Kid thoughts inspired by being in a new home in Taiwan

Pepe's three funniest pronouncements all in the space of half an hour one morning in the girls' new bedroom:

1. "How many breasts does a whale have? Two thousand?" (She quickly laughed at her own silliness when I started to explain why humans have two and pigs have several...)

2. (A response to my question about what they have observed as differences between Taiwan and Singapore) "Houses in Taiwan have only one toilet." (based on her own experience of our own cosy apartment)

3. "I like nature. It's so full of science."

Polly: I like Chinese food.
Pipa (not to be outdone): I like China food.

Pipa to Papa: I want to do something. (Papa asks what it is she wants to do) I want to do something about video. (Pipa, by the way, has grown Awfully Attached to Papa in the past two weeks)

Pipa, trying to persuade me to take one of the cabs waiting by the side of the road instead of crossing the road to wait for a bus to take us home from National Taiwan Science Education Center: How about a small one? (maybe less expensive? :)

Polly (out of the blue, and looking really puzzled): How do the languages ever exist? I don't know.

The girls can be so cute.  

The heavens declare the glory of God

The past two weeks have been a time of minor sickness among the Loy sisters, and the one is now down with a throat infection and fever is little Polly. Near the end of dinner today, when only she and I were left at the table, she got really teary-eyed and shared about how she wants so much to get well very soon, as she gets bad dreams and bad thoughts while she is sick. I could fully empathise as I was also much like her in this respect when I was young--she must have inherited this from me! I'm so thankful that we had a good longer chat about how trials in our lives are allowed by God to make us stronger, better people for Him. I then gave her a bunch of books (Brontorina, Dogs Don't do Ballet, The Lord is my Shepherd, The Tale of Rusty the Horse--all our family favourites!) and turned on some hymns for her to listen to (as my former pastor Dr Reynolds used to say--to drive out bad music, you need good music). After a while, she said she felt much better, and missed ballet for its good music and said that the hymns were like ballet music but better. Now then she said something else which prompted this post : "I can see God in nature. When I go out, I feel that God is there." This reminded me of the psalmist who wrote "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows forth His handiwork," (Psalm 19) and also Paul who wrote "...since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made..." (Romans 1:20)

Sickness and other trials can be troublesome things, but sadness can do one's heart and soul a whole lot of good. As King Solomon wrote, "Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better." (Ecclesiastes 7:3) May the Lord help Pepe, Polly and Pipa know the true joy of those who trust in Him.