we're back!!!

finally, we've arrived back in phoenix, after a few hiccups...

1. mis-read the departure time. i read our phoenix arrival time as our departure time from chicago, so needless to say, our flight was leaving just as we arrived to check-in!!! praise God there was a flight delay so we got the very next standby flight back to phoenix.

2. left cody's "ni hao" (panda bear - his girlfriend) on the shuttle bus that brought us back to the airport parking lot. had to use the emergency phone to get the buses to radio around to bring it back. while we were waiting, cody started asking for it. we had to explain that daddy was going to wait for the bus to come. i was sweating bullets! erm... note to self, should buy extra ones just in case we really lose it!

sooo... we are finally back. and it's really good to be home. also just realized, my mom will be visiting tomorrow. yeah! she's coming in for a week. yikes! the house is in disarray!

as for my time in chicago, it was spent mostly with family, since we were back for chiyang's cousin's wedding. however, i didn't feel like we spent too much time, or even enough time with chiyang's parents this time. i was surprised we weren't seated close to them at both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding dinner. i was a little disappointed that they didn't get to spend too much time with cody. however, i must say i am glad we stayed in a hotel downtown. it was so convienent to walk around the city. it made me miss the city. especially when the weather was soooo pleasant this weekend.

BUT... i did tell chiyang, it was days like these that i chose to stay in chicago, and when the nasty winters came, it was days like these that i cursed, cos it made me commit to staying in chicago for another year. scam!!! hee, hee, hee... never again!

i actually told chiyang if global warming did its thing, and the minimum temperature got up to 55F, i will consider moving back. hee, hee, hee... like that's ever going to happen in my lifetime! it better not!!!

i got to spend some time with my sis-in-law, we had fun! it wasn't enough time though... i wished i had more time with her. we did go to the bobbi brown counter for a makeover (her first)!!! i didn't like mine, but hey! it really was for her. she got to get all made up for the wedding, and she looked "HOT!" hee, hee, hee... she probably hates it that i'm saying that. but i thought it was done well. now she just has to get the "products"! that's the costly part. darn!

cody was ring bearer at the wedding. so he got the wear the smallest and cutest tuxedo!!! we really practiced with cody coming down the aisle cos we didn't do too good for the rehearsal. chiyang and i went into the hallways of the hotel to "play" pass-the-pillow. he did really well. however, at the actually wedding, the silly photographer knelt down right in front of me obstructing cody's view of me. so he started to wander, cos he couldn't find me at the end of the aisle. and when he saw me he made a mad dash and tripped! he went flying and landed pretty much flat on his face. there was an audible gasp in the audience. but chiyang came up from behind him, propped him up and i called him to come to mommy. he did another dash and we were done!!! i think they have it on video... not even 26 months and he walked down the aisle... hmm... maybe he will be a pro like his mommy and auntie may-may.

other exciting news! my got my hair straigthened!!! chiyang's mother spent about 3 hours on it. it's still got a little of a wave, but it's just so much more manageable. it's not as poofy and all over the place!!! chiyang was very against it at first because he has really come to love the wavy hair. but the next morning, over breakfast, he had this far-off look in his eyes, and when i asked him what was he thinking, he said "you are starting to look like the woman i married! she's back!!!" hee, hee, hee... after the straigthening, my hair was at the length of when we got married.

oh! before i forget, i got to share at my church in chinatown. it was wonderful. i was very nervous, i wrote out my sharing on the plane, then typed it out friday, but something moved me to not use the script, and i basically told the HS to just guide it. some people told me they cried while i shared, so i'm glad i didn't "read" the script. i basically shared about what fellowship and community meant to me and how this church has really rallied around me during my illness and thanked them for it. i ended up with an encouragement to everyone to find fellowship, stay in fellowship and be open to be blessed through fellowship and community.

it was wonderful to have lunch with friends after church, like the good ol' days. we miss it. i mean, since moving here, we don't go to a chinese church, so most people just take off after service. whereas, at CCUC, people hang around, ask around who's going where for lunch, wait to come to an agreement on where to go, and then slowly but surely make our way over to the agreed restaurant. then just randomly guess-timate to the hostess saying 10, 12, or maybe 15 people are on their way, then people start showing up and maybe sometimes, like today, have 24 people show up. everyone keeps squeezing till the waiter tells you that's it, we'll have to split tables. sometimes grace is shouted so everyone can hear... it's so different here... i miss CCUC...

but we're back in phoenix now... for now this is home to us. for now we are to find fellowship here, to glorify God here, to serve Him in this new community, and to grow and learn more from Him about what He wants to teach us in this season of life...