17 Days?

How could it be 17 days since our last post?


I suppose the fact that we traveled through Hong Kong, dragging for an entire day 4 suitcases that were over the legal limit for most airlines, 5 kids and two parents that now have permanent joint damage from dragging them and a night train home where we all slept very little...


we needed some time to recover?


Some of you must be rolling your eyes..."time to recover?" you must be saying after our pictures of Thailand...

But it is true...we needed to re-acclimate to our life here at The New Place.

I promise more pictures of our time in Hong Kong and the Disneyland experience...it was all wonderful and we were refreshed by our time with the organization in Hong Kong as we studied some deep issues that those of us in cross-cultural work feel deeply...we're just beginning to get a taste of it in our 7th month here.

School has begun after our 1 month break. We have precious few breaks now until our summer furlough and so we've set our faces against the wind and charted the course to advance our students on to the next grade level!

We're learning lots of new things now about ourselves, our family and living cross culturally. It is to be expected at this stage. I'll blog more in detail soon about it. The level of self-discovery and spiritual challenge has been painful and yet so rewarding. We are truly blessed to be walking this path.

The weather is still cold here. Now the rain has set in. Apparently it's the thing that happens in Spring. So it's really rainy and cold like home...but now, since it's in the upper 40's -50's each day, there is NO heat. We walk to school in the morning with our umbrellas above our heads, our shoes and pants get wet and we come into the school shivering. Sadly, no heat to warm us up! Rubber boots...on the shopping list for this weekend!

Magpie and The Bug have started their math class in the local dialect. They're doing well...they understand about 60% of the language that is being spoken in class...and they're excited.

As soon as we crossed back through the border after our travels and the girls could understand the language spoken all around us they started jumping up and down in the train station. Magpie shouting "I understand! I understand them!" The Bug eager to negotiate with the local vendors. That was exciting and encouraging for all of us.

It was notable when we returned to our home here that it felt good to be here. For all of us we were excited to return to our apartment. We were eagerly greeted by our neighbors, colleagues and friends. The students ran to greet us...a warm welcome all around.

Much is different here than The Old Place...

...but our hearts have begun the mysterious transformation toward feeling...at home.