-between new years-

here we are, between New Years Day and the Chinese New Year... it makes me wonder if at the moment i belong to a year at all, or is this month a strange short year of its own? yet another strange aspect of time here in Macau, where sometimes it flies by, sometimes it creeps along, and sometimes it seems to not exist in a logical fashion at all.
getting to come home and see dearly loved faces for Christmas was oh so very wonderful :) i miss you all already-strange to think it's now been a week and a half since i landed back in the land of tea and bright casino lights! but things once again are settling into a pattern here, as we prepare for classes to start up again next month. the weather has actually been somewhat chilly here- not nearly as cold as back home with all the snow, but it is certainly encouraging us to drink lots of tea and wrap up in warm blankets as our apartment (along with most buildings) is without heat. today the sun came out though! and Allison and i ventured out to visit the Chapel of Our Lady of Penha, which is at the top of Bishop Hill and can be seen from anywhere in the harbor.

i've been thinking of you all and i hope that you are doing well and keeping warm! and i hope you have a very merry Chinese New Year coming up!

encouraging verse of the day: "The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand." -Psalm 37:23-24