Oh, How Far We've Come

I would have to say I'm a typical, naive American girl pretty sheltered from any cultural experiences.  Well, unless you want to count those "Be a Pioneer for a day" and make your own candles and tin candle holders out of old soup cans, nails, and a hammer (I actually still own a can top with a heart-shaped design) while teachers try to get us 3rd graders interested in oh-so-exciting  Indiana history.  Or there was also the "Be Japanese for a day" where my awesome 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Kelly (who I still think was the greatest teacher ever), had us take our shoes off outside the classroom, walk around barefoot, eat food on the ground like they do in Japan, and try using chopsticks to eat various foods (popcorn was the easiest).  I don't even remember what we were supposed to be learning other than the fact that chopsticks are incredibly hard to use and it was probably very stinky to have fifteen 7-year-old's feet walking on that carpet.

Back to the point....Jesus had shown me so much over the past 4 years about the world.  I think about where I would be if I hadn't gone to Purdue and I honestly have no clue what my life would look like.  I'm pretty sure, though, that I would not be where I am in my relationship with God.  I am so thankful that He has my life under control and He knew exactly the school, church, classes, organizations, and relationships that I needed to love Him and His people more.  I could probably write a mini-novel about all of the above. 

So what made me think about all of this?  Eating at HuHot.  It's a new Mongolian Grill here in Lafayette.  The hubs and I tried it this past Sunday for lunch and it got me to thinking about how I probably never would have desired to go here 2 years ago.  We were talking about what we thought of the food and we both agreed it wasn't anything amazing.  See, for the majority of this town, eating Asian cuisine is a once, maybe twice a month, let's get cool Chinese take-out boxes and eat off the fancy dinnerware so it looks like we are having a real dinner.  No offense to those who do that.  We get Chinese take-out, too.  But for us, it's at least a twice a week thing.  Two years ago I would have said I didn't like Asian food at all.  I'll stick with my meat and potatoes, thank you.  However, having a Asian husband has definitely changed that.  Especially since he is practically a gourmet chef.  I love his Asian food.  The food at HuHot has nothing on his fabulous feasts.  It's fun to be able to say that I have that type of food multiple times a week.  And it's so much better than any Chinese take-out (mostly because Alan makes it the way I like).  I love thinking about all the simple things, like Asian food, God has changed my heart about.  :)