What made this the best Chinese New Year yet?

"This year," we said, "we'll just stay home and have a nice, quiet Spring Festival by ourselves."

(Quiet including the all-night, all-sides fireworks explosions which threaten to shatter the bedroom window glass, of course.)

But when it came down to it I couldn't pass up an invitation to celebrate Chinese New Year in the countryside -- because at this point it just doesn't feel like CNY unless you're surrounded by rice paddies and tombs, eating fatty meat dishes painstakingly prepared by a stout grandmother over a wood-burning stove. Yang Cong, a neighbor and friend (she accompanied me to the US two years ago; our boys have been preschool classmates for three years) invited us to her parents' home just outside of Changsha. I knew Drew needed to stay home and chill out, so I proposed that the boys and I go to the country for a couple days while Drew seize the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of having our apartment all to himself! He thought it was a superb arrangement. Yang Cong and her family are so easy-going, it was easy for them to understand Drew's wish for solitude.

Titus, Michael and I reveled in what turned out to be the most pleasant Spring Festival I have yet experienced these seven years in Changsha. Why? Number one, as I said, Yang Cong's family is so relaxed, they don't make a fuss about anything. You know what I'm talking about -- when you're the guest, and your hosts drop formalities, take care of you but go about their business and allow you to go about yours. Besides that, the weather was unbeatable, they didn't have a TV or couch so we didn't watch the dreaded (by me) annual New Year's Eve program, we hiked rice fields and climbed small mountains, venerated ancestors, shared many stimulating conversations, learned how to clean chicken intestines for human consumption, ate produce of their garden, and Mike & Rui Rui both managed to step knee-deep into cow waste. I guess that was my least favorite part.

Meanwhile, Drew was back at our apartment in isolation having the time of his life drinking coffee, sleeping, reading books while drinking coffee on the sunporch, eating leftover tacos, drinking coffee, and sleeping. Yes, he can drink that much coffee and still fall instantly into a coma-like stage three deep sleep.

counting the graces

thank you Father for

waking up feeling rested this morning

fitting private space for physical training

Drew helping so willingly and so well with the boys

first-hand accounts of those whose lives have been changed, rare and the first of their people

L.F. who intentionally set up a time to dialogue with our two families about how to be well through the changes ahead, and offered her ongoing counsel

K&S, sources of wisdom gained from experience, unexpectedly here but here by your design

this is all your initiative and we're peaceful and delighted to be involved

Titus is keeping up with schoolwork and doing better everyday writing characters, I'm getting better too

a family's example of presence, life-long service commitment, reliance upon you for all needs

another family's imperative translation work, even in a lonely place you sustained them

little birthday party for several people today

date with Titus: homework at Starbucks, Ikea and the purchase of ropes, his favorite toy

sharing your inspired song with the group today