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undecorated

I took advantage of feeling sick today to undecorate our home.  Sick enough to skip school but well enough to get some things done in the house.  It's hard to make understandable Mandarin come out of my mouth when my head is pounding and my stomach turning.

When I was younger I always felt very sad when the tree came down and we didn't have little lights glimmering in our living room.  But now, I feel happy that it's done and I have my living room floor space back.  Ah, the reality of getting older.  I think it helps that I did it on NY's Eve so that I have tonight and the new year to be excited about.

Here are a few things that stick out about 2008.
-Lilian Pearl, possibly the sweetest baby on planet Earth
-Moving across town because of toxic fumes in the old place
-Finding and decorating an apartment that we LOVE.  We may have the largest kitchen in all of China.
-Living in Beijing for 6 weeks
-Becoming such great friends with Natasha Tompkins
-Living in Chengdu for a month which was so much harder than I expected but lead to us desiring to live there for much longer
-Changing our minds from staying in Xi'an after school to moving to Chengdu
-Madeleine turning 3 and getting older every single day
-The May earthquake - I'll never forget being pregnant, holding Madeleine and praying with Yali while we sat in the shower waiting for the building to stop rocking.  
-Realizing that I was acculturating to life here - the things that bugged me so much before or that bug newcomers don't seem so big anymore.
-Realizing that we are no longer newbies.  We are now the ones that know "everything".  Newbies now call us to find out where to buy carpet, ovens, candles, condensed soup, turkey and where to get a good haircut.
-Phil's amazing love for me and his girls.  He aint perfect but he sure tries to be.  What more could I want?  Plus, he's handsome to boot.
-G*d's faithfulness.  What he says he'll do, he does.  Looking back at fall 2007 and not knowing how he was going to do stuff we knew he was telling us to do but knowing full well that he would do it.  Now, sitting here today seeing how he's starting to do it.  Absolutely amazing.
-Celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with my folks...in China.
-Having Jana, Shay and Amber hold Lilian just hours after she was born.
-Having Tim and Sheryl Steiner (Dad and Mom) visit for 3 weeks.  Seeing China through their eyes was so interesting.
-Malaysia with the Littletons and Drummonds
-Always a highlight and great memory every year...Thailand's food, sand and friends.
-Learning Mandarin vocab that can change a person's life.  

Happy New Year!

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