Flying out to see Mom and Dad

On the heels of Hume (about 11 hours to be exact), I was called away to go back to Taiwan to visit my parents. My Mom and Dad have been living somewhat permenantly in Taiwan since 2001. With some of my mother's recent health developments, my heart was pulled to go back for a visit. Poor Matthew, abandoned by his wife again to hold down the fort for another 10 days :(.

Taiwan's "new" high speed subway system

Typical Taiwanese "fast food" - little stands on the side of the streets...

Fancy hotel in Chai Yi - my parents' hometown

Interesting way of using the playground structures...

no children, just adults stretching or "massaging" their arms and legs

Some cool functional decorative water pumps

in one of the parks that we went to for our morning walk...

Glorious rainbow... we had torrential thunderstorm downpours each aftenoon!

Farmer's markets! I love it :)

Happy birthday, Mommy!

Taking a 4 hour red eye bus to the airport... coming home!!!

God, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to see Mom and Dad for a brief time. Thank you for giving a supportive husband that is willing to sacrifice his comfort and time to allow me to be a daughter. I'm so grateful for the family and friends that stepped in during this time to help me with my kids & husband, my flights, my church responsiblities, and most of all, for lifting me up in prayer to You! You are an awesome God and is definitely in control of all things, even flights. Thank you for getting me home in time to welcome Kari and the kids, and to prep for Speechless. Continue to work out all circumstances and continue to channel hearts. You are amazing!

HUME!!!

My beautiful girls and our very cool shirts :)

For the 3rd consecutive summer, I have had the privilege of going up as a counselor with our High School girls to Hume Lake. This trip is always a step of faith for me... not just because I'm leaving my family for an entire week, but a stretch out of my "comfort zone". I've never been very good at all the "drama", "power struggles" and "hormonal" stuff even back when I was in High School. Now that I am an OLDER WOMAN, I still struggle with all those interpersonal relationship things... especially with high school girls. Because of all that, God always forces me to approach this trip with much fear and trepidation on my knees. So, I do recognize that my husband is RIGHT (again) in saying, "You want to go. It's good for you!"

Here are some snap shots of our week at camp:

Bye, Jolene :( I'll miss you, my "partner in crime".

My runners... I had to get up at the crack of dawn with them so that they can get their miles in.

Selah, my friend and co-counselor this year!

Landon, you look soooo coooool!

Even with some interesting issues with Selah's cabin with another church, we had a wonderful time! I love that new friendships were formed with other churches, acquaintances became friends, bonds were strengthened. We had some amazing God ordained share times. We got to celebrate Eden's 18th birthday. We embraced Mikayla into the family. We ate, slept (and listened to each other's mumblings in the night), played, studied, prayed, memorized, and cried together. It was perfect :).

Thank you, Lord, for allowing a place like Hume Lake to exist. For a long time I was "too Chinese" to recognize the value of a camp like this and a time away for kids like this. Thank you, God, for removing my blinders and allowing me to be excited about sending my kids to Hume in a few years.

Elijah Holbrook Plumb

While I was away at Hume, my newest nephew (for now) was born!!! Matthew saved our family visit for when I got home (so sweet!). So, our first stop after dinner... Plumb Residence to visit 4 day old Elijah!!!

Welcome to our family, Elijah!!! You are PERFECT :). Abby was happy to meet "Baby Larry" at last... ha ha ha ha. We are thankful that God has given you to be a part of this family!!!

FCS Street Hockey Champs!

Have you ever heard of street hockey? I had not, until this year. Street hockey is hockey played on black top with hockey sticks and a plastic ball (puck) that is about the size of a racquetball, but hard and "flat". There is no roller skate or roller blades involved... just plain old tennies.

As a 4th grader at FCS, Isaac had the opportunity to tryout for the school team. Matthew and I were hesitant to allow Isaac to tryout much less to play, because of his commitment to baseball. After much thought and prayer, Isaac tried out against 40+ other 4th graders, and made the team of 12!

It was great fun to watch him pick up a new sport so quickly and have so much fun with his friends at school... we are glad that we made the right choice :)

On May 8th, all the schools gathered at the Honda Center for the 2010 Ducks SCORE Street Hockey Shootout, an all day tournament competing for the "Stanley Cup". After a full day of craziness in getting Abby to the Princess Tea at church, Seth to and from his baseball game, and my car breaking down in the middle of one of the transports... FCS came out victorious!!! Way to three-peat Lions! What a fun time!

Over the summer, all the players got a turn at spending a few days with the "Stanley Cup". Isaac had his turn from July 1st - 3rd. It was fun to be able to show the cup to his cousins and family as we gathered to swim and play at Mom and Dad's house.

We are proud of you, Isaac! You make good use of the quickness and agility that God's given you. More importantly, we are thankful that you and your team exhibit good sportmanship on the rink. God is pleased with your attitudes even when bad calls were made. We were honored when your coaches told us that you were a joy to be on the team :)

What time is it? It's Cousin Time :)

Whenever Andrew and Melissa make the trek down to Orange County, there is a Cousin Party :). Everyone make great efforts to come out and congregate at Mom and Dad's!

What a joy to see the love and excitement these cousins have for one another!

Lord, I pray that as we watch and guard over these little ones, You will keep them each close to You and to each other.