Taiwaneers

We just got back from a trip down to Chattanooga, Tennessee and Owensboro, Kentucky to visit the Muffett’s extended family. It was a great trip! I got a chance to get to know the extended family a lot better and experience some of the things Emily has told me about like the Country Club, family dynamics, & many, many others.

In Chattanooga we had so much fun hanging out with everyone. All of us young folks went out a few times. As a new 21 year old Jason was the newest member of the cousin brigade along with myself as the newest member of the family. I felt very welcomed and at home. We all went out (young & older alike) for a day on a big lake part of the Tennessee river. It included jumping off of cliffs, water-skiing, bbqing, and my first time knee-boarding! It was an awesome day and we all slept well that night. My new cousin’s (Brad) girlfriend’s family was our host and they were a ton of fun. Many thanks to them!

In Owensboro we got to spend time with the Holders. They have original artwork all over their house which happens to closely parallel my taste so that was awesome! We went swimming at the Owensboro country club where they are members a few times and that was an event just because Emily has shared so many memories with me that include the country club. It was also wonderful to get a chance to just be with the Holders and spend a good chunk of time getting to know them better. Winnie, my new aunt, and I had a particularly pleasant conversation over dinner one night!

Sadly in Owensboro I somehow got poison ivy which I am still battling the best way I know how with mineral spirits….yuck! Oh well! On the good side of things we recently bought a Panasonic PV-GS200 camcorder on ebay so hopefully we’ll be adding videos to our blog this coming year. Please feel free to make suggestions regarding what aspects of our life you would be interested in “experiencing.”

After spending about three weeks living with my family in Sturgis Emily and I moved up to the Muffett home to spend some time in the Lansing area on Friday last week.

I was bummed that we weren’t able to finish the painting on my dad’s office building but I was glad to spend some time in the sun doing something productive.

Yesterday we began jobs at Michigan State University working for the manager of one of MSU’s several cafeteria’s who happens to be a close friend and also happened to need help over the summer! THANK YOU ROBBIA PIPPER!!!!!!! Its very fun for me to be in an office setting again and working to help her be successful. Emily and I were so blessed by God’s financial provision through her. So much so that I’m willing to use a word like blessed!

Another exciting thing that happened yesterday was our longtime friend from SSI, Jonathan Williams, came back to Michigan from Washington D.C. to be an evening speaker for SSI week 3. It was awesome to see and listen to the guy I knew at 18, fresh from high school, who is now in a leadership position at ALEC (google it, you’ll be impressed) share his life story to inspire our younger brothers and sisters currently attending SSI.

In other news: God’s really been challenging me lately. He’s been impressing on me His desire for me to be surrendered to Him and what that implies, what it looks like and how I get there. I’ve also been deeply questioning and searching for answers regarding the idea that I’ve adhered to that the Christianity I know holds exclusive rights to being the only way to God. While its scary on many levels for me to be honestly questioning something I’ve held as fundamental for so long I also feel God’s hand on me. Its almost like I hear Him saying “Good Michael. You have a personal relationship with me. I’m your teacher. Ask me what you want to know and I’ll show you.”

The other night we were also able to have coffee with our really good friends John & Nellie. It was incredible to be able to catch up with them. Nellie’s pregnant and it was so cool to see friends embarking on the parenting journey and asking them to describe what its like.

Well, I’ve got to work tomorrow so I’m out.

Well Emily and I have been here for several weeks now. The jet-lag is gone and its sort of interesting how easy it has been to settle into the familiar after 9 months away.

After a week at the Muffett house in Eaton Rapids we moved down to Sturgis with the Jefferies family. But before the move we were able to spend some quality time with the Pippers and my aunt, uncle, and adopted grandmother. Both were wonderful. Thats not even mentioning the qt spent with the Muffetts themselves. A complete bonus was helping SSI week 1 by being lobbyists the second day we were back!

Here in Sturgis has been great as well. We’ve been painting the exterior of the office building my dad owns. Its been rough doing manual labor and a lot slower going than I anticipated. Lets just say I haven’t grown any fonder of scraping and priming. Its nice to be working though and Emily is fun to try and keep up with.

While in Sturgis we got the chance to go spend a day at Lake Michigan on the beach and have a great time watching my nieces, Aberdeen and Isabelle, play in and around the water……along with the rest of the family. It was so much fun!

Last week my dad took me to a political meeting for a candidate and they actually asked for my advice on a few things…..I was flabbergasted as political advice, in my experience, is given often and requested rarely. It was a blast talking politics with my dad there and back in the car.

Emily and I also had two wonderful Sundays so far at Liberty. Its so nice to see the church family there. We also went to a July 4th party with many of them and got to see all my friends’ young children running around while the fathers, and myself, played hacky sack.

Yesterday we got the chance to go with my family to church here in Sturgis. It was, in a word, wonderful and was held at the home of my old boss from the coffee shop. Worshiping in English has been giving me chills.

I also discovered yesterday that my Calculus 2 teacher passed me even though she shouldn’t have. I was elated to say the least and couldn’t really focus on anything for a while due to my excitement. My sense of judgement was pricked but only mildly.

Oh I almost forgot. Saturday Emily and I, spur of the moment, drove up to Kalamazoo to spend some time with Dan, Evie, Aberdeen & Isabelle. It was fantastic and Dan even took us out for middle eastern where I ate my fill, that means a lot, of chicken schwarma and hummus along with some other things. It was a wonderful visit and fun to make the drive thats come to be so familiar over the years.

Today Emily and I rode bikes up to the coffee shop to read and hang out. I finished a Su Doku puzzle and Peter Kreefts Unaborted Socrates, which I have been in the middle of for over a year. It always makes me feel good to finish a book…..that probably means I should read more.

I’m sure I’m leaving some things out but suffice it to say Emily and I are thoroughly enjoying our time here in the states. Please feel free to give us a shout as we’ll be spending our time half and half between our families homes.

After 18 hours of travel we arrived in Detroit yesterday. Margot, Justin, and Joel picked us up at the airport and we had a wonderful ride back home to the Muffett’s in Lansing. The Jefferies came over and we all sat around, ate some wonderful American food, and talked.

Emily and I are so happy to be able to spend time with our families without using Skype and we can’t wait to catch up with all of our friends.

Like Dorothy said, “there is no place like home.” We are very happy to be home!

Thanks to our good friends Carla, Ramiro, Sandy, and Sandy’s dad we have successfully moved to our new apartment in Taipei. Its awesome! My commute is across town and its still about a half hour but it doesn’t feel like much at all and I love love love it!

I’ll miss Gueishan. I’ll miss the little kids on our street and the old man who we gave our recyclables to and the neighbors who were always giving us food and the Thai restaurant and all our friends there. Oh well, at least when we miss Taoyuan it’ll only be an hour away instead of when we miss Michigan.

Emily and I both really like the apartment and our roommates are great. One, Eugene, is from India and the other, Vesma, is from Slovenia. They are both taking learning Chinese classes at Shida (Chinese for National Taiwan Normal University) where Emily will be going next year. Vesma will leave this summer while we are in the States and someone will take her place. Eugene hasn’t decided what his plans are so we’ll see who are roomies will be for next year in September. Both of them are fantastic though and we’re so happy.

I’m in the throws of finals with 4 down and 5 to go. Next week is are the big ones with Accounting and Calculus.

Its been a great first year. I’ll be glad to dig into my major next year but I’ve definitely enjoyed some of the core classes this year and have found a real joy and passion for Economics, which I guess, given my background, isn’t too surprising.

Well we can’t wait to be home in a few weeks and I am really looking forward to seeing all of you very very soon.