Long time no see...

I know it is shocking but this post is actually coming from Rachel. Contrary to popular belief, I have not left Alan and Colby to pursue my career as a Chinese acrobat. I have been here all along reading Alan's narrative of our lives and I've enjoyed it quite a bit.

Anyways, I will share a few highlights from my break and from this first week back (I will have to dig deep for the latter). Christmas was really fun, relaxing, and warm.

There were many material blessings to be had from pretzels to cheese to 6 new pairs of shoes. It is amazing to me how quickly your perspective can change about places and things. Taiwan was always a really fun place to serve and visit but I was never it awe of all the things they had there. I would bring suitcases of foodstuffs and toiletries to my poor parents who were deprived the comforts of western living. Now I come from a place that has much less and can't believe how good my parents have it. (We really do have a lot here in Chengdu, but it is hard to compete with the Costco stocked from floor to warehouse ceiling with American delights) Now if my parents visit here we will be making a list for them to bring :-)

Aside from the food and SHOES, I really liked being all together with my side of the family this Christmas. We played a lot of games and had fun just being together. I'm still trying to figure out how to be an adult but it isn't easy to leave teen mode when there are still teens in the house. Becca and Stephen are incredibly mature and it is really fun to see them growing up. Sarah endured some hardships on the trip (a massive bruise from paintball and falling in the water inside a dark cave) but she took things in stride. It is sad to think of her all alone in North America, but I'm proud of all the things she is doing to serve her kids in Chicago.

We came back to Chengdu dreading the cold that would await us, but we have bundled up and survived! We had a few days to hang out with Chengdu friends before school started. I admit it has been hard to come back from vacation particularly as we will be off for another 2 weeks in 2 weeks. The biggest bright spot has been Model UN. Alan and I are helping lead the club and we had 14 at the first meeting. Although never did MUN it is a nice cross between debate and speech and schmoozing with strangers. We have an interesting cross section of kids who came out so I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone works together.

In other news, we took Colby for his first walk today around our complex. But I don't want to talk about him too much, we're fighting right now. He thinks my hands are his chew toys and he can't convince me of his point of view.

-rachel