knee how

for all i know, that's probably what he thinks it is.

 [these pictures are from home this past summer]

"Ni hao" = "hello" around here.
you say both the words like you are going
down a roller coaster and coming back up again.
sounds strange? i know, tell me about it. try figuring it out for
every. single. word.

and just because... 

well just because God was being sweet yesterday [all the time, i know, but i took of the blinders to see it that afternoon], Noah walked past a neighbor and said "ni hao!". to which the neighbor replied "ni hao!!".

[lake martin, summer 2012]

i got a snapshot. one that holds much, much hope for my kiddos to understand this language. and speak it back.

and that was good for my day.

[lake martin, summer 2012]

i might feel like my head is bobbing above the water,

 but that was like one long bob. 

high above the water.

displayed

for a reason, not some reason unknown.

God is allowing hard days to happen. The crawl back in the bed under the sheets kind of days. We've been back in this country for almost 2 weeks. It's harder than I remembered (hello grace! thank you for not keeping record in the memory bank.).

Then John 9 happens.

There was this blind man.
From birth.
Not because he did bad things.
Or because God didn't want to give him what he wanted.
Being blind was part of his life.
A circumstance of his.

There was a reason. It was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

OH.

I like the word displayed: [to be in a place easily seen].

I'm easily seen here. Not because I'm white [although yes]. Not because I have 2 kids [another yes]. But because I'm at the end of myself. And if you get close enough, my red nose and teary eyes can't hide when blah-ness comes.

I'm on display. He wants to illustrate something in me for me to see. For others to see.

I would rather it be none other than his glory being shown.
Somehow he's doing that.

Hard days aren't for nothing. They're for His display.
So that people can see it's Him that makes me function and endure and press on.
Not me.

budro

that's what scott calls him.

he's a self proclaimed "stinker".

those dimples are just too much and he knows it.

i've been forever thankful for the little guy he's turned into once we landed on this side of the globe. 

i know it's a sweet thing that the Lord is doing and being for us. 

i know that because we aren't that great of parents 

and because noah is not perceptive enough to see that we just need a little pick me up. 

just some kind of deep breath. for a minute.

so we're soaking it up and knowing that we need to document these moments 

because the naughty ones tend to be overflowing.

mei mei

that's the word we hear around here for "little sister".
and mine is the best.

sometimes i look at adelaide and think "maybe she'll be like mine".

and i hope that for noah.
i hope she loves sparkly finger nail polishes and trips to wal mart with her baby sitters.
and that she is the main reason the baby sitters keep coming back.

my mei mei grew up and became beautiful.
she always was.
but now it's just a different kind.

she's radiant.

adelaide joy

08.31.12

it's just who she is. a joy.

at first, i was amazed and thrilled at what an epidural can do when it works. 

it's just glorious. made me want to have another baby.

then the epidural wore off and the nursery kept handing me back my baby when she cried. so then i cried. a little overwhelmed (hello baby blues). wondering how i'd be parenting 2 kids.

she's beautiful.

she weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces.

 21 inches long. 

a little difference from her big brother, weighing 9 pounds 1 ounce.