Rain & Ring.

It has been a while since I wrote one of these things. :) 

A lot has happened in the past few weeks. We had a few weeks off of school for Winter break & Chinese New Year. It was a break very much needed by students and teachers alike. My dear mother came to visit me during said break. She arrived two days before my birthday (which was the first birthday she has spent with me in 5 years) We had a BLAST! The last time she traveled was...well, let's just say it was before she was old enough for a driver's license. She deserved a vacation & that is exactly what she got. I have to say, she was much more adventurous with trying nasty new food than I have been. I applaud her. We tried to experience as much of Kinmen as possible, but the weather had other plans as it often does. She told me she must have brought the Pennsylvania cold with her because I informed her up to that point, it had not been that cold & rainy. It was fun though! We spend almost two weeks in Kinmen, then went to Taipei for a couple of days. We visited a night market (which she liked a LOT more than I do) and Taipei 101 and the Taipei Zoo. We rode scooters, trains, buses, taxis, gondolas, high speed rails, and our feet- a lot of walking & climbing. All in all it was an amazing break for me and a fantastic vacation for her! 

[funny side note...I live on the 4th floor of an apartment building so we had to walk up and down 4 flights of stairs every time. About two weeks after she left, I had to move rooms to the 2nd floor and she said "Of course...when I leave, you get a room with less steps!" Sorry 'bout that.] 

During break....drum roll please....

I GOT ENGAGED! 

While my mom was here, my now fiancé, asked for her blessing face-to-face! PERFECT!

On February 8th, 2016 I said "YES!" to the Godly man who completes me in every way imaginable. Yes, he is from Taiwan. We kept our relationship off of social media for personal reasons. We decided to share this moment in our lives with everyone on social media after I called my family & loved ones. We feel so loved and supported - it is amazing. We have a difficult journey ahead of us with U.S. Visas and whatnot, so please bear with us as we wait {a lot of waiting} and continue to tell you if you ask...that we don't know our wedding date. We have a general idea, yes, but we cannot rush the government as much as we would like to. It is stressful, but WORTH IT. We are so incredibly happy and need the continual support of family and friends. We appreciate everybody who has showed understanding and has been wanting to help. It is not an easy, cookie cutter process. We both knew that going in, so please do not judge or jump to conclusions when you do not know the whole story. Thanks! :) 

The second semester of school, I have made several personal goals. I am so happy to be where I am and to work with the kids placed under my instruction. I have good days and bad days; don't we all? During my student teaching, I had a professor recommend writing down every day whether or not it was a good or bad day & why. I did that. For an entire semester, She told me if I had more good days than bad days, I was doing something right, that I could be happy about my progress and my time during student teaching was well worth it. Let me tell you, my good days well outnumbered my bad days. I feel like that is true teaching here also. I find myself telling people, "It is stretching me in ways I never imagined possible" frequently. Honestly, I do not know how else to explain it. It is good and bad and fun and boring all at the same time. It is a perfect mix of molding me into a better educator and individual. 

Here's to the second semester of continuing to teach something I had no prior experience in, learning from mistakes, and seeing my students as children who deserve my very best...even on my bad days.

...an added bonus to marrying Mr. Caleb Li is being able to take his last name and not having to worry too much about students mispronouncing it. Thank goodness!!