Gabrielle's first eats

Gabrielle is still the major delight of her sibling's lives. She is five months old now and while different in many ways from the others as babies (like not sleeping through the night on cue at 2 months), she is very happy and chill like the others were. Blessing.

She did have an 8 day stretch of sleeping through the night, then not so much. We started solids just three days ago. We started with Avocado that I already had in the freezer. We have added some rice cereal in the mix and today I made sweet potatoes to start tomorrow. We are hoping this gets her sleeping better some. But really she just can't be hungry, look at those cheeks. And her thighs are chunky cuteness. Time to let her fuss it out again.

 She is a doll. baby.

 Yes, she looks a little like a boy in this outfit, sorry. She just grew out of some cute pink onesies and the others were in the wash! Our helper and I rigged up the high chair. It was broken on many levels but we are making it work with our booster seat (minus the cushion). This is the buckle that is holding her in. Don't worry it is as safe as the original. No way was I buying a new high chair!

Still having a hard time capturing  her smiles, which she does a lot, just not at the big black thing in your hand (camera). 

The solid food thing is a big game changer. I had gotten into a good groove of routine and that adds another 20 minutes 3x/day, but we are working it. The girl is growing up. 

The next game-changer will be when she really starts moving or even rolling which she isn't quite doing yet. She currently takes naps on our big bed if David is working from home. Soon, that will be dangerous. We will have to roll the pack-n-play around. 

When she consistently sleeps through we will move her in with the girls, changing table and all! Currently we have a changing table (a broken cabinet with a cushion on top) in the hall way!

She does laugh and giggle a lot and wakes up smiling from her naps!

I am still nursing her, I really was not sure how long this would last, David and I both vowed 6 months, but many times I just wanted to give up. Not now. We will make it six months and hopefully much longer. We shall see. That too is a blessing. So thankful!

We just took her for her shots. We are using ones we brought in from Thailand. They are super nice at the clinic and are used to us by now. She cried for about five seconds then stopped.

That completes my brain dump about Gabrielle!

What's going on around here

We are still on Chinese New Year break from school. This is the last week. Meanwhile, we have been plugging along with home school and enjoying neighborhood friends...

Before bed time one night Sophia had a friend over and Tobin plopped down right in between them to color. 

They all sat there and drew for a while before bed!

We had some super cool visitors stay with us last week which coincided with 'Home school week'. Home school week is where a teacher comes and teaches the kids all week in super fun areas that we may not get the time to do (the teacher lives in China). The theme was 'under the sea' and they read books, learned songs, and did science and language arts activities that all had to do with the theme! It was a blast, they loved it! This also freed me a bit to relax more and enjoy our guests without the stress of homeschooling. It was a great week to help me get my breath and plan a bit. Plus we started baby G on solids, so more time was needed to adjust to that big game changer!

Weather here is gorgeous. Low fifties at night, mid-seventies in the day.

Plans are being made for our time in the U.S. (late May to late Aug).

Thinking through next year's homeschool and any needed changes (on the theme of RELAX)

We decided to let Sophia try Chinese First grade in the fall (which is why our U.S dates are earlier).

We have a part time helper since our old helper got married. It is working out pretty well. 

Sophia did the dishes all by herself tonight! And we haven't even started 'allowance' yet.

Bella has a high fever that Tobin had yesterday, his has gone into a stomach bug....

Still enjoying strawberry season.

The Year of the RE-LAX

I keep telling the kids this.

This is the year of the RE-LAX.

The chill-out.

The trust.

So far I am not doing too great at it. But that is what is great about 'it'. I can still rest. Because my whole intention in the word is really just to Trust.  And what I keep telling myself and my family is that it is NOT

BE-LAX, as in hands-off, do nothing, go free.

It is to LIVE free.... in HIM. 

Free from all guilt, from all shame, from all accusation, from all lies, from law, from SIN!

I can rest, and relax, and hope, and have joy when the mess and muck pull at my heart (and comes out of my mouth), because my heart is tied by strings that bind...to Him who paid it all.

And don't think that I don't need to be reminded daily of this intention and truth. I do. Daily.

My self-focus is my problem. 

Everyone keeps saying: 'just do the next thing', yes, good. But  my problem is I focus on it, on me and how to deal with the 'next' thing. How to prepare for what is coming.  I don't enjoy the now---where God has me now! I don't stop---stop to play, stop to listen, stop to cuddle, stop to trust, because I rely on self to get to the next thing well, and crumble when I don't. All this pride run a muck in my heart!

So, RE-LAX, Trust.

I smile to write it because it is so real. The Freedom in Christ is so real. I am tasting it, it is good.

The RELAX takes the burden off. Much like Christian in his journey in Pilgrim's Progress. He still ran when it was gone...ran in freedom...but his pursuit wasn't done.

I have been meditating all month in Romans, and it has refreshed my soul fierce with its truths.

It is not an easy "RE-LAX", not an easy freedom, it was blood-bought.

My 'right' ness was blood bought!

The glories of Romans 8 followed by HIS Mercy explained in Romans 9-11 (via some very weighty theology) to come out on the other side with the miraculous way to live it--the implications and practicalities of Romans 12. 

Live it, live it, because you can!

I don't want to lecture to the kids, I want to live it to the kids. A life of trust. Of abiding in Mercies new…

They see me frazzled, they see me worn, they hear me harsh, they hear me rude.

But they also hear...and see....the brokenness, the tears, the forgiveness, the Love being patient....

Yes, it is a topsy turvey example they are getting in me...but it all goes back to ONE.

The Mary/Martha conundrum. The One thing. The One person Jesus, in whom I trust real, who delights to have me rest at his feet and really listen (TRUST/RE-LAX).

RE-LAX with me this year. This life. Day. By. Day.

Dresses and Boats

Behind our house is a hotspot for wedding pictures. Vans pull up and the bride and groom and entourage get out and set up shop. The girls love to watch them do this. Sophia got the good idea to 'play' this as well. One day they spent about 2 hours in the afternoon doing this. Sophia, Bella, and a best friend, YangYang, each took turns changing into a dress then all would go out and 'take pictures' in different places. In they would come to change and the next person would go out. Too funny. 

This was day two and the girls went out together. This is very near our house, like our back yard almost so it is close to come in and change.

 There is actual water running down those steps! 

We also received a package from Poppy and CC. They included my fave---peeps! You know the sugary marshmallows?! It also included a remote control boat, which Tobin instantly said: "it's for me, it's mine" all giddy like. We informed him politely that it was for our whole family! We couldn't test it out until after nap and we got some batteries. He woke up from his nap saying: 'it is for our whole family!"

 It wasn't super fast, but it did leave a wake.

The sun was bright.

we drove it until the batteries died. Thanks Poppy and CC for sending us all a cool toy.

The Girls in 'Onesies'

At the movies we ran into some friends and arranged a play date. I told the girls to speak Chinese if needed as this family's dad is Chinese and Mom is from Argentina, though their kids can speak some English. They watched a ballet video at their house and for the two days after, all the girls did was dress up in their leotards and 'perform' ballet. David started calling their leotards 'onesies like Gabrielle's' and Sophia and Bella immediately started urging me to put a pink 'onesie' on Gabrielle and take pictures. I obliged. It was too cute to pass up. Here are our baby girls in their pink 'onesies' and Tobin in the mix, because he is always in the mix.

 David would twirl and twirl  them around to their delight. I started telling the girls things like "I used to do this..." and "here is how you do this" and show them ballet positions. Then I would say things like "I used to be able to really do this and stretch like this." David just laughed and laughed at me....and made some good fun..." yeah, honey, like when you were eight". And then he said "I remember I used to be able to touch my toes all the way to my face....when I was on the changing table and my mom was changing my diaper". The kids got a big kick out of this.

 Beauties!

 Baby G is growing up fast. Incidentally, her 'onesie' says: "Girls fly too" and was a gift from Poppy the Pilot that each of our girls have worn!

Mama turns 37!

Feb 5:

I usually don't blog about my own birthday, but this one was sweet and memorable so here we go...

We started with my sleeping in a little, when I stumbled into the kitchen David was about to start making Maple syrup (he is our syrup maker and it is better than store bought, seriously). I said, No, no, let's just warm up the scones I had made two days prior! So we did. Yum. Happy Birthday to myself.

The kids thought it should have been a national holiday and were shocked when I said we would do a little school. By school I meant extended CC review and introduce our new subject for the day (Science fact). This could barely be called studious because we were singing and dancing practically the whole time, except for when I was explaining the 'two forms of energy'. They got this as best they could for their age and the Wylie Coyote video helped them see it, along with our dance for 'kinetic' and holding it all in for 'potential'. So much fun. We love CC!

And there actually were still remnants of THE national holiday with fireworks going off throughout the day. Every time we heard them I thanked the kiddos for paying that man or shop owner to set them off for my bday...and they would laugh and laugh.

 Gifts of M&Ms and cards came soon after breakfast. So sweet.

After our CC time, we made a cake. Then David let me go on my run before lunch, he wanted me to feel like the day was different. I am running 5k now, and getting faster (meaning I broke a 9 minute mile pace finally)....though the weight is still slow to come off.. .no worries since I am breastfeeding still (yeah, 4+ months) and eat pretty much whatever I want  (Bad, Bad)(About 15lbs to go if you are interested).

Over the Chinese New Year our family watched, in English, the movie Frozen. We loved it, good music, good message, funny. So when the theater here was going to show it we thought we would make it a family birthday outing (it came out that day!).

Yes, our entire family, Gabrielle included, went to the movie theater. This was Tobin's and Gabrielle's first time. Bella had been before but didn't love it. But since they all knew the movie (Tobin had watched a little of it), we thought it would be fine. And it was. 3D and all, Tobin actually sat there and wore the glasses, we all ate popcorn (don't think movie theater popcorn, no butter, but still good). About half way through David took Gabrielle out to try to nap and we finished up. It was a great outing and one we probably won't do again for like four years. 

After the movie we went to eat duck (my choice), then home for cake and ice cream. David searched all over town for ice cream and found NONE. Really. So we stopped by KFC on the way home and got their Flurry thing without oreo or strawberry stuff, just for the ice cream. Now that Gabrielle is not as picky or gassy about what I eat, I really wanted ice cream with my chocolate cake!

 I let the three eldest help me blow out the candles!

It was a great birthday! Thanks for all the birthday wishes from everyone.

Bella's Quotes

Sitting in a small village eating dinner, Bella leaned over and whispered something to me...I thought I heard her but wasn't sure:
"Why did you marry daddy?" and it wasn't a happy-go-lucky tell me the story of how you met and why you married, it was a concerned question.
"What?" I replied.
"Why did you marry daddy?" and with a sad pout that was purely genuine she said: "now I can't marry him."

And tonight, she laid awake worried about marriage it seemed. She called David back there and said: "Why do I have to leave?"
"What?! Honey, what do you mean?"
"Why do I have to leave when I get married?"
"Oh, honey, don't worry about that, you can stay as long as you like!"

Feb 1st: Another Village Visit

The grand finale of our Holiday visits was going to our current house helper's house in her village. She helped us a few years ago and is helping us part time right now. Her village is about twenty minutes away. We made our way out there in the morning and because there is a new highway going through we did not recognize the turn, but finally made it! 

Our kiddos had the most fun in this home because there were more animals, and more space, and more kids. 

Sophia discovered this table and I told her it was a sewing machine. Seeing her interest the mom started to teach her (us!). It was hard. I was afraid we were going to mess it up.

 They didn't care at all, they loved that she was interested. David had to translate what they were saying, they were not speaking Mandarin, which meant this was pure visual learning. It takes strong legs, Soph was using her left and they told her to switch, she actually did sew a few stitches to her delight.

Next Sophia wanted to help in the kitchen. Our helper, Ayi (Aunt), let her add wood to the fire with tongs. This is Ayi's daughter, also Sophia's age.

 This home and/or village seems to have more money than the previous two we visited. For various reasons, one of which could be that the government paid them for their land to build a highway through some of their fields. This actually was a bit of a fight, because they were paying bottom dollar of course. But still, home and village improvements abounded in this place.

Bella enjoyed the animals as did all the kids. They had 3 HUGE pigs, one would be slaughtered for a wedding next week. 

They also have a refrigerator!

Ayi's husband took (carried) our kiddos out to see their water buffalo.

 This was a highlight!

And of course there was some cartoon watching going on

Sophia kept helping out

 She did not want to leave this place... She was playing really well with Ayi's daughter and even learning some new language, she even realized the grammatical difference of the possessive, saying: 'oh, it goes on the end!' Ayi offered to bring her back in the afternoon, but we called it a day after staying about three hours. All of the kiddos did great, and while they don't love all the food, there are things they will always eat. David and I ate it up, Yummy!

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Horse! Ours was a blast, literally.

Chinese New Year's Day: Village Visit 2

It was great to be back in Ai Muan's home. David lived here for awhile learning language, it holds a special place in his heart. Since then we have had four kids, and Ai Muan, his teacher, got married and has a son. He now is a teacher along with his wife, they teach elsewhere but were home for the holiday. They are actually building a nice house in this village, it was great to see it!

 The kids had lots of fun even though they were very tired.

Gabrielle trooped through it all. I reminded David that this was the perfect stage to visit the village, she can't crawl and is very content.

Ai Muan and David. Ai Muan said: 'do you want to go out to the field and eat strawberries?' They laughed because this is what they did every day almost when David was learning language.

His wife was in the kitchen preparing the meal, I always try to help and they never let me. Because Ai Muan and his wife are teachers they speak Mandarin, but the rest of his family does not (not even his brother).

cooking lunch over the fire. 

More discussions in the kitchen....then he took us to his new house which is not yet done. We joked about which room would be ours. His village is right on the way to where we plant our Chinese Medicine, very convenient!

Chinese New Year's Day: Village Visit 1

We tried to sleep in some and mosey through the morning. We  had planned on heading to our friend's house in the village around 9:30 a.m. or so...we left a little later and it still worked out perfect. We stopped by the store and bought some gifts: a BIG bottle of cooking oil, some special snacks, and some soda.

Gabrielle, by the way, slept pretty well through New Year's Eve, and on night two, with still all the fireworks slept from her 10 p.m. feeding all the way to 7:45 a.m. Wow. Not consistent yet, though.

Here she is, meeting our friends...

 

 She is at a great age because she will go to anyone, and is a really happy baby.

But still, she seems to ask: 'who are you again?'

Lots of fireworks going off. See the smoke?

Sparklers...pretty tame. We did let Sophia hold Roman Candles too. She is what we call UN-afraid, which for us is a little scary.

Talking in the kitchen while they prepare the meal.

More and more villagers (in the valley anyway) are getting refrigerators.

Sophia climbed the ladder to the loft where they stored things and wanted to pretend she was Laura Ingalls.

 The mom took the kids over to play this game. It is gambling pretty much and she lost her 5 Kuai pretty quick. The kids wanted to keep playing, I had to remind them they were losing real money.

 We talked about it a bit and let them have one more go. They left after having doubled their money (after having lost it all to begin with, so really they were doubling their 2nd round of money), less than one U.S. dollar so don't worry!

After a delicious meal we headed home for naps and refreshment. We received a phone call in the midst of this about visiting another family in another village that afternoon. Because it was David's old language teacher and a close friend of our family, we said yes, of course!