12 more weeks of solid, no holiday, teaching, starting tomorrow morning. And then it is goodbye to many that I have grown to love over this year that we have spent living, and teaching at the EV.

Here is what your day might look like at the EV...

Hit snooze a few times, Wake up, try to open eyes, climb down from top bunk, try not to step on Sarah's hand laying on the last step of the ladder. Find Air conditioner control turn temp UP!
8 girls, one bathroom... ya, we've got this down! or so we thought, until this morning. Get ready for day, Go to the living room (14 of us share), get a cup, if you can find one with your name on it. Go to trash room where refrigerator is, Grab something out before it bites you. Look at your cell phone "yikes! One more minuet, and I'm late!"




Making pizza


Meeting in Airport, hope no one is carrying drugs today, pray (we need it!), make sure first class room is set up, kids come in, 20 more than signed up (but that is OK), pick up your team, "Ah! How did I get the team with 16 boys?" Be happy! Because we are the Happy School Teachers, right? Even though we have taught the class 1000 times act like it is your first day every day, It is for the kids.

Say good bye to kids, sign autographs, give high fives, Go back to the airport for another meeting, download.

After school, meet with Taiwanese friends, tutor, shop for groceries, wave at every kid that looks like they are in the 5th grade, you've seen about 6000 and they all remember you, you think every kid looks familiar, but your aren't sure. Make dinner in living room, wait your turn for the one electric burner, flip the breaker back on because someone decided to use the hot water at the same time, take 10 minuets to throw away your trash, is this general garbage, general plastic, general paper, etc? Stay up way to late debating and talking in the living room, tease Teresa for brushing her teeth for an hour, climb back into bed, eves drop on the others still awake in girls dorm, you can't help it really, the walls are paper thin, read Bible/do devotions, make sure alarm is set for next morning. Go to sleep.

And there you have it. Though there are variations... this is just a taste of EV dorm life. You gotta love it!

Sometimes we try too hard to "have fun". And end up being disappointed. I think it is because we have certain expectations that we make, as well as unconscious expectations. If we leave those all to the Lord and we decide to rest in Him, then the joy/fun will come. And it will be the kind that is most likely free of selfishness and unfulfilled expectations, but full of true joy in the life that He has given and the unexpected things that come our way. I like surprises, but it is hard to enjoy surprises if I know exactly what I think I need or want. Because when the surprise comes, I may see it as not my plan, or something that is going wrong. Instead I should take the unexpected things that WILL come, as from the Lord.

The only reason I say any of this is because I am still learning this very thing... Not even sure how it came out. I just started typing and this is what you got, I was not even consciously thinking about this subject. Must be that God wants me to learn more about it...

And as I see it from the verses below, this is the end of the matter...Our expectation should be in the Lord!

Here are some verses I looked up that encouraged me on this subject...
Ps. 10:4 - The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

Prov. 11:7 - When the wicked man dies, his hope [for the future] perishes; and the expectation of the godless comes to nothing.

Ps. 92:5 - O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.

Is. 55:8-9 - For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Prov. 16:3 - Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Ps. 62:5 - My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

Ps. 39:7 - And now, Lord, what do I wait for and expect? My hope and expectation are in You.

Rom. 9:33 - As it is written, Behold I am laying in Zion a Stone that will make men stumble, a Rock that will make them fall; but he who believes in Him [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] shall not be put to shame nor be disappointed in his expectations. [Isa 28:16 ]

Teaching to a student's heart <3

The new semester is starting out well. One thing that I am learning is when I think I have a "bad group of kids" it is probably not there fualt. It is mine. When I truly care and interact with the students as I see them, even only for 2 days. The attidude of the teacher toward the students, directly impacts how the kids are going to interact and respond to you. So even if I am "teaching fine" and getting the right words out, if my heart is not in it then the students know! But even if I make a mistake in a class, but my heart is toward the students to love them and care about them, to show them the love of Christ, then they respond so well! There is always an exception, and if I love them still, even correction that may be needed, is taken better.

Happy New Year!!!

2007 Has been a wonderful, and yet at the same time, hard year. But I praise the Lord for what He only can do through every circumstance that He has given to me.

After Dad retired, me and my family traveled and stayed with friends and family for about 9 months before settling down in Normal, IL, near Dad's two brothers. There was a lot of prayer about what the Lord had next for us as a family. As many of you know God placed us here in Taoyuan, Taiwan. We have been here for about 4 month or so, and plan on finishing out the school year in Taiwan. God gave us the opportunity to teach on a voluntary basis, as we get to know some of the Taiwanese people and share the love of Christ with them.

I have been teaching English at the English Village, tutoring one on one, and learning Chinese. I have always liked learning about different cultures, so I keep my eyes and ears open as I learn about Taiwan. Some things I have learned are; don't give a clock or an umbrella as a gift to a Taiwanese person (it's like a death wish), and even though the tiles on the sidewalks look dry... they are probably wet underneath and when you step on them you will get very wet with very dirty water.

Some of the almost 5000 students who have come through the EV http://picasaweb.google.com/USGirl21

Anyway, I am sure there is more, but I am tired and I need to go to bed.
May the Lord bless you all as you seek Him first.
Naomi

PS - to see the video of the Christmas play that us teachers at the EV did for the Christmas party for our Taiwanese friends, please fallow this link to my roommate Sarah's Xanga. http://video.xanga.com/me8883er

Happy English Village

We have been in Taiwan for a little over 3 weeks now.
There was much preparation the first 2 weeks…planning lessons and buying props to set up the class rooms. Not all of the teachers were here yet, some teaching at camps the others still in the US.

Shong and I at the Press Conf in Taipei.

Shong was a big help to us as we prepared and worked out some of the initial “bugs”, she is a girl that you can count on to get things done. Wes kept us all in the know, as much as possible, and gave tips on teaching, and explaining the “guidelines” for our team. My Dad “preached” the first Sunday we were here. He has brought good counsel for us and for Wes as the leader. Mr. Sun, the president of the King Kar company that is sponsoring us with the government, has been so kind to us, even thanking God for us and our hard work. He is quite the visionary, and it is a blessing to try and help carry out the vision that he has for the Happy English Village.

All teachers are here and accounted for now. It was especially nice to have us all together when the Media day came. It was crazy with all the media running and stepping all over themselves just to get a good shot or to be the first to a class room. We learned a new meaning of being flexible, as TV reporters would come in and ask that we re-do some of our lesson over and over again so that they could get a good camera angle on it. The children loved it! They were so excited to think that they would be on TV, or in the newspaper. Even the Mayor stopped by some of our classrooms, and at that time the teaching with the children was stopped completely as we stepped aside and all attention was on him, giving him the respect he deserves. He encouraged the children of Taiwan to take the opportunity of coming to this Happy English Village in Taoyuan.

We have about 120 students come in on Monday through Tuesday and another 120 on Thursday-Friday. So far we teach 5 classes a day, for 40 min each. So at the end of the two day English Village immersion, the kids have visited 10 classes. We have… the Library, Bank, Store, Hotel, Clinic, Drama, Science, Cooking, Dance, and Airport. We will be adding other classes later.I have been almost exclusively teaching in the Bank. And so it is my “baby” at the moment. We have a very real looking bank room. Teller windows, computers at the desks, money counter, a customer number machine (as the kids wait in line we call their customer number), a big flat screened TV with the Exchange rates updated in real life time, and to top it all off, we have a real ATM machine! Though, we only withdraw EV (English Village) dollars with it, not real money. Each child experiences the bank in a vary real way. They take a number, deposit money at the teller window, and withdraw money from the ATM.

I have already been able to share about why I am here with my family. I hope as we serve the Taiwanese people by teaching English to the children, that the love of Jesus will show forth from our lives, and that we can tell them that Jesus loves them, and that Jesus wants to know them! Please pray that we will continue to have the energy and the joy of Christ evident in us as we teach the same lessons to probably every 5th grader in Taiwan this year. :-)

Road trip...again

We had an interesting trip yesterday. We got up at 3:30am and left around 4:30am.Partly because we wanted to see Grammy more, and to make it to Front Royal in timefor a dinner with a bunch of relatives that we don't get to see very often.

After about 10 hours of driving time, while I was driving, I stepped on the gas and it seemed like nothing was happening, the car was still running, but I was justslowing down. So I pulled over to the side of the road, and the car died...nothing...I tried starting it again, and still nothing. So here we are, 2 hours away from our destination, and the van just dies. It was acting like we ran out of gas, and we had just filled up. We got a visit from a police, and then some guy stopped to make sure we had a phone to call someone. Dad checked as many things as he could with what we had in the car and then we got in touch with Grammy and asked her about coming and picking us up...that would mean we would be out there for 2 hours waiting. The car insurance paid for a tow, but only one person could ride in the tow truck. But here is the nice part about it....God was really looking out for us... When saying the name of the town we just passed, Grammy said "Roy, I think your cousins live out there! Let me call and see if they can pick you up." On that day they were only behind us about an exit or 2 shopping. And when Grammy called they were about 2 minuets away from us! They pulled up behind us, took Mom, Hannah, Lydia and I to their house while Dad stayed and waited for the tow truck. Then Dad called and our only car mechanic relative gave directions to the towing service to take our van to the mechanic place he works at, and he put in a new alternator in record time that they happened to have on hand...and we were ready to go off again!

While Dad was with the van, we were at their house... the girls were having a wonderful time with the 4 cats, 3 dogs, and 4 horses. Hannah helped muck out the stalls, and Lydia ran around out side with the cats and dogs. God really provided.

Reunion

We just got back from MN yesterday. Rachel and Stephen hosted us as well as Ben and Joe, Jess, and their kids. We had a wonderful family reunion! God really blessed the time we spent together. Part of the reason we were getting together was because of the Taiwan trip coming up for Dad, Mom, Hannah, Lydia and I. We won't get to see them for about a year.

Today I mudded the basement bathroom, and ran some errands with Lydia. It is so nice to have a 4 year old running around the house. She helps me to "stop and smell the roses", or at least stop and watch her ride the plastic horse at Meijers. We leave tomorrow for Front Royal, VA. Dark and early. Here is a link to some of the pictures from our MN Family reunion.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3886&l=32ce7&id=504907608

Discovery

We took my cousins to the Children's Discovery Museum yesterday here in Normal. It was a really cool place! If I was their age, I would be running all over the place and would never want to leave. Three floors of creative fun! We went in the morning, and then after lunch and nap time, I took 3 of my cousins with Hannah back, until it closed at 5. Amelia, after getting ready for bed one night, had this slightly mischievous look on her face and whispered to me "I have a REALLY good idea!" I asked her "what is that?" She said "tomorrow, when I brush my teeth, and put the tooth paste on my toothbrush, I am going to brush my lips!" I thought that this was funny, and I asked her "well,why are you going to do that?" And she said "I never thought of it before!"

Laura, Luke and Hannah making things with Perlor Beads

Here a cousin there a cousin...

My Uncle Michael and Aunt Christie are in Guatemala on a missions trip for about 8 days. So we are watching their kids as they serve. Having 6 of my cousins in our house has been quite different. But good! Now we know more of what it is like to have 8 kids in the house. Though I guess technicly it is 9, including me. But there is something about being 25 that puts you in a different category than "kid", even though I am still living at home. This morning we are all doing chores, cleaning bathrooms, washing windows, and doing odds and ends that have to get done before our family leaves for Taiwan in August.

Amelia with our huge flowers! And she really wanted a picture with them.

Isaac mowing our lawn, he has been such a great help!

My Refuge and Strength

Dad gave the call to worship today, Ps 18:2-3a in Chinese and English. Pastor Duane Otto preached today at Christ Church. Here are some of the notes I took today on the sermon. A lot is my interpretation of what he said."My Refuge and Strength" Ps. 3 When hard times come, it reminds us of who's we are, because it is in those times that we seek refuge in the "lap" of our Lord.God is a shield about me, He watches over me, and anything that happens to me is from His hand, even the bad. We tend to put up our own "safety net", and not put our full confidence in Him. Romans 8:28A good indication of the trust you have in God is, do you worry ? Do you fear? vs. 5-6Peace comes from God. Remember who you are in Christ. John 14:27; Eph. 2:14 Sunday School - Strategize and "plan" less - Pray moreEven Jesus (fully God, and fully man) prayed. He even asked that "this cup pass", displaying a reliance on the Father. Pray alone or with others. Remember we are not a "lone wolf". We are part of the body of Christ and need to help "bear each others burdens".Pray the Psalms, there are Psalms that apply to different situations. Example: David repenting of Adultery Ps. 51