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!