A Birthday to Remember?

On Saturday we celebrated Lilia's 5th birthday. She officially turns 5 tomorrow, March 7th.
My mom took the kids Thursday afternoon and brought them back Saturday for the party. I had my list of things to do to get ready for the party and I was checking things off! It was nice to be able to get the table ready Thursday evening, knowing it wouldn't be touched. Everything was perfect for Saturday's 2 o'clock celebration. I even got to work with Dave Friday and be so encouraged in what we're doing with international students.
One by one the guests arrived; family and friends. We talked, played, ate. The kids played a game, decorated a craft (thanks to my mother-in-law) and went crazy for candy after the pinata was broke open. We sung "happy birthday" over cupcakes and dixie cups. All in all it was a great success...until Sunday.
First I got sick, then Alex, then Lilia, then Dave. It started with nausea, which led to throwing up. Oh and don't forget it coming out the other end. Even some of our party guests got sick as well. I felt absolutely horrible. I have no idea where this terrible virus came from, but knowing it was your party makes you feel bad. The only good thing is that it's short lived. Today we are all doing fairly well. Lilia and Dave are recovering, but I think the sickness is behind us.
Oh, and one more sad thing to dampen such a big celebration is that I don't have a lot of pictures and the fairly good ones I do have of Lilia are blurry. This will be a birthday we look back on and laugh about; just not yet.

Big news

Many of you may know of my friend Jing.
She's from Beijing, she married an American man who is an MBA student at Wharton. We've been hanging out since I met her in late August. They have a son Christian who is a couple of months younger than Alex.
You probably remember that she is searching for God. I have been praying for and so have many others. She's gotten connected to a great Chinese church and has had many, many opportunities to learn about Jesus and why he matters.
The last time I wrote about her, she had thrown away her Buddhist book and has prayed for her husband and son about various things. She even has started reading the Bible.
She came over yesterday for a play date. Towards the end of the morning we got to talking about Christianity. I learned that Jing became a Christian last month, and in April she will be baptized! WOW! The angels in heaven rejoiced on that day!
She is inviting me to the baptism. In Chinese culture, Christian Chinese culture that is, baptism is essential and it is the truer (in their view) sign that someone has truly began to follow Christ with their lives. I am so thrilled that Jing is now part of the family!

Here's what new...

I know, it's been a while.
Not much is new. Actually, not much is picture worthy. A few things here or there, but until spring arrives in full bloom, my camera collects dust.
I have been feeling blah lately. I haven't been up for posting. Plus with Instagram (an iphone app) and facebook, I don't post as much to the blog.
So here's what's new. My dad and Dave are building shelves in Alex's room. Oh, we painted Alex's room Autumn Fog from Lowe's. The shelves will be white eventually. The opening has cabinet doors, also eventually. It's pretty cool though to have some nice storage space in the room. Although have an almost 100 year old house gave my dad a lot of frustrations to put this thing together!

1st Time

We've been crafty.
 So Alex is 2 and four months and this is his first time painting. I love cleanliness. I didn't want to introduce it to him and paint be everywhere.
Lilia was painting and Alex wasn't napping (oh yeah, he gave that up a month ago) so Alex got to paint.
It wasn't as bad I thought it would be.

We painted his hand and now we have it forever!

Say cheese!

Sammy & Hannah, Lilia & Alex

We got to play with friends this week, a lot!
This is Lilia's best friend in the neighborhood, Hannah. (To the left of Lilia.)

Sweet Day

My little girl is turning 5 on the 7th on March and Aunt Karen can't make it to Lilia's birthday party. So instead, they went out on a date day last Friday.
They drove our to West Chester for the best cup cakes ever made (I got to try one).
When they got home I asked Lilia where they went to lunch. She said, "A cute little cafe."
"Oh, what's it called?" I asked.
"Applebees" was her reply.
Then they went to the store and Lilia could pick out her present. She chose a horse and Barbie rider. She hasn't stopped playing with it for very long.
I'm glad Lilia gets to spend sweet quality with her Aunt.

Quote of the day

The following is an interchange between Lilia and Alex this morning.

Alex: "I am the king!"
Lilia: "You're not the king, Jesus is the King."
Alex: "Oh."
Lilia: "And one day Jesus is coming back and we will let him into our house."
Alex: "And he'll play trucks with me?"
Lilia: "Yes!"