flower girls

Yesterday Julianna and Lydia were flower girls in a wedding 

I'll risk overstating the obvious: they LOVED it!

The wedding (the bride is Chinese, the groom Chinese-American) was just beautiful.  The wedding party full of our friends.  And the sit down lunch that followed (for 350ish people, my guess) was scrumptious!

The girls did all their flower-girl duties right on cue.  There were two ring bearers (one little girl, one little boy) and the two-year-old little girl ring bearer reached the top of the aisle, turned right around and headed back towards the rear of the room.  I saw her and hoped it wouldn't throw my girls off track, as they ran in to 'oncoming traffic' about a quarter of the way up the aisle.

The girls didn't miss a beat.  Julianna laughed, skirted around the wayward ring bearer and kept tossing flowers.  Good job ladies.  

Isaac had no official role but I thought it might be fun if he looked a little spiffed up for the event.  And let me tell you, he charmed all the ladies :)

I'm not sure when he started looking so old, but all of a sudden he seems really big.  (of course, the john deere sippy cup is a tell-tale sign that he's just a few months past his 2nd birthday!) 

The whole event was a blast, but by the end the girls were in a sugar- and flower- coated exhausted frenzy :)  [Chinese weddings give away GOBS of candy.] 

I missed a bunch of formal wedding shots, including the bride and groom, the wedding party, etc.  So I'll have to come back later and add some in.

Today is blazing hot and sunny. I got the kids settled in their resting/sleeping early and we're headed to the pool as soon as everybody is up :)

orphan no longer

So I just got back in town and tomorrow is a busy one so I'll make this quick :)

Matt and the kids had a busy afternoon and arrived at the airport just as I was walking off my plane, so Matt pulled up at a pre-arranged meeting spot, unloaded the kids and they all ran to meet me!  yeah to be back with my family!!

I also had SUCH a great time away.  So so good for me to be there, and hard to leave :( 

But here's what I missed

Xiao Li and Axin adopted a baby!!!!!  Our deeply loved and treasured friend and helper from our many  years in our old city and her husband have longed for a baby for YEARS!  And God gave (finally! - it was a long wait).

On Wednesday they picked up sweet little 思恩 (the first character means 'think about, consider, meditate on and the second character means 'grace').  Then they found out that their only viable train route home left them with an overnight stop in our town!!  I was crushed to realize I would miss it, but thrilled they could stop and rest at our home (total travel time of three days - including two nights on a train).

I begged for lots of photos and Matt outdid himself :)  [He did somehow miss a family shot of the three of them, but there is lots of grace for a man who selflessly cared for our three kids, juggled several work/social engagements, hosted last minute guests and even got out the camera!!]

In Isaac's book the best part about 思恩  is that he is a boy!  And apparently Isaac got a little ambitious with the hugging :) 

Our family has been praying for this moment for years and I love seeing these pictures of my kiddos loving on this little boy that has been long prayed for! 

And yes, he really is that happy. Xiao Li said "I told him he didn't have to be so good, but he insists on being the happiest easiest baby!"  And if you knew Xiao Li and Axin you would totally understand why sweet little 思恩 is so happy.  They are seriously going to be some of the best parents the world has ever known.  I bet 思恩 feels like an angel just swooped in, scooped him up and hugged him. 

9 months in an orphanage and think-about-grace has found his forever family!  Oh my, what GRACE it is.


And yes, these pictures and this story leave me dreaming of the day that God will graciously add an orphan to our home too!

a little hiatus

In a few hours Matt and the kids take me to the airport and I'm off for a little weekend get-away!  I'll be headed north to visit two dear friends - who are, for this short stretch of time, living in the same apartment complex!  {the three of us normally live in three different cities separated by at least a thousand miles.}

This past year has held so very much transition.  July 1, 2010 we flew to America for a six month furlough, leaving behind an apartment and city and friendships that we had loved for years.  January of this year we returned to Asia, transitioned for three weeks in Thailand and arrived here, our new city, almost 5 months ago.  Our new city still feels really new.  There are few people here that I consider good friends.  And (no joke) at least 80% of the people that we do know here are gone for the summer.

I miss being with people that I share history with, people that know me and have known me for years!  Ladies who know what it's like to raise kids here, who know what it's like to be married to men who do what Matt does, all that stuff.

Last night I pictured myself walking off the airplane, meeting Leah and Ashlei, and tears welled up in my eyes (just thinking about it)!  I am sooooo looking forward to this time!

Matt has a pretty challenging July with lots of travel (up to three weeks, some of it overlapping) and might be gone a LOT.  We (me and the kids) have dreams of accompanying him for pieces of it, but it isn't a sure thing.  So, needless to say, Matt is a BIG fan of this little trip.  He's the one who encouraged me to stay through Monday :)

Have a good weekend!  I know I will :)

Tell me. What did you do?

I love to read with my kids.  LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  We start the day with books.  We end the day with books.  We read. 

And some days I am not sure who loves it more, me or the kids :)  If you aren't currently surrounded by a library of young children's literature you are missing out!  I have my own favorite pages, favorite sentences, favorite illustrations - there is some great stuff out there :) 

I am going with the 

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

philosophy for encouraging reading.  I mean, obviously at some point a child needs to know the B says buh, that's foundational.  But much more motivating (for me) than teaching sounds and letters is dreaming that they will one day "yearn for the vast and endless sea" that reading offers.  

And as soon as Julianna could consistently combine sounds into words and stumble through sentences she settled down with On the Banks of Plum Creek and opened to page one.  She didn't get very far, but she knew what she wanted to do :) 

In the past few days Isaac has developed a charming habit of asking for specific books by quoting a line from the book.  Earlier today he walked up saying "Tell me, what did you do, tell me, what did you do.  Mom, can we read that book.  Tell me, what did you do?"   I mumbled under my breath, 'tell me what did you do tell me what did you do, what book is that?'   Isaac noticed my confusion.  "The Cat in the Hat Mommy, tell me, what did you do."

So we located Cat in the Hat and settled into the couch.

At dinner tonight he asked "Can we read stop thief?"  Matt and I looked at each other.  "Stop thief, yep, that's from a book.  Which one?"  As soon as he was down from the table he sprinted for his bookshelf and I found him there, muttering "the rabbit is in the garden, stop thief".

Of course, The Tale of Peter Rabbit.  Mr. McGregor, "waving a rake and calling out 'stop thief'".

The girls and I recently discovered the Magic Tree House series (short chapter books that we can usually finish in just one sitting) and we've also been reading some Boxcar Children (which I totally read when I was in elementary school!!)  There is a western owned bakery in town with a collection of children's books that you can informally borrow.  I've never actually been there (it's a bit of a drive from our area of town) but a friend picked up a stack of books for me the last time she was there - what a treat! 

And today Julianna was telling me about a book they read at school.  The main character is a monkey, and he is funnier than George (the curious one, that is).  Julianna talks like George is a real monkey and a perfectly legitimate standard for monkey-funny-ness comparison.

We moved bedtime prep earlier and now treat the girls to "candle reading".  They each have a fancy pink candle on their treasure shelves (gifted by Xiao Li)  that they have been dying to light!  So now we get ready early, light the candles, and Matt reads from Chronicles of Narnia.  This is such a special time that when Matt is away at night we still light the candles and read, but not from Narnia, since they know Daddy wouldn't want to miss a single chapter :)

Lydia struggles to follow along with Narnia, but she's delighted to participate in the candlelight experience and usually pages through other books while Matt reads.  At least something is sinking in though, because yesterday she noticed a picture of a lion (in a different book) and said "Mom, look, it's Aslan". 

As I write this Matt is surrounded by the kids in Isaac's room reading  巴士到站了   [No, I almost never read to them in Chinese.  But they have a stack of Chinese books and are quick to ask local friends for a read!] 

Do we read for hours every day?  No.  Is reading time always a picture perfect experience with smiling kids and a pleasant-voiced mommy?  No.

Some days we squabble over which book to read first. Some days little brother kicks and big sister can't forgive and I put down the books, walk to the bathroom and lock the door behind me.  Some nights Lydia gets candle wax on her pajama shirt.  Some months are filled with hurt, or chaos, or transition and we hardly read at all. 

But I do love reading with them so much.  And I love the shared language that comes from reading books together.  And I'm eager to see what 'one-liners' Isaac pulls on me tomorrow.  Here's hoping I'll be ready....

the daddy banner

This is what we made Matt for Father's Day :) 

We finished late Saturday afternoon and everyone was so excited that we hung it right away, even though it was a tad early :)  The kids each decorated a letter (or two) and we also filled the first 'D' with sentences that start with the word 'Daddy'.  Isaac was the first to blurt out a sentence: "Daddy is big!"  He then hollered "Daddy throws me up in the air" about six hundred times and no matter how often I showed him that I had already written that sentence, it never seemed to sink in.  I sighed and tried to think patient thoughts.

The daddy banner is hanging across the world map (behind our kitchen table) and I think it looks great.

[And would totally make another one - maybe every Father's Day? -  except I need some tips on using a glue gun with a large letters and yarn strung over the kitchen floor and a very curious little boy who can't keep his hands off anything... ha ha.]

I like this picture too, you can't see all the letters but I LOVE the faces! 

We had a low key fairly lazy day.  Matt is actually out working this evening and the kids are snoozing, so it's a quiet house.  This Friday afternoon I leave for a THREE day weekend visit with some friends in another city so I'm sure the week will go quick!

chasing chickens (or, how we spent our afternoon)

Yesterday morning was overcast with teeny drops of rain falling from the sky.  Made for an interesting trek to school since Matt was gone early (with the car) and school is a 20 minute walk (for adults) and a 45 minute walk (with kids). 

A 45 minute walk in a light drizzle with three young children was not my plan for a good start to the day.  The electric bike in the rain is do-able for one person (with a good rain cover) but with three kiddos along it was going to be one big load of not-at-all-fun.  So we opted for a three wheeled scooter....there are usually several sitting outside our gates waiting for short-distance passengers.  Imagine an electric battery powered scooter with a rickety cover built on to the top and you've got a good idea of what I'm talking about..... I'll have to take a picture one day.

So thankful for my kids attitudes in situations like this, I was tempted to complain (ack, Matt gone, rainy skies, I don't have the car and it's a school day).  But the kids were having a blast.  Umbrellas, three wheeled scooters, extra walking (since the scooter wasn't allowed into the area where the school is located).  It took an hour (round trip) and I'm thankful for fun little mini-adventures sprinkled through our days and weeks here.

Well the wind picked up, the clouds rolled away, and by noon it must have been 90 degrees.  That seems to be the way summer works here.  Hot days with scattered bits of cloud cover and rain to cool things off occasionally.  Quite pleasant. 

By late afternoon we were out in the courtyard with our squirt bottles, ready for action.  First target was our neighbor-friend who pulled up in his car.  The kids opened fire before he even cracked the drivers door :) 

He's a good friend and enjoyed the refreshment (!) but the kids quickly moved on to target #2 - a chicken!  Though we live in a quite developed urban area, many of our neighbors spent much of their lives in rural farming communities.  So they bring flavors of that life with them - mini gardens, chicken coops, and a do-it-yourself-ness that leads to lots of creative creations all around :)

One neighbor lets her chickens wander in the afternoons, though I think we've cured at least one chicken of ever wandering our way again!  Not sure what she (he?) liked less - screaming children chasing her, or the pelts from the squirt bottles, but the chicken was gone before I got the camera out. 

The kids stayed on the prowl for a while.....

but we eventually gave up and decided to head over to some cooped up chickens since we apparently needed an easier target.  On the way Lydia stopped to water plants : )

We found the cooped chickens and opened fire, though they were far enough back from the fencing and unfazed by the attention. 

Cooped chickens aren't much of a target, so we headed to the badminton court to play. 

And finally trooped back home to meet Daddy and our babysitters!  Yay for date night!!! 

summer hair

We are in the thick of hot and sweaty summer.  And I won't even pretend to not like it.  I LOVE it.  Reminds me of summer growing up.  Days when you open your front door and want to dump a bucket of water on your head before breakfast :)

Our apartment is relatively cool and I am grateful.  We use the air conditioners (individual ones in each bedroom) at night, but with ceiling fans and cross breezes our living area is comfortable.  So we keep the windows open and tend to live halfway between inside and outside - back and forth to the courtyard - all day long. 

I've been experimenting with new ways to keep hair out of the girls' eyes and off their necks in the heat.  [Although if I had my choice I would always leave Lydia's hair down, the ringlets are so precious.]  But today by 9am her hair was damp with sweat and she was asking for ponytails.  Lydia is really into quantity and often specifies how many she wants.  I try to oblige, lucky that her curls are so forgiving ....  I tend to grab a bunch of curls, run my fingers through it and twist a ponytail holder around it :) 

Both of them are patient enough to stand still for about three minutes so I try to work fast - and remember that they are quite busy so of course they can only spend a limited amount of time on their hair! 

[With the girls I run the same hair policy as clothes policy - they pick what they want every day of the week except Sunday.  Although I maintain veto power over anything I deem immodest or inappropriate weather-wise.]

Even the little man of the family got a hair cut for the summer.  I haven't been brave enough to try anything other than trimming some length all around, but it won't be long before these simple cuts are not enough and I need to branch out with some new skills.  In this pic he's retrieved a paper cup from the pantry, moved a kitchen chair, and climbed up on it.  When stands on tiptoes and stretches as far as he can reach he can just barely touch the handle and help himself to a drink from our water dispenser.  If I'm not on top of my game this particular activity leads to some pretty wet consequences :)  But I love to see him so independent, so I hate to interfere! 

This afternoon we hit the neighborhood pool for the second day in a row.  Real fun, and deserves a post of it's own.  Plus, I haven't managed to tote the camera along yet so I'll wait to get pictures first. 

his big sister's bike

The bike lover strikes again :)

Isaac daily asks to ride Lydia's bike.  He's actually pretty good, considering his feet barely reach the peddles.... it's pretty impressive how much ground he actually covers.  Julianna likes to coach him "look straight ahead buddy, it's the most important thing to do when you are riding a bike".

She herself has heard that advice about six trillion times, and it hasn't sunk in yet, so I'm encouraged to see Isaac is getting an early start with this particular bike riding tip. 

The bike fun doesn't stop at riding.  Sunday afternoon Matt and the kids washed bikes - one adult bike, two child bikes and two riding toys.  Lots of water was enjoyed by all.  And the bikes were actually cleaner at the end of the afternoon.  Success. 

This afternoon we are going to the pool!  The girls and I checked it out Friday and it is open .... with the weirdest, most UN-user friendly hours ever.  Oh well, that seems to be the way things tend to work here.  We'll enjoy it regardless - when it's open, that is :)  

chalk creations

These sidewalk chalk creations tend to disappear in a flash (especially with the extensive water play in the courtyard) so I took pics of some of the drawings. 

Isaac loves to scribble a few lines and then claim "I drew a giraffe eating leaves" or something like that.  Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder, huh?  Although I guess all artists start somewhere, and now I feel a smidge guilty for not taking pics of his scribbles (I mean, giraffes).  Next time, buddy. 

Julianna created this three level 'masterpiece' with sun/clouds on the top step, then trees and flowers in the middle, and the three sibs on the bottom step.  In her pic the girls are wearing matching dresses and Isaac is on the far right with the big ears :) 

Lydia is in a groove where she loves to draw maps/sketches/outlines of our apartment, or our complex, or something like that.  She is also in a stage where she likes me to guess what she is drawing.  Gee whiz, that's tricky.  What, exactly, do you think that yellow rectangle with hash lines (near Julianna's toes) represents?  What if your little honey was asking you to "guess Mommy, guess what it is"?

It's a badminton court.  Obviously. 

And what she's working on there on the far left.....  It's Isaac bending over to pick up Bei Bei (his stuffed tiger).  I'm telling you, the guessing thing is hard (and often awkward) work :)

My favorite pic from the afternoon?  This one of the kiddos and their favorite "weapons".... squirt bottles!  It's been so hot recently that I head out there actually looking forward to getting squirted down! 

Other targets include the tomato and cucumber plants (which need the water, so it's a win win for everyone), cars and other objects outside the fence confines, butterflies, trees, and everyone's favorite..... the unsuspecting sibling standing across the way! 

LOVE it!

pool days

We continue to spend tons of time in our pool and LOVE our courtyard - it is just such a sweet addition to our home.  This morning before breakfast Isaac was already asking to go out - still in his pajamas!  The girls are in and out of bathing suits all the time and Isaac, well he generally soaks at least one outfit before I get his bathing suit out :)  It all dries pretty quickly in the hot sunshine anyways.

Today I plan to go and check on two neighborhood pools, both a short walk from our apartment.  They haven't opened yet, but yesterday I noticed that at least one other pool (in another part of town) opened, so I wonder if maybe ours are ready as well.  If I can figure out how to confidently manage three non swimmers we hope to spend a LOT of time at the pool this summer.  And I hope Julianna is a swimmer pretty soon too! 

The girls will remain in school through the summer and Matt's schedule will not change much (though some of his responsibilities will) so in some ways summer is much like the rest of the year for us.  Just missing a lot of our foreign friends (summers are popular times to visit the States and there was a huge exodus starting the last week of May!)

So just a short update from us :) 

you know it's summertime when....

..... little girl knees look like this :)

recycled (?) clothing

As part of Julianna's school performance each child was supposed to make an 'outfit' using recyclable materials.  I'm sure that part (most?) of the point of the whole endeavor is to teach kids about waste/recycling/etc but I think our girls mostly learned (all over again) how much plain ole fun creativity brings to our home :)

Matt took one of the birthday package boxes and cut it down til it "fit" :)  Then the girls took the used wrapping paper and packing materials, added a few pairs of scissors plus a lot of glue and ended up with this .....

On Tuesday afternoon Julianna and her classmates "modeled" their creations.  Some of the outfits were pretty funny.  But not one had the spunk and flair and trademark "made by two craft-loving little girls" look that Julianna's did! 

We had a super busy week and I am glad that it is almost over.  I think that June is going to be a little slower for our family (and I just bought tickets to go see two dear friends at the end of the month!!!!) but July is possibly going to be wild and wooly :)  Matt will probably travel quite a bit and we're talking through taking the whole family along.  Let's just say the destination is a smidge off the well-travelled route :)  We'll have to just wait and see how it all shapes up!