What's in a name?

Recently, Ethan has been really into names. He told me that he knew his Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye Bracken's names. When I ask what they were, he said, "Tommy and Tommy, wait, no, Tommy and Sandy." And the other day, I called him and he answered, "My name is ETHan, not EAT like food." (This comes from the "th" sound being kinda hard for Chinese to pronounce, thus, he is called "E-ton" a lot.) The real kicker came today. He has been practicing my and Chris' names. Chris' is pretty easy for him to remember because they share the middle name Josiah, however, mine is proving to be more difficult. My mother had a creative streak when I was born and named me Tiffany Elisha. My middle name is pronounced, E (A hard E sound)-lish (rhymes with dish)-ah. Consequently, it has been said wrong many, many times. But Ethan now holds the record for the most distortion of my name. Keep in mind, this is the kid that just corrected me when he thought I said his name wrong. Today, he called me "Tiffany Delicious Bracken". That is not a missionary name.

The Plague

There needs to be a quarantine sign on our door.
Why?
Because we have been struck with the plague.
Why?
Because it's the "why" plague.
Why?
Because to every statement or order I give, he ask why.
Why?
I'm not sure.
Why?
I don't know if he is questioning my authority or is just curious.
Why?
Because it is an automatic answer.
Why?
I said , I don't know. Ask Ethan.
Why?
Because he is the only one that will know.
Why?
Because he is the one that ask why! Now go to your room, I'm tired of talking.
Why?
Because I have been answering all of your questions, that's why. Now go.
Why?
Because I said so, that's why!

Did you ever wonder why your parents said that? Now I know.

Pickled pig's feet

Last Sunday, Chris came home announcing to the world that he was going to bed and really didn't want to be woke up. Abbey followed him into the bedroom and watched as he sat down at the computer. I believe he was going to do a quick e-mail check before he "checked-out". Abbey, leaning over the arm of the chair, got a little too involved. "What are you doing?"
Nothing from Chris, he is focused.
"Hey, what are you looking at?"
From a distracted dad, "Pickled pig's feet".
Abbey: "Well, pickled pig's feet, I thought you were going to bed."

I'm telling you, she gets that sassiness from her Baba.

Pick of the litter...

Yep, when we got ol' Vader and Jango (the cats) we sure got the smartest ones in the bunch. Last night they proved it. They were wrestling around on the end of the bed when Vader suddenly became aware of another cat in the house! He crouched down in attack mode and all of his fur stood straight out. (He has a much similar reaction to a blowdryer.) Jango came over to see what all the fuss was about and then she saw it! There were TWO new cats in the house! Now both cats are crouched on the end of the bed, ready to get those intruders. There was just one thing stopping them. The other cats were also in attack mode and that seemed a little frightening. Keep in mind that a toy poddle could eat both of these kittens in one fell swoop. Jango decided to be the brave one. She lept off the bed and went for those cats, but THEY DISAPPEARED! Vader could still see one of them and remained on stand by. From safely on the bed, I might add. Jango slowly circled the base of the mirror sniffing and meowing because those cats had to be there somewhere. I don't know how long she would have searched, but I think I distracted her with my howls of laughter. Silly cats...

A month of blessings

I can't believe that we have been back in Taiwan for almost a month now. Where did the days go?

Yesterday, I was thinking about something and practicing a totally useless habit of trying to figure out how God was going to answer a prayer. You know what I mean, don't act like you don't. After you have prayed, you start to think, "God could do that and it would solve this whole thing, or he could do this and that would work out great too." But in the middle of my musing, I started to think about what God has done this month.
* We got a great apartment for under $300 a month, when the owner was originally wanting $400 a month.
* An insurance that my mother was suppose to be too late to apply for accepted her and will pay all of her co-pays for her chemo and radiation treatments. She pays $30 per month and they pay $1000 per treatment.
* The precious saints in our church blessed us with an offering when we got back, and for the first time in my life, I was able to go out and buy furniture I needed for my new house.

When I think about it, as amazing as it is, God didn't use any of my ideas to answer my prayers. He exceeded my expectations on every one. So, it turns out I'm not so great on solutions, but you know the saying, "It's not what you know, but who you know."

Look what we got!

Guess what? We finally got our new kitten.... uh, make that kittens! Believe it or not, but Chris surprised us and said that we could get two cats instead of just one. (If you know Chris, you know what a miracle that is!) They are so incredibly small. Right now, they fit in the palm of your hand.



I have posted a couple of pictures of them. The orange one is Jango and the black one is Darth Vader. (Take one guess at who would name a cat after an evil villian! Now I know why he wanted us to get a black cat if possible.) They are brother and sister and are about 1 month old.

Here's a picture of Vader sneaking up on the wrist strap of the camera while I am trying to take his picture.

Abbey and Ethan are so excited to have their first pets. The night we came home from the animal shelter, Abigail was leaning on my shoulder watching the kittens. She looked up at me and said, "Momma, this is so cool." And while I am thrilled to have a cat again, that right there is the reason why her Baba now has a house full of kittens.