Abundance of Blessings

So many blessings this holiday season...where to begin!!  I was very fortunate to take a trip back to Fayetteville to spend Thanksgiving with Kelly and celebrate her 19th birthday!  Andy & the kids held down the fort in Shanghai and celebrated Thanksgiving with a catered turkey dinner!  Again the oven isn't big enough and you can't really find a turkey big enough to buy anyways...so catered dinner it is!  Back in Arkansas, Kelly and I spent lots of time talking, shopping, watching Parks & Rec, going to the movies and out to eat...wow, such fun!  We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with the amazing Schwartzman's (such delicious food and awesome company!).  Lots of talk time with friends (something I have missed terribly in Shanghai).  Also spent a day at Wet Cement pre-school and watched the amazing leaders love on these precious kiddos (including Kelly with her 2 year old class).  We had our Thanksgiving tradition of pizza on the square at Tim's and then walking around to see the Christmas lights...must say that either the square is a lot smaller than years past or it just doesn't take as long to walk around when you don't have little kids along!  New twists on old traditions...not bad, just different!

Days after returning to Shanghai we then celebrated Joseph's 4th birthday!  Very sweet time at SHINE pre-school with his class, a celebration lunch at where other than McDonalds (since there is no Chick Fil'A here!) and after dinner (before heading to elementary Christmas concerts at Concordia) birthday cake & present fun!  Last year Mr. Xu gave Joseph a Transformer for his 3rd birthday (a toy probably rated for Ages 8+).  This year Mr. Xu gave him a Shape Sorter Elephant (rated for ages 6 months+).  So sweet and still some things just make you go hmmmm.

Immensely blessed this Thanksgiving season by family & friends both near & far!

Photo taken by Joseph our budding photographer!

Surprise look while opening super-hero Fisher Price Little People!