thankful

for:

279. last week's end to the almost-record drought (Beijing's first snow!)


280. my son teaching me how to throw a spiral

281. our helper/friend is back!


282. good songs

283. good talks

284. their hard work making Valentines- for HOURS yesterday



285. the way Titus is more and more one of the biggies

286. the one on the way- who foggies my brain- but who we're all excited for!

pics

A few of our pics from our trip to the States...

Fun with Wil Wil, Jack, Sarah...




and the Coady family :)


snow tag (a Coady family tradition)!


Illini vs. Wisconsin game!

We even got Gracie into it- I wasn't sure if she'd be bored or not, but realized its a lot more exciting than baseball- and those Cubs games that Kayly spent playing drawing games with my mom.

At different times during the game I heard Grace say, "Come on Tebow!" ha :) and she also reminded me that "Jimmy is a basketball player too" (Hoosiers).


and the Mac family :)


and the Puhrs :)


and baby Coady!



We had a wonderful trip- so thankful. Lots of sweet memories...

In other important news, we've also solidified our dislike of the Packers over the last several months. So, of course, we were sad with the outcome yesterday. A month or so ago G even decided to drop yellow as one of her 3 favorite colors- used to be her only favorite...no longer! and Hudson also gave away a green & yellow striped shirt he had to one of his buddies. :)

Back in BJ...

Just now getting around to sitting down with the computer...

So thankful we got to spend Christmas in the States with our families. (And thankful we got to spend a week in Thailand too!) More on the trips later- probably...

Big news in TL can be seen below- too old!

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