WORDS FROM DOVE

We have found dove chocolates to be a small joy in our world. A whole bag only costs $1. But as we open this delacacy we have found much encouragement not just from the chocolates, but from the wrappers. Here are some of the words we have gotten from the "DOVE":
"Think without limits"
"Be a role model for someone"
(my favorite) "Forget the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey instead!"
Potholes are everywhere in this place...I know I've hit a few.

So as we eat our chocolates and dream about the finner things in the U.S.A., we are encouraged in many ways about being here. HE finds a way to reach us and bring joy to our hearts for the day.

Let it snow!!

Well, we arrived in China safely and are learning to adapt and survive "China-style". I'm not sure how cold it is but there is ice everywhere. You feel it when you step outside. The homes are nice and toasty though.
Yesterday we had a few inches fall. Hannah and Jack were the first ones out to make snow angels and have snowball fights. As we played we heard many people shoveling the ice off the roads so that cars could travel safely. I thought, "What a great way to show others you care for them." Many hands make a light load. That morning Hannah and I took up a shovel and joined in the ice capades clearing the roads. Nothing like getting your hands dirty (or wet in this case!)
All in all it was a great experience. People stare at us because we look so different... and maybe there is something else.

READY...SET...GO! (And a possum challenge)

WOW! I can't believe we are almost to "lift off" time! We have spent months preparing and yet in the past month it has been utter chaos getting the last minute details done. The furniture, a car, and the house is all sold (or in the process)! Passports are set, visas are done, yardsales are done (thank God for that), and we are excited to go.

Packing has been a huge trial. How do you take 13 years of marriage, 3 kids, and a house full of memories and stuff and cram it all into 2 pieces of luggage, at 50 pounds a piece? Think it is easy? Here is an equivalent test for you. Buy one large, very disturbed, and slightly foaming at the mouth possum and try shoving it into a lunchbox! You may get scratched and cut a bit as you go, maybe lose a finger or two, and maybe end up in the hospital with rabies, but at least you could say you did it! (Not to mention you would make the "stupidest people in the world" list for late night TV.)

Anyways, it all works out in the end. You realize that space bags are a gift from God, parents' homes are wonderful storehouses (thanks a million moms and dads), and that possum loves his new home!

Write you next time from the other side of the sea. China is 16 hours ahead of Arizona. (I could tell you what tomorrow is like!)