I have come to the realization over the past few months that I haven't written a blog post in a long time...years in fact, literally years. That is awful. When we first moved to China it was easy to get a quick post written when Truman was napping, since he was only a few months old. Then we started traveling and I had hopes of sharing our adventures on the blog, but always got bogged down with the hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures we took. Since it took ages to upload anything in China the blogs were never posted.

Then I started working again...something I swore I would never do when my kids were little. I had always wanted to be available to them in every aspect...to volunteer in their classrooms, to make them healthy snacks, to help with homework and still have time to play with them and give them the love and attention they deserve. Then I was specifically asked to apply for a job at ISB, to work directly with the Head of School and the Board of Trustees, to have an office that the kids could run to any time they wanted. I was asked to apply because of skills and qualities people saw in me as a person instead of a mother. It was a bit intoxicating and hard to remember that my brain serves purposes other than reading stories, playing games and coming up with the next night's supper. I was nervous and excited and ended up applying and being hired for one of the most fulfilling roles (besides wife and mother, of course) I had ever been a part of. I loved the school, I loved the people I worked with and I loved using my brain for exciting and challenging tasks. Mitchell and the kids were extremely supportive and my passion and desire to work hard almost became like a drug (but in a positive way). :) It was addictive and at times hard to step away from it.

When our time in China was reaching it's end it was incredibly hard. Hard to say goodbye to a place we had fallen in love with. Hard to say goodbye to the people who'd become our family away from home. Hard to say goodbye to a school that had loved, encouraged and helped raise our children in an awesome way. It was hard to say goodbye to a job that was immensely fulfilling and rewarding for me. The kids and I weren't ready to leave...yes, of course as an outsider it was easy to see it was time to go. The pollution had reached an all time high in 2013 and Mitchell was no longer happy and feeling challenged in his role. In my brain I knew it was time for a change, but in my heart I wanted to hold on.

Good times with great friends at Great Leap Brewery in the hutongs.

We were on to a new adventure, moving to Europe...embracing a new culture, learning a new language, settling in all over again. But, we were pros, we'd already done this before, we'd be fine. Or so I thought. :) I assumed it would be easy because once we got over the initial 6 month adjustment period in Beijing we fell in love with expat life. The culture, the new experiences, the travel...don't get me wrong, there were also things we despised about China and things we were happy to be done with. Spain, however, was an entire new can of worms. Our assumption was that it would be easy, it was Europe, we've done it before, etc. etc. I feel like I gave it a valiant effort in the beginning, but my heart was aching for our life in Beijing. A friend sent an article to me that absolutely touched my heart. It shared a story about how as an expat you are adventurous and accepting, but sometimes it is hard adjusting to a new location/life because you miss the person that you were in the last posting. Man is that ever true. We had deep and meaningful relationships in China, an intricate involvement in the kids' school, a job that I loved passionately and a life that was comfortable, exciting and unique. I am hopeful that our experiences in Spain will be just as rewarding and I hope that at the end of our posting here I will be writing the same sort of post.

I am forever grateful for our time in China...who would have thought that night Mitchell called me (while at Starbucks with friends) and asked what I thought of moving our family across the world to Beijing and I said yes feeling scared and thinking we were crazy that 4 years later I would have such a huge part of my heart for China. :)

Never would have thought that crazy videos like these would make me smile :)

Beijing State of Mind

Happy in Beijing

A gorgeous hike with friends on the un-restored section of The Great Wall at Mutianyu

Mitchell and Truman on The Great Wall - June 2013