sore thumb

It has been so long since I've experienced a true fall. The leaves and the smells have been magnificent. Truly. I'm always taking deep, deep breaths to get in all that fall leaf smell. The peak color has passed and so the trees are becoming browner and more bare. We've had rain and super strong wind for 2 days now. I love it. I've gone back and forth on if it will be hard to leave the Beach and head to China next summer. With great days like these, I know it will be hard to miss this next year. But I don't know. Maybe our new town will have fall. On Sunday we skipped church and went to the Oak Ridge Festival. It's a festival in Attica OH that showcases everything from cannons and tanks to steam-powered wood splitters. Most of the vendors are scattered through the woods which is unique and a lot of fun to wander through. We all 4 really liked it. Phil and I got homemade wool mittens and Maddie used her allowance money to buy a pink heart bracelet. Lil

I wish that every morning I woke up this early (I've been awake since 5:06am). I can leisurely make coffee, paint my toenails (random but I did), read some from James (a very convicting book for me over the last few days, especially about my evil tongue), look at a drawing that Katie Stemple did (her parents work at BFA, a boarding school in Germany) and see that she's really creative and detail-oriented (she's a 1st grader and Maddie's BFF). And now I'm blogging. You'd think that since I live at BB and every single day I'm just about knocked over by the beauty and sweetness of God, I'd be blogging like crazy. But I have a greater urge to sit on the porch and stare at the tree in the front yard with the rope swing and the rope ladder. Or I'd rather take my coffee, put on a hoodie and sit by the lake and look out over the seemingly endless miles of water. I really can't get enough of sky, water, trees, grass, leaves, plants, flowers, mud,

We've been back in America for just over 2 weeks now. For some reason, I decided that caffeine doesn't really count in sweet tea and I drank too much, too late yesterday afternoon. So now at 3:29am, I'm up and totally awake. Running here is such a joy. I love running through the neighborhoods of Dover. There is this one super steep hill that is so hard but once I turn to run back down, there's this great view over the houses and every time I rejoice in what I can see. I get this really satisfied, happy feeling as I'm running past light pink dogwoods and this one bright, bright purple azalea. I look at the sky and no matter if it's cloudy or sunny, it's so beautiful to me. I'm really glad we are here. Madeleine and Lilian are in and out of the house all day. It's amazing how much a yard does for a kid's spirit. Yesterday evening, they were in the front lawn spinning and laughing as it drizzled. It was so sweet. Life right now is relaxing

Well my house looks like it did at some point when we moved here about 2 years ago. Boxes lying around, no pictures up, hammers, cleaning rags and tape sitting in random spots around the living room. It's a mess. Another move, more good-byes and mixed emotions. I'm going to miss... ..real CH food whenever I want it for dirt cheap, ..a tailor that made all my curtains and waves to me every time I walk past her shop, ..the little boy who's parents own the light bulb shop and yells, "hello!" every time we pass by, ..all the little kids that very politely say, "Ayi" (Aunt) when they pass me, ..our first friend in Chengdu who owns a local shop and buys birds as a hobby - bird guy, as we call him, ..the best dumpling makers, the steamed bread makers, the shopkeepers that deliver our milk for free and know our address by heart, ..the courtyard of our complex where Maddie can play by herself or with her friends while we keep an eye on her from our 4th floor, .