A D.C. Weekend

With Brandon's finals finally over, we used the free weekend to drive up to see S&A in Washington D.C! They have recently moved back there and it was sooooo great to see them and to get to see some cool sites! Ironically enough...it was our second time there with them. We were all three spoiled with good food, too much attention, comfy beds, and our very own escort around the city doubling as our very own photographer. :) What more could you ask for?! I opted to leave my camera at home most of the time since S is a former Washington Post photographer (but currently still working there), so I can't take credit for most of the pictures!

Our first afternoon there we got a personal tour of the S's office at the Post which was really cool and made us feel important. Then A hung out with Eden so that Brandon and I could go see the Holocaust Museum. This was our third trip to D.C. and both times before we wanted to see the museum but never had the time. So it was at the top of our list this time around. There aren't words to describe it, so I won't attempt to. But if you ever have the opportunity to visit D.C. put it as a priority on your list!

Saturday evening S&A took us out to eat at Old Ebbitt's Grill, a popular restaurant barely a block from the White House. We got reservations for 3 in the afternoon and even then, there was a line out the front door. The place is literally packed around the clock. 

Then we walked over to the White House. It was freeeeeeeeeeeeeezing!!!!

We thought this was funny sitting out in front.

Eden with S&A and the White House Christmas Tree.

And of course Brandon overheard some Chinese while near the Christmas Tree and stopped for a short conversation! :)

Since we've visited most of the touristy monuments, smithosonians, and archives museums we didn't do a whole lot of sight seeing. But every time we've been to D.C. the Lincoln Memorial has been under construction. So we really wanted to see Lincoln. 

The view of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial. It was amazing at night with the reflection on the water!

We had so much fun walking around downtown even though our fingers were frozen! We enjoyed it so much that we think we would definitely love living there if we ever have the opportunity!!

And this last picture is just cute. Eden loved S&A so much! And for some reason always got really relaxed in S's lap. This is sunday morning during Church. 

Tomorrow we leave bright and early...well techinally it won't even be light yet...for Texas to spend Christmas with family! Luckly, we're flying this time. yippeeee!

In DESPERATE Need of some Snow

We miss snow.

We miss the shimmering whiteness that blinds you when it covers the ground.

We miss the *crunch* that it makes as you walk over it.

We miss snow ice cream.

We miss snow balls.

We miss snow.

And it's been a long time since we've seen it. While in the Big Chicken we saw snow flakes twice. And both times it lasted for a mere 5 minutes...obviously not covering anything.

Since we've been in NC it has snowed twice. Once for 5 minutes or so. And once it was enough to leave a tiny layer on the cars one morning...melting away by 9 a.m.

Snow has a strange effect on us. It doesn't really feel like Christmas until the first big snow, so obviously as it was 60 degrees today, it doesn't feel like Christmas around these parts. And I find it a little depressing.

Thinking back to my childhood, I can remember times that my dad would pull us on the sled behind Cookie, my brother's horse with a little too much "mmmph" in his step...perfect for sled pulling. I can remember digging tunnels through snow drifts 5 feet high out beside the barn. I remember making snow men taller than we were...leaving an eery snow man grave yard a week or so later. And in high school I remember on more than one occasion having to dig my truck out of snow drifts in order to make it to school on time (the regularly scheduled time). 

*Side note...around here they let out school for a High Wind Advisory with wind gusts up to what the average is on any given day in Amarillo. And that day that we had the light "dusting" of snow, yeah, no school. weird.

Anyways. We miss snow. And if we don't see snow this year we're going to make a special trip up north. Where? We don't care. We'll drive north until we see snow. And then we'll stay there for awhile. We'll let Eden get out and roll around in it. We'll let her eat it and laugh about how cold it is. We'll make snow angels, throw snow balls, and accidentally track some into the car leaving little puddles on the floor boards. And maybe we'll pack our poor and neglected boots and skis just in case we run across a decent ski resort on this end of the U.S.

Am I beginning to sound bitter?

Maybe I am.

I hope it snows during the 2 weeks we're in Texas.

A Thanksgiving to Remember

Well they all are really. But I was going for a "catchy" title.

We spent the Turkey day with a conglomeration of people...Bek & Kev stuck around so we at least had some family to spend the day with this year! All five of us decided that doing all the work that a Thanksgiving meal entails was too much for us to handle. So we went to Brandon's boss' house where some of their family, some other SEBTS families, and a sweet Chinese family all enjoyed the holiday together. It was a big crowd with lots of kids (read: lots of noise), lots of fun and lots of food!

I was in charge of the dressing this year. Which shouldn't sound like a daunting task since that's been my job the last two years. However, the last two years our Thanksgiving feast was in China which basically means that my dressing didn't really have to be THAT impressive since anything tastes good after eat so much soy sauce. But this year making the Thanksgiving staple for a bunch of fellow Americans who hadn't been eating dumplings several times a week for the last year...well...it was a little intimidating. So what did I do? I stuck with my trusty Ghetto Chinese Cornbread Dressing. Sure I had all the amenities of an American grocery store, but my instinct told me to stick with what was familiar. So in went the Ritz crackers and chicken bullion cubes (I just made my Aunt Susie faint) . And lo and behold...even Ghetto Chinese Cornbread Dressing can be a hit in America.

A little intimidated by the large crowd at first, Eden became fast friends with Brandon's boss when she figured out he was the one with the strawberries.

This week we put up our Christmas tree! And you'd think that having a giant green prickly thing in our living room would draw more attention from a curious toddler. Surprisingly, Eden is not that interested in it. She's interested in taking the candy canes off of it, but then again so is Brandon. We had fun putting it up though, listening to our fav Christmas cd, and discussing how we don't have that many ornaments. (thus...candy canes).

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. We're happy, healthy, and have an exciting new family member joining us soon. We're blessed in LOTS of ways and thankful for so many things!

But this year we're celebrating being thankful for something a little different. God has used the last few months at SEBTS to confirm his calling for us to return overseas for long term service. And even though submission to this sort of calling can bring heartache...the thought of missing family and friends and not seeing nieces and nephews grow up...it brings incredible joy and peace to be able to just say yes to what we know God wants for our family. We're so overwhelmed with thankfulness to God for this peace that comes with knowing we're headed to where He wants us. There's so much more to say on this subject, which includes plans for returning to Texas for the next few years before headed back overseas. More to come on this later.

We pray your Thanksgiving holiday was fun and turkey-filled! But most of all we pray your Thanksgiving was full of the peace that passes all understanding!

This Week In Pictures...

The much anticipated camera came in the mail this week. (yes, we couldn't wait until Black Friday) And as a result, we've been picture happy. But we have a very worthy subject who has been keeping us entertained the last few days.

Hangin out on the kitchen floor...showin off some belly (her, not me)  :)

Learning to color (and not eat the crayons)  

I had my first photo shoot this week with my very own speedlite! and Eden came along:

Dada and Eden bundled up cuz it's been cooooooooold lately! (and because that was the day OU was about to humiliate Tech)

Bath time

Discovering the art of making faces on a window

Leaving a toddler alone in her room for "play time" proves to be pretty entertaining for parents too! She pulled out her diapers and found her own personal-sized basket.

Of queso and bean burritos...

We're thrilled to inform the blogging world that Chancler kiddo #2 is on the way! I'm 10 weeks preggo and feeling every bit of it. Which means odd cravings for Taco Bell bean burritos, utter exhaustion, and hurling at the sight of leftover queso. I feel like I'm already showing but I'm sure that's a result of nasty bloating and one too many strawberry popsicles.
We've heard the precious heartbeat (yes just one!) and have been given the due date of June 14th. We're super excited and of course praying that the nausea passes quickly so that mornings can be a little more exciting around here.
This time around is proving to be a lot different than my pregnancy with Eden. The only symptom I had with her was an enlarging abdomen. But of course I couldn't indulge every craving I had when we lived in China. So things are kind of balancing out I guess. Feeling nausea but having an Arby's down the street is alright in the grand scheme of things! :)
And this time around we were able to tell our parents in person rather than via Skype! That was exciting to be there with them to give them the news! We made Eden a cute little t-shirt that says "I'm going to be a big sister!" But of course after 30 minutes of them still not noticing her shirt, we gave in and had to tell them a different way! But still very fun!
So let us know your prediction! Boy or girl? Vote in the poll to the right!
I'm not telling you our predictions so as to not sway your vote... :) But let us know what you think!

Eden's Invention

It's a good thing Christmas is just around the corner because Eden is in desperate need of some new toys. Her favorite new activity ("toy") lately is rolling pin golf. You know...golfing with a rolling pin. You mean everyone didn't do this as a kid?

This may be the last picture you see on here for awhile. I've just sold my beloved camera in hopes of "sizing up" to a Canon 50D.  But we're waiting until Black Friday (day after thanksgiving for all you non-crazy 4 a.m. shoppers) to see if there might be some great deals on one. I know, it's stupid to be camera-less around the Holidays...especially when you've got a cutie 13 month old hangin' around. 

Starting Early

Our neighbors have a cool power-wheels toy that they let us borrow today to see if Eden could figure it out. After numerous times of holding her thumb on the "gas button" she sort of got the hang of it! Every time she'd give it some gas it would throw her back a little making her thumb come off the button...it gave us a good laugh. :)

Our Kind of Halloween

We're not really Halloween people. We'd totally be cool with the idea of the "holiday" completely being wiped off the planet. Remember last year when we were thrilled to discover that Chinese people don't celebrate Halloween. yeah, that was awesome. 

However, this year we find ourselves surrounded by halloweenies. I've never seen so many people get into this crazy day. Houses up the street have those giant inflatable frankenstein's. 4 of them. I'm not kidding. In one lawn. 

So it shouldn't surprise you that we don't do anything to celebrate. BUT, yesterday we were invited to a local church's Harvest festival thing. It was so much fun! Free admission. Free food. Fun toys for Eden. Fun toys for Brandon. Cotton candy for me. All in all...it was great!

Eden didn't quite understand the giant inflatable thingys. That is, until other kids got in there with her and then she was thrilled to run around knocking other kids down. That's my girl.

She LOVED all the cool toys!

And Brandon loved this toy
They had a little area set up for family pictures. Ahhh....how cute.

So it shouldn't surprise you that since we're not very into Halloween, we're also not very into Halloween costumes. It didn't even cross my mind this year to find a costume for Eden. I'm hoping she'll be one of those kids that thinks she's too cool for costumes. Is that bad?

Anyways, after discovering she was literally one of THE ONLY kids at the Harvest Thingy not in a costume, I officially felt like a failure of a parent. Well, ok, not that bad. But maybe I felt like I wasn't doing my duty of making sure she's raised with all the official rights of passage. So today while rummaging through her trunk of grow-into clothes for a winter coat (it was sooo cold today!!) I came across something that could possibly pass as this year's Halloween costume:

Ignoring the bright pink hat that clashes with her "Halloween Costume," all in all...I think it works! :)  It was a gift to her from one of our sweet friends in the Big Chicken and I'm so glad she had a good excuse to wear it today! It was a little tight in her hind end area because it's actually meant to be "split" (ie...the split pant theory...you can ask me later if you're a little behind on the blog). 

So this year for Halloween, Eden is dressing up like one of her long lost BFFs in China.

Eden is Groovy

One of Eden's new favorite things is pushing the radio button on Brandon's fancy shmancy alarm clock. We keep it tuned into the 80's rock station just for these occasions. And yes, that is my hairbrush she's dancing with. :)

Happy Birthday Eden!

Please don't label me as the worst blog-mother ever...I promise I meant to do this a few days ago. But yes, I'm just now getting around to posting a few pics of Eden and her awesomeness on her birthday!

She had a pretty good birthday too! Except for the coughing up of phlem and the occasional booger that escaped her runny nose, all in all it was a great day!!  She's been sick for about a week now and had us pretty worried last night with a 103 fever, but she's currently snoring on Brandon's chest so I think she's ok!

We took some new photos for her birthday...

Here's one at her party with Brandon's balloon animals

She's officially a walker and has been at it for about a week now! She's decided she's too good for baby food and will only eat items (yes rocks too) that she can feed herself. She loves carrying around her new baby doll that she got for her birthday. Her new favorite word is "shoes!" She loves blowing kisses. And she has a strong affinity for 80's music...to which she goes crazy and screams while she dances. (but who doesn't!) a video coming soon!

Meet Chris

2 Posts in one day!? I know. I'm such an overachiever. (scroll down to see this morning's post)

We woke up to a cool, rainy, dreary day. It was nice to have an excuse to just stay inside. Clean. Do laundry. Play. And just all out chill. But apparently when you have an almost one year old...that's tough. So we bundled up and headed the door.

And we saw Chris:

Yes this is Chris from our regular feature "Musings from Chris." He's the inspiration. And as you can see...he is quite that.

Chris is 5. 

Chris is our neighbor.

Chris is a talker.

Chris is a random story teller.

It really wasn't that cold outside. But you know, when you're 5 and have the excuse to wear a ski mask, why not?

Today's musing from Chris goes like this:

Chris: "hey, do you have a grandmother?"

Me: "Sure do. She's in Texas. I miss her a lot."

Chris: "I have two. Nana and Granny. Nana has a pool in her backyard and Granny has a freezer full of ice cream!"

Me (chuckling at the randomness of his stories): "That's awesome! I bet you love to go and visit both of them then!"

Chris: "yeah. But wouldn't it be cooler if I could do both at the same time? have a pool full of ice cream!"

Me (trying not to fall down in hysterical laughter at this point): "That would be great! What flavor would you choose?"

Chris: "Banana shake!! But, really. It wouldn't matter!"

And that, folks, is our neighbor Chris.

The only thing to fear is...nursery workers.

Maybe its the mass hysteria that is innately all church nurseries.

Maybe its the fact that ALL the other babies are crying too. (at first)

Maybe its the fact that Eden is growing increasingly clingy.

Maybe it's because she has to wear a paper diaper instead of a soft fluffy cloth diaper.

Or maybe it's a nasty conglomerate of all of those.

Whatever it is...Eden absolutely hates the church nursery. She cries as soon as we enter the building because she knows of the impending tortuous doom she must face of playing with other babies her own age with new toys and non-stop excitement and music! All of which she loves on any other occasion than Sunday morning.

And I have no answers. 

So the last few Sundays Brandon and I are taking turns making best friends with the nursery workers while the other of us gets to enjoy the service. If we even attempt to leave her for a few minutes we are summoned back only to hear the screams of fear of our only child as she reaches her arms out to us to rescue her from this incredibly terrifying situation of friendly babies and new flashy toys.

So then our presence in the room brings Eden enough peace that she once again feels comfortable rough-housing with the boys, taking snacks from other children, nabbing pacifiers, and running over toes with her walking toy.

And every Sunday we repeat the process.

Enter church. Scream. Fill out paper work. Hand her over. Scream. Walk away from the screams of our child. Sit in Sunday School for 15 minutes barely able to focus because we wonder how she's doing. Summoned back to nursery. She plays for 20 minutes while one of us gets more acquainted with the nursery worker. Escape to hear one or two songs in the service. #564 is flashed up on the big screen summoning us back to the nursery. (we're becoming all too familiar with this number). Play in the nursery for 20 more minutes. Wave bye bye to everyone as they look at Eden's puffy, red, teary eyes and say, "ahhh...poor baby. Maybe next week."

hmmmm. maybe.

Anyway.........

She's making awesome strides in other areas of life. As her first birthday quickly approaches she's beginning to walk all over the house. Just 4 or 5 steps at a time before she gets fed up with it and realizes she could crawl there faster. And she's decided that morning naps are for sissies because she doesn't like those anymore. Which means I'm quickly adjusting to taking showers no longer than a Sesame Street podcast. And she's taking after her daddy, loving anything sour and tart. ie Minute Maid Cherry Lime popsicles. Aren't we awesome parents? Although she makes up for it with green beans, which I'm convinced she'd eat even while sleeping. She LOVES her some green beans.

That's the news from Eden-land...where her BonBon and Pops will soon be visiting for her first birthday. We're excited about their arrival tomorrow!!

Wonderful Little White Box

This is our new best friend:

Just in case you can't tell what that is...it's an Apple Time Capsule. We bought it when we ordered our MacBook and can I just tell you all about it's awesomeness?

I wasn't so into the purchase...I mean, it's a lot of money. But after Brandon's tireless efforts of convincing me that we needed this product, he won me over.  And now I could kiss the man. Well, I did.

Not only is this machine our external hard drive which automatically backs up our computer every time we do anything on it.

But it's our wireless router (and wireless printer access)

Our firewall.

AND

Our time capsule...which enables our computer to literally jump back in time and retrieve any priceless data we might have accidentally deleted. Like say, oh, our newest purchase of PhotoShop CS3. Somehow in the installation of this new software we deleted one of the main components needed for running this program effectively. And even after removing the program and trying to re-install...still no success.

But then we remembered our trusty, not-so-rusty, Time Capsule that jumped back in time and remembered upon command that we installed this missing component of CS3. And with the wave of a wand (or a mouse click) BAMMO! Adobe Bridge of CS3 was back on our dock lickity split. 

That one instance alone has made the purchase of this blessed Time Capsule completely worth it. 

May I suggest you look into getting yourself one?

Yes I may.

Wordle

As if I don't have a million other things I could be doing...I wasted a bunch of time this evening creating a wordle! I totally ganked the idea from Melissa Jill, but it was too cool to pass up. It's a collage made up of our blog...or all the words we use on our blog anyway. How fun is that? Apparently I, like, use the word "like" as much as Eden? That's not good. Have fun creating your own! :)

hint, hint...

Sorry for our absence in the blogging world lately. With Brandon completely submerged in stacks of books for studying, and me taking on our new adventure... our time to blog has been sparse. But just so you know that we're still here, I'm posting another tide-you-over post. 

Notice our blog look is changing? Well...it's still not there yet. We're unsure of where we want to go...so it's a gradual change. Hope you don't mind the construction. :)

Here's a small hint as to what I've been up to the past few weeks...more to come on this new adventure in posts to come! :)

Wordless Wednesday

This all goes under one post title...

Why is Rhythmic Gymnastics an Olympic sport? Seriously. Could they come up with a more pointless "sport"? It's like someone decided to make an event for all those gymnasts that couldn't quite cut it on the balance beam and threw in a hula hoop to make it more exciting. As long as we're inventing pointless Olympic events, I'd like to know when the Crab Crawl will be making it's debut in the track and field events.

Anyways. On to more important things in our lives this week.

Some of our most favorite friends ever spent the night with us this past week. It was soooo wonderful to see them on this side of the ocean again! Because of their way important jobs and awesome opportunities, they make us feel cool for having cool friends. Hooray for cool friends! :)

A few more pictures of Eden because you wouldn't recognize our blog without them...

Tell me she doesn't look like a toddler...

Playing the "I'm from the Middle East" dress up game...

Brandon has completed his first full week at SEBTS and it's shaping up to be a lot different than we expected. Don't get me wrong, we love SEBTS. I can't say enough awesome things about this amazing school that is so grounded in the word. It gives me so much joy to see my husband being taught by such faithful men of God.

However, this week is the week that reverse culture shock decided to settle in our "well adjusted" hearts. We've just been faced with the reality that Brandon is going to have to attend classes at least three hours a day, 4 times a week. He's going to have to work at least 30 hours a week. And he's going to have to study quite a bit to make the grades he wants. ...... which in turn leaves (what feels like) very little time to hang out with me and Eden. I know I'm being a whiny un-adjusted American, but we just can't get used to that American lifestyle again. We were so spoiled in The Big Chicken by having so much time together. That was our luxury in Chiner. Sure it was hard to find milk, tostitos, and cereal in Chiner. But at least we had time together. I know this is something that most families struggle with, but this is the first time for us as a family of three that we've had to deal with a daily routine that doesn't include all three of us doing (almost) everything together.

So that's my blog rant for the next few weeks.

In other Chancler news...

A family that we spent 7 weeks with up on that little Virginia Compound two years ago has now moved in right next door! yes, literally, we share a wall with them. What a small world!!

I'll leave you with one more Musing From Chris

yesterday on the swings...

Chris: "Hey, how do you spell her name?" (pointing at Eden)

Brandon: "Why don't you take a guess!"

Chris: "hmmm. ok. (pondering) T. N. O. P."

I always thought Eden with a silent P and T could be cool. I could be one of those hippy crunchy people that think their being creative by naming their child a wacky spelled name. We're naming our next child Bawb.

Hail the Conquering Heroes

It's hard to find blogging time amidst being glued to Channel 6 for the past week, but I'm finally getting back to you about our Opening Ceremony Shindig. 

It went well. There were only 5 members in attendance...one of whom actually went to bed before the party got started. I know, we're total party animals. But despite the small crowd, we partied Olympic style.

Admission Fee: One Olympic Tattoo.

We all had one on our cheeks. Eden sported it on her guns...

That's right. We tattooed our baby. Turn us in now folks. Granted it washed off that night in her bubble bath, but still she had Olympic fever too.

If you missed the Opening Ceremony, where were you? Seriously. Could you have had anything better to do that night? It was absolutely incredible. And I don't know if it's possible to feel pride for a nation you no longer live in and aren't a native of, but we felt so much pride for China. The drums. The yellow glowing men. The fireworks. The huge globe. All...just incredible. There's no other word for it. Sure it cost a couple hundred million to pull it off...but well, it was sheer awesomeness. 

And if you did happen to miss it, let us know. Because we recorded it.

On to my next Olympic sized thought...

How is it that the President of the most influential country on earth can be sitting on the other side of the planet, attending the Opening Ceremony with rolled up sleeves, and still make you feel like he's your long lost best friend? Seriously, how does Bush do it? He's sitting there watching Kerry Walsh slam it down and he leaves you saying, "Well hey. There's George and Laura chilling at Chao Yang park." I just don't get it. I mean, I've not lived through that many presidents, but I'd be willing to bet that there haven't been too many presidents in the history of the US of A that make you feel like you've known em forever. Do the Russians look at Putin and say, "Oh good. Vladdie made it today." I don't know. But it baffles me how personable our President can be. Maybe it's because he's from Texas. :)

And finally...Michael Phelps. His name alone makes you feel like you should stand for the National Anthem. He's the epitomy of the perfect athlete that makes you swell with American pride. And his gold medal saga has now caused us to wake up Eden. Twice. The men's 4x100 relay the other night had me burying my face in hands out of anticipation and then when they won both Brandon and I leapt off the couch throwing our hands in the air, and shouted. Last night was a replay of that action as he won the 100 m fly. And we woke up Eden each time. woops. It was, yes I'll say this word one more time, incredible. 

He. Is. Superman.

Musings from Chris

One of our new neighbors is the coolest little guy around. He's 5 years old and says the funnest things ever. He's always entertaining us with us antics and lately, his tidbits of conversation.

So here's a few Musings from Chris. (what I anticipate to be a common blog entry)

Out walking with Eden yesterday, Brandon was approached by Chris.

"What's her name?"

"Eden"

"hmmmm (pause with a thoughtful look) Did you name her that because she eats a lot?"

Sitting on the curb beside his bike...

Brandon: "You taking a break?"

"Yeah...the wheels are tired."

Out for another walk with Eden...

"Hey, how old is she? wait...wait...umm....One?"

"no. close though! She's about 10 months."

"So she's Zero?!"

"I guess you could say that."

"When's her birthday?"

"(insert Eden's birthday)"

"That's cool. My birthday is November 8th. Last year on November 8th I turned 5. This year on November 8th I turn 6. My birthday is always on November 8th."

"Today I went to walmart and my mom bought me this helmet. It helps protect my brain. Well, my skull too. But if I fall it mostly protects my brain."

He recently injured his arm on his bike a few weeks ago...so yesterday he was telling us about it.

"Tell me how it happened, Chris"

"Well. I fell. And then I disloaded my arm."

Today it was a little rainy but then it cleared off for a bit...so again, we went out for a walk with Eden, and as soon as we did, Chris pops out his front door.

"IT STOPPED RAINING!"

"I know! Isn't it nice outside now?"

"Well, it stopped raining because I prayed!"

And again while riding his bike the other day, his brother says to him, "Hey Chris, wanna play some chicken?"

"What's some chicken?"

Miss Potato Head

I introduced Eden to Mr. Potato Head today.

They hit it off. Eden liked his glasses the best.  :)