28 and feeling great

I turned 28 this month and feel as full of life as ever. It's nice having a spouse--a built-in somebody to care that it's your special day. I also got lots of email notes from friends, which was a pleasant surprise. Thanks, everyone.

Fall in IL was delayed this year, I assume in honor of our arrival here in the midwest, which I appreciate greatly. On my birthday I took a walk around and took photos of trees in their various stages of color. I am employed now, which some of you may know. I am an English Language Learners (ELL) paraprofessional (school staff without a credential). Sounds fancy, but it's not really. I am very thankful to have a job and will be even more thankful when I get paid later this month! Woohoo. Josh is still waiting on his greencard; it's a slow and painful process, but we have hope that we may be nearing the end of it. While here we have been well taken care of by family (my dad's side of the family lives out here). On Thanksgiving we are going to my Aunt Francine's place, which I'm excited about. My sister, Jenni, also just came for a visit. I'll try to post pics of that soon--had technical difficulties last time I tried. Well, thanks for reading my blog--sorry I haven't been keeping it up as well. I post many pictures on facebook for those of you out there. God bless you, and Happy Thanksgiving!

We made it to the mid-west!

Here's some photos of life in the mid-west:
Josh and I on our roadtrip out here. Yes, I drove the WHOLE way to IL



















Josh and I on our day out in Chicago with Robert and Julie











With Uncle Ron at Cubs Game--yes, they won!











Josh with Uncle Ron and Aunt Terry in Chinatown











At Grandma Avi's 86th Birthday Party.










My dad with his mom

Life in America

Life is sweet here at my old home sweet home in CA. Here are a few pics
Josh with Avery, age 4

Josh with my newest niece, Brylie, age 6 mos. So nice to meet her finally!

Avery pushing my other niece, Kloe. Kloe is turning two Sep. 9th

A Ba-De-Lu (8th Street our old home in Kaohsiung) reunion. Rebecca, Ilene and I. We do our own stunts.

Josh and I showing off

Lots of adventures

Sorry for the long pause between blogs--I have been having lots of adventures! My mom came to Taiwan at the end of July and I quit my job and we headed to Taipei for a weekend with my BFF Beth (to see pics of that weekend in Jiufen and Yeliu look at Beth's blog: www.grapefruitgreentea.blogspot.com). Then the real adventures began--My Mom and I headed to China on an insane 2+ week trip planned by yours truly in which we saw all the major sights in fast motion. I won't post many pictures on here because it takes so long but I put up some highlights. I will post more on facebook soon too. (If you don't have facebook just go to www.facebook.com, sign in, and then look up Paula Hong). Josh and I are almost going to America and bound to have more adventures there. Check back for updates!

Goodbye ORTV Bible Study in Kaohsiung

Goodbye to my sweet students

I have been teaching a free adult class for parents of students at my school. We learn songs and study Let's Talk in English magazine. I also have the chance to share with them about my relationship with Jesus and my faith, so it's very fulfilling. They very sweetly took me out to Thai food as a goodbye dinner--yum yum! My favorite! I will really miss all of them! Thank you for the dinner if you are reading this message.

This is Ian and his daughter, Annie. Ian has shown a lot of interest in the gospel. Please pray for him as he suffers from chronic back and joint pain--pray that God would heal him and give him freedom from this. Also pray for him and his family, that their faith will grow!



More lovely students!

Dragon Boat Festivities!

I took a trip to the east coast of Taiwan for my four day holiday. I travelled to Taidong to meet up with my old roommate, Rebecca. Here's Rebecca and her roommate, Faith enjoying "pao pao bing"--mango milk ice--Yummy!

Oh joy of joys

Beth joined us later in the afternoon and we had dinnner at Pasadena's, a cool Southwestern style restaurant

The next day we headed to the beach. To our amazement Faith and Rebecca got right to work survivor style building a shelter. Beth and I thought we might have to stay the night on the beach!

Playing in the tide pools

Hanging out with Jesus on the beach

"I wish they all could be California girls"--or Taidong girls

At night we went up the hill to this cool place where you sit in a hut and eat a whole chicken with your hands--plastic gloves provided. We also had an amazing view of the lightening storms in Taidong

Ready to dig in

Kenting Church Retreat

We all had a great time at the retreat and I was especially happy that Josh could come with me! I think he had to hire a mafia member to get him off work over the weekend, but it was worth it! Here we are

The main highlight of the trip for me was that our good friends David and Jamie Ney came along; they moved to Canada a few years ago, but came back for a visit. Here they are

and here is their sweet 15 month old daughter, Isabelle

Happy Anniversary, May 20, 2007

Josh and I had a very sweet first anniversary. Our date at the British Consulate in Kaohsiung made me remember why I fell in love with him in the first place--which I guess is the point of anniversaries so in that respect it was very successful. Then we went to "Dream Mall," supposedly the biggest mall in Asia, to catch a movie. Despite the rain trying to keep us down, we had a great time together, and I even embraced my otherwise dormant 80's flare and purchased Taiwanese style leggings for the occasion--Josh was much impressed and kept telling me how great I looked--so laugh all you want, my husband was happy. Here's a photo of our wedding on this day a year ago, then some pictures of our date. Also, we attended a friend's wedding today, same day as us! See photo below.




Here's those 80's tights along with an ad for a movie my brother worked on at Sony Animation. Rock on, Pete!

Not your average anniversary party

Here's Josh and I singing "I love technology"

The surprise strip dance. Don't worry, he had clothes on underneath.

The hosts of the Newlywed Game--a fun party surprise for us

Our consolation prize for losing.

Jesus loves the little children

A few recent pics from "Little Sprouts"