At North Valley Baptist Church

I was with Pastor Trieber when we were in America. I had fun in the Sunday school class. The sermon was good.

I think Pastor Trieber is great!

Josiah's New Glasses

Well, here is Josiah with his bug eyes, bum teeth, and great potential. Basically, he is another Mike Ray in the making.

P.S. The glasses were a Christmas present.

Josiah's first post

g n b f b f jb mnbn n jn bj ngbmn nh nb josiah nhbh jhbjughgfbh

cv bgh u bnvnh v jnc n c hfhn bhj jmmmmv fvbvbvv hf bvfbvgfbn hbvc vhbf d vcdfhvb dfbv hfcd vbfghvb fv bfhd vyfvbb cg vb b b hd bn vfdbh vb gv jonyfv h bgv hv vhf h nhgv hhv vb fvh bh hvh hgn fh bbn bn bh fbgbfg bb gvbbv h bf bvb bvb bgbb bvbbwcvvgb gcfv gb vb bv cvb rvgbf vbb v bf v bvfvhd fvvh vh dhbv bvfbvhyv gh b v h hcd bvd bvhbdvbhvv b fbg v gvvbvbvvbb bbbvbbncdf bfbv n f vb v f guvvu hfvu buf tr eu tg fgd yv fhgg hh bfb gdf gf b f g vb fg bg b hn nnvnv nfg n ngn ndn nb fg bn vnv nn nn h ngbgnbngfvnfbnfbnf b n f bn fgbhnfhbdhb fhb hnb bv bvb bvbbbvbbvb fvfbvhfbhdbvhbhbhhhbggg vgbghfv cghvhvc hbbuvg hbfgbh fh bnfg1 fjbnfgj nnb bn ghkop hhioh bjig hutkj ogm nmg hjiiih njh gjhgm njkjng ng nbgnn ng gnbngj jgnng ngn nbgn b n b gjnhbu hbg nbg hhg hgju mkghfujbgtiu bgb gbj gmh bfg jnbgj bhg b hbt h n hngng hi hngnjmghng njhjjgibhmkgh jhnmgihhkbhignjhm hjnhki kiyujji iuirtjhrb jh9iyuiuggjijnmmn nbgfnbgfnhb nbh ng thbgnb gfu btg nbgn j nbnjbgu jghbgjungnnbgjubng bngb ngbnngh bfgbnfgnbnfgn bfbngh bgb nghb nfg nbhg gnnb gf bfgb gfhbg vhnn bg hbfbbhb fhbng hgb

vmkf gbfj bnfbnfhb jnhjvf n bvfy7g7878gjnv uhghb gzg v gdufv hfhvgfvbf gvyf gvf gvufv bhy f yvbhfy gfhy v f vgfubvfgub vfh v hfvhfg v rgdfv hdf vhyf gg yhfvg fd vnr fdfbh gbdvfhgb v dfgfv gvdfv gdfvdbg v b v bfg gfvg vfd gvb gdfgtrectfgerghfgyfgtfbgfrtf fg fvffcg e fgvvctfc vc fgey fysdcgtefve tvdvcdfv ce t fvervf dfc d cv v vrcvghv f u/////50565818018825262+95269+576n fhvf vuyfhbyfgg bbfvyughvu fvy hf hgug fry7rbrbttbgrbgrbygrygrygvfryfhrygftyrgfgfgry v

A Child's Prayer

"Help all the children to believe in You. Jesus, You are the bestest Guy. Please help Your men to be strong. I love You very much. Amen." ~Josiah's bedtime prayer (verbatim).

"Fadder [Father], Mia obey. Amen." ~Amelia's bedtime prayer (verbatim, including translation).

I'm in the Lord's Army, Yes Sir!

Singing during devotions aboard the ferry headed towards Korea...

Twenty minutes later...

Breakfast with Amelia

Happy Brithday, Daddy!

Following a simple, yet wonderful Father's Day, we celebrated William's 29th birthday on Monday. His last year in his twenties...yikes! =) I'm almost married to a thirty year old!!! And, I, a mere 27...well, only for less than one month =)!

William headed off to teach Monday morning, thus providing the perfect time for the kids and me to make Daddy's cake. I brought back some cake mixes from the States for birthday cakes and we had the perfect one for Daddy, deluxe chocolate =). While Amelia was still sleeping, a later morning for her, Josiah and I started the cake baking process. He enjoyed it thoroughly as anyone who gets to lick the bowl should! =) Since we are not so keen on the frosting Chinese cakes have, I also brought frosting back with us, so we lathered Daddy's cake down with some yummy cream cheese frosting. The next plan, as we did with Josiah's 3rd birthday cake, was to take it to a Chinese bakery and have them decorate the top, since I am so not gifted in that area. So, with two kids on the back of my bike and the finished cake on a plate, we headed to the closest bakery while I tried to ride VERY carefully with the cake on one hand and two little ones on the back. Miraculously, we made it and explained to them what we would like. The last time we did that, with Josiah's cake, we had two lions and a couple of trees put on the top of the cake, per Josiah's request. Nothing more, just a few decorations on top, that way we could easily scrape off the decorations and eat up the yummy cake with the frosting that we like to eat, boy are we spoiled! Well, unfortunately this time, they layered on the frosting, not only on top, but on the side as well. I am not exaggerating when I say that they put an inch of their frosting on the top of this cake! Now, one simple word to describe Chinese frosting...tasteless. And when we have cake, we want the whole gamut of sweetness, hence the reason I bring back Betty Crocker frosting =).

The story behind how we decided to put what we did on William's cake: a few weeks before William's birthday, I had asked Josiah what we should put on Daddy's cake. His immediate response was "SNAKES!" Yes, his new favorite animal is the snake...thank you, Auntie Julia! For those of you that do not know, Josiah's Auntie Julia has a snake and while we were in the States for Christmas, let's just say that Auntie Julia shared her passion for snakes with her little nephew, so that every time we web cam with Papa and Nana now, Josiah asks to see his Aunties and of course, Rica the snake! So, he wanted a snake on his daddy's cake. I told him that since he likes snakes, for his 4th birthday, he can have snakes on his cake. So, we brainstormed a bit and thought of things that Daddy likes. When I asked Josiah what is something that Daddy likes, he thought a bit and then confidently said, "Computers." Ah, a great idea. I thought then that we could have an image of a mommy with a little boy and a little girl on the computer screen and that would be perfect...just a quick note, since the frosting here is not like American frosting, taste, texture, etc., they can do AMAZING things when it comes to decorating cakes! So, the idea of us on the computer screen would not be too impossible of a task. Well, a few days later, William and I were reminiscing a bit and he mentioned a cake that Mom had made for him when he was little and he still clearly remembers it. He described it as a beach scene, with half of the cake the color of water and half of the cake the color of sand, for the beach. Mom then put a landing craft in the water and little soldiers charging the beach with a flag. Very creative, Mom!! So I thought it would be neat to TRY, my you, I said TRY to recreate that wonderful cake =)! I thought about trying to find food coloring and really do the whole thing by myself, but quickly scratched that idea when faced with the question of how do I explain food coloring. (I now know that I can go to a bakery and buy a bit from them.=)) So, after the kids and I arrived at the bakery, I TRIED to explain what I would like and TRIED to emphasize that we only wanted frosting on the top...but like I mentioned before...there was LOTS of tasteless frosting, but I think we can say mission accomplished. They graciously put the cake in a nice cake box, we handed them the equivalent of $2.50 and headed back home. We dropped the cake off and headed back out the door to meet William at a noodle place for lunch.

Chinese tradition calls for eating noodles on your birthday as a symbol of long life. So, when in China, do as the Chinese do, except for eating their frosting, okay, and a few other things, but noodles it was for lunch. We finished up a good meal and headed on a bus towards Beijing. William had said that he would like to have Mexican for his birthday meal, and since we do not have any Mexican restaurants here in our city of Changping, we knew that Beijing is where we would be on Monday evening. Well, with that in mind, we also knew that we needed to get Amelia her Japanese Encephalitis vaccination soon since they do not give that vaccine in July and August since it is a mosquito carried disease and July and August are peak mosquito season. So, knowing our schedule for the rest of June, William's birthday was really the only feasible date to go to the hospital and get Amelia's shot. I know, I know, not the best way to spend one's birthday, but when you are as wonderful of a Dad as William is, family's health above personal pleasures =).

While we were on the bus headed to Beijing, Amelia took her afternoon nap, but Josiah stayed good and awake, so once we arrived in Beijing, we were faced with the reality that Josiah would need to sleep. And being a very tall 3 year old, he isn't the easiest to carry, especially while sleeping. So, Amelia and I headed to the hospital while William and Josiah headed to a nearby hotel lobby to take a little nap.

While getting her shot, of course Amelia cried, but she was absolutely great! She didn't cry long and was more interested in her cute band aid than anything. For the rest of the evening, she would pull at her sleeve to look at the band aid =). We headed to Daddy and a sleeping big brother and waited for a few minutes until Josiah fully awoke. We then headed to Peter's Tex-Mex and enjoyed an incredible feast! That particular restaurant has a little play area for the kids, which is always a tremendous blessing! So, the kids played away and Mommy and Daddy were able to enjoy talking to each other. Needless to say, we splurged and even had an appetizer of chips and nine lay burrito dip and just plain ol' yummy entrees! I mentioned to our server that it was William's birthday, so after we finished our meal, they played Happy Birthday over the sound system and we sang Happy Birthday as they brought a huge piece of chocolate cake to William. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and still feel a bit full from that tasty meal!

We headed home, tired, happy and so very full. Since we arrived back home around 9 PM, we decided to have William's cake the next evening, thus extending his birthday =)! So on Tuesday evening, Josiah helped me put the soldiers on top of the cake and we happily sang to Daddy and scraped off a ton of frosting and enjoyed our yummy cake! =) It was a wonderful two days indeed and we trust that this will be William's most glorious year yet, Lord willing!

It's torrible!

The title of this particular blog doesn't necessarily go along with the blog itself, but Josiah said this one day a few weeks ago in reference to something he wasn't too thrilled about and I just loved it so I had to include it somehow into the blog =). He combined "terrible" and "horrible" into one word which I guess means that he was utterly displeased with the situation at the time...tough life =).

At any rate, they are both growing, growing, growing and learning a great deal. The two of them are really starting to play well together. Legos seem to be their mutual interest, with Josiah making airplanes (some pretty amazing ones that we find ourselves truly astounded that he made them on his own...perfectly symmetrical, very detailed and in my eyes, beyond what I imagine a three year old able to create!) and Amelia making houses, even if she is just stacking lego upon lego, resulting in one tall tower...it's still a house, but she'll include "tall house." With the warm weather, we are venturing out often and frequenting the local parks. There is one park in particular that has a water show at 7:30 every evening and people can run through it and that is exactly what Josiah has done the last few times we have visited. He walks away soaked, but happy. Mia, on the other hand, would rather just watch. She is so not keen on getting wet, but she does enjoy watching her brother take a "bath" as she puts it =).

As a few of you know, we planted a little garden a couple months ago. It was more of a little project for Josiah and he seems to really enjoy it. We bought a few flower seeds and some tomato seeds and one morning, Josiah and I planted away. We placed them on our balcony and watered them regularly. Josiah would literally wake up in the morning and head to the balcony to check on his plants and then would flow the questions of why they weren't growing and then oft times, he would pray that Jesus would help them grow =). Well, then finally, one day, we saw green sprouting through and our little man jumped up and down, thanking Jesus for letting them grow. It was wonderful! A little three year old, praising the Lord, what music to Mommy's ears and most definitely music to our Father's ears! As of now, the tomato plants are "TALL" as Amelia likes to describe them and there are several blooms which I understand to mean that actual tomatoes are next! THAT will be exciting for Josiah-to be able to eat what he has planted. As far as the flower seeds we planted goes, well, we must have purchased some duds because only weeds came up in one pot so out the door those went. But just this week, Josiah had his first flower bloom and how excited he was. The next morning he went to check on it and was a bit disappointed to find it closed and not yet open, but none the less, he has enjoyed watering and checking on his dear little garden. And as sisters would be, Amelia has had a few moments of being disciplined after I would find her picking the leaves off of her brother's tomato plants or digging in the dirt =). Oh how much I missed out on in not having any siblings =)! Please enjoy the pictures of our little farmer and his garden. =)

The picture of Amelia is her posing with her first flowers from a gentleman...yes, at one and a half, she has already been given flowers...of course the gentleman was her wonderful father =) and Amelia loved her pretty pink "faurs!"

We love and miss you and please know that you are in our thoughts!

The National Air Museum of China (July '06)

Dad and Josiah spent a wonderful, muggy afternoon exploring Josiah's love--airplanes. It was a surprisingly large museum including a huge underground hanger carved into a hill and crammed with every type of airplane. Outside there were even more. Josiah got to climb on some of the equipment. To make the day perfect, we came across a firetruck and a bull-dozer. It was certainly an all-boy type of day. He wore himself (and his father) out running from aircaft to aircraft and twirling aroung on the anti-aircraft guns. We returned home hot, dirty, sweaty, and exhausted. If you're wondering whether or not he was thrilled, just watch the video.

Can you find Josiah?

Attempting preschool (July '06)

We decided to let our son attend preschool a few days a week to improve his Chinese. It lasted three times before we finally decided to postpone the start to his scholastic career for another year.

July 27, 2006 Preaching to his cars

August 25, 2006 Amelia's first steps

Amelia's new sound

Amelia's newest helmet

Bouncing boy

Emerging from the closest

Oh my soul!

The title of this blog brings us to a famous line by a little man named Josiah. Allow me to explain...I was in the kitchen one afternoon while both Josiah and Amelia were in their bedroom, playing with toys, looking through books, just enjoying some quality brother-sister time, or something along those lines =). They had been in there quite some time, without any altercations, sibling squabbles or tears and then I heard Josiah's voice, "OH MY SOUL!" On the one hand, I wanted to smile at yet another example of Josiah's emulation of his dad. But on the other hand, something could be seriously wrong for him to begin using such expletives. Since Josiah said the words, I knew that he must be okay, but that meant something was wrong with Amelia. I rushed into their bedroom, which is adjacent to the kitchen and discovered two little toddlers sitting amidst piles of books. When a accessed that all appendages were still intact and that there was no blood, I surveyed the tiny tots to try to determine why my two year old son had said "OH MY SOUL." I looked down at the book that little Amelia had in her lap and found out what she did that caused her brother to react so strongly...she had torn a page of the book in half! Yes, both children were safe and sound and they had been playing together quite well, but tearing pages in books is a first degree offense around here, okay, well maybe second degree, but she received her punishment for it and now when I hear Josiah say, "OH MY SOUL!," I know that nobody is about to lose a leg or an arm, but that he is indeed startled by whatever he has just witnessed. =)

A few other things that he has said that I took note of to include in the next blog once our blog was back up and working occurred during the hours before bedtime. One was when Josiah was talking to his dad about something quite important of course, and he prefaced one of his sentences addressing his father as "Pastor Dad." =) And yet another happened when Josiah was supposed to be tucked away in bed and enjoying pleasant dreams about airplanes and trucks. William and I were in our bedroom, William working on the computer and I was finishing up some homework when we saw our door begin to open. Once the door was open, we saw a tall two year old wearing footie pajamas, holding his pillow and his immediate response was, "Uhh, Daddy, I couldn't go to sleep, uhhh, because there's ahhh snake in my room." Of course there was no snake in his room, but we both thought it was a pretty good excuse. =)


As for little Amelia, she is now beginning to say some words, but mostly Chinese words. She understands both when given a command in Chinese or English, but most of her words are in Chinese or parts of a Chinese word. For example, 'thank you' in Chinese is 'xie xie' (pronounced something like shay shay) and Amelia says 'xie.' She can say 'baba (daddy in Chinese), mama, papa (which is what Josiah calls his Papa Maricle) and ge (big brother in Chinese). She is certainly a hoot, as is her brother and we do have so much fun together, all four of us!

Before I sign out, I wanted to include one more story that I was saving up for the next time that I could blog. Amelia is past this stage in her toddlerhood, but when she was just learning to put her toys away, it made for some fun hide and go seek time. You see, William taught Amelia that when she is finished with her toys or when Mommy says that it is time to put away toys, Amelia needs to put the toys in their appropriate and designated place in their bedroom. Well, I think most of the toys did find their way into their appropriate home, but I did find one of her rattles in my utensil draw in the kitchen and the ultimate toy place, one of their blocks ended up in the toilet. Yes, that is nice and tidy little Amelia for you. =)

Things well said

With the many long bus journies we take to get to wherever it is that we are going, William has found that story telling is a wonderful way to keep Josiah occupied and quite honestly, entranced. He loves to listen to his daddy's stories about rabbits and eagles and a dog named Charlie and every story has a character building theme with it.

This past Sunday morning, as we were on our one and a half hour trip to church, William told Josiah about Jesus dying on the cross for us. He went into detail about Jesus being spit upon, about Him receiving 39 lashes, and about Jesus being beaten. He took extra time to explain the nails being nailed into his hands and feet trying to demonstrate with his palm and index finger. It seemed to William that Josiah was really understanding the gravity of it all. Josiah stared out the window with a very grave look on his face as his daddy continued the story. Thinking he was the master at conveying deep truths to young minds, William vividly laid out the facts. Finally, he reached the triumphant conclusion anticipating what kind of reaction Josiah would have to it all. William prodded, "Isn't that an amazing story, Son?" "Yeah, Dad," he responded very seriously while pointing his index finger into the palm of his other hand, "Mommy cuts my nails, too!"

Another Josiah moment happened this evening while we were at our mid-week prayer meeting. While I was playing the piano during the singing, William and Josiah were on the front row, singing away. Well, sometime during the singing, Josiah decided that he was going to lay down across two seats in the front row. William leaned over and instructed Josiah to sit up. Little man's response, "Daddy, I'm a dog." He obeyed though and sat up, but a minute later, he was in the same position. William once again instructed Josiah to sit up and again the response was that he was a dog. Well, this time, he sat up indeed, but was on all fours in his chair and started panting like a dog and then he barked. William was certainly not impressed with the back talking, or shall I say back barking, but he couldn't help but let a smile slip at the comment of our little canine =).

And little missy is as cute as a button and quite exhausted this past week since her Mom and Dad have been going here and going there and not letting her get her beauty rest. But she still seems to be getting more and more beautiful, regardless of how little sleep she gets. =) She loves this walking business though and wants to walk here and there and everywhere. It is hard to believe that our baby girl is one now and a toddling toddler.

And her big brother is just a month and a half away from being three!! That is hard to believe! And what a big boy he is. He knows it too. William treated us to McDonalds this evening after our prayer meeting and what a treat it was! William ordered Josiah a hamburger and I told Josiah that I would feed him his hamburger as he races back and forth from the play place to the table. Since he plays his heart out in the play place, undoubtedly his hands are everywhere in the little area. And although we have seen the employees of McDonalds mop up the play place area, we have also seen one too many little Chinese kiddos in their split pants relieve themselves anywhere in the little play area. So, the idea of Josiah touching his food after having had his hands on the floor and slide just does not settle my stomach so well. And instead of having him wash his hands each time before he handles his hamburger, I was just going to feed it to him so he could take a bite and run off and play some more. Well, the little man quite maturely told me this evening, "Mommy, I am a big boy now." Out of the mouth of babes...

Looking forward to catching you all up more real soon, until then, please keep praying for little Josiah and little Amelia =).

At long last...

At long last, I am sitting down to post a blog and to let you know that we are all doing well and love and miss you all so much! Ahh, how busy we have been, but I am sure that the same goes for each of you as well.

Amelia is a walking machine now and seems to really love this new method of transportation. The first thing she does after we put her shoes on before we head out the door is to stand up and walk towards the door. And when we are out and about, like in a park or walking to the bus stop, she wants to get down and hold one of Daddy's fingers in her little hand and hold onto Mommy's finger with her other hand and walk like a big girl. The ironic thing about the whole situation is that while Amelia is squirming to get down so she can walk, Josiah comes and says, "Up, please."

Speaking of the little man, he is doing great. Since I am in language school in the morning and with the nai nai (grandmother in Chinese) that watches Josiah and Amelia four days a week, Josiah is picking up Chinese faster than I am and he doesn't even have homework or dictation tests!! And he has quickly adjusted to the new routine of Mommy being gone in the morning when he wakes up. The first three mornings he cried, but for the last two days, as I walk in the door, I am greeted with, "Mommy, I didn't cry!" So things are going well on the home front and I just yearn to get home as quickly as possible so I ride my bike so fast after class so I can get back to my kids and just hug on 'em. I miss them so much while I am gone in the morning. And speaking of school, it is going well. I am so glad that I have three years of living in China and hearing Chinese under my belt already, because the teachers only speak Chinese when teaching the classes, with an occasional, "OK?" So had I just arrived in China, I would be completely overwhelmed. And although everything except learning to write the characters is pretty familiar to me, as far as the vocabulary, the review has been very beneficial. I was explaining to William yesterday that what I have already learned from being here in China for three years is like the spokes of a wheel. And although I am adding a few new spokes, the main thing that has happened since classes began is the wheel that joins the spokes is now being added so everything is joining and fitting together and making so much sense. It has also been neat to get to know my classmates, most of whom are from Kazakhstan. What an enormous world in which we live in and far too many of the people that populate this world are lost and do not know of the amazing grace of Jesus. Not being so good in geography, I had only heard of this country a few years ago when William and I were talking about Central Asia and the incredible need there is out there. He mentioned Kazakhstan and I have been able to find out a little about the country from my classmates. 15 million people live in Kazakhstan and that is 15 million I did not even know existed until a few years ago...how many more millions are out there that I have not thought about or prayed for, that Jesus knows about, cares for, loved enough to die for? What a big job we have.

Well, I know it is getting late, but it has been too long since I have sent our love, so there is much to talk about. But after this story, I better get back to studying. The last blog I posted was while William was in Jilin, well, he is back with us and we are oh so very glad. He wrote about his trip in the Maricles in China blog and he mentioned a man by the name of Tim Sobers. Mr. Sober's wife graciously sent a box with William for us to open when he got home. As William said in his blog, he flew into Beijing on Tuesday evening, so he arrived home around 9:30 PM. Although Josiah was in bed when Daddy got home, I had kept him up later than usual, knowing that William would be home soon. So, he wasn't asleep when Daddy walked in the door and not only was he excited about Daddy being home, the box Daddy was holding was also a delight for him to see. =) We went into our bedroom to open up the box and Mrs. Sober had graciously given us a few dresses for Amelia (they have two little girls themselves) and a box of cake mix. Upon seeing the cake mix, Josiah ran into the kitchen and came running back into our room with three forks, ready to eat the cake that was in the box! He saw the front of the box and saw the cake, so of course there had to be a cake in the box. =) He was only a little disappointed when we showed him the back of the box and pointed out that we need eggs and water and oil to make the cake, because then he knew he could help Mommy someday make the cake and he loves to help with the stirring whenever I prepare something to bake. He just tickles us so much. What a joy he is!!

Well...I guess this means it's time to get to studying. We certainly love and miss and love and miss and did I mention love and miss you all?!!! Well, we do!! =)

Without our Daddy...

Tis the little ones and me, without our beloved daddy for a few days and so far, so good. William and Bro. Nasett have traveled to Jilin, a city in northern China, to see the work that Bro. Kalapp from First Baptist Hammond started. Since William doesn't have classes on Mondays and Tuesdays, they headed out on the overnight train Sunday evening and will return Wednesday morning and William will head straight to his school to teach for the day and then we will get to see Daddy!!! In the mean time, I begin my first day of language school tomorrow, Tuesday, and I am nervous. Many of our friends have encouragingly =) told me that they cried after their first day of school because they were quite overwhelmed. So, let's see how many tears I shall shed, and I will not even have my husband to run home to to cry upon...but He will count every tear =).

We had a great Sunday yesterday. A while ago, William asked one of the members to write down the mistakes William makes concerning Chinese pronunciation, grammar and the such while teaching His Word and afterwards, both William and this member sit down and go through the mistakes and he offers William some suggestions for better pronunciation or teaches him some more about grammar. Well, after the meeting yesterday, the fellow servant came up to William and told him, "Congratulations! You didn't make any mistakes!!" Our Father is blessing!

Yesterday morning, as we were getting ready for Sunday, we had some wonderful music playing from Old Christian Radio.com and there was a violin playing. Josiah pointed out that he could hear the violin and so I asked him if he wanted to learn how to play the violin or the horn (his name for the trumpet). He cheerfully responded, "The guitar." Perhaps all three =).

We are off to go have dinner at friend's house, so I must close for now. But I shall look forward to tomorrow when I get to share a little bit more of us with you =).

PS-The picture is of our little miss, the carpenter with her measuring tape, getting ready for a diaper change.

His little sayings...

I know most of my posts are about the little man, but I must reassure you now that we indeed do love Amelia and yes, she is oh so very cute. But our active two and a half year old just has more things about which I can write about, at least for now. Amelia is walking a great deal now. She still does prefer to crawl when going from one end of the house to another, but she loves standing and trying to present a commanding presence. She is absolutely as cute as a button and still has that ear-to-ear smile that she shines so regularly. She officially has five teeth now, with one another one on top almost poking through and two more on the bottom that are not too far behind. She loves to make us laugh and seems to have such a cute, silly personality, just like her big brother =).

As for Josiah, I wanted to jot down a few things he says that just tickle our hearts:

On occasion, Josiah will want to go into a door, but the door is closed. He knows he cannot just enter it without knocking. He also knows that what he wants to hear after knocking is "Come in." So, while he is knocking on the door, we get to hear him give himself permission by calling out "Come in! Come in!"

Today, just after he had nudged Amelia, okay, well, it wasn't quite a hit, but it wasn't as soft as a nudge either, I asked him why he had done it. His response, "Because I'm a funny guy."

While Josiah was taking a bath tonight, he did something that made us laugh and William told him that he was a silly guy. Josiah said, "You're Maricle man!" =)

Sometimes when Amelia is bothering him or is touching something she shouldn't be touching, I will hear Josiah say, "Mia Maricle!!"

We are still trying to break him of his thumb-sucking habit, and sometimes I will go in and lay with him when it is time for bedtime. Well, he wants to suck his thumb, but he knows that if he does it in front of me, he will get in trouble, so he will say, "Mom, please close eyes."

I suppose he hears us telling him and Amelia often that we think they are cute, so in return, oft times he will say, "Mom, you're cute."

Sometimes he'll march up to his dad with an imaginary sword in his hand and growl, "Dad, I'm a man with a sword, and you're a bear." And then he will proceed to attack his father.

There are so many more, so I'll spread the wealth over a few days =).

Our little scholar attempts school

Josiah has just been plain ol' cute these past few days. He talks so much and has great stories and tells his stories which such emotion and wonderful expressions. With him being so tall and with how well he can communicate, I have to remind myself often that he is only two. The picture is of Josiah (can you tell which one he is? =)) at the preschool he attended three times. It was only three times because they said that he was too young and that we should come back when he turns three. Basically, he cried too much =). Most of the kids are three and older, so we'll try next year. The preschool setting we had in mind was an environment in which Josiah could go to twice a week for a couple of hours so that he could be completely surrounded by fluent Chinese speakers. Our Chinese isn't quite to that level, yet =). We imagined him playing with the other kids most of the time and perhaps a little bit of classroom time, for coloring or learning a few words. Well, the only playtime it turns out they have is right after they eat lunch around 11:30, when I would come to pick him up. We know this because William hung around for the few hours one day, just to see what went on and yes, Josiah cried a great deal and yes, they stayed in the classroom those entire few hours. So, all that to say that we will wait a bit and reevaluate our ideas and strategies for Josiah and Amelia learning Chinese.

About how cute Josiah has been the past few days, well, he is always cute, okay, most of the time =), I will jot down a few of his little sayings that are just cute and warm my heart, but that will be for tomorrow... =0) We love you all so very much!!

Josiah's latest experiment

“Boys will be boys.”

That’s how the saying goes. Well, this story involves a Lego, a little boy we all love and his little bitty nose =). It was a busy day around the Maricle house with preparing and cooking for company coming over in the afternoon and the kids had been a big help all morning by playing quietly and diligently together. Company arrived, we ate together, cleaned up after the meal in preparation for a short Chinese lesson, and all that without incident. And then, our little two year old came running from his room towards me, crying, but not hysterically yet, saying something about his nose.

“Lego in my nose, Mommy!!”

“What?! A Lego?! Which nostril?!”

“This one,” as he pointed to his left nostril.

In the panic of the moment, the only thing that came to my mind was to call Mrs. Laterza. While we do not have 911 here in China, we have someone just as reliable, our dear friend, Mrs. Laterza. She instructed me to gently put a q-tip into the other nostril to try to force him to sneeze. As I was doing that, she asked me if Josiah knew how to blow his nose. Why didn’t I think of that!!!?!! By this point, Josiah was crying hysterically and because your sinuses tend to swell when you are crying, it was constricting that Lego in his nose more, thus causing more pain which means more tears and screams!! He complied wonderfully and blew his nose right into my hand and out shot that infamous piece of Lego. It was so far in his nose that I could not see it lodged in there. After I had the Lego in my hand, my tears began to flow and Josiah was very apologetic. Later that evening, as we were putting away all the Legos, I showed him a few pieces and asked him if he wanted to put those pieces into his nose or ears. His response, “Nooooooooooo, Mommy!” =)

September 1, 2006

Wow!! So hard to believe that Dad and Amelia’s birthday month is already upon us! A big month for both Dad and Amelia…Dad will turn 50 and Amelia will be one year old!! =)

Since we have company coming over tonight and I need to get dinner going, I will jump immediately into today’s little story. We headed to William’s school today to eat lunch together and then we were going to head over to the barber so both William and Josiah could get their hair cut. So, while Josiah, Amelia and I were riding on the bus, we came to the bus stop we normally get off to catch another bus that takes us to church. So, Josiah is very familiar with that stop. As we were approaching it, he said, “It’s our stop, Mommy.” And I explained that we were getting off at the next stop because we were going to meet Daddy today and that we would head to church another day. When the bus did finally stop at the one we usually get off, Josiah noticed all the people getting off at that stop and asked me, “Those people going to church, Mommy?” I told him that I wish they were. It is so very exciting to see that church and the Lord seem to consume a lot of his mind, in addition to street sweepers, garbage trucks, police cars and so on, but since church and the Lord are such an integral part of our lives, our little two year old has already picked up on it…I pray it only consumes him more and more with each year!!

August 31, 2006

Little Missy is trying to touch the keyboard as I write this post. She is trying with every appendage she has, arms, legs, hands, you name it. She just wants to write to the ladies in her life =). She and I had a wonderful afternoon together after she woke up from her nap. Josiah slept for another hour and a half after Amelia woke up, so we just played and she talked and drooled and talked and drooled and we had a grand ol’ time!

The cute story I want to share about Josiah happened a couple mornings ago. William was already at work by the time Josiah woke up so he asked me where Daddy was. I told him that Daddy was teaching and Josiah said, “Teaching? Like Papa teaching people to go at Jesus?” Even though he tends to get his prepositions a little confused, I understood exactly what he meant. =) He is a little preacher man often as well. He’ll stand before his group of people, sing some songs, pray and then he tells them to go at Jesus =). Soon Amelia will be singing specials in his church =).

August 30, 2006

Oh how we have been reminiscing about home the past few days! Will December come fast enough? But I know we all have enough to keep us busy until then, so time will fly, but I hope it flies at rocket speed =)!

Well, we have captured Amelia taking a few baby steps on video, but we are not sure if the files are too big to send via the Internet, but we will try within the next few days. So, she is taking a step or two into our arms once we leave her in the standing position, but oh how she appreciates crawling much more! =)

Josiah said something the other day that William said belongs in a book of one-liners said by little kids. Now keep in mind that our little man is two and he knows how old he is and can tell you how old in both English and Chinese. And he has finally mastered the ability to hold two fingers up indicating that he is two. He is very proud of that feat. So he was showing William and me his two fingers again the other day and said, “look, TWO” and I asked him what comes after two and his response…”Happy Birthday!” =)

PS-I know you already have the photo of Professor Maricle, but it was too cute to pass up =). And the one of Amelia is when we were at the Zoo a few weeks ago. She was quite an exhibit herself =).

August 27, 2006

August 26, 2006

The little ones are sound asleep in their beds right now, following a very full, yet wonderful Sunday. =) Josiah was exceptionally good today and how easy it is to love and love and want to play with him when he is so obedient and so enjoyable! I pray for many more days like today!! As for Amelia, no first step yet, but she is certainly liking this standing up on her own thing =)! She and Josiah played so very well together today after we returned home from our Sunday meeting. Josiah likes to build “houses” with pillows and anything else he can find that will substitute as a barrier from his little sister and he just loves watching her try to get in. William played with them both this evening and tried to teach both of them the art of knocking on the other one’s “house.” So, hopefully they have mastered that good habit =).

Well, off to bed for us because it is a full “weekend” for us tomorrow and Tuesday. Love you SO MUCH!!!

August 25, 2006

Well, William has started back to school as of today and oh how we are going to miss having Daddy with us all day!!! It was a fast, but wonderful summer!

Little Princess stood all by herself today for a good amount of time. Nobody was holding onto her and she wasn’t leaning on anything, just standing there. So that first step should be just around the corner =), but I know, in due time. She is still sweet and oh so beautiful and she seems to have a very cute sense of humor. She likes to wrinkle her nose, shine a smile that goes from ear to ear and breath in and out loudly through her nose and it just tickles William and me =). But then again, most everything she does seems to tickle us.

Speaking of being tickled, Josiah certainly is a pro at making us laugh as well =). Let’s see, which story shall I tell this time…well, we are still battling the thumb sucking and although that doesn’t tickle us, yesterday he made me smile after I had tried a strategy to stop the thumb sucking. William and I both still swat his hand when we see him sucking his thumb, but he must love pain because he still sucks his thumb!! So, I decided that I would wrap his thumb with first aid bandage wrap and then put a Sesame Street band aid on it. The Sesame Street band aid was his idea =). So, he let me wrap it all up and seemed to be proud of his big thumb. But then came nap time and he realized that sucking his thumb with a band aid on it didn’t give him the same satisfaction. So, that is when I thought I had won the battle…but, I walked back in his room and he was sucking the OTHER thumb!!!!!! After I swatted that hand (his left hand), he told me he needed a band aid on his left thumb as well =). So, there you have it. He knows he is addicted and cannot do anything about it! So, no band aids today because it was just wasting band aids because he would still suck on the bandaged thumb and once a band aid gets wet, well, it comes straight off, much to Josiah’s delight =)! So, back to inflicting pain to teach that dear child the lesson, much to our chagrin!

August 21, 2006

It has been a couple of days since the last tidbit about the little ones, and I apologize, but I am glad that we have been able to talk with you and know that all is going well. We have been praying for each one of you and of course, we miss you!!

Amelia is starting to be quite vocal these days. She is making lots of noise and is starting to recognize some of the things we say now. For example, before we eat, we’ll say, “Amelia, we’re praying,” and she’ll put her hands together. Anything for food =)! And she gives us kisses when we ask for them now and waves bye bye and is just overall cute.

As for the little man, his story comes from the night William was teaching Josiah to memorize Ephesians 6:1. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Well, as you have heard, well, most of you have, he has it memorized now, but he struggled and struggled to get over what he had in his mind…”Children, obey your wife in the Lord.” =) Is he smart or what? =)

We love you love you love you!!! And although we are trying not too, we can’t help but count down the days until we get to see you in December!

August 17, 2006

Well today’s will have to be quick since it is time for us to get to bed after a busy day and then tomorrow morning we are heading to the Laterza’s home to get their three children and we are all headed to the Beijing Zoo! So, today’s little tidbit, will only include a photo, but I hope you enjoy! I still have a cute Josiah moment to tell about and I won’t forget and I’m sure that after a day at the Zoo, there will be more cute stories to tell =)!

PS-The picture is of the two cuties wearing swimming caps that we could not pass up in the grocery store without trying on. =)!

August 16, 2006

The four of us are doing well and enjoying each moment that we get with William being home with us…we know those days are numbered!!

As for our four new additions in the tooth department, they have all broken through the gums and I must say that Amelia is looking more and more like a rabbit with those two new front teeth =). She is really starting to play a great deal on her own now. She used to need one of us there with her to make her toys interesting to her, but within the last couple of days, she has really been playing well on her own for a good chunk of time, too. Usually her bath time is rather quick, just bath and maybe play around with a toy or two for a little bit, but that’s it. But last night she played all by herself for a good twenty minutes, we were keeping an eye on her of course! And of course, she still loves to eat! She is very serious when there is food around that she likes. She does seem to be pickier than Josiah but that may be because of her geographic tongue. I have read up on it and what I have read says that it does affect one’s taste buds. So, if I stay on top of her vitamins, the geographic part of her tongue is not so severe. For the most part, she is a happy little girl that is beginning to be curious about things and winning us over with that smile of hers!

As for our little man, I had just finished dressing him when he told me, “I have a problem, Mom.” He was reaching for his back side and so when I went to assess the problem, I found that he had a wedgie =). That was his problem. Isn’t he too cute!

Well, I have the story for tomorrow’s tidbit all ready to type out and it’s a cute one! Until then...

August 14, 2006

Hello! Hello! Oh how we miss you all!

Well, today's bit occurred just after I had disciplined Josiah for "kicking" his sister, not really a kick, just shoving his feet in her face just for the thrill of it (boys!). After the disciplining was over, I told him to sit on the couch with some of his books while I finished reading my Bible. He was laying there, looking at a book when he said to me, "You're a cute girl, Mom." And then he flashed one of those Josiah grins =).

So, he knows how to work the system, doesn't he? =) As for Amelia, I think the picture says it all =)!

August 12, 2006

There are four new teeth joining the family…two in Josiah’s mouth and two in Amelia’s! Josiah has two bottom molars coming in and Amelia’s two front teeth are making their appearance. Perhaps that explains some of their recent fussiness and the onset of their colds. At any rate, the two little Maricles are growing up…sniff sniff =)!

Since Josiah talks so much these days, it is so hard to remember all the cute little things he says. But not only are they cute phrases and cute sentences, he has a Josiah way of saying things that are just so cute and make me wish I could record each and every moment (except the spanking moments) with a video camera. The thing he said today that stands out in my mind occurred while I was cutting his fingernails and toenails. I had just finished cutting his fingernails and had moved onto trimming his little toenails when I told him that he has cute toes. He corrected me with, “No, Mommy, I have beautiful toes.” So, there you have, from the mom of a child with beautiful toes =)!

PS-The picture is of Josiah and Amelia on the train on our way back to Beijing. I did not stage the pose. Josiah put his arm around his little sister while they admired the countryside together. =)

August 11, 200

We have safely returned from our trip to Qing Dao and we are still in love with the ocean! It was beautiful and minus the fact that both of the little ones have colds now, all went well, okay, and minus the fact that my new cell phone from my birthday is now is someone else’s possession! =( Oh well…I still have my husband and my two little ones =)!

While we were in Qing Dao, we went swimming everyday, went to a Naval/Aviation museum, went on a speed boat ride, went sailing…with William as our captian =), and soaked in all the beautiful scenery! While our little princess loves to float in the ocean water, our little man, on the contrary, does not appreciate the pull of the waves, so he did not enjoy the water as much as the rest of us did. But perhaps in the years to come. And about their colds, they are on the mend, I hope, just draining tons and tons from their little noses =).

Because of the vacation season, we were not able to get train tickets to Qing Dao, so instead, we settled for a ten hour bus ride in a “sleeping bus,” as Josiah calls it. The buses don’t have seats in them, but rather, narrow beds for long journeys. Even with two little ones, all went well and I must say that both Josiah and Amelia are amazingly versatile and adapt easily to things. We were able to get train tickets home, after William pleaded with them when they told him there were no more tickets. Here in China, you can only purchase train tickets from the place you are departing from, so when we arrived at 6 AM Saturday after the bus ride, we headed to the train station and we were in line by 8 AM, just after the train ticket office had opened. But by the time it was our turn in line, at about 8:20 or so, all the tickets to Beijing were gone! Amazing, huh? Well, with a corrupt government, things that are run by the government, such as the train, are also corrupt, so somehow, somewhere, someone cuts deals with who knows who to get big chunks of the tickets, so foreigners like William have to plead and ask what is he supposed to do with two children and needing to get back to Beijing for work. The plead worked and they were able to miraculously come up with two tickets! Oh for some honesty! Speaking of honesty, I’ll let William tell you about his police incident in Qing Dao. No, he didn’t get in trouble, but he was able to turn someone in for fake money, so he got to ride in a police car and go to the police station, which his little boy thinks is the coolest thing!

Well, the time has come for us to run to get some groceries and get ourselves ready for when Daddy will be back home. Please pray for strength and energy for William. We had a busy vacation, returned home Wednesday evening around 11:30 PM, William headed off at 7AM Thursday to teach a three day English course for Beijing Health Inspection something or another, we all returned home late on Thursday evening after visiting a family from our group that had their baby boy while we were in Qing Dao, he woke up this morning and headed out again at 7 to teach all day and is now visiting another member from our group that was hit by a car while riding his bike on Wednesday and then he will get home late again and get back up and teach from 8 until 11:30 Saturday morning, come home prepare for Sunday and then we have dinner plans with another family on Saturday evening, ch on Sunday and he teaches again on Monday. He is tired and ready just to rest. But what an amazing trooper and he doesn’t complain at all…he is wonderful!

March 18, 2006

For several days, Josiah would walk around the house flexing his muscles saying, “Papa…Papa.” We were confused a little as to why he associated that particular motion with Papa (even though we know how strong his Papa is), but of course we thought it was cute that he was constantly talking about his Papa. Well, this past Wednesday before our mid-week meeting, William was showing Josiah some pictures of the family that he has on his palm. Josiah asked to see “Papa.” William showed him the picture of Papa, but Josiah’s shook his head and kept saying “Papa” along with flexing his muscles. So William began to think about what other pictures he had of Dad on his palm. But there were no other pictures of Dad. Still Josiah was emphatic about wanting to see “Papa.” Well, it all of a sudden hit William that Josiah was referring to the little cartoon video he downloaded onto his palm of “Popeye.” So, he pulled the video up and, yes, indeed, that was the “Papa” Josiah was talking about. Josiah must wonder in amazement at all that his Papa did in his younger years, always with Nana (Olive Oil) by his side. We only wish Papa hadn’t smoked that pipe =). Well, everyday brings numerous requests to watch again his Papa in action!

March 17, 2006

Today’s story is a bit icky, but I think it’s pretty cute. =) Josiah and I had been awake for a good bit this morning when I heard a little noise, not a cry, just an Amelia noise from the kids’ room. So I headed in there and there was little missy with her head up just looking around. She woke up so happy and has stayed that way for a good bit. Well, when I picked her up, I thought I smelled a poopy diaper, but was amazed that she was still smiling. So, Josiah got a diaper for me and we prepare ourselves for the worst. Well, we could not have prepared ourselves for the massive amount of poopoo in that little girl’s diaper! I made one comment and Josiah copied me exactly…”that is a ton of poo!” And that was followed by our simultaneous squeal! All the while, Amelia just looking up at us wondering what the big commotion was about =).

It’s so fun at this stage in Josiah’s life because he just has so much personality! Well, we are off to go get ready because we need to head down to the little market and get our vegetables for dinner tonight and tomorrow night. And we need to enjoy this nice weather while we have it!!

March 16, 2006

Well, with both of the men in the family needing haircuts, the plan was to meet Daddy for lunch at his school and then head into Shahe (where we lived last year and have a lady that cuts both William and Josiah’s hair well). So, the kiddos and I got on a bus and had a very enjoyable ride to Shahe. We were able to visit a little with some of William’s students once we arrived and then had a very yummy meal. All the while Josiah keeps telling us that he will be happy during his haircut and “no cry.” We said that we would have some ice cream when the whole ordeal was over and that made our little man even happier. Well…we got to the place, and he started by saying “no hair tut.” And so we quickly put him on William’s lap in the chair and that is when happiness went out the door!!! The pictures will explain the rest =). The lady that cuts their hair is truly wonderful because she just keeps talking to Josiah while she is speedily cutting his hair and I mean speedily! And now that William has been going to her for a long while, she knows what he wants and we don’t have to worry about what he will look like after the haircut. And that is a major concern with all the weird haircuts the Chinese are sporting these days! But mission accomplished and I can no longer put William or Josiah’s hair into a ponytail =). She did tell me that Amelia needs her hair cut, well, shaved, if we want her to have “good” hair. The Chinese shave their babies’ head in order to have thicker hair. But most of them seem to only have coarse hair, so, whatever floats their boat. But I told her that we would not be cutting Amelia’s hair for a bit and she asked me if we were going to let her hair grow long like mine and when I told her that we were, she said little kids should not have long hair. So, just some more advise from the Chinese pros! Speaking of which, after we said good bye to William (of course after ice cream), we got on a bus headed back home and there were two older ladies that felt that I needed to do this or that with Josiah and Amelia. “The kids were too hot, but the window behind Josiah needs to be shut, watch Amelia’s legs,” and so on. So I finally just told them that we are okay and I know what to do. They smiled and carried on their talk about foreigners doing things “wrong” or different from them. The funny part is that I probably have as many kids as they have between the two of them, and I only have two! What WILL it be like if He blesses us with more?!!! =)

March 15, 2006

Josiah’s vocabulary has really picked up recently. He is at the stage where he repeats what we say and we sometimes find ourselves spelling out words like I-C-E C-R-E-A-M and goodies like that when we want to discuss whether or not we will indulge without sharing with our little mister. But with all that in mind, since Josiah IS learning two languages at the same time, it has been fun to listen to him go back and forth between the two using the words he does know. For example, when he counts in English, he says, “1, 2, 6, 9.” He was counting from one to five for a while, but finds that “1, 2, 6, 9” works best for him now. But when he counts in Chinese, no problem, he knows that after one comes two and then three. So we often hear our little man saying “ee, er, san, ee, er, san,” which translates into “1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3.” He usually does it when he is either lifting something heavy or trying to get on a chair or something that requires a bit of strength for him. Of course if a Chinese person hears him, they love the fact that he can “speak” Chinese and are just thrilled.