What do Judy Garland and Noah have in common?

Wow, my first blog post of 2009 didn't come until the middle of June. And I did so well in 2008. :-(
There was a rainbow in Taipei the other day after a rain storm. That was nice to see. On my first trip to Taiwan I also saw a rainbow and had a sort of "God's promises are for all people, not just Americans" kind of epiphany. When I saw this weeks rainbow I was heading to Taipei 101 with a group of college students from College Heights Christian Church in Joplin, MO. Hopefully they were able to see it and come to a similar understanding of God's promises. If nothing else they got some pretty cool pictures of Taipei 101 with a rainbow in the background. That's certainly something you don't get to see every day!

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Now playing: The Wizard Of Oz - Judy Garland - Over the Rainbow
via FoxyTunes

Taipei is alive with the sound of music

So, after what was, for me, a dreadful election day, I decided I needed to drown my sorrows in a little classical music. So tonight, I went with my friend Dana to see the Vienna Boys Choir. Honestly, I don't know how anyone could feel bad after listening to them sing for an hour or two. They are just absolutely precious. Although, considering the fact that they are boys age 10-13 they probably would not appreciate being called precious. It was interesting to see that even though these boys were very good at what they do, they were still a little fidgety on stage. I expected to see a little blond, singing army but they looked like very normal kids. I even saw them laughing at each other across the stage once in a while.
The first half of the concert was good. They sang basic classical choir music while I fought off the urge to grab some scissors and cut the conductor's bushy hair. But after the intermission they were really good. They started off with some folk songs from around the world, including two Chinese songs. After the more well known Chinese song the audience went crazy, just proving again how much people in Taiwan respect a foreigner who can speak their language, even if it's just a little boy in a sailor suit. They made the kid who did the solo take 3 or 4 bows before they stopped clapping.
They sang 4 songs from musicals, including "If I were a rich man" and "Edelweiss", which just happens to be my favorite song from a musical ever!
For the encore they came out and sang the two Chinese folk songs again and a Russian song. During the Russian number the littlest choir member came out in front and did a little Russian dance combined with some semi-break dancing moves. This made the crowd, who was already going crazy from the repeated Chinese songs, go absolutely wild while I was once again overcome by the preciousness of it all.
If you ever have a chance to see the Vienna Boys Choir sing I would definitely go. It's so much fun to live in a city where concerts like this take place 20 minutes from my house! It almost makes up for people on the MRT not wearing deodorant in hot weather--almost.

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Now playing: Rodgers & Hammerstein - Edelweiss
via FoxyTunes

Back Again

Well, I'm back in Taiwan now. It's hard to believe that my lovely summer with my family and friends is over and I'm back in Taiwan. But it was a great time full of busy, fun activities which gave me lots of new memories to look back on.
Now I'm back in my own apartment which, at the moment, feels a little strange and foreign to me. I always forget how white and tiled everything is. And how humid the floor is. It's kind of grossing me out because, although I'm pretty sure my floors are clean, that feeling makes me think of greasy, dirty tile floors in restaurants. But I'm sure everything will start feeling normal again in the next day or two.
I have to go buy a new phone today because the battery on my old one is dead beyond reviving so I can't answer any of my calls. Thankfully my cell phone is still working so I can at least use that. I also have to figure out how to set up my internet here so it will work on my new laptop so I can stop borrowing the neighbors wireless. I also have to finish unpacking my last suitcase and try to remember where I used to put things 3 1/2 months ago. It's strange how you forget things like that.
One nice thing about today is that one of my fantastic co-workers, either Alicia or Karen, bought a honey green tea yesterday and put it in my fridge for me. I love Taiwan tea!! And tonight my Monday night Bible study girls are hopefully coming over for a "Keep Jen Awake!" party to help me get over jet lag.
So, do you think eggs that have been in the fridge since mid-June are edible?? I don't think I'll try them and find out.

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Now playing: Mandisa - Only The World
via FoxyTunes

Labor Day with the family testing out the fire pit

We got together for Labor Day to test out the fire pit my mom built earlier this summer.

The younger Reynolds family's new dog, Shadow.

Aunt Sarah checking out the fire pit
Ben chowing down on the hot dogs

Luc and Ben opening the s'mores ingredients

Nate and Emmy having fun trashing Aunt Jen's room

with Aunt Janie

Nicole

Mara and little Ella Rose

One day, so many choices

I didn't realize until just now that September 2nd was a day so full of exciting options. Why is it so exciting? Because not only can I buy the new Chris Tomlin cd "Hello Love"--
I can also buy the new New Kids on the Block cd!!! Ok, I will admit, back in the day I was a huge NKOTB fan. I especially liked Jordan. And I had NKOTB pictures plastered all over my bedroom walls. I even got to see them in concert once at the Missouri state fair with Tommy Page and Tiffany, although if I remember correctly it got rained out after the 2nd song. Now, 20 years later, I can't decide if it's cool that they're back or terribly, terribly sad. And I probably won't be buying the cd because I don't like any of the songs I've heard so far.
And if NKOTB isn't enough of a blast from the past, today is also the premiere of the new generation of Beverly Hills, 90210. I watched 90210 in college with my friends who totally corrupted me. It was our little guilty pleasure, before we actually knew what a guilty pleasure was.
I probably won't watch the new one because it's just not the same thing watching without others to appreciate the ridiculousness with.
I always knew my past would come back to haunt me. I guess I just didn't know it would all come back on one day.

Day after road trip

I think Nathan's face here perfectly describes how we feel after driving 1700 miles in four days, as well as visiting friends, attending a conference, shopping, being a tourist in two cities, shopping and attending a new church. That takes a while to recover from.

Texas Road Trip Day 4--The Long Road Home

Sunday we were able to attend Austin Stone Community Church in Austin which was very cool for me because for the past year or so I've been listening to their sermons online. It was a little weird to actually see the preacher instead of just hear him. The great thing about being there in person was to hear the music since they don't put the songs on the podcast. It was a really great service and I think we were all glad we stuck around Austin long enough to attend.After church we hit the road again, this time heading back to Missouri. We stopped just out of Austin to change clothes and let Yoly catch up with an old friend.Back in Dallas we saw this interesting statue for the Dallas Zoo:And I learned a new fact about Texans that I didn't know before.

The Dallas skylineIn Dallas a serendipitous wrong turn brought us face to face with a highway interchange that was even bigger than the one we saw on day one. We think this is the one our friend Matt told us was one of the new wonders of the world. Whether it is or not, we were very impressed.
We loved the "decor" of the interchange. It gives it a very "Texas" feel.
I drove all the way through Oklahoma which was cool because on the turnpike the speed limit is 75 miles an hour. I was a little nervous at first to drive that fast but I adjusted pretty quickly.

Between Tulsa and Joplin the sun started to set and we were treated to this beautiful sunset.We got home about 1:00 Monday morning and were pretty worn out but all in all we were glad we took the trip.