Why, hello there, folks.

Wow...time is a flying these days.  I am embarrassed so many months have passed since visiting this little ol blog.  I have thought about penning an update often, but then I think, oh man, it's been too long.  I don't know where to start.  And more time goes by.  I read the blogs of others and think, I should really update my blog.  There's a lot going on.  And then I don't know where to start.  Or I think about all that I feel God is teaching me or speaking to me, and I think, I should post this on my blog and share it.  And then more time goes by and I forgot about it, or I just write it in my journal.

So here I am...jumping back into the waters.  Since I don't really know where to start, I'll just start by recapping the last almost 3 months (gulp).  We'll start with February here.  March and April will probably be there own updates...ha, ha. I know how wordy (I call it descriptive) I can be.  I'll do bullet points since it's easiest and I'm feeling lazy.

• We lived through our 1st and 2nd major snowstorms here.  Oh, man. Those were adventures.  They aren't kidding when they say everything shuts down for a few (2-3) inches of snow.  I'm talking...grocery stores closed, no mail delivery for a few days, things can't get back to normal until the snow melts.  Oh my!  We had a blast with it though. R loved playing in the snow and it was so refreshing to have a few days of playing in the white stuff.   And then we got a 2nd storm a few weeks later and got to do it all over again.  Such fun memories.  If only we could have a few snow days every year.  Apparently, this is a once every 3-4 years occurrence.
• I got sucked into spending too much time watching the Olympics.  That happens every time.  I loved that they were in Russia this time around.  It took me back to DH and my time there in 2011.  The culture and people were great to see.  I still think of some of those men and women we met quite frequently, and when I do, I pray for them and their ministry in Siberia.  So that was 2 weeks of staying up too late, being too tired, and watching too much TV.
• I participated in my 1st freezer meal workshop.  That was fun.  It was through Wildtree, a company that I just learned about, but already love.  Most of their products are certified organic and free of added preservatives and fillers.  I love that!  Fits so much of what I believe in (not always what I practice with cooking), but I so fell in love with the product that I'm thinking of signing up to be a representative just so I can get the 20% discount.  ha, ha.  It is a multi-level marketing company, and I said I would NEVER join one of those, but it is only $50 to sign up.  Still thinking about it as I have so many areas I'm passionate about but never enough time to pursue them all.
• I started taking R to a twice a month Montessori play group.  It's been really good to learn from someone who is trained in Montessori as opposed to me just reading books and blogs about it.  She is little Miss Independent, often wanting to be a helped with everything I do.  Montessori embraces this little helper/independent learner idea, so it's been a good fit.  Like everything, I'm not 100% on board with it all, but it's been great for her to play with other items and kids at the play group.  We meet at a library and the teacher sets up all the little stations for the kids to work.  R usually runs around dumping everything out, but she'll get the hang of it eventually.  ha, ha.
• In-laws- we enjoyed a visit from the in-laws (FIL, MIL, and SIL) to celebrate DH's 40th birthday.  It was nice to have them finally visit us in "new to us" home.  Oh man though...I have a husband who is 40?!?  That makes me feel so old. Glad they were able to come celebrate, but not enjoying the feeling old part.

• We celebrated Chinese New Year with Chinese food...like we do every year since I lived in China.  This year is the year of the horse...my year!  So that means I am either 12, 24, 36, 48, or 60 this year...take your pick.  It was so funny while I was teaching in China, my middle school students would always ask me what my sign (ie. zodiak sign) was.  I'd always tell them I was a horse, and then they'd talk about the good characteristics of a horse, etc.  But what I think they were really doing was asking about my age.  They all know the order of the animals and it's a 12 year cycle, so you can figure out someone's age pretty quickly that way.

Well, I think that sums up February. I'll try to be back with March soon.  In the meantime, Happy Holy week to you all.  It's hardly felt like Lent to me at all.  Praying this week is different.