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