19 months and crawling...!

 William is his own fun-loving, sweet, make-you-laugh, layedback boy.  He keeps me on my toes and chasing after him, even if he still crawls. He turned 19 months old today and took the most steps ever...three! Whoohoo. I know once he starts walking it will take a while to get himself back up to speed as fast as he crawls, so I am thankful it will slow him down a bit, but I will miss him scooting around. Here are some recent pictures of him. They grow so fast. I  can't believe how much I can love him.

sweet sister

Here is a picture from this morning. He loves to sit and read with me in his rocking chair but today he got in all by himself and was looking at books. 

I am not quite sure what he was up to, but he was having fun learning about standing,  balancing, and  climbing on  blocks.  I pray that William will be a man after the Lord's heart and will stand up firm on His word. 

This is pretty funny....So, I went on an errand with LC and Will and grabbed what I thought was a role of crackers, but when I got to the store and doled out a snack, to Laura Cate's delight they were Oreo cookies. I let her have two, then I went into a store while she watched Will on the street...about 5 feet from me. She apparently thought Will needed a snack too and I came back and she had given him who knows how many cookies, which he had evidence of all down his clothes and in the stroller. At least he was a safe, fed, boy! Older siblings are the best! (that is me and William saying that :) )

Here is some pretty funny video from today, helping William walk. He was interested in our friends phone, so we tried to coax him with that, and then he saw something bigger and better and crawled after it! 

Hot Pot

Friday night we enjoyed eating hot pot ( a local favorite cuisine that is a big pot of boiling oil and spices that you add various vegetables and meat to). I used to love going with my friends, but it's not Alan's favorite meal, and it definitely is not easy to do with kids, so we don't go that often. But, this was William's first hot pot experience and I think he liked it!

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Back to school

Cameron went back to school last week. We love his school and I do think he was a little excited to go back. I do prefer all my kiddos at home so I have missed him this week. He was home for four weeks for Christmas and New Year. Cameron was such a huge help with William and Laura Cate, playing with them and helping me.

I was hoping Laura Cate would sleep in week, but she got up with her big brother, and cried every morning when he left.


Thankfully some great friends just came back from having a baby and we had lunch with them on Sunday. Laura Cate and their daughter, Riley, held hands the entire way to lunch. So sweet!

Valentine' s Day..my blogging site has had some problems so I am slowly posting updates from a while ago!

I had plans for a few things for the kids for Valentines Day but since we had just returned from being gone for a month I was shockingly overwhelmed with laundry, unpacking, and cooking. I decided I would rather choose peace and joy then try yo do more than I was able, so I didn't give the kids their Valentines gifts (memory verses on hand-prints) or "Valentine Verses" as I call them until,  yesterday! (February 16) A few years ago I got an idea from someone to make hand-prints of the kids each year as sort of bookmarks. That morphed into me writing out a verse that we hope and pray for them throughout the new year. Last year I decided to give the verses to them on Valentines Day to remind them how much we love them and are praying for them and how much God loves them too. I make two sets of hand-prints for each of them, one for them and one for me.  Thankfully the bombardment of commercialism of this holiday has not hit Asia widely yet, so I don't have to compete with Hallmark or candy companies to win their hearts on February 14... yet!  Also, homemade brownies still go a long way as a special treat!! William will have to wait till next year to get his first handprint :) but we love him sooo much!

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Planning weekend

Alan and I are away just to a hotel in town for the weekend to have some much needed planning and rest time! We try to do this every six months, but it's been over a year. We are so so thankful for our dear friends the Crosses who are staying with our kids. We pray our kids are a blessing to them and they have fun too! We miss the kids but are enjoying our time.


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Thailand 2013 Update #2

We are coming to the end of our development week. My parenting class has been excellent as we have looked at holistic wellness for our children. Our teachers have been so gracious to allow us to ask lots of questions and seek advice as we maneuver through on this wonderful, difficult journey of parenthood!
William recently tried Papaya and liked it. He also slowly began crawling in the sand and loves it!!! All the kids have also enjoyed seeing the moon and stars, which they rarely see back home :) Laura Cate felt right at home cleaning.

The kids missed our usual family time of pizza and game night, so we improvised and found a restaurant that we could order pizza from and we found this big chess game outside!! Watch out... Cameron is getting pretty good!! Laura Cate had a blast helping us move the pieces.

We are so grateful for folks who flew all the way from the States to do childcare so that we could attend classes. Our kids felt so loved and had a great time!! Everything on Laura Cate we got to keep... Very special for her! She wore this exact outfit for several says in a row and even slept with her cape!

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Location:Hua Hin

Thailand 2013! Update #1

We are so thankful that the Lord provided the resources for us to go to Thailand for a conference and personal development time. It is such a treat and blessing for us to be around other coworkers and friends for mutual encouragement, refreshment, teaching, and learning, not to mention beautiful sunshine and blue skies, which we have not seen in a very long time! We left and it was 35 degrees and grey clouds.


When we got off the airplane, it was 85 degrees!
The children have enjoyed being with friends from our city, and making new friends. William has realized the joy of ice cream with his siblings





and Cameron and Laura Cate have had a blast with old friends and making new ones.


We had a week of meetings and now we are at different hotel near the beach having a week of classes.


Alan will take one class in the afternoon and I will take one in the morning.
We are so thankful to be here and we feel so loved and cared for. We hope to return home more equipped, refreshed, and more in love with Jesus.

Thank you so much for visiting our blog!