New Year's in Kaoshuing

We spent New Year's Eve in Kaoshuing again this year. It was a blessed weekend of reflection and refreshment for our little family. This "tree" was outside our hotel and we liked the creativity of a fusion Christmas and Chinese New Year tree.

What a room, eh? Our hotel room was niiiiiice! The window display like bathroom window/wall was a great feature. It made Jeremiah's bath time a whole lot of fun! It was also nice for me to rest while our little boy played in the water and I watched and shared in his bubbles of joy!

We enjoyed an outing to an old sugar refinery on the outskirts of the city. We went to this place during our last Kaoshuing New Year's when I was pregnant with Jeremiah. Fun to have him running around this place this time.

Trains, tractors and huge tires! This was Jeremiah's kind of place! Daddy thought it was pretty cool, too!

Our sweet boy in the sunshine.

Caught! Jeremiah thought he could get away with a coin from our hotel's Chinese New Year display!

The high speed rail (HSR) took us from the north to the south and back again. Coconut juice fueled our journey :)

This was also a weekend to remember our dear Isla Noelle on what would have been her third birthday (Dec. 31st). Daniel and I both had a prayer walk through Isla's park close to our hotel her birthday. It was the park where we spent the afternoon of her first birthday in quietness and it's become "Isla's Park" to us. We continued to think back to the day of her birth and death and the vivid memories of that day still on our hearts. We marvel at all God has brought us through and how he has blessed us, healed us, moved us and revealed himself to us. Though tears still fall we rejoice in knowing Isla is in heaven. We rejoice in having her little brother, and at the time her little sister within. Isla is forever our first child and part of our family. This weekend away was a gift for us and we give thanks.