A Giant Kiss

Since I'm here, I might as well post a photo of Elise in her Halloween costume. In true Elise style, she wanted to make a costume that required a little bit of engineering. She came up with the concept as well as the basic idea of how to construct it. David helped her carry out her ideas and added a pair of ropes under the costume to rest on her shoulders for more support. Her idea: make a circle of cardboard for the bottom, attach wires to make the shape, and then cover with aluminum foil (we used heavy duty). She also made the hat by herself. Hmm.... the costume looks a little battered here. The 3 boys behind her were a video game set up; one was the TV, one the wii, the other was a set of controllers, I think. This is not my favorite holiday, but I do love the outlet for kids' creativity!

Above All Political Powers

I just thought I would post a link to our pastor's pre-election sermon yesterday out of Daniel. He speaks to fears on both sides of the political divide and encourages us to trust in God's sovereignty and the prevailing of His Kingdom regardless of the outcome tomorrow.

Just click on the Nov. 2 sermon.

http://www.knoxannarbor.org/SermonsView.aspx

Hmmmmm.......

Well, to state the obvious, it has been almost 4 months since I last posted. Nevertheless, I just added a link to the blog of friends who are in Siberia for the time being, so I don't think I'm ready to ditch this blog despite many thoughts to the contrary.

I dont really have time today for a long update, but we are doing well, quite busy at the moment. I'm teaching the last of 4 sessions at our church's moms group Thursday a.m. Prepping for those teachings has taken a good bit of time -- studying, having conversations, thinking, writing, praying. It has been very very good, but I'll be ready for the changing of the guard next week. I'm going to reward myself by indulging in Brisingr at the end of this week. Ian can hardly wait! I can't indulge too heavily, though, because we're hosting 2 sets of houseguests next week. And the rest of life continues - pastor's class, Wednesday a.m. Bible study, teaching Sunday School to about 35 5th and 6th graders, and trying to keep the household running more or less smoothly. Finding new winter jackets for Ian, Hannah, and myself is a pressing concern right now, along with finding jeans that fit Ian. If these kids would just stop growing, my life would be a little simpler. But only a little. . . .

Taiwan II, hanging out with Warwick and family

We met Warwick at our church in Urbana, IL in the late 1980s. At the time, he was an international student working on his PhD in agriculture. Somehow, David had kept up with him enough through the years to know of his current Taiwanese residence. A little email legwork last winter (N. hemisphere) put us back in touch with each other so that Tuesday afternoon, May 13, we were able to take the bullet train from Taipei down to Tainan, traveling up to 300 km/hour, to meet up with Warwick and Vicky, who generously took a day out of their busy schedules to show us around their Taiwanese stomping grounds.

Warwick and Vicky lived in their home country of Australia and then Kenya before moving to Taiwan just 2 years ago where Warwick now works at the World Vegetable Center. I'd never heard of such an organization before so it was interesting to learn what they're about. As I understand it, the Center's main mission is to maintain the genetic pool of vegetables and create new hybrids, which are used all over the world but especially in developing nations. It is effectively an agricultural research institution.

Wednesday, we piled into their family car, along with Warwick, Vicky and Anthea (their oldest daughter couldn't skip school that day), and drove about 2 hours north to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, stopping by Sun Moon Lake on the way. The Village was a strange mix of displays on native Taiwanese culture and heart-stopping amusement park rides, all set on a large hill. At the top of the hill was the cultural section. We got to see reconstructions of huts some of the aboriginals would have lived in, and there was a museum with interesting displays on the aboriginal groups, of which there are so many I can't share specifics beyond the fact that Polynesian background figured in hugely. People in traditional dress wandered around the park. We saw a highly polished traditional dance show. As we wandered down the hill, we came across roller coasters and twirly rides and stalls selling pizza and fried chicken. All of us went on a flume ride, resulting in all of us getting soaking wet, which actually felt good on such a hot day. David and Ian braved a corkscrew-upside down roller coaster while the rest of us stood in the courtyard directly underneath the roller coaster, eating ice cream and craning our necks upward to watch its progress . (Somehow, I don't think that would be allowed in the USA.) Though the two parts of the park were very enjoyable, we never were able to wrap our minds around what conceptually tied them together. No worries; it was a lot of fun and very professionally done.

We also enjoyed getting to know Vicky and Anthea and commisserating with Warwick and Vicky about Australia. We sure shared some good laughs, as one is wont to do when hanging out with Aussies.

Deja Vu

Deja Vu #1 With the arrival of summer vacation this week, I have the sense that we're living the movie Groundhog Day. We keep having the same seasons over and over again: summer - fall - summer- fall - now summer again to be followed by yet another fall. Winter 09 is going to be a shock (a welcome one, I think) to our systems.

This 3rd summer vacation is sort of anti-climactic, really. I mean, the arrival of summer vacation is usually accompanied by a delicious feeling of indulgence as new freedoms and fun are embarked upon after months of hard work. However . . um. . . we haven't exactly been engaged in months of hard work recently. In fact, we've been engaged in some pretty fun adventures the last few months. More relaxation and fun just doesn't seem to be what we need right now. (note: David probably has a different take on this as he hit the ground running upon our return.) So, maybe it is alright that part of the cost of our sabbatical is that the kids are going to be spending some time this summer playing catch up; the girls are behind in math and all 3 kids are rusty with their musical instruments. Ian has even started private clarinet lessons in an effort to catch up with the other freshman band members for next fall.

DejaVu #2 Within a day or two of arriving home, we observed a wasp setting up a lovely little nest - right inside our mailbox. I don't know what it is about our mailboxes and creepy crawlies. We had a huntsman spider take up temporary residence in our Australian mailbox. Hmmmm..... I wonder which is more dangerous?

Deja Vu #3 Last February, David flew back to the USA for his work. On the long return flight from California to Australia, he told me how he was seated next to a morbidly obese man. This man was not just overweight or obese; he was of a size that we rarely see. It was an interesting situation for David; the guy was very nice and friendly. David chatted with him a bit. But the man just didn't fit in his airplane seat very well; his body was so large it came bulging under and over the arm rest, and there was no room for him to lower his tray table. He perched his meal trays on his belly.

As we boarded our long flight from Japan to Minneapolis, it was therefore with some interest that we spotted an incredibly obese man seated on THIS plane. We casually started checking row numbers, feeling pretty confident that he wouldn't be seated near us. What were the chances? Pretty quickly, our casual checks became wrought with a little anxiety as it became increasingly clear that yes, this man was seated in our row. . .seated right next to David, in fact. David was absolutely incredulous. What were the chances!! I managed not to laugh outloud and even volunteered to switch places with him, but he refused as he had a plan. Again, the man was very friendly and nice, but he just didn't fit in his seat. He bulged around the arm rest into David's seat and kept his arms crossed on his girth in an effort to fit in his space. Once we were allowed to walk around the cabin, David wasted no time finding a flight attendant and asking to be reseated, knowing from experience that it is basically impossible to sleep seated next to such a large person. Once asleep, their arms tend to slip off their bellies and into the laps of those on either side. The flight was pretty full, so when David was reseated, I stayed in my own seat which was 2 seats down from this over-sized gentleman. I was able to observe how he really did need 2 seats; David's move served not just his own comfort but that of this man's as well. There was maybe an inch or two between the man's body and the seat in front of him, so it was clear he could not use his own tray table for his meals. Indeed, he used David's. With David gone, he put the arm rest up and slept/sat with his shoulder and arm in David's seat; they extended about halfway across. I don't know what to think of this, but he didn't go to the restroom once during the 11+ hour flight (David thinks he wouldn't have fit in the bathroom) and had to be taken off the airplane in a wheelchair.

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there's nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9

Pepper's Glamour Shots

This is how Hannah kept busy on a recent rainy day. Pepper is such a good patient dog.

Taiwan, hanging out with Wan Ting (Anny)

I met Anny in January 2006 . We were paired together by ISI (International Students Inc.?). Anny had signed up for one-on-one Bible study with an American while I had signed up for one-on-one Bible study with an international student. For the following 1.5 years, we faithfully met Tuesday mornings for Bible Study and espresso drinks at various coffee shops in Ann Arbor. Slowly, our friendship expanded beyond the confines of coffee shops. She joined us for some family meals, even some holiday meals, and eventually became a regular on the Blaauwmobile's circuit to Knox church Sunday mornings. For our part, we got to go to the local Taiwanese club's Chinese New Year celebration, eat some of her awesome Asian cooking, and received nice gifts from her family in Taiwan. Anny moved to TX for work fall 07, so we were thrilled to be able to coordinate our travels to Asia with her travels to Taiwan this spring; we spent 5 interesting days in Taiwan.

Our time in Taiwan was marked by trains. That was our main mode of transportation. Fortunately, enough Taiwanese spoke enough English that David could actually obtain tickets without too much confusion.

Our hotel was in Taipei, not too far (50 minutes by train) from Anny's hometown of Tao Yuan, which was our first tourist stop. The main attraction: Anny's parents' home, which was quite spacious in a vertical fashion, with 3 floors and a kind of courtyard on the top with a small fish pond and a large collection of orchid plants. Anny's mother has a prolific hobby of raising orchids. After a large snack, we headed off (by car) to a park on the site of one of Chiang Kai Shek's summer homes. What was interesting about this park was that it held an immense collection of Chiang Kai Shek statues. With the advent of democracy in Taiwan, the statues were apparently removed from public places, like school buildings, to this park. Lunch was in a charming town called Daxi. I believe Daxi is known for its tofu, and I ate the best-tasting tofu I've ever had while there. We tasted samples from a couple street food stalls as well; the candied sweet potatoes were popular.

The next day, David spent the day at the National University of Taiwan while the kids and I went to the National Palace Museum in Taipei with Anny and Stefan. The museum was amazing. It has an incredibly large collection of Asian artifacts; we were told that Chiang Kai Shek took most of the Chinese treasures with him to Taiwan when he fled the mainland in 1949. In fact, the museum only has room to display 3% of their collection at one time; the rest is stored in caves in the mountains somewhere. The kids found the museum very interesting, though I think Ian was more interested in figuring out Chinese characters than seeing the items on display. Highlights: some extremely intricate carvings, a ship with 7? people carved on an olive pit and balls of ivory carved within balls of ivory. Our day concluded with a stop at The Modern Toilet, a funky restaurant that specializes in ice cream treats served in. . .well. . .toilet bowls. Miniature ones at least.

Our time in Taipei ended Tuesday morning with a trip to the paper museum where we got to make paper. Even more fascinating, we stopped by the paper store next door and watched some women making incredible pictures out of torn bits of tissue paper. Tuesday afternoon, we took the bullet train down south to Tainan to catch up with a friend we hadn't seen since grad school days, early 1990s. . .