other funnies

here are two more funnies that came out of emma's mouth recenty:

- Lots of our friends (and occasionally me) call Josh Mr. Ke - Ke is pronounced "kuh", sort of like "duh", only with a k. Ke is josh and the girls' last name; I have a different surname according to asianese culture. Anyway, emma also sometimes calls Josh Mr. Ke. After a while, I began calling her Miss Ke, and when she started calling me Miss Ke as well, I corrected her and said that I was Mrs. Ke because I am married. I told her that when people get married, they become a Mrs. (Never mind that I was mixing two cultures - here, even when you get married you ALWAYS keep your own surname) A few weeks later, we attended a friend's wedding. Before the wedding, josh and emma were talking about all the interesting things they would see at the wedding, and emma brilliantly exclaimed, "After I go to the wedding, I'll be Mrs. Ke!"

-This story also comes courtesy of morning devotions, where we are currently in Exodus. Reading about the ten commandments brought further light to the topic of idols, which seems to fascinate emma, maybe because they are easily seen here and so therefore, easily imagined. How would I teach this concept tangibly in America where there is no local idol store to walk past?! Anyway, that evening, we were reviewing with josh about our devotion that morning, and when I asked emma what one of the commandments was, she said, "We don't supposed to make idols, we're supposed to make Hello Dollies!" May I never be accused of forgetting to teach my children the important things in life - not making idols and making hello dollies! That's my girl!

Tomorrow is the papa eggroll's birthday, so I think we're going to go our city lake in the morning (josh's class was cancelled tomorrow because of the birthday...not his. It also happens to be Confucious' birthday. Go figure.) We'll have the recent fave CFS for lunch, and then German Chocolate Cake for dinner. Yep, cake for dinner. It will be a first for all of us, thought I'm sure we'll be just fine! then...after the kids go to bed it will be fab thursday night TV, except for us it will be friday night - Survivor:China and Without a Trace! woo hoo!

will the full moon please go away? Please?

so tonight is the other side's turn - guys' night. My husband and all his buddies are gorging themselves on BBQ at this moment, and then off to watch a football game. Probably not too far off of what he would have done in the states. Anyway...

that leaves me at home with my two precious, lovely, charming daughters. Hmmm. And a very nearly full moon. Another hmmmm. I thought it would be fun to change up the routine and do something unusual with daddy gone, so we ate dinner under a tent. Namely, the kitchen table. Yeah, we ate under the table. It was fun for a while - the girls truly thought it was unusual - but once the novely wore off, they thought dinner was over even though neither of them had touched thier dinner. I, of course, also had not touched mine because our tent was severely understocked for such a festive occasion and needed constant trips back to the kitchen to restock it. Mantha started fussin to get down. Emma insisted she had to go the potty. Mantha starts wriggling, almost falling out in her valiant attempt to escape. Emma goes to the potty and then determines that she will not, WILL NOT return to the tent to eat her still-untouched food. Hmmm. All this is done to the background music of continuous whining.

In fact, all day it seems there has been a steady dull stream of whining. And it wasn't like I was preoccupied today with other things and kept brushing them off. We had fun activities planned today, I had not much at all to do and was with them most of the morning, but on and on the whining went. We made paper-sack puppets, made up stories so our puppets could have some amazing adventure, sang and danced, played a color game...and the beat goes on. I blame it on the full moon. Seriously. There is no other explanation for such bizarre and unexplainable behavior today. So. Please, full moon, go away.

now it is almost 8pm, and the kids are in their beds (though emma is continuing her calls for everything imaginable - another story, her blanket is lost, she needs more water, you name it.) It's almost quiet and I still don't have much to do - except eat those peanut butter fudge cookies I made over the weekend. Yum.

There have been funny moments recently -

such as, when emma was asking us the names of the various creatures on Cars. Most of them we knew, but she kept asking us, "Who's that green guy?" After repeatedly admitting my ignorance and apologizing, she finally sighed, "You're not very smart, are you?" Oh dear. I don't know where that came from!

today in our morning bible story we read about moses and the israelites and how in the desert, God provided all their needs, like food and water and shoes. Later on that day, we revisited that lesson about God's provision with our paper-sack puppets. One of the puppets (my pig) needed a friend because there were no other pigs in his neighborhood, so he asked God to provide him with a friend. When God provided, I told Emma again how God will provide for all of our needs, because He is God and He loves us. She paused, munching on this new bite of information, slowly processing how all these people told God all the things they wanted. I told her we could ask God about our needs too. Thinking over the offer, she asked, "Well, what does God have?"

Samantha recently learned the rhyme, "One, Two, buckle my shoe" and loved finishing the last word of each of the rhymes. At dinner, emma would often say, "one, two, buckle my ....." and then wait for samantha to fill in the word. After only a few days of this delightful little trick, samantha is already quite proficient at - and tiring quickly - of the little ditty. Tonight, emma tried again, and samantha filled in "shoe!" before emma even got out "buckle"!

Truly, these funny things make it easier for me look forward to seeing them tomorrow morning and wondering what funny things they will do...but in the meantime, does anyone else love bedtime as much as me?!

what is a gob?

That's a good question. I've been in Asianese hospitals where there are signs reading, "Please do not gob anywhere." I think my definition of gob is a bit different than that. Mirriam Webster has a definition that is a little closer to mine: a large amount, usually plural, as in "gobs of money". Well, gobs of money I do not have, but one thing is true: I have gobs of pictures for you in this perhaps never-ending post. But they are all cute, and since none of you (well, ok, most of you) aren't here to see the girls in person, a gob of pictures is ok every now and then. Right? :)

We shall begin with pictures from a few weeks ago, since I truly am that far behind. When emma was a bit younger, she loved playing with this toy that we gave the brilliant and unique name of "Shapes". If she had the opportunity to play "shapes", she would run from across the house to her room trying to reach the box. For our part, we kept the mystery alive by keeping "shapes" and a few other select toys high on a shelf, out of the "everyday range" of toys that are used often, but receive little TRUE love from the girls. "Shapes" receives true love. And now that samantha is getting old enough to play with the special toys, it's even more fun to plop them on the couch and watch them play together. Usually, daddy likes to bring out the big guns when I'm making dinner, but this time I got to play too. (and take pictures...)

This was like the classic game "telephone"...emma imitated me putting the stars up to my eyes, and then mantha imitated emma and put the stars up to her eyes...seems a little was lost in the process...

One afternoon, our house helper wrapped blankets around the girls. (And just for the record - each of their blankets are very highly treasured objects. They also each own a Ty Dora doll; mantha's is big and emma's is little. Property rights are clearly delineated between the two, and each knows not to mess with the others' blanket or dora. Even mantha, little though she may be, will walk over to emma's dora lying on the floor and announce, "Emma doh-dee!" So...mantha's blanket is a little pink knit blanket that actually has "Emma" embroidered on it, and emma has a yellow fleece blanket with a giraffe on it, as you can clearly see from the picture.) So, back to the blankets. Emma and mantha thought that was the coolest thing ever, and pranced around the house in their little blanket togas. Mantha even got extra brave, thinking she must be so cute in her little blanket that surely I wouldn't punish her for getting inside the forbidden drawer...

I have also mentioned many times about a small park that is down the street from our house. It's not exactly a park, like American-type park...but it's a place here that is sectioned off from cars, which sort of makes it like a park. It also has swings, so that's another factor that puts it in the park category. Anyway, emma loves going to the swings, and on our last visit (yesterday) they had HUGE sunflowers, growing high into the sky! Bright bursts of happy yellow lined the sidewalks, and the girls really enjoyed craning their necks up to the sky to see their blooms. Of course, yesterday, I forgot my camera...so these pictures are from a few days ago. Parks here seem to be more focused on personal health rather than play or fun, so that's where the assortment of bars and jungle-gym type things come in. There are also various other "personal health" equipment things that I had never seen before coming here, but i'll save those for another post. You'll be pleased to know that my kids will grow up being quite healthy after having such great tools available to them!

Now that my friend rachel is back, our house helper has been going over there on tuesdays and thursdays to help as they are getting back into life here. That means the three of us girls have been having our own little adventres on those days! On tuesday, we went and bought daddy a jacket at a new clothing-for-export store we found (Reebok: $6), we went on a walk through daddy's school and picked up assorted leaves to make leaf rubbings at home, and on our way out, the fountains were on at daddy's school so the girls got to sit and watch...and play...and eat dirt...and sticks...and rocks. Ok, emma doens't eat those things, but samantha's mouth is ALWAYS playing host to some foreign object. Then, it was lunch at KFC to play with another friend, and special rides on the coin-operated cars, another all-time favorite. By the time we got home, we were all dirty, especially the girls who were pretty much allowed free reign on our outing. I thought it would be a nice treat to give them a mini-foot massage. Emma was so excited, and kept saying, "Is this like mommy's foot massage? Is this what mommy does?" It was a fun - and very wet - experience. Thanks to natalie, those sweet feet were pampered with lemongrass salt rub and lotion! :)

Rachel's family coming back also means that when we all get together, it's a full house! We had a great meal welcoming them back - Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, biscuits, and a chocolate chip cheesecake ball! Here are the kiddos, minus samantha and chloe (also mantha's age), sitting at their own little table!

Last two, and then you all can go back to what you were doing...

These two were taken two weeks ago when we took the girls to a little play area outside. Manta has certainly gotten to the point where she holds her own when she gets around, so she has really started enjoying things like slides and big play toys.

Thanks for taking the time to look at all my pics! :) Mother nature decided that today it was time for fall to debut, so we are in a blissful period of blue skies, cool breezes and warm, but not hot sun. Our plan is to enjoy all these days to the fullest so that when the chilly winter comes, we have lots of warm autumn memories to get us through until spring!

secrets

Bedtime routines are some of the best routines ever, and provide some of the sweetest times with my kids. I remember when I was little and my parents ALWAYS (well, in my mind it was ALWAYS) came to my room, sat on my bed and said goodnight, with all the hugs and everything else that went with it. I was so happy when emma got to the age where bedtime could be negotiable - not when utter exhaustion finally won out in a whining, emotional display (ie, where samantha is right now).

For emma, the bedtime ritual is the same every night. Daddy puts on jammies and brushes teeth, then we all say prayers together. Mommy puts emma in bed, usually after picking one of two of her "special" books - books that don't go on the everyday shelf, and are kept high on top of her wardrobe. These favorites are things like "Angus Lost" (the current favorite), "The Big Green Pocketbook" (mom's favorite), or Jesse Bear. Then after a few stories with snuggly lap time, many nights I'll lay in bed with emma and talk before finally making her stay in her bed by herself.

We talk about all sorts of things when I lay in bed with her. Usually, she rambles about her favorite event or person (dora apparantly likes to eat chocolate cake, as does Mater) or talks about what she did that day, or what she thinks we should do the next day. A few months ago, I introduced the word "Secret" to her. I would ask her if she had any secrets she wanted to tell me. She always says, "Yeah, I do" and then can't think of a single thing to say, so I'll start first. I'll tell her something like, "I had an extra peice of chocolate cake today when daddy wasn't watching" or "Sometimes it's hard for me to have kindness for the people outside"...mostly just conversation starters, but it also is me sharing a bit of my real life secrets too. Of course, she didn't really get the concept, and she doesn't really now, though she might after tonight.

Tonight, I asked her if she had any secrets. Her long eyelashes opened wide her blue eyes and she said, "Yeaaah," with a sparkle.

"Ooooh, what is it?" I enquired.

Nothing. Silence. A blank stare.

"Ok, I have a secret. My secret is....that I bought something for Emma and Samanta today."

"yeah, you bought me a luigi car!" (Emma had already received the 50 cent toy I found for her today when I was out shopping; it was Luigi from Cars.)

"I bought you something else. That's my secret."

"Well, what is it?" she pressed.

"I can't tell you, Em! It's a secret! That's why it's a secret."

"Oh." she stopped and thought for a moment. "Well, where is it?"

"I cant' tell you, then it won't be a secret anymore!"

"Oh. So you really can't tell me what it is?"

She was baffled that I wouldn't tell her. But now maybe she knows what a secret is!

(The secret gift is a Dora the Explorer clip-on backpack. It has a clip-on thing, like a walkman or something like that, in Backpack's shape and face and stuff...and you can put all your treasures inside. I haven't decided when I'll give it to her, and I was bummed that there weren't two - because you know, samantha has to have and do whatever her sister has and does - but it should be fun times.)

when bad things happen to very, very good people

Kaleigh Lynn.

I haven't ever met her, but I know someday I will. I'll comment on how her laugh was like her mother's, or how when she was thinking about something, she looked just like her daddy.

But I'll have to wait to meet her.

Her birthday, that day when she would meet the mother who carried her for so many months, was August 18. Two days before, on the 16th, her mommy and daddy went in for that last-minute, routine doctor's appointment. But the doctors couldn't find a heartbeat. Kaleigh's mommy and daddy heard the saddest news ever - they had lost her. Those moments - of holding her close, watching her eyes adjust to the new light, of maddeningly loud screams, and silent, almost inaudible nighttime breathing - were lost.

Kaleigh's umbilical cord was wrapped too tightly around her legs, stretched out too much, blocking the vitals. The good news is, kaleigh's mommy and daddy still got to hold her in her arms, still got to trace her face with their fingertips, to give those warm hugs that only mommies and daddies can give. Then, all too soon, they had to give her back.

Kaleigh's mommy and daddy are so faithful to the Lord, and their testimony about His love, strength, and peace to them has been strong and continuous. Truly, in their loss they are trusting Him with remarkable grace. But they are our friends, and we love them. We are far from them, as many of you were far from us during our loss. The only thing I know to do - and can do - is to ask you all to pray for kaleigh's parents, J and N, as a favor to me. Their local body has blessed and served them in the truest sense of the words, just as Christ commanded them. J has already returned to work, and N will stay home a little longer while she waits for what to do.

I don't know why these things happen. Well, I guess I do. One of my thoughts, mentioned before, is that I think I just assume that pregnancy equals baby. Maybe a lot of society thinks that way, maybe not. But I keep finding out - as my friends and I deal with hurt related to the loss of precious babies - that a baby is a miracle. A real, true miracle. No, maybe not like the kind we usually consider miracles because having babies is so commonplace. But, all the same, birth is miraculous.

You couldn't ask for better people than J & N. People who give, people who care, people who serve and love selflessly. Why thousands of babies are born every year to parents who won't love them, sacrifice for them, devote their souls to the upbringing of those little ones...while my friends J & N didn't have that opportunity? It stings my heart. Will you pray that God will give my friends J and N a miracle? I sure am.

everything you ever wanted to know...

what have we been up to lately? Well, it's been a hectic week, full of just about everything that can come our way. For starters, our house helper was gone for half the week - which I realize puts me back in the ranks of pretty much every mother in America, having to make my own meals and wash my own clothes, poor me, I know - but it sort of threw my whole week off. BUT we made it, even with the rest of our crazy week.

Josh fell down on a spot in our kitchen that always seems to accumulate water after washing dishes. It was a particularly nasty fall, the type that turn your knees and ankles all sorts of colors and evoke lots of sympathy. For a few days, he couldn't even really walk on it, but things are better now and he is back to his almost-normal self. He's excited about starting school next week, and is at school right now taking some placement tests for the upcoming semester.

Emma has somehow arranged a meeting of her two "favorites" - a few nights ago at dinner, she announced to us that Swiper the fox swiped Lightning McQueen and Mater's wheels, but he felt sad so he gave them back. Apparantly, Lightning and Mater were really excited to get their wheels back. This has also been a week of scrapes and bruises for Emma. The weather here has been ultra-fabulous, with cotton candy clouds and periwinkle skies, hot sun, but a nice cool breeze. Summer is definetly over here and autumn is on its way, so it's perfect outside weather. This week we were outside every day: Monday was to a park down the street, Tuesday was the park with the swings (one of emma's favorites), Wednesday was in our courtyard playing with sidewalk chalk, Thursday was hanging out at a park by our friends' house with big rocks that Emma could throw into a pond (way cool to a two year old!), and then today we went to another friend's house after a special breakfast at McD's. But all those outings are hard on a two year old! Emma has twice gotten bloody knees from falling, and her legs have their fair share of bruises as well. Getting the bandaid when we get back home, though, seems to make up for it and she takes her sweet time selecting her choice from the hello kitty and dora options available to her.

Samantha keeps us living in fear with her newfound fearlessness at crawling on everything, but has managed to keep her spills down to a minimum lately. Her newest vocabulary word is "doh-dee", which means Dora in Manthanese. She is always requesting Doh-ee; not so much to actutally watch the movie but to hold her precious doh-dee doll that was sent to her by my parents. And my most favorite samantha-development to report is that her "I love you's" are getting so fun and sweet. We probably ask her to say I love you six thousand times a day, but everytime she says it, she adds lots of "love"s in there and she always specifies "daddy" at the end, even if she's talking to someone else. So it comes out sounding like "I whuv whuv whuv you, daddy". It's great. :)

And me, what about me? Well, I'm eating chocolate cake right now. My friend Rachel is coming back to my city in less than one week and my parents are coming to visit in just about a month - a double hooray! Things are good for me.

In other past news that I have been too lazy to blog about, we went fishing with my house helper and her family a few weekends ago. It had the potential to be a never-ending asianese outing, but since my house helper knows me so well, it was actually all arranged perfectly according to the times of when my children would get tired and cranky. In fact, the outing was WAY fun. We piled four adults and three children in a little Geo-metro type car and drove way out to the countryside, to some friend of a friend's house who had a pond. My house helper's husband brought along all the equipment and his own special-made fish food, which looked like some combination of dirt and little white things, but what do I know about that? Nothing.

(We were informed that these were for eating. Of course, we thought, what else would you do with them...?)

Anyway, we had a fun time. Emma helped daddy catch some fish, and then loved watching them swim around in the basin where they awaited their fate. She kep throwing leaves in the basin. As if those poor fish needed any more drama in their lives. The ponds had huge lotus blossoms and lily pad things that the girls so loved, and even though we were all dirty and tired by the time we made it home, it was a fun afternoon.

Later that night, some friends came over just as emma was going to bed, and Emma was delighted to discover that when people come over late at night, she can get out of going to bed! She was a great hostess and made sure everyone - everyone - had their own hat to wear. You couldn't get by with just leaving your hat sitting on your lap. No, siree. (Mantha had no hat because she, unlike emma, did not get to stay up past her bedtime.)

Another thing we started a little more than a month ago was "Family Fun Night", and emma is already hooked and looks forward to it every week. This is when mantha goes to bed (I'm sure later on we'll let her stay up too) and then we do fun things like make a big bowl of popcorn, play games, or watch a movie. But, of course, half the fun is getting to stay up past your bedtime. The last three times, we've played this new board game that Emma likes to play. It's been sort of interesting, teaching her the concept of rules and congratulating winners and losers, and playing to have fun, taking turns, and stuff like that. Family Fun Night is fun times. Maybe as the girls get older, I'll have to figure out how to make Blizzards like my dad used to make during my own childhood "family fun nights". My siblings and I loved having sleepovers in the living room and playing games or watching movies and eating dad's blizzards.