Milly's Concert and Wade's Soccer

Since school started all of our weeks seem busy but this past week was especially busy as Milly had a band concert on Friday night and Wade competed in an all day soccer tournament on Saturday. Milly plays with the high school band and they sounded great!! Wade plays stopper on the JV-B soccer team. They won the tournament and are currently 4-0. Wade must be trying to make some kind of statement with his different color of socks.

We Survived!!

We survived our first typhoon of the season. Church was called off and we had a lot of wind here. Several branches were torn off trees but besides that no noticeable damage. Kids are disappointed because they will be in school tomorrow.

Typhoon Coming!!

Our first typhoon of the year is coming!! It is unusual to not have had one hit the island yet. It is supposed to hit on Sunday morning. We will let you know how everything turns out.

Sophomore Girls!!

Pictured above are a few of Milly's school friends. The picture was taken in our front yard. A few of the girls live in the dorms while the others live with their parents in Taichung.

Get Real!!

That is the theme of the sophomore Bible study this year. Keith and Page, along with another family -- Otey and Cheryl Enoch, will lead the Bible Study this year. On Sunday night we had our first meeting at our house. The students ate, played games, ate, studied the Bible, and then ate again. It was fun night!!

Missing Football!!

Keith is a bit down this week because football is starting up back in the US. Although we can keep up with it with no problem, it is not the same as being there. Here is hoping that NC State has a great year!!

More on Class Retreats!!

Milly had a good time on her class retreat. Above is Milly and some of her classmates forming a human pyramid.

Friday Night Retreats!!

Last Friday night each class in the high school had retreats. The freshmen and sophomores (Milly's class) stayed overnight on campus while the juniors and seniors went overnight off campus. Keith was asked to speak at the Junior retreat -- see picture above. The Juniors stayed at a rustic campground -- Bamboo Valley Bible Camp. Both Milly and Keith said their respective retreats went well.

A Cool Thing about Taiwan!!

Well, there are lots of cool things about Taiwan. One is the convenience of everything. On Wednesday, Keith left the house at 5:00pm to take Wade to the eye doctor and then to get a haircut. Keith and Wade arrived back one hour later with a haircut and a visit to the doctor. Total cost for both was only $10.00! Actually haircut was more expensive than the doctor's visit. Now that is cool!!!

Page's Monday

Page had a cool Monday. She helped drive a volunteer team to Sun Moon Lake which is a resort/tourist place about 1.5 hours from Taichung. She and the team distributed materials to Chinese tourists. Chinese tourists are beginning to travel more and more to Taiwan. Please remember those that received the materials!!

Tough Week!!!

We all made it through the first week of school OK. We were all very tired by the weekend and happy that the weekend did arrive. We did have a couple of setbacks. On Wednesday, one of Wade's eyes was very red and irritated. We thought it was allergies but after taking him to the doctor discovered it was a serious bacterial infection on his cornea most commonly found in tropical places. Not treated it could be very serious. He now is taking drops and it looks like it will heal OK. Hunter had a tough day on Saturday. His soccer has started and while playing goalie a ball was kicked pretty hard. As he went to stop it his wrist bent back pretty awkwardly. He felt for sure it was broken. After an X-ray, it just revealed a serious sprain. He will be fine but is having a hard time moving it right now. Thanks for praying for Wade and Hunter.

First Day of School Picture

Page always takes the first day of school picture. This year is no different. See picture above that includes Hugo. Hugo did not start school -- although he needs it. This year Milly is in 10th grade, Wade is in 8th grade, Hunter is in 5th grade, and Levi is in 2nd grade.

Back to School!!

It is here!! Back to school begins tomorrow (Monday, August 16). All the kids seem excited and so does Keith. Actually, Keith has been officially on his job for the last two weeks. Page is excited to be able to finally get some time to her self and to finish unpacking the crate.

Basketball Camp!!

Last week the three boys enjoyed a whole week of basketball camp. Hunter and Levi participated in the morning sessions and Wade in the afternoon. All three took away the following awards.

Levi -- MVP for short players

Hunter -- his team won the whole championship

Wade -- Best in station work

Our Newest Addition!!

Here are a couple pictures of our newest family member --- Hugo. Page and Milly went to the Pet-Adopt place here in Taichung and came home with him. As you can see, he is really cute. He is around 3 years old and he was found on the streets of a city right next to Taichung. You can tell he had never seen grass before but already after just one week seems to like it. He also seems to be great with kids.

Celebrating 20 Years of Marriage!

We (Keith and Page) recently celebrated our 20th anniversary. We went to Kaohsiung City (second biggest city in Taiwan) and went to a place called "Love River". We stayed in a really nice hotel and had a great time. Above is a picture of our hotel and below that is the view we had from our hotel room. We had a GREAT time!!

Back from the Beach!!

We had a good time on our family vacation to Kenting (the beach). Above are some pictures of the fun!!

Headed to the Beach!!

We are headed to Kenting (the beach) tomorrow. We are excited to be going and look forward to some R and R. We will post some pictures of our vacation when we get back.

Back to Chinese Classes!!!

Four out of six of us are back into Chinese lessons. Keith is reviewing all things that he forgot while in America. Milly and Wade have begun Book I of Chinese Made Easier. (Although there is no Chinese Made Easy but this book does seem easier than others we have used.) Hunter is reviewing the Chinese phonetic sounds and beginning to say simple sentences. Levi decided to wait and take Chinese when school starts back. Page will start back after all kids are in school.

Levi's Day

Levi had a good day on Saturday -- his 8th birthday. He decided to have a bowling party at Tiger bowling. He invited a few of his friends and the whole family. We had a great time -- pictured above is Levi and one of his many strikes!!

English Camp!!

A team from the United States (nine from Iowa and one from NC (Maghan Spencer) have been here in Taiwan at Morrison for the past two weeks. The first week they helped out with the youth at TMF (see previous posts). This week they are hosting an English camp for local high school Taiwanese students. Both weeks have been a huge success. Thanks for remembering this team and those they are working with.

July 4th!!

We did celebrate July 4th by shooting off some store bought fireworks and eating homemade ice-cream with several families. Pictured above is Hunter with one of his good friends, Mathias.

Conference this Week!!

This past week we had an island wide conference at Morrison with like minded folks. We had a great time of fellowship. We were challenged by being reminded that we were created to make God look good (bring Him glory). We were especially busy as we (Keith and Page) took care of all the logistics from determining which families would stay in which dorm rooms to what classrooms different workshops would use. Our kids also had a great time as two teams from the States put on the youth and children's programs. Maghan Spencer, from High Point, NC, is here and helped with the youth!!

Our Crate Arrived!!

We shipped out our crate on May 7th from High Point, NC. Today (June 29) we received all of our stuff!! It will take us a little while to get it all into place but it all looks like it made it in good shape.

Milly's Birthday!!

Last Saturday we all celebrated Milly's 15th birthday. She wanted to go to Friday's (yes the same Fridays you have in the US). So we ate lunch there and she opened her presents. She had a good day.

Page's Birthday!!

Thank you to everyone that made Page's birthday special. She received several phone calls, e-mails, and lots of facebook messages. We celebrated her birthday by going out to one of her favorite restaurants here in Taichung -- "Bollywood". Bollywood specializes in India food.

Now it is Hot!!

Last post, we talked about how the rain was keeping things cool here in Taiwan. Well, the rain has stopped and now the temperature and humidity has risen!! This is the Taiwan weather we are used to. Thankfully, we do have air conditioning.

Raining!!!

We don't mind an occasional day of rain but it has been raining a lot since we arrived in Taiwan a little less than 2 weeks ago. The weather forecast looks like more of the same until Wednesday and then it looks pretty good. One good thing about the rain though -- it has kept the temperature way down!! Pictured above is the view of the rain along with our van. Morrison (where our kids go to school and Keith works) is pictured in the background.

Meeting Up with Friends

Saturday night we had Nick and Gloria and their two kids (Zach and Amelia) over. (Sorry, we don't have a good picture of Amelia but she is super cute!!) They brought us Chicken soup as a welcome back gift. It was good to catch up with them and we look forward to spending more time with them in the months to come.

Welcome Back!!

We could post a lot of goodbye pictures with our family and friends in the States. However, too many to post so we decided to show you what was on our front door as we arrived at our house in Taiwan. We were excited that we were greeted with these signs. The bottom sign says "Welcome Back Curlees". It has been good seeing old friends here in Taiwan.

Back in Taiwan

We made it back to Taiwan!!

Our plane trip was long but uneventful. We left our house in High Point around 11:30am on Monday, May 31 and arrived at our house in Taiwan at 8:30am on Wednesday, June 2 for a total of 32 hours of traveling.

We are in the process of unpacking and settling in!!

Last Post in the US

At least for awhile. We leave on Monday, May 31 for Taiwan. Our plans are to stay for three years. So we will back in summer of 2013 for another stateside assignment. We have a had a great stay for these last 10 months. Thanks to all of you who have made our stay GREAT!! Please stay in touch.

What we will miss the MOST!!

The countdown to leave the US and go back to Taiwan is less than a week now. Often we are asked what we will miss the most. We often tell people that we will miss family, friends, and food the most. The three F's!!!

We are also asked how do you feel about leaving the US and going back to Taiwan for three years. We tell people that we are real excited to go back but we are also real sad -- in particular because of the first two F's mentioned above (missing family and friends). Is it possible to be sad yet happy at the same time??

End of Year Programs at HPCA

No matter what school kids go to -- there are a lot of end of year events taking place. I think this week we have been to the school each night. Pictured above is Milly and Wade before a band concert at HPCA. Only 6 more days of school left!!

Happy Late Mother's Day!!!

We hope all of you mother's out there had a great day on mother's day!! Over the last few days we have had the opportunity to spend some time with Nana (Page's mom), Gommy (Keith's mom), and Kaykee (Keith's step mom). We are thankful for being able to see them this year!! Picture above is of Page and all of her kiddos.

Crate going out

It is certainly hard to believe that we only have 3 1/2 weeks left here in the States. These 10 months have gone by fast. Tomorrow, we ship out a lot of our things on a crate -- like a few pieces of furniture, winter clothes, bikes, food we can't get in Taiwan, etc. Our crate is supposed to arrive at our house in Taiwan in about 6 weeks. Above is a picture of Keith and all of the stuff that we are taking. As you can tell, he is thrilled that we are taking this much stuff back.

Trip to the Mountains!!

This last weekend we took one final trip (for awhile at least) to the mountains to spend sometime with Nana and Papa (Page's folks). It was a nice weekend. On Saturday, the girls shopped and the guys played at a nearby creek and did a little bit of fishing with Papa. According to Hunter, "It was a pretty awesome day on Saturday." Above is a picture of Hunter and Levi on top of a big rock with their "beaver" sticks.

Page and Ann!!

Recently, Page was able to spend a whole morning with one of her best friends in the world -- Ann Boyd. Page and Ann both graduated from Converse College and have been good friends since their freshmen year. It was great to catch up and spend some quality time with Ann.

Grandparents Day at HPCA!!

Last Friday was Grandparents day at HPCA. Levi and Hunter both were excited to have Pa and Kaykee along with Papa and Nana come see them at school. They were sad that Gommy and Gompy could not make it. Above is a picture of Hunter, Papa and Nana.

Spring Football Game!!

Yesterday we went to the NCSU spring football game. We had a great time watching the action and spending time with Pa (Keith's dad) and all the boy cousins (Sam, Ben, Cooper, and Myles) on that side of the family. We also got to go on the field and get a few autographs and throw a little football.

Milly is playing soccer at HPCA!!

Milly had a few friends who convinced her to play varsity soccer this spring at HPCA. She is having a great time and has improved quite a bit. Milly is hoping that this experience will help her when we go back to Taiwan because she plans to play soccer at Morrison. Pictured above is Milly sitting on the bench with a few of her friends.

Chinese friend in NC!!

We have met a few Taiwanese and Chinese friends since we have been back in NC. Pictured above is one of those friends. Her name is Lin Ya. She is from Beijing and is a student at HPCA. In this picture, Lin Ya is cooking us a great Chinese dish. Page and Lin Ya have had an opportunity to get together each week to talk since Christmas. We are thankful for her friendship.

Levi plays Upward BB

Levi has fallen in love with basketball this year. Not only did he play at the YMCA this year but he participated in an Upward league as well. Finally, the hoops season is over. Levi is hoping his dad will start a basketball league for elementary kids when they get back to Taiwan.

Hunter turns 10!!

Looking back on our blog we forgot to mention that Hunter turned 10 on March 13. He had a great birthday where he celebrated at Laser X. Page was sick so a good friend, Jeanne, helped Keith with all the details.

At Southeastern this Week

I (Keith) have had a neat week at a GIC (Global Impact Conference) at Southeastern this week. It has been cool talking with students and hearing what is going on around the world. We have had a great line-up of speakers too -- David Platt, Jerry Rankin, and Ed Stetzer!!

Back from the Beach!!

We had a great time at the beach. The weather was awesome and it was nice to spend time with Keith's dad/step-mom and family over Easter. Above is a picture of Pa and Kay-kee -- along with the 13 grandchildren.

Headed to the Beach!!

We are headed to the beach to spend Easter weekend with Keith's dad and sisters, etc. It should be a lot of fun!! Finally, the weather is what we are used to here in NC -- sunny and in the 80's!!

Dallas Pics

We were reading back over our blog and realized that we forgot to post Keith's pictures from his trip to Dallas. Above are a few pictures of Cowboy stadium and the NBA All-Star rookie game that Keith, Richard, and Mark went to. Cowboy stadium is huge. Of course, "everything is big in Texas!"

Tickets purchased!!!

It is certainly hard to believe that we have been in the States for 8 of our 10 months. We found out the other day that we will be heading back to Taiwan on Monday, May 31 -- a little more than 2 months away. Our airline tickets have been purchased!! We are all ready to get back but we do have mixed emotions in leaving again. Saying our goodbyes to our family and friends will be very hard.

Fun Time at Disney!!

We just returned from Disney. We first went to St. Petersburg, Florida to visit with Keith's mom and step-dad and then we all went to Disney World for four days. We had a great time and for the most part the weather was great.

Headed to Florida!!!

All of us are headed to Florida tomorrow for a week to see Keith's mom and step dad. They live in St. Petersburg so we will spend a couple of days there then drive to Orlando to Disney World. We are looking forward to some nice warm weather. We will post some pictures soon!!

More Snow!!

Hard to believe but it is snowing again here in NC. It has snowed at least 5 times this year. We have been told that we have gotten more snow this winter than all the other 4 winters that we were gone. We are all ready for SPRING!!