Catching Up!

Here is an attempt to catch our blog up.  I have not been on in 6 months and deeply apologize to our blog fans.  Since Ezra's birth and returning home things have been crazy busy.  For me the biggest thing was not having a helper for Oct., Nov. and most of Dec.  Now, remember, a helper for us is like most anyone else living without a dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, or frozen food/meals of any sort.  Any free time I had was spent cleaning the bathroom, washing dishes, mopping, doing laundry, preparing meals or other fun things like that:).  Monty kept teasing me that it was practice for our upcoming spring in the U.S. but I told him that I would rather not practice.  Often in the evenings when we got the kids to bed I would light candles, turn on music, dim the lights and wink at Monty and ask if he wanted a "date."  He would get excited and say "Yeah Baby!" Then I would toss him the dish towel tell him to dry and I would wash.  I don't think it was quite what he had in mind for a "date" but it kept us eating off clean plates:).  So, here are a few pictures and a couple of stories from October, November and December.  I only have the photos that were on Monty's lap-top so I am missing some but they still give the gist of what we've been up to.  Hopefully soon, I will finish updating and keep things recent as we now are in the U.S. and blessed with high speed internet (something that we thought was only a fairy tale until now).  Also, I discovered our children don't mind a bit of television time.   Thanks to Dora, Diego, Little Einstein's and Wonder Pets (most of which was completely new to our kids), I was able to complete this post! 

Christmas 2008!

Daddy and the kiddo's playing with new Christmas toys.
Ezra at 3 months enjoying the holiday with smiles.
More hay rides!
The Mowery children on Christmas morning.  They were modeling their jammies Grandma sent.  

Christmas Preparations

We spent and entire week getting ready for Christmas.  We made wrapping paper, gifts, fudge, hundreds of sugar cookies, egg nog, mulled apple juice, pine apple ham (the ham came all the way from Kunming!), and lots of other food.  It was really special and a great time with friends, as long as I did not get caught up in productivity.  I was so thankful to have a big kitchen to cook in and have lots of other little cooks with me.

Paulette

Our dear friend Paulette passed away just before Christmas.  

Paulette

Small in name and stature built,

In words, a sword both blade 'n hilt,

No time, nor breath, nor work was spilt,

Yet "spent" she gave it without guilt.

A fire that burned 'gainst evil seen,

And to the cold, a sun's true beam,

Life she poured from her heart's stream,

All strangers, kith, and kin received.

On such a flame earth's light has set,

But not the last she'll see as yet,

By'er Savior's side is she well met,

Our warring, belov-ed friend, Paulette.

---Monty

December times at home 

Mommy and little "boo" as Ezra has been nick named by our family.  It is how Judah says "Bear".
Judah reading books in Chinese with his buddies Nathan and Karis.  
Judah squeezing lime juice into his mouth - yummy!  I love limes!

Happy 6th Birthday Manon Selah!!!!

December 1st we celebrated our first born becoming a big girl. She lost a tooth just a week before and seemed to blossom into such a young lady.  

November was a busy month of potty training Judah.  He caught on much faster than I expected and was motivated by the "choo choo" undies (thomas the train) that his friend Zeeke gave him as a gift.  

Happy Thanksgiving

Here is Uncle Wes teaching Judah and Nathan to play baseball on Thanksgiving.  We had a big shin-dig as we hosted about 60 nationals on Tuesday and then about 50 ex-pats on Thursday.  The day was festive as we played games, watched football, played football and even had a real turkey!  We finished the day dozing on the sofa watching Christmas movies.  It was perfect!

Welcome Miss Kyra!

Our 13 year old friend Kyra came to live with our family for 3 weeks.  She was a great help - crafty, creative and the girls loved her.  She is the youngest child of 5 so for a few weeks she got to feel what it would be like to be the oldest of 5.  I think she appreciates being the baby of her family:).

Happy Halloween!

Manon: Mongoose (3rd year in a row for this oufit), Henna: princess, Judah: race car driver, and Ezra: blue bear.

Ezra at 3 weeks!

Here is our sweet little "Evwaa Wook" (as Judah calls him).  He is three weeks old and has his passport, visa and first plane tickets ready to travel internationally!  Thankfully the first flight is only 2 hours for our newest nomad.  

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY JUDAH TAL!

September 30th Judah turned two.  We had a fun filled day of boy activities.  

Judah loves cars so we took him to ride go carts.  It was a blast.  


For Judah's 2nd birthday we took him to a 5 star hotel for the lunch buffet.  We gave him one of each desert and let him go at it. He thought it was fun but the best part was that we let him drink coffee!  He's always looking at Daddy's coffee and stealing drinks when we're not looking, he loved finally having his own cupful to gum and lick to heart's content!!!!  

PICTURE TIME!

These photo's were taken when Ezra was 2 weeks old.  Our good friend Chris captured these images.  Aren't they beautiful!