A New Thursday Afternoon Program

Today I had to get Mom used to the new Thursday afternoon schedule... so NO morning program, we went only to the afternoon program.

She loved it... It was a chatting time and all the ladies said she talked about her life in detail!

I will have to find a way to get Mom there and back... so I called the social services to see if I can get a van reserved every Thursday for FREE! I will hear from them within the next 10 days, just before when my Thursday afternoon class starts on June 14th. Praise the Lord! I just need the van to pick Mom up and bring her back home as I will  not make it in time at 5pm when it's the traffic hour!

The weather remains HOT... And yes, I've had to turn on the A/C unit for my mom!

Tomorrow is June 1st and it's Abby's graduation!

Seek Him First!

Physical Therapy Class

Well... This afternoon I had to be in the room with Mom... After her comment last week and the fact that she was more interested in talking with others than doing the exercises.... But the elderly folks were still talking about it today when they saw me. They enjoyed my mom's 'honesty'!

After class, they said, "Your mom was much better behaved today with you there!"

Oh well... I guess I will have to stay every week in order to be the HAWK...

Today's class was great. The physical therapist worked on the knees... and when he got to Mom, he told Mom that she will have pain because her knee caps are 'stuck'. If Mom would consistently do these movements with her hands and not just massage her knees with muscle cream, her knee pain would decrease and her movements would be much improved! So, now, I will get my mom started on doing knee cap massages/movements...

He looked at my knee caps and said that I have very healthy knees for my age... Praise the Lord...

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Having A Helper...

Since I will be teaching on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I have to hire a helper for Tuesdays! Our neighbor has someone working for her... and since she no longer needs her every day, she said I can have Mary on Tuesday afternoons. It's 35US$ for four hours.

To get Mom used to having Mary around, we started today when I can still be home. Mary and I worked on cleaning the house, one room at a time. Today, we only got through Isaiah's room, where Mom now sleeps. It was so good to have help... I've been wanting to pull the bed out and clean the floor and the floor boards... wipe and dust everything. So, that's what we did!

Next Tuesday I hope she will continue with our master bedroom and Abby's room... then the living room, the back balcony... and so on... She will come every Tuesdays from now until we leave.

I already know that it's going to make such a difference... So, I'm thinking... perhaps I will have her come even when I don't have class on Tuesday afternoons... Then at least once a week, I can have my house thoroughly cleaned! I know Annie would say, Spend the money! I'm still thinking about it...

Seek Him First!

Another Monday...

It was a hot day...

Morning Praise Dance... Afternoon Exercise Class...

In between I took Mom to RT Mart and Costco, as we had to pick up the hearing aids that were being fixed!

Yes, we shopped at both places... and yes, my refrigerator is packed!

We got home at 4:30 and Mom had her usual afternoon routine... and was in bed by 7:30.

That gave me time to get some work done... And go for a quick run... my usual 30 minutes! And at 9pm, it didn't feel any cooler!

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Double Preaching Sunday

God did it all...

First of all, the morning church did not receive my ppt file or my links for the short movie clips... We had to get on the email and somehow access it and upload it on an USB and then put it in the computer. I got there early, without knowing any of this. Jesus knew... and He made it possible for me to get there early.

Even without the movie clips, God made the message through the power of His Holy Spirit thought provoking and meaningful. Praise the Lord!

The afternoon message was also in God's hands as I had no time to review my notes. I knew it was going to be long... but I prayed that the Love Feast would come late in order to give me time to finish. And that's exactly what happened! Praise the Lord! I'm back on track...

God did it all... for His glory...

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Shopping at the Train Station Mall

Yes, I spent the entire afternoon shopping with Abby and Mom!

Abby had borrowed two dresses, but she didn't feel comfortable wearing the one she really liked as she felt it was a bit too tight.  So, since we had to buy her a nice pair of black shoes, we decided to see what we can find.

We walked and walked and walked...

Finally at 5:30, we were too tired to decide. So, we had dinner at the mall and then continued...

We found two beautiful outfits and decided to buy both! And yes, we also found the shoes. That was easier than the dress!

Now we are set for her graduation on Friday. Not only will they be playing a song she wrote, she is going to audition with a classmate to perform a dance routine! The audition is set for tomorrow morning at 8-10am! She is a very busy girl!

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Good and Bad

Today Alan and I headed down to Taichung for an island wide church related meeting. After Alan dropped Abby off, he went to the gas station and noticed that one tire looked low... it turned out that there was a nail in the tire! God provided a tire place to be opened at 8am and it cost only 3US$ to get it patched up!

We took Mom with us, thinking she'd enjoy the ride... Well... she did enjoy the ride, but she was a handful at the meeting... I won't go into details, but we now know -- DO NOT BRING HER TO ANY SUCH EVENTS! Alan has the Soochow Graduation on June 17th. He was thinking of bringing Mom... now we know -- NO WAY! Unless she was eating, Mom wanted to wander around, so I could not concentrate on the meeting! I brought my computer down to the meeting, thinking I'd have time to prepare my ppt files while listening to the reports. I was so busy trying to 'contain' Mom that I didn't get much done!The people were so very understanding though... That's the Chinese for you... They are so much nicer towards elderly people with their strange antics!

We got back by 7:30 and picked Abby up at the MRT Station.

Mom was in bed by 8:30! And we had family time! That was a beautiful way to end the day!

Seek Him First!

A Run in the Heat

Knowing that I have to attend our complex meeting and probably won't have time this evening for a cooler run, I went out at 10am, in the heat of the day... those 30 minutes were hot!

Mom had a great morning... as usual...

I had to tutor this afternoon and Abby rushed home to be with Mom.

The weather changed... so nice and cool yesterday and extremely hot today. In fact, the weather is going up, up, up... unfortunately... but at least it's cooler at night. I also found a screen repair guy... we will get three screens replaced! That's another 130US$! Actually, it's better than spending 300US$ to replace the screens!

In other news... I went to the bank this morning and found out how much we still owe on our homes. Amazingly, we have less than 60,000US$ to pay! If I can pay off 6,000US$ a year... we will be done in 10 years! Alan retires in 5... ha, ha, ha...

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What Perfect Weather

God brought the weather to cool down... Only He can...

It was such a perfectly cool spring day... I need more days like today...

Mom's hearing aids from Costco are broken... she is pushing them too hard so the wire got tweaked. I went to Costco with Alan on the scooter while Mom was at her morning program.

This afternoon Mom had her physical therapy session... and she made everyone laughed by her comment about the instructor's need to exercise more, too... Everyone told me that it was one of the funniest class that they've ever had!

I went for a quick run and bought bananas and apples...

This evening after tutoring Abby and I went over to a dear sister's house to take a look at all the dresses she has in her closet. We picked two for Abby to decide which one she'd wear for the graduation ceremony. On Saturday, we will go shopping for shoes and accessories... and she'll get her hair done on Thursday evening... June 1st, Friday, will be her graduation... I can't believe how soon that will be...

Alan stayed with Mom... and Mom was so exhausted that she went to bed at 7pm! Lucky Alan!

Seek Him First!

Did I Really?

I think I missed blogging on Monday... What?

I can't believe it...

Ok... I took Mom to the hair salon on Monday and she had her hair washed and cut and styled.  It looks fantastic.

And yes, I also enjoyed a nice hair wash... I bought coupons!

Then she went to her afternoon exercise class... It was nice just to be in the A/C!

The evening went by quickly... I worked on my talks... and household chores...

Today... Tuesday... She had her morning program at church and I came home to bake bread... And it was just nice to be at home by myself!

After picking my mom up, we went to Abby's school then to Costco. Her hearing aids are broken and they can't fix without the original guarantee papers. So, Annie will have email it to me and I'll bring it over to show them.

The afternoon sped by... the usual routine...

Mom was in bed by 8pm and I continued to work on my talks ... yes I have two this weekend! Please pray!

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Another Extremely Hot Day!

It's way too hot... And it looks like the whole week will be like this... We're going to melt...

I can't take my mom out as it's sweltering hot outside...

So, we just hung out at home... and I cleaned, cleaned, cleaned...

Church was great... I spoke from Philippians 1:6!

I felt as if I was going to lose my voice as I got so excited with the message of the book of Philippians.

Keep me in your prayers... and Keep my mom and all of us in your prayers.

Seek Him First!

Another Hot Day!

"It's so hot that even the windows are burning hot!"

That's what my mom said all day when she leaned against the windows to look outside!

But actually, we thought it was fairly nice... especially in the evening. 

God continues to provide... a dear friend dropped off homegrown veggies for us... three huge bags... She even found and bought zucchinis for me!

Another friend gave me a huge loaf of date bread!

So, we still have plenty of food in the refrigerator!

Oh... Abby did not pass the written exam, so she could not even proceed on to the 'road test'. She can go back in a week to take the test again... and she will have to pay another 5US$! She missed by ONE point... I hope she will pass next time and have her scooter license before we return to the States.

Seek Him First!

The AC Has Started! And It's Only Mid-May!

Yes, it's true...

We have turned on our AC units...

I can't believe it...

I was hoping we could stretch it to mid-June before we had to turn on the AC... but Mom was saying how hot it was... so, we turned on the AC... and when she goes to bed, we turn on the AC in her room...

I don't know what she's going to do in Torrance. She's going to think it's freezing and will turn on the electric blanket.

And as you might have already guessed... Mom does have dementia... All the questions regarding this were affirmative -- does she often repeat the same thing? Does she forget what she had eaten? Does she forget where she is at? Does she get dates confused? And the questions went on... and they were all YES... she showed all the signs of dementia!  But I think it's definitely helping her that she's here... I wonder what's going to happen when she goes to the States for six weeks. She will forget everything about Taiwan...

Please keep praying...

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It's Official!

Abby received the official letter today... stating that she has been accepted into ...

SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY, SOCIAL WORK DEPARTMENT!

I'm so thrilled... Now, all three -- Alan, Isaiah and Abby -- are in Soochow with the same holidays... and the same semester schedule...

Soochow has Christmas day off... so we can spend Christmas together...

Summer holiday, Chinese New Year holiday, Spring Break...

Thank you all for your prayer support...

Seek Him First!