I realize we aren't on this trip, YET! But that we are going still feels miraculous to me. I did the math the other night and realized I have wanted this trip to Taiwan with my children for longer than I wanted to be a professional ballerina. This is the fulfillment of an 18 year desire. I feel so blessed and humbled.
When we bought the tickets months ago, Q cautioned that we needed to all be healthy and strong to maximize our time in Taiwan. His health on vacation paranoia stems from the illness that plagued a trip to California 5 years ago, our trip to Florida a year and a half ago, and even little weekend trips to Salt Lake that we plan and get excited about.
Unlike those other trips, however, this one was not planned for the height of the flu season. And we were coming out of our healthiest winter ever. I remember his cautioning us to stay healthy, and as I looked at the kids, I almost couldn't imagine us being anything BUT healthy, we had been healthy for so long.
Wow, as this trip has approached, I've been amazed at how the OPPOSITE is true! The closer it gets, the sicker we are, it seems. I was ill for essentially ALL of July, culminating in a diagnosis of walking pneumonia and my first prescription of antibiotics I remember taking, ever. The coughing from the pneumonia resulted in rib issues, and as those were healing, I put my lower back out. On the mend from that, my neck has gone out, and I feel I'm running out of time to heal.
But it's not just me. Q is on antibiotics, Weese has just finished her course of them, Stew is making his way through, and last week, in addition to the massages and trips to the chiropractor just to keep us functional, we took Big Bro in to the doc for issues not related to coughing and congestion. Of course, were we not leaving so soon, outside of myself, perhaps no one would be on antibiotics because we'd have more patience with things running their course. But we have been SICK, and sore, and tired and depleted in ways and in volumes I almost feel our family has never dealt with.
When Q told me we could buy the tickets to go so many months ago, I surprised both him and myself by wanting first to fast. I think getting something I've wanted for so long scared me a bit, and I wanted to make sure it was okay with God and not just me making His and Q's life miserable 'til I got what I wanted. The fast filled me with peace. As part of it, I also felt guided to the dates of our travel. I could not have anticipated what a blessing that fast and it's resulting peace would be. In the midst of our current health afflictions, I have thought to ask God, "Why!?" but I have been able to not despair. The peace has carried me. I have felt things STILL will be okay, WE will be okay because God will be with us. I suppose you don't get a miracle, even a miracle trip, until AFTER the trial of your faith.
Like all trials, God has provided a way to overcome. As we prepare the stuff to take, and more significantly, the house to leave in renters' hands, I have felt blessed to have wanted this trip for so long. Each time I felt that longing to take my family to Taiwan, I felt I needed to prepare. When it was so far off, I couldn't plan, couldn't buy clothes, or tickets, or do much of anything but prepare our home. I have been organizing and de-junking for years. I have organized and de-junked even the same places so many times, I wondered if my doing so was even related to going, or if my brain just psyched itself out to take on large, unpleasant organizational tasks. But now, as we have come down to the wire with so little health and strength to make it all happen, I have realized the enormous blessing of being so diligent for so long. The layers are thin. Though we have made 2 trips to the DI and have filled our recycling and trash cans every week for the last two or three, it has not taken all our time or energy, which is a HUGE blessing because we have so little of both. The house has packed up with relative ease, should unpack with relative ease and within a few hours, and we are getting a more peaceful home for our efforts. This seems like it's own little miracle. Maybe big miracles come after trials, but after little miracles too.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Excited for Shopping
To know me is to know I hate to shop. I hate even looking for cute stuff. It seems my colors or sizes are either hidden away or in short supply. On the rare occasion when my style, my size, and my color all combine into one tempting piece, usually the price isn't right. I might love something, but not THAT much.
I have these probably arbitrary price points in my head and spending more than what I want to pay doesn't feel like an option. My "frugality" is partly a conservation of funds, but just as much a recognition that I live a lifestyle that is hard on clothes. I cook. Kids climb in my lap. Kids that have my cooking all over their fingers need me to carry them to get their hands washed, or get them down from eating. I can't pass my garden without pulling out weeds. I clean. I go on walks where dirt abounds. And honestly, I don't get out all that often to places where cuteness is required. So paying $35 for a top, or $60 for jeans just isn't going to happen.
These arbitrary price points of mine might send me to the thrift shops, in fact they do, but then you take the first problem of finding what I like and multiply it 100 times. Add a whole gaggle of kids along for the ride, and you begin to understand why shopping is an unpleasant chore I only do when I am forced to.
Now, I haven't shopped in Asia (Taiwan or China) with kids, but here is why I have loved shopping there in the past:
1) My size abounds! Things may have changed, but when I shopped in China last I wore a size LARGE. You know how racks here are full of large sizes? They are there too!
2) My colors abound as well! My dark hair and olive skin have made me look part Asian to Asian eyes, which I think is adorable. No, I don't have an Asian grandma in me as some have asked, but I do look good in the same colors as the bulk of an entire country! That means I don't have to wade through khaki, army green, creams, yellows, or gold! Sure, they sell those colors too, but not in the crazy volume we do in the Scandinavian Jello Belt!
3) It's all my price! Not ALL. Yes, they have malls and over-priced stores and all the brands that take themselves seriously. But that isn't my scene. I like the markets. One reason my clothes here come from Walmart is because I don't mind as much grabbing something cute as I pass on my way buy some shampoo. There, the market is outdoors, it's crazy, it's fun, it's fresher than Smith's market-fresh, and I can grab something cute on the cheap as I hunt down fresh fruit. And for the fruit or the clothes, if I don't like the price, I can offer a price that works better for me!
We'll see if much has changed, but I hope not because I'm filling my bags with clothes I wouldn't mind off-loading in favor of an amazing shopping experience in Taiwan!
I have these probably arbitrary price points in my head and spending more than what I want to pay doesn't feel like an option. My "frugality" is partly a conservation of funds, but just as much a recognition that I live a lifestyle that is hard on clothes. I cook. Kids climb in my lap. Kids that have my cooking all over their fingers need me to carry them to get their hands washed, or get them down from eating. I can't pass my garden without pulling out weeds. I clean. I go on walks where dirt abounds. And honestly, I don't get out all that often to places where cuteness is required. So paying $35 for a top, or $60 for jeans just isn't going to happen.
These arbitrary price points of mine might send me to the thrift shops, in fact they do, but then you take the first problem of finding what I like and multiply it 100 times. Add a whole gaggle of kids along for the ride, and you begin to understand why shopping is an unpleasant chore I only do when I am forced to.
Now, I haven't shopped in Asia (Taiwan or China) with kids, but here is why I have loved shopping there in the past:
1) My size abounds! Things may have changed, but when I shopped in China last I wore a size LARGE. You know how racks here are full of large sizes? They are there too!
2) My colors abound as well! My dark hair and olive skin have made me look part Asian to Asian eyes, which I think is adorable. No, I don't have an Asian grandma in me as some have asked, but I do look good in the same colors as the bulk of an entire country! That means I don't have to wade through khaki, army green, creams, yellows, or gold! Sure, they sell those colors too, but not in the crazy volume we do in the Scandinavian Jello Belt!
3) It's all my price! Not ALL. Yes, they have malls and over-priced stores and all the brands that take themselves seriously. But that isn't my scene. I like the markets. One reason my clothes here come from Walmart is because I don't mind as much grabbing something cute as I pass on my way buy some shampoo. There, the market is outdoors, it's crazy, it's fun, it's fresher than Smith's market-fresh, and I can grab something cute on the cheap as I hunt down fresh fruit. And for the fruit or the clothes, if I don't like the price, I can offer a price that works better for me!
We'll see if much has changed, but I hope not because I'm filling my bags with clothes I wouldn't mind off-loading in favor of an amazing shopping experience in Taiwan!
Sunday, August 16, 2015
House Work
Yes, we are leaving it furnished, saving our renters from needing to haul a bunch of stuff for a short stay. But as we de-junk, pack away, and repair things, we've grown all the fonder of our place! AND Q has grown all the manlier in his abilities - fixing faucets, light fixtures, electrical outlets - I'm telling you he is a GUY and proud of it! So even with the mountain of work we've put into prepping for renters, and the mountain of work still to go, it feels like a blessing to get a better house out of the deal (and we'll pray it's still a better house upon our return!).
Here's a taste of what we're leaving... sniff!
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| A spacious king-size bed! |
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| The front room with piano! But this family has more kids than we do who play! |
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| A fire place to enjoy during the gorgeous fall weather! |
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| Large kitchen and dining area with 180 degree sunsets in the fall! |
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| A play room for the kids SEPARATE from adult space for quiet chatting! |
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| Homeschool supplies (not to mention our HS friends), a barbie mansion - I mean how will we LIVE without the Barbie mansion!?! |
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| A room for the boys! |
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| A room for the girls! |
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| AND a room for our friends! |
Q just walked in and said in the quiet peace and beauty of where we live, he wonders sometimes why we are going. Of course, we both know why, but I know exactly what he means. Home is a hard place to leave. I just feel blessed we get to come home to it again!
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Fast Facts About Taiwan
Just kidding! What fun are facts? If you want facts, you go to the internet, right? Well, I guess technically, if you are reading this blog you are ON the internet, but find a better site for FACTS. Below area few things about Taiwan you may not have known, according to Steff.
You hopefully knew (though may have accidentally confused the two) that Taiwan and Thailand are two different places. (If you have confused the two in the past, I am embarrassed for you. More so because before my mission, I probably confused the two.) I know better now, probably because I know Taiwan better, and hopefully this post will help you in that area too. (Also American friends, Switzerland and Sweden are different. But that is for another trip.)
Taiwan is a small island off the southeast coast of China. They do not speak Thai there. (They DO speak Thai in Thailand. Also, I do not speak Thai.) If you have referred to the language or people as Taiwanese, you are just fine. The people in Taiwan do identify (especially to us foreigners who don't know better) as Taiwanese. AND there IS a language that is Taiwanese. It is not the most common language spoken in Taiwan. And I do not speak it.
In Taiwan, the official language is Mandarin Chinese. Mandarin is one of many, many dialects of Chinese, and the language I learned on my mission. A dialect is somewhat like an accent (think of how you might struggle to understand someone from the deep south in the United States, or how we all have crushes on the English accent) in that the dialects are often regional. Unlike an accent, the words are completely different. Native speakers of the various Chinese dialects can sometimes understand one another in a limited way, but it's less like understanding someone from Kentucky and more like Spanish speakers being able to understand some Portuguese. Using that as a comparison, it would make sense to think of the various dialects as entirely different languages, but they use largely the same characters, or written language. So it's all Chinese.
But speaking of characters, Taiwan uses the traditional characters (which means they look more complex) than China, which has simplified their characters somewhat. And while we're on the subject, a character is like a picture that has meaning in itself. One learns how to read and write characters by memorizing the parts of the picture. You can't sound out a character. I think this is partly why the Chinese are SO good at memorizing: so much of their language is based on memorization. This is also why I am Chinese illiterate - memorization is not my forte.
But here I am using the word Chinese to describe the people in Taiwan, and I should probably take a moment to explain that as well. The people in Taiwan ARE Chinese, at least the large majority of them. You might ask ,"So is Taiwan it's own country, or part of China?" The answer is yes. Depending on who you talk to. If you ask someone 'fresh off the boat' from China about Taiwan, they will be quite insistent that Taiwan is a state, or province, of China. Quent's response (when I'm not there to encourage him to drop the subject) is: What do you call a place with it's own government, it's own money, and it's own military? A country.
Politics aside (for one sentence), Taiwan is actually the name of the island. The country (or rogue province) is officially the Republic of China on Taiwan. Interestingly, as a missionary, I got a huge kick out of the declining view point that China was actually a part of Taiwan rather than Taiwan being a part of China. (How could such a tiny island OWN or run such a large land mass?) It wasn't until I returned with Quent that I comprehended enough history (instead of looking at the geographic size of the two) to see the legitimacy of this claim. Without going too deeply into it (or referencing anything to make sure I'm right) I explain it this way: Communism was imported from Russia. When a communist government took over China (making it the People's Republic of China), the government China HAD (Republic of China) fled to Taiwan. For decades that government of Taiwan had plans of retaking the mainland. Nowadays, most Taiwanese are very ambivalent about it. They don't want to take over China. But they don't want to be part of China either. But they don't want to make a stink about it and call down China's wrath upon them. The U.S. used to be a strong ally of Taiwan's independence. As such, Americans in Taiwan enjoy left-over feelings of good will. Currently, the U.S. is proving to be a terribly lousy ally all over the place, and considering China pretty much OWNS our government's soaring debt, when push really comes to shove, Taiwan will likely be on it's own if China decides to be aggressive.
So many have romanticized going to China, and to be sure, it is an amazing country with a beautifully diverse people. Having been to both, I am biased towards Taiwan. You get ALL of the incredible Chinese history and culture, and even a whole country's worth of amazing places to see (though Taiwan is a much smaller country), but without the communism. So not only can you GO to Taiwan without proving to it's government you aren't a bad guy (as long as you are there for less than 90 days), but you can also checkup on Facebook while you are there! (Yes, China blocks facebook.) Actually, communism has taken it's toll on China's people in ways that may seem imperceptible to the people there, or to people who have only been to China and not been to Taiwan. I explain the difference this way (and remember this entire post is MY opinion): Taiwan's people, as a whole (recognizing exceptions on both sides of the strait), are more open, trusting, and optimistic than the people in China.
Now, go dig into a better (more fact-dependent) site about Taiwan or China to find out why! :)
PS: Food in Taiwan is better too. MY OPINION again. Sadly, you can't get great Taiwanese food in Utah. So if we're talking about going out for Asian, let's do Thai! :)
You hopefully knew (though may have accidentally confused the two) that Taiwan and Thailand are two different places. (If you have confused the two in the past, I am embarrassed for you. More so because before my mission, I probably confused the two.) I know better now, probably because I know Taiwan better, and hopefully this post will help you in that area too. (Also American friends, Switzerland and Sweden are different. But that is for another trip.)
Taiwan is a small island off the southeast coast of China. They do not speak Thai there. (They DO speak Thai in Thailand. Also, I do not speak Thai.) If you have referred to the language or people as Taiwanese, you are just fine. The people in Taiwan do identify (especially to us foreigners who don't know better) as Taiwanese. AND there IS a language that is Taiwanese. It is not the most common language spoken in Taiwan. And I do not speak it.
In Taiwan, the official language is Mandarin Chinese. Mandarin is one of many, many dialects of Chinese, and the language I learned on my mission. A dialect is somewhat like an accent (think of how you might struggle to understand someone from the deep south in the United States, or how we all have crushes on the English accent) in that the dialects are often regional. Unlike an accent, the words are completely different. Native speakers of the various Chinese dialects can sometimes understand one another in a limited way, but it's less like understanding someone from Kentucky and more like Spanish speakers being able to understand some Portuguese. Using that as a comparison, it would make sense to think of the various dialects as entirely different languages, but they use largely the same characters, or written language. So it's all Chinese.
But speaking of characters, Taiwan uses the traditional characters (which means they look more complex) than China, which has simplified their characters somewhat. And while we're on the subject, a character is like a picture that has meaning in itself. One learns how to read and write characters by memorizing the parts of the picture. You can't sound out a character. I think this is partly why the Chinese are SO good at memorizing: so much of their language is based on memorization. This is also why I am Chinese illiterate - memorization is not my forte.
But here I am using the word Chinese to describe the people in Taiwan, and I should probably take a moment to explain that as well. The people in Taiwan ARE Chinese, at least the large majority of them. You might ask ,"So is Taiwan it's own country, or part of China?" The answer is yes. Depending on who you talk to. If you ask someone 'fresh off the boat' from China about Taiwan, they will be quite insistent that Taiwan is a state, or province, of China. Quent's response (when I'm not there to encourage him to drop the subject) is: What do you call a place with it's own government, it's own money, and it's own military? A country.
Politics aside (for one sentence), Taiwan is actually the name of the island. The country (or rogue province) is officially the Republic of China on Taiwan. Interestingly, as a missionary, I got a huge kick out of the declining view point that China was actually a part of Taiwan rather than Taiwan being a part of China. (How could such a tiny island OWN or run such a large land mass?) It wasn't until I returned with Quent that I comprehended enough history (instead of looking at the geographic size of the two) to see the legitimacy of this claim. Without going too deeply into it (or referencing anything to make sure I'm right) I explain it this way: Communism was imported from Russia. When a communist government took over China (making it the People's Republic of China), the government China HAD (Republic of China) fled to Taiwan. For decades that government of Taiwan had plans of retaking the mainland. Nowadays, most Taiwanese are very ambivalent about it. They don't want to take over China. But they don't want to be part of China either. But they don't want to make a stink about it and call down China's wrath upon them. The U.S. used to be a strong ally of Taiwan's independence. As such, Americans in Taiwan enjoy left-over feelings of good will. Currently, the U.S. is proving to be a terribly lousy ally all over the place, and considering China pretty much OWNS our government's soaring debt, when push really comes to shove, Taiwan will likely be on it's own if China decides to be aggressive.
So many have romanticized going to China, and to be sure, it is an amazing country with a beautifully diverse people. Having been to both, I am biased towards Taiwan. You get ALL of the incredible Chinese history and culture, and even a whole country's worth of amazing places to see (though Taiwan is a much smaller country), but without the communism. So not only can you GO to Taiwan without proving to it's government you aren't a bad guy (as long as you are there for less than 90 days), but you can also checkup on Facebook while you are there! (Yes, China blocks facebook.) Actually, communism has taken it's toll on China's people in ways that may seem imperceptible to the people there, or to people who have only been to China and not been to Taiwan. I explain the difference this way (and remember this entire post is MY opinion): Taiwan's people, as a whole (recognizing exceptions on both sides of the strait), are more open, trusting, and optimistic than the people in China.
Now, go dig into a better (more fact-dependent) site about Taiwan or China to find out why! :)
PS: Food in Taiwan is better too. MY OPINION again. Sadly, you can't get great Taiwanese food in Utah. So if we're talking about going out for Asian, let's do Thai! :)
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