Catching up!

Happy New Year! May 2014 be a wonderful year for each of you!

It has been seven months (!) since my last blog post. I ended the last post with this -

The summer has already been quite busy, but hopefully I will be more diligent about posting in the next few months! 

While the first part was true, the second part was an epic fail. However, here's a quick update on the second half of 2013 -

• I went to Hong Kong, China, and San Francisco in the summer, and Chicago in the fall for work and research!
• I got to meet our new nephew for the first time over the summer!
• I had a busy but productive fall semester with teaching and exam preparation. Being able to teach students was quite a rewarding experience!
• Hubby made me a wonderful cake for my birthday! 
• We participated in Operation Christmas Child once again this year. Our goal was 500 packed shoebox gifts, and our church and middle school packed 549 boxes! 
• We hosted family and friends for Thanksgiving. Some of our family could not come so we missed them, but we had a great time with those who came. Weather was absolutely gorgeous!
• On another note, our family cat became very stressed out because of the big crowd during Thanksgiving. She developed an ulcer on her eye, which accelerated our decision to have her eye removed. It was the right decision because she did have early-stage cancer as we had suspected. After a very challenging recovery process, she is now doing much better!
• We went out of town for Christmas briefly (because we needed to take care of the kitty). It was a wonderful visit! 

I am thankful for a blessed year in 2013!

Thanksgiving Memories

As we welcome the new year, it is also a good time to cherish great memories. I am therefore doing a couple of lists of memories (in somewhat chronological order) for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here is the list for Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

• Getting dinner plates for Thanksgiving. To prepare for the large party coming in town, Hubby and I went to the store and looked at every single available pattern there. We each liked different patterns but eventually settled on this one (with a flower on it! - Thanks, Babe :). It was quite fun and felt like we were doing our wedding registry again! :)

• Hosting 20 family members (Hubby and I included)! I think it was a record.
• Making pumpkin bread!
• Having plenty of food for everyone. I forgot to make mashed potatoes and our microwave stopped working, but in the end, we even had leftovers and we had a back-up microwave so all was well.

• Taking a nap after Thanksgiving dinner.
• Getting our fridge covered with kid art. Through his drawing, middle nephew turned kitty cat into a super hero (complete with cape).
• Getting "shorter" - oldest nephew was officially taller than I was (with oldest niece getting extremely close).
• Watching nephews play tennis, baseball style (imagine the tennis racket as a baseball bat).
• Watching the kiddos (youngest nephews included) watch the Barbie cartoon (!).
• Running the dishwasher eight times in three days.

Wonderful memories. Christmas memories to come. Stay tuned!

Shoeboxes!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! So sorry, it's been a long time since my last post. This semester has been quite busy, but there is much for which to be thankful!

Before Thanksgiving, as usual, Hubby and I dropped off Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. This year, with the effort of many from our church, middle school, and friends, neighbors and co-workers, we dropped off 520 packed boxes on Sunday!

This is the most we have collected so far! I can't express with words how thankful I am to you for packing a box or donating your time, money, filler items etc. Your response has been amazing!

I have told Hubby and several friends that I was secretly praying for 500 packed shoeboxes this year so that 500 children would receive gifts and hear the Gospel this Christmas season. For a while, it was an unrealistic goal. But God never took this number away, and I saw before my eyes how He accomplished this goal by raising up His people to get involved. With God, all things are possible!

Thank you once again for being a big part of Operation Christmas Child. There are many great stories to tell and I hope to share some of them with you soon!

First Thanksgiving Meal

This year was the first time we hosted for Thanksgiving and we were having twelve guests. My gravy did not turn out, the broccoli was overdone, in the process I forgot about the ginger-glazed carrots and cranberry sauce, my mashed potatoes were liquidy, and dinner was an hour late.

But we had a great Thanksgiving!

To begin with, my first turkey turned out! It was a 20-pound turkey and at first, I was very unsure about how to cook a turkey. But after talking to a number of experienced cooks and doing some homework online, I cooked my first turkey! I forgot to take out the foil at the end to let the turkey brown, but it tasted fine.

And the meal was a result of great team work:

My sister-in-law and I went shopping for some last-minute items on Wednesday. My friends and sisters-in-law brought and made some side dishes and dessert, making it much easier for me as I did not have to cook everything. And my friends carved the turkey, Hubby set the tables, my cousin helped with dishes, my aunt and my other cousin peeled the potatoes, my sister-in-law and another friend then saved the mashed potatoes from being a pot of yellow liquid, and worked on the carrots......the list can go on. In the end, there was plenty of food for everyone!

We were able to enjoy the meal. It was so nice to spend the special day with family and friends.

Centerpiece for one of the tables

After dinner, Hubby did ALL the dishes!

My sisters-in-law and I were even crazy enough to go to the mall at midnight for Black Friday! We were there for 4 hours and it was so much fun to have some girl time!

Other fun pictures -

Hanes and Miguel (the picture frame can be ignored)

Alex and Miguel Drawing

                           

The boys enjoying mama's cookies

Big electronic device for big person, small device for small person, same serious look on the face

Happy Thanksgiving!

It has been quite some time since I posted last. November has been a very busy month and I hope to have the oppotunity to send an update soon. But for now, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!

We are hosting for Thanksgiving for the first time this year, which means I am cooking my very first turkey! There will be 14 of us so I have a 20-pound turkey to cook tomorrow morning. It will be a challenge, but I am very thankful to have the opportunity to cook for family and friends, and to count the many blessings from God throughout the year.

Happy Thanksgiving!