From our pastures to yours

Floating Space Station

We've had a few windy and rainy days again this week, and one part of rainy days that I enjoy is watching the clouds dance across the city scape. We have a view of the Taipei 101 across the river from our apartment. It's always rather mysterious to watch the clouds cover the tower, hide it from sight, and then see the top peaking out above the clouds - hence the floating space station effect.

I'm also pretty impressed with my point and shoot camera's zoom!

On the bus . . .

with daddy. :)

St.Nickolaus Day

As a child, I always put my boots out on the evening of December 5th, in anticipation for St. Nickolaus Day on December 6th. It's a German tradition that my parents continued with us in Canada. St. Nickolaus would put little gifts, fruit, nuts and chocolate in my shoes. My mom, I mean . . . St. Nickolaus always gave us a sweet surprise. I like the tradition as it adds more of a build up to Christmas, and the true meaning of the season isn't lost with this. St. Nickolaus has been visiting my neighbours in Taiwan for many years, and this year he visited our home too. Daniel and Jeremiah put their boots and shoes out, and found a fun surprise. :) OK . . . I put their boots and shoes out . . . and we were a little late with this this year . . . but St. Nickolaus still found us!

Our Little Rock Star!

I try to set up different activity centres for Jeremiah during our days together. We took the "drum" activity centre to a fun beat last week!

Mommy just gave me a rolling pin! I mean . . . a drum stick!

Yup! I'm a rock star!

Baby Crawling Contest

Miramar (a big mall in our area of the city) hosted a baby crawling contest this past weekend. The competition started with simply signing up! Phone lines opened at a specific time on a specific day to sign your baby up. A friend helped me try to sign Jeremiah up, but after half an hour of calling and calling, she just couldn't get through. In the end he got on the waiting list. So we went to the mall on Saturday to see if we'd still get in. Above you see the crawling lanes and the crowds of parents and grandparents all around. Notice how toys were set in the lanes as distractions.

Jeremiah didn't end up getting in the competition :( We were close though! He was number four on the waiting list, and the first three got in. But we still had a great time! We met many parents and babies, and got to watch a bit of the crawling . . . but most of the babies didn't seem to crawl. It was loud and there were so many people, some babies were focused on so many things about them that I think they forgot about crawling :)

Auntie Malia was such a cheerleader for us, and we had fun hanging out with her. Though he wasn't in the competition, Jeremiah is still our crawling champ!

A Little Lady

 Last week a little lady spent the afternoon with us on the rooftop. Adorable Alicia was so incredibly sweet and chill and seemed to enjoy having Jeremiah Ge Ge (big brother) to watch for a bit. We loved having her with us! Jeremiah was curious about little Alicia. They had fun little exchanges of expressions. Jeremiah played around her, but kept checking in with the little lady too. :)

 Alicia: Hi, Jeremiah. I'm going to stay here with you for a bit.

Jeremiah: OK. I like your chair.

 Jeremiah: Alicia, look at me.

Alicia: No, I'm busy.

 Jeremiah: She's dancing!
Alicia: Dance of "I'm on the rooftop" joy!

 Alicia: Talk to the hand!

Jeremiah: OK. I'll play with my ball!

 Alicia: (Yawn) Hanging out with Jeremiah tuckers me out!

What a doll!

Royal Lunch

We had a royal birthday lunch for Queen Linda to celebrate her 30th birthday! Tiara dawning Queen Linda is surrounded by a royal court of ORTV sisters. The queen wave signals a wave of joy, love and "normal" for an incredible new decade! We love you, Linda!

Royal gifts for the Queen and her princess Alicia.

The fish was not so royal! But he was a most delicious dish!

Snack time in the park

The riverside park right by our apartment is one of my favourite places in the city. The high walls drown out the bustling city sounds, and it's a place of refuge - especially during the weekdays. It's usually very busy on weekends. Yesterday Jeremiah and I walked in the park, and came to my favourite look out point for a little break and a snack. About two years ago, this little boardwalk rest area was built by the river path. This place has been a very special spot for me - I've had some incredibly joyful times and chats here, and have also wept and poured our my heart and soul in prayer. It has also been a place of quiet and being still - yes, a very special place. So special to stop here with my boy!

It's snack time!

Sitting on these benches by the river offers a view of some of my favorite Taipei sites like the Grand Hotel.

The Da Zhi bridge (It's built to look like a fishing rod) and points to our area of town. Can you see it in the distance? When I first came to Taipei, I called it the "E.T. Phone Home" bridge. To me it looked like a finger with a red light at the tip pointing to my home in here. E.T phone home . . . get it? :)

And that building in the distance is the Taipei 101 - the second tallest building in the world! We also see all of these views and angles from our apartment - we are so blessed with our place here.

"Um . . . mom . . . can you open my crackers now?" Sweet Jeremiah, he's very patient with his mama! :)

"teach" "teach" Andrea still teaches on Let's Talk in English!

 This year marks the 9th year that I've been teaching on Let's Talk in English! I can't believe it! My animated and energetic teaching partner, Gabe, and I wrapped up the April 2012 teaching in the studio today! We have finished one third of the 2012 recording year! Studio days are packed, and exhausting, but also fun and challenging! Today I found a sweet little surprise in my "trailer". My "trailer" is a chair and small table at the edge of the blue screen. :) Bless my sweet Daniel for setting it up today! Did you know that Hello Kitty's boyfriend is named Daniel? :) We cool cat girls know how special Daniels are! I'm thankful that LTE teaching only  has me away from Jeremiah for four days per month, and I see him at lunch time :)

A Friend for Life

Found at the Zhong Xiao Fuxing (where you get on the blue line) MRT station - Our latest billboard! This is a new ad, but the picture they used of me is five years old . . . and well . . . I look different now, but that's OK - I'm still a friend for life :)

For the Beauty of the Earth

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

This is one of my most favourite hymns. It's been on my heart and mind again since 

Saturday. We sang the first verse together before our Thanksgiving meal. The last time I sang it before

that day was in the delivery room shortly after Jeremiah was born. Tonight it was his

lullaby. As a bride, I walked down the aisle to a beautiful arrangement of it played 

on the piano and cello. And it was a congregational hymn to start our ceremony. So many 

memories attached to it, but what shouts loudest is "Lord of all to thee we raise this our hymn

of grateful praise."  

Sunday at the Park

"Mama and I are both wearing blue. "

"Daddy, I want a sip!"

Dance of "I'm on the grass" JOY!

"I have six teeth! And they tell me there are even more to come!"

Jeremiah found little people."Hello, Excuse me." 

"Now that's a cool red hat!"

"So what do you put in your wheel barrel?"

"Ah, so you put your treasures in here."

So many moments to treasure! :)

Lean on Me

"I got your back, Daddy. I got your back" :) I caught this sweet moment at a Thanksgiving party tonight with our dear friends right in our neighbourhood. Jeremiah had a ball crawling about, laughing, staying up way past his bedtime, and having so many wonderful aunties and uncles here. He also got to hold the remote control (or if you are a Brodersen, we say, "converter":)) which is something he will crawl far for. Oh, and he had his first taste of pumpkin pie!

Friends for Life

Our babies together for the first time - Jeremiah, Benny, Scarlett and Alicia. They are truly friends for life! They were born within six months of each other, and we mamas walked through pregnancies together and much much more. Our friend Julie sent us the "Beary Loveable" T-shirts. And we love the matchy matchy! I love each adorable expression and the captions you can come up with for each one too! :)

 Mamas and their precious girls

Mamas and their handsome boys!

The whole bundle of joy gang!

 We give thanks.

I could really go for . . .

a Timmies run right about now! The weather has turned cooler in Taipei, that fall crisp feeling is in the air tonight . . . and home is on my heart. I could go for a Tim Horton's muffin and half decaf coffee half hot chocolate.

A picture from Jeremiah's first Tim Horton's experience from our trip home this past summer. We were in Niagara Falls!

Mesh Mash

The parent who invented these hit a baby feeding goldmine! A huge thanks to the Wilsons who introduced and gifted them to us. Now we have them in use. :) You simply put a piece of fruit inside the mesh and snap it shut. It took a few tries for Jeremiah to get the hang of holding the handle and enjoying the fruit. At first it was a fun toy that he'd bang on the table, but now he grabs his fresh food feeder with joy and knows exactly what to do with it. We usually feed Jeremiah his dinner before we eat, and now he eats his fresh fruit "dessert" on his own at the table with us while we eat our dinner. Tonight the mesh brought him some golden kiwi slices. They are actually not as messy as I thought, and the clean up is so simple.We've also used these with an ice cube inside to help our little guy with teething.

Lunch at Ikea

Oh, what a beautiful Monday it was in Taipei! Jeremiah and I decided to go out of our neighbourhood for lunch, and took a little trip to Ikea.  

We saw our friend Melissa on the way . . . well, sort of . . . :)

An Ikea lunch is always a treat! We sat next to some very friendly people and had a nice chat!

"Look at me and my Ikea bib!"

Making new friends along the way! :) This little guy walked up to Jeremiah's stroller and gave him a big hug! Talk about the sweetest thing. Then they had some fun bonding time in the Ikea toy section.

Thanksgiving on the Mountain

We celebrated American Thanksgiving at Calvary Church on Yang Ming Shan mountain. Being at Calvary church is always a blessing! God blessed us with gorgeous sunshine in our hearts and upon us for this day.  My dear friend Rachel put together an incredible Thanksgiving meal after the service and what a treat to enjoy! It's also tradition to take family photos, so here are a few from today.

I just love Jeremiah's expression in this one! He must be pretty excited about his first American Thanksgiving celebration this week! This is our sixth American Thanksgiving celebration together as a couple (and we've been to Calvary for each one!), and our first with Jeremiah in our arms.

Jeremiah loves his beautiful Auntie Naomi! They truly are friends since birth :)

Another family picture. We give thanks! Such a song of joy and thanks!

The ladies . . . and a boy! I think today was the first time J.Kai wore his little slipper shoes. I guess he wanted to show them off in the picture.:)

8 Months Old!

Our little guy is 8 months old today! He's crawling and even propping himself up on things now. We had to lower his crib mattress today. He's a growing! He truly is our bundle of JOY!