wuhoo!: texas

Showing posts with label texas. Show all posts

catching up: september

This week we're sharing some of our facebook statuses from the past few months to help "catch up" on what's been going on in our lives this past year.

This post covers September. In September, the Texas wildfires hit close to home, and I twisted my ankle during the first week of school. Plus, we celebrated Gilby's 5th year with me and Teacher's Day.

catching up: july and august

This week we're sharing some of our facebook statuses from the past few months to help "catch up" on what's been going on in our lives this past year. This post covers July and August. We enjoyed spending all of July in Texas with family, and August was full of changes--packing, moving, and Law starting seminary.

catching up: may and june

For the next few days, we're sharing some of our facebook statuses from the past few months to help "catch up" on what's been going in our lives. Next up is May and June, which included a lot of the normal "end of the year" goodbyes and ended with some life-changing news (no, no not expecting--Lawrance got accepted to seminary), and we headed to America.

taiwan is hotter than texas (on average)

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.

taiwan is hotter than texas avg dew point

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!

all dressed up

I was thinking about these photos tonight as I drove home, and I realized I’d not posted them yet the blog. So . . . here is my lovely husband all dressed up in Texas two years ago.

Our dear neighbors and friends, Jerry and Lin, hosted Lawrance while he was in Texas before we got married. Jerry is the one responsible for dressing up Lawrance. Thanks, Jerry!!

seventeen years ago

Seventeen years ago in late February or early March, I confided in my mother. I finally told her about something I had been secretly praying about for quite awhile.

We were standing at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes when I told her. Her response to my secret prayer? She threw the potato and peeler in the sink, turned to look me in the eyes, pointed her finger at me and very sternly said “Don’t you EVER pray things for other people without talking to them first! Because you KNOW God answers prayer!”

Then she left me standing at the kitchen sink while she disappeared for awhile.

Up until that point, I hadn’t really considered that my prayer for something I felt God had laid on my heart to ask Him for and that I had begun to desire would affect her life. But, in reality, it would affect her life in a HUGE way.

You see, I had been praying for a brother.

On March 30, 1993, Mom and Dad sat my sister and I down to tell us that they were expecting. At first we totally thought Dad was trying to pull an early April Fool’s joke on us. But Mom’s tears and persistence that it was true finally convinced us.

So, we told all our friends and announced to our church on the eve of April Fool’s day that there was going to be a Baby Parmley soon. No one believed us. Many didn’t realize it wasn’t an April fool’s joke till after my mom was clearly showing her pregnancy.

I remember Dad once used Sam as an illustration in a sermon on how God answers prayer. See, Mom and Dad had prayed for a son soon after Sarah was born–that would have been around 14 years before Sam was conceived. To my parents, it seemed like God’s answer was no, but really it was just wait.

So, Sam is the answer to many, many prayers from different people and across time.

A lady at our church was praying for Baby Parmley. As she was praying, God laid the name “Samuel” on her heart. She told us all this story, and soon everyone was calling the baby “Baby Sammy.”

Do you know what the name Samuel means? It is Hebrew for “God heard” or “requested of God.” What a perfect name!

God’s timing is perfect. I can’t imagine life without this kiddo. He’s been and still is a huge blessing!

I love you, Sambo! And that’s no joke.

time in texas

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 . . .