...yay for updates!

Welp, where to begin? Hmm....how about with fire ants? ;)

ANTS: These unwanted house guests are no longer around - yippee!! Our rule is, if we didn't invite you and you aren't paying rent, you're outta here, esp. if you might terrorize our kids! Anyhow, despite all our efforts with setting out baits and spraying with Bac-out, we had to call the "ant people" (that's what Aidan affectionately calls them!) to come and spray. The spray that they use has definitely come a long way - they are micro-encapsulated and are pretty safe for kids when dry. What a relief! [Aidan did enjoy having the 2 ant guys around for the 10 minutes they were in our house to check out how bad the situation was and to ascertain the kind of ant we were blessed with. He was so excited that he couldn't stop jumping up and down the WHOLE TIME and made them laugh. They kept asking me if I was sure I didn't just give him any sugar - haha! If only they knew: Aidan doesn't need any of that to have an abundance of energy!!] Anyhow, we found out we had fire ants in the house, which is a rare thing, because most of the time, they prefer to be outdoors. Also, it was strange that they showed up in my upstairs closet first. And what is even more strange but when I told my immediate family, I found out we all had some sort of an ant problem this month. Do ants symbolize something spiritually? Seriously. If anyone knows anything about this, please email me.

VBS: Aidan went to VBS for the first time last week and did a good job. He was placed in the Pre-K3 class, though we had just turned 3 the Friday before the VBS began. He was pretty ambivalent about whether he liked it - maybe it was the more rigid structure that he wasn't used to. We have a more flexible schedule at home everyday but it's nothing like "school". We wanted him to go beucase we thought it would be a good opportunity for him to hang out with other kids and get a bit of Jesus stories from someone other than us. It was interesting having just 1 child all those mornings after I had dropped Aidan off. I had some quality one-on-one time with Jana and I remember thinking to myself, "Man, after having 2 kids all the time, having just one is super easy!" Then I thought, "We do want more kids, so I better get to thinking that having 2 is really easy." Though it's so hard to have that perspective beforehand. Maybe I hafta borrow someone's kid for practice! Haha!

POTTYTRAINING: It's going remarkably well for Aidan. For a few weeks now, he's been wearing underwear all day and a diaper at night. There have been a few accidents here and there but mostly from him forgetting when he's so excited to be out and about. He also still has a bit of trouble timing #2 but, oh well. Cloth diapering has prepared me to be upclose and personal with poop. ;) He hasn't kept a diaper dry overnight yet, so I'm not going to worry about training him overnight yet. But I now understand what ppl mean when they say it'll be so much easier to train when they're ready. I'm just glad that he's ready now vs 18 y.o. - hehe! He has also gotten so much better in telling me when he has to go, which is such a big step!!! Alrighty, enough potty-talk....

JANA-JANA: Jana has been talking a lot (mostly in Chinese - yay!) and walking around with some alacrity. After Aidan learned to walk, sometimes he would still crawl since he was such an efficient crawler but not our little Jana. Once she walked, that's almost all she did. Plus, she always looked so satisfied with herself and has even attempted speed-walking to catch up with Aidan sometimes. Her attempts come with some hilarious results. :) I should really take a video of it one of these days. Jana doesn't sign half as much as Aidan did but she is picking up speaking so quickly. It's really so fun and rewarding to see them learn stuff!!

CHURCH: I think we have finally settled on a church! :) For a while, we were debating between 2 but when the Pastor preached again on something we had both read in the Word during the week, we felt like this was a confirmation. Plus, it also came down to one factor: how easy it was to know what's going on and get involved. In the beginning, we did our search online since we didn't really know anyone to ask about Spirit-filled churches with small groups. So, having a clear, informative website was really key - we were able to check out what they believed in and what ministries they emphasized before even stepping into their building. Plus it helped us narrow down our list - there are so many churches around here!! Finally, we picked a few in our area to visit. When we went to visit a few churches, it became clear what really drew us to a church. We appreciated a good, organized nursery that our kids would like (at least eventually) and maybe learn something from. We also appreciated people who welcomed us, showed us where things were and gave us information about the church and how to get involved. We didn't have to try too hard to find out about small groups or get someone to contact us about it. It was nice. Plus, at one church, some random guy was nice enough to say hi and then introduce us to his enture family and hung out with us for a good half an hour after church! It was hard going into a church where everyone seemed to already have a group and already engaged in conversation, so that was very refreshing!! Anyhow, after trying a few churches to get a feel for things [we wanted to settle in fairly quickly since we might only be here for 1 year], we decided on Countryside Christian Center. We're also getting involved in a small group there but have only been there 2x, so more on that at a later date.

SOBERING THOUGHTS: We just found out that a family that we have known for some time just lost their little son this last week in a pool accident. It was so sad to hear about it because we can't imagine what we would do if that had happened to us. It just reminded us what a gift our children are and to not take for granted our times together, even when they're acting up and to really enjoy this time we have with them, esp. when they want to hang out with us at this young age. We were also reminded to let the little things (that they do that annoy us or make us mad) remain the little things - and not let them crowd out the big things, the important things in life. Some days, Kev and I find ourselves getting mad so frequently over those little things that it was hard to enjoy our kids. But we are now more aware of this and trying to find things to enjoy about them, even when they're trying our patience. :)

Anyhow, we hope all of you are doing well. I'm sure all of us are learning lots from God each week. Feel free to shoot us an email about it, we'd love to hear from you!! Cheers!