In the Christmas mood

Chris had to work on Friday after Thanksgiving, but was off Saturday and we had a fun family day. We decorated our tree and house. I always idealize the decorating and it was fun- but it is also a bit of a challenge to try to decorate as a family when certain little people want to open and pull apart everything they see in the decoration trunk. We all worked together for awhile and then later Chris played with the boys in the bedroom so I could finish in a little peace. Then we splurged and had a nice lunch at Peter's Tex-mex (I got pumpkin soup and a turkey sandwich. I wasn't really in the Tex-mex mood). Austin and Bennett have already watched the Charlie Brown Christmas video several times and Austin goes around quoting it. He loves to say "Hello in there" "Rats" "Lights please" and "Eeew! I've been kissed by a dog". Bennett is starting to say them now too.

In other news, we are trying to potty train Austin at night. He is pretty motivated and will go right before bed, often after going to bed and first thing in the morning...but still wakes up wet every night so far. I guess it is hard to learn something you are supposed to do when you are asleep. Oh well, I know it might take awhile but we are trying it (with Skittles as motivation). Here are some pix of the decorating.

There was lots of squealing and excitement when we got the "Little People" Nativity scene out . It is still the main attraction these days and sits out on the trunk for easy access. We went out the other day and Bennett said "Bye" to ...the donkey, the camel and Baby Jesus before we left. It is a great toy. I love Nativity scenes and have several sets- one from China, one from Kazakstan and one from...somewhere else in Asia.

Bennett "helping" to get the tree out. We have this fake tree and I still sigh sometimes when I think about not having a real one...however, it is not a bad tree for being a fake, China tree. So I am thankful.

Austin mostly just wanted to put the star on top. I tried to tell him we usually do that last...but it ended up being about the, oh fifth ornament we put on. It wasn't worth the whining and fight. He was pretty proud to get it on there (with a lot of Daddy's help).

Here is the nighttime look. I actually completely rearranged the living room on Friday night. I wasn't sure where I would fit the tree where it wouldn't look crowded the way it used to be. I split up the entertainment center pieces and put the love seat opposite the couch. I actually really like it this way- it opens up the room more. We will see if it stays this way in January or not.

Today we made "Christmas cards" or at least Austin wanted to. Hopefully we will get some of these mailed off soon. I went out of the room and came back to find Bennett coloring with my headband on...he loves that thing and puts it on whenever I happen to leave it out. Silly boy.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am currently stuffed to the gills. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our other 2 family friends in the neighborhood plus a handful of others- 13 adults and 6 kids. I had my fill of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing and 3 kinds of pies. We miss family of course at this time of year though and wish we could be close.

There are SO many things I am thankful for this year, but some of the top of the list are my Dad's health after a big scare with his tumor this spring, my own health after a few unknowns this year, our new home and neighbors, who have become really good friends, Austin's beginning to really pray and seem to understand a lot about the Lord in really sweet ways, his wonderful preschool situation and the joy both boys bring us daily. Thank you Lord for your many gifts!

Here are some snapshots of the day. The pictures say it better than any more words...

My handsome little men! So cute, i had to take a picture this morning after getting them dressed. We SKYPed with my parents and Bop- my Dad- had a "work shirt" ( as Austin calls it) and a sweater vest on. Austin thought that was pretty cool.

This morning we went to the Staege's (our hosts and neighbors). The kids all watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving video (which is very informative, by the way- the Mayflower episode). Everyone ranges in age from 1 to 4.5. They were clearly pretty into it, which helped us momma's get some cooking done. We went home for naps and came back around 4 for the big meal.

The kids busy chowing down.
Bennett pretty much ate a piece of cornbread and sweet potato casserole. Oh and cranberry sauce. He loves to eat but has gotten rather picky lately. He didn't even really like his dessert (which was fine, because I ate it instead!)

Austin and Bree tried to break the wishbone...but couldn't do it. Then Austin tried it with Chris and finally it cracked and Austin then broke it apart. He technically "won" I guess. Mostly, he saw Snoopy and Woodstock do it on the video and wanted to try it. Austin and Bree have had lots of fun playing all sorts of creative things...tonight we went to the playroom, where they had been for hours. They were playing "heaven"- they were in heaven, it had a pool and Elmo. Hmmm.

Bennett and Jesh wrestling. Bennett loves to wrestle- usually he tried to pin Austin, who whines and wants me to make him stop. Jesh was a pretty willing partner tonight though and they had fun. Bennett kept wrestling him again and again...fortunately, Jesh was a good sport.

Family picture...this was the best one we got. Austin had the threat of losing dessert if he didn't look or made a mean face. He said this was smiling, but I am not sure I agree.

Here are our next-door neighbors, the Hunemullers. We are so thankful for them! We talk about them a lot, so I thought you might like to see them all in person.

These are our other fun neighbors and hosts of our dinner, the Staeges. We are really enjoying getting to know them this year and thankful for them. Notice all the very German sounding names in our neighborhood (and another family with a German name comes back in January). Also, all four of these German husbands LOVE Lord of the Rings. WE wives think its pretty funny :).

Happy Thanksgiving! We miss you all family and wish we could be there. But hopefully this long post will help a little.

Gran turns 90!

Happy Birthday to Nana/Gran! My Nana (my mom's mother) or Gran as my boys call her turned 90 yesterday. She is an amazing woman who has lived through a lot of hard times and good times. She is a wonderful cook and still lives independently in her own apartment. I am sad to have missed her big birthday celebration, but my mom and sisters and aunts were all with her. Here are a few shots of her with Austin and Bennett during our trips back. We love you Gran!

So sweet! Bennett just sat so still with her this past summer when we visited.

Austin giving her a kiss - brought lots of smiles.

I am thankful...for this happy ending.

Well, I know I promised more photos of Austin's birthday, but I have been a bit distracted with a crazy week. I normally might be hesitant to put this personal of a story on the blog- but am so thankful for God's very specific answers to prayer that I feel like I must.

This week I started having some pain on my lower right side that felt similar to pain I had experienced 5 years ago when i discovered I had endometriosis (that I had surgery for in 2005). So I went in and they did an ultrasound to see if they could discover the source of the pain...and told me that I was pregnant...with twins. Whoa. BUT that it did not look good- there were no heartbeats and I had bled so it seemed that I would miscarry. Then later that afternoon they called and said that my pregnancy test was negative...in fact so low it was definite I was not nor could have been pregnant. But they were worried about what it was they saw on the ultrasound- so they said they would probably need to have a minor surgery this coming week to see what it is and to probably remove it.

SO- this created quite a mix of emotions- from thinking I had this mysterious pain to possibly being pregnant with twins (both exciting and rather overwhelming) to knowing I am not pregnant but have a mysterious thing inside me. I was rather annoyed at the thought of having surgery (not as anxious as I normally get for some reason) but definitely praying a lot. This all happened on Thursday. On Friday I got a call back from the doctor asking me to come back in Saturday for another ultrasound and probably to schedule the surgery for next week.
Usually I am rather negative and pessimistic about my health- since it is an area that seems to follow me with this issue or that. However, this time I really felt like I should pray that on Saturday the thing would be gone. I felt calm, not especially hopeful but not too anxious.

Well, they did the ultrasound and the technician stopped halfway and said- "I need to go get the doctor". Well, this made me really nervous. But he came back in, looked at the screen for a minute and said "Good news! It's gone". I teared up just at the exact answer to prayer that it was and knew that the Lord was being good to me. The doctor still is not exactly sure what happened- he said it probably was some kind of blood clot that just happened to look like twin embryos. Neither he nor his colleagues had ever seen anything like it.

So, there is no need for surgery or really any other medical treatment. But I am really thankful for the Lord's sweet reminder that He takes care of us and does answer prayer. He might not have answered in that way and He would still be with me, but as Thanksgiving approaches, I am very thankful for not just my health but the specific ways the Lord showed goodness to me this week.

Hard times

More birthday posts are coming, but for now I will just share I am feeling really burdened for many friends. And Austin woke up throwing up last night and is still throwing up this afternoon. Poor little guy. We cannot seem to stay well in our house this fall.

You can join my in praying for 3 friends facing great difficulties. My friend and former neighbor Meg flew back to the States last week to be with her mom. Her mom has battled cancer for 10 years but went downhill really quickly a week or 2 ago. We are thankful she got there in time to talk with her mom while she was conscious and spent time with her 6 sisters, who all came in town. Her mom is still holding her own, but they are not sure how much time she has left. Meg will fly back to Asia tomorrow, which will be very hard to do I am sure.

My good friend Emily (Sydney's mom) got a call Friday that her father had suddenly passed away. He was very healthy and young (I think not more than 60) but was running and had a massive heart attack and died instantly. I went to see her that day and out together a few things for her kids on the plane ride. It is so hard to face things like this, much less from half way around the world.
My good friend Laura is in the States this fall and they have been hoping to adopt a baby in the US. They have had heartbreak after heartbreak of getting placed with a child and then having the birth mother back out or change their mind or some other reason it has not worked out. This past weekend it seemed so promising- they flew to Baltimore to pick up the baby, met the baby and birth mother and then left without a baby. They are grieving this loss and wondering if they will have time to get a baby before their time in the States is up. Laura reminded me through an article she has been reading that sometimes God "breaks our bones" in order to keep us in his grace and walking in the place that is truly best for us...but it is often very hard to walk through and see others walk through.

So...today I am praying for my friends- and for Austin- and ask you to join me.

Austin's safari party

We had Austin's birthday party today, one day before the actual day. I am so tired I can barely write coherently, so I will do a more complete birthday post tomorrow. But he wanted a safari theme (though i am not sure he was very clear on what a safari was before the party)- so we had a few animal inspired games, stuffed and blow up animal decorations and of course...a violin cake. What? Yeah, he wanted a safari party and a violin cake. He has many interests. Here a few preview pictures and I will do a more complete job tomorrow.

Grilled hot dogs and mac and cheese for kids...hamburgers and steak/veggie kabobs for adults.

I bought animal masks for kids to be safari animals (masks are really common here- people wear them outside and on public transportation a lot). So...they weren't all technically safari animals (ie Bennett the panda) but close enough. Austin wore his for about 10 seconds and then decided it wasn't comfortable. Oh well. They were part of the games played.

Austin's delight in the a remote control car ...ie crazy car...from Bree and Jesh. It had big lights and the wheels spun so it flipped and flopped about. Everyone wanted a turn though and Austin had trouble with all the commotion and lack of patience with all the kids wanting to hold his new toy.

The cake...I actually used his little violin to trace out the shape of the cake.

Everyone wanted to be close to watch present opening...a little chaotic but fun.