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!). :)