Fall Favorites

A simple Halloween costume this year.

Our street: old trees and lots and lots of leaves

Picking up acorns

Chloe has quite a sense of humor. She wanted to put all her bows in her hair and look in the mirror.

Growing up

Chloe is 16 months now and is growing up! She is a vocabulary explosion. It is a lot of fun to hear her talking and figuring words out. I feel like she basically understands most of what I say. She loves kitties and calls them "mi-mi". It warms my heart because the nickname for cat in Chinese is "mi-mi". Love it. She will respond positively by saying, yeah or yesh (also reminds me of China). She is learning to say sorry when she throws something or hurts someones feelings. She will sign and say sorry and then give a kiss. She loves Elmo and Cookie Monster. Last week she had me spread out a blanket and then sat all her stuffed toys on the blanket and put her tea pot and cups out and fed the toys tea. She set up a tea party on her own! I don't know where she came up with that. It amazed me! That's Chloe's world (get the reference parents of toddlers:). Can't post about Chloe without some pictures. Oh and she had a hair milestone this week: Yah, ta da da! PIGTAILS!A bit uncertain about the pigtails

Now she likes them, so cute!Elmo and Cookie: these DVDs are awesome for kid her ageReally enjoys coloring!
Loves talking to her reflection in the bathtub!

The Land Between

It has been a whirl wind couple of weeks as we have been trying to settle in to our new house and had a week of sickness. I hope to take some pictures of our home this week. I just haven't located my other lens yet and it works better for those kind of shots. Brent is enjoying his job a lot and still learning both the Nebraska and church culture. It is SO encouraging to see Brent really coming alive in this role. I am enjoying meeting new people, though it has its challenges when you have a toddler to chase around! We are hosting a small group in our home and it has been wonderful to do that again, it is truly one of my favorite times of the week. Most of the small groups in the church are using a book called, The Land Between. The sermons on Sunday go along with what we are reading. It has been encouraging for me because the book is about finding God in the midst of the transitions we find ourselves in. The book looks as Exodus and how the Israelites responded to being in the wilderness. It has challenged me as we are in this transition of coming to Nebraska. Will I respond to this change with complaining and become hard-hearted? Or will I use this as the place that God wants to meet me and form me? I am praying that I will move toward the later. I think that is happening. I have felt a shift in my heart in the 2 months we have been here. The first month was rough and there are still times I just want to go back to Manhattan, knowing full well we are suppose to be in Lincoln. I feel much more sure that God wants to do something in me, in our family when I feel lonely and displaced. I really recommend this book and think it would be an encouragement regardless of where you find yourself.