22

My entire morning today was spent on Skype. I spent hours chatting with some of my favorite people: family members including grandparents, parents, sister, brother-in-law, 1 little 3 month-old niece, 1 neighbor boy, 1 tall addition to the family, 1 uncle through Skype and into a cell phone, 8 college friends, 3 baby boys growing in their mama's bellies and 1 dog.

My dad's house was packed with people today as my grandparents were visiting and my friend, Emilie's house was also packed as my college roommates gathered for our annual reunion. Sadly, I am not there but thank goodness for Skype I still got to see their smiling faces.

As much as I love living in China, there are most certainly times when I wish I could be teleported back to be a larger part of the lives of people at home. There's just nothing better than a house packed with the people I care about.

22 of them, to be exact...