bits of the New Year

wrapping jiaozi with these most pretty folds is called "wrapping little mice"

jiaozi... the yummy dumplings that you must eat to celebrate the new year

my dear friend An Mei showing the kids a fun application she had on her phone

An Mei's family...  this dear friend will probably be a helper we call on around the time of K4's arrival.

Every time we gather with friends (at their place or ours) Marian asks if everyone will please sit down to watch her dance at least one song for them.  This time her dance was topped off with a duo with daddy.

These are our extravagant friends who invited us to a FEAST in their home at 10 am.  Being pregnant, I had finished my first breakfast, but I wasn't quite ready for a second breakfast like this!  The meal went on and on and on.... complete with boiled Coke.  

The friends (above) gave us these vegetable paste patties (on Marian's plate) and these fen tiao special noodles...  neither one did we expect to enjoy as much as our local friends would, so we took them to a friends house to learn from them how to prepare these things.... and let them enjoy these delicacies.

Usually, Marian talks about one day marrying Isaiah's best buddy Hudson, but recently, this guy has moved up to the lead marriage candidate.  Xie Zi Lin (whose back is on the left, his mom is by Marian) was a classmate of Marian's in her preschool and a favorite friend of all of us at the reading nights we hosted at our old place.  

Our goofy guests from Beijing brought lots of fireworks to share.

And a few more scattered sweet spots from this week:

Our verse this week at the table is Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Marian almost always launches into a solo of her own arrangement of words and lines from "In Christ Alone" when we come to the end of the verse.  I Love It. (Love her!)

Isaiah is becoming one diligent and devoted artist.  It's shocking to both Matt and I how his skill has developed in the past few months (he really only started drawing last May) and we're amazed at the attention and ambition he shows for his artwork.  He did not get it from either of us, but we're loving watching him grow in this creative skill!

Daddy has decided that some of John's bad moods lately have been because of his hair.  If Matt walks into the room to see a crying boy, he picks him up and heads straight for the bathroom to give him a sprinkle up top and a style to be proud of.  I think it's honestly worked more times than not to cheer up our sweetheart and everyone of us smile for a good-looking' do on our boy.  (bad shot, but you get the idea)

and the randomness ends here :)

Happy New Year! Holy Day?

"Congratulations.  May you have wealth!"  This is as common a greeting here as "Merry Christmas" in the west in December, and really, what else is "merry" these days?  It's the year of the rabbit now and the turn on the calendar has not passed without a war-zone envying load of gunpowder (in the form of fireworks) and probably enough jiaozi to feed each world citizen at least a few.


Here's the view we woke up to Thursday morning... 

7am, downstairs from our place

the air was thick with the smell and dingy grayness of ash

fireworks are always wrapped in red paper... the color of blessing

The fireworks here are absolutely amazing.  They are beautiful and they are LOUD.  There's the quantity (we heard the average home here spends approximately 3,000 quai ($450 USD) on fireworks for this celebration.  Not sure that could be correct though.  That's a good bit more than a month of rent for us here!) and the incredible scariness/ foolishness of shooting them off:  little kids running between huge piles of missel-type shooters and crackers thrown onto sidewalks bustling with pedestrians or inches from homes.   There were over 1,600 reported injuries from firecrackers in 2010.   But I need to be humbled if I'm going to try to wrap my heart around this issue for a country who's had gunpowder in its veins since the very beginning...  


Watching these festive displays does leave me wondering, questioning again, the point of all of it.  Is this holiday simply about fireworks and food?  And I'm not poking on China...  I wonder it all the more about the way that we celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter.


Honestly, is there much meaning to these celebrations in our own home besides maybe a token Bible passage reading and/or church service, food, and whatever the cultural norms are... usually, when I was growing up, including a fair portion of time in front of the TV(as if it was of great importance!)?  I don't mean to rag on this....  but might there be more to a day (or days!) of holy celebration?


Since November, when I read about the first Thanksgiving celebrations with the Native Americans near Plymouth, how the pilgrims celebrated several days of feasting and sports and fun with their local friends, I've wondered what a holy celebration should look like.  In December, Ann Voskamp wrote about ways of celebrating Christmas in a way less dictated by western cultural norms and more thoroughly saturated with Christ.   God seems quite concerned that his people celebrate worthy days well.  But what does that look like for us?


Reading through much of the Old Testament, the Torah, it's clear that God gives worthy celebrations and weekly rest as an evident mark that sets his people apart as blessed, as His.  And its good news already that our God cares that we rest and be glad, and if it brings him pleasure and glory too...  I really need to figure out how to live there better, how to celebrate holy days well.   


And while I'm at it, I want to pursue growing in actively celebrating every day...  aren't they all holy gifts, never to be repeated, beginnings of eternity?


I have much to learn, much to explore.  I'm going to dig around a little bit and hopefully gather others' wiser thoughts on the discipline of holy feasts and maybe also fasts (they were both commanded).  A most magnificent season is coming and I so want our family to celebrate it fully, excellently, joyfully, worshipfully... in a way that others might see His joy and blessing in us and us in Him.


We are so blessed that our God wants us to be a people of holy celebration... After all, we were made in his image and he is a holy, celebratory, worship-worthy God.  Belonging to him, we have every reason to celebrate.  Lord teach us to do it well for your glory!

stocked up

Happy Chinese New Year!  


(warning~ this post is super uninmportant.... just thought I'd share an odd slice of life here!)

We have several guests with us in the next few days (one already here, two more coming to stay, and hopefully more for visits scattered over these days) and all the local groceries are closed.  Our local produce vendors are all gone for 6 days!  So...  we've stocked up.  Good thing my man is such a generous, servant hearted, fantastically strong husband.... he carried home LOTS of food for us a few days ago.  

• 5 kg of rice (we were low),
• 3 boxes of milk,
• a quart of oil (which the vendor assured Matt with deep concern would positively never be enough for a family for the entire the week of holidays.  We just don't use oil like they do here!!),  
• 10+ pounds of fruit (you've got to have lots to serve guests and it's a staple for us anyways)
• 10 pounds of potatoes (our guest's favorite American food is mashed potatoes and I think he ate 5 potatoes worth last night!),
•  and 7-8 pounds in assorted veggies
• Good thing we had just bought our big bag of flour for the month!  (We were also stocked with our faithful few from the import store- so grateful for that!)  

Random veggie side note:  Auntie Heather, thanks so much for introducing us to Ants on a Log last fall... we've become deeply devoted fans of the celery, PB and raisins combo!

tonight's pics

Bath-time in the new tubs...

For us, bathtime basically always means a tea party and even the boys enjoy it.

Grandma, you can kind-of see the nail stickers you found for her.  She *loves* her pretty fingers. Thank you!

online gifts to share

We've recently been introduced to and come across some really wonderful finds online and we want to share them with you.


First:  "You've Got the Time," Dramatized ESV New Testament read as a podcast that's available for free on iTunes.   The group that put it out has arranged it in chunks (i.e. Matthew 1-7, 8-12) so that you can listen to one each day and finish listening to the NT in 40 days.  And so far, the dramatization that we've heard is very well done.  So grateful for this!!


Second:  www.wegivebooks.org  For you overseas families like us, consider yourselves the recipient of a fantastic online library card.  Thanks Alycia for this tip!  I love this site!!  You can read any of these great books they've got up on their site for free... and each time you read a book, you can select a charity cause to which the site hosts to donate a book.  That's the deal.  Pretty great, eh?  So excited to have this wonderful gift in our home.  Our home library has just quadrupled!


Third:  Joelee Chamberlain.  So happy to have heard of this sweet Grandma's Bible stories from you, Darcy.  Ms. Chamberlain has 19 tracks recorded (half hour overviews, usually going over a book of the Bible) that are available for free download here at Sermon Audio.  They're not super professional level recordings but they're super sweet, and very well told.


Such great (FREE!) gifts to enjoy!  We are so grateful!!

they woke up with a plan

It's been a good, busy week here.  Matt's semester of business classes finally finished, we had 20+ guests for dinner/ dessert in our home, the first days of no class to work on lots of projects around our new place, and a our first house guest who stayed with us for the past 5 days.  All of it has been good, but I think we're all a bit worn out today.  Isaiah and Marian and I are ill:  they slept 5 hour naps today and tossed everything up along the way.  I'll be glad for this business to finish quickly!

We've had some special, simple moments... actually many more than I got pictures of.  I didn't get a single shot of any of our friends here with us!  But here's a few of our sweet moments at play or rest... 

One evening at bedtime, Isaiah and Marian got it in their minds that they needed to build a bunkbed for the babies and they would use leftover cardboard from the castle for it.  In the morning it was the only thing they cared about.... a very important project for them.   But somehow, a tea party got slipped in first.

When Daddy brought home a new roll of packing tape they all constructed this beauty, much to everyone's pleasure.  The babies are sleeping very well, I'm told.  

And even K4 was in the spotlight for a time, receiving expert medical attention and lots of love.  

two guards at the door

My dear friend and blog-mentor, Ann, has invited us to write about words.  It's a good push to gather my thoughts and experiences recently as I've been paying closer attention to my own.  The tongue.... my tongue: fire-starter or overflowing storehouse of goodness?  


I'm a verbal processor.  I like to tell stories and I really like (ok, too often I feel like I need) people to understand my stories, understand my heart in telling them.  I've known this for years.  But only recently have I caught on to one special feature of this craziness...


Sometimes I get pretty heated up if I feel like my point is not understood, my heart not heard.  My wonderful love is not a man who tends to be quick with words.  And sometimes if I'm telling him what happened in a day, or what I'm fearing might be, and I don't hear enough verbal feedback from him..... suddenly, sadly, my words can turn up a level- the intensity, the urgency, the passionate "need" to be understood- and the story becomes more than it is or really needs to be.  And to be honest, sometimes my story stays hot like this until I'm agreed with. Ug.  That's an I-really-wish-it-wasn't-the-case confession, not a proud boast.


The craziness flows quick.  My words come faster than feelings sometimes, or at least I hear my words before I am aware of my feelings.  When my words expand around some proud ambition inside me, it's no good at all for my heart.


Jesus said it's from the heart that the mouth speaks.  So, there, the true bottom line.  I know my heart is set, fueled, raring to go, but somehow hearing my own uncontrolled words, my own frustrated voice, knowing my face has slumped angry, feels like permission or an excuse for my heart to leap into an all-the-more wild race after untruth.


But there is a very good part to this lesson:  to be self-controled with my words and especially how my words are communicated (my voice and face) is going a long way to control my heart to stay to what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable... It's finally occurred to me that if I can control the tone of my voice and the character displayed on my face, then my heart stays anchored worlds better and it doesn't get the chance to race so far into its sinful selfishness.  With these two guards in place, choosing wise words and sincerely communicating them is infintely easier.

Set a guard over my mouth, LORD;

keep watch over the door of my lips.

Psalm 141:3

Maybe it has something to do with my first line of attack:  choosing to engage my brain (selecting words) or engage my heart (choosing gentleness and love)?  Of course I'll have to choose good words to speak, but if it's already decided that I will say whatever those words are with a calm, peaceful, loving voice, then triumph is near, the battle feels almost already won.... at least it does for me.   When my heart is guarded, constrained, controlled (instead of flung on the waves of any ole' worldly passion or pregnant compulsion).... the words that will flow out of it will be much more full of Christ.  


So this seems to be how things are working for me lately.  Aiming my attack on my brain- to wisely select words- has left me feeling like a hypocrite and usually hardly helps.  On the other hand, determining that I am not allowed to raise my voice, speak unkindly, or give angry, disapproving, disappointed eyes has narrowed the range of possibilities not only for the words that come out, but also for my heart that reacts to the words that it hears.  

We are not there yet, folks.  I have a long way to go in strengthening these self-control muscles.  But praise be to the Lord, I'm finding much grace in attending to these two guards, setting the tone of my voice and displaying Christ's grace on my face, to guide and guard my tongue to pour out only good, strengthening, life-giving words.


Oh please make it so Lord, in your grace, for your praise!

new home, new castle

Our new home is a great blessing to us and we hope it will be to many more too.  We have the largest patio that I've ever seen attached to a private apartment in China (how is it we could be so blessed!?)  Every week a small bag is filled of litter that's dumped on it from workers and neighbors in the 12 floors above us but we'll gladly pick it up for the joy this space is!  The rent is a bit cheaper than expected, and our complex is across the street from very dear friends.  Such grace for us!

It's been cold and the patio was even covered in a few inches of snow for several days... and when there's only dusty dirty cement outside it hasn't proven quite enough motivation to get us out of the house very often lately.  I look forward to a tiny bit warmer weather when we can make the most of this great cement space and new area to play!

 Another great blessing was that everything from our last place smoothly found a new place in our new home.  We've needed to buy very little to get this place running well.  We did have to get a fridge and washing machine (ug!) but besides that our only needed things were this little hutch (less kitchen shelves here, $11 at a local used furniture market- not sure if I'll paint it or try to stain it?) and two bath tub bins for the kiddos.  Everything else fit just right!

The Family Room/sometimes guest room is also the lego room/ DVD room and it's put to great use every day.  Isaiah sometimes spends hours in here diligently creating Cair Paravel or an army of archers on horseback with swords. 

As soon as we moved in a very kind and little bit flamboyant neighbor arrived with this beautiful orchid as a housewarming gift.  It's way more stunning than I would ever have spent money on for our own home!  All we can think of to return the kindness is to bring him a plate of brownies... we're still working on a better plan though.  Matt is confident he's going to be a fun friend.  

Our dear friend and Marian's classmate (and currently her intended husband) came to visit.  Don't you love how well they're hiding from the seeker?

And the appliance boxes have been put to good use:  A castle complete with two lookout towers.  

we're back online!

Soon after Christmas our home started dwindling before our eyes.  Everything was chaotically delivered to the new place by noon on the 31st and then we got to wake up to a new year in our new home. 

Matt and I hit the Unpack Battle hard and we finished, albeit a bit disorganized at that point, in just about 48 hours.  (A new record!)  And this new home...  truly a gift.  I've had really mixed emotions about leaving our old place but this home is without doubt a great place for our family.  Even if we only get to live here one year (all our landlord was willing to confirm in the contract) it will be a good year to have this patio where the kids can play while I'm busy with the little one....  so, so grateful!

We've already had several guests... and this morning, just like Isaiah prayed for, we got to have our Sun AM gathering here.  Joy for all of us to share our home with these great friends.  We look forward to many many more friends in our home.  And now too, to be able to share with all of you- who we miss!- now that we're back online...  again we're so terribly grateful for internet and even more, for you!

more soon...