Meet 'The CRAZEES'

Bella and Sophia got dressed up in costume and were acting hilarious...like deceptive old ladies trying to trick Tobin. Sophia was using the sly voice, and Bella the grin with poison juice in hand. Tobin is not a sucker but was willing to play along. Check out the expressions of this little impromptu play they put on for me that I had to recapture on film:

"Ohh....don't be shy little boy...drink some juice"

 Yes, Bella is wearing a crib sheet. Sophia her school uniform, wig, and arrow pouch.

What did that juice do!!! The EYEs.

Meet the CRAZEES. Gabrielle deserves a show all her own for her shenanigans, she will fit right in soon....

Just a day...

There is no real 'normal' day, though we have a flow...

but lately, about 1x/week the schedule flip flops in some way. Either the three older all attend school in the morning, so I homeschool them together in the afternoon, or it is Sophia's day to help clean at school so she has to go morning and afternoon so I do core with her in the middle of the day...

Flex is needed, but as long as we are consistent in most things I try not to fret...

some snapshots...

Three littles at home one morning playing so well together:

Dressed up once more, an Indian Princess maybe?

I had all three working/doing school and each were diligent (for a few minutes anyway), it was actually quiet. I interrupted David at work (home office), something I try NOT to do...and told him to come take a look at our magnificent homeschool going on. Please read the sarcasm here, This was a rare moment.

Tobin is tracing some numbers from a book Bella has already done. How bad is that? "just trace over her pencil marks!" and he did.

Bella you only need to do one lesson....and then she went to the end of her Singapore math book (about 2 lessons and two Reviews, or ten pages later). We are actually in the middle of Right Start Level B which I love, but I have supplemented with some singapore and will transition to that and Miquon when we finish Right Start.

The Coke Zero was mine, not hers. David has quit coffee and Coke, WOW. Not me.

Sophia, doing Level 3 of Phonics Road, which is quite a bit more work, and entirely in cursive! These next 8 weeks for grammer is looking up all her spelling words for their parts of speech. Oh my. We don't do it all actually, (42 words a day) and we talk through a lot of them without looking them up. She is a good student, though!

 While all that is going on...Gabby Shabby is eating some snacks

And that's a day folks.

That's where the Joy is...

We have had a rough few weeks. There were days last week where I literally got out of bed and ran to the word...I needed hope, I needed love, I needed the reality of something better than my restlessness in a broken, broken world.

And a few days after that I just thought: I really don't feel joyful. And immediately HIS word came into my mind: That is because: "Lorraine, in MY presence is FULLNESS of Joy"....
That's where the joy is...
I know it all sounds abstract. But I love how God made us these emotional, physical beings able to process and wrestle and understand PRESENCE. What in the world does it mean, in HIS presence is fullness of joy?

It means, in the very least, that Joy is not at all found in the places I was looking for it: obedient kids, lists checked off, reconciled relationships, justice here and now....no no no...His presence, His love, His tender grace is the joy to be had...

Our read aloud book happens to be "Little Pilgrims Progress"...and Christian's longing to be with the King really challenged me...knowing that real love and pure delight awaited him, and not really knowing what it would be like but trusting that the struggle to get there was worth it.

A dear friend/mentor also wrote this last week:

"Stay courageous. You will suffer. Here, there, wherever. What matters is how you suffer.

Stay Joyful. You will celebrate. Here, there, wherever. What matters is why you celebrate."

Philippians 4:11-13.

And then I just read this from Jon Bloom: "The Book will keep you sane, because the Book tells you what’s real. What you perceive with your senses, how you interpret your perceptions, and how your emotions respond are unreliable indicators of reality. They will frequently not tell you the truth. And when they do, their reports will often be faulty because they are based on a very thin slice of reality. They can’t tell you the big picture. You need to know what God says is true and stand there."

I love this. My senses and emotions are telling me to wallow a while longer, His word is telling me to fight for joy. Seek and ye shall find,  Trust in Him with all...He will make your paths straight....He is my Shepherd, I shall not want for anything...Love keeps no records of wrongs....we have an enduring city.....In His presence is fullness of joy...and on and on it goes to give me reality, a much better one than what I perceive at times!

Children's Day Adventure

June 1st is Children's Day here in China. Tobin's class of smaller kids had an event the week prior that we did not participate in. It involved every evening practice and Saturday all morning. We just did not have the time for it. Next year, buddy. 

We did give the kids some gifts the Saturday prior, and made it a little celebration. We had no idea what Sophia's school was going to do and Sunday night she went to bed disappointed. But around 10:00 p.m. we got a text saying they were doing a 'charity bazaar', I sent her on with some money and a gift to take...

Bella's class had a meeting the week before. One I did not attend. But she has the best teacher in the world who is quite laid back in some areas and I am one of them. She tells me in about 2 sentences what would take up an hour at a meeting. I therefore signed up to bring a fruit tray on Monday morning for the event.

And an event it was. In America I hear of 'Mommy wars' and outdoing the other in having over-the-top birthday parties, etc. Well, here in this domain, it was all about the beauty of the fruit tray. And I will say, after living in Asia this long, they absolutely do it right when it comes to presentation: landscaping, mixing the right colors in foods, decorating cakes....and fruit trays!!!

Let's take a look. Our helper came in early to help with mine:

I thought it was pretty good until I walked into Bella's classroom that morning:

This was 'ours':

Look at these:

Cherry tomatoes as Tulips:

Niiiicely done apple carvings and orange peels:

 
The event was each of the Da Ban and zhong ban classes having some kind of 'station' or game. Then you go get fake money to spend at each place. This was a child's dream! Some classes had costumes, some had performances. Some acted as guards/police. Bella's class had the best 'station' and everyone knew it because it was all food!

I forgot to mention that I baked banana bread and did not expect people to touch it, but it got eaten up. One mom laughed and said it sold well. She wanted me to teach her how to make it. I admitted that I have an oven, but come on over and I will teach whoever wants to learn.

Those are not my cupcakes, They look good..but probably don't taste as good as they look, which happens a lot in bakeries around here.

Bella's teacher is giving options, asking the kids who wants to sell different things or man the 'cash register'. Bella said she wanted to buy things :).

This whole thing was very well done:

Another class had a smoothie station/restaurant

I had some blender envy:

The cash register:

Bella's very best friend at school:

what you wear when you serve smoothies:

More fruit tray displays, love the dragon fruit hair:

And this was over-the-top indeed: Beautiful!!!

These cute little animals were fun:

Bella bypassed all the fruit and sweets and went straight for the sushi bar, it did look good (she is our all things Asian eater)

These two real police officers were packing heat, something we don't see much of. This was great, the class of boys walking around on guard.

Tobin's class came down to look around, but most of the smallest classes did not participate:

Does he look a little out of place? He doesn't know it so don't tell him!

This proved to be a fun time and I was glad we participated. After Bella devoured her sushi we decided to go the Korean restaurant that night for more, this is where David and I often go on our dates. The kids did not love it this time.

Happy Children's Day. Bella and I need to go practice our dance for her graduation!!!

Sofa Lofa Almost 8

Sophia Grace. What a young Lady. 

This is her new school uniform. 

She is turning 8, going into third grade this fall and growing up way too fast. 

Sometimes when we are talking to her it feels like she is 16 (and this is usually not a good discussion), and her ability to analyze over things reminds us of ourselves. 

She hasn't had the smoothest school semester but still loves it. I consider her super brave in this endeavor and tell her so. I LOVE our rides to school in the morning. We chit chat and I always pray a blessing over her. 

We feel that God is really working on her heart in a good and painful way these days. 

Sophia loves to play school, loves to read, loves to listen to a good story, loves to draw, loves horses, princesses, planning and organizing. Some of the things she has rigged up really shows me her engineering spirit. 

She loves to be with people and stand up for justice. She also really wants to learn piano, and continues to want to own an ice cream shop with her best friend when they grow up.

Sophia is a very aware little girl and asks amazingly good questions about the world she observes and struggles in her own heart. 

We love having her as our oldest and tell her that all our mistakes are on her first, and she quickly laughs and forgives us. 

As our kids get into this age of late elementary school, I will probably back off blogging so much of how they are doing and simply document more of what they are doing, I will leave the other to my personal journal unless I think it will truly benefit others while not compromising the child's privacy too much...I haven't figured it all out yet. Just my musings as I contemplate that Sophia is growing into a little young lady! 

Dr. Bella at almost Six Years Old

Bella recently received another Doc kit from me, this one has everything that lights up and the stethoscope even makes a heartbeat noise. She loves it. She set up a little clinic underneath Sophia's new loft. She was taking a little bucket in there, 'this is for a potty' she said. I told her that was good because hospitals always have bedpans, gross but necessary.  Then I went into her clinic and laid down. I told her I didn't feel well. She literally tried to hook up the catheter (had a string going to the bucket) "this is because I remember seeing this when you were in the hospital". (I reminded her that most people do not have babies the way I had babies).

She listened to my heart beat and then started to put on latex gloves (I added these to her kit). 

Me: "are you going to do surgery?"

Her: "what is surgery again?"

Me: "it is where you cut someone open to go inside their body to fix what is wrong"

Her: "oohhh yeahhh....(excited)" and she started looking in her 'kitchen' drawer for a knife. 

I was surprised at her eagerness, then she shook the medicine bottle at my mouth and said:

"Don't worry you will be asleep in a minute."

David's foot makes a good addition to the photo, and in the background you see Soph's new loft, the white ladder is there because we were fixing something else in their room.

But Bella also enjoys letting people dress her up: 

 Design by Sophia:

Bella is a laid back girl that goes with the flow. She has come out of her shell at school and has many friends. Her birthday party next week may have 30 people there, who knows. 

She and I are currently practicing weekly for her Kindergarten graduation parent/child dance performance. This is CRAZEE. But I am determined to participate in as much as possible. The first two practices have been fun and I actually love meeting these moms who tell me my house is like my own little kindergarten.

Bella loves dancing, really wants to learn piano, excels in our Language Arts Program and Math. I am trying to keep up with her. A lot of this has to do with Sophia and Bella loving to play school and Sophia teaching her a lot. I don't remember teaching her how to write her letters...

She is a strong left hander and sometimes writes things in mirror image, which amazes me.

We have really enjoyed seeing her come into her own and add such needed comic relief to our family, she is a jokester and has a kindred spirit in Tobin. Since they are at home in the mornings together, their bond is close, and they are almost the same size.

We have not decided if she will do the in between year at school or go straight to Chinese first grade. Though she is our more timid child, reluctant to do things on her own at first, once she builds confidence she soars...

I am thankful for her giggly spirit and how she immediately goes to God in prayer for help. I can learn from her.

Super Hero Tobin

Tobin really wants to be a super hero when he grows up. He is working hard at it. He loves to run/sprint race. He can ride his bike very well but likes to look down a bit, which frustrates me. He loves school and can name all of his friends. And the last time at the pool he took off all flotation devices and swam to me. He was very comfortable because he could touch, but he was actually swimming. GOOD JOB.

He is doing 100 Easy Lessons of reading and on Lesson 43. We don't do the writing or the re-reading, but still he is doing well. He LOVES to look through all of our Science encyclopedias and loves to talk about astronauts, airplanes, helicopters, rodents, snakes, spiders and all things BOY. In the fall  I think he will sit in on our CC Cycle 1 sessions, maybe. He makes friends easily and certainly brings some aggressive/competitive fun to our family.

He recently received another NC State outfit and wanted to wear it every day. He still tucks in his shirt like Cousin Isaiah, and when he recently bought a transformer type 'giant' he whispered to me: "I named him Isaiah". Cousin Isaiah looms large in his eyes, he really looks up to him.