chinese friends.
How is Kevin? He is busy with studying and working part-time. He goes to class in the morning to early afternoon then works the evening shift at chick fil A. This week he has a break it is 'reading week' so he will spend time reading and writing a paper. Great break, huh?!
We are both busy, but we intentionally take an evening once a week to doing something together. Now that it is getting warmer it brings more opportunities to spend outside!

a week for haircutting

This week (as the title states) was a week of getting our hair did! I was needing/wanting a trim. I also had a coupon from the mail to get a hair cut. So I took the opportunity and went to get my hair cut. It wasn't a trim because the salonist cut 5 inches off my hair!

I am ready for spring!

Then today(9th) we purchased a hair cutting kit to use to cut Kevin's hair. This is one way we are trying to be frugal with our $$.
Since Kevin needs to have his hair trimmed a lot we decided to try cutting ourselves. After returning from the store we set up a chair in the bathroom, preparing to have hair all over the tile floor.
I am glad Kevin had confidence in me, he did a great job coaching me on how to use the electric shaver, like what number guard to use on the top, sides; what direction to move the shaver over the head. So many things to watch for and get used to.
In about 30 - 40 minutes the job was finished. There were some lines/ridges to touch up but it was my first time.
As you can see I was concentrating hard! This picture was taken in the mirror we set up so Kevin could see what I was really doing. At the end I was and still am proud of my hair cutting experience. Not too shabby for the first time; something I will get better at with more practice.

glimpse

Apartment decoration progress

view of bedroom from the hallway

view of living room from dining room

view of dining room & closet from living room

view of Kevin's study/office alcove from the living room

I forgot to take a picture of the kitchen. Besides the kitchen, bathroom, and small laundry room this completes the apartment!
Quite cozy

Happy V-day to me...

This has been a year of 'firsts' for me. This valentines was special because I am married! I did celebrate it before but it was considered s.a.d(single awareness day), not that I was ever 'sad' about the situation.
Well this valentines Kevin and I knew we wouldn't do anything that cost a pretty penny. I knew I wanted to bake a chocolate cake from scratch, I was craving something home-made and chocolate! On Monday, Valentines day our schedules didn't cooperate in a way that we could celebrate. No matter, we just celebrated on Tuesday. I baked the cake and cooked chicken curry( a favorite of mine).
When Kevin came home from work that afternoon he surprised me with lovely flowers and chocolate candies; he is so sweet and thoughtful to me.
So we enjoyed a awesome dinner and a lot of chocolate!
And we are still enjoying the chocolate...

Apartment

It is a wonderful feeling to have a place to call home, other than where your parents live! These last few weeks have been filled with unpacking, cleaning, cooking in the new apartment and working. The apartment has great storage space, the loft is a bonus. Kevin is setting it up to be used as study/office area. I like the space because it doesn't take all day to clean! (I grew up in a two-story house). Renting an apartment has a lot of up-front costs with buying furniture, food... There is still things to do. I haven't hung any pictures, add shelves in the closet for better storage use. Being frugal is the key especially when both have part-time jobs. But we are grateful we have jobs! The jobs are short drive from the apartment. I work at Forever 21 in St. Matthews mall and Kevin is working at a Chic-fil-A. I have applied for a couple of jobs that are full-time, just have to wait and see. So far my two weeks in Louisville has been good. Kevin and I are working, Kevin is taking classes at Southern, we have an apartment, met some Chinese friends, meeting more friends everyday.
I look forward to what Father has planned for us in the future!
I need to take some pics inside the apartment...

Deep in the heart of Texas

While I am at it I am going to add some pics from the honeymoon. We went to Canyon Lake, Texas, at a resort in the hill country. It was a great place to relax from the busyness of December.
We visited the lake, small German towns, San Antonio, The Alamo, friends in Houston... Enjoy the snapshots...

Guadeloupe River

x










Enjoying a 4D movie about Texas...

I know I have been busy this last month and half. It doesn't help that I am not an avid blogger. I honestly enjoy reading others updates rather than updating my blog. Sorry for those who may have been following my blog.
Let's recap on this last month and a half...
There was a wedding shower, Christmas parties, plays... and on top of all these festivities there was decorating for the wedding! As you look at the pictures I want to point out that half of the boxes and bags were gifts from the wedding shower! Dedra had a wonderful time as you can see.

Here is some snapshots from the wedding... the photographer did an amazing job!
The verse on the programs is Proverbs 16:9

We had a Chinese theme included with the Christmas scheme.
Here comes the Bride...














Mr. & Mrs. Henderson
Two thumbs up!