On the Edge of Adventure (posted by Rob)

Only five more days now. This next Saturday Jacque and I will be boarding a plane to start our adventure in China. It seems a little surreal now, after repeating our plans numerous times to everyone we meet, explaining the details has made our trip seem more like a story we tell rather than real life, but its getting more and more real everyday.

We are so grateful to our friends and family members for thinking of us during this time before we go. We had such a fun time at the bonfire/variety show that Scott hosted and invited all our friends to. We had such a nice evening at Matt and Betsy's house the weekend before we left Provo as we chatted with friends and shared a delicious meal Betsy had prepared. Grandpa and Grandma Klinzing were gracious enough to let us stay two nights at their home in St. George and we enjoyed their company before heading back down to Corona and its been so fun being home with the family this past week and have enjoyed sharing the home-cooked meals and laughter together. If anything this short time has only left Jacque and I with a heightened sensation of just how lucky we are to have such great friends and family in our lives. We want to thank all of you for the time and concern you've put into our departure and we want you to know that we love you and we will miss you all very deeply.

One thing I've learned in particular while preparing for this trip is Jacque's ability to plan ahead. She took our moving out of Provo into consideration months in advance and due to her diligence we were able to clean out our apartment and fit all of our final belongings into our two little cars for the final trip home. I can't help but think that if was up to me, I would have put it off a little too long and ended up giving appliances and furniture away to anyone who would take them, its due to her planning that we were able to move/sell all of our things in time.

Jacque and I are very excited about beginning our new life in China. Jacque has a great attitude about the move and is ready for anything. Everyone tells me that they wonder if Jacque will encounter a great deal of culture shock and all I have to say in reply is "I'm sure we BOTH will." Although I've lived abroad in Asia before I have never lived in Communist mainland China, I've never lived abroad as a married man, and I've never worked for a living abroad either. There will be new, wonderful, and terrifying varieties of life for both of us I'm sure. However, whatever befalls us we are ready and look forward to the challenge. I can only hope that we will be able to continue posting here at blogspot.com, I'm not exactly sure about the country's policy on censuring this site, but I hope we will be able to keep you all posted. I'm sure we'll find a way.

Again, thank you all for your love and concern and we look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

We love you all.

Rob and Jacque