Action-Packed Days

So after that mini-vacation in Hualian, Tony had to really hit the books - or hit the computer in the library as you do nowadays. Thankfully, Anna and Sharon go to the local seminary so he just tagged along with them to use the library resources. So while he was earnestly trying to pull together his thoughts and research on The Kingdom Of God for his New Testament paper (on which he got an A, or was it an A+ ?) I tried to keep the kids out of Anna and Sharon's worldly possessions by getting out of the apartment as much as I could. And thankfully I had a couple really good destinations to get to:


1) Tilly's 3rd Birthday party - Friday, June 11

Anna did a great job preparing a feast and providing fun for a houseload of toddlers... and gosh, it really helped having something specific to get out of the house for... and wow - what a special something!

There was a bit of a "Hungry Caterpillar" theme going on and the kids just looked so adorable in their little Eric Carle party hats!

Of course now that the majority of the kids are 3+ games are a hit at parties... and they all seemed to enjoy this version of a classic! Though Hunter preferred to look where he was aiming... not really catching the essence of the game - but hey - at least he likes to see where he's going.

and there was no way Mei Mei was sitting back to let the big kids have all the fun... she may have been the last one with a turn but she was determined to give it a go!!! You can tell she's really concentrating on this task - this is actually very typical of her personality - she's very focused and determined when it comes to the things she's interested in (aren't we all, though?).

And this little cutie wasn't going to just sit and watch either - Abram had fun mixing it up with the big kids too. That's why these second siblings are so good at everything, eh - they watch and learn!

And wow - Auntie Paula made an amazing birthday cake for little Tilly!!! It tasted as good as it looked! Well done!

It was like Playgroup/BSF all over again - what a treat to see so many of our friends again. Kelly and Karen were in my BSF discussion group too - I'm a bit jealous they all get to go back to BSF in September... that was a great way to study the Bible!

2) Torch Church Farewell Party - Saturday, June 12

Anna and Sharon pulled together about 30 people from church who we've known in various settings for our final official farewell party. We gathered in the church office around 2pm and played a hilarious game of "Clark Taboo" that Sharon created using Clark Family Trivia... it was pretty impressive that she knew so many little tidbits. Then we got to say a few words (I got to choke out a few in Chinese too). Younger and Anna also shared... actually, several people shared - it was really touching. And then Younger prayed for us in a bit of a re-sending back to NZ. We know that we have learned a lot here from Pastor Young and Enze Jie, as well as our other friends here. What a blessing it is being part of God's family - you can always find a home wherever you are in the world!!!

I was sorta preoccupied with the moment that I didn't get many good photos - though I know someone else was taking pictures, I'm just not sure how to access those... anyway, these are the memories that turn into overall positive feelings whenever I'll look back on those years in Taiwan.

3) Final Torch Church Service and One of the Last YUMMY Real Chinese Meals - Sunday, June 13

Pastor Young made some kind of announcement that we'd be available for pictures after church... oh brother... we could've dolled ourselves up a bit more for this... or at least picked a better backdrop... but anyway - it was fun to give hugs to a bunch of folks and say our good-byes.

When Helena squirms away from her favorite Sunday School teacher - you know she's had enough photos taken - honestly, she LOVED this guy! She always wanted him to hold her and funnily enough he was usually able to calm her down if I wasn't... can we ship him over?

Then two of our longest lasting church friends, Stephen and Felicity, took us (and several others) out to lunch after church.

And good friends Edu and Annie were able to enjoy the abundance as well - and rightfully so... we've been Sunday lunch buddies for quite a long time now. Sunday afternoons won't quite be the same.

4) American Club Lunch - Monday, June 14

With one day left to complete his assignment, Tony rushed out to the library again and thankfully I had planned with Christily and Suzanne to meet at the ACC for a little pre-birthday lunch to celebrate Lorelai. The kids had fun in the playroom (well, Hunter and Lorelai did while Michael, Helena and Eries hung with the moms) and we moms had almost uninterrupted conversations - almost.

Auntie Suzanne came bearing gifts for all the kids - so Helena scored some new dresses and a Chinese book which she still LOVES! And Hunter's got a couple new t-shirts which he can wear into the spring in NZ, plus some fun plane toys... thanks heaps, Auntie! Wow... way to plan ahead!!!

And yes, hard to believe but this would be the last hugs... Helena was giving them out freely, but Hunter's emotionally drained. For the past month or so, whenever we say "Hunter, give ____ a hug good-bye" or say good-bye or whatever... he just runs away saying "I'm tired, mom". Really, I believe him - I think he's tired of saying good-bye... I think he just got tired of the whole process - but not Mei mei - she was basking in the affection!!!

Since we knew we'd be participating in two triathlons during our American Vacation, we couldn't just slack off for a week - oh no - not the Clarks. But the weather was terrible, our time limited, the kids... well, we could have come up with heaps of excuses, but in the end - we did stay fit by doing some Jillian Michaels workouts. I even convinced Sharon to do it with me one night (doesn't take much convincing - Sharon's pretty keen to exercise or play). What a sight!!! Mind you it was June in Taipei - they had no air-con in their lounge - it was HOT and it was HUMID so we worked off more just because we sweated so much!!!

Tony was so inspired by us that he wanted to get his workout in too... but he found Sharon's hand weights to be too light... so he found an alternative:

CLASSIC!!!

Well, Tony finally finished his assignment and we said good-bye to Anna and Sharon on Tuesday, June 15 heading for LAX!!! Don't worry guys - we'll be back!!!

Farewell Playgroup...

Our Thursday playgroup has been a highlight for me and the kids ever since Hunter was about 9 months old! Not only did it provide us with friendship and playmates, information and inspiration -  it also provided me with an outlet to connect people to each other and exercise hospitality - two things that I realize God has placed in me to work out his love. Without this opportunity, I probably would've been a bit unhappy or felt unsatisfied during my life as a mom in Taipei. I believe we each have our own unique personalities, gifts and talents and that when we don't exercise those giftings we can just feel a bit 'off' or 'purposeless'. Well, facilitating this group was a blast and I really enjoyed the ladies and children who have been part of our lives through it.... so this was going to be a somewhat sad good-bye for me. On the last Thursday in May, we met at our apartment building for our last Hoorah! It was an all out madhouse since it did rain a bit... but what's that in Taipei - we expect it?!? We did get outside for some of it... We had a pizza party with enough food to feed an army... plus all the fruit and snacks... (and my attempt to have the kids make icecream by kicking a can around with all the ingredients - total flop! but fun to watch). WOW... we made a bunch of noise (and mess) in our lobby, but one of the residents thought it was so cool to see so many moms and kids gathered that she brought down some treats for the kiddos... how generous (this was after we were asked to move from our side of the foyer because we were too loud). The kids rode their bikes - inside and out... and then Cynthia presented me with a super cool scrapbook made by the moms as a memorial to our times together!!! Really, super touching and such a great present...

Rachel and her two - Micah and Caleb - braved the commute to say good-bye...

It was Michael's birthday too, so Hunter and Hilo wore their matching shirts (unfortunately Mikey's too far up the slide to notice his is the same) in honor of their buddy!

Then we just had to try... we had to try to capture one last large group photo of the kids... oh baby, what a process...

If anybody actually got a good one, I'd love a copy... but anyway - we can see most of our friends somewhere on the slide!!!

Suzanne made a non-birthday Thomas cake for Michael and Hunter... I think Hunter wants something like this for real on his next birthday - we'll see if I can muster up the guts to try...

After the mess was tidied up we made it back outside for a bit more steam burning... Ellie, Tilly and Hunter found a slice of nature in the big city - caterpillars!!! Just keep it off your skin... you may get caterpillar dermatitis!!! (Really, I got something itchy called that on my tummy last year, the doc said some caterpillar fuzz must've got in my laundry... yikes!!! And that was from the 7th floor of an apartment... what will happen on the NZ laundry line!?!?)

Farewell, Conrad... enjoy Taipei!!!

Our Weekly "Routine"

Originally Tony and I planned to put Hunter into a kindergarten when he turned 3... well, the way Chinese New Year fell this year and our impending move would've only given him 2 and a half months in school, so we decided it would be better just to wait until we got to NZ before enroling him. Good thing we changed our minds - I've had a really good time with both kids building memories and relationships during our last couple of months in Taiwan. Here's a glimpse of our weekly routine...

After a full weekend with baba being home, we used Mondays as our 'relaxed' errand day. We'd often go to the fruit market and stock up a bit. Our favorite vendors were so generous - these guys always gave the kids a banana or other piece of fruit which of course kept me coming back week after week! The library was here in the market too so we'd often pick up/drop off our books during our weekly shop - it was all terribly convenient.

And then we'd often drop by a noodle house to pick up some lunch. The kids enjoyed this spicy tofu w/dried fish... really, they are truly Asian!

At the end of February we started going to Grace Baptist Church's Mother's Group on Tuesdays. I often found myself wondering why... since most of it was in Chinese... but the kids enjoyed the interaction with other kids in a 'class' type setting... and I did enjoy the parenting classes I took with my friend Anna (and the hang out times w/her & Tilly afterward). I think God opened up this opportunity to see how a women's group can be run... though I'm not sure how to implement that when I move, but I know it was a worthwhile experience. The women I met were so accepting and honest - we all just wanted to raise our children for God's glory.

We'd walk through the mall to the bus stop then board the 284 which dropped us off right in front of the church... the kids loved it!

It took a few weeks but they got settled into the 'class' environment and Hunter eventually stopped asking "Will you come back, mama?"

Cheeky, Cheeky

These two kids are cheeky... one day while Dad and Lynne were here I caught Hunter in my room under the covers with my camera. Thinking he was only fooling around with it trying to look at pictures, I confisgated the camera and gave him a stern talking to, and figured he'd learned his lesson about not touching my camera. So, you'd be as surprised as I was when I was looking through the photos on our night out with Dad, Lynne and Tony to find a whole series of pictures that neither Tony nor I had taken... the culprit - HUNTER, the accomplice - HELENA.

It turns out the under the covers incident was not just looking at the photos, but trying to take photos... here's the map on our bedroom wall with a bit of blanket (or hand) in the way!

These next are a handful of I kid-you-not about 30 photos he'd managed to snap off undetected!!!

One of those moments when you know you should be angry and the children should be disciplined for touching a forbidden object, but still so interesting that the 3 year old boy could manage to get such decent pictures and angles, etc... he'd actually tried to improve angles, etc as he worked through the pictures - it was somewhat artistic... but still, cheeky. You can be sure my camera now lives in a higher up home... as do daddy's sunglasses (after a broken pair the other day), mommy's jewellry, and any other item of significance or convenience... these two are little climbers and diggers - I guess we can say they do work well together.

End of December

Oops... this one was meant to get put out on it's own before Christmas...

Hunter & Helena loved the decorations our complex had out to celebrate Christmas... of course our kids did more tactile exploring than the management probably expected, but thankfully nothing broke (that I can remember?!?).

On the 26th of December we went to a Torch family Christmas party at a restaurant in our old neighborhood. Instead of throwing a big production for one service, the church decided to put their resources toward these smaller Christmas parties arranged by individual cellgroups. It was a fun evening - Tony & I were even invited to share with the group on the topic "What Christmas means to me..." I started in Chinese but didn't get very far into it - but I did speak on being part of God's family and inviting people in to share that... which is exactly what they were doing on the night... and Tony was my translator and did his whole talk in Chinese about how we all, like Mary, are pregnant with faith and it's exciting to see how that faith works itself out. The kids enjoyed running amuck and staying up later than their usual bedtime...

In spite of the chill, we still got out to play golf... they love this game!

Such innocence

Hunter absolutely LOVES his new bike!!!

And he's actually very good at riding it!!!

Tony & I joined in the Torch church "Read the Bible in a Year" plan this year... and since we were going on vacation before the end of the month, we had to have it all read by the 27th so we could give our forms to our cellgroup leader, Anna. The church encouraged us to read the Bible in year by offering a $5 (NZ$) voucher to a Christian book store each month that you kept with the program... plus they had a few other incentives like a trip or meals out if your cellgroup members also did it... This was the first time either of us have actually finished reading from cover to cover in a year... it was worthwhile for sure - it helped keep us fresh and does help give a broad picture of God's word... though I must admit it was hard work in some of those Old Testament books. If you haven't done it yet yourself, I totally recommend it!

I love this purple jacket from Tony's dad... and I love that little tongue!!!

Our kids love their bananas... I think Helena can almost say it now... something like "ana"!