As you may have figured out by now, our transition here has been anything but easy. I don't say this for pity, but for prayer; not for sympathy but in order to be sincere. Unfortunately I have come to the point that when people on our team ask me how I or my family is doing, I have an inclination to shirk back and paint a picture that is not accurate. Its easier to say "Things are great" when they're not simply because I don't want to be the guy who pops an inquirer's good mood bubble; nobody likes to be a Debbie Downer.
But we have so much to be thankful for as well. In the spirit of Thanksgiving this year, here are a few of the many joys in my life brought on by my wonderful family:
1)My wife
- she serves, she sacrifices, she loves. She is so stinking good at everything she does! I love her more today (even after hundreds of arguments and seeing each other's sin) than the day I said "I do."
2)Our kids
EMMA She loves playing horsie and my bruised knees are proof of that (oh how I miss carpet!!). She also dabbles in being the horsie and her name? PANDA ORCHESTERA. When she is the horsie, she insists that I call her this. PANDA ORCHESTRA. I have no idea where that comes from, but even as I write this, a smile has risen on my face like the morning sun.
EVIE
This girl causes me more stress and personal discomfort than anyone, yet somehow, I am more and more in love with her. She came up with her own game at the dinner table when she drops her chin to her chest and closes her eyes as if she's sleeping. We all respond "AWWW Evie's sleeping..." and she suddenly looks up with the biggest smile on her face. It makes you feel as if you're watching the sun rise.
JAMAN
He doesn't do a ton right now, but he's the most stable person in our house and he is my reminder every day to not be so worked up about things. Its crazy that I can love a little guy so much which reminds me of God's love for us.
3)
Today my girls and I were learning about Mexico. I shared with them that both Aaron and I used to study Spanish. We both spent years in both high school and college learning Spanish. Now it's difficult to remember anything beyond "Hola" and a few colors and numbers. Mandarin has used up most of the language area of our brains. One of the more challenging aspects of living as a foreigner in another country is learning the language. Language is not just grammar and vocabulary; a language exists in a culture, it has a context. There is a way of calling someone an idiot here that is just a series of numbers, a series of numbers that you would surely use when bargaining. If you don't remember to use a different name for the numeral "2" in the number, you will offend the shopkeeper. I can know the vocabulary but if I don't understand the context then I miscommunicate. We have a store of language bloopers, so many that it's hard to re...

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