January 2, 2008

I can hardly believe that we're leaving for Australia on Monday- where does the time go? Today we finally made it to our storage unit here in Ann Arbor, and spent about 2 hours pulling things out and rearranging them for easier access. We intended to organize things when we put it in but time was short so that didn't happen. :) Anyway things are nice and neat now, and we found almost everything on our list that we wanted to bring back with us....Wahl hair trimmers (our UK ones just aren't powerful enough), 2 bigger mugs for tea, my ergo keyboard, some frames, goggles (very useful in Australia), my winter clothes, and we pulled out the ornaments to bring back closer to December next year. We finished rearranging just in time, because the temperature started dropping here from the balmy 27 F(-3C) that we hit today down to 2F(-17C). They were predicting a low of 8F but here in Clinton we're going to hit 0F (-18C) tonight. My parents have brought the dog in, and their cat which is usually an outside cat, because it is simply so cold. The snow clouds have blown over now leaving a clear sky, and exposing our little part of the world to the cold without even a cloud blanket. :) Praise Gd for clouds- they are really important and we so often take them for granted. We had some sun today which was nice after over a week and half (basically since we've been here) of straight grey clouds. Did I ever mention that I really enjoy weather? I thought about studying meteorology as a hobby. :)



My niece was in a pageant at chch where her preschool class was singing some carols. Grandma told her to be sure and sing loud- we could hear her very well, although it wasn't clear what exactly she was singing. :) She's the one with her mouth wide open in the middle.


We spent some time at my brother's place xmas morning and had an awesome breakfast, and Danni (my niece) decided Grandpa's hair needed some glitter.


My little nephew isn't so little anymore- he's grown so much since we left in July! He has become a great reader, and is interested in reading just about everything. He has a good memory too, and remembered that G's middle name is Washington. G showed him his driver's licence and he read all sorts of things off it and wanted to know his birthday and things so he could subtract and find out how old he was. :) He also is learning about science in his 2nd grade class and about how the scientific name for caterpillars is larva. :) He's really into photography too, which I think is great- he took pictures of his sister's birthday party.

My wonderful nephew with his camera!


My niece blowing out the candles- it hardly seems like it can have been 4 years since she was born. I'm getting old. :)

I hope that all of you have been enjoying time with your families, and thinking about how precious that time is. Kids grow up fast, and time passes so quietly and unseen, that it's easy to forget how long it's been. We've really enjoyed catching up with our Living Proof friends, who love us so much, and so well, that they have been printing this blog and copying and distributing it amongst themselves so that those without internet or computers can keep track of us. I am so grateful to Gd for them and for their sincere and persistent love! I honestly don't know what I'd do without their gdly example and advice, and we miss their smiling faces in England. I've said this before and I'll say it again- if you don't have any close relationships with people in the older generation seek some out. You'll be surprised at just how much you have in common.