Back "Home"

Howdy Ya'll! It has been quite an adventurous last month and a half that we have had, both the ups and downs of it. Most of you probably know that we spent all of our time in August in the Dallas area because most of you who are reading this actually saw us while we were there! It was a blessing to get to see you all, whether it was frequent visits or just a dinner out. Thank you for the time that you took out of your busy schedules to accommodate us.

Well, here's a quick recap of our time: our first two weeks were spent attending parties, dinners, and our favorite of all - doctors appointments. We are very thankful for Grandmothers and great aunts and uncles on both sides who made the trip to see us. Nathan, Tiff's brother, came up for a weekend to relax and get all dressed up for family photos. Likewise Megan, Josh's sister, came up the next weekend and after spending a night in a cabin in Oklahoma also dressed up to take family pictures. In other words, all new Christmas card photos any of you receive in a couple months should be updated.

As a side note, it came as a surprise to hear everybody tell us how slim we looked compared to the year before. Now we did look at a few photos of ourselves last year and we have to agree a little, but that's beside the point. The point is that up until the day we left there wasn't a person in China who would not have characterized us as "fat". While that is a very general term for Chinese English speakers, meaning anything from "slightly overweight" to "obese", regardless it still has a belittling effect. Our level of confidence soared for the first week hearing this - and now we're back in China trying to work off any laziness and gluttony we enjoyed for the last three weeks of our stay!

Finally, for those of you who don't already know, our return trip to China was delayed due to an unexpected emergency room visit (I guess these things are never expected, though). Tiff had some major pains all through her abdominal area that came and went in intensifying waves. After our ER visit I am now thoroughly convinced that a Ph.D in medicine is merely a license to say "I'm about to charge you an arm and a leg for the following diagnosis" and then proceed to inform you that he has no earthly clue what is wrong with your body. But hey, at least he has a certificate on the wall that says that if it could be figured out, he should be the one to do it. Comforting. Anyway, a week later the family doctor narrowed it down to the possibility of a kidney infection and prescribed medicine that seemed to do the trick. Tiff is feeling good here in China, but we will be living this year under the daily protection of the Healer and in the faith that we are supposed to be back here this second year by His plan.

Well, I bumped my shin yesterday working out and have an incredibly sensitive bruise. It hurts like heck. I'm not sure if you cared to hear that but I knew for absolute that the thought didn't belong in the former paragraph, so I gave it its own.

To finish this off, we again say thank you to everybody to met with us, talked with us, and and especially pryed with us. We will keep you in our thoughts this entire year. This last August has been more than we could have hoped and we say a special thanks to both sets of parents who housed us longer than they had first anticipated. We say this now with the utmost sensitivity to the fact that we miss and love everybody back in Dallas - it's good to be back "home".