Alex in his new crib

Sporting his cute cowboy boots

baking 101

Last night we had a cookie making party here with some Chinese friends. It was so much fun!!! We made Oatmeal Raisin cookies and they loved them! Some took the recipe and one girl wants to show her mom back in China how to make them.

Alex laughing, 6 mo

Art Time

I don't think Lilia even pick up one of her paint brushes. She enjoyed getting her hands in the paint and making art!

Mixing colors with her hands

A neat opportunity

It's a good thing our kids are so extraverted (energized by people). It's at least 4-5 days out of the week that we have someone over. It may be a guest for dinner, a friend, or family.

Last night we had a girl over named Aubrey. She's a freshman at Valley Forge Christian College. She wants to be a missionary, but she's not exactly sure where yet. She thinks maybe East Asia. She came for dinner and then went with Dave to be a part of the group he teaches. Dave teaches Chinese college students at a local Chinese church. He does an English study then a Bible study. Aubrey loved it! She had such an amazing time, but was very overwhelmed. It will be neat to see how God uses her in the future!

Best BBQ sauce

My mom gave me this recipe. It's so good with pork tenderloin. I put it in the crock pot for the day and by dinner time it shreds so easily. Serve it with rice or on a roll. You won't be disappointed.

BBQ Sauce

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup light brown sugar or 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp yellow mustard (I used dijon)

1/2 tsp garlic salt

Mix all ingredients together. Put in crock pot with pork tenderloin or chicken.

Cook on high for 1 hour. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5-6 hours.

Playing in the crib

Alex 6 mo

Just another day!

Alex is teething and SO fussy. However Lilia is her same old easy, funny self. She changed into her Easter dress after food shopping. We were going out back to eat lunch and she could ride her bike. I told her she had to wear a sweater b/c it's a little chilly outside. She then held up her night gown with 3 disney princesses on it and said, "Princesses don't wear sweaters. See mom."
Proven wrong by a 3 year old. Very humbling!

Too Funny!!!

Lilia was looking through her Big Picture Story Bible. She was stopped on one page, where I knew she knew his name.

"Lilia, who's this?" - Katie

"Piglet." -Lilia

"No Pilate." - Katie

Refreshed!

We are at a Bridges conference in Austin, TX this week. The kids are with our parents. My prayer requests for this week have been threefold.

1. That we would get more of a vision for Bridges & working with international students.

2. That we would be refreshed in our relationship with Jesus.

3. That we would get quality time as a couple.

Thank you God for answering each one of these prayers! We aren't even leaving until tomorrow, but I really feel refreshed in my relationship with God. I'm ready to go home to my family and serve them again! Also, there are some things I'm going to start praying for daily that I've neglected for so long such as a team, schooling for Lilia and a ministry opportunity for myself. Tonight I added to it that God would be directing us, especially Dave, on Penn's campus to where he's already moving and working.

I'm so renewed in my vision to reach international students! I'm so excited to go home and do anything and everything I can to spend time with Chinese students...but then I remembered my current reality. I already have the full time job of raising Lilia and Alex. In the morning I'm going to talk to another mom a little further ahead of me about this.

Dave and I have had some fun time by ourselves! Our first night we enjoyed drinks at Friday's on the balcony. Last night we tried to see the bats (didn't see them), but then went to see the Old 97's play. Today it was raining during our free time so we took a taxi to the movies to watch Date Night. Very funny!!!!! It had to be with Steve Carell and Tina Fey.

This week rocks! A BIG GIANT thank you to our moms and dads who have made this possible!!!! Thank you to Scott Christen who flew us here for free! And a big thank you to God for showing up at this conference and answering our prayer requests.

It just makes sense when you can do it!

I just made 42 servings of baby food for Alex - sweet potatoes. Approx $4

I have bought 2 servings of baby food for Alex - sweet peas. Approx $1.30

You do the math! No really, I'm horrible at math so you do the math.

We're Grillin!

Dave is terrified of grilling. He fears over-cooking or under-cooking anything! Well with the help of his sister Karen he dove head first into his fears!

I precooked the chicken in the oven so all he was doing was cooking the veggies. He and Karen did a great job. The kabobs were awesome!

Lilia chowing down on our kabobs

Ladder ball anyone?

My mom bought this game for us to play on Easter. It was such a blast. We played guys vs girls, in-laws vs parents and Styles siblings vs Brindley siblings. We all had a great time. Everyone loved the game! You should try this summer if you haven't already.

Easter

Egg hunt

Happy Easter memories

I think Easter is my favorite holiday. I have great memories as a kid growing up of Easter. I had about 10 cousins and we would do Easter egg hunts at my Nannie and Poppop's house. Also it's such a huge celebration! Jesus conquered death. No other god can claim that, Jesus is the only one!

I didn't grow up in a Christian home, but we grew up going to church. I vividly remember the year that my brother and I got a children's Bible in our Easter baskets. It was a yellow book. I know I read it because I remember the story of Jericho where the walls came tumbling down.

It's so cool how even though my parents weren't Christians they still took Matt and I (usually unwillingly) to church and got us Bibles. Thanks God for shaping me to believe in you long before I would truly understand you and accept you as Lord in my life!

Lilia's quote of the day

We were reading again in the big picture story Bible, particularly the 3 chapters about Jesus going to the cross, in the tomb and raising from the dead. First of all, she's been singing, "Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive!"

Then as we were reading about Jesus going to Pilate and how the people reacted she said, "Those leaders are so mean. I'm going to put them in time out!"

Tired out

Dave and I were relaxing in the living room and we looked in the kitchen to see Lilia napping at our kitchen table.

Playing outside

Hey Leo!

This is our neighbor/friend's son Leo. He loves shoes! When ever he comes over he likes to wear Lilia's pink sparkly shoes. They are now too small for Lilia so she very willingly gave them to Leo. He was wearing them outback today.

Go Alex go!

On average Alex has been sleeping about 9 hrs, taking a bottle, then heading back to sleep. Last night he slept 11 hours!!!!!!!!!

I am completely contributing it to his new food schedule. He had rice cereal in the morning and a whole container of his 1st baby food for dinner...sweet peas. Most doctors and books say food and sleep aren't related, but w/Alex I disagree.

Quote of the evening...

We've been reading the Big Picture Story Bible each night. Lilia loves it. Tonight she said, "God died so we can live again and play all day."

Buy it on amazon.com for only $17, compared to $25 originally. It's honestly the best Bible ever for kids and adults, but seriously it's just for kids.

Backwards

All winter long I couldn't get Lilia to wear her cozy feet-in pj's except for maybe a handful of times. Most nights she would wear just a long-sleeved shirt.
Last night and now tonight she is insisting on wearing them to bed! Maybe in part because she can put them on all by herself? I don't get this girl!!!

Funny

Dave and I sat down at the table to eat breakfast. Lilia was watching Super Why. Dave put Alex in the living room with Lilia to play with a toy.

He purposefully sat him down with his back to the TV. We looked up at the kids to see Alex stretching out in order to watch TV.

Alex loves his rice cereal! 5 mo.

Morning conversation

"So what do you do with your friends?" -Lilia

"We talk. Sometimes we go shopping." -Katie

"Aw, that's so cute!" -Lilia