Back to School!

Elise & Kenna are back to school!

Elise is in 2nd grade and is so excited to see her teacher again (she gets the same teacher for both 1st & 2nd grade) and catch up with all her friends. There are about 350 2nd-graders at her school (one of 8 elementary schools in our area). A little bit different to home! She loves learning (especially Chinese) and overall enjoys school very much.

Kenna is in the local public Kindergarten (attached to the same elementary school Elise goes to) and is very excited to be at school where she gets to play quite a bit and do lots of activities with all her "best friends" (she came home with 5 new "best friends" after just the first day of school). The food however, is not her favorite... but she'll get used to it. At least this kindergarten doesn't serve quite as much pig's blood for lunch as last year's kindergarten! :-P

Helpers :-)

I often lay with the kids for a few minutes at night when putting them to bed -- we talk about the day, they ask questions, beg for stories, and we pray together.

When there were just the 3 girls, Elise often used to ask for a brother. I told her we were finished at 3, but if she really really wanted a brother, she could pray for a miracle. (Well, I guess we know who God listens to ;-)) The other night, Elise was reminiscing about this, which got the kids to asking for another sibling, to which I responded by saying that they are all very special gifts from God, but we are definitely finished at four! So, Kenna says, "Why mom, don't you want to have more helpers?"

In a season where all you feel you ever do is clean up, pick up, wipe up spills, do mountains of laundry, tackle stacks of dishes, and work at never-ending housework -- all you can do is smile. :-) Yes... I dearly love my 'helpers'! :-)

God is so Li-Hai!

This evening as the girls and I were pulling in to park the motorbike at the end of the alley, I noticed a cat ready to jump to it's perch on top of the brick wall. I told the girls to hold still and watch -- thinking it would be fun for them to witness the little cat jump from the ground up to twice Elise's height. Kenna immediately began chasing the cat down the opposite end of the alley... (yep, that's our Kenna), and Elise responded, "Bu ke neng!" (meaning, that's impossible). But I told them to be patient and they might still be able to watch the cat jump.

Kenna did eventually chase the cat back, and we waited quietly out of the way -- and sure enough, a minute later -- jump! -- up to the wall about 2m high. Both girls were so impressed and Elise says, "Wow, God is so li-hai!" (we speak a lot of Chinglish around here, and roughly translated means, 'God is so amazing'). I was so blessed by her comment in that she immediately recognized the cat's ability wasn't in and from itself, but from our amazing Creator God.

Mommy's Big Helper

Motorbike Mania

We have heard that Taiwan has the highest number of motorbikes per capita. This quick clip gives you an idea of what the streets look like here in Taiwan.

We love our motorbike and drive it everywhere locally -- very convenient way to get around! (And easy to find parking for!)

Riding the MRT

"MRT" stands for 'mass rapid transportation' and is the name Taiwan uses for it's subway system. Here we are traveling into the city with some friends.

Can anyone name the two people directly in front and the four off to the right side???

Projectile from top bunk (a.k.a. Revenge of the Rotavirus!)

It's just past midnight, the whole house is sleeping... and then the sound of whimpering... which soon turned into crying... the kind you know you're going to have to will yourself out of bed for (sigh...roll over...sigh again... stretch...). Michael (as usual) was the one who got up to investigate -- and what a sight met his eyes!

Kenna, who hadn't felt very well when going to bed, had just spewed her spaghetti.

(Disclaimer: don't read further if you don't want the details)

Now, this was not any normal upchucking episode! Kenna knew it would not be good to throw up in her bed, so she decided to lean over the side instead. Only problem? She sleeps on the top bunk. Yeah... so there was twice-stirred tomato sauce dripping from the wood railings, spots on the bed, spew sprayed all over the walls, closet doors, dressers (it bounced off of everything and splattered everything), chunks of chuck all over the toys (of course we hadn't picked up the room on that particular night and nearly every toy in the house was on the floor in that room!), vile-smelling vomit oozing into every crack of the alphabet-puzzle foamies that covered the whole floor... yes, that'll do, you say!

And thus began the "Revenge of the Rotavirus" that attacked the youngest 3 kids for almost the whole next month.

Not only did the rotavirus bring on puking every 10 minutes or less for several hours in a row, the severe diarrhea that was also part of the fun made us go through several packages of diapers. Even Kenna had to wear diapers for a couple days because it was so impossible to control!

Anaya and Nathan just laid like rag dolls on the couch -- so out of it. They had to be on a BRAT (bananas, rice, apples, toast -- and that was it!) diet for 2 weeks -- poor kids -- it was torture for them to watch us eat other foods, so we all went on the brat diet for a bit. We had to force-squirt rehydration drinks down their mouth. Many kids in our area had to be hospitalized, but we managed to just avoid that.

After rotavirus, we went through hand-foot-mouth with the kids (Elise's class closed down for 10 days!), then finished off the sick season with bronchitus.

Bring on summer vacation! (Please?)

Diving from the top bunk

Yes, at just 16 months of age, Nathan mastered the art of climbing to the top bunk. Yay.

We tried to keep close tabs on him, but of course one evening he managed to sneak up there and we didn't know it till we heard the big THUD! Right onto the back of his head/neck (so says Kenna, who was 'playing' with him and apparently watching... yes, Kenna, thanks for watching...). He was in quite a bit of pain, not acting normal, eyes were a bit roll-aroundy, and he went right to sleep 2 minutes later and did NOT want to be woken up -- so we decided we'd better load everyone up in the van (kids all in pj's)and make a trip to the emergency room.

You feel like great parents when you turn up at the ER and try to explain just how it was that your one-year-old fell off the top of a bunk bed.

Anyhow, everything was ok, Nathan started to perk up and return to his normal self, even cracking a few smiles, they sent us back home -- and didn't charge us anything! Nice!! Love healthcare in Taiwan! :-)