Where my babies are.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is how I feel right now. 

WHY?

I KNOW WHERE MY CHINESE BABIES ARE.

(and by "babies", I mean elementary students)

Yes, friends, I have (FINALLY!!!!!) received my teaching placement for next year.

Taiyuan.

(pause for a moment while everyone reading this tries to pronounce it.) 

(Seriously. Stop trying, guys.)

"Laura, where is Taiyuan?" is the next question you ask. 

And in relation to Beijing, the only city anybody knows, it is here: 

"Tell us more, Laura," you all say after pondering the maps.

Here are some facts:

• Taiyuan is the capital of Shanxi province.
• Over 3 1/2 million people live there.
• The city flower is a chrysanthemum
• It's American sister city is Nashville (SAY WHAT???)
• It has mountains on three sides.
• You are welcome to google pictures of it.
• There are some babies in that city just WAITING for Miss Love to get there (even if they don't know it yet). 

When I get to Taiyuan, I will be in a private Chinese elementary school teaching English to students in...a...grade (we have still not been given a grade level, and I'm so ready to know how old my babies will be). I'm on a TEAM with four other girls and one mentor teacher and we all got each other's information yesterday. I might have scared all of them off with my bio because I wasn't warned what the information would be used for when I gave it (the organization asked for us to email them our hobbies...and I did), so now all of them know of my obsessions with Justin Bieber, dance parties, cookies, and coloring books without even having met me....oopsie.

Friends, I leave in less than two months. 

After spending August doing training in Beijing, I will be moving to this beautiful city and will be able to meet the babies I've already been lifting up to the Father over the last few months. 

I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

(here are some youtube videos I found)