Hello from Shanghai. Sorry no blog for a while.....it has been a crazy week for the Spoffords. Abi has been very overwhelmed preparing for finals and Tim is leaving tomorrow morning for the US. This school term has been very challenging for Abi. Moving from a public school to a private international school has proven to be a big jump. Much higher expectations and much more work. So....Abi was very stressed last week and this week. One evening at 9:00 we were all having a melt down....so being the "good parents" that we are....we told Abi to stop studying...we all snuggled up on the sofa, watched an episode of Lost and then told her to go to bed and get some rest. We are all happy she took her last final yesterday and tomorrow is her last day of school. It is nice to put this term behind us and move into the summer. I was so excited that Abi was finished with school that I forgot I still have Chinese school. So...this morning it occurred to me that my teacher would be arriving soon and that was the end of my dreamed of "leisure morning".

Tucker will finish his final week of school on Friday. Yippee!!! Now I think.....Where did this school year go? Oh yeah....I remember we moved to China. It still seems surreal.

Abi did not have an exam today so she only had to go to school for a few minutes to turn in a few books. So....we spent part of the day shopping. On the way to IKEA Abi and I were thinking about Tim going back to Vancouver and we were talking about all the things that we would do if it were us.

Top of the list.....visit family, friends, and go to church

Next on the list were things related to food. Abi's list was Mucho Gracias, Taco Bell, and Fresh Mex. Do you see a theme in this? One does not find a lot of Mexican food in Shanghai. My food items were shredded beef taco from El Tapatios, artichoke, black olive, and pesto pizza from Vancouver Pizza Company, and maple bars and other assorted doughnuts from Albertsons.

Third on our list was a long visit to Target. I would like to spend several hours just wondering around....I would get a Venti ice tea....and walk the isles, check out the clearance items and breath in the smell of the store. That is really weird isn't it? Stores do not smell the same in China as they do in the US.

Fourth on my list was walk around our back yard to see the flowers and trees that we planted last spring.

And last but not least.....sit in the drivers seat in the car, drive ourselves anywhere we want to go any time we want to go there.

Ah...it is good to daydream sometimes.

My first home visit will be the last week of August through the first week of September. I am coming home to help Tucker move into his apartment and get him settled into school. Abi starts school on the 15th of August so by that time she will be back in school......aaaaahhhhhh I don't want to thank about that again for a while...

As I was feeling Abi's stress this week I found relief in working on my quilts. I have three ready for quilting plus one more that I brought with me that is 1/2 quilted. I am teaching myself to machine quilt, learning a quilt design program on the computer, and taking Chinese lessons. Wow!! That is about all the "new" stuff I can put into my brain.

Abi will be leaving on the 26th for a mission trip Kenya. She will be gone for about three weeks and Tucker will be coming to Shanghai on the 28th. Tim will be home from the US and leaves on the 29th for another week in Singapore. And....somewhere in there he has a trip to Vietnam. I will be here holding down the fort and anxiously awaiting our first guests!!!! Our friends, Norma and Laura, Merrett will be visiting us in July and we are counting the days until they arrive. In August, Tucker's girlfriend Kim will be visiting also for a couple of weeks. Yippee.....I love summer!