4 Sick in the City of Shanghai

So I have been absent from the blogging scene for awhile now, partly due to the holiays, and a trip we took to Japan (I promise I will get this up soon), but mostly because we have all been sick on and off with various things since the middle of November.

I feel like I am hanging on by the sheer grace of God, as after a week of Josh with the croup, and Danny home with pink eye (and Dustin in Korea), we followed that up with this past week of Danny with croup, Josh with some respirtory illness (partly from his cold and partly from the strong fumes coming for the renovation of the 1st floor apartment--just thank the Lord now that the US is smart enough and someone along the way cared enough to get rid of the toxic chemicals in paint, etc.--I laugh to think that they now sell paint that has no fumes--here they either lack the knowledge, or more likely they do not care). The same issue that bothered Josh's lungs has aggravated my asthma, and then of course the same day Danny was home with the croup, and Dustin left for an over night trip, I caught the flu. Yikes! Pretty crazy, but I am not done yet.... Dustin just came down with what I had last night.

I am ready to not have anyone sick for awhile. My friend did tell me that they went through this their first winter here as well, plus this is Danny's first year in school, so we are catching all the fun things kids swap there as well. Hoping that when we return from our Christmas break back in the States, we will be stronger and healthier.

While I feel like we have been layed up for a while, we have been able to accomplish some nice things along the way...

Dustin's trips were extremely success in that he accomplished what he sought to do while away. Secondly, between colds (I had about a three day window between the really sick days) I was able to track down some Christmas decorations (while we will celebrate at home in the States, it is just strange to not decorate after Thanksgiving), so we now are the proud owners of a small tree that sits on one of our side tables. I bought cheap ornaments (thankfully plastic) for the kids to deocrate it, and we have some cute other holiday accessories. I had found a small wooden nativity set (without wise men) at Hobby Lobby before we came back this summer, and Danny was able to color them the other day. While we were really sad about not being with family for Thanksgiving, we did have a couple different celebrations with families we have met here--God has so blessed us by the people he has placed in our lives here (yes, I will get blog up about our celebration here). And finally, but hardly least, we celebrated Josh's two year birthday (I cannot believe how grown up my boys are getting--it is such a joy to watch them develop from babies into little boys).

We are finally in our last week before heading back to the States for Christmas. This entire fall has flown by with such speed. While the fall with all its holidays, and our two boy's birthdays, normally goes quickly, here in China everything seems to take on a faster pace. This week is no exception to how busy our lives seem to be here. Dustin leaves tomorrow for Shenzen (near Hong Kong) to meet with his employees down there, and will return the following day. He will then spend the rest of the week preparing for meetings back home. While I am doing last minute errands, seeing friends that are moving away back to the States, and getting us packed to get home, plus Danny's school party on Friday. Whew! I pray that we will be able to get healthy despite our busy schedule as we are so excited to see our family and friends back home.