It’s been a week since our last news post (sorry) and we have had some good stories and news to share. But first, how are you? Are you enjoying your summer?
Well the news about our family from the past week was that we won the blogging contest we were entered into! That’s right Heather took 1st place in the top expat Mom bloggers! They will now post a short interview with Heather on their blog and advertise it to their 6 million readers, yeah! Thanks to our readers and fans for voting and promoting our blog in this contest, we couldn’t have done it without you.
Also, a couple weeks ago I (Matt) got to travel to an orphanage with some friends of ours that were visiting. It was an amazing time holding kids, playing play-dough, coloring, and just playing with the kids in general. Most of the kids in this particular orphanage are disabled and/or mentally handicapped so it can be challenging, but, at the same time, so worth it. I won’t forget seeing some in our group sitting at the bedside of one of the kids who can’t move or talk, for long periods of time, just reading to them or holding their hand. It was precious. After being there for close to 3 days I was glad to get home to my family.
In the next two weeks our family will begin a really difficult stretch of time here in Xian. Difficult, because our close friends the Faillas and Jeremy (my brother) and Jenny’s family will all be heading back to the States for the summer. It will be two months of walking hand in hand with loneliness. Ok. That’s a bit dramatic, but you get the point. We had one other time where our friends and family were gone and it was one of our tougher times (if not toughest) in China. So keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Let’s end this post with some fun stories from the kids lately.
Aubrey, is still up to her crazy ways. If you remember, we’ve had some drama over her constantly changing into a particular outfit. Even to the point of her sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night and climbing up (in the dark) and grabbing it off a ledge in our living room. This is a battle we’ve decided we’re not gonna fight and now we just let her wear it each day. And I’m not joking when I say this, but she’s worn this outfit almost every day for the past couple months. The only time we manage to get it away from her is when we throw it in the wash.
Sydney, literally made a face I’ve only seen in emoticon form. It looks like this :/ I forget exactly how it happened, but what I remember is that she was walking towards me and got busted for something and as she looked at me she dropped one side of her mouth lower than the other. Translation of that face in that moment “Whoops I just got busted and I didn’t expect it” :/ Sydney also had one other classic moment. She was playing with her stuffed cats and one was crying. She said that the cat’s mom had just died and that she found out on Skype. That’s my little TCK (Third Culture Kid) talking about Skype like it’s a normal part of life.
Lily, the other day did one of the sweetest things. (First let me hit you with a bit of context). When Lily first started living with us she would hoard piles of toys in her bed at night. The longer she’s lived with us the smaller the pile has gotten (with Heather and I also encouraging her to only choose a couple toys to sleep with). Well her hording ways have sprung up in another area, her drawings. She literally has a stack of drawings that she keeps, and adds to, regularly. The other day we had some friends visiting Xian and they were going to be leaving the next day. I was touched when our little Lily went over and grabbed her stack of drawings and one by one went to each of our guests, giving them her precious creations. In the end I would say she gave away most of her pile (if not all of it). It made me proud to see her willing to give something she treasured away to love others.
With hope,
the petersons
0 Comments:
Post a Comment