At the Airport Heading off To the Philippines

I wanted to give some details or post some pictures, but the computer we brought would not allow me to get on our blog page.  I don't understand why, but that was what happened!

First of all, as I have mentioned earlier, this whole trip came together rather quickly.  We have known about this missions trip for quite a while, but the timing of it never seemed to work out.  So, from March 17th to March 30th, we bought our tickets, arranged for our classes, made sure the kids' school and cram school knew and we packed, including a few gifts we bought to bring with us.

I spoke on March 30th in the morning and in the afternoon was our HOP First Prayer Walk. After the service and dinner with our church family, making sure everything was locked up, we came home and a dear brother in Christ, Michael Go, came and picked us up to drop us off at the domestic airport in Taipei.  We then took the shuttle bus to the International Airport in Taoyuan.  We had only two check-ins and four carry-ons.  Knowing that there would be no food, we had packed our own snacks.

The flight left at 12:30 or so and we were in Manila by 2:55 a.m.  There was really no place to sleep except on the floor. And that was what we did!  We had to first go through custom and pick up our bags and then recheck them in again.  We left Taipei in our pants and jackets, but now it was time for t-shirts and shorts and flip-flops.

Finally, it was 8:30 and time to board the next plane. We noticed two young men carrying guitars and I said, "I bet they are on the team."  And when we arrived in Ilo Ilo, I approached them and sure enough, Joe was in charge of worship and Mason was going to play basketball.

We waited for our airport pick-up, but it didn't arrive. Oh yes, we are in the Philippines.  We are on Philippines Time -- that means, it happens when it happens.  We did get to our hotel and shed our bags and changed our clothes. Abby and I ventured out to buy lunch, but we didn't have time to eat it as the van was leaving to go to Dumangas, where the VBS was being held. The afternoon session started at 1:30 and we wanted to get there in time for that.  We brought our lunch in the van and ate while we bumped along.

Here are a few pictures and I will continue the story in my next post --

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Interesting Day

With the upcoming trip and a full day tomorrow, I was talking about baking something for our Love Feast tomorrow night.

And then my son said "I'll bake for you."  I was shocked... pleasantly surprised.

I went and got the recipe, took out all the ingredients and he read it through and started.

I couldn't believe it.

I left after we put the pan in the oven.

When I got back this evening, the buttermilk coffee cake was finished. We took a thin slice to have a taste.

IT IS FANTASTIC!

My son is quite good at baking...

What did I do this afternoon?

I went to see a dear brother's newly remodeled apartment and then ran home during a thunder shower.

What an interesting day.

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Cheaper Airline Tickets

We are heading off to a short term missions trip in the Philippines.  I had written about this, but what I didn't write about is the airline that we are flying with.

I won't mention any name, but it is one of those airlines that gives you cheaper tickets, but then if you want anything, it's an extra.

Actually, the tickets weren't that cheap. For the four of us, it was almost 2,000US$.

Now, when I bought the tickets, I was asked about luggage. So that cost included 2 check-in bags, each with a limit of 15kilos.  The carry-on must be under 7 kilos and I heard it's best to have each carry-on around 5-7 kilos.

The food is not included. If you want anything to eat, even a bag of peanuts, that would be extra.

The drinks are not included and I heard that even water will not be served. You have to buy the water if you want some. I will see if they will give me hot water for free!

The blanket and pillow will be extra.  And I heard that the plane will be cold, so we are prepared by dressing warmly.

The time of the flights are at odd time so we are leaving at 12:15 a.m. and getting into Manila at 2:55a.m. We have a long wait in the airport until 8:30a.m. for our next flight to Ilo Ilo.  I hope the seats in the airport are comfortable so that we can sleep a bit.

So, I spent the day packing. I have realized that I can fill a bag up with 15 kilos of stuff very quickly. The bag alone weighs anywhere between 2-3 kilos. JUST THE BAG!!!!!!

It took a lot of juggling around, but we are packed!  Four carry-ons and two check-ins. I packed everything under the weight requirement.  I did not pack any soap or shampoo. I hope the hotel will have that.  I did not pack any beach towels. I hope to take the hotel towels as we will have one evening to go to a nearby beach for a swim and BBQ dinner.  Each person has only two pairs of shoes -- tennis shoes and flip flops.  I am not planning on doing any laundry so I packed five sets of clothes for everyone. We are ready to go!

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My Daughter's Room

Today was spent redoing my daughter's bedroom.

First was her wall. It was getting MOLDY!  I had to clean and then paint a sealant.  While it was drying, I went out in search of 65cm long boards.  I had found this bookcase left out for the recycling people to take. So, I bought it up as Abby's bookcase is warped and about to collapse.  I went to two places.  Most boards for bookshelves are 60cm. Nothing 65 unless I wanted to buy a board of 90cm and have it cut down to size. No way. The bookcase is from the "trash" and I'd be paying more than I want just for two boards.  So, I came back and had to be creative.

I painted the walls in the color of her room. Looked great.

Then I started dusting off the books and trying to rearrange everything to fit.  After a lot of work, I finally finished!

No time for a run today, but the result of her room is just fabulous!

In fact, I am in the mood for more painting and reorganizing other places around the house!

This was just too funny... I had to share it!

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Encouraging Promises

May these promises be like an embrace from above!

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Something New

I just found out that there will be a new movie out in the theaters this spring -- God's Not Dead. Someone emailed me the trailer and I had a look. Quite interesting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMjo5f9eiX8

Then I found out about a coffee shop/second hand store/ministry center in ChungLi that would be something totally up my alley.  It's called the Carpenter's Coffee Bar.  You can have a cup of free coffee, shop at their second hand store or trade your used books.  It was highlighted on a local TV program.  And I'm sure you can google and find it on the internet as they have their own blog and FB page.  I think they even have lodging for Backpackers!  Look up -- 木匠的家（The Carpenter's Coffee Bar and The Carpenter's House Caring Center)



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In the News

Malaysian Airline most likely "ended" its flight in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Protesters in Taipei are forcibly removed from government buildings, bringing more anger from the public.

World wide climate change will contribute to other major problems in the future.

I scanned the headlines and discovered how grim things are around the globe.

I open my Bible, get on my knees and pray!

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Love Is...

Today I had the privilege of speaking at our church, House of Praise.

Our church is focusing on four L words -- Love, Lost, Lord, Luke -- I used the time to review and to define this term using cartoons, the Bible and famous Christian writers.

The cartoons I shared were from the 70's.  Here is one --

I asked everyone to write down how they would finish the sentence.  They could not write things such as Love is God, or Love is patient or anything from the famous passage in I Cor. 13:4-8.

So, how about you?

How would you finish the sentence?

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Worship Full Day

Today was a day of worship --

Morning was the WOW Taiwan event --

What a fantastic time of worship and fellowship!

In the afternoon was the EnGedi Live Worship event --

What a wonderful time of praising our Awesome God!

In the evening was Dinner Out with my brother James... No pictures but the food was terrific, the time was joyous.

It was indeed a Worship FULL Day!

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The Joy of Cooking

For tonight's dinner, Abby helped me make 5 ingredients meatloaf.  It's easy and super delicious.

Ground beef
Ketchup
BBQ sauce
Cornbread stuffing
Salsa

Thoroughly mix together all ingredients and fill two loaf pans. Sprinkle some cornbread stuffing on top. Bake for 45 minutes.

We also had stir fried cabbage with tofu and this special steamed rice concoction, another one of my super easy, super delicious recipes.  Instead of putting just water to steam cook the rice, I used left over sauce from a beef and mushroom dish.  Wow, the flavor that is cooked into the rice is just fabulous.

For dessert, we had root beer floats and homemade oatmeal raisin cookies.  Yes, another one of my easy and fast recipes.

I enjoy cooking. I love to be creative. None of my recipes has any measurements. It's just the "feel" of things as I toss things together.  What I really love to do is to make an entire dinner with whatever I have in the frig. Yes, I heard that there is an actual TV show that has this theme.  I actually live that way!

Oh, I always cook enough to have leftover or to have at least 10 people over for dinner!

(The above pictures were all found from the internet. But they give you an idea of what we had for dinner tonight! Very YUMMY!)

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What I've Noticed

For a blog to have a large readership, it has to focus on one thing.  For example, a blog for those who love photography, or cooking, or traveling, or food.  Those blogs get noticed and can start to make money.  My blog... it's just about my daily life. And unless you're super bored or you're a friend or family member, you really won't want to spend your time reading what's on my mind or what's happening in my life.  For this year, I am going to continue to just write about my life.  But I am seriously thinking about having a focus starting on November 13.  One thing I do know -- I enjoy writing.  There is always something to write about.


I found this quote about writing at a blog site that focuses on helping people to write better --
www.writingforward.com

So, this only proves my point.

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A Strange Night

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E5%AD%B8%E7%94%9F%E4%BD%94%E7%AB%8B%E9%99%A2%E7%AE%97%E6%9B%A0%E8%AA%B2-%E5%8F%B0%E5%A4%A7-%E6%B2%92%E9%BB%9E%E5%88%B0%E5%B0%B1%E7%AE%97%E4%BA%86-025601045.html

學生佔立法院算曠課？　台大：沒點到就算了

The above link will take you to a news article in Chinese talking about students not showing up to class...

That's exactly what happened tonight. For my first class, 9 students showed up. For my second class, 4 students showed up. Where were my students?

The students who were in class told me about the protest that is being staged by many students from all over Taiwan.

So, what was the "situation" that incited such a protest which started last night?

The Legislature is trying to pass a bill which will open up Taiwan's doors to allow a major influx of Mainland Chinese to come and work or purchase or do anything in Taiwan.  This proposal was NOT presented through the proper channel and somehow might become effective as President Ma supposedly signed something which will push the bill up to the next level faster than normal. The students started the protest in front of the Legislative Building and as the night wore on, they became very emotional and proceeded to storm the building.  When police tried to make them leave, they refused and camped out inside the building. The situation has escalated and is becoming quite serious. Please pray!
 

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Back to My Old Stomping Ground

Since we have friends visiting us from the Philippines, we all went to the Shihlin Night Market.

What fun we had!!!!  I have not gone there for such a long time.

When I was teaching at Ming Chuan University, I'd go to the Night Market area at least once a month.  I'd stop by to buy some dumplings or visit my favorite stationery store.  But since I retired, I just have not had the occasion to stop by.

So, tonight, I parked up at the school and walked to the Night Market to meet up with our friends. We walked around, went to my favorite stationery store, bought food at all the different stalls and just had a ball. Even though this was a Tuesday night, but with the weather being so nice, it was very crowded. There were LOADS of tourists and shoppers. If the kids didn't have to do school work tomorrow, I would have stayed just so that we can eat more of the Night Market Goodies.

I didn't bring a camera, but I found some photos from the internet!

We didn't buy the giant chicken patty or the fried oyster pancakes.  But we did buy a spring roll from that old lady in the picture above. She is still there.  And we bought the shaved ice and the red bean cakes. In fact, we tried three new kinds which had ice cream inside!  Actually, there is no way to eat all the delicious food that is available at the night market.

It was such a FUN evening!

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Our Annual Family Portraits

It was indeed very difficult to choose our portraits this year. All the pictures were great, but I had a budget.  I did end up buying one more than I had planned.  Thus, I got three family portraits, one in each of the different backgrounds.

Theme:  Memories
Verse:  Eph. 2:10

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Another Kind of Family Time

Two pictures from last year...

My brother, Eddie, was in California and my brother, James, was in Taipei.

Well... this morning, I downloaded my email and found out that my brother, James, arrived in Taipei YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!! So, tonight we went out to dinner again. It was a restaurant I found on line called, The Kitchen. It served Hakka food and was okay... James paid for our meal... and yes, I brought the wine as he had left a bottle at my house. On Tuesday, we're all going to Shihlin Night Market.

This week is going to be fun.  My kids LOVE having Uncle James around!

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Family Time!

This is just a small part of a group of people with whom we served in Evergreen some 27 years ago.  To be together again felt like we have never been apart!  Time was not enough to recount God's bountiful blessings upon our lives.

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Family Missions Trip

We as a family have wanted to go on a family missions trip and things never worked out.  But out of the blue, God opened the way.  We will be going to the Philippines for a 5 day missions trip.  This outreach is just perfect for us as a family as it involves helping out with Vacation Bible School and doing Basketball Outreach as well.  We leave on Monday, March 31st, on a very early morning flight and will be in Ilo Ilo by 10a.m. -- just in time for the start of VBS.  We return on April 5th and will be back in Taipei by early morning of the 6th as I will be sharing at House of Praise that afternoon.  The theme for this year's VBS is Facing Fears, Trusting God.  It will be our first time to Ilo Ilo and we don't know most of the people who will be on this trip.  Please remember to pray for us -- whatever fears we might have, we will be trusting Him to lead!

Here are a few pictures of this beautiful city --

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The Things I Learned Today

1.  ATM at the Post Office here in Taiwan only allows you to transfer 30,000NT$ per day.
2.  ATM machines take a "short 10 minute break" at 3:30 as they are "summarizing" the day's transactions.
3.  Prices listed on the internet for purchasing a flight ticket changes constantly.  If you see something at a good price, you should buy it right away. Most likely the price will go up.
4.  Scanning a document and then emailing it to someone is quite easy as the "machine" tells you what to do and what button to push. Amazing!
5.  Running in the cold is actually quite refreshing.  I ran faster tonight -- 10km in 50 minutes. But then maybe I was just wanting to go home faster so that I can get warm and eat something and drink a cup of hot cocoa!  Ha, ha, ha...
6.  7/11 has a fax service that costs 15NT$ per page.
7.  Napping in the car can be quite comfortable when you are exhausted.

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Opportunities Missed

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- U.S. west coast exclusive fast-food burger chain “In-N-Out” set up shop in Taipei for a mere four hours during a flash marketing campaign yesterday, selling a limited amount of 300 burgers to lucky fans who received wind of the event on popular social network Facebook.

Releasing the news on their Facebook, the restaurant began a viral campaign on the social network, which gave some fans the false impression that the restaurant is opening a store locally and is giving out 300 burgers for free. Though not so, the 300 burgers were sold within 2 hours, forcing the successful operation to foreclose two hours before its time.

Lucky fans who had the opportunity left with smiles on their faces and t-shirts in their hands, not forgetting to encourage the company to open shop in Taiwan. The only fly in the ointment said some customers are the famous fries, milkshake and featured secret items not accompanying the burgers and t-shirts to Taiwan.

This was the article in the news about In N Out "flash mob" campaign and I totally missed it.  It would have been so nice to have gotten a double double burger and a t-shirt. But I can't imagine how long the line must have been... and they didn't have their famous French fries or the milk shake!!!

• 
• 

I also missed the opportunity of getting a year's worth of Krispy Kreme when they first opened up here in Taiwan, which was about a month ago. You had to be the first person in line!  They also gave away a free dozen for the first 200 customers plus a free t-shirt.  I just don't hear about these opportunities. But then I don't know if I would be willing to stand in line for four hours just for a free t-shirt.

• 

All this food is making me hungry!

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School Selection

Tonight I spent two plus hours sitting next to Isaiah to go through his selection of high schools. He could select up to 30 schools in the Taipei City and County area.  It was a very long process. We had our top four, but we had to go through all the schools in order to complete the list. Whatever you select as your top choices does not mean you will get into those schools as there is the huddle of the big tests on May 17-18. In fact, this Saturday, I will take Isaiah to a High School Expo so that we can find out more information about the school which is his first choice.  The selection process took so long as we wanted to find out where each school was located and what their specialty was. We wanted schools that had a focus on basketball and English and not be too far from our house or at least easy to get to.  Well, we have finished. Isaiah will have one more practice test in early May. He is gearing up for these tests as he decided to go one more night to cram school for the month of March. In April, he will attend cram school four nights a week. And in May, he might be going to cram school four nights a week plus on Saturday or Sunday morning!





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My Heavenly Father Loves Me

I have never thought of my relationship with God as a religion.  It has always been so simple. From the moment Jesus came into my life, I have felt the reality of His constant presence.  So, in these past almost 40 years, I know His love for me and so I talk to Him about everything. My Heavenly Father seems to constantly bless me in such amazing ways. Here are just two examples from this past weekend.

Alan was helping to judge a series of debate and speech contests. On Saturday, he brought home loads of leftovers.  Two items were pepperoni pizzas and bagels. These two things are my favorites. But being in Taiwan, they are quite a splurge, so I rarely buy them.  I was so surprised when Alan unpacked and started to take out slices after slices of pepperoni pizza and then the bagels. I went to the local supermarket and bought cream cheese.

I feel so loved as I have been enjoying the food.

In my opinion, God hears my spoken and unspoken prayers. And for Him, there are no small or big prayers. He cares about all... and He encourages us to bring all to Him.

We finished the pepperoni pizza today... tomorrow morning, we still have some bagels.  Even when the food is gone, the sense of His amazing love will never end.

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Things I'm Reading

In the news, I read about a plane from Malaysia heading to Beijing has disappeared.  No one knows what happened.  It is quite a mystery with so many unanswered questions.

In Runner's World, I read about Junyong Pak, a young man who quit his job to train for insane endurance races, such as the Toughest Mudder and the Spartan Death Race.  Both consist of a series of very difficult obstacles which competitors have to overcome in a 24 or 48 hour period.  The winner is someone who has the highest pain tolerance. Junyong Pak sounds like someone my brother Eddie would enjoy getting to know.

In Women's Running, a magazine which I found on the internet, I read this quote --  "The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely."- Louisa May Alcott  The magazine also has lots of great tips to help runners stay focused and motivated.  

These are some of the things that I've been reading.

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A Birthday Tribute to My Sister, Annie

For today I thought I'd pen a tribute to my wonderful sister in honor of her 55th birthday.

She was born on March 8, a very special day indeed as it is "Women's Day" here in Taiwan.  But 3-8 has another fun meaning... It refers to someone who is very flashy.

I have known her all my life... ha, ha, ha...

Here are a few pictures of my sister and me --

I would say my sister and I are very different.  She is brave and I am a scaredy cat.  She drives well whereas I strongly dislike driving.  She is disorganized but I love things neat and orderly.

Even at a very young age, she was known to be mischievous.  If my mom did not hear her for even a few minutes, she knew Annie was "up to something".  I think she was hyperactive attention deficit. But back then, they didn't have these kinds of labels. So, my mom just made sure that Annie was kept busy all the time. She was extremely talented.  She danced and sang and played so many different instruments. And she was brilliant!  She could look over a lesson in just a few minutes and score high on every test!

Now, how about my experiences with my sister, Annie?

The year that I turned 10 we moved to America.  Being two years older and gifted, she attended Luther Burbank Junior High School.  She noticed that most of the girls had their ears pierced. Having just arrived from Taiwan, we did not have our ears pierced. She had a brilliant idea. She found out how to do this and experimented on me.  Even now, to put on my earrings, I have to wiggle my ear lobe as the hole was not pierced completely in one quick stroke. In fact, my ear lobe got easily infected for quite a long time afterwards.  I also have a scar on my left knee as another reminder of the strange things I let my sister talk me into.  In our neighborhood, there was a steep hill called Suicide Hill.  We had two bikes -- a 10 speed bike which had breaks but was too big for me to ride and a smaller bike without breaks that had a banana-style handlebar.  Looking at the hill, I wanted to walk the bike down. My sister, on the other hand, thought that would be way too slow as she would have to be at the bottom of the hill waiting for me. So, she told me to go down and if it got too fast, I only had to put my feet down and the bike would slow down.  Needless to say, I took her word for it that this tactic would work. But half way down the hill, no matter how hard I put my feet down, the bike did not seem to slow down.  I saw smoke coming from my shoes and I lost control. The bike flew and crashed into the sidewalk and I flipped and tumbled. I do not know how I survived the crash.  My jeans were bloody.  My left knee cap had a hole and I could see the white of my bone.  I don't remember what we did next, but I do remember her running towards me, yelling, "What happened?"

Many people don't understand my sister. With all her "wild ways" or her "grouchiness", the truth is -- she is a softie!  She rescues cats and dogs.  She feels very deeply for those in need.  She cries easily and she loves deeply.  I don't think her kids appreciate her or see her this way, which is very unfortunate.  My kids love their Aunty Annie.  They love all her chickens and cats and dogs.  Aunty Annie even feeds the opossums that come around their backyard, not to mention the birds and raccoons.  They love going over to Aunty Annie's house.

I can write so much more about my dearest sister, who I love so much and pray so often for.

So, in closing, I write these words of blessing to wish her the happiest birthday ever --

May God surround you with joy.
May your ears hear His voice as He leads you each day.
May your heart sense Him singing over you.
May your chickens lay eggs all year round and many with double yokes.
May your aching knees and back pains be strengthened so that you can run and bike many more miles.
May the dumpsters always hold more treasures than you can ever imagine.
May the road ahead be filled with more cherished memories, like the ones I have of you!

Happy Birthday -- I love you LOTS!!!!

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A Rainy Day

The skies were gray all day...

It made me think -- when Noah was in that ark and it just kept on raining... Having never seen rain, it must have been quite a shock, wondering if the water would ever stop coming down from the sky.

I had a day of running... ERRANDS.  I even drove all the way out to Danhsui with Isaiah.  It was only 20.5 kilometers in distance, but it took one hour of my time.  I could run that distance in two!  Isaiah worked on his homeschool LIFEPAC test and I fixed things up a bit as I had to repaint parts of a wall among other things.  The Northern Prayer Tower looks really nice -- very comfy and cozy.  All the curtains are up, furniture in place, and things put away nicely on the shelves.  I am going to buy some drinks for the refrigerator and then three more items will be delivered by the end of March -- the washer, the dryer and one more cabinet.

I hope to finally have time to go there and PRAY.

So, back to the rain -- I didn't run today because there were too many things to get done... not because of the rain. I enjoy running in the rain...

Here is one fun quote I found about a rainy day --



If it is still raining tomorrow, I will go out and have a longer run... maybe I'll run all the way to Danhsui. Why not???



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