the early morning

Day 6

Here is the sunrise from this morning. Incredible, right? And believe me...this picture doesn't even begin to do it justice. This is the view that I have the INCREDIBLE privilege of seeing pretty much every morning as I ride my bicycle.














Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

the room

Day 5

This is my room-well, my side of the room. Audrey and I share a room at the new house (and have been blessed with the company of a third roommate for the past month as Becca has been with us).

Messy, yes...guilty as charged.

A perk of the new house is that we have AC in the bedroom-quite the luxury!!!




















Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

the kitchen

Day 4

This is my kitchen. Its a pretty typical Vietnamese kitchen-nothing built in...just a sink and counter space. Most people buy a stove top/burners. We have a refrigerator but often times even that is a luxury. Whats on the menu for tonight? Lentil burgers :)













Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

the wheels

Day 3

My motorbike. This is how I get around town. We are feeling the affects of the storm in the Philippines right now so my wheels had to be accompanied by a poncho today.

One of my coworkers graciously gave me this motorbike. I like to say that my motorbike is like an old volvo- its a beast/indestructible :)



















Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

the beach

Day 2

This is the beach. It is about a 2 minute bike ride from my house.

I know, rough.

Did I mention that it is virtually uninhabited between the hours of 8am and 4pm? The Vietnamese don't want to be tan so they typically only go to the beach early in the morning and in the evenings.












Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

one a day

Alright everyone...here's the latest challenge that I have posed to myself...

Post one picture on the blog everyday for 2 weeks straight. I figured it would be a good insight into my daily life here. The ins and outs of my daily life are sometimes lost in my haphazard (at best) posting schedule. So, I thought...that I'll give this challenge a go!

On your mark, get set, go!

Wish me luck!

Day 1: My desk and beautiful coworker. Here it is, the place where most of my emails/skype calles/blog updates/etc. originate from. Hmm...it looks a bit empty, I think I need to work on that...maybe add some pictures?














Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait

5am

The sunrise this morning was incredible, truly incredible. Believe it or not, I see the sunrise about 6 mornings a week! With the schedule change of transitioning full time to AOG World Relief, I have had to fit in my daily bike rides early early in the morning. It was a difficult transition at first, but I have come to love the early morning ritual.

Today’s sunrise was even more spectacular than usual. One thing that I love about Vietnam is how big the sky is here. And, of course, I know…the sky isn’t really bigger here….but you can see a lot more of it at once. Not as much vertical competition in this city as in others that I have lived in ☺ All that to say, this morning I was left breathless as pinks, oranges, reds, light blue and black were painted literally-panoramically around me…with the full moon in one direction and the coming sun in the opposite.

As I rode in wonder, I found myself thanking God for such a beautiful start to the day.

The colors changed moment by moment. The sky went from multi-colored to solid, brilliant blue within a matter of minutes.

It got me thinking…it got me thinking how the sunrise is one of the best physical representations of time that we have.

The persistence of time- it goes on whether we like it or not. It goes on whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. It goes on whether we “see” it or not. It goes on.

The sunrise this morning made me thinking about how quickly things change. It made me think how things change whether choose for them to…or not. It made me think how things change even if we aren’t conscious of them. It made me think how sometimes there isn’t much power over change. It made me think how sometimes there isn’t much power over circumstance.

But.

We can choose our response.

In the glory of the sunrise this morning…it would be easy to be sad that it didn’t last longer. It would be easy to be sad when it was over (when the colors resolved to blue). It would be easy to miss it (with the aid of the ‘snooze’ option).

And. None of those options are necessarily bad or wrong.

But.

I have been trying to live differently. Like I have said many times before, I am trying to be fully present. I saw that option starkly offered before me this morning amidst the changing colors.

So, as a representation of a much larger life decision that I am trying to daily live in.

I just enjoyed.
I just enjoyed watching the colors.
I just enjoyed the encroaching heat of the day.
And at the end, I was grateful to have witnessed such a beautiful start to the morning.

Here and now.

Grace and peace and the third way,
Kait