sixteen again... it's a whole new world

Matthew got his China driver's license!  Congratulations my love!

Friends gave us the 1500 test questions that we'd need to study to pass the test and Matt knew he needed to get 90 out of 100.  But the questions weren't looking like anything worth storing in long term memory so Matt decided to take a stab at the test after just one read through to see how it would go.... and he got a perfect 90!   JOY!!

This past Saturday afternoon we rented a car and made the best possible use of those 24 hours.... half hour drive Sat evening to these beautiful mountains!  It was the second time we've been to this area (in 2.5 years we've lived here) and it was indescribably good for our hearts to be outside, in green and dirt, to smell plants and see a wide sky unhemmed by rust-stained concrete.  This was wonderful...

Matt commented how often we try so hard to plan a fun outing or a sweet date and often we only end up with failed attempts to find taxis, delayed buses or babysitters or no access to any place to go...  but not this time.  We had barely thought of where we'd go... we just wanted to drive...  And we found this!!  Couldn't have been a sweeter evening- dinner for the fam $9 at tables under an apricot orchard, and then a walk along a path at the base of these small mountains.  Thank you Lord.

Next time I'll try to get a few more pics of something besides our kiddos....  there's a whole world out there Jill!  I'd love to share more pics of the beautiful place we live, the beautiful people that live here.... if only I can find a way to share the lens love a little.  Hopefully it will come!

it's wheat harvest time... the local farmers used the road as space for their harvest work so the road was one lane for stretches to share with oncoming traffic.  Traffic flows like water here... and it usually work.