Road Trip

One gorgeous day.

.

One amazing Creator.

One perfectly delightful roadtrip!

Awsome views

Checking out the roadside map

                                               

     






Ripening coffee beans!

 



That's our city, Taichung, off in the distance

Pottery filled with vinegar

Road Trip

Topics to Ponder

So here I am again. Sitting at the computer, ready to share some tidbit of my life. Not difficult due to a lack of material, but rather, the opposite- too much to share.

During the week, I often find myself thinking of things I should write.. Possible topics flit through my mind, often during the long walk to school every morning. Ok, long is a relative term. Just ask a pregnant woman waiting for the next available stall at a public bathroom. Five minutes can be an eternity!

But back to my possible topics. Here's a few that occupied the recesses of my mind for at least a short time this week.

1. Celebrating Christmas in a Buddhist country
2. The advantage/disadvantages of owning a scooter
3. The crazy dogs of Taiwan
4. Hospitals in Taiwan
5. My husband, the Taiwanese scooter driver
5. It's almost Christmas and I'm wearing shorts (this I decided against, considering most of you   packed your shorts away almost two months ago, and I want friends, not enemies)

Ok. I think you get the idea. So what topic did I decide on? Read on and take a guess.


School work. Friends. Swimming. Homework. Starbucks. Shopping. Basketball. Chinese.

If you guessed Abbi, you are correct.

 Abbi settled right into life in Taiwan as if she had been born here. She adjusted to the new challenge of attending a school with typical Chinese high expectations. And despite the fact of never swimming competitively, she joined the swim team. She almost ran for class president but a typhoon day kept her from turning in the appropriate paper work. Probably a good thing. I think she had enough on her plate.

Abbi and friends

During swim season, Abbi not only learned how to dive off the starting block, do the racing underwater flip turn (yeah, I don't know the terminology, sorry Coach Randy, and other coaching staff), she also learned the butterfly. Two weeks later she competed at a meet in a butterfly event. As the season progressed, she improved. At one meet, the women's relay team of which Abbi was a member, broke a school record. At the final meet, Abbi took four first places. One race  placed her in Morrison records with the third fastest time for 100meter freestyle. At the sports' awards, she was voted as most valuable member of the junior varsity team.

When basketball tryouts rolled around, Abbi was ready. Morrison has three women teams- varsity, junior varsity, and JVB- usually comprised of freshman and eighth graders. Abbi did great and earned a place on the JV team- the only freshman to do so.  Despite being the youngest, she has proven to her teammates and coaches she has the skills to be a great basketball player.





Ready for the rebound

Abbi's life is full. She studies hard. She plays hard. And if God leads you to, please pray for her and her brothers, too! This momma thanks you!






She shoots. She scores!

Still Alive!

Life. Is. Crazy.

 There I said it. I know you know what I mean. No matter where you go in this world, the month of December is jam packed with responsibilities, appointments, and celebrations.

For me, it started last weekend.

 Friday night was the K-2 Christmas pageant. Quite entertaining! I was very proud of the raw talent in my students.

Saturday evening, three families gathered for a time of games and fellowship.

Sunday evening, staff from both the elementary and middle school gathered at our principal's apartment for a time of fellowship and food.


Today, I spent all day in Taipei with Jacob at a softball tournament. Yes, you read that correctly.... a softball tournament. In December! That definitely was a first for this Ohio gal. No snow. But lots and lots of rain. Yep, they competed in the rain. They played a total of four games and just missed being in the championship. We left at 6:15 am and returned at 9pm. Loooooooong day!

So what's in store for this week.....decorating our Christmas tree, basketball games, formal observations (yikes), meetings, and birthdays (Abbi will be 14 on Thursday!)

And  I haven't done a stitch of shopping yet ....

Thanksgiving Day

Recently, on a glorious Saturday, I was avoiding work. Not any particular work, just work in general.
Have you ever been there?

I should have been in my classroom preparing lessons for the upcoming week.
I should have been at home cleaning, or something domestic related.
I should have been furniture shopping.

But I wasn't. I was, instead, watching a soccer tournament. I might mention here that none of my biological children really like soccer, so its safe for you to assume I wasn't there as a mom.  But several of my Monday through Friday children were involved. I had planned to watch just one game and then head over to my second home (my classroom). But as I mentioned before, I just wasn't feeling it. So I just watched and watched. Oh, and of course, conversed.

So the day passed pleasantly on that warm November Saturday. Eventually, hunger pains jarred me out of my nonresponsibility bliss. Carl and I decided to jump on the scooter and head out to some local furniture stores. On the way, we agreed to look for something to eat.

Now that seems easy enough, unless, of course, you are unable to read the local merchants' signs. With Carl driving and me comfortably situated on the back, we passed place after place. We knew food was being served, but could not tell what without stopping and looking into every vendor's cart.

Luckily, I recognized a steamed dumpling shop by the bamboo steamers.We like dumplings and the lunch hour was long gone. So we stopped.

And, although everything was in Mandarin, both Carl and I have become very proficient at communicating with our hands, faces, and whatever other body part that gets the message out. So thus began the ordering adventure. But it wasn't too difficult because the owner spoke enough English that communicating was possible, even pleasant.

To make this increasingly long story, shorter, we had a great time eating and conversing with Steven, the owner. As we sat below his family's god shelf, I felt pulled to pray for the Holy Spirit to somehow reveal the truth to our new friend and his family.

 Needless, to say, we never made it to the furniture store.

But if you were to scroll back up to the beginning of my discourse, you would notice that I entitled this piece Thanksgiving Day. Which so far, I haven't said a single thing about Thanksgiving. But hold on. Its coming.

When we finally left Steven's dumpling shop, we told him we would return and bring our four children. The only problem was we were at least 2 kilometers from our apartment and with no car...  If only six people could fit on our scooter.

So Thanksgiving Day (see, I told you I would get here eventually), I was feeling somewhat disconnected. Our Thanksgiving had been the day before, and although we all had been there, we had been spread out among fifty other people. I wanted, no needed, a family gathering. So it was decided that a trip on the bikes to Steven's dumpling shop would be the perfect family Taiwan Thanksgiving. Wow, its taken a long time to get to the point of this blog. But here we are....

                                                                                 The Dingus Family's Thanksgiving Day meal!

          Yummy steamed dumplings!

Delicious Hot and Sour soup!

Nick and Ben shared a huge bowl of noodle soup-- no turkey, just pork and assorted seafood.












We enjoyed spending time with Steven again. He said Carl must be very strong to have four children. And,  he said our children were very handsome (the boys, of course) and beautiful (that would be Abbi). Steven is such a wise man!

We will visit Steven again. One, because he has really great steamed dumplings, and two, because we may be the only Christians he may ever know!

Happy Thanksgiving

It will be about 77 degrees today.
Turkeys have to be ordered.
A can of pumpkin cost about $5.
It is a normal workday for our neighbors.
And no one is talking about Black Friday!


But yet, I am thankful! Yes, it has not, will not, be a "normal" Thanksgiving for the Dingus family, but that doesn't mean we are not thankful for the things God has blessed us with over this past year.

1. No matter where we travel, God is there!  (Psalm 139:7-10 Abbi's favorite verse)

2. God not only knows our past, our present, but most importantly, our FUTURE!  (Jeremiah 29:11 Kelli's favorite verse)

3. God continues to direct our paths- even when the road signs are in Chinese!
    (Proverbs 3:5-6  Carl's favorite verse)



4. Skype- So we can see those we love, even when they are on the other side of the world! And thankful that those we love were willing to overcome their "new technology" fears. (I guess if I searched and searched I could find a Bible verse for this one, but I won't!)

5. New friends/old friends- Isn't there a song about this.... silver and gold.... Or am I just delusional?  Seriously, God has blessed us abundantly-- both with the old and new!  We miss so many of the relationships that were formed over the last 25 years but God is faithful, and has been providing us with new friends.

6. A day off from school/work- Hey, its an American school, and its an American holiday, so we get two and a half days off, just like schools in America. Actually, we are double blessed- we get American holidays AND Chinese holidays!

7. Food- We don't like being hungry! And yes, we are thankful for all our food- even the odd and strange. I must add that I haven't had any restaraunt American food since moving. We can see McDonalds from our apartment and there is a Starbucks next to it. Chili's is very popular. We also have Kentucky Fried Chicken, Baskin-Robbins, and Gorden Biersch. But as you can imagine, prices are high, so I abstain.

8. Our scooter-  This makes Carl's many trips to the various stores much easier. Not to mention, getting the five gallon water container back from the school. And, I just love riding around town! If only we could fit all six of us on it!

9. Our home- not a perfect place, especially when the neighbors below you are very picky, but its home! It has all the necessities, plenty of space, and a really great view of the mountains beyond the city. Plus, its just a five minute walk to school!

10.You- People who care enough about us to continually check out this blog, even when days (sometimes weeks) go by with no new posts. And as you check up on us, we hope you are praying! We thank God for all of you- our friends, family, and  partners in ministry!

 

So while I could go on and on, I am sure you get the idea- We are thankful, even here in Taiwan where few know the Pilgrim story. Where few know the culinary joy of a roasted turkey, fluffy mashed potatoes, tangy cranberry sauce, smooth, rich pumpkin pie. But while all that is yummy, it is truly the heart that makes or breaks this holiday.

But don't worry. Last night, among fifty other OMS missionaries and friends, we ate the traditional Thanksgiving meal. I was even able to contribute my usual corn bake and sweet potato casserole. There was even pumpkin and pecan pie, so see, God does care about the little things!

And speaking of little things, Carl said he was thankful for this shoe! It literally saved him from being thrown up off his bike onto the hood and windshield of the white Mercedes that hit him back in September. Who knows how many other little things God used to protect us, that we may never know about, except God himself?

So What About the Kids?

My kids are awesome. Not perfect, but then again, neither is their mother! Nick, Ben, Abbi, and Jacob have been amazing during this transition period. It is very obvious that God was preparing all of us for this move long before we stepped off the airplane.

One of the hardest aspects for several of my children was adjusting to a different academic community and its expectations. Education is the highest priority in the Chinese community. Anything less than an A is failure and the way to achieve the highest is to study and study and study. That's it. Homework and extra classes outside of school consume their lives. In high school, all sports cease. Morrison's sports teams mostly play the local colleges because there are very few high schools with a sport program.

This was difficult for my children who were use to being at the top of their class with minimal sweat and guts. For the first time, they were being academically challenged. Tears were shed. Teeth were gnashed, but they prevailed. I am proud of their effort, determination, and dedication and their first quarter grades made their parents proud!

So besides studying, how else have Nick, Ben, Abbi, and Jacob spent their free time?


Nick, despite this being his last year of high school, has found several ways to invest his time. Losing his senior year of football was hard, but lifting  has helped dull the sharpness of the loss. The school has a very nice weight room and an after-school lifting program. He still looks like a football player, and continues to get stronger and stronger!

 The recent volleyball and soccer seasons were  profitable for  Nick. As a student of the sports management class, he was eligible to work several games as an assistant. This has helped finance his multiple  trips to the movies, night market, and tea shops.

 Another class that is providing hands-on experience is the computer web design class. Every week, Nick is responsible to update the  high school website. I love getting on and seeing what he has done. The teacher is impressed with Nick and has asked him to sign up for the class again next semester and serve as a student editor.  Check it out at www.mca.org.tw !

As for next year.... Nick is still praying, thinking, deciding.. There is a college that recently sent a representative to Morrison's college fair. As Nick put it, she was a good salesman. Decisions need to be made soon so please pray that Nick will seek God's heart and will know, without a doubt, God's will in this area.

I would put on a picture of Nick but, unfortunately, I don't have any. He prefers to be behind the scene and not the focus of it! He tends to disappear when the camera comes out!


Coming soon..... updates on Ben, Abbi, and Jacob.

A Picture Is Worth a 1,000 Words

 2 scooters.

10 hours.

3,000 meters.

One totally awesome Creator!

The Mountain Top!

10 hours. 3, 000 feet. Awesome!

The Life of Carl

It's a miracle! It's Tuesday evening..... and I am at home. I walked into the apartment by 6:30 pm. That means I put in less than a 12 hour day. I need to write this date on the calendar.

Everyone is home, except Nick. Carl and Jacob are playing Sorry Sliders at the kitchen table. Ben and Abbi are draped across the living room furniture doing their nightly homework. Nick is still at school.

So you know a lot about what my life has been like since our moving to Taiwan. But what about the rest of the family? I am so glad you asked because that's exactly what I planned on sharing with you tonight!


 Carl's life has been turned upside down. After 29 years at a great job, he now takes care of the home front. And I am slightly embarrassed  to admit that he does it better than me!

 The kids have already declared him the best pizza maker in the family.  He does the grocery shopping  which is a lot different than our old Walmart/Kroger  days. He goes to 4 different stores to accomplish stocking the kitchen: Costco- twice a month for our more American desires, the bread store- a couple times a week for, yep, you guessed, bread, the vegetable market-a couple times a week, and the fruit market as needed.  But don't worry, he is not alone. His Coscto trips are with two other male accompanying spouses whose wives work at the school.

He  refills our 5 gallon jug down at the school several times a week for our drinking and cooking water.

He does the laundry, cleans the house, and cook.

Tomorrow, he is substituting in a Spanish class. Don't worry, he is only giving a test! His other part time job with the school, at this moment, is at a slow point. When the time comes to order textbooks for next year, Carl will be busy again. He will be responsible to order, arrange shipment, and disperse all the textbooks for the three campuses.

And starting next week, he is donning a new cap- the jv girl's basketball coach. God is so good!

But life isn't all work and no play for Carl. Friday, he and one of his Coscto buddies, are heading to the mountains. I can't wait to see the pictures!


I thank God continually for blessing me with a loving, supportive, and amazing husband!

Lay Me Down

With this heart open wide
From the depths from the heights
I will bring a sacrifice
With these hands lifted high
Hear  my song
Hear my cry
I will bring a sacrifice
I will bring a sacrifice

Chorus:
I lay me down I’m not my own
I belong to you alone
Lay me down
Lay me down
Hand on my heart
 This much is true
There’s no life apart from you
Lay me down
Lay me down Oh oh oh
Lay me down
Lay me down

Letting go of my pride
Giving up all my rights
Take this life and let it shineTake this life and let it shine

Bridge:
It will be my joy to say
Your will
Your way
It will be my joy to say
Your will
Your way always(x3)


Every Monday morning, the  staff of Morrison Academy gather for devotions. We recently sang this Chris Tomlin song. The words, for me, describe my journey the last three months.

I started this school year knowing it would be difficult, but  I was confident in my abilities. I could handle it. Not too many days passed before reality set in. I found myself feeling like I had to prove to everyone that I was a good teacher; that I deserved to be here.

I was constantly stressed.  I strived. I persevered. I prayed. 

Yet, I continued to feel as if everyone around me was looking over my shoulder. It was the world against one- me.

 One day, after being less than perfect, I collapsed, emotionally. I just couldn't go on. So sitting at my kitchen table, I gave it all up.  I took my pride and gave it over to God. I instantly felt peace wash over me.

God also revealed to me that it was He, not any human, or any thing that I had done, that brought me to Taiwan. He, alone, according to His will. Wow! That simple thought released me from the prison I, alone, had erected. In a matter of seconds, my joy returned.

 

Letting go of my pride.

Giving up all my rights

Take this life and let it shine.

 

All my striving. All my worrying. It did nothing for me, or for anyone else.

 

My joy-- Your Will! Your Way!

 

I will shine when I am full of God, not myself!

 

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I prayed God would change my situation. Instead, He changed me!

Leftovers

Leftovers! No, not potroast or anything edible. I am refering to leftover pictures that should have been part of my last couple blogs.  The picture below was from our gondola ride up to the tea farms.

Tea fields

 Can you guess which blog this should have been included in? I guess I didn't think about it because this spider was not in my personal space. It was out among some trees far far away from me. Praise God for zoom lenses! Carl estimates its body was about 2 inches long.

Yesterday Carl, Abbi, and I rode our bikes to a hiking trail a couple miles from our house. This is the weekend of our annual Pike Lake camping trip where we always hiked through the beautiful Pike County hills. Obviously, thats not happening this year so we decided to hike the beautiful Taiwan "hills" instead. Oh my! It was quite a workout. The paths were mostly paved which was nice but the part that wasn't paved was covered with stairs. Lots of stairs! Steep stairs! My legs were shaking by the time we returned to our bikes. And yeah, we still had to ride the couple miles home!

                                                           Step One- Lock up the bikes.

 Step Two- Stop and accept the pine juice offered to you by the nice gentleman on the path. Yep, you read right- pine juice. Made from the pine cones from the trees in the area. Yep, it was green. Yep, it was not delicious. Very earthy. Somewhat grainy. But good for your health according to the nice man. Yep, I drank all mine. Abbi did not. And no, we didn't buy any of the bottles for sale.

                                             Step Three- Admire the beautiful scenery!

                      Step Four- Use the zoom on your lense to get a better look at the temple in the distance.

Step Five- Go up, and up. 

Step Six- Admire the banana trees.

 

 

Step Seven- Smile! We are almost back to our bikes!

This and That

Just some random thoughts......

Weather- Even though it is October, I joined Abbi in the pool yesterday to swim laps.  The sun still has a lot of heat but there is a slight chill in the breeze. Daytime highs are in the low 80's. There is a definite cool down when the sun disappears. The biggest changes have been in the humidity and the frequency of rain. When we first arrived, the humidity was always 80 % or higher. Everything was sticky- all the time. It rained often. We haven't had any rain in several weeks. Sounds like this will be the pattern for a couple more months. Our winter clothes can stay packed a little bit longer.

Cornhole-Carl introduced cornhole to my principal and his family last Sunday afternoon. They are from South Africa. Another teacher, who grew up in Kenya, joined in.  Naturally, they had never heard of cornhole before. Soon cornhole will be sweeping across this island!

Snake-Last week a warning came from the administration. A snake had been seen within the campus. Evidently a group of teens had seen the baby snake crawling into a locker (our hallways and lockers are all outside). One of the boys was able to kill it before it completely disappeared into the locker. One guess who that boy was....yep, Ben. Evidently the gate guard saw it happening on the security camera. He informed the gathered group that the snake was poisonous, very poisonous! God obviously was watching over Ben and the owner of the locker.

Speaking of snakes......  we were invited to supper with a family shortly after our arrival. We were enjoying after dinner conversation when Carl calmly informed our hostess that a mouse/rat was on her stove. They caught it, and a friend, in a trap a couple days later. Turned out it wasn't a rat. It was a shrew. Hmmmm...

Cockroaches- Haven't had any in our apartment, yet. Yeah! With the humidity they are bigger and more common than in Ohio. Ants haven't been a problem for us... yet. ( I am editing because Carl just told me he found a dead cockroach behind a box. Bettet dead than alive! )

Why am I thinking about creepy crawly things? Life is good, even with snakes, shrews, cockroaches, and ants. How about you?

Fall Break

 

Yep, you read it right. Fall break.... just what it sounds like- it's fall and we are taking a break. In fact, today (10/10) is a national holiday- Double Ten. It is equivalent to America's July 4. But before you get too jealous, my teacher friends, remember we started school August 13!

 Morrison teachers are taking advantage of this week long holiday. Several are with the swim team in the Philippines while others have traveled to other Asian destinations- Malaysia and Indonesia. Most, however, are traveling within Taiwan.. The most popular destination by far is Kenting- the beach town on the most southern tip of the island. Owning a car is a practical necessity of traveling that far south.

Since we own a scooter, not a car, Kenting was not a feasible choice.  I have seen families of four on one scooter but the children are usually young and still small, unlike our family of three teenagers and one preteen. But I will admit sitting on a sun-kissed beach would have helped my hyperactive stress levels.

Another factor dominated our travel decisions- an expiring passport. So instead of going south, we went north, north to the largest city in Taiwan- Taipei.

Early Monday morning, five of us (Nick decided to stay home) left our apartment and walked a mile to the closest bus station. We boarded the bus and traveled about two hours to the main bus station in Taipei. And how, you ask, do you do that in a foreign country where you have a minimal understanding on the language? Well, you first thank Jesus that the Chinese schools start teachimg English before their students become teens. Then you pick the brains of those who have lived here longer, or even better yet, those who were born here. And when all else fails, you stop and ask a stranger.

Carl mainly relies on the second of the above listed. I, on the other hand, largely rely on the second. which only works, may I add, due to the first.

A friend, Ling-En, helped us buy our tickets Saturday afternoon from the closest 7-11 (yeah, they're everywhere). The kiosk was all in Chinese so her help was a necessity! Scott and Jennifer Finch, Morrison teachers at the Taipei campus and great friends, met us at the end of our bus trip. The MRT (subway) carried us closer to our overnight accomendations- the Southern Baptist Guest House.

                                         There were many options on how to spend the day!                      

 Our first stop was at the Taiwan equivalent to the Washington Memorial. We just happened to arrive ten minutes before the combined forces of the Army, Navy, and Air Force began their dress rehearsal for the Double Ten celebration. Perfect timing!

 Next stop- Taipei 101. Once the tallest building in the world, it now proudly holds second place. For this short country girl, even though my eyes beheld it, it still seems quite impossible that such a tall building could actually remain standing! Although we would have loved to, we didn't go to the top. 

We did, however, partake of another marvel. Along with Tim and Grace Heebner (long time friends, also newly hired at Morrison), and the Finches (new in time but old in heart friends), we experienced a tantalizing taste bud extravaganza! Which by the way, may be the world's tallest dessert!

Three scoops vanilla ice cream sprinkled with a handful of chopped pecans, topped with a mountain of fluffy cotton candy.... wait, I'm not done yet.....

followed by, after the chorus of ooohs and aaaahs, a cup of espresso  drizzled over it all. Sounds odd, weird, off beat....

                                               But your tastebuds will have a different opinion!

 Just ask Abbi! All the other teens were left behind at a food court. She was the only one who chose to try the adult choice of dessert! Lucky girl. Lucky,  that is, that her mother didn't snatch the bowl away and scream, "It's Mine" !

The next morning was spent drowning in govermental hoop jumping! By the way, if you ever need passport pictures, do NOT get them taken in Taiwan. Someone (the goverment? the photographers?) has an obsession with ears. Your ears MUST be showing in any official photo. As a result, I am stuck with the all time worse passport photo, ever, for the next ten years!

After our American experience on Taiwan soil, back to sightseeing! This time we traveled on an above ground train to the Maokong Gondolas. This inexpensive but quite amazing trip took us up and over several mountain tops. At the end was a village of tea farms.

                                         Jacob laying down on the clear floor of our gondola!

                                                     The view from the restaurant.

                                            Scott made us traditional tea among the tea fields.
                                                    (Ann, if you ever visit, we got to do this!)

 

Pizza for supper. A subway ride, a long underground walk, and finally back to a bus station- just in time to catch the sold out 10pm bus. At midnight, we made the mile long walk back to our apartment!Two days, 48 hours--- it was good to be back in Taichung. Home sweet home!