We're Moving to Taiwan!

Floyd and I wanted to send out a note to let you all know how our Taiwan preparations are going. As many of you know, we're going to be moving to Taiwan  this summer, to work in a missionary school (Morrison Christian Academy in Taichung). I will be teaching 5th grade, and he will work in the development office. We have signed a two-year contract, but are strongly considering staying longer. We'll see how the Lord leads.

Well, our time in California is drawing short, and it seems like we still have hundreds of things to do before we leave. I have just over two more weeks of teaching left, and of course there are lots of  things to be done at school during that time besides teaching. I have to clean and pack out my whole classroom, and decide which of my teaching materials to take with me and what to do with the rest.

At about the same time that school gets out (give or take a couple of days) Floyd and I will be moving out of our apartment and in with my grandparents. So of course we have lots of packing and cleaning to do at home as well, and tough decisions to make about what to throw away, give away, sell, store, or take with us. We have decided not to take a crate (they're more expensive than one would be worth to us), which means whatever we want to bring will have to fit in two or three suitcases each of excess baggage on the plane. It's hard to know exactly what we'll need in Taiwan, what will or won't be available cheaper locally, and what we'll miss the most if we don't bring it. We don't want to store too much here, since we don't know exactly how long we'll be gone, so we're trying to find good homes for a lot of our stuff.

A week after school gets out, we'll fly to upstate New York for three weeks of Pre-Field Orientation, where we'll be briefed and trained and prepped for overseas life and teaching along with dozens (maybe hundreds?) of other future overseas teachers. When we return to California, we'll have just three more weeks here  before we leave for Taiwan (on August 1st).

One of the things we've been working on here (actually Floyd has been working on it) is creating this blog. We've decided that will probably be the best way to keep in touch with  family and friends and to share video and photos as well as text descriptions of our adventures (or misadventures) in culture shock and life transition.  So anyway, feel free to keep an eye on our blog. (It will get a lot more interesting when we have more overseas content to put in!) For those of you who want to stay up to date with us while we're overseas, check it often, and don't forget to post your comments too!