Week 42. Oct 19 - Oct 25: T &Ev to Taipei, Typhoon & holiday, T's game event, TAS play

I'm late writing the blog this week, but not a whole lot happened apart from the typhoon. Monday, October 19th, started with our work-out, followed by a stop at the store. When we came home, Terry modeled the fun egg box we had used up. Inside the box, the eggs are just randomly stacked on top of shredded paper. It's a fun box and the eggs are pretty fresh. Next there was a church staff brunch meeting he attended.

The boys did school. Porky keeps a close eye on them. Ezra is constantly distracted by Porky. Later on, Ezra had his first new Exploratory class at Morrison - woodworking. 

Evie has a goal every week to make dessert and dinner at some point. This week she made a large chocolate cream cheese swiss roll. It was amazing, but she was bummed b/c it cracked. They all crack on Bake Off and somehow still taste good.

This photo is from the previous weekend's Middle School soccer tournament that Terry and Samuel drove 2.5 hours to. 

Tuesday, October 20th, was just a normal day with no photos until Terry and Evie went to Taipei for EC Talk. Evie helped another girl lead her table discussion! She's such a grown up. 

Terry's table group.

Heading home on the train. 

We did talk to Noah that morning and heard about how our friend Jason had replaced the window in Noah's old room. 

Terry had previously screwed the old window shut since it was so drafty. This room should be much warmer now.

On Wednesday, October 21st, Terry and I worked out and I shopped afterwards. On our way home I took this photo of the construction apartment next to us without the tarp on it! Our "blue view" out the back windows is much improved.

Evie was just leaving as I was coming in. She is completing challenges for her Writer's Workshop this month and was heading to the park to "write in a tree." 😂

I grabbed a lobby coffee before I headed upstairs. 

When I walked in, Terry was walking out to go to Chang Gung University for Abraham, Sarah, and George's Cru meeting and evangelism afterwards. Today they had two students come. 

Afterwards Terry and George evangelized together, which worked very well. 

People seem to be more friendly and open to foreigners, so George was able to contribute and take part in more of a conversation than he usually can - generally he gets a lot of No. 

All done and happy.

Evie went to Morrison "help" with costumes for the upcoming Morrison play. She felt like she hadn't really been contributing but when she asked Eleanor if they really needed her, Eleanor said, "I always need you." So Evie of course went back. That's Eleanor's mom, Rachel, who is primarily organizing the costumes. 

Noah sent us this beautiful fall photo from campus that day. 

Thursday, October 22nd, began with poor sleep but we got our workout done. I had BSF on Zoom and Terry had a meeting also on Zoom. We finally checked our weather apps b/c someone told us a typhoon was coming. Turns out they were right, haha. It was only a day away!

Ezra took one of many "breaks" from school while Terry worked.

Samuel had to take his trip essentials to the school during lunch to have them checked. He was going to a large trip to Sun Moon Lake with the 10th grade class the following week and they really wanted to make sure the kids had what they needed. Terry drove him b/c it was raining lightly.

After Samuel's meeting, him and Evie went downstairs to our complex gym and did a HIIT workout that kicked Evie's butt, while Samuel didn't think it was all that bad. He's getting so big and strong! He is very nearly as tall as Terry.

Ezra rode his bike to practice through the rain but Terry drove Evie and Samuel there for the fall music concert. 

I wanted to go but didn't because I wanted to have dinner at a more reasonable time, and also so Evie could get to her meeting afterwards.

Terry drove them all home through the rain. Ezra came home on his bike and was pretty soaked. But he doesn't mind. After dinner Evie went to Simcha's house for their Astronomy club. Her life is so fun. 

We were a little concerned that the typhoon was arriving so quickly, so Terry went out at 9pm to grab some milk, eggs, and bread "real quick." An hour later, after a followup stop at 7-Eleven, he returned. The store was crazy busy and all the meat was gone! This line is halfway through the store.

Ready or not, here comes the typhoon..

For Friday, October 23rd, it was all dim and rainy so we all slept in. Evie, who loves to get stuff done, spent most of the morning writing. She even called Noah and they wrote together for an hour. Terry made sourdough pancakes, we watched The Price is Right, and I vacuumed the house. 

Originally we kind of assumed the gym would be closed since it was a "typhoon holiday," meaning schools and government offices were closed. But the gym was open! So we opened our umbrellas and walked down there. It wasn't raining or blowing too hard yet. There were plenty of other people there, maybe more than normal.

We got leg day done.

Leaving the gym. That's the church office apartment complex behind Terry. 

There were plenty of other people outside. We crossed the street to buy fruit, b/c the fruit store was open as well. 

Terry calls this larger umbrella his "man umbrella." It works well b/c he got a lot less wet than I did. It was pouring pretty good on our way home. 

That afternoon they all played some games together. Pretty dim outside.

Right at sunset the light turned brown. It was so strange. Our friend Oliver texted the bible study group and said, "The skies are iodine brown colored." I scampered up to the roof immediately but by the time I got up there, it had passed already. It was still very odd-looking, more brown than this picture. I had a scary moment where I was looking up into the clouds and praying when the wind whipped up and shook the metal shingles creating a loud and deep resonating, reverberating sound. It scared me! It was like God was answering my question...

Saturday, October 24th, was a second typhoon holiday and we did almost nothing. Well, Terry did have an event, but besides that it was a blah day. 

I took this photo to try to capture Porky and how white the rain looked, almost like snow. 

Terry went ahead with his pre-arranged English game event that he had been planning with Rex's help at En Cafe. He would like to try to build up an English community here in Linkou similar to what he does on Tuesdays at EC Talk. Rex is willing to host it if people will buy drinks and we're eager to help his business succeed. We were unsure if people would come b/c of the typhoon but six came! The level of English was lower than Terry had planned but it was a good time. He is in contact with one of the men to meet again and both practice English and Mandarin respectively. 

Samuel went for a run in the afternoon, the kids played games, I deleted pictures and videos from my phone to make more storage, and I made pizza for dinner. Noah had dinner with my folks that evening! 

On Sunday, October 25th, the typhoon had finally passed. It was interesting walking to church to see how everything looked. Primarily we just saw a lot of fallen leaves and small branches on the ground. But later in the day I was in Taipei and saw several fallen large trees. 

Pastor Nanson did this cute kids sermon before his adult sermon. Flora translated to Chinese when necessary.

Everyone but Terry had plans after church so he went out with Oliver, Annie, and Susanna to McDonalds. 

I was invited last-minute by Lillian to go with a group of Morrison moms to Taipei American School's Romeo and Juliet play. Joyce, who works in the admissions at Morrison, drove us. 

We didn't have time to sit down to eat so we got some snacks from 7-Eleven and ate in the school lobby. Philana, on the right, has three daughters and the oldest one did makeup for the play. So we were supporting her in addition to enjoying the show. 

It's a large school and they put on high-quality shows. I was glad I was able to go. But wow, I could definitely tell I was in an American school by just walking into the theater. American vibes.

Heading home after the show. 

Meanwhile, Evie was on her way to TAS to see the same play with her friends. 

She loved it. How she wishes she could still do high school plays. She's got the theater bug still. 

And that's the end of week 42! 

Week 41. Oct 12 - Oct 18: Guitar shopping, Ez's soccer games, S swim meet, T's folks leave

 Monday, October 12th, began quietly since the boys started school again. Fall break was over and so was most of our galavanting with G&G. Once Samuel had gone to his Computer Science class, we left Ezra at home in order for him to go to his final Engineering and Design class, and the rest of us went to buy a guitar for Terry. 

We had looked for a guitar locally the week before and then visited a store over our anniversary in downtown Taipei, but a friend had told Terry about this large store. It was in the outskirts of Taipei, Luzhou, so somehow it didn't feel like a huge roadtrip headache to get there. The neighborhood was lovely, and we even stopped at a coffee shop with a Buy One Get One Free sign in the window. Once we finally got inside the music store we were impressed. The sign said they were competing for the Guinness World record of largest wall of guitars. 

Terry's folks bought him the guitar for his birthday. He's got it on his back. There was a cute little koi pond that we walked by here.

The weather was perfect that day. So beautiful.

I thought everything was so charming there, including this lovely plant climbing a wall. 

Here is the coffee shop we stopped at. 

Once we got back to town, we swung by the two-story stationary store for Alice to buy some gifts for Shari's family. Then we called Samuel and Ezra to have them meet us at the mall for dinner. It was early so we were able to get into this Japanese Grill buffet restaurant quickly. Ezra started with ice cream.

We were so confused by what the black circle was. I thought it was pig's blood custard or something. After a back and fourth conversation on Google Translate with our waitress, we discovered it was a hot stone for grilling our meat on. We all ordered our steaks medium and they arrived quite squiggly and very rare. They were good, but they definitely needed more cooking, hence the cookstone. 

It was a good meal and everyone was full b/c of the buffet portion. 

Nanson and Flora stopped by to give Terry the late birthday gift they bought for him - a tea set. They are so sweet. How is it everyone here is so kind?! 

Evie and I walked some games back over to our friend's place and stopped to admire this shop's numerous succulents and other plants. I'd like a balcony like that. 

At home we finally got around to playing Rook, the B's family game. I had to learn it in order to be accepted and admitted into the family.😏 😆 We played four rounds until we were all nearly tied and I had finally won a game, at which point we went to bed. 

Noah had spent his Monday, which was Columbus Day, sleeping in and then doing yard work. They've since frozen, but last year's cosmos re-seeded themselves nicely. 

I was impressed at how green the lawn looked! 

And Trouncer, my love, how we miss him. 

I missed most of Tuesday, October 13th. First thing that morning, the five us of went to the park to record a missionary update for some churches. From there I crossed the park and hopped in a van with three other women to go to Taipei for a mom's brunch. 

At home the boys worked on school, Evie wrote, and everyone else did something... For lunch they went in three different directions. Terry and his folks got McDonalds. 

...Evie got dumplings and the boys got fried chicken. 

Lillian is the literal best and had suggested we get together months ago. This was the date that worked for everyone - Lillian, me, Laura, Rhonda, Janet, and Holly. All are Morrison moms or Morrison-adjacent like Lillian and I. 

Lillian taught us her favorite game, Acquire, the same one Noah learned when we had people over to hang out with him. I lost pretty decisively and felt really dumb for a while.

Evie also spent her afternoon making dessert - chocolate mousse. Once she was done we all hopped in the van to go to the school. Upon exiting the car we saw that we had narrowly avoided a huntsman spider. 

We don't kill these spiders b/c they eat cockroaches. It's the same kind that took over our first dorm room when we arrived for English camp w the team in 2025. 

G&G got to watch Ezra play a soccer game, which was fun. Evie and Samuel were running with the Cross Country team. Did I previously mention that Evie is helping to assistant coach the team? 

They also got to meet a few other people, and see the campus too. 

None of us understand soccer, but Ezra has learned a little. 

After the game we drove up to Old Street to get some dinner. We stopped first for some wheelcakes and then decided everyone just wanted Shepherd Shawarma-- a chicken burrito, basically. 

As we walked to my favorite sandwich shop we toured G&G through a 7-Eleven. Finally. It was their first one.

Further down the street, we were shocked to see this giant turtle in this tiny tank. 

After eating our dinner at home, we all enjoyed Evie's mousse while watching a BBC Sherlock episode via VidAngel. Jerry said Evie should sell the mousse it was so good. 

Wednesday, October 14th, was Terry's parents final full day with us. That morning Terry and I walked down to the gym. My eye looks half closed for some reason but I'd been wanting to showcase the red seed pods that keep falling from the trees around us. They're so fall looking but they also look like lips. 

After getting cleaned up, Terry and Evie went to the university for Terry's English corner class. Only one student came again, but they still went through everything. Terry had to leave for a meeting but Evie stayed with Sarah to share the gospel with other students! 

Terry had a meeting with the new Morrison principal and good news, they are cleared to have another English camp at Morrison this coming summer. After lunch, Ezra and I took G&G down to Starbucks b/c Gramma wanted a Taiwan mug to display in her knick-knack cupboard. 

Ezra went to class and we stopped in 7-Eleven to buy some ice cream. They've really enjoyed the Family Mart soft serve and Carre Four drumsticks. Alice said, "It tastes like America." Indeed. 

Evie is happy to be back with some girls for XC. 

Once everyone returned home, we loaded up in the van for one last night out. We went just a couple miles down the road to eat at The Diner, our favorite burger place. They didn't open until 5pm so we went upstairs and got Krispy Kreme to have for breakfast the next day. 

Everyone really enjoyed their dinner. 

Back home we went up to the roof for some evening pictures. 

It had been another perfect day weather-wise, and it was, surprisingly, a little chilly on the roof in the breeze. I'm ready to start wearing not-shorts all the time. 

Perhaps Gramma and Grampa were saying goodbye to Taiwan. 

That evening we finished our previous game of Rook - I won! Then Terry took my place and I helped Samuel to play. He did great! He improved a lot. I think Terry won. And after that it was bedtime! 

Thursday, October 15th, was Terry's folks' departure day. We ate our Krispy Kreme donuts and the boys did some school. We left the house by 11:45am to get them checked in. Luggage first. 

We considered sitting down somewhere just to burn some time but ended up just saying goodbye and letting them go through security so they wouldn't feel rushed. Time for tears.

Goodbye to Gramma and Grampa B.! 

We watched them go through the security line door and then waited til we couldn't see them anymore. 

We went upstairs to wait until they for-sure reached their gate. I used a birthday Starbucks gift card to share a mocha with everyone.

So we waited. 

Evie insisted on taking another photo on the dumpling seats like she did the evening we picked them up, but this time she was sad. 

Samuel wanted to take one too. 

It seemed extra quiet when we got home. We let the kids do something fun - play their new Tomodachi game. Meanwhile I cleaned and did linen laundry. What else?! Terry edited the mission update videos, we walked to the laundromat to dry the sheets, and went grocery shopping. The kids were all out at Morrison for sports practice. I made dinner that night, the first time in nearly two weeks! I also washed dishes so I had basically done nothing the whole time G&G were here. They were so kind and generous to take us out and Alice washed every dish in the sink several times a day. 

On Friday, October 16th, Terry and I did not sleep well and did not want to work out, but we did. We got leg day done and felt better b/c of it. Afterwards I had coffee w Lillian at the shop in our building, The Daily Collector. The dinosaurs eating coffee beans crack me up. 

...or pooping coffee beans. 😹

Lillian is the best! She talked w Samuel after church today and cheered him right up. I told Terry she reminds me of Evie - she carries a bright and shiny light around with her wherever she goes and she brings cheer and happiness to everyone she interacts with. 

That afternoon Ezra elected all on his own to go swimming downstairs. He wanted to see if he could swim far, since last time he thought he went further because he had coffee. I think not, since he swam an entire mile today. When I went down there after stopping over at the baking store, I had to touch his head to say Hi and even then he didn't want to stop. So, wow. 

Samuel was gone at MAC (the Morrison main campus in Taichung 2 hours away) for a last-minute swim meet. They were able to stream it so we got to watch and cheer for him! He had a really great time and was glad he went. 

I made chocolate chip cookies (and most of the dishes) and Evie made chicken noodle soup, so Ezra had to do dishes. He literally put his hands on either side of the sink, leaned over it, and said, "I wish Gramma was still here." Ha! 

That evening Evie joined us for Bible study at Nanson's. Our building just put up their Christmas tree. Just a little early! But I'll take it over the over-the-top Halloween decorations everywere else. 

Noah walked Luna on this beautiful SD fall evening. 

On Saturday, October 17th, Terry decided to take Samuel to watch Ezra play soccer in his tournament, which was also at MAC. Ezra woke up super early before he left and then woke us up. So Terry got up to make waffles for him (and us) and drove him to the school to take the bus. A couple hours later he and Samuel left. He was excited for some father-son time and to drive. I, however, had no interest in more driving. I was tired of it and I just really needed a down-day to recover from company. 

It was crazy hot in Taichung, the same place Samuel had been just two night previous for his swim meet. They arrived late due to traffic but did catch the end of Ezra's first game. 

They ate lunch there and did a lot of sweating. I did a lot of bible reading, journaling, and catching up on communications with friends. 

Ezra was pointing at this opposing player b/c he recognized him from this summer's TMF conference. His team lost both games but it's alright.

That evening I made pizza and we all enjoyed chilling out once the boys returned, tired, from MAC. Terry kind of regretted going, but it was still good to watch Ezra. I was very happy I stayed home, and so was Evie. I needed it. We watched Terminator 1 that night through VidAngel (we love being able to block inappropriate stuff through it), and Samuel literally screamed when the torso of Arnold tried to get Sarah Connor. So funny. 

On Sunday, October 18th, Noah and Trouncer were enjoying more fall weather, though I can see the cosmos got frozen sometime this week. 

So handsome. 

We all, minus Samuel, who went early for AV, walked to church together. 

Terry practically jumped inside this church that we always walk by. At some point someone told him they had the "blessing cards" we had received last summer at camp and used to great effect with strangers. Alas, they had no cards, but told him where to get them. 

Evie went out to lunch with friends and the rest of us ate her tasty soup. We just happened to walk by the restaurant she was eating in on our way home. 😃

The kids played games, Terry napped, and I wrote this blog. We got some b-o-b-a boba ♫🎶♬, ate popcorn and cereal, and watched Terminator 2. Samuel was on edge but not nearly as scared as the previous night for the first one - he was in the process of covering his eyes 😂. And now it's time for a new week.