because they are too young to protest being dressed alike...

It's been really warm the last few days, almost warm enough to bring out these "big sister, little sister" t-shirts. Except, well, I would have gotten in trouble with the neighborhood grandmas because it's still December on the calendar. Kids are almost always in double layers this time of year regardless of the temperature. But today it started getting cold again. It will soon be time to bust out the bear coats again! Thanks Nana and Pappaw for sending these!!

theological reflections from a 3 year old

Grace has had a recurring dream about a turtle. It's an angry turtle that wants to sit on her head. I'm not exactly sure where said turtle came from. I mean, we have some Franklin books but surely that's not it. He's definitely not an angry kind of turtle. There have been many nights in the last few weeks where Grace has woken up and crawled into bed with us, worried the turtle is about to sit on her head. I love to snuggle with her but Momma gets zero sleep when she's in bed with us so I always take her back to her room. Sometimes we rock and many times Grace will process her thoughts out loud for me. (Those who know Grace understand she is definitely a verbal processor!) We'll talk about how she doesn't need to be afraid because God is with her. And how she can pray anytime. Then, we put on one of 2 special anti-turtle hats and she's off to bed. (Well, the anti-turtle hats worked for a few nights until she discovered they "messed up her hair." Oh wow do I have visions of her as a teenager!) So now she has resorted to burying her head under her pillow. That's how I found her asleep last night. Anyway, 2 nights ago we were rocking and Grace started asking questions. She asked me how to pray and how to hear God. Because "in her Hermie video God talks to Hermie, so how do we get Him to talk to us?" And lately she's been a bit confused because we talk about Jesus being in heaven and also in our hearts but in her children's Bible Jesus is "on the ground and not in heaven." The questions kept coming the other night, one after another, and I was in awe of her questions. But she wasn't really pleased with most of my answers (as if I have all the answers!) She wanted to hear God NOW. At one point I mentioned she would keep learning more and more about God as she gets older. The next morning Grace was looking in the mirror on her tiptoes and asked me: "Mommy, am I taller now to talk to God?" I told her of course she could talk with Him anytime. She then sat on my bed and proceeded to say very loudly, "God!? Are you there?" And she sat very still just in case He spoke audibly. Oh how I pray He makes her one of His own!

swinging

Hong Kong Disneyland

I've been to Disney World in Florida on two occasions. Once as a young teenager for a family vacation and once with Kevin before we moved overseas. Both were such memorable and fun experiences that I've always had good vibes about Disney. There, I admitted it: I'm a Disney fan! Turns out Hong Kong Disneyland is also lots of fun and while not nearly as large as the US Disney locations it works out pretty well if you have young kiddos. The park is relatively small and can almost be seen all in one day. So for our stage of life, this was a big bonus! Also, from door to door it only took us 25 minutes to get there. Seeing as how it takes us at least that long to get to our favorite mall in Hong Kong, it feels like next door! You know you're headed for fun when you get on the subway that takes you to Disneyland and it's already decorated all-things Mickey. Even the handle bars were Mickey-shaped. The weather was gorgeous with temperatures in the 70's.

The park didn't open until 10:30, so we waited a few minutes for the gate to open. Grace was already excited to see Mickey surfing. She had no clue how much more there would be to see.

Grace is pretty certain the Disney princesses all live in this castle.

She got to share a few moments with Belle...

and met Cinderella, too. I was surprised how many grown adults without kids were waiting in line to meet the princesses. While Grace and I were waiting to meet Cinderella, I spoke with a nice lady and her 7 year old daughter from Singapore. When it was their turn to meet Cinderella, the mother ran FIRST to Cinderella, excitedly said, "You're my favorite princess!" and had her picture made by herself with Cinderella before her daughter had a chance. It made me chuckle. I guess some grown women take their Disney princesses very seriously.

The Christmas decorations were beautiful. This is something we are enjoying about Hong Kong in general: real Christmas decor and not the tacky stuff we generally see where we live.

Mickey and Minnie were in their Christmas outfits, too. I do believe that meeting Mickey and Minnie had to be the highlight of Grace's day. She's only been vaguely aware of who they are but somehow she knew they were the main attraction at Disneyland.

And she pretty much talked the rest of the day about how Minnie Mouse gave her an Eskimo kiss!

Trinity took it all in as much as an almost 9 month old can. Something about seeing this ride made her excited.

Fortunately the "It's a Small World" ride is decorated for Christmas and has Christmas songs playing in addition to "It's a Small World" so you don't hear the same song over and over!

"It's a Small World" was the only ride we took Trinity on but she was completely mesmerized.

Grace's favorite ride was Winnie the Pooh which she rode several times. And she was fine with the 3-D musical movie until things started flying at her face. Then, not so much. I guess parts of Disney can be a little overwhelming to a 3 year old.

What a memorable day! And boy, did the girls sleep well that night. Trinity, maybe next time you'll be old enough to know what in the world these mouse ears are about.

unexpected blessings in the concrete jungle

Sometimes I get so far behind in blogging that I'm not quite sure where to start. Then I just stop blogging altogether. But then, well, that's just silly. How 'bout I just start with where we are now? Hong Kong! Actually, I wasn't really looking forward to this trip to HK, but it's been such a gift because we are having a GREAT time. Because Kevin's passport has to be mailed to the US for a new visa, we are sticking around for longer than we have before. And it's giving us time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. I wasn't sure that was possible in Hong Kong; what a crazy-fun place! The last few months have been filled with a little more busyness than normal. I mean really, where did the time go? Weren't we just here in Hong Kong doing our visa turnaround? I'm so thankful we've had these last few days because it's made me stop and enjoy my family in a new way and think again about how good the Lord has been to us. I simply could not ask for more. With all our medical and dental appointments out of the way, we've had some time to play the last few days. So far Kevin has taken Grace for her first ice skating experience (or maybe we could call it "ice walking") and we've had lots of time to play at a local park. Turns out Trinity loves it when big sister pushes her on the baby swing. And today, we took the plunge and headed to Hong Kong Disneyland for the first time! We had been waiting until Grace was old enough to really enjoy it and boy, it did not disappoint!! Today was one of the sweetest family days we've had in a long time. One of those "talked-about" days that you remember for a long time because everyone was simply having a blast. (Well, Trinity, you'll just have to take our word for it sweet girl.) But because I'm coming off an adrenaline high from today and nodding off as I write, I'll save pictures for next time. Until then...

a trip with Daddy

Grace has wanted to accompany her daddy on one of his countryside trips for quite some time. She loves to be on the go and try out new places. And she wanted to go see a new little friend she made a few weeks ago. So because of the nature of this latest trip, Kevin thought he could take care of his responsibilities while having Grace tag along. They left Saturday and get back tomorrow (Monday). Right before they left, Grace told me she would be a sweet girl on the trip. She kissed me goodbye and headed out the door. Then I heard her say, "One more thing, Mommy." So I opened the door. She asked, "Mommy, will you be a sweet girl too and take care of my pets?" (meaning her stuffed animals). "Will you take care of them so they don't cry?" Made me grin from ear to ear. She seems so much more grown up lately. Here they are looking so proud before heading out to the bus station. I've been resisting the urge to text message all weekend questions such as, "Did you take her to the bathroom?" or "Has she eaten healthy foods today?" I know she is in very capable hands. I'm so thankful to have a husband who is also an excellent daddy! I talked with Kevin tonight and he is pretty tired but I think the trip has gone as well as could be expected with a little girl tagging along. A little girl who still gets pretty overwhelmed with lots of well-meaning strangers who want to gawk at the foreign kiddo. In the meantime, I've had lots of extra snuggle time with my other baby girl.

Trinity is 8 months old already! Somebody make her slow down! In the past week alone she's gone from eating barely any baby food to chowing down on soft finger foods like bananas, avocado, and papaya like there's no tomorrow. And although she isn't crawling on all fours she's starting to scoot on her belly. And babbling much more. Before long she'll be going on trips to the countryside with Daddy, too!

But for now I'm kissing on these chubby baby cheeks as long as I can.

And loving her chubby baby hands and wrists. Don't you love little baby hands?

Speaking of babies, my brother Chad and his wife Erin welcomed a new baby girl yesterday. Welcome to the world Macy Gerlt!!

just like home

Even though we live overseas and life is a bit different, there are lots of "normal" activities our kids are able to participate in from time to time. On Oct. 31, just 4 hours after we got back from our latest trip, we attended a little Fall Festival that some friends had graciously put together for the foreign kids in our area. They were even so thoughtful as to share bucket loads of candy sent from America! Grace had already said she wanted to be a "ballerina," and since I put in approximately 0.1% brain power into planning a little costume, we put on some dress-up clothes and called it good. Here are my little ballerinas right before the party. (Poor Kevin stayed home since he was feeling really sick.) Baby Macy was an Aggie cheerleader. :)

"Whoo-hoo, lots of kids to play with!"

A hungry little Indian checking out the snack table

There was some trick-or-treating,

games such as pin-the-stem-on-the-pumpkin and bobbing for apples,

and even a cupcake walk.

But Grace's favorite part? "Playing on the grass." Oh, and getting candy.

Good times were had by all. I can only imagine what the neighbors thought about these crazy foreigners.

Together at last

It is such a beautiful thing to witness a sweet baby boy bonding with his mommy and daddy

who prayed and hoped and waited for years for just the one God had chosen for them.

J and J, thank you for allowing us to come and meet precious Sterling! He's absolutely perfect! You both are naturals and it was pure bliss watching you as parents. Praise the Lord for his goodness.

family trip

Ah, home sweet home. For a few days, at least. This past week we headed out as a family for some countryside-time. Minus some illnesses, it was a great trip overall! The girls traveled well and it was a very worthwhile time. In fact, Grace didn't want to come home today. I'd say that's very good news seeing as how we might be moving to the countryside next year. But getting ready to leave for this trip was not without some drama. Late last week, Grace was playing with a friend and hurt her foot coming down some stairs. I really didn't think anything of it until she still wouldn't walk on it the next day. So, since we were getting ready to travel and needed to know if her foot was possibly fractured, Grace got to have her first local hospital experience. Hospital visits here are worthy of an entire blog post in itself, so I won't go into detail here. We were just glad to be able to get an x-ray and find out it wasn't broken. Then the day before we left, Kevin's passport met an untimely demise. Kevin normally doesn't put his passport in his pants pockets, but I guess it only takes once. While my dear helper was doing laundry she didn't notice Kevin's pants pockets were holding said passport, and well, it was laundered. I wouldn't recommend putting your passport in the laundry because it will be completely void, but if you do, it comes out looking really funny. Thankfully this week we are already scheduled to head to a city with a US consulate, but getting a new visa might be tricky. Ugh. Ok, now for some pictures. This week we discovered Grace totally digs villages. I mean, what's not to love with water buffalo, dogs, pigs, and chickens roaming around? She didn't get near the water buffalo (said it might "eat her") but she did love feeding the chickens. And her absolute favorite new person this week was a little boy we'll be seeing lots of in the future. He is such a sweetheart! I was excited to see a new supermarket in town; it's at least 10 times better than the previous one. It was kind of a mini version of Wal-Mart that we have in our big city. And they even had the infamous fish tanks to pick out your favorite fresh fish. (Don't tell anyone but sometimes we let Grace go fishing just for funsies.)

One little sucker jumped out of the tanks and was flopping everywhere. No worries, a worker came to scoop him up and put him back for sale.

This child never ceases to amaze me with what she will and won't eat. She often turns her nose up at "typical" food but then was all over these really chewy and hard pumpkin seed appetizers at dinner one night.

Here's what often happens with Trinity when we eat out. Once I let one restaurant worker hold her, they all come over and take turns. Everyone in this picture held her at least once!

We also had a fun little bbq one night with friends at the park. Who doesn't love meat on a stick? And who knew you could even fit tiny green vegetables on a stick?

Trinity had some more friends to love on her at the bbq.

Chicken feet on a stick anyone?

Here's Kevin showing his skills on the bamboo dance. He's got skills, I tell you.

We got back today and head out on Tuesday for a short vacation trip we are completely excited about. Some dear friends of ours just got their baby after literally years of waiting for their adoption referral! We're so excited to meet him! Now we just hope Kevin can get on that plane even with a washed-passport. We'll find out on Tuesday!