Looking Back Pt. 1

Inbetween packing, chasing Eden around the apartment, and final visits to friends homes, parks, & restaurants, we're going to attempt to do a series of blog posts on "Things we're going to miss....Things we're looking forward to..."
So here's the first of things we're going to miss...

- sharing with people that have never heard His name. Investing our entire life, time, job, & language for one purpose...telling those that have never heard of His glory. Having a job that is specifically for that purpose has been incredible.

- the people. and that's a collective "people." The people of our city (the overwhelming majority anways) are so friendly, helpful, and eager to go above and beyond to befriend us and make us feel welcome here. These last few days as we've walked to the grocery store or ventured out to parks and such, we're just so amazed at the sweet smiles they give us, the eagerness they have to speak with us, and the generosity of offering their phone numbers just in case we ever need help. I mean, this has always happened. But now that we're "reflecting" back on our time, the sweet spirit of Chinese people in our city seems more apparent now than ever before.

- friends. People who have struggled with us over the last few years as we've adjusted to their culture and their language. People who have been Eden's first in-real-life aunts and uncles. People who we owe a huge debt of gratitude to.

- the food. okay sure there's fried scorpions on sticks and boiled chicken feet and such...but that's rare. There are actually some really great dishes here that we've gotten addicted to...and I might even go so far as to say...crave. mmmmm carmelized sweet potatoes. yum!! And as hard as we'll try to find some in America, I can guarantee the local China Dragon won't have anything comparable to real Chinese food.

- the crazy forms of transportation! bikes, trucks, donkeys, motorcycles, tricycles, taxis, things I don't even know the name of... they're all on one road!! It makes for mass chaos. But sometimes it can be soooo entertaining! (sometimes annoying too!) But seriously, there are so many things to look at on the road that it never gets old. American streets are boring...cars and trucks. No bikes? No two wheeled cars that six people ride in?

- our curtainless shower! I never thought in a million years that I'd miss that stupid thing...but alas, I think we're going to! It's just all too convenient to be able to dance a jig in the shower without worrying that you'll run out of room...if the desire ever arises. Sure, it's a pain to have to mop up the whole bathroom after a shower, but still...having a 10x12 ft shower is really cool.

- and last but not least...our time together. In the last two years, on average, we estimate that we've spent 23 3/4 hours out of each day together. Rarely were there times that we did anything apart from one another. We attended class together. We worked together. We traveled together. We took entire wednesdays to do nothing together. It was wonderful. In the States, people our ages have to go to separate jobs all day and might get to spend a few hours in the evening together. Not us! We've spent almost every day in the last two years with one another. And when Eden came along it was that much better. Brandon has been able to spend the first seven months of his daughter's life at home with her (a lot of the time)...whereas in the States he'd have to (and will have to) have a full-time job. We have truly treasured this time together and will miss being able to spend so much time as just the three of us.

- and I'd be remiss if I didn't say...blogworthy stories! I fear the fact that in America I won't have as many fun stories to write about. Like restaurants serving dog. Eating stinky Tofu. cool Chinese things. Exotic vacations. among many other things.... I don't know if it's possible to keep a creative blog after leaving here! :)

ok...more to come in later posts!