Happy New Year!

As we reflect on and say goodbye to 2010, I hope you have had a blessed year.

For me, it has been a great year. Many great things happened while there were also a few difficult moments (which I hope to catch up and share on the blog soon). I am thankful for the great things and am learning to give thanks to God during difficult times. It is not easy, but those are times that I have found myself being drawn closer to Him, and times that I have to look beyond myself to seek His purpose and glory.

As we welcome the new year and ponder our new year's resolutions, I hope we will all be seeking Him more diligently through great times and difficult times. There is always a reason to hope because He holds tomorrow.

So long, 2010. Hello, 2011!

Merry Christmas!

It has been a long while. There is much to update, but first -

Merry Christmas!

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." - Luke 2:11

Shoebox Time!

Operation Christmas Child is going at full force!

In July, I attended a banquet and was challenged to double the number of boxes packed from last year, so more children will receive shoebox gifts and hear the Good News. Last year, we had about 140 boxes; to double it, it would be about 280. This was not about numbers, because every shoebox gift is precious. Yet, it was about stepping out in faith, and trusting God and His provisions, since packing these many boxes was something I absolutely could not do on my own. And along the way, I had the help of friends at church who came on board with promoting OCC with much enthusiasm.

Now we have a booth at church and people are very responsive! Various Sunday School classes, Bible study classes and other groups are participating, and donations have been coming in! Even when I went to a couple of Target stores this afternoon to ask about empty shoebox donations, I got great responses and took home a few dozen boxes.

Packing a shoebox is easy - find an empty shoebox (wrapping it with Christmas wrapping paper is optional), decide whether to fill it for a boy or girl (and what age range), and fill it with age-appropriate toys, hygiene items, school supplies and hard candy. If you can, enclose a $7 donation to help cover shipping costs too. It is a fun and easy project both adults and children would enjoy. Children can also do a coloring page and tell the recipients about themselves, and/or write a letter!

OCC has offices not only in the US, but also Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand - and Hong Kong! So if you are in those areas, please visit their website and look for the icons towards the bottom.

Will you pack a shoebox?

August Birthdays!

It has been two months since my last post. Since two months ago, I have returned to school (part-time), begun a new Bible study, seen my toe heal, and gotten a year older, among many other things. Speaking of birthday, we celebrated three birthdays in the family in August. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

The first one was my sister-in-law Rachel's birthday. We had a pool party at our aunt's house and it was a lot of fun! We also welcomed my other sister-in-law who had moved to the state with her family about a week before.

Rachel cutting the cake while the kids eagerly waiting to have a piece.

Later in August, we had another party to celebrate two birthdays! Princess N's and Miss E's birthdays were only a few days apart and my baby sister-in-law was going through town before moving out of state, so my back-to-Texas sister-in-law threw a party for both birthday girls.

Fun water balloon fight between my nieces and nephews before the birthday (cup)cakes.

Princess N turned 10!

Miss E turned 1!

We ended the day with dinner at Hubby's favorite barbeque restaurant, and with a picture of the five oldest children lined up by height.

Black Sandals

A few months ago, one of the heels of the black closed-toe shoes that I often wore to work was wearing out badly.

So I went to the mall.

I used to like to go clothes shopping; but now, not so much. The mall had become a place of strong smells - a mix of all scents of perfume, incense, candles etc. My sense of smell had been severely challenged and going to the mall had become a dread. But I had a coupon for a department store.

So I wanted to make it a quick trip.

I knew black closed-toe - and comfortable - shoes would be hard to find, so I did not expect to spend only 15 minutes at the mall. In the end, however, after some looking, and expanding my search to various shoe stores at the mall, I could not find what I was looking for. For the few pairs of black closed-toe shoes I saw, they were either too pricey or too not-my-style, or too uncomfortable.

So I resorted to anything black.

Then I saw this pair of black sandals. They were not what I was looking for, and they were not on sale (!). But my nose was complaining and my mind could not bear the thought of another trip to the mall - any mall or shopping place.

So I bought the black sandals.

They turned out to be the pair of shoes I have been wearing the most in the past three weeks. With my broken toe, my foot was too swollen and bruised for me to wear closed-toe shoes; and I would rather not wear anything even with the slightest heels. The sandals had been the perfect shoes. And now, I like these sandals a lot too. I am very thankful I had the sandals already before the broken toe. I would not want to go shopping, not with a broken toe.

Sometimes, what I know, what I think, or what I think I know, is best, is not the best. I thought I needed a pair of black closed-toe shoes because I had always worn them to work; but in the end, I needed sandals. I did not know that when I bought them, but now I do. This might be a small example, but in life, how many times have I thought I know what would be best for me, only to find out I really do not know - and that I am not in control anyway (see: broken toe)? And how often has God provided what I truly need?

So I need to trust God.

Broken Toe

Perfectionism is insecurity in art form. - Beth Moore

In a freak accident at home on Sunday night before bed, I broke (or sprained, I don't really know which one) my little toe, as my foot was somehow caught in the foot stool in the opposite direction I was headed. A fairly large area of my foot turned a light purple and became swollen overnight, making it rather painful to walk the next morning.

I don't think I am clumsy, and I have never had a broken bone, not even on the tennis court (where in my case, the injury risks are theoretically the highest). To a perfectionist like me, breaking/spraining a toe would have been a fairly upsetting moment because the whole thing came out of nowhere, it was of course not planned and the consequences were inconvenient. It would normally immediately provoke thoughts such as "how did this happen?" or "why were you not being more careful?" or "were you not looking?" or "this could not be happening. I have tennis this weekend!" So on and so forth. The kind of thinking that is unnecessarily harsh on oneself as a response to circumstances over which she has no control.

Strangely, however, I have somehow been very accepting of this rather rare occurance. Sure, I have to make adjustments (and yes, too bad there will be no tennis for a few weeks), but much worse things have happened. This little incident has only made me more appreciative of the many things (the ability to walk, good health, to name a few) I have had the privilege of enjoying.

It must have something to do with the lessons on (in)security I have been learning in the past few months.

I have always known I am a perfectionist, but I have also always thought it is part of the "package" - my personality (as a first-born child). However, Beth Moore's So Long, Insecurity has been telling me otherwise. Accordingly to Beth, all women have insecurity in some form; and perfectionism is one of them. I have never put perfectionism together with insecurity; but truth be told, the drive to do everything "perfectly" and according to plan comes from a fear of failure or a fear of showing weaknesses. Oh my. How my eyes have been opened to something I thought was simply a personality trait.

Under normal circumstances, a toe-breaking incident would trigger the perfectionistic mechanism in me. But if this incident means a new normal, perhaps it is worth a broken toe.

Celebrating Freedom

We had a great Fourth of July weekend with family.

We first spent a little bit of time with my aunt and cousins before my cousins went back to Hong Kong for a few weeks. It was a musical night as we played drums on XBox and listened to my younger cousin play the flute. Fun!

Then we spent the rest of the weekend with my sister- and brother-in law and our three nephews. It was a fun-filled weekend as we watched baseball and World Cup (and I snuck in however much Wimbledon as I could :), drew pictures, played ball/toy airplane/video games/Scrabble/magnetic letters, read stories, went grocery shopping (okay, that was just my sister-in-law and me, the girls), did dishes together, ate home-made icecream, and as a bonus, I even got kisses from my youngest nephew......good times.

But my favorite Fourth of July moment actually came a few weeks earlier, if that could count. At my baby sister-in-law's college graduation in mid-May, I happened to sit next to my oldest nephew. We sang the national anthem at the beginning of commencement. As we sang, I also heard David's singing. It was such a beautiful sound to me. Listening to adults sing those treasured words often brought tears to my eyes, but listening to a 9-year-old sing those words was in a way much more powerful.

Not only can we celebrate Independence Day by singing the national anthem and watching fireworks on the Fourth of July, but we can sing those words any day of the year. And even more significantly, our next generation has the freedom to sing it too. What better way to celebrate our country than this?

Scratches

I get scratches from Hanes on a fairly regular basis.

She does not scratch me on purpose; but sometimes she puts her claws on me when I unkonwingly startle her, or when she does not want to be picked up, or when she decides she is done cuddling and uses me as a springboard, or whenever she thinks more force is needed. I have had scratches on my stomach, my arms and legs. Some have never left any marks, but a few are still visible.

Oddly enough, although the scratches hurt (and some more than others), I would still rather have them than Hanes not letting me love on her.

I wonder what God thinks about the "scratches" we give him when we decide we are finished getting close to him, or when we do not obey Him, or when we try to run away from Him (or His plans for us). Would He rather us hurt Him (whether intentionally or unintentionally) than us not going to Him at all too?

If I, a mere mortal, care about a cat enough to not mind the scratches, how much more does God, who is immortal and the Creator of us all, care about us? During this Father's Day weekend, it makes me wonder.

Locks of Love II

Four years ago, I donated my hair to Locks of Love for the first time. To this day, I still remember how light I felt after the cut, not to mention the joy I had knowing it was not just another other haircut, but one that contributed to a special cause. Because of that, I had wanted to do it again.

Four years later, my hair had gotten very, very long. Hubby loves long hair so it took a few months before he said yes to my haircut. :-) He was very sweet to let me do it again. He also took my "before and after" pictures, so here we go:

Before

After

It feels so good to be able to do it again!

Washington DC

Two and a half months ago, we took a road trip to Washington DC, the nation's capital.

It came about when one of the few original copies of  "my map" (the 17th-century world map I worked with for my thesis), was featured in one of the exhibits at the Library of Congress. The LOC did not own the map, but made a rare exception to show an item on loan. Since this was the first time an original copy of "my map" was on display in America, I wanted to go! Hubby had a few things he wanted to see in the area, so it expanded into a vacation. It had been about 10 years since we had been to DC (separately).

A long road trip of course meant the license plate game! The goal was to spot all 50 license plates on the road (seeing license plates in the issuing states does not count). Usually we would get about 35-40 plates and it was almost impossible to get Alaska or Hawaii, let alone both. But this time, we got both!! We did not get all 50 plates, but we did have 45!

On the way there, weather was not the best; but while we were there, weather in DC was beautiful! It was sunny, pleasant, with clear blue sky! On the first day, we visited the Library of Congress (for my map, among other things). It was so great to see one of the few original maps in its original size (in 6 panels)!

While Hubby visited the National Museum of the Marine Corps, I indulged in more early modern history with a trip to the Folger Shakespeare Library.

We also visited the National Mall, several Smithsonian Museums (Air and Space, Freer Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Natural History, American Indians, and American History), Chinatown, Arlington National Cemetery and Old Town Alexandria. It was a lot of walking, but it was a nice trip (and riding the subway daily certainly reminded me of home)!

Hubby got sick about half way through our trip so we cut our stay in DC half a day short and I did most of the driving on the way back. It was the first time I drove that much! To add to the adventure, on the way back, there was even snow - real snow - in our own state! Because of that, we changed our route but could still see - and safely drive through - some snow. Pretty phenomenal.

So, enjoy the pictures!

Nieces and Nephews: Hanes

Yes, it's Hanes, the cat. Since she is my sister-in-law's cat, we call ourselves uncle and aunt when we "talk" to her. In that sense, she is our "niece," the feline one. But I guess this post is also a way for me to update on Hanes, because it has been a while since I last posted her pictures.

When I met Hanes for the first time (if we could call it a meeting), she was sleeping on the couch at my mother-in-law's house. It was before Hubby and I were married, so it was many years ago. She did not get up (or get away) so I did not even see her face or any movement. She was just a ball of fur on the couch. She did not seem too "friendly."

Then, I saw her move around the house during our subsequent visits, but she was shy and I still did not know her much.

Hubby became her keeper almost three years ago, when my mother-in-law moved and we moved hubby to our current town (I was still in school in Florida). Since I was not moved yet, I would see her once a month for a weekend, but she had become much more "friendly."

When I joined Hubby in our current town two summers ago, I spent the first couple of weeks of summer at home unpacking boxes from my move from Florida and his move from his apartment, and setting up our new home. But I spent most of the summer finishing my thesis. Hanes began to let me love on her and we developed a bond over the summer. She would come sit on my lap while I was writing, and she let me play with her.

Now, Hanes is no longer just the ball of fur that kept a distance. She is my "little one" or "sweetie," as I sometimes call her. I love it when she comes and drapes her head on my arm, or just sits on my lap, because she lets me love on her.

Below are some pictures of Hanes. Enjoy!

Hanes likes sleeping on Hubby's shirts, like this one (note her paws, very proper like a lady)

Napping on the couch by the window

Cute!

Robo-kitty!

She likes paper

Having a sweet moment with Hubby

Napping, again (but her paws were all over the place that day!)

She also likes shoes

and bags

and boxes

and Christmas presents

Hanes hanging out on my lap

On Hubby's lap

I love this picture of Hubby and Hanes, even though Hanes seems a bit indifferent

Hanes on my lap as I was sipping tea

Robo-kitty (with laser-sharp eyes) in her box

Hanes "hiding" behind my tennis bag

This post also officially concludes my little "Nieces and Nephews" series. Hope you have enjoyed it!

Goodbye/Hello

Right around our first anniversary, Hubby and I decided to sponsor a child from Ecuador through Compassion International, and five-year-old Patricia became a part of our family. We wrote letters to her, and she would draw for us, usually about the landscape around her house. We would always proudly put each new drawing on our fridge so we would see it every day. Then she learned to write, and she would both draw and write a letter to us. She would tell us what she had learned in school, what her favorite Bible story was, how her family was doing, and how she would like us to pray for her, her family and her teachers. She also asked questions about us. She had such a beautiful heart and she was growing so much, both physically and spiritually. It was such a privilege to get to know her.

Then we received a letter from Compassion last Thanksgiving weekend. We were told her family had moved away from the area where they ministered, so Patricia was no longer in their program and we could no longer be her sponsored parents.  It came as such a shock to us but there was nothing we could do. Compassion did not know where they had moved and we could not locate her.

I was sad. Although we had never met Patricia, we had gotten to know her through the letters and her drawings. Occasionally, we would also received her photos. It was difficult to let go just like that, because there was never a goodbye.

But at the same time we were informed of Patricia's move, we were told we could sponsor another child. Compassion chose for us teenaged Susana, also from Ecuador. We wrote her an introductory letter while back. Over the weekend, we received the first letter from her!

Perhaps just as Solomon said, there is a time for everything. Perhaps it was time for another couple, or church, to minster to Patricia. And we know God has entrusted Susana to us right now to minister to her. We don't know for how long it will be, but for as long as we have her as our sponsored daughter, we are going to write her letters and pray for her!

Happy Easter!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words.
Luke 24: 1-8

Happy Easter!

Excuses - Part II

We came back from our road trip to DC last Sunday night. It was a great trip, but by our return, Hubby had been sick for four days. The night we came back, I became sick.

I had had a variety of symptoms but thought I was getting better. Instead, I got worse yesterday and needed to leave work a little early to take a nap. The nap lasted about 15 hours.

And I am still not getting much better.

I would really love to sleep some more to get the bug out of my system but my head is not feeling the greatest from the "nap" (plus two other 12--to-13-hour sleep nights I have already had the past week).

These are my latest excuses for the absence of blog posts. Please pray for me. Thanks!

Excuses

50, 60 and 46.

These are the number of hours I worked in the past three weeks, also my excuses for not posting anything since mid-February. This past weekend was the first I did not work.  It was a little awkward at first but it was a very nice break. :-)

I am anticipating a shorter work week, since Hubby and I are going on vacation on Friday! We are heading to Washington DC to see one of the few original copies of the world map on which I wrote my thesis, among other things. Meanwhile, this also serves as my latest excuse for any lack of posts that might happen in the next two weeks! :-)

Celebrations

Since the last post, Hubby and I have celebrated many special occasions -

Hubby's birthday
Our anniversary (same day as Hubby's birthday)
My youngest sister-in-law's birthday
Valentine's Day
Chinese New Year (same day as Valentine's Day this year) i.e. today!

Can I use them as an excuse for my lack of post? :-) In any event, I thank the Lord for the many happy and special occasions we have in the last couple of weeks!

Nieces and Nephews: Princess N

Nine-year-old Princess N is big sister to Lady A and Miss E. She is tall for her age (she will be taller than me in a few years) and is active, fun to be around, easy-going, tranquil and practical.

She absolutely loves Star Wars. She got a Star Wars Lego set for Christmas and was very excited about it.

N holding her Star Wars Lego set (see below)

She also likes Webkinz and has a lot of them at home (I can't keep track of what she has). She got a Love Monkey for Christmas too.

I also played Apples To Apples with her (as a group) for a while and she was laughing pretty hard too, just like David did! It was great to be with kids who were enjoying themselves so much!

However, my favorite memory with N was when she was reading to me before she went to bed one night. I had read a few books to the kids. Afterwards, N picked out the Cars book to read. It was a fairly long book and N was already halfway through when I joined her. She read the rest of the book to me and she did a great job!

All Photo Credits: Lady A

Nieces and Nephews: David

David, big brother to Alex and Miguel, has an engineer's mind; he is serious, curious and specific. A perfectionist. He loves baseball and the space. One of the presents he received was a telescope. He had fun watching the moon (there were not many stars) with Papi and Cousin N, even though it was very cold outside.

David also loves video games -

Playing video game with Uncle M

More video game with Aunt S

Did I mention he loves video games? :-)

Right now, he is at the stage where he does not like to be photographed very much so I was not able to get a lot of pictures of him. I tried, and this picture, taken at the zoo, might be the best shot -

With Lady A's help, here is the goofy side of David at our BBQ dinner!

My fondest memory of him over Christmas was when we were playing Apples to Apples. I can't remember whose gift it was, but it was so much fun to see him laugh out loud and could not stop for a few minutes! He does have a lighter side!

Today is also his special day - he turns 9! Happy Birthday, David!

Nieces and Nephews: Alex

Five-year-old Alex is about 8 months older than Lady A. He is Miguel's older brother and is a happy little guy! He is goofy, outspoken, excitable, and loves his Legos. Over Christmas, he got quite a few Lego sets so he was busy building - and playing with - his Lego city.

The funniest memory I had of him over Christmas involved him, Hubby, Miguel and a bunch of Chilean Flemingoes at the zoo we visited.

When we were looking at the Chilean Flemingoes, Hubby joked to Alex that because these were Chilean Flemingoes, they spoke Spanish and he could say "hola" to them. So Alex greeted the birds enthusiastically! He even told Miguel, who was standing next to him, to say "hola" to the Flemingoes which Miguel did. It was so funny!

Other than his Lego city, Alex also played  a little with the sword, another gift he received. One time, when he was playing with it, he put on two hats (one backwards) to make himself look more like Darth Vader/Anakin from Star Wars.

Alex in his gear

The double hats

A funny little guy he is.

Nieces and Nephews: Lady A

Five-year-old A is Miss E's older sister. She is the outgoing and adventurous one. One of my fondest memories of A over Christmas is documented in the following two pictures.

My mother-in-law and my three sisters-in-law were by the dining table right before our Christmas dinner, so I asked the "ladies" to pose for a picture, as follows -

Haivng heard me using the word "ladies," A announced that "I am a lady too!" So there she was, featured in the next photo -

Isn't she adorable? :-) Over Christmas, she also took quite a few pictures with my camera. Below is a collection of pictures from the 5-year-old's perspective. Enjoy!

Anniversary Slurpee

Editor's Note: The mini series on the kiddos will return soon!

Ever since Hubby and I got married, we have been celebrating our anniversary each month (we celebrated our dating anniversary too, when we were dating. :-)

On our anniversary date of each month, we would try to be the first to remember the monthly anniversary and say it to the other person. The rules are to say the actual year and month of the anniversary since the wedding, and it needs to be either on the phone or in person. Voice mail or writing does not count.

Other than our real anniversary (which is next month!), we do not normally have any special celebrations. However, we just had our 7-year-11-month anniversary. To commemorate this particular anniversary, we went to 7-11 for a slurpee. Whose idea? Mine!

It was a nice treat. :)

Nieces and Nephews: Miguel

The next young'un is 3-year-old Miguel. Over the past few months, he seems to have grown a lot, at least to me. He is now more talkative and is showing off his personality which can be goofy at times! He has a contagious smile and is very smart. I played Dominoes with him for the first time over Christmas (it might have been his first time playing the game too) and he did marvelously! We played the game using the colors of the dots instead of the number of dots on the tiles. He had no problem matching the colors. At some point during Christmas too, he rode on my shoulders around the house (I really forgot whose idea that was!), and he loved it! I had great fun too.

It's not easy to take pictures of him facing the camera, but whenever I catch him looking my way, I usually get pretty good pictures, like this one. :-)

He likes his puzzles.

Just finished a game of Dominoes with A and me.

I can't explain what was going on in this picture, but he was having fun with Uncle "Monkey" and Aunt J! (It was Hubby with his tea in the foreground.)

Nieces and Nephews: Miss E

In this blog, I have mentioned my nieces and nephews from time to time. Since we have a lot of pictures from Christmas, but more so because they are such darlings, I thought I would do a "mini blog series" to post more pictures about them. We have three nieces and three nephews, from 4 months to 9 years old. To kick it off, I am going to start with the littlest.

Miss E was born last summer. We got to meet her over Christmas for the first time since she lives far away. She is such a sweet and happy baby! She cried only once or twice, but that was only when it was her bed time at night and she did not want to be left alone. When she was awake, she was almost always smiling. And her big blue eyes are stunning!

I tried to take her as much as I could during Christmas. Various family members were generous enough to let me have her quite a bit, and I took A LOT OF pictures of her. The followings are only a small part of the collection. Enjoy!

All bundled up for the outing to the Zoo.

One of the MANY pictures I took of her.

She likes to put two figures in her mouth.

One of my favorite pictures with E!

Christmas 2009

Happy New Year! As we welcome the new year - and decade, I am recapping some fond - and fresh - Christmas memories. Enjoy!

This year, our home looked nothing like it was a year ago. There was no Christmas tree, no lights, no candles. I never got caught up on the Christmas preparations, since I barely got the Christmas cards and newsletters out in the mail, and Christmas shopping done before Christmas. I was still wrapping Christmas presents after the Christmas Eve Service. On top of this busyness (which seemed more than usual than years past), Hubby was sick.

But all was good. Hubby got better and off we went to my brother- and sister-in-law's for Christmas. We had a great time! It was a special year since my mother-in-law was back in the US  for a visit after almost 2 years of serving overseas, our new niece was born in the summer, and everyone from Hubby's side of family was there. We had a lot of family fun. We enjoyed a lot of food and laughter. Here are some highlights:

• Meeting our four-month-old niece. She is such a happy and quiet baby that she makes everything easy! I took so many pictures of her!
• Playing Dominoes with my 3-year-old nephew. He was really good at it.
• Seeing our 5-year-old niece in the outfits we got her; and putting a ribbon on her hair
• Watching our 5-year-old nephew build his Lego city.
• Staying in the cold (for a few minutes) with my oldest niece and nephews, one 9 years old and the other almost 9, as they tried to watch the moon and stars, and explore the universe with my nephew's telescope.
• Reading to my nieces and nephews.
• Listening to my oldest niece read the Cars story to me.
• Letting my 3-year-old nephew ride on my shoulders.
• Playing card games with the adults.
• Fourteen of us going to the zoo.
• All of us, plus our aunt who was off work that day, going to the best barbeque place for dinner right before we headed back.

It was another great Christmas with family.