Chinese getting better and better!!!

Thank you so much for the many prayers regarding our language. Although we have such a long way to go, we can see improvement and can pretty much get around the town with our Chinese. We continue to work hard on the spiritual language and look forward to the day where we can share the gospel in Chinese. Pictured is Page telling Levi's teacher that he will take a nap at school.

Our Churches and Pumpkin Carving

Our family is part of two different churches. On Sunday mornings we go to the Grace Baptist Church Chinese service so we can be exposed to spiritual language. We are gradually understanding more and more phrases and words. (I must admit, when I can't listen any more I pull out my Chinese flash cards and work on them during the service). During the Chinese service our children are in an Awanas program. They have been working hard on memory verses and earning badges for their vests and sashes. They love it!

Then on Sunday afternoons we are part of a house church composed of mostly missionary families. We meet on Sunday afternoons from 3:00-5:00. We meet all together as a group for singing and prayer then divide into three groups - adults, grade school children, and preschoolers. Keith and I teach the two children's groups about once a month, and today was our Sunday (we thought we were finished with Bible buddies :)) Even though most days still feel like summer here, we talked about autumn and some of the origins of Halloween. Instead of focusing on "jack-o-lanterns", we used the following poem given to us by a friend to share as we carved a very small pumpkin. Pumpkins are hard to find here, and I was blessed to find three small ones in the market behind our apartment for this lesson. I thought you may like to read the poem we read to the children as we carved it.

The Pumpkin Prayer

Dear God,

As I carve my pumpkin help me say this prayer:

Open my mind so I can learn about You;

(cut the top of the pumpkin)

Take away all my sin and forgive me for the wrong things I do.

(clean out the inside)

Open my eyes so Your love I will see;

(cut the eyes out in heart shapes)

I'm so sorry for turning up my nose to all you've given me.

(cut a nose in the shape of a cross)

Open my ears so Your word I will hear.

(cut the ears shaped like the Bible - a rectangle is fine)

Open my mouth so I can tell others You're near

(cut the mouth in the shape of a fish)

Let Your light shine in all I say and do! Amen

(place a candle inside and light it)

Milly's friends

Milly decided to inivite any 6th grade girl interested in coming to our house after school to eat, talk, and pray over needs of the school and community. Each Wednesday around 4 to 5 girls walk to our house and meet in Milly's room. We are excited that Milly initiated this and are thankful for the new friends that the Lord has brought her way. Pictured is the latest group that came over to our house. Of course, one of their favorite things to do is eat.

Saying Goodbye -- Again!!

We had a wonderful two weeks with Keith's dad and stepmom. We ate a lot as you can see from the picture. The weather was great the whole two weeks -- which is pretty unusual. Sunday night we had to say our goodbyes and there were a few tears , but we were all glad to be able to see each other again.
Monday Jim and Kay left for the airport at 5:00 AM and we all started back to our normal routine -- kids in school and the adults back in language school.
Now we are waiting for Gommy and Gompy and Nana and Papa to come see us.

A Fun Week!!!

We have had a great week with Pa and Kaykee. The kids were out of school all week and we all had a blast showing them the many sites in Taipei. Pa and Kaykee even were here to experience the aftershocks of an earthquake. However, they were asleep so we had to tell them about it the next day. Tomorrow (Monday) the kids are back in school so the adults will be able to spend some time together next week. Pictured is Milly showing Pa around our neighborhood.

Pa and Kaykee are Here!!!

Keith's dad and stepmom are here in Taipei. We picked them up at the airport on Sunday night and have enjoyed spending a couple of days showing them around Taipei. The kids have this week off of school for fall break. Yesterday, we ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant for Pa's birthday and for dessert ate shaved ice with fruit on it -- Taiwanese ice cream. Today, we went to Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the world) and went to the mall beside Taipei 101. We have had a great time and look forward to spending the next couple of weeks with them. We will keep you updated.

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

On Friday, we experienced our first Moon Festival celebration. This holiday is characterized by family get-togethers, moon-gazing, barbeques, moon cakes, and jubilant festivities. We were invited to go to the apartment building of one of our Chinese friends to barbeque. We grilled out sausages, hotdogs (we think), whole small fish, bamboo, vegetables, and pork. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing how the Moon Festival was celebrated. The weather was great, and we could see the full moon perfectly as it rose over the mountain. Page's favorite part was when her friend, Jessica, suggested she share the cake she brought with all the neighbors. They walked from table to table offering a piece of cake. Most all the people accepted, and several asked for the recipe. Page was a little embarrassed because it was only a Duncan Hines box mix sent from America! When asked what kind of cake it was, she just said "yellow birthday cake." She says next time she will make something from scratch...

Multicultural lunch outing

I, Page, have been blessed by having a 4th grader at Bethany (that would be Wade). I found out the end of last year that the mothers of this grade periodically have lunch together! I told one mother I had met in the spring to please include me for the next gathering. Well, last Friday was the first get-together for this school year. The group decided to let Dennis' mom take us to a Russian resturant since they are from Russia (his dad is a scientist at the university here). It was a wonderful lunch! She had made a Russian salad for us all as an appetizer, and then we had some soup and one of four choices of entrees. I chose the meatballs which were delicious! I learned that most Russian dishes use beets in some form, and they often use sour cream. While we were having lunch, we realized the moms present represented six different countries: Taiwan (of course), Korea, Australia, Russia, India, and America (that was me!). Most of the moms spoke Chinese as well as English, plus the language of their own country. I could tell the mom from Korea knew about as much Chinese as I do - not much! I didn't talk a lot, but really enjoyed listening to the ladies talk and joke with each other. Right now I'm just "Wade's mom", but I look forward to building deeper relationships with them. Ladies all over the world are alike - we love to get together and laugh, talk about our kids, and just enjoy each other! We decided we will have lunch once a quarter together, and the next time we will go to an Indian resturant and let the two Indian moms show us the ropes! Next time I will bring my camera!

Chinese Homework

Hunter, Wade, and Milly take Chinese classes three times each week through their school. They are all doing well in learning correct pronunciation and tones. This week Mr. Dave -- their Chinese teacher -- gave each student the assignment to interview a Chinese person who can speak only Chinese. Hunter and Wade interviewed Mr. Chen, while Milly interviewed Mrs. Tall. (See picture). The kids did not always understand all the answers they received back, but the Chinese people that were interviewed understood what they were saying. It seems kids can get tones much easier than adults. In fact, today Levi was counting in Chinese to 20 and said each tone exactly correct. By the way, the tones are much easier for Page than Keith. This will not surprise many of you that know us well.