Packages, Games, and Chinese New Year break

So break has started and I didn't know if it would be exhausting or totally relaxing and fun. So far, I am happy to report that with the purchase of LIFE and Transformers Monopoly and some legos and many people praying for us, we've been having a pretty good break. Grandma sent a nice package with lots of goodies just in time for Chinese New Year so we've been happily enjoying Vanilla Chai Tea (well I have) and good ol' american Mac and Cheese. Halle got the most adorable pj's ever from grandma which is in the picture attached. This morning Marissa and DJ said they wanted to do their quiet time together with God so they crawled up onto Marissa's bed and took turns reading the Bible and then praying. So sweet! Such a blessing to a mama's heart!

Keep praying our break is restful and fun!

Deep contemplations for me...

I feel it's been a few days since I've blogged, but it's been a very unique week. This week a dear friend of ours passed away. She lived her life as a testimony to God's grace and she was a mother that every child wants to have. In her death her organs were donated, saving at least 3 lives and she is now going down in history as the first westerner to donate her organs to Koreans (she served there in Korea 14 years and still was when she died). It's caused me much thought this week to the kind of mom I truly want to be and yet ironically, I've been so caught in these thoughts I feel I've had less patience than ever with my kids this week. Continue to pray that I will daily let my children know my deep deep love for them and that I will not grow weary and they will know the deeper deeper love that Jesus has for them. Another of my friends lost their 2 month old son this week as well. A truly contemplative week for me. It makes me realize again how precious and unique each of my children are.

Halle has been doing well. She's still having her ups and downs. Overall ups but the past two days she's decided to wake everyone up before they are ready to be up by crying very loudly. Have I mentioned that one day she should be a cheerleader cuz this girl has lungs! :) She's so smart and so independent. It's actually hard for me that she's so independent. I was thinking she's going to be the baby of the family and wasn't ready for her to be saying "wosiji" which means " do myself" for getting dressed, pouring her own milk, etc. Of course it helps with getting ready in the morning and the amount of time spent but she's my baby! she's supposed to want/need my help! :) And this girl wants to be like the big kids so much! Today is the 100th day of school so the other 3 are having 100 day parties andneed baggies of "100" things so she went to the kitchen and got her baggy to be filled with "100" things too!

So in all, it's been an interesting week for me. Not quite as much silliness, but I'm thankful for the time to reflect and to make changes so I can be that mom that says "I love you" every day multiple times to their kids and hugs them lots and listens better than saying "yep, uh huh, etc." I'm thankful for God's grace and His steady, unchanging love for me. I pray I'll be the same. No matter if they wake me in the middle of the night or pee their pants in fits of anger that I'll still unreservedly and unchanginly lavish love on them, just like He does for us.

Snow and Wrestling

Well I'll post some pics of our snow and I know it's not amazing compared to what most of you all have in the States but for Chengdu, this amount of snow is unheard of! Our dear Halle, who is from the snowy part of China, hasn't flinched an eye about all this, but the rest of the kids are beyond excited about our 1/8" of snow! :) We've also been getting into wrestling more and more since Halle is a rough and tough gal and since Min Hao has definitely gotten a lot stronger and more balanced then when he first arrived here in August.

Exciting Development!

So today we were getting ready to pray for lunch and she said she wanted to be the one to pray! I couldn't understand what she said except the chinese word for "pray" and then "amen", but it's so sweet! And then when we did our devos at bedtime, she wanted to be the one to pray again! So thankful for what He is doing in her life! Today was definitely a good day.

Dress Up day

A Chinese friend once told me Chinese kids don't like to dress up. Well...I pulled out Marissa's dress up clothes and all the kids dressed up and had a blast for like an hour! There were many nurses, superheroes, brides, and princesses floating around our house for much of the day. Great fun indeed!

Making Progress

Well we're in week 7- almost to the 2 month mark of having Halle and as Dave and I reflected on this tiring and yet rewarding experience, we realized so much progress has been made. It took Halle over 2 weeks before she wouldn't cry or scream at seeing our cats. Now she tries to kiss them and pets them and torments them mercilessly. The first week back at home she refused to have Dave hold her or be near her (unless a cat was chasing her) and now he can pick her up just about any time and when we visit his class she says "hi baba!" tonight she needed help opening something and she looked at me and said "please". Last week if I would've asked her to put away her dirty clothes, she'd say "no", I'd say "yes", she'd throw herself on the ground and start screaming. Today I said "put away your dirty clothes". She said "no", I said "yes", and she sulkily took it to her room and put them away and then came out all chipper. She can recognize yellow, blue, and green in english. She even says "this is yellow" and "this way" when leading the way out of the house. Even her hair has grown so much in these 7 weeks. Today I got out the dress up box and boy did she enjoy that! I'm sure our neighbors loved the 1 hour of high heels clicking back and forth across the floor! There are so many other things I'm sure! When I'm not writing it's usually because we're exhausted from all the change, so when I do sit down to write it's only a vague representation of what life is really like here in our crazy home ;) All in all, God knew what He was doing. He picked out just the right kiddo for us, although sometimes I must admit I think "God this is so tiring! 4 kids?! wow!" But He is faithful and for that I'm thankful! Attached are some random pics from this week.

Min Hao Turns 6!

Well it's been a busy week with the kids returning to school and getting back into routine. And on top of that, we got to celebrate Min Hao's birthday. Boy did he sure enjoy having his birthday! From the moment he woke up he informed me it was his birthday and then multiple times throughout the day! At school we had a little party with his class where the kids got to whip cream their brownies and put sprinkles on them. Then on the night of his party we had a big racetrack cake with lots of friends. He woke up today and asked if it was his birthday again. He was a little disappointed when I informed him that his birhtday is now officially over.