I don't identify.

I don't identify with people in life who seem to float along, as if suspended between ground and heavens...or heaven and reality.

My life has never seemed to go that way. It seems to me that I have been handed one challenge after another. Some of my own making. Some not.

Some days, I beg God to give me that other kind of life--the suspended kind of life. But He always lovingly reminds me...that my life is not about me. It's about HIM. He has the whole picture--I just have a pixel of it.

So today, I choose to say Abba Father, I choose YOU and all that you ask me to go through. I choose to allow you to replace my flesh and bone with the tensile strenth you have planned for me. I choose to let go of my tight grip on my own reality...and instead seek to serve you with everything I am.

And I'll try really hard to not ask why along the way.

NEED SHELF ROOM!!!

I need to sell some curriculum to make some room for the new!

Rosetta Stone Mandarin Chinese, Homeschool edition, years 1 and 2
$150

Teaching Textbooks 6 Includes book, disks, and answer key. $100

Institute for Excellence in Writing. A and B $50 each

Apologia Physical Science, essentially unused $50

All have been purchased NEW and are in like new condition.

Blog, Ressurected.

In August, 2008, we returned home to Colorado from Malaysia. With a young dog. And young girls.
2 year later, and we've lived an entire life. Eric went to school. Eric taught school. Joelle went to school with Eric. Me? Kept a stay at home job for a bit. Hung out with Sabrina a lot. Watched her grow up before my eyes.

It was good to be home. I liked it. lol. It was good to BREATH again. There's nothing like knowing where everything is, where everything is going, and what we'll look like when we arrive!

This past April, we made a financially wise, but difficult lifestyle choice to take a new job out of state...in Utah. So here we are. 2 midlifers, 2 teenagers, 3 dogs. Every bit foreigners, here, as we were in Malaysia. Just a whole lot cooler. We love the concept, but are currently mired in loneliness and new-place fatigue.

And since I can no longer breath again, I thought it would be a good to dust this ol' blog off and write again. For the sake of sanity and therapy...and, well, to save my husband's ears. He can only listen to so much, ya know.

By the way. Utah kicks Colorado's hiney, beauty wise.

I notice the date stamp says that it is 2:38 am. Must still be on Malaysia time!

Leaving day!

We are SO PROUD of the girls this past year. They turned in to GREAT travellers. We really pulled together as a team, and were able to withstand most 'crises' with style. Admittedly, occasionally, we all decended in to our family's version of insane behaviour...but...what happens in Malaysia should STAY in Malaysia, right? (and we won't ever discuss singing father abraham at the top of our lungs at a cement wall, RIGHT, girls? lol) Here is a picture of the last leg of our journey. We were bumped up to first class...and LOVED it! What a huge blessing! We were the last flight to leave Taiwan before a typhoon, and the dog came too. God had our backs...and our fronts and sides...He gave his angels charge over us, and it was SO abundantly clear to us.

We took this picture looking out at the tarmack. Have I mentioned how unusual it is for people to bring their dogs back home with them? The workers here are telling us, via hand motions, that Nasir was o.k. Every airport, he gathered a crowd. We had put our family's picture on top, so people recognized us, then too! This really HELPED to get him home, and helped people not to be afraid of Nasir in a dog-phobic culture.

The girls spent most of the day before we left decorating Nasir's kennel...so he was not accidently mistaken for anything other than a LIVE ANIMAL.

Nasir would NOT make use of the 'facilities' at the KL airport. He's strictly a 'grass and bushes' kind of dog. lol

This is a picture of our check on luggage, including Nasir's kennel, and not including little Sis!

Leaving day came quickly. We were all extremely tired, stressed, and not knowing if the Malaysian dog would make it home. After picking up our 'large vehicle' which ended up just being a small vehicle with a bigger motor, we all crammed in, along with Nasir, and drove 3 hours to Kuala Lumpur. We had decided to fly from KL in hopes that it would be easier to fight local beauracracy and anti dog sentiment by leaving from the larger KL airport.

We arrived on time...and got ready to board Nasir, with the whole airport looking. The Airlines came running up to us, and explained that Taiwan would not let Nasir fly through there. The girls and I went and sat down and prayed up a storm...and cried just a little bit!! Eventually, the problem was worked out, and Nasir was taken away to be boarded. All we could do was hope for the best. It was at this point that we realized the dog would be in a box for 30 hours!

More 'coming home'.

Here's a last minute shopping trip to 'Sam's Batik'. The girls and I stood outside and 'people watched' (both live, and fake...) while Eric bartered inside.

We had our last pedicures, which we then promptly ruined at hotel Equatorial's pool.

We went with another family to Butterfly Farm--a hot place with lots to see!

After the packers came, we had a few days of 'just fun'. Here is one of our last Malaysian meals at 'Nandos'.

Before we move too far beyond it...our coming home pictures.

Every item was weighed and reweighed, documented, and photographed. We knew we had to be exactly a certain weight, and could not go over. We found the 'rules' changed when we were trying to get home...versus being sent over! lol. We played the game quite well, though. Again--we were so glad to have such good men helping us pack.

This was the girls' and Nasir's contribution to packing.

We were so nervous for packing day to come! Packing in the states had been....interesting...but at that point, we still believed that Agilent would 'cover us' in the case of problems. We had no such security on the way home! Turns out, the Repatriate packing was MUCH smoother. Those guys worked SO hard, and were very eager to please. I wish someone had asked us for feedback!

We were very relieved to return home. After so many adventures in Malaysia, it was like breathing for the 1st time in a long time!

We beat a Typhoon, an Agilent travel freeze, and an earthquake...and we made it home WITH the dog!

We travelled in 1st Class for the first time (as requested by Agilent!) and Nasir spent 30 hours in a box.

A current picture or two of the dogs, for those who asked..

Here's a picture of Glady. She lays like this whenver she's hot. She'll fall sound asleep, and snore! We have dozens of pictures of this--it is SO funny to us. Usually, she leans her head back too. Nasir has begun to copy this posisition as well. I think because Nasir spent his puppyhood in a cement bunker, he is just now learning 'dog behaviour 101' and copies the strangest behaviours! lol (or at least the ones that Amy and Glady will let him copy!)

This is a picture of Nasir (left) and Amy. They are very similar in appearance. We are pretty good at identifying the blur, now! I find it amazing that dogs produced continents apart have such similar looks. I think we're looking at a certified mixed breed type! (their personalities are vastly different.)

This is Nasir(below), who is considering a name change to 'Forrest Gump'. After taking off this week, and barking at numurous cats, he's about to be voted off the island. (just kidding. We have a strict 'love forever' policy here...)