Parenting Example

Reading for this week's bible study. Psalm 123:1: I lift my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.
Our God is authoritative, sovereign and full of Charismatic! He is the King of kings, Lord of lords, enthroned in heaven. So we have to look UP onto Him. And yet he is humble and meek. How lower can He be for Christ was born to a carpenter in a manger in the little town Bethlehem? He healed the sick, ate with the sinners. He lived among them. He never give us everything we ask for. Otherwise He is just a functional god whom we can manipulate. He disciplines us when he says 'no' or 'be patient and wait', or 'let's do it another way'.
I just realize that our Lord has set a perfect parenting example for us. Good parents should be leaders of households, whom the children can look upon to for guidelines and examples. But it doesn't work if we only remain as 'authorities' to our kids, then we are only dictators. Kids also need us to be their close friends with listening hearts. We sometimes can give children freedom of choices, but in some circumstances we know it's for their sake when we say 'no'. A parent had taught me a good way when we need kids' attention: stand in front of them, and tell them 'eyes on me' --- look upon me! Isn't that what the Lord requires us to do? --- 'To lift your eyes to me'. Children do need someone whom they can look upon to, although they do always want to look eye to eye with us (annoying moms and dads). But they really need guidance when they fail and hurt, and despaired.
To praise that we have a Lord that we can always look upon to. To pray that we can be the parents our children can look upon to!

Treasure this moment

Sometimes I really wish my kids can grow up FAST, can't wait for them to become mature and completely independent. So I can be 'free'!
On Monday, I wrote a note to John-John's teacher to give him permission to attend Joshua's birthday party in another class. When I picked him up after school, Mrs. Bowman told me that he presented the note at 11am with tears in his eyes because he forgot the note early morning, and thought that he had missed the party. I pictured his 'sad Sam' face, so innocent, helpless, and huggable!
In the blink of an eye, he will be in kindergarden next year. I want to treasure these days. Do and John prepared themselves for bed last night. Great work! This morning, they got up before us, and changed into school clothes. I rewarded their good work with a small pack of Pokemon cards for each. They were so delighted! At this age, they are so easy to be satisfied. Just want to hug them, hug them and hug...

New Record

As the Olympic being the hottest topic, the athletes set their eyes at the GOLD and possible new records, I just set a new record in my gym on Monday! --- the latest arrival at the 'boot camp' class (my favorite) in record, according to my instructor. After putting John-John onto the bus at 9:45, I settled some miscellaneous house work, then headed to the gym. The class was almost over when I walked into the room. That was how I set a new record! Today, I started the car engine right after waving 'good-bye' to John-John --- I don't want to set another new record.

"Worst Day Ever"

Thunder rumbles, lightning flashing, rain pouring, BUT THAT'S NOT EVERYTHING! Do and I were spending some quiet time together, suddenly we heard noise like stones hitting our skylines and decks --- it's a hailstorm! We looked out from the window, pieces of ice cubes flew down from the sky, banging on the decks without pity. Do was cute;" What if they got bigger, and might break our windows!" she really concerned.
I feel like I have moved to the south this summer in NY. Thunderstorms have accompanied us nearly daily. It reminds me of my days in southern China. I don't remember I was ever afraid of thunder and lightning. Actually I got very excited when the sky all of a sudden grew dark as if evening fell. While grandma was back and forth the balcony and inside, tried to rescue all cloths she put out to dry earlier in the day, I just hid under the table or behind the chairs to pretend I was being attacked. Childhood is always fun!
( NOTE: Title was given by Do as well as three spelling corrections. Sincere thanks to my 7-year old English tutor)

Run, Just Run

Today is the second time taking the kids to 'Wednesday evening race' at the high school race track. They both inherited the racing gene from my dad and me (of course). John-John even names himself 'Dash' from 'Incredible'. I am very excited to see them being ahead of everybody dashing toward the finish line. Unfortunately there is no other adults wanted to run, otherwise I could be part of the fun.

Bandage Solution

When I started writing, I am back to myself again --- in the mood to think and fluff.
One of our bathtubs has been rusted through and needs to be replaced. I phoned a company called 'Re-bath' came today. The sale lady, a petite, sweet lady, showed me a very interesting product. She examined the tub and surrounding, and said: " You don't need new tiles. You tiles are beautiful. And we don't need to ripe off anything either. Our custom made liner wrapped around your existing tub. It will look just like a brand new in a matter of hours, life time warrenty." I've read about this thing called 'liner', but just wonder how reliable it is. If it is as good as it claims --- quick to install, long lasting and cost effective, why would people still want 'real tubs'?
My brain is very slow when it comes to innovative and revolutionary ideas and products, probably due to a growth environment surrounded by overaged adults. The liner product makes me think of WH's often 頂住先 （廣東話 暫時補救 之意) solutions, which means 'a temporary fix'. Then I heard the phrase 'bandage solution'. That's the word! Isn't the liner a 'bandage solution' to the problem? It really just covers up the underneath problem, not resolving it. I think I can skip this one.

John-John's Mad Face

He looks REALLY mad when he wants to be! This is a clip from his end of school year show. He did a great job!

Biofuel

Cousin Carol and family are visiting on Memorial Day weekend. Today's skyrocketed gasoline price will cost them a great deal to travel from the city to my place. One of Carol's all time favorite food is farm fresh corn (direct quote from her "I can eat that 24/7.") I bought her some to bring home this time again.
Then I realize 10 ears of corn will add quiet a few extra pounds to her car -- burning extra fuel. Not a smart sovenior ☹ Second thought: corn ---> bio fuel.☀ Oh, yeh! I have given her the most invaluable gift of the time! Carol, don't you know that you wil be reimbursed for your trip??? See how much your cousin cares about you!

Creative Names

Do-Do has given very creative and unique names for her stuff animals. They truly reflect their personalities and charateristics. You will know who they are purely from their names:

Waltz: He is a dancer!

Iceburg: He is from the coldest place of the world!

Mubòle: From Mumble in 'Happy Feet'.

Gymmy: He is athletic. GYM-my. You got it?!

Cupcake: His brown and white fur color look like a chocolate cupcake.

Valentine: She was adopted in February and is pink!

We have dreams

Back from San Diego, I just felt in love with every aspect of the city, the sunshine, the cleanness, the food, the trees... Suddenly, I had a crazy idea to share with KC "Let's move there. You find a lego builder's job at Legoland and start your wacky inventions at home. I will go for my degree in criminology, and pursue my dream to become a detective."
Let's go for our dreams!

Sweet Heart Dance

Do-Do and Daddy went to her school's Sweet Heart Dance this year. Isn't she daddy's 'little girl friend' as herself claims? Are they match in color? Best Costume Design goes to.......... mommy!

John-John's performance on 'Parent Day' in School

See how much Johnny Boy has improved in the past year. He is a good student, isn't he?

Judging Others

I was typing up a student's story at the school's Publishing Center. This second grader has many misspelled words and grammatical mistakes. It was difficult for me to give paragraph breaks to his writing because it has no organized thoughts.

The word 'loser' immediately came into my mind as I was reading. Then another voice whispered in my ear: "Who gives you the right to judge somebody?" From his story, I learned that this poor child is growing up with a single mother who works as a waitress to raise two children. Life must be hard for them. But the kid loves sports and reading. He expresses his appreciation for his mom and teacher, and his interest in learning to read more complicated books. I don't know him and didn't have a chance to meet with him. He must be a sweet little boy. Then I thought, all he needs are love and guidance. If I ever had an opportunity to meet him, I would like to tell him: "You will be a great person! Just keep up the good work!"

Thank you Lord for redirecting me again!

Casa Casa

Please click the link below to view photos: 照片:
---> Dominican Republic Photos 加勒比海旅行照片

Chinese New Year

Please clink below to view the photos: 照片：
---> Chinese New Year Photos 新年飲茶照片

香車美人

John-John is invited to a birthday party. This is the card he picked for his buddy --- a cool race car owned by Jeff Gordon (of course he doesn't know who he is yet). After decorating and addressing the card, I asked him to choose a sticker to seal the envelop. Guess what he had picked? --- a princess sticker from his sister's sticker pile! Ha, ha, ha! I couldn't stop laughing until I nearly lost my breath. 香車美人, nice cars and pretty women, aren't these the things most men dream to have? You can never underestimate what a 3 year-old has in his mind!
Of course, he had no clue how funny his choices had been. He was staring at me with a puzzle grin at his forehead "What's so funny? What are you laughing about?"

Pets' Blessing

$35,900,000,000! Yes, you read it correctly, it's close to 36 BILLION US dollars! That's the amount Americans spent on their pets in 2005, up from $17 billion a decade ago. (quoted from TIME Feb. 4 issue, 'Numbers' section) It's equivalent to over $100 per American including infants had spent. With no offense to pet lovers and owners, aren't we being little too luxurious on these animals? $100 can feed many hungry people in other parts of the world. To me, human is always more important than animals. You can love your pets, take care of them, but do you really need to spend this much? Just like for our kids, you can buy them $300 a pair of shoes or $30 a pair which can be in good quality too.
God told the Jews He would give His blessings to the gentiles when the Jews disobey Him. When did God pass on His blessings to pets in this disobedient era?

Cam Leung

Do-Do frequently checks out books from this 'Cam Jansen' series from her school. She can finish one book in less than 30 minutes. I eventually had a chance to read through one of them with her, and finally understood why she loves this 'Cam Jansen' so much. Cam Jansen, whose real name is Jennifer Jansen, is a 5th grader with an unbelievable gift of photographic memory. Thus, her friends named her Camera Jansen, aka Cam Jensen in short form. Because of her unique gift, she and her closest friend Eric were able to solve many mysteries together. As I was reading the book, I could see my Do in the pictures. She is just like Cam Jansen, except that she is not as brave and detail-oriented as the girl in the book. But Do is only a first grader. And fiction is always dramatic.
So, I substituted 'Cam Jansen' with 'Cam Leung' as I read. I could tell she was very appreciated. Since then, we sometimes like to call her 'Cam Leung'. If you want to get a smile from her, please try 'Cam Leung' next time.

都是電腦惹的禍

博客的中文題目本是‘七彩人生，我手寫我心‘。先生有高見，“既是電腦打字，應是‘我手打我心‘。“ 好好的標題給他改成‘錘心頓足‘。邏輯上雖講的通，但不能接授！
為了再進一步表現他的中國文化博學深遠，他又說：“白話文運動時提倡‘我手寫我口‘。你不知道吧！所以你這個是‘我手打我口‘。“ 這回可好，‘掌嘴‘不更直接了當嗎！不如把聖經上耶穌說的“有人打你左臉，把右邊也給他打。“ 寫上好了。(注：耶穌這句話的意思是教導我們要愛我們的敵人，不要以牙還牙。）
最後干脆把中文標題後半段刪去。每回先生見我寫博客，就說：“又在‘我手打我口‘了？“
如果沒有電腦，哪來的這些‘打‘，‘敲‘，‘錘‘，‘掌‘的問題。如果沒有電腦，就沒有網絡，就可能沒有‘作家罷工‘（Writers' Strike), 我心愛的奧思卡頒獎就照常播放了。
都是電腦惹的禍！

Home Is The Best

Vacation away from home is good, but I still love my 'home sweet home' more than anything. I shared with Do-Do on our way home last night about Mu-Lan's homesick feeling after years in the battlefield. (She remembers the story, but not the poetry (木蘭詞).
After 2 1/2 days' sun bathing in the Caribbean, now it's 3 loads of unwashed cloths, and several dirty suitcases and bags. We prayed for the weather and everyone's health before the trip. From our memory, John-John had never been exempted from illnesses before, during and after trips over 3 days. He is the fuse this time again. Started vomiting and diarrhea on our flight back. It was pretty awful. I felt like I would ever finish doing laundry with the cloths brought back vacation plus his dirty cloths and pants from vomiting and diarrhea. Then he passed it around the house. Many people, especially kids got sick from this trip. Either somebody brought virus onto the plane, or we caught something there, maybe from the food or the water. WH said I shouldn't give the kids tab water for brushing (We were told to drink bottle waters only.) Well, if so, we are all too spoiled in America. Think about the people who live there.

World's No.1 Daddy

Today is WH's 牛一 (birthday). Do-Do, John-John and mommy made a very special card for him. Mommy also made a clementine-orange pie --- just want to be healthier. Why clementine? Because this is the 4th box of clementine we are eating this winter. I want to consume them in a slightly different way :) Taste pretty good!
After birthday celebration, we went ice skating again. Today is Johnny boy's first lesson. He could walk freely on the ice. But he enjoys intentional falling. Do-Do had grasped couple new tricks too. Even the 'elders' (WH and me) showed progress.



搞笑爹爹 deserves a '搞笑 cake'

To Be Hopeful

I can't believe this is the very first photo I took in the new year --- my full month of brace brackets! It isn't a pleasant feeling to wear them, especially at meal time. I will have to live with them for the next 700 days too! It's the hope of better aligned teeth and the beautiful smile that keep me moving forward with the orthodontic process. How pathetic it would be to live a life without hope! To live out a life of hope is very important, I told myself when I could only swallow mushy food, and bit my lips numerous times since last Friday. Wearing braces also taught me patience. I can't eat at my 'normal' speed as I used to be, 15 minutes of meal time has turned into 30 or even longer. Please don't forget to pray for me sometimes. BTW, I will have 6 teeth extracted 2 weeks from today. I will be a good girl :)

My name is Coconut

John-John found his name on a dining menu! Can you imagine how excited he felt?! He pointed to the word "I see my name: start with a C and end with a T." We asked him back "So.....Is your name 'Coconut'?" He learned to spell his name from school. Then he gave a second look at the word, and realized it is a variation of 'Clement'. A little blush on his round cheek and an embarrassing smile... But, well done, my dear Mr. Coconut!