To Blog or not to Blog

Before coming home to America, I was on the fence about whether or not to keep up our blog. We started it for our families who were so far away. Both our friends in China and our families here have encouraged us to keep blogging. And just the other day Andy and I were trying to remember where we went on one of our anniversary trips. Neither of us could remember but we were comforted by the fact that we could look back on the blog and figure it out. So, I've decided it's worth the time and effort to keep it up for our US family and friends who are still somewhat far and our Asian/ex-pat friends who are now really far away and also just for us. For recording the big details of today that will be almost forgotten memories a few years from now.

Now that I have my computer back up and running and we have Internet in our home, hopefully we'll get back to normal on the blog.

What have we been up to since we fell off the blogosphere? Mostly just settling in to our new life here in Sunny Florida. Everything is new to us-a new routine, new (to us) cars, new grocery stores, new church, new faces who will hopefully soon be friends, new house, new foods, especially for the kids. The other day EG asked me why there were so many American flags here.

Her favorite thing about America, she told me, is the pool. This girl is a fish.

Jack mostly just raids people's bags and finds stuff to throw in the pool. Toys, sunscreen, bark...watch out for your cell phone.

Because almost every aspect of our lives is new and different, I have felt really removed from China. Almost like I just woke up from a 7 year dream or something. I am really thankful to have my computer back up and running so we can be more connected to our friends there and that life. It really happened EA. You really did eat green leafy vegetables stir fried in garlic most days of the week. You really did have awesome neighbors who did this:
Jack and EG certainly haven't forgotten our life there! Check them out imitating the K's!

In our free time, we've been enjoying the local parks, the library and stalking all Asians. I am really trying to find some Chinese friends. So far I have met some Japanese people, found out our next door neighbors are Vietnamese and successfully invited myself to the Asian market with a worker at the local Chinese restaurant. Hopefully we'll make lots of new friends, including some 中国人！（Chinese people) But I can already tell we are losing our Chinese. Sad. Really sad. EG has stopped talking to us in Chinese and asks if we can speak "Anglish" when we try to talk to her in Chinese.

One thing that's surprised us about where we are living is many people here speak something other than "Anglish" as their first language. We expected to hear lots of Spanish, which EG has been asking to learn. But we've been surprised by how international this city is! We hear french, Creole, Vietnamese, some Chinese, and lots of Spanish. One day in Walmart a few weeks ago, I noticed that I was in the minority, being an Anglish speaker.

I am entering the world of couponing. America grocery bill=expensive! This week I bought the Spanish Sunday paper since all three stores I went to were out of the Anglish ones. Looks like it's pollo for us this week. Maybe I'll learn a little Spanish this way.

In all seriousness, thank you so much for your prayers for us throughout this transition. We need them so much. We are just starting to settle down and enter the "life" phase of this process. Please continue to pray for us, especially for God's peace to rule our hearts and our family as we continue to learn a new life here.