Ni Hao Kai Lan...a review by Aly

For those of you who don't know, there is a preview episode of the New Nick Jr. show, Ni Hao Kai Lan, on On Demand. Aly and I watched it this morning. After we watched it, I asked her to review it for me and this was what she had to say...

Me: Did you like Ni Hao Kai Lan this morning?

Aly: Yes! It was Great!

Me: What was your favorite part of the show:

Aly: When they did the Dragon Dance. It is kind of like my "Booty Dance"

Me: What did you learn from the show today?

Aly: How to count to three in Chinese and also that I have to be calm with I get mad about stuff.

There you have it folks...

Happy Wednesday!!!

...NOT on the list!

Aly was sitting at the kitchen table working on her addition. I was washing dishes and starting dinner and checking her work. (She is brilliant...by the way!!) So Lili, who WAS playing quietly in the living room, has decided to come in an jack everything up a notch!! I told her that she could play in the kitchen if she was quiet. Well, that obviously wasn't going to happen, so I told her to go back in the living room to play. She started crying, threw herself to the floor and screamed, "BUT WHY MOMMY?" I explained to her that she was distracting Aly from her schoolwork and she needed to go find somewhere else to play. She started screaming again, so I stopped her and said, "You may stop screaming now or you may get a spanking...which is it going to be?" She stopped and took off running to the playroom to play. Aly just looked at her with a wrinkled brow and said, "Um...that option was NOT on the list!"
God help me when she turns 5!!!! :-)

Aly in her traditional Chinese head dress

Playing with Daddy on his laptop...she LOVES the laptop!!
Asleep in Daddy's recliner

what a difference a year makes!!

I was going through some old videos on my computer and found this one of Lili. This was a few hours after we got her in Nanchang. Believe it or not, she had calmed down a little by this time!!


Then I found this video of Lili taken just a few days ago as she is learning her ABC's. I still am in awe of this child! She has come so far and done so well!! We love her so!!!

Feeling Blue today?

I woke up this morning in a bit of a funk. Well, truthfully I have been in a funk for some time now. I just can't seem to shake it and all the circumstances in my life right now aren't helping one little bit. Each day has become a sliding scale of how deeply into the hole I am entrenched...never seeming to get completely out of it. Those days that I'm not to far in I muster up enough to find things I am thankful for and it really does help! (Thanks Shellee)
A thankful heart really can change your perspective!
This morning I was surfing around to some of my favorite blogs and I found it. Something a little stronger than just being thankful. So, zip on over the Sue's blog, Praise & Coffee, and see if her words can help you get out of your funk this morning. Or maybe her words will give you the ammo you need to help someone else out of their funk! Either way...thank you Sue!!!

My babies...

Just had to share this picture with you. We went out to dinner for New Years Eve, actually it was my birthday dinner. Anyway, here are the girlies looking all amazing!!!
Aly seems to always grab Lili around the neck instead of around her shoulder or body...Lili doesn't seem to mind.
Aren't they georgous??? I am in love!!!

...Calm and New Beginnings...

Happy 2008 to you all!!! I must admit that I have been really looking forward to saying goodbye to the year 2007. As the holidays got closer all I could remember was hearing my mother. About a week before she died, we were talking about so many things and she said, "Shelley, do you think I will be here for Christmas this year?" I told her that we just didn't know, but deep down I think we both knew that she wouldn't. I began to steel myself up for the next few months in anticipation of just getting through the holidays. We made it okay ...that is until yesterday. Yesterday was New Years Eve and my 41st birthday. I had a rough day. It was much worse than Christmas day. David had a rough day too. We both just wanted to talk to our Moms. I just moped all day and did a good bit of crying. I was trying to stay busy, but it was just no use. I was miserable thinking about how much I missed my Mommy. Aly kept coming up to me, hugging me and singing Happy Birthday and...well...to tell you the truth, that was about all that kept my head above water.
We went out to dinner for my birthday and Dad was, well...very grumpy and quiet. It was akward to say the least. We did try to enjoy my birthday dinner and then came home and David, the girls and I just hung out in our bedroom and had some fun playing. Some good friends called about 9pm and said they were on their way over with some Champagne and so the day did end good...about about 12:30am!! :-)
I was talking with David as we were trying to figure out why today hit us both so hard, I think I figured out that we were prepared for Thanksgiving and Christmas to be hard and were mentally prepared a bit. But I wasn't expecting it to hit me for my birthday or the New Year and so we got kind of blindsided.
I have so many expectations of this new year. I am praying for a more peaceful year for our family. I am praying for a repreive from the spiritual testing for us all. But, then I remember that my most important prayer is for God's will to be accomplished through our family...whatever that brings!! A year ago I couldn't imagine it getting worse...but it certainly did. We have survived...a few scars, but God has been here with us through it all.
I was watching a Halmark channel movie the other day and a quote really stuck out at me..."The truth of God's love is not in that He allows bad things to happen, but it is His promise that He'll be there with us when they do." You know, I have had the discussion so many times about God allowing bad things to happen to decent people and I realized with this statement that it doesn't really matter and it isn't the point anyway. The point is that he is with us when they do. God has been with me for so long now. But, especially through all the chaos of this last 18 months or so in our family. I can't imagine how people get through struggles like these without the love of God to carry you! I can't imagine getting through any of the big things in life without the Love of God to carry you!! There have been so many times where I physically felt Him walking (Physically and spiritually) for me when I couldn't.
So, now we have moved into the next year of our lives. I have no idea what God has in store for us. I am excited to see how he will use us in the year 2008. I am thankful that somehow, through all of our failures, God still sees fit to use us at all!!!!
My hopes are for a bit more simplicity (good heavens...have you seen our house???) and for some time to heal and renew as a family and as a woman/wife/mother. I want to focus on my children more this year instead of dragging them through it like they did this past year. Thank you God that my children are so flexible!! :-) I want to focus on my husband and my relationship more this year...we have definately gotten lost in the shuffle.
So, if you want to do something for us this year, please remember to pray for us. Pray for God to direct us and heal us, strengthen us and guide us and set our steps exactly as HE wants them for 2008.
I will pray the same for you!!
Please leave me a comment if there is any way that I can pray for you or anything I can do for you!!
God Bless you as you start into this year!! May God richly bless you in all the ways that He sees fit for you. May He guide you in all the ways that will bring Glory to Him. May you be used of HIM in MIGHTY Ways over these next 12 months!!!
In HIS Mighty Grip~