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. 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

The EV teachers

Some of the almost 5000 students who have come through the EV

http://picasaweb.google.com/USGirl21

Have you ever gone to a Chinese Restaurant and picked up a fortune cookie? I have thought it strange that they have them in the Chinese restaurants here in the States, but not in China. The whole time I lived there I did not see one. I guess it is an American tradition really. Anyway... I find it interesting to read what they say, and I wonder who gets the job to come up with these "sayings". Sometimes they are scary (trust me), funny, and thought provoking. I don't believe in "fortunes" but I do believe in God. And wonder sometimes what God does with fortune cookies. He uses us and our weaknesses, he uses the wrong things that we do... does he use fortune cookies?

So, what do you think of this one, My Uncle got this after we all ate at the Hot Wok.

"Women are mothers at heart, men are bachelors at heart."

Do you think this is somewhat accurate?

I know this is a far fetched really weird post, but I was trying to find something to post, and this came to mind.