Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Bracken Blurbs

#1-  Last year, while we were in the US, Chris was preaching at a church.  Sometimes, at the beginning of his preaching, he will speak a little Chinese and then translate for himself.  Just maybe 4 or 5 sentences where he goes back and forth between two languages.  Well, the next day, the church secretary calls me over and says that she has the best story to tell me.  She did not disappoint.  It seems that two ladies were sitting in the back of the church during Chris' preaching.  One lady has a known hearing problem, but staunchly refuses to admit it.  However, during Chris' preaching, even she started to think that maybe her ears should be checked.  She turned to her friend and said, "I can't understand a word he is saying!  It is like he is speaking a foreign language!"  Her friend then leaned over and replied, "He is speaking a foreign language.  He's speaking Chinese!"  Of course, that got them both tickled and they even had to step out of the church for a moment to get themselves back together. 


#2- A few months ago, our family was all talking around the dinner table.  We always sometimes have the most random, stream of consciousness conversations.  That day, we had somehow gotten into a conversation about lips.  I wish I could explain how we got there, but I have no idea why we were discussing lips.  Ethan had been pretty quiet the whole time.  There was a break in the conversation and he suddenly pipes up with, "Lips.  I've been on the wrong side of those before."  Yes, in case you are wondering, he has reached the age where it is embarrassing to be kissed by your mom.


#3- The other day, I packed the diaper bag in a super big hurry.  We were trying to get out the door for church and I needed to grab a clean burp cloth/ spit cloth for the baby.  Now, I'll tell you a secret.  I'm horrible at getting folded clothes from the laundry room table put up in their proper places.  And that day was not different.  So, I ran downstairs, grabbed a cloth and some extra baby clothes and shoved it all in the diaper bag.  On Wednesdays, I teach an English class before church, so Chris watches Titus (Our foster baby).  I always get back to the church right as prayer is starting.  So, after prayer, I notice that Titus ate a cracker when he was with Chris and now I need to change his clothes.  I know church is about to start, so I quickly dig through the diaper bag to get his extra clothes out.  Onesie- check!  Pants- check! Wait.  What's this?  Then I discover, to my absolute horror, I am also holding a pair of my... unmentionables!!  It seems that in my hurry to grab things off the laundry table, I accidently snagged a pair and now I'm sharing them with anyone in the church who happens to be looking!  As you can imagine, I quickly shoved them into the side pocket of the diaper bag.  But my face was still bright red and I got the nervous giggles!  Chris just happen to walk over at that moment to ask me a question.  After 12 years of marriage he just said,  "What did you do? Nevermind.  I don't want to know."

Is it Possible?

Is it possible I haven't written in almost a year?  I remember as a kid feeling like summer break lasted an eternity and my grandmother would tell me, "Just wait.  Time flies when you get older."  And indeed it does, Mamaw!





So, what have we been doing? Well, long story long, here is a brief run through.  We went to the US.  We came home. School started. We started fostering a dog to see if we would like to have a dog.  We started fostering a baby not to see if we would like another. Thanksgiving came.  We avoided turkey just to be different.  Christmas came.  We all got sick.  New Years came.  We went on vacation to try to recover.  January was cold.  Taiwan National Conference came.  It was awesome. March came.  Things settled down a bit.  April came.  It was hot.  The Kaohsiung Church celebrated its 31st anniversary. I remembered I had a blog once.


Well, that's it.  Good bye for another year. 




I'm just kidding! I am going to try and get the details down for all posterity soon.  Until then, God's blessings on you!