MORE SARAHISMS . . .

"The taxi driver is trying to KILL us!"  as we were on our way to a play date, in a taxi.

"This is my princess dress!"  It is a VERY pretty dress.  I'll take pictures next time and post them.

"It's NOT her purse, it's MY purse!"  as she conned the sales lady out of a Juicy Couture purse at the Underground!  Before you think she knows brand names, it was pink!  And that's the ONLY reason she wanted it!  Not to mention, you know you bought more than you should have when they give you a FREE purse!

"I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to myself."  after I told her that I didn't hear what she said.

OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND . . .

One thing I think I've learned this year is who my true friends are.  I know everyone has their own lives and that life has to go on, but it's tough being so far away from everyone.  And it's even tougher feeling like I miss them more than they miss me. 

This year has been a wonderful year for us, but it's also been a tough year in a lot of ways.  The hardest part is being away from family and friends.  But we've all grown and changed this year, and I don't regret our decision for one minute.  It was the right thing to do.  And maybe sometimes, by stepping away from a situation, you realize where you DO and where you DON'T really belong. 

BRUNER FAMILY CULTURE . . . BY ANDREW BRUNER . . .

Hi I'm Andrew Joseph bruner and my middle name Joseph comes from my Great Grandma and Grandpa and I got my first name Andrew because thats what my perent liked and my brother Jason his middle name Thomas comes from my mom's grandma and my sister Sarah we were deciding wich middle she shoud have either Michelle or Elisibeth and then we decided it would be elisabeth.

and I was born in luiville Kentuky and so was my big brother and little sister we were born there because that's where my parents worked and they were born there too.  then we moved to Shanghi because we had to come here for my dad's work. and we all know eglish.

and are familys favorite food is pizza.  favorite wii game family game night.  favorite sport bowling.  special song Let there be peace on earth and special tradition opening stockings one day at a time.

COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS . . .

It's hard to believe we'll be coming home in less than 10 weeks.  And while we're all very happy to be coming home, we're also all a little sad.  This year has been an AMAZING year for all of us.  We've seen sites that we NEVER would have seen.  We've made new friends that live all over the WORLD.  Not just Kentucky, and not just the US.  THE WORLD!  How great is that?

We've seen Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Xi'an.  We've LIVED in another country!  How many people get to say that?  (Actually, a lot more people than you'd think.  But among OUR friends, so far we are the only ones)!  

And while it was very hard to come here, I am SO glad we did.  It was definitely the right decision for our family.  I think it has brought us all closer together.  Because we are living in an apartment and not a house with 3 different floors, we spend a lot of time together.  We only have 1 TV with cable and 1 regular DVD player for all of us to watch movies on.  And because movies are so cheap here, we watch A LOT of movies together.  We also play a lot of Wii together.  Everything we do, we pretty much do together.  We don't have a car, so we walk to the grocery store and the movie store and the Wii store.  (At least we do now that it's warming up)!  Sunday we were out for almost 5 hours.  Just the 5 of us.  And we walked everywhere we went.  And we talked.  We "talk" to each other more. 

While we were walking on Sunday, I asked the boys what they would miss the most about China, and what they were looking forward to the most about going home.  They both said they would miss the Ayi and their friends.  They both are looking forward to going to the lake and seeing their friends back home. I thought it was funny that they both said Ayi, because they still have ME to take care of things at home.  I told them *I* would be the one to miss Ayi, because at home, *I'M* the Ayi!  I am most looking forward to seeing my family and friends.  They were surprised that I didn't say Diet Coke.  I told them as much as I love my Diet Coke, I actually DO love my family and friends more!  I think they were a little surprised by that.  MAN, how sad is that?  They actually think I want Diet Coke more than I want my family and friends.  There's definitely something wrong with that picture!

Anyway, I'm really glad we had this year.  After this year, I know there's nothing we can't handle. 

YOU KNOW YOU'RE IN CHINA WHEN . . .

You send your child down to the neighborhood market to buy beer.

That's right!  We had someone over and we were out of beer, so the boys picked some up when they went to get their soda.  ONLY in China!

They didn't DRINK it mind you, but they did BUY it!