November Happenings

These two love each other and have so much fun together!

 I had the chance to speak to Mia's kindergarten class about my recent trip to China.  I was rewarded this adorable round of applause; love it!

 I also got to talk with Lily's 2nd grade class which was so fun.  I answered lots of their interesting questions and (attempted) taught them to use chopsticks.  I love sharing mission opportunities with these young ones!

 

Our family always loves to take part in Operation Christmas Child with Samaritan's Purse.  We had a great time shopping together and assembling the boxes.  I was so proud when Lily volunteered to pray for the two precious children who will receive these boxes.

 Our school had its annual fundraising gala; what a fun time to get dressed up and have a great time with friends while raising money for the school!

 The girls couldn't wait to meet some friends at Sparkles for the Snowflake Skate one Saturday morning.  Lily is quickly getting good at skating, and Mia is trying to so hard with a great attitude.  She uses the walker most of the time but she's learning!

 It was called the Snowflake Skate because it had a Frozen theme.  The movie played on the big screen the whole time, there was a pancake breakfast, we met Elsa, Anna and Olaf, and it ended with a big "snowball" fight.  It was actually a lot of fun!

 The girls with their friends Olivia and Lily Barrow.  Alyssa, Kate and Avery were there too but we didn't snap a picture with them.

 Lily and I had some time together and put together a Lego zoo; love seeing her creativity.

 Pirate Mia!

 We were so glad to go to our cousin Johnathan's 4th birthday party; such a cutie!

 We took our annual pictures at Whittier Mill.  I was surprised when I saw this brick outside the mill and a little chocked up; it's my grandparents' names who I love dearly.

 I snapped this quick pic of the girls at our photo shoot.  We originally did the shoot a few weeks ago, and it was 19 degrees outside.  We were FREEZING and the photographer said the girls looked miserable, so thankfully she scheduled a reshoot with us.  This totally threw off the cute coordinating outfits I had; this is what I had available.  They still look pretty adorable, don't they?

The girls have fallen in love with Perler Beads.  They made all these in the first little bit of opening the kit!  We continued on the next day too; they are loving these!

 



Happy Halloween

One of things I love about ACCA is that they celebrate Reformation Day instead of Halloween.  This was an important day in our Christian history, so it's fun to celebrate.  Of course, the kids like it because they get to dress up in time period clothing.  Both girls had "Juliet" type dresses but Mia's had a lot of itchiness to it that we decided that morning wasn't going to work.  Not worth the argument so a Merida dress with Merida's picture covered up worked nicely.

 The girls really wanted to go trick or treating instead of our usual trunk or treating.  We've never thought our neighborhood was great for this though so we made plans to go with some good friends in their neighborhood.  Unfortunately, the mom let me know the night before both kids had been diagnosed with strep throat.  I appreciate the heads up and we quickly decided we wouldn't be going together.  We were able to convince the girls that we would have a little party for us at home.  They would get to go trick or treating at all of our doors, we would watch a movie, etc; it was going to be fun.  They bought into this.  So on Friday afternoon they changed into their costumes.  Mia was supposed to be Elsa but again the costume was a little itchier than expected so she went with Captain America.  Lily was Starsong, one of the My Little Ponies.

 So happy and excited.

 Our spooky face cheeseburgers.  They thought these were pretty fun.

 As we were eating dinner, we noticed our brand new neighbors had their front porch light on meaning they would take trick or treaters.  We decided to go over.  One, we could introduce ourselves and two, the girls would get to actually trick or treat.  This is a very nice older couple, so I'm glad we met.  The girls were so excited after that, so we decided to just walk around our block and see if anyone else had their light on.  About two houses later we ended up catching up with a group of about 6 families who live around our neighbor that have kids Mia's age or younger.  We didn't realize they would be out and about so we joined in with them and ended up having a great time!  The girls got lots of candy which thrilled them.  Just as we got around the block and back to our house, it started to rain, so we decided to call it quits and head back in to watch a movie.  Muppets Most Wanted was selected, the girls settled in with a few pieces of candy, and we had a great time.

This ended up being a great evening of family fun!

Love These Two

Lily posing with the castle she made (with some help from Ryan) for a second grade project on midevil times.  I thought she did a great job, and she was so excited with how well it turned out!

 I had a little after school date with Mia earlier this week which was so fun.  We talked about her day at school, Waffle House, woodpeckers and the Trinity while eating ice cream.  Never know what this little one will come up with next!

I love these two girls!

China, Fall 2014 Trip

I had the opportunity recently to return to China for the third time within the year.  I love this place and was so glad to be back!  This trip was different than the previous ones, but it was still very interesting with lots of high points.  I would love to fill you in on all the details, but I'll keep things more general and at the tourist level on this blog.

 

We enjoyed our time in Beijing.  For the 1.5 half days we were there at the beginning of the trip, the weather was absolutely beautiful which was certainly an answer to prayer.  This was a perfect day for seeing the wonderful cultural and historical sites of this city.  Forbidden City was a great place to start.

 The view of Tiananmen Square from the famous balcony.  Mao's picture is just to the right, but you can't stand right above it because there's an armed guard there.

 Inside was beautiful.  Look at the murals and fresh flowers!

 The Temple to Heaven was lovely as well.  I love the colors used.

 At the end of our day, we had our first of two experiences with Hot Pot.  This is an interesting experience to say the least.  Each person gets their own individual bowl of boiling hot water with herbs and spices in it.  You drop pieces of meat (beef or lamb in our case) or vegetables (lotus and others that I don't remember) or dumplings in to let them cook.  When you pull them out, you can dip them in the sesame paste.  Glad I tried this, but in all honesty, not my favorite meal.

Our group.  In the front is Helen, Bill and me.  Claire, Abby (our tour guide) and Dustin.

 Yeah, we did a lot of walking that day.

 After Beijing, we flew on to Chengdu.  While here, we held a couple of business presentations.  Dustin presented on personal branding and I presented on budgeting skills.  This is a picture of me with Rita after my presentation; she did an excellent job of translating for me.

 Over the following few days after our presentations, we each had meetings with individuals who wanted to sign up for one on one (with translators if needed).  This was a great time of sharing some business knowledge and encouraging them in various ways.

 

While there, we also got to see a Sichuan Opera.  It was really fascinating!  The costumes were beautiful and there were some very fun acts with lovely dancing and cool acrobats.

 Helen, Claire and I went to a great bookstore one day.  Even with everything in Chinese, I could spend hours there!  We found one small part in the children's section that had books in both English and Chinese.  I thought they were really cool, so I bought four for the girls.  As Mia's phonetic spelling below indicates, she wasn't as impressed.

While in Chengdu, we were able to encourage one group of individuals on how to keep their priorities in order, and we were able to talk with another group looking to learn more about their purpose and life's purpose.  Both of these gatherings were incredible and were the high points of the trip for me.

 

I am so grateful that I had this opportunity.  I would love to tell you more about the trip or the work going on in China if you're interested.  It's a fascinating place, and God is doing an amazing work there!

8 Year Old Lily

 

This girl melts my heart.  I have been so blessed by Lily these last 8 years.  We recently asked her several questions on favorite things.  Here's what she had to say:

• Color - Light Green
• Movie - How to Train Your Dragon 2
• TV Show - Sofia the First
• Book - The Never Girls series.  This really surprised me as I thought she would say Magic Tree House series, but Never Girls is a new series she is just getting into.
• Drink - Dr. Pepper.  Cracks me up that she says this.  I honestly think she has had this two, maybe, just maybe, three times in her life.  Maybe because it's such a rare treat is why she loves it.
• Memory from the past year - Her 7th birthday party.  Again, I was surprised by this; just about any other time you ask about a favorite memory is going on the cruise this past summer.
• When she grows up, she wants to be an aquarium worker because she loves dolphins and sea animals.
• Best friend - Avery Hobson
• Bible Verse - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
• School subject - Astronomy
• Goal - To do my best in school
• Food - Daddy's best macaroni and cheese
• Activity - Build Lego sets
• Place to Travel - Disney World
• Game to Play - Hide and Seek
• Restaurant - Tin Lizzy's
• Animal - Baby polar bear
• Most thankful for my family

 

All went well at her check-up yesterday.  Hearing and vision are right in line.  She's 48 inches tall which puts her in the 16th percentile, and she's 56 pounds which is in the 48th percentile.  Sounds about right for our family.  The doctor says she is doing great.

 

Lily loves playing the piano, and she adores her piano teacher, Mrs. Pinto.  We go once a week for lessons, but she loves to practice throughout the week.  She is moving into more difficult pieces, but she never has to be prodded to practice; she enjoys it.  She is taking once a week tennis lessons right now which she enjoys for the most part.  I like seeing her active, and tennis is such a great lifelong sport.  I don't know how long she'll continue, but it's fun for now.  She is also doing an after school Cotillion Club which meets just once a month.  They have actually only met once so far, but she loved it.  I can't wait to see what else she learns.

 

She absolutely loves building Legos, and she loves the challenge of a really good set.  She is a great reader.  She loves books that let her imagination take her to interesting places, but she also loves fact-based books; she thinks the Magic Tree House "Fact Trackers" are fascinating.  She also loves shows like Wild Kratts and Bindi's Bootcamp because she learns such interesting animal facts on them.  She wants to work with sea animals when she gets older.  She also loves drawing, building and just about any kind of arts and crafts projects.  For many months this past year she was in on the Rainbow Loom craze, but that seems to have slowed down a lot.  She is building a medieval castle for her class history project, and she's loving it.  I can't wait to see it finished.  She is doing very well in school.  She does a great job in her science and math classes; in fact, she moves up a grade each day for math class.  I hope she continues to enjoy those types of classes.  At the moment, she says she will go to Georgia Tech for college because "I can still live at home that way; I'll never want to move out."  For now I'll take that sweet attitude.  She has a fantastic memory, so most subjects come pretty easy to her; cursive handwriting is an area we're working on though.

 

More than anything, Lily craves quality time with the people she cares about.  She is happiest when our family is simply hanging out together at home.  A close second is when she has a few close friends over to play.  When we talk about going out to do something, she often says she would prefer to stay home (unless it's roller skating which she now loves).  She loves when the two of us read together at night; I think she enjoys that one on one time with me almost as much as I enjoy it.

 

I can't even begin to name all the good qualities about Lily.  She constantly amazes me.  I love watching her grow and learn.  She fascinates me.  I cannot wait to see how God uses this precious child throughout her life.  She is such a blessing, and I'm so proud to call her mine.

Celebrating Lily's Birthday!

I cannot believe Lily is now 8 years old.  Where does the time go???  Here's how we celebrated and what's she's up to these days:

 

Lily loves arts and crafts projects, so what better place to have her party than at Michael's.  While Ryan was in Africa a couple of weeks ago, the girls and I spent over two hours walking up and down each and every aisle discussing what projects would be best for this party.  We finally settled on Perler Beads, Sand Art and decorating clipboards.  Lily couldn't wait for her party!

 

We decided to have a small party with no more than 8 girls.  Three of Lily's friends couldn't make it because her birthday falls at the beginning of Fall Break, and those families were going out of town.  However, with only 5 girls, that meant everyone could ride together after school; that made Lily very happy!  I went to Michael's a little early to set everything up while Ryan picked the girls up.

 

They immediately set about making perler bead designs as soon as they got there.  They were all concentrating and working so hard.  It was a very laid-back and calm party which I loved!  Mia and McClendon sat next to one another.

 Lily sat between Alyssa and Rachael.

 Lily has such a fantastic laugh, and we heard it a lot at the party; she was having so much fun making memories with her friends.

 Mia and McClendon show off their rainbow sand art.

 Rachael and Alyssa were proud of their projects.

 Lily with her clip board and sand art.

The perler bead projects as they cooled off.  Lily made the mermaid, Mia made the big rainbow square, and the other girls made the fish, octopus and dolphin.

 After all the projects were finished, it was time for Happy Birthday cupcakes!

 Such a sweet group of friends.

 We always like to give books instead of goodie bags as thank you favors, so each girl received a book from the "Who Was...?" children's biography series.  Lily loves these books, so we thought it made sense for each girl to get one about a famous artist.  Monet, Picasso, DaVinci and Kahlo were the ones selected, and Mia got a book on paintings all kids should know.

 

After the party, the four of us headed to Steak and Shake for dinner.  After that, the girls and I headed to the Marietta Square for Art Walk.  ACCA had been selected to participate in this festival in conjunction with the Marietta Museum of Art, and both girls had pieces selected for showing.  They were excited to see their artwork on display in a museum.  After seeing that, we walked around the Square where many professional artists had their work for sale; most of them were pretty interesting and fun to see.

 Saturday was Lily's actual birthday; thrilled to finally wear her "8" shirt!

 Lily was most excited about going roller skating, so that's what we did.  She didn't use a walker at all!  Sure, she fell many times, but she kept a great attitude and did a really good job.  I was so proud of her!  Mia was excited to learn how to skate too.  She used the walker though she wants not to so badly.  She'll get the hang of it soon, I'm sure.

 Back at home, wearing her birthday tiara from Grandma Jan and Grandpops.

 This girl put together all three Legos sets that Grandpops and Grandma Jan sent her!  She loves Legos so much, and she couldn't wait to put together the new "rescue jungle" collection.  It took several hours of the day, but she did it!

 She was also very excited to open up gifts from Bama, Mia and us.  Mia picked out a little Lego set and gave me a little money to help buy it; I love that sweet girl's heart.  We gave Lily a book basket with a dozen new books in it.  She is always asking for more books because she just loves to read.  There were several of the biographies that she enjoys, Magic Tree House, Nancy Clancy, Amelia Bedelia and Whatever After series.  There was also a sketchbook for Bible stories and a China paper doll kit.  She was excited about each item.

 

As the birthday girl, Lily got to pick our dinner, so it was filled with her favorite things: pigs in a blanket, mac and cheese, orange jello, strawberries, "Lily crackers" (seasoned oyster crackers) and strawberry lemonade.  Yum!

 After dinner, Mom and Dad came over to give Lily their gifts and spend a little time with us; we always enjoy a visit with them.  Note that Granna is holding a dog; we were dog-sitting a friend's dog, and she wanted in the picture too.

  Sweet family picture.

 Fun family picture.

 Having Luna the dog around for a few days may have been Lily's favorite part of her birthday weekend!

A little bit of glow stick fun before heading to bed.

Happy 8th birthday Lily!