America the Beautiful, the Rebellious, the Independent

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States

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The fourth of  July is an interesting holiday to be part of, after having lived overseas for four years. I remember one of the first Independence Days that we visited America, after having moved to China, was quite shocking. In church, we sang only patriotic songs, instead of hymns or worship music. It was like a slap in the face..."HELLO! You are  in AMERICA". Even the sermon was about fighting for our dwindling liberties. I've tried to write about my "American" feelings before, but have worried that people would find me un-American. In honor of my freedom of speech, here are my thoughts on America and how I think she just needs to get over herself. 

Included above is the first part of the Declaration of Independence. This section is followed by many complaints which prove the injustice of the British government, and closes with no uncertainty: the patriots will separate from England's tyranny because of the listed offenses, with the rationale that it is their basic human right to do so. 

Even Willow could understand this thought process: I don't like what you're doing in my life, therefore I will separate myself from you, and do as I wish. 

America is a country that is founded on rebellion. We romanticize it with the word 'revolution', but it does not change the fact that the former colonies rejected the authority of their government by throwing off their ties to it. They fought for the right to be independent from their authorities, and won in the process. It's an amazing story and a watershed event in world history. I was recently reading a book about the American Revolution where the author made the point that England set themselves up for the war. They built the American colonies with people who were free-spirited and independent souls--sometimes even criminally minded. From the outset, the colonies saw themselves as separate; brave pioneers in a wild land with their own sets of rulers. The colonies themselves were viewed as separate, microcosms of government. It was not until the American Revolution that the colonists forced themselves into a united front; previously separated by different ideals and goals, they had been unable to pose a threat to England. 

Anyway, my historian husband would be better able to write about this. I'm no expert. However, I do see this trend of rebellion very strongly in the USA today. It is no wonder that a country based on a fierce loyalty to independence and rebellion is fraught with bi-partisan politics and animosity. Enough history.

One thing that I find the most frustrating about Americans is how 'either or' everyone is. Either you are a liberal or a conservative. A republican or a democrat. A Christian or a 'tolerant' citizen. Pro-life or Pro-choice. The debates are endless and the solutions never quite match up to anyone's hopes or expectations. Regardless of issue or outcome, there's a mentality of inadequacy, "we're making progress, but it's not enough!".  When people refer to the founding of this nation as a reason to despair (i.e. "This country was built by protestant men on Christian principles and the Bible! Look how far we've fallen now!"), I get annoyed. 

I'm sorry. America is not God's country. Americans are not the 'chosen people' of the Old Testament. And why do you expect a country founded on rebellious, albeit justified, attitudes to continue in a peaceful-everyone-agrees-with-everyone fashion? This country is constantly changing, constantly moving in one direction or another and its glorified-romanticized-propaganda-filled history will not save it. 

A president cannot save it.
The government cannot save it.
Social programs cannot save it.
Tolerance cannot save it.
Money cannot save it. 

Memes cannot save it.
(I hate memes, by the way).

Even if this country was run by people who governed using Biblical principles, it would still be a fallen government.

Even if this country was run by people who did everything the way you wanted it to be, this country would still fall apart. 

Even if we wave our flags of patriotism, pray for our troops, and declare "God Bless America!" this country will never be some special pearl in the desert that God loves more than any other country. 

There's nothing wrong with wanting God to bless America, and in fact it is a very good thing to strive after Him in all facets of life. But God's heart is for people, not for America. Furthermore, if the whole country did somehow become Evangelical Christians---it would not save them from bankruptcy, wars, suffering, or any form of injustice. This is because we live in a sinful world, and even the 'best' of humanity is incapable of creating a perfect society. 

The statement "Our country is falling apart because we turned our backs on God" reminds me of the heretical 'Prosperity Gospel' message which promises only good things will happen to those who truly follow Jesus. 

Hello?! God never promised bad things wouldn't happen to us or that we would be able to handle and cope with all the suffering in life. But He did promise that he would always be with us, even to the end of time, and that there is nothing we cannot endure while He is at our sides.

What I see through all the media footage that reflects our broken nation, the incredible debt, the bi-partisan bickering, and corrupt political campaigns is a people that long for a Savior. They want someone that can fix this brokenness. They want an ideal that can work out for everyone's benefit.

They want a society that's economically stable, politically peaceful, and ultimately safe for all of its citizens. The good news is that there will be a place on earth like this someday. But it's not America.

It's not America!

I find hope in these 'desperate' times because it reminds me that while America has great freedoms (some have diminished, while others have increased), it cannot last forever. America is not the 'new heaven and new earth' that Jesus will reign over. In fact, all our longings for a perfect administration, flawless laws, and ethical systems should point our hearts forward to a time when we will be ruled by a King--not only in our spiritual lives, but on earth as well. Someday, we will live under the perfect, loving, and completely just dominion of a Benevolent Monarch who died and rose again that we may have freedom in His name.

He will rule over His children in a perfect way. His subjects will not be separated by language, country, or political ideologies. Instead, we will be united by one thing: His redemptive work on the cross! 

 America is not God's country.
As Christians, our citizenship is in heaven, and not in any country.

Happy Fourth of July, America. May you enjoy your hot dogs, fireworks, and patriotic feelings. Remember that they are just a shadow of the loyalty and protection we can find in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ! I am so thankful to have been born in America, where I was free to believe in Christ. This should never be taken for granted! 

May God bless America; not because the nation deserves it or even has a desire for it, but that He would continue to use America for His Kingdom's cause. If that means taking away everything America has idealized, or removing the freedoms that once characterized it, so be it. May God be glorified in all things.   

Also, thank you to China (in case you're reading this) for teaching me how to look at my country through different eyes. 

Layers of the Earth

Once in a while, I like to look at the statistics for this blog. I think it's interesting to see how many people are viewing my blog, where they're from, how they found it, etc. What stands out as the most interesting, however, is the number of people that visit this blog because of the Layers of the Earth projects that I posted pictures of over a year ago. There's just a few pictures of some student work that Adam's science class worked on. No explanation. No tutorials. No DIY.

Yet, this is the hottest topic on this blog! So weird! This week, 60 people viewed that post.

The next most popular post is another group of pictures I took of some biome flip books my students worked on last year. They were nothing fancy to look at, and are not extremely creative either. It was just a way for the students to synthesize their knowledge at the end of a very long unit.

I know I am vain (isn't that the whole reason I check my stats?), so it just rubs my narcissism the wrong way when out of all the 'interesting' posts and 'great' pictures that I put forth are out-shined month after month by layers of the earth projects and biome flip books! What tripe and nonsense!

Actually, I'm not that mad about it. Not as mad as tripe. It fascinates me that the average person who reads my blog and is not friend or family, is always someone looking up ideas for a science project. These are either desperate teachers, or uninspired students. I don't know. Take that, Layers-of-the-Earth-stalkers!

~julie

Tradition + Characters = Eternal Truth

You may know that the written language of Mandarin uses characters, and not letters, to communicate words and ideas. I've heard that you need to know at least 2,000 characters just to be able to read a simple newspaper. There are thousands more that should be studied in order to be considered well-educated. There is little phonics to be learned when studying characters. It's mostly memorization and repetition that helps to learn and understand characters. Those that have a deeper understanding of the characters, and why they mean what they do, amaze me. I was speaking with one such amazing person the other day. She wrote down some information for me, and I just had to share it.

The first thing you should know about these pictures is that they are traditional Chinese characters. Meaning, most of China does not use these anymore, and only those who live in Hong Kong or are interested in studying traditional characters on their own would have any knowledge of them. In recent decades, traditional characters have been replaced by the simplified versions--which in most cases, are much simpler to read and write. However, the rich history connected with the evolution of Chinese characters is sometimes lost in the simplified version. In ancient times, characters sprouted as a form of written language in Asia--and many of the characters resembled the thing which they represented. A form of pictographs. Ancient versions of graphics and typography. As the centuries unfolded, the characters changed as well. It's similar in some regards to the formalizing of spelling and definitions in the English language. Characters became more standard and functional, and in some ways--less like pictures. This is my very primitive understanding, of what has been communicated to me by several Chinese friends, of how characters have evolved. But if you look it up, there are sometimes dozens and dozens of examples of how one character has changed throughout history. It's neat to see the earliest version and compare it to what is used today. Sometimes there are still similarities, and sometimes you would never know it was the same word unless you saw the progression.

So, the first thing you should know is that these are traditional characters (not in usage in mainland China). The second thing is that characters are composed of radicals. It's similar to how English words are composed of letters. But it is a little more complicated than that. Each little section of a character is its own radical with its own meaning. If you know the meanings of the radicals, you can guess at what unknown characters mean based on the radicals that compose them. It's a type of "phonics". It has nothing to do with sounds, rather it is about meanings. So, the following pictures and stories are of traditional characters (that can be traced by centuries in history, or at least forms of these characters), that have been pulled apart (radical by radical) to show an interesting interpretation. Of course, I can't take credit for knowing any of this, since I am no expert in Chinese. I've had people explain other characters to me before, but these were really interesting and I didn't want to forget them.

Looooong explanation..........sorry!

Here we go!

This is a simple one. I noticed this when I first learned the character a few years ago. It's the character for "hao" which means "good". It's used in many phrases and is a common descriptive word. In fact, we live in "San Hao Jie" (literally, Third Good Street). The first half of the character (on the left), is actually a separate word when its by itself. It means 'girl'. The right half of the 'hao' character is a radical that when standing on its own means, 'boy'. So, if you put the girl and the boy together, it means 'good'. Cute!

Now it starts to get interesting. This character is for 'righteousness', (yi). Take the two portions (the top half and the bottom half) and they can actually be two separate characters with their own meanings (if separated). The top half means, 'sheep', and the bottom half means 'I' or 'me'. Thus, the Lamb is our righteousness.

Here is the character that means 'complete' or 'finish' (wan). Let's look at the bottom half first. It is composed of several features. The first being the two horizontal lines, which is how you write the number two. The very bottom is how you write the character for 'people'. And if you put those two radicals together, it means 'first' or 'garden'. Now, the top portion of the character, if written separately, carries the meaning of "home". So, if you put it together: first + home = complete. I was told that perhaps this is a link back to the beginning days, when the VERY first home, was in a garden, and there were two people placed in it; and it was COMPLETE. Probably some interesting eternal truths that could be taken from this.

Here is the traditional character for 'yuan', which holds the meaning for 'garden'. There are several components to this character as well, and if separated, hold their own individual meanings. First, there is the top portion (inside the box), that looks like a cross standing on a line. This is the character for 'dust'. Underneath that is a small square--which is the character for 'mouth' or 'breath'. Underneath that is a character that looks something like the English letter, K--which means 'two persons'. The box the encloses all the other radicals indicates the meaning for 'enclosure'. All together, these markings create the character for 'garden'. I was told that this rings true of a story, once again from those very early days. Days when a man was breathed into life from dust, when two people were placed in a safe place, an 'enclosure' that was prepared especially for them. A perfect place, a garden. I was also told that the pronunciation sounds something like the word, "Eden". Interesting.

Next up is the word 'chuan'. Translated, it means 'boat' or 'ship'.

On the left side is a radical which by itself form a separate character--when by itself, it means 'vessel'. On the top right, is the radical which stands for the number 'eight'. Below that is a small square which means, 'mouth'. Using your powers of inference, if there are eight mouths, there must be eight PEOPLE. Where are these people? On a vessel. Eight people on a vessel? Somehow this idea birth the character for the word used to describe a ship or a boat. Sounds familiar....sounds like eight people of heard of in history who obeyed a seemingly foolish command to build a boat. Even when it had never rained before. Whenever we see a rainbow, we are to remember a certain promise. Eight people in a vessel = boat. It's very interesting to wonder HOW China knew about this centuries ago. The power of spoken words, rhetoric, oral tales! It's interesting to speculate the story moving from village to village, across time, over the Silk Road...



Right away, I recognized the top portion of this character. All together, these marking for the traditional character which means 'forbidden' or 'to warn' ('jin'). The top half is actually two parts which mean the same thing, 'tree'. When you put two 'tree' characters together, it becomes plural ('two trees' or 'trees'). On a side note, when you put three of these ('lin') characters together, it means "forest". Fascinating! Anyway, here you have two trees. The bottom is the character in the abbreviated form for 'God'. Thus, two trees + a supreme being = forbidden/to warn. That should bring another tale to mind.



Almost done! Thanks for bearing with me on this long post. I also apologize for being a little vague at times, but it's due to 1) my vast ignorance on this subject, and 2) I'm a little nervous. Next is the traditional character for 'create' (zao). If broken up into it's basic components, the characters for 'speak', 'dust/mud', 'life', and 'walk' can be found. Speak something (or someone) from the dust into life and to walk with. Hmmmmm....Another familiar story.


Finally, here is the character for 'tempter' ('mo'). There are lots of little pieces in this one, so I'll just tell you what they are: 'secret', 'man', 'garden', 'alive'. If you put all those radicals together, it forms the character for 'devil' (gui). There's more! Above the character for 'devil', there are the familiar looking 'two trees'. Around these two portions is the radical which means 'cover'. A man, alive in the garden. He has a secret. Something to keep hidden. He fashions a covering for himself and his wife. They have disobeyed, and taken from the tree they were forbidden to eat from. They were tempted by the devil. Once again, this character, altogether, means "tempter". So interesting!


~julie

The Story of Willow Pattern China

I've never been a huge fan of fine china, and didn't even register for any when Adam and I got engaged. I just thought--I wont ever use it. But I think that I have found the set of china that my daughter will use. I've decided that I'm going to program her to love this pattern of china by raising her with it. She'll have little toy sets and I'll start building her collection with every birthday and Christmas so that she'll be all set one day. It's just perfect. It's called Willow Blue, or Willow China Pattern, and it makes sense. Willow lives in China, so she should have Willow Pattern. This is a picture of a tiny miniature tea set of Willow pattern china. I had a similar tiny tea set growing up, and I think Willow would enjoy this in several years.

Of course, Willow pattern comes in blue, red, and green. But I think that blue and white wins.

But that's not all, there's a brilliant story and history that goes along with these dishes. I don't believe that these are the most aesthetically pleasing dishes I've ever laid eyes on, but I love the romanticism of the story and the long history it totes along with it--so maybe this will further explain my recent obsession with Willow Blue china.

The Willow Legend: http://www.thepotteries.org/patterns/willow.html There was once a Mandarin who had a beautiful daughter, Koong-se. He employed a secretary, Chang who, while he was attending to his master's accounts, fell in love with Koong-se, much to the anger of the Mandarin, who regarded the secretary as unworthy of his daughter.

The secretary was banished and a fence constructed around the gardens of the Mandarin's estate so that Chang could not see his daughter and Koong-se could only walk in the gardens and to the water's edge. One day a shell fitted with sails containing a poem, and a bead which Koong-se had given to Chang, floated to the water's edge. Koong-se knew that her lover was not far away.

She was soon dismayed to learn that she had been betrothed to Ta-jin, a noble warrior Duke. She was full of despair when it was announced that her future husband, the noble Duke, was arriving, bearing a gift of jewels to celebrate his betrothal.

However, after the banquet, borrowing the robes of a servant, Chang passed through the guests unseen and came to Koong-se's room. They embraced and vowed to run away together. The Mandarin, the Duke, the guests, and all the servants had drunk so much wine that the couple almost got away without detection, but Koong-se's father saw her at the last minute and gave chase across the bridge.

The couple escaped and stayed with the maid that Koong-se's father had dismissed for conspiring with the lovers. Koong-se had given the casket of jewels to Chang and the Mandarin, who was also a magistrate, swore that he would use the jewels as a pretext to execute Chang when he caught him.

One night the Mandarin's spies reported that a man was hiding in a house by the river and the Mandarin's guards raided the house. But Chang had jumped into the ragging torrent and Koong-se thought that he had drowned. Some days later the guards returned to search the house again. While Koong-se's maid talked to them, Chang came by boat to the window and took Koong-se away to safety.

They settled on a distant island, and over the years Chang became famous for his writings. This was to prove his undoing. The Mandarin heard about him and sent guards to destroy him. Chang was put to the sword and Koong-se set fire to the house while she was still inside.

Thus they both perished and the gods, touched by their love, immortalised them as two doves, eternally flying together in the sky.

There are several different versions of the legend that I've read, but this seems to be the most consistent. There's also speculation over WHO actually brought the pattern to England in the late 18th century. Whoever it was, it was definitely a china manufacturer who was hoping to make a profit off of the romanticism attached to the Far East. Whether he really found the pattern in China, or designed it himself, I am not fully convinced in either direction. The 'legend' however, is most likely a fabrication of the English china manufacturers, since it cannot be traced back to China. It's still an interesting story, and I can see why it became so popular in the 1700's. This pattern has always been in production since then, and although it's popularity has had ups and downs, it has lasted over two hundred years. There's lots of side-stories that go along with Willow china too, since it's so old...like it's found in some factory's foundation, and shards have been found in secret underground tunnels, and etc., etc. Here's a link to a cute video about the story of Willow pattern.

Here's a pretty Willow pattern set manufactured by a company called Johnson Brothers, which I find to be even more comical and fitting, since my Willow is also a Johnson.


I love the pretty hat box that this set of twenty comes in.


There are also table linens available in Willow pattern, and apparently, this dress.


Maybe wall paper?
Maybe not this Christmas, because she needs a stroller more than china, but this is in her future. I promise.

~julie

The Eyebrow Girl

Or maybe Cinderella? Keep reading to find out!

So, like all my posts seem to be saying lately, Willow is growing so much! Her eyebrows too...I wonder what will become of those eyebrows in the next few years--they are just massive on her baby face! But, she makes them cute and dolls them up a lot, as if she knows that she has these crazy eyebrows with which she can make lots of different expressions. I think that I can do half of the things that she can do with her eyebrows.


She's also in love with her fingers. She loves to suck on her hands all the time, and I'm a little worried her hands are getting the rough side of the bargain since she's chomping on them with her two little teeth.


Something I just figured out is how much she also likes to bite on her burp cloths. I don't know what it is about those burp cloths--maybe because they've always been an arms length away from her for the past three months--but she loves them.



I love it when she is this tired and this calm. She's so precious! It's like she's too tired to make a fuss about it, and would rather just sit there until her eyes close and she drifts to sleep. I wish this was how every night worked out! :)



"Look at me, dad! I'm wearing my leopard print mini skirt to fellowship! What do you think?"


This picture was taken last Sunday, and she's gotten even better at sitting up since then. She needs a little support, but her balance is improving on a daily basis.


Working on her head control during tummy time. She's improved a lot in this area over the past month. She doesn't scream so much anymore and has built up a little stamina.


Last Sunday was the first time that she put her hands down and held herself up with her arms, however! Yay, Willow!


She held herself up like this for about a minute and just looked around in bewilderment. I think she shocked herself with her strength.



"Sometimes it's so hard to stay awake at night--I don't know what I want more....to eat or to sleep."

Friends of ours in Shenyang are lending this bumbo seat to Willow. She's a little unsure about her new get-up though. Take it easy, Willow!


She mostly looks at her feet while sitting in this chair. She's fascinated by her cute little feet and really likes to stare at the chicks on her socks.


It's starting to cool down here. In our first floor, cement walled/floored/ceilinged apartment, it stays chilly. Mornings and evenings are cool as we wait another two weeks for the heat to get turned on by the government.


I think they share an eyebrow resemblance...

Willow's Chinese name now has a fun story. I'm not sure what the characters look like as of right now, but I will figure it out soon. Willow tree in Mandarin is "liu shu". Rose in Mandarin is something with the word "mei" (which means flower). So, our Chinese friend told us that we should name Willow, "Liu Mei". We could choose which kind of 'mei' we wanted to use though. There are different tones in Mandarin which usually alter the meaning of the word. It might sound the same to foreigners, but little changes in the pitch of the word can totally change the meaning. Well, there are a few different meanings for the word 'mei', depending on how you say it. Sometimes, however, words are pronounced the same but can have different spellings--or characters--much like homophones in English. So, one meaning for 'mei' can be for flower, but it is also used in part of the word for eyebrow. Apparently, there is a Chinese word to talk about the flowers that grow on the Willow trees--Liu Mei--because it looks like the trees have eyebrows. Actually, the pronunciations of Liu Mei (Willow tree with the eyebrows) and Liu Mei (willow flower/rose) are the same...but the characters are different.

We decided to choose the characters where 'mei' is talking about eyebrows. It is fitting for our Willow because she has such crazy expressive eyebrows! Our friend was happy about this because he said it is a very fanciful name--like being named after a fairy tale. Apparently there is a famous fairy-tale type story written in China a few decades ago where the protagonist is a girl name Liu Mei (like the eyebrow). I asked him if this was like being named Cinderella....and he said yes! So, Willow has quite a unique name in English--but also an unusual name in Mandarin. A willow tree with a flower that's like an eyebrow....also like being named Cinderella. Oh my!

Sometime I'll have to explain some of the reasons why I really like Willow's name and the verse that goes along with it.

~julie