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.  :)

Exciting Days

These are exciting days in the Chancler household. For a number of reasons, really.

I'll lay it all out for you.

Exciting moment #1

Wednesday morning Brandon had a "casual interview" with a new company just 4 miles down the road from here. It's an IT job...or something along those lines...I'm still foggy on all the details. But it's right up Brandon's computer alley. During his two hour sit-down with the Boss Dude he founds out that he's a fellow SEBTS student, recently spent a significant amount of time in The Big Chicken, and is a wrestler. They were instant bff. :)  

Anyway, he came home from that with the idea that we'd know something about that job no sooner than the 17th. Bummer.

Fast forward to yesterday (Thursday). Boss dude calls Brandon with a little job he'd like him to do on the side. And not only is it something right up Brandon's computer alley, but I get to take pictures for it as well. yippee! What took us about 3 hours yesterday, paid us a good chunk of change. niiiiice.

And then he goes on to say something along the lines of, "You were so friggin awesome in the interview that I'm not going to bother with the other two applicants and want you to start ASAP!"  Well, that was April-ese. It was probably more like this, "I've decided you are the most qualified for the job, and would like you to start the middle of next week if possible."

So hooray for Brandon having a job! And one that he'll truly enjoy. And really, Boss Dude didn't bother interviewing the other two candidates (one of whom had a Computer Science degree). Can I just say that I love anyone who can boost my husbands self-esteem like Boss Dude did!

To celebrate the new job we went out to eat at Chili's (on a gift card! hehe) and ordered the Molten White Chocolate Cake. Go. Eat. One. They are soooooo good. It should deserve an Exciting Moment title all by itself.

Exciting Moment #2

We got an unexpected email from our nice tax-lady friend yesterday informing us that what we thought might be a measly check from the IRS for a ministerial exemption is actually going to be a lot more than what we expected! REALLY niiiiiiicccce.  the Lord provides!

Exciting Moment #3

If there is one sporting event that makes Brandon and me giddy with excitement, it's the Olympics. In China! Seriously, I can't tell you how many times we've literally shaken one another in excitement shouting at the top of our lungs, "THE OLYMPICS START IN 274 DAYS!!!"  China of course didn't help our madness because they had a daily countdown on TV announcing how many days left. So every day when we'd see those silly Friendlies counting down the days it was a reminder of the insanity that our home becomes during that 3-week event. 

So we have it all planned. Tonight we're hosting a small party with Brat-Dogs and potatoes. Getting people all pumped up about the awe that is the Olympics. 

7:30 pm News coverage begins, and it's bath time for Eden. Bathe. Feed. Bed.

7:59 Silence and anticipation overwhelms the Chancler househeld.

8:00 Sing it with me now. duuu,duuuuu,du,du,du,du,du,,,du,d-d-d-d-duuu,du,du, d-d-d-d-duuuuu......at which point Brandon and I become completely oblivious to everything else in the world outside of the Olympic ring. Don't call us. We won't answer.  :)

So be happy for us on three levels: 

-We're no longer jobless

-We're no longer dwindling down our savings account.

-AND THE OLYMPICS ARE ON TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 10 Months!

Eden turned 10 months old this week! Among her oh so many accomplishments this month were: three new teeth (making 5 total), a move across the US to the East Coast, and learning to walk behind her hippo (video to come on that as soon as we figure out how that works on our new mac. wha?!)

To celebrate, we headed out to the beautiful SEBTS campus to have her own little "photo shoot" ... one of many to come on that campus! I got picture-upload happy...enjoy! :)

We have our own place....

After 2 months of living with family (which was wonderful by the way!) we're back to having our own place and it's so great!! We arrived in North Carolina this last week and we've been unpacking, decluttering, shopping for supplies, groceries, you name it, since we got here and it's been a pretty crazy week. BUT we're so happy to have finally moved into our new home and unpack all of the stuff we packed up two years ago.
so...this is a short, lifeless, I-don't-have-time-to-write-anything-else-interesting blog to say that we're in NC. Brandon is enrolled at SEBTS and job hunting (...insert prayer request here). Eden is adjusting to sleeping in a real crib again instead of a pack-n-play. And I'm enjoying having my own kitchen. There are boxes still sitting in each room of the house and lots of just stuff that needs putting away. But we're here and will hopefully have pictures, stories, updates, etc to share with you all in a few days, weeks, (hopefully not) months...or however long it takes us to get settled in!