2014 Christmas Greeting..... it's been a long time but here's a short review of this year

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Spring Break 2012

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The Frog Song!

 

A big part of scouting is giving back. Here's the first eagle scout of our family "giving back" by teaching the Cub Scout Pack "We All Know Frogs"

Christmas Time Is Here

For the past eleven years Taipei English Ward (Taipei 7th) has put on a Christmas Pageant as a gift to expat as well as local friends. It began as a simple production in the park in Tienmu. But last year the park was in the midst of renovation and construction in December (as it was this year also) and so we moved the pageant to the Temple grounds between the chapel and the temple.

This year the stage was built on top of the fountains, which were turned off for the occasion, and the Temple was used as a backdrop for the town of Bethlehem. We have many people participate in the music, on stage and behind the scenes.

From the stage being put together, dress rehearsal, three shows and set break down, the pageant only lasts for one weekend. Preparation for choir begin in November. The cast is put together in the last week or two. Time passes quickly and the process is all part of our big build up to Christmas.

11 years ago when we lived in Taiwan we were a part of the pageant and we are grateful to be a part of the great tradition now that we have returned. The sound of the first few notes of our opening Silent Night fills my heart with joy and wonderful memories.


This year Brian conducted the choir, Audrey and Nadine sang in the choir, Rebecca was an angel and Jeffrey got to be the innkeeper's son for a couple of shows. An important part since he is the one who gives his father the idea of the stable.

We love pageant. It's a great way for us all to remember what the season is really about. The gift of a child, Jesus Christ, from our loving Heavenly Father, given that we might all be saved from the bonds of death and sin. Because of this sacred gift, we can enjoy the blessings of eternal salvation.

Family Fitness Fun

Taroko Gorge Marathon was a great time for our family

We went with about 24 people from church. arrived Friday Sept 3 and 5am Saturday morning we all hopped on a bus to the starting line.






The weather was perfect. Blue sky with a bit of Fall coolness.




The kids all ran/walk the 5K and Brian and I did the 1/2 marathon. You would never know it in the pictures, but Brian is very ill. He couldn't run the whole 22K but Nadine did!!








We all finished the race!!!








Taroko Gorge is a gorgeous tourist site on Taiwan's East Coast with lovely hiking trails and roads for car/bus tourists.
Check it out on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taroko_National_Park


After the marathon we experienced the local culture and ate at a famous baodz (steamed dumpling) shop.







It was very busy and very yummy.



Our ride home was beautiful.

Here's a slide show of our adventures sailing.

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SNAKE IN THE HOUSE!!!!

About a month ago as we were sitting and enjoying a leisurely Saturday morning, Jeffrey stopped playing the drums for a moment and heard a thud. He followed the sound with his eyes and then exclaimed, "Oh cool. Mom look! Woah that's really cool" I looked over about five feet from where i was sitting at the computer and saw a snake slithering my way. My response differed some from Jeffrey's, "A SNAKE!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!" I popped up from my chair. Brian came over to check it out. By that time the snake had crawled into the piano books.

There are guards outside our house and one of their responsibilities is to get rid of unwanted creatures in our house. So we called the guard and he came in with snake catching equipment - a long armed gripper and a large water bottle (like the Culligan Man used to deliver). Brian used tongs to move the piano books out of the way and Mr Chiu used the gripper to grab the snake and lower him into the water bottle.
Once captured we were able to identify the snake as a Taiwan Beauty Snake. To our relief and Jeffrey's elation, he is not poisonous.



So now we have a pet snake. THUD.




He eats "pinkies" AKA baby mice.

Thud is about 20 inches long presently. Last week he shed his skin and so he's growing bigger. According to information on line, the Taiwan Beauty Snake is a type of rat snake, a type of constrictor that grows to be 8 to 9 feet long. Watch for bigger pictures in the future.

Sweet 16 Party

For Audrey's 16th birthday, she and her friend Sydney celebrated together with a Hawaiian Luau. Unfortunately it rained and rained that day so the party was held inside by the fireplace (no fire, it wasn't cold) rather than outside by the pool.


Molting Crayfish (the band Brian is playing with) performed at the party and girls had a great time doing karaoke with a live band.

Audrey performed a Doobie Bros song.




Inside in bathing suits and Hawaiian decor, the girls sang, danced, ate, played games and broke open a pinata.


Happy Birthday Audrey and Sydney!!! We love you.

Arrival of Robert Odin

BABY ANNOUNEMENT!!!
Robert Odin Christensen
Born Oct 13, 2011
8lbs 6 oz

2011 Women's Confernece

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Here's our slide show from March 2011 ASIA Women's Conference in Hong Kong. It was a great time. I'm so thankful for all the people who help to put it together and make it happen. I was greatly blessed. The music was written by Jenny Phillips. She allowed us to use the title of her song as the theme for the conference. Live Like You Believe. I'm looking forward to 2012!!

International Christmas Greeting

To all our friends around the world, Merry Christmas. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for every nation, kingdred, tongue and people. No matter the language, the message is the same..... Jesus Christ the Savior of the World was born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. It's as important today as it was then. His birth was prophesied by the prophets, it was announced by angels and can be confirmed in our own souls today by the Holy Ghost. May we rejoice again and again and sing praises for the Holy Gift. May the peace, love, joy and hope that this baby brought into the world, continue with us through the new year.

MS Choir - AMIS Festival in Jakata by Ms. Nightingale

Over Easter, I had the pleasure of accompanying eight girls from 6th to 8th grade to participate in the AMIS festival in Jakarta. Ms. Bechdoldt uploaded the music to mydragonnet several weeks before the festival and the girls learned it independently, then rehearsed with Ms. Bechdoldt on Good Friday as well as the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, before we took off. My daughter Rachel and I helped with the section practices - all nine songs were very challenging and the girls did a wonderful job!



The girls enjoyed their homestays with families from Jakarta International School. Rehearsals began at 7:15 am the first two days, and every day we were there, the girls amazed me by their ability to focus, and sing almost all day, with very short breaks. We were also treated to a gamelan performance by 2nd grade students and a Balinese dancing performance. The girls also enjoyed a middle school dance. 78 girls from international schools all over Asia participated in the festival, and the concert was magnificent.



Audrey C earned a special honor by being chosen to sing the only solo in the concert. The audition process was more grueling than American Idol. A line of about 30 singers was slowly whittled down to just two, and then the guest director and the teachers agreed that Audrey would be the soloist. Congratulations, Audrey!



Andrea H summed her experience afterwards: The honor choir was a great experience because I got to make a bunch of friends as well as becoming a better singer.

The AMIS festival was a wonderful, fun challenge for our talented singers, and I’m sure they will never forget it!

Ms C. Nightingale

HKIS Christmas Choir Concert 2009 - from DragonMedia



Five of our children are in this concert! It was a fun evening. Joey is in a suit. Tall, with glasses. He is singing with the young men. He was a special guest allowed to perform with the HS choir when he came back from college. Sarah is in one of the black dresses with the colored stripe across the chest. She designed these dresses, took the measurements of all the girls and picked out the material with the help of a tailor. The tailor is in Shenzhen, China. Sarah directed the tailor's work. Audrey is in the white shirt and black pants middle school choir. She has an orange scarf around her neck. Rebecca and Jeffrey are both in the primary choir. Jeffrey and Becky are wearing the pretty chinese tops with white pants. It's nearly an hour long and very much a school concert but it's a precious memory for us with so many of our children performing together.

Happy New Year!!!

Our family had a wonderful New Years Eve. Daddy received his new speakers that day and was quick to set them up. After watching a movie with out new sound we popped out the New Year present - Wii sports resort. We played through the midnight hour. It was a blast.

Later in January Joey got to go to the temple for the first time for his own endowments. Brian, Joey and mom went to the temple together. We had a fabulous time. After the temple we went for chinese lunch at the nearby mall. It was a lovely day. Now he is making his final preparation for his mission. He anxiously awaits his flight to the USA in just a couple of weeks.

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My friends and I went on an awesome hike on the Kowloon side. Winter time is a great time to hike here because the humidity is low and the air is cool. You can check out our hike on the smilebox photo gallery. It ends with a three minute video of us walking along the trail.

Of course, being a new grandma we have to include pictures of our cute little guy. He is growing so fast. Matt reports that he now smiles a lot and giggles.


He giggled as Matt and Anne sang him the "ABC" song. We love skype and had a great time seeing David getting ready for bed last week. Matt just called and David turned over today!!! Jan 18, 2010. What a big boy. Grandma and Grandpa Christensen really wish we lived closer but skype helps reduce the distance we feel. We even get to watch David's new accomplishments!!

If we were at your front door......

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Building Candy Houses

As a Family Home Evening activity we invited some of the families in our apartment complex to come over and have fun with us building candy houses. We had a great time. Graham crackers were not to be found on Hong Kong island so in the spirit of making do we used creme wafer cookies. We found all kinds of candies to use and everyone went to work building the candy house of their dreams.

The children all helped pile the building materials on the table and set up a working space for each guest.










Let the construction begin:




THANKS FOR SUCH A FUN EVENING EVERYONE!!!

High School Choir with Sarah singing Oh Come All Ye Faithful!

Caroling in the Information Commons - from DragonMedia




Here's the High School Choir. It's Spirit Week at school and the day happened to be pajama day. Sarah is in the black jacket with the Santa hat on. Take a minute to listen

MISSION CALL !!!!!

The Wednesday before Mom left for Utah the mission call came!!! Joey is going to....



We are so excited for Joey to go on a mission. I apologize for my delay in posting this. Joey posted it on his facebook and I thought he emailed all the family, but a bad assumption on my part. He enters the MTC Feb 2!!!. We are grateful that we have our beautiful tenor to join us in our caroling this year. This will be a wonderful Christmas.

Packed November

Once recovered from the birthday party, Joey and mom headed out on a tour of the George Washington with our friend Tyler. The George Washington is the largest forward deployed aircraft carrier of the US fleet. Its port is in Japan and when on the water it is home to over 5000 sailors. We took the morning tour and were lucky to have beautiful weather. The trip to the ship took about 45 minutes. We climbed aboard and walked through the ship to the hanger. We viewed the planes in the hanger. We also saw the storage room where the large long anchor chains are kept. We saw the aircraft on the top deck and learned how they maneuver the planes during practice flights. We sat in the "Captain's seat" and felt like we were roaming the high seas.

A couple days later we welcomed Uncle Neil and Aunt Maria Elena to Hong Kong. We had a whirlwind trip to Macau and Tai O. Macau is an island once governed by the Portuguese. The old architecture can still be found in parts of the old city with ruins of catholic churches including the remains (I saw the bones) of some of the early saints and fathers who established the church in Macau. There are also large modern casinos filled with people wanting to gamble away thousands and millions of dollars. Like Las Vegas, there are shows and the hotels are tourist attractions even if one is not a gambler. We spent the day walking the streets seeing the ancient and modern sights. There are still pedicabs for those who like to ride "in style" through the streets.

Tai O is a fascinating contrast to Macau. Located on the far northwestern coast of Lantau Island it is the home to the Tanka people, a community of fisherfolk who have built their homes on stilts above the tidal flats for generations because they do not feel safe on land. After a ferry trip and a 40 minute bus ride on a winding narrow road, the tight walkways between homes allows one to see the personal living spaces of the people.


Before Neil and Maria Elena got on their cruise, Nadine left for Utah to hold our new grandson, David for herself. With only a week in the States, each day was packed with things to do and friends to see. The cheap flights made for long layovers in the airports and Nadine even had time to go on a tour of a couple small cities close to the airport in Taiwan.




After returning from the States, Nadine hit the ground running to prepare with the support team for the Maclehose Trailwalker. November 20 at 9am the Apples and Pears (a British term meaning "up the stairs") started on their 100km (62+ mile) hike. They beat their time goal to the first support station and headed out to the second where they were still ahead of time. The weather was unusually cold for November and the team was chilled as the temperatures went as low as 5 degrees Centigrade (41 degrees Farenheit). The good news is that the monkeys who plague section six were no where to be found. Apparently the Macaque monkeys find a place for shelter in the cold so this year on Monkey Mountain there were no monkeys. Ahead of time still at section 8, the team warmed up with hot chocolate and hot wild rice chicken soup. They didn't stay at any of the support team stops for more than one hour, and crossed the finish line at 28 hours 27 minutes!!! Over one and a half hours earlier than planned. Well done Apples and Pears!



Finally Thanksgiving arrived. We had a lovely day with our family and a few friends. The usual fixins of turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatos, sweet potatoes, salad and various pies adorned the table. We feasted and socialized and enjoyed a relaxing day. We have so much for which to give thanks. We are thankful for God, our Eternal Father, who loves us and sent His Son to die for us and prepare the way for us to be forgiven of our sins so we can live with Him again. We are thankful for family; the people in our lives who knows so much about us, the good and the bad, and love us anyway. We are thankful for friends; those who lift us with their smiles and laughter and with whom our family forms eternal memories. We are thankful for the opportunity to live in Hong Kong and experience life in a culture and among a people unfamiliar to our youth. We are grateful for our many years in Asia where we have learned so many important life lessons.

Now we begin our Christmas traditions. One of which is getting a Christmas tree. We still have not given in to the boxed kind. We like the fresh cut and in Asia have spent a good deal on this tradition. The tradition is that we go as a family to scour the tree lot and find just the right tree with the right height and the right space between limbs to be balanced for all of our decorations and with the right top where we can set our handmade angel.

In Hong Kong the tradition takes on a different twist. In stead of a lot with trees spaced nicely to allow each family to circle the tree and observe its qualities, the trees are roped up with twine and the only choice to picking out the choice tree to adorn the living room is by height. 3 - 4 feet, 5 - 6 feet, or 6 - 7 feet. Sold by the foot, each tree is guaranteed to be "just right" by the anxious salesperson at the store. So instead of being a family outing, Brian and I went out to the "flower market" chose a 5 - 6 foot tree and ordered it to be delivered on Monday just in time for Family Home Evening when we will decorate our home for the season.