Christmas Eve Breakfast

On Christmas Eve we treated ourselves to a fancy breakfast brunch at a fancy hotel in the city. We walked into the lobby and came upon this huge wonder of a Christmas tree!

"O' Tannenbaum, O'Christmas Tree! O'Family"

What beautiful Christmas scenes and decorations!

We enjoyed a long brunch and lots of goodies. Jeremiah did really well sitting for that long, and new doggie came along to help with that cause. The coolest part of the buffet was the honeycomb!

Jeremiah squealed with delight upon finding this GIGANTIC ball!

We were tickled playing with this huge bowl of red pine cones.

Another Christmas Tree!

Christmas cuddles and kisses for Mei Mei :)

Sitting outside and enjoying a few moments of reflection on Christmas Eve morning.

Our 2012 Christmas Card

^"He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth” Luke 1:14

A Living Christmas!

Tonight we went to Miramar Mall to see the live nativity. Some of our church friends were part of the group putting it on. The live nativity also included live animals! Jeremiah got his first ride on a horse! Daniel says this photo looks like Jeremiah's triumphant entry to the mall :)  He sat on the horse so proudly and held on so well.

"Take me to the manger! I want to see baby Jesus!"

A HUGE crowd of onlookers gathered to see the live nativity and the sharing of the Christmas story. It was pretty incredible to see that! And what an opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas.

The roman soldier looks on the scene.

Wise men worship the newborn king.

The shepherds watched their goats by night . . . and Jeremiah got to get right in with them. He loved it. The baby goats got hold of his fingers and he thought it was the funniest thing. One goat started getting pulling on his hair with his mouth. Then it was time to go.

 

 

 

 

A Merry Weekend

We decided to space some of Jeremiah's Christmas gifts out over the weekend, and there has been a lot of joy! He got his first Playmobil 1.2.3 toy - a motorcyle with a driver. There have been many vroom vrooms since them. I think he's a true Bastke with his love and appreciation for Playmobil already.

Today Jeremiah opened a gift with a new doggie inside. He has a big doggie already who he absolutely loves, but this new doggie is smaller and more portable. And as you can see from above, there is joy with having a new doggie, too!

"So you are new doggie . . . "

"I like you new doggie. I like you a lot."

Da boys find merriment in bathtime!

done . . . done . . . Andrea is done teaching on Let's Talk in English.

This week I wrapped up my teaching recording on Let’ s Talk in English. I had my last full day of teaching in the studio on Monday by filming the end of our March 2013 episodes. It was a tiring day and a joyful day. Being eight months pregnant, I’m thankful to be done! 

I’ve been teaching on the show for 10 years.  I've taught thousands of episodes by this point as our show is on six days a week. I taught my first five years while we partnered with Taiwan Public Television and filmed at their studios with their production team and crew in another district in town. The past five years our company has been producing the show on its own and we’ve been filming in our own studio with our own production team and crew. I’ve had five different teaching partners and taught on my own for half a year.  I’ve taught through many different life changes – from being single to engaged to married (even teaching with Daniel!), during my pregnancies, and taught as a mom with a little man even wandering on the set from time to time. I’ve had family and friends from home come to the studios to watch recordings. My parents were even on one of our episodes! I’ve been able to welcome students to the set and meet them while out and about. I’ve learned a tremendous amount, laughed, cried, and carried on through frustrations, sadness and absolute delight. It’s been beyond my wildest dreams to have such an opportunity! I love teaching and have been able to teach in the world of edutainment! As a child I always wanted to be a teacher and a movie star . . . tee hee :) God found a way to bring both of my dreams together in His own unique way. 

Through it all our goal has been to broadcast God’s praises through teaching English! And that will continue.

I got a little teary while ending the show with, “Friends, it has been a joy! Be sure to come back again tomorrow. There is always more to learn here on Let’s Talk in English!”

When I came home from work on Monday, I found these sweet signs on our front door and my two favourite men warmly welcoming me home.  Daniel said he had put Jeremiah’s sign on the fridge, but he promptly took it off the fridge and pointed to the door and Daddy had to put it up there, too. 

Weather Here Nor There

"Wait! I'm not ready for a picture, yet!"

"OK, now I am, Mama." December has been quite the month weather wise. We've had typhoon like rains, summer sunshine, warm days, cold days, temperature highs and lows. Jeremiah has sported his cool froggie raincoat on many days this month!

Yesterday we were at a Christmas party wearing shorts and T-shirts. Today we were wearing jeans and vests while out and about. We do know one thing about the weather here, we'll still be dreaming of a white Christmas!

Look who made the cover!

Jeremiah made it on the cover! This is our December Let's Talk in English magazine cover. We took this photo back in July and Jeremiah came to the office with me that day. The cover photo shoot took well over an hour, and at the end we asked if we could take a few "just for fun!"shots with Jeremiah. We were pretty surprised that one of our "just for fun" photos was chosen for the cover! It's a fun Christmas sparkle! And what a blessing to work with this team of . . . well . . .  angels :)

Christmas Sparkles!

Going to the European School's Christmas Bazaar has become a tradition for Daniel and I since we started dating. This year it was the last Saturday in November, and it's always such a special way to start off the Christmas season! This year Jeremiah got to enjoy his own sausage on a bun (well, the sausage anyway) and other treats. For me, I enjoyed a piece of one of the best Sachertorte I've ever had. Sachertorte is layered chocolate cake, marzipan and apricot jam with thick dark chocolate icing. It's Christmas goodness. Daniel had a Gluhwein and I had a Kinderwein. It's as close to a German Christmas market as we'll get in Taipei! What a jingle bell joy treat!

We also met up with our dear friends, the Weis, and one of Jeremiah's dear friends, Scarlett. Above you'll see Beth and I, we are Taipei mamas! We are often out and about together with our strollers and babes!

It's great to see Christmas in Taipei. We saw this big tree at the Taipei Main Train Station.

We got to meet up with one of Daniel's college friends. She grew up in Taiwan, and was actually the first person to tell Daniel about Taiwan. She has been back in Taipei for a few months waiting to finalize her daughter's adoption. We got to meet her and her precious girl a day before they finally got to go back to Canada, and celebrate Christmas as a family!

At the beginning of December I joined a WOW (Women of the Word) Christmas celebration at the American club. My friend Rachel was part of the organization team, and it was SUCH a blessed night. Rachel, Beth and I got a mamas shot by the tree before the night ended. Love these mamas! I like how you can see Rachel's boy, Benny, in the background taking balls off the tree.:)