Hello!

Boy, we are still riding high after the chance to see so many people we love over Christmas break! And then we felt additionally blessed to be able to come back to great classes and classmates, teachers we hope to spend more time with, and absolutely wonderful friends here! I am sad to have had to give up my women's bible study, but all of our other activities are still in full swing. We are busily preparing for our departure, speaking at the girls' schools, getting ready for another fun filled weekend with the MCCC kids... Matt started Jail Ministry and is teaching our small group Hebrews. The little girls and I got to visit Chloe's school for International Day, which of course was very special. (They were learning about Italy but she insisted on wearing her Chinese dress from the Tsos and Emma wore a brazilian pig's tooth necklace!) We are looking forward to "Senior Retreat," when we will get to have an ENTIRE weekend of fun, family time, and much coveted time with classmates and teachers. I picked Greek back up, which is a struggle but well worth the effort. We had wonderful meetings with our agency and have lots of paperwork to get done!

On the health front, I just keep being thankful I'm not throwing up! I was really sick for a week and a half, but am on the mend. Emmy has an ear infection, but the girls' coughs are going away. Laney's eyes are great! The latest news is that BOTH Emma and Chloe will be getting tonsils and adenoids out and tubes put in their ears! This will happen March 10th. It certainly can't be any more stressful than having Laney have surgery with all the considerations of her possibly going blind, having to stay away from light, not running and jumping, etc. So how hard can two grumpy sore girls be?? There are a few considerations like, say, the fact that their beds are 6 and 9 feet off the ground, but we will figure that out. I am just glad that this can be taken care of so quickly. (It came out of left field -- fluid has always affected Chloe's hearing and they snore, etc., but it turns out Chloe has sleep apnea and the ENT pulled a ROCK -- not kidding! -- out of her ear. The kid really does have rocks in her head!) Anyway, please keep them in your thoughts as Chloe especially is nervous.

Laney moved into a big girl bed, thanks to our friends Tom and Darong. She's so excited! She actually told me she was tired in the middle of the evening just so she could get in her bed! We now have a triple-decker bunk and a little more playspace.

Oh, and we are expecting 14 inches of snow over night... and Matt's on "Snow Crew." I said it's much better than the 35* pouring rain we had yesterday, but of course he has a different take!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We looked forward to the Chinese New Year Celebration with great anticipation. I really hyped it and Emmy's teacher had just happened to find a book to lend her about the Chinese New Year, so Emma was espousing all types of wisdom ;) We enjoyed our first family day since Christmas break and it didn't even matter that we missed the dumpling making demonstration and most of the events listed on the flier...
We DID catch the dragon (which terrified Laney!), saw the lion dance (Emmy decided it should be called "The Dragon Dance" and it henceforth became such in our conversations), and managed to score some half-price spring rolls when they got cold -- DELICIOUS!
There were many dancers in beautiful costumes, some dignitaries, and the unveiling of the Beijing Olympic Mascot! Our little friend Christine was one of the dancers, so that was especially neat for the girls to see.
Here they're posing with the dragon head after the lion dance. They also got traditional little red envelope souvenirs with chocolate money inside (traditionally it's real money!)

Here's the Olympic mascot... not sure what it is????

As we were walking in, Chloe said "I think this is goind to be the most fun EVER!"

The girls loved seeing the pretty ladies dressed in festive dance costumes.

...Naturally, they loved the crafts!

...And they met some new friends, too!

LANEY'S FIRST HAIRCUT

One night we went downstairs to find the NTBI Barber Shop open. It's a room with an ancient barber's chair that we can use to cut hair. I said, "Laney, isn't it neat? Maybe someday Mommy can cut your hair in this room." and she replied excitedly, "Yah, that sounds like a grabe idea!!!" After much dancing and excitement, I decided I would go for it right then. I rounded up clips and my kitchen shears and settled in to try my hand at home haircutting :)

We had to be careful; the chair is broken and flies out unexpectedly if you lean too hard on it! (Only slightly dangerous...)

She was SO excited and loved the cape, but she started to get a little sleepy staring at herself in the mirror.

The first cut!

This picture's hilarious, but you have to give her credit -- she had practically fallen asleep in the chair... but she was being a trooper because she wanted to "show Gwammy"

What a cutie... She looks so big!

Unfortunately, Matt was convinced the first cut was uneven (It was a little -- her hair curls to one side)... so I tried to even it up and ended up cutting it WAY shorter! She's still cute, but Matt said it looks like a weed whacker got a hold of her :( I definitely wasn't gifted in the art of beauty, but hopefully my skills will progress! Good thing she's young and forgiving.

RICKSHAW RIDIN'

So one day I let the girls play in the hall after school while I got lunch ready...
My neighbor came to knock on the door and said "I think you ought to see this!"
Emmy had devised an ingenious little method to transport her sister up and down the hall. Hollie, our neighbor, said "It looks like one of those Asian cart things. Maybe she's getting ready for Asia!" She's certainly in the spirit! She even had to get off and drag her little preschooler's rickshaw up the "hill" in the hall!

These two are quite the team! Emma thinks of some great ideas, and her sister is usually ready to ride right along...

Little Miss Independent

Miss Lanes was so proud to show me how she made her own PBJ -- completely of her own accord. Quite a mess, but not bad for a 2 year old!
(She did finish off most of our carefully rationed homemade jelly from Bob & Mary...)



LIBRARY HOUR

We FINALLY visited the Milwaukee library. Since the girls love the library anywhere and the architecture and amenities are amazing, we spent part of a nice Saturday watching Chloe's terrific puppet shows and reading some books.

Pretty magnificent stairwell, huh? Can't compete with the Camden County librarians, but it sure was a neat experience. We want to soak up as much library time as possible, to kind of store up for the next few years!

"MAMA ANN"

All of us were so excited to see "Mama Ann," our friend and RA whom we have missed terribly this year. She surprised Chloe and walked her to the bus and then enjoyed some coffee and cuddles. It is so hard to believe that Laney was still crawling when we came here. Losing all of our beloved friends one by one as they move on reminds us how much has happened in these two short years -- and yet it seems like yesterday we were all getting acquainted!

This is a shot of Emma and her pre-school teacher, Mrs. Cerfus. She is wonderful! Yet another great blessing we can be thankful for. This was her musical program, which was precious. Emma was so thrilled because she got this beautiful fancy dress that very day -- when I was helping our pastor's family pack for their move and Hilary found some special dresses in her girls' closets for both Chloe and Emma. Yet another little blessing! It was perfect both for the occasion and for little Blue Eyes ;)

"The Beadsy Twins"
All of the girls had a great time practicing their fine-motor and design skills with this cute little wooden beading kit. Thanks, Uncle George!!!

Here are just a few shots from our week of "down time" over Christmas break. We really packed in the fun ;)

We had the best time bidding farewell to our pastor's family ;) We feel so blessed to have gotten close to them this year. This was actually one of many "last chance" great times with them before they moved out of state. We relished the chance to introduce them to this big hill! The girls had a blast showing them the ropes, racing down the hill and digging in our never-ending supply of snow!

We also had the chance to have several people over for dinner, an activity we don't normally have time for! Here is a pic of our friend Daniel. He's great fun. Unfortunately, this particular raucous episode ended with Emma exclaiming, "First of all, I TOLD you not to do that and second of all, I KNEW that would happen!" ...Yep, her trusty big wheel was in a heap...


We had a couple of random dress-up days, too. It was nice to just have time for the girls to just play and be friends.

That's one contemplative duck...

(I found this great costume at a garage sale --unfortunately, it met its demise in the laundry. We got some good use out of its first!)