Failed family night

I’m thankful (81) that our “family night” this past Wednesday is the first failure in a while :) For a couple years now I’ve had my eye on the one mini-golf place in Beijing- Ritan Park (a park about an hour+ away by subway). So, me and the kids started off Wednesday towards the subway as Craig was finishing up his class, knowing he’d catch up to us. Made a quick (successful) stop at a good little shoe stand on the way to pick up some new shoes for Hudson- his old ones were loved on and used for more than a year through the snowy winter here and all. After finally making it to the park, we asked the guard where the mini-golf place was- he pointed us in the right direction and we never found it. There were several areas under construction, so we’re guessing it was one of those. We then walked by a playground and merry-go-round which were also closed up. But the kids didn’t really mind and we just ate some pb sandwiches on a bench, looked in the little lake for a minute and headed back- the highlight being a flagpole area we played on for a few minutes as we left. I’m pretty sure I was the most disappointed (the kids of course not knowing what they were missing-glad for that!).






While we were checking out the lake, Titus said a new word, the Chinese word for fish. His word count is not very many, a few in both languages, but his accent saying the tricky- “yu” was just right. Not surprising he'd be willing to say fish, Titus LOVES any animal he lays his eyes on- dogs, cats, birds, fish, bugs... he’ll follow them all around, often exclaims, “wow” when he sees any sort of animal.

Another funny story from that night: as we were on our way back home, Craig saw a sign for the new karate kid (which apparently was filmed in Beijing)- Anyway, he tried to tell the kids about the karate kid (and me too, have never seen it). When the kids were about to go to bed, Craig showed them the “crane kick”. They LOVED it and did it a few times before heading off to sleep in their room. A few hours later (our house now full of guests watching the US World Cup game with us), Grace woke up to the noise and couldn’t go back to sleep. She came and sat with us for a little (about 11:30pm) and was quite out of it. The next morning she told Hudson all about watching “The Karate Kick” and how “The Karate Kick”s won the game. He was confused.


82. adoring little brother who claps for his big brother throwing the baseball
83. Titus’s few words (half chinese, half english) that bring us all such joy
84. my kid’s most requested song- “By Thy Mercy”
85. discipling sweet humble friends for a short season
86. a good Chinese squat and yummy yogurt to drink



87. all the verses the kids were singing and making up in their room of “He’s Got the Whole World”
88. getting to dress a little girl every morning (well, she often dresses herself (89), but every once in a while...)
90. a friend to keep me going on memorizing Romans 8
91. chances to speak of how great God is
92. a great language tutor who is a good friend
93. longing for home (John 14:3)
94. T's curiosity

Dads we don't deserve

One thing the kids and I and Craig too! have in common is the incredible undeserved blessing of having such great dads. I don't think I can even begin to know the blessing it is to have had and continue to have the dad I do. And I adore and praise the Lord for the daddy our kiddos have as well as the dad their daddy has :)

31. A dad who loves the Lord above everything else.
32. A dad who has loved and loves his wife and his kids
33. A dad who loves the Word and has proclaimed it to his family
34. A dad who loves and serves the church
35. A dad who has suffered well
36. A dad who is a friend to the friendless
37. A generous, sacrificially generous dad
38. An encouraging dad, one who expected much - in good ways- of his kids
39. A hard-working dad
40. A dad whose faith in the Lord is strong
41. A dad who can recite scripture really fast :)
42. A dad who came to our games, concerts, etc.
43. A dad who stuck with me and continued to try to help/coach me even when his repeated instructions of "box out" or "fake a pass" or "never look at strike 3" didn't quite register
44. A dad who was willing and wanting to answer our questions about the Word
45. A dad who valued being around our home- and whose presence made us feel safe
46. A dad who taught me how to drive- (patience necessary)
47. A dad who taught me how to be thankful
48. A dad who is willing to let his kids travel far away from home
49. A dad who prays
50. A dad who speaks the truth
51. A dad who took us grocery shopping with him every Saturday
52. A dad who took/takes us to cubs, sox, bears, bulls, York, Wheaton, Illini, NW, Iowa...games
53. A dad who proclaims the excellencies of Christ
54. A dad who tells great stories




I could go on much longer...this all from my very much used up brain. :)

And for my kiddos' daddy--so thankful that he too
55. proclaims the excellencies of Christ
56. tells great stories
57. works hard
58. values being around, the kids feel his weight on their beds before they sleep
59. leads us in prayer and in time in the Word well
60. does such a good job of getting to our kiddos hearts in discipline and not just their behavior
61. is so fun
62. thinks often of his role as a father and how to serve and love the kids better
63. is the priest of our home, praying and praying for us
64. wrestles often with his boys
65. asks the kids lots of great questions
66. loves the Lord above all else
67. who has a dream (according to hudson) is that all nations will worship Jesus







And for the dad I met about 7 years ago- who has blessed me since that day and has been a blessing to my kiddos and their daddy since the day they were all born.

68. a father-in-law who is also so generous
69. also tells great stories
70. asks great questions
71. man of integrity
72. hard-working
73. deeply loves his grandkids- and his kids and his kid-in-laws - and even more importantly his wife
74. and most importantly loves the Lord and teaching His Word
75. lots of fun
76. encouraging
77. never says a bad word about anyone
78. is willing to come visit China
79. patient and forgiving
80. a servant




This post is so inadequate- but a quick one - thankful for all the fathers in all our family's lives...especially the one who has adopted us as sons and daughters, the Holy God whom we call, "Abba, Father" who comforts us and protects us and loves us- with a "never-stopping, never-giving up always and forever kind of love".

World Cup in China...

Just another funny cultural difference...my tutor asked me yesterday who we are cheering for in the World Cup, and then she laughed saying- of course the US. And besides them?- she asked. I told her usually the underdogs...including Mexico, S. Korea, Ivory Coast, most African countries. She told me that the Chinese people are the exact opposite. They love and route for all the favorites, all the "famous" teams...Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Italy- is what she said. So funny...I don't think we Americans get as much joy out of the favored team that we have no sort of connection with winning, but cheering for the teams that win a lot I guess makes sense, sort of!

After getting H & G in bed last night (after T), H & G came out a bit later and joined me in watching the last few minutes of the S. Korea/Argentina match. C was out with a friend watching the game. (And of course the vast majority watching with him cheering for Argentina...) H was pretty tired though and kept saying, "West Korea needs a goal!" or "North Korea needs to score!" I'm not sure he ever said South on his own... :)

More grace upon grace (John 1:16) that I'm grateful for today...

11. wide-eyed kids during "nap time"
12. growing up breathing good air
13. today's air quality rating of "unhealthy for sensitive groups" not bad :)
14. a packed out VBS at LGC- PTL!
15. the kids' 2 hardworking mimis and 2 hardworking papas! WOW. again I ptl.
16. all of our wonderfully wonderful family we get to Skype with, love...
17. a friend's recommendation of www.bookdepository.com (free shipping worldwide!)
18. our Little House on the Prairie that we found in our mailbox yesterday
19. my little girl who may be too young for little house who was not enjoying reading a few pages of it last night and was wanting to read "green eggs and ham"- bless her heart, one day soon you will realize! :)
20. that same little girl who picks up our chinese new testament and sings a chinese hymn, "shengming de he"
21. a husband whose joy in his salvation is challenging
22. Tues nights with our little chinese buddies
23. my boy mouthing the words to "Jesus I am resting resting" on the porch
24. cubs fans
25. getting to learn this language
26. fresh, home-made bagels, and our house helper's accent as she tries to say "bagels"
27. my girl who just helped me check our mail- repeating to me, "we're not going outside. but this is good news (she likes to tell me this is bad or this is good news) Chinese people can go outside, but we're just staying inside"
28. date tonight with my husband!
29. the all-satisfying bread (John 6:35) and despite my unworthiness, coming to Him
30. shoes always off the rack...

Colossians 3:15b

Thankful for the grace upon grace given to me including the following...

1. this blog recommendation...
2. a friend's encouragement towards gratitude
3. the great thankful example of my parents
4. window locks


5. sad goodbyes, and precious, dear, fun times with friends before the goodbye
6. big brother Casey (who we said goodbye to last night)


7. the used piano store down the street and our much enjoyed purchase of almost 3 years!
8. the no extra fee piano lessons given at Hudson's preschool



9. skype
10. hope of adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8)

Grace to us...

The visit we were looking forward to from our good buddies was such grace to us! The kids had a blast...especially the big boys. And I was so encouraged, blessed, challenged to get to spend time with a wonderful mama friend :) So fun-- love each one of these dear K's. Some ways we've been helped/changed through our friends...things that shouldn't be a big deal (like messes, disorganization, spills, one kid waking up another napping one, etc) are less of a big deal (talking about my heart here) :), we're reading a Psalm a week at the table for each meal (loving this), we're being more proactive about being grateful, and I'm sure more others- including things like gracie sleeping in her undies and a pj shirt :) - but in general just blessed.

Gracie Jo may be taking after her mama I'm afraid in her goodbyes...granted, she was tired. But, after watching the K's drive off in a taxi G cried and cried all the way back to our apt and more, "I want them to come back! I don't want them to leave!" :( Lord willing we'll see these dear friends again after not too long...and that all the goodbyes wrapped up in living here won't make little G's heart hard but she'd have a soft heart willing to get sad when she should be, when we have to say goodbye (of course not without gratefulness for the sweet time that's ending).

Air...

Every Monday and Wednesday morning (the mornings I (and Hudson) don't have class), Hudson, Grace, and I do a little "school" together. We pray, do some reading, Chinese characters (super minimal), review our verse, do some workbook work, a craft maybe, and some p.e. (all of which together takes about 45 min). This week the preschool home-schooling curriculum I have is all about air. It's a bit ironic...

We've heard recently (including last night from some locals) the following:
1. breathing the air in our city is the equivalent of smoking 4 cigarettes a day
2. (according to the news) it is better for your health to not ride your bike to work but take the bus because of the air quality
3. it is terrible for your kids, they will not grow very tall

The pollution has been joy-robbing these past couple weeks- just pretty dreadful and yuck (this seems to be the worst time of the year). The kids don't seem to mind though- they were painting a picture of the sky on Monday and I asked them what color do they think they should use. Hudson said, "Gray." :)

The good news is the weather report says it should rain tonight and tomorrow morning- rain often clears up the sky for a bit. Praying it will be so!