As I mentioned before this has been a crazy week. Starting last Saturday a group of us began practice for an interactive Narnia show to play at one of the local malls. We spent about 6 hours practicing on Saturday, then another few hours on Monday. On Monday afternoon we did a bit of a practice show for a small audience. Then on Tuesday we began our week at the mall! We had shows at 1 and 8 at Jurong Point Mall. This meant getting to the mall at about 11 and not leaving til about 9pm. A long day! On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we had shows at 1, 4, and 8. Christmas Eve we will have only one show at noon. It has been a fun week, but a long one! Even so, I will sad when I take my Tumnus costume off for the last time tomorrow!

I've posted a few pictures that were taken by one of the ladies from our church who came with friends and their kids to see the show.

Enjoy!



Welcome to Narnia

Lucy meets Tumnus

It was COLD in Narnia

Trying to sneak past the witch

The White Witch

Edmund explaining the statue game

Frozen like a statue

Snow Dancers

Susan, Peter, the Witch, and Edmond

Lucy, Tumnus, and Professor (with kids from Sunday School)

Betsy with Sunday School kids

Mr. Tumnus with Gretchen from church

Feeling Better

Thank you all for your prayers! Betsy has begun taking iron supplements to help with some weakness she has been feeling. They are helping her very much.

This week we are involved in a production with many of the students at our school put on by Focus on the Family promoting the movie "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" It is at one of the local malls with three shows a day for the rest of the week. It is a lot of fun, but also very tiring. Today we left home at 10:15am and didn't make it back til 10:30pm, it will be the same until Saturday, on Saturday we only have one show at noon, so we will make it home a bit earlier (though we may go watch the movie after the show.) If you are wondering why we are promoting the movie now, it is because the movie only opens tomorrow in Singapore. Many movies don't appear in Singapore until a couple of weeks or even months after they arrive in the US.

We will be posting pictures from the production later this week.

Uncle Danny and Aunt Betsy

I just received news that my nephew Johnathan (Jack) Wyatt Twist was born this morning

December 17, 2005 9:47 AM PST

6 lb 4oz

19 inches

He came into the world a bit early so they will stay in the hospital a couple of days to make sure, but everything looks good!

Uncle Danny, I kinda like that! (though that is what I'm already called by the kids in Sunday school here. "Uncle" or "Auntie" are the terms used for anyone older than you here in Singapore. But this time I'm a real Uncle!)

Dragons and Christmas

Here are a few more pictures from our travels around the city. A few weeks ago while we were spending some time at Boat Quay we got a chance to watch the dragon boat races. These races are held annually on the river, close to the marina. It takes two days, and over 200 boats compete. The categories ranged from mens to womens, mixed, 20 person boats and 10 person boats. We only watched a few races, but it was amazing to see the athleticism of all the contestants. Often, the normal running of the river boat taxis was interrupted by the start of a new race. The drivers and passengers didn't seem to mind.

We had a unique opportunity this weekend to get to know our neighbors. Our community put on a Christmas party for our residence as well as some surrounding places. There were about 40 to 50 people present, and it lasted about 3 hours. There were door prizes to be won, a special talk from our government representative, lots of food, a magic show for the kids, and great games to play. We closed the party with traditional Christmas carols. It was wonderful to be singing about Jesus' birth with so many different people, Christian and non-Christian. You will see in the pictures some of the games. Betsy got to be a Christmas tree, and Danny partnered with our PE teacher's son to pop balloons. You will also see the group that lead Christmas carols. Danny and I got invited up because we love to sing.

A day at the Quay (pronounced Key); The River Taxis

Dragon boat races!

And they're off!

Three-legged balloon popping

Betsy the Christmas tree

Singing Christmas Carols

Thanksgiving & Basketball

I, Betsy, get the great honor of telling you all about our Thanksgiving this year. Some friends, named the Cochrums, invited us to their home for the traditonal Thanksgiving meal and fellowship. I made my grandmother's cornbread, enjoyed by all, and Ann had a full spread of all the usual fare. We dressed up for the occasion, and walked down the hill to the MRT (train) to make the 1:00 afternoon meeting time. We've walked that path hundreds of times and never had a problem, ever. I was behind Danny and taking my time when I suddenly felt something hard smack my left shoulder. I figured it was a seed pod from the overhanging trees. Boy was I wrong. I looked back to observe the telltale white of bird droppings. Of all the days this would be the one in which my walking path would intersect with the falling path of a much relieved bird. Good grief!! But it made our somewhat late entrance to the Cochrum home more humerous, that is for sure!! Luckily I put a towel around the cornbread container to keep it warm. I little knew that it was really for cleaning bird doo off my nice clothes. It made for a memorable Thanksgiving. The Cochrum kids had invited some Korean friends to share this American holiday with us. The two boys enjoyed the whole meal and Danny had a great time playing all sorts of games with the kids. Ann and I spent time talking with her husband, Ken, about the end times and the book of Joel we have been studying in our Bible study.

I had another appointment with my doctor today. The baby is quite healthy and growing well. The heartbeat sounds great and all seems well!! Praise God!!! We only have about 3 months left. It goes so fast!!!!

Danny speaking now:
This weekend was also the finals for our basketball teams. We were excited to have two of the three teams reach the championship game. The girls team and the U16 boys team both were able to play on Saturday. The boys played first against the German International School. The game started out tough, but in the second quarter our boys shot 73% (only missing 3 shots) and blew the game open. The final score was 63-32. The girls game followed and was a much closer game, but through a good defensive game, the girls were also able to win the game and the school's first championship! It was a fun time for all involved!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The season of Thanksgiving comes again! Thank you all for your support and prayers for us. We thank God for the way He provides for us. We thank Him for sending His Son to provide us with salvation and we thank Him for sending us our own son!

Please continue to pray for us, especially for Betsy and Aaron over these next three months and he continues to develop; then for all three of us after he has been born!

Out on the town

Skyscraper lighting up the clouds!

Our little one's bedding, thanks Mom!


If you look closely at the poster on the wall (you can click on the picture to zoom in) you will see our little one's name as well as its meaning.

Aaron Daniel Whittaker

A shining light proclaiming the message of our Great Judge.

A Sunday Adventure

Sunday was the 2005 Vertical Marathon. The vertical marathon is held annually at the tallest hotel in Asia, Swissotel The Stamford. It is a race up 1,336 stairs to the top of the building 73 flights up! I had heard about it earlier in the year while touring with Betsy's Mom, then later with my parents and decided I was going to run it, so for the past few months I have been training. Most of that training has simply been to always take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator (when possible). I realize that to some of you that doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you visit friends that live on the 13th floor it means a little more!

On Sunday we got there at about 7:15 so I could register, then stretched and prepared for the climb. I started my climb at just after 8 am. The first ten flights weren't too bad, after that I had to really push to keep going at a good pace. At the 35th floor I took out my secret weapon, I had carried my rubik's cube with me to solve when I was working hard and wanted to take my mind off the pain. Next thing I knew I had solved it and was at about the 65th floor, it did it's job well! Upon finally reaching the top, I was treated to the wonderful view.

I was able to spend about 30 minutes enjoying the panorama and relaxing, then I began the trip back down. Of course the elevator doesn't go all the way to the roof, so I had to walk down about 4 flights worth of stairs to get to the elevator. Once at the bottom I met back up with Betsy and collected my certificate. I was quite pleased to see I had finished in under 15 minutes: 14:56! I look forward to doing it again next year, hopefully bettering my time and having a clearer day!

Wow, way up there.

That is my goal!

And the race is on! We started in groups of 8 at a time with one minute intervals.

Stepping up onto the helipad to loud applause!

At the top, finally! A bit windy and overcast, but definitely worth the climb!

The senior member of the runners this year, he's 70+ years old; this was his 5th time!

Suntec City in the foreground, housing, housing, housing in the back.

Yes, there really is green in Singapore! And in the distance you can even see Malaysia!

Ships, ships, ships!

The tallest buildings in Singapore, it seems strange looking them eye-to-eye!

Nice windblown hair!

A day off

So this week has a couple of national holidays, I'm enjoying having today (Tuesday) off for Hari Raya, and look forward to having Thursday off for Deep Avali. It does make for a strange week though!

Last week we got all the painting complete, so now we show you the finished product, enjoy!!

The entry way

On the edge is the computer table. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what is playing on our computer.

Our new living area

New curtains as well

The queen of the house

The baby room

A great place to read while the little one sleeps!

A busy week

This past week has been a good, but busy one. Thursday we had a special emphasis on Spiritual things with two separate conferences: Heart-to-Heart for the ladies and Braveheart for the men. It was a wonderful time to minister specifically to our own gender students and their needs.

On Friday we went to the Singapore American School to watch a football game that the son of some of our friends plays on. It was fun to be in an "American" atmosphere again!

Saturday we spent the day painting, we had three people come to help us (sorry Lisa we didn't get your picture!) and had the first coat done in both rooms by 3:15. Today Lisa came back to help Betsy with the second coat. The place is looking good. We're letting it dry for a couple days, then have a little touch-up to do. Looking forward to the rooms being done this time next week!

Love you all.

Braveheart

Football!!!

Game in motion

Our hardworking assistants Denise and Cullen

Painting the ceiling

New color for baby room

Having some fun, self-portrait by Cullen

Cullen in the newly painted Living Room

Well, here are a few pictures from around Singapore. Most of these were taken a couple of weeks ago while we were out after getting our most recent baby pictures. We thought you would enjoy some shots of the things we take for granted.

Things are going well here, Betsy is now in her 22nd week of pregnancy. We are working on preparations for painting this weekend, and the first quarter has come to a successful end.

Thank you for all your prayers for us.

Great World City Shopping center

One way road outside Great World