Off to Thailand

The Changs and the Bastkes are off to Thailand today.

I'm so excited. I've never been to Thailand before, so this will be quite the experience.

Yahoo! Keep posted for some photos!

Join My Book Club

I moved to California after going to first grade in Taiwan. The transition to a foreign country was hard and scary although I don't remember too many details. The memories I do have are still quite vivid though. The memories come in emotional bites. Like I remembered I felt scared when my two classmates harassed me because I was different. Or the joy and triumph I felt the first time I read an English book and I understood every word in it. I still remember the children's book was about apples. :)

When I was in elementary school and much better at English, I read--a lot. I loved reading. I read Beverly Cleary and was well aquainted with Ramona and Ralph. I went on mysteries with Nancy Drew. I read classics and most of the Newbery Medal books and I loved Shel Silverstein's poems. And... I admit I read the Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley High too.

From junior high to college, I took a long hiatus from reading for pleasure. Actually, no. In high school, I still read, but mostly nonfiction and mostly have to do with Christian living.

But since I have been in Taiwan, I pick up reading again. And I love it! I want to recommend some books I just read and not just enjoyed them but am changing because of them.

1. The Shack
Fiction written by William P. Young
www.theshackbook.com
The tagline is something like "when tragedy meets eternity". I won't tell you about the plot but friends, can I just tell you what God has done in me through reading this book? God has set me free from a lot of misconceptions I didn't know I had of him. And I sense a new fresh awareness and the truth that Holy Spirit lives in me!

2. The Kite Runner
Man, was this a hard read! But I am so glad I did. Verses popped in my mind when I read this book actually. Verses about Jesus and how he willingly laid down his life for us. Jesus as the innocent lamb. Themes of sacrifice and redemption and how evil the human heart is. More thoughts about this book but don't want to spoil the plot for those that haven't read it yet. So talk to me in person or email me for more details. :)

3. Hadassah
By Tommy Tenny
I read a bit of God Chasers when I was in school. And I thought it was pretty cool. And I heard him share a few times at Harvest Rock in LA. God Chasers and his talks were all very good. But it's this book, Hadassah, that I learned the most from Tommy. I read it before my wedding and marriage to Campbell. And I thought it was so fitting that I did. Tommy weaved historical accounts into the story and gave us a better context for what took place in Esther's time. I cringed and teared up with Hadassah and shouted "Glory!" when God's faithfulness and sovereignty triumphed. But more than anything, Hadassah reminded me of what is true beauty in the eyes of the Lord. The secret is found in 1 Peter.


And now I am reading Khaled Hosseini's second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. More book review later...

Hi, there! It's Mrs. Chang here!

Haha. I cracked up writing the title. Why? Well, if you are a devoted fan of Let's Talk in English (the show Campbell and I are on), then you would know. :) For those that are native English speakers (meaning: no need to watch Let's Talk), Campbell and I do a feature called Inspector E. And I always address the audience like this "Hi, there! It's Mrs. E here." ... OK. Actually, it's not that funny. I don't know why I cracked up in the first place.

... OK guys, I am still (somewhat) new to this world of blogging. Bear with me. :)

Wow, so I am Mrs. Linda Chang. What are my favorite things of being a Mrs. Chang?

Let's see...
1. Waking up next to Campbell
2. Cooking! (I really do like cooking. That doesn't mean I am very good, though.)
3. Coming home with my husband
4. Knowing it's us together for life
5. Having someone who knows my heart more and more
6. Laughing at private jokes together
7. Enjoying a rainy day and night together
8. A best friend to dream with
9. Knowing what he is thinking without him saying anything
10. The best thing is having Mr. Chang there with me

Watoto

Tonight, Linda and I and a few of our co-workers went to attend the World Vision Watoto Children's Choir Concert. Oh, man. Friends, what a night. I pretty much cried from beginning to end. These kids were amazing. And their stories! Uh! Seriously, God is so amazing. Each of these kids is an orphan. Their parents have died of AIDS. And they represent millions of other children in Africa who are in the same situation. These kids have had seriously hard lives. Yet they were singing, dancing and praising God. And to see the hope and the light that they carry in their hearts, we were so blessed.

Here we are with one of the girls in the choir. Isn't she adorable? Thanks to Rachel for the picture.

Phantom Glasses

So today is day 3 after the surgery. I went back to the doctor again, and he said that things are going well. My eyes appear to be healing well. Praise God. Right now, I still see halos around lights. And also I find it takes my eyes a bit to focus on things up close. And, I had this weird experience on the street today. I was looking at the bus number signs on buses as they passed by and I was having double vision. (TRIPPY) But all of these things should go away in a few months. Or so I hear. I have faith. They WILL go away! I claim it!

Also having worn glasses/contacts for almost 20 years, it's taking my brain a while to get used to the fact that I don't need to wear them anymore.

Every once in awhile I catch myself putting my hand up to my face to push up my glasses. Only after I shove my finger into my nose do I realize, wait, I'm not wearing glasses anymore. Also at night sometimes my eyes get a little dry, and my first thought is to go and take out my contacts, cause in the past dry eyes meant contacts were dry. Then I'm like, oh, wait. I'm not wearing any contacts. =) It's so trippy.

But I'm loving it.

-C

I Can See Clearly Now . . .

well . . . almost.

Praise the Lord, surgery went well. It was a relatively quick, relatively painless experience.

I'm really thankful that Linda was there to hold my hand and calm me down prior to the surgery. And then to comfort and take me home after the surgery. That was a huge blessing. =)

Right after surgery things were a little cloudy. But that's what the doctor said would happen.

When I got home, the first few hours after surgery I just slept for about 4 hours. That was nice. And it gave me a chance to rest my eyes.

It's been 2 days now, and I'm doing well. I can see pretty clearly. It's like I'm wearing glasses but I'm not. The only thing is I still have halos around lights and stuff. But that's OK. Doctor says that should fade in a few days.

I went for a followup yesterday and the doctor said that things are healing nicely. I've got another appointment with him tomorrow for another checkup. So I'm praying that things will continue to improve.

Thank you for all of your prayers. The Lord really answered.

Now if you wouldn't mind praying for my recovery. Pray that God would keep me from rubbing my eyes and that he would protect any dirt or junk from getting into it.

Thanks guys!

New Eyes

Well, it's been awhile since our last post. Sorry folks. I (Campbell) wanted to make our blog pretty with pictures and stuff, but our pictures were taking forever to load. So I've got to figure out how to make them smaller.

Anyhow, figure I could write a quick update for y'all.

I'm getting LASIK tomorrow. Today is my last day to look through these lenses. (You can't see. But I'm wearing glasses right now.) So how am I feeling? Well, I'm excited. But I'm also nervous.

Well-meaning friends keep telling me about all these articles that they've read about the negative consequences of these surgeries. So I tried talking to people who have done the surgery. And they're no help, either. At first when I ask them, they're all raving about the surgery. "It's one of the best thing I've done in my life." "I love the freedom of not having to wear glasses."

To which I ask, "And you didn't have any problems?"

And that's when the big, "WELL" comes along.

"WELL . . . I had DRY EYES for about 6 months. But now I'm fine."
"WELL . . . I saw halos around lights for 4 months. But now I don't . . . oh wait, yes I do. But it's not that bad."
"WELL . . . I love that I can see without glasses. Except I still need to glasses to read things up close, because of my age."

HMMM. I know everyone is different and responds differently. But all of this is not too reassuring.

Anyhoo, I'm still going through with it. Call me crazy. So pray for me. Pray that the surgery will go smoothly. And pray that I can be careful. I'll definitely need to watch it for the next few weeks. No swimming, no splashing my face with water, wearing huge goggles everywhere, no rubbing my eyes, wearing special lenses to bed.

But it'll all be worth it. I think?

=) If y'all have any stories to share. I'd love to hear it.