a star in the house

My sweetie is a star! :) You'd think by now that I would be used to people coming up to Isabella rubbing her face, her hair, kissing her cheeks, wanting to hold her and take her picture... but it still catches me off guard and makes me smile to think about how intrigued they are by her blonde hair and blue eyes. It also makes me a bit nervous when I think about how many websites she may be on without my even realizing or when someone holds their arms out for her to come to them. I'm thankful that these days, Isabella's a bit hesitant to go to any stranger but she wasn't always like that.

And then as we were walking home (past our buildings) Isabella saw one of our guards, Eric, in a different building so she pointed and waved until she grabbed his attention and he came out to say hello. And at the next building she just decided to say hello to that gaurd and he got a big grin on his face. Isabella is really loved by the people here at LV... she's so friendly with everyone and they all know her name... from the janitors, to the guards (both at our building and on the corners of the promenade), and even the real estate agents. It will be hard to say goodbye to these people we see everyday. One guard came out last Saturday (when we were taking over our first load of bags) and was disappointed when we told him we were leaving. It's funny how you get attached to people that you don't even have a real relationship with. I'm glad that Monte Vista is similar in set-up and am praying we'll have new guards just as friendly as Martin, Eric, etc... but these guys, especially Martin, will always hold a special place in my heart as dumb as that may sound.

I failed at getting up on time this morning. Izzy woke up before 6 and I wanted to give Mike the chance to rest since he's been working so hard on getting our new flat looking pretty. {He showed me pictures of the paint job and I just can't wait to get over there and see... it looks stunning!} But Auntie Dorie is coming over to spend some time with Izzy so I think I'll use that time to go to the gym and run. I really need to work on my endurance... I can't seem to get past the 10K marker and I'm getting discouraged.... though I'm wondering if part of my struggle is simply because I'm not used to working out in the heat.

This is the living room walls: all are an off-white with this one dark brown
This is our bedroom: all walls are the same off-white with one wall blue and actually a bit of the entrance wall to the room is blue too. Izzy's room is yellow and the last bedroom is yellow with one wall the same blue as our bedroom.

Yesterday we had a day at the pool with friends... Vivian, Jill and Mousumi joined with their kids and though it was quite breezy, I think they all had a blast. I even got the chance to meet a new mom who just moved to HK 3 months ago and through our conversation... we had the opportunity to invite her to church. She said she will come but I've lost her information so I'm praying I can get in touch with her before the end of the week. I was very excited but bummed that our group is growing and now I'm leaving. But that's okay... I enjoy spending time with these ladies so it will be worth it to make the trip to hang out and I've already made some contact with a playgroup in our new area. God is SO good!

Well I've only got a few minutes before the sweetie wakes up so I better get to some cleaning. LOL