I'm out of practice being tall and feeling tall. Dan and I went to the Chinese church yesterday, and it was great, even though we could only understand 7% (collectively) of the sermon. Things are good when you're sitting in the pews, but once everyone stands up to greet you, you feel like a giant. Granted, I grew up with this, and being almost 6 foot at the ripe old age of 13, you would think I would be used to this. Unfortunately, 4 years at Calvin, followed by a marriage to someone I see eye to eye with (for the most part) have made me accustomed to thinking that I am of normal stature (which I am--I can get Bode, Roubos, Dan, Hooch, etc, and a few others to agree with me, I'm sure). I get myself into trouble a lot these days by referring to someone who is 5'6" as "short."
Anyway, we seem to have quite the bond with the Chinese these days, which is actually quite an honor, especially since mission work there in the future is becoming a viable option (don't tell Jared, he won't let us finish grad school if he knew...). We were invited to a 100-day birthday party for one of our friends' baby the other day, and turned out to be the only 'laowai' or foreigners there. Halfway through the night, we were taken to a back room and the grandfather of the baby talked to us very slowly and repeatedly. He told Dan multiple times that he drank tea everyday. I believe Dan was a bit confused as to what he was supposed to say to that. He did well in responding to the guy, but after a few rounds of "Yes, I like tea as well", "I like green tea", "I drink tea a lot", "In China we drank lots of tea", you start to run out of creative responses. At any rate, we were very thankful for his patience to sit with us and talk with us, even though our Chinese is 'limiting.' Shuang, the Mom of the baby, who works in Dan's lab told him "Dan, you can speak Chinese better than one Chinese person I know" and pointed to her baby (100 days old). Ouch.
Have a wonderful memorial day, everyone. (or "memory day" as Bing calls it)

Last time I wrote I was frustrated with a lot of things--mainly with people at work, including my boss, co-workers, and even the janitor who works in my building. It was a week where I was faced with just a few too many ethical decisions that I was hoping would only confront me in my ethics classes at Calvin. That said, I am very grateful that I had those classes--it didn't make it any easier, but it wasn't the first time I had thought about those issues.
Anyway, that frustration was changed into sheer joy and praise last night, when Dan and I were able to talk with Bing and Zhou Li ("Joe Lee") about Christianity for close to two hours (over ice cream!). Bing is a post-doc in my lab, and Zhou Li is his wife. They were at our wedding, so maybe some of you remember them. Bing's contract is almost done here in my lab, but he has not had a great time here, mainly because of his relationship with my boss. My boss is a great advisor, and a really brilliant man, but has very little patience with non-English speakers. Anyway, he hasn't been very helpful in getting Bing another position as a post-doc, etc., because of his letters of 'recommendation.' Anyway, Bing has been working himself into the ground lately (3 hours of sleep every night), and Zhou Li was really worried about him. So last night Dan and I went back to the lab (their second home) and took them out for ice cream. Zhou Li has recently (as of yesterday afternoon) accepted Christ, and of course, she was bubbling over with excitement about that. She wouldn't stop talking about it, and both of them kept asking questions about forgiveness, acceptance of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, etc. We were able to share our own stories of God's grace (we have a lot of them) in our lives, and afterwards we prayed with them. I am so happy that Zhou Li has accepted Christ, and I think Bing is just a hair away from it as well. As for the two of us, well, it was one of the best dates we've had in a while! Not that we don't have fun going to the movies or playing volleyball together, but sharing the gospel with your husband/boyfriend/friend (whatever stage you are at) is an amazing experience. I am so glad we can do that together, and that as Christians we have that 'firm foundation' and common goal to aspire to.
I hope you all keep Bing and Zhou Li in your prayers, they really need it now. Pray that Bing will get a good position where he will be challenged but encouraged as well. Pray that wherever they end up, they will have a good church family to join (this could be tricky in China). And most of all, thank God for Zhou Li's acceptance, and pray that Bing will soon accept Christ as well.
God is good, all the time!

Classes are done, students are gone for the summer, town population has thus been cut in half. If you ever have to be in State College, PA, summer is the time to be here. I got a new bike the other day, and have been saving gas money like crazy the last few days. :) Hopefully this will provide a necessary venue for exercise before frisbee and softball start up. The State College Ultimate League (SCUL) is very much hard-core--nothing like our games at Calvin, even with the occasional temper tantrum thrown here or there. The funny thing is, for all its competetiveness, people are very nice and have really good sportsmanship, not to mention they all know the rules of the game like they wrote them up themselves. Anyway, that starts in a week or so, and will be great. I wish we could have another Calvinist game, however. It will be interesting if we ever get together one of these years (when we're all old and decrepit)...
There are a lot of things I miss about Calvin. The assumption that there is a God, and being grounded in that helps to resolve many an ethical and moral argument with people. Try using God as an excuse to tell people why you think they shouldn't be living with their girlfriend/boyfriend (I've pretty much given up on the pre-marital sex issue), and they'll kindly tell you how naive you are, and how they respect me for my beliefs and such, you know, the typical post-modernistic reply (what's good for you may not apply to me, etc.). So what is the foundation in these peoples' lives? What concrete source do they turn to when faced with a difficult question or decision about reality?
I don't know about other fields of study, but in biology, if you try to argue that it was much more likely (p-value<<< 0.05) that God 'formed' the earth, rather than it 'becoming' what it is now by random events, people will again, look at you kindly and say you're naive, then probably mark you off their list of 'potentially good scientists'. I had to do a paper regarding this subject--i.e., what regulates plant development, outside and beyond genes and the environment? I took that to say 'what regulates life in general?', and actually had to try to convince everyone in my class that a) you cannot prove this with science (that was part of our assignment--to prove it with an experiment), and b) it was not random formation.
I don't know if any of this is making sense, because I am in a rambling mood, but it has been one of those days where you just don't quite feel like you're doing your job as a Christian in a non-Christian (and sometimes anti-Christian) society. Those are the days when I think I miss Calvin the most, and wish I could just go to a chapel service in the morning, just to be calmed down. Even seeing Maestro Rienstra at a LOFT service would cheer me up quite a bit right now. :)
That's enough complaining for today. I'll try to write a more cheery message next time. :)

Classes are done, students are gone for the summer, town population has thus been cut in half. If you ever have to be in State College, PA, summer is the time to be here. I got a new bike the other day, and have been saving gas money like crazy the last few days. :) Hopefully this will provide a necessary venue for exercise before frisbee and softball start up. The State College Ultimate League (SCUL) is very much hard-core--nothing like our games at Calvin, even with the occasional temper tantrum thrown here or there. The funny thing is, for all its competetiveness, people are very nice and have really good sportsmanship, not to mention they all know the rules of the game like they wrote them up themselves. Anyway, that starts in a week or so, and will be great. I wish we could have another Calvinist game, however. It will be interesting if we ever get together one of these years (when we're all old and decrepit)...
There are a lot of things I miss about Calvin. The assumption that there is a God, and being grounded in that helps to resolve many an ethical and moral argument with people. Try using God as an excuse to tell people why you think they shouldn't be living with their girlfriend/boyfriend (I've pretty much given up on the pre-marital sex issue), and they'll kindly tell you how naive you are, and how they respect me for my beliefs and such, you know, the typical post-modernistic reply (what's good for you may not apply to me, etc.). So what is the foundation in these peoples' lives? What concrete source do they turn to when faced with a difficult question or decision about reality?
I don't know about other fields of study, but in biology, if you try to argue that it was much more likely (p-value<<< 0.05) that God 'formed' the earth, rather than it 'becoming' what it is now by random events, people will again, look at you kindly and say you're naive, then probably mark you off their list of 'potentially good scientists'. I had to do a paper regarding this subject--i.e., what regulates plant development, outside and beyond genes and the environment? I took that to say 'what regulates life in general?', and actually had to try to convince everyone in my class that a) you cannot prove this with science (that was part of our assignment--to prove it with an experiment), and b) it was not random formation.
I don't know if any of this is making sense, because I am in a rambling mood, but it has been one of those days where you just don't quite feel like you're doing your job as a Christian in a non-Christian (and sometimes anti-Christian) society. Those are the days when I think I miss Calvin the most, and wish I could just go to a chapel service in the morning, just to be calmed down. Even seeing Maestro Rienstra at a LOFT service would cheer me up quite a bit right now. :)
That's enough complaining for today. I'll try to write a more cheery message next time. :)

Wow, it's been a while. Don't worry, though--I can explain my past month or so in just a few words--Fungal Respiration. Yup, I've been working on this experiment, and it takes a long time. Welcome to my world. Last night we finally broke down and dragged the TV/VCR from a classroom nearby my office and 4 of us crammed into my office and watched Indiana Jones--The Last Crusade, while the respiration chamber slowly moved to an equilibrated temperature. Unfortunately we had to stop the movie in the middle of the escape scene from the Germans (where they're on the motorcycle/boxcart) to take measurements, but it was still good. When you have to stay at the lab from 8:00am until 12:30pm, that's when good ol' Indy comes in handy! (I would post pictures of our little chamber, but again, Roubos would be the only one interested, and maybe he wouldn't even be excited.)
Classes are out for the summer, and we are having some glorious weather--pretty much 70-80s, sunny skies, and THUNDERSTORMS quite frequently. I love thunder, as long as you're not out in the woods taking soil samples. (another fun story...)
Roubos, you will be happy to know that The Bunny Hop has migrated to State College, PA. I first heard about it from Doug, and as it is a common practice to annoy the heck out of me, Dan uses it quite often as well. During fungal respiration measurements, my lab buddy Josh and I talk and reminisce about times we never shared together, i.e. tell stories about our past, people we know, etc. Well, seeing as I ran out of funny stories one day, I decided to tell other people's stories--enter The Richards, and The Bunny Hop. Josh tried it out on his girlfriend, and it worked marvels for his entertainment, to her horror.
Anyway, we're back at the lab again tonight, and tonight the movie is "The Sixth Sense". Yup, this is the life--pretending like you're working 16 hours in the lab, when you're really telling stories, watching movies, etc., as your husband (bless his heart) is at home on a Friday night doing the laundry. :)

So, in a nutshell, the above is what I have been doing for the last month or so. Any questions? Comments? If you're curious about The Bunny Hop, just think of Doug (bless his heart), paws out in front of him, hopping like a bunny (an upright one) would, towards Roubos, who is trying desperately to avoid this insane form of interrogation. (Man, I wish I could have seen it...)
On that note, I would like to thank The Richards for contributing so much to everyone's entertainment--I will try to tell my own stories next time, but sometimes others' are just that much better.