Today (Sunday) will be the last day of the week-long lunar new year celebration across China, Taiwan, and much of Asia. Everyone will return to work tomorrow. We have also enjoyed a much slower week than normal and it felt good! In case you missed it, 2010 is the year of the Tiger.

The Chinese zodiac is a 12 year cycle.

To view an awesome photo collection of the new year’s celebration and events click HERE

The February East Asian Peoples Update is now available.

Click HERE to read all about it!

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

Happy Birthday to our special little girl!!!

Just now realizing that I  haven’t made the obligatory happy new year post.

From our house to yours – HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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

Weekend before last, our Sunday night Bible Study group went on an outing. It was the last gathering that Rachel would be able to attend before moving back to the US. We decided to have dinner together then send off a lantern into the heavens – sort of symbolic of sending off Rachel. There is a suburb named PingXi that is famous for the sky lanterns – especially during lantern festival. That was where we went. It was fun! See the pictures HERE.

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!

Below you’ll find a link to an article that says some good things.

“Dr. James Dobson’s influential conservative Christian organization, Focus on the Family, is promoting StandforChristmas.com, a Web site that helps shoppers rank “Christmas-friendly” retailers (most friendly: Bass Pro Shops; least friendly: American Eagle Outfitters). The site reminds visitors that retailers “want your patronage and your gift-shopping dollars” and then asks, “but do they openly recognize Christmas?”

Sadly, both approaches precisely miss the point of this sacred and beautiful holiday.

It makes zero sense to recruit retailers in this crusade when consumerism is the reason why Christmas has morphed into a hollow shopping ritual that, come January, leaves too many families with debt hangovers and an empty feeling inside. Demanding that store clerks cheerily proclaim “Merry Christmas” as they ring up your power tools and iPod does precious little to put the Christ-child back in Christmas.”

Christians To Blame For Secular Christmas – ParentDish.

“But Christmas starts with us. In our hearts. In our homes. And in a very simple decision to reclaim the silence, joy, and quiet simplicity of that first Christmas in Bethlehem when God chose to speak to mankind in the small cry of a newborn baby.”