The past couple of months...

Hmmm - do I update everyone on the past couple of months or just start where we are at. I think I'll start where we are at and as time allows catch up on the past couple of months.
Winter has arrived and we somehow missed fall. Last Sunday it snowed all day! It was so exciting to see snow as it still reminds me of snowdays and I think snow just brings out the little kid in all of us. When I woke up and saw it I ran to Molly's room and told her excitedly. We got to watch it fall all day. It was cold enough to snow but not to lay and so that was nice. What was NOT nice was that there was no heat. So think - cold enough to snow, but no heat inside. We were quite chilly. We cooked all day to increase temperature in our house (our stove doesn't seal well so it's a good heater). All week it was cold at school and at home. :( I don't usually complain but I have to admit I did complain about this. The heat is not supposed to come on until the 15th of November. Usually it's ok but once the concrete cools down it's colder inside now than outside. Thankfully the "power that be" have been gracious and they have started sending a little cold water through the pipes today. There is more snow in the forecast for later this week but I'm hoping to be a little more cozy as I enjoy it this time. :)

We continue to have girls over to cook. Last week I had just three girls over (Over October break I had 14 at one time which was - well, a LOT) and we tried a new recipe and made soup for dinner and played games.Three weeks ago I finally finished my graduate classes. I am officially done with all my classes and work. I will graduate in December (I won't be there but that's ok). It is slowly sinking in that I don't have grad school work to do on Saturday and while I haven't had the energy to go out and conquer Tianjin yet on these last two Saturdays I have SO enjoyed the ability to just rest. I am hoping to get back into sewing again.

We had international day this fall again. I dressed up in an African outfit that was given to me a couple of years ago. Again, it was a great day to see the different traditional outfits of our students and just enjoy each other. Here's a few pictures: