Happy Chinese New Year!!!!

Have you ever been blessed beyond words.......Zion's family invited us to join them for their New Years Eve celebration. The Tsai family treated us as family.....they embraced us like an American family inviting an immigrant family for Christmas and including them not only in the meal but buying gifts for all the members as well! It was incredible. It was wonderful to be part of an extended family as we are so far from ours. We met them for dinner at a buffet restaurant then went back to their place for worship and prayer. The kids were able to play and run and dance.....this family is so gifted musically, violin, guitar, keyboard....Ms. Tsai (Zion's mom) is so generous to us.....through gifts but mostly through prayer. Before the evening was over she had the little children sit on the floor for prayers of blessing. What a warrior to have as a friend!

It is tradition over the New Year for adults to give children red envelopes filled with money. The kids are now proud owners of two red envelopes each.....one from Ms. Tsai and one from Auntie Zion.

Tsai family: thank you for counting us family and serving us through this year! You are an amazing blessing! May God pour out his grace and mercy in all your lives over this next year!

Lili loves preschool...two hours a day she is an only child!

Chinese New Year Gift

We seem to have started an annual tradition. An orphanage that we are involved with tries to give it's staff a break over the Chinese New Year holiday week so last year and this we have kept a precious gift. This little one we've been calling Wang An, which means hope and peace. He needs both in his life as his mum abandoned him with a friend as she is running from the police....I guess the friend tired of the responsibility because she left him at a hospital who then turned him over to the orphanage. We've spent time praying over him and loving on him. The kids are loving it....especially Lili who LOVES babies. He goes back on Feb. 3rd.

Gymnastics class.....

Preschool....

Nykolas and Mia have started preschool....all in Chinese. I have had a hard time with this move....I've enjoyed teaching them at home (and will continue teaching them English) and having them with me always...not to mention the fact that I cannot believe they are old enough for any kind of school....but Chad and I realize that this year we are in Taiwan is a window of opportunity to get them immersed in Chinese. I am so proud of them, they have done so well. They go every morning at 8:30am and I pick them up at 11:30am. It's really not long but just long enough for them. They have excercise classes twice a week and wear uniform sweats, they have art, music, etc. It is at the Baptist church just one block from our apartment. The school is apparently highly sought after as the waiting list is long....we took it as from God that we were able to get in at all. I expect them to be chattering away with new friends in no time.

Another trip to Hong Kong.....yeah, I was not looking forward to it as our last turned into a nightmare....and as we got about half way to the airport I realized I left the stroller...three people under five in a foreign city with no stroller.....can anyone say 'idiot'~ but this time Zion went with us and it made all the difference in the world....still hard as it's an exhausting trip for the little people but at least this time we came back with funny stories.

Quite an adventure.....plane flight, train ride into the city, taxi to hotel, taxi to Taiwanese Embassy, forever there sorting paperwork and praying they would let us back in, McDonalds (with english speaking Madagascar toys-a thrill to say the least), taxi back to hotel, one out of three nap, crazy asian noodle shop for dinner, bed.....then the same the next day just backwards and with a fun ferry ride in the middle.

As we were 'napping' on the first day and I was being the wicked witch and 'sssshhhing' at every sound they made....tired myself and not in a good mood....Mia from the bed in a vey dramatic voice says 'Dear Jesus, I pray for all the sick people in the world, Amen' Humph.....

Let me set the stage for dinner that evening....crazy crowded dive of a noodle shop (must be good I thought with so many people) - we are a crowd stopper anyway these two ladies with three boisterous white little people. Lili is at the table but can just reach into the lady's purse behind us (would training her to pick pocket be profitable I wonder), Nykolas is constantly moving and falls off the chair at least once and Mia is not satified with anything she is being served whining, crying ~ basically a puddle, she asks Zion for some of her noodles and Zion in her generous way says of course and scoops of spoonful into Mia's mouth....forgetting that she had put spicy spicy sauce in....blood curdling scream....and if the whole restaurant wasn't watching us yet they certainly were then! I just started laughing and couldn't stop the whole spectacle from an outside view must have been hilarious.

Finally we get to immigration visas in hand but at that point Lili is well past her prime....I'm holding her lengthwise as she is pitching a royal fit and Mia starts laughing at her, she promptly sits up points her little finger at her big sister and says very emphatically "no bunny Mia, no bunny" (not funny Mia not funny!) VERY FUNNY. And in the midst of her meltdown the immigration official asks to see her face to compare it with her passport (which is ridiculous as both girls passport photos were taken when they were three weeks old - they look a bit different) and in true drama queen fashion she instantly turns off the waterworks looks up at him and throws him her sunniest smile.

The good news is we survived and I am still smiling. And Miss Zion gets friend of the century award!!!!!! She even let Mia have a 'spend the night party' in her hotel room.

A lion who can fly.....

The Owl Library....so cute!

Mask making for 'M' week....thanks Lamb for the supplies!

Out and about with Sarah Bear.....

Out of the city for dinner with dear friends....

The Saturday after New Years, Chad and I planned the time to get away and pray together. Earlier in the year he had found a shelter a top a mountain just outside the city. Off we hiked up a million stairs (ok so I am exaggerating a bit but not much) and spent hours together...praying, talking about the future and reading. It was a gorgeous day with the sun twinkling through the veil of green trees. This year has been hard in so many ways yet I feel we have found such a home in Taiwan. So here we are another year before us.... Chad has Festivals in the works for Chennai, India, Osaka, Japan and Seoul, South Korea, among others. We feel the need to stay one more year in Taipei...I am so happy not to be packing boxes, yet dreading the year a bit as Chad will be traveling away from us much more than normal. Nykolas and Mia are signed up for gymnastics and soccer and we are looking for a Chinese preschool to immerse them in....hopefully by the end of the year they will be pretty advanced in Mandarin. Yaya's visa expires at the end of Febuary so she will go home to Manila. We are trying to sort out what is best for her and her family over the next year. Maybe she will be back with us if we can work out her visa.....

Thank you all for your prayers and support through this year. The holidays were unexpectedly hard for me. I wasn't thinking much about the grieving process as I entered the season but had an unusual need for the traditions....the smells, the sounds, etc....but about half way through preparations I would fizzle out...just not want to do anything more.....the kids were abundantly blessed this year so they didn't notice my lack of umph....the one Christmas gift that warmed me immensely yet undid me was a memorial book of my mom that Chad and my brother in law have been putting together all year. It reminded me afresh of the amazing gift I had in my mom and what a huge hole has been left in my world. I am glad to have the holidays and 2008 behind me....yet in hopeful anticipation I look forward to all God has in store this year....He fails not and His love endures forever.