The Smallest Room

I walked by the office this afternoon and found Jordan, Keely and Jacob all in the office! It's the smallest room in our apartment! Some days everyone just wants to be all together!

Danshui

After our Hands On debriefing, a couple of the girls stayed a couple days to visit a friend who lived here. The day before they left, they called us up to see if we wanted to go out to Danshui with them. We haven't explored Taipei and the surrounding area much so we decided to go with them. The area is a night market that sits along the water. It was a neat atmosphere and fun to be a bit out of the city.

There were a lot of carnival type games in between the shops, restaurants and food stalls. Jordan was okay with just pretending to ride this ride. Though Keely really wanted to play a game. Maybe next time.

There were several ice cream stalls that sold extra-tall ice cream cones. These were actually the short ones! I usually have to help the girls clean theirs up as they melt, and I would not recommend the pink flavor. It tasted like the bubblegum medicine many of us had to take as kids! Gross!

Of course Jordan had to use the restroom at one point of our walk around the area. We had just passed a McDonald's and went back there to use the restroom. Jordan was very excited about this Ronald McDonald and insisted on a picture.

At the end of our night, we all sat by the water and looked at the buildings before we headed back home.

Makes Me Smile

Makes Me Smile

End of School Presentation

June in Review

6/1/2011

Jordan talking to Mimi and Papa.

6/2/2011

Keely comforting Jordan during a scary part of a show.

6/4/2011

Jordan cleaning off the beater after I made her birthday mini-cupcakes.

6/5/2011

Jordan at the park.

Keely at the park.

6/9/2011

The girls checking some chairs out at Costco while Jacob and I inspect some duffel bags.

6/10/2011

Keely dancing with dad around the living room.

Jordan dancing with dad around the living room.

6/13/2011

The girls playing go fish. Jordan would dance to and from the file when it was her turn to "go fish."

Keely got her four of the same card!

6/17/11

Today we went as a family for lunch. My lunch set came with a piece of cake, and I think that was the girls' favorite part!

Then we went to the mall in Taipei 101 and we went shopping at Jason's -- an import grocery store. We let the girls pick something out -- they decided they wanted to buy a box of cereal. They chose fruity cheerios -- I didn't even know they made those!

6/18/2011

This morning after breakfast the family let me go to the Green Store (it's green on the outside). I saw an idea online to use wiggly eyes on different magazine pictures for an activity. Therefore, I bought some wiggly eyes. When I got home, Jacob needed to go to a meeting and so I got the eyes out. Keely got tired of the activity but Jordan and I kept going for awhile.

Eyes on the front of a Toy Story coloring book

Eyes on Pig from Word World

6/24/2011

Jordan helping me in the kitchen. She was watching the water pitcher as it filled up so it wouldn't overflow. (We have a water filter attached to the tap)

One of our friends and neighbors called tonight to borrow some brown sugar. The girls waited by the door with the brown sugar for her to come by.

Jordan has a flashlight that she takes to bed, but we couldn't find it tonight. A headlamp came with Jordan's sleeping bag, and so I got it out for her. Jordan was very intrigued by how it went on and had to show it off for us even though she didn't keep it on long.

6/26/2011

We got a new game out today. Hi Ho Cherry-O!

We had lots of fun playing it together as a family.

6/29/2011

The piano we have been piano-sitting left today. Keely was a bit upset about the news before she went to school so she asked us to take a picture of them moving it!

Time Flies

Time. Time has been talked about a lot these past days, at least through Face Book. In case you missed it, Harold Camping predicted that May 21st would be judgement day. We see that did not happen as Matthew 24:36 says, "No one knows the day or the hour..." However, it does make you think about how we spend our time.

I listened to a "timely" sermon today on time. When we are young and look at what the world has to offer, we think of ourselves and see the world as our oyster. Then as we get older we realize that isn't quite so and that there are a lot of trials and sorrow. Just like Moses said in Psalms 90:10, "The length of our days is seventy years -- or eighty, if we have the strenght; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away." As Pastor Brett said in his sermon entitled "Numbering," none of us are immune to trouble and sorrow. We have to be tethered to something much more glorious. How horrible would it be to go through all of this trial and sorrow with no purpose. We do have purpose though, to bring glory to our Father in Heaven. If we didn't have him, what would it all mean. No success or amount of money would ever make our time on earth endurable if it weren't for our Father.

What an illustration Pastor Brett used in the word tethered. It takes me back to my middle school days of playing tether ball. The yellow ball tethered to a white rope hooked to a metal pole. You would hit it one way and it would wind around the poll just to be hit again to unwind and wind again the other direction. Isn't life a lot like that? Getting wound and unwound again and again around a hard, metal pole. At least we have God to be tethered to and to see the big picture of life.

Our life is fleeting. Moses says in Psalms 90:4, "For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." A thousand years is in reality just like 24 hours or maybe even more like a watch in the night -- 3 or 4 hours. Pastor Brett went to www.deathclock.com to see when it predicted he would die. It gave him 91 years on this earth. He said that according to what Moses says of how long time really is that 91 years would be like 15 minutes. For fun I went to www.deathclock.com too and I am predicted to die in April of 2078. It gives me 98 years on earth. Yet, it is so fleeting. Even though my life is fleeting and just like a brick in a huge structure -- insignificant in its own rite -- I am tethered to what is much more glorious and to a bigger picture.

My thoughts at this moment on this subject and on Pastor Brett's sermon just slightly touches on the many things that stood out in my mind and what he focused on in his message. If you ever are in need of a message to listen to (you do have the option to stream and watch his messages or download and listen to them), I encourage you to go to Island ECC's website and check out his messages. They always bless me and Father always speaks to me through them. His sermon notes are downloadable as well. Click on the pencil icon in order to download them. You can find the message I have referred to here.

I only have 2, 110, 457, 023 seconds left to live! I must go to bed and get rested up to live tomorrow!!

An Elimination Diet Flunkie

Yes that would be me. Last week I shared that I was going on an elimination diet to see if there are any foods that have been aiding in my chronic pain and fatigue -- not to mention the other things that seem to come with those like long-lasting headaches and brain fog. I started last Monday and by Tuesday I was having a rough time. I was having stomach aches and I was hungry between meals but had no clue what to eat as a snack. My blood sugar can get really low and I need to be able to find snacks if I need them. Finally Tuesday night I ate a bowl of Grape Nuts. The good thing was that it appears not to have "white" in it so I just let gluten in early! The next day I brought back in eggs, beans and brown rice -- being pretty sure those weren't the effecting things. I needed more variety and options. I decided to eat some non-white gluten things to see how I felt with that. I made some homemade bread with just wheat flour (and the other grains that it had in it) and continued to stay away from white. So I guess really I just readjusted the diet for me. It was interesting though that oatmeal seem to effect me more than the cereal and the bread. I did stop eating gluten on Saturday to see if I can tell a difference before I bring it back in as well as white. I did mess up on Sunday because I brought in 3 new things! oops! Again I got desperate! I ate corn chips and my stomach was really upset. Then I ate some chips before reading all of the ingredients since they said gluten free but they had MSG. Then I had some chocolate that night because it had been a rough day and night. Then that night I was hurting pretty badly as well as today. I'm not sure what it was though I have a good inkling it was MSG. (Yes I know, we live in Asia. But if that does effect me I can avoid when I can and take my pain pills when I can't.) I was visiting with a teammate this afternoon and she mentioned mashed potatoes and gravy and suddenly that was all I could think about. SO we had gluten free chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. I'm not very good at all of these nutritional things but I decided potatoes were going to be ok! :-) (Goodness I'm not good at this at all! Hopefully I'm better at parenting than I am on staying on a diet!) So it's been an interesting week and I have actually felt pretty well except the headache that lasted 5 days and the past couple days where I have been hurting so maybe I'm figuring something out! We'll see.

Do let me say I am in good spirits today but this has been a rough week-- but PTL for such a great family supporting me!

Also thank you for the sweet words from some of you last week. I appreciated them.

Owie

A few days before we left for Hong Kong Jordan got an owie on her forehead. A rather big one at that. She was running around and playing in the courtyard in shoes that are too big and fell and banged her head. Not ONCE but TWICE the same afternoon. Ow!!

Easter Cards

I am trying harder to remember our family on holidays. It does take some planning though since it takes awhile to make our cards and for them to get to the States. Before we went on vacation we made and sent these Easter cards. I got a Silhoutte cutter for my birthday and Christmas and I used it to do the cut outs. Unfortunately I misplaced the cutting cap I needed and I had to help the cutting along on my own, which was a lot of work and made it not look as nice! Oh well!! Maybe next time!! The girls chose which card went to whom.

Behind The Scenes

There has been some things going on "behind the scenes" of all the day-to-day fun, vacation and busyness of work. I haven't talked about it here, not because it's a secret. It's just the main reason I have gotten behind on the blog and have just been trying to catch up!!

Last April I shared about being exhausted and having joint problems. I continued to have some soreness and tiredness until the summer. I still rested every afternoon even while we were packing, but wasn't feeling as sore. In September, when it started raining regularly, I started having the episods again where every joint hurts and I was really tired. That episode lasted about 5 days, which was depressing by the end. After that episode I felt more joint pain at different times without the episodes. In the States I felt quite a bit of joint pain when I would stand for a long period of time or when the weather changed. All of that continued into February while Jacob was gone for 15 days. I had 16 days that I didn't feel well out of the 28 days in February. In the beginning of March I finally went to a rheumatologist. My doctor in the States suggested it but I couldn't get into one while we were in the States. This was the third time we had done blood tests and again everything showed normal. He like all of the doctors say that I am a very healthy person. He said that it looked like the pain was not from inflammation and so we just need to try to deal with the symptoms. He gave me some medicine that has really helped, though I still have to take it easy. If I try to do to the level that I think I should, then I it adds up a couple weeks later where I have to rest a lot a day or two. When I'm not feeling very well I don't want to do anything but rest. Even just sitting on the bed or couch and doing computer work isn't something I feel like I can do. Thus why I got so behind!!

Everyone seems to be doing well in spite of all of this. Keely prays every night that I will feel better and gets excited when I go to the doctor in hope that he'll find some miracle. Jacob has to help out a lot more when I'm not feeling well. Of course all of this makes me feel bad that I can't be the mom and wife that I want to be.

It's been nice to have some relief, but I have started hurting again and have had a headache for 48 hours so the pain medicine may be losing its' effectiveness. Before this headache started I had decided to go on an elimination diet and then gradually add things back in to see if any of those is food related. I started yesterday and I learned that I do rely on food. When I don't feel good I had a lot of carbs and sweets and that was so hard yesterday. I wanted the relief of the sugar so bad!! And I'm not a big slab of meat girl -- so eating steak for breakfast is not my idea of an exciting thing!!

So that's what has been going on here "behind the scenes." And that's why there may be some lags in the blog :-)

Makes Me Smile

Oops!

The other day the girls were out of school, but Jacob and I still had language class. It meets at the apartment now so we thought I would try to do it if the girls would let me. I gave them some activities to do and they watched a couple shows, and did a GREAT job letting us have 2 hours of class time!! After lunch we treated them to frozen yogurt at their favorite "ice cream" place. As we were getting ready to go, I grabbed their coats from their closets and laid them on the table. I really thought I had put Jordan's on top. After walking to the bus, riding on the bus and walking 2-3 minutes after getting of the bus. I noticed this:



Jordan's coat looked REALLY big. Then I looked at Keely and hers was pretty small! Oops! I put the wrong coats on the girls and didn't notice it for like 20 minutes! Keely was pretty upset for some reason when I pointed it out and wanted to switch right away!! Crazy Mommy!

Makes Me Smile