Phew.   After some serious time spent and lots of tears shed, A brief excerpt of some Confucian thought.

Lawrence went to school all week without tears or clinging!  So thankful, this mommy is.  He is still hesitant on the playground, but the sweet little girl in the pic above has compassion on him and leads him by hand around:)  Thanks for praying with me! 

Mark and Caroline are going camping Monday -Wed with some friends.  Pray for me while they are gone!  Its a national holiday here so everyone has the week off!

Praying for the kids

Friends,

Reading a great book on prayer that has confronted some of my wrong thinking regarding talking with God, and spurred me on to come before Him more with my requests and needs.  Thanks Sarah for giving me A Praying Life by Paul Miller for my birthday!!

I've written down a few requests for the kids and would love for you to join with me in asking God for these things!

Caroline:  For God to give her faith to understand with her heart the things that she knows with her mind.  Humility for her to acknowledge when she is wrong (she in general is an easy kid, so does not face her sin as much as. . . well as others in the family), and to see Jesus as her much needed Savior.  For her to understand Chinese as she learns day in and day out.  And for her to develop some good friendships that will continue after her schooling.

Lawrence:   Learn to communicate with his words, to be slower to anger, to connect what he knows with his mind to his actions and attitudes (For God to give him faith to believe the gospel).  To grow in awareness of others around, to see need for friends, and to learn to be a friend.  For a few good friends at school for him.  *rejoice with me that he has gone to school 2 days this week without crying or fighting and even smiling.  Today a sweet girl saw him while washing his hands (ritual before we enter the building) and she didn't leave his side.  She waited while we dropped off the littles and walked with us upstairs.  His class was going out to the playground so he got in line and went and I stopped on the second floor to look out the window I saw her holding his hand and leading him over to the slides! 

Judson:  To grow in self control over his mouth and hands and feet, grow in being kind to others and using his strength for good.  For God to save him and give him a heart that loves the things that God loves.

Emma:  To grow.  We had some tests done because she continues to fall off the growth chart.  The endocrinologist suspects that she has a growth hormone deficiency.  We need to do more tests, some can be done here and some need to be done in the states.  Pray for wisdom for us, for growth for Emma, and for wisdom for the doctor we are working with.  My limited knowledge is that we need to isolate what hormone is deficient and see if we can give her what she needs.  Pray also for God to save her and give her a deep knowledge of His great love for her, and an understanding of His control over her life, even the hard things. 

Behind the pictures

Update in words.

While the girls are enjoying school, the boys whine and even cry, yea even cling to me (yes both of them) when I take them to school in the am.  Judson has started whining from the time I get him in the car.  I've promised slurpees, new cars, up to half my kingdom, and he wants none of it.  Tic Tacs were my friend last year.  Pop one in the mouth and see ya later mom.  Not this year, old game no worky this time.   

Caroline is a trooper, even with the increase in homework she is experiencing.  Among memorizing character radicals and characters, she has 4 Tang dynasty poems to memorize and if she doesn't she loses her privilege of carrying the sign out leading her class at the end of the day.  Most days she is unprepared as we are not able to read the notes her teacher writes to us! 

Emma, well, she is a trooper.  Never cries, the teachers(who by the way were not sure she should be in the class, due to size and other limitations) love her and think she is very capable. 

The funniest part of day one of school was when I went to pick the kids up.  The teacher looked at me and said, "Why doesn't she have underwear on? "  I looked at her like she was crazy and said, "what?"  To which she lifted up Emma's dress and said, "why doesn't she wear underwear?"  To my horror there shone Emma's bare bottom.  Oops.  Mark has been having them get dressed themselves.  Guess he didn't check on the underwear thing.  Needless to say I've made sure she has underwear on each day.

Do pray for me to know how to handle the boys, how to be caring yet firm.  Pray for us to know how to help Caroline work hard, but also not to live for the teachers praise.  We won't put in the time that her classmates do on homework, so she will be at the bottom of the class. 

First day of school, Emma turns 3!

But first, a picture of some long time friends.  I knew these girls when they were students.  Really encouraged to see their growing families and faith.

 

First step:  Wash those hands

 

 

Please don't judge.  I had a momentary lapse of brain function when I bought the kids slurpees and donuts after their first half day of school. 

 

Emma bday celebration