Bella as a bride

 Sophia dressed up Bella a little, gave her some flowers. laid down a blanket and said she was getting married. Bella loved it.

 She did tell me she was marrying Tobin. Hmm....

Quick Takes, or not so quick

My consistent blogging life may be over as we know it. We shall see. Things are busy, busy, and any free moment has me not wanting to be on the computer. Here are some goings ons in these parts, which I hope to actually blog about in picture/detail some time soon.

1. Homeschool: going well, We are in week 7 of actual schooling, week 5 of Classical conversations, and we are hanging steady.

2. Chinese school: Bella still cries, but really loves it. Both girls have a big performance/shin dig, this week, lots of dancing, and competition will be involved. I just got a text from her teacher telling me to put make up on her with her performance clothes! They love putting LOTs of make up on for performances, something we have yet to partake in.

3. Sophia did get hit and water poured on her and her snack thrown out the window, all by the same little guy. When I walked up to pick her up, ten kids ran up to me to tell me the news. Then the room cleared, I talked with Sophia about it and all the students waited for me to blast the guy. When I looked at him all I did was feel sorry for him. He acts out like this a lot apparently and Sophia is not singled out in his mischief. I told Soph we needed to forgive him, pray for him, and move on. This was the only time I have ever heard her say: 'I don't want to come back here.' And I knew she was speaking from emotion (when I found her she was already playing and having fun again). She too still really enjoys going to school, in spite of 'mean boys'.

4. Thanksgiving was a blast. Some very good friends of ours came to visit, we used 3 toaster ovens and got all of our stuff cooked and eaten! We stayed up way too late talking, but it was SO good to visit with them!

5. On Saturday after Thanksgiving, three city blocks had no power from 8 am. until midnight. SO glad this wasn't while we were trying to cook! Then when it came back on, we discovered some serious faulty wiring in our house. You would think it was because of our over use of appliances (and so many), but that is not it. Right now we are still figuring out what to do. Workers will come again tomorrow to figure it out if we need to rewire the whole house (electricity is 'leaking' from somewhere).

6. And while there are little (or big) things needing to be fixed and done around the house, we are still in love with the place and feel extremely blessed. (the girls played in the yard after home school today for a whole hour+ without needing my help!)

Field trip!

My camera (iphone in this case) said these pics were taken on Nov 2. This month is a fog already and it is almost over. The girls both had school field trips, on the same day, starting in two different places at the same time and ending in about the same place. Parents were invited to go with Sophia's class, not invited to go with Bella's class. So, I went with Sophia's class for half of it, and then ran some errands and then went and picked them both up. Sophia's class started out visiting this new elementary school, and then they walked two big city blocks to the big square, which was where I had previously dropped off Bella. 

The elementary school was huge! Her teacher was surprised I found it all by myself, since she said other parents had trouble. (I had been by there before and then asked Bella's teacher to remind me where it was!).

Sophia holding hands with her line partner.

Inside the big gym.

I wasn't quite sure of the point of the field trip. Yes, this class is going on to first grade next year (most of them), but most will not go to this school, it is way across town from where most of these students live.

 Bella's class, meanwhile, walked around and played some games. All the kids were given chicken legs and some milk, which our girls ate right up!

 Bella was so excited about this and had fun!

And while she does loves school and her teachers, she is back to crying every day at drop off.

A Tobin post: 19 months old

 I know I can get this to work

 Really, just hang on a second...

 It worked a minute ago...

 See I told you.

 Who you doubtin' now?

Tobin is a chunk and a half. Our hefty, blue-eyed boy. 

Here is what he is up to these days:

• so boy! He shovels rice in with his fists, he loves to play in toilet water (gross), and loves to get into all the 'off limits' things to him. 
• He is pushing the limits these days, getting frustrated, throwing dramatic tantrums on the floor as he buries his head in his hands. 
• He is everywhere and all at one time, but can sit still and be occupied with the girls' doll house for 20 minutes or more at a time. (he took the windows off the door, then put the small dowels that hold it together back in, I laughed, so like his father, the engineer). 
• He loves milk and yogurt, rice and fruit. And Oreos, apparently. For some reason I was out during his morning snack and that is what our helper gave him. We about died. Hilarious. We told her we never give such sweet things for a snack. She did say that the girls get sweets, which they do, it is true, but not too much. 
• Tobin is running everywhere, can do steps with a railing. Loves to slide. Loves dogs, loves water in his face, loves to get saline squirted up his nose (I kid you not, he says 'nose, nose' and wants more).
• While our girls were real talkers early, Tobin is still right on target, though not quite as fluid as them. He has a ton of new words in both languages. Our helper is so intentional about speaking clearly and repeating so much. His Chinese may be better than his English. He does surprise us with real clear speech every now and then. His new word today was the Chinese word for 'teeth' and he can point to where they are too. The way he says 'banana' is hilarious, sticking his tongue out and saying 'nana'. 
• I don't know how much he weighs, or how tall he is at the moment. He does have teeth. Not sure how many. I do know he is almost two and is the spark in our family, adored by all.

Sunshine and Rain

 Our helper and I took the kids to a park while David was away. It happened to be a sunshiny day.

Actually most days are very bright and the weather quite wonderful.

Speaking of our helper, who is amazing (like a daughter/little sis) and such a blessing to us, here she is sporting my hat on her head and my child on her back! She decided to take him to the market so I could do some home school prep for 30 minutes.


And then the rains came a few days later. For days. So the kids discovered new ways to play: like under the bed. All three are under there you just can't see them. They pretend the bed is a boat, and that is where you sleep. They lug all their kitchen stuff under there. It is pretty fun to watch.

And they dressed up their panda bears, with fake hair, scarves, shoes and all.

Rainy day # 3 or 4, I lost count. Things got hairy as they started sliding around the house and pulling each other on blankets. I confess, I kinda showed them how to do it. 

Yes, I know Tobin's hair is getting long. Time for a cut. Our helper reminds us everyday. Then I pulled out a pic of David when he was little with uncut long curls. She laughed and said, of course people thought he was girl!

And finally they geared up in galoshes and jackets and splashed in the mud puddles. 

 Since it didn't seem like there was an end in sight for the rain, I relented.

Get Outside

On one particular day when David was away, the kids decided to act less than stellar (that is an understatement to be sure). My little world was chaotic and my heart was in a frustrated mess. As soon as I dropped the girls off at school I knew I needed some time with Tobin and that I needed to get out of my tunnel visioned world. So...

I decided to explore the market in our new neighborhood. I had been before, but I decided to explore. To look people in the eye. To smile. To take pictures. To find out what things were if I didn't know, and to talk to Tobin too as I went. 

I pushed him in the stroller and he loved it. And I loved trying to capture nuances of daily life in and around the market and our new street.

someone had just bought a chicken and put it on their moto.

Tobin thought it hysterical.

This is not a strange sight here. Anything and everything, big, small, can go on your shoulder on a scooter, this long pole, for example. 

I had walked down to the market entrance and turned back to look up the street. Our apartment complex is on the right.

This is looking into the market through a store. 

roasted duck. 

various hot peppers, dried.

Hot pepper powder, and in different forms.

The market. The tiled floors and concrete kiosks are new to our local markets the past few years.

Tofu. The moldy kind. They call this 'stinky tofu' and is a common snack, fried up, it really stinks. This is one smell that my prego body couldn't handle very well.

This lady sells her wares (fish), outside the back door of the market.

The food court.

 Not kidding, this area is where market goers get their breakfast of noodles, etc.

 It smelled delicious, I almost stopped and got myself some, but since Tobin was with me, I opted out.

Roasted Chestnuts. Lately we see 'chestnuts roasting on open fires' all around us. 

And, as God promises, that did the trick. My little jaunt to the market, seeing into faces, my neighbors' faces, helped The Word to whisper in and soften my bound up heart. He unwound the frustration, and I laid it down. Daily work of sanctification.

October in Asia: Singapore and Bali

For David's birthday he took a trip to Singapore and Bali. Just kidding. The trip just happened to coincide with his 35th year mark. It was a whirlwind. Being the loving hubby that he is, he did some crazy scheduling, sleeping in the Singapore airport, arriving at crazy hours, to only be gone from us for less than a week!

He stopped in Singapore (he had to go via some route, this was his best option), and had some hours to visit a dear friend of ours. David was so encouraged by his time with S. He is a humble servant who has suffered much and has counted it all joy. He is one of my spiritual heroes. This was the highlight of David's trip. I was so glad they were able to spend time together.

David was a bit disappointed by Bali itself but still enjoyed a good calzone on his birthday (and apparently he told no one he was with, so he got zero bday wishes)

 Things on the homefront were not as calm and peaceful as Bali appears in these pics. I think because I had no internet for the 5 days he was gone and I was going non-stop the whole time, dealing with little tempers, and my own, the days seemed so long. I had no chance to debrief at night with him and be assured that mercies were coming new to me the next day. But they did always come.