Jenny

December Festivities

As we celebrated Christmas, we started a new tradition of choosing a gift to give to Jesus and let Timothy pick out the first present. True to his own interests, he chose a gift of fruit tree seedlings. When the children show more understanding, we hope that the Lord will move beyond our own feeble efforts to convey the weight and wonder of Jesus incarnate to our children. I’m humbled at how wondrous and incredible the story of Jesus coming to rescue us is as we reviewed the story and Scripture with new eyes. When I became exasperated and wondered what else can go awry the world with so many awful new stories still streaming in during the last weeks of 2014, I was reminded of exactly why Jesus had to come to earth in the first place; to live perfectly and die in our place because we could not and cannot save ourselves. Behind the façade of happy pictures, the same brokenness and sin lives our home, too. This Christmas celebration helped me to experience more freedom in not trying to have it all together, and in letting Christ’s perfect work be the one to shine in my sin and shortcomings.

Grace did really well on a weekend road trip down to Portland, and continues to be a flexible and easygoing baby. She stands often and even climbs stairs with supervision. Grace wiggled to Christmas music – bobbing up and down, and shaking her arms and head excitedly to music; moves she likely picked up from her brother. One of my favorite moments this past month was catching both kids wave their arms at the same time to “Little Drummer Boy” while riding in the car one day. Grace is quite chatty nowadays and trying to form lots of words, oftentimes already “repeating” what we say. She even says “bye-bye” sometimes! She also raises her little hands to wave and reach towards people, showing us how interested and social she is lately. Her latest favorite food is nori (seaweed) snacks and she enthusiastically feeds it to herself. Her appetite for solids continues to increase and her curiosity for our table foods has as well. Grace loves her bedtime book so much that sometimes we wonder if it might make her too excited before sleeping. She’s been humming when I sing to her at night, and it’s super sweet to hear her little voice keep up with mine. Because she’s ours, we find her gentle disposition and happiness overwhelming on top of her cuteness sometimes. We continue to be deeply grateful for the gift she’s been to our family.

Timothy got to meet some friendly chickens on our trip to Portland and continues to fill our house with songs daily. He asked to listen to “O Come All Ye Faithful” repeatedly, along with “Angels We Have Heard on High”, “Joy to the World”, and “Go, Tell it on a Mountain“. It was great hearing him sing carols this year and be eager about our Advent reading activities each day. Timothy had many tastes of treats from a cookie exchange and various festivities this month, and especially enjoyed the frosting off the birthday cake we had to celebrate Jesus’ birth on Christmas morning. He was quite the gift-opener as he tore through his own presents, and insisted on helping the rest of us with our gifts.

One afternoon, I overheard Timothy reading to himself the last pages of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom in Chinglish, saying “Big A, little A, Big B, Little B” in Chinese. It still surprises me how many quirky things he picks up from me. We also made very incremental progress in some Spanish vocabulary this month with a new book so hopefully the novelty won’t wear off too quickly. The Rs he can’t roll right now are pretty hilarious, though. 😉

We hope your 2015 is off to a good start – Happy New Year!

Visting chickens during our stay in Portland

So playful with each other

Focused on the nativity set

So busy at 10 months

Delicious cake to celebrate the cousins’ birthdays!

Merry-go-round fun

So much fun making popcorn garland

Timothy was more interested in eating, of course

A chance to drum at Snowflake Lane

Both kids enjoyed the music at Snowflake Lane

Too much love from brother…

This girl loves to slide

Brother likes to help

Decorating our gingerbread house

Every last candy was used up.

Opening his first present before breakfast

Grace’s turn to examine the gift wrap

Blowing out the celebratory candles

So excited for new Legos!

Cousins at Christmas

Little girl giving our borrowed toy a try

Another little music maker

A box within a box

Fun with Cousin Conor

P.S. If you missed our Christmas video, you can check it out on YouTube.

Merry Christmas 2014

We hope this greeting finds you safe and well. 2014 proved to be an emotional rollercoaster for our family. In addition to celebrating life and milestones with the birth of Grace, our fifth wedding anniversary, and various firsts as a family of four, we also endured loss. Our hearts have been stricken with much heaviness with news stories, distress in our church family, and losing a child. As it does for us, we hope this Christmas season also causes you to reflect, wonder, and anticipate the Good News.

Andrew – This year, I made another career change and left Amazon in May. I joined Groupon to build and manage an engineering team to work on a new mobile app for travel. While we seek the Lord in our church home situation, I continue to serve with technology needs and children’s ministry. We lost Stewie rabbit this year, but 11 years was a good run for that soft brown bunny. As I grow in fatherhood, I enjoy my adventures with our growing little guy and adore my precious baby girl.

Jenny – I had a full year with getting used to caring for two little ones and learning to fight for joy in the Lord. We lost our third baby in September and it’s been difficult to work through. I’m thankful for how God has been immensely gracious with me, though. Questions linger, but I’m learning to trust his sovereignty, purposes, and find comfort in truth. Part of the redemption in this is that I have much more compassion for others’ hurts and have renewed hope in the resurrection of Christ.

Timothy had a big year of growing, playing, and learning. He loves music, water, books, vehicles, balls and so many foods. He dotes on his baby sister and loves doing things together with Grace. Some of his favorite songs are hymns and he belts them loudly. Taking after Andrew, he’s a bit of a clown as he often tries to make people laugh. His Cantonese and English both surprise and crack us up often, too. Timothy’s self-proclaimed favorite color is blue and he enjoys being around lots of people, but especially our family.

Grace has been an immense blessing to us and we so enjoy seeing glimpses of her personality distinctions come out as she grows and explores. She is very sweet and social so far, and overall a mellow little girl. Though small, she is strong and can hold her own among the bigger kids. We find her often plunking on the baby piano by herself, or playing quietly with books and toys. Grace enjoys her BSF class and has taken to new foods well so far. She is affectionate towards our family and has special smiles and giggles for her Papa and brother.

As we move forward, we are thankful for opportunities to grow in faith, regularly open our home to invest in others, contribute to building a church plant, and continue to shepherd our children. May you find hope in 2015 as well.

A Grateful November

Soups are often simmering in our home to beat the cold and we’re bundled in sweaters and sweatshirts on most days. The children are typically wearing 3 layers of clothing already, and I wonder again how I used to be able to survive the icy east coast winters with snow! We’ve had streaks of nice sunny days which, though quite frigid, were otherwise great in November. Timothy got to experience a number of firsts this month including ice skating, fresh popcorn, his own cup of hot chocolate, and a TV show (Hammy Hamster) and enjoyed them all.

With much more neccessary supervision these days, Timothy and Grace are playing together more. It is just too cute sometimes to hear Timothy sing and read to his sister when I’m out of the room. The big smiles and giggles Grace has for her brother are some of best things I get to witness each week.

Grace is pulling herself up to stand often, is a pro at navigating single steps now so she can freely moves around our first floor. She also does some push-up looking exercise moves while busily exploring things we try to keep out of her reach and is becoming quite adept at standing. She’s still our calm and happy little girl, but has definitely had more feisty moments recently. She also has a penchant for garbage cans so we need to keep a close eye on her in our upstairs rooms.

Timothy’s singing has improved and fills the house everyday with hymns and children’s songs. I was actually concerned he may be tone-deaf when he started singing a lot several months ago, but his latest improvements have dispelled that thought. I guess it just takes some time for little ones to find the notes. 🙂 He knows most of the letters of the alphabet now and is been starting to count more consistently in both languages. As with earlier this year, Timothy continues to call out sister’s latest milestones with surprise – “Baby is awake!”, “Baby is moving!”, “Sister is crawling”, “Sister is standing!”. It’s been cute to watch him notice her development.

We hope you’re enjoying this Advent season!

Pool time!

Grace digs these stacking cups

He loves building “wonderful crosses”

Getting good at self-feeding

Our little rocking guy

We like seaweed snacks!

So much fun in the big box

Outdoor break on a sunny day

Timothy with “Lego Timothy”

He drummed on our friends’ kit so hard

Saying goodnight to Mina

Happy to have Mina visit

9 months old

Independent zipping

Ready for her close-up

Standing herself up at the baby piano

Silliness with Joy Anna

Timothy had so much fun

Look at the book, Ellie!

Steamed milks with Cousin Conor

Race car craft at a birthday party

Helping Papa blow out his birthday candle

Through the tunnel at brother’s insistence

He really wanted Papa’s steak

Timothy loves celebrating birthdays

This girl enjoys bathtime

With the big Duplo airplane

Snow day fun

Big snowball amusement

Little snow bunny

I guess she was too puffy to flap…

Sibling snow love

Getting to work

Ready to skate!

Not too bad for his first time

Tapping into his Canadian heritage

Autumn blessings

We, especially Timothy, enjoyed the last edible apples from our apple tree this year, and we’re appreciating the local winter squash harvest with soups, roasted seeds, and baked goods. I also had a lots of great sister time this month with our visitors. 🙂 The kids and I are mostly indoors now because of the rain and cold. We went to a nearby pumpkin patch on a wet day to learn about pumpkins, visit animals, pick a pumpkin and go on a tractor-powered hay ride. Timothy enjoyed the farm while Grace napped and observed quietly. 😉

We had Timothy convert to a toddler bed and he graduated soon after to a twin bed with a toddler rail this month. Andrew and I were suprised he adjusted so well to the new sleeping arrangements in quick succession. Perhaps he was just ready to be out of the crib and use a pillow and comfy blanket, just like Papa and Mama. We’re pleased to see him snuggle into his bed everyday and relish the new setup. Timothy’s been building pillow nests in the family room for himself and Grace to play in; it’s one of the cutest things they do together. He’s also become quite the imaginative builder with some of Andrew’s help as he creates lots of fun buildings and objects out of Duplo blocks.

Grace continues to be resilient and playful with Timothy. I think her enthusiatic laughter has convinced Timothy that he’s quite hilarious. She’s learning the layout of our house and how to navigate small obstacles as she practices crawling. Her first consistent word has been “Papa”, and it’s so precious to hear her say when spending time with Andrew in the evenings. We love hearing her sweet little voice babbling more often lately. Grace has discovered her vocal chords for expressing louder and stronger opinions now, reminding us of her presence. Gone are the days of sometimes forgetting she was in the room because she’d lay, sit, crawl and play so quietly. She is progressing along nicely with solids and may need to learn to eat her food more quickly because Brother waits eagerly to eat up her leftover fruit purees and baby cereal puff snacks.

We said goodbye to Stewie rabbit this month, which was a bit of a downer for all of us. It looked like it was time since he was already over 10 years old, a pretty good run for a Mini Rex. While sad, we are thankful for the decade Andrew had with him, the fluffy entertainment he provided to many, and how much Timothy enjoyed him. We’re bit disappointed Grace didn’t get to enjoy him since Stewie was such a good sport with little ones, but are thankful we have plenty of photos with which to remember him. Timothy seems to miss him sometimes, but he seemed to accept/understand his death well enough (for a toddler, anyway) and moved on quickly after waving goodbye.

I enjoy the rhythm of our fall weeks with Cantonese Storytime, community group, women’s study group, and BSF. I’m learning much about studying the Bible carefully and trusting the Lord to displace my fears and anxieties. This has been especially timely as we try to move forward after losing our third baby in September, and figure out where he wants us as we seek to be faithful to him with where we make our church home.

Dunking in the backyard

Hand-me-downs have made the backyard fun

Ready for a walk

Aunty Sophia loved meeting Grace

Sophia helping the kids ride her handmade Nessies

Park fun

Timothy wanted to face his sister

Becoming a good crawler

Her hair is growing fast

Playing in the pillow nest

Happily playing the baby piano

8 months old

We love this toothless smile

Fun Duplo creations

Practicing standing

Grace loves Papa so much

Busy boys at a play date

Timothy likes making Duplo caravans

Aunty Lauren came for a nice visit

This little elephant went to the farm…

…and learned about pumpkins!

Digging for worms

Hanging on for the hay ride

Looking at the molting chicken

A fun muddy morning at Dr. Maze’s Farm

Baby girl enjoyed it too

They weren’t keen on being matching penguins

Ready to pass out candy

Funny zoo animals on Halloween

It is Well With My Soul

While we had some nice highlights, this actually proved to be a painful September for us. Our church family has been going through many challenges and has lost numerous staff from resignations and layoffs. We’re discouraged and like many, are unsure of our church’s future but we will stay and continue invest in this church home for the time being, until we’re called to plant our family into another church in this area.

In August, we discovered that I was pregnant. While it was surprising and daunting to think about having three children under the age of three next Spring, we were very excited that our family was growing again and to meet the new baby. After a few ultrasounds though, we learned that this baby died during the second month of my pregnancy. We’re devastated we didn’t get to ever see a heartbeat and that we won’t get to meet him or her next year as a family. It’d be understatement to say life’s felt so hard since receiving that news. I’m snuggling Timothy and Grace extra amounts these days. However my heart continues to ache heavily for the loss of our third baby, their little sibling.

BSF has been a great source of encouragement for me as I’ve been studying the life of Moses along with the history of the Israelites. I’m so thankful for God’s providence and timing in reminding me gently and firmly that he is sovereign and cares deeply for his people. As we grieve and process, I look forward to the day when the Lord wipes away our tears and death will be no more. Some of the songs that I’ve sung often lately include “It Is Well With My Soul”, along with other classic hymns. Timothy has quickly picked up, and “It is Weow” is a new favorite with him. I love hearing him belt out hymns while strumming hard on his ukulele or pressing into the toy electric guitars. His singing and playing fill the house and reminds me that music is an incredible gift from the Lord. I’m also thankful for the blessing of community who have been walking with me through this loss and point me towards our surest hope in Jesus the midst of despair, confusion, pain and a veritable rollercoaster of emotions.

Family visitors in September meant our family enjoyed plenty of extra help for me and attention for the children. It was so fun to watch Timothy interact so fully with extended family members and speak so much Cantonese to others. He loved having Aunty Alison, Uncle Kevin, Grampa & Grandma Ma, and Aunty Sophia stay here with us. Grace was giddy with all the extra attention and snuggles from everyone, too. Timothy’s been expressing that he misses people and it’s endearing for him to let us know when he misses relatives after their visits.

Sweet little baby Grace continues to be a joyous sign of Jesus’ exceeding graciousness towards me. Her happy and mellow disposition helps me enjoy recent difficult days with renewed perspective and gratitude. I’m blown away everyday by how much her presence and life is an immense blessing to our family, and I marvel at how wonderfully Grace has been created. She continues to crack up at big brother’s antics, “jokes”, and now loves to ride on him in addition to chasing him with our help. Grace has also progressed quickly from strongly sitting up to starting to crawl quickly in September. She seems to enjoy solid foods pretty well so far even she isn’t as voracious of an eater as her brother was at this age.

We took Timothy to the Museum of Flight and it was a blast to see him explore the many interesting
exhibits and have fun with the hands-on displays. Andrew and I actually hadn’t been there since we had our wedding reception there over 5 years ago, so it was neat to reminisce a bit and share with our son about our wedding day. Timothy liked pointing out how happy everyone was in our wedding album, and that the wedding cake was missing candles! I’m pretty sure he was pleased to learn that big festive cakes are for more than celebrating birthdays.