It's been a good month for us. We've seen our fourth month come and go, spent a Christmas in Taipei, and wrapped up some work, with much more remaining.
I always struggle with the work load at this time of year. I finished one paper based on a lecture, delivered a sermon, and have much of another paper done. I've had other things crop up--grading papers for a student who never finished them last semester. We've tried to stay on top of newsletters and the like for back in the States. But it's hard to stay on top of it. In brighter news, Emily now has a dissertation committee and a paper she proposed was accepted for a conference in the summer.
Sam's enjoyed a great month. He often says "xie xie" (thank you) with great gusto. He smiles and giggles, he kisses and hugs, he's developing a little jog, and he's just a lot of fun. He sleeps fairly well. We're not sure when weaning will happen, and he's still on the binky, but all things being equal, we can't complain. For Christmas, he got a variety of presents: clothes, toys (beloved cars, ducks, puppets, a push teddy on a tricycle, Rupert the Bear DVDSs, the movie "Up," etc.). He can't really open presents yet, and is not speaking as much as we would like, but actually he communicates a fair amount and is very expressive. We're hoping that the next six months will bring some more fluency, mainly in English, but also in Mandarin.
Our overall attitude is fairly good. There are several crunch times living abroad. One at the first month, another about three months in, etc. So far we are feeling pretty upbeat about Taipei. The weather in winter is colder than we remember, but we can always enjoy walking around during the daytime, which is pretty nice. This is just a very beautiful place, and we enjoy the food, the kindness of people, the work we have to do. It helps that in another month and a half we'll get a Chinese New Year's break. I only had Friday off and there's been a crush of work this last week.
We both skyped a lot with family. I feel caught up on the goings on back home. Dad retires at the end of this week, which is a big step. Emily's little brother finishes high school this year. Cousin seems pretty happy with DC life and has gotten into a new program. Everyone seemed to be getting a long well. We miss home, but it was nice to have a break from long car trips through the midwest. We really don't miss that.
I'll get more Sam pictures up soon. He's very cute lately. He wakes up ready to go. He has entirely reoriented our lives, but happily so. Here's wishing you all (you few?) a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
