Happy Birthday Owen J.

Today is OJ's birthday (Well, last Tuesday. I didn't get a chance to post this). He doesn't like to make a big fuss about birthdays. I do.

I'll tell you why.

Let me start by explaining this picture.

--This was taken after he had been awake for about 38 hours. He is sitting on a plastic child-size chair in a chinese hospital. He has dried throw up all over that sweatshirt under his vest. I never once heard him complain. This is who OJ is. (not a smelly, sleep deprived mess :)A kind, sincere, unselfish human being who hardly ever takes a moment for himself.

I like having a day to celebrate him. Who he is and what he means to us. We are so glad you were born OJ. Can't imagine making this difficult, joyful journey through life without you.

The Zoo.

I made the mistake of telling OJ not to take any days off for Christmas. I figured he might as well save them since we had nothing planned. Well, by the time New Years Eve rolled around I had learned from my mistake and told him to take the day off. If I didn't get out and go somewhere I was going to explode. So we took the kids to the newly opened Zoo here in Dongguan. It was pretty impressive by China standards. It was a beautiful day, the kids were in heaven, and we had Dad. It really was a great day.

My intentions were to tell you about all of the pictures I posted because a lot of them have funny stories to go with. But I think I will just summarize :) I know, I'm sure you are all sad.

There was a big lake/pond in the middle of the Zoo where you could rent paddle boats. There were also 2 "shows". The animals did tricks and then the humans did. They had bears riding bikes, elephants standing on their hind legs and putting hats on kids. Then they had chinese acrobats perform. Chinese performances always seem to be a little dramatic...which is always entertaining/funny. Although I did want to barf when the dancers were rolling around on the ground where the elephant had just pooped on stage. Graham and Finley sat through the whole thing (1hr 30min) Which if you know Graham is not so surprising BUT if you know Finley it is surprising. The girl has no attention span.

There was a huge cage full of exotic birds. You could pay and get a small bowl of food to go inside and feed to them. Now, if you know me, I HATE birds. OJ loves them. So he was all about taking Graham in and feeding them. I told him fine but that I was waiting outside. Well, Graham is a bit of a worry wart and it took some persuading to get him in there. Of course when they go in all of the birds started flying back and forth in the cage. Well, that freaked Graham out. Graham is hysterical. Finley is sitting in the backpack oblivious. OJ is yelling for me to come in. So I went in and rescued Graham, oh the things we do for love.

No more ideas from OJ :)

Graham and Finley are always so popular with the natives. The Zoo was no exception with everyone wanting their pictures with them or just walking by and staring.

We really had so much fun--minus the bird incident--

2nd Christmas

Another benefit of living in China is being able to spread out Christmas. A few days after Christmas OJ brought home two big boxes from Grandma's and Grandpa's. They were so excited! I took this picture after everything had been opened and spread across the room.

Thanks for spoiling us!! We love you and miss you!

Say Hello....

to our newest sunbeam.

Graham made it clear he did not want to be a sunbeam. Weeks before I started talking it up and reminded him that his days in nursery were dwindling. He'd cry and cry and tell me he didn't want to be a sunbeam. Can you blame him? Lots of snacks and that really cool dump truck? Needless to say, I was hoping it would be a seamless transition. But, I did have my doubts.

Luckily because I was recently called to be the primary chorister I was able to watch the whole thing go down. I could tell he was nervous as he walked into primary with his arms folded scanning the room. The first person he recognized was his friend Macey's mom so he went and sat directly next to her. Problem is, she wasn't his teacher. So the counselor herded him over to his seat. He clearly and confidently stated his name when he was asked. I got up to lead the music and a big grin spread across his face. I continued to introduce a new song. Children kept volunteering to come help me up front. This went on for awhile until at one point I was standing directly in front of him and he raises his hand and sweetly says, "Hey mom, can I help you too?"

After church I was gathering up all my things. Out walks a confident boy with a purple crown on his head. As he runs across the room he yells, "MOM, I'M A CHILD OF GOD!!!" He continued to excitedly tell me about his experience in class. After a minute he paused and said, "Mom, are you done being a teacher? Can you be my mommy now?"

I'm not sure what happened in those 2 hours but he grew up.

I know, I know, its only the beginning. I just don't know if my heart can take it.

Christmas 2011

Better late than never. :) We spent the morning opening presents, skyping with family, and watching a movie in our new tent. It was a freezing, rainy day. I didn't want to cook. I had something planned but I had been cooking all week so we bundled up and headed out to Papa Johns. Yes, Christmas dinner at Papa John's...we're classy like that. Nice thing about China...nothing is closed on Christmas day. We were going for kid-friendly but had forgotten they didn't have any high chairs or rather "baby chairs" as they are called here. So we took turns making sure Finley didn't jab her eyes out with a fork, slam her fingers in the door, or get trampled by people walking in and out. We couldn't catch a taxi home so we all walked home in the pouring rain. It definitely was memorable!

PS. Doesn't my blog look great?! Thanks to my awesome sister-in-law. She's the kind of person that just has creativity spilling out of her brain. The ideas NEVER stop. She's pretty incredible. Not only does she do this but she does this as well. Among lots of other things. I'm just glad I get to benefit from her greatness. Thanks Dani, love you!