Birthday Date...

I never tire of God's sweet goodness to his children. We met a girl in the park the other day, a university student...lightly mentioned that it was Mia's birthday this week and that she was having a Hello Kitty party....."You know there is a Hello Kitty Sweet Shop/Bakery here in Taipei" says she....I didn't think much of it but two days later she dropped by cards to the bakery with exact directions....."This" I thought "is the perfect date place for daddy and Mia"...and boy was it ever! Chad said he had never seen anything like it....Every food item had Hello Kitty somehow emblazoned upon it....Mia was so thrilled he said she wouldn't sit still but would spin and spin around the restaurant....to the delight of the patrons as she was the only child there....(only in Asia would a Hello Kitty restaurant not have children inside!) Have you ever seen such delighted eyes in your whole life? Hello Kitty Sweets and alone time with daddy...the perfect birthday surprise!!!!!

Birthday girls....

Mia had all her hearts desires this lovely day of her birth....pink heart pancakes on a Hello Kitty plate, presents to open, gifts to give out to all her classmates, a new friend in school, dumplings for lunch, a date with daddy and little hamburgers made by Eleanor for dinner.....

We will have her party on Saturday in the park on Saturday.....extending the delight. I LOVE sharing my birthday with My Sweet Joy!

Chad took me out for my birthday as well (he totally scores....two dates in a day!) Indian food, quiet conversation then a wander in a night market......nice.

Fun with Gran at Playspace....

Nykolas' Lincoln Log Zoo

remembering and missing my mom....

a creek?

This is unfortunately the closest my kids have to a creek....having grown up building forts in the woods, capturing tadpoles, watching fireflies light the sky, and finding creative and daring ways to ford our creek, I mourn this absence so anytime we get within feet of something that might contain life we explore.....a long earthworm was rescued on this small adventure....who knows what we might come upon in our next exploration.....do you think anacondas inhabit gutters in cities, I mean if there are giant alligators in the sewers of New York anything is possible!

Gran and Eleanor are here!!!!

Chad's mom and Niece made the crazy long trip from Texas to Taiwan just to see us.....and we are feeling the love. We are soaking in family and loving introducing all our favorite haunts and new friends to them both.

Easter....

Easter Fair....

The Presbyterian Church in our area hosted an Easter Fair....games, music, food....it was really neat to sit and watch as small people heard the real Easter story for the first time.

wretched week....

The kids and I have had a dreadful week....well almost two now. It's been rainy and chilly....first Mia came down with a cold then Lili then Nykolas and I jumped on board....unfortunately Nykolas and my cold turned into bronchitis. Rotten. We all trapsed to our pedia who is really nice but old-school when it comes to Taiwanese medicine...so he gives us this crushed up tablet antibiotic that is horrible tasting which means four times a day I am practically holding the kids down and thrusting yuck down their throats. After Nykolas' round it didn't even do the trick so off we go again....this time to a more western clinic....ahhh the delight of nice tasting meds....at least there is no wrestling now.

To top it all off the health check day at school turned up a hernia in Nykolas. Poor guy....we saw the surgeon today for a consultation. He didn't think it was an emergency but does think we need to have it looked after, so we scheduled surgery for April 30th. So along with feeling rubbish he is having doctors poak and proad him... The up side of all this is our visit to the new Children's Hospital was wonderful. It's beautiful and very child friendly.

I must admit with Yaya leaving and Chad traveling so much this year, my biggest fear has been me being sick and not being able to care for the kids. Now that I am in the midst of it I see God's care throughout.....my friend, Paula volunteered to come this morning and care for the girls while I went to the Children's Hospital today, a girl from church called out of the blue and gave me two hours to myself ealier in the week, a friend dropped by with a new kids movie and popcorn, and another friend called when she was at Costco to see if I needed anything.....AND the best news is daddy is home tomorrow night! Hooray!

Lili's Chinese....

Saturday I, in a panic took Lili to the doctor....a friend's little person has scabies and I was seeing spots on Lili ~ the diagnosis: mosquito bites....yeah! I felt foolish but still feel it was justifiable. Anyway, as I was packing her up in the stroller for the walk to the pediatrician she was shouting "bu-yow shots, bu-yow shots" Which translated means "I don't want shots, I don't want shots!"

Note to my poor dear friend Paula who is dealing with the scabies (nasty buggers!).....at least it is only Sarah's Chinese that is rubbing off on Lili and not her little biting friends!