All Dressed Up

Big doings on the Morrison campus today!

Tonight was the social event of the school year- high school banquet.

Kinda like a prom, but kinda not. Some would say better than a prom. Some would say not.

It really doesn't matter. 

What it is, is a chance for the ladies to buy fancy dresses, get their hair done, and do each other's make up. Getting ready for the banquet is half the fun!

The gentlemen typically require less time to prepare. 

On the heels of this prep time comes all the pictures!

Proud father!

Jacob decided to carry on the Dingus bow tie tradition!

All this before ever leaving the apartment!

Jacob and Sam ready to go!

Abbi and Hansol

Jacob and Miki

 Four years ago, these four had just begun their middle school adventure. 

Just another indicator of time marching on!

Another Chapter Closes

Basketball is over!

 In 2013, a group of missionary and Christian schools in Asia formed a new conference: ASCS Asia Christian Schools Conference. The schools include Dalat International School, Maylasia,  Faith Academy, Philippines, Grace International, Thailand, International Christian School of Hong Kong, St. Paul Christian School, Guam, Yongsan International School Seoul, Korea, and Morrison. 

An advantage of being a varsity player in soccer, volleyball, or basketball is the opportunity to participate in an end of the season tournament hosted by one of these schools. Earlier this year, Morrison hosted the girl's volleyball tournament. 

Early Tuesday morning  both the varsity teams boarded a bus headed for the airport- the boys' team to Hong Kong, while the girls' final destination was Maylasia. 

After a long day of travel, they safely arrived to the beautiful, but hot campus of Dalat. The campus has a beautiful location.

 After all the teams arrived, they spent an evening meeting each other, roasting marshmallows, and enjoying a fireworks display.

These athletes are also given the opportunity to serve in the host country. Competition is set aside, while the teams work together to bring joy and the love of Jesus to others less fortunate. When Morrison is the host, the teams partner with Taiwan Sunshine to host a I Am a Hero Game (similar to Special Olympics in the US). What an amazing testimony to the community around each of these Christian schools!

Abbi's team taking off their game faces to spend some time loving on the children of Maylasia.

Carl and I would have loved to go along and been part of this experience, but time and finances would not allow such a luxury.  Via the miracle of technology, we were able to see most of the games. My students also enjoyed a few of the games with the use of an apple tv projector! Not only did Dalat do a great job live streaming the games, they actually had an announcer calling play by play! Plus they had a designated photographer to take pictures for all the parents scattered around Asia missing these photo opportunities.

As I watched from my classroom, I could hear people cheering for Morrison which was very perplexing considering only one fan traveled with the team to the tournament. Evidently, the younger Dalat students desired to see Morrison do well in their games.

Their cheering was quite exuberant. I suspect they were cheering for the Mustangs in hope to repeat last year's title game, but with Dalat coming out the winner this time. 

Sadly, that was not to be. Even from across the cyber world, it was evident our team was not themselves. Despite their struggles, they won the first three games to enter the bracket as the number one seed. 

Unfortunately, they never made it to the final game. Dalat did, and while the championship looked to be theirs, it slipped into the hands of the team they had beaten previously by 23 points. 

Here a some pictures of my favorite Mustang in action....

While losing is difficult, its an important of being an athlete. Adversity strengthens and develops character. Even so, it still hurts!

I am so thankful Abbi was able to be a part of this team.

Thank you to my friend Grace who took some of these pictures and a big round of thankfulness to the  Dalat photographer who captured the other moments. 

Thanks for sharing!

Chinese New Year Fun

One of the perks of teaching in an Asian country is the abundance of holidays.

Morrison is an American school, but the majority of the students are of Asian descent. The result? Time off for the major American holidays AND time off for the major Taiwanese holidays. Before you get too envious, we start school in early August to make up for all the breaks. But once we get those first few weeks under our belt, the rewards are fabulous.

This past week was Chinese New Year. 

We spent part of our break in Kenting with our OMS family. We are so blessed to have these families and individuals in our lives. Time together worshiping, learning, sightseeing, and playing games was just the right recipe for relaxing.

 Even the lighthouse, at the most southern point of the island has the traditional Chinese couplets around its door. During Chinese New Year, most homes have a blessing framing their door. 

Temples are everywhere, even within the grounds of the lighthouse.

After leaving the lighthouse we drove around the tip to the pristine views of the west coast. We were just there recently during Christmas, but it was so windy, it was hard to enjoy the views.  

Missionary friends Don and Marla, along with part of the Senner family. Mark is Abbi's AP Statistics teacher, as well as Jake's geometry teacher.  

Last time we were here, we saw water buffalo feasting. This time it was goats munching away.

The next day was a little bit warmer so a group of us stormed the beach! Only the brave and insanely crazy actually got in the water.

 Our last day found us hiking out to a scenic cliff area. But, we weren't alone. For many Taiwanese, Chinese New Year is the only holiday they have. After their family obligations, they take advantage of the beauty their country offers.

The walk out was over a mile. so many tourists opted for the optional bus ride. A constant flow of busses, returned the masses to their vehicles.

I got a lot of use out of my camera's zoom lens. 

I just can't seem to get enough of the Pacific Ocean and the east coastline.

After the retreat, we traveled over the mountain to the east coast. Before leaving Taiwan, Abbi wanted one mare chance to enjoy the beach in Taitung. The trip which should have only been a couple hours long stretched twice as long as everybody else also wanted to enjoy the scenic drive.

While the water was warmer than that in Kenting, the weather was more cloudy and rainy. Nevertheless, both Jacob and Abbi enjoyed the waves.

Leaving Jacob to return later on the train, the rest of us headed back to Taichung. Hoping to avoid all the traffic, we left at 9pm.  We still experienced bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic, even at 1am.

While I had a great time, I think next year \ I'll enjoy the holiday at home!