We had just had a tearful goodbye with some dear friends in Littleton, Colorado. (Yeah, that Littleton.) Living in China we're never sure when we will get to see people again. Visits are precious and we tend to squeeze every ounce out of the time we are given.

As the last door to the rental car slammed shut and our friends waved sad goodbyes, Anna belted out, "I can't wait to get on that plane!" with genuine excitement in her voice. Typical. I laughed out loud.

It's not that my children lack empathy–Anna is one of the most empathetic people I've ever met. Sarah tends to find crying kids on the playground in order to comfort them. So it's not that they are callus to goodbyes; it's just that my kids are built for motion. They are used to spending consecutive nights in different hotels (in different countries) and have no concept of what it might be like to stay in one place for very long. In fact, earlier this summer Sarah asked Christa one morning, "Mom, when can we go to another country?"

So as I dropped her off for the Kindergarten Jump Start program this morning, I thought to myself, "This should be an interesting experiment." We'll be staying in Edmonds for 7 months. The girls will have a full "semester" in public school. We'll be living within a one-mile radius of Christa's parents, our church, and the girls' school. We'll celebrate a handful of holidays within our own culture.

What surprising hurdles will we have to overcome? Perhaps too much of the same. Maybe not enough motion. Maybe I'm being a bit misleading though. We'll definitely have a bit traveling over the next seven months (California, Oregon, Florida), but the girls being in school full-time definitely grounds us a lot more than is typical.

Meanwhile the Olympics have really snuck up on us. Being away from the second-by-second countdown within China has really brought the magical 8-8-08 date come a lot quicker. I actually had to spend 5 or 10 minutes online looking for information about when the Opening Ceremony is going to be televised. That would never happen in China. Every citizen and resident in China MUST know these things without the aid of the Internet. It's a by-law or something.

Earlier this summer I had a dream I was in a Chinese airport. In the dream I was trying to explain something to the ticketing agent. In my dream I was thinking in Chinese OR RATHER I was trying to formulate sentences in Chinese so that I could be understood. Did you catch that: I was using Chinese in my dream! Wow, that means I've arrived (officially). Dreaming in Chinese. I wish it were that simple. I don't think it counts when you are fumbling in Chinese in your dream.

Here's a few random photos from the past few weeks…


(Sarah took this picture at Family Camp)


(and this one, too)

At the Seattle Torchlight Parade


Boat wars (we lost!)


Picking huckleberries


The birthday girl