Sisters Playing Together

Playing Boat, a photo by Cheng Family on Flickr.

I love to watch Lilly and Mia play together. They've been playing pretend play stuff together lately. Here's a pic of them playing "boat" together. Lilly will tie the blanket to chairs and stools and then they'll dump a bunch of stuff on top of the blanket. Lilly's sitting in the captains chair in this pic. They also play "sick" where they take care of dolls and animals. They'll also take turns being sick. One will be the sick one and the other will play the doctor. It's really cute to see and hear them talk to one another. Lilly gets what Mia's saying too.

Cut Cut Paci

We finally did it. We cut the paci and Mia is weened off the pacifier!

I wasn't sure when this day would come. I think I made the process harder than it actually needed to be. I felt sad that Mia would be losing something she loved at bedtime and something that soothed her. Getting rid of the paci was also like saying that my baby is no longer a baby. That's sometimes hard for mommas to say. But eh, she's still my baby even though she doesn't use the paci anymore!

It was funny, Mia was actually excited about cutting the paci. She kept saying, "Cut cut B!" She calls her paci or binky, B. So when I told her we were going to cut cut B she did a happy dance. Some moms had told me you can gradually cut it down, but I just decided to cut it half way down. I handed Mia her paci and she smiled and put it in her mouth. Her face quickly shifted to a confused and puzzled look. She took the paci out of her mouth and was trying to pull the mouth part out. Sadly there was a hole there now. She handed it to me and said, "Help paci." I told her it was very sad but paci is now broken.

So now at naptime and bedtime I'll try to give her the paci but she'll give it back to me and say, "No paci. Paci broken." Praise the Lord she's slept 2 naps and almost slept through 2 nights without her B. And I suppose momma's doing okay too.

***edit: Mia woke up at naptime today, startled by a loud noise. She called out for her paci and walk looking around her bed for it. :( I ended up staying in the room with her and patted her back a little. She's back to sleep now though.

p.s. - I wanted to mention what finally convinced us to ween Mia from the paci now. This past Saturday we went to the dentist and discovered that Mia has an open bite. Lilly has an overbite but Mia has an open bite. Her front teeth don't fully close down together. We think the paci might of had something to do with it.

First Time Flower Girls

Congratulations Andrew and Ling!

The two little flower girls.

Ling and Andrew's Wedding Day, a photo by Cheng Family on Flickr. (Unfortunately we were so busy that day we forgot to take a nice family picture together! I wish I would have remembered because it's pretty rare that we're all dressed up so nicely.)

Lilly and Mia had the privilege of being flower girls for their Uncle Andrew and Auntie Ling. Lilly did a great job and walked down the isle holding the ring bearer's hand. Mia was supposed to walk down with them too but she decided to follow behind mommy and daddy instead. Dave and I were both in the wedding party and were the first to walk down the isle. Mia didn't walk down at the right time but it was still really cute! You can never predict how a 2 year old (or almost 2 at the time) will do in a wedding!

Ling and Andrew were married on July 23, 2011 and it was a beautiful wedding. We are so happy for them to be married, and we're equally happy to welcome Ling into our family!

Our New House

Our house, a photo by Cheng Family on Flickr.

(pictures were taken on different days... the front of the house was taken recently and the back of the house pic was taken the day we did house inspections. Our house is actually more of a yellow color rather than white. The backyard has been GREAT for playing in this summer! We turn on the sprinkler and set up the little pool for the kids to play in.)

God has so kindly provided us this beautiful house! It has blessed our family so much this past month since we've moved in. I pray we'll use it to bless others and bring glory to God!

Dave and I want a Bible verse or something on display in our house that reminds us that God has provided this home for us. We haven't picked a verse out or done anything yet. We're open to verse suggestions and ideas!

Buying A House

So we're buying a house! Well we've been actively looking to buy a house for the past 2-3 months. It seems like this journey has been up and down, down down, and then up and down and up again. It's an emotional roller coaster! Even with our changing emotions, God's been faithful to teach us and reveal himself to us during the process.

Here's a list of events from the last few months of our house search:

- We see a short sale house that we really like but aren't sure if we can afford it.

- Weeks go by but in the meantime we find out that we're pre-approved and can put an offer on the house.

- We view the house for a 2nd time and then find out that the day before the house got 3 good offers and they're in the process of ratifying one of the offers. We were too late.

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***Edited on 8/9/11

Sadly this post has been sitting here unpublished for so long! Well since I last wrote this in May, we've put an offer on a house, didn't get it, and then a few days later we discover that we DID get it! So at the end of June we closed on the house and are now moved in!

God is so kind to provide us this house just about a block away from my sister's. We're definitely enjoying the house and sometimes still can't believe it's our house!

I hate to do this, but I'll have write the story of how we got the house at a later time. I only have time to post some quick pictures. The story and more updates will have to come later!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, Rachel, Yen Yen, and Po Po!

All of these women have been an influence in my life, and I'm so grateful for them.

I'm especially thinking of my grandma, Yen Yen. This is the first Mother's Day without her. She passed from this world on April 10, 2011, but she is now in the sweet presence of Jesus and worshiping God in heaven.

I think Yen Yen looked forward to Mother's Day. Every year the mothers would receive a gift during service, but then there was bonus gift that would be given to the mother with the most children. My grandma would always win because she had the most children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren out of all the ladies at church. She would stand proudly from the pew.

I love her and miss her very much. I have sudden moments when I think of her and can't believe she's gone. I won't see her on this earth but I definitely have hope to see her again. I have faith I will see her again in heaven.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17

¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Mia Went On The Potty!

A proud moment this morning:

Mia went poo poo on the potty! What a big girl. :)