Thursday, September 27, 2012

Update.

I know there are many praying for my journey in Montreal, so I have a few updates.

As most have heard, my dad's brother passed away last week. My Uncle Tony left behind five children, my cousins, so please continue to cover them in your prayers. I don't know what it's like to lose a father, but I immediately feel a hole in my heart and angst in my stomach when I think about losing someone I love so much. My family has been able to spend a lot of time together back home, and I am so grateful for that. It's been far too long since we have been in each other's presence. I can't wait to be reunited with them the next time we are together. I am *so* proud of my Adams name and my Japanese heritage. You'll be missed, Uncle Tony. So, so missed.

As I posted previously, I also have suffered a minor injury recently. I haven't been training for a month now, and I found out on Monday that I have a small disc herniation between my L5 S1. It sounds dramatic, but it's already feeling so much better. I've separated my sternum, broken both of my legs, and had two shoulder surgeries, so this is just another part of the lifestyle that comes with acrobatics. Injuries happen, and they happen often, but time will heal my back, and I choose to trust in the Lord's plans. I've noticed a pattern, and His plans always end up better! A month ago I was having trouble getting out of bed, and now, although I am not fully training, I can go an entire day without feeling any pain during regular activity. I don't know what the future holds, but I do know that nothing is worth being crippled. I'm making sure that my back is fully healed before I resume any training.

It's been a heavy couple of weeks, but my spirits are lifted and I am at peace. The head cold I caught proves that "trouble comes in threes", so I'm hoping I'm on the way up!

On a lighter, much happier note, Max came to visit last weekend. It was just what the doctor ordered!

On the way to dinner! 
Max accidentally forgot to say "no mushrooms", and it ruined his dinner. Lucky for me, I got my dinner plus his mushrooms! 

They say I'm extremely photogenic.

Nikita and Max!

Best pals. "Muy lusha drook"= best friends.

Tam Tams!

Headed up the trails at Mont Royal to look over the city

Yum.

Wearing a new shirt that Max bought me and a scarf from my brother!
Clothed with love and loving the fall layering!

View from the top

Couldn't have been a prettier day!

My backbone.

Favorite place in Montreal!

My bearded man. <3



We spent the weekend shopping, walking, and spending quality time together. It couldn't have been more perfect. We ate a Schwartz, a famous smoked meat restaurant, and I couldn't stop thinking about how much my father and father-in-law would love it. 

 I'm so grateful that my husband is letting me chase my dreams. I was not made for long distance; I hate long distance. I know he doesn't like it either, but he doesn't complain. He continually pushes me when I'm hurting, discouraged, and lonely, and it takes only minutes for me to get back in the game. We are each others, and I find an incredible amount of comfort in that. 

I had a great weekend, Mackie! See you next weekend for your birthday! 



Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Yesterday. Today. and Forever.

Yesterday, I found out that I herniated the disc between my L5 S1. Today, I caught a cold. I also ran out of toilet paper and tissues, so I had to pilfer enough squares of toilet paper from the lobby to get me through the night. 

Hot. Mess.

Yesterday, I was discouraged and moped around. Today, I put my big girl panties on and reminded myself that I must pour my trust into God.

Yesterday, I spent $0! Today, I spent $25 on medicine and lozenges. After taking the medicine, I felt high as a kite. Maybe I shouldn't have mixed my back meds with the cold meds? Oops.

Yesterday, I ate a pulled pork sandwich, smoked mac n cheese, and sweet potato fries from an American BBQ restaurant called Rubs. Today, I exercised.

Yesterday, I was self absorbed and hopeless. Today, I remembered that my circumstances will always be changing, but I am blessed nonetheless.

 "Jesus Christ is the same YESTERDAY and TODAY and FOREVER."  Hebrews 13:8

Monday, September 17, 2012

A Change of Pace

When I was growing up, I thought that being a christian meant that I had to be perfect. I thought that christianity meant full-fledged happiness, Sunday and Wednesday church attendance, and a Bible in my backpack.

I believed in Jesus, but I didn't understand heartache. My relationship with Jesus grew as I matured, but my comprehension of what my relationship with Jesus was supposed to look like long term was off base. 

My posts are generally about the blessings in my life. I'm living out my dream in Montreal, and I'm experiencing an incredible journey in a foreign country. I am blessed. I regularly post pictures of fun adventures with happy smiles, and I joke about video chatting dogs and getting paid to take hip hop or acting classes. 

With this being said, no one travels through life without difficulty. And yes, I realize that I am still so blessed even through troubled circumstance, probably even more so at these times. I didn't sleep very much last night, and today has been a difficult day. It's only 11 AM.

 I started a blog with the intention of sharing moments in my life where I have felt touched by God. Although I have spent the past twelve hours in a mixture of slumber, tears, and heavy shoulders, I'm touched, so I must share.

My dad's brother, my uncle, is in the hospital in critical condition right now. The doctor's didn't think that he would make it through the night.
A very dear friend of mine is going through an extremely difficult time, and she is heartbroken.
I haven't trained in a week because of lower back pain, and I found out this morning that I am still not released and they want me to see a doctor.

Therefore, I've spent the past 3 hours in prayer. With my Bible open and my heart in grief, I began to read, write, and pray.


Psalm 121

I will lift up my eyes to the mountain;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forever.

Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I know that I'm being taught important lessons about perseverance, love, and peace. I'm also being taught what real, zealous, and grief-stricken christianity looks like. From yesterday night until now, I feel the nearness of the Lord. I understand that "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18). 

So yes, it hurts. I am unable to be with my grieving family, heartbroken friend, and my back is not healed, but that's ok.


As my sister said here, "May He receive the glory forever and ever. Amen."

Life through Christ is not perfect, but it is good.


Saturday, September 15, 2012

Yesterday. Today.

Yesterday was our last day of bouffon class. I'm going to miss the laughter!





Today, I watched this guy play piano in the street for at least half an hour. It was beautiful.


I also went to the Shrine Circus with some friends.



 I rode a giant bicycle.


AND I RODE AN ELEPHANT!



Enjoy your weekend!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Hippies, Percussion, and Wolves.

Beware: there is no focus to this post.

I've officially been living in Montreal for one month! It feels like I just got here. I don't know how this happened.

Every Sunday, there is a hippie congregation called the Tam-Tam at Mont Royal Park. The festivities take place near the  George-Étienne Cartier Monument. It's probably not socially acceptable for me to call it a "hippie congregation", but I'm blunt and that's what it is. Thousands of people visit the park. There is larping (live action role-playing), a DJ booth near a gazebo, and many people relaxing, tanning, and playing frisbee or fetch with their pups. Many people bring their drums, so there is a group dancing in the corner near the monument. There is also an aroma of a certain substance in the air... let's face it. It's a hippie party. 

The Monument

Drum Fun. 
Sidenote: sorry if you get nauseous. I'm a better writer than I am a videographer.

My mother was born to be a part of the Tam Tam. I'll have to take her in a couple of months when she visits!

After visiting Mont Royal, I went with Laura-Ann to my favorite creperie. I can't resist crepes when I walk past a creperie, but these are my favorite yet: strawberry + ricotta. Tastes more like strawberry cheesecake.
Recently, I was told that it is very "asian" of me to take pictures of food. I had no idea that this was an asian stereotype. My dad does it ALL the time, so it must be true.


Last weekend, Max came in town! We visited downtown one day and spent time with friends another.

The Old Port


Notre Dame de Montreal Basilica

Top Left to Right: Vitaliic, Nikita, Jonas, Reid
Bottom Left to Right: Lisa, me, Olga, Kat, Gareth, Laura-Ann
Three Russians, three Americans, an Aussie, a Dane, a Canadian, and a Welshman

Kat (from TEXAS!), Laura-Ann, and me
Besides the weekend fun and relaxation, training has been going well. Last Friday, I suffered a minor injury. I've been having some back pain for the past few weeks because my acrobatic training uses muscles that I didn't use as much as a gymnast. I strained the lower left side of my back, so please keep that in your prayers! It's pretty normal to miss a few days around this exact time during General Formation. We work laborously (I know this is a word, so why is spell check against it?), and all of us are exerting energy using muscles we haven't used as rigorously before now. I'm praying that a few days off will give my body the rest that it needs to push through during the last two months of training!

Laura-Ann made picture of the week last week, and, yep, that's me on her shoulders.

Fixed training with Juan

A week ago last Monday, we had a small percussion presentation. We have had a few weeks of training, but we are still terrible. It sounded like a first grade recital, but we are all between 18 and 35. Fortunately, learning to play the drums is less about our talent level and more about rhythm, cohesion, and expression. The presentation was a blast, and Dasha and Elena took pictures with me afterward in the studio.


Elena
Dasha

*THIS* is a recent article from my the newspaper of my alma mater. It made me really excited to have a spot in the Diamondback even after I graduated! Plus, this is the first time that Max and I have been in the Diamondback in the same article. GO TERPS!

At night, I usually spend a lot of time video chatting with friends and family. Sometimes I spend a lot of time talking to dogs... but seriously.

Video chatting with my dog, Maya.

Video chatting with my dog-niece, Lady Buggs.
Before you get worried, I also talk to people. Real, live humans.

Willa, my niece, stuck between the mattress and the footboard.
My big brother, "Gunkel", and my niece, Hadley.

 Lately, I have had some amazing sunsets right outside my window. Yesterday, a storm passed by before sunset and the result was absolutely beautiful. Here is a series of pictures taken over a period of less than thirty minutes.


 Those pictures were taken with my iPhone from inside of my room through my window. I'm going to miss this tiny shack when I'm gone! Mostly I'll miss it because of the sunsets, and not so much because of the tiny bathroom, rock hard bed, and the freezer that's too small for ice cream to fit.

What can I say? This girl likes her space. And her ice cream.

Speaking of ice cream, I would buy some at the store, but there is always a thirty minute line (and I don't have a large enough freezer)! It would melt before I got through the line and walked ten minutes home.

I miss you, America.
There are a few momentous occurrences that have happened in the States since I've been gone:
1. My three year old niece, Hadley Angel, started pre-school at Abercrombie Academy.


I know that I'm extremely biased, but I also *know* that she was the prettiest girl at school that day. Props to my sister for being a total fashionista, and props to Hadley for appreciating style just as much as my big sister.


My father-in-law opened the Schmidt's Sausage Truck at the Ohio State football home opener. He has been working so hard, and I'm so proud to see this dream turn into reality. Follow Schmidt's Sausage Truck on Twitter to find out where you can eat a Bahama Mama and a cream puff on the go!

As if this blog post hasn't been random enough, here are a few random pictures for you. The first two are some of my favorite decorations inside Cirque Headquarters.
Clowns/Characters from previous shows.
Seating area on the 3rd floor! My favorite.
This next picture is a picture of two dogs. I woke up this morning and saw them before I put my glasses on, and I honestly thought they were wolves for at least five minutes. Nope, just dogs.




Happy Monday, Y'all!