Sept Highlight: Gabrielle Turned 5!

We can't believe it either, our youngest is five. Out of babyhood, out of toddlerhood. A full-fledged little girl!

She helped me make her cake. 

We gave family gifts in the morning. She also got a scooter!

She wanted a Dora party, which was so easy and fun!
The older girls really helped plan and execute.

We have watched so much Dora in Chinese the past ten years that it was super easy to do this! (And in our version Dora is teaching English with not great pronunciation)

Neighbors and friends joined us but because her kindergarten hadn't started yet, we did not invite school friends this year.

Pin the boot on Boots!

The crew had to do a few obstacles before finding Gabrielle's party.

 They had to pop balloons on a tree

And when they ran into 'Swiper' they had to say 'Swiper no Swiping'

Tobin was the perfect Swiper and he scooted around the yard in this box just like Swiper does.

They had to cross 'Troll Bridge' and answer a riddle to get across. Sophia explains.

Then they found the party!

One gift that I picked up during my medical trip to Thailand in early September was this disco type strobe light. 

 We lit the candles, and sang, and our baby is officially FIVE.

At five, Gabrielle is feisty and funny, a great (and trying sometimes) combo. She does great making friends with anyone, does not fear much at all, and tries to do most things on her own terms (no interest in bike riding at all, she can do it a little now but we are still working on it). She loves to help me in the kitchen and loves playing school with her siblings.

She is very bright and we just started her official K5 home school year with her in late October. She is doing great! She is a precious joy!

Sept Highlight: Back to Chinese School

Our kids have their Chinese School Exams Jan 16-17, but let's take a look back when the semester started...

We arrived from the states just a few days before day 1. 

Because they tore down half of Gabrielle's Kindergarten, her school started two weeks into September. 

Uniformed and ready!

Excited to see best friends and talk about the summer.

Since this was months ago, it was quite a blur. But this semester of Chinese school afforded us (and the kids) the opportunity to....

.....go deeper in friendships with kids and their parents

.....participate in sports days

.... get up in front of peers and teach a lesson (with others)

.....get up in front of peers and other teachers for observation while teaching a lesson

.....talk with our kids about bullying

.....have siblings stick up for siblings with bullies

.....confront bullies and have it end in friendship

.....get to know new teachers (usually they don't change teachers)

.....listen to our kids grow phenomenally in their ability to communicate orally and written in this language. (Sophia wrote a Chinese essay that made us cry, Isabella wrote one that made us laugh)

.....participate in school club and team soccer

.....earthquake drills

.....'bad guy' drills (the kids said this was like out of a movie, SWAT, pretend bad guys, guards 'shot' and then watching the 'bad guys' with swords and knives get taken down by SWAT.......what? seriously.)

Navigating the Chinese School system and the way it all works with culture clashes, home school, etc is still strenuous for our family but so far we wouldn't trade it. The kids love it. They don't love all of it, and they also love being home, but they certainly enjoy the friendships and activities and the ability to mesh well here with language and culture. And though sometimes we doubt whether it is the best environment for them, we have really felt God's guidance and wisdom in every tough issue we've had to face (and there have been so many!). 

Sept 2018 Highlight: LiuBo Comes to Visit

Our dear friend, Cheryl, that went to be with Jesus last year, arranged with us before her death for her oldest daughter to return to China and revisit friends, their old home, and reconnect with people. 

LiuBo meshed with our fam perfectly for those few weeks and our kids loved having an older sister!

We loved talking through things with her, taking her to all her old stomping grounds, knocking on her old house door and going in, and giving her time to go out with friends at night and stay over with a Dutch family that she was really close to years ago. 

One indispensable thing LiuBo taught our kids were the algorithms for conquering the rubix cube, or parts of it anyway.

She remembered and loved the food!

 She was very surprised at how our town has grown so much, especially the small waterpark.

Our fave local dessert PaoLuDa.

And breakfast in the market.

LiuBo was  a trooper, especially as I had to leave unexpectedly her first weekend here for some medical tests.

We are excited to see what God will do with LiuBo as she graduates and heads to college. We certainly miss her!

Summer Snapshots 2018

 Our July and August in the States was another highlight of our last year. 

I will not do a gazillion posts with details, in fact I will just post these few pics...(don't worry fam, I am starting my shutterfly book soon).

July 4th!
We loved being right next door to Poppy and CC.

Cousin love and beach fun. Our kids had a blast hanging with Ryan and Seth! The only one left in swim floaties is Gabrielle, who did learn to swim by the end of the summer.

 Our beach week with the Coker/Craft Crew was another one for the books.

Tobin likes that in the States the boy to girl ratio for him with cousins evens up!

Sunshine+water+family=abundant blessings

Asa and Gabrielle were hilarious fast friends. I wish I could capture all the cuteness of their conversations.

Edisto Island, SC....This house on the water with the Williams, Granddaddy, Aunt Beth, and Uncle Herschel was an amazing week. It was so memorable that Sophia decided for her year's writing curriculum to use her Edisto vacation as the topic of her magazine.

The sunsets!

Kids getting older.....     :(

This year we did a weekend trip to Black Mountain and surrounding Lynville Falls, etc with Granddaddy Johnson and Uncle Herschel. 

 Mount Mitchell peak!

Lynville Falls. We LOVED this weekend away in quaint Black Mountain and experiencing God's creation so fully with family!

Another special event of our summer: Poppy and CC's 50th wedding anniversary!
They are an amazing example of sacrificial love and friendship in marriage, we loved celebrating with them on a date night out with Laura and Lee too!

 (my mouth is watering over that steak we ate as I look at this pic)


On the Riverfront in Wilmington.
David and I continue to grow as a married couple (going on 16 years) through all of the adventures given us!

Traveling a lot, transition, lots of community, little community, health concerns, highlights, lowlights of life...This time in the States was one of the best for our marriage and family, and it has not always been so smooth! We were able to stay in the Word more consistently, have space while also jam-packed fun. Our time was short and we said 'no' to a lot. This helped make all the 'yes' adventures more enjoyable and focused.
Can't wait till next time!

I'm Here.

Summer in the U.S.A., Fourth of July. 

This has been my longest break from blogging since its inception ten years ago.
I hadn't quite planned on the break, but once I put it down, picking it back up became harder than I thought.

Not because I don't have much to say, I am sure I have too much to say.
But because the process of processing and capturing and writing (things I LOVE), is hard work. And for the past almost 6 months my energies have rightfully gone elsewhere and is assuredly too much to share in detail here.

But if for no one else, I know this outlet and process helps me immensely. I gain perspective, I laugh at myself, I consider circumstances and reactions and I try to tell our story. So bear with me as I keep on in the telling. I have no idea how it will look, sound, etc. but it will be me. I'm Here.

Camp Buddy 2018

Camp was once again fabulous. Much smaller, only about 50 campers which made things a little less chaotic. 

Isabella did wonderful. I was a little worried the first night, she is our more timid and sensitive child and she knows it. But she and her roommate had a blast. 

When I asked her about her night she said they told each other stories and stayed up until past midnight. She also confessed she bought coke in the canteen. No problem, I am not here to regulate!

Canteen was the best it has been in years, nerd ropes, dr.pepper, spree, chocolate, pretzels, nutter butters, yum and yum.

I texted some with David, and Tobin wanted to see a pic of Sophia, so I interrupted her team time to grab a shot.


Seeing great friends was very refreshing for me. This is one of my favorite parts, hanging out with people that live all over SE Asia and ones who know the ins and outs of me. And watching them pour into these kids, our kids, with such intentionality was a blessing.

One of my bffs, and usually my running and vacation buddy. I helped her by buying the green shirt for her!

Highschoolers! I paired up with another lady to spend time with them in the word and late at night. Working with high-schoolers every year now continues to cultivate dependence on the Lord and show me how precious this age is!

'Underground' was another night time activity that everyone enjoyed. It involves finding 'real' groups, jail time, and Roman soldiers this time around.

I was team yellow, Sophia was Green, Isabella Blue. And still not one of our teams won! Red was strong throughout. Team time is a spread of ages coming together to encourage, get to know each other and do some really fun recreation time competitions. This year these involved amazingly difficult (wet shirt, inner tube, and scuba flippers while running) relays, human Foosball, uphill soapy slip-in-slide, and airplane crash survival.

The facilities have a great pool. I did life guard a few times.

Isabella and her roomie. This was dance night so they dressed up.

The dance is the Virginia Reel and a few other line dances which all take a bit of skill to learn.
This is one event I really love: we laugh at each other and dance and learn and laugh some more. Of course the 9 year olds are grossed out by the opposite sex at this point. But they all end up enjoying it in the end.

One of Sophia's roomies and long-time friends. I didn't get a picture of her other roommate. All three got along great and are good friends.

One of my team members! Go Team Yellow! 

Who we are ANCHORED in Who HE is....the theme.
A great week of unpacking this.

Last day pics!

There are actually a thousand plus pics I have not sifted through that the photographers took...for another day.

Another fun Highlight was the talent show. Sophia played the piano, while Isabella and a friend did some gymnastics feats like one-handed cartwheels and back walk overs. They did great! The counselors at the very end did a 3 minute 'Evolution of Dance through the ages' and it was hilarious. My friend and I danced the 90s! Since that is my era, it wasn't too hard :).

Each year at camp God teaches me new things in parenting and life. The first year it was the 'chill out and breathe deep' the long haul of parenting will be just fine. The second year it was the 'freak out', these kids need secure love, belonging and affection. This year??? A combo of all of that. I see a desperate need for these awesome, amazing teenagers to have real weekly in-your-face discipleship. And some of them asked for that. All week we talked about being Anchored in HIM and how it is a real daily relationship. But navigating what that looks like, how to cultivate those affections for God and his word is hard for adults, much less folks still figuring out their place in His Story.

The study leader and I also made ourselves vulnerable to these girls with our own weaknesses, and how we fight at times for joy in our Savior, and daily seek to know Him--sometimes even that is a battle of the soul. No one is immune or alone in it, we reminded. And in all the deep talk, we giggled. A lot. These girls made me belly laugh, and they took us in as 40-year-old somethings trying to relate and love them well. They were honest: 'No one says that anymore Aunt Lorraine', they were real, they were hilarious, and I can't wait to see what God will do in each of their lives.

We reminded them and ourselves that amid the struggles discussed, the anxiety of the unknown for our futures, cultivating trust and contentment in Christ and His deep love for them (and us) solves every problem. It does not remove the problem. But his power and love and life and death and resurrection and his advocating for us now does indeed solve it all and bring peace.

Newbie going to Camp!

Camp Buddy is something Sophia looks forward to every year, and Isabella has been anticipating for many years now. This was Sophia's third year. You have to be 9 years old or finished with third grade. Having heard about all the fun for two years now, Isabella was raring to go. I think she was most looking forward to the canteen (lots of good American candy and treats).

This camp is where a bunch of ex-pats living in SE Asia come together. These are the kids' friends that that they see once a year and connect with because they have a common lifestyle. At camp these connections become deeper as they room together, have obnoxious fun together, stay up way too late, compete together, and dig into the word together. 

The rainy season in our town has been incredible this year. almost non-stop rain, wreaking havoc on mountain areas and on the flight schedule. There were some days airplanes didn't land at all. Having booked our tickets awhile ago, I had a real conundrum, I knew we would be delayed, miss our connection and therefore miss almost 2 of the 4 days of camp. We worked hard with our travel agent to rearrange and finally ended up leaving 2 days earlier than scheduled (for a price of course). But it was worth it! And because our girls had worked hard at teaching English we knew it was in the budget. 

This was actually stressful and exciting all at the same time....

we packed light and didn't check a bag on the way out...

Look at those smooth travelers! Isabella wanted me to include that not one second after I took this picture her suitcase caught her shoe and she fell flat.... we all had a good belly laugh (after I made sure she was okay).

And of course, it was raining. At the airport in our town we sat, for nearly 6 hours. We could have gone home, but there were flights coming in, and using the leverage that we had an early international flight in the morning, I begged the attendants to try to get us on another flight. By about 9 pm, 45 minutes before our original flight arrived, we were put on another flight.

These girls were troopers, here was dinner, very yummy Ramen noodles, served on a convenient suitcase tabletop.

McDonalds late dinner and breakfast. Soccer themed for the world cup, their buns and hashbrowns looked like soccer balls.

We met up with and were waiting for some friends. The much promised Birthday Starbucks. Yes, this was Isabella's actual birthday. I promised decaf coffee!

After settling in our guest house, we took our friend's son with us to a mall to play while they had medical appointments. The mall was disappointing, but these kiddos made this kiddy play place work for them....they had so much fun, I had to peel them away!

We went back to the guest house to meet up with other great friends, some of whom we had not seen in three years We had a great reunion pizza party. The next day was camp!!!