Back in Colorado

Hello friends! We'll we are back and adjusted. I am not sure how much blogging I will be able to do, but I hope to at least post photos so you can follow our continued growth in the adventure of life. It is the night before Thanksgiving and I wanted to give thanks to all of the the people in our lives past and present. It is the relationships we make and experiences we have that shape our lives. Keep checking in to see what we are up to.

Here today gone tomorrow

Hello, dear neglected blog followers. It has been a while since I have posted. That is because there has been a lot going on. The most significant of which was the news that after only a year in China, we will be going home. Like many things in China...we are here today, gone tomorrow. This is strictly a cost saving business decision on the part of my husbands company, but an unexpected turn of events in our journey none-the-less. So, since my last post, I have been on a mission to squeeze out as much of my China experience as I could. Which in turn, left very little time for me to blog about my experiences. I will try include my adventures retrospectively..... Look for installments on the great wall marathon, Yangshou photo tour, Beijing and Xi'an, and many more. But today is about moving forward and reflecting back a little. The kids last day of school was yesterday. Our movers came this week to pack our things and put them on a slow boat from China. So, I am sitting here in a pretty empty house, with sleeping children thinking, what a wild ride.

So, what is it about this experience that was so memorable. Obviously, experiencing a new culture and understanding the differences between people has been enlightening. Seeing new places and trying new foods has been adventurous. But, what I didn't expect to experience so intensely has been the expat community. In just a short 10 months, I have made friends that will last a life time. I have laughed and cried with people that I haven't known for my entire life. Something about bringing people together in a challenging environment creates such a powerful force of friendship.

Moving to Shanghai has been a lot like your freshmen year in college. You don't know what to expect. You are thrown together with a diverse group of people and you make it work. Now don't get me wrong, it is not all rosy. Just as some college kids don't make it through with the new found freedoms... grown ups here are also tempted with all sorts of poor choices. For example, a mother riding a scooter without a helmet, in the middle of the night in my compound.... the end result.... tragedy. Something about not having laws for things seem to make it OK to use poor judgement. Despite this, the environment here has been positive and nurturing. As an adult you need to stick to your values and open your heart to those around you.

So for many reasons I am happy and for many reasons I am sad...But I look forward not back and have faith that everything happens for a reasons.

To many more journeys.