Good bye to our English Students

As we enter summer time here and due to our move to Taichung, we are coming to a close in some things here in Taipei. As Page described on our last blog, we will be changing language schools. Also, we will no longer teach our English Bible study to these students pictured above. We have really enjoyed getting to know these young people and have enjoyed spending one hour a week with them for these last two and half months. We feel many seeds were sown and continue to pray that God will work in their hearts.

My last day at Taipei Language Institute (TLI)

My last time at TLI was this past Friday, so I brought my camera with me to take some pictures. This first picture is Mr. and Mrs. Chen. They have a little tea shop on my way to school, so I always stop here and buy a green tea. He is Taiwanese, and she is Philippino. I talk with him in Chinese and with her in English. I often wonder how they talk with each other - but I guess they have worked out a system. :)

This next photo I took of Keith as he was cramming for his first hour of class. His first hour on Fridays is with his hardest teacher, who demands perfection on tones. Isn't he cute?

This picture is of the green tea I buy each day from the Chen's. I wanted to show you how cool the cups are here - they seal them with a special machine so that even if you turn them upside down they won't leak. You just poke your straw through the top and you're ready to drink!

My final photo is of me and my favorite TLI teacher. Her name is Teacher Xiao (pronounced shee-aw). She taught me my very first language class, starting all the way at the beginning with the first Chinese phonetic alphabet sounds - and she has taught me every day since then! She taught me how to write my name and address in Chinese. She also taught me Taiwanese cultural things. She, too, is a believer in Jesus. I will never forget one day studying how to say "every" - everything, every person, every year, etc. She said to me this sentence in Chinese - "Every person needs Jesus." I knew right then we were kindred spirits! On Monday, I told her (in Chinese), "When I move to Taichung, I will miss you." Then I went into the bathroom and cried! I am very thankful God has placed Teacher Xiao in my life. I am also thankful that she is from Taichung and will hopefully come to visit me when she is there!

This week will be our last week of spiritual language study here in Taipei with Teacher Lu. I will blog again after our last lesson with her - I hope I won't cry then, too!

Wade, Hunter, and Keith -- Camping in Taiwan!!

Wade's cub scout troop decided to end the year with a camp out. Those of you who know us well, know Keith was thrilled with this idea!!! Actually, Keith would prefer to stay in his own bed with air conditioning. The scouts went to "Camp Taiwan" -- which is about an hour drive from Taipei. They ended up having a great time. Hunter especially liked the climbing wall (see picture above). He was one of the few to make it to the top. Wade loved the zip line. (See pictures below of Wade on the zip line and Keith about to go on it.) They returned dirty, tired and sun burned but glad they went.

Page Visits Levi's School

Last Thursday, Page visited the Chinese pre-school that Levi attends. The school wanted all parents to visit. Page was pleasantly surprised of the amount of Chinese that Levi knew and understood. Levi really likes his school and will miss it when we move to Taichung. Friday, June 1st is his last day and his class will throw him a party. The top picture is the name of his school --Precious Blood Kindergarten. The other two pictures are action shots of the class.

Going Shopping by Bike

Milly and Page were about to go shopping for some clothes tonight, and instead of hopping into a car and Page driving them (like they would have done in America), they hopped onto a bike and headed out. We do have a car here, but we really don't drive it too much. It is really -- I mean really-- hard to find a parking place. When we go places around here we either walk or ride bikes. The quickest way for us to get around is by bike. We have six bicycles -- all of us own one. However, from time to time one of the kids will get on the back of one of the adult's bike (like picture above).

Happy Late Mother's Day!!!

Happy Late Mother's Day!!! We hope everyone had a special day!! They do celebrate mother's day here and many of the restaurants are packed with people. So, we celebrated by ordering take out each meal. For breakfast, Keith went to McDonald's and ordered everyone their favorite meal and brought it all home. For dinner we called in pizza and ate with several friends. The kids all either made or bought Page some special presents. Above is the traditional mother's day picture we take each year.

Bethany has Spring Concert

The elementary school on Friday night had their annual spring concert. Both Hunter and Wade had parts in the production. Hunter was part of the flock of "lambs" who sang some very pretty songs. Wade played "Brian" in a play. He said his lines very loud and clear.

Levi enjoyed the spring concert with one of his pals, Cole.

Broncos Win Championship!!!

Milly's 6th grade school's basketball team had a tournament on Saturday. The picture above was taken right after they won the championship. They had to play four games and won them all to win the Middle School 6th grade Girls Championship. Milly played good and had a total of 8 points in the games. The picture below is of her scoring one of the baskets. She also played great defense and pulled down some important rebounds. Way to go Milly!!!

Wade Fractures Wrist!!!

Today at school, Wade was playing on the monkey bars and fell off. He took a nasty fall. He landed right smack on his face. After dusting himself off, he noticed that his wrist really hurt. So, we took him to the emergency room (there is a hospital right across the street from the school). At this hospital, the English is very limited but everyone was very kind and helpful. The x-rays showed that Wade fractured his wrist. He will be in a soft cast for about a month -- if Keith understood everything correctly. Wade was most upset that he will miss his last basketball game of the season. When we got home, he thought this meant he did not have to do his homework. However, his mom decided that he could learn to write with his left hand!

We Found a House in Taichung

We have found a place to live in Taichung. Thanks for your prayers. We will be moving on June 15!! We are excited about our new home and yet sad to be moving. We will all miss Taipei. We are going to Taichung on Friday and will stay through Saturday. Milly has a band concert at the Morrison campus and Keith has some meetings in Taichung on Friday. We will take some pictures of our new apartment and post them for you to see.