We didn't get blown away:-) they typhoon actually headed up more north and really did alot of damage there. My mother in law, who still lives up in the mountains said that some of the mountains had big chunks slide down!!!scary!! Because the typhoon headed north of us, we got the Berg Winds. So when that happens we get around 100F degree winds for hours. This time wasn't as bad as the typhoon before that we had those winds for 18hrs!!!! There was another typhoon brewing, but I understand it went to Hong Kong. That would've been 4 in 4weeks and honestly, I don't think Taiwan could've handled another one!!
We are moving right along. The boys are doing good in their work. We did have to take some time off this week with another addition to our house and the weather is changing so I had a migraine like I haven't had in a while (aka......laying in bed only). But we are working on it. We still need to get into a routine. Does one ever?
Oh, we have 4 English teachers coming to visit Sunday. We are excited, I know that at least one is a BJU graduate, granted 9 years after I graduated, makes me feel old:-) But anyway, they are here with a servants heart. At BJU, Dr. Bob always encouraged students to spend at least 3 years helping out small churches before seriously getting into a career that might boggle you down. Serving somewhere for 3 years will impact your life and many small churches need young blood in there to help:-).
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Typhoon Jangmi..........our 3rd in 3 weeks........
Can you see Taiwan?Yup, that little island all but covered up by this very large and powerful typhoon that gained power in the ocean off the Philippines........guess we better get some stuff just incase!! oh you see where the line showing it's path is going? we are about 1/4 in above that line......the teen at our house is praying for a typhoon day (I on the other hand AM NOT!!) though this goes in hand with our science lessons from last week!!LOL!! my 6yr old says "YEAH! we get a typhoon holiday!!" mommy is the bad one that says "Um, nope.....you are at home, so it doesn't matter sweetie pie:-)".........
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dh brought me home a new instrument:-)
http://www.melodyofchina.com/06instruments/xun.html
it is called a xun...........now i need to have my dad send my 12 holed ceramic ocarina......ds1 can play that one..... it i relaxing to hear and play older instruments
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how's that for a title!!LOL!! here I was getting miffed at the 14yr at our house who was laying on the floor pretending to do his math homework (dh let him, not me!) and thinking he has 6 things to do!! then it hit me, oh, it's Saturday tomorrow!! DUH!! so he was allowed to put his stuff away, but is gonna have a long day. We are watching some Chinese history movie.........ok, it's in Chinese and just loses me!! plus I think Chinese history movies are gory, I mean blood squirting and all that!!EW!!!!
Well, I allowed ds1 to do a pretest on two lessons, he said confidently he could do it!!LOL!! then he got his score. Needless to say he wrote the words two times and then took the test today, he got a 95%!! We aren't going to do two lessons at a time, this was a once thing. I wish I could say the same for his Chinese........*sigh* dh really needs to help with this subject. Ds1 DOESN'T want to do Chinese, but such is life, it is part of him and well, he is gonna do it.
He had a history/geography test today........orally he did fine on the review, I only gave him an oral review, the test, well, I haven't given a written score yet, almost afraid too!!! I am sure he is retaining it, but just not regurerating (sp?) it for tests. Why test? well, technically I don't have to I guess, but I do have to give scores for the school we are under. Math is doing fine, so far it is kinda reviewish for him as before he was a year ahead and in Singapore, so yeah, RS math is pretty self explanatory for him.
DS2 is doing well in reading. He is starting to write Chinese too,he isn't thrilled with that, but then again, he is repeating the complaining he hears his brother do. Funny, doesn't get his brother anywhere, so why should he bother???!!
Oh, we have been doing the "grunt/complain" jar. Basically, when they are told to do something (mainly school work) and I hear "oh man!" "awww!" "i don't want to" things along that line, they have to put 1NT in a bowl (that is like the equivalent of 0.03US). They weren't thrilled with that, but it hurt more than anything!!LOL!! But then my brilliant 6yr old says this:
Me: you owe me 3NT bud, in the bowl!
DS2: .......thinks a bit.......Mommy, can I just go ahead and put 10NT in there so then I just owe you 7 complaints?
WHATEVER KID!!!Things they come up with......
Oh, daddy is back and I think I am going to get a month, every Sat (or once a week maybe) massage or spa or something as payback!!!LOL!! lest you freak, it is cheaper here than in the USA. For a 45min session reflexology, it's only $10US!!! dh hates it as it is NOT a goochy goo session!!
Ok, baby crying!!I know, I know.....owe you all pix
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it's another, I tell ya........if you want to read about the milk/dairy product scare, poisoned with melamine (sp?) check out here:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/
and you'll see a number of articles. I had JUST bought some products to make milk tea, now no one here in the house will drink it. Though they are now saying that it will ONLY cause kidney stones IF you drink large quantities of products tainted with the stuff. Funny, the head of Dept. of Health refused to have a drink of coffee with creamer in it at a meeting............that's a bit scary!!
AND the news here said that another fatal case of the enterovirus 71 happened this week, it was of a 4yr old. Now, this makes no sense..... the child was sick, didn't go to school that day, but wanted to go to the activity the school had. So, his parents took him, sick and all, to the activity, which he got on the stage and all and then had breathing problems, blood pressure went up and they called 911......he died the next day....................why if the child was sick would they take him in public and now possibly infect the other kids around them??? that is what gets me.........I told dh (who is still in China) and he said "DON'T go out anywhere!!" like I am taking all these kids out by myself!!LOL!!
Dh gets back tomorrow thank the Lord! We had a typhoon come through this week, thought my screens all got blown off.......goodness and we weren't even IN the storm...........it will be good to have daddy home.
Question for my 3 readers out there:-)........spelling........do you make your kids write the new words? or just have them do exercises and then say an oral test or what?
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sorry to leave you all hangin' about dh........he did texted back that he made it safely to the destination. I felt alot better!! hopefully the checking of the ID's and going to police station has now stopped. Though I think the place he is going is kinda strict. So prayers will be appreciated. He won't be home til the 25th so we still have a ways to go.
Schedules are out the door!! just taking care of things here and there and trying to keep this household under control (which I am not sure I am winning!), but anyway.
I just thought I'd let you all know that dh is fine:-).....
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As you know, dh is in China. He is currently on his way from a rural area up north. We were casually text messaging (love modern technology!!) when he says the police have stopped the bus. I text message him and he texts back "Don't send"................gee! that's just great dear!! the police have stopped your bus and now I just have to wait to hear from you..
Finally I did. He said the police took the bus to the police station and took some people off,but him and others were still on the bus. The bus just has little planks of wood for beds he said, no seats and people were on the floor. It was about 3 hours later he said that they finally were leaving. He was due into the new town at 5am...........texted at 8am and said they were still on the way. THEN he texted back that the police had now stopped them and checking ID.................goodness!! maybe texting isn't a good idea!!
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something cute today....though no pix......
The scene:
3 boys sitting around a blanket
1 baby laying on a blanket
What are they doing?
3 boys clapping and yelling "go go go"
1 baby trying to turn over
Yup, that was the scene today. Little Miss Anna was attempting to flip over from back to stomach. That durn arm was in the way!! Her 3 big brothers were sitting around her clapping hands and trying to get her to flip over................ok, I don't know if I want my 2.5month old flipping over just yet.
Dh called from China tonight. He has stories to tell!!! The place he is has been at for a number of days is one that a number of Christians have been arrested, belongings confiscated and the such. They said the within a year I guess, 30 have been arrested and sentenced to jail time (probalbly reeducation camps)...............anyway, we are going on with life here.
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Well, we are taking a break................P, our former fosterd is here, she bought a late bday present for ds1. So, after science, he asked for a break and is putting together a sphere puzzle.
Well, I really need to get a schedule and STICK TO IT!!! that is my main problem..........I am just not one to stick to schedules, if it needs to get done, it will, but when I get to it. I am not late on things either..........but that doesn't work with homeschooling as I see it.
We started Chinese today. DS2 is doing well, he feels like a big kid I think now that he is starting to write Chinese, I can't get him to write much English.
DS1, we are doing science one week and history another week, rotating schedule and it is working well. Today we studied clouds. I sorta want to do a lapbook, but afraid to to be honest!! I feel it would be alot of work for me. Today after class, I sent ds1 outside to check out the clouds, we had a typhoon this weekend, but the clouds were cumulus clouds.
Typhoon, we got the end of it. If the typhoon heads north we get Berg Winds (hot winds) and if it heads south we get rain. WELL!!! it headed north of us and a record was set!! Our county had 18hours of 37.8C, or 100.4F winds..............yes, you read that right!! for 18hours, the winds that were blowing were 100.4F........makes me sweat just thinking about it!!!
Well, I have a 14yr old teen boy staying at my house. My 10yr is more mature, come to think of it, my 6 yr old is more mature. The 14yr old is afraid to go out at night by himself, and was afraid to sleep up on 3rd floor by himself!! go figure. He is just loud and has to be reminded even to brush his teeth!!!!
Well, I need to get off. Please continue to pray for us. Dh gets back the 25th. He has called a few times. He has taught a few classes at a village Bible college, performed a wedding ceremony (and the bride and groom asked the Gospel be given clearly), and preached a number of times. He is doing well out in the village of no refrigerator:-).....we laugh about that, they have no refrigerator, but cellphones!!LOL!!
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My goodness these past few weeks have been rather blurry, and I doubt it will get any better. Let's see:
Ds1 seems to be enjoying RS books. I must confess that currently we haven't had a specific school time, we just try when baby is sleeping. The afternoons seem to be when she sleeps longer, so we try to get stuff done. If not, I nurse while I teach. Though at 4th grade, there currently is not a whole lot I need to do with him, other than English, History and Science and occassional math, he really does most of it on his own. We are rotating science one week and history the other. They both are talking about climates and zones. I like both subjects being similiar. So far in science we've discussed weather, climate, zones, and different storms. History, we covered different zones (tropical, temperate,artic), simple geography too. We hope someday to travel to the Tropic of Cancer marker. That runs through Taiwan, it is about 1hr or so north of us. I would like to do some projects, but I am not sure what to do.
Ds2 loves reading and math, well, sorta math. He hates anything that makes him pick up a pencil. But his reading just suprises me. He is half way through his first reader.
Ds3 is wanting classes, but then always asked at the most inconvenient times!LOL!! our classroom has been rearranged and now on 3rd floor, but it is sooooooooooooooo stinkin' hot there right now that I don't want to be up there. So we have books on 1st floor and at times that bugs my dh. So, we gotta figure something out. A classroom would be best, I agree.
Miss Anna has her immunizations on Friday................at 2month and 2days she was 13lbs!!! Dr. commented she was big for her age, but being she is nursed, the dr wasn't concerned. And once she starts crawling and everywhere, it will slow down!!
Ministry wise: we had an unwed mother give birth, she doesn't want the baby, so we are helping him be adopted by a great Christian family in the USA. She leavs the hospital on Monday and then baby will come home with us. We have P, a young lady who lived with us for 6 yrs, who will be taking care of the baby boy at our house. Then in a few weeks we have another unwed mother moving in til birth. This will be an experience for our boys. We also have a very immature 14yr old boy living with us. He lived with us 3 years ago and honeslty, I don't think has matured. He is not a bad boy, but just a boy who seems to be stuck in the 9yr old age or so........................annoying!!
DH goes to China on the 11th and will be back the 25th.........................We are preparing ourselves for this long time with dh gone, but please pray I don't go crazy!! It will be me 2 19yr olds (one with a newborn and one pregnant), 14yr,10yr,6yr,4yr boys and 2month old girl!!!
Ok, enough of my book:-) I'll try to update more often so I don't have to write such long entries!!
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mommy put my hair in pony tails
this is Lily and Anna......Lily i 3 weeks older than Anna.......she is aborigine......looks like they are holo\ding hands
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It didn't start out too well as the previous post showed, but by the 3rd day it was better. I think because I stuck my ground, ds1 realized he wasn't going to get his way. We do need to have a written schedule for the boys, and a list of things to do I think. Maybe if they can SEE is then they can at least mentally cross it off.
DS2 is doing ok with school. We don't do a whole lot at this point, but his reading is taking off. He is not really into alot of coloring and writing, but that will come with time. Now if we can get ds3 to be quiet at certain times, that will be better.
Anna has been fussy all night. I don' t know if it is something I ate, or what it is. Anyway, hopefully this will pass SOON.
I have a new chipin box at the top. We have some unwed mothers (www.panfamtaiwan.blogspot.com) that will be needing support and future ones as well. If you think you can do something, please do.......
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and there WAS NOT the hip hip hooray from my oldest. My 1st grader was pretty excited, but that always happens with first graders!!LOL! My 4th grader, who was watching TV at the time heard (it's not like it was a suprise to them either!!): "school starts in 30min"............
ds1:WHAT!! schools don't start til September 1st!!
me: Not our school, remember? we don't follow the schools.
ds1: That's not fair, why do we start NOW (add in the whiney sounds)
me: Well, dear, life isn't fair. You have 30min to get over it and get to ready.
Well, my soon to be 10yr old will be lucky to live to be 10 at the rate he is going. I don't know if it's preteen hormones or what the deal is. We made it through math (and sucked it up when he had to redo 2 problems), and science (he liked it), and English (lesson one was "get to know your book" what isn't there to like!).........we/he just started his reading. Reading is a subject I feel you can do individually. He has to do two lessons a week and hand it to me by noon on Friday. I have saved the reading time for after lunch..............goodness, what a fuss. "I'll start tomorrow".....that's fine dear, but if it is not done by Friday, you have it for homework REGARDLESS of what is planned......"fine, i'll start it tomorrow".............he is sitting here next to me "so, i can't just write the answers? I HAVE to read the story." UM........helloooooooo? that's why it's called READING!...........oh, he tried to pull the "if I do my reading this afternoon, then can I get something from 7/11"...........um, no you can't...but you can do your reading anyway...............he just said" when i am done i can play the computer?" nope...........
We are working on a computer/tv schedule.............i think previously just to avoid any problems and get stuff done I have ruined somethings and need to retrain. My oldest (and only him it seems) seems to think that he HAS to have a reward to get his stuff completed. If he isn't getting a reward, he doesn't want to do it..............suprise chief...........that ain't how it works..............we live in a place where our boys can't just go out and play nicely, there are cars everywhere and neighbors who take naps from like 1:30pm til 3pm and have made a "rule" that no ball playing til 3pm.............ok, well, we let them out at 2:30pm.................so, I really have some retraining to do I think......suggestions for 10yr olds?
By the way, Anna did pretty good during school...........only when daddy could not keep her happy anymore did he bring her to me........she ate and sat in her bouncy...................now that I write about her, she has awoken from a nap..........off to get her
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well, the boys are outside playing in a wading pool.......not in the grass mind you but on the hard floor outside, they are having fun and no electronics invovled!! though my ds2 did come and say "um, mommy, there isn't any more water coming out of the hose." We had been given a notice a month ago I guess that work to the pipes underground were going to be done. They were doing work in different sections,so from like mid-July til mid-October (I kid you not!) the water would be turned off from 8am-6pm. Well, they just tell you that, but don't tell you WHEN your area is being turned off............great!! guess I can get out of doing dishes for awhile:-)
I hope to start something of school on Monday. We need to get some supplies and I haven't made a schedule yet either!!AAHHHH!! do you all schedule as you go or are you all these really well organized people who have the whole semester down a month before you start?!! I think I have Anna's schedule sorta figured out, she sleeps well at night for a nursing baby, and she'll take a long morning nap. SOOOOOOO, if we do school downstairs (cause you know the boys won't be quiet), we can probably get alot of it done. That is the plan anyway. I think we might do a 6weeks on one week off routine again.........
Yesterday we went on a bbq/picnic with some friends from church. The moms (two of us have infants),. well all females really....stayed dry and on land while the guys swam in the pond. It was fun for the boys. Unfortunately, dh lost his glasses (though why he was swimming with glasses on is beyond me!!).........THANKFULLY he had an extra pair (though with a crack down the middle) in the car or I would've had to drive home!! He quickly went out to get new ones, another $65US that we didn't really want to spend, but hey!
DH is watching China vs. Taiwan (called China Taipei for the Olympics) baseball game......GO TAIWAN!! right now it's 2:0, Taiwan's favor. We all cheer for Taiwan, though not sure what wil happen when USA and Taiwan play!!
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of a one month old ...... Anna Joy is one month old
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did that get your attention? ok, I know there is a gecko or two that have moved into our room. That I CAN handle (I think) as they eat mosquitoes. More than once, they have run up the wall from behind our dresser to behind the a/c.....I have on more than one occassion caught them running on my nightstand (that was a little too close for comfort though)............BUT yesterday evening, I was laying in our bed nursing Anna and something around our mirror (it is like a desk that you put your make up on at....the English word has slipped my mind!).......I laid there and stared at it........it wasn't the right spot to be piece on the window to pull back the curtains.....and it was partially sticking out from the mirror, behind it......so I just kinda WATCHED it.......ever done that to something??!!! well.....THEN IT DISAPPEARED!!!! oh my, my heart was racing and I decided to continue our nursing session DOWNSTAIRS.............I called my beloved (who just kinda laughs at me when he hears me talk about flying things and then he can't find them later!!)...and he's like....I check it out when I get home. So, Anna and I stand outside for a few minutes, and I am sure it flew out cause something from our 2nd story level, and our bedroom window area flew across the street.
Well, they all get home and of course it is no where to be found. Doesn't that just make you feel good!!!
The boys and daddy are redoing their desks. Someone had given us old school desks last year and the other day they saw something on Art Attack about painting animals...........so, daddy said they could paint it. He bought all the supplies and showed them how to sand it down. Ds1 sanded his, but I think dh helped ds2 and ds3. One is painted white for a zebra, one yellow for a cheetah and ds3 painted his red.....for what I am not sure, but he insisted on red..........they are busy and having fun and dh is out there with them. At least our classroom will be bright!!!
I have decided to do some Health and Speed drills with ds1 to slowly prepare him for school work to begin. I like RS health already......they have to read verses from the Bible and all. The first lesson talks about creation, bodies and sin.............very simple and to the point. We are only doing 20min of that MWF and a speed drill. He picks his time to beat. He tried to tell me 30min.....yeah, whatever bud.......don't think so....3min maybe.............but 30min is well...............ya know............ hopefully I will get the rest of the books tonight or tomorrow.
Oh, we are getting "supplies"......... a mission team is bringing down Honey Nut Cheerios and some koolaid or lemonade mix for us!!!YEAH!!! and a friend found Ranch dressing at our one and only large store..........it was when I had the baby.......and it was American week at the store due to July 4th!!!!LOL!!!! I am afraid to open it and use and then it be all gone...........:-)
ok.............well.............my rambling is done..................have a great one
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I figure I better keep updated the pix of Anna for grandparents and family:-)
taken July 19 (Saturday)
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This is our first fosterdaughter, her dh, ds and dd. Her dd is 3 weeks older than Anna. We call them our grandbabies......Wendy still calls us Mommy and Daddy, so she figured her kids should call us grandma and grandpa!!!
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for me. Isn't it adorable?!!!! This was taken when Anna was a week old. Let me tell you, her daddy can't stay away from her:-)....... I think we are going to have a problem..LOL!!!
We are all doing fine. Anna has good nights, and well, not so good nights! She was awake for a few hours this morning, I kid you not, she wouldn't go to sleep, just observing all around her. Then well, she slept for a good 3hours straight this afternoon. Hopefully we can get things evened out soon, though at 2weeks.....that would be hard I think.
I will be posting pix soon of Noah, ds3.....it is his 4th birthday tomorrow. He has been waiting for this for over a month when his older brother had a birthday. So, he knows full well it's his birthday tomorrow and has his presents all planned out!! Hope to post pix tomorrow.
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