HIs Hands

I want to introduce you all to a non profit organization that we help out from time to time. It is a home for unwed mothers and an adotion agency for their babies. Two ladies, one American and one Canadian, started His Hands when they realized how many abortions take place in Taiwan each year. (280,000 legal abortions and 300,000 illegal abortions equaling over 500,000 abortions each year!!) Here is a link to their website with all the information and pictures of cute babies! Click here!

We currently have a two month old (Baby Jakeb) with us for the week so that the nannies could have a much deserved break during Christmas and New Years. He is such a cuddly cutie! When I was talking with one of the ladies setting up when I would get the baby and such, I ask her, "Will I have a car seat and a stroller for the baby?" In the past, they have given me these items to use for the time that I will have the baby. She told me that they have enough car seats to send one with each baby, but a lot of their strollers have broken recently. They use these strollers for when volunteers come over to the House of Hope to take the babies out for a walk or when babies go home with a volunteer for the weekend. They currently have nine babies and 3 strollers.

Our local church has been given the opportunity to give an offering to help purchase strollers for His Hands and I would like to extend this opportunity to you. If you want to donate money to His Hands, you can send it to my palpay (ladiel79@hotmail.com) and I will use 100% of it to buy new strollers for them. If you just want to help them out, you can do that through their website. The sheer amount of diapers and formula they use daily is amazing.

As Christians, we have a responsibility to not just say, "Be clothed, be full, or abortions are wrong", but to provide clothes, food and a different option. His Hands is providing a different option that is making a difference in the lives of so many babies. I know it sure has made a difference for Baby Jakeb!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

And a happy new year! Hopefully your day will be filled with love and joy and remembering that Jesus is the center of it all. GOD BLESS YOU!

Christmas, Cats and Chaos

Hello everyone, I am finally back from the land of viruses and sickness! And just on the behalf of married women everywhere, I want to say, "Sometimes we have the misfortune to catch a virus that makes us throw up. This does not in anyway mean that we are expecting our third child, because we are not. Thank you."

I was looking for one of my more famous stories to give you all the link and realized that I never, ever wrote it on my blog! Most people know about it because of a lesson I have taught that is called "Medicine Moments". Anyways, it must go into blog history, so here it is.

Way back in 2008, we had a chaotic Christmas. It all started one night about a month before Christmas when Chris and I decided that the church needed to have a Christmas musical that year. Yes, I did indeed say one month. What followed was the two of us writing a musical, finding songs, having them translated, rehearsals, making costumes, breaking one sewing machine and almost two, rehearsals, and "oh yeah, by the way Honey, I think we should have a cast party here at the house after the final performance on Sunday night"! Right in the middle of all of this, our six month old cat went into heat. On a Friday night. The vet couldn't get her in until Monday. We have two cats. A male and a female. Jango, the girl, was locked in the bathroom to keep her from Vader, the male. We had no desire for kittens to be arriving in a few months. She meowed. And meowed. And meowed. And meowed for 24 hours straight. I even tried to drug her with infant Tylenol, but it had no affect whatsoever. (I only wanted her to sleep, so I could sleep.)

Well, we got the cats fixed and here in Taiwan they do things a little different. In the States, I believe the vet would place a cone shaped thing around the cat's head to keep it from disturbing the wound. Our vet took an old x-ray film and cut a hole in the middle of it. She then slipped it over the cats head. The result was a large black square around their necks that totally obscured their bodies. Walking heads, if you will. Remember this, it will be important later.

Well, the Sunday of the Musical arrived and it was busy to say the least. Jango had found a nice safe place to sleep away from all the hectic rushing underneath the Christmas tree (which was sitting on a small table). As I was grabbing the last few things I needed to take to church and calling to the kids to get their shoes on, Ethan decided to be a boy. For no apparent reason that I could see, he just walked over to the Christmas tree, bent down and yelled "RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA"!!! What ensued can not fully be described in words. Jango flew up from her nap and tried to get away. That x-ray film got caught in the lights and the cat and the tree when to the floor. She continued to struggle as I tried to untangle her. Once set free, she took off like a pack of dogs were after her. The Christmas tree was now void of all ornaments and the living room floor was littered with Christmas balls and ribbon and flowers. Both kids just stood in shock as I tried to right the tree back on to the table. I should also mention that the top half of the tree was dangerously crooked. Realizing that I didn't have time to deal with this right now, I told the kids, "Just put your shoes on and let's go."

The Musical was a great success. When I returned home, Chris had beaten me there and was trying to fix the tree. The first thing he said when I opened the door was, "Honey, I think the cats must have gotten into the tree". Maybe it was the stress or the ornaments ever where or just the memory of that cat struggling to get free, but I started laughing hysterically and the kids had to tell him what happened!

Say what?

Humm... Can't say that I would like to have my skin and hair care products come from this place. The origins seem a little... odd? What do you think they might have been trying to say?

Stop #2- Lodi

In Lodi, We squeezed in a couple of days of cousins time! Those two lovelies with my children are Andy's (Chris' older brother) kids. We hadn't seen Kyler since he was a baby, so it was a shock to the kids to see him so big and grown up.


Abbey and Ethan love to go to Uncle Andy's house not only for the cousins, but for the backyard (where they dug a huge mud pit and got disgracefully dirty) and the tire swing! Here, Uncle Andy is doing the pushing. Kyler is still a little bit too little for the tire, but Abbey, Kailan and Ethan were having a blast!


We were also excited to see Uncle Josh! He came down (over?) from San Fran. We put him right to work! Josh is a good sport and all the kids love him.

We always have fun in Lodi, so you can imagine that there were tears when it was time to leave. Maybe next time, the cousins can play together in Taiwan! (hint hint)

Next stop... Fresno and West Coast Conference

Stop #1- Idaho!

Some of you have probably been waiting to hear how our trip to the States went. For the rest of you that really don't care, Sorry!

Our first stop was in Twin Falls, Idaho. We were with Bro. and Sis. Collins and had a great time. Abbey and Ethan were hoping for snow, but no such luck. It snowed the day after we left. Chris greatly rejoiced over this since he hates to be cold.

The church in Twin Falls is an awesome church! In the evening service, a young girl received the Holy Ghost and was baptized in Jesus name! Everyone was so friendly and Ethan learned how real cowboys wear their cowboy boots to church (Pants over the outside, not tucked in) from some of the men in the church.

In the Twin Falls mall, Abbey discovered Bath and Body Works. She is now addicted. I can't blame her though. I still remember when I discover Sun-kissed Raspberry and thought I was in heaven. Man, I wish they still sold that scent for old times sake!

Next stop... Lodi!