Pick of the litter...

Yep, when we got ol' Vader and Jango (the cats) we sure got the smartest ones in the bunch. Last night they proved it. They were wrestling around on the end of the bed when Vader suddenly became aware of another cat in the house! He crouched down in attack mode and all of his fur stood straight out. (He has a much similar reaction to a blowdryer.) Jango came over to see what all the fuss was about and then she saw it! There were TWO new cats in the house! Now both cats are crouched on the end of the bed, ready to get those intruders. There was just one thing stopping them. The other cats were also in attack mode and that seemed a little frightening. Keep in mind that a toy poddle could eat both of these kittens in one fell swoop. Jango decided to be the brave one. She lept off the bed and went for those cats, but THEY DISAPPEARED! Vader could still see one of them and remained on stand by. From safely on the bed, I might add. Jango slowly circled the base of the mirror sniffing and meowing because those cats had to be there somewhere. I don't know how long she would have searched, but I think I distracted her with my howls of laughter. Silly cats...

A month of blessings

I can't believe that we have been back in Taiwan for almost a month now. Where did the days go?

Yesterday, I was thinking about something and practicing a totally useless habit of trying to figure out how God was going to answer a prayer. You know what I mean, don't act like you don't. After you have prayed, you start to think, "God could do that and it would solve this whole thing, or he could do this and that would work out great too." But in the middle of my musing, I started to think about what God has done this month.
* We got a great apartment for under $300 a month, when the owner was originally wanting $400 a month.
* An insurance that my mother was suppose to be too late to apply for accepted her and will pay all of her co-pays for her chemo and radiation treatments. She pays $30 per month and they pay $1000 per treatment.
* The precious saints in our church blessed us with an offering when we got back, and for the first time in my life, I was able to go out and buy furniture I needed for my new house.

When I think about it, as amazing as it is, God didn't use any of my ideas to answer my prayers. He exceeded my expectations on every one. So, it turns out I'm not so great on solutions, but you know the saying, "It's not what you know, but who you know."

Look what we got!

Guess what? We finally got our new kitten.... uh, make that kittens! Believe it or not, but Chris surprised us and said that we could get two cats instead of just one. (If you know Chris, you know what a miracle that is!) They are so incredibly small. Right now, they fit in the palm of your hand.



I have posted a couple of pictures of them. The orange one is Jango and the black one is Darth Vader. (Take one guess at who would name a cat after an evil villian! Now I know why he wanted us to get a black cat if possible.) They are brother and sister and are about 1 month old.

Here's a picture of Vader sneaking up on the wrist strap of the camera while I am trying to take his picture.

Abbey and Ethan are so excited to have their first pets. The night we came home from the animal shelter, Abigail was leaning on my shoulder watching the kittens. She looked up at me and said, "Momma, this is so cool." And while I am thrilled to have a cat again, that right there is the reason why her Baba now has a house full of kittens.

They took my car!

Last Sunday night, I came out of church to discover that my car had been towed. It seems that I was slightly in the red area when the "vultures" came and they towed me. In Taiwan, parking can be a challenge and the tow trucks are always circling the city to tow illegals and then charge you to get your car back. And they got me. While we were calling the place to find out where my car was and how much to recover it, Abbey realized that "her" car was gone! She began crying and crying for "my car with the cherries!" I told her that it wasn't gone forever, but that someone had taken it and that we would get it back. That explanation was not good enough. I kept trying to answer her questions about what happened while we were getting in a friend's car for a ride to our house. (Chris was going to recover the car.) After going over the how, what, and who, Abbey sit back to think about this towing business. In a few minutes, she said in a low, mad voice, "Those Chinese people took our car." Well, I lost it laughing and once again, told her that it was my fault for parking in the wrong place. After a few more minutes of questions, she came to the conclusion that we had wasted money. Somehow, that conclusion wasn't near as funny as the first one.

"Where you come from?"

The kids and I were in 7-11 the other night. A 50ish man, more than slightly drunk and his girlfriend were drawn to my kids. The man, wanting to practice his English, started talking to Abbey. Here's how it went:

man: "Where you come from?"

Abbey: "Where I come from?" (hands up beside her shoulders)

Man: "Yes, where you come from?"

Abbey: "Where I come from? I, I come from here! Taiwan and China! What you mean, where I come from?" (Don't you just love her "Chinglish" here?)

Man: "No, what I mean is, where you come from?"

Abbey: "Huh?" (looks are me in confusion)

I then explained to the man that she was born in Taiwan so she really did come from here, but her passport is American. This is the first time that someone has questioned Abbey about her nationality since we returned from deputation and she just couldn't get what he asking. I started to explain to her that the man was asking that because she looks different, but then thought, "You know what, her Dad says he is from Taiwan also, so why get into the nationality issues with her?" These Third culture kids!

Home sweet home.....and an update on my Mom

We are home! We made it back to Taiwan! Hot, busy, wonderful Taiwan! There are smells here that you can't smell anywhere else. Sometimes that is a good thing. We have been back for about 10 days and are 80% moved into our new apartment. This time it took 2 missed flights, 11 bags checked and 7 carried on, 8.5 hours in the St Louis airport, 1 broken airplane, 12 hours in a hotel room (courtesy of American Airlines, reason for one missed flight), 11 bags of lost luggage, and 3.5 days to get back to Taiwan. As for the lost luggage, they had lost it by the time we got to L.A. and found it by the time we got to Taiwan, so it all worked out. Thank God I do not have another trip like that anytime soon.

As always, when the pastor is going, there is a lot of work for him to do when he returns. But it is so great to be involved again. To worship with your church family. To see their growth and to know their stories. To just be back in your place in the puzzle. I don't know if I am describing this so that you can understand what I am feeling, but it is just so right for us to be here right now.

Some people have been asking about my mother, so here is the latest report. She went to see the oncologist last week and he said that she will have to do 4 rounds of chemo and 7 weeks of radiation. Believe it or not, this wasn't the bad news. To do the chemo, they have to take her off of her MS meds. Those medications are what help her to function normally on a day to day basis. They slow down the effects of the MS and keep the MS from growing. Also, her insurance will not cover all of the cost, so she will need to pay $1000 USD each time that she takes a chemo treatment. That is a lot of money if you aren't prepared for the cost. Please, please keep her in your prayers for the next three months. She will have the chemo stretched out over three weeks, then a two week break and then the seven weeks of radiation. It is hard to know I will not be there to help her, but I know a God that can send her help and give her strength during this time. This isn't a challenge for God, but merely an opportunity. But we do desire your prayers during this time.

It's been many moons since we chatted...

Hello to all you good people who read this blog. I do deeply apologize for the recent lapse in stories. I HAVEN'T been lazy, I promise. Here is the brief timeline:

5 weeks ago: My mother had a biopsy for breast cancer. Due to the mercy of God, we were traveling in AL and TN during this time, so I was with her for everything.

4 weeks ago: The report came back that she did indeed have breast cancer and more test were ordered to see if it had spread.

3 weeks ago: The cancer had not spread and the doctor told us that they could just remove the lump and some radiation treatments afterwards would solve the problem. God is faithful!

2 weeks ago: She went in for outpatient surgery and had the cancer removed. One lump node was removed and tested in the OR for cancer. It had not spread to her lump nodes. God is merciful!

Currently: She is still recovering from the surgery. Because of her MS, it is taking longer for her body to heal, but she is up and doing things, just still experiencing a lot of soreness. (I have tried to make her sit down, but it isn't working. If you do not believe me, you are welcome to come and try for yourself!) In the middle of all of this, we have been trying to finish up deputation, pack up the motor home and sell it! (Which, by the way, if you know someone who is looking for a motor home, we have just the one. It is 30 foot long, with one slide out, V-10 Ford engine and in great condition. It is appraised at $36,000, but we are wanting $30,000 for it. We might even take a little less!)

So, that is the update for the past month or so. Life is busy, but God is great. Sometimes, you think about circumstances and think you wouldn't be able to handle that happening. Then it does happen and God gives you such a calmness in the storm. I know I said it earlier, but God IS faithful!