the new family car

If you ever happen to buy a motorcycle in East Asia, your experience might go something like this:

• Plan a time when your husband has the day off and make sure your helper is around for nap time so you can sneak out together for an hour or two, sans kiddos. I mean, it might even feel like a date!
• Go to the area of town where they sell lots of motorcycles. Since your husband has been shopping in 2 separate towns already, he will be fully knowledgeable of a good price to keep from getting ripped off.
• Seeing as how you live in a tropical climate, it might be hot as blazes when you get to the motorcycle shop. In that case, motorcycle dude might come up to talk with you wearing no shirt at all. Even though he really should be wearing one. Because here, during summer months, shirts are completely optional for men.
• Watch as your husband tries out a few motorcycles. Observe that since he is a foreigner with really long legs, he needs a tall enough bike which won't bump into said long legs while steering. While your husband tries out more bikes, listen to chatty, shirtless motorcycle dude make lots of observations about your home country although he's never actually been there.
• Be careful to note that you are looking for a lower-powered bike since local law says any motorbike over 48 cc's must have a licensed driver/registered tags. (Obtaining a license here = bothersome hassle). So, you observe that the bike you want to buy has a 48 cc engine sticker on it. But then, you notice that almost all of the bikes say they are 48 cc's. And listen to motorcycle dude freely share how they put these stickers on just about all the bikes, regardless of the engine inside, just to ensure you don't have to go and get a license. Because from the outside no one can tell the difference. Be reminded again how traffic laws here are often interpreted as suggestions.
• Once you haggle on a price, let the nice motorcycle folks finish preparing your bike to ride and mosey on next door to the outdoor stall that sells helmets and bike locks. Buy the best lock you can find to keep away thieves. But note that they only have the cheap kind of helmets that offer little more protection than a Tupperware bowl. So, go back to the bike shop and ask motorcycle dude where to find a good helmet. Listen to him explain that really you don't need a helmet, because the police probably won't pull you over for not wearing one (again, the rules thing) and that most helmets don't offer much protection anyway. Tell motorcycle dude you are actually interested in safety. He offers a suggestion on a place to buy a better helmet.
• Watch as the motorcycle people get your bike ready and then put the finishing touches on it, complete with red ribbon. Climb on the back before your husband drives away and look back to see 20 people gawking at the foreign couple on a bike.
• Enjoy the ride home with the wind in your hair. And, although you might have flashes of worry because your two children are sleeping at home and their parents are across town in heavy traffic on a motorcycle with no helmets and could be orphaned in an instant, you still enjoy the time on the bike and realize it's more fun than you thought it would be. And, be thankful that soon you are moving to a much, much smaller town with no heavy traffic.
• Come home and watch your almost 4 year old literally squeal with excitement that Daddy has bought his bike. Note that you've not seen her this excited since she first discovered Disneyland. Listen to her squeal "wheeeee" as Daddy takes her on a short (and SLOW) little ride. Resolve quickly that you will need to get her a kiddie helmet pronto so you can sleep at night.
• Decide that although many local families put 4 people on a motorcycle, you really don't see how you can manage that and still have a shred of your sanity left. But still, you consider it for a brief second because it's so doggone handy to have a set of wheels!

T-girl and my birthday boy

It's pretty tough to get pictures of a moving target, but every so often I follow Trinity around with the camera. My 14 month-old is truly in the "busy toddler" time of life. The bathroom seems to be her favorite place right now... actually, it's a toss-up between the bathroom or climbing on top of the coffee table. She's keeping me on my toes! She's imitating a few more words and is understanding lots of what we tell her in both English and Chinese. My helper plays with her often and I can tell she's been exposed to more of the local language. Her current favorite thing to do is go to the shoe closet and bring me her shoes so she can go outside! She loves to see dogs in our neighborhood, and now when I ask her if she's a puppy she will crawl on all floors and pant like a dog. And I think she's going to be our little comedian because she LOVES to make her big sister laugh. Trinity constantly has a bruise somewhere on her noggin' from a fall.

I still can't get enough of these cheeks.

I love how toddlers make their tongues do funny things when they jibber-jabber!

And...guess who turned 35 this past Saturday?! Kevin-babe, I guess when you are 35 you don't get big posts about all your developmental milestones and the things you've been up to lately :), but you know you mean the world to me!! I'm so proud of what a fabulous husband and father you are as well as how diligent you work!! Let's go get you that motorcycle soon!

Oh yes, I think we've lost our minds...a motorcycle. Well, a small moped-like motorcycle but gas-powered just the same. Here's to an accident-free, local-hospital-experience-avoiding year!!

rainy day play

Perhaps you can't tell just from looking... but this is a fashion show, a budding artist,

a float at a parade,

2 princesses with their wands,

a fashionista-in-the-making,

who, by the way, created this look on her own and was very proud,

a secret hiding place,

the beach,

and a mommy carrying her baby in a snuggli.

Glad I could clear that up for you.

because some days I still need to be reminded...

A few weeks ago a doctor confirmed a diagnosis which gave me a medical explanation for our infertility lo those many years. My first thought was, "this is absolutely crazy!" I mean, all those years of trying for a baby and seeing doctors and tests and I'm JUST NOW fully understanding what was/is happening with my wacky hormones while at a routine doctor visit? It's absolutely crazy, if you look at it from an earthly perspective. Truth is, I look back and am extremely grateful that at the time I didn't have a "diagnosis." In my heart of hearts, I think God knows I would have sunk into an even deeper pit than I was already in. Truth is God didn't have to answer my prayer for children but He did. Knowing how difficult it is for women with my diagnosis to get pregnant has made me stop again and praise Him for choosing to allow me on this motherhood journey. It also makes those extra drama-filled days that come with having wee ones a bit easier. Something our family likes to do after dinner sometimes is turn on music and dance in the living room. Even Trinity gets in on the action now with her little toddler moves. Last week I pulled out a cd I haven't listened to in over a year but it immediately took me back in time. (Does anyone else have music that does that for them?) When we lived in Ft. Worth, I drove all over town for my job, which gave me some great times for praise and worship on I-35! The Lord used many songs and scriptures to comfort during our "infertility days" but one in particular was Hillsong's "Blessed" cd. And so as my girls and I danced around our living room with Hillsong in the background I was reminded that I still need to choose thankfulness over annoyance when I hear "MOMM-MMYYYY!" for the 140th time in a day because there are many nights I wrestled with the Lord and asked Him for that very privilege. I am so completely blessed. Back in 2004, Kevin and I quickly bonded with a precious couple who also came to live on the East Side. I think one of the things that bonded us so quickly, besides the fact that they are just plain awesome, was our shared infertility journey. They rejoiced with so many others who had children while they prayerfully, beautifully, expectantly waited to become parents. And finally, last year they experienced the miracle of adoption! It has been one of the most beautiful journeys to parenthood I've ever seen. And not long ago they discovered they are expecting another child. JD2, from 0 to 2 kids in 13 months...can you believe it?! We are rejoicing with you! Ok, and since I always love a post with pictures, can I show you a few pictures of our girls taken in February? (I know, taken 2 months ago...I'm so on top of it!)

Easter weekend

Easter completely snuck up on me this year. I'm not too happy about it because I wanted my heart to be more prepared. Days and weeks all seem to run together over here at times like we're in a time warp. So when Nana and Pappaw came and brought Easter dresses for the girls I had to ask when Easter was on the calendar! But I'm thankful we had a great Easter weekend. On Thursday our fellowship had a Maundy Thursday service and we had the L. Supper together. I really liked doing (and needed) this to be reminded of the events leading up to His suffering. On Friday our family took a short trip to the countryside to begin apartment-hunting for our impending move this summer. Again, the time warp thing strikes! We are looking to move in about 2-3 months' time and I can't believe it's upon us so quickly. Our housing options in this new town are limited but we have a few leads on an apartment. (More on this later!) Saturday we indeed dyed some eggs. Grace was in heaven. Since last year's Easter, egg hunting has continued to be one of Grace's favorite things to do. As in, year-round we hide and hunt eggs from time to time. As we were approaching Easter this year we had some re-teaching to do. "Grace, do you remember why we celebrate Easter?" At first she said, "Because Jesus wants us to have egg hunts." and "because we need to celebrate his birthday!" But she eventually remembered it's because "Jesus is Alive!"

Trinity's role in the egg-dyeing process was to tickle Grace's feet. She is fascinated with toes. Oh, and by the way, my baby girl started walking this past week! She's slowly been taking more and more steps and tonight she worked her way across the room several times.

On Sunday morning Daddy was gone helping at an event while the girls and I headed to an Easter breakfast and service. Without Daddy around to help pose the girls, these were the best Sunday morning shots I could get. Nana, we loved the dresses!

Later that afternoon, our friends organized a big egg hunt for both foreign and neighborhood kids. They did a fabulous job! Here's Trinity with two of her favorite big girls. They are so very sweet to her!

The little ones lined up to wait their turn for the hunt...

The race is on! And in case you are wondering, yes, once again this year we had to keep other adults, particularly grandmas from pilfering the eggs before the kids could hunt for them. But I talked with one man and he was so pleased and bewildered to find an egg as he walked by that I just didn't have the heart to tell him to put it back. He kept saying, "really? This is a real egg?" He was completely confused because it was dyed green!

This kind "shu shu" (uncle) helped Grace and made sure she didn't miss any eggs!

Life is so simple when you are one. Trinity was content for about 10-15 minutes just to pick up this egg off the ground and then put it back again. Yes, she did this over and over for quite some time.

Hope you had a fabulous Easter! He is risen, indeed!

highlights from HK and other fun with Nana and Pappaw

After we celebrated Trinity's first birthday and let Nana and Pappaw get over jet lag, we set out to show them some of Hong Kong's highlights. I've decided it's a great thing to visit Hong Kong with a 2-to-1 adult/kid ratio, especially when preschoolers are involved. We took turns getting out altogether and separately in pairs. Kevin took his parents on two outings without the kids so they could linger a bit longer at the beautiful scenery. The first stop was to Victoria Peak because, well, it's one of Hong Kong's most popular places to go! It was an overcast day but the view is always beautiful regardless. On another day Kevin took his folks for a cable car ride, and I think they all enjoyed this much more than going to Victoria Peak. The cable car ends at the world's largest bronze sitting Buddha, or something like that. The Buddha isn't what was exciting, of course, but the view was apparently pretty amazing! (Seeing as how I'm not a fan of cable car rides, I gladly offered to stay with the kids and take them to the park. But after I heard how much fun the cable car ride was I decided next time I might just have to temporarily get over my fear of cable cars.)

Smiles on the cable car...obviously Nana and Pappaw do not share my deathly fear

you can see Buddha sitting on his booty in the background

One afternoon Kevin and Pappaw went on a man-outing, which included a movie and some ribs. I have no picture of that. Nor do I have a picture from the date Kevin and I went on in HK...probably because we were having so much fun talking, shopping, and feeding our faces while not being interrupted by little ones. (Thank you Nana and Pappaw for giving us this time together!) But I DO have a picture from High Tea at the Four Seasons Hotel. Yippee! It's supposed to be one of the top things to do in HK and I've always wanted to go, but for some reason my manly husband has never been interested in tea. Or scones. Or frilly little sandwiches. Nana and I had a great time. Look at the spread!

Of course we had to stop by Disneyland and say hi to Mickey and Minnie. Grace was thrilled to be back. And while riding the carousel we unexpectedly ran into some friends! It was fun to catch up, even if it was too brief. I love meetings like that!

Grace was too shy to visit with the princesses this time but was thrilled to see the characters again. Minnie is by far her favorite. (Grace was still sporting a black eye from a major run-in with her bedroom wall following an acrobatic move gone awry.)

We had to pull out the Minnie-ears for Minnie. Grace asked me later, "How do Mickey and Minnie eat? Their mouths are stuck open! And how do they sleep because they can't close their eyes?" And don't even try to convince Grace that Mickey and Minnie are not real. She will not have it that someone else is inside these costumes. Nope, "they're for real."

After our Hong Kong vacation, Nana and Pappaw came home with us and we got some good play time in with the girls.

And there was plenty of silliness going on...

Next door at the park we took our pictures with our respective zodiac signs. We realized that Grace and Pappaw were both born in the year of the dog!

Nana and Pappaw's birthday gift to Trinity was this amazing tunnel and attached tent. The girls have had so much fun playing in this the last few weeks! We'll have to put it up soon and bring it out for rainy days, but for now they are still enjoying the playtime.

Nana and Pappaw, thank you so much for coming and blessing us! We know it's no small thing to travel to Asia and you were both so gracious to come and spend time with us. We love you!

ONE!

Look who's one!! And guess who traveled across the ocean for her birthday? Trinity had a Hong Kong birthday this year since we had to leave the country again. (Yes, I know it feels like we've been to HK many times this year. 3 to be exact!) Nana and Pappaw flew in the night before Trinity's birthday. We had a fun little family party. Grace was more excited than anyone. That girl loves a good party. It was sweet to see her excited for her sister. Last year at my baby shower for Trinity the only time I got teary-eyed was opening this cute little "One" outfit from Rebekah M. (thank you, friend!) I think the tears came because I knew the first year would fly by quickly. And wouldn't you know it? It did. Trinity, how are you a year old already? Weren't we just in Lubbock at the hospital? I'm thankful for your first year of life. It's given me a chance to stop and savor baby-dom again. You have been such a sweet and wanted addition to our family. We all love you. You had a great, smiley, cuddly birthday. We ate at Amaroni's for lunch and you loved your strawberry birthday cake. Sister helped me make it. She also helped you open your gifts. Trinity, at one year:

• You are cruising furniture and standing on your own. We hope you take your first steps while Nana and Pappaw are here.
• You are completely on table food and eat almost anything we serve you. I guess it's only fitting since you have so many teeth! All four of your molars have partially cut through the gumline.
• You are a good sleeper but will stir if I even set foot in your room at night! I guess you sleep pretty light!
• You love to raise your hands if we say "Hallelujah" or "How big is Trinity?" and clap for us when we sing songs.
• You can say a few words like "Mama," "night-night," and "bye bye." Nana is really working on "Nana" right now and it seems like you've said it a few times :)
• You love to look at books and point to babies' eyes, give us high-fives and "head bonks."
• You love to cuddle (please don't stop this) and suck your thumb while rubbing your ear when you are tired.
• You have the cutest little kinky-curly patch of hair on the back of your head. Sometimes it makes a little mohawk. You will definitely be our curly-top. I apologize in advance for my lack of curly hair-do skills.
• You think your sister hung the moon and give her the biggest cackles of anyone

Happy Birthday, little one!