Duck Soup

cheesin it cute josiah!

i was taking pics of artwork and josiah was like, mommy take my picture :)  i just did to appease him but he is so stinkin cute when he wants to be!  he's been having a really difficult time re-adjusting to life, language, culture, lack of family, friends over here so these pictures are a good reminder of his true sweetness behind all the acting out!  love this kid!

some of Evie Joy's Learning projects!

 Evie Joy loves projects!  She wants to do cut and paste projects all day long!  It is quite a mess around here some days :)  Above, is her Rectangle Robot she cut out and pasted together! 

 We have these fun Usborne Science Experiment Books- the snake was a fun recent project because it is Chinese New Year- the Year of the Snake!  We saw how the heat moved the snake

 This is Evie Joy's Grape Man!  I think she does so good for a 3 year old cutting!

 Jo's K curriculum has a verse for every week that corresponds with a letter for the week.  Evie Joy's verses are copied on the bottom right above.  A- All have sinned, B-Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, C-Children Obey your parents!  They love the songs that sing each verse.  Evie Joy is not really into writing her letters too much but she does really well at reading comprehension.  I read chapter books, Bible stories and geography and history books and when i ask the comprehension questions she usually is quick to answer before Josiah. 

 Evie Joy wanted to draw a flag of Africa, so we picked out an easy one- Boswana, above on the Left
Below she copied her numbers!

Evidences of SchoolWork

I haven't been keeping up with all that we have been doing for school with Chinese Preschool, English Kindergarten and a Chinese tutor...I've managed to capture a few pics here and there the past 2 months...this month i already have taken more ha, but they aren't on the computer yet!

 Above is a Frog Josiah had to cut and paste like a puzzle to make the picture correct- he has come a long way with his cutting!  Below is something he made at Chinese Preschool- i don't know what it is, it was cute and fell apart easily so i snapped a pic.

 I brought back some Christmas story coloring pages for the kids classmates.  I was encouraged to find this below in Jo's backpack, that his class actually took the time to color the nativity picture in class!

 Above, is a whole collection of pictures on our frig from Josiah, some from our Children's Bible stories and others he drew on is own at class in Chinese Preschool- I know the one on the bottom right his teacher was so excited about that she told him to draw a house and his sister using Chinese and he understood and drew those things!

 Our K curriculum includes a verse for every letter, they love that and the songs that go with each letter singing the verse.  They practiced writing out the verses above.

 They love looking at this Atlas I bought used for 85 cents!  Josiah drew the China flag and Evie JOy the one from Boswana! 

Above,  Josiah drew this at Chinese Preschool, I forget what it was suppose to be!
Below,  we were learning about the way the Romans cooked.  There was a recipe in our school book and Josiah wanted to try it.  I think more so because the book said when they were finished eating at their feasts, they burped to show the food was good...so we made this fried bread and dipped it in honey and he kept trying to burp!  ha! 

Some nice days at the Parks

 God has given us a week of really nice weather in the middle of Winter so we are trying to enjoy all we can! We have been to the ride rides park, the rock climbing park and the temple park!

 love this one!

 We ran into an animal show at the climbing rock park- we were super excited- it was like $1.25 per person to get in and we loved it!

 we are trying to make friends...

 joining in the dancing

 josiah was very excited a little boy was kicking the ball with him!

evie joy loves to watch the tops spin!

Jo & the Frisbee

Josiah is pretty good at throwing a frisbee!  He's proud he can do some kind of sports activity that Daddy likes too!  He is learning how to catch it!  Here are a few pics!

the Sweetie Princess

Daddy calls Evie Joy his Sweetie Princess.  She pretty much lives to keep this title.  When she is throwing a fit or disobeying, she is often brought back into obedience not by reward or punishment but but reminding her how the Sweetie Princess is to act.  Even Josiah will encourage her when she is doing well and remind her to change her attitude if she is not acting like the Sweetie Princess. 

I was talking to her one night, thinking is this whole Sweetie Princess thing really a biblical concept for a little girl?  I mean it's not like her obedience is coming from a conviction of "obey your parents."  And I explained to her how we who believe in Jesus and obey Him are His bride.  She associates brides as looking like Princesses.  I explained that God makes us more beautiful every time we choose to believe in Him and obey Him and one day when we are with Him in heaven we will be the most beautiful Princess Bride. 

Then, this week she was refusing to do something, being the stubborn little something that she is and God brought to mind how stubbornness and rebellion is as witchcraft.  So, I told her every time she chooses her own way and chooses to disobey rather than obey she is like the witch on Snowwhite (she really likes Snowwhite but not the witch).  Disobey makes you like the ugly witch

Yup, we are not writing any parenting book but i think we are onto something with our little Sweetie Princess to help mold her heart to be sensitive to her Creator, to really know and delight in what true beauty is.  It has even made me think more in terms of am I allowing God to make me more beautiful by my submission and obedience or am I choosing my own ugly way in stubbornness and rebellion towards God?  Do we as believers walk around as the Redeemed Beloved of God or do we walk around in self- ugly-pride?