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!!