Celebrating Birthdays in the US!!!

We have been busy celebrating birthdays here in the US. Levi turned 6 and had a putt-putt party (see sign below). Actually, he will officially turn 6 on July 10. Page turned 40 on June 23 and we had a surprise birthday party last night for her. The picture above is of Page and her very good friend, Jeanne, who helped plan the party. Page was quoted as saying, "This was the best birthday party that I have ever had!!" Milly also had a party -- a sleepover with 5 of her HPCA friends. Sorry, no picture of that one. Milly will turn 13 on June 26.

In the US!!!

We arrived in the US last Sunday night!! We had a short visit with Page's folks and then headed to our hometown of High Point, NC. We are having a great time seeing family and friends. The food has been great too. We will post some pictures soon.

Headed to the US!!!

On Sunday we are headed for a 30 day vacation to the States. We will fly into Charlotte, NC, and spend a few days with Page's parents. We then will head to High Point, NC, for about a week in our home town. On the 26th we head to Southern Pines to spend time with Keith's dad and stepmom. Finally, from June 28 to July 12 we will be at Holden Beach, NC, (one of our favorite places). We are looking forward to having time with our extended family, our church family, and friends. This will be our first time on US soil since December 29, 2005 - we are very excited! Please remember us in prayer as we travel.

An early swimming "turtle" 13th birthday party!

Yes, our little girl will be 13 on June 26! We are the parents of a teenager!

Since we are going to the US for vacation over her birthday, Milly wanted to have a party with her friends here before we left. So we rented out the MCA pool for a night-time swim party! This is the first time she has had a party where both boys and girls are invited - it is no longer "gross" to have boys who are friends. In fact she has just as many boy friends as she does girl friends now! She also loves turtles, so mom made her cake into a turtle...

Here are a few photos:

Keith passed Level 3 Test BUT....

an even cooler thing happened today.

First, thanks for praying for Keith on this test. He felt relaxed, and the test administrator was very kind and forgiving. Passing this test does not mean we are done studying, but it is an indicator that we are making progress. Again, thanks for your prayers!!!

After the test, Keith joined Page and the boys at a local water park. The place was very empty since Chinese school is still going on. This gave Keith an opportunity to talk to a lifeguard named Eden. Small talk turned into spiritual talk, and Keith gave his testimony to Eden. She had heard about Christianity from a Christian friend of hers. After finishing his testimony, Keith asked Eden if she wanted to believe, and Eden said, "Yes"!!! Keith asked, "Are you sure?" Eden said, "Yes, I am sure!" Keith led her in a short prayer, and Eden said she accepted Christ. We are going to follow up on Friday and take her a Bible - so please pray for us. We also will give her name to another Christian who will follow up since we will be in the States for the next month. Another cool part of this is that all of this was done in Chinese. If Keith had not prepared so hard for the assessment then he could not have shared or prayed in Chinese. Exciting stuff!!! God is working here in Taiwan.

Happy Dragon Boat Day

Today, Sunday June 8 is Dragon Boast Festival. This is the day that ushers in the summer here in Taiwan -- although it has already been pretty hot and humid for the last couple months. Today, as I was walking I saw two Chinese ladies trying to make chicken eggs stand up. Well they did it. I asked why they were doing this and they commented that on Dragon Boat Day around 12:00pm you can make chicken eggs stand up. They were right as all three were standing. You do see some interesting things here in Taiwan.

Here is some more from Wickipedia on the Dragon Boat Festival celebrated here.

The Duanwu Festival is a Chinese traditional and statutory holiday. It is a public holiday in mainland China[1][2] and in Taiwan, where it is known as the "Duanwu Festival". It is also a public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is known as Duen Ng Festival. Its alternative name in English is "Dragon Boat Festival", after one of the traditional activities for the holiday.
The Duanwu Festival has also been celebrated in other East Asian nations. For their equivalent or related celebrations, see Dano (Korean festival), Tết Đoan Ngọ (Vietnam), and Kodomo no hi (Japan).
The Duanwu Festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, giving rise to the alternative name of Double Fifth [3]. In 2008, this falls on 8 June. The focus of the celebrations include eating zongzi (see picture above) which are large rice wraps with some interesting things inside, drink realgar wine, and race dragon boats.

Good day at Morrison

We had a good day at Morrison today. It was the first day of summer vacation for the kids. Secondly, Morrison graduated 77 seniors in a very nice ceremony tonight.

However, the best part of the day was that we had two more students baptized this afternoon. Two brothers, one senior and one freshman accepted Christ some time ago but followed Him today in believer's baptism. Both of these guys attend our House of Blessing Church. Praise God for their bold statement of faith!!!

Teaching English

Page's last day of teaching English to the three classes in Levi's kindergarten was today. Page had a great time in teaching the kids English and some of the stories of Jesus. We hope many seeds were planted!!!

Above is a picture of one of the three classes -- Levi's class. I bet you can pick him out. One little girl told Page -- "Ke Ma-Ma (Ke is our last name in Chinese, and since Levi is one of their classmates they call her mom) please don't forget me when you go to America." Page told her we she would never forget her, but we will only be in America for 4 weeks!!