a Christmas miracle

Last Sunday, for Sunday school, we decided- on a whim- that we'd do a simple Christmas play the next week. We have 3 boys and 3 girls currently coming on Sunday mornings- to add to our 3. So, Craig told the troops and what followed was our little Christmas miracle...

"I want to be the angel."
"I want to be a king."
"We'll be the shepherds."
"I'll be Joseph." (Hudson)
"I'll be MARY!" (Grace)
"Titus- you and the other little guy with no opinion- you'll be wise men."
"And the 5 month old girl that comes- she'll be baby Jesus!"

That all went down in about 30 seconds. Could've taken 20 minutes to figure all that out...thankful :)

Here are some pics from the play Sunday, including Titus sneaking in an earlier than he should've peak at baby Jesus:

recital

Yesterday, even though the kids haven't been in school this month, Hudson was asked to take part in the school's piano recital. He and about 20 others in his class all played a short song- his "Joy to the World". He wasn't thrilled about it to begin with, but was thrilled after it was done- probably partly because he was done, partly because of the surprise ice cream treat after. Thankful it was in the 40s and not very windy! :)

Thanksgiving...

Been a happening few weeks here...

from our oldest crying to go to his "real real home" in the States, to Thanksgiving fun, Christmas decorating and our Christmas story nights, visits from friends...

Some Thanksgiving pics:







One of our friends shared his thankfulness for all the resources available to us on Thanksgiving...we all wholeheartedly agreed...

Thankful for these gems that have blessed me this past week or two:

267. this Christmas post
268. and this one
269, 270. these David Platt messages- the Gospel Demands Radical Giving and this one
271. this Francis Chan talk
272. Mahaney's Humility book, more on that in another post...
273. and this! brand new- not yet listened to... :)

And thankful for...

274. Haidian Park- the only place we know in BJ where we can play f'ball on the grass
275. the bus that takes us from our neighborhood right there!
276. sweet friends to play with, eat with, worship with...
277. Gramma's Kitchen (a restaurant here) and their cooked, delivered turkeys!
278. Christmas decoration fun on Black Friday

fun night

Had a fun night with some friends here- bringing some life to the gray skies!

Started with an Iron Chef dessert competition, the looking game, and then a word/acting name game. (Thanks to K for the ideas :))


(bike, Bear den, pagoda/rocket creations)




enjoying the goodies

pics

Just a few recent pics...had C take the camera into class when he went in to teach H & G's class. And T requested his picture to be taken while he was building towers...the towers impressing his easily-impressed mama :)

Monopoly Deal

I found the card game Monopoly Deal being sold out on our back street here a month or so ago. Recently, the kids have really gotten into it, even to the point of Hudson making up a "schedule" for our "home-school time" that morning.


I like how he slipped it in there. And the always hoped for, looked for: DEAL BREAKER (or Dealer as GJ sometimes calls it).

5!

Recent convos of our now 5 year old!:

Hudson: I really don’t feel like I’m 5.
our friend Megan: What did you think being 5 would feel like?
Hudson: Um, being 5. (pause) Maybe in January I won’t feel like I’m 4.5 anymore.

Yesterday during their "nap":
Gracie: We don’t need to be afraid of monsters
Hudson: Yeah, because God is on our side

They went on to talk about many things...God making us a house in heaven, being born again, believing in Jesus, etc. :)

And some pics from the big day:

Got this off taobao (a great website here that has just about everything- and you don't have to brave the crowds/cold/bargain!). Hudson loves Tebow


Titus getting down as we watched the Superbowl Shuffle




Our kicking field goals game


Throwing game



Thankful for
261. the family that just moved to our city with 3 boys 6, 4, 2, and 4 month old baby Mercy who we all adore (especially Gracie!)
262. all the dear friends we could celebrate with
263. all the family Skype calls and packages :)
264. 5 years with our big boy
265. his favorite present being the ESV Bible we gave him
266. the Word that we can all read and understand in our language

Gracie's order

Every night, (I may have already blogged about this...but I think not this specifically...) after our Bible story, everyone prays for whatever is designated for that day of the week to pray for (our hearts, family, unbelieving friends, etc). We also somewhere along the line added the "picking the order" part of the night. We take turns picking the order - who prays first, etc. For example, tonight's order was "Mama, Gracie, Hudson, Daddy". One night, a few months ago, Grace decided that when she said the order she would use food names for all of us. I think the first night she did it we were popcorn or corn maybe. She also often uses jam/peanut butter, as she did last night, when it was my order. I think the order I picked was Myself, Gracie, Daddy, Hudson- right down the line we were sitting in. Gracie then wanted to double check the order and said, "So, its peanut butter (pointing to me), peanut butter (herself), peanut butter (Craig)...no, no, no. (Craig and Hudson like jam, me and G don't.) Peanut butter, peanut butter, jam (pointing to Hudson)..."
Hudson says, "No, daddy first, then me."
Gracie: "Peanut butter, peanut butter, jam, jam."
Hudson: Can I be ji tuir? (One of his favorite Chinese meals...)
Gracie: Sure, Peanut butter (pointing to me), peanut butter (her), peanut butter (Craig), ji tuir (Hudson).

Time to pray...

Just another night in our apt :)

funny moments

Titus is full of them...always loving a laugh...although he's getting a bit more shy I think.

Other funny moments...

Hudson talking about the Braves...but he calls them the "Bravers" :) (I think he's mixing up Brewers and Braves)

Gracie asking to get on the computer, so she can check "pspn".

(Incidentally, just talked with Craig tonight about setting some major computer regulations for all of us...excited about that!)

Hudson sitting at the table saying, "Wow, this week has gone by really fast, what did we even do?" (This is directly out of his mama's vocab)

The moment tonight when - quite dramatically- I told our friends that if Craig grew his beard out, it would be pink! (Accidentally added in the little syllable that changes red to pink in Chinese...) ha! :)

Looking at this pic of GJ- and the others...

more thanks...

218. a place to be thankful
219. our helper
220. her attempts at singing the ABCs along with our toys that play them
221. the way she uses her own body parts to explain what parts of the chicken i need
222. her love of kids- she told some random ladies outside today, "if i wouldn't get fined, i'd have another kid right now!" (she's 40 and has 4 sweet kiddos...)
223. how excitedly she tells me about the new stories she's just read - yesterday was Elijah and the prophets of Baal
224. the good food she makes
225. Gracie's improving language
226,7,8,9. this b'day season for our family- my big-little brother, Dad/Papa, little-little brother, and soon Hudson- so thankful for all 4!
230. our tutor who lived with us for this last month and now is in Malaysia- of which her first reaction was "green!"
231. the green- turning yellow, brown in our courtyard
232. the courtyard with all its not-up-to-standard playground equipment
233. that the kids have not been hurt by playing on it...
234. the opening of Titus's mouth
235. his sweet pucker lips that he is quick to give now especially while Skyping
236. neighbors who teach our kids weekly and buy craft supplies for them while out and about
237. our Argentinian brother here
238. our new brother at our favorite pizza place
239. the one working elevator (of 3) in our bldg! (our neighbors had no working elevators for a few days- and they're on the 16th floor)!
240. water trickling through our heaters that is signaling the coming heat
241. sweet sweet babysitters coming tonight
242. time to spend with my incredible hubby tonight
243. his loving care for our kiddos hearts
244. skype calls from cousins
245. emails from friends
246. the Word
247. the hidden manna, the morning star...the riches that those who conquer are given in Jesus
248. possibilities
249. faith
250. ability to memorize the Word
251. people to do it with...
252. sweet neighbor girls to pray with
253. our Sunday morning power point slide controller (Hudson) :)
254. GJ's joyfully, surprisingly unselfishly, spending "her money" on her big brother
255. the extremely Mommy clingy-ness of our littlest
256. forgiveness- from Him and others
257. generous and loving family back home- packages just arrived for H's big day :)
258. generous and loving husband
259. seeing the living GOD at work in him.
260. this sweet weather day:

my dream come true!

Grace had a genius idea a couple nights ago to put on a diaper like Titus- "just for one night" (which whenever she is asking for just 1- she always uses chinese, "just yi ge")- Anyway, Hudson loved the idea and soon all 3 of them had diapers on TOP of their pajama pants. They ran around and Craig said, "Mama we have a house full of babies!"

Hudson turned around and said, "Mama, its your dream come true!" :) I've been giving Hudson a hard time about him turning 5 next week...and how I want him to not get ANY bigger- hence his exclamation.




We also realized last week that Grace was 3.5- a few weeks late- which is pretty terrible seeing the number of times daily she's asked how old she is. I should've realized it sooner...but finally I did realize it, and when she woke up told her, "Gracie it is October and in October you turned 3 and a half!" She half giggled, half cried and hugged me in joy. She then went straight to the table where we were starting b'fast and asked me if she could pray. She thanked the Lord for 3.5. She's been sweeter than ever lately...loving on babies, helping, thinking of others. Really thankful for evidence of growth/grace in her!

Brett was here!

Here are some pics from our time with Brett- really sweet- highlights including the slide down from the Wall at Mutianyu, the acrobat show, Trivial Pursuit, catching up...

(Notice where Titus is in these pictures...my boy who used to always want to run around just wanted to be held (with his blankie!)- my back is still recovering :))




(Took a cable car up-- I had to mask my dislike for this cable car so the kids wouldn't worry...) :)



One of the funny convos had between H & G the day we went to the acrobats:

H: i will be an acrobat, i am an acrobat

G: no you're not- you're a people.

H: if i want to when i grow up i will be an acrobat

G: no you wont

H: well acrobats are real people

G: no they're not.

H: they are people.

G: no they are not.

H: they're people.

G: yep. don't be an acrobat

H: well i'm going to be an acrobat right now.

Emails and other things...

Just had 4 sweet days with my cousin Brett. So thankful he came! Had a fun-filled time exploring, catching up, playing games like "I Spy coat edition" (created by Grace) on the subway...

Quick update on the kiddos:

TT, Tito, T-tus, Ti-Ti...is just as mama-needy as any of our kids have ever been. My once independent, always wanting to get out the door little boy only walked about 5 steps on the Great Wall- wanting to be held held held :) Needless to say my arms are getting huge...He is really a delight to all of us, making us all laugh often with his antics, faces- we love our baby!

G is as sweet as ever- often just smiling at someone until they look at her, often saying, "Don't be mad or sad.", often asking, "How can I help you mama?" (Oh I love that one!) :)

And as far as our almost 5 year old- in the past weeks, Hudson has sent the following sweet emails/text messages to various family members...they usually either include the time here in Beijing, sports scores, the weather, or just love.

hi lin you the greatest LIN LIN IN THE WHOLE WORLD LIN LIN I LOVE YOU A LOT LIN LIN BYE

HI LIN LIN IT IS HUDSON IT IS 509 IN BEIJING HOW ARE YOU LIN
IT IS 73 DEGREES IN BEIJING I LOVE YOU SO MUhc LIN BYE

subject: JESUS IS WITH YOU
THE ILLINI OR PLAYING THE 2OSU THE CHW BEAT THE BOS AND THE CHC BEAT THE SD OK BYE

my favorite book is samuel what is your favorite book no i hav not been too the park lately what is your favorite park i love you mimi frum hudson bye

text message from Sunday:
I love you mommy so so so so so so so so so so so much.

So thankful...

207. for these 3 kiddos
208. for chilly weather
209. for heat that will be turned on in November!
210. for our cousin Brett
211. for good current reading (Mahaney's Humility, Clowney's The Unfolding Mystery, Brett's Hipster Christianity, and Keller's Counterfeit Gods)
212. for the sweet little classmates in GJ's class who were almost in tears over the ducks that didn't come back in the "5 Little Ducks" song
213. for our tutor friend staying with us and how its improving my language!
214. that the Eagles (ACS) are in the playoffs :)
215. for our apt.
216. for good memories with cousins (8th grade trips to OK, Alpine Slide, spills, the fire...)
217. for the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that's been poured in our hearts

Memory

As much as I liked remembering phone numbers and things of the like as a kid (nerdy I know), Hudson has been amazing us with his memory- little details of past nights, etc. lately. But especially in regards to football scores...

We had a dear friend who went to UNC in our living room a week or so ago. Hudson was talking football - and so we started talking UNC football. Hudson then mentioned, "They lost a game 30-24. They had two chances to get a touchdown and the guy dropped it twice and they lost." Me and Craig had no idea this happened. Our friend looks at Hudson- thinks for a second- and is shocked. He said that is EXACTLY what happened in their game against LSU a month or so ago!

On Sunday we had some friends in town that are originally from Wisconsin and are big Packer fans. Somehow talk of the Bears-Packers game came up, and Craig asked Hudson, "Do you remember the score of that game?" (kind of joking/kind of wanting to remind our sweet friend who did no small amount of smack text messaging before the game)- Hudson thought for a second, "20-17".

The next day we were looking at a few NFL scores- H has decided that behind the Bears- he also likes the Colts, Saints (may have to do with watching the Super Bowl last year), the Broncos (Tim Tebow), Falcons (not sure why), and Rams (St. Louis). I'm ok with this-- I'm not sure what score it was, but he saw one and said- that's the same score as when Arizona beat Iowa (also about a month ago). :)

These are just a couple of several times of recalling scores, etc. for us. Hope to funnel that memory mostly into storing up the Word in his heart and also Chinese characters...

Here are the goofballs yesterday:

fall night

I've blogged about past failed "family nights"- but this one was sweet (and simple!). A couple weeks back, we collected some leaves, bought a couple pumpkins, printed some fall coloring pages and declared it "fall night".

Used our pumpkin, apple, and leaf cookie cutters on the PB/J sandwiches, played some tic tac toe, did some leaf rubbings, rolling pumpkins relay, and pass the pumpkin- the highlight of the night. All 5 of us sat in a circle passing the pumpkin as we sang a song (mostly all kids' Sunday school songs). Whenever the song was done, whoever had the pumpkin had to pick a new song. The most fun part was having Titus in on the action- every time slowly passing the pumpkin- sort of wanting to hold it, wanting a reaction from others, but also wanting to be a part of the game so passing it too. T's only word of the game though was at the end of "The B-I-B-L-E". (Bible!) We all cheered for him everytime he said it- probably 20 times (trying to encourage his talking!). :)