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! :)