Six months

We have been in China for six months.  In some ways, it seems shorter and in more ways it seems longer!  It's the last night of Spring Festival and amazing fireworks are going off non-stop.  It seems fitting to look back and reflect over the last six month.

In  the last six months -
None of us have driven a car.
I've been in a private car 4 times.
I haven't gone to the library.
I haven't rented a movie.
I haven't walked our dog.
I haven't taught English.
I haven't had caffeine free diet coke.
I haven't seen my family...except on Skype.
We haven't sung to a worship band on a Sunday morning except when we were in Hong Kong.
We've been to a traditional Sunday morning service twice.

In the last six months,
I made it through a cold and dark winter that affected me in ways that I couldn't have predicted.
I've learned how to get meat at the butcher and vegetables from the vegetable people.
We've begun to drink milk from a box.
We found a good coffee source that sells real beans.
I've learned how to hail a taxi and take a bus.
We have ridden our bikes almost every day.
I've learned to carry toilet paper everywhere I go.

In the last six months,
We haven't been in a backyard.
Paul hasn't mowed the lawn.
We haven't vacuumed because we don't have a carpet.
We have learned the meaning of cold.

In the last six months,
Our Chinese has improved.  Or I should say that for me, I now have some Chinese!
Elisabeth has grown in wonderful and powerful ways.
Our marriage has been strengthened.
Our family has become closer.

In the last six months,
We have learned to depend on the faithfulness of God.
To be thankful for the ones that make it possible for us to be here.
To be thankful every day for this amazing life that we are privileged to live here!

Psalm 116

 12:What shall I render to the LORD
         For all His benefits toward me?
 ¹³ I will take up the cup of salvation,
         And call upon the name of the LORD.
 ¹⁴ I will pay my vows to the LORD
         Now in the presence of all His people.