I Have a Confession or Two...

I confess, I didn't take one single picture while Baby Owen was with us. Not one. I don't even know where my camera is. I also forgot what it was like to not sleep through the night and to try and comfort a baby that has set his mind on crying. I'm not saying we didn't have fun, because we did, but (whispering) it was mostly fun because we knew it was short term. There, I said it. We are sticking with two. End of story.

Also, I have another confession. It's embarrassing, but we are friends, right? I bought some new colored pens for the kids. When I tried one out, I discovered that they have glitter ink and that they smell like blueberry and strawberry and orange and Chocolate. And.... and... I hid them. I have let the kids play with them under supervision, but they have no idea that I bought the pens for them. I might have even doodled up a couple of pieces of paper and sat around sniffing the pens, but that kind of confession is a bit personal.

One more tiny confession. We just got Dunkin Doughnuts in Kaohsiung. I went to just have a little look see and was seduced by the doughnut holes. I may have created an addict for doughnut holes in Ethan. But I was good. I let him have the last one. Mainly because I was feeling guilty that I have hidden glitter pens in my room.

Realizations concerning Confusion

A few days ago I was talking with a lady. She is super brilliant, but seems to move through life by going from one bad choice, one bad relationship, to another bad choice or relationship. As she was talking, I kept thinking to myself, how can one person who is so intelligent make such bad decisions. Have you ever met someone like this? Suddenly, it was like a light turned on. This is what a life without prayer looks like. I prayed before I started dating my husband. I prayed before I chose which college to attend. I prayed before I got married, had children, came to Taiwan, and any other major decision in my life. I still pray before I teach a class, cook a meal, go to study Chinese and a hundred other little decisions that make up my life. Prayer is such a go to place before deciding things in my life that I had forgotten that some people never pray about such things. They follow their logic or intuition or emotions and hope for the best. When things turn upside down, they blame it on fate or "never- meant- to- be's" or the other person. And for me, that is kinda like deciding to go on a trip and not checking the mileage and filling up on gas. Then when you run out of gas, blaming it on the car. So, what am I trying to say in my rambling way? Folks, if you want to avoid a lot of problems and broken hearts (yours!), you might want to consider prayer. There is no decision to large or small to pray about. I can't take credit for the good things in my life, only for knowing the one who knows it all.

Incidentally, Chris would say that he never prayed about getting the cats and has been suffering ever since. So, let that be a lesson to you.

A Story of Jealousy

This is a story of jealousy and how it always punishes you more than the other person. As you know, we have two cats in the Bracken household. Two cats that I have always assumed were a little two dumb to process the concept of jealousy. However....

The other day, Vader crawled between me and the arm of the couch for a little nap. It was a bit chilly and I believe he was looking for the warmest spot in the house more than experiencing actual affection for me. After a while, I started talking to him in my "kitty come hither" voice. In case you are wondering, it is the same high pitched voice most people use on animals and a few even use on babies. A genetic defect of all humans. Jango heard me and assumed I must be talking to her. She came over, meowing and purring and winding herself around my ankles. It wasn't until she put her front paws on the couch as she prepared to jump up that she noticed Vader and realized I had been petting him. The look on her face as she looked from him to me was one of pure kitty betrayal. Gone was the purring, gone was the meowing. She backed back down to the floor and walked over to the rug. As she sat facing away from me, I tried to entice her to come back over and join us. She glanced over he shoulder with a "you've got to be kidding me" look. When I stood up and walked over to pet her, she sensed I wasn't sorry and went to hide under the couch and pout. Fortunately, her memory is about a minute long on a good day and she soon came out from under the couch looking for her food bowl. Which was fitting, since that truly is her first love.

On to the Antics

Needing a dose of Bracken shorts? Here you go...

1. Abbey showed some kids at school her panties "just for fun". Obviously their fun, not ours.

2. Ethan wants to know if you drink coffee and it goes to your brain and stays there forever, what will happen. I imagine I would be able to get more work done were that the case.

3. Today, in lesson 14 of my Chinese book, I learned how to say, "How do you say _____ in Chinese?" I feel that this should have been in lesson one or two, how about you?

4. The other day, Ethan was gearing up to cry and I told him not to because some "big boys" were going to see him. After telling him that two or three times, he looked at me and say, "I'm going to do it. I just going to cry." When I reminded him that they would be looking at him, not me, he decided not to follow through.

We are going to have a baby...

for Chinese New Year! Do you remember me talking about a crisis pregnancy center that we helped over Christmas? Well, His Hands are wanting to give their workers a holiday break and we are going to be taking care of one of the babies for about a week and a half! I will definitely post pictures.

I really think helping a place like this is so important. It is easy to tell people that abortion is wrong, but if you aren't trying to provide another option, it is like telling someone who is hungry to be full and not giving them any food. So, it is an understatement to say that we are excited.

And you guys didn't REALLY think we were going to have another kid, did you? Obviously you haven't been reading my post about the antics we currently face with the two we have. I'm telling you, I sure am paying for Chris' childhood!