Valentine's Day

• Due to illness, we moved Valentine's Day this year to the 16th, and we had a little party to celebrate. Grace and I made valentines and a heart-shaped cake and some friends came over bearing goodies as well. That evening, Kevin grilled up some of his yummy lemon pepper chicken.

Here's the crew. Kevin was totally outnumbered this day. He's getting used to it. Grace was excited to make valentines for our guests. When I told her that in the States we often put candy with our valentines, she thought I was crazy. She thought I was even weirder when I told her we should tape some chocolate to the valentines, but she went along with it.

Our guests introduced Grace to conversation hearts. (Fun, but why didn't they taste as good as I remember from my childhood?!)

And these girls came bearing gifts from America!

Trinity has no idea what a big deal silly bandz are in America (are they still big or is that so 2010?) but this girl knows how to accessorize instinctively.

Good times.

baby it's cold inside

• This one certainly falls under the "I'm the momma and might want to remember this later" category.

When the temperatures drop outside in the winter, they drop inside our apartment too. I know I've droned on and on about living in a refrigerator, but it's hard to describe unless you've experienced it. With no central heat and walls made of concrete, it is hard to escape the cold inside the apartment. While Grace melts in the heat and does pretty well in winter, Trinity really doesn't like to be cold. So during the coldest part of January, about 10 times a day, Trinity would come to me and say, "I want blanket!" Then, we'd go snuggle under our covers for a while. She only wanted to go to Mommy and Daddy's bed, so we'd snuggle, read a book, and get warmed up until she was ready to play again. Often in the middle of the night she'd wake up especially cold and want to warm up in our bed. And although I like the idea of letting her sleep with us, in reality no one would sleep if she stayed there long. So after a few minutes I'd tell her, "Let's go back to Trinity's bed," she would nod her head and get back in her bed. Trinity is my snuggler. Grace has joined in several times too. This was a common occurrence all winter long at our house... And bath times have been a little more rare than usual this winter. I mean, if your kid isn't super dirty, is a bath really necessary every day? When the girls did take a bath, they tried to stay under the warm water. Getting out of the tub was brutal. It made me remember Kevin's and my first winter in Asia when we lived on a university campus, the windows near our shower wouldn't close, and the bathroom would be 40 degrees. We rigged a space heater near the shower. It was NOT our brightest idea but sure helped at the time. Sometimes you just gotta live on the edge.

We usually had a minimum of 3 layers of clothes for Trinity at bedtime. Thankfully, the weather is already warming up and humid March (aka especially big hair month) is on its way!

Year of the Rabbit, abbreviated

Since we headed south for Chinese New Year, we missed out on most of the festivities around town. But everyone was definitely getting in the holiday spirit before we left. We had friends bring us zongzi, candy, and shagao the night before we headed out of town. The girls enjoyed the candy and Trinity ate up the shagao (a sesame flavored, sandy-textured cake.) But none of us are big zongzi eaters. These rice and meat or date-filled concoctions are wrapped with bamboo leaves and steamed for hours. I equate it to the Chinese equivalent of tamales. They take forever to make and are done with care. But I couldn't bring myself to eat it so late at night the evening before we left town, and I couldn't bring myself to throw it in the trash. And since all my neighbors would KNOW that I didn't make it I couldn't re-gift it. So what did I do? I stuck it in my freezer. Anyone know what to do with frozen zongzi? My husband has always wanted to set off one of those huge wheels of firecrackers. You know, the really, really loud ones that aren't pretty, just LOUD. He got to do it. He was so happy.

We also bought some sparklers for Grace, because everyone loves a good sparkler. But the kind we bought this year had a little "kick" to them at the end. That is, when the sparkler was almost out, it made a huge noise and the end of it shot off like a bird. Scary, surprising, and not a good mix with a 4 year old girl. Needless to say, after one sparkler Grace let her Daddy handle the rest.

Trinity wasn't feeling well on the night of the Lantern Festival (the last official day of the holiday), but there was a big performance at the gov't complex near our home. So I sent Kevin to scope it out. He said half the town was there. Seriously. They apparently had a cool dragon performance.

And then he came home and we took the girls outside to watch the spectacular fireworks show. We had an amazing view without even leaving our apartment complex.

Happy Year of the Rabbit. My husband's a rabbit. Guess that means he's turning one of those multiples of 12 this year...and it's not 24.

it was good for my girls, too

It was as much of a gift to my girls to be in Thailand for a few weeks as it was for Kevin and me.

• Highlights for Grace included making new friends her age, getting to go to "class" for 4 days, making crafts, playing on a playground, and learning to jump into the pool (with Daddy to catch her of course.)
• I'm pretty sure Trinity's highlights revolved around food. I learned she loves fried rice for breakfast. (What can I say? Baby girl has the most Asian food preferences of any of us!) And apparently she was the class clown/ring leader in her VBS class, so I guess one of her highlights was being an entertainer.

On one of our free days we also made it to the zoo. It was a gorgeous day! We spent lots of time at this playground. LOTS. OF. TIME. We ran in the grass barefoot. We layed in the grass and threw flowers on ourselves. We conquered all the equipment.

These two are pretty cute together. There has been discussion (between them) whether or not they are going to get married. Right now they are in mutual agreement that they won't. But they sure are good buds. It's cute to see your daughter holding hands with a boy when she's 4. Not sure about 14, though.

Grace LOVED the VBS music and was all about getting the motions right. She's still practicing them at home now! Trinity apparently did the motions in class, too. But on "family night" she gave everyone a good long stare throughout the entire two songs. Think deer-in-headlights. It was funny. Guess the poor girl hadn't ever seen so many white people in one gathering before!

Yep, good times were had by all.

on being in the sunny south

Sawasdee kaa from T-land!! I can't believe it's been 3 years since we were last here. Kevin and I are currently grateful for:

• the opporunity to attend some work meetings
• and reconnect with friends we've not seen in a long time
• and Starbucks and authentic Tex-Mex and guacamole
• and watching our girls make new friends and giggle with them
• and running barefoot at a playground with soft grass
• and splashing in a pool
• and hotel room snuggle time with the girls
• and receiving good medical care with Grace not even crying when she got her shots this time
• and peeling off winter layers and avoiding hours upon hours of fireworks outside our house (during Chinese New Year) doesn't hurt either. I just read about some friends who are in the big country this year for the Lunar Festival and it gave me PTSD flashbacks from last year.
• But I digress. I'm also EXTREMELY grateful for the opporunity to have corporate worship in a big-group setting with childcare for my girls!! Oh my soul, I know our rejuvenation and strength should come from our daily walk with Him but there is something powerful about getting together with a large group of believers and worshipping together. Today, I am extremely grateful for a group of people who came from the US to love on our kiddos and lead us in loving Him. It's been like a balm for my soul.
• I'm thankful for a God who is so tender that while He sometimes takes us on a wild path full of unexpected turns, He calmly reminds us that He's in control and is completely trustworthy. I've recently been reminded in Hebrews 5 that Christ "learned obediece through what He suffered." Really? Christ, in all His complete perfection, was still able as a human to learn and grow. That blows my mind. How much more should I be willing to learn obedience through the comparably small, tiny trials that I face.

Thank you, Lord for T-land!