Just Passing Through

Monday, November 17, 2014

The Week in Review, Vol. 11

6 things I'm thankful for and the quotable Keira

1. We got to meet with the director for City-to-City Asia to discuss future church-planting dreams and set goals for the upcoming year. I'm thankful for the encouragement and guidance we received, and also very grateful to our good friends who babysat while we had meetings.

2. Chinese final exams are done! And we both passed. :)

3. Mama-daughter dates at the park.

4. This insightful book.

5. This week's Bible story (Abraham) and the truth that God always keeps his promises, no matter what.

6. Gluten-free pumpkin bread.

And now...the quotable Keira:

"Baby, more coffee?"

In a public restroom stall, pointing to the toilet paper roll: "Mama, more tape?"

(In Taiwan, most toilet paper for home use is sold in boxy tissue-like packages, so she rarely sees it on a roll).

(While discarding her carrot sticks and eating hummus by the spoonful instead): "I looooove BEANS!"

Me: What are you laughing at?

Keira: I...too happy!

Keira (jumping up and down): "Mama, I so 'cited!"

Me: "Why are you excited?"

Keira: "Baba coming home!!!"

Funny, that's exactly my sentiment at 6:30 PM every day. ;)

Have a great week.

--Kayt

Sunday, November 9, 2014

The Week in Review, Vol. 10

The week's highlights in no particular order..

1. Jude moved out of our bedroom. Yay for reading in bed with the light on!

2. I started volume 4 of my Chinese textbook series. Goal: to finish it before having another baby.

3. Cooler weather = lots of playtime at the park!

4. Sushi dates at a new place we discovered in our neighborhood.

Each piece is only 15-60 cents (USD) and sooo good!

5. Our girl is growing up! Here she's waiting for the bus before church.

6. Our friend Matt came to visit for several days!

7. Matt and Kalan went hiking.

8. We got to introduce Matt to our neighborhood...

9. ...and I was reminded how much I love our city and how thankful I am to live here, even though it's hard sometimes.

Have a great week, everyone.

--Kayt

Monday, November 3, 2014

The Week in Review, Vol. 9

Happy fall from Taiwan!

Friday, October 24, 2014

The Month in Review

The ~~week~~ month in review...

Keira turned 2! She loves to read books, help in the kitchen, play pretend, sing songs, and hang on the monkey bars at the park.

Jude turned 6 months old, has two teeth, crawls everywhere, and started standing up by himself!

With two little people on the move, I'm learning to ask God for wisdom more than ever before.

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy..." (James 3:17)

This verse has been sticking with me, because it's hard to feel "open to reason" and "full of mercy" at 1:00 AM when your toddler's yelling, "Mama, sleeping, all done! WAKE UP! Nooo sleeping!"

That's why I'm also glad this is true:

"The people God uses don't have to know a lot of things, or have a lot of things--they just have to need him a lot." (The Jesus Storybook Bible)

Amen.

Anyway, back to the highlights: Nini (my mom) came to visit for two weeks. We enjoyed every minute! My mom is a really empathetic and encouraging person, and I always feel refreshed by spending time with her. She's not only a great mom but a good friend, too. :)

Finally, as always, we are pressing on with Chinese study...

...and Keira's been helping me study for dictation tests.

Who says learning characters can't be fun? ;)

Have a great weekend!

Kayt

Sunday, September 14, 2014

The Week in Review, Vol. 8

This week: Moon Festival, how we're doing, and the quotable Keira (中文／Chinese edition)

Last Monday was Moon Festival in Taiwan. To celebrate we made pomelo hats and had a BBQ with friends.

I'm still adjusting to being a mom and Chinese student. Our new routine has necessitated more prayer and more coffee but less cleaning. :) Hence our house often looks like this:

A bright spot during our week is our friend Paul. He works in one of the apartment buildings we pass by daily. He always greets us with a big smile, snacks for Keira, and, often, a glass of fresh lemonade for me. Every time we visit he teaches me a new Taiwanese phrase (a different language from Chinese. Eventually, I'd like to learn both).

The quotable Keira (Chinese edition):

While on the potty, singing to herself: "Keira, jia you, jia you!" （You can do it!)
她上廁所的時候：“Keira，加油加油！”

"Jude. Jude! Look. Zhege, red. Zhege, blue. Ok? OK?!" (This one, red. This one, blue.)
Just for the record, the things she was pointing to were actually green and pink...
“Jude。Jude！你看。這個，red。這個，blue。OK？OK？ ” （其實那個東西是綠色，粉色。）

After getting into a taxi, to the driver: "Chaozhou Jie!" (the name of the street we live on)
在計程車裡，她對司機說：“潮州街！“ （我們的地址）

"I toot. I toot." (I'm cute.)
“toot” 聽起來 “cute”，可是“toot” 的意思是 “放屁”