The 8-month mark

We've officially lived here now 8 months... the time is ticking away! It's amazing to think we can spend our days doing any variety of things, and yet - the time will still keep on going, regardless of our choices.  I'm enjoying a great book by Susan Pohlman, "Halfway to each other", about a disillusioned couple that was about to divorce due to falling out of love after years of married life in LA. They, on a whim, decide to sell everything and move with their 2 young kids to Italy for a year to see if they can mend things. I like it not only because it's a neat journey they take back to each other, but also, reading about the places they go to visit right here in this area where we're now living. I love how she describes the craziness of selling everything and starting over new and fresh, without the schedules and material things that their former life held... I can see similarities to our move in that way. I agree with her perception of the European people ~ on a trip to the beach, she describes experiencing something completely different from life back in America:

"I found myself unexpectedly enchanted by the unpretentiousness of them all. People here looked human. Women looked like women... their thin lips were just fine, and wrinkles were, well, wrinkles.  People here were not painfully thin and not especially toned.  No one cared.  Your body was just your body, the vessel that held your spirit.  And the spirit was what was most celebrated."

I agree with her that living in a new country helps you pay more attention to what it means to be a family... as Daron and I watch our kids, and each other, rise to new challenges and grow in unexpected ways, it definitely fills our souls and teaches us to think outside "the American Way." I'll be happy to return to America when that time comes, but I hope we'll all retain things we've learned from living abroad.

One thing we love, for sure, is the food! Here are the kids' lunch plates... they get to guess what picture the food makes, then they get their next course: their favorite meal, spaghetti carbonara. 8-)

Today, Stephen and I started studying China - wow! The homeschooling curriculum included this nifty China Kit, complete with domino cards, calligraphy set and paper, and a pictoral handbook... we're thinking we'd like to see the Great Wall in person!