Chinese Challenge!

Our local Chinese church has a very good Sunday-school program which all of our kids enjoy. This past quarter, I (Amy) agreed to try out being a Sunday-school assistant once a month.  Well, that was the original agreement, anyway.  It turned into me being the actual teacher instead of just the assistant.  I wasn't too sure about it at the beginning:

"Eee... I've never taught in Chinese before..."
"That's ok, you can teach in English -- a lot of the parents want their kids to learn English anyway."

So, my first Sunday, I started off in English... and that lasted about 5 seconds (as I knew it would) with blank stares from all the 3-4 year-olds (except the two blondies, who were actually understanding everything in Sunday School for the first time! :-P).  So, I tried to go back and forth, saying everything twice in both languages.  (i.e. scrambling in my head for super-simple English, then scrambling for how in the world to translate it all!)  It did take a bit of extra effort, but it was a good challenge, and it gave me some good Chinese practice in front of a fairly non-threatening audience. :-P

An Interview with Amy

Why do we do what we do?  We thought some of you would be interested in hearing the story behind Titus Project and how it all got started.  This interview takes us back to 1996, when Amy was in her 2nd year of SBS staff and tells how the vision for Titus Project came about:



Little did I know back then where we would be today!  God is so amazing and continues to give us so much vision!  Currently, Titus is operating in 4 locations, with 2-3 more coming this next year.  We have trained over 300 new Bible teachers, and have sent out 110 teams to 42 different countries.  We give God all the glory and feel humbled & privileged to serve Him by equipping and sending more Bible teachers to the nations!

What is Titus Project?  Here is a great 3-minute visual overview! (Dec 16 post) :-)

I'll Be Home for Christmas

A better title would probably read, "I'll be at home for Christmas" -- and this would be referring to our kids.  Christmas is not a nationally-celebrated holiday in Taiwan, and as such, if it falls on a normal weekday, it is also a normal school day.  Can you imagine going to school on Christmas day?  Well, we can't really either, so for the past several years, have requested our kids to be able to skip school on Christmas day. :-)

We are looking forward to some family fun & hanging out with friends.  Merry Christmas everyone!

And... She does it again!

Apparently our kids think we should be on a first-name basis with the ER staff at the hospital...

Anaya has just been in for her 3rd set of stitches on her face this year.  Kenna was in for stitches above her eye just weeks previous.  The only one of the kids to not have stitches so far is Nathan!

Counting the Cost

Several nights ago, as I was putting the kids to bed, they wanted to hear a story -- so I told them about winter time growing up: building snow forts, playing outside for so long we'd get frostbite, and Grandpa hooking an inner-tube up behind the 3-wheeler and taking us for rides!  What fun times and fun memories!

The girls were so jealous.  Three of our kids have never experienced snow, Elise was too young to remember.  "No fair!" "Ni hao hao oh!"  "Mom, can we go back in the winter some time so we can play in the snow?"

This evening, as I was looking at our blog, wondering how/what to update, I noticed Seth & Joy had a new video post.  So, I watched it:



It almost made me cry.  These are the kinds of things that when you watch them, it makes you realize the sacrifice of being away from family.  The brother, sisters, nieces, nephews you haven't seen for nearly 4 years.  A niece and two nephews you've never met.  I think of the whole Christmas season and the excitement of hanging out with family, eating food, playing games together, the Christmas grab bag, sardines at Walmart (a game)...  and know we'll miss that ...again.

Being so far away from family and friends in the States & Australia is definitely hard at times.  We do feel the cost of overseas missions.  However, we also feel such a burden and a passion and a calling to be doing what we're doing -- we feel humbled and honored to be in Asia, training up more teachers of God's Word and sending them out to the nations!  What an incredible privilege!

We are really looking forward to our furlough in the States coming up this summer.  We probably won't get to go sledding and inner-tubing behind the 4-wheeler in the snow (unless there's a blizzard in July!), but I'm sure we'll have lots of fun! :-)

Be Inspired!

Here is the Titus Project video that Kerry Neve (leads Titus Montana) put together for us as an overview of Titus Project.  We have watched it several times and I get re-inspired every time.  Michael & I are both filled with so much vision and excitement for Titus.  The journey of leading Titus is often challenging -- stretching our faith, requiring lots of time and hard work, but what a privilege and honor to be training up and sending out more teachers of God's Word!

The video is only 3 minutes and is a good visual of what Titus Project is all about! :-)

Overwhelmed!

There is something I've found myself wishing for over & over, but haven't gotten that miracle-I've-been-praying-for yet: 48 hour days! :-P

After returning from Australia, Michael dove back into SBS staff, the kids all went to school, and I dove deep into Titus logistics,  -- and we've barely come up for air since!

The past few months, lots has happened!!! We've both been teaching, and we have 24 people applying to come do Titus in January! I have sent out hundreds of e-mails to numerous countries, contacts, Titus applicants -- trying to get everything organized for the training time and outreach.  We'd love prayer for God's strength & grace as we're in a very busy season, with things only to get busier come Titus (January)!  Even though busy seasons can get a bit overwhelming at times, we're still doing great & looking forward with excitement and expectation to all that God continues to do!  Thanks for praying! :-)

Weekly Workout

So, I've been getting a good workout every Tues morning for the past couple of months!  Not a physical workout so much (except that the action songs should probably count for something!), but rather a Chinese workout.  A lady in our church started up a 'learn-an-English-song-and-do-an-activity' play group to reach out to non-believing moms & their kids in our local community.  She asked if I could come help for two hours each Tues as she is expecting and found the action songs to be getting a bit more difficult.

Every Tues morning, 15 moms and their kids show up (there are more who want to come, but we have to cap it at 15) and we sing a song, learn some actions, and do a craft/activity all together.  Afterward, the ladies divide into two groups and we read through and discuss an article (Christian, with a Bible verse) that speaks practically into daily family life.

It's been good.  I've enjoyed meeting more moms from the community and it has helped my Chinese a lot (since we're not taking classes anymore).  I find that I can hardly go down the street anymore without running into someone I know.

This past Christmas season, we practiced, "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "Jesus Loves Me" for several weeks and then sang them in front of the whole church.  For many/most of them it was their first time ever to church -- and of course, since they were performing, we had each of them invite the rest of their family & extended family to come see. :-)  Several have ventured to Sunday school with their kids in the past couple of months -- we can all pray that God works in their hearts and draws them to Him!

Philippines: Here we come!

We have been debating, talking about, and praying whether we should try to lead one of the Titus teams for the upcoming January program.  In the past, we haven't really considered it that much -- the Titus teams we send out are usually made up of 2-5 people.  So, with us at 6 -- we are a whole team just by ourselves! :-P  We know we would one day go again, but being in the middle of a season of very young kids and all that that entails, we just didn't feel the time had come again yet.

However, as we've been praying about various locations, and as we are in desperate need for more Titus staff outreach leaders, we thought maybe we should just go for it this time.

Today we found out that the girls have an extra-long winter vacation, as Chinese New Year falls a bit late this year -- and it's perfect timing for when our outreaches go out -- so we've decided to do it!  We will take a team to the Philippines for 4 weeks (Michael may stay an extra week to two weeks while Amy takes the kids back for school), and then the team will finish out on their own the last couple of weeks.

We're all pretty excited, and this will be our first outreach since we were pregnant with Elise! 

Video from Titus South Africa!

De Wet & Marysol Blomerus lead our Titus Project in South Africa.  Our vision in Titus is "...to train up School of Biblical Studies graduates in teaching & preaching and mobilize them into areas where Bible training is greatly needed..." (from our mission statement).  They definitely mobilize their students into areas where Bible training is greatly needed: this particular Titus went to Swaziland, Tanzania, and the local townships in Cape Town, South Africa.

Here is a video from some of the local pastors they worked with, speaking about the need for solid Bible teaching & training.


Bible Teaching Need in South Africa: Local Pastors Speak from De Wet & Marysol on Vimeo.

Video credit: De Wet & Marysol Blomerus
Music credit: West African Soukous by All Star Drum Ensemble


De Wet & Marysol have a great web site -- you will be inspired if you take a minute to check it out. :-)  Recent posts from their site we have really enjoyed:
5 photos: a peek into ministry
Who gets saved from Leviticus?
Titus Project South Africa Begins!

Hot Off The Press!

Here is the latest Titus Times from Taiwan!  Enjoy! :)
A big thanks to Rachel for putting this together!

Titus Times Taiwan July 2009

A Day (well just a morning+) at the Doctor's

Pediatricians have their work cut out for them when they practice in Taiwan!

I took Anaya back for a check up this past Sat. morning to see how her pneumonia was progressing (well, hopefully regressing that is!) As we were sitting at the hospital waiting our turn (several times over ... you'll see what I mean in a minute!), I got to thinking how going to see the doctor here is a bit different to back home!

First of all, when you make an appointment, they don't give you a time to show up, they give you a number.  One has to give his best guess on what time to show up -- you could be an hour or more early if you haven't guessed correctly (or if it's taking longer than usual to see all the patients).  Or, you could be late, and in that case they might finish seeing all the other patients on the list before coming back to you.  Most of the time you just sit around and wait, trying to entertain your kids for long periods of time while the screen outside the doctor's door that lets you know whose turn it is beeps up one number at a time until it's your turn. 

On this particular morning, there were 4 pediatricians seeing patients simultaneously.  Anaya's doctor had 66 patients on his list (posted outside on the door).  We were #57.  Before arriving, we did our best to guess what time we should show up: "If the clinic opens at 9:00 and the doctor sees about 1 patient every 5 minutes, then... wait..., if we're #57, one patient every 5 minutes puts us way past lunch time... ok, how about one patient every 3 minutes... (calculating)... ahhh... let's just try showing up at 11:00 and see what happens..."

We showed up, & yes, waited an hour, then went in and saw the doctor for about... 3 minutes (if that)!  Then, on to the registration desk to pay.  Here's another thing a bit different to back home -- there's not just one desk -- there's seven desks operating full-time!  We had to take a number -- our number was behind 89 other people who were waiting in line ahead of us.  So, we sat down again...  After paying (which was much more expensive this time than usual: $15 - normally it costs us about $3 to take the kids to the doctor here, & that includes medicine, but this time Anaya's antibiotics were self-pay) we went to stand in line for her meds.  This line wasn't too bad and we only had to wait about 10 minutes -- but I did notice we were number 992 for the morning. :-P

Yes, Taiwan has lots of people!  Can you imagine being a doctor here, showing up to work & being given your list for the morning with 66 (we've seen a list with 106 names on it before!) people to see?  Then lunch break (yeah, right), and on to another set of patients for the afternoon! 

I thought describing a day at the doctor's here might be semi-amusing to all our family & friends who live in less-densely-populated areas, and also to those in the States, where going to the doctor costs a small fortune! :)  Please don't read any of this as a complaint in any way -- we really appreciate the health care we get here!

(And by the way, Anaya is getting better! :-))

Blogging Bonanza!

There's nothing like a late-afternoon cup of coffee to help oneself get caught up on a few things after the kids have gone to bed.  I've been wanting to update our Blog site for eons now, so I intentionally had 2 cups of coffee this afternoon for that very purpose!  The kids are all sleeping,  and now, several hours later -- (it's 2:34am - I'm going to be in trouble when Michael reads this in the morning!) --  I think I've done it!  6 new posts!!

I had several Drafts which have been saved for some time now, written at various times but not yet up & available for reading.  I finally uploaded some pictures & videos to go with them, changed a few words here & there, wrote a brand-new post, and got them all PUBLISHED! :-)

"New" posts start back at June 30.  Happy reading!  I'm off to bed!!

Back to School, Off to School!, & Home from School (with Pneumonia)!

Monday, Aug 31 was a big day.  It was the first day back to school.  Elise went off to 3rd grade, and Kenna to 1st grade!

BUT, that's not all!  A very BIG change for us is that we decided to start Anaya & Nathan at "preschool"!!  As we will be leading the upcoming Titus in January (and there is lots to do in preparation for that), and as Michael is still full-time on SBS staff, we felt this would help with two things: 1. allow Amy (me) to devote a good 3 hours each morning to working on Titus (both local & international) and 2. get Anaya & Nathan started on their way to understanding & speaking Chinese. :-)

I will be honest:  I was rather excited for this day to come.  Imagine 4 1/2 hours of morning all to myself, 5 days of the week!  Oh, the things I could get done!  My plans were grand!

I was really enjoying my new morning schedule -- up at 5:40, kids out of bed at 6:30, breakfast, make lunches, get everyone organized and out the door, By 8:00 I was working hard on the house & at 9:00 was on to Titus stuff for the next 3+ hours (I wanted to be a very good steward of this time!)   In the afternoon, I was then able to totally concentrate on the kids, plus get a few more things done around the house. :-)

Just 3 days later, however, Anaya was back home with a fever & sudden deep chest cough.  Next day: still had fever & cough.  Following day: Nathan gets a fever & throws up.  4th day: Anaya's fever continues.  Nathan has fever, but still lots of energy.  5th day: Take kids to doctor.  Anaya has chest x-ray which confirms she has pneumonia.  Nathan gets tested for H1N1 (comes back negative :-)).  Doctor says Anaya needs to stay home for a week, Nathan two more days.  Day 6-7: Anaya & Nathan get out every glass in the cupboard, spill water on the floor countless times, there is food on the floor, playdough mashed into the floor, toys all over the floor, and they are fighting like crazy!  So... mom goes a little crazy too...

I think first there was the excitement (After 8 years, what am I going to do with such a big chunk of time?  Lots! :-)),  a bit of guilt (are we really doing the right thing?), then, disappointment (it's only been 3 days, and already "my plans" have come to a halt).  Though a challenging week, it has been a good week too -- God is Sovereign & all things work for good. :-)

Nathan is now back to "school", Anaya is doing much better and will be back to school soon, & I will continue to learn about patience, grace, being joyful & thankful in all circumstances, and that God's ways are higher than my ways!

Typhoon Morakot

We missed the biggest typhoon to hit Taiwan in 50 years. 

Right before we left Australia, Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan (pictures & story here), toppling buildings & flooding whole villages/towns.  Some places in the south got nearly 3000ml of rain from the one typhoon!  (That's nearly 6 years worth of rain for Michael's hometown in Australia!)

A couple of days after arriving back, Michael had the opportunity to go down south with many of the students from the SBS to help with some relief work for a few days. They worked hard cleaning mud out of houses -- some with a meter of mud, some with "just" a foot.  By the end of the day, they could feel some muscles they hadn't felt for awhile, & they all had fun standing in line for their turn at the shower (2 showers per 100+ people :-P). 

The damage was extensive & the clean-up process will continue for a long time!  Pray for the people on the southern part of the island as they deal with all of this and pray for the whole island -- that people would open their hearts to God!

Returned from Down Under

We are back in Taiwan!

We had a great time with family, were able to catch up with friends, & had a nice restful break while in Australia for 6 weeks. :-D

Our kids are going to go through dessert withdrawals, Michael & I might go through tea withdrawals ;-), and though we will definitely miss everyone, it will be good to get back into the swing of things here too.  Thanks to family & friends for a great time Down Under!

Photo highlights here!

Speakin' Aussie

I've heard somewhere that Australia contributes 10,000 unique words to the English language (but I'm not sure the accuracy of that number). 

In our house we use several Aussie words in our everyday communication: Our kids have all worn nappies (diapers); we throw rubbish (garbage) into the rubbish bin (garbage can); we stop at the petrol station to fill the van up with petrol. When we buy groceries, we put the bags in the boot (trunk); Michael loves footy (football); for a special treat for dinner sometimes we'll have bangers & mash (sausages with mashed potatoes), or put something on the barbie (grill/BBQ); and Michael checks the kids' rooms for mozzies (mosquitoes) before going to bed at night.

Then there are a lot of Australian words we don't use: we don't eat sangers for lunch -- we eat sandwiches. Michael says 'man' or 'guys' instead of bloke. We are happy/excited about various things, not rapt. We wear sandals or flip-flops on our feet, not thongs :-P.

Sometimes we both use our own word: I don't let the kids eating too much candy, Michael doesn't let them eat too many lollies. I look, Michael has a squiz.

Even though we use several Aussie words in our household, it struck me during this trip just how different some of our vocabulary really is. See if you can track with the following:

• Where's his dummy? =
• Look under the bonnet =
• This arvo =
• Hundreds & Thousands =
• Want a bikkie? =
• Put it in the back of the ute =
• I'm flat out today =
  
• Stop whinging (win' jing) =
  

I'm pretty familiar with the above words, but there were a few times this trip I found myself needing some English to English translation! :-)

So, here's the English to English translation from above:

• dummy = pacifier
  
• bonnet = hood of the car
  
• arvo = afternoon
  
• Hundreds & Thousands = those tiny colored candy sprinkles
  
• bikkie = cookie / biscuit
  
• ute = small pickup truck
  
• flat out  = very busy  (I always forget this one -- I keep thinking it means "tired" -- but I guess when your super-busy, you're likely tired as well! :-P)
  
• whinging (win' jing) = whining, complaining
  

Well, this post is long enough and I'd better head to bed soon, or it will be time for Brekkie! :-)

I Smell... Koala!

Elise was the first one out the door,  ready to head into town for a squiz at a few Op-shops.  Moments later, we heard excited squealing, "Come! Hurry! You have to see!"

We were staying at the YWAM Adelaide base for 2 weeks in the guest house, and right outside the guest house is a big gum tree.  As she was heading to the van, Elise (who had seen some koalas in the wild just a few days before) thought she could smell koala poo.  Looking down, it was koala poo, and lots of it!  Looking up, here is what she found:



(Note: We stood outside & took several photos before he/she eventually climbed down.)

Culture Shock?

We have arrived in the land of Oz!

We haven't been out of Taiwan for 3 years, so the first couple hours in Australia, Michael & I both realized we were having a bit of culture shock, or something... lots of things so normal once, but now so different... it felt a little weird as everything hit us all at once:

• being able to read ALL the street signs, shop signs, window adverts, etc. -- everything was in English.
• Brown and blond-haired people all over the place.
• Driving down the street -- we kept checking the side mirrors whenever we turned -- but no motorbikes ever tried to whiz around us.
• No motorbikes! (Well, a rather rare sight, anyway)
  
• Driving to Clare -- traveling at 100 k's felt so fast. And switching the lights from dim to bright... (In Taiwan, you never have a long enough stretch without oncoming traffic to ever get to turn your brights on)
• Footpaths (i.e. sidewalks :))
  
• Variety of cuisine -- I couldn't wait to find a Yiros shop!
• Car seats for 3 of the kids -- (and following the car seat rules strictly)
  
• ...plus several more that escape me right now...

It's definitely good to be back & we're looking forward to lots of fun with family & a good rest/break. :-)

Snakes & Sneakers

We often put these cardboard squares around the house to catch cockroaches. They are super sticky with some bait in the middle to lure the roaches in. Once the cockroach hits the sticky part, it's stuck ... for good!

As we live on the 1st floor, we get more than our fair share of creepy crawlies trying to get into the apartment... so we usually put a few of these roach stickies in our entry way to try to cut down on the summer population inside. Today, Michael thought he'd check to see if he caught anything... and found this:

You'll notice what remains of a roach on the bottom right. Then a lizard/gecko encircled by the snake, then of course, yes, the SNAKE!

And where did Michael pull this out from? Right under the kids' shoe shelf, in the entryway of the house, right next to the screen door with totally broken screens (the kids don't even both to open the screen doors, they just walk right through)!

Michael showed it to our community groundskeeper who said it was a very poisonous variety... comforting thought!

If this was the first incident, it might not be so bad... but this is the 5th snake we've found in our entryway area, and the 3rd one under the shoe shelf! So, I guess the next time we put on our sneakers, we'll check to see if there's anything slithering inside first!

34 years!

No, neither Michael nor I have recently turned 34... (though one of us is currently 34... not for long though)

Neither have we been in ministry 34 years...yet.

34 years is a statistic. A statistic about exponential growth.

Did you know that if there was only one Christian in the world, and in one year that one person led one other person to Christ, then the following year, those two people led (one each) two more to Christ, then the following year, those 4 people led 4 more people to Christ... how long would it take for the entire world to come to know Christ?

Well, I guess the title sort of gives it away... but can you believe the answer is actually just a mere 34* years?!? And that's starting with just one person! If the whole body of Christ around the world right now started doing this... where would we be in just a few years? Go ahead, do the math -- and be challenged! I am!

(* does not take into account the projected population in 34 years time, which could be more like 12 billion... but still... don't think about the math quite that much... just accept the challenge!)

Theology with a Three-year old

"Mom, did you know that after Jesus died, he got alive again?"
"Yes, Anaya, that's exactly right!"
"Mom, when we die, Jesus will make us alive again too."
"Wow, honey! I'm impressed! ... Did daddy just talk with you about all of this?"

The last couple days Anaya has been asking lots of questions about when we will die, and there has somehow been a connection with flying on an airplane. As we have been talking about flying to Australia, she has mentioned/asked several times, "Will we die when we go on the airplane?" I don't really know where she is getting this from, but am guessing maybe she saw something when Michael had the news on about Air France and somehow made a connection...?? Anyhow, we are all trusting God that we will make it Down Under in one piece :-), and we have assured Anaya that flying is quite safe and not to worry. This evening, Michael must have spent some time talking with her, and by the time I laid down with her for bed-time prayers and a little chat, she was sharing the above with me. We continued on:

"And, Anaya, where do we get to go after we die and Jesus makes us alive again?"
"Uhhh... we get to be with Jesus?"
"Yep, that's right! We get to be with Jesus in heaven."
"But, Jesus live up in the sky. We can't fly, mom."
"Well, we can't fly right now, but I'm sure Jesus will work something out. Jesus will come and get us, and we'll get to go be with Jesus & God."
"But, Jesus is God, mom."
"Yes! Jesus is God, (she has that down! but now, how do you explain the Trinity to a 3-yr-old??? ... how do you really explain the Trinity at all, for that matter?!) but, Jesus is God's son, so God is Jesus' dad, and we also have the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is also God -- so God is 3 in one..."
"(getting a bit lost on that last bit) Mom, will Jesus really make us alive again?"
"Yes, honey, He sure will! We just need to have Jesus in our hearts and believe that He is the only true God... If we love Jesus and believe in Him, then we will get to live with Him forever! Do you love Jesus, Anaya?"
"Yes, I love Jesus. ... Mom, when we die Jesus will make us alive again.? (half statement, half question)

And we started the conversation all over again...

Fun times, those bed-time chats. :-)

Countdown & Carry-ons

The countdown is on! Only 3 more weeks today before we take off on furlough to Australia! There is definitely excitement in the air! Nathan walks around the house multiple times throughout the day, pointing his finger towards the sky and looking up, saying in a 2-yr-old way, "Big aih-pane! Big aih-pane! Sky! Go Ah-seh-yah!" Yes, Nathan! We are all going to Australia! :-)

Elise & Kenna both packed their carry-ons several days ago, and Kenna has been sleeping with hers on her bed! Last night, she had special permission to sleep in Anaya and Nathan's room on the floor, and she wheeled it in there with her, put her feet up on, and laid down! :P (in photo: Elise & Kenna both asleep on Kenna's bed)

Honestly, we are looking forward to this upcoming six-week break... It has been quite the season for us recently... Absolutely non-stop since... wow, I don't know how many months... I'm counting... back, back, back...!

This past month, I (Amy) taught Psalms in SBS, re-did the Titus website (starting from scratch, and I'm a total newbie so have to learn everything as I go!), plus went to Germany for a week (leading 2 days of Titus meetings and attending 3 days of SBS world-wide consultation). Since I can't really work on teachings or Titus stuff during the day much, my "work time" starts at about 10:00 at night, after the rest of the house has (hopefully!) gone to sleep. So, for about a month, my normal bed time was 2:00 am. I did pay for that later, getting rather sick in Germany, and according to what the doctor I saw the morning after arriving back in Taiwan entered into his computer, suffered "acute bronchitis". But, he said, "Don't worry -- at least it's not pneumonia, just a common cold!" :-)

Michael has just finished teaching 1 Corinthians in the SBS, and now we are trying to catch up on the house, organizing, etc.

So, we'll all keep at it: SBS staff, grading (Michael), some Titus stuff (Amy), house (Amy with Michael & girls help :-)), school (Elise & Kenna) and making messes for the rest to clean up (Nathan!) and then, Australia, here we come!!

Feeling the Pressure

I'm sitting at the computer, trying to get a few e-mails out, and am mentally composing a list in my mind of everything we need to do the next few weeks ... and it's a bit overwhelming! In addition to all things that are "mom" things... I get to: prepare a Psalms lecture for SBS, get a new Titus website up and functioning (and I have no clue what I'm doing!), prepare for Germany (leading 2 days-worth of Titus International meetings, and presenting Titus Project at the SBS world-wide consultation). At the same time, Michael is trying to stay caught up on grading, plus get his 1st Corinthians as prepared as possible before I go..., so I want to be able to protect his time as well for that... Any prayers any of you want to lift up on our behalf for grace & strength are much appreciated! :-)

Kenna's 2 best friends

Kenna is our early morning riser... and she loves to snuggle. We often hear little (well, getting bigger now) footsteps down the hallway in the very early morning and we know, "Here comes Kenna".

This morning was no exception. I woke up unable to roll over -- Kenna was snuggled in as close as she could get. I got up out of bed to write down a few thoughts I had for my upcoming Psalms lecture and perhaps read for a bit before the kids woke up... Kenna rolled over and snuggled into Michael.

When I went back in the room 1/2 hour later, Kenna was giggling, quizzing Michael on, "Do you know who my best friend is?"

Michael starts guessing, "Elise?"
"Bigger than Elise."
Michael starts thinking (as Kenna's closest friends are younger than Elise), "Elwina? ... Annie? ... Christina?"
"No... Nope... Uh-uh... bigger than Elwina".
"Uhhh, Mommy?"
(giggle) "Nope! Bigger than mommy!"
"Oh, I know: Jesus!":
(another giggle and big grin) "Yes!! ... And do you know who my other best friend is?"
Michael guesses again, "God?"
Kenna looks at him slightly puzzled, "Jesus IS God!"
Michael, "Yes, you're right, Jesus IS God! :) (pause) ... bigger or smaller than Nathan?"
"Smaller than Nathan".
"Owen?"
"Nope, smaller than Owen -- a lot smaller."
(Michael thinking) "uhhhh... you're fish?"
(with a laugh) "No, not my fish," holding up her blanket, "My TAG!"

Yes, Kenna, what would you do without your tag...!? (the most used, most snuggled, most worn and best-loved part of her blanket!) But, we're thankful that Jesus is your very best friend! :-)

Grounded, Growing, Giving

SBS International recently featured an article about SBS Taiwan on their site. We thought you might enjoy reading it. :-)

(written by Scott Contival)

In YWAM we often talk about how or where we want to serve after our school is done. But maybe we should ask this question: does God really want us to live such compartmentalized lives? Is “Missionary” a jacket you can just take off for nine months while you’re doing a school? Shouldn’t we be missional and full-time Bible students at the same time?

SBS Taiwan has a three-pronged vision statement: Grounded in truth, Growing in relationship, Giving out what we’re receiving.

Grounded – With the incredible deluge of information and opinion out today, it’s more necessary than ever to know what you believe. Asia has such an incredible need for teachers grounded in God’s truth. We’re privileged to be one of the only bi-lingual Chinese/English bible schools in Asia. We want to see students leave our school with the tools necessary for a lifetime of teaching and applying God’s Word.

Growing – We believe that if you leave our school with a lot of knowledge – but haven’t made an impact on the lives of those around you – and haven’t let yourself be impacted by the lives of those around you – then you’ve missed out on one of God’s major goals for this time. An incredible score on Bible Trivia doesn’t necessarily mean you know the Bible. God’s heart is for relationship and we’ll do what we can to see your relationship with God and others develop throughout the school.

Giving – We want to see a lost world reached for Jesus – that’s the passion and heart of our base. Therefore, we don’t all live together – all of our staff and students live in houses all located within a short walk of our central location – a coffee bar that YWAM runs to evangelize and reach our community. Therefore, every day you’ll get a chance to be in contact with the wonderful people of Taiwan who desperately need to see and hear of His amazing love for them. If we can’t be missional while being full-time Bible students, then what message are we sending to the church?

Pray about coming. If you’re not sure where God may be calling you next, then come and do SBS with us here – and while you’re sharing the gospel, experiencing cross-cultural living and studying God’s Word, living in the midst of a nation that is 96% non-Christian, we feel pretty confident God will give you direction!

Welcome SBS 2009!

SBS 2009 is officially underway as of today! There are 14 nations represented in the classroom! We are looking forward to a great year with this new bunch :).

What we'll be doing: 2009

After a fairly-crazy 2008, we really wanted to hear God on what He wanted us to be doing in 2009. A good friend of ours (thanks Kerry!) offered to watch our kids so that we could get away to pray. :)

We, of course, had spent much time talking, thinking, praying during the previous months, but it was such a treat to be able to take a whole day together just to seek God.

We felt God speak and give us direction concerning several things -- some of our decisions being that Michael would staff SBS once again and that Amy would devote two mornings a week to working on Titus International stuff.

We are excited for the coming year and pray God will give us His grace and strength so that we may devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him, to our family, & the ministry to which we feel He has called us! :)

Highchair hotel

OK, so you can all probably sense my fondness for creepy crawlies if you've read any of the previous posts (sorry, I know i need to branch out a little bit!), but this was amazing (in terms of downright nasty)!

We had been having trouble with our roach population for awhile, and noticed baby roaches often crawling on Nathan's high chair (wonder why?!)... we scoured his chair several times, but there was one section of the chair that was inaccessible, and thus, unwashable (not a real word, but you can pretend it is)... Well, one day Michael finally decided just to break the chair apart as we highly suspected this was the main source of the problem, and lo and behold, what we found!



The video doesn't do justice to what we actually saw -- 20+ live ones crawling around & about 15 egg sacs, and oh yeah, all the black spots? Yep... yummers! Yippety-DOO-dah!