Birthday Boy

Hard to believe but the "little cutie pie" is 1 year old as of January 26th! I catch myself saying things to him like "Hi, my baby boy... oh wait, you're not a baby anymore! Hi, my big boy!" Can't believe how quickly a year goes by! So we did have a birthday party for him on his big day - funny how his first birthday actually landed on a Saturday! We invited some our local friends (aka "Hunter's fan club") to come join in the celebration... a good time was had by all!

Hunter's first birthday surprise was waking up to find that his grandparents had come from California!!! Wow... what a birthday treat (not to mention all the goodies they brought with them)!!!!

First birthday - and there's only one child here!!! He revelled in the full attention of his aunties & uncles!!!

His first piece of cake went down a treat... well, actually he almost choked since he tried stuffing the whole piece into his mouth at once!!! Once I broke it up a bit, he thoroughly enjoyed it!

Party Decorations

Leading Up To Christmas...

The Tuesday before Christmas I'd offered to host our church's mother's group Christmas party. Typically there are up to 11 ladies who attend on any given Tuesday morning, so you can imagine my surprise when I answered my doorbell to see 18+ Taiwanese women (half of whom I've never even seen before) filing out of the elevators carrying bags of food into my house! But hey, this is exactly how we want to use our house - to be a blessing to others! I've got to tell you this... Taiwanese women know how to throw a potluck and they know how to make themselves at home... my house looked almost as clean when they left as it did when they arrived!

We played a little Jenga to get the ladies interacting

Then Ense Jie & her helpers gave out gifts to all the women... this of course was after we'd feasted!

On Sunday, December 23, we took Richard & Marlin to Torch Church's "Wonderful" Christmas celebration!!! It was great... church members of all ages sang, danced and presented an original drama to share the Christmas message to an auditorium packed with over 400 people! It was a really joyous occasion!

So what if we don't usually sing 'Oh Happy Day' at Christmas time... it definitely fit into the festive atmosphere!

Pastor Yang interviewed the woman who's life the drama was based on. What a testimony to how God can take our sad circumstances and turn them around for His glory!

Gearing Up For Christmas

You can already sense a festive atmosphere around the Xinyi District here in Taipei. Most of the malls have large Christmas displays: trees, reindeer, santas, lights... green, red, white spray painted snowflakes... it's all really cute and festive... yet most Taiwanese don't even celebrate Christmas. It's not even a day off of work! Pretty nuts how the commercial element has wound itself into the fabric of another consumeristic society, but the truth element - the birth of Christ, God's ultimate gift of love - somehow got lost. Of course, we're having fun looking at the lights and enjoying the festive feeling, but I do hope that this year, we as a family (me as an individual) take the time to really reflect and give thanks for Jesus - the best gift ever!

Hunter's first visit with Santa invoked a typical response!

It's been a long time since I've sat on Santa's knee. The NZCIO Christmas party was Friday 12/7... a good night of catching up with the rest of the NZ team.

The Swarovski crystal Christmas tree

Snowmen in Taipei?!?

Happy Thanksgiving

There's so much to be thankful for - of course there are the "biggies": Tony, Hunter, Jesus' gift of eternal life, family and friends; there are the "generals": quality of lifestyle, good relationships, clothes to wear, food to eat; what about the "often take for granted": freedom to worship, safe place to live, hot running water, health - all systems operating; even the "luxuries": this computer, the opportunity to travel, variety of healthy food available, access to information... truly, I am blessed... truly, I am thankful. There's so much to be thankful for... I want to carry this attitude everyday - not just one weekend a year. At the very least, though, may this weekend be one of reflection and thanksgiving!!!

Hunter's first Thanksgiving meal - he even ate some turkey! We'll save the pumpkin pie for next year!

Our new friends invited us over to share a traditional Thanksgiving meal with their family and friends... it was a beautiful meal and fun to hang out with a few Americans for the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Back In Taipei...

There's a reason why I haven't done a roast chicken meal here... but somehow I got carried away by the romanticized idea of Tony, Livi, Hunter & I finally all sitting around the dinner table together catching up over steamy veggies and tender chicken pieces... and I bought a chicken and prepared all the fixin's! This is Asia... not quite what I pictured!

My "whole chicken" is really the whole chicken... I couldn't bring myself to cut his extra bits off before cooking him, so I waited til after (actually, I waited til Tony came home to do it - I kept thinking he'd open his eye or something freaky like that).

So having seen all of the chicken, scrawny as he was, I really didn't enjoy my meal as much as I had hoped... but we did get a good laugh over it and still enjoyed our "family time".

(Oh, Livi has moved in with us... so she'll be a featured family member til June next year)

Goin' Back to Cali...

We just spent a fantastic two weeks hanging out with family & friends in sunny California! It was Hunter's big introduction to his American family and we managed to at least see almost every relative and quite a few of our dear friends. The toughest part about visits home is that though we may see many people, we don't really have time to connect with everyone... but I do appreciate the effort people made just to drop by and see us if only for a short hello!

Sweet Reunions

It was great staying with my parents - they're so generous and they so enjoyed having Hunter around at all times of the day/night/morning. He's a totally different person than the baby they met in Taipei... a real little boy now!

First-Time Introductions

Uncle Matt (my brother) and Aunt Tori (my sis-in-law) were so excited to meet Hunter, they came over the night we arrived around 9pm. Not much help for getting the little guy to sleep, but definitely a warm introduction to the rest of the Ambrose family!

Aunt Tori was a favorite with Hunter's taste in jewelry.

Meet the cousins... Trevor (6), Madilynn (4) and Travis (2)... and a sweet reunion with Aunt Amber

Hunter was in heaven with so much attention and cuddles! He really seemed to enjoy playing with the older kids. Aunt Amber was in her element having all her nephews & niece together in one place.

Great Grandpa got a first hand glimpse at why Grandma had such a good time with Hunter in Taipei.

Again a wedding set the stage for us to make lots of introductions! Thanks, Johnny & Kim for letting us join in the festivities. It was a beautiful ceremony and wonderful day to touch base with the rellies!

Aunt JoAnn spent some quality time with Hunter at the reception so I could spend some quality time with the rest of the family... I don't think she minded so much.

Future Pen Pals
(do they still have those?)

Having kids changes timing for parents... we met up with the Cash's for dinner at 5:00pm!!! It was a lovely time sharing stories of our new additions and our personal transitions into parenthood. Hunter loved poking at Isaiah - he was so curious about the "baby"! Thanks, guys, for sharing your lives with us!

Tatianna is Hunter's senior by 2+ months and she's got a few inches on him... she's a real personality and her mom is a treasure chest of helpful information about all kinds of baby/mom related things! It's always fun spending time with other first-time moms... thanks, Anissia, for making it happen.

In my extended family there are several babies born every year... Sean (middle) was born a month before Hunter and Wyatt was born a few months after. Of course, there have been other babies already born this year a few already scheduled to arrive in 2008... he won't be at a loss for playmates when we go back for visits, that's for sure!

Vanessa is another first-time mom... she's enjoying little Annalee

A Typical Week?!?

If we lived in California, this still could very well be a regular week in the lives of our family... wow... and I thought I was tired from jet lag!?!

Saturday I got to celebrate my niece's 4th birthday!!! It was the first time I've been around to celebrate any of their birthdays!! This was a fun one for the kids - a Rodeo Round-up!!!

Hunter's first birthday party... too bad he slept through most of it... at least he fit the theme!

Sunday was my cousin's wedding, so after church (and a little nap) we joined together with a bunch of our relatives to celebrate with Johnny & Kim and the Nehrig clan.

On Tuesday we had lunch at Aunt Amber's house and introduced Hunter to Auntie Phyllis! Auntie Phyllis (Amber's mother-in-law) is a blog fan of Hunter's so it was great to meet in person finally.

After lunch, Amber took us to a small local farm so Hunter & Annalee could see some animals. It was a good thing we were there, the animals looked like they could use some company that day! After the visit, we stopped by Vanguard University to meet Amber's workmates who've heard all about Hunter and wanted to meet him in the flesh... Hunter's friends are everywhere!!!

Mom's high school friend, Betty, came by for a healthy soup dinner and cuddle with Hunter.

On Wednesday we (along with at least 15 other family members) went over to my Grandma & Grandpa's house for lunch and chocolate chip cookies!!! Thankfully Hunter & I had some time to stick around after the rest of the family left so we could visit longer with the Great Grands.

Wednesday evening we joined up for a light dinner with several of our girlfriends and their kids... again - great to see friends, but never enough time... but it was indeed good to touch base.

Denise & Lucca

Quality Family Time

Over the past few years we've started a tradition when we go back for our visits - "Ambrose just us" time - when we'll go somewhere as an immediate family so we're guaranteed time together. This year we drove about 2 hours away from the coast into the California desert town of Indio for our family retreat. Thankfully my brother's got a time-share there so all 9 of us stayed in the same condo for a really reasonable rate.

Proud Grandpa with his boys

Uncle Jason, the card shark

Hunter was the ball boy for our Sides/Clark tennis tournament

Amber, Jason & Trevor went out on the doodle bug

You never know what you'll find in the California desert!!!

We made good use of the jacuzzis & pools at the resort

Unfortunately Tori & Madie had a previously planned trip away, so we missed them... but Matt & his boys had some bonding together & with the rest of us.

Our water baby

Golf-cart Grandpa

Tony, Dad & I had some quality time on the golf course!!! Since I haven't played since the last time we were home, I could only make 9 of the 18 holes... but it was a beautiful afternoon to be out on the course!

California Dreamin' - Tony's version

As much as Tony loves visiting with family and friends, there are three things that give our returns to California a "holiday" feel for him: playing golf, eating Mexican food and lounging around. Thankfully in his 9 days he was able to get in 3 rounds of golf, 5 Mexican meals and a few hours of just lounging with me & Hunter.

Golf buddies

Next time Hunter will get to try the Mexican food too!

A few stolen moments after our picnic in the grass