Updated Guest Room

When we lived in EA, I really loved trying to be really resourceful to decorate our apartment. I spent a lot of that energy on our guest room. 

This is what the guest room looked like when we moved into our apartment. It was our friend Martha's room before. We painted the whole apartment when we moved in, so we went ahead and painted this room the same color as ours. 

Since we were turning it into a guest room, we wanted to use the double bed that the landlord provided instead of a twin bed- hence the guest bed makeover. 

This is the nightstand that up cycled last year for the guest room. 

This fantastic armoire was already here. I used it for my craft cabinet & it served me well. 

I used these Ikea storage boxes for extra craft storage. 

On the wall next to the bed, I hung these straw placemats with prints over them. Lots of cheap decorating. 

And that was our happy little guest room. I did a little re-doing of our guest room here a few weeks ago too. Nothing too spectacular, but that has been a plus to coming back- getting to re-spruce things up around here again. 

Whimsical Tree Board

Thanks for your sweet responses to my last, rather emotional post. I still have a few things I never published that I posted about when we were still in EA, and  I used my slooowww internet over there to upload pictures and I'm sharing them. And they are all things that brought me lots of joy, and I need closure. So here we go. 

I made this a really long time ago but never shared because i wasn't quite content with it and didn't think it was blog worthy. It kinda turned out how I wanted but seemed a little off. SO I never shared. How silly.

I wanted to make a unique, abstract-esque something to hang over the bed in the guest room so I bought another calligraphy board like the ones I used for my fabric panels. 

I wanted it to kind of be a collage with paper, but still have some sort of a scene. So I used different sized rectangular pieces of paper to make a sky, and then made rolling hills out of a few different patterns of green. I cut clouds out of this woodland creatures paper, and crumpled it up to give it texture. 

After I mod-podged all of that down, I painted a big tree with black, brown & gray paint. It is the tree that I didn't love, but didn't want to go back and fix it after i had finished. After the paint dried, I cut different sized circles in different patterns for leaves. I crumpled them to give them texture as well, and lightly mod-podged the on. 

I wanted to put some kind of "sleepy" quote on the bottom. I've always loved the Dixie Chick's version of "Godspeed" that it a lullaby that says, "oh my love will fly to you each night on angels' wings, godspeed, sweet dreams,"so I decided to use that line: My love will fly to you each night on angels wings. I didn't do a good job with the spacing but I think it goes pay with the whimsical look to it. 

I lined the whole board with this brown & blue paper for a finishing touch. 

And there you have it. A little whimsical tree board. 

I was really unsure about what to do with it when we left- it was too big to come back with us and I didn't know if other people there would think it was too odd to use themselves, but would never want to make someone feel like they had to say yes or no either way, and I was afraid that it would get thrown away and that would be really sad. 

But it had the perfect purpose. One of my dearest, most wonderful EAian friends who lives in a different city than we did came to visit right before we left and walked in the guest room and said, "I love that!!!! Did you make it!?" to which I said, "DO YOU WANT IT!?!?!" and she did! So we wrapped it up, tied ribbon around it so she could carry it on the plane with her, and now sweet Lydia has it at her house and hopefully thinks of me every time she looks at it :) 

So glad I decided to share. 

One Month Down

Today marks a month since we arrived back in America. There hasn't been a day that goes by that I don't think about the place that we left and the people we long to see. Day before yesterday one of our closest East Asian friends arrived in America where he will spend the next few years in grad school. He called us that night and it was SO great to hear his voice. Adam wasn't here when he called, so we decided that I wouldn't tell him that Ed called and he could call the next day to wish him a happy birthday. I loved seeing Adam's face light up when he heard his voice. 

Then tonight we went to a park with my in-laws and I looked over and saw seemingly familiar faces. Twice since we've been back I've been out in public and heard people speaking EastAsian and wanted to talk to them and chickened out. Well tonight there was a whole family with a set of toddler twins {heart melted}, grandparents, and their older sister & niece who were visiting them from East Asian in the park playing near us. I finally mustered the courage to walk over and say, "Are you {EastAsian}?" and then have a great conversation with all of them. It felt more natural than being around many Americans. I literally skipped off to the car saying, "My heart is full!!!" 

I was afraid I was going to become numb to it all out of a state of survival, but these little gifts of the last few days were reminders of what I have loved and left.  

But I sit here now, looking at pictures, tears streaming down my face. 

Thinking about what I miss....

This incredibly beautiful place.

I miss Thursday morning walks with Hannah through this beautiful park across the street. 

Processing life. 

I miss our unique little neighborhood.

Where I can walk outside and buy my produce on the street.

And grab a quick & delicious bite for dinner. 

I miss buying meat here. 

And I miss cooking in my ridiculously small kitchen where I learned to cook.

And people. How I miss people. 

Like these who were my family. 

And this sweet boy. I miss him.so.stinking.much. that my heart hurts when I think about it.

And his big brother & his hilarious sayings. And the joy he brought to our lives.

I miss our teachers. 

who became our dear friends.

I miss my AiYi. I miss Tuesday and Friday afternoons with her at my house. 

I miss all of our neighborhood friends. Like the fish restaurant people. 

And their sweet baby boy HaoYu.

I miss stopping to see this sweet boy & talk to his mama {sometimes multiple times} every day.

I miss hearing him call me "MingHui JieJie" & singing LiangZhi LaoHu with him.

I miss LeLe & watching her jump into Adam's arms every time she sees him. 

I miss Mao AiYi asking me if I've eaten yet every time I walk by. 

I miss seeing this sweet old man walking for 3 hours everyday, slowly, one step at a time on his way to recovery. 

With his helper by his side who ALWAYS had a sweet smile on his face. 

And I miss a hundred other faces I can't put on here but wish I could see right now. 

I miss doing life here. I miss walks around our neighborhood & campus at night with Adam- with everyone outside playing with their families after dinner. I miss spending time with the Lord on my brown couch every morning. I grew more on that couch than I have anywhere else. 

It's hard.

We were never meant for good-byes. 

And I long for the day when I never have to say it again. 

How thankful I am for that hope. That sustaining hope.