All sign languages are not universal. At all.
For example, it took some time to get used to, but the middle finger just doesn't mean the same thing here as it does in America. If you want to describe something as average, you would use your middle finger. If you want to measure something, you use your middle, largest finger. If you are referring to a foreigner, or something "other", you use your middle finger. Tonight, we had our national friends over for dessert and Uno. I broke up laughing, however when we got on the topic of American insults they had seen on the television. They knew the spectrum of vulgar gestures, thanks to the t.v.!
David dreads the day someone from the states asks Hannah what she thinks of an average meal and she flips them off.

Snow should not be falling on banana trees, but it did this day.

Joshua, who was told his sister would be born "when it snowed" (in January), has many memories of eating snow with his pregnant mommy. I craved it, okay? But this snow we didn't let him eat. Just not enough to dig past the top layer!

The view from our apartment into our beautiful courtyard.

And they didn't even cancel school!

This photo of the first day of school looks a bit heartbreaking.
Joshua, whom we had been so concerned for, loved his school. Before he learned one of his teacher's names he called her "the teacher who loves me". For the first week, Hannah, our extrovert, cried every day we dropped her off! David let her bring a baby doll to school (someone she can talk to in English) and she has done beautifully. They even had a field trip today to the zoo. We love their school. We aren't sure what happens there most of the time, but they try really hard to make it work for us. They serve their students 3 meals a day and are open from 8am to 6pm. Apparently this is very typical. All parents work. We only send them from 8-11:30 am and pick them up before naps at 12:00.

Last week, I went to an event at school to which parents were invited. I was vague on the details so I packed snacks, gifts for teachers, a water bottle, and the three of us for this "field trip" . Turns out, it was parent teacher conferences. Oops. I was not interested in joining the rows of parents sitting in child chairs to listen to a presentation by the teacher in a language I did not know, so I stayed in the hall and talked with one of Hannah's teachers who knows some English. She gave me her phone number and wrote down Hannah's other teacher's names for me as well. Joshua tugged at my jacket, wanting the names of his teachers as well. How had we gone for almost 2 weeks without this information? Well, we were going to get it today. In Joshua's class they were playing with clay and we were invited to join a table (no language necessary for clay). Joshua pointed out a friend to me whose name is "Pineapple". Awesome.

Our time at the school is done. We have enjoyed our time there and had a blast. When we first arrived we did not know how our time would be spent and had no idea how the days would go by, and now at the end we feel like the classes were crammed into our time there.

We are now at "our home" for the holidays. But what is home? Where do we travelers call home? We have lived in Colorado for the last 6 years and to me that feels the most like home. However, now as we begin to move to Asia is our home where our possessions are stored and our mail is going? Or is our home going to be in Asia? For Joshua when he was asked where home was, he say in Lakewood CO with our friends. For Hannah it changed based on where we were. It was in CO, it was in NC, it was in VA, etc. So as long as she is with Mom and Dad she feels at home. For Chelsea she also said CO. For David he would have to agree with all of the above.

Home for me is really where my family is. A dwelling place is just that, a place to sleep and have a secure place. I do not think I would have thought this before we have been in transition for the many months we have. Since July we have been in transition and our dwelling has changed 7 times, and each was "home" in the sense that is where we went when the day was over. So home has become in the presence of my family. At the same time I longing to be in Asia that my heart has transitioned to there as well that home is starting to be Asia. We will see what it is like when we finally land and arrive there.

As we are here in VA going to classes the cold weather has come but the snow has not. Well there were some flurries today, if you could even call them that. What was more interesting was that there are people here who have never seen snow, and this was amazing and cool to them. It boggles my mind that there are people here in the US that still have never seen snow.

I have to realize that I have lived a very blessed life and that seeing snow and living in many different states with a large spectrum of climates is a gift I have been given.