Silence in a small apartment is never a good thing when you have three little people somewhere in the house. I am trying to ready myself...well at least cover the dark circles under my ever ageing eyes....before we scurry out to the kids fair at school....being the only foreigners we stand out so I try to look somewhat nice....anyway back to the silence, I go in search of the little girl mice surely getting into mischief and behind the bathroom door I find them meticulously marking their faces...as Indians? clowns? or top models?.....I had to laugh and thank my lucky stars for crayola WASHABLE markers. After all they followed good lines....cute noses and lovely eyebrows......

Settled in....

We're in our new place....it's lot smaller but I love how cozy it is....I can keep tabs on all my wee charges....while cooking, folding and even while on the computer. The paint colours turned out really nice....green in the girls room, blue in Nykolas's, a sage green in our room and white in the rest of the house.....I found some fabulous stickers at IKEA for the girls wall ~ it looks like tree branches with hummingbirds ~ I am pleased with the cherry blossom latern festival look (very Chinese of us)....Mia loved being part of the decorating.

Breezes and Bike Rides.....

Today, we played hookey....no school and no packing for 5 whole hours! We rented bikes on the river, soaked in the sun, climbed grassy hills, tumbled, practiced cartwheels, tried walking on the rocky accupressure paths barefooted (apparently good for your soles, HA!), threw rocks in the river, and snacked in the shade.....a much needed respite from our crazy world.

Tomorrow, Chad leaves early for India and the movers come. (I don't which is worse....him having to leave the kids or me having to do so much work by myself - ok he definately has it worse....I cannot imagine leaving these little people, poor daddy!) I have been slowly shifting things to our new apartment over the past few days. I will be so glad to be settled into one place.

Riveting movie......

Friends Birthday at the park....

Nykolas' class coming back from a field trip....

Lili with fancy shoes at the park....

Uncertainty....

Life is full of uncertainty right now....the world economy has unsettled our foundation. Ministries, banks, factories and everything in between are collapsing. I have struggled with fear over the past few weeks looking for a foothold...What does tomorrow hold? How will we make ends meet? What does the future look like for our children? Then my foot settles again on a rock....our certainty wasn't in the economy, our housing situation, our job, our president.....but in the Creator, who I believe through all things, good and bad, loves us. My dad sent me this quote from C.S. Lewis that I had never read before....

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” - C.S. Lewis, Is Theology Poetry? (1945)

Our perspective often gets shadowed by the trees of change in our line of sight but that does not change the illuminating fact that God never changes, His plan is eternal and we are terribly short sighted.... In the scheme of things our lives are as fleeting as a vapor.....yet He loves us....enough to change the temporal and eternal course of our lives. What joy is this!!!

Our weekend....

We had a crazy one.....with my friend Paula we had Baby Asher, my three and her Sarah. In spite of being really tired as Asher is up late and early for feedings and Nykolas

coming down with a pretty high fever and it being really rainy and cold.....we managed to have fun anyway. Anna and Tilly came by for a while....we watched movies, played dress up, games, legos and cuddled our little gift.....a full house! I couldn't have done it without Paula and
Anna....thanks so much you two for being my friend...even in the face of me taking on too much.

best friends.....

Unashamed fun just out of the bath....

My friend Rebecca and her kids came to hang on Friday afternoon....it was really wonderful. She brought McDonalds, the kids played really well together and we watched Madagascar 2 to top off the afternoon....Rebecca and I actually got to have a conversation!

And Baby Asher was cuddled and skuggled (that's how Nykolas says snuggled).....

A friend of ours works for ORTV....it's a Christian station that uses teaching English as a way to share the Gospel....they needed cute props for an Easter shoot....the kids had a blast!!!

three little kittens....

Dinner time....

Children's Recreation Park - so fun!!!!