Lots to blog...

Oh, man, so I've been a lazy blogger. I've had a few things to blog, but I just haven't sat down to do it. It's not that I've been very busy. It's just that I've been very lazy. :-)

First, though, I want to give a shout out to a few folks. To Julie, precious friend & Chinese sister, congrats on the pregnancy! That is so exciting! I am so pleased for you and your husband. You are in our prayers as you begin your family. I miss you much! Thank you so much for the beautiful sweaters that you made for the girls. I am touched by your kindness! They're a tad big yet, but hopefully they will be able to wear them this coming fall. :-)

To Alicia, Julie & Shelly - thanks so much for your kind words about my blog (and my hair!) It was great to see you all throughout the course of the past week. I appreciate your visits to the blog, and I'm feeling slightly self conscious in my nerdy-ness now. Haha! :-) I'm sure I'll be seeing you all more often these days. Thanks for being loyal friends, supporters, encouragers, etc., to my parents over the past several years.

Chelsea - Update your blog, girl! (This coming from me? I know, I know! But, at least I've blogged THIS month! Ha!) No, really, though, I've enjoyed your pictures & watching you evolve as a photographer. You're gonna love the 85! I KNOW it! I can't wait to see what you capture in China! We should get together again sometime soon. :-)

Okay, okay. So, is there anyone out there that's been reading this blog from the get-go? From day one? If so, you'll remember what I said in my first post ever. For all the rest of you (that would be about everyone!) I talked about my reasons for starting the blog. The big reason was for my parents. They'd recently been here for the holidays but were headed back to China where they lived. I wanted this to be a way for them to stay connected, to watch the grand kids grow & change over the days, weeks, months that it would be until we saw them again. And, THAT is why I started this blog.

I can remember what it felt like when my parents first told me they were moving to China. It was late fall of '99, and I had just turned 21. Curt & I had just started dating that August. I was absolutely astounded. Seriously. It just threw me for a loop. I remember crying often. After they left, I remember feeling an emptiness in my heart, almost like grief. I mean, I guess it was grieving the loss of them in my day to day life. We've experienced a lot of losses... a magnitude of losses... while they were gone. If it weren't hard enough in and of itself, how must it have been for them clear across the world without family? We've also experienced a wealth of new life, as well. My goodness! Four grandchildren, 3 great nieces & nephews... all born while they were away. There's been a lot of change... this family has changed. The fall of '99 seems an eternity ago, both in time & life stages.

We've missed them tremendously, as they have missed us. But, that season has come to an end, and I'm just beyond pleased to be able to say that they are home! The girls & I have been counting down the days for a few weeks now. Let me tell you, trying to explain how long 16 days is to a young 4 year old... not fun. No, really.

On Friday, I think maybe there was some sort of kink in the time-space continuum causing the day to last about four zillion hours rather than the standard twenty four. Do you remember being a kid on Christmas Eve? You know how the day seemed to drag on FOR. EVER? Remember how it was impossible to get to sleep that night because of the anticipation? Remember that? Well, that was me on Friday... the day before my parents flight arrived.

Let me try to convey to you just what I mean. I had to get up at 6am to get myself & the girls ready & out the door to the airport on Saturday. When the alarm went off, I hopped outta bed. Ha! For anyone who knows me, you understand the seriousness of that statement, right? This is the girl that MUST have a minimum of eight hours a night. I would like to have ten hours. Pure bliss would be twelve. I don't hop outta bed. I usually sorta roll out shuffling my feet & rubbing my eyes all the way to the bathroom or the kitchen or wherever. And, that's only after Curt's told me to get up at least a half a dozen times. :-)

ANYway... this is getting way too long. Whatev. We all headed to the airport to welcome them home. I, of course, took pictures.

Waiting...

Waiting not so patiently...
Finally...





Okay... and this. This is gonna take a lot of 'splainin'. Did anyone notice the dog sitting on top of Craig's luggage? Yeah, that would be Spike, Craig's dog. Spike is not a real dog. Spike is a life-sized stuffed dog. Craig thinks Spike is real. Sigh...

He got this thing in China & sent out pictures to all of us of him with his new dog. We'd hear tails of his new dog. He would strategically place the dog around their apartment, whether it was to scare my mom or to find other such mischief. Spike is apparently not house trained fully and would have an occasional "accident" on the floor. At least, this is what I hear. Craig would reprimand him. There were times, too, when Craig would return home from a trip to find that Spike had chewed one of his slippers. I think Craig probably deserved that given the fact that he would place Spike in places to frighten my mom first thing in the morning. Good, interesting family fun. ("Interesting" is such an ambiguous word, isn't it?)

Apparently Craig felt the need to bring him home. So, he carried him on. To all his flights. Ay yi yi. You can imagine how that must have gone for them in all the airports. I see hours upon hours of family fun with Spike in our future.

Headed home, grand kids in tow:
We're so thankful that they have returned home to us, though we know it was a bittersweet decision for them. There's lots more I could say, but my goodness, this is an insanely LONG blog as it is. Oh, one last thing... ignore that nasty white balance issues. :-) Please.