When my mom was here, usually the first comment she heard was “Wow! You look so young, you could be Amanda’s sister!!” The second comment was then something like “Don’t you think Taiwan is so hot?”
My mom gladly accepted the first comment, but she fought the second one, insisting that Texas was indeed hotter than Taiwan.
Today on her facebook page, she is further trying to prove her point:
Taiwan friends and family…….we, TEXAS that is, win —- we had a high temp of 103 F (40 C) with 28% humidity to make it feel like 107 F (42 C) today!!! It is now 7 PM and temp is 98 F (37 C)!!!…! TEXAS IS HOTTER THAN TAIWAN!!!!
At first, I just agreed: Yes, Texas is hot. We don’t usually get over 40 here in Taiwan.
But, then I started thinking about it. And, while Texas is hotter than Taiwan a few days a year–what about on average or during the year as a whole? So, I did some research and made some comparisons–comparing my two hometowns–Tainan to Bastrop.
As you can see in the charts below–Taiwan is in fact hotter than Texas!
Only for two months does Texas have higher high temps than Taiwan–but during those same months the average temps are the same and the average low temps are higher in Taiwan, so while Texas has high spikes, Taiwan stays hot.
(I only caught the months on one of my charts–so 1-12 is Jan to Dec, and 13 is the yearly mean. And, all temps are in Celsius.)
I used average dew point to compare humidity because as I told my mom, I don’t think comparing relative humidity is accurate for comparison. Then I found this from usatoday.com to back up my belief:
If you want to know how comfortable you’re going to be, you want to know the dew point. Allowing for differences among people and their tolerance for humidity, most people are going to start feeling the humidity is getting out of hand when the dewpoint is above 70 degrees. Dewpoints above 60 are going to make it feel humid, maybe a little too humid for some people.
What’s wrong with using relative humidity?
To see what’s wrong with relative humidity, let’s go to Barrow, Alaska, on an average January day when the temperature dips to -19 and the dew point is -20, the relative humidity is going to be 94.96%. You might be wishing you had another parka to put on, but the 94.96% relative humidity is not going to make you feel sticky.
For more on why relative humidity doesn’t really tell you how humid you feel, and just what is this mysterious “dewpoint” that I’m talking about, go to the USATODAY.com Understanding humidity page.
However, if you are more comfortable comparing relative humidity, go right ahead, and you’ll find that each month, Tainan’s average humidity is higher than Bastrop’s.
When Taiwanese people like to tell me that Taiwan is HOT! I respond with: it is humid, but that both Texas and Taiwan are quite hot. I also make the following analogies: Taiwan is like a rice cooker; you will be steamed. Texas is like an oven; you will be baked!
This blog probably needs some virtual dusting since it’s been so long since we’ve blogged.
April and May were busy for us. I can’t remember all that happened, but I do know we went to three different weddings–two of them lasting what seemed like all day. I started teaching a new class off campus that eats up my one free weekday for grading meaning my schedule got totally twisted around and my free time disappeared. We also were privileged to watch a good friend baptize her high school classmate in the ocean.
Several people have mentioned that having a baby will solve our lack of blogging “issue.” And, boy are they right!! We would love to have a baby and I’d enjoy blogging all about it, but we are struggling with infertility. And, that is another reason why blogging has taken a backseat. It’s something we’re working through right now, and I’m not ready to write openly to the world about it yet. Maybe one day . . .
And, kinda like when Lawrance and I were dating, when I couldn’t blog about it yet, it made me not want to blog about anything. I’m an all or nothing kinda girl–it’s something I’m workin’ on. If I don’t blog about one of the main things that occupies my mind, I feel like I’m lying. So, it makes difficult to blog about anything.
One other thing we’ve been working on recently is cleaning out our home and getting our guest room ready because we have company coming. My mom is coming!! She arrives tomorrow night Taiwan time. This will be her first time in Taiwan. I’m so excited.
So, we have two weeks of school left, and then I have a month basically off and get to show my mom all around Taiwan. Wuhoo!!
Our Easter Sunday this year was a little different–we were privileged to attend Lawrance’s brother’s wedding.
It started with us going back to Lawrance’s childhood home to help the family prepare for receiving the bride.
The groom, YuHong, had shaved his head into the shape of a heart. __ __
The groom showed us his transformed childhood home into a room to welcome a bride. He was proud.
Placed on all the items were little red circles with the “double joy” wedding symbol inside.
__ __
Traditionally children are to jump on the new couple’s bed in order to ensure lots of children. They substituted with a small bride and groom statue decked out in traditional Chinese wedding clothes. __ __
Another new-to-me superstition was that a bride is not to look at herself in the mirror (don’t remember why, will have to ask). However, it really isn’t followed not, but in honor of that tradition YuHong covered the mirror in the bedroom with red paper. __ __
Double Joys were everywhere–even the front door. And they will stay there till ?? (not sure–a year? till Chinese New Year? till they fall off?). __ __
This wedding banner was placed over the household entrance. I think it is religious, but I don’t know more than that. __ __
TongYuan also needed to be prepared. So, Lawrance, the awesome tongyan master, lent a helping hand. Why tongyuan at a wedding? Well, sweet sticky dumplings represent sticking together forever, a sweet life, and fullness of blessing.
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We also had tea and fruit prepared. Serving the tea and tongyuan were my job. ;)
I don’t like to blog about blogging, and I like blogging about not blogging even less. However, I just need to work through why I’ve not been blogging recently so that maybe I can start back again.
Here are some of the issues I’m trying to work around:
This blog is no longer just between me and the “great unknown” Before, my family and friends back in America did read my blog, but family and friends here in Taiwan that I work and live among did not. I now have to be more careful about blogging about things I don’t necessarily want people I interact with on a daily basis to know–ya know, like the intimate struggles of our lives. ;) There is something about anonymity that allows us to disclose private things–and there are advantages and disadvantages to that.
This blog is no longer just about me and my life Even if it was still Following an Unknown Path and “my blog” . . . the things I deal with no are no longer affect only me. I have to consider what my husband feels comfortable with in letting the world know about our lives.
Our readership is very diverse
It is very hard to categorize the people (I think) read our blog. And, like I teach my students, we write to be read, so as writers we must always think about our readers. When our (presumed) readership is SO diverse it is hard for me to focus on what I should write about.
Unsure focus of our blog now
Actually, I was kinda hoping switching to wuhoo! would help with this. I had a very clear focus in mind for Following an Unknown Path–it was a blog about a single woman living in Taiwan struggling with her singleness and documenting what life was like in a strange land while depending on God and his kindness. Now? . . . well, I’m not sure. Part of the problem is it really could be so many things.
This land is no longer strange
That’s a good thing for me. But, it makes it hard for me to think about what might be interesting to people wanting to learn about life here in Taiwan.
There are SO many other blogs out there
What can I possibly have to add to the wealth of info and mass of words that is already out there on the web?
Facebook kinda fills the need for why I originally started blogging
Facebook allows me to quickly and efficiently keep friends and family updated about what’s happening here.
Any words of wisdom? Any thoughts, suggestions, or encouragement you’d like to share?
This morning started with a jolt–literally. It’s the first earthquake in a long time where I felt like I needed to get to a doorway for safety. It was a 6.4 on the richter scale, with the epicenter in Kaohsiung County, northeast of PingTung City.
As of right now, there have been 20 aftershocks so far. Some pretty weak, while others have been quite strong.
We are ok.
And, while I feared two of our bookshelves were going to fall over, only the photo frames on them fell.
I am SO thankful that Lawrance was willing to let me go to Texas for a month so that I could meet my nephews and spend time with the rest of my family too!
I’m thankful I was able to . . .
spend time with my very grown up little brother
spend the mornings with my sleepy nephews
play with this cute, cute, cute little one and stealing all the sugars I could
Climb up into the chic-fil-a playscape and have a little fun :D
Eat Mexican food with these two awesome people several times!! :)
spend precious time with precious ones
have the "washing machine cycle of life" get messed up because the car battery died
Wu MaMa is home for the week, after 2+ weeks in the hospital. If she qualifies, she might be placed on a research project testing a new direct chemo treatment for liver cancer (which is more common in Asia than it is in America).
School started three weeks ago. I've finally been to every class once as of last Wednesday. Several of my classes require students to "test in to" them, so they started a bit later than other classes.
I'm teaching two freshmen classes. I like this classes because I get the upper-intermediate non-English majors. Most of my students don't know each other outside of class–this is a good thing for class dynamics; easier to take risks and not lose face so much. I also like that it is all four skills. Much easier to teach when I can blend all skills together. We talk about what we are reading; we write in response to what we've heard and discussed. Much more "real."
I'm also teaching two really cool classes for junior and senior English majors. One is called International Career Path and the other is called Social and Global Issues. In these classes, the students spend one week preparing to discuss a topic and then one week discussing the topic with students in Japan using the internet and online chatrooms. Really cool. I love that my students are using English for a real reason and that they are using English to learn about their own culture as well as Japanese culture. Let me say it again, really cool.
I strained my back last Friday. We spent our Moon Festival holiday
(this past weekend) watching movies and doing not much more than that.
Law has taken superb care of me when I've not been able to move quickly and take care of as much as I do when I'm feeling better.
I've cried several times this weekend in appreciation for all he does for me. He truly has been so sweet. It's really hard to believe that he knows me SO well–all the good and ALL the bad–and chooses to still love me completely anyway. It is humbling.
I'm studying Chinese again. I've not actually studied language in . . . oh, about a decade. I really wanna work on my reading and writing. And, to improve my oral self-expression. I'm really good at ordering food, shopping, and answering questions about myself, but I fail when it comes to carrying a conversation on a deeper more complex topic. I can listen and understand, but I'm unable to respond in Chinese the way I want to. Hence, the studying again.
I stumbled upon Laura Story a little while ago. I've been listening to her stuff over and over. I've not done that in awhile. Her song "Grace" is available free here (you do have to register though).
I could keep going, but for now, I need to go get ready for my classes tomorrow.
I miss blogging, and hope to get back to it sooner rather than later.
We found out this week that Lawrance's mom has stage 3 liver cancer. We've been told to expect her time left on earth to not be very long.
My husband and his siblings are in the midst of making lots of decisions, trying how to provide the best care for their mother and father right now.
We would very much appreciate prayers for the Wu family right now.
The one praise this week has been that Wu MaMa accepted Christ as her savior on Wednesday. After Lawrance shared his testimony, a dear Christian friend invited Wu MaMa to believe and she did. Father is merciful to the end. I am so thankful for his patience and mercy!! Praise Him!
So, in the midst of a heartbreaking situation there is hope.
Right now, I will just leave it at this . . . we thank you for going to the Father on our behalf.
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I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
I don't have much time . . . but I did just want to shout from the mountain tops that my sister gave birth to a BEAUTIFUL 12 pound 4 oz baby boy on Thursday, August 27!! He shares his birthday with two of his great-grandmothers!!
Welcome to the world Clayton Joe!!
I'm in love with this newest little guy!!!
I can't wait to snuggle with him . . . I just hope he hasn't lost his precious baby smell by the time I get to hold him!!
One of our favorite restaurants is called DuDu Cafe. It is a family style restaurant that serves food that is most similar to Chinese dishes you might find in the States.
Daddy in Chinese is "BaBa." Eight in Chinese is also "Ba." So, August 8th is "BaBa." So, Father's Day in Taiwan is August 8th.
Actually, many people here are surprised to hear that Father's Day in America is not August 8th but rather in June.
Today is also the 2nd typhoon day in a row. Typhoon 莫拉克 has been perhaps the biggest typhoon I've ever experienced. Officially 6 have died and over 20,000 have been evacuated.
We've had heavy rain and wind for two days in a row now. It was dumping 3-6 feet of rain per hour. And, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, "the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 144kph."
Signs, plants, and mopeds have been down all over our city, streetlights aren't working, tree limbs are in the streets, and intersections are flooded.
We took Lawrance's parents out to lunch despite the typhoon, but other than that, we've been locked inside.
So, I'd like to let Lawrance introduce his parents to you. So, please meet my in-laws:
I now like chocolate for more than one reason. Lawrance came home with a new chocolate-colored camera last week.
After we got the new camera, we, unfortunately and fortunately, learned that our older camera wasn't as broken as we thought. (Unfortunately since we didn't "need" to buy a new camera, and fortunately because now we each have our own camera.)
At first we thought it was just the perpetually shaking shutter, which rendered the camera useless even with power. And, then since "fully charged" batteries were not able to power up the camera for more than five seconds, we assumed that it was dead for sure.
When we got the battery charger for the new camera, we noticed our older camera batteries fit inside, so we charged our old batteries in the new charger. We discovered that the perpetual shaking of the shutter stopped once the batteries were charged with our new charger.
So, it wasn't our camera that was broken. And it wasn't our batteries that were bad. So, it must have been our older battery charger, right? But, the sad thing is . . . the charger wasn't broken either. The charger was just dusty, so the connection was bad.
So, I got a new camera all because we have lots of dust in Taiwan.
So . . . the moral of the story is if you think you have a bad camera or bad batteries, make sure the charger is clean before you reach your final verdict on the state of your camera. :)
Anywho, here are some of the photos we've taken with our new camera:
{our Sunday ritual of "ice"}
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{cutest bug zapper ever}
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{one of Law's fav snacks–dried tofu–kinda like "tofu jerky"} ~*~*~
{where I teach English on Fridays–at a livestock research institute} ~*~*~
1. I finished grading about 120 final essays and research reports . . . I was at a total loss for words after that. :)
2. I had company last week. One of my best friends from college came and spent three days with me . . . we talked, did a little shopping (I think we spent 3-4 hours in one book store and another 2 in a bakery supply store), we made apple crisp, pizzas, chocolate chip cookies and carrot cake, and we talked, talked, talked. It was good to catch up with her.
3. I’m caught in the middle of a book I hate but can’t stop. Someone loaned it to me, it is based on a true story of our criminal justice system gone really wrong. I hate it because I just don’t want to believe it’s true, but I can’t stop because I keep hoping for a happy ending (which I know won’t be there but I can’t stop hoping either).
4. My camera died. The shutter won’t stop shaking–totally not a good thing for picture taking. There have been more times than I could count with my two hands that I wanted to take a photo and couldn’t in the past two weeks. My purse feels so empty without it’s constant companion.
5. I’m trying to start digital scrapbooking. Most recently, I helped my mom to make an invitation to my sister’s baby shower. I wanna get started with it, and I’m trying to discover what is “my style” before I start investing in kits and supplies. Any suggestions from experienced digital scrapbookers are welcome. I currently am leaning towards sites like Ali Edwards and the other Digital Designers, Heather Ann Designs, and Simply Yin. And, I like what I’m learning over at Write. Click. Scrapbook.
6. I’m helping Lawrance to create a storytelling summer class . . . spending time looking for images to make flashcards with and creating worksheets. Fun, but time consuming.
7. And, finally, there is so much I wanna blog but haven’t had time to, I don’t know where to start now that I have a bit more time.
I’ll leave you with a photo that Lawrance took two weekends ago when we were in PingTong at a worship gathering of 17 different Taiwanese churches in the southern area of Taiwan. Sarah took it from our flickr stream and “painted” it for us. :)
I made the traditional birthday cake for my mom's side of the family. It is a peppermint cake. It is really easy–add a few drops of green food coloring and a 1 teaspoon of peppermint oil to "white" or plain cake batter. Layer with chocolate frosting and crushed peppermints. DELICIOUS!!!
But . . . there was one huge disappointment . . . the "peppermints" I bought here in Taiwan had some extra "flavor" (menthol). That's just not right on a birthday cake!! :)
My birthday present was the purse sitting behind the flowers . . . I got to pick it out.
And, on the Saturday before my birthday, Lawrance came home with the flowers. At that time all the lilies were closed. It was fun watching them one by one throughout the week. He is SO thoughtful!! :)
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And, Lawrance took me out to a stake place called "Tasty." They have a set meal that is 7 courses–for most of the courses you get to choose between 2 or 3 items. It was very nice!
I think they have some of the best wait staff in Taiwan.
Not all of the courses and also not in the correct order, but to give you the basic idea . . .
Maybe not the best dessert they have but definitely the coolest (as in most unique) is a fried chocolate wanton that you break and pour over vanilla ice cream. Then you get to eat the rest of the fried chocolate wanton.
We got some amazingly creative wedding gifts that I will share details of with you a bit later. Today, I just wanna celebrate our biggest gift of all. . . . a new fridge!! :)
Many friends and family (on both sides of the ocean) graciously gave us cash as a wedding gift. It is the traditional wedding gift in Taiwan, but not so in America. However, we are very thankful for all our American friends and family understanding that many traditional wedding gifts from a registry in America would have been quite impractical. (Nevertheless we did register for a few items for our home, and I know my mom and sister would love to see what they look like in place, so I'll do that a bit later too.)
Boy, I am gabby today!! :) Guess I must be excited. ;)
So . . . now . . . . for the grand revealing . . . .our beautiful new fridge that arrived yesterday: Although it fits perfectly in the "fridge spot," from this photo it seems to dwarf our entire kitchen! :)
The fridge part is on top (which I LOVE). I love being able to stare directly into the fridge part. Before we had a freezer top fridge, so I had to lean over and down to look into it.
Then below the two door fridge, there are two sections that pull out. The middle section is for fresh fruit and veggies (a huge crisper, I guess). And the bottom is the freezer.
So, instead of shelves, it is kinda like a top loading deep freeze–just pile and stack. I really like it.
Here are some shots I took last night of the inside of our new fridge–this might be the only time I ever show you the inside . . . so make sure you take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity. ;) (Clicking the photos will take you to their flickr page.)
____ And, here are a few photos taken before new fridge's arrival:
___ And, here is how the little black fridge became black . . .
This fridge was nearly 20 years old. It was given to me when I first moved to Taiwan. Some missionaries on the island were leaving to go back to the States and were giving it away.
Some other missionaries that knew I was coming took it and kept it for a few months, then when I arrived they gave it to me.
I love the way the missionaries I've met here take care of one another and bless each other by sharing not only material stuff but of their time and care too. God is good.
We loved little black, but he was not working quite as hard as he once
was. Sometimes he would forget to work at all, and at other times he
would work so hard EVERYthing–even the eggs in the fridge door–would
be frozen!
He did quit working all together back in 2006, but then he came back on. I know it sounds weird or insanely selfish to some that God would care about insignificant me and my stupid old fridge, but I honestly believe that God caused it to work again. He cared for the widow and her son by causing her oil to run over; he cared for me by allowing a broken machine to keep running for three more years. He is a God who cares about us and meets our physical needs. What a great God we serve!!
Tuesday night we folded, stuffed, and addressed all the Taiwanese wedding invitations. We are still missing a few addresses . . . but this is one major "to do" that we got done. :) YAY!!!
Our invitations to the Taiwanese ceremony and banquet are traditional Taiwanese in style . . . and yes, they are red with gold lettering. Lawrance's parents picked them out.
The inside wording follows the traditional form and announces that an oldest son will be marrying an oldest daughter. And, we chose to go with Chinese only for these invites.
Oh, yeah, and, like most Taiwanese wedding invitations, they are scented too.
In Taiwan, wedding invitations are known as "red bombs" because receiving one means you must now "pay money" (wedding gifts are not given, but red envelopes with cash inside are given ). I think it is kinda sad that, like children, wedding celebrations are considered a burden and not a blessing. Don't get me wrong, Taiwanese people love weddings . . . but to have the first gut reaction to be "oh no, a red bomb" . . . well, that's just sad.
Anywho, I guess this week are bombing close friends and family in Taiwan.
Where do I sign up for the official membership card of the "yes, I struggle with perfectionism" club? Disclaimer: What follows is TOTAL stream of conscious rambling of some thoughts that just need to clear my head.
Ok, so we've had our wedding pictures back for a little while now . . . and since I've not had time yet to do anything "perfectly" with them yet, they sit locked in my private flickr account. Poor little neglected photos, sitting there are wonderful and everything not able to be seen in all their splendor because I struggle with perfectionism.
Actually, blogging and teaching for six years had helped me a lot to get over the need to be perfect in many ways . . . and yet I've slipped back up in the blogging aspect, so instead of continuing to give into it I am just going to bite the bullet and go for it again. I can't blog perfectly, so it is either blog imperfectly or not at all. I've decided I'd rather blog that not blog . . . so imperfect here we come.
I'm not sure how being married will change the shape and scope of my blogging . . . I know it will but I still am not exactly sure how. I've got lots of blogging ideas bouncing around in my head. There are still lots of simply taiwan ideas to get out there; I still wanna blog all about the wedding; I still have lots to post about our time in Texas before (and after) the wedding . . .and then there's just regular life and my adventures in becoming a Taiwanese wife that is really American.
So. . . thanks for your patience in the past few months as I slipped off the blogging train while I fell in love, got engaged and then married. In the coming months there is going to be some "back blogging" and some "current blogging" and just about everything in between . . . as I struggle to once again allow myself to be an imperfect blogger.
In two weeks I will be ecstatic with anticipation!! In two weeks I will be beside myself with joy.
Because . . . . in two weeks, this guy:
is coming to Texas!!
I can’t believe we’ve already been apart for 25 days. The time has actually gone by quite fast, but it is getting harder and harder to be apart. But, I am oh so very thankful for unlimited international calling for only 4 USD a month with skype–can’t beat that.
I don’t know how military wives do it. I’m not even his wife yet, and it hurts to be apart. And, we only have to be apart for 39 days, but still it’s not easy. So, how they do it . . . I have no clue and much more respect.
I’ve made more decisions in the past three weeks than I think I have in the past three years!!
I mean just deciding about the cake alone I think I must have made at least 15-20 decisions! It’s crazy!! I had no idea wedding planning included this much deciding.
I am SO thankful that we went with the inn. It was so much easier just answering her questions and choosing from preselected possibilities then thinking and searching and planning and trying to make it all work. Even having to think of all the questions that needed answering would be an insurmountable task!
And don’t even get me started on how hard making all those decisions on music are. Once I choose what song I want to use, I then have to sort through and find the version I like best. It can be overwhelming to say the least. I have set this task aside and will work with Lawrance on it when he is here.
Oh, yeah, all that and I’m planning all the things I want Lawrance to experience while he is here for a month.
And, I made a small registry . . . that just about killed me. I honestly was overwhelmed with all the decision making at that time. Do we really need this? Do we need that one or this one more? Is there room for this in our suitcases? Is it really worth the space and weight it will take up?
I am SO thankful my brother (who for those of you who don’t know is only 14) went with me. It’s summer vacation; he was bored; there was a “gun” to use . . . it was a great excuse to get out of the house. Actually, he was a blessing. A few times he got a little impatient with me and was like “yes. get it;” scan. But, for the most part he helped me think though and make decisions. And most of all he was incredibly patient. I did however have to remove duct tape, a ficus tree, a turquoise tamale steamer, a bobble head thing, and a few other random surprise items off the registry when I got home. :)
Oh, yeah, and another person who has been awesome in all this is my mom. She has also been really patient and understanding too. She also keeps chanting “no second guessing” or “nope, can’t rethink it now” to me. :) After I added a fourth color two weeks ago, she stated firmly “no more changes.”
And, when I’ve vented to Lawrance he’s been good about either encouraging me and supporting me or about helping me refocus and keep the Main thing the main thing. And, of course, he is constantly bathing the all of the wedding planning in prayer. What a blessing!
Ok, so . . . . all that to say. . . . I am SO tired of making decisions. I have no idea how some of you who have long engagements spend a year or longer doing this. I think I would literally crash and burn.
But, praise God! I think I’m on the downward slope now and have made the majority of the decisions regarding wedding ceremony and reception. Just need to spend some more time planning how to spend our time together before the wedding experiencing life in America.
(Now, I am “live blogging”–as opposed to reposting past posts–the wedding.)
Yesterday I sent out our invitations to the American wedding. Yipee!!
In planning our whole wedding . . . we don’t necessarily want to “buck tradition,” but we don’t want to be bound by it or to it either. We are seeking to do things in a simple way that doesn’t cause lots of stress and that also honors our Father.
Ever since I saw my parent’s wedding invitation when I was a child–which included an engagement photo of them on the invitation–I’ve also wanted a photo on my own wedding invitation. And since everyone we invite to the American wedding hasn’t seen me in two years and won’t meet Lawrance till August, we thought having photos on our wedding invite would help “introduce us.”
Originally I was going to just make my own photo-based wedding invitations, but we decided that paying someone to design them for us might cost a little more but would be less stress. So that is the route we took.
We are both very pleased with the results!!
In addition to going non-traditional with the layout/design/paper of our wedding invite we also changed the words of the invite to be uniquely ours but still seem formal/traditional.
Here is the text of the invite (minus all the specific details):
With joyful hearts Rev. & Mrs. Kenneth Parmley invite you to join them in celebrating the union of their daughter
Amanda Nicole to Lawrance Aaron son of Mr. & Mrs. Sen-Song Wu as they glorify God for what He is graciously joining together.
On the return address label we used a “double happiness” seal/stamp. This double happiness character is used at Taiwanese weddings and is hung on doors and walls of a new couple’s room or home. It is called “double happiness” because it is the word “joy” twice. Kinda like “joy joy”–meaning that when two are joined together there is double the joy.
I’ve been back in America for about two weeks now. It’s been good to be with family–both day in and day out and at family reunions. It was wonderful to hold my nephew, the cutest little boy, in the world!! And, I’ve enjoyed eating yummy Mexican food and Bluebell ice cream.
But, oh, is it ever so hard to be away from the man who has become my fiance and will, in about two months, become my husband.
Wedding planning has had it’s ups and downs. It’s been fun at times but at other times it has been a little stressful. When it gets stressful it is always a reminder to refocus and remember Who is to be the center of our wedding. Not always easy to refocus but necessary.
We live in Taiwan--a little tea leaf shaped island in Asia.
Amanda is from Texas and Lawrance from Tainan. We met, fell in love and married in 2008.
We both teach English and both love to tell others about Jesus. We also both really enjoy laughing, and we both just happen to enjoy "ching cha," a type of fabulous green tea.
