Here's to growing belly's...

I have gotten a few emails because I don't have comments on the blog. This blog was designed by a friend and at this point I don't even know how to get the comments open! So I'm sorry for announcing such exciting stuff on here without letting other share in the comments!

I am just 6 weeks along with precious little #4. We are so excited as a family to welcome another little life and I'm beside myself to think of rocking, nursing and enjoying a soft kissable cutie pie again. But I am also humbled. I want to receive this little one with intentional thanksgiving for something so obviously undeserved. Thank you Jesus for being a creator of living, growing persons with souls. Wow. Takes the breath away....

So far I'm feeling awesome. I did not have much sickness with the boys so I am hoping things go smoothly again so that I can fill up my tummy with Thai food over the next three weeks without adverse side effects.

So here we go, here's to a growing belly...

The above photo looks like washboard abs sit nestled below my shirt... Just so you are not deceived, here's the belly I've worn for quite a while that has some signs of inflating and deflating with two boys that were totally worth it:

And for those of you interested in hair cuts here in Asia - oh my! Let's just say I had what I like to refer to as my "chullet" (Chinese mullet) cut off two days ago. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, as long as my "party out back" was gone :)

To new life and chullets be gone!

Felicity wants to tell you something...

Her face sums it up for all of us - thrilled!

Running Aground.

We've had a full and crazy past few weeks. For a while we have been having mold issues but they've gotten worse and worse. We have been looking for a new place for the past couple weeks. And it's been an adventure for sure. There was a point when I felt really low during one of those weeks. I wish I could say I was full of peace and trust through the trouble of it all. No. I can't say that at all. But I can say my Father's always at work in me to show me how much more precious it is to have a Savior at the center of your world with which to fall on. Far better than a created thing, a gift or self to look to. Things were looking rough: every room in my house was full of mold, the prospects for another house were not looking good, there was drama with the landlord, I was missing fellowship and I was getting discouraged. The Lord kept reminding me that all these things are meant to show me how little I can actually do in myself. How little I control. How dependent I really am. This is a theme with the Lord and I (read previous posts!). And how much I really do love my life (in a "put-my-hope-in-it" sort of way).

John 12:25 says :

He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

I've just thought a lot about dying to self lately. What does it look like to lose my life and hate my life in this world? I don't think it means just to always do the hard thing but I do think it means being uncomfortable, often. I do think it means I praise for the gifts but want The Giver more. So much more do I want Him that it can seem like hate toward other things, even "good" things. I also think I should expect it to feel like death at moments. I think the Lord allows us to "run aground" with things sometimes just to reveal how quickly we transfer worship from Creator to created (self included). Elisabeth Elliot's quote brought this home to me this morning:

Heaven is not here, it's There. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible Kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for. "Running aground", then is not the end of the world. But it helps to make the world a bit less appealing. It may even be God's answer to "Lead us not into temptation" - the temptation complacently to settle for visible things.

How much I have to learn of this.

But for this moment I will apply a bit of truth to a bit of my life right now. I will rejoice in the new house He's provided for us through all the searching! I will anticipate good things that He's doing. I will thank Him for provision and care unseen by my cold heart in the bleak moments. I will keep training my heart to humbly depend on God in all things needed for growth. And I will hopefully be learning to respond more quickly next time in trust.

And of course - I will continue to get excited about our vacation coming up in just a few days!!! There will be lots of packing to move when we return so I will enjoy the rest to be sure.

Here's our suitcases ready to go:

Glad growth is a continual process...

Learning from my kids.

The kids and I started C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia books this weekend. I read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe last year with Job but now all three are very intrigued ... so we begin again, hoping to all see things in a new light and learn. I often find the Lord speaks to my heart in the middle of my parenting, from the way I interact with my children or the things they are learning themselves. I love this part of parenting, how we take the position of humility and see the Lord in fresh ways through our children's lives. And how freeing it is to me that I never come to this parenting thing having learned it all but am certainly in process right along with them.

As we began at the part when we start to read about the White Witch speaking with Edmund, Phin started to cover his ears. I asked him if he was scared but he said no, that he was just preparing himself for the bad White Witch. He uncovered them and continued to listen with intent. Then later on when we arrived to the part where Beaver tells them "They say Aslan is on the move - perhaps already landed", there spread a huge smile over Phin's face and he exclaimed "Yeah!!! I just love that Aslan, He's so much bigger than the Witch! He's going to get her!".

I love how little moments with your kids teach your own heart. I should often remember how much bigger Aslan is than the lies the enemy whispers or the defeat I can feel from a world of sin. He is at work and He's already defeated the worst of my enemies, though the battle feels vulnerable. May I be as excited as my boy was when he realized "Aslan was on the move"...

Can't wait to see what else we learn together as we read these books!

The Aftermath.

No wonder the noise was non stop and so loud...

And here's what the garbage crew's using for clean up...

Ringing in our second New Year.

Here's what my bedroom looks like this morning:

Because here's what it's been looking like at 10 or dare I say 11 at night the past few nights:

Three little munchkins tucked in watching their favorite all time movie The Prince of Egypt. If you could hear hear the soundtrack to this you would hear the movie volume way up and loud booms of fireworks going on outside.

This week has been a ginormous celebration week for our neck of the Woods. You may have heard a little something about it... three little words called: Chinese New Year. Otherwise known as don't-even-think-about-sleeping-well. Last night was the big celebration where everyone puts off fireworks for hours upon hours. I'm telling you I've experienced nothing like it in my life. We kind of hyped it up and and made it fun for the kids (why not? they weren't going to sleep anyway...). We told them we'd have fun, play and stay up late. We've been hearing some fireworks for a few days, note my use of the word some. Ones that remind me of 4th of July back home but nothing like last night. We had a front row seat..er room... to the displays over our neighborhood. These aren't like ones in the States. They are serious, dangerous and huge ones that your average joe can buy and use. I'm thinking of the ones The Mirage set off when I lived in Vegas....

Really cool and the kids were mesmerized. We ate dinner, watched a loud football game, played wii and enjoyed the show of lights. No kidding there was a 3-4 hour span where there was not 30 seconds- 1 minute without hearing them. We all went to bed around 12:30 AM. Felicity fell asleep at 11:30. It's the latest we've stayed up as a family but there's just no way we would have been able to sleep with all the sounds. So we finally hooked up our noisemaker to our loud speakers and dozed off but the fireworks lasted all throughout the night.

It was crazy. And fun. And such a memory. I mean we get to say as a family we experienced a huge part of the culture we're living in.

Here's the kids last night, ready for an all nighter!

I hope tomorrow to post the aftermath pics I took this morning...but for now a nap sounds really good.

Slices of life...update style.

Drinking: Mama Ray's Southern Sweet Tea. Love this lately! Reminds me of home...

Recovering:... From Moving to another country almost 7 months ago! Still growing and grasping every day I'm here to embrace, shift, stretch and be uncomfortable all that I may make much of Jesus here in my corner.

Reading: Still enjoying fiction. A LOT. I've mostly been a deep christian book reader but this move here has really caused me to enjoy reading great fiction books. The ones that blend theology with life questions, show you the reality apart from God, haunt you with the knowledge of a hurting world, amaze you that God created the gift of writing OR make you laugh, cry and rest. The last two I read were mystery types and both were good The Thirteenth Tale & Secret Adversary (free on Kindle). About to start Cranford (again free!). Also making my way through Instruments in the Redeemers Hands...It's certainly NO secret that I love Paul Tripp!

Linking: A great idea for us overseas, my sis and I plan to follow along with THIS BOOK CLUB.

Thinking about some intentional ways to make my husband and kids feel LOVED on Valentines Day. Nothing huge... but if your anything like me it's difficult to remember the importance of planning to shower love, laugh and show these 4 precious people in my life that they are my first priority.

Watching: Fairly Legal & Table For Twelve.

Listening To: Amos Lee. WOW, he's an amazing artist. Still hearing fireworks going off from the Huge Holiday we celebrate here this week. Insanity...seriously.