Did we beat you in the U.S.?

Did we beat anyone in the U.S. of having snow this early? Yes, we have snow on the ground this morning when we woke up, first time in the past two years to see snow, reminds me of Chicagoland in early spring.
It has been cold in the past few days, but what a surprise to see snow this morning when we woke up. I thought I heard someone outside this morning brushing off snow from their car windshield.
Also see Kioni's blog for her reactions towards the snow this morning.

No Presents!

Ellie (6) is Kioni's little friend from across the street. A few days ago, the subject of Santa Claus came up when Kioni was playing in their house. Kioni, as any truthful Christian kid would, told Ellie that Santa Claus is not real, he didn't bring presents, it's actually her mom and dad who give her the presents.

Today Ellie is over playing in our house, she walk over to where I am sitting, look at me with the most serious face I have ever seen on her, and with a solemn voice, she said, "You know, Santa is not going to give you presents if you don't believe in him, NO PRESENTS!" "He CAN fit through the chimney, and you never see him because he is invisible."

I feel bad about what I am compelled to tell her, so I told her I will look Santa Claus up on the internet and read her some of the things they said about Santa Claus. I read her a few lines, and she said, "So you mean my mum and dad wants me to be surprised, so they said the presents are from Santa?"

For all those who don't agree with telling kids that Santa does not give us presents on Christmas Eve, maybe when you believe that Santa is real, than you can start telling kids that Santa is real, or else, plainly put it, you are just lying. I am rarely that blunt, but making kids believe, year after year, about something that you don't even believe yourself, upsets me. You know what's next? When you try to tell your kid a truth next time, guess what? Cry Wolf, the more white lies you tell, the less truth your kid would believe.

Don't worry, you're not going to hell.

Associated Press
Wednesday, October 22, 2008

LONDON — London buses have God on their side — but not for long, if atheists have their way.

The sides of some of London's red buses will soon carry ads asserting there is "probably no God," as nonbelievers fight what they say is the preferential treatment given to religion in British society.

Organizers of a campaign to raise funds for the ads said Wednesday they received more than $113,000 in donations, almost seven times their target, in the hours since they launched the project on a charity Web site. Supporters include Oxford University biologist Richard Dawkins, who donated $9,000.

The money will be used to place posters on 30 buses carrying the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." The plan was to run the ads for four weeks starting in January, but so much money has been raised that the project may be expanded.

"A lot of people say trying to organize atheists is like herding cats. The last couple of days shows that is not true," said comedy writer Ariane Sherine, who started the campaign.

While most London buses carry posters for shops or Hollywood movies, Christian churches and Muslim groups have bought bus-side ad space in the past.

Sherine came up with the idea after seeing a series of Christian posters on London buses. She said she visited the Web site promoted on one ad and found it told nonbelievers they would spend eternity in torment in hell.

"I thought it would be a really positive thing to counter that by putting forward a much happier and more upbeat advert, saying 'Don't worry, you're not going to hell,'" said Sherine, 28. "Atheists believe this is the only life we have, and we should enjoy it."

The British Humanist Association, which is administering the fundraising drive, said it had been so successful the campaign might spread to other cities including Manchester and Edinburgh.

Most Britons identify themselves as Christians, but few attend church regularly, and public figures rarely talk about their beliefs. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was rare among politicians in speaking openly about his Christian faith.

Dawkins, author of the best-selling atheist manifesto "The God Delusion," said that religion nonetheless held a privileged position in society.

"Religious organizations have an automatic tax-free charitable status," he said. "Bishops sit in the House of Lords automatically. Religious leaders get preferential treatment on all sorts of commissions.

"This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think — and thinking is anathema to religion."

Dawkins said that as an atheist he "wasn't wild" about the ad's assertion that there was "probably" no God.

Sherine said the word was included to ensure the posters didn't breach transit advertising regulations, which stipulate ads should not offend religious people.

Few believers appeared offended by the campaign, although most doubted it would work.

"I think people will ask themselves, 'On what basis can they make that statement?" said Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain. "So it will get people thinking, so in that sense it can only be good."

Ad agency CBS Outdoor, which manages advertising on many London buses, said it had approved the atheist campaign.

Sales and marketing director Tim Bleakley said "our decision to take an ad that promotes God, or one that promotes no God, is based on commercial terms, as long as the advertising copy itself does not breach U.K. advertising standards."

The Rev. Jenny Ellis, spirituality and discipleship officer for the Methodist Church, welcomed the ads.

"This campaign will be a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life," she said.

The religious think tank Theos said it had donated $82 to the campaign, on the grounds that the ads were so bad they would probably attract people to religion.

"It tells people to 'stop worrying,' which is hardly going to be a great comfort for those who are concerned about losing jobs or homes in the recession," said Theos director Paul Woolley.

"Stunts like this demonstrate how militant atheists are often great adverts for Christianity."

Photo story

Kioni and Dan working in the backyard of our rented house, try to lay some grass.

The thing in the middle is for drying clothes. There is a dryer in the house, but electricity is expensive, therefore, a lot of people dry clothes outside. One downside though, there are always little bugs stick to the clothes, therefore, always shake them before gathering them inside.

Looking out from our second floor window to the back. You can see our neighbour's yards. In the far background is rolling hills. The sun was just rising.

Looking from our house across the street, our house is very similar to these houses. There are two big bags of rocks in our front yards. Our landlords wanted to lay those in the backyard, but Dan wanted grass. He will still use these up in some ways in the backyard. By the way, each family owns half of the building, not the whole thing.

An old building around Kings College, University of Aberdeen

Kings College, University of Aberdeen

The North Sea in the background

A pasture next to the North Sea

A lighthouse at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Life is like a roll of toilet paper.

The closer you get to the end the faster it goes.

Mansize Kleenex

It is always fun to strode along the isles of supermarkets in a foreign country, because you can always find something you have never seen in your life.

I didn't expect to see too many interesting thing in Scottish supermarket, but when we went to the paper isle to pick up some toilet paper, I saw this at the shelf:

Kleenex Ultra Soft mansize 1PK
for 1.95 pound (which is about 3.44 US)

Mansize Kleenex? You think in Scotland men have bigger faces that requires larger contact surface? How interesting.

A whole bunch of things you have to read

You might think something has gone very wrong with me, I have simply disappeared into thin air. Someone who will write and write suddenly stopped.

Well, it is all a combination of various factors that have me stopped for such a long time. We have lived in 4 countries in the past 5 months, that is sort of disruptive, don't you think?

Anyway, I am back. This time, I am in Aberdeen, Scotland, borrowing our neighbour's wireless internet signal (with his consent) writing this entry.

We have visited families, friends and churches, many of them, in the past 6 months, it feels great to see them again, however, it is a bit sad that we know we won't be back to see them in a few years, at least.

We have arrived in Aberdeen for two weeks now, though we have quite a bit of challenges, like because of hurricane Ike in Texas, we missed ALL our flights coming to Aberdeen, slept on the floor of New York JFK airport (well, basically, only Kioni slept), ran through London Heathrow airport with 6 bags of luggages, three hand-carry bags, a car seat, three blankets, a stroller with a 4-year old in it so that we could catch the last plane to Aberdeen, then cramped all our bags and ourselves in the tiny B&B room before throwing ourselves in the beds. Oh, we took showers in the little cubicle that fits Kioni perfectly.

Kioni sleeping on the floor in the arrival level of New York JFK, we got kicked out of the departure level by an extremely stern security guard.

Kioni relaxing in our tiny B&B room

We viewed a number of houses in the first few days, trying to decide which house to rent. At the end, we rented none of those houses. A couple who wanted to sell this house, decided that they wanted to rent it to a divinity student, and at the right moment, we walked through the door.

After we looked at the house, we asked them about the rent, she said, the leasing agency said it should be around 750 pounds to 800 pounds (x2 for U.S. dollars). But then she said, 'I though it should be more like 700.' Dan and I looked at each other and raised our eyebrows, never have I heard anything like that, lowering the rent without asking?

Anyway, we moved into this house, which is a bit tight in the U.S. monster house standard, but in fact is enough for the three of us.

We don't have a land line yet, it will have to be a week or so from now before we will have it, which means the internet is not available either.

We found out very quickly you pay twice the amount for similar items in the U.S., we were trying to save on lunch one day and went to McDonald's, BIG MISTAKE! Didn't go back a second time.

But what I really want to say, is how our faithful and loving God takes care of us all along, here are some examples, well, a lot of them, and a lot of them didn't get recorded yet, I am too sleepy right now to write them all:

1) When we knew we couldn't fly out of Detroit on our departure day September 14, a 24 year old Northwest staff spent an hour with us trying to call various airlines and ticket issuing companies to try to work out our tickets. Remember, all flights were affected, she had a long line of customers waiting for her help, but for some odd reasons, she decided that she would go above and beyond to help us. I have never experienced this before, usually, they will just tell you, "Your plane is delayed due to weather condition, come back tomorrow, sorry about that, and by the way, we don't provide a hotel room."

2) When we arrived in London Heathrow, the customs officer is obviously of Hong Kong origin, he is very concerned if we can make our flight to Aberdeen, and he said, 'You will have to run for it.' And we did.

3) When we arrived at the London to Aberdeen terminal, both Dan and I were huffing and puffing, , I sensed that people here move much slower, maybe the Scottish culture is more relaxed, and I thought to myself, not a good sign, maybe they just work too slow and we will miss the last flight to Aberdeen and we will, again, have to spend the night at an airport. When we got up to the counter, again, a Chinese looking staff helped us to reissue our tickets, and he charged us only the reissue fee, though we actually had to buy all three tickets all over.

4) We rented this house, but couldn't get in until the owner moved out, we were able to book another hotel for two nights, but after that, all the hotels and B&B were all full because of students coming to start school. James and Allison Merrick, fellow American student and his wife, opened up their house and allow us to stay with them for two nights, and cooked up some good food, plus quite a number of tips for living in Aberdeen, including where the Chinese grocery store is located and where the Charity (thrift) stores are.
Talking about Chinese grocery store, 'it just happens' that Allison has a Chinese co-worker, who tries to teach her how to make Chinese food all day long, and of course, Allison knows where the Chinese grocery store is, she even call her co-worker up to confirm the location, 'it just happens'. So I was able to get the most important condiment - soy sauce, several big bottles of them when we moved into the house.

5) After serious calculation, we decided that buying a car will benefit us more than not, especially on the ministry side. We need a car to drive students around, bring them to grocery stores and such. We were told by James Merrick of this Christian car dealer guy. We went to see him today. We had to take two different buses in order to get there, and all we had for the address was "the motor company in Newmachar'. We needed to use the internet this morning, so we could sort out our finance before we get to the car dealership. But we don't have internet access at home. Dan caught our next door neighbour getting ready to leave the house for the day, he agreed to let us use his wireless signal! He gave us his password and we are online! We were able to sort thing out before leaving the house!

6) We had to take two buses to get to the car dealership. We went on the first bus, get to the exchange stop, got off, then successfully got on the next bus. But we were a bit not sure after we got off, how we can get there. Dan said he would call the guy when we get off the bus. While we were sitting on the bus, an old gentleman must have saw our 'we are clueless' expression. He asked us where we were going and told us he was getting off at the same stop. So we followed him off the bus. Where we got off was like a little quaint town, there was no business in sight! He walked half way with us, and then pointed up a road and told us the car dealership was just up there, which we couldn't see from where we stood at all. We walked for another 3 minutes, and we found it, without making a phone call!

7) The fact is, we would not be able to make a phone call, because at the moment we arrived at the car dealership, Dan realized that he has forgotton to take his planner off the bus! And all the car dealership's phone number and a whole lot of stuff is inside. He was so focused on finding the car dealership that he forgot his planner. The lady in the car dealership's office, (turns out to be the owner's wife), was very kind, she immediately made phone calls to the Lost Property departement of the bus company and left Dan's name and contact number with them. I thought to myself, she could have cared less, the most anyone would do was to give you the phone to make the phone calls yourself, but she made all the phone calls for us.

8) We test drove the car, an 8-year old Ford Focus, silver in colour, very pretty and solid looking. The price is 2950 pounds. When we came back to the lot, a tall smiling guy welcomed us, Brian, the owner shook our hands. He didn't talk about the car for the first twenty minutes of the conversation, rather, he told us how God found him before he found God. How God has blessed him all along, even he became a Christian 5 years ago, how God, within a few weeks, saved his whole family, his wife and his two grown sons. Then we started to talk about which church he goes to, it just happens to be the church that has been mentioned to us at least 10 times, even from when we back in the U.S.. "By the way, the pastor is coming for lunch with us, he will be here in 20 minutes."

Then we get into the office to talk about the buying of the car, he pulled the paperwork for the car out and said, "I will sell it to you for 2500 pounds, you will need to pay about a hundred or so more pounds for the various paperwork with the government, I hope lowering the price will help you will that. I am here to help anyway I can. I see myself as God's transport manager."

"What?" "This is the second time this happens to us, lowering prices before we ask for it. Do they do that a lot in Scotland?"

I don't think so, and I know who did it for us.

9) The pastor walked through the door of the office, "Daniel Bush", he said, "Mike told me about you." Mike is the ReachGlobal (our mission agency) Europe director, 'it happens' that Mike and the pastor are classmates in the same PhD program!

10) Since we cannot drive the car back home with us today without the proper paperwork, we had to go home by bus again, which will take us another hour. But Brian said, "My driver will drive you home, it takes about 12 minutes." "By the way, do you need someone to pick you up for church on Sunday? We will come pick you up and take you to church. How about we should up around 9:00 at your house?" God knows how depressed we were last Sunday when we couldn't go to church because we didn't know which church to go to, and when we decided on a church, we couldn't get there because we don't know the bus routes, and we couldn't find out because we don't have internet access.

Brian also asked, "What do you need? Do you have furniture? We have a pine table and chair set sitting in our shed, do you need it?" I almost pinch myself for that, we just spent 99 pounds buying a set from the store! His wife offered pots and pans, and other household items. Either they are not kidding about the Scottish hospitality, or God is fast at work here.

11) The pastor said, "We have lots of Chinese students in our church." Dan and I looked at each other, and in my heart, I am already at the church, I want so much to meet these Chinese students. How I pray that this church will partner with us doing this tremendous ministry. Oh, by the way, the pastor's degree is in Missions.

12) Some of you might know, Kioni loves horses. Can you believe this: A hotel down the road from our house owns a horse. There is a path leading to where this horse lives just behind our house. It is a grand total of a 2 minute walk if Kioni wants to visit the horse walking down that quiet path, which also leads to a huge playground, complete with swings, slides, see-saws, and a zip line. The horse, Milly, is very tamed and loves to eat from people's hands. She always comes over when she sees us walking down the path, hoping for some carrots or whole wheat bread.

I don't know what you call all these, 'it just happens..."? I would rather say we are well taken care of by the Almight One, our most loving God.

Where in the world?

In the past few months, we were in Asia, now we are in the U.S., and a month from now, we will be in Europe!

With all these changes to adjust, it is hard to leave mental energy to write on my blog. Although I have not written for a few months, I do THINK about writing often, but all the traveling we do left me with little energy to even sit down and think.

After a whirlwind visit to Hong Kong, we are back in the U.S. staying with Dan's mom. This is still not our destination yet, we are heading to Aberdeen, Scotland in just over a month's time for Dan's PhD studies at the University of Aberdeen.

After we left the Philippines, so many things have happened. One of the most important changes is that we are switching from ReachGlobal Asian team to ReachGlobal European team. We were going to separate from ReachGlobal and set up a new ministry to serve the Mainland Chinese students and scholars in U of Aberdeen, however, when Dan talked about our vision with the Asia Director of ReachGlobal in Hong Kong, he saw the strategical value of the ministry and asked us to stay with ReachGlobal.

This is a wonderful confirmation of our hope to serve and minister in this capacity.

What is China going to show the world?

China is about to prove to the world how strong and advanced they are in just a few months through hosting the Olympics. However, the Sichuan earthquake has thrown the whole country into tremendous overdrive in dealing with this super disaster. It also shows the world that though China might be advanced enough to host an international event, when it comes to rural China, things are still pretty basic.

Photos I see from Hong Kong showed the 4-5 story high schools that collapsed in the earthquake were constructed with steel bars as thin as my thumb. The official who cried out for serious investigation of why such constructions were allowed, many suspect, was the one who received bribes and allowed those schools to be built in such a manner. Numerous school children were crushed by the fallen concrete, numerous are their parents' only child.

Sichuan is not the only place that such gross corruption takes place, there are many buildings built like "tofu", one shake and they will crumble. In fact, I suspect that they buildings that Dan is teaching and staying in right now (in southern China) could be one of those. While new and impressive constructions are sprouting up in new China, most people live in poorly built ones.

Some said there were all sorts of signs showing that the earthquake was imminent, could something be done? Could some villagers be warned, could the people practiced some earthquake drills?

With just 78 days to go before the Olympics, how is the world going to view China through the lens of this earthquake? What is China going to show the world?

On May 6, 2008, www.163.com reported that on April 26, 2008, around 7:00 in the morning, a pond in Hubei (a province to the east of Sichuan) with 80,000 cubic meters of water, suddenly showed swirls, villagers could hear loud rumbling sound. In less than 5 short hours, all of the 80,000 cubic meter water was gone, showing the black mud at the bottom of the pond, strangely, only a couple of big fish were found. Could this happen because there were movements in the ground, causing cracks at the bottom of the pond?

Good to be home

Our stay in Hong Kong will last for two months, I am quite overjoyed because last time I stayed here this long was before I was married, that was 13 years ago! Hong Kong has changed a lot, however, it is still crazy busy with lots of people, various modes of public transportation, and many many tall buildings. The other day Dan and I went out for dinner with Kioni. After a tasty and inexpensive (6 US for two people) at a local fast food restaurant, we both sit back and ponder at how convenient for us to get to a restaurant (about a 10 minute walk from where my parents live), and how wonderful the food tasted. Nothing quite compare to the choice of food and the amount of money that you have to spend on it. At least, throughout my travel, I have yet to find a place quite like Hong Kong as far as food is concerned.

We are also impressed by the Octopus Card, this is the most innovative way for payments. Not only can you take the subway, buses, mini busses and such with the Octopus Card, you can pay with your Octopus Card at the supermarket, fast food restaurants, pharmacies, etc. Kioni has her own card and it makes her feels like a super big girl.

All in all, it has been wonderful being back. I hope Kioni will be able to remember her time here. She is having a bit of a cultural shock with the language, hopefully she will find it easier each day.

Last night in Cebu

Going back to read the first blog entry that I wrote 19 months ago when we first arrived in Cebu, it seems like not much that I felt then has changed. It is just as hot and humid, the poverty still is on display every corner we turn. The music is still loud, the traffic is still like a big confusing net.
However, something happened inside us. We are not the same person anymore. We have understood the Filipino culture much deeper than just the heat, the poverty and the loud music, and in turn, the Lord has taught us how, though all these, to understand ourselves.

Tomorrow we are flying to Hong Kong, we will stay there for two months. Dan will fly to China in two different periods of time to teach.

I have already started to miss Cebu, not for the heat and the poverty, but I miss the people I know here. I miss Maris, our faithful and loyal helper, who has saw us through thick and thin while we were dealing with cultural difficulties. I feel sorry for Kioni that she is feels sad for the first time because of having to have to say goodbye to people she knows. She does not remember America, all her memory is in Cebu.

I just hope that I won't cry too much at the airport. Maris and her best friend, Dolor will come and see us off. Saying goodbye is so hard, but we have to do is all the time. Wish that Jesus will come back soon, so there won't be anymore goodbyes.

Typhoon #3 signal is hoisted in Hong Kong, there are strong winds and rain in Hong Kong. I hope the plane will not delay, sleeping in Cebu airport with 5 large suitcases and 6 carry-on bags with a 4 year old in tow is not exactly an adventure.

Split household

In two days (this Wednesday), most of our belongings will be taken by the shipping company and put into storage in Cebu for 5 months, plus the one month it takes to ship the boxes to Aberdeen, Scotland, we will have to part with our belongings for 6 months.

We didn't think of it as too unusual at first because Dan and I have been moving with the Air Force many times in the 10 year time when he was in active duty. However, there is a major difference is, this is the first time we have our belongings split in three different parts of the world.

1) We have a storage unit in Michigan filled with our furniture and household goods, we couldn't bring everything when we came to Cebu.

2) In a few days, we will have another part in storage with the moving company in Cebu.

3) Then we will carry whatever we can with us so we can live for the next 6 months until we see our belongings again.

This will be an interesting year, doing without most of our stuff, that makes me wonder if we even need them in the first place. (A lot of the boxes are books, so I guess we do need them.)

Last time I lived in the same place for more than 9 years was the time after I graduated from Taiwan to the time when I married Dan and moved away. Since then, life has been one transition after another.

I miss the days when I can have all my baking supplies, knitting supplies, books and coffee maker all together, it will be a long while before I have it again. We cannot ship all our household goods in Michigan to Aberdeen, because the cost is high, and flats in Aberdeen is small but expensive. So we will again live a "temporary" life for the next three to four years. I wonder what next after Aberdeen.

This kind of life style actually has taught me the right attitude towards our life on earth, even if I stay in the same house from birth to the day I die, this is just one big transition, it is temporary. The permanent life, the one that I should look forward to, is yet to come. Though I don't see it now, like I don't see how or where we will live after Aberdeen, I know God has prepared a place for us, just like he has prepared a place for us in heaven. This is the most comforting thought amidst of boxes, bubble wraps and hours and hours of traveling ahead of us.

What is history?

All that we call human history -- money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery -- [is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which make him happy. ~ C.S. Lewis

We see all these happen everyday around the world, no matter which culture you are in, which level of society you are in. It is astounding though to see all these displayed so plainly in the Philippines, which is supposed to be a Catholic country. A lot of Filipinos are "religions", today we attended church service, we drove to the mall to make a few last minute purchases before we leave Cebu. On the way, we passed a large Catholic church. The church was so full that there were about 100 people standing outside of the church to attend the service. Filipinos are religious.

However, something is wrong with being just "religious", without Jesus Christ as the center of their worship, man still tries hard "to find something other than God which make him happy." The Bible explained it very clearly, in Romans 3:23-24, it says " for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Life is tasteless and hopeless with Jesus.

Give us the words

I just found out today that my aunt (my father's older sister) died. She had battled dementia for many years and didn't recognize anyone in recent years. She walked out of the house once about 7 years ago and went missing for about a week. My mom called and asked us to pray that she would be found, a few hours later, she called again and told me a nurse reported to the police that she took care of a patient whom was taken in by some strangers, because this woman was stealing bread and she didn't look right. My mom told me that my God did 'work'.

My aunt's funeral will be on the night when we arrive in Hong Kong (April 19, Saturday). My mom think that us being Christians will reject going to a Buddhist funeral, my sister told her we do not reject Buddhist, we just reject the belief. My mom was surprised that we are so 'welcoming' to other religions. I would very much like to go to show my dad that I respect my aunt, though I am sure he understood that as Christians, we will not participate in any Buddhist rituals in the funeral.

My dad took the news quite badly, after all, my aunt was the third oldest of the 7 children my grandparents had, and she was close to my dad because their age difference is small. Now that this aunt has died, my dad might think he will be next.

Since my brother and sister are both Christians, we have been trying to share the gospel with our parents for years but to no avail. We sense that my aunt's death is going to open up a window that allows us to talk deeper into the meaning of life and death.

Jesus, give us the right time, give us the right words. May all glory be yours.

Feeling blue

15 days from today, we will be in Hong Kong. I start to feel a bit sad. While we struggle a lot in the Filipino culture, I am starting to miss our friends whom we might not see for an extremely long time. Particularly, I miss Maris, our faithful helper. Without her, I will not be able to homeschool Kioni and handle the stress that the environment presents. If it is not Maris but another helper, she might actually add to our stress. I will miss her so much, she is the only woman whom I can talk to everyday.

I am feeling blue that this phase of our life will be over soon, we have a difficult time here, however, we have learned so much about ourselves, about interacting with people from other culture and about how diverse cultures can be. We will forever bring with us this experience, and will always look back and draw on the discoveries in Cebu.

Will I miss the heat?

Only 23 days to go before we will leave Cebu and go into the next phase of ministry, that is teaching in China. I have been looking forward to the cooler weather in Hong Kong since it has been roasting hot here in Cebu. We don't deal with heat very well, the humidity and heat combination often send me into a very bad mood.

It is snowing today in Aberdeen, Scotland, where we will spend the next 3-4 years, I am just wondering, just wondering, if I would actually miss the heat in Cebu when I sit in front of the heated room looking out to the constant cold rain in Aberdeen.

Are we all like that? Women, when we have long hair, we want short hair. After we cut it short, we immediately want to grow it out. Men, the to grow beard or not to grow beard question is always lurking, even though you think you are pretty clear about the answer. Wondering, just wondering, what would I look like, or other's response will be, if I grow a beard....

Jesus is powerless for two days

A display inside the Basilica de Santo Nino in Cebu.
Mary, the one of the left, was touched so much that the paint is peeled and the wood from underneath turns black. She is the one people wanted to touch and be blessed.

We have been seeing a lot of interesting Filipino Catholicism phenomena in the Philippines, e.g., we always see huge statues of Mary, but not of Jesus. Jesus, if we see him, is either a helpless little baby in the tender arms of Mary, or he is hanging on the cross, head bowed down and is also helpless. Mary is powerful, and of course, she is the mother of God. Jesus, on the other hand, according to a historian on Mary, had to receive permission before he went on the cross.

The phenomenon also shows up on the Filipino calendars, you almost cannot find one calender that is printed in the Philippines that has Easter Sunday marked, though Good Friday MIGHT be. The only calendars that have these days marked are imported calenders.

We went to a local church this morning (Easter Sunday), for 90 minutes, we heard something along the line of suffering and death of Jesus, towards the last two sentences, the preacher mentioned the resurrection of Jesus and how we should be happy that Jesus lives today.

A missionary who has been serving in the Philippines for 25 years wrote the following email to explain to us an essential part of how Filipino Catholics view Jesus and Easter.

Filipinos tend to restrict their activities during the Holy Week because they are afraid that something might happen to them.

I’ve personally experienced Filipino negative reaction to things during Holy Week. A number of years ago, I needed to have elective surgery done. It was scheduled during Holy Week because that was the first available time that the doctor could do surgery. The doctor was a follower of Christ, so she didn’t have any problem with my having surgery and I didn’t either. But when the nurse was gathering the information for pre-surgery, she was shocked that I would have elective surgery during Holy Week.

Another time, the Vista Verde church in Manila had a retreat during Holy Week. On the way home, there was an accident and several people were injured and one lady died from internal hemorrhaging. The lady was a strong believer, but her mom and family were strong Catholics. The body was put at the church for viewing. The next morning (Easter Sunday) the mom came into the church and yell at her son-in-law, and at the church people. Her daughter was going to be condemned to purgatory. She was inconsolable that day. The church held services every night during the week. The next Sunday was the funeral. Coming out of the church after the service, my friend heard the brother say to his sister, “Don’t be sad, we know where Cynthia is, she’s in heaven, but what about us? What will happen to us when we die." So during the week, their belief about eternal life changed.

The reason I share this is that maybe the issue with the Filipinos isn’t that they don’t believe in Jesus being both human and divine, but the issue is trying to correct the misconception here in this country that God dies every Good Friday. They may have gone too far the other way.

We are still struggling to understand how their theology has become what it is. It is difficult for us to grasp why Jesus is so small.

Bravo! Mr. Lewis

Atheism turns out to be too simple.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning...

Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense

My aunt forward this to me, though I would share:

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm;
Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Elastoplast to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot!! She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone.

Strange sight

We were bombarded by loud music again this pass weekend again. Ernie Manges, a missionary friend who is staying with us for two months, said the music was rarely that loud when he was a resident in the mission home for some years.

We were told by Maris and other missionaries that some people would move speakers as big as refrigerators on a flat bed truck, set them up in an open field somewhere, crank up the volume and charge people who would come and party.

It was Friday night, the music started at around 6:30pm, it went on until past midnight, though none of us, except, was able to sleep, we still managed to fall asleep around 4:00am. Ernie stayed up until the day broke, he said the music was still going at that time. Saturday night, the music started around the same time at night, same as the night before, it went on way in the wee hours of the night. By 2:30am, Dan was too curious to stay in bed, he decided to investigate where exactly the music came from.

I was worried about him going by himself, I am worried that he would confront the people, if he did, I am worried for his safety. I got out of bed to go with him, just to make sure he would not get out of the car.

We drove down the dimly lit streets, only a few cars was running, strangely, there were groups of young people walking down the street, even more people hanging around in front of closed stores.

We drove down a street where we heard the music coming, not far down this side street, we saw a bright disco ball, loud rap and disco type music was booming, under the street light, we saw three pigs, seemed like they were just slaughtered, someone was putting some sort of sauce on one of them, another preparing a fire over a big heap of charcoal, obviously, they are going to do a "lechon baboy" (grilled whole pig).

About 20 people were present, either sitting or standing, they were relatively motionless. There was no one dancing, no one partying at all!

We were starting to draw attention, even though we never stopped the car, we were just driving a bit slower than normal. We started to feel quite uneasy, we were definitely watched. We slowly turned around and went home. The music went on all night, it faded the Sunday morning at around 6:30am.

We of course asked Maris when she came to work Monday morning. She was not surprised by the lack of dancing and the slaughtered pigs. She said probably someone is going to have a baptismal ceremony on Sunday, that's why they are preparing the food the night before. "This is part of the fiesta." Maris said calmly.

Very interesting experience. Ernie said for the years he has been in the Philippines, he has always heard loud music, but never went investigate. "You have seen what I have not."

Journey to the Christian Faith

Catholic School
My parents have no religious beliefs, however, they sent me to the best school that they knew of in Hong Kong, which was a Catholic elementary school. I believed that there was a God, however, I had no personal relationship with him. Gradually God faded out of my life as I found more “important” things to do, like friendship, money and most of all: freedom, which I interpreted as “doing whatever that pleases me.”

In Taiwan
I went to Taiwan for my undergraduate degree and studied at the National Taiwan University where I had 4 Christian roommates. They actively shared the Gospel with me repeatedly over 3 years, but to no avail, or at least I thought. I was irritated by them and didn’t want anything to do with God, because I was certain that I would lose the freedom I enjoyed.

As a foreign literature major (i.e., non-Chinese literature), the Bible was one of the classics that I was asked to study. I learned how to appreciate the beautiful structure of the Bible, but it did not affect my inner spiritual being. Life was too short, I did not want to search for something that was so vague, I had to “seize the day” and enjoy it while I could.

The ‘Jesus Man’
I went back to Hong Kong to find work after graduation. By finding a good job I felt ready to take on the world. On the first day of work, the coworker who sat opposite me invited me to lunch. While at the restaurant, he bowed his head and prayed before he ate. I was so frustrated, thinking, “Oh, no, a Jesus Man.” I had just been relived of 4 Christians, now here I had stumbled into another one. My coworker said, “God was certainly pursuing you.”

The “Jesus Man” talked about Jesus all the time, he challenged me with the questions of life and death and gave me a lot of books to read. I showed some patience at first, but after a while, I told him not to talk about God anymore; he did not listen. Sometimes we got into heated debates and I told him that I had studied the Bible and had found nothing exciting in it, unlike what he claimed as the ‘Word of God’.

Studying Buddhism
I am the kind of person who is serious about life, though I wanted to do whatever I wanted, I thought about the meaning of life all the time. Since this Christian coworker has put the thought about life and death even more so in my mind, I decided to take a class in Buddhism. My father always said, “You are a Chinese, if you believe in anything at all, you have to believe in Buddhism.”

After one year of class in Buddhist philosophy, at the end of the last class, I was perplexed. I have been waiting for the master teacher to give a final conclusion about “Buddha the God”. But he never did. When I went up to him and asked him where was God in Buddhism, he smiled and said, “You got it, there is no god in Buddhism.” I was stunned and utterly disappointed.

WIthout my knowledge, God was slowly working to soften my heart. On my 1-year anniversary on the job, I pulled out from my drawer one of the many booklets that my coworker gave me, it happened that one was about the Last Days; I took it with me while I traveled to meet a friend by bus. I read the booklet and there on that crowded bus, the Holy Spirit moved me to surrender to his sovereignty. I followed the prayer that was printed in the back of the booklet and acknowledged Jesus Christ as my savior.

No church please
I did not attend church after I surrender to Jesus. My reason was that I knew I was a sinner and I did not want to hang around with other sinners; all I needed was to be with Jesus alone. My coworker knew full well my stubbornness and did not force me to go. However, he encouraged me to read the Bible. I started to read the Bible thinking I could develop a relationship with God all by myself. After 6 months I had read my way through most of the Bible. But one day I was reading John 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” I pondered these verses for a long time. Then I realized that I not only had to love Jesus, but also to develop relationships with his people. Though it was a difficult thing for me to do at that time, I realized that I needed to obey my Lord. Shortly after I started to attend church with my coworker.

To be in fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ is one of the best things that has ever happen to me—fellowship was nothing like I had imagined. I now know so clearly that then I had a very crooked view about going to church. Now I enjoy the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ no matter where I am. I found myself growing in Christ much better with all those “sinners” around me.

Knowing what life is for
The biggest change that I have experienced since I acknowledged Christ as my savior, is that I now have a purpose in life, which is to glorify God with my whole being. I realize that the “freedom” that I was so afraid to lose was not freedom at all, it was just an aimless chasing of vanity. Jesus Christ has revolutionized my life, so much so that I went against the will of my parents and quit my job, in which I was doing quite well, in order to attend seminary. In the Chinese culture, going against the will of one’s parents is quite an unusual thing. But I recognized that God wanted me to serve him in a more serious capacity and that in order to do so I needed training!

It has been a many years since the day I prayed on that crowded bus, but I experience God’s grace abundantly everyday, especially through trials and difficult times. The Lord has shown me again and again how he keeps his promises, and that he honors his covenant with me. I thank Him for not giving up on me. He is truly unchangeable in his faithfulness!

信仰基督之路

以下是我信仰基督的心路歷程，原載於布家家庭網站。

天主教小學
我爸爸媽媽都沒有宗教仰，可是他們送我到當時在香港最好的學校，那是一所天主教小學。我從小就相信這個世界上有一位神存在，但是我和祂郤沒有任何關係。當我發現生命中有更重要的事情，如友情、金錢和最重要的自由，慢慢地，神就從我的生命中淡出了。當時我對自由的看法是：隨心所欲，想做就去做。

台灣的日子
大學是在國立台灣大學唸的，大學宿舍房間共住了六個女孩子，除了我和一位台灣女同學之外，其他的室友都是基督徒。他們三年來積極地、熱心地向我們傳福音，可是郤全無結果，至少那時我是這樣想的。我對他們的關心覺得十分厭煩，更沒有興趣與這位神有任何關係，因為我認為信神就會失去我當時正在享受的自由。

大學時主修的是外國語文和文學，聖經是其中我們必定要讀的經典文學作品。我學會了如何研讀聖經美妙的文筆和結構，可是這等認識對我內在的屬靈生命完全沒有影響。生命太短暫了，我不想去尋找太過虛無飄渺的東西，我要及時行樂，能享受生命就徹底的去享受。

“耶穌佬”
大學畢業後回到香港工作，找到份好工作，十分自得，覺得可以大展拳腳。上班第一天，與我對坐的同事邀請我一起吃午飯。菜來了，二話不說，他就低下頭祈禱。我一時為之語塞，心想：“不好了！他是個耶穌佬！”我剛擺脫了在台灣的四個基督徒室友，現在每天上班竟然要對著一個基督徒。那位同事說：“神真是在追尋你，沒有放棄你。”

“耶穌佬”同事經常跟我談耶穌，又以人生和死亡等問題挑戰我，更不斷地給我宗教書籍看。剛開始的時候我還耐心地聽他說幾句，可是過了幾個月，我聽夠了，我叫他不要再跟我談耶穌了；可是，他沒有聽我的話，口邊還是掛著各種人生問題。有時候我會跟他討論得十分激烈，我告訴他我是有讀過聖經的，這本書平平無奇，並不像他所說的那樣，是“神的說話”。

唸佛
雖然我喜歡隨心所欲的生活，但是我自認是個對生命認真的人，經常思想有關生命的問題。這位基督徒同事的深入問題叫我更加想去尋找生命的意義，於是我報名去學佛。我爸爸經常說：“你是中國人，要信甚麼宗教的話，就要信佛。”

上了一年佛學，在最後一堂課中我在等待大師作總結，告訴我們佛就是神。可是他完全沒有提到這一點。下課後我問大師，佛學中難道沒有神嗎？他微笑一下，點著頭說：“你悟了！”我是多麼的驚訝和失望。

原來在不知不覺中，神在慢慢地軟化我的心。我在這公司上班一週年當天，從塞滿了耶穌佬同事給我的小冊子的抽屜裏，隨手拿了一本有關世界末日的小書，打算在坐巴士去探朋友的路程上看一看。在擠滿下班人羣的巴士上，我把這小書一口氣看完，就在這擠擁的巴士上，神感動我，叫我完全降服在祂的權能之下。我跟著小書最後頁的禱文作了祈禱，承認耶穌基督是我的救主。

謝絶教會
雖說我降服在耶穌的主權之下，但是我沒參加教會聚會。我所持的理由是因為知道我是個罪人，所以不想與其他的罪人混在一起，我單單與耶穌在一起就夠了。我的同事十分明白我倔強的性格，並沒有強逼我到教會去，他郤鼓勵我讀聖經。我開始專心的讀聖經，以為我自己一個人就能與神建立關係。六個月過去了，我也差不多看完了整本聖經。有一天我看到約翰福音13章34-35節：“我賜給你們一條新命令，乃是叫你們彼此相愛；我怎樣愛你們，你們也要怎樣相愛。你們若有彼此相愛的心，眾人因此就認出你們是我的門徒了。”我思想這段經文好長一段時間，才發現我不單要愛耶穌，更要跟他的子民建立關係。當時我性格十分倔強，要遵從耶穌這個教導一點都不容易，我知道我必定要聽從我主的說話。不久之後，我就開始跟我的同事到教會聚會。

與在基督內的朋友們一起崇拜聚會是極為美好的事，並不像我想像中的的沉悶難耐。我以前對教會的看法原來是那麼錯誤的。現在無論我到那裏，我都享受與其他基督徒在一起。我發現當我與其他“罪人”在一起的時候，我在基督裏成長得更好，更堅固。

明白生命為何
我認信基督作為我的救主和生命的主之後所經歷最大的改變，是我明白了生命的意義，那就是以我的全人去榮耀神。我醒察到我以前一直恐懼失去的自由，其實不是真自由，而是盲目地對虛空事物的追求。耶穌基督對我的生命起了翻天覆地的變化，我甚至違背雙親的意思把工作辭掉，一意孤行去讀神學。在中國文化中，違背父母的心意是不容易的事。可是我知道神要我一心一意地投身去事奉祂，我就要去接受裝備。

在那擠擁的巴士上第一次向神祈禱已經是很多年前的事了，但是我到今時今日仍然每天經歷到神豐盛的恩典，特別是在艱難困苦的日子，神的恩典就更是滿溢。主耶穌一次又一次地向我顯明祂是持守應許、履行諾言的神，祂又信守他與我所立的約。我感謝神當年沒有放棄我。祂的信實確實是永不改變的。

How should I pray?

It is 1:13am, Dan and I are still up researching on various things on the internet, which is quite rare, I usually go to bed around 11:00pm. But we still hear the music booming and banging from the neighbourhood through our closed windows and door. Should I pray that their stereo will get broken soon?

Only doing what Tiger Woods' parents did...

Why this article
I have not been able to express how I have been feeling for a long while about Kioni's possible giftedness. It stressed me out when I talk about it, because I have seen how others look at us, "Alright, she knows how to read, that's good", "You are making a mistake by pushing so hard, she is only 3, for crying out loud!"
"Add the label 'gifted' to a child and a whole range of preconceptions kick in to judge what that child is like. Some will see him or her as a 'little Einstein' and others as the product of pushy parents." National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)

Sometimes people plain don't believe us. I deleted a whole section in our recent newsletter where Dan listed all the 2nd grade home-school subjects that Kioni is taking for this particular reason. How do we tell people we are not pushing her?


Kioni writing a "book" complete with illustrations

It is almost painful not be able to talk to other people about her daily activities, because I cannot explain why she LOVES to do Kumon pages and other school work, how easy it is for Kioni to learn German, how easy it is for her to spell "concentration", "veterinarian" and "rehearsal", how much she loves to read the "Woodland Mysteries" stories (a series of books in 10 chapters or so with only black and white drawings), and handbook for dinosaurs and field guide for mushrooms, how she can identify the "ring-tailed lemur" immediately when she saw one on TV, how much she loves to sit down and write a "book" for hours, complete with illustrations.


A ring-tailed lemur

But I have decided that I need to acknowledge the fact that she is gifted in words and languages, and work on guiding Kioni to the best of my ability, instead of worrying about how people look at us. We need to know how to parent her, because she has unusual needs that comes with the giftedness:

"Advanced cognition often makes gifted children aware of information that they are not yet emotionally ready to handle, particularly over moral and ethical issues. They tend to experience all of life with greater intensity, rendering them emotionally complex and very vulnerable to dilemmas as they grow in awareness. There are no 'developmental norms' for gifted children and comparisons with children of the same age become meaningless; they have more advanced play interests and often are academically far ahead of their age peers." NAGC

How it all began
Dan and I are not "kids" people, we didn't really pay much attention to kids, and if you asked how old a kid is, we probably would get it wrong. That changed when we have Kioni, not much though, except now we know probably how old a kid is. But when it comes to learning abilities, we still had no clue what a 6 months old could do. We of course looked up the internet for milestones kind of stuff, but I often thought they were not accurate because it seems like Kioni has exceeded many of the milestones. So after a while, I didn't pay attention to those anymore, naming them going to easy on what kids can do.

It was not until we started hearing our friends, particularly those who have several kids, telling us Kioni possesses some special abilities, then we started to think maybe she is a bit different. But still, "gifted" is a word that never entered our mind. Afterall, Dan and I are both "average" people, two average people, logically, should not have produced a "gifted" person, plus it sounded a bit scary to have a "gifted" kid.

When Kioni uttered her first word "lamp" at 5 months, and searched the floor for our dog when we said the dog's name (MeMe), we were amazed, but didn't think too much about it, thinking that's quite normal. She also loved to sit still at my lap and listened to me read to her, and flipped the pages when the page was done.

Coming into realization
Then at 10 months of age, she started learning the alphabets, both upper case and lower case through a great website, then we thought, great! We knew by then she loves to read.

At 18 months, Dan had to find something for the two of them to do while I was at work, so we contacted a Kumon center, the evaluation on that day confirmed our belief that she is good at reading. Six months later, she was enrolled, she was two years and three months old. By the time she is in the program for 2 years at the age of 4 years and 3 months, she will complete over half of the Kumon Reading program.

While researching how to help Kioni live and learn during our future years in Aberdeen, Scotland, I came across the above mentioned website NAGC. The following Level 4 descriptions in many ways describes Kioni on the spot, I highlighted those points. (The UK identifies students in 5 levels of giftedness, with level 5 being the highest.) Kioni is clearly gifted in Language and Words, (her vocabulary level is at U.S. 6th grade level), probably in some other areas that we still have to put a name to it.

Only doing what Tiger Woods' parents did
We know for sure she is not "Little Einstein", she is gifted only in certain areas, but it is enough for us to pause and ponder how to best raise her to be someone who will be used by God in a powerful and wonderful way. I believe God gives her a good brain for a reason.
Afterall, we are just doing what Tiger Woods' parents did -- "His parents identified their son's talent at an unusually early age. (His father) devoted his energies to developing his son's talent and to furthering the boy's career as a golfer. All the while, Tiger's mother made sure that her son's rare talent and his budding golf career would not interfere with his childhood or his future happiness." (from Answers.com)

Level Four Gifted
How many Level Four children are there in our schools? Many parents of many Level Four children turn to home education to solve some of the school behaviour issues, schools where most of the parents are highly educated professionals, can expect that about 2% of their students may be at Level Four or higher. A middle class population primary school with 100 children per year group will have one or two of these children for every two year groups, which means the school will probably not have a pupil this intelligent every year. By the time the pupils are all drawn together for secondary school, there may be 1 to 3 students in each year group.

• Almost all paid attention within months of birth while someone to read to them (Kioni - 4 months)
  
  
• Books were a favourite interest before three or four months (True for Kioni)
  
  
• Almost all understood parental directives by 6 months (True for Kioni)
  
  
• Most knew and said some words by 5 to 9 months (She utter her first word - lamp when she was 5 months old)
  
  
• Many had large vocabularies, receptive and expressive, by 14 months (Friends who baby-sat her would often made that comment to us, at the time, we didn't know better.)
  
  
• Many recognized and picked out specific numbers and letters by 12-15 months (True for Kioni)

• Most knew many colors by 15-18 months (She knew hers before 12 months)
  
  
• Many liked puzzles by 15 to 36 months (35+ piece puzzles) (Puzzles are one of her favourite toys)
  
  
• Many read numerous sight words between 15 and 20 months (True for Kioni)

• Almost all knew the entire alphabet by 15-22 months (Kioni knew the alphabet by 12 months)
  
  
• Most read names on signs and stores from between 20 months and 3 years (True for Kioni)
  
  
• Many memorized the books that were read to them before they were 2 years old (True for Kioni)

• Many showed interest in letter sounds and sounding out short words by age 2 (True for Kioni at 18 months)
  
  
• Most were speaking in complex sentences, more than four words, by 15 to 24 months (True for Kioni)
  
  
• Many could rote count to 10, many higher, by 13 to 20 months (True for Kioni)
  
  
• Most printed letters, numbers, words, and their names between 2 and 3 years (True for Kioni)
  
  
• Many had high interest in factual information, how things work, science, by 3 to 4 (True for Kioni, she has a lot of books on animal facts, science, space and such.)
  
  
• Most knew many sight words by age 3-4 (True for Kioni)
  
  
• Most grasp skip counting, backwards, addition, subtraction, more and less, by 3 to 4 years (Kioni has been doing all of the above since age 3 with Kumon, and continuing with homeschooling in Singapore Math, she is grasping the concept of fraction also recently - November, 2008.)
  
  
• Most were independent on computer by age 3 to 4 years, most keyboarding by 5 (Kioni started to use the computer (mouse) at 2 and a half. She is typing, properly with all fingers, by 5.)
  
  
• Most read easy readers by age 3 to 4 years (True for Kioni)
  
  
• Many question the reality of Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy by 3 to 4 years (She never believes they were real)
  
  
• Many understand some multiplication, division and some fractions by 5 (She is doing exactly those in Singapore Math in 2008-2009, somewhere from age 4-5.)
  
  
• Most read for pleasure and information by 5 (Kioni started doing that by 3, she would read shampoo bottles, cereal boxes, instruction manuals, anything that would rive her information on a certain product.)
  
  
• All read two to five years beyond grade level by age 6 (Kioni is about 5 years beyond her grade level)
  
  
• All read youth and adult chapter books independently by age 6-7 (True for Kioni)

Most Level Four children were capable of finishing all academic coursework through Year 7 grade (US senior high school year) before they reached Year 3 or 4 (9th grade or 10th grade) , but few of them had the opportunity. If the environment, inner drive, and general opportunities are right for them, Level Four children are capable of performing at the highest levels in their areas and fields of interest.

Noses are for....

My friend's Jeannie Swanstrom's grandson Owen, who just turned three recently said,

Ears are for hearing,
Eyes are for seeing,
And noses are for BOOGERS!

Two lists

Where is the best place to live?
The United Nation just published the 2007/2008 Human Development Index rankings, the index used 2005 figures for life expectancy, educational levels and real per capita income to rank 175 nations of the world. For better understanding the index, go to their website.

How rotten is your country?
Another list is of my interest also, since much is debated as to how much corruption is going on in the Philippines, check out The 2006 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Well, if you have any sense of what corruption does to a country, you will find that the more corrupted a country is, the harder it is for anything to work at all, I mean anything! We have experienced it first hand in the Philippines.

2007/2008 Human Development Index rankings

Iceland Norway Australia Canada Ireland Sweden Switzerland Japan Netherlands France Finland United States Spain Denmark Austria United Kingdom Belgium Luxembourg New Zealand Italy Hong Kong, China (SAR) Germany Israel Greece Singapore Korea (Rep. of) Slovenia Cyprus Portugal Brunei Darussalam Barbados Czech Republic Kuwait Malta Qatar Hungary Poland Argentina United Arab Emirates Chile Bahrain Slovakia Lithuania Estonia Latvia Uruguay Croatia Costa Rica Bahamas Seychelles Cuba Mexico Bulgaria Saint Kitts and Nevis Tonga Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Antigua and Barbuda Oman Trinidad and Tobago

Romania Saudi Arabia Panama Malaysia Belarus Mauritius Bosnia and Herzegovina Russian Federation Albania Macedonia, TFYR Brazil Dominica Saint Lucia Kazakhstan Venezuela, RB Colombia Ukraine Samoa (Western) Thailand Dominican Republic Belize China Grenada Armenia Turkey Suriname Jordan Peru Lebanon Ecuador Philippines Tunisia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Fiji Iran, Islamic Rep. of Paraguay Georgia Guyana Azerbaijan Sri Lanka Maldives Jamaica Cape Verde El Salvador Algeria Viet Nam Occupied Palestinian Territories Indonesia Syrian Arab Republic Turkmenistan Nicaragua Moldova Egypt Uzbekistan Mongolia Honduras Kyrgyzstan Bolivia Guatemala

Gabon Vanuatu South Africa Tajikistan São Tomé and Principe Botswana Namibia Morocco Equatorial Guinea India Solomon Islands Lao People's Dem. Rep. Cambodia Myanmar Bhutan Comoros Ghana Pakistan Mauritania Lesotho Congo Bangladesh Swaziland Nepal Madagascar Cameroon Papua New Guinea Haiti Sudan Kenya Djibouti Timor-Leste Zimbabwe Togo Yemen Uganda Gambia Senegal Eritrea Nigeria Tanzania (U. Rep. of) Guinea Rwanda Angola Benin Malawi Zambia Côte d'Ivoire Burundi Congo (Dem. Rep. of the) Ethiopia Chad Central African Republic Mozambique Mali Niger Guinea-Bissau Burkina Faso Sierra Leone