stateside gifts....

Warning... this is just for the family record.  Waaaaay to long for non-family to read!

A few pics from Conway Little League Fall Ball.  (The mama here is only a few months behind on posting pics!!)  This little hole in the dugout was the perfect spot for John to send out his requests for snacks and drinks and for his sisters to indulge him.) 

He had a great coach and team of good boys to play with...  we're so grateful for this opportunity!

And the participation trophy!  He hardly put it down for a few days.  (Matt barely made it through one of those days with out at least a few snarky comments about how everybody gets a trophy these days... but still, he loves his boys!) 

My big guy....(on the right, pitching! forgive the poor photo please?)  My camera was broken for most of their season and right when I got a new one, this guys last game was at night when it was pitch black.   Good thing he played much better than his mama did for photos!

Fall Ball was a big one... but there have been dozens more incredible gifts for our boys.  They both progressed well in schooling (John finally coming towards more confident reading on his own), and they made just a few good friends at their little school.   AWANAS @ KPCO was a gift-  John got the Sparky and several awards and Isaiah was Nov Clubber of the Month.  They both loved the games and got more of God's Word in their hearts.  They even got to enjoy Kennedy Space Center with precious AWANAS friends...

And the Howdies were here (friends from China that "just happened" to be in Orlando the same season as us!?).  Some fun times at the lake and swimming and lego-ing with those guys!  And there was that time that the kids and I were enjoying some grass therapy at our little campground front yard (along with a some cheddar popcorn) and we watched, just sat there with front row seats, for a little plane to fly across the lake and take flight- straight off the water.  

The boys learned to do a bit of hard work cleaning up at our old rental house.   And there was swimming for homeschool recess while we stayed with our dear friends, the "Shacks".  Crazy amazing blessings!  Isaiah got up on water-skis.  There was a Gatorland outing gifted to them with yet more and super precious China friends.  There were splash pad and library visits- where our big guy got hooked on the Redwall (by Brian Jacques) series.   We ate ice cream and these two alone ate at least two dozen bags too many of tortilla chips.  The kids got to pick out a live Christmas tree for the first time :).

And... we got to spend the week before Christmas at the beach.  First, wonderful time for that!!!  Not only did dear friends gift us with 5 days to spend at their *beautiful* condo at New Smyrna Beach, but Bart and Judy worked it into their schedule to join us for the last two days, once we saw that the condo had space for 8!  Such a blessed time!

Then there's the grandparents. What a gift to get time with them in January as Dale and Mary have bounced between two central FL brothers' homes and stopped at our little cabin by the lake in between.   The kids had an overnight with their grandparents at Uncle Tony's place by his church on the beach.... and they got wristbands so they could ride limitlessly at the church carnival.  They came home starry-eyed (and Matt and I enjoyed two super fun double dates~ with the Johnsons and the Dys~ and got the bulk of our crazy load of packing done while they were gone too!)  There was a bit of overthetop-ness in lego indulgence from these Grands at one point, and that outing was crowned with a heap of Chick-fil-A goodness too.  Speaking of the beloved fast-food, that has sure become a solidly established favorite too!  

Matt and I wanted to treat his parents to something- since we're so regularly on the receiving end with those two!- and we thrilled to get all eight of us into Medieval Times with a discount for a super fun, memorable, enjoyable night.  

Before Christmas we moved from our friends' lovely home to a darling little cabin in a campground by the lake where Matt and I were married.  It's beautiful.  John came alive fishing for tadpoles, and little fish and shrimp, by just plunging cups or buckets in the water.   Sweetest cheer to hear Isaiah boast in John's fishing skills and perseverance.  Our campground living provided fooseball, canoes and a kayak, and more picnics on the grass for talking time together... (I hope they loved this as much as I did!)  and the cabin's in a good place for us to get to see more of the legend, Jonathan McK, who our boys love....  the trio proved to be tough in the Ninja Zone class they got to enjoy three times for free!    

Our entire time in the states was bookmarked by two fantastic weeks with the Bismarck Ks....  the first week was for Dale and Mary's 40th anniversary (how fantastically awesome of them to celebrate their anniversary by inviting all of us to join them for a week!?) and the last week we gathered for cousin Lee and beautiful Aubrey's wedding, which was fantastically located in Central Florida!    Here's the amazing grands, and our kids with their treasured cousins....

Initially I was going to write a whole post about the boys and one for the girls... but alas, this one is already too long and there'd be too many repeats so I'll just make the girls a PS on this post and pray for grace to cover me in years to come when they see how I've treated them.  I'm sorry dear loves.   It's time to just get this darn thing posted!

Girlies...   You were pure JOY to witness this fall...  Marian, you tasted your first (at least the first that you really noticed and remembered) rice krispie bars in August when Grandma Marian brought them to Blackduck and you got her to teach you all her skill that very afternoon.   Then we arrived back in Orlando about 13 hours before your first day of school, where you were really nervous, didn't know anyone, hadn't ever been to a school or school in America or ... lots of stuff was brand new and you were nervousexcitedscared.  The second Monday (second day of school at their homeschool-type school) you brought rice krispie bars to share and I'm pretty sure the entire school felt like you were their friend by the end of day two.  When we left in Feb you gave photo frames to three girls:  your BFF at church, at school and at Awana.  I love this about you.  

Vivian, you grew so much!  Truly, I think you gained the most height this season.  And you blossomed with more of your own sparky delightful personality.  When I asked you what one special thing you wanted to do, you were sure it was ballet.  So we signed you up and bought the tutu and the shoes at Once Upon a Child.  And then you saw Marian's first day at gymnastics and you were tearfully positive that you Really wanted to do gymnastics.  But you finished the month and one recital (that you stayed backstage for the entirety of!) somewhat valiantly before you started in gymnastics as well.... and you did wonderfully!  Both you girls were promoted after just a few lessons when instructors saw your skill and hard work.  That made your mama so proud!

Vivi, you also loved school and counted all of your classmates as your friends.  (I think there were only about 8 students in your class?)  And I love that you are bold and brave to enjoy the little men around you- unafraid even when teased by your siblings for connecting with the little brothers of their friends or enjoying the little guys in your class.  Way to go dear.  This blessing is richly yours, for a girl who is growing up so loved by so many- brothers and sister, mom and dad, grandparents....  I'm praying for all the future friendships and for the future spouses of each of you treasured kids!

Isaiah's Double Digit Mark

His siblings were proud of the gifts they found for him, including some nerf guns that were still on the way.    (Gifts are hard to find for me here, so these great finds from all of us made each one of us glad!)  

What joy to see our firstborn growing up.…. an outrageous gift to have such a fun, healthy, smart son that is a good friend to others, learning to work hard, growing to the love the Lord and cherish His Word.

The evening of his birthday, we opened up a bigger load of gifts than we’ve ever done for birthdays before.  It was a fun celebration.  And there’s more celebration ahead.  We've received news that Grandma and Grandpa's package is in our city, and we. will. surely. get. it. soon! 

For a party, he let me space out our birthday madness  (3 B-days and our anniversary in 9 days) by choosing to do a MLB baseball party soon after the season starts.  Glad I have a bit more time to prepare for that crazy fun time.   There will be pics of that time too...

Here’s just a few of the mile markers for Isaiah, his growth graces recently.

My favorite thing about this awesome guy right now is his smile and the special things he lights it up for.  One morning, after we said our family pledge to begin our homeschool day, Isaiah smiled deep and bright and said, "I really like that, mom."    He said the same when I introduced the poem we just finished memorizing, "Flame of God," by Amy Carmichael.  

There was the time when I was driving down the road here, thinking over how many in ministry can loose track of loving their families well.  I said out loud to the kids, "You guys, I love you more than I love China."  One quick glance to the back seat and it shone out at me, bright as day, that smile of his knowing, understanding gladness.  Best gift he could give me.   

Again, he blazed that glad stretch when we connected about our morning readings and he and I discussed Apelles, who is "approved in Christ" (Rom 16:10) and how he is approved in Christ, because of Christ too...

He's a devoted baseball, lego, nerf guns, Ballpark Myseteries fan.  He usually picks nonfiction for reading on his own, unless I assign him a fiction book, and then he can get totally wrapped up in fiction too.   Sherlock Holmes (a young reader's edition), a gift from Marian, is his favorite story lately.  

He recently took his first standardized test ever and it showed him doing very well.  His general English scores were fine.  I knew his math would be high because he's always loved "number games" (what we call math problems) and he gets to meet one on one with a math tutor- he's learning math in Chinese, using local Chinese textbooks.  And I knew he's kind of a word nut.... thinks about words and asks me all sorts of odd questions ("Can you think of a word that has three U's in it?").  So I should have known that he would test high on spelling too.... but I wouldn't have guessed that he'd test more than four years above grade level in spelling.  How fun for a 4th grader boy to be a word pro like that!  I've told Isaiah several times how Pastor John Piper has joked about how he learned to love grammar and words in middle school so he could grow up to be a preacher.  Maybe so for our boy?  

The kiddos' allowance is beginning to add up- if they save long enough!- to some pretty worthy gifts for each other.  Such a joy to see their pleasure in giving gifts to each other!  John picked well on this nerf gun.  

Growing Big!
From ten to teen sounds so much closer than I ever thought he was just a few weeks ago!  I LOVE seeing him grow in skills, wisdom, interests, friendships...  What a privilege to know him and to get to be this fine young man's mom.  

John Timothy

John Timothy.  Third in line of a variety of spotlight seekers…. this guy likes to slip into the background and light things up back stage with his sweetness, joy, and humble hilarity.    It's true, a lot of people notice John's endearing silliness, easy to enjoy personality.  

He's usually pretty chivalrous too but every now and then he takes a crooked big brother pleasure in making Vivi scream and seeing her try to hit him or chase him down.  She never wins and he loves it.    

Down deeper, he has a heart of fierce compassion for the broken and hurting.  When we were in Hong Kong, his heart crashed for beggars we saw.  Their pain was too painful for him.  We walked by one place a twice, seeing horribly scarred, broken bodies, poor people begging both times.  The third time we walked that way, John decided he would not go there again.  It was too sad, to hard for him to see.   One man in particular, had been burned more grievously than I could ever describe.  I am praying, believing that the Lord will grow this child's heart of sadness for pain into a man's heart of action, moving him with faith and love and compassion for the sake of the lost, the poor, the broken.  

Oct 2013

John likes a good compliment.  If I make a tasty meal it's never "nice" or "good,"  it's "the best meal ever!"  And when I made Yellow Chicken (adapted from this post) for the first time this summer, he said that line and asked if I would make it for him "a hundred times."  (You betcha.)   For the restaurant across the street from our complex?  John improved the name so that it's "Bai Xing Awesome Chufang."  

He's pretty into superlatives too, especially about God.  "God has the biggest sandbox ever" (ever, usually spoken like a native Bostonian) and "God can lift up the tallest building ever." and "God knows everyone's hairs... like maybe if there's seven or ten or something."  

This too…  In an effort to seal the deal and swing the vote on the crunchy vs. creamy battle between the boys and Marian, he just told his little sister  "Vivi, even God likes crunchy peanut butter.  You should too!"

Once, I thought that what our son was choosing was a bit odd and surprising.   He asked if he could do my hair.   "Alright"…  but as soon as I sat down in front of the couch I imagined that Matt wouldn't be so excited that I let our son play hair stylist.  Then, pretty quick into my hair styling session, John divided my hair into two camps:  Pharaoh's army and the Israelites.  There was even a battle between the two fists of hair.  I knew then that Daddy would let the hairstyling slide this time...

And kisses…. watch out for these kisses.  Actually, never mind.  I think I'm the only person on the planet who gets them.  But my, oh my.  He's a slobbery kisser.  He'll reach for my neck, pull my face close, kissy lips ready and puckered with goo to leave his mark on my cheek.  I wipe it all clean, but I do absolutely love it.  Just love this boy…

He just loves some favorite clothes….  There's the pair of camo shorts passed down from Isaiah that he's loved so well the bottom is mostly shredded.  He wears them every day he can find them (when they're not in the wash) with his Mr. Met shirt, so he calls them "my Mr. Met shorts."  He's not allowed to wear them out of the house, or if there's anyone else at our house.   And I'm pretty stoked we're moving soon so they can get tucked away for safe-keeping since we'll be landing to much cooler weather indoors and out!

John's not too terribly interested in letters.   Several of his close peers are reading now but on the grand scale, he's not behind at all.  He'll be five this summer.  He's bilingual.  And he's still not totally solid on his letters and sounds.  He's usually pretty ok with it, except that he knows Vivi's coming close, if not surpassing him in phonics, and I think that spurs him on….  But tonight, as I finished reading aloud, he told me that he was writing a book.  He finished chapter one and titled it with the name of his favorite chapter from Little House on the Prairie, "Scream in the night" (about a panther screaming outside.)  We read that book a few months ago but that favorite chapter stayed with him.  So he's loyal too...

And affectionate.  But five love languages really doesn't cut it for us Ks.  One of John's love languages is definitely Punching.  As soon as Matt sits down at the table, if John is in his seat, Matt can be sure of a swift thump on his left arm.  Pure affection and admiration from little boy to dad.   Father and son both light up with joy for that punch love.  

And they share a joy in sports too.  John is naturally quite athletic…. easiest to learn to bike ride, fast runner, tough batter.  And when, at basketball practice recently, a coach explained that the littlest kids wouldn't be held accountable for no traveling, John grabbed a ball and ran the whole length of the court.  Goofball.   

There was a time one afternoon recently when he laid down to rest and he asked me for his "special blanket" and I went and found it for him.  Then he asked for another blanket.  When I told him he could go and get it for himself, he lost his manners.  (John has a bit of a problem with fussing right now… we're working on it and we're seeing very (very) little improvement yet... but we really are working on it and one day he'll move past this, right!???)  John started in with his classic fuss:  "I don't want to go and get it.  I hate getting things by myself."  I asked him to be quiet and then I had to mention that there would be consequences if he continued fussing.  That's when he expressed himself most clearly:  "I don't like consequences.  I don't ever want consequences."    At that point, there were certainly enough words from my end to explain to him what's what about consequences…. but I'm pretty positive all he heard was "…let's cuddle once you calm down."

And that's all the stories I can think to share of our little big boy, the wonderful treasure of a son, John Timothy K.    We praise the Lord for you, John Love.  

Kids' Blogs

Sometime last fall, I read all the free pages on Amazon from a book that a dear friend recommended.  It was about Jesus and loving him passionately and living out our faith radically.  It was good and intriguing and I wanted to read more so I found the author's web site.   And then it got funny.

Or maybe it was just my husband that was funny.  Or maybe it's just me?

The author's web site had a huge, and I mean *gigantic*, picture of her across the top.  I told Matt about it and he thought I was exaggerating.  But when I showed it to him, he chuckled with me.   "It's as if she's saying 'Less of me and more of my face.'"  Really, it wasn't an error on the screen, but we had to scroll down (on our laptop) past her nose to see her chin.

And a side note, I've loved all that I've read from this author and I'm not saying posting huge picture of your face is sin or criminal… it just strikes me as odd / funny that's all.  

So that started Matt on a goofy rabbit trail… what would it be like if our kids had blogs like that?  Well, that silly thought became the plan for the next "growth chart" posts for this ole blog, but even I, who post ridiculous loads of photos of my kids, can't stand for photos of them quite that large.  Still, it's fun and a sweet record of where our kids are at on the map of their childhood:  their abilities, interests, memories, sayings, quirks.

I'm bummed that I never got all the graphic design to make their pics look like web sites or to put the titles of the things they love most across the top like play page titles… that was the dream plan.  This is the reality.  Beginning with the girls and hopefully getting to the boys' posts in a few more days.

Presenting:  Our Kids' Blogs… a record of where they are now.

Marian Lynn

Marian, May Love ~ 

This precious, fun girl serves (tea, treats, vitamins, gum) and gives to our family and our guests with flare and spectacular generosity.  I don’t think she’s got a penny, or a mao, in her allowance envelope because she’s so eager and speedy to spend her money on gifts to give to others.  Once, she paid eleven million monopoly dollars for Isaiah “just because she had it and he didn’t.”  A super beautiful thing... that, ah... will need to be tempered with real cash at some point (later).  

And she’s smart. Matt says he has a little bit of dyslexia (maybe just a mild degree- is that possible?) and if that’s a real possibility, I think Marian’s got it too.  Reading has been a bit tough for her... but any drip of dyslexia with letters hasn’t touched her numbers.  She flies for math and “number games” and is almost as eager to do her math work as she is for a tea break from class most the time.    Math comes easy for her (I’ve got to figure out how to stoke this gift in her) and she can think through long, hard (for an elementary schooler) word problems that Matt gives her (a small business scenario) with a thorough grasp on how and why the math works like it does.   It’s so cool to see her enjoy excelling at and exercising this gift.   And I don’t know if this would count as altogherther math-y, but this girl WON, the very first time she played Clue on her own.  She had been on Daddy’s team once before, but as soon as she was on her own, she beat her own Dad and her big bro! She’s 6.5 and yea, she had a bunch of room cards so that  part was easy for her to figure out... but still, pretty good!

For Marian, a word is usually going to be a better word, nicer, and more to her approval, if it ends with a "-y" sound.  Settler of Catan’s Development Cards are her “develies.”  The number games she likes to play on her bed before sleep are “plusies.”  And Vivi isn’t just her sister, she’s “sissy.”  They both call each other that now.  The boys are jealous because maybe “bro” doesn’t ring with the sound of affection or coolness like “sissy” does.  

Her Daddy often says about her, Marian really knows how to have fun.  Her brothers and sister almost always want to play with her (even though she is quick to jump on an opportunity to visit a neighbor or play at someone else’s house.)  She can turn any little stretch of waiting or playing into super-fun with a new rule to play by or a twist of some kind.  And, maybe you can guess, sometimes the sad side of this is that she can be pretty darn bossy/selfish too.... But let’s move on.  

She wants to be a teacher- she’s gone from Sunday School teacher, to ballet teacher, to just teacher.... and she always wants to be a mama too.  She’s already a sweet and loving mama to her “kids” the stuffed animals and dolls of the highest ranking that get to sleep on her bed with her.  And she takes care of her siblings when they need their beds and kids organized too.  

A dear friend of mine sat at a table with Marian and I while Marian was talking about homeschool.   Marian asked me "what is that place, where Geogre Washington lived?"  "You mean Mount Vernon?"  "Yea, I want to take that moon thing, after I get married there."  "Your honeymoon?"  "Yep, I want to have a homeschool honeymoon."  Alycia remarked that it seems to be good evidence that Marian is enjoying homeschool enough if she wants to plan a homeschool honeymoon!  We'll see what her one-day husband thinks about that plan.

She loves music.  She's doing well at piano these days, especially loving Swan Lake, and also always ready to sing….  My favorite is hearing her make up her own worship songs while she stares out the window for a ride (car, ferry, airplane.)  All of it brings out musical worship from our girl.  She's deeply concerned to share the Good News with friends too…  Man, we just adore this girl.  Just can’t put in words how exceedingly grateful or delighted we are to get to be her mom and dad.  


UPDATE:  I just remembered a few more things that really must get slipped into this record of our girl.  How she signs for packages….  I've just gotten into buying some groceries online here so we've been getting more packages lately.  The delivery bikes have to park at the front gate of our complex and wait for everyone in the complex to come and get their stuff…. so when we get a call, Marian is usually the quickest to go down and she's very proud to sign her name for a package:   M A R I A N.  Nobody fusses about it b/c they can't read it either since it's not in Chinese characters.  

And this too, about gift-giving.  Recently we had boys at our house while I picked up our girls to bring them back and Marian wanted to buy gifts for them.  I told her "I'm sorry dear I didn't bring any money.  We'll have to do it another time."  She replied emphatically, "But mom, you can't spend all your money on stuff for us every time!  I brought my own money to buy lollipops for them."  And yesterday, when I took May and John shopping to buy a gift for Isaiah's birthday, she never found a gift worthy of him so we have to go to a little store near us today to finalize the deal.  But as she looked, she preferred gifts that were smaller, that she could pay for with just her money and John's rather than getting a bigger gift that would require a contribution from me.  This girl…. so super thoughtful about her gifts!

Last…  A little while ago I read to the kids a beautiful biography of Abraham Lincoln.   This telling of his story ended with his glorious achievements as president, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War and plans for Reconstruction.  And as the last happy page closed, Marian remembered what was next.  "I remember from Caddie Woodlawn (a story I read aloud to them nearly a year ago) that Abraham Lincoln was shot."  I'm so glad to know she's catching these details and that the significant pieces are sticking with her...

Vivian Hope

Vivi has grown so much in the past few months and this list has grown with her.  I started trying to record where she was at and how she was growing about 5 months ago, and I can see her advances compared to the things I’m listing currently for her.  

From late fall-
Vivi loved running circles on the carpet in the living room (thanks Grether!).  It was part sport, part dance and part thing-she-did-when-she-wanted-to-think-clearest-on-a-subject.  She LOVES to pray at mealtime and all fall there was only one prayer for her:  “Ganxie Yesu”... (Thank you Jesus) in the sweet little memorized prayer that she prays at preschool.  She loves fruit and sneaks oranges like a true addict.  Her cute 2-year-old voice/accent shines in “sp-” words, that she says all with an “sf-” sound:  sficy, sfank, sfoon, and I love when she asks me, “Mama, can I have sfarkly lips?” (Meaning “can I wear lipgloss?”)  

Another s- specialty for her is “swimsoup”... instead of “swimsuit.”  And just one more cutey word:  Toney Nails!!  Her exclamation when I bring out toenail polish for the girls...

She has no fear whatsoever of her siblings... and sometimes she should show a bit more humility or respect.  A few times when she disapproved of their choices or actions, she would walk up to one of their tummies (probably Isaiah or Marian) and hit them in the tummy.  They would laugh and she would stomp away.  Another time Matt watched her hit Isaiah, and then when she realized she wasn’t hurting him with her hand, she started to jab at him with her elbow.    Does there really need to be any more evidence for sinful nature? 

More recently, this winter-
She's showing herself to be a sweet singer and is super interested in playing piano too.  She remembers tunes (like Isaiah playing Star Wars on the piano) and she can sing along to the melody doo-doo-doo....  She knows "Good Guy Star Wars" from "Bad Guy Star Wars" songs and she knows maybe two dozen worship or kids fun songs, with more lyrics than I usually remember!  

She is super demonstrative with her facial expressions and her hands... often making gestures above her head.  I wish I could etch the sweetness on my mind and heart, when she comes up to me and asks, “Mama, can I have a date?” and ends with both her hands (and eyebrows) lifted high, hands above her head, palms facing up, fingers all quirky.  Or like today, when she asked “Mama, Uncle Jonathan is feeling sick?”  Again, hands up and face frowning dramatically with great concern.  Precious.

And how blessed we are in this… For several months, Vivi has been in the habit of waking up many times a night.  We count it a good thing that she wakes to go potty, though I will be excited for her to learn to hold it for maybe just one potty run a night?  That would be nice.  But she was waking several times a night to just ask us to lay down with her or to tell us it was too dark (which meant, "come lay down with me.")  I thought that maybe her third birthday soon would be a good time to transition with her to not calling out for us at night.  But then I thought I'd just talk with her about it…. how big girls sleep through the night and cuddle their moms and dads in the daytime.  How mom and dad need to sleep on our bed at night just like she needs to sleep on her bed.  Well, I should have thought of this MUCH earlier because she ran with it.  She's only called out 2-3 times in 2 weeks now.  So thoughtful of her :) (and dumb of me to not have talked with her about it earlier!)

Vivi's got class.  Everyday recently when she comes into the house, she takes her off her shoes by the front door, and right about the place where I put on my ugly-cushy house shoes, she slips on the fanciest sfarkly shoes she's got…. dress up shoes with a tiny rhinestone bow in front and itsy-bitsy heels, for the everyday lounge around the house look. 

Her words are loosing the baby sound and most of the sf-business is gone but she says this line too, that I love (though I still offer her the correct version when she says it)  “Mama, what is this’s?”  And these days, she’s quick to tell me about her favorites... favorite picture, favorite color, favorite food.  

She told me this evening, when we were looking at a pic of her and Matt, “that’s my Dad.  He’s my favorite daddy.  He’s so pretty.”  I laughed and asked her again, “are you sure he’s pretty or maybe is he handsome?”  She realized and she laughed all the more and told me confidently, with a laugh on her face, “He’s soooo pretty.”  I love her laugh.  She’s got a little forced laugh that she uses not as a make-me-the-center of everyone's attention, obnoxious kind of belly laugh, but as a dainty sweet exclamation at the end of some dialogue.  Oh to bottle it for a sip-scent of joy, pure joy.   

When we were all playing around, thinking of blog names for our kiddos, I said we could call Vivi’s page “Lil Miss Polite.”  She’s so on the ball when it comes to greeting guests, “thank you for coming,”  and she notices better than anyone an opportunity for a kind “thank you” in Chinese or English.  But then again, she’s already got “stupid” down too, so the politeness is definitely not perfect!

Very often at the table, while Matt is making funny faces with Vivi (they do it like a showdown, who can out-funny-face the other) I’ll gasp and ask Matt with my eyes, “Can you believe how precious, delightful she is?  Can you believe we get to enjoy this girl?”  We are amazed to have this one as our littlest love..... she is oh so precious to us!  Thank you, Lord, for these two girls.


UPDATE:  A few more things I've remembered late but just can't let slide away from me long.   She's a butter swiper….  slick little finger with a thick pile of yellow, she sucks it down like it's candy.  Gross,I know, but she loves it.  

One time when she was sitting on her little potty and I was waiting for her to be done, she looked up at me and told me, rather seriously, "God is at our house."  Based on my reaction, every time since then she says that line, which has become a favorite of hers, with a happy, confident smile.  Way to make her mama glad….  

And again from the bathroom:  While she's taking care of business, many times I'll work on laundry (our washer is in the bathroom).  There was a season when I thought the washer wasn't working well and I closed up the load and started it saying "Thank you Lord that our washer is working."  And now she loves to help close the door and the soap tray for each load saying that same happy line over and over again… and now she says it for every thing in the bathroom too, "Thank you Lord that the toilet is flushing."   "Thank you Lord that the faucet is working."  Yes….   more of that perspective please, Lord.  I'm so grateful for her grateful glad heart!  Oh to learn from my baby girl!

Little Ten Percent

When we were in the states last fall, Vivi had her second ever visit to a doctor.... such grace that she's been so healthy since we just don't have clean and comfy medical facilities so easily available here.  And when we went, we were surprised to find out how little our littlest love was.  10% for age for weight (and so Matt called her that as a nickname.) We've never had a small kiddo before!  She's always eaten lightly and played happily and we've never been concerned but it is strange to hear occasional comments about skinny legs on a baby of ours!

But she might not be so petite if she keeps up her recent trends.  Du Laoshi, her teacher,  told me last week when I picked up the kids right after lunch, "we think maybe you need to feed Xi Chen (her Chinese name) a little more at home.  She's eating as much as a 4 year old.  She just keeps asking for more."  I told her that in recent weeks, she's been eating everything we put in front of her, with common requests for seconds and thirds at home too.... and yes, we do give her as much as she will eat!

And since I didn't write much about her growth at her birthday post I'll add a bit now about our darling...  She sings.  She loves to sing to herself and I'm always mesmerized by her sweet voice.  We recently bought fish (a birthday present "for daddy") and she sang to me about the one she named "Mo Mo a fish... Mo Mo a fish..."  (Momo is Vivi's way to say Nemo.)  She loves school now and wants to go every morning... eager to say bye bye to mama even!  At bedtime she often tucks a baby under the covers on top of her tummy or right beside her.  And, so precious, she's quick to say "Thank You" (or Day Doo, as she says it).    Sometimes she tells me Day Doo after the first sock and the second.... she just says it and likes to say it often and it deeply delights my heart and teaches me the goodness of gratitude every time I hear it from her sweet lips.

And she's a ham.  Recently she told me "Look-it Mama, I do this" and then commenced the rocker move with her head (but L to R instead of front to back) her wispy hair swishing over her face.  Another favorite move, her signature sillyness is this:  a sibling asks her "Vivi, are you cold?" and she opens her eyes WIDE, grits her teeth with an almost smile, and gives a shiverry face.  Everyone laughs.  She. Loves. It.

And we love her....  wonderfully terrifically much!

We Are Here

(Warning:  this post got out of hand.  It's waaayyyy too long for probably anyone but the grandparents.  The pics are cute if you just want to scroll through for a quick look!)

I feel like we are, just like every family, on this wild-paced road trip through the land of Childhood, and our trail is fast vanishing behind us.  The territory of babyhood is nearly gone.  Soon our little ones will all be walking, talking and finishing high school.... At least, it feels like we're going about that fast some days.  It's crazy the speed we've picked up to now, and our family hasn't yet finished our fifth years with kiddos.

So here's a little journal entry on recent events on our road trip... this grand privilege of parenting these four.   We are so grateful to the Lord for their precious lives, grateful to be mother and father to them together, so grateful for these sweet pieces of our journey as family...

Vivian Hope

"Vivi Treasure".   She has the sweetest little pose .... crawls over to a sibling and then sits beside them with her toes pointed back and her knees in front of her, then she bounces up on her knees when she's glad and my heart melts with her bright eyes smiling.


And since Lego battles are a regular at our house, Vivi has needed to solidify her role in this family play.  Daddy recently named her "Giant Baby" for her skill at swooping onto the battle field and leveling an entire army with one drooly move.  Her siblings all love this name for her, although her destruction on the battlefield is much less loved.   Vivi is just delighted with her rise to fame in this important part of our family life.

She's launched into communication too... I think she really means her little lip smacks like I mean the kisses that I give her all day long and I love how she "kisses" me  by her own initiative too...  You leave me awestruck darling.   


And during meal times, sometimes John or May have instigated a "on three, everyone do Vivi hands, ok!?" or "Let's all say KhhhhKhhh for Vivi, ok?".  Vivi lights up when she see that we're all talking with her or waving our hands around like she loves to do.  (This has been her signature move and I remember talking about it with Isaiah on the day that she was born, how Vivi waves her hands around like a Uyghur dancer.....  such a little beauty!)  


She Lit Up last week when we had guests with us for dinner.  She was really showing off.  All the big kids vying for their audiences applause and Vivi too pulled out all her stuff for them....  smacking her lips, blowing spit bubbles, and her latest (picked up from John) a goofy puckered lips face that is quickly followed by big laughs.


She's got a fantastic sense of humor and, (we just LOVE this age!) her giggly laugh for nibbly tickles....  a true foretaste of heaven.  She also goes by nicknames like "Vivi Heavens Treasure Love, Snuggly Cuddly Darling" but I'm sure I should skip going into all the names we've ever called our kids.... it could get simply way. too. embarrassing.  

John Timothy

Still a cuddler, to the exquisite delight of his mom and dad.  He makes fantastic funny faces and sang himself to sleep tonight with his own version of the Christmas classic:  "Wo.....wo....wooo.....ria," repeated to infinity...


As for potty skills, he's still fairly leaky, but he has started to very proudly and stubbornly pull his own undies up sometimes.  My favorite thing for him recently is that he's begun to pray aloud.  He's confident and content with usually one sentence like "Dear God, thank you for this house" or "Dear God, thank you that our friends come here" and it always ends like this: "and say, AAAA men."

He's slow... and it's becoming an issue we're needing to seriously work on!  Buddy, it doesn't need to take 30 min to put on shoes!


He loves to play boat or car between my feet... especially while I'm nursing Vivi.  Often, he won't let me put my legs up because it ruins his car. 

Matt nicknamed him Verbal....  and sometimes it gets completely out of control how he loves words, even still being a bit limited with his vocab. At the breakfast table recently he found a sentence that just struck him silly:  Kill the dragon on my bike! (Said like a soldier marching to battle, sword raised and pointed toward the door.)  After he repeated this mantra at least 79 times..... his words slipped and became a whole new sentence.  He and Marian share the love for this battle cry:  they pat their bellies and howl like pirates laughing as they raise their swords and shout:  Peel the dragon, eat my bike!


There was a time in Nov and Dec that just can't be forgotten either...  Matt and I started joking about John as our "Goodnight Gorrilla."  Almost every night for this stretch he woke up around 3 or 4 AM, came silently into our room and stared at me.  I woke up with eyes laid on me so heavily and then all I needed to do was to get up and take his hand and walk him back to bed, exactly like the zookeeper's wife walked the gorilla back to bed in the kids' book.  It was cute to have such a funny name for this sweet, sleepy face on our boy, but I'm glad that stage is done.  


He really loves to take care of and play tenderly with Vivi and he's getting a bit too brave with some stunt crazy riding on his "big" bike.   And he's also the most obsessed  with "Mama, see me.... (do whatever it is)".  Another favorite of John's is to repeat what someone has just said and then ask for confirmation:  "this is yummy, right Isaiah?"  or "we don't like bananas, right Mayin?"  He's the champion of all Good-byers.

Marian Lynn

"May Love".  She makes the best mush in town (Vivi's food: cereal, veggie puree, formula powder, water).  She's loud.  She's the best bike rider of our big two but is its been months since she's ridden and for now she's completely refusing to ride her bike or try her new roller blades (and she'll be as fearless as she sounds soon I hope!)  She's the sweetest little server...  loves to take a plate of treats around to our guests or her sibilings.  She also loves to be served, usually in the form of band-aids or tissues.  She picks her nails and scratches her back- by her shoulders- hard sometimes (the later, a habit while she's sleeping?)


Her hair is past the middle of her back and she loves it and we both enjoy when I can sit long to brush her hair and try to do it up special (try is the key word.)  She's learning to cook and learning to truly help me in the kitchen (for a long time her helping was just not very helpful.... but it's becoming more so!)


She likes to keep her bed neat and to have long sleeves rolled up so they don't go past her wrist.  She knows where almost everything is in the house... as in "yes we do have rubber bands Mom, there's some in your desk drawer."  Or... "Daddy has some bubble gum on the top shelf of his closet."  (Bubble gum is imported from America and has to be rationed.)  


Right now, she's giving me my best opportunity for soul scrubbing-refining and driving me to more prayer as I'm desperate for wisdom to serve her well.  How can I love and train and bless our sometimes incredibly defiant and always intensely emotional girl?!  Oh God give wisdom!   We are trying to be even more stubborn than she is to love her firm and fair and gracious and gentle.


Marian is loads of fun and as Matt always calls her, she's the "straw that stirs the drink."  She's very committed to our friends, the guests that we have in our home, and almost every time they have to leave, Marian insists, "Mama please tell them they have to come again."

Isaiah Dale

I'm so super grateful for a new friend JR, with Book Ends, who mailed us 100 Easy Lessons to Teach Your Child to Read.  This guy is tearing it up!  I love how he's reading words all over our daily lives now.  


I've been excited for homeschooling for a long time, but I'm really getting all the more eager for next year when we start more full time, formal learning together as I see how this sweet guy is growing to love to learn about the world.  And I just love to cuddle him to read and chat together.  He never asks to cuddle but he's usually glad to when I invite.  


He's a roller blade warrior.  Loves a good back scratch and a battle story and recently has become quite the story teller himself at bedtime.  



Isaiah's far more inclined to stay inside and work around a table on legos or drawing or looking at books than he is to play outside... unless it's roller blades or sandbox time.  Besides these two, it usually takes quite a bit of urging to get him outdoors.  (Sadly, it takes a lot of mental momentum for me to be eager to go too...  it's awfully ugly industrial around here.)   Indoors, he would probably play for 2-3 hours a day all alone, if I let him, and if he could find the quiet space in our home!  


We've just started playing chess:  the battle story-line perfectly scratches our battle-itchy boy. He's almost always our "Charlie Award" winner, which means he's usually the first one ready and waiting to get out the door when it's time to go.  I love this boy and I'm so grateful for our firstborn to usually demonstrate some sweet concern for obeying and being helpful to others and sometimes, (sometimes) even being kind to to his siblings.  Yesterday he built a lego tower as a surprise for Marian and he even planned "a surprise party" to unveil it for her.  

And here's a few more moments together....  

  

John found "the spot" that he was sure was the unbeatable hiding place: under the covers on our bed.  (Don't all kids love this place!?)  It soon turned into a progressive hiding game where, once found, the finder had to jump under the covers with him and then they'd call out for the next seeker to come and eventually join them too.   Nothing could have thrilled this boy more.  

kinda like a growth chart at the end of the year?

Here's my best shot at sizing up where each of our kids have grown to in 2010...

John John:  unspeakably delightful.  18 months is truly a favorite age for Matt and I so far on our journey in parenting.  It's the best (and last!) of "baby."  John is beginning to talk and is understanding so much.  He loves to find special toys for his big bro and sis if they are hurt or sad.  Loves, loves his Moses bear and Moses blanket.  Snuggling both Mo.s, a cup of milk, and Mama on the couch is his very favorite way to wake up and often, he just won't settle for anything less.  Sometimes he's so enamored with the Mo.s that he doesn't want to be lifted from his bed where he's playing with them... and laughing to himself or at them.   Quite a runner: again, laughing at himself as he goes.   Adamant climber (chairs, stairs and the bunk bed ladder) and prolific greeter (Hi, Bye, and Zaijian- goodbye in Chinese).   Lover of dogs (and all animals are "Dahs" for now.)   Super man, compliments of Uncle Greg and Auntie Heather.  

Marian Lynn:   Definetely the firecracker in our group.  She is a truly super fun girl.  She's usually the most extroverted of our family but still not her most lively self in a group too large or unfamiliar.  Finishes a lollypop in 4.5 minutes.  Our dancing, singing, swinging, teaching (her invisible kids follow her around the house for lessons), bike-riding, dress-up princess, we love her so much, darling girl.  Queen of Hearts gown from Grether.

Isaiah: This guy seems way too big to be our boy... I think he's had a major growth spurt and we love to see how he's maturing.   Far superior artistic talent to mom or dad, great singer (when he thinks no one is listening), gifted and often longwinded storyteller (in Chinese and English),  future archer & swordsman,  bike rider, delicious to tickle, funny, wonderful boy.  Finishes a lollypop in 55 minutes.



Toy Story Mac-n-Cheese also from.... yep, Grether. Grandma and Grandpa sent some fantastic gifts too, but we were on the web cam with them to open those gifts so I missed getting any good shots.  And our sweet church family sent a great box of treats, and gifts, and wonderful hand-me-downs and needs that I had ordered online.  So blessed to receive from such thoughtful, loving friends and family!  Thank you all!


And.... the littlest one~  K4: We are so excited to meet this little one towards the end of March.  Since we are quite solidly planning that this will be our last pregnancy, the gender question seems all the more magnificently incredible!  Who will the Lord choose to add to our crew as our 4th little blessing?  We are so grateful for the near 27 weeks of growth so far and are praying for God's clear provision and peace for a healthy birth.  We still have no idea where we'll be for the birth- stay here or go to the capital?  So many factors to consider!   Belly shot coming...  :)