Dr Pepper

I am sitting here drinking a Dr Pepper and thinking how good God is to us. it is such a small thing to have a certain treat like a soda available to you but it makes my day when I can have one at the end of the day. Being in Taiwan these things are sometimes hard to find but here I am drinking one. Praise the Lord for He is good.

Long Time No See

Blame it on Facebook. I have gotten on facebook recently and that coupled with doing my Master's thesis proposal for the last two months has made it hard for me to update here.
To catch up then:
1. Leanne just completed a successful exhibition of her hand made books at a book store. See her blog on the right for details.
2. I did complete my proposal for my thesis. 85 pages later I am very happy to report getting high praise from my instructor. Pray the evaluation comes back as good.
3. Leanne and I took a trip to Taipei for the Dragon Boat long weekend (four days!!!). We started the trip off right by going up on the new high speed train. You can see some of the pics (one outside one inside). It was underwhelming as it never felt you were actually going close to 300 km/h. So cool!
4. We went to see some of the famous Terra Cotta soldiers at a museum in Taipei. They were imported from Mainland China. Very interesting.
5. Went to the area around Taipei 101. This is the tallest building in the world.
6. We are having a very hot summer. Pray it will be a little cooler as I start my busy schedule.
7. The church is still waiting to hear from our pastoral candidate. Pray we can find out God's will for this. We need to find someone soon as we are losing some key leaders this summer.
8. I am getting fat. I have been sitting at the computer alot doing my Master's. Pray for determination to brave the heat and get some exercise.
9. Leanne had some pain in her leg last night but it seems to have gone away Praise the Lord.

That's the best I can do for an update. Please let me know if you read this.

Stephen and Elizabeth's Wedding/Anniversary

What was it? A wedding banquet? An anniversary celebration? Whatever it was we had a great time. Stephen sang a lovely song for Elizabeth (Was that 'catch a kangaroo'?) And Elizabeth sang a beautiful love song to God. A moving night. They shared stories about each other including all the blood and gore.
Stephen and Elizabeth have been a huge blessing to our church. In the absence of a pastor they have stepped up very well to lead a group of immature church members. God Bless you guys as you find your path.

Men's Retreat- The Aftermath

We got through the weekend and the time was well spent. God taught us alot through Robert Branch and the guys got a great chance to bond and get to know some guys that they don't usually hang out with. I just threw in the last pic to let you know I was there too. Pray the things learned this weekend will stick and grow in the guys hearts.

Men's Retreat

I have spent the last couple of months preparing for this next weekend. The Men for our church will be going on a retreat this weekend. The theme will be "Being a Godly Husband". Please pray the theme rings true for our church. We have about 40% married guys at the retreat and the rest are single. One guy is engaged as well.
Please pray the weekend can bring us together as men.
Thanks

Check Out Leanne's Blog

That's right. To the right you will see a link to Leanne's Paper Wonder. Check it out. It has some of her latest creations and a link to our flickr account to see the rest of them.
Post a comment when you go there to say hi and let her know what you think.

We Remember

Dad went home one year ago. We remember him.
A man who loved us and whom we loved.
A man who worked hard to give to us whom we seldom really appreciated.
A man who talked to us and hoped for us to talk back.
A man who helped people whenever he could and left us a great example.
A man who sometimes complained but never refused.
A man who always had a plan about how to do it.
A man who I would love to ask for advice but can't anymore.
A man who is missed more than we can understand.
A man who we thank God for bringing into our lives even if only for a short time.
Henry David Peter Hildebrand 1947-2006

Some Fun Pics Of Me

I never get to be in the pictures. So here are some of me and various things and people. Enjoy

It's been a while

I always hate it when I check blogs regularly but find no new posts time after time. I usually give up looking at them. I hope you have not given up looking at mine (Although if you are reading this I guess you haven't:). The pics you see are from the Chinese new year holiday we had in February. One is my nephew Charlie. He is finishing up junior high which means tonnes of studying as he gets ready for his exams to go into Senior high. Pray for him as he gets ready for these tests.
Another pic is of us in Taipei. We were on the bus and playing around with the camera. It was a good trip. We went to the National Palace Museum which has just been renovated. We also just hung out and shopped.
The other pics you see are some signs I saw while in Taipei. These were near the Shihlin night market. I thought they were cute.
As for news there is very little to tell. I have been working hard to get a Men's retreat organized for our church.That will be on April 20-22. Pray it goes well. I am also doing an open house for my school on April 21st. That's right! The same day as the retreat. That burned me up a bit but there was nothing I could do about it. Pray I get through that weekend.
Leanne has been workign on her books and cards. She is trying to arrange some new business contacts in Canada. Pray that will work out.
My brother Kenny and his wife Jo are going to have another baby. I can't wait to see the new one. Pray that everything will go well so that we can maybe go home for a trip to see my family not too long from now. I miss them so much.

Ah sweet rest!!!

Next week is Chinese New year and so that means a week off. Yeah!!!! I need a break. I am finishing up my latest course in my Master's and feel ready to kick back a bit. We will mainly hangout here and may do some traveling up to Taipei for a few days. I need the time to recover. I feel I have been go go go for the last two months. Last week I started coming down and immmediatly got sick which tells me I was too long in hyper mode. I am feeling better now and am looking forward to the time.
Leanne has been busymaking books and cards but has been troubled by a hurting hand. Pray it will get better very soon. She really needs her hand to feel good in order to do the work with enjoyment. She continues doing her paper painting and the latest ones look amazing. She is getting out of flowers and is moving into landscapes. It is really nice.
While up in Taipei we hope to go to the National palace museum. Leanne wants to get inspiration for her cards while there. I hope to see some cool old Chinese artifacts. We will also go to a paper museum wher Leanne hopes to buy some paper for her work. Pray we can find it and that we can get good deals on the supplies.
In the pictures you see my family. My younger called me last week and told me they are going to have another child. Yeah!!!! Pray that Jolene will remain strong and healthy throughout.
Enjoy the pics.

Taitung, Tainan, Kenting and Head Surgery

What a whirlwind vacation my family had here. We saw beautiful places. The coast meeting the mountains near Taitung. The old forts and markets in Tainan. The lighthouse and rocks near Ouluanbi. The fire circle near Henchun. The emergency room of the Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taitung. We also met a lovely neurosurgeon in Kaohsiung.
As you can see in the picture my mother got some lovely headgear while she was here. It was not as bad as it looks. She got cut on the head in Taitung and so had to have some stitches. She was fine but just looked a little silly.
Overall it was a good time with my family here. We spent a lot of quality time together getting to know each other again.
Now it is back to normalcy with a tear in my eye. Sniff sniff.
Thanks guys for coming out.

Christmas Fun

We had a great Christmas party at our house on Monday. We decided to make people feel like their was family for them and so we had 19 people over for lunch. It was great. Turkey with all the trimmings. Leanne and Melanie (a friend of ours from UK/Taichung) worked all morning to get ready. Shouts out to Sean, Albie, Lisa and Patty for all their help.
It was great and reminded me a lot of the old family gatherings with my Mom's family. 50+ people getting together and just talking the time away. Many of the people had to go teach this afternoon but we hope they felt a bit less away from home.
Merry Christmas.
Sherrie, Wally and Mom: for me it is only 3 more days. Can't wait to see you guys.

Merry Christmas

An eventful year. People came to visit us. People are coming again. My best friend got married by the providence of God. God providentially brought me home just in time. Dad went home. Leanne started becoming an internationally viewed artist. She busily worked in her workshop preparing gifts for good little children. I took on leadership roles before unthought of. I became more weary than ever before. I praised God through all of it. God carried me through all of it.
Merry Christmas to all of you and I hope that in this season where we remember the incarnation of God's son you will see Him and His love, mercy, righteousness and holiness more clearly.
Blessed be the Name the of the LORD.

Here They Come

I am so pumped. In a little over a week I will be welcoming three members of my family to Taiwan. My brother, Walter, has been here twice before as has my Mom, Mary. This will be the first trip out for Wally's wife, Sherrie. I feel so fortunate to have so many family members who want to come to visit me out here. I know people who have been here a long time and have never had any visitors come out. I am blessed.

We are doing well. We are gearing up for Christmas. The Christmas eve service will be coming up on ...... Christmas eve. I don't know what my involvement will be yet as my team is not in charge of the music this time. But I will be involved to some degree.

Leanne has gotten some cards ready for people this week. She finds it exciting when people order her cards but it also ends up being a very busy time for her. Pray she can get through it all.

We are alos planning a Christmas lunch for our cell group. Finding the turkey has been some work. But we found a good meal. We will have to fill it out a bit with veggies and such but it should be fun. I will teach in the morning as schools don't close for Christmas here but I took the rest of the day off. Pray we can have a good time and give people a home while they are away from home.

God Bless
Merry CHRISTmas to you all.