天六十一

Cool looking apartment building.

天六十

Buying some delicious sweet potato chips!

天五十九

When you are little, anything can be fun to play with!

天五十八

We usually see his Dad sitting on this stool, selling cheap stuff from his store. But I guess like all boys, he wants to be like his Dad!

天五十七

Some workers heading back to the construction site. They all have one tool that they use, and focus on. No "Jack of all trades" here. These guys work HARD all day, 7 days a week. 

天五十六

Our friend Jabez and his wife. We met him in Xi'an, and been friends ever since. He lives in Harbin, and we miss his terribly. 

What I am Thankful For This Year

I am also very thankful for my Heavenly Father, who loves me and provides me with everything, and more than I need. 

天五十五

Preston loves to watch the ladies dancing, after we drop Tegan off at school. He calls them his friends

天五十四

Notice the man on top of the building!

天五十三

Our new friends really enjoy the wii!

天五十二

Tegan, Jia Ting, Sunny, Xie Si, and Preston. I love this life, my family, and the people he brings into it!

天五十一

A marble staircase we came across when climbing 岳麓山. The Chinese put so much effort into everything they do, and it makes for amazing scenery. 

天五十

A view of our beautiful city from the top of the mountain. They boys saw the tower, and exclaimed, "We can see America"!

天四十九

Renee at a weekly English corner we participate in. 

天四十八

Time to prune the tree. No ladder....no safety harness....no problem. 

天四十七

Our friend Alex and his cousin. This picture is courtesy of Alex!

天四十六

A honest snapshot of the boys walk home from school. They fit so well, its clear this is where we are supposed to be. 

天四十五

Great example of "wash and wear" This is actually in a lake, in the middle of a huge apartment complex. Maybe his washer broke?

Pharaoh Pharaoh

Once a month, we volunteer at a coffee shop on Saturday evenings. Renee teaches a B story in English, and this week she taught them about Pharaoh and Moses. So she taught them Pharaoh, Pharaoh as well!

Preston

This is the update on Preston.  He is my baby boy. He is our jokester and our clown. He will be an amazing practical joker when he is older. He desperately wants to grow up, and be big like his brother. So everything Tegan does, he has to do. Usually he cant do it, but it is so cute to watch him try, and usually fail! The he cries, and Tegan will come help him. Then they run off to play, and the cycle begins again!

He is the one people run to, and want to play with all the time. We have a hard time with this, as people want to take him out of arms, and don't respond well when we say no. He is still seen as a baby, and that bothers him. He will be 4 in a few months, and does not like it when people forget that!

Right now, his life consists of playing, sleeping, and eating! He will begin kindergarten in a few months, but right now he fights off jealousy when Tegan leaves everyday.

In some ways, it would be fun to have his life. Right now his biggest decision is who to marry! His list changes daily and includes:

Tegan

Mikayla

Sara

Maggie ( the dog)

Mommy

Daddy

Grandma

Grandpa

America friends

                                                                                     Chinese friends

He will be setting marriage records I think.

He is also teaching us patience. He can not sit still, and is constantly touching something. That is hard for us, as Tegan is the exact opposite. But its okay, he is who is! We also see reflections of Renee and I in him as well. In the way he walks, in his actions, and speech.

He loves to ride his bike, and play basketball. He wants to take the training wheels off, but he forgets to pedal sometimes when he sees something interesting, so that cant happen yet.

He too loves to eat, especially candy and pastries. He loves eggplant as well, though he is not nearly as picky as his brother. In fact, if Tegan is not sure about something, he will ask Preston to try it first! In short, he is an amazing boy. He is  exactly who we needed, and we love him more every day!

Tegan

Update on the boys:

I am taking a break from only posting pictures on the blog, and want to give an update on the boys.

Both of them are doing amazingly well.  As we say all the time, they are exactly the right kids for us. Father could not have done a better job picking them out for us!

Tegan:

My little man. He is growing so fast. Grandma brought some pants from America for him in August, and we already need to buy more. He is the joker, the athlete. He has so much energy, and excitement in all he does. His handsome smile lights up a room, and people are dawn to him. Not because of how little and cute he is ( like they are Preston) but because of his smile and life.

He is doing very well in kindergarten, and with his Chinese. He does not use it at home, but he has surprised many people with what he can say and do in that language. He is learning to read, and has just discovered how easy it is! He has American school in the afternoon with Mommy, and is doing great there as well. 

He has lost 2 teeth, and the 3rd is almost ready. He is a great protector, he loves helping others, and taking care of his brother. He loves eating eggplant, McDonalds, and drinking milk tea-and is not happy if we don't get the eggplant at least once a day!

Just yesterday, we realized something for the first time. He walks like me, and his speech is like Renee's. We can have the whole nature vs. nurture argument….but listen to him talk, and watch him walk…there is no question he is our child!

He is compassionate, and caring, always thinking of others before himself. I literally could go on and on. But I wont. But I am so proud of him, and so excited to see the person he is becoming. I love you little man!

天四十四

Group of Mothers and Grandma's taking care of their kids at the playground. Its so fun to watch them, and see them interact with their kids and Grandkids. They also love to bring their kids over and play with ours. 

天四十三

So cute...

天四十二

Need a plant..get the handy door to door service. 

天四十一

Tegan and lost tooth #2. He is still so confused by how the Tooth Fairy gets into the house. 

天四十

Chinglish at its finest. You see how Chinese makes sense, as this is a literal character by character translation. 

天三十九

Notice the split pants. They dont use diapers, just the whistle method. Put the kid on the ground, whistle and they go to the bathroom on command. We saw it, it really does work. 

天三十八

Construction for the subway going in. It will not open till 2013, but the construction needed to build it is horrible. Things are so tied up, and slow going downtown. But its fun to watch!

天三十七

Michael Jackson lives in Changsha! He actually did a really good job, we have never seen anything like this in China before. Usually the street shows are kids, begging for money after doing a few acrobatic tricks, old people playing an instrument badly, or blind people singing on the bus. 

天三十六

A bunch of the students from our B study group on Saturday. We usually go out to eat afterwards. Here we went to a noodle shop. Good food, for cheap!

天三十五

This is a picture from the South campus where I have most of my classes. Compare with a picture of the North Campus, and you will understand why I like the North one better!

天三十四

The North Campus of the school where I teach. A bunch of teachers are bussed out there when we have classes. It is about 15 minutes outside of town, but the campus is wonderful and I love it here. 

天三十三

Now that its getting colder, we went ahead and bought our heaters for the winter. Maggie then quickly found a new favorite spot. 

天三十二

These are all students at the school where I teach. Two of them are recent members of the family, while two are on the way. They love and enjoy our boys!