Sometimes we miss the weird stuff.....

like having a predictable life!

Most of the time we are reasonably happy here.  We can get many things that we used in America or at least a version of it. We have friends. We have a nice apartment.  Our Chinese skills are improving.  We have Chinese friends.  We are having meaningful relationships and good conversations.  We have some access to English books.  We can watch some TV online.  Have limited choices can be a good thing.

I don't miss politics or 24 hour news or TV.  I do miss our library and bookstores.  I miss being able to use a debit card anywhere I want. I miss going to church. I miss convenience and things that are easy.

Sometimes I get flashes of odd things that I miss.  I miss whole wheat frozen waffles.  I miss little country festivals like Columbia's Heritage Festival.  I miss yarn shops and access to knitting needles.  Chinese knitting needles are super long and require a knitting technique that I am not familiar with.

We miss Trader Joe's and Joe's O's and French Roast coffee. Elisabeth misses Reese's peanut butter cups.  Paul misses speaking in front of groups and I miss teaching (hopefully remedied next year as I stop full time language study and look for a teaching job.)

With fostering our little guy, we have entered into a world that is complicated and difficult.  We have encountered a glitch in our desire to have him placed into a forever family.  I can't and won't post the details but if you think of it, say a prayer for our sweet baby this week.  We believe that he has been brought this far for a reason and that there is a family out there for him.  Our word for him is "Deliverer" and we believe that he will be delivered.