Sorry for the silence on the blog lately. I’ve just found other things taking priority.

We went for a lengthy bike ride last weekend when the weather was unusually nice. I’ve uploaded a few of the pictures we took that day. Click the link to go see them. There is an icon in the top left corner that makes the pictures larger – they look better that way   Bike Ride around town

One more before Christmas is a memory.

Sorry. I’m a little late to the party. I don’t think I’d ever heard this one before today.
While looking for something else I stumbled across this video.

Take 5, and let this one wash over you.

Before we completely turn our back on Christmas and head off into the new year I thought I’d post the lyrics to my favorite Christmas song. When I looked it up I found out that it wasn’t originally intended to be a Christmas song but rather it was a hymn that pointed to Christ’s return. It is based on Psalm 98.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the Earth! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Wonders of His love indeed

Tonight at around 9pm we had to put the movie we were watching on hold and go stand in a doorway. The apartment was shaking so bad, and it did it for so long, we weren’t sure if it would remain standing. It was pretty scary. the AP said:

A large earthquake struck Taiwan on Saturday, rattling buildings in the capital of Taipei.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.4-magnitude quake was centered off the eastern coast of Taiwan, about 16 miles (25 kilometers) from Hualien. It struck at a depth of 28 miles (45 kilometers). The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not immediately issue any warning.
Local TV reports said four minor casualties were reported in the capital. The reports said Taipei’s subways and the island’s high speed railroad were suspended.
There was some damage to property in a community near the quake’s epicenter.
Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan but most are minor and cause little or no damage.

USGS says 6.4, Taiwan says 6.8, whatever it was at the epicenter, it was strong in our apartment!

Next week I (Jackie) will be on the road again. This time however it is to a new destination. London!

I’ve never been to that part of the world and am pretty excited. There will be a few days training and then a few days of vacation. I’ve been doing research into the most well known places so that I can prioritize and see as many sights as possible. Fran will stay behind this time. It was mainly the prospect of cold that made the decision – but, that coupled with $$$ and time away from ministry caused her to decide to not go this time.

If you have any advice or tips I’d love to hear them!

Big Ben

Tower Bridge

Not living in the USA I didn’t hear about this TV show until now.
ABC Nightline did a series on the 10 Commandments.

Here’s a clip from the 2nd show – 2nd commandment – Exodus 20:4-5

Or watch it on Mars Hill Church’s website: Mars Hill Church.

The entire Nightline series can be found HERE.

Well, over the last week I’ve spent more time than I could afford trying to get the blog back up and going. I think I’ve restored most of the tweaks and 85% of the older posts. There is still a time gap from November 12, 2008 until Sept. 22, 2009. Fortunately(?) we didn’t post a lot during the last winter and early spring. Unfortunately, if we want those posts back on the blog we’ll have to re-enter them one by one.

So if you see some weird posts appear in your feed reader or over at Facebook, they may be blasts from the past

P.S. I’m trying out a new plugin that should put a tagline at the beginning of the RSS feed that will let people who are reading on a feed reader or Facebook know that it is really a blog post and it will provide a link to our blog. This should be the first post that will have it. . . . We’ll see how obtrusive it is ~

After nine years we’ve seen a lot of weird things. Just when you think you can’t be surprised by “stuff” in Asia something pops up and you go “now that’s something you wouldn’t see in Dallas!”
Our very sweet language teacher is an excellent cook. When she arrives to teach us our weekly Chinese lesson she will sometimes bless us with something she has cooked. Well, last Friday she brought us some Rice Krispy treats.
While at the local market she saw some puffed rice (in bulk – not the cereal) and remembered that one of her former students (an American) had given her a recipe for Rice Krispy treats. So, she bought the puffed rice and prepared the treats. I doubt that she followed the recipe exactly though.

Her -admittedly Taiwanese- version of the treats included peanuts and seaweed. Fran and I decided that they were ma ma hu hu – roughly translated as so-so