Merry Christmas!

Our 4th year in Taiwan and our 1st Christmas here. Definitely different without the snow, but we are very thankful for all the blessings that God has given us.

Praying that all of you are enjoying love, joy and peace this holiday season.

With love,
Sandra, Ray, Kasper & Mayah

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Christmas, Family & Traditions

Merry Christmas everyone!

This is our first Christmas in Taiwan. It's actually been a very good reflective time for me. I think not being in North America where Christmas is so "obvious" has made me more intentional about Christmas this year. It actually has helped me to more consciously think about Christmas and the AWESOMENESS that it represents. How AMAZING that God became a human over 2000 years ago just to be closer to me....to us.

Growing up in a non-Christian home, Christmas is much more a time for family traditions than it is of Christ-centered traditions. As I've been surrounded by saints here in Taiwan, and observing different ways that their families celebrate Christmas, I've also been reflecting more about how Ray & I might want to establish traditions for our home. Especially as Kasper is becoming more aware of his surroundings.

Still not sure what that looks like, but we're starting small this year. We'll start with a telling of the Christmas Story. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully Kasper will get a little bit. Hopefully he won't just associate Christmas with 聖誕老公公 (Sheng Dan Lao Gong Gong - Santa Claus). He's been learning about Santa in pre-school.

In the meantime...here's a Christmas song that I've been finding very meaningful this Christmas...and a family picture (taken courtesy of Mrs K). Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and lots of love!

Language Woes

So I've been internally struggling lately, with what language I should speak to Kasper & Mayah with. Ray & I have leaned towards speaking Mandarin but as I try to trudge through Kasper's pre-school stories, and parent letters I realize that my Mandarin is really really terrible. How could I make that his primary language? But then I think again... Mandarin seems more useful than Cantonese, and English will just come naturally to him right? And so my internal debate continues.

I've also been trying to learn and teach Kasper various rhymes lately too. I feel like I need to inject more dialogue and stories into the boy to increase his language skills. Every day when I pick him up after school from daycare I sing him my standard 氹氹轉 (tum tum jun - spinning round and round), Jack & Jill, Eency Weency Spider while riding him home on my bike. I figure I have a captive audience. Hopefully the words will sink in SOMEtime. And in fact, I think they have. I've caught him mimicking the sound patterns of the rhymes while playing sometimes.

Meanwhile, his favorite words are still non-specific, generic words for anything: 這個 (this one), this or 好 (okay - which he often says even if it's not what he wants)

Sigh...I really wish God could give me more wisdom. It's probably what I lack most!

Sentence TWO!

媽媽妹妹哭哭！
Mommy little sister is crying!

I love our boy!

Following Daddy's Footsteps

So after a sad morning for daddy, Kasper follows up with a super compliment!

On his way down to play with daddy in our apartment foyer area, he puts on his crocs by himself and then proceeds to try to use the shoe horn on BOTH feet JUST LIKE DADDY! Although daddy usually uses the shoe horn to help him get his shoes on, Kasper decided to use it after the shoes were already on. =P

What a funny guy!

A full sentence!

So this morning Kasper spoke in a sentence. He unfortunately said, "No Saek Saek Daddy." Which means "No Kissing Daddy".

Poor Daddy.

1 + 1 = 2

So we're into month 3 of having 2 kids. I think we're getting better but we've had quite a few adventures along the way. I honestly don't know how single parents do it. It's hard enough having 2 kids with Ray & a helper, but all by yourself?! Gee whiz.

Some of our tougher parts have been toilet training Kasper in Mayah's first month of life (I honestly don't know why I picked that time...maybe school pressure?) and our most recent adventure has been Kasper getting Hand, Foot & Mouth disease. (NOT to be confused with Mad cow disease or Foot & Mouth disease.)

Kasper's been a pretty healthy baby. His last illness was in December when we went back to Canada. He had a cold and runny nose that immediately got better coming back to Taiwan. Well, about a week ago, Kasper came home early from school because he had a fever. The fever developed into a sore throat, and then into spots all over his arms & legs & mouth area. We later found out how contagious he was and had to pretty much quarantine him. It's tough to do that when you have 2 kids. Needless to say there was a lot of handwashing, clothes changing and TV watching for Kasper. I'm thankful that Mayah is so easy as a baby. After a good feed, burp and change, she pretty much plays by herself watching the mobile until she sleeps. At night we've gotten more playing time together but she was pretty neglected during the day. =P Hopefully she won't develop 2nd child syndrome. =P

Here's a video of our sweet girl Mayah doing tummy time. The crying sound in the background is Kasper. =P She's got amazing upper body strength, :) and she's so talkative and smiley.... I really can just eat her up!

The Magic 魚魚 (fish)

When Kasper was born, he was given this little blue stuffed rattle toy that was a fish. He is very attached to this fish, but because he likes to chew on it, it gets rather stinky. So before he goes to bed we always tell him to put it away so he's not chewing on a stinky toy all night.

Well for the past month or so, we've been having the following conversations with him.

7:00 am - Kasper cries in his room. "Wah! Wah!"
7:01 am - Ray walks into his room. Speaks to Kasper in Mandarin. "It's not time to wake up yet. Do you want your 魚魚 (Yuyu)?"
- Kasper replies "好! (hao - okay!)"
- Ray gives Kasper the 魚魚 and says "Okay. Now go back and sleep a little longer!"
- Kasper replies "好! (hao - okay!)"
- Ray leaves the room, closes the door. Kasper sleeps for another 30 min. or so.

Here's a picture of Kasper's 魚魚


Here's a picture of Kasper's 2nd piece of artwork at school. Do you see a resemblance to 魚魚?

Mourning a Natural Birth

Okay. So I know there are a lot more things that one can mourn over besides not being able to have a natural birth.

I mean I can only imagine the grief and pain that Rachel, Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth must have felt not being able to bear a child for such a long period of time before God granted them with a son ... and in their old age! Then there are those who gave birth only to have their sons taken away like Bathsheba, Naomi and countless many others. And then there are those who must have pleaded with God, but remained barren.

But isn't that how the human heart works? We're full of desires and wishes. We pray to God, but really it's a wish list.

I was hoping that Mei Mei would be born before my friends left Taiwan...but well it turns out the Doctor's due date was way more accurate than my internal due date. I was really hoping for a natural birth (I don't really know why since it was God's punishment for woman that "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children." so it's not as if it's a really PLEASANT thing to go through)...but somehow the labour process of childbirth and then picturing Mei Mei at the end of the hard work was something I was looking forward to.

The doctor says there are some thin spots in my uterus that increases the risk of a uterine rupture if I try for a VBAC and so he advises a scheduled C-section instead. Well I'm pretty sure it's the right decision to make. I'd rather Mei Mei and I be safe.

I think I just need to resort back to leaning on God. He continuously reminds me how I tend to lean on myself and my hopes...and His are always so much better.

Proverbs 3
⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Waiting....

So for Kasper, he just came. Before I was really ready. Now I'm ready, and .... nothing. Sigh. I hate waiting. But maybe that's what God wants me learn. To wait, for his time.

Well in the meantime I'm getting lots done!
- Finished my TV shows
- Getting some reading in
- Fixed Kasper's car seat, hook, and framed his artwork
- Up to date on Facebook
- Reading blogs...

Then came across this video on my friend's blog about my school. I really love the school that I work at right now. Thought I'd share the video with you too so you know what it's about. :)

School makes you SMARTER!

Kasper started school today. Sniff* Sniff* He did really well. He had some tears, but remembered to wash his hands before eating, and shared his food willingly with others. He had trouble focusing on one toy for more than 5 min. but I attribute that to him being only 1 year 8 months, and a BOY. :)

So, amazing thing. BEFORE school, Kasper has been having some difficulty with putting shapes in those shape sorter toys, and putting puzzles in the right place. Tonight, after dinner, instead of his usual ritual of whining to watch Chao Hu (This great tiger video that teaches kids in Mandarin how to brush their teeth, potty, cut vegetables, etc. Here's a video about rabbits. No kidding, Kasper LOVES this stuff!), he picked up a magnetic shape puzzle and proceeded to make art with the shapes.

But that's not all! THEN he put most of the shapes back in the correct spot (except for 1 of the semi-circles and the triangles, but those shapes are HARD!).

Imagine that?! School does make you SMARTER!

Pit-Pat Pit-Pat

Honestly! Where does time go! I can't believe that Kasper is really becoming a little boy.

Last week I counted 30+ words that he can say in various languages (Cantonese, Mandarin, English - I didn't count his sign language). He can understand a lot more than he can say. Here are some of the highlights.

• "Goo goo" of course, which usually means mushrooms but can also mean meat, or anything else he likes to eat. (Cantonese)
• "Nai Nai" = milk (Cantonese or Mandarin)
• "Bei Bei" = nose (Cantonese)
• "Tse Tse" = car (Cantonese or Mandarin)
• "Up" = up (English)
• "Mut mut" = sock (Cantonese)
• "Sek Sek" = kiss (Cantonese)
• "Cheese" = cheese (English)
• "Goo" = good (English)
  

And then, today, after a very busy morning, he fell asleep in the car. So instead of putting him in his bed, we put him in our bed for his afternoon nap. 2 hours later, while Ray and I are watching TV, we hear - the Pit-pat Pit-pat of feet and who should appear but our little boy, all bleary eyed and frowning. He had crawled out of bed himself and found us in the living room.

Tomorrow he starts his first day at Montessori. 2 1/2 hours every morning. We're hoping he'll pick up more Mandarin.

Sigh! Such a big boy!

Everything Good is "Goo Goo"

So we've come to discover that among cheese, ice cream and bread, one of Kasper's new favourite foods is mushrooms or "goo goo" in Chinese (correctly spelled as "gu gu" in pinyin). He can literally eat 1/2 a bowl of mushrooms in a meal and be as happy as a lark.

Well due to his limited vocabulary, he has also started calling balloons, cars, his stuffed animals and anything else he wants/likes "goo goo" too.

Here's a recent conversation we had.
- Kasper pointing at water: "Goo goo"
- Mommy: "No Kasper. That's shui shui."
- Kasper: "Hao. Goo goo." (meaning okay)
- Mommy: "Kasper. It's shui shui."
- Kasper: "Hao."
- Daddy laughs. Mommy sighs.

Wouldn't it be great if everything good was just called "Goo goo"?

Just when you think you've figured it out...

So...new baby...new hospital...still lost!

BTW, Did we tell all of you yet?....We're expecting another Chow! I'm in my 5th month and so far I feel MUCH bigger than I did with Kasper. I feel MUCH more tired than when I did with Kasper. AND I'm in MUCH of a lesser mood to prepare for the 2nd coming. (Hee hee! A little Apocalyptic joke there.) We don't know what gender it is yet. According to the doctor, "It MIGHT be a girl". So I guess it MIGHT be a boy too! Great! That tells us a lot.

AND to top it off, I feel even more lost than ever in the hospital! I wanted to try a new doctor and hospital because although we had a pretty good experience at the last hospital, I was worried that my previous doctor would not be as supportive in assisting me with a VBAC delivery this time around. So I wanted to try a new doctor/hospital.

We were pretty impressed by the very English friendly website of TMUH and although there were some doubts about their obs/gyn department from many Taiwanese co-workers (it's a relatively new hospital to many), we decided to go with the hospital after our orientation. The nurse we met seemed very knowledgeable, and the facility was so state-of-the-art, and it was so convenient to get to, we decided...let's give it a try!

My problem is I never understand what's going on once I get to the hospital. There's always a maze of people you have to go to. Get an appointment at this counter, go to this department for your visit. Wait for your #? Pay. Get medecine (if any). It's all very confusing. And even more confusing is yesterday we went to the hospital having already pre-registered with a number (#71), and then when we got there, the doctor was calling upon #50. So did we have to wait 20 numbers? So I went to ask the nurse if in the future we should just come later if we have a later #, and she said, NO. You get a # to get registered, and then you come anytime, and it's a first come first served basis. Unless you're just reading a report, and then you get pushed back until whenever there is a free period. BUT with people coming in and out constantly when do you possibly get a free period? Sigh...it's just all so confusing.

Sometimes I wish my skin would look more white, and my hair look less black so that people would just help me out. =P

Gee has it been that long?

October 30, 2009 huh? It's really been 2 months since we've posted?

I guess time really flies by. Well I could sit and write out things that have been going on, but I figured I'd share a link of a sharing that Ray & I did at ETCBC in December as we were visiting our family and friends for Christmas.

I think listening to the message will give you some updates and idea of what we've been thinking about lately.

Hopefully we'll be better in updating our blog in the future.

Blessings!

A Good Mom?

So Kasper is now 14 months old. I'd like to say I feel more like a pro-mom but lately feelings of inadequacy and guilt keep on surfacing. I know I have to take away some of these feelings, and it helped today that I read a babycentre bulletin that said:

"There's not much to do but accept that sometimes he'll act needy and other times he'll ignore you.'

But these feelings are still hard to shake. I love the work that I do, and it gives me great pleasure. I love that Kasper is very independent and plays well with most children and adults. I love that he does not whine for a certain person to hold him and can be very easily comforted....BUT it's hard when after a busy day at work, that he doesn't necessarily want to PLAY with me. And if he does, he likes playing games where you swing him or piggy back him, and my body just can't physically handle it right now. And then he chooses to play with somebody else. :( I wish he could say right now "Mommy, I love you." and then I would feel alright. I think...

Sigh...then there's this passage that seems to loom over me. I know God doesn't mean it to loom over me. It's supposed to be a goal, an encouragement, a model...but I feel so short from it. I think I need some ice cream.

A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

¹² She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

¹³ She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

²² She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹ "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Another Day in Taiwan

So we've been in Taiwan for almost 3 years. We know where to get groceries, find good restaurants, find doctors & dentists, how to drive around the city (well Ray does anyways)... life is definitely more regular now.

Contracts for school came out. Time to decide again whether to sign on the dotted line and stay another year or not. Should we leave the comforts of Taiwan? Return to the comforts of Canada? or something else....

I need an ice cream.

Almost 1!

Yesterday our staff went to our traditional Friday at Friday's dinner.

At the end of the 1st week of school it's our school's way to celebrate the beginning of the school year AND the survival of the 1st week.

During the dinner, many of my co-workers jokingly reminded us about how at the same time last year, my belly was super big and Kasper was ready to pop out. My maternity leave began the following Monday but I was so sure that Kasper was going to be late and would not come out until a week later. That night after Friday's, my co-workers and I got a wonderful hairwash and the next morning at 7am my water broke. I guess I wasn't ready yet (we hadn't even packed for the hospital yet), but Kasper sure was.

It's a been a year already and God has definitely taught us a lot through Kasper. When you have a baby, you realize how selfish you've been your whole life. All decisions you make when you're not a parent are really your own. Sure they might be influenced by other factors like parents, friends, circumstances. But when you have a child you NEED to consider them because they are helpless without your decisions and actions. They can't feed themselves, bathe, or move without your help.

Luckily, Kasper has been a SUPERSTAR baby. He sleeps well, laughs lots, and loves to cuddle. I'm so thankful for this year that we've had.

Hun Li (婚禮)

So we attended our FIRST Taiwanese wedding today. It was Ray's co-worker's wedding. It was a very pleasant experience. Why you might ask?

1. Food was EXCELLENT! Probably one of the best Chinese Banquet meals I've ever had. And for lunch too! I definitely could have eaten seconds for some of the dishes. :) Especially the abalone. The TWO courses we had it!

2. No games. (definite plus for Ray)

3. Got to meet Ray's co-workers in a more non-work environment. (Although there was still some shop talk going on)

4. Not too long. :) Definite plus so we could make it back to feed Kasper again.

All in all it was a great cultural experience. Although the dress code for the wedding was definitely very interesting. Some people came in jeans, most in business casual dress, and then some in formal. Ray & I arrived in formal dress at the same time as some of the more casually dressed people and had a horrible "Oh no! We're totally out of place!" moment at first. But we thankfully fit in with the attire at our table so we felt much better. =P

Being here in Taiwan we've definitely missed a lot of weddings. Where we used to average 10 weddings a year, we've dwindled down to 1/year now. I like attending weddings. I don't really need to dress up anymore so it's nice to do it once in a while. Plus I always find weddings remind me of my own wedding day and that's a happy place to be. :)

Sorry to all those whose weddings we've missed over the years. You were definitely on our hearts.

Upgrades are awesome!

We just came back from our trip to Ho Chi Minh city. It was admittedly a bit risque given that H1N1 is still active but it was nice to get away and go on a little trip as a family and the food was AWESOME! Pho everyday...grilled meats with lemongrass...ice creams...stingray.

We decided to avoid the backpacking adventures and splurged on a 4-star hotel for the week, but the best part was our room got upgraded to an executive suite because they didn't have any other large beds available. The room was still a bit run-down compared to hotels like the Hyatt, but the best part about the upgrade was that we had access to the executive lounge! If you've never had that before it's quite the treat! Imagine free food and drinks ALL DAY!

So our days ended up being ...wake up late...breakfast buffet...trip to the market or a site...back around 3pm to feed Kasper and hang out in the lounge...dinner at restaurant...play with Kasper before sleeping.

Too bad Ray has to go back to work. Boo hoo! :( Everybody should have summers off!

Here are some pictures of Daddy & Kasper enjoying the lounge. The funny thing was that we were the only ones there enjoying the service & food everyday! Our own private lounge. :)