19 Years Of Marriage!!!

We celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary today. It is hard to believe it has been that long but it has been -- as we were married on June 30, 1990!!! We celebrated by going out to Chili's and then went shopping to buy some Chinese shirts to take back to the States with us.

Hunter's List

Here is Hunter's list of pros and cons of going back to America for 10 months. He defintely is the most excited kid of ours to be going back.

What Hunter will miss about Taiwan

1. Friends
2. MCA (Morrison Christian Acadmey)
3. 7-11 at every street corner

What Hunter is looking forward to in America

1. Clean roads
2. Seeing relatives and friends
3. HPCA (High Point Christian Academy -- the school the kids will be going to next year)
4. No more Chinese meals
5. Seeing it snow
6. Everyone will speak English.

End of an Era

Sort of. Page and I have officially completed our formal language study for the first term!! Looking back, it was certainly difficult but well worth the struggle and study. We both passed "the test" given by our company. We also both can converse and understand simple Chinese. Chinese is a very difficult language to speak and it is our hope that we will not forget too much during the 10 months we spend in the States. When we get back next summer, we both will study part time in hope to improve and to be able to speak and understand more difficult concepts in Chinese.

Milly Turns 14!!!

Milly turned 14 years old today!! Milly wanted go to Friday's for lunch so after she opened up her presents that is what we did. She loves getting presents (just like her mom!!). It is certainly hard to believe that Milly was just in 4th grade when we decided to work overseas. Now, she is heading into 9th grade. We are proud of the young lady that she is becoming!!

Celebrating Page's B-Day

Page had a quiet birthday celebration today. First, Milly cooked her mom pancakes!! That was a treat. In the afternoon, all 6 of us headed to the dentist for our 6 month cleaning. It cost a total of $10 (US) and took all of 45 minutes for all of us to have our teeth clean. Pretty amazing, although cleaning teeth here is not as thorough as Dr. Gentry in High Point. After our dentist appointments we went to one of Page's favorite restaurants -- "Bollywood" -- an Indian place. Finally, we made a trip to Swensen's for ice-cream. It was a fun day. Thanks for remembering Page.

NC State Apparel in Taiwan!!!

Today for Father's Day Page and the kids gave Keith two NC State shirts -- very nice shirts. One day a few weeks ago, Page was shopping at a market and saw these shirts sitting out. She excitedly bought both of them. We have spotted other ACC teams apparel before here in Taiwan. We even saw an ECU (East Carolina University) jacket but no State things. We are glad that NCSU material has made it to Taiwan. Go Pack!!!

What Levi will miss about Taiwan...

Each Sunday night Keith takes a family member out after dinner to spend some one on one time. This also includes Page. Tonight Keith took Levi. He chose to go to 7-11 for his dessert. While sitting outside 7-11, Keith asked Levi what he will miss most about Taiwan and what he is looking forward to the most about America. (We leave for America on August 1 and will spend 10 months there before returning to Taiwan.) Below are his responses.

Levi will miss --

• his friends
• going to 7-11 and getting things (Each time he enters 7-11 the ladies who work there give Levi candy for a hug!!)
• riding a motorcycle with his dad.
• his house

Levi is looking forward to America because --

• he will see his grandparents
• he will have a new house
• America has good TV with no Chinese commercials
• he will get to go to the beach

Renovations Have Begun!!

As we stated in our earlier post, one of our projects this summer is to oversee the renovation of our new home here in Taichung. The workers have been at it very hard and have begun tearing out cabinets, ceilings, carpet, etc in our new home. Pictured above is Page's new kitchen. It should look much better in another month.

Renovating Our New House

Now that school is out we (Keith and Page) have two big projects to do before we begin our time in the States. (By the way, we leave for the States on August 1 and will stay there one school year -- until June 1, 2010). One of the projects is to renovate the home that we will live in when we return. Our goal is to finish the renovation in about 5 weeks then move in all of our furniture before we leave for the States. The place is nice but old. It is located on the Morrison campus and was built in the 1970's. It is actually a SB owned house. The kids will love it with access to a yard and the campus. Pictured above are the living room, kitchen, and laundry room. We will post pictures of our newly remodeled home in late July -- hopefully.

Back from Taipei --

We left for Taipei on Sunday afternoon and returned back to Taichung today -- Tuesday afternoon. It was a good trip. We went to get our stateside physicals and also renew our kids' passports. So, we had a purpose in going. We also had a good time walking around our old neighborhood (remember we lived in Taipei for 1 1/2 years). In addtion, we were treated by some of our good friends to dinner on Monday night.

Great Descriptions of Hunter!!!

Hunter's teacher this year had every student write a short description of each other. Here are the descriptions of him written by his classmates --

• generous


• pro at soccer


• writes interesting stuff


• encouraging


• good at running


• a hard worker


• good singer


• a good teacher


• loves to run


• very smart


• nice swish


• fun to play with


• stands up for people


• good at music


• good at shouting loudly


• good cello player


• good at fellowship


• helps people a lot


• a good listener


• isn't that loud anymore


• good at being nice to little brother


• good humor


• And Ms. Neff, his teacher, describes Hunter as "passionate, tender-hearted"

School's Out!!!

School is officially out!!! We are all excited to have summer officially here!!!

Milly was part of the 8th grade recognition ceremony. It was a very nice ceremony and a party/talent show was put on afterwards. Pictured above is Milly's 8th grade class (the class of 2013) and pictured below are the girls of Milly's class singing a song together in the talent show.

Keith and Page feel way too young to have a high school daughter!!

Dragon Boat Festival!!!

On Thursday, we celebrated Dragon Boat Day. This is the day that ushers in the summer. The whole island had the day off, except for Morrison. So while Keith worked and Milly, Wade, Hunter, and Levi went to school Page took the opportunity to go to a near-by mountain and hike in a bamboo forest with some of her friends. Pictured above, is a neat tree house (made of bamboo) and Page among her friends.

Levi Baptized!!!

Levi was baptized today at our church, House of Blessing!! Actually, he was baptized at Morrison's pool because our church meets in a local Chinese middle school. Keith was honored to be able to baptize him. Six others, 4 children and 2 adults, were also baptized. It was a great day!!

Levi's Soccer Team

Levi's soccer team recently competed in the Taichung's Mayor Cup Soccer Tourney. Levi's team played great and reached the championship game. They played a team they lost to earlier in the tournament by 2 goals. As the final horn sounded the game was tied 0 to 0. They had a shoot out and Levi helped his team score but the other team ended up with one more goal. So, they finished second. Levi had a good time -- although he was a bit disappointed in losing in the championship. (He gets his competitive nature from his mom!!)

Hunter's team also competed but they lost in an earlier round. He had a good time too!!

Basketball Fun in Taipei

Milly and Wade recently competed in middle school tournament games in Taipei. They both had a great time. Milly's team played hard and improved through out the tournament. Wade's team, coached by Keith, came in 2nd place out of 10 teams. Wade hit a game winning 1/2 court shot to win the first game!! It was an exciting day.

A View from Taipei 101

Above is a picture taken from the top of Taipei 101 -- the second tallest building in the world. Pretty neat view. Reminds us of all the people that need to hear the "good news" in Taipei and Taiwan. Thanks for your prayers for the nation of Taiwan!!

Dinner with Friends

Last night we had a nice evening going out with several couples. Heather and Scott McGrew, the couple pictured in the middle, will be leaving Taiwan after this school year. They took us all out to eat to say an early goodbye. We will miss Heather and Scott. They have been very good friends to us. Scott teaches Biology in the high school and Heather teaches kindergarten (Levi's class.)

Chick-Fil-A in Taiwan!!

We wish. However, as we were traveling back from Kenting we decided to take a stop at a rest stop. The rest stops here are quite nice and have plenty to eat (Chinese food). This particular rest stop also had a Starbucks and a Mister Doughnut. Anyway, Keith ordered a green onion pancake from one of the restaurants and to his surprise it was wrapped in a Chick-Fil-A bag. Keith asked the person waiting on him if they had any idea where they got the bag. Her reply was "I don't know but we wrap all of our food in these bags." You do see some funny sights here in Taiwan.

R and R at Kenting!!

Morrison had this week off of school so we went to Kenting (a beach resort at the southern tip of Taiwan). Many other Morrison families went and enjoyed the beach and the night market shopping at night. Below are a few pics of the fun!!!