6.5 months old and pure cuteness.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
ni hao (hello)
I got in a Taxi yesterday and the driver said slowly with a smile: 'ni hao.' I thought this very odd, they never do that. I smiled back and determined I must know her. We talked a little bit and I asked her if she drove my friends and me around not that long ago (I confess I do not remember faces of taxi drivers very well). "yes, from here (and she pointed, and you all could not speak Chinese." and then it dawned on her. .."you have studied for one month and your Chinese is so good????!!!!" I laughed and laughed. "no, I could speak Chinese then." She was more puzzled, "why didn't you use it???" And I explained the whole scavenger hunt game, where I was not allowed to help them find their way. We both had a good laugh. She was much friendlier this time, when she knew where she was going. all she kept saying last time (not knowing I could understand), was "I don't know where you want to go, I don't know where you want to go..."
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
New Year
This new year we again refocus, resolve, and re-whatever else to get us in a good frame of mind to really live well by loving God more and loving others better. We will look again at our family mission statement and aim to live it out better than we did last year. This week the changes really started shaping up, nothing too major, certain restrictions on computer use (blog reading, blog posting), restrictions on TV watching (we don't watch much anyway), study more language, exercise more, etc. You know the routine. These 'restrictions' or 'parameters' have really been freeing not restrictive, and we have already been more productive and well rested, yes those two can go together.
The biggest change will be our diet. We have dappled with becoming vegetarian before (after not feeling great about our eating habits and after reading Eat To Live). We have done lower cholesterol, lower sodium diets, and we have been half-successful (read: failed). Now we are aiming to go to a whole foods plant based diet, for the long haul. I will post more about what this means later, but it will be a process, a slower move into it, until I study up on how to get all the nutrients we need from food that is not meat or dairy (except for Sophia who will still do some dairy). In our context we cannot go completely meatless, but at home we can. So, the search is on for whole grains...quite hard here. We will let you know how it goes. For great reasons why to do this read: The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health. (thanks Karyn for the intro to this that just solidified all our previous inklings to go this route)
Our theme this year could be summed up in one word: health: spiritual health (deeper study and application of the Word), Marriage health (deeper study of one another and how to serve each other better), family health (deeper study and application of how to balance family life), and body health (just discussed). Here is to a healthy 2010! Bless you in yours!
The biggest change will be our diet. We have dappled with becoming vegetarian before (after not feeling great about our eating habits and after reading Eat To Live). We have done lower cholesterol, lower sodium diets, and we have been half-successful (read: failed). Now we are aiming to go to a whole foods plant based diet, for the long haul. I will post more about what this means later, but it will be a process, a slower move into it, until I study up on how to get all the nutrients we need from food that is not meat or dairy (except for Sophia who will still do some dairy). In our context we cannot go completely meatless, but at home we can. So, the search is on for whole grains...quite hard here. We will let you know how it goes. For great reasons why to do this read: The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health. (thanks Karyn for the intro to this that just solidified all our previous inklings to go this route)
Our theme this year could be summed up in one word: health: spiritual health (deeper study and application of the Word), Marriage health (deeper study of one another and how to serve each other better), family health (deeper study and application of how to balance family life), and body health (just discussed). Here is to a healthy 2010! Bless you in yours!
Monday, January 4, 2010
75 foot buzzer beater
Laura and Lee called, talking prep for their trip to see us (We are SO excited), they proceeded to tell me about the State (NC) vs. Florida Basketball game in which Florida, in Overtime, won with a 75 foot shot at the buzzer. Of course I had to waste five minutes and watch it. Wow. They were not as elated. As I relayed the story to David (in Chinese so our helper could hear and be amazed as well), he tried to stop me half way through saying "don't even say it, I know how it is going to end." I happily didn't listen and finished my story, to which he said, "doesn't it just get old?" (the winning). My reply: "uh, no."
He did want me to blog about our dryer. So blogworthy. It was fixed, parts and labor, for $12.00. The Haier brand service was incredible. They called and told us when they were coming, actually said they could come earlier, had to leave and order the part. The next morning it was finished. We could hardly tell they were in our house. These kind of projects on the daddy do list make husbands in this country look real good!
He did want me to blog about our dryer. So blogworthy. It was fixed, parts and labor, for $12.00. The Haier brand service was incredible. They called and told us when they were coming, actually said they could come earlier, had to leave and order the part. The next morning it was finished. We could hardly tell they were in our house. These kind of projects on the daddy do list make husbands in this country look real good!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Sophia at 30 months
Sophia has been the conversationalist for a while now. She tells great stories that don't make much sense to us, but she has great conviction as she tells them. She can tell a good lie as well, we are working on that.
a small taste:
a small taste:
Me: "Sophia, say ' I will try to listen and obey better'"
Her: "I will try to listen and obey better…but not right now"
-------------------
S: I don't like to….
Me: Like to what?
S: I don’t' like to…
Me: You don't like to listen and obey?
S: No.
--------------------
S: You hurt my feelings.
Me: I hurt your feelings?
S: Yes.
Me: How?
S: By saying no to me.
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(when I let her put a song on the piano and get down and dance, she would switch the button press play and then say these phrases after each song started)
This is about folding clothes...
This is about going to chiang mai...
This is about going to china, here...
This is about amazing grace...
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When I get bigger I can fly by myself, I will fei (fly, in Chinese) like the birds. When Isabella gets bigger she can fly by myself like me. When she is tall like me.
--------------------
I want to go to Chiang Mai to see big Caleb.
--------------------
Oh look it’s a cross. Jesus died on a cross.
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Who is heaben and nature? (after listening to Joy to the World the first few times, and the line: 'let heaven and nature sing)
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I am fixing my hair actually.
-------------------
I hope you feel better daddy. (after his dreaded food poisoning incident)
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I can go down the steps by myself because I am bigger now. I am fourteen.
Xiao Chen's house
We went to Xiao Chen's house (Sophia's tutor) on Saturday for some fun. We helped make dumplings, Sophia fed fish, and David and XC's husband talked about acupuncture, among other interesting things. Always on topic is parenting. They are not parents yet, but hope to be soon. She has seen our parenting methods at work and we always talk about it, they love that I can put Bella in her crib, walk out of the room and let her sleep. She may cry for a few minutes, but she will sleep, this is pretty much unheard of here (letting a baby cry). She has also witnessed the disciplining of Sophia, which she thinks is good too (surprised me that she did).
can you pick out the ones Sophia did?
chatting over tea
can you pick out the ones Sophia did?
chatting over tea
New Years Eve
On New Years Eve we had a big dinner with an American friend, went downstairs to the big 50 year celebration, then came back up for a movie.
The menu:
--Sonny's BBQ ribs (we bought already cooked ribs from our favorite restaurant, threw them in the crockpot and doused them with Sonny's sweet sauce---YUM, thanks TCC for the goods)
--green bean casserole
--garlic mashed potatoes
--rolls
The Dessert:
Home made vanilla ice cream,(Justin, the friend just mentioned, happens to be a mad ice cream maker). It was perhaps the best I have ever had. He also made a pudding brownie thing. Ohhh the scrumptous calories consumed.
The Movie:
The Blind Side. I had never heard of it, but it was really really good. Totally recommend it. True story, football, funny, triumphant.
The celebration:
Earlier in the day David picked up our tickets/credentials to get us good seats. We decided to have our helper stay in with Bella at her bed time (7:30) while we checked out the celebration and then we would switch. We took Sophia with us, letting her stay up way past her bedtime. We stayed out until 9:15 p.m. or so, leaving the festivities an hour early.
every person with a seat got a bottle of water and these flashlight wands. Sophia LOVED this.
and so did this gege, who apparently confiscated three
Here is another gege from the 'hood, he is supersweet, and over a year older than Sophia, he goes to school now, so they don't see each other often.
The wands at work
flowers and fireworks and dancing
it really was quite a scene. Too bad we missed the hip-hop/ breakdancing performance (we saw them practicing), it included a michael jackson song.
I vowed earlier in the week I would not stay up until midnight. But the festivities were so good we stayed longer than anticipated, and the movie was so good I couldn't just quit, and the dessert was so good, I couldn't just not eat it. There you have it. We went to bed around 1 a.m. or so. And everyone slept until past 8. Unbelievable.
The menu:
--Sonny's BBQ ribs (we bought already cooked ribs from our favorite restaurant, threw them in the crockpot and doused them with Sonny's sweet sauce---YUM, thanks TCC for the goods)
--green bean casserole
--garlic mashed potatoes
--rolls
The Dessert:
Home made vanilla ice cream,(Justin, the friend just mentioned, happens to be a mad ice cream maker). It was perhaps the best I have ever had. He also made a pudding brownie thing. Ohhh the scrumptous calories consumed.
The Movie:
The Blind Side. I had never heard of it, but it was really really good. Totally recommend it. True story, football, funny, triumphant.
The celebration:
Earlier in the day David picked up our tickets/credentials to get us good seats. We decided to have our helper stay in with Bella at her bed time (7:30) while we checked out the celebration and then we would switch. We took Sophia with us, letting her stay up way past her bedtime. We stayed out until 9:15 p.m. or so, leaving the festivities an hour early.
every person with a seat got a bottle of water and these flashlight wands. Sophia LOVED this.
and so did this gege, who apparently confiscated three
Here is another gege from the 'hood, he is supersweet, and over a year older than Sophia, he goes to school now, so they don't see each other often.
The wands at work
flowers and fireworks and dancing
it really was quite a scene. Too bad we missed the hip-hop/ breakdancing performance (we saw them practicing), it included a michael jackson song.
I vowed earlier in the week I would not stay up until midnight. But the festivities were so good we stayed longer than anticipated, and the movie was so good I couldn't just quit, and the dessert was so good, I couldn't just not eat it. There you have it. We went to bed around 1 a.m. or so. And everyone slept until past 8. Unbelievable.
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