the Hong Kong Roses

Happy Half-Birthday Eliza

2010-09-30T21:14:00.002+08:00

My princess is 6 months today! How did that happen?

Sweet Eliza, my how you've changed this past month! You got your 4 month shots a bit late because of our trip to the states but they didn't bother to weigh or measure you so I'm dying to know where you are in this. A few nights before we left the states, I stood on a scale and then held you and you roughly weighed 18lbs. Since then, you've started on solids and have been gobbling up the food! We have tried pretty much everything and you've loved it all. The only thing that has made you make a face, and a little one at that, was papaya but you still finished it. The only food that seemed to upset you a bit is peaches but there were a few other things going on... like teething, to know for sure if that was the problem.

You've been gnawing on everything and on Sept 20th, your first tooth popped through. I jokingly told Daddy that I hope the next one came in quickly because I thought you'd look funny with one and sure enough, 2 days later.. number 2 poked through. Now the sleepless nights and fussy days all make sense.

You've begun sitting up on your own early in the month and are getting stronger but you're still a bit wobbly. Just today I noticed a big difference in your sitting.

You've enjoyed being on your tummy quite a bit and last week you began getting into the crawling position. Daddy said you'd be crawling by the end of the weekend... and he wasn't too far off. On Tuesday, (the 28th), you crawled a few steps! You are now in the crawling position trying to gain balance on your toes. I'm afraid you are going to keep me busy!

You continue to suck your thumb but only when you're tired.

You are a very pleasant baby, very laid back and relaxed. Nothing seems to bother you too much... and everyone comments on how good you are.

You're smiles are heartbreaking, your giggles priceless....

You are well loved. Isaiah can't give you enough hugs and kisses but he does like to pick on you a bit. I give you full permission to tackle him when you are big enough. Isabella adores you as well and loves to carry you. You warm Daddy's heart with a smile every time you see him. Everyone loves your rolls, your beautiful eyes.

What I wouldn't give to bottle you up right now and keep you this way but I know God has exciting plans for you. I love you Princess!

Happy 2 Months!!!

2010-05-30T20:01:00.000+08:00

My sweet Eliza....

2 months have already passed and we fall more in love with you as each second passes. What a blessing and constant reminder of God's love.

You are growing like a weed... at your appointment (which was at 9 weeks) you weighed 6.52Kilos! That's almost 15lbs! And your length was 56cm (about 22 inches) though I'm not convinced that's exactly correct. You are in the 97% for weight and average for height. There's no question if you are eating well and I think the rolls on you are adorable.

You are still waking at least 2 times a night which has been a struggle for me but at least I know you are healthy and growing. You eat on a 2 1/2 to 3 hr schedule and are awake for about 45-60 minutes total. You still eat quite fast, about 15 minutes... sometimes 20 if you've slept longer.

You started to smile at 7 weeks and cooing at 5. You are very happy and content. You don't require much attention though you love to be held, cuddled and talked too. You love your swing and can easily sleep a full nap in it.

You're a bit unsure of the snuggli and your brothers hugs. You do not like to be swaddled... I gave that up pretty early on but you do enjoy your bathtime.

You are still adored by your siblings and I'm so grateful for that and how they've responded to you. I pray you will be the best of friends as you grow up.

I'm still stunned by your dark hair. I remember preparing for your birth... I made the other two Big Sister/Brother t-shirts with them and a little blonde haired girl in them and bought a Sleeping Beauty doll because she had blonde hair and here you came with brown hair. I love it though because I don't get a million questions of 'where'd the blonde hair come from?' and people actually say you resemble me.

I know this month will fly by so I'm trying to take it all in and remember every sweet thing about you. I love you Princess E!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T14:34:00.003+08:00

Today was a very special day... not only was it Mother's Day and I'm so thankful for the 3 sweet blessings that allow me to celebrate this day, we also dedicated Eliza Hope.

Pastor Mark asked if I would share a condensed version of her birth story, a testimony of God at work, and this is what I shared:

***When I think about all the events and details that went into Eliza's birth, I'm reminded of how truly amazing our God is and what a blessing it is to be His child and serve Him. We chose her name because of it's meaning, Eliza Hope which means "My God IS, Hope" and that meaning is what got me through a very tramatic labour and delivery.

My labour and delivery went extremely fast and as quickly as the excitement built in knowing 'this was it'... arriving at the hospital led us into a quick spiral of fear and uncertainity.

It wasn't long after I had been admitted that I thought I'd lost Eliza. I thought I would be leaving the hosptial having given birth but no baby to take home. But in the midst of this fear came an unbelievable sense of peace, that could only come from God. I was reminded that God had given us her, that He had given us her name and that He would protect her... in my mind I thought how could He not with that name?

After being confident that God was watching over her, I thought that it was me that was on my way to meet Jesus. I remember everything going very fuzzy and then seeing Isabella and Isaiah with Mike and thinking, "I'm going to meet Jesus. I love them very much but know they will be well taken care of." And just like that, I again felt an overwhelming peace about death and an excitement about meeting Jesus face to face... something that has always been a bit of a struggle for me.

And then I felt a slap on my face and realized this was reality and I had just given birth without any real recollection of it. I was congratulated on a job well done and told how I saved myself from having surgery. I was still a bit grogy and trying to figure out all that had gone on but I knew that God was there and that He had been with me through it all. I've never felt so loved by Him, I've never know peace like I did in those moments, and I've never been more confident that our God provides Hope and that He IS and always will be.

After the fact, I was able to see His hand in many of the smaller things. Having my family insist that I call Emelda for wisdom on when I should go to the hospital. If I had waited much longer, it could have been much worse. The fact that my labour and delivery happened so fast saved me from having to have a c-section and gave me the desire of my heart: a natural delivery without an epidural. And a little thing on top of that, I had a terrible cough that I could only imagine how painful it would have made a c-section recovery. Having Tim show up in the operating hall, I knew that God was not just watching over us girls but Mike as well as Tim was able to keep Mike updated on what was going on. Reading Eliza's discharge papers and seeing that her Apgar score at 1 minute after birth was a 9.... I still think that's amazing considering she was under fetal distress and born with the help of a vacuum.

I've been a Christ follower for 11 years and I've always understood that God is alive and at work today. I've always known that He provides Hope. But the birth of Eliza is a daily reminder of His hope. And in choosing her name, our prayer is that she will be one who brings the Hope of Christ to others. Little did we know that her birth story would be such a testimony to the truth of what her name means.***

After church we came home and rested and in the evening we had our usual, relaxing Sunday evening... friends over for dinner and a movie. The kids were in heaven having Auntie Frances, Becky and Arthur to play with. I enjoyed the wonderful dinner Mike cooked for us... amazing steak and baked potatoes! And Mike surprised with me some foot scrub and lotion (from the kids) for 'making me run after them so much.' (I thought this was clever.) And by telling me he ordered a necklace I've had my eye on for months now. It's a beautiful hand stamped necklace... 3 circles with 3 different Chinese lanterns and each one with a child's name on it. I can't wait until it arrives!

There is nothing greater or more fulfilling to me that being a Mom. The hugs, the smiles, the pitter patter of little feet.... Not every day is easy and there are many challenges along the road but it's so rewarding to see your child develop and grow, learn something new... see them blossom. I never knew such little people could bring such great joy and now I have 3... I'm spoiled!

One Month

2010-05-08T20:31:00.003+08:00

Children grow up way, way too fast....

Princess E is one month already. Where has this last month gone? I've surprisingly not felt sleep deprived and have enjoyed her first month, though there may have been a few nights where I wanted to pull my hair out.

I still look at her in awe... I'm still amazed by her brown hair... I'm still constantly reminded how blessed I am by this surprise gift and how she has changed my view and relationship with God. I will always look at her and think "My God IS" and not simply because that's what her name means.

Eliza,
This month has just flown by and I can't get over how much you've changed, how much you've grown, how strong you are getting and how fast you eat!

You are a very efficient nurser, taking at the most 25 minutes to eat though this past week, you've finished in about 10-15 minutes. What a blessing in the middle of the night! You eat every 2.5/3 hours and were very consistent even at night until the past two weeks where you've stretched your nighttime feeds to about 4/5 hours. You go to sleep quite early, around 9 or 9:30.... something I'm trying to change right now. And you're wake-up time is 7:30/8am. I don't know how much weight you've gained but I do know that you are approximately 24inches now. Unfortunately, they don't measure length at the hosptial here so I don't know how long you were when you were born.

You are very strong and curious. You are holding your head quite well and always looking around. You can stay awake and alert for quite some time unless we put in your crib... the only way we can quarantee a good sleep for you. You tend to fuss a bit, especially the later evening naps, but it's not too long before you are asleep and you do not like to be swaddled.

You do enjoy the swing and love to be held... though there are only two people who can seem to keep you sleeping for lenghy periods if being held... Uncle Tom and Natalie.

I still don't know who you look like... the brown hair still baffles me. I see a bit of Isabella when you are awake and a bit of Isaiah when you're sleeping. As far as Daddy or me.... I don't really know.

You're a doll.... loved by so many. You are blessed to have a sister and brother who adore you... Izzy loves to hold, talk to and kiss you. Isaiah loves to rub your head, give you kisses and most recently he's taking a liking to holding you too.

You are loved... my Princess E.

2 Weeks

2010-04-13T13:33:00.000+08:00

Eliza is now 2 weeks old, though by looking at her... many think she is at least that many months. I still find her quite small and though just a few ounces smaller than Isaiah was, she seems so much tinier. She doesn't have the rolls upon rolls on her legs and arms... just a big belly and multiple chins. :)

This week we've fallen more into a routine and shedule and therefore has been much more enjoyable. She eats about every 3hrs on the dot though in the evenings, I try to feed her about every 2.5 in hopes that maybe she'll sleep a bit longer in the evenings. She's given us one night of 5hours sleep but most nights it's still 3hrs and occassionally 3.5.

She is becoming more and more alert and when her eyes are open, she reminds me so much of Isabella. She's holding her head up for short amounts of time and when laying on her belly, she loves to look around. We've discovered that she doesn't like to be swaddled and when held, she holds her one arm up by her face.. just like Isabella did. One way she is totally different is that she burps incredibly well. Basically all you have to do is sit her up and out one comes. I'm terrible at burping babies so this has been such a blessing.

She is still adored by her siblings. Isabella jumps at any chance to hold her but Isaiah still seems a bit unaware of her... though he is does get curious when she cries or makes a sound.

She had her first major outing on Saturday for Isabella's Showtime performance. She did really well and was pretty alert for the whole performance. Isabella was quite proud to show off her sister and I think it meant a lot to her that Eliza was there. She had her follow up appointment at Ma On Shan clinic and they couldn't believe she was just 10 days old. She's gaining weight and slightly jaundiced but nothing to be concerned about. So no need to see a Dr again until 2 months!

It's been a long and yet short 2 weeks but I wouldn't change it for the world. We are very blessed!

Eliza's 1 Week Old

2010-04-08T15:09:00.003+08:00

What an emotional week it's been but I've been reminded over and over of God's great love, compassion and care for not only me but my family and I'm continually awed by His grace and mercy and blessed by the hope that we find in Him.

Eliza you're one week and we can already get a sense of who God has created you to be. We know you're a fighter, you're curious and strong, beautiful and a delight. Similar to Isabella in some ways and in other ways, like Isaiah.

You're way more alert than Isaiah was... we've seen your beautiful blue eyes for minutes at a time. You're already beginning to hold your head up on your own, something Isabella did very early on as well. You're a pretty good sleeper as was Isaiah but not always the best nurser... similar to Isabella. You love to be held and like to sleep on your tummy too (though I'm only comfortable doing that during the day) as did both your siblings. You're darker skinned like Izzy but where did the dark hair come from? That was quite the shocker for Daddy and I.

Because you were started on formula, nursing has been a bit of a challenge but I feel that these past two days, we've established a routine that seems to work. I was concerned about you being jaundiced so was trying to feed you every 2 to 2 1/2 hours but you were just too sleepy. We've adjusted that to every 3hrs and you seem to do much better. You're pretty consisent throughout the day and night, though I dream of the day you'll give me a few more consecutive hours of rest like Isaiah did early on.

You are absolutely adored by your siblings. Izzy hates to leave you and wants to hold you all the time. Isaiah is still a bit unaware of what's going on though when you make noises or cry, he's always looking out for you and wanting to rub your head.

It's been an amazing week and I thank God everyday for you...

ENT Update

2010-02-10T20:40:00.004+08:00

Last Friday, I had a much anticipated ENT appointment. The previous one occurred when I was in my early 2nd trimester with Isaiah and that's when they agreed to test for my balance/motion sickness issues. Though they wouldn't allow for testing until after I had him and it turned out that I didn't get tested until this past September. The testing reported all things normal and the way public health goes here.... if there's not something serious, you basically get put at the back of the line which is why it's Feb and I'm just now seeing the Dr about the results.

So I walk into the appointment and the Dr has this dumbstruck look on his face and the first words out of his mouth are, "You haven't given birth yet?" I think he was a bit confused until he looked at his computer and realized that it has been almost 2yrs since I last saw him. He begins to discuss my results and tells me that I struggle with motion sickness and that I need to take medicine and look out the window more when in vehicles. I looked at him and politely said that I do those things, that I have tried everything ever suggested and that it's not a simple case of motion sickness when I can't be in a room with blinds, when even a quick motion with my head makes me nauseous, or when a simple moving of my glasses causes me to stop in my tracks. I don't think he agreed with me but was willing to make me happy and sent me down to physiotherapy for an evaluation, with the warning that again I would get put on the waiting list and probably wouldn't get in until May or June.

So I must praise God for this... an answer to prayer! It just goes to show that God does answer prayer but not necessarily in your timing. (I've been praying about this for almost 2yrs now) But anyway.... I went down to phsyio and met with a man to discuss my issues and the treatment I've had before. He was a bit more concerned (saying it could be a bit more serious and related to the brain rather than inner ear) and hooked me up with an appointment 'before the new year!'

Today I went in for my evaluation and the lady was wonderful. She did some basic tests and agreed that I would need more than standing up/laying down training. She said we'd have at least 10 sessions and then go from there. But she is also concerned about doing too much while I'm pregnant because she doesn't want me to lose balance and fall or anything like that. So I'm starting with two basic exercises at home for 2 weeks and then I will see her again and schedule future appointments.

I'm SO excited! Just the thought of riding the bus into town without the need to throw up is very exciting. I must thank everyone for their prayers and would ask that you would continue to pray that these sessions will be as effective as they were in the past.

Full Days and Goose eggs

2010-02-04T21:00:00.003+08:00

Buddy chasing the recorded birds, wondering where they went.

Isabella's first full day went really well. I was a nervous wreck all day but was so grateful to see her smiling and the teachers so eager to tell me about all that she did and how much they enjoyed having her.

I was worried that she wouldn't eat lunch (being it's a Chinese school the food is obviously all Chinese and Izzy can be quite picky) but her teachers eagerly told us she ate 2 bowls of the rice dish (which happened to be black bean and tofu) and when I asked her, she said she liked it.

I was worried about 'nap time' as Izzy does not nap at home and they don't allow looking at books. She loved rest time. She loved the little cots (her exact words were, 'They were hard beds Mom but I liked it!') and actually slept. One of the other worries was that she would sleep and then take forever to sleep at bedtime.... but she was asleep at night within 15 minutes of putting her to bed.

I was worried about what children she would play with as I didn't know if she would be kept with the students in her class. She came home telling me about a little girl (who couldn't say her full name) who was very nice to her that she played with.

I was worried that she would complain about the day being too long, I was worried that she would beg not to do that again... I was just plain worried and at the same time sad to realize that in such a short time, she'll be in school all day, everyday. But alas... she didn't complain about anything. In fact, the only remotely negative comment was when I asked her if she'd like to do it again she said, 'Only if it's dress day.' But after explaining to her why we chose that day (they help her with her Chinese homework) she was totally okay.

I was SO proud of her... I can't even express how relieved I felt when she was smiling and joyful and anxious to call Daddy and tell him about her day. But my heart was sad to have her gone all day so I think for now, we'll just stick to one day a week. :)

After we picked her up, I took the kids to the playground where Buddy chased birds (and birds on recording) and Izzy ran around like a crazy girl. Then we came home and played in the bathtub, had dinner and then all crashed.

Today was a normal day... work/school in the morning, playing in the afternoon, dinner and something new we've started with Izzy... Izzy time (after Buddy goes to bed doing something with just Mommy and Daddy.) We are still pretty concerned about her confidence so we are trying to find ways to build her up and let her know how special she is to us.

The evening started quite eventful as Mike and Isaiah were playing catch and in an attempt to beat Daddy to the ball, he took a plunge off the couch. His teeth are still in tack (something I always check first after Izzy's incident) but he has a golf ball sized goose egg on his head. He seemed pretty shook up at first but soon calmed down to let us ice it, while he soothed his achy gums on some ice as well. After we got him settled and back to himself, we put him to bed and pulled out Zingo to play with Izzy. She's actually had this game for quite a while but she is not into playing games so we've never played. Tonight however was a different story. She had a blast and really enjoyed it, as did the adults. :)

I'm thankful that tomorrow is Friday because it means one week closer to meeting Princess Lily Bob... I'll be 33 weeks tomorrow! I also have an ENT appointment in which I'm hoping they'll discuss my results from my tests in September and offer me some physical therapy for my balance/motion sickness issues.

Buddy's goose egg.

32 Weeks and Counting

2010-01-31T21:15:00.005+08:00

It feels SO good to say that I am 8 months pregnant and to know I've only got 2 more months max, to go. This by far has been the easiest and most enjoyable pregnancy. (Izzy was easy up until we found out that we were moving across the world. Then chaos set in.) I've loved being able to stay active and to continue running, though our gym is not being renovated so I've stopped running (too embarrassed to run on the road this big) and instead am walking about 2 miles everyday which has been great anyway because I'm starting to have some lower back pain and loosening issues that make getting around later in the day fun to watch. I've enjoyed watching my belly grow and be relatively normal size though I am still self-conscious in comparison to the Chinese women.

But today was not an exciting one for me... I had my usual appointment and while I knew I snacked on sweets a bit more than normal over the past 3 weeks, I wasn't expecting the weight gain (I weigh myself every morning in hopes of controlling it) that the Dr's scale showed. So I knew I was in for a lecture on eating habits. But while that was depressing, what upset me more was that in a 3 week period, my stomach went from normal size to measuring 2 weeks ahead. Yikes... all I could think about was: did that happen from the extra sweets or is Princess Lily Bob turning out to be a big one too? I DESPERATELY do NOT want to have to undergo another c-section. The thought of 5 days away from my babies, months of recovery and not feeling like myself, and the 1st time you sit up after the surgery... literally make me want to cry. The nurse said not to worry yet, that she didn't feel my stomach was too far off to be concerned and that at 36 weeks, I'll have a more thorough exam with the Dr to discuss the baby's size. But she did suggest watching my diet and not eating sweets. Be pregnant and not eat sweets???!!! She must be crazy... oh no wait, she's Chinese and they don't like sweets. No problem for her, me on the other hand. Ugh.... but I will do anything I can to prevent a big baby and necessary c-section so Mike was a very gracious and loving husband and went out after dinner to by one of my favorite desserts as a 'last dessert' until Princess arrives. I went 40wks without Coke with Izzy... I can do this, I CAN do this... oh please let these weeks fly by.

So here I am at 32 weeks... wish I had a comparison to 32 weeks with Isaiah but I don't think I even want to go there.

Like my new hair cut? It's really nice to have something so simple and easy to do... many think curly hair is easy and to some degree it is but I really enjoy not having to mousse up my head each day and waking up looking somewhat normal.

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about the arrival of Princess Lily Bob. We've been struggling a bit with Isabella... a bit of willful disobedience, fighting with Isaiah, being demanding, etc... She doesn't want to listen but then when we have to discipline her, she's terribly sensitive. She's begun to run and hide in her room or constantly apologizing for little things. My heart just aches because I feel like I've failed her in some way and have hurt her confidence. Her personality is becoming a bit more like mine and thus we tend to butt heads a bit. I'm trying to be extra sensitive to her needs while building her up. We did adjust her bedtime and she now goes to sleep after Isaiah which has seemed to help... I think it helps her feel like a 'big girl' staying up later than him and we got her a CD player in which she listens to 'Indescribable' on repeat all night. Gotta love your child's favorite song being one that praises God.

We've also begun piano lessons and I'm trying to do some special things with just her but I worry how she'll respond, especially the first few months, when the baby arrives and I have to nurse and tend to her. Please pray for wisdom for Mike and I as well as for her. I pray that she would commit her life to the Lord and that her confidence would be in Him, even at her age.

The weather's been a bit crazy here the past month.... hot, cold, very cold, rainy.... This was a warmer but rainy day and she and Buddy went out to play in the puddles.

Isaiah is just as crazy as always. He is such a boy... not interested in anything but balls, wheels and tires. Well that and food. He's recently started undressing himself during nap time. We find him with arms out, socks off (and often tucked away in his shirt), sleepers unzipped, and on occasion diaper off (though I learned my lesson quite quickly on that one). He's such a helper, always wanting to sweep and vacuum. He likes to fold and put away his clothes too. He's not into getting his hands dirty though... doesn't like to finger paint or crumbs left on his hands. He's signing quite a bit now and climbing everything. Today I caught him on the ladder to our little loft library area. We have to keep an eye on him at all times. He loves to be outside and explore and he LOVES animals and will just sit on the ground next to a dog or cat and watch it. At times it's so hard to believe that he's not 18 months yet but at the same time I can't believe that he'll be 18 months at the end of the month. I hate to see him and Izzy growing.... if only they could stay small forever.

Here he is after his morning nap.... the sock is indeed tucked into the onsie. Though he always makes me smile when I go in to get him and I'll ask, "Isaiah, where's your socks?" He just looks at me with a big smile, then turns his hands palms facing upwards as he says, "I don't know Mom, they just disappeared." I imagine we've got some fun, fun days ahead.

Tomorrow we are starting Izzy in a full day at school. Just once a week is the plan but we'll see how the day goes. It was suggested that we get her a Chinese Tutor if we intend to keep her in local school for a few more years or she'll behind already so when we discussed it with her teacher.... we found out it costs about 10$ US to add the extra afternoon or about 25/30$ US for a 1hr private tutor... hmmm easy decision. At school they will help her with her Chinese and Chinese homework, plus she'll be exposed more. We've been talking it up all day and she seems quite excited about eating lunch at school. Please pray it goes well!

See this is what happens when I take a month hiatus on blogging... I've got too much say. Well off to bed!

Rooftop Lunch at the Taylor's

2010-01-04T22:20:00.000+08:00

Back to school today... didn't start off so well but that's to be expected on 1) a Monday and 2) pants day. But we picked up a happy, cheerful little girl which again is the norm. Isaiah learned to climb Izzy's ladder in her room (now we really can't leave him anywhere for a sec) while Izzy was at school but while I know it means more craziness at home, it was cute to watch him.

In the afternoon, we were invited to the Taylor's rooftop for lunch and an afternoon of relaxing. It was a beautiful, warm day and nice to spend with the AIC staff. Joan, the kids and I decided to walk home and shortly after we got home, Hannah arrived!

We've had some great days to start off 2010... looking forward to what lies ahead!

Enjoying our lunch

Buddy liked the dogs but they were just after his food...

Auntie Dorie and the kiddos

Stage 3 at 23 weeks

2009-11-30T21:07:00.003+08:00

I'm really grateful that I've been able to stay so active during this pregnancy. It has made such a difference in how I feel both physically and mentally. It was really hard with Isaiah to hear how fat I was and being compared to the Asian ladies.... I know that I'm still not small this time around, nor will I ever be, but I would be surprised to hear many Chinese pregnant ladies say they are still running and hiking so my confidence is much higher this time around and I'm able to enjoy this pregnancy much more.

My legs though, well mostly my calves, have felt like dead weight the past few weeks... I've still been able to run but they just feel tight. So today, I opted for a hike and convinced Mike to come with me. We hiked the beginning of Stage 3 of the MacLehose Trail (where Mike does his 100K hikes each year) and cut out before the last climb where there is a trail that leads right back to our house. It's about 10K and it always frustrates me that I can run a 10K in about an hour but to hike this section it takes 2. But I had a lot of fun and it felt great. The only negative was just shy of the end of the trail, I tripped over a rock and fell. Thankfully, I just went straight down and landed on all fours. My main concern as I was falling was my glasses ... and thankfully they were okay. I cut and bruised my knee but nothing serious and nothing that stopped me for too long.

I was so proud that I didn't have any major problems and was even able to run a bit of the trail, that I treated myself to a calzone at our new Pizza and Sub shop and a gingerbread cookie from Starbucks. So I probably didn't end up burning any calories but it was fun. Just hoping my knee isn't too bruised so I can go for a run tomorrow too.

Here I am at the beginning of the trail... not a very flattering picture but I wanted proof that I at least attempted this hike at 23 weeks. :)

Here I am at the top of the stairs. I survived! I didn't do as bad as I thought I might. I always seem to doubt my abilities, especially when hills are involved so it was a great feeling to reach the top and push on from there.

This is just the last climb to the top... the beginning of this stage is about a full kilometer straight up. They don't do switchbacks in HK so it's straight up but I actually kinda like the challenge.

That was our hike. Afterwards, we met Joan, Izzy and Buddy in town for lunch and grocery shopping. Got myself 2 more shirts for less than 3$ US dollars (to wear while pregnant) and we got two movies to watch this evening.

It's been a fun and very relaxing day.

Thanksgiving Feast

2009-11-28T22:08:00.003+08:00

We had a great day today celebrating Thanksgiving with our Hong Kong family. It's fun to introduce people to a new tradition/holiday! Many of our American friends were unable to attend this year, so the majority hanging out at our place today were Filipino. They commented on why I had cooked so much and very few actually ate like a normal American would nor even had dessert. But, we get the benefit of that as we've got LOTS of leftovers! Wohoo!

We had 2 turkeys, homemade stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, veggies, cranberry sauce, oreo turkeys and 5, yes 5 pies and a pumpkin cake. Everything was delicious but even better was the company we had.

One of our Thanksgiving traditions is to share what we are thankful for and as I woke up this morning and thought about last year.... the first words out of my mouth last year were... "I'm SO thankful NOT to be pregnant!" Maybe I shouldn't have been so strong with my words... hehe. But God blesses in amazing ways and I was thrilled to be able to say how thankful I was that this pregnancy has been so fairly easy.

There are a million things to be thankful for if I really sat down to think of them and I need to get back into my habit of "Thankful Journaling" because it's so easy to get into a routine and find myself surviving life rather than living it. But I am so thankful for a God who loves and forgives and teaches and grows... for a God who 'loves me just the way I am but refuses to leave me that way." I'm thankful for an amazing family who supports, prays, loves... even though we're miles a part. I'm thankful for Mike who puts up with my insanity moments and pushes me to be more like Christ. I'm thankful that I have a husband who loves God and is committed to Him. I'm thankful for my sweet babies and the one on the way. I'm thankful that Isabella has a heart of gold and daily teaches me about loving and caring for others. I'm thankful that my boy shares my love of food and teaches me to smile and be joyful. I'm thankful for Princess Lily Bob who has made these past almost 6 months bearable... and allowed me to experience a normal pregnancy. I'm thankful that God has a plan for our lives and therefore I know that Princess Lily Bob was not an accident... that God has something amazing planned for its life. I'm thankful for Joan who helps me to stay sane by taking some of my dreaded homemaking responsibilities but more importantly cares for my kids like her own and allows me to be involved in ministry.

And those are just some of the people in my life.... I could go on and on and considering the past few weeks I've had... I should go on and on but I am teaching Lil K in the morning and I need my energy aka sleep.

It's been a great day and it's always a great reminder to remember the things that God has blessed you with and give thanks for those things. Sometimes it's even good to reflect on the challenges that you've had because God also allows for those things to make us stronger and more focused on Him.

Now we can begin to prepare ourselves for the birth of our Saviour! I'm so excited for Dec 1 because I've got lots of special things I would like to do with Isabella to teach her what Christmas is all about. Just praying that she'll be as excited as me.

Tree Decorating

2009-11-25T10:34:00.002+08:00

Happy Birthday Mike

2009-11-24T11:30:00.002+08:00

Mike got to spend his birthday doing what he loves.... hiking! Though I'm not sure hiking 100K is exactly how he wanted to celebrate. Last year's weather was unusually hot, this year it was unusually cold. Notice Mike all bundled up from the beginning of the hike.

I ended up having to sub in the afternoon so I missed the support stop 1 birthday party for Mike. We had hats, stickers, cupcakes.... and it was arranged that at the top of every hill there were birthday shouts... to the point where random people starting wishing him a Happy Birthday. We did thankfully get to see him at support stop 2. Izzy was there to cheer him on too.

Here he is in his fancy new red shoes. Notice the big smile.... they were making GREAT time!

Here's the team about to hit Checkpoint 3 and begin the big climb.

Mark, Mike, Lun and Brian (the same team as last year)

Unfortunately... the cold and wind won out. Mark physically got sick and quit. Then Lun's knees were bothering him too much and he quit. At this point, Mike was incredibly cold and unable to keep warm, which led to stomach problems and not being able to keep any food down. They still approx 40K to go and Mike knew that his body would not be able to physically handle those 40K without any fuel. So at 60K, Brian and Mike left the course.

I know it's incredibly disappointing for them... but I'm still proud. 60K is still a LONG way to hike in about 17hrs! And it was FREEZING too...

So that was how Mike spent his 32nd birthday and now he's paying for it with a cold. :) But we also celebrated during Sunday School with a Transformers themed party where they gave him a giant check for Starbucks. And at Nomads, the trailwalker celebration dinner, we celebrated with carrot cake.

So I hope that he's had a memorable birthday! We certainly look forward to what God has in store for the year ahead. I pray for good health and answers to his stomach problems and a passion to serve and know God more deeply than before.

I know we weren't with you very long on your birthday but you were thought about and prayed for and missed. We love you, Mike, and wish you the Happiest of years ahead!

Awana Picnic

2009-11-16T15:19:00.004+08:00

Last Saturday, Awana held their family picnic at Clear Water Bay Country Park... on what turned out to be quite a windy/chilly day for Hong Kong. It was so nice to bundle up a bit and get outside. We BBQ'd and then had some kite flying contests. Izzy had a really good time and tried really hard to fly a kite but it was so windy that many of the pros were even struggling to keep the kite up and out of the trees. The park was gorgeous and we look forward to going back. Most BBQ areas are along the road without much space but this place had nice BBQ sites and lots of yard to run around too.

Here's Buddy waiting for the Awana crew to arrive

Izzy being Izzy and waiting as well

Mike helping to get the fires started

look at those blue eyes... they just melt your heart

Isabella trying her best to fly a kite

The only negative about this picnic is that it's impossible to keep a hat on Buddy and I he ended up with an ear infection. He didn't quite seem himself Saturday night and Sunday morning before we headed to church and I thought to just stay home... but I didn't want to and I paid for it! :) He was miserable all morning.... tired, runny nose and hurting ear. He wouldn't go to anyway and wouldn't let me put him down at all. He just cried and cried so loud that I couldn't even stay within the school grounds because he would've been heard during the service. So (and of course of all days, I chose to wear heels this week) I ended up walking all around Whampoa for 1.5hrs. He did manage to fall asleep for about 20 minutes and was much happier but still not quite himself. We came home and rested and then went into town for a little walk. The evening was much more enjoyable!

Yesterday was quite a fun day for me... I baked Pumpkin muffins, chili, lunch, went for a run and decorated some more. Today we're just chillin at home ... it's just too windy and chilly to be outside. I'm actually sitting by the heater right now! :)

It's a ...............

2009-11-16T10:23:00.003+08:00

going to be SO hard to keep this a secret until Christmas!!! Especially when everyone keeps trying to trick me into it... I have to think so hard about my responses to anything baby related. But it is kinda fun for the moment! We even have a name picked out! I've been praying about the name and it was so cool how this one came and what it means!

But alas... the scan went very well. Princess Lily Bob is growing right on track! So I hope that means no big baby this time. I told the lady about Isaiah and his size and big tummy and she said not to worry that the baby was healthy and normal size. Ultrasounds are just so amazing and they seem even more amazing here in HK because they are SO clear. I could see the spine so clearly and the baby hiding it's face with it's hands and seeing each finger. What a miracle!

I go to see the Dr. this Wednesday for her to explain the scan but the lady who did it, explained everything so clearly I'm not sure what the Dr will tell me. Maybe this appointment will mean I can postpone my clinic appointment a bit longer. I enjoy going to the hospital! They seem more personable!

Time to Exercise

2009-11-10T20:27:00.003+08:00

We had an exciting time with our Moms this afternoon, exercising to Walk Away the Pounds. We had a large group squeezed into a smaller room with 2 of the little ones joining in the exercise... it was fun to see 2yr old Karen walking/kicking, etc. We then moved to the playground and wished Lisa well as she moves this Saturday to France.

Tomorrow's my big scan and I pray I can find out if we have another Princess or Prince on our hands.

Not much to share this evening.... :)

Oh forgot to add.... I got sick on my way to pick up Izzy from school so I decided to take a cab to mom time. When the driver pulled up and saw Izzy and Isaiah, he hopped out of the car and grabbed a plastic bag out of his trunk. It had 2 buses and an airplane toy in it and he proceeded to give them to the kids. I thought he was brilliant to have toys for longer rides and the toys totally entertained the kids the majority of the way there. When we arrived, I paid and handed back the toys and he said, "Oh no, those are for the children. For them to keep." Wow... so thoughtful and it was a great opportunity to talk to Izzy about sharing and giving just because. I was really blown away with his generosity.

I tend to get easily frustrated with people here... mostly because they're either in a rush or just strolling around at the slowest pace possible or because their idea of queuing is different than mine, etc... but I have had many moments when I've been totally surprised by the kindness, generosity and helpfulness of the people you would least expect. It makes me stop to think about what simple things can I do to make someones day a little brighter.

20 Weeks

2009-11-09T10:09:00.002+08:00

Just because he's so cute....

20 weeks

though I'm INCREDIBLY grateful, it is hard to believe that I'm already at the half-way point of this pregnancy. As everyone says, "I guess that's what happens when you've already got children... you don't have time to focus on every little detail as you did with your first." In comparison, it has been a pretty easy pregnancy this go around and I'm quite grateful. I always felt like I didn't have a normal pregnancy, one that I could really enjoy, with planning to move across the world with Izzy and being sick with Isaiah... but I've learned and accepted, that I just don't enjoy this process. It's amazing how God created us and I really don't understand how anyone could deny Him if they really read/experienced pregnancy/giving birth but I enjoy two things while I'm pregnant.... 1. Announcing that I am and 2. getting the sweet baby at the end. (haha)

This past month has been a bit more challenging for me as I've had two occasions of almost passing out (luckily, I've got great friends who saved me just in time). I suffered this quite a bit with Isaiah and asked our Dr if there was anything I could do to prevent. Unfortunately, my blood pressure and iron are all normal so she said that I would just have to learn my limits. The problem lies in that when I'm standing in one place for just a few minutes is when I have problems and I end up doing that when I'm waiting for buses, teaching, etc... I've also had a few days that I've just needed to sleep a good chunk of the day or had to run to the loo.

But overall, I still feel pretty great. I'm still running and exercising which makes me feel better about the weight that keeps coming. I'm not having much problem sleeping and the weather is somewhat cooling down which makes life overall more comfortable.

There's no hiding the belly now but apparently I've been visibly pregnant for quite some time.... you must learn to appreciate the 'obvious' comments that you get here.

Izzy still insists it's a girl and I pray that we'll find out on Wednesday. I've been hearing mixed opinions on what the Public Hospitals will do so we'll just wait as see. Izzy has also asked to see the baby on the computer so I'm debating whether or not to take her with me. It could be a long time of just sitting.

We're narrowing down names but I must say this time it has seemed much easier to agree on names so hopefully, if we find out the sex on Wed, we'll be able to give it a name as well.

So here's to 20 more weeks! Can't imagine what that picture will look like! :)

NOV 11

2009-10-21T20:14:00.002+08:00

My appointment went quite well today. Gained less than a 1lb! One nurse remembered me from before (couldn't believe this!). The Dr was awesome and while warning me about the concerns of a VBAC she was all for it and didn't see any problems with me trying for one. Her only concern was Isaiah's weight and keeping an eye on this baby. She set an appointment for a 20wk ultrasound on Nov 11th!!!

The only problem is that I won't get the scan at the clinic but at the x-ray department. Which means that I'll have the scan and then will have to come back to the clinic a week later to get the results. So not sure if that means we will be able to find out the sex or not.

Got some shopping done for Friday night and our Tuesday costume party but ended up getting sick on the bus ride home. Did not make for a fun evening for myself and the kids as I was cranky and not fun to play with. I hate it when I feel this way and even more so when I lose my patience because I don't feel well. Something I really need to work on.

So because today was my appt (and I won't be weighed for another 6wks), I treated myself to a nice Oreo Cheesecake dessert and now I'm heading to bed.

Thanks for your prayers! I didn't have to push very hard to get my scan!

Please continue to pray for Mike as he finalizes details for this weekend and as they go. Please continue to pray for Izzy's health (she is improving and will go back to school tomorrow) and for my Dad. Also, this Friday night we're doing a special prayer labyrinth type event. Please pray all the details come together and it goes well.

Magical Day

2009-10-20T20:21:00.003+08:00

Our Magical Day

Isaiah was okay with Mickey as long as Daddy was holding him

On her favorite ride... the spaceships

Isaiah enjoyed pushing the buttons

Since we moved here I've been wanting to get pictures of the random cows that we find... this was mid afternoon as Izzy and I were waiting for the bus

there were quite a few of them but by the time I got my camera out several had already climbed down the hill

Izzy in her new dress from Papa and Grandma... she loves it and loves the pockets

Just got one of those dreaded phone calls from my mom... my Uncle passed away Friday night. Had a heart attack while he was driving home. This was quite a surprising one and I never know what to say to my family when this happens and I'm so far away. Please pray for my Dad (it was his brother and one that he spent a lot of time with) and for his family. The brothers are to play a polka at the funeral which I think is a really fun idea.

Also, tomorrow is my appointment at the hospital. Please pray that they will set up an appointment for a 20wk ish ultrasound and that if they don't, I will push to get one.

This weekend Mike heads to China with a group from the International School. Please pray for him and their time there.

Resting Up Before the Weekend

2009-10-15T19:56:00.003+08:00

What's he up to now?

Isaiah's latest ideas of fun are climbing onto this bench (actually anything that will allow) and dangling his feet. He looks like a little old man sitting there just watching the world go by. He also likes to grab the phone and walk around saying 'Hi.'

He also colored his first picture... he did this all by himself.

Izzy really wanted to play 'chalks' (cracks me up the names she gives things) and she was teaching Isaiah how to color as well.

He's a pretty quick learner. :)

She then thought it would be fun to see how dirty she could get her hands.

She always has really good intentions... though he doesn't always appreciate her love.

Cooking With Vivian

2009-10-13T19:32:00.002+08:00

We had a great time and great turn-out this afternoon at Mom Time! Approx 10 moms and who knows how many kids! It was crazy and chaotic but lots of fun. Vivian taught us all how to cook Indian Chicken Curry and we all walked home with dinner! It was great! We had several new moms join us as well. It was really fun to chat (as much as we could between cooking) and see everyone. It seems like it has been forever. I'm still praying about how to best approach this group as I really want Christ to be glorified in what we do so I would greatly appreciate your prayers as well. We'll be hosting a costume party on the 27th, where we'll play games, share snacks, and I hope to read 'The Pumpkin Parable.' I know things often get lost in translation among the non-native English speakers so I just pray that the idea of God's love would be clear and that Vivian and I can be an example of that.

I totally forgot about my camera until the end but managed to get a few pics... this is our main table...

the curry pots cooking away

Junko cooking

we also did a brief eggplant marina pasta sauce

the delicious curry... doesn't necessarily look pretty but it's yummy

chatting as we finish up

Signing and a Package

2009-10-12T19:22:00.002+08:00

I've been signing with Isaiah for several months now... I started earlier with him hoping he'd pick it up sooner than Izzy but no luck. Until yesterday. We were having dinner and he was doing his usual grunting and groaning when we were to slow in feeding him. (Many think this is cute but it has outgrown it's cuteness in our family.) And I looked at him and said/signed 'more' and he looked right back and signed! I couldn't believe it. I'm not sure he really understands the meaning but we were practicing tonight at dinner and he did well. Now just to get it on video.

We got a package from my mom today... it's always fun to get mail and treats from the states, though this package centered around the kids.. who am I kidding they always do but it still makes me very happy to see them excited. Isabella insisted on wearing her new tights and I had to try the 'Pappy's Little Buddy' sweatshirt on Isaiah.

We picked up Izzy's new bed today and to say she was excited is an understatement. She had 1001 questions and trying to explain to her that she would not be sleeping in it for months was quite the challenge.

Tomorrow is Mom Time and I'm really looking forward to it. We've got a big group signed up and it should be fun to do some cooking together. Please pray that it goes well and that new relationships are built!

Sai Kung Small Group

2009-10-10T21:09:00.002+08:00

We had a wonderful inaugural, as Mike called it, Sai Kung small group meeting. There were 6 of us (a few unable to make it this evening) and 5 kids! I tried a new Rachel Ray recipe Sicilian Eggplant Marinara over Penne and made a strawberry salad with Dori's Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing with brownies for dessert. I thought it was delicious but I guess that's not saying much because I love food. It was fun to hear parts of their stories and am excited to see how this group will grow and develop.

*****

Overall the day was quite peaceful... in the morning I took the kids outside to play with the neighbor boy Ling Ling. Izzy rode her bike and Isaiah showed off his walking skills. It was really fun to watch he and Ling Ling interact. Ling Ling didn't want Isaiah to have anything but Isaiah wasn't going to be walked over. He stood his ground which was funny to watch. He just kinda arches his back and grunts.

I stayed home in the afternoon to prepare dinner while Isabella and Mike had Awana and Joan took Isaiah with them. I actually wasn't feeling so good so I took a short rest and felt much better, then I went for a run which surprisingly made me feel great! I really enjoyed planning the meal and cooking it. I love to try new recipes but for some reason I really enjoy trying them on new people. So far, I've not had any complaints from doing this and hopefully it'll stay that way. :)

The children played well together which is exciting for me because hopefully by Dec, our neighbors flat will be renovated and they'll move back in, which means Izzy will have some good friends close by as will I.

******

I just checked the evite I sent for Mom Time this Tuesday and we have about 10 moms attending! I'm SO excited about this but I ask that you would pray for Vivian and I as we prepare and for the time together ... that we would be able to develop solid friendships in which we can speak truth into their lives.

Disappointing Appt

2009-10-09T13:58:00.003+08:00

Well today Mike's appointment was disappointing. The specialist said he didn't really know anything about the test in August and therefore couldn't say anything about it. Mike could explain this a bit better but basically just told him he had irritable bowels and would have to learn how to live with it. I guess it's great to know that nothing major is wrong but we had hoped for some better answers and advice on how to handle it.

I had a good morning at our school family picnic, got to meet some new moms and had some great food! Isabella had a good day but walking home from the bus stop on a hot day makes her quite tired and cranky for lunch. So now she's resting before heading to dance class.

We've got Reload tonight! Will be fun as due to other events, we haven't been together for three weeks.

That's our uneventful day for today... just wanted to update on Mike's appointment. Thanks for your prayers!

Videos!

2009-10-08T21:01:00.004+08:00

I finally got a video of Buddy walking! Up until today, the only thing we could get him to walk to was a basketball. Today however... the pool worked too.

And yesterday while in the playroom, Isabella wanted to make some videos of her singing some songs. They were all made up (Chinese) songs but I did manage to get her to sing the 'Once I caught a fish alive' song.

I did forget to mention about my appt on Tues. It went well... no major comments about my weight but I know I need to keep exercising. The only comment about the baby was that it had a fast heartbeat. Then the Dr told me I needed to tell the hospital (when in labor) that I need to be on antibiotics... like I'm really going to remember that. Well I guess I need to write that down because I KNOW I'll forget. That was the extent of my appt... same ole, same ole.... not personable but when you have 90 some women coming for an appt between the hours of 2-5, how can they be?

Tomorrow is Mike's big appt with the specialist, please continue to pray for answers

Saturday begins the Sai Kung small group, please pray it goes well!

Just an ordinary day....

2009-10-07T09:56:00.004+08:00

What a gorgeous day we had today... perfect in the shade but man once you sat in the sun, it warmed up quickly. I went for a run today (still running on the treadmill because I can take my glasses off... still haven't gotten a string to keep my glasses on my sweaty face) and it was awesome! It felt so great and it made me reconsider running in the Disney 10K. I've run one of the races for the past two years it's existed and I hate to miss it so I'm going to try and complete it. I know I'll be pretty slow but the course is beautiful and the money goes for a great cause... it goes towards children in need, specifically (at least I think that's the same for this year) the children who suffered in the Sichuan Earthquake. If anyone is interested in supporting me in this race (all money goes directly to unicef) please drop me a comment and I'll let you know how it works.

We all headed in to pick up Izzy from school and then had lunch at McD's. It's becoming a Wednesday tradition but it was the perfect day to do it. We headed to the park afterwards but the slides and even swings were too hot to enjoy ourselves for too long. It was however GREAT for Isaiah and his walking. Because he couldn't crawl without hurting his hands, he walked quite a bit by himself and then quite a bit more while I held one of his hands. It was so cute!

We headed home, rested, rode bikes and let Isaiah walk a bit outside and then went over to the playroom until dinner time. Isabella has become so creative in her play. We played Dr's and boats/fish and sang lots of interesting made up songs.

I forgot to write in my update that Mike has his Specialist appt this Friday and our new Sai Kung small group begins this Saturday. So please be in prayer for both of these things. We're praying for some solid answers for Mike on Friday.

I'd mentioned that I dyed my hair and had it straightened for the night... here is what it looked like. I'm considering trying a straightening treatment for 3 months just for something different but who knows... I"m a bit worried that it will somehow affect my curls. But we'll see... thought I might do it when Princess Lily Bob is about to arrive so it's one less thing I have to worry about in the mornings. :)

Pui O Camping

2009-10-06T20:50:00.010+08:00

Camping was definitely a hit!!!! Isabella and I were extremely excited about the overnight trip and the excitement just grew to the point that none of us wanted to leave. We arrived around 4:30pm and instantly Izzy asked to change into her swimsuit. Thankfully Jacinda was swimming and took her into the ocean because the sun was almost down and I

thought it was a bit chilly. She swam until dark... no surprise there. She LOVED it! We just put Isaiah in the sand to see what he'd do. It took him a few minutes to warm up to this strange feeling but it wasn't long before he was crawling around and eating the sand. I'm sure we'll continue to find sand in body parts for the next few days. :) We BBQ'd for dinner and enjoyed some high quality cupcakes (a lady in the church professionally makes them and brought us some..yummm!) as well as our mooncakes. Isabella brought along her glow stick lanterns and her, Jacinda and Trent went to work creating all sorts of art.

I was nervous about how Isaiah would do sleeping/falling asleep in the tent but he was awesome. We laid him down, zipped up the tent and within about 5 minutes, he was out. The only negative was when I crawled into bed... he woke up and partied for a good 30/45 minutes. But that aside, he and Izzy (who also did really well sleeping in the tent) slept their normal hours despite no rain cover and a very mesh-filled tent! Mike and I on the other hand struggled. Mike says it takes him a few days to adjust to sleeping outdoors and with my slight fear of the ocean... had dreams all night about big waves and tsunamis. Thankfully, I was expecting that so I wasn't a nervous wreck the whole night.

We had a nice breakfast and Izzy just couldn't wait to get in the water. We spent all morning swimming and building sand creations. Isaiah actually took a nap and then joined us on the beach. He loved riding in his car over the waves. He is getting to be such a boy which is really fun. He loves balls, especially basketballs. And it's the one thing that we can get him to actually walk to get.

After lunch, we packed up and headed home. We hated to leave so early (about 1:30ish) but once we started packing we knew we just needed to head out. It actually was a good time though because everyone got a bit of rest once we got home before starting the week.

Mike and I are SO happy that it was such a success. Though we now know that 1 tent is not enough for us. It worked just fine this time but Isaiah's not going to stay this small for long and #3 will take away any space for our belongings. So we'll have to try and hit another sale for one more tent. But I'm hoping that maybe come Easter, we might be able to do another short trip (there's no major holidays between now and then that have good temps for camping) but that will depend on Princess Lily Bob's arrival.

He enjoyed the sand until it was all over him and he couldn't get it off...

the thumb didn't taste as yummy covered in sand.

Isabella on the other hand LOVED rolling in the sand

the 'boys' (and I mean Mike and Howard) enjoyed creating this crab

Howard has quite the sand creation talent and Mike learned a few tricks

the others in the picture helped too.. a minute here and there :)

the gorgeous sunset... isn't God's creation beautiful?

(ignore the big black dot... my lens has a dust bunny)

Isabella building her own castle. Sadly it got taken down by the waves.

She had fun in the sand but swimming took the cake this trip. I couldn't get her out of the ocean!

My handsome boy covered in sand... we're still finding it in places. :)

He was such a good sport though.. only a few minor complaints of the sand on his hands.

Our campsite. It was in the best location... in the shade, surrounded by trees that brought a nice breeze, just up the hill from the beach. The only problem was that it was 1 kilometer away from the bathrooms. Thankfully, Izzy learned how to go potty outdoors and then we couldn't get her to use the bathroom. haha

Another sunset picture

looking down the beach

Isabella finally decided she wanted to try writing her name. She did it all by herself without looking at anything or anyone telling her the letters. I couldn't believe it!

My picture of the 'new moon' that the Mid-Autumn Festival was all about.

And below are Isabella's lanterns (we used glow sticks this year... much cleaner and quieter) Ave made wings out of them and put them around her waist. Then they made flowers and balls and Izzy hung one in the tent as her night light. We did have our mooncake too but I didn't get a picture of that.

Happy Mid-Autumn!!

2009-10-03T20:13:00.002+08:00

Today was not at all the day I had planned. It's Mid-Autumn Festival... one of my favorite Chinese holidays and I had every intention on packing up the kids and our dinner, heading to Ma On Shan park and enjoying the evening together. (Mike is at the youth retreat) But Isaiah woke up at 7... starting the day off for him and me, tired. Isabella woke up about 8, happy but still tired. The sun wasn't shining and I couldn't get Isabella out the door. She just kept saying how tired she was and how she just wanted to color and watch Blues Clues. When Isaiah woke up from his morning nap, we did go over to the playroom for awhile which was nice to get out of the house. We came back, had lunch played a bit and then we all rested for about an hour. Isaiah refused to sleep any longer which made him cranky by 4:30.

I was really looking forward to having the day with just the kids and no one else at home... but by 4:30, I decided that to pack them up and head to MOS would probably be a disaster and when I told Izzy we were going to go into Sai Kung town... she begged not to. So instead of dinner under the moon, we ate at 5, bathed at 6 and everyone was in bed by 7. Now I'm just trying to gather what we'll need for camping and potentially Disney on Monday.

Since we'll be camping out tomorrow night and the whole family will be together, I just said in my mind that we'll celebrate tomorrow night. Our laterns are packed I'll try and get my mooncake after church.

It's been an emotional day for me.... I think some things that have been going on just all hit me, in my moments of frustration and tiredness today. I went through anger, tears, and pure joy when Isaiah took his first steps! I'm just so thankful that God is a just God while also a forgiving and loving God.

Please continue to pray for the people in the Philippines. Joan posted a video on Facebook with pictures of the devastation. Broke my heart to see the amount of water and damage and all the children being carried on their parents backs.

I have a Dr appt this week and I ask that you would pray it would go well without any embarrassing moments. :) They always like to comment on my weight but while it's normal to talk about here, it still makes me uncomfortable and self-conscious.

2009-10-01T21:00:00.003+08:00

Today was National Day and we decided to have a low-key relaxing day. I was expecting it to rain but it turned out to be a beautiful, beautiful day. I should have known better, that's usually the case in HK this time each year. All the China factories shut down and we get clean air and beautiful blue skies. So we put up our new tent (yeah!!! more vacation opportunities that won't cost a fortune!) in the morning and played, had lunch, then swam and took naps in the afternoon followed by an evening in town. Mike and I both even got a run in so it was a really enjoyable day. Here's Isaiah enjoying his Elmo towel.

my little fish

Buddy chillin

Princess Lily Bob at 14.5 weeks

As I mentioned before this weekend is the Lantern festival and this is one shop in town selling all types of lanterns.

As we were eating some ice cream by the water, Mike noticed a nighttime boat fish market. It was fun to watch people buying all sorts of things. There's actually a bigger market like this, I think on Sat, but I've never gone to it. Would be fun to check out some time.

This however was the highlight of Isabella's day. She got sweaty playing in the tent so we went out to ride bikes. She then got sweaty riding bikes and asked if she could sit on the car. And then that's all she wanted to do all day... play on the car.

This is our new tent! We are so excited about having this and the opportunities it will provide. We still need to invest in a few camping supplies (ours all are still in the states) but we've got the basics to test out the tent this Sunday at the beach. Will be an interesting night with Isaiah but I imagine we'll all have a good time. At least some stories to share after. :)

Please continue to pray for Joan's family and those affected by the typhoon. We've learned of 3 more ladies in our church directly hit by this and I'm sure there will be more to come on Sunday.

Please also pray for Rosalie and Grace who will be attending our youth retreat this weekend that's discussing the truth's of our faith.

Quiet Day with Deep Thoughts

2009-09-30T21:52:00.003+08:00

This is Isabella's lantern for Mid-Autumn Festival. She was so proud of it. She drew pictures of her two new friends at school next to a mountain (the big blue thing) and sun. On my way home today, I stopped to buy her a proper lantern... and surprise, surprise it has the Disney Princesses on it but she was so excited. Now only if the rain will stop so we can picnic on Saturday.

Today was a rather uneventful but very refreshing day for me. It was Izzy's last day of school for the week so Joan, Isaiah and I picked her up and treated her to McD's for lunch. I planned to let them play at the playground too but it began to poor so we checked out the library... now if only I could find my library card. Joan took the kids home and I decided to get a cheap pedicure.

Tomorrow and Saturday are holidays and Mike won't be home this weekend, so I thought I'd give myself some down time before all the fun and excitement begins. I love going this particular lady in the old side of Sai Kung for a pedicure. It's nothing fancy but she does a great job, takes her time (it usually takes about 2hrs for the whole process) and she speaks little English so the whole time I can read or gather my thoughts. It's VERY relaxing for me, something I needed today.

I came home refreshed and energized... man what a little quiet time can do. The kids and I played, Izzy completed her weekend homework, we had a fabulous dinner and I (and actually Isabella helped quite a bit) made some apple crisp. Isaiah went to bed and Izzy went into town with Joan to pick up Auntie Tata so I had an extra hour or so of quiet time.

While I did go and get the pedicure... I've been struggling a lot the past few days thinking about poverty verses my lifestyle. I wouldn't by any means consider us wealthy but after the typhoons destroying families... I've been constantly thinking about all that I have. All the excess that I have and what some would do to have just a little of what I've got. I've been just torn on how to spend our money. I think about some things that we've been planning to buy (like curtains for our bedroom that we've been debating about for almost a year and now we have enough money set aside to do this... our windows are HUGE) but when I think about buying them, I think about what that money could do for a family in the Philippines that just lost everything.

I'm just trying to figure out the balance between giving freely and well I don't even know what... A fellow TFC'er is thinking through this same thing and she blogged much better about this so if you want my previous words to make sense maybe you want to check out her blog. :)

Manila Flooding

2009-09-29T20:17:00.003+08:00

I'm sure you've all heard about the devastating rain and floods in Manila. It was brought close to home when our helper, Joan, told us about her stressful Sunday and devastation that two of her sisters family are dealing with.

Joan said that her sister escaped when the water was knee high because she knew she wouldn't be able to swim but her husband tried to take care of house things and didn't leave until all he could do was swim to safety. We praise God that they are safe but all their efforts to save their home were unsuccessful as the water peaked at rooftop levels leaving them with absolutely nothing.

Sadly, I'm sure this is not the only story we will hear about in the coming weeks as a huge portion of our Filipino fellowship come from or have family living in Manila.

Our hearts ache for them so I ask that you would please join us in praying for them, for safety (the family is in a new place but because they have nothing, they are sleeping on cold, dirty floors) and that God would provide for their needs.

Please also pray this would be an opportunity for them and all dealing with this to see God at work and trust in Him.

It's hard to know exactly to help in this situation but one thing I can do is to ask if anyone has any clothing to fit a 11yr boy, 7yr old boy and 3yr old girl and would be willing to donate them to her family, it would be greatly appreciated. Please leave me a comment and I can get more details to you.

Thank you for your prayers!!

Fun week with guests

2009-09-26T21:15:00.004+08:00

It has been a fantastic week for us. We were blessed to have the Cox family (connections from Toccoa) visit us on their way back to Cambodia where they are serving the Lord in church ministry.

They've got a beautiful family with 3 precious little girls. (5,3,10 months) Isabella adored having them around and they all got a long really well. Their youngest, Tova, and Isaiah hit it off as well. It was really cute watching them interact and chase after one another.

In the midst of many conversations, we commented on how great it is to have connections all across the world... to have kindred spirits in ministry... and because of those things, it doesn't matter how well you know each other, we always welcome guests into our homes.

It really was great to hear their stories... how God brought them to Cambodia, what life is like there, what challenges they face living in a foreign country, the differences in our lifestyles, etc... It was great to hear their passions, to watch them parent and steal ideas :) but while we swam, went to Disney, tried some new restaurants and just basically relaxed and tried to help them recover from jet-lag... I was really challenged by the conversations we had.

In talking about our lifestyle differences and cultural differences... I realized how immune almost I've become to living in a foreign country. How normal life has become for me and how the things that shocked me, stopped me in my tracks, etc... 3 years ago, don't even phase me now. In some ways that's good I think... I think it means that I've adjusted to living in HK. But at the same time... I feel like my eyes/senses are not as in tune as they should be. I'm not amazed when I see spots of grass anymore or even when I see the moon. I don't thank God when I hear birds outside or because I feel incredibly safe here. And I don't even hesitate to spend 4$ on a liter of milk.

After hearing some of the things that the Cox's have to deal with, I instantly became aware of how blessed we are to be in HK where I do feel safe... so much so that I rarely lock, let alone shut the door when I'm at home. Or how blessed I am that I can get by speaking English.

Even in the conversations, I was reminded of the differences of living in HK versus the states... such as living in a gated complex with a guard, or having to turn on the hot water when I want to shower, not having a proper washing machine and dryer or having one that the whole process would take approx 3hrs to complete.

Or just looking around the city and seeing things that are different... such as people hanging their clothes out their windows or drying them on the railing by the highway. Buildings and housing complexes that are at least 30 floors high... EVERYWHERE to where you really can't see anything but buildings.

But in all this discussion, I think I just realized that when we first moved to HK, I was really on the look out for God. I was really focused on Him, serving Him, seeing Him in everything and now that I'm comfortable... it's easier to go on with a normal daily routine and see things in that mentality. It's not that I'm not focused on God or that I'm not or don't want to serve Him but it's... I'm comfortable. I've dealt with riding buses with strollers, bags and children... shopping at a market for fruit, etc... and that's just normal life for me now. I focus more on specific people or specific ministries.

Chris is a photographer and made this awesome book about their lives in Cambodia and as I looked at it, I realized that I haven't taken a random picture of HK in probably 2yrs. How can I show others what our life is like, if I don't take the pictures of the daily things we see and do.

So I've decided that I want to be more intentional about life in HK as I was 4 years ago. I want to be more sensitive, more aware... I want to be able to share our lives and our new culture with others.

It was a great week for many reasons and the house seems all to quiet with them gone but it sure was a blessing to share God's blessings on us with them. Chris was even gracious enough to take some family photos for us (with Victoria's wonderful suggestions on how to pose and help to get the kids to smile) and I'm anxious to get working on a new prayer card and new blog header.

And as I took Isabella to a birthday party this afternoon... my eyes were a bit more opened to life in HK... having random cows in your back yard and eating satay alongside chicken nuggets. Life is good.

"... too tired."

2009-09-17T20:46:00.003+08:00

Yesterday Isabella had an accident at school. When I asked her why she didn't tell the teacher that she needed to go, this was her response....

"I was just too tired."

Classic logic by a 4yr old.

Isaiah finally stood long enough to take a picture.. so proud of him. I know it's hard keeping that much weight off the ground. :)

I tried to take a few more recent photos of the kids but they weren't very cooperative. I did manage to get this one taken.

Here is a similar photo we took when Isaiah was 6 weeks. He's grown a bit since then. And my looking at this picture of Izzy. Wow... she's changed quite a bit too. Look at all that hair!

At dinner last night, Isabella asked me if I knew if Princess Lily Bob was a boy or girl and of course I said no and she replied (like come on mom you should know this attitude)... it's a girl Mommy. Joan then asked what she would do if the baby was a boy, what would we do with two boys? And Izzy's response, "We'll just give Buddy away." Priceless. But when we pressed her for who we'd give him away to she insisted that we keep him and she was just kidding.

Surprise!!!

2009-09-15T20:22:00.002+08:00

I'm still somewhat speechless when I talk about it... still having a hard time actually believing that it is true...

God's special 30th birthday present to me.... another precious bundle of joy, due March 26, 2010!

I have absolutely no proof to share... no photos of the positive test, no ultrasound pictures (they don't give them to you here), the only paper I had that said... Melissa is pregnant... is in the hands of the Dr. now.

It's so surreal and while I am sufferring minor nausea and tiredness and my belly is quickly growing, it's still hard to believe that I'm pregnant. I'm very thankful that I'm feeling as well as I am, that I'm already 12weeks, and that I'm only working 2 half-days a week so that I can rest when necessary without missing out on my little one's lives.

The only problem with this new little baby is the due date. It's due the weekend of the Rugby 7's and I'm told by many that I will have no husband and no guests at the hospital. :) So I'll just pray that baby comes early.

Isabella is excited and insists it's a girl and she has named her "Princess Lily Bob".

2009-09-07T20:15:00.002+08:00

Where has the past year gone? I was always told that the older you get, the faster time passes by and that is most definitely the truth. I remember praying that Aug 25, 2008 would come and go, so this little guy would be here and I could get back to a normal (well as normal as having 2 children, 1 being a newborn) could be. Those 9 months were the longest and sadly the most miserable nine months of my life. I constantly tried to remind myself how blessed I was and how many people would kill to be in my place but the constant nausea and vomiting and knowing that I lost almost 9 months of Izzy's life was unbearable.

The public hospital wouldn't provide a 20 week ultrasound and I just couldn't justify the expense when I didn't want to know the sex anyway. I thought 'no big deal, if they were concerned about something, they'd make it happen.' Though looking back, it may have been wise to have that scan. Maybe it would have shown how big he was already and prevented my from having to have a c-section and a 9lb 15oz baby. :) But alas... two weeks before he was born, they felt something wasn't right as my stomach measured 3 weeks ahead. Lo and behold, we were told he was already 4kilos with a big tummy and that most likely, they'd have to break his collarbone to get him out. So we then began the discussion of a c-section. I prayed this would mean I'd have him in my arms in the next few days but no, they said it was my choice (I still get really upset at this statement... I by no means wanted a c-section but when you're told they'd have to break your baby... I felt like I'd be a selfish mom if I didn't agree with them) and made me wait two more weeks.

The whole admitting process was kind of funny to me. I admitted myself on Saturday afternoon and then went on home-leave until Sunday evening. On Monday, I was to have the operation about 10-11am. I should have been more realistic and known that wouldn't happen but by 2pm, I was getting quite frustrated and hungry. :) I began feeling stomach pains but thought it was and upset tummy from not eating. Almost 3hrs later, I realized it was labor and the contractions were 2 minutes apart. The nurse didn't believe me but after 30 minutes of monitoring, I was the lucky one to go next.

Once on the table, I began to panic and insisted that Mike be able to come in. Thankfully, they did allow him and it seemed that even before I could count to ten, Isaiah was born. I had to have my glasses off so I could barely see what he looked like, in fact I had to ask the Dr if it was a boy or girl... they didn't tell us. They took him away for observation and me for recovery. They let Mike stay with Isaiah which was fine by me because I was sick and useless for any sort of conversation. I just wanted to sleep.

I never did get to see Isaiah until about 5pm the next day during visiting hours.

I spent 5 days in the hospital, in a room with 10 other women, with only 2hrs a day of visitation. I thought I would hate that but it was actually quite nice. I felt very comfortable caring for Isaiah and physically rested by the time I went home.

It was a unique experience but I have no complaints. The total cost of having him... $50 US dollars.

Now my baby is 1... crawling everywhere, pulling himself up and trying to stand. Eating like he's a teenage boy, sleeping like a champ. He's very calm, happy, joyful though he does not like loud noises. He'll eat anything in sight (except veg. dumplings) and grunts/screams while he eats. He's a thumb-sucker. He loves his sister and wants to do everything she is doing. He loves the water though can easily fall asleep if being held in the pool. He watches everything that's going on. He's finally got some teeth, they all came in at once and now has 6. Still very little hair but two curls behind his ears. He's got amazingly beautiful blue eyes and a giggle that makes your heart melt.

He's 9.4 kilos (21lbs) but man he's a chunk... a heavy boy to carry around but he loves to be held and snuggled.

I can't even imagine what the next year will hold but I look forward to every moment. I look forward to his walking, running, and tackling his sister. I look forward to seeing his personality develop and see if he remains calm and laid back or will he quickly become a boisterous boy. I look forward to seeing his reaction to another baby and how he'll be as a big brother. What an exciting year ahead!

I'm so very blessed!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!!!

2009-07-05T20:37:00.004+08:00

I've been cleaning out my inboxes, as my mac account will be shut down on the 7th, and found these hospital photos of Isaiah. Camera's were not allowed in the hospital and since I lost my phone, I lost all my hospital pictures. :( Thankfully, one of our friends in a Dr in the A&E department and he had taken these. He was 3 days old I believe in these pictures... certainly doesn't look that small. :) The other photo is him now at 10 months. Time has flown by all too quickly.

Swine Flu update

2009-06-23T20:16:00.004+08:00

Well they've decided to end the school year for all kindergartens and primary schools. I have mixed feelings about this... Isabella will not be able to say good-bye to her friends, some of which may not be returning to her school next year but she is happy to be at home and playing. I don't know what this means for me and the two weeks I was to work in July. While it would be nice to be done early, I was counting on the pay for those two weeks. So we'll see...

I wasn't all that concerned about this but now that it's hit closer to home, I'm trying to be extra cautious... I don't want to risk getting sick and quarantined just in time for us to catch our flight back to the US. So I would greatly appreciate your prayers.

We had our beach trip with the school today and it was so much fun! Isabella had a blast and got to make lots of new friends. I was also quite blessed at the end when all the parents/children gathered to say good-bye to those leaving. I felt especially blessed when they got to me, they said they were still working on a way to keep me even more part-time. They know my reasons for leaving so they're trying to respect that but also find a way to keep me connected. I really appreciated it!

Tomorrow, Mike and I are going out to celebrate our anniversary. We're going to have a Thai dinner, go to prayer meeting and end with an evening of Transformers. Tomorrow is the opening in HK and we're going to see it at the IMAX. I'm hoping that CPK will stay opened long enough for me to get a piece of key lime pie for the movie. hehe

Swine Flu

2009-06-11T15:35:00.004+08:00

... while this hit months ago, they managed to keep it quite contained, catching the majority of the people at the airport until this week. Apparently there were 12 cases in one school as of this week and now all nurseries, kindergartens and primary schools are closed for two weeks! This is so crazy to me. Last year we had an extra week off due to the normal flu and now two weeks for this. On the 23rd, they will determine whether or not to keep school closed or reopen to finish out the year.

Many international schools sent their students home yesterday basically saying, "See you next year!" They're not bothering to come back for 1 day on the 26th. Makes sense to me but apparently some are quite angry about this. Technically though, schools are to remain open and staffed in case some children have no place to go (aka.. no parents at home or helpers) though some schools are allowing anyone who shows up at the door to stay.

This means that I still have to work... and obviously I'm disappointed but I'm more frustrated than anything. I feel like our school is really being taken advantage of. In the 4 days school has been suspended, we've had anywhere from 10 to 17 students out of about 36 total and it's not because they have no one to care for their children. I fight my feelings every morning and it's been quite a struggle for me... a real test of patience and joy.

As of today, 2 Secondary schools have now been closed. I don't think that will mean any change for us but it shows that the H1N1 is spreading. I'm not all that worried but I am trying to be cautious.... keeping the kids at home and trying to stay away from bigger crowds. I'm thankful that we live in Sai Kung as it's a much smaller community than where we previously lived and with the house that we live in, we are so blessed to have the space to be able to stay at home and not go nuts.

We have arranged some playdates with some school friends and Isabella still has her swim lessons but both of those are with a small amount of children, of parents who are also very cautious.

But this does make me nervous about traveling, as many of the cases we initially got were from flights from the US. I don't want to put my child's health at risk but I certainly don't want to miss my chance to go home. So we would greatly appreciate all prayers for our health and protection from this virus.

On a much lighter note... we FINALLY had some sunshine today in what seems like months. Izzy and I went swimming and she's been practicing her treading water, kicking and blowing bubbles. She seems to be stuck at putting her face/head under water so I tried really hard to get her to do it today. She finally gave it a go but I missed it, thankfully she did it again and I said to her, 'Wow! You know you should really try to do it 4 times since your 4 years old.' and of course she did it. Then she kept going. She asked if I could call Reg (her teacher) to let her know how many times she put her face under. I was so proud of her because I know this was really a scary thing for her. We also practiced jumping in... yet another thing she has been hesitant to do (aside from sitting on the edge and falling in). Before we got out I asked her if she wanted to jump one more time, she said yes. And then it was... 'one more time, just 3 more times, 5 more times, okay mommy?' She's getting braver!

MaNY qUesTIonS

2009-04-01T20:11:00.003+08:00

My mind has been full of many questions lately. Lots of things going on... some a bit more challenging than others but all have sent me directly to God which has been WONDERFUL! I've really been challenged a lot lately... and it's not always fun to examine yourself and see where there needs to be improvement but it's necessary in order to become more like Christ. I've been learning a lot lately from different people... (what to and not to do) but I've been really blessed by some simple notes that have been posted on Facebook by my friends.

My friend Dori posted a note about carrying around note cards with scriptures on them and I really liked what she shared about this verse: I just copied it here...

Galatians 5:22-26 - I use this one sort of as my spiritual checklist to see how I'm doing. Have I been exhibiting love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in my life? There's always something that I'm reminded of by God's Spirit and then I pray about my life and for those I interact with.

While I love the verses, what I enjoyed even more was her saying that "There's always something that I'm reminded of by God's Spirit..." Christians are so blessed to have a real and personal God and I love that He shows us areas in our lives that need to be worked on and that He's faithful in doing that. Not because He doesn't love us the way we are but because He wants us to be closer to Him and to become more like Him. He loves us enough to help us become better people and I'm quite grateful for that. Over the years I've been a Christ Follower, I've seen Him change my attitudes, my speech, etc... and it's so encouraging to know that He will continue to help me with my struggles.

So while I don't have the answers to my questions... they are drawing me closer to God and teaching me more about Him so I'm grateful for this process and maybe in the end I'll be blessed with some answers too.

In other news... just 1 more day before I jump on a plane with two kiddos and head back to the land of Chick-fil-a, sugar cookies, diet Dr. Pepper, and oh yeah... MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm a bit excited.

Thoughtful Speech

2009-03-31T20:42:00.006+08:00

Today's Mom Time was a farewell for Heyam as she's headed back to Canada this weekend. It was a great time of fellowship but the highlight was praying for her before she left. I've always been open about my faith among these ladies but today was the first time that I stepped up in front of all to do something like this. Very few moms in our group believe in Jesus as their Saviour but it's always been my prayer that they would discover the one true God. I've been racking my brain how to more intentionally incorporate God into our fellowship times and today was a great start. They all responded well and I think this opened the doors to the book that we will study and having more opportunities to pray for them. I love these ladies and feel very blessed to serve them by organizing this group.

We started our time playing the game 2 truths and a lie and it was really fun. We got to know some fun facts about each other. I'm thinking of playing this as an opener each week... it's a much easier and fun way to learn things about everyone all at once.

Here's a few pictures of the ladies....

and this is Heyam and Luna

As we waited for everyone to arrive, Isabella and Isaiah were staring out the window watching a man trim the hedges. Buddy was just entranced by this as you can see....

Just a few more days and then I get to hug my family! I'm very excited about this trip ... excited to see my family and excited to catch up with Adelina. I really miss having them around.

I've been really challenged lately about the things that come out of my mouth... realizing that every word counts... that they can be really encouraging or really hurtful.... and realizing that I have a lot of work to do to improve in that area. I can't change what others say but I can be careful about what I say and I'm thankful to a friend here Dori, who posted this scripture in a note on facebook that challenged me to be more like Christ...

Matthew 12:36, 37 "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. . For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.

final check-up

2009-03-28T20:38:00.003+08:00

I had my last Dr's appointment for my eyes today... well hopefully for along time. My right eye has totally healed and my left eye just has two spots left! So I was put back on the drops for 10 days and that should be the end of that! I get my new glasses on Tuesday so life is good!

My computer is dying a slow death... the delete button is now no longer working which makes typing extremely hard since my f's and r's don't work either and I have to cut and paste those. Ugh...

So I'm going to sign o f f and see how many people turned the lights o f f for world earth hour.

BesT frIenDS

2009-03-27T21:35:00.004+08:00

Isabella and I were talking about friends yesterday and I asked her who was her best friend. I thought she might say her usual 'I don't know' answer but she promptly said, 'Timothy.' Here they are at his birthday party. The only negative thing about them being so close is that they have to be reminded to include others... when others are around. I don't know if that's an age thing or not so I'm working on that with her. I certainly don't want Isabella to grow up unwilling to make new friends or leaving others out.

Mike's at the 7's tonight. It's been a yucky rainy day so I chose to stay home and work on worship for Sunday. It's been a fairly relaxing evening which is good because the next few days... not so much. :)

This is the way.... walk in it.

2009-03-26T21:35:00.004+08:00

Lord, I give up my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my time, my all, utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt, send me where Thou wilt, work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever. ~Betty Scott Stam a China Inland Mission worker

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."
Isaiah 30:21 "Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it"

I like to start and end my day by saying the Lord's Prayer. I don't exactly remember why I started doing this, and sadly when it's the alarm clock that wakes me.. I'm often shocked it's the am already and forget my prayer, but it always helps me to calm down and focus on the Lord before bed. Mornings are not my friend (just ask Mike and sadly Isabella takes after me in that way) but I've been trying really hard to make the am less stressful and more joyful... for myself but also to set an example for Isabella. To teach her that are attitude is a choice and that life is much more pleasant when we choose joy. :) As I was reading this evening, I came across this prayer (by Betty Scott Stam, typed above) that just spoke to me on so many levels. This was her daily prayer and it will become my mine. I know it will be a challenge to give my plans/purposes/desires/etc totally to the Lord as we often think we know what's best for ourselves but I honestly want God's will for my life... even if that means giving up my desires and I will trust that God will give me peace and help me to let go if necessary.

Aside from this prayer, two verses also spoke to me. Psalm 37:4 and Isaiah 30:21. Psalm 37 reminded me that God does care about us and hear us but that I need to delight in Him and His desires will become mine. Isaiah 30 challenged me to go deeper in my walk. I can imagine walking through life hearing God's still, small voice saying... 'This is the way, walk in it.' How awesome to know that He will guide me and I can trust Him completely.

I was disappointed when Mike headed to bed early tonight (though I knew he needed to and that it was good for him) but what a blessing to me it turned out to be. Thank you God for knowing what I needed!

I'm excited to daily commit myself to the Lord, using this prayer. I can already see how God is using it to change my perspectives.

How do you daily commit yourself to God?

One of Those days

2009-03-25T21:10:00.005+08:00

I don't really like to write many negative things because I know that whatever complaints I have... they're so minor in comparison to how God has blessed me and what He has done for me but man.... today has been a long day and I'm frustrated and disappointed and well.... sometimes I just don't understand why things happen the way they do. And I just needed to say that out loud.

Tomorrow's a new day and I'm grateful for that! So I'm going to head upstairs (it's pretty darn cool that I can say that!) and read and make a list for the trip.

But before I finish...
I've been trying to make a list every night of 5's... 5 ways I'm thankful, 5 prayers for others, 5 prayers for myself and 5 dreams so I'll post my 5 thankfuls for today here:

1. I'm thankful that my activity at school went well today. I had the two oldest groups and they tend to be the hardest to keep focused during activities.
2. I'm thankful that I connected with a mom during ballet class today. She lives just down the street and her daughter and Izzy get along really well. So I'm hoping that maybe we can set up some playdates and build some friendships out here.
3. I'm thankful that both kids went to bed very easily and that Isabella fell asleep earlier tonight. She has been so exhausted since camp.
4. I'm thankful that we've benefited from people's generosity ... I came home from school today with a bag full of clothes for Isabella.
5. I'm thankful that tomorrow is Thursday and we have nothing planned. It's been a crazy few weeks and I'm looking forward to coming home and staying home.

Shy, Sensitive Isabella

2009-03-23T21:06:00.002+08:00

Yesterday Isabella was invited to her best bud, Timothy's, birthday party. When I asked her what she wanted to get him (I was actually just asking cause I was just curious what she'd say) she said a Superman costume. I thought she'd forget about it but when I asked her again a few days later, she said the same thing. I asked her why she wanted to get him that and she said so that he would have something to wear, instead of princess dresses, when he came over to play. When I asked why superman, she said so that they could match. (she has a supergirl dress) I thought it was so sweet of her to think of him. What a pair these two are. I did however forget my camera so I don't have pictures of them to share.

Today we went to Disney for the afternoon. We had a great time, the weather was perfect, and it wasn't too crowded. We started off with the usual... spaceships, tea cups, it's a small world.... When it was time to see the princesses, Izzy was second in line. Because it wasn't so crowded, we were excited that she would have time to talk to Cinderella and Snow White. She'd been talking about them all day but when they came... she became shy and wouldn't say a thing. So we headed off to see High School Musical and have Mickey waffles. Buddy was the star of the day as many mainlanders stopped to look at his blue eyes. I'm thankful that I've finally learned the balance of letting them have a look but moving on with my day as well. It's a bit tricky now too with Isabella as many do enjoy seeing her.. they ooo and ahh more over Isaiah (being a baby and having blue eyes) and I don't ever want her to feel that he's more special or anything of the like.

So anyway... that was our day. Nice and relaxing and now we're headed up to bed to watch LOST on our big screen.

Worship: so many questions

2009-03-21T22:13:00.003+08:00

I came home this evening from camp so that I could organize and cook a bit before everyone arrives tomorrow and with just a few minutes to put my feet up, I wanted to write how blessed I've been with all that has taken place in the last 24+ hrs. We've had a small group this year... (a max of about 25) but I think it's really helped them to connect. We had some from Sunday mornings and some from friday nights so they didn't all know each other but they mixed and mingled and participated in what was going on.

The theme was Our Journey with God and Mike had asked several adults to share their journeys with God. So far we heard Pastor Mark, Sarah and David... all with sweet stories on the journey God has taken them. Tomorrow I share... eek I do not like speaking in front of people but my story is to hit a hit on something that I'm quite passionate about so I think I'll be okay. :)

But the thing that touched me the most was their worship. I can remember being their age and not interested in singing or really understanding what worship was all about. Plus I can remember there always being those people in the back who were talking or doing their own thing and it just all felt awkward. And I think all youth groups still struggle with those things but this group showed a lot of respect for what was going on... what the purpose was. They may not have been comfortable to sing and they may not understand totally what worship is all about but they all tried. I don't think there was one who didn't make an effort and that really blew me away. Tonight before I left there was one more 'singing set' and Mike challenged all of us to worship in a way that we felt comfortable... meaning dance, clap, raise hands, kneel, whatever it might be. He reminded those of us that attended the Delirious concert that we don't have to stand straight and look like prunes but this was our time with God. And I couldn't believe what happened after that... the energy that produced... the joy that came upon the students faces. They were dancing, singing louder, clapping... they were praising God in their own special way and it went from quiet whispers to loud, joyful praises.

And it made me think.... I wonder what guests think when they walk into a church and see people standing still, singing quietly, maybe some even with unintentional frowns? Would non-energetic/enthusiastic singing make people question our faith or passion for God? And why do we feel that we have to worship one way in church and another way at a concert? Why can't/aren't we comfortable worshiping in a way that brings us joy and helps us connect to our Creator? What exactly does sincere worship in song look like? Now I know that everyone is different... I wouldn't be someone who dances or jumps up and down (partially because I can't dance and can't jump up and down and stay in one place.. which on a side note is why I don't do it at a concert too... not because I'm boring) but there are other things I've wished I've felt more freedom to do.

Anyway... I'm leading worship next week and this is just me randomly thinking through some things that I've been challenged with.

I'll share more about camp on another day. Hope you have a great Sat!

Sushi Making

2009-03-10T20:52:00.003+08:00

I've only tried sushi a handful (if that) of times and I've not been impressed. I'm just not a raw fish kinda gal nor can I really even handle the sight of the little fish eggs. But I do like learning new things and I'm willing to give foods another chance when made by natives of that particular culture. We've been asking the moms to teach us different things that they are gifted at and so far we've learned how to make beaded rings. This week was sushi making.

I was excited to learn for Mike's sake as he really enjoys it, plus I thought it would be a fun new cultural experience. Junko was our teacher and she did a fabulous job. She had all the supplies ready and she taught us how to put it together and roll it up. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be and I did give it another taste. It wasn't as bad as I remembered it being but it still wasn't something that I kept eating... as I did the cranberry bread that we also had at the party. :)

We made up a new roster of moms and we currently have 15 active moms in the group! That's so exciting to me! We've found a book that we are going to study called 'Discovering the Joy of Parenting'... a book translated into both English and Japanese. We'll be starting within the next few weeks and I'm really excited about the opportunities this book study will allow for.

***********************

Isabella's cough has been bothering her again (weather changes) and I think it's actually getting to her this time around. Tonight at dinner, she started crying (I thought it was because there was debate on what she would eat for dinner) but when I asked her what was wrong she just kept saying, 'my cough is back... it's not getting better.' It just broke my heart. So if you think of her, please say a prayer for God's healing.

6 Months

2009-03-07T20:51:00.004+08:00

I can't believe my baby is 6 months already! Here's a few pictures that I took today. He was a bit more serious... so not many of his adorable smile but still cute.

Mommy/Daughter Date

2009-03-05T20:15:00.003+08:00

I had today off and I really wanted to take advantage of the day. I was looking forward to sleeping in a bit, spending the morning with Isaiah, going for a run, getting Isabella off the bus and taking her to Disney. But beginning on Tues, big storms were being forecasted. I thought I'd just wait until today and see what happened.

My Mom had asked me to get some HK Disneyland umbrellas for my nieces and with rainy season upon us (yes Mike you can do your 'I told you so' dance but it is March) we wanted to get Isabella one her size so even though it was a bit sprinkly, I thought it would be a fun surprise to go. I figured we'd go, get the umbrellas, see the princesses, jump in some puddles and head home.

But when we got to the last stop before switching to the Disney train, I heard a large boom and splash. I looked out the window to see very dark clouds, trees swaying like crazy... the storm had hit. We got off and I wondered what we should do but I thought... well we're here and we're here to buy umbrellas so lets just have some fun. (Thankfully, I was smart enough to remove our long sleeves so we'd have something to change into once we got soaked.) So we made a run for it and by the time we got into the park we were drenched. Poor Izzy was so cold. But we picked out our umbrellas and went into the bathroom to change.

In the time it took us to change, the rain stopped and we had about 45 min of warmth. We rode the Cinderella carousel and then headed off to meet the princesses. Belle passed by and grabbed Isabella's hand and asked her to come take a photo with her. Then we met Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and finally Snow White. By then it was raining a bit heavier so we went into one of the stores to look for a birthday present. Once we finished, it was back to pouring so I suggested to Izzy that we head home and she agreed.

We ran from building to building trying not to get totally soaked and once we were out of the park, the rain stopped again. So I took some picks of her with her new 'Izzy sized, princess' umbrella and we headed to Kowloon station where Mike so generously offered to pick us up. We waited at Starbucks for Mike and had hot drinks since I was freezing.

But despite the weather, we did have a great time. Isabella wasn't totally shy (as she has been lately) with the princesses so it was fun to watch her interact with them and it was a blast watching her pick out a gift for her friend.

We came home and watched American Idol. :) The kids are in bed and I'm just planning my day for tomorrow.

and because he's so cute

Getting Mobile

2009-03-04T22:20:00.002+08:00

Isaiah is officially on the move... army style. At dinner, we let him play on the floor while we eat since he doesn't like to be downstairs on his own, I put him down and his computer in front of him (apparently too far away) and instantly he was off like lightning. It was super cute. I put him down this evening to get it on video and he just cried and cried. He was a bit too hungry to care about toys. But I did eventually get it so be on the lookout.

Isabella did great at ballet today. I reminded her to listen to Miss Tina and copy what she does. Don't know if that made a difference but she did much better this week... less watching herself in the mirror. She's still a bit shy in the group and I really feel that part of the reason is because it's all westerners and she's not used to that but who knows.

I'm still trying to get my glasses. But I can see a bit better with my current ones so life is good. The kids are healthy again though Isabella was exhausted today... in bed and asleep by 7:07! Mike seems more life-like though I know he's still struggling but it's always good to see him smile and laugh.

I've got the next two days off and of course it's to rain both days! yuck but oh well... I'm trying to be creative in what I do. I'm actually scrapping tonight which is really fun. I've also decided to try a 21 day challenge to make a habit of exercising. I haven't done much since my half-marathon and I'm feeling sluggish and yucky but I can't seem to motivate myself. So we'll see what happens.

okay... mike's home and i'm ready for sleep.

Mom Time

2009-02-24T19:44:00.003+08:00

We had our weekly Mom Time gathering this afternoon. Today was exercise and we did the 2 mile, walk away the pounds video. It's funny to me that they all really enjoy our exercise times. I don't think many are regular exercisers but they really look forward to this. :) But anyway...

We had 6 moms today, one of which was new. It was great and I praise God that all the moms left their children with the babysitters! This is something I've been praying for... for a long time. In HK, there are a lot of things available to children (play-group activities) but very little (if any) for moms. So our purpose for Mom Time is to invest in the moms. But I think because most ladies don't have family to help, they rarely leave their children with anyone else and insist that their children can't handle it. Obviously... when you're trying to discuss something important and there are kids running around, you don't get very far so I've been praying that these moms would let go for an hour and take that time to invest in themselves. Today, one mom in particular left her child for the first time (i think ever... not just with us)... what a huge step!

Some Moms have asked for some parenting discussions so Vivian and I are going to look into some books, that we can also find in Japanese so all moms can read in their native language, and do a book study as well as the activities. We pray that this will give us more opportunity to deepen relationships and introduce Christianity and the love of God.

On a very silly side note.... Isabella is back to her old 'I'm scared' tactics at bedtime and last week when she'd say this, I would say, 'Well lie down and if you're still scared when I bring buddy to bed, you can come sleep in our room.' Well of course she was conked out way before I put buddy to bed. So tonight she starts and I say it again but this time she sits (without my realizing it) on her chair (next to her bed) saying... 'Mommy, I'm waiting.' I told her she had to be in her bed lying down and so she did but it was too late. She had already willed herself to stay up and Buddy was about ready for bed. So tonight... Izzy's in our room and Mike is doing his 'I told you so' dance. :) Oh well.. at least it's quiet now.

She and Buddy seem to be improving, my eyesight seems a bit better (I could at least tell where the numbers were on the clock at school today) and Mike was quite energized to be able to go back to work if only for a bit. Please continue to pray for healing and answers.

May you have a wonderful day!

Buddy's Sunday Outfit

2009-02-23T20:39:00.003+08:00

Whoever said you can't buy cute clothes for boys... lied. My mom got this outfit for Isaiah and I just LOVE it. Actually.. I've loved all the outfits he has and toys. It's so fun having a boy!

Health Update

2009-02-23T13:33:00.002+08:00

Some of you may not get our family/ministry updates so I decided to post the health update here so you can here what's going on...

I'm sitting here listening to nothing.... it's strange not to hear any cries, any 'Mommy can you put these shoes on her,' no High School Musical singing, etc... Mike has taken Isabella out to get some ice cream and Buddy is asleep. Peace and quiet... so now I can concentrate and write. :)

I just want to Praise God for who He is... He's our comforter, our Peace... and our healer and I'm so thankful that I only have to rely on Him for these things. It's been a trying time in our household... we've been told many times that God does not give you more than you can handle and we do believe that but sometimes it gets us thinking about what He may have instore for us in the future or even questioning His belief in how strong we are. But through it all, we've had God's peace. Well at least I have, maybe I shouldn't speak for Mike, but I'm not worried about Mike, I'm not worried about my vision, I'm not worried that Isabella's asthma is acting up again and that is sounds as though Isaiah is going to suffer the same asthma related issues. I trust that God will work it all out according to His plan and I try to take one day at a time. I know this woudn't be the case if I did not have a personal relationship with God and I'm extremely thankful that He has given me this peace.

I know many of you are concerned and praying for our health issues so I will just update on those things today though we still appreciate all prayers in regards to our ministries.

Mike: The hospital stay calmed things down a little and after spending a week in bed at home resting, he begged for an evening out to a car show (Top Gear) that had been given to him as a Christmas gift. We both knew it probably wasn't the best idea but he it was a gift and he promised to be careful. He had a fabulous time but was a bit tired today. He's discouraged though as all of his meds have greatly been increased but he's only seeing minor improvements. He goes back to Dr Kelly tomorrow and we'll go from there but there's a good chance that he'll have to ask another Dr to re-refer him to have a scope done. I know that he misses being at the office and is nervous about having to take another week off but realistically, we all know that would be best for him. So please pray for wisdom for the Dr's, peace for Mike, and just overall healing.

Melissa: I saw the Dr again this past Tuesday and there was good news and bad. :) The condition of my eyes (the erosion and spots) has not changed yet the vision in my left has returned to what it was before which is great. The vision in my right eye however has not. The Dr seemed a bit concerned about that but he changed my meds a bit and said he'd see me in 10 days. I'll go back this friday and hopefully my eyes will be okay enough to get new glasses. So please pray that my vision will return so I can get the appropriate glasses and please continue to pray that I can adjust to the changes that I may have to face.

Isabella: The weather has gotten the best of her again.... her cough and runny nose has returned. She actually asked to stay home from Awana yesterday so she could 'rest up' (it was so cute) which is so unlike her. And she did, she sat on the couch and in bed and just watched movies. She complained about an earache last night so I'm thankful that Mike needs to go to see Kelly tomorrow as Isabella will go in as well and get all checked out.

Isaiah: The weather has got him as well. He woke up with a fever and runny nose as well. Other than that though, he's doing really well. He's started on solids and throughly enjoys his um..... cereal. :) Well he has enjoyed the bananas.

So that's what we're dealing with at the moment. I'm looking forward, I think we're all looking forward to our visit in April... to be spoiled by time with family and good friends.

Thank you so much for your prayers... we can definitely feel them, usually at our weakest moments too. We hope you all are doing well and feeling as blessed by God as we do.

Serving Him,
Melissa , Mike , Izzy and Isaiah (Buddy)

UPDATE***
Mike's Dr appt didn't go as well as we had hoped. Kelly said his stomach will take time and adjusted his meds but she didn't feel that his exhaustion should have anything to do with the stomach issues but she was stumped as to what was causing them. That was not encouraging news to Mike as she threw out some new things.... liver and possible Hepatitis A, a high platelet count, etc... She also insisted on him having a scope done. She did give him permission to work a half-day though which pleased him. :) So please continue to pray for healing and wisdom for the Drs.

The kids have the usual and are on their 300 meds. :)

Thank You

2009-02-18T21:37:00.003+08:00

Just wanted to say Thank You to everyone for your prayers. Mike actually got some sleep last night and he feels like the meds are working though one of them make him a little loopy but he's not sure what one. :)

My appt yesterday wasn't exactly what I was hoping for but that's okay. The dr said my eyeballs haven't changed in their condition but my vision in my left eye has returned to normal. Not exactly sure how that works but I can see in one eye so that's all that matters. He started to wean me off the steroid drops and I'll go back next friday (the 27th) and hopefully my right eye will improve and I will be able to get new glasses at that point. I did learn that I have a strong astigmatism in both eyes (never heard that before) and could possibly be why my glasses made me sick... wrong prescription. So we'll see.

Just a fun side note... this is how big I have to make the font to be able to see without squinting too much. Though I'd need it bigger to make sure I'm not misspelling words. haha

Man it's been a crazy few weeks and I'm tired... Buddy's not been sleeping well on top of all the other things. I think he's growing so hopefully in a few more days he'll be normal again. :) Tomorrow we have Izzy's sports day and I'm looking forward to hopefully getting to meet some of her friends moms.

But again thank you for all the sweet notes and comments and most importantly prayers. We're blessed to have such great friends and family!

What's going on with Mike?

2009-02-17T20:54:00.003+08:00

What's wrong with Mike?

That's the question I've heard a lot lately so I thought I'd answer it here. I asked Mike how he'd like me to explain it and he simply said, 'His childhood stomach issues have returned with a vengeance.' He said that sounded a lot cooler. :)

The week before we left for Thailand, we all headed to the Dr's for different issues. Kelly is always very thorough with each of us but especially Mike due to his past. She checked him over and immediately put him on some stomach meds (of which I can't remember at the moment) because she could hear that something was going on with his stomach.

We all had hoped that a holiday would help him to relax and heal but unfortunately, that wasn't the case so upon returning from Thailand, Mike went to the hospital an another Dr friend diagnosed him with peptic ulcers and put him on some more meds. He also referred him to a specialist but Mike wasn't able to get an appointment until March 2010! Gotta love the public health system. :) Though we did receive a letter last week that his appointment was moved up to this June.

These meds seemed to be helping but then life got a bit crazy. We had our family camp and he had a week of late nights. As the case usually is for Mike... after a crazy week, the day he lets down, his body lets down and that's what seemed to happened on Sat. We don't really know if this is the exact reason but it makes sense to us. :)

We came home from Awana and shortly thereafter Mike was in pain. He thought he'd go to bed and sleep it off but by midnight he knew it was pretty serious. He insisted on trying again to sleep it off but Sunday morning he developed a fever and the pain continued to increase. Another Dr insisted that he come to the hospital and he would admit him that afternoon, so at 3:30 he headed out to Prince of Wales. Stewart admitted him, took some blood tests and gave him an IV. He spent the night and on Monday they took more tests. His potassium was low but the other tests seemed to be okay so they sent him home.

He felt better for a few hours but then he just continued to grow worse. Thankfully he had an appointment with Dr Kelly today and I thank God for her and the care she has shown us. She immediately knew that things were not good, took some more tests and gave him lots of meds and orders to rest. It just so happened that our Sr Pastor was there and she even talked to him about making sure Mike rests and not expecting anything from him.

Mike says that his past issues were severe acid reflux, ulcers, etc... to the point that he had holes in his esophagus and stomach that you could put your finger through. I didn't know Mike at that time so this is all new to me to so I apologize if I can't explain it all clearly. I just know I hear a lot of groaning, that he can't eat/sleep, and he lost any color that he got in Thailand. :)

Dr Kelly did a test for pancreatitis today and really wants him to have a scope done but to have a scope we need to get some other people on board with that decision so we'll wait until next Tues (unless of course things get worse before then) when Mike goes back to see Kelly.

I can't thank all of you enough for your prayers. We both are at peace with what's going on ... we just want him to get better. So I'm playing mean/nagging wife and took away his phone, computer for work purposes.. he's still allowed to watch Chuck, and have him camped out in our room. And I'm begging anyone that needs to talk with him about work things to take it through me first... I'm not Mike but I may be able to help. I really, really don't want him doing anything but resting until at least next Tuesday.

So that's the basics. He seems to be in much better spirits this evening and we even saw a few smiles. Please continue to pray for complete healing.

Blessings

7/11 Hopping

2009-02-14T20:48:00.003+08:00

I'm very thankful that the kindergarten that I teach at is a small one where all the teachers get along and spend time together outside of work. I've been invited to several outings that I've not been able to attend so when I was invited to reg's birthday party, I did everything I could to go. She's a very fun/outgoing woman and she wanted a unique party so she planned a 7/11, Circle K, restaurant hopping night. There were at least 20 of us (probably more but I didn't count) and we started at one 7/11 for drinks. Then we went to Jaspas' for appetizers. Then another 7/11 for ice cream. We stopped off at another 7/11 for drinks before heading to a park for pizza. At that point it was about 11:30pm (we started at 7) and I decided to head home. As one friend commented... it was definitely unique and only in Hong Kong. :) It was a fun night and I got to know a lot about the other teachers which was fun. It was very fun to get out without kids and I was happy that Mike was able to join us for the pizza after reload. But as I said before, 'only in HK,' here's another 'only in HK' story....

Our bus schedule changes somewhere between 4:30 and 7pm but I can never remember when so I decided to head down to the bus stop around 8:35. After about 15min of waiting I realized that I missed the bus and I began to stress because I knew I'd be late and I didn't want to have to go searching for the group. At about 6:55 a lady pulls up by the bus stop, rolls down her window and yells, 'Sai Kung?' I said yeah and she said, 'Hop in.' I didn't even think twice, I just hopped in (along with another lady) and she gave us a ride to town. Once I got out I began thinking how crazy that sounds and is in most places is but in HK... it's not, especially in Sai Kung. This is actually the second time this has happened an Mike and I talk all the time about doing the same thing, only we usually can't because with car seats, we just don't have the room. I just thank God that HK is a place that we feel safe enough to do something like that... and of course we are careful about it too.

Today we had Awana and while Izzy was there, I walked around Jusco and found some pre-school skill books. I decided to pick one up as she loves playing school now and doing her homework. And since she's learning Chinese, I realized that I need to work with her on those basic English skills a bit more. Plus I thought it would be great for the plane ride in April and something to keep her going since she'll be missing almost a month of school. I'm really excited to do this with her... i just hope she doesn't get tired of it.

Tomorrow we're going ice skating with the youthgroup. I'm hoping that they'll allow Izzy to skate. She's been asking us to do this for awhile now and I can only imagine what she'll be like if she has to watch.

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!! No matter what there's always one man who loves you... Jesus! Just read the book of John.

the Verdict

2009-02-12T19:57:00.002+08:00

Ughhh.. I'm so tired of blogger not allowing my photos. I'll try again tom with the sitting up pic.

Yes I'm just cutting and pasting this from facebook but my eyes are killing me....

Since many of you have been praying, I thought I would just post the update here. It turns out, I'm abnormal, but I'm sure many of you knew that anyway. :) It's nothing too serious but will be something that I will probably struggle with for some time.

I panicked big time when they first checked my eyes as I could not see a thing with my right eye but the left was not that bad. The lady looked at me like I was crazy and pretending that I couldn't see. Then the Dr did some tests, all were okay but yet I still couldn't see so he dilated my eyes and told Mike that something wasn't right.. Thankfully I didn't hear that.

But alas... due to the viral infection my body built up too many antibodies (I should have mike check this first as it made more sense to him but oh well) and left spots on my eyes causing the blurred vision. He put me on steroid drops and said that it will take about 10 days to see clearly again but that my body would need to learn that the virus is no longer there and that could take a long time. So I will wean myself off the drops but my body may react and vision be blurred again until my body adjusts. Meaning that i may be on and off these drops. He also said there was quite a bit of erosion on my eye due to wearing contacts but that it wasn't anything that drops and no contacts couldn't fix.

But the biggest thing he stressed and the biggest discouragement to me is that I can no longer wear contacts. I figured this might be the case so I will have a positive attitude but my glasses have always made me motion sick so I'm praying the optometrist will help me get the right type of glasses to prevent that. And well... I've got a great pair of oakley sunglsses for sale ! haha

So I go back next Tues to get checked again and see about new glasses.

I just praise God that it's nothing too serious and I praise God for our family Dr who has taken such wonderful care of our family and made this appt possible in more than one way.

Thank you so much for your prayers!

On a much lighter note.... I got the results and pictures from Sunday's race. If I had been able to keep my pace, I would have been able to run about a 1:46 race! My halfway time was 53:29! While my final time was not what I was hoping for... I'm stoked that this was my halfway time because it means that I can do it if I am totally prepared. So I'm anxious to get back into training and plan to go out and smoke the Disney Unicef Half next Dec!!!

Isaiah firsts

2009-02-11T21:28:00.002+08:00

Isaiah's had a big week... he had his first fall off the couch but thankfully he was just fine and today he sat up by himself for the first time!!! I have a really sweet photo of this but I'm too lazy at the moment to upload it. My baby's growing way too fast!!!

Isabella had ballet today and had a blast as usual. We've begun putting her to bed no later than 7:30 and it has made a HUGE difference! I think she has just been overly, overtired. :) She has not fussed all week and last night she fell asleep in the car on our way home from Mom Time at about 5:45 and slept until this morning. She's waking a bit earlier but I can handle that if bed time is not stressful. So I'm very thankful for that.

I head to the Dr tomorrow to hopefully find out some answers as to why I can't see. Praying it's nothing serious!

I did it!

2009-02-08T20:54:00.003+08:00

I survived the half. I was NOT prepared and that definitely showed in my time and the last 5K but I am pleased. I knew that I wouldn't beat my time from Disney but I had hoped to do a bit better than I did. Actually, I started off doing much better than anticipated but the last 6K where up and down and up and down and I haven't run any hills since before Christmas. But I did it and I'm proud of what I've accomplished in just a few months.

I think I'm going to take this week and do some tae bo and focus on my core. I have an incredibly sore back from the race and my scar area is a bit sensitive so I think I need to work on building up those muscles again.

But I'm off to feed buddy and rest my weary body. :)

It wasn't the glasses

2009-02-07T20:00:00.003+08:00

So all week I've been struggling to see. I thought it was my glasses... that the prescription was not accurate so I went to the Dr where they told me it was okay. So I thought it might be just the irritation I was dealing with or possibly the antibiotics but my Dr said to use the drops 2 weeks so that's what I intended to do.

But tomorrow is the big race and I really wanted to wear my contacts so I could see properly. So I put them in today to have a day to adjust and guess what... still can't see. Thank goodness we were at camp and we've got three Dr's in the church. I asked one what might be wrong. Turns out.... he thought it was the antibiotics and said to stop taking them and in a couple days... my vision would be okay.

So turns out.. I'll still be running blindly tomorrow. :( To be honest, I'm quite discouraged as the bad vision is making me nauseous and I'm seeing double. How I'm typing this I don't know but please say a prayer that this is just the drops and that it won't take too long to see normal again.

Aside from the eyes... we had a fabulous family retreat! It was lots of fun but I'll be thankful to lie my head on a soft pillow this evening.

Well... off to rest!

Bangkok Weekend

2009-02-02T20:27:00.003+08:00

Day one back at school went well. It was actually quite a fun day... we did yoga and some of the kids really got into it. My eyes are still bothering me but I managed to survive. Izzy was happy when I got home and we played school and read stories. Buddy got a much needed long nap and Mike got to the Drs. Isabella was happy to feed Isaiah this evening and now she's in bed. We moved her into our room for the week as we're trying to let Isaiah cry it out. We think he's stuck at waking up about 4 am so we'll see. So you can pray for us if you'd like... I know this won't be easy.

So that was our hum-drum day... nothing too exciting.

So back to our trip...

We had an exciting beginning as our van driver was about an hour late picking us up and we didn't have any wiggle room since I had to work. We literally made it to our gate just as they were boarding after running through the airport which was not fun but we made it. Isabella was thrilled to be on an 'urplane' at last. She'd been talking about being on one for months now. The flight was great... Izzy was great, Buddy was great... the food on the other hand, not so great.

We landed and took a taxi to the CMA Guest House. It took us forever thanks to lovely Bangkok traffic and it was surreal to arrive and see our Sr Pastor and wife. Pastor Mark was speaking at the field forum the same week we were vacationing. We chatted with them for awhile, ordered some pizza and headed to bed. We had a lot we wanted to cover on Sat so we wanted a good night's rest.

Sat morning we headed out to check out the Grand Palace and the connecting temple, Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It was beautiful... the architecture amazing but very sad a the same time. We went inside to see the buddha and were surprised to see so many worshipping. It's very hard to see so many people putting their hopes in a statue.. when God is so real and personal.

After that we headed down the river on a boat ride which was really fun and relaxing. We got to see so many different sides of Bangkok... from sky-scrapers to village like houses on stilts.

After the boat ride we headed to MBK (a big mall that's somewhat like a market too) to do some shopping. We were stoked to see a DQ and Dunkin Donuts and of course we had both. We all got some really good deals on clothing and Mike finally got his Bangkok starbucks mug.

We headed back to the guest house to have our left overs for dinner and relaxed in the video room watching Madagascar. In the midst of the movie, in walk two of our friends from college! We knew they would be in Thailand but had no idea they would be staying at the guest house as well. It was fun to see them. We headed to bed shortly after that as we were planning to do some more exploring on Sunday morning... but both kids slept until about 9ish so by the time we all got ready, we didn't have much time to explore.

We did take a tuk tuk ride and checked out a store (looking for some snacks for Dolphin Bay) and the store turned out to be like a Super-Walmart. It was awesome to find all the things we needed in one place! We also found freezy pops and fruitloops and A&W rootbeer. Isabella loved the tuk tuk ride and begged to take another.. so after some amazing street food we hopped back into a tuk tuk and headed back to the guest house to wait for our van to Dolphin Bay.

I'd love to come back to Bangkok without kids to explore more. It was a bit hard with Isabella and Isaiah but it was still fun to at least see a little bit.

And that was our journey to Bangkok.

Isaiah Eats Solids

2009-02-01T21:39:00.003+08:00

After a bit of a long day traveling... I decided to keep the kids home today. It was a wise decision. They both slept until 9:45 and woke up very happy. In fact, they were happy most of the day which was great even though they both were still quite tired. Isabella actually fell asleep in Mike's arms at about 7:30 which if you know her... that's not normal. I'm thankful that she still has two more days off before school begins again... hopefully she will be rested up from the trip.

Isaiah had his first solids today, rice cereal. He did really well.... much better than Izzy did but shortly after finishing, he spit it all back up. Oh well... it was fun and hopefully it will help him sleep a bit better at night. I can't believe he's old enough to start solids. Where did my baby go? He's 5 months now and as cute as ever. He was quite popular in Thailand. Izzy was too. Many, many photos were taken of them and lots of stares.

I head back to work tomorrow and am a bit nervous about it. My eyes have acted up again and I'm on eye drops and wearing my glasses but I don't know if it's my glasses or the medication but everything 2 feet and further away is extremely blurry. Not exactly sure how helpful I'll be at work but we'll see. The big race is this Sunday and I'm trying not to get to stressed about it but it was too difficult to run in Thailand so I feel very unprepared. I just want to enjoy myself so I'm trying to keep a positive attitude.

Well once again, blogger is not allowing my photos to upload so this one will have to do. We did get a short video and a cute video of him talking that I'll try to post tomorrow.

Hope you have a blessed Sunday!

"You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon Him, for you are His personal concern." 1 Peter 5:7

Isabella Ballerina

2009-01-22T12:46:00.004+08:00

Long story made short.... Izzy is now taking Ballet lessons. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it. I'll share the story another day but I need to pack for THAILAND!!!!

PUrPOSE

2009-01-10T21:37:00.004+08:00

Sorry the pics are small... this is all blogger would allow for today. :)

Mike had to take public in to Awana today so I decided to stay home and catch up on a bit of sleep and relax a bit. It turned out to be a great day for me. I had some time alone with Isaiah which I love and time alone to myself as Isaiah took a great nap. I got a short nap but then was able to get caught up on my Bible reading as I was a few days behind. Many, many things stood out to me today that made me stop and think and pray and think some more. It was awesome to reflect on God's word and not worry about fitting it in-between things or what child would need me. :) Once Isaiah woke up, I decided to take some pictures and he was awesome! Then I waited for the family to get home and have dinner. Isaiah had a bad night last night so I'm hoping to get to bed fairly early and get a good nights sleep for tomorrow. I'm really excited to go to church.

I've been thinking/praying about my word for the year and as I sat down to read this afternoon, I began by praying and as I prayed it was like God stopped me to say, 'Please listen to your prayer. What you are asking... it all fits into one word, one that you've just said yourself... Purpose.'

So my word for the year is Purpose. I want my life to have purpose and all the things I do to have a purpose... and not just some random Purpose but to bring Glory to God and lead others into a deep, meaningful relationship with Him too.

Last year I lived in survival mode... just trying to make it each day and I refuse to live that way no matter what happens. I want to be used by God, I want to be doing what He wants me to do, I want to do things well not just because it needs to be done.

The word Purpose will remind me to pray, to seek God, to make wise decisions, to worship and glorify God all day in every way and to seek opportunities to introduce Jesus to those who don't know Him.

Bits and Pieces for a friday night

2009-01-09T20:13:00.008+08:00

"Let's have a party!" says Isabella

"Okay, who's coming?" Mom asks

"Jesus, Eva, Gigi, and Mommy."

LOVE it that Jesus was at our party!

Isaiah found his feet on Tuesday. I always loved this with Izzy and it's just as much fun watching him grab onto them. He's very vocal these days too and I absolutely love listening to his little squeals.

One of my goals since Isaiah was born was to obviously get back into shape but I've always been a bit competitive with myself in my running. Always wanting to beat my time, run faster, longer, etc... I think I put so much pressure on myself that running was becoming a chore and giving me more stress than necessary. So my first race in Nov, I was determined to just enjoy myself... treat it as a normal run and enjoy the scenery. I was successful and very proud of myself so my goal for 2009 was to enjoy running. To keep myself motivated by doing races but don't put pressure on times and speed, etc... especially since I am working on getting back in shape after having a baby.

My 1st race on the 1st was a good start but since then I've just not been motivated to get out because I know there's a distance I need to cover. I'm running a half-marathon on feb 8th and my long run this week needed to be at least 7 miles but I was aiming for 8. Then last night as I was re-reading about the Jeff Galloway (run/walk) method. Since realistically I know my time on the 8th will not be ideal and that I will not be as prepared as I should, I decided to try this method on a run today. Wow... what a difference! Mentally I felt great and physically too! I ran 8.8 miles and could have gone further if the treadmill I was on wasn't crazy (that's another story). So now I'm motivated and excited about running again and my 2009 running goal part 2 is to train for a marathon. I really want to run one while I'm home in the states this summer but so far, I haven't had any luck finding one so instead, I'll just begin preparing and as a last resort, I'll run the Macau Marathon in Dec.

So I have to laugh at this pic although it's not very clear. I somehow kick my ankles as I run without knowing it... to the point of causing myself to bleed. If you look closely on the left shoe, there's a nice patch of blood and on the right ankle the same.

Well... kids are in bed. Mike's still at work. I think I'll go read. Have a blessed day!

Blessed Today

2009-01-07T21:21:00.003+08:00

I must admit that I dreaded today. Wednesday's is Mom Time (a group of Mom's that get together to build friendships via a bunch of fun activities) and while I absolutely love these ladies and spending time with them, I HATE the commute there. It literally drains me. But I was truly blessed in so many ways but packing up the kids and heading to Hung Hom. We only had 5 moms attend, most at least 20 minutes late and we ended up getting kicked out of the room on time (this has never happened so we were caught a bit off guard) but it was great. I had the chance to really chat with some of the Japanese moms who tend to keep to themselves because of their lack of English, we even had a new mom attend, and our discussion time gave everyone a chance to really be honest and share. I really like the small group but I will never, ever complain how God has made this group grow from 3 moms to a minimum of twenty. It's amazing to see... now I just continually pray that God will work in these women's lives and draw them to Himself.

And because we got kicked out on time, we made it back to Sai Kung at 4:30, just in time to miss our bus home. So I let Isabella play at the playground and 3 of my students were there playing as well. Isabella has been quite shy lately but today she was following them around so I encouraged her to ask them if she could play with them. She so politely asked me if I would, so I did and because these kids are so sweet they were all for her joining them. Isabella had a blast playing with them and almost cried when they headed off to soccer practice. In fact, Isabella asked if she could learn how to play soccer as well so that she could play with them more often. I told her I would look into it. :) Actually, I'm all for it because she doesn't have any playmates in this area. We have to commute quite a ways to get her playmates and it would be really nice to have some closer. Plus, I would love to meet some moms in the area as well. But now I'm rambling...

Anyway, I was really blessed and encouraged by today. To top all that off, Isabella went to bed like a champ tonight. Not one word from her after leaving her room which is something that has not happened in a LONG time. So instead of enjoying some time to myself by doing anything I like... I'm headed to bed. Oh wait... that's something I LOVE to do too!

Good night!

A trip to the Consulate and rat alley

2009-01-05T20:56:00.005+08:00

Surprisingly it only took us a few pictures to get the perfect passport photo for Isaiah. It was much easier than our attempts with Isabella. This is the final shot but we got some really cute photos alongside this one. And these were done about 10pm... we sure do have a happy go lucky guy on our hands. It will be really fun watching him grow and seeing how he responds to Isabella.

Getting his passport was simple and didn't take too long so Mike and I decided to have dinner at our favorite Malaysian restaurant in rat alley. It's this little restaurant among 2/3 others... all serving the same type of food, you're all squished together in this little alleyway and most of the seating is outside. It's a fun atmosphere and the food at Co Co (the restaurant we usually eat at) is great.. and oh yeah they cook roti (Indian bread) right in front of you. So we went to Co Co's but it wasn't open yet so we stopped by PCC to feed Isaiah and pass some time. We head back to rat alley and Co Co's is still not open. By this time we're (well I guess I) was quite hungry and didn't want to wait too much longer to eat. We didn't see anyone at the restaurant to ask when they'd open so we just decided to try one of the other's. We figured how bad could they be... they're always busy and they all serve the same type of food. Wrong!!!! When the food came out, I thought we made a bad decision. And then we tried our food and well... let's just say we're quick eaters but I think today we by far beat our time. But the best part was in the midst of our 5 minute meal... the cats above us start fighting. I was just waiting for one to fall dead next to our table.

So to restore our terrible dinner, we stopped by Oliver's (a fancy grocery store that carries quite a bit of western items though at a price) and picked up some lime tortilla's, some cheesy salsa and some nutter butter bites... and oh yeah NErDS!!!! So all in all it was a good day and unique experience.

And the bug remains...

2009-01-02T22:04:00.003+08:00

We had intentions of spending the day at Disney with some new friends but we're still not feeling 100%. So I spent the day playing games, barbie's, building things, singing, etc.. with Isabella. It is so much fun watching her imagination run wild and to be able to join her. Buddy had a rough day but he's not feeling 100% either so hopefully we'll all get a good night's sleep tonight.

I'm thankful today that Mike worked from Starbucks today in Sai Kung and got home earlier than normal because as he got home there was a small fire, from the charcoal yesterday, brewing in our back yard. With the lack of rain we've had... it could have been pretty bad but Mike was able to stop it. So I'm thankful for God's protection.

Our Sr Pastor challenged the congregation to read through the Bible this coming year and Mike and I made a commitment to do so. I'm excited to see what God will teach me and what He will do in our congregation through this challenge. I expect 2009 to be an exciting year for our church and my prayer is that God will soften, teach, mold, etc.. me so that I can be used by Him. We've got almost 25 moms interested in our Mom Time and I want to take every opportunity to introduce them to the love of Christ.

How do you see God using you this year?

Happy 2009!!!!

2009-01-01T17:34:00.000+08:00

I wanted a memorable way to begin 2009 ...

so at 6:30 I put on my running clothes and Mike and I raced in the Pacers Shatin New Year's run. It was a 10K. We've been battling a stomach bug in the house and it keeps lingering between Mike and I. That and very little sleep the night before... made for the worst feeling run ever. Mike did great and my time actually wasn't so bad but I felt miserable and almost puked 3/4ths into the race. But I finished and wasn't last and that's what I was going for, considering how I felt.

And now I'm on to preparing for the Standard Chartered Half-Marathon thanks to Sarah! I actually missed the deadline but Sarah gave me an entry for Christmas so I'm really excited about it. It feels so good to be getting back in shape after having Isaiah and I'm proud to say that I've run 2 10K's and he's only 4 months! :)

But alas... we spent the rest of the day celebrating with the aff (alliance filipino fellowship) ladies at our home. I think there was a total of about 30 of us here and lots of laughter. It was fun to see them all relaxed and having a great time.

I've got several goals for 2009 (I'll post those another day) but one is to be more consistent with my blogging this year. I feel like I've forgotten a lot of great things/blessings/etc about last year because I didn't write them down so my goal is to at least blog a little about each day so I'm constantly aware and looking for what God is doing and being thankful for each day.

As for today, I'm thankful for the New Year and another chance to grow, learn and challenge myself in new ways. I was reading another blog that talked about choosing one word for the year ahead. She makes jewelry and was selling your 'word' hand stamped on a necklace. What a great reminder to have throughout the year but I thought the idea of one word was really great so I'm praying that God will give me that one word for what He would have for me to focus on this year ahead. Could you summarize the year ahead in one word?

Christmas Crafts

2008-12-06T20:39:00.006+08:00

Sorry the pics are small but that's all I could get blogger to let me upload.

Yesterday, Izzy and I spent the afternoon making all sorts of Christmas crafts. We made reindeers from her hand and foot prints, we made our hand print ornaments again, and we made these q-tip snowflakes that I found on this blog...

www.flipflopsandapplesauce.blogspot.com

She's got a lot of very fun crafts and activities for little ones and an amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe too. Though I don't have a pic of that as we ate them too quickly. :)

Izzy had a lot of fun playing with lots of glue and glitter. I had to modify the craft a bit but I think it worked out just as nicely. We started Isaiah's reindeer too but I think I need an extra set of hands on that one.

We're starting to feel better but I still seem to get a mid-night fever. I stayed home from a Christmas party tonight in hopes that the 3hr nap Joan allowed me to take and getting to bed early will take care of it for good.

The Dreaded Day

2008-12-02T21:15:00.003+08:00

Well today was the day the family headed back to the states. We had a great two weeks... the only complaint being that it went too fast. It was fun to see my Mom's expressions and hear her thoughts as this was her first big overseas trip. I downloaded all their pictures too because they give a different perspective. It's been 3yrs now and a lot of things are normal to me... not so much to those visiting. I've got lots of thoughts to share from such a long time now but my blogging had really taken a back seat in my life. While I know it's not that big of a deal... I know that I'm thrilled to have a detailed account of the past three years and I'd like to keep that going. So maybe I'll have to do a 21 days of blogging to change my habit. :)

But for now.. I'm off to bed. I'm beat.

Blessings to all!

Go Lycra Boys!

2008-11-06T21:59:00.004+08:00

Mike heads out on his big 100K hike tomorrow morning at 9am. I'm very excited for him and the team in general. They've had a last minute guy join the team and I'm anxious to hear what he thinks. I get to run support for the 1st spot and am considering hiking the next stage with them but we'll see how the day goes... I really don't want to slow them down. Then I'll take the kids up to meet him the same place I did last year. It will be fun. I will keep the blog updated with hopefully some good pictures too.

Please pray for him and the team (Alex, Mark and Brian). Also pray for Tim (who is just running the course for fun) as well as Jill and ryan's team.. they begin at 2pm. Pray for good health, safety, and good relationships!

I'll be back in the am!

Our story in pictures

2008-11-02T16:07:00.006+08:00

This is Izzy with her buddies after Sunday School. The little girl on the right is Kei Kei... a little girl who has become Izzy's church buddy... well girl church buddy I guess. :) Notice Isabella's fingers... a true Asian on our hands.

I'm feeling much better and am very anxious to get back to the fitness level I was before getting pregnant. Mike has been busy preparing for the Trailwalker (a 100K hike) and I've been dying to go on part of this trail for awhile now so we tested out my abilities last week. It was awesome and am so thankful that a hike like this exists out our back door.

And here's my handsome hubby

Halloween has become quite a deal over the past three years that we have been in HK. Our first year, it was impossible to find costumes and pumpkins were about 100$ US dollars. Now costumes are everywhere, decorations everywhere and pumpkins ranged in size and prices. I had to take a picture of this... the big pumpkin is $1800 HK dollars which is about 230$ US. Needless to say, Izzy will never have the pleasure of carving pumpkins while living here.

I've been dying to get back to Disney. I just really like the atmosphere and the space to let Izzy run around and I always enjoy seeing her so happy. She was happy but was not really interested in doing much. She was even to shy to meet the princesses! But she did enjoy her Mickey waffles.

A lady in the church has been wanting to take Isabella to the playroom at her club for quite some time now. She's an older woman and I'm still feeling quite blessed that she thought to do this. We had a great lunch and Isabella had a blast with all the new toys and gyms to climb on. This picture is not of the playroom but a funny incident that happened there... she happened to get her pants all wet but the only clothes I had were Isaiah's. The shorts she is wearing in the picture are a pair of his 3-6 month shorts! The other amazing blessing in this picture is that kitchen! Kitchen's here are either very expensive or very low quality and I actually was trying to get my mom to bring one with her when she came to visit later this month. However, our church nursery was moved into the renovated office area and they didn't have any room left for the kitchen that was in there. They were going to donate it to a playgroup but the group didn't need it so the nursery coordinator offered it to Isabella! She LOVES it!

And this picture just makes me smile every time I look at it. Our baby started to smile and they are so precious. He is a happy baby... especially in the morning. I snapped this picture right before I left for work last week. Here's our little buddy.

Last week was quite crazy with the Reload lock-in, Awana camp, Disney, playdates, etc... I'm looking forward to a hopefully slightly less crazy week.

Bangkok and Hua Hin.... Here we come!!!

2008-10-14T21:29:00.003+08:00

This next year is going to be awesome! We have plans for a family holiday in Thailand in January and I'm excited that we'll have 2 days in Bangkok... of which one is a Saturday and we can hit up the huge market! Then in April we'll be in Canada and the States for a quick visit and then the summer is our furlough and a possible missions trip back to Davao, Philippines! After a very long year, these trips are very much needed and appreciated. I feel very blessed on how God has provided. But I'm just so excited because we just finalized our plans to Thailand (I can already taste Dairy Queen) and to top it off in just 5 weeks we'll have 3 very special people with us! Wohoo!!!

On the mends...

2008-10-12T16:17:00.004+08:00

Dr Kelly was available yesterday morning for a visit so we all loaded up in the car and headed to her office and boy am I glad we did. It turned out that Isabella has an ear infection on top of her normal cough variant asthma issues that are being egged on by the changing weather. She walked out with 3 bottles of meds and singular. Isaiah definitely has a cold but Dr Kelly said he was much better off than Izzy or Mike and walked out with 2 bottles of meds. Mike won the prize for most meds though... 6 in total and advice to get more sleep. :) It's times like these that I'm quite grateful to be a generally healthy person.

So I stayed home with the kids today.. mainly to force Izzy to get some rest. We watched some videos, colored, and played with some new games that were passed down to her. They both have had a bad night... Izzy not wanting to sleep (now where does that come from?) and Isaiah wanting to eat constantly... hmm where would that come from? hehe All I wanted to do was exercise but instead I chose to wallow in pity and eat some candy corn that was sent (Thanks a million Mom and Dad!), drink a Coke Zero... and watch some current tv thanks to ninjavideo.net.

This week is going to be a bit crazy... I have to work two days, have a Dr's appt, need to get Isaiah's birth certificate now that we have our visas, we have a playdate and the Love Actually retreat is this weekend.

But alas... only 5 more weeks until family arrive. I can't even begin to say how excited I am! It's going to be a great two weeks!

Please continue to pray for the family, especially Isabella and wisdom for me. She's been clingy, whiny, etc and my patience is growing quite thin. I'm trying to think of some new ways to incorporate some new things and to make a schedule for our days with hopes that maybe having more of a routine will help us continue to adjust to life as a family of four.

Oh I forgot to write... at the Dr there was another little baby. My guess was about 5 weeks or so... it was tiny in my opinion. As we were walking out, they stopped me to ask how old Isaiah was. When I said 6 weeks they were stunned. They thought he was at least 3 months. They gave us the usual... on he's so big but so cute comments and then I asked how old their baby was. They told me 7 weeks! I couldn't believe it. As we walked out I'd wished I had taken a picture of the two babies. Isaiah at 6.1 kilos and this baby at 5 kilos. It would have been priceless. Yes I do have a big baby.

Isaiah's 1 Month

2008-09-19T10:36:00.007+08:00

***Please pray for Izzy. She has a terrible cough to the point where she can barely get out the words she is trying to say. We kept her home from school as she was up all night and for the 1st time ever, she asked to rest and has constantly told me all day how tired she is. Please pray that she recovers quickly and that she will be able to sleep tonight.

It's continued to be a great few weeks as a family of four! It's hard to believe that today, Isaiah is 1 month old. Time just flies and I'm starting to dread signing my contract to teach in a few weeks. But I know it will be good for me and it will be helpful to our family and I'm thanking God that it's only mornings and that I didn't agree to teaching again at my previous school! Well... I've got some things to get done right now but wanted to post some pictures. Here's our little chubby guy... he's just wonderful and Isabella is such a good big sister!

what a little chubby man

he loves to nap on his belly

i just love how babies sleep like this

comforting Isaiah

this is how she fell asleep

Awana Verses

2008-09-18T21:16:00.002+08:00

I am so proud of Isabella... we've been working on her Awana verses and today as we were practicing, she said to me, "I can do it by myself!" and proceeded to quote two of the verses. Then I asked her to say the verse daddy has been teaching her and she begin to quote Psalm 23. And then as we were playing in the 'playground inside' (aka the gym in our clubhouse... she loves to walk on the treadmill) she began singing one of her school songs... in Cantonese. It was so fun to listen to her.

And last Sunday as we were eating our fruit and mooncakes with the Gliddons, we were trying to take a picture and Isabella leans over to Timothy, gives him a big hug and says, 'I love you Timothy.' And he says, 'I love you too.' Priceless.

Isaiah's Story

2008-09-09T14:08:00.003+08:00

Saturday, August 23rd, I had to admit myself into the hospital for my scheduled c-section on the 25th. I was supposed to admit myself on friday but we had a Typhoon 10 that day and therefore anything elective was cancelled. So I checked in and waited for the Dr and Anesthesiologist to confirm all the necessary details about the surgery. I was on ward 7E and Mike wasn't allowed to come in with me (so he headed over to the rainers to hang out) and it didn't take long for me to feel alone and out of place. At one point, a nurse came in, said something in Cantonese and all the women got up and left... me, I just stayed there assuming if it was that important they'd come and get me. It was awkward. Their were 10 women in my area but a total, I believe, of about 30 on that ward. We all shared a bathroom with 3 toilets and 2 showers. We did have curtains to separate our beds but that was all. After several hours, I saw both ladies and was told I could go home and enjoy the rest of my weekend but to be back by 8pm Sunday night. So off we went... back home to celebrate Joan's birthday. I was starting to get a bit anxious, realizing that our life was about to totally change and wondering if we were really ready for this.

Sunday morning we went to church, VBS had their closing ceremony for the adults (of which Izzy refused to participate in... she loves attention but does not like being in front of people) and then we had lunch with the Gliddons, Lowthers, and Cheng's at Outback. I was slightly disappointed that my last good meal was Outback but I could barely walk and was tired and too uncomfortable to go much further away. We came home and I had hoped to have a little quality time with Isabella before heading back to the hospital but she was too exhausted. She fell asleep and slept until about 30 minutes before I had to leave.

I double checked my bags and the website that had a list of things I would need and then we hopped into the Taylor's car, they were very gracious to let us borrow it for the weekend, and off we went. It was surreal... thinking that this was it, tomorrow we'd have another bundle of joy. We parked, walked by 7/11 for some right before midnight snacks and back up to 7E. Again Mike was not allowed to come with me so he gave me a kiss and headed to the rainers again to hang out for a bit. I was so thankful it was the closing ceremonies for the Olympics because it gave me something to do. I couldn't understand any of it but at least I could watch it. :)

All night (as the bright lights were on until like 1am and surprisingly, I couldn't fall asleep), I kept thinking about how our lives were going to change, was I ready for this, what would the surgery be like, how will I love this one as much as I love Izzy, etc...

I finally feel asleep and woke up about 7am anxiously awaiting 8 as that was when the 1st person was to have their surgery (I was #3). When 8:30 rolled around and #1 was still sitting next to me, I realized that this day was going to be longer than anticipated. When 11:30 rolled around and #2 was still next to me, I knew I wasn't going to have this baby by lunch time like they said. I asked the nurse, as Mike was patiently waiting to hear when he should come, and she said about 1pm. So I phoned Mike, warning him that I wasn't convinced this was the right time but that I wouldn't mind having some company. (I was allowed to meet him in the hallway and sit with him) So he got there about 1ish and we just waited together. 2 o'clock came around and we were still playing tetris and bubble wrap games on his phone. Mike wanted a snack and bathroom break, so I went back to my bed to rest for a little bit. As I rested (about 2:30-3:30), I started feeling some stomach pains but my stomach had been all out of whack due to nerves so I didn't think anything of it and kept sleeping. About 3:30, I met Mike again out in the hallway to chat/play games some more. After about another hour, I looked at Mike and said, 'I think I'm having contractions.' Mike says, 'How far a part?' So I timed them and they were about 2/3 minutes a part. Then I tell him that it figures... the only benefit I could think of to having a c-section is not having to deal with contractions and lo and behold, I still ended up with them.

I went back into the ward and told the nurse about my contractions and she said she would have to hook me up to the machines for about a 1/2hr to monitor the baby and check. All I kept thinking was... great I'm going to hit 10cm and then still have to have a c-section. But alas.... after about 10 min, the nurse came to check on me and she said, 'ah yep that's them.' Great... I thought now they have to put me on the emergency list and get me in. But I still had to wait for the 30 min of monitoring first. Once that was done, the nurse told me that I was next on the list but there was a c-section in process so I'd have to wait until that was done. I started being monitored about 5:00pm (I think... could have been about 5:30) so it must have been some time after 6pm that they wheeled me down to the operating theater.

It was at this point that I started to get really nervous about the surgery. We still didn't know if Mike was going to be allowed in the room but it looked hopeful. They took me and prepared me for my spinal anesthetic and my mind started to go crazy on me, I got really uptight and scared. I immediately asked if Mike could come in but they told me he had to wait until the spinal was done. Thankfully it didn't take too much longer.... and as my legs started going numb and my arms were tied down, Mike walked in. And then the tears flowed, I was so scared that I made myself sick which then scared me even more. The Dr (didn't get her name) said okay we're gonna start, you may feel a little tugging and pulling and it seemed that in seconds, I heard Isaiah's cry for the 1st time. It was 7:29 when he was born. I was so happy, so relieved that I began crying again... they probably thought I was crazy. :) They took Isaiah and didn't even tell us what the sex was... Mike had to ask.

I'm not sure what they did with him but as they finished stitching me up, they brought him to Mike and Mike did his very best to hold him as close to me as possible so I could see him. (I'm blind as a bat an couldn't have my glasses on so I couldn't really see him at all.) He held him for a few minutes and then they needed to clean him up and get me out of the room. They rolled me into a recovery room but it took quite some time for me to feel well. I got very nauseous and sick again... just wiggling my toes made me gag. Mike came in to sit with me but I told him to go home. I wasn't worth anything... I just wanted the room dark and to sleep. So he was able to go up to neo-natal (they put Isaiah in there for the 1st day because of his weight... said his blood sugar could spike either up or down with his weight being so high) and give him his 1st bottle and get some pictures.

We didn't name him immediately because we had two names picked out and I wanted to see him before naming him. I didn't get to really see Isaiah until Tuesday at 5:30pm but immediately, I knew he was an Isaiah.

I was quite disappointed on Monday afternoon that I was still waiting to give birth but as I've been learning quite a bit lately, God's timing is always best. I was so sick after the surgery that I know I would have been extremely disappointed had it been daytime and I couldn't focus on my son. Being that the surgery was late, I was able to rest all night and all morning before they brought him to me. In fact, I was able to rest until 5:30 that evening, when visitors were allowed and Mike came. That gave me a lot of time to begin recovering... it was perfect timing, as always.

I have so much more to write about what these past two weeks have been like... simply amazing. I never dreamed the joy, love, happiness that would come from this little man entering our lives. I feel so blessed beyond words and it makes all the struggles, the sickness, etc of this pregnancy worthwhile.

Thank you God for this amazing miracle!!!

Some Pictures

2008-09-02T20:50:00.009+08:00

resting together

we finally got to see those eyes

Izzy loves her brother

look at those rolls

Last day as a family of 3

2008-08-24T17:38:00.003+08:00

Tonight I have to be at the hospital by 8pm. Tomorrow I'm 3rd in line to have Baby Bob. I've got so many mixed feelings right now... nervous about having the c-section, a little freaked out about our lives changing again, sad not to be taking Izzy to school, scared of being in a hospital surrounded by people I don't know and where they will only speak English when they're talking to me.... you get the idea. It will definitely be an experience but I will be anxious to get home.

I had high hopes of spending some quality time with Izzy before I head to the hospital today but she was just too exhausted after church and needed some rest. She'll wake up with just a little bit of time to spare before I leave. Her world is about to be turned upside down with a new sibling and school all at the same time... I'm sure this all affects me more than her but I can't help worry about her.

On a side note... a friend at church told me today that she just knows this baby is going to be a boy. Her reasoning.... "No girl would ever cause this must trouble." I had to laugh. We'll find out tomorrow!

Given Up

2008-08-20T21:43:00.002+08:00

Today I tried exercising, cleaning, spicy foods and a trip to the mall with Izzy and.... nothing. But that's okay. I've given up trying.... Baby Bob will come when he's ready or on Monday... whatever comes 1st. :)

I decided last night not to be frustrated anymore so I made plans for today, tomorrow and friday. I'll just do my best to enjoy the next few days and keep my mind occupied with other things. Monday will be here before I know it and while it's not my idea of perfect timing.... God has never failed me before so He won't now. Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to write such sweet and encouraging emails. They've really helped me to let go and just enjoy the last few days as a family of three.

Well... no basketball on right now so I'm off to bed.

Perfect Bruising

2008-08-19T15:50:00.003+08:00

I have felt absolutely huge since like 2 months of being pregnant. :) Mike always yells at me saying, I'm pregnant, I'm supposed to gain weight, etc... But I never expected my body to be so sensitive to the weight gain or to be so heavy that sitting down causes bruises.

Several weeks ago, I took Isabella to the playground in town. The playground is one with a metal bottom with little holes all thru it. We were pretending to have a tea party and therefore sitting on the bottom. When I got home, we went for a swim and I noticed all these bruises on my legs. At first, I couldn't figure out what it was but then I remembered the playground. Well Monday at Disney we sat down (for a max of 10/15 min) on a metal bench, with little holes, just like the playground. I told Mike that I'd probably have those bruises again but I was just joking.... I didn't really expect to. Well I was wrong... I had perfect little circle bruises on my legs.

It scared me the first time... now I just think it's really funny and I just can't believe how sensitive my body is. I tried to upload a picture of the bruises but my bluetooth isn't working. Maybe another day. Just one more weird thing about this pregnancy. :)

What else to try?

2008-08-18T21:24:00.006+08:00

So we headed out to Disney today. Partly because I wanted to take Izzy before Baby Bob arrives but also hoping the walking might help get labor started. But to no avail... still quite pregnant and uncomfortable but that's okay. At least I know there is an end in sight. It was unbelievably hot and crowded so we only stayed a few hours but I'm glad we went. We didn't even take many pictures but here are two I really liked. The 1st, Izzy is making a wish... she gets wishing coins for good behavior/doing what we ask/etc ... she loves making wishes. The last picture is how she has decided to sleep the past few weeks. Mike has been working late the past few weeks so we think this is her way of making sure she sees him each night but it just makes me laugh. If you can't tell... she is sleeping on the floor in her bedroom doorway. :)

Tomorrow Sarah arrives! We are anxious to see her... please pray for her safe arrival and that Baby Bob will make his appearance too!

Just in case...

2008-08-15T21:52:00.002+08:00

You read this but don't get our email updates...

The Dr said that Baby Bob is just big... 4kgs to be exact (about 8.8lbs) and has an unusually large tummy. They are concerned about the tummy getting stuck so they highly recommended a c-section. I'm torn about this because I feel if I were to go into labor within the next few days it would be okay to try naturally (as I've just read about a few women delivering 9+ babies in the past few months) but they still want to do a c-section but obviously if the baby does not arrive before the 25th (when they want to do the c-section) then I would be too nervous to try on my own. But alas... I'm not having any more contractions so I doubt the baby will come on it's own which means... Baby Bob will arrive some time on August 25th.

I do ask for prayer though that I would go into labor on my own sometime this week as Isabella's 1st day of school is the 25th. I really wanted Mike or I to take her (an adult goes with her for an hr that 1st week to help with adjustments) and if the baby doesn't come on his own... neither of us will be able to go with her.

So that's the update. To be honest, I'm quite frustrated and discouraged and not really interested in talking about this much right now.

Ultrasound tomorrow

2008-08-13T21:26:00.003+08:00

You never know what to expect with public appointments. I expected to wait at least 2hrs today and was in and out of there but oh well. I think they were somewhat prepared for me and knew exactly what they needed to do but alas.... they agreed that I was 'quite large' and want to determine if it's because:

1. my fat (that's exactly what they said...lol)
2. the baby's just big
3. there's too much fluid

So tomorrow at 8am, I'll have an ultrasound to determine the cause of my large stomach. Then we'll go from there. If the fluid is something to be concerned about, I'll be admitted and will have the baby though I'm not sure if that means being induced or c-section (forgot to ask that). If it's just a big baby, they'll send me back home to wait. The baby is engaged and ready to go so they don't seem to be too worried. This Dr was incredibly nice and was quite sympathetic towards me having to carry this baby around too much longer.

I just pray that:

1. the baby is healthy and there's nothing to worry about and
2. that they will make this baby come out tomorrow!!!! can you tell I'm ready??

Bless Joan though... I called her immediately and sent her out to buy baby detergent and asked her to wash all that I would need for the hospital. The Dr told me to have all my bags ready just in case and well.... I actually planned to do that tomorrow. But Joan was very gracious and I'm off to pack my bags now.

Hope Mike can post tomorrow about the birth of Baby '**********' And YES we finally have at least a girls name all set! We have a few boys names but nothing set in stone.

Making an Appointment in Public Hospitals

2008-08-07T15:29:00.004+08:00

One of the negatives to using public hospitals is that you cannot call and make an appointment... you must go to the hospital itself to make the appointment. Well today, I had Mike drop me off so I could get there as early as possible, arriving around 9:15ish (it opened at 9). I was number 9 and was excited about a rather calm, relaxing day. (I had to meet Mike at 1 so I had decided to make my appointment and then just enjoy some time to myself.) However, after one hour of waiting, I got a bit frustrated and nervous that maybe I'd missed them calling me. So I go to the registration desk and they say, 'Oh I'm sorry. We're waiting on your Dr's referral letter.' After wondering why in the world they needed this, I sat back down figuring it wouldn't be too much longer. Over another hour later, I was still sitting and waiting... unbelievably frustrated and uncomfortable. I finally got up and asked what the problem was.... told them I'd been waiting over 2hrs just to make an appointment. They asked me my number... which was 9 (the ninth person arriving from the start of the day) and they were like 'oh' and handed me my appointment slip. My appointment... next Wed. Ugh!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I'm a bit annoyed, frustrated... ugh. I cannot wait to have this baby and be done with these clinics. Never have I felt so stressed about attending Dr.'s appointments. I will be very happy to travel a distance to have the sweetness, genuine care, etc of Dr. Kelly.

I made it in time to meet Mike for a quick lunch and then off to look at our pictures that we had taken on Monday. When we took Isabella to see the musical Mulan, a photography studio was selling sessions for about an 1/8th of their normal cost with a free 8X10 photo. It's VERY difficult to find reasonably priced photographers here and so we opted to buy a session knowing that we most likely would not be able to afford any more pics aside from the freebie. But of course, they're never clear on how much the photos are until after the session. YIKES!!! The cheapest picture was almost $1000 dollars. Granted it was big and framed and all that but geesh... We went for the viewing today... trying, hoping that maybe we could make something work so we could at least get a couple of the shots (they were SO cute and so different) but in the end we just took our free photo and left. It was disappointing on top of what I experienced this morning but that's okay. We knew that we would love the pictures but probably couldn't get any.

I'm starting to get quite emotional.... I'm still not feeling well and just so ready to get back to normal life that everything is just getting to me. I'm praying very hard this baby will come very soon... would love it if it came before even having to go to my appointment next week. :) I had a mini-holiday planned (at home) with Izzy and camping in the backyard/Disney/the beach but the T8 has temporarily killed that... maybe next week will work.

But we have an exciting Saturday planned... two of our youth group girls want to be baptized!!!!! I'm super excited for them and looking forward to watching that!

T8 Again

2008-08-06T15:16:00.008+08:00

We woke up to some strong winds this morning. When I looked outside, I didn't think too much of it but it turned out to be another T8... our second one this year! That means everything closes down. I was slightly disappointed because it meant I couldn't go to the hospital to make my appointment but it was nice to have Mike home with us today. We played in Izzy's room for quite a bit and then I decided to check out the damage to our backyard. In the course of the morning, we lost two trees, our grill, and a potted tree. We praise the Lord we've not had much leaking and that nothing happened to the cars that are parked at our place and that we were warned on Monday with a T1 so we already overturned our table and we didn't have any more broken glass. It seems to have settled now but we'll still just chilling inside watching movies.

Mike and Joan assessing the damage

Baby coming soon?

2008-08-05T17:07:00.002+08:00

I had my appointment today. The 1st of weekly visits until the baby is born. These appointments I actually get to see the Dr but that stressed me out because this Dr is the one who's made the biggest deal about my weight but alas.... I thought I was going to be checked for progress but it was the same type of an appointment... only done by the Dr, herself. Anyway, she asked me if I was sure about my due date and then said she was referring me back to the hospital for my visits. I asked why and she said I was measuring big. I get to keep my records so when I got on the bus, I was reading the notes and it turns out I'm measuring 39 weeks! I'm praying very hard this means the baby will come early but we'll see. So tomorrow I have to go to the hospital to make an appointment to see the Dr there. I'm also praying that maybe they can squeeze me in while I'm there so I don't have to make another trip another day.

But anyway... this made me very excited and anxious. I guess I really should get my hospital bags together.

Meal Time funnies

2008-07-28T21:16:00.002+08:00

I am so far behind in my posts but I just had to write what happened at dinner tonight. Izzy was happy eating her veggie/fruit face but wanted nothing to do with the meat. I told her she needed to eat a few bites and I would get her some more eyes (grapes) and so she agreed. She ate 2 bites and then I put a third on her plate to eat while I got her some more grapes. When I came back the meat was gone so I gave her the grapes. A few minutes later, I went to use my napkin and low and behold... there was the meat. :) I looked at her and asked, 'Did you hide your meat in my napkin?' And she replied with the biggest grin, 'Yes!'
I guess I should have been upset but it just made me laugh. She's been a real ham lately...

Last night she pulled out the raft for the pool, climbed to the top of the steps and slid down. All I kept thinking about was Home Alone when the boy sleds down the stairs. She was having a blast.

Sweet Izzy Story #7808

2008-07-08T19:48:00.002+08:00

As Izzy is looking at a Barney's Easter Stories book...
"Once upon a time, Jesus came into this book and saw a big goldfish... a big, big fish."

Izzy Stories part deux

2008-07-02T20:18:00.004+08:00

Once upon a time, Jesus was in Hong Kong
And Dora was in Hong Kong
They said, 'Eseybody, come, come, come!'
Jesus said, 'Come too Dora'

I LOVE listening to Isabella tell stories! She's so creative. She loves to look at her books and tell us what's going on and I'm always impressed with how much she remembers about the different books. She can pretty much quote her Dora books and she loves to tell us stories about Jesus.

So after a great day yesterday, today was quite frustrating at school. So I treated myself to a Vanilla Coke and some ice cream when I got home and then took Izzy out for a swim. I swear if Baby Bob doesn't turn into a water lover than no baby will. :) While I'm not particularly enjoying the heat and pregnancy... I'm loving how much better swimming makes me feel. I may not look very pretty but it's so comfortable! LOL And we had a great time in the pool... we practiced all our numbers in every language and our colors in Cantonese. She was really excited about repeating what I said so it was fun to try new things.

Well... I've got lots of papers to mark so I better stop procrastinating.

Hap Mun Beach

2008-07-01T18:13:00.006+08:00

Burying Auntie Joan

Only in HK will someone swim with an umbrella and yes he was with us

Izzy at work

What a fun, fabulous day we had today! It was another public holiday so we had intentions of going cliff jumping/to the beach and while we did all that... we separated as a family. Cliff jumping is a bit of a hike and in 36 degrees I was a bit hesitant to go. I know how tired one can get after a full day in the sun and swimming without being pregnant and I didn't know how Izzy would actually do at the beach so I opted out of that fun adventure. Mike on the other hand took about 18 people with him and had a blast jumping, swimming and hanging out.

Joan invited Izzy and I to go with Aff (alliance filipino fellowship) to a different beach and since it was just a ferry ride... I figured if Izzy ended up hating the beach it would be a lot easier to head home. Plus Izzy loves these ladies and I thought it would be a fun opportunity to get to know them better.

(Just some background info... Izzy has been afraid of the sand since well since birth pretty much... she is just now getting used to sand, dirt and grass... ah the joys of HK. But alas... she did awesome!)

It took her about 20/30 minutes to convince her to go into the water with her tube but once she tried it, I couldn't get her out for hours. After about 2hrs I forced her to get out and sit in the shade for a bit but after about 20 minutes she was begging to go back in. It was a gorgeous day and it was just so much fun.

It's very difficult for me to get to know many people at church because we only see each other on Sunday's and often I'm running after Isabella or doing something for Children's Church but this group (aff) is awesome and I love these ladies. They are so supportive, encouraging, helpful, willing, etc... Their lives always amaze me (things they've dealt with, sacrifices they've made, etc) but their hearts for the Lord and passion for serving Him are incredible. I was talking with one lady and I was commenting on how the only day they get off is often filled with church activities and how I often wonder if that bothers them or is disappointing that they can't explore life in HK more and she said she wouldn't trade it. She loves being involved and she loves being at church. She's even told her employer that she cannot take away her Sunday's. It was the day promised to her and she needs to be at church. How many of us would willingly spend our entire day off at church.. and not just fellowshipping with friends but having responsibilities?

It was just another slight reminder from God of blessed I am. I feel so honored to be living and serving Him in such a diverse cultural setting. While I miss my family... it's hard to want to give something like this up.

On a very funny side note... this is a picture of what we've begun growing in our bedroom. Mike said he wanted to start an herb garden but I guess we'll settle for this! LOL No actually, please pray that we can get this problem of dampness and mold out of our house as we have two very sensitive people to mold and a baby on the way.

Oh the Places You'll Go

2008-06-29T20:04:00.005+08:00

Angela, Nancy and Brett (3 of our grads... Brett is Izzy's buddy)

Today we said good-bye to our grads but thankfully, we'll have some of them sticking around for the summer. However, Isabella's best bud leaves this Wednesday. We usually do a junk boat trip but we decided to do something different this year and it was a good thing as it stormed all day. We just had everyone over for a BBQ. It was great and we had a pretty good turn out... about 30 people total. So today seemed crazy as we had a final fellowship party in Children's Church and it was also Pastor Ed and Sharon's last Sunday and I didn't even get to say good-bye... plus our party in which we left right after the service for. But it was a good day and several students are still hanging out which I love.

Last night we had a friend and his son over for dinner and a game of monopoly. It was fun but the best part was seeing Tim and Mike on the couch sharing a blanket! :) The sayings about women always being hot while pregnant have run true for me and I guess I froze them out. It was too funny though.

It's a long weekend for me thanks to Hong Kong SAr day so I'm looking forward to Mon and Tues off. We're hoping to go cliff diving on Tuesday and I think tomorrow's just going to be a relaxing day. Only 7 more days of school for me! Wohoo!!!!

Mulan Musical

2008-06-27T11:43:00.005+08:00

It's no lie that Isabella loves all things Disney... well at least most things so when I saw an ad for a children's musical production of Mulan, I decided that I HAD to take her. :) I thought it would be a really fun 'Mommy and Daughter' date... with dressing up, having dinner, and seeing the musical. And then Mike had to cancel cliff diving due to the rain and I thought it would be even better if could join us! So after Mom Time we headed out to Wanchai for dinner at the flying pan (an American breakfast place that Mike loves) and then off to the play. Izzy really enjoyed it and I was quite surprised at how well she sat and watched. Now all she talks about is going back to the 'me-ater' to see Mulan. It was a very fun evening and it was so nice to try something different with her.

And to top off a great night... a photography company was there giving out discounts so we signed up for a 1hr photo session! I was so excited because all photographers here are outrageously priced and with the discount we're getting an almost 400 dollar session for 50! Wohoo! The only negative being that while we will get one free 10X8, I know I'll love and want more and I'm sure that will be a bit out of our price range... but that's okay. We'll enjoy it. I was hoping we could extend the discount 1 more month so we could use it as a family photo with the new baby but it expires on the 26th of August and the guy felt it would be more special to have the photo while I was still pregnant. :)

It was just a really special day all around... hope yours was too!

T8

2008-06-25T09:08:00.003+08:00

Well I'm experiencing my first T8 warning (typhoon) and I must say I'm a little disappointed. I expected more rain and stronger winds but that's probably a good thing considering the leakage problems in our place at the moment. Though I did wake up this morning to our overturned table, shattered glass from the table top, a broken table umbrella and a few of Izzy's toys thrown about... so maybe it was worse in the middle of the night. I won't complain though as this means I get an extra day off to spend with my cutie. Once I find my camera, I'll post a pic.

So we've enjoyed our day at home. We've had tea parties, read books, talked to Grammy, watched some cartoons, took a long nap, ate some brownies, and made some crafts. It was a fun day and now the weather has calmed down and we've settled back into a T3 which is not that serious.

Summer fun pics

2008-06-23T15:18:00.004+08:00

This is the mini-sermon yesterday. Izzy looks like she's really into it. :)

relaxing in the pool

Well my interview went really well and since they still want to find a full-time teacher who can start in August, they offered me a substitute position. So that was cool and I hope they will call on me since I live so close by. :) I was really impressed with the school and wished they offered Cantonese because I would so send Izzy there but alas... However, I came home, found three more positions on-line that sounded like good potentials and have already heard back from them! How great is that! So I guess I shouldn't worry too much about finding something but I hope one of these will work out. One is teaching Music, one is Tutoring and one is teaching phonics in a Kindergarten. All very part-time but fairly close by. So I'm excited at the possibilities.

I had my Dr's appointment today and to be honest, I was stressed all day. The last thing I wanted to hear was how fat I was especially when I've been so careful over the last two weeks. Well I still gained but they didn't say anything. In fact, the only real thing that was said to me was that the baby is in good position with it's head down. Though the one nurse actually showed some compassion when she asked if I was still dealing with vomiting and I said yes. That was a nice treat. So despite what the clinic says about my weight, I had three people say something to me within the last week that I took as very nice compliments and made me smile. One of my MN girls told me I was the cutest pregnant ladies, a lady a church said she had no idea I was pregnant until I turned around, and a teacher at school told me that I walk pretty fast for a pregnant lady. They're little comments but they sure make a lady feel good. :)

Well I'm procrastinating... I have lots of writing papers to mark so I should get busy.

Izzy Conversations

2008-06-22T20:30:00.003+08:00

Izzy: I'm scared Daddy.

Mike: You don't have to be scared, God is with you.

Izzy: Where Daddy, I don't see him?

A quick, funny Izzy story: Today was our Sunday School graduation and so Mike had all the children up front for a mini-sermon... Izzy included. I was actually surprised she stayed up there without me (she refused to do so at Christmas time but alas). I guess when she saw her friends she was fine. But anyway.... she was being a little bit noisy so I looked at her and did the whole finger to mouth, shhhhing thing. So she immediately stopped and began to sit quietly until the girls around her started talking. And then she became the teacher... shhhing anyone that said anything. :) It made me chuckle but I think it's something I'm going to have to keep my eye on... she has done this before and I don't want to raise a bossy little girl.

It's been a long day... a long few days actually so I'm looking forward to not having a lot on my plate for tomorrow. It's supposed to be incredibly hot as well so I'm looking forward to a swim. :) Anyway... we had our farewell lunch for the Manghams this afternoon. It was a nice time to listen to stories of how they touched lives here in HK. They were headed out for a cruise to Vietnam late afternoon before finishing out their last week in HK. They head back to the states July 1st... hard to believe the time is here already.

Nick came over for dinner and shared that the house they intended to buy in Canada fell through at the last minute. Secretly, I keep hoping they will stay in HK so I was happy but I'm sure this is a huge disappointment and frustration for them. I just keep praying that they will seek what the Lord has for them and that maybe it would be for them to stay another year or two. LOL

I'm down to 3 weeks of school left and I'm really looking forward to not making that commute anymore. I will miss the job and the students/co-workers but I will not miss dedicating 3hrs of my life each day to a bus or train. I actually have an interview in the morning for a potential position at a Kindergarten just up the street from us. They've already told me that they most likely will not have a position to offer me at this moment because of the baby and my due date but they asked me to still come for a possible substituting or part-time position in the near future. I have to be there for a hands on interview (so for the whole 3hr kindy session) and I'm not crazy about that but it's hard to pass up on something that is so close by. So I'm praying that they might have something part-time to offer me.

Well... I'm a bit tired so I'm headed to bed.

Morning sickness

2008-06-15T20:17:00.003+08:00

Well it seems as though the morning sickness has returned in full force even with the medicine I have been taking. I'm trying to think of what else it could be but the ride to church today was not good nor was my day yesterday. The one thing I have noticed is that I get hot even quicker than before. Poor Mike and Izzy... I've been freezing them out because the instant I get a bit too hot... is the instant I feel the need to throw up. Our poor electric bill but I just can't take the heat. So if you wouldn't mind praying for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

At my last appointment, the Dr so kindly told me that while morning sickness ends for most women at the 2nd trimester... for some it will last all pregnancy. Well I guess I'm one of those lucky few. But while I don't feel the greatest... I'm trying really hard to be joyful. We are doing an overview of the New Testament in Sunday School and today we talked about Philippians. I was convicted on how joy-less I've been in regards to this pregnancy and life since Jan. I feel really guilty that I haven't taken in everything as much as I did with Isabella and for being so frustrated when I know there are many women out there who would do anything to be in my shoes... so as we talked about in our group... I'm choosing to be joyful in the midst of frustration and not feeling well. Sickness is no excuse... I have a lot to be grateful for.

I'll have more to write tomorrow but I wanted to ask for prayer. Thanks!

Happy Ministry Anniversary Dad!!!!

2008-06-13T11:54:00.003+08:00

Today (or maybe it was yesterday, I'm a little confused on my dates today) my father-in-law celebrates 25 years in ministry!!!! What an exciting day to celebrate and look back upon how God has worked in your life as well as how He has used you in ministry. I haven't always been around (hehe... that just sounds funny to me) but I've been around since their life in Dover began and it's been so cool to see how they've become such a part of the church and how much the church has grown under his leadership.

His testimony as to how he ended up in ministry is impressive to me as he went back to school when Mike just a wee one after being successful as an accountant. I'm always super impressed with those who follow God's calling when it seems so much easier to continue to live the way you are. I think it takes a lot of faith, trust and willingness to sacrifice.

I've learned a lot from him over the past 8 yrs and it's been a blessing to be his daughter-in-law. So I wish you the happiest of anniversaries!

You can check out the Dover Alliance Church web-site here.... where you can also read his blog and listen to his sermons.