This is our new apartment.  Isn't it lovely?  Ha.  The landlords are rennovating it right now.  They say it will be done in Jan and then we will move in.  It is in our same complex, just 2 buildings down, but has 4 bedrooms instead of 3.  We are dreaming of a boys and girls rooms!!!  I went to take a look 2 weeks ago.  I'll have to go again and get pics this week.  Here is the hallway.

Dining room

Girls Room

Yup, you guessed it.  I'm hoping thats not the toilet we actually get, but well, I guess it will be.

Other bathroom(that I think they are putting in a real tub in!!)

Boys room

Living Room

Smiley boy.  

Soccer Saturday.

This is reading time on moms bed.  I guess when the girl can't read, let alone Chinese comic books, sleep is a good option.  I really like the box she made to sleep in tho!!

Can you see the curl?

Lovely day for a picnic

I always have too many helpers.

Sunday afternoon backyard jump roping.  The little girl and tiny mama will be our new neighbors.



Sound of Music Friday night movie night dancing


Silent excersizes


Jud loves soccer

Little man getting big

Getting ready to cry

There it is

Jud can't keep his hands off Luke

Sweet boy

Nat Shu Shu visits and brings us some fun!

Look at that 2 month belly!

Sunday best

He loves a good bath

First talking!!

And so we did celebrate, a little bit.

Lawrence finally noticed Luke yesterday.  This is him holding him for the first time.  Only took 7 weeks!  All the other kids were outside with Mark and Lawrence heard him crying and went over and said, "He's cute isn' he."  Then he felt bad for him because I was busy so he started to sing to him and wanted to hold him!  Even later, when he was crying again, Lawrence went over and wanted to hold him again!

So, I was going to avoid the holiday here.  I mean, I'm tired, I didn't plan and well, I thought it would be easy as we are not in America.  Thank you very little kindergarten, they talked about the holiday all week and Lawrence was committed to getting some candy.  At first his plan was to go to the neighbors and ask them to give him candy.  When I wouldn't allow it, he decided it would be fine to shut the door of the kitchen and have the kids knock, say trick or treat and for me to give them all some candy.  I was fine with this, but then I thought about Lisa and her love for holidays.  She agreed to let us come across the courtyard and up to her apartment to "trick or treat".  And as you can see below, she made it extra special for us by buying pumpkins to color and some Halloween treats.  

And, you won't believe this, but after we got home I actually got a trick or treater myself!!  Our new downstairs neighbor(we haven't moved yet, but we will, hopefully, move end of Jan or beginning of Feb) in the same complex but to a bigger apartment, and the downstairs neighbors have 2 kids Car and Law's age.  Anyway, that was a run on sentence if ever there was one, but I am sleep deprived and hoping to get to bed now as my hubs has been out of town for 2 days.  OH my, anyway, she came and had a pumpkin to collect candy and even said "trick or treat".  Then she told us we needed to come to her house to collect our treats, to which the kids all screamed, but to which I said, "I'm sorry we are going to bed".    I'll be more prepared next year and more willing to be flexible, hopefully.

This video is mostly for the grandparents.  I was trying to capture our friend ZP reading to Jud, but the lighting is bad.  Luke steals the show at the end, tho I'm warning you its a long footage of the same babes.

Week at a glance

We got to meet baby Jeremy.  He was born 3 days after Luke to an old friend of mine I met my 2nd year living here!  She lives 10 minutes from my house and offered to come on Wednesdays when my helper isn't here so I don't have to take the baby to pick up the other kids from school.  Thankful for her!

why can't I turn pictures on this crazy blog?

Nathan came to visit.  He was missing his kids and our kids benefitted!

How I get anything done around here. . . 

The one time I gave him a bottle.  He did well!!

Look at that belly.  He is a proud Penn Stater.

Where my girl spends a lot of her day(in spite of her desires)

We're making it

Friends,

I'll post some pictures.  That will be good, because I'm tempted to tell you how hard this past week has been.  The reality is that there have been many blessings and challenges.  I was walking in the local park yesterday and really struggling with how many people were there and how many stares I was getting.  I was complaining in my heart about wanting to be back in the hills of PA walking with the cool weather when the only ones staring at me were the cows.  How do I go from cows to thousands of people?  I struggled internally to remember that each of these ones around we were souls that God created.  I fought to remember that my life is not my own, it was bought with a price and that means that I should willingly give mine up to serve the one who bought me.  Lets be honest, I wouldn't move across the world and be willing to learn a new life and culture if God hadn't saved me and called me to serve Him.  Praise God He is real and in control and building His Kingdom.  It is a privilege to serve Him.  It makes me reconsider what is real, and what I'm living for.

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We made it!

Friends and loved ones,

We made it back!  I"m thankful for all your prayers on our behalf, we had no troubles and the worst that happened was that Jud spilled his cranberry juice on him!  The kids were good, thanks to the personal movie screens.  Wish I had pictures, but well, I held Luke for most all of the 24 hours, so no time or energy or hands for a camera.

We were spent at our 7pm so all went to bed.  Lawrence watched movies non stop for 14 hours and didn't sleep a wink on the trip, needless to say he was a bear when we landed.  All the kids were up from about 2:30 am, so you can keep praying for us to endure jet-lag.  They are excited to play with their forgotten toys and to ride their bikes(Mark has them out there doing this now).  Pray for patience for us as we endure this trial together!!

Thankful for you
Megan