Sisters.

They came at 1am.

Elena happened to wake up to go to the bathroom.

And she saw them.

And the look on her face looked as though she was still dreaming. We had been preparing her by talking and showing her pictures of sister & Josiah.

And it all worked out pretty good. :)



Can you see the family resemblece?? I KNOW!!!


Me too!!!


And of course we can't forget Schwiah. ( aka Josiah) :)



PS notice all the pink?? It runs in the family.

Times like these...

We have been house bound for over a week.

Samuel had strep and Elena had pneumonia.

You would think I had so much time since I was home. It is harder!! Nope. I would pop online to read some things, but never had the time to finish or write something in here.

But lest I start a pity party, and I can throw some good parties like that...

It has been a rough week on the kids, too.


I think Elena is so bored and tired and trying to recover and feel better so she can go out.

Samuel is surviving as best as he can. ( READ: he has lost himself in Adventures in Odessey, after school work)

Look at this face. Pitiful. We have some discipline issues after this. How can one not give into that face???


Another thing Samuel has been trying to do this week, is make his sister an Eagles fan. NOT SO MUCH.



My 2 sick babies this week.


But I am glad to say, today we go out!!!! I have had to do food shopping before they got sick. So we literally have NO food. Zip. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

And many of you may say " Why doesn't John go out?" Let me just say, it is better that we have no food, then to spend a million dollars on *food*. lol

And that's all I am going to say about that.

Oh, and how much does it stink that we will be having not one,but TWO storms coming up? It stinks pretty bad.

CALGON!!!!! TAKE ME AWAY.

Heroes

We all have heroes. We may not admit it, but there is someone out there who we look up to and wish we were just like them. Good or bad.

We have to be careful who the heroes of our children are, for it is who they will try to emulate. We can't pick them for our children, but we can pick them for ourselves and encourage our children to know them intimately, to study them, to learn from them.

And we pray.

I have a few heroes.

Jim Elliot. CS Lewis. Lottie Moon. Maximillian Kolbe.

And of course this amazing woman. When I read her autobiography, I felt a kindred spirit.

ME!!!


I know!!!

She made me feel like a could talk to her and not be amazed at her status,for she didn't have one, she was just an equal. In the eyes of God and of this world. That's the kind of person I want to be.

Tribute.

Look for your hero. Be careful. Be holy.

China Girl in NYC

We took Elena to NYC for the first time on V-Day/Chinese New Year.

Which also happen to be the 1 month anniversary for our peanut of being in America!!

Big day. :)

Since it would take a miracle (and that miracle only happened once) to park the Suburban in NY, we took the Subaru.

And still it was hard work!! John had to dig out the snow in order to fit. John is an AMAZING parallel parker. Since the day I met him. When he was done parking, he had about 2" on one end, and 3" on the other. Amazing I tell you!!


It was C-O-L-D. But it is NY after all. I shouldn't complain, it has been like this my whole life.


Look at the whale, Elena! Isn't it neat?


Mom, if you ever want to stuff me like these animals, I want this pose, okay? Umm, okay. (??!!?!?)


Elly-bug, what are you doing??


Being a moose, of course!!


Look at the bears!! She loves bears.


Roooaaarrrr, Daddy, do I scare you?


She was a little over stimulated, so she fell alseep at one point; in the mist of the noise and bustle. She should do fine. :)

Confession

Why, pray tell, do I have a confession to make? And why, pray tell, is this terrible picture on my blog?

Well...


It's true.

I am walking. I am walking a 1/2 marathon .


WHAT WAS I THINKING??!?!?!?!?!?!

My daughter is running the marathon and when she told us about it months ago, I was so excited for her and I told her we would go down there to watch it and cheer her on that weekend. After all., it is St Paddy's Day weekend, and it would be fun to go.

A week later, she came up with this hair-brained idea that I should walk the 1/2 marathon. ( My knees are shot, running is forever done for me) Well, obviously this is by far the silliest idea this child of mine EVER had! I mean, I haven't walked or done any excersice for, oh, I can't even remember when the last time that happened!

I said no. Truthfully, I think I said ARE YOU NUTS??

But see... my daughter is anything but a quitter.

And somehow she got me to agree.

I had been training real well before China. Then China came and my training schedule got messed up. ( READ: I didn't walk at all) ( until this past week)

I wish my daughter was here so I can wring her little neck.

And I had seriously considered telling you all so I would be held accountable. But deep inside, I thought I would just skip out and no one would know.

Except my daughter, of course.

But I will do it. Even if everyone went home and it is dinner time, I will finish.

Even if everyone passes me and they reopen the road because I am taking too long, I will continue. Even if I am crying on the middle of it and want to quit, I will go on. Even if my toes nails fall off, it will happen. Even if I can't breathe anymore, I will slow down and complete this thing.

My daughter sent me the link to this t-shirt and I thought of getting it for her. Now I think I may need it for myself.

It says: " If found on the road, please drag to the finish line."

Yes, that may very well be me.

Keep me accountable.

Elly-bug, what do you see?

Look mommy...

Look at what I see!!


Daddy. In the snow!



SNOW!! And we are still suppose to get the brunt of it this afternoon!!


John is trying to get some shoveling done, before the other 10" - 12" come this afternoon.



Coming back from helping Miss Sophie, our 87 year old neighbor.


Cleaning off my truck.








I used to love ( still do) to see a home with this beautiful perfect lawn with snow that hasn't been touched and looks like a picture.

We don't have that.

We have kids.

And dogs.

And grownups who love to play.

So our backyard looks like a war zone.

But the memories they have, the memories WE have, are worth not having life picture perfect. So I will enjoy other people's perfect untouched snow, and I will love our played in, built in, thrown in, wrestled in, crazy-like-all-get-out backyard.


With it's igloo in the making.




And PS...

Chinese New Year is but 4 days away, and look who is ready!!!

SNOW! And the best day in February.

I can't wait for tomorrow. I have not been in church for too long. Between China, and getting back and having sick children, I miss it so very much. I can't wait to worship, to hear a Godly message, to fellowship with the saints. GOD knew what HE was saying when HE told us not to forsake the fellowship of believers. It is so important. And I can't wait!

But today, it snowed.

And this was Elena's first time in it. When it snowed last week, she was sick, so we didn't take her outside.


No such excuse this time!! It's time to start the layers!!


As we were walking out the door, she saw her sunglasses on the diningroom table and grabbed them. Bless her heart, between the hat, her ears being hidden and her little precious nose, they just wouldn't stay on!!


Her brother, my son, always do this to my dismay. She LOVES it. She cracks up and follows him around the house to do it again. Since they were outside, he threw her up even higher, and I about passed out. John says this pictures looks like Elena was dropped from the sky.


And not to be out done, here are Trouble and Trouble. AKA Samuel & Joe. There is no other way to put it. lol. They are past snowball fighting, they are shovel-full snow throwing. I made them take a break to take a picture, and they barely stood still long enough.


Samuel was not aware what was about to hit him. He got him back. I had to go inside. I just don't get it.


And what happens after a full morning of playing out in the snow? One poops out. And she did. :)


And tomorrow is...TRULY the best day in February!! Totally greater then Valentine's Day. And yes, I so very much enjoy Valentine's Day, but it doesn't compare to Super Bowl Sunday!!!!

Have I mentioned I love football?

This day is a great day, even if my team is not playing, but also, I have to admit, it is a bummer. For the season is over , and it is time to pulled out my NFL dvds from past games or watch NFL Network to get my fix until next season.

Who do I hope wins?

Peyton, of course!!!

Winter Survival

We went out 2 DAYS IN A ROW!!! I know! Crazy. And yes I am paying for it super special.

But it was worth it.

Last night, we went to our Bible study, and we are starting Experiencing God. I did this study over a decade ago, and then I did it with our youth group a year later. It is fantastic. This time we are not doing the study, but reading the book and discussing the chapter! I am pretty excited about it, it has been too long since I read it.

And of course, Elena is doing pretty well here. She is adjusting quite nicely and has received entirely way more kisses then she bargained for.

But look at this face!!!!




Wal M*rt had sunglasses for just the right price. Except she can't find her nose.


Finding out that Italian food is better then she thought it was going to be, she went full gusto. Her digestive system is on over drive, seeing as how she only ate congee in China.


And yes, Samuel is still here! He is loving life. Homeschooling is fun, specially those days that you apply study to life. Like the rods in your eyes and how night vision works.

Once again, WalM*rt came in handy to find pirate patches, and we did experiments to find out just how cool our eyes are!! If you put an eye patch on your eye for about 20 minutes then go into a dark room and switch the patch to the other side,, it's like you have nightvision googles! So cool! But your other eye can't see a thing, like you were truly blind!

And of course, when you are done with your experiment, you still have super cool pirate patches to boot!

I feel like a prisoner.

I need to go out.

I haven't been out since last Thursday.

That's 5 days.

F-I-V-E!

It has been so cold around these parts, that unless I HAVE to go out, I don't.

My dad came over today, and asked how I was feeling. "Like a prisoner."

My joints are telling me all about the weather. I wake up in pain. I go to bed in pain. I look out the window, and wish I could be out there, like when I was younger, and not feel the cold. Like when I would be out for HOURS sledding or playing in the snow or playing with the neighborhood kids anything that came to mind. Even if it was 10 degrees outside.

Remember those times?

Tomorrow, I will go out. Even if I have to pay big.


And I will.

Have to pay.

Big.