Two Years of Aiden

Can it really be December 18th already? 

My how times have changed in my boy's world. It seems like only yesterday that I was in the hospital ready to give birth, and today he turns 2. 

Please don't look to closely at me, but at my cute little bundle born December 18, 2010.

Some of Aiden's favorite things this year are...

1. Disney's Cars and Cars 2! We watch them over and over. He also has the Lighting McQueen, Tow Mater and Sally play cars that he has to sleep with every night and play with all day. 

2. Play Dough - he loves making pretend food with it. 

3. Spelling his name. He does a great job at this and loves to say it over and over, but his pronunciation of the letter "n" needs some work. Ha! 

4. Fruit - especially apples, kiwi, watermelon and strawberries. He will eat these all day long if I let him. 

5. His Daddy - Wow is my child ever a fan of his Daddy. When Jeffrey is home that is the only person he wants to be around. I love that he loves his Daddy. 

6. The color Blue - he points out everything that is blue and if he had his choice, would only dress in blue.

There is so much more to Aiden, and daily he changes. He is growing up so fast. 

Happy 2nd Birthday Aiden! Mommy and Daddy love you!!!!! 

Its Christmas Time

Its December!!!!

 I love Christmas and am so excited that Aiden is semi old enough to enjoy it this year. He loved the tree as we put it up and wanted to help hang the ornaments. 

As we begin this month of celebration we are going to have Christmas music playing loudly, read the Christmas story lots, and do our best to share with Aiden that Jesus is the real reason for the season. 

Bring on Christmas! 

What is this?

Mama, I think this one should go here.

Wow this is cool Dad! 

Look Daddy! 

Day 30 - Perspective

Is it really November 30th already??? Where has the time gone?

To sum up what I am thankful for this month I think one word will suffice....perspective. We have been in China for almost 21 months and during this time my perspective on absolutely everything has changed. In our ladies study this has been our topic over the last few weeks and it has really made me think. Am I looking at my life through my perspective, or am I seeking to view life through God's perspective? This is totally not an easy venture but I am daily working to look for the good in things and remembering that God has a plan for everything in my life. He is sovereign...I am not.

There are many things in China that are too easy to view through my "perspective" and not try to understand the culture here and embrace the difference. Too often I find myself wondering why people here are not doing things the way I would do them. Kinda dumb right? Ha! From the lady screaming in my face to another worker in the veggie mart to ask for change and not realizing this was upsetting all of us, to the kids on the playground in split pants and praying that as they go down the slide nothing is left behind. I can choose to cringe and get upset (though I have to confess there are definitely times I do this) or I can choose to realize that we are different and we do things differently and in the grand scheme of God's plan for me this is not going to make a vital difference.

One situation like this that I do have to laugh at is the Chinese grandma's who get upset at me that I let Aiden feed himself. Yes...he is almost 2, but I'm not supposed to let him feed himself.....this is something I definitely do not understand. We were at Stuff Mart yesterday and while there on at least 3 different occasions a grandma would come up and try to take the apple slice or cracker that Aiden was having as a snack out of his mouth and proceed to tell me that this shouldn't be happening. Talk about having to count to 10 before you answer...ha! I was not a happy camper over this, but then I had to remember that we are different. My perspective is vastly different from theirs on this, but I can't change the situation. So I must let it go.

I'm thankful that God has brought us here to China to teach me this lesson. This probably would not have been as big of a deal in the states so I wouldn't have the opportunity to grow in this way. God's thoughts and ways are so much higher and better than mine. If I trust in this fact and seek to have the mind of Christ, then my perspective will be His perspective and then I will view the people around me as He does. This is my goal.

So today, as much as situations sometimes drive me crazy, I'm thankful to have the chance to change my perspective.

Bring on December!!!!

Day 29 - Shopping!

O how I LOVE to shop! I miss Target ever so much and get sooo jealous when I see people going on FB or anywhere else...ha! But since we don't have Target, we have the next best thing...well...I'm going to pretend like its the next best thing. 

Stuff Mart!

This place has been affectionally named this by foreigners because it is full of...you guessed it...STUFF! 

Anything and everything that you could possibly want you can find here. There are 5 main buildings to this place with 3 floors each. Surrounding the main buildings are tons of smaller buildings with different types of shops as well. You could spend HOURS here and still not see everything they have. At times it can be quite overwhelming, but we love it. 

So today, I'm super thankful that we have places that we can shop while enjoying lots of laughter with friends over the fun stuff we see. 

Tea shops galore!

Even some construction going on...this guy had a nail gun aimed right at us. 

Our "shopping buddies". Aiden wasn't so happy at this moment...he wanted out! 

During the week there aren't so many people here, but on the weekends it is PACKED!

Just some of the "stuff" you can buy. 

We have to take our little strollers since they block off the escalators, but somehow the mopeds still make it inside. We about got run over 3 different times today. 

New bangs anyone?

If you look closely, this is a 3 wheel cart driving though. He was honking his horn like crazy to make us move out of his way. 

Day 28 - Laughter

Laughter...this is something I am continually thankful for. One of my favorite verses in scripture is Proverbs 31:25, "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future."Other translations have the last part written as, she laughs at the days to come.

This...in essence...is exactly how I want to live my life. Laughter turns a frown upside down. It makes any situation better.

Rooster tied to a bike....

Chenglish....I so hope one of these wasn't already used. 

I'm gonna kiss the white boy! 

Life in China, daily, provides so many opportunities to laugh. From split pants to grandmas who try to tell me that Aiden isn't dressed properly. From friends getting together being silly or watching our kids do crazy things. In situations that you have to laugh to keep from crying and even in situations where you are so tired that when you start laughing you just can't stop. Laughter is wonderful!!!!

Day 27 - Healthcare

Today I'm piggy backin' off my dear friend Brie's blog on how to be thankful for our healthcare here in China. 

Back in America I do know that I took good healthcare for granted. If I needed to go to the doctor I could call and be seen the same day. No need to stand in line forever waiting just to get in. 

There is this clinic that we pass all the time on our 5K walk. In the mornings there are always a ton of people standing around, apparently waiting to get in. Not really sure the whole reason behind this. 

This week as we walked by this guy on a stretcher was being brought in from out of nowhere in the freezing cold with his head fully hanging off the end. We were a little shocked. 

But this made me ever so thankful that we have the Wuxi United Family Clinic where we have English speaking doctors and I can get an appointment right away! God has truly blessed us abundantly in this. I know that we get great care and I don't have to go into Shanghai to get Aiden's shots. Yea for good healthcare!!!!! 

My camera on my phone was too slow and I missed getting his head hanging off. 

Day 26 - Fireworks....

Yea yea yea....I know what you are thinking (esp. those of you living here in China)...thankful...for FIREWORKS??????? I don't believe you.

Well most days you are right. And as I sit here writing this post I confess I'm struggling to really be thankful for them as they are blasting around our complex and I'm praying that Aiden doesn't wake up.

But...I am really working on finding the good in everything, so I'm going to find the good in fireworks today.

Back in America I LOOOOOOOVED fireworks and they were some of the highlights of my year. My birthday is July 5th so I would always celebrate a day early and pretend the fireworks were in my honor. They were beautiful as they light up the night sky. What an amazing thing to watch...from a far.

See the smoke...that is the fireworks going off right in front of the building. 

These were sooooo loud. 

As soon as this guy would light them he would take off running. 

Here in China fireworks are an everyday event it seems like. I'm never fully sure what the reason is, but the one thing I am very certain of...they are loud! They shoot them off right outside of our building at all hours of the day or night.

I guess if I have to come up a few reasons why I am thankful for fireworks that at times are the bane of my existence...here we go.

1. My heart rate no longer jumps through the roots when they go off.

2. Aiden sleeps right through them...PTL!!!!

3. I could probably survive a war zone...these things sound like a war zone.