Milly turns 12!!!

Milly turned 12 years old today. She is excited. Page and Milly headed to Taipei today to have Milly's birthday party with her old classmates from Bethany. She is going to have a sleep over with about 15 girls. I don't know how much sleep they will actually get though.

All the boys are in Taichung and hopefully we will all survive without the girls here to take care of us.

When Milly and Page get back we will post some pictures of her party.

Page turns 39!!!

Page turned 39 on Saturday. We had a fun day as we went to "Tiger City" Mall and Page shopped around for her presents. After picking out several small things we enjoyed a meal at Chilis. Yes, they do have Chilis here -- one in Taichung and two in Taipei. The staff at Chilis brought her a piece of cheese cake and she had to stand up on a chair as they sang happy birthday to her in Chinese and then in English.

The picture of Page and her "boys" was taken right after we got back from the mall.

Thank you to all of you who sent her an e-card or e-mail to wish her a happy birthday. It meant a lot to her.

Taichung- for Wade

I thought ya'll would want to hear what Taichung means to me so here it is. First of all I want to give you the pluses (sorry, no minuses) for Taichung and Taipei. One of the good things in Taichung is that we get to own a house- not an apartment and it also has five whole floors! (even though one is a basement.) One of the weird things about our house is that we only go out of it by the basement that doesn't have a normal door. Another plus for Taichung is that we have a swimming pool that we don't even have to drive to!( we didn't have one in Taipei.)And the last plus for Taichung (that I have) is the basketball court. It takes just as long to get to the swimming pool as it is to go to the basketball court. I also decided that (if I could) I would play some basketball every day. Now for Taipei. Just about the only reason I miss Taipei is because of my friends, but I'm sure I'll get new ones. The last big thing that is good about Taipei is thier fried dumplings. So far we haven't found that but we'll find it sometime. Now I want to talk more about our new house. Like I said, it has five floors. I live on the fourth floor with Hunter and Levi. We have a "computer lab" on the third floor and. . .Oops I almost forgot, the fifth floor is our TV room. Now the second floor. It is sort of a living room and a dining room at the same time. Even though it's our living room I don't spend much time there. And the last floor is the basement (I said there was a basement) and there's hardly any room there because we have a huge van blocking the way! Well, that's our house. The only thing that makes the Taichung swimming pool different than a normal swimming pool is that it has two diving boards- one is a very low and one is very high. Well, that's what Taichung means to me. It will mean a lot more once I get used to it.

Taichung...according to ME

Hi, this is Milly (aka Mildo - this is for you, Melonhead!) here. Ok, so we moved to Taichung...ya'll know that. My mother said I had to write positively, so here. Taichung is uh...okay.(I guess) The pool is kinda cool, but it kinda helps if you have friends. Anyway, we all loved Taipei and it was hard 2 move. So like pray 4 us. It is like SUPER hard not 2 have any friends. Even going to the pool isn't nearly as fun without friends. I am getting a little negative here, so I am going 2 starting talking about the new house (it is hard to be negative about that). Okay, well, I mainly live on the 3rd and 4th floor, although I occasionly come down to the 2nd to eat :). My room is REALLY cool (even if it is smaller then the one in Taipei). It has green walls to match the leaves of the flowers on my matteress. And a pink curtain to match the flower petals on the matteress.



We also have A LOT of book shelves for my collection (that is still growing) of books and rabbits. Dividy, my dwarf-hamster, seems happy. The boys share a room and their's is like really cool, too. They have two walls that are green and Wade and Levi have bunks. Hunter has his on bed. Their room is really big so three people can easily live in it. We have FOUR bathrooms (2 are half-baths, like with out the bathtub and shower head)! On the 3rd floor is the comp room (office) and Mom and Dad's room. They have this HUMONGEOUS bathroom! The 2nd floor is the kitchen/dining room/ den. And on the 1st floor is the garage, a bathroom, and the shoe rack. Oh yeah, and on the 5th floor is the TV rooom (it is SUPER small).



On 1 of the balconies is the hamster play- area and on the other is the washer and dryer. This sounds pretty big, right? But get this: the actual ping is smaller then our Taipei apartment! So, all in all, our house is pretty cool. I have some pics of the things I was talking (or typing, for that matter) about and you can guess what they are of ( I don't feel like explaining it). So like pray 4 us to make new friends, I have a feeling we will adjust quickly. Luv y'all!

Our new home

Here are a few pictures of our new place in Taichung. Our new house is 5 stories!!! So, we will get plenty of exercise moving up and down the steps. The picture above is our 2nd floor, which includes a kitchen, dining room, and small den.

This is a picture of the front of our house. On the bottom floor there is a garage to park our van and some storage. You can not see the 5th floor -- but it is a small room (our TV room) and then two balconies on either side of the TV room. Our washer and dryer are on the 5th floor balcony. The picture below is a view from that balcony. The last picture is of our courtyard area. As you can see, it is a real nice area and we have already met several neighbors, who seem very friendly.

We're Moving!!!!

As you can see by the picture, we have officially started packing up for our move to Taichung. We will be staying in a guest flat in Taipei for a few days before we make our move on Friday. So, we will not be blogging until we get settled in our new city. Check back in a couple of weeks and we should have some pictures of our new apartment and community.

Rain, rain, and some more rain!!!

For the last few days it has been raining (I mean pouring) constantly over the whole island. Our Chinese friends tell us that it usually does this right before "Dragon Boat Festival" which among other things ushers in summer for us here in Taiwan. Dragon boat day is based on the lunar calendar so it falls on different days depending on the year. This year it is really late and is on June 19. All the rain makes for some long days as the kids are home and we are trying to pack. Hopefully, the sun will break through soon.

On a different subject, the picture below is of our spiritual language teacher -- Mrs. Lu. She is a wonderful teacher and we will miss her so much. She has taught us many things in Chinese -- including how to say our testimonies, how to explain sin, the meaning behind John 3:16, and how to disciple new believers. She also has helped our everyday language and consistenly and constantly helps us with our tones. She is a demanding teacher but an excellent one. She will be missed.

Last Day of School!!!

All the kids finished up with their school last Friday. They all were sad to say goodbye to some good friends and teachers. We caught all of them on picture, except for Milly, who did not want to be caught on camera. Thanks for remembering our children, they had a great year and a half in Taipei and we are expecting for them to form some great friendships in Taichung.