Swim Lessons

We've been taking swim lessons with Jill. www.swimwithjill.weebly.com
I highly recommend her! Nathan and Aaron are making good progress. Nathan can now blow nose bubbles ( a BIG deal for him, enabling him now to be able to use goggles instead of a mask when swimming), roll to a back float, and roll back over and swim. Aaron is unbelievably willing to go with Jill, put his mouth, ear, and chin in the water, and kick.

Fourth of July

Better late than never, I guess :-).
We had a wonderful 4th of July complete with coordinating outfits, hanging our flag outside, having some church folks over for dinner, red white and blue desserts, an AMAZING corn tomato salad made by a friend, and fireworks at a local park.
Thank you Lord, for this amazing country that we live in :-).

Fun at the Fair

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We have gone to the Los Angeles County Fair every year for the last five years in Los Angeles. Now that we are up int he Bay Area, I was getting sad that I would miss it. However, there is the Alameda County Fair! Hooray! It was really fun to go with the kidsa couple of Fridays ago. For one, it is a lot smaller than the one in L.A., so it felt more doable. We saw pig races, the gardening exhibits, tasted honey from all over the Bay Area, learned more about beekeeping, went to the petting zoo, watched goats being milked, ate deep fried food and ice cream. It was all good. I found out also that there is a Santa Clara County Fair next month that has FREE admissiona and FREE parking. I will report back after we go (I plan to take the kids there).

In adoption news. . . well, we are still waiting to get Dave's medical report back (hopefully this week), and then our documents to BAAS (Bay Area Adoption Services) will be done! This is a huge step, and then we schedule our last homestudy visit which will be at our house. I have read a couple of books that I checked out from BAAS' library to the kids: Everyone Eats Rice, and How I Became A Big Sister (they won't be big sisters, but it is about a little girl who becomes a big sister through adoption).

Summer Days

In adoption news, I had my homestudy visit today with our social worker. Dave had his last week. There is only one visit left - which is the home visit. We can't do it until we get all of our documents in, though. We are still missing a couple of things - but we are getting really close!

Rock of Ages

We went to this cool place called Castlerock National Park which is pretty close to us. It is in the Santa Cruz mountains. There are tons of boulders and rocks that you can climb. Some people are using ropes and caribiners and mats, but our kids were climbing and scampering over some of the easier ranges. It was SOOO fun! We went with the Kus there.

Just that morning, I had been teaching the kids in Nathan's class about Exodus 34, when Moses goes up to Mount Sinai the second time and asks God to show him His glory. The Lord tells Moses he must hide in a cleft of a rock, where the Lord will cover him with His hand, and then pass by him with His back facing Moses. And look what we found at Castlerock - a cleft (one of many). That's Aar Bear taking a drink inside. It reminded me also of how the Lord Jesus is our Rock that has cleft for us to hide in Him. He has endured the punishment for our sin, and even today shelters us in the storms of life. Praise Him!

Rock of Ages cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee
Let the water and the blood
From Thy riven side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure
Save me from its guilt and power

Not the labors of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law's commands
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hands I bring
Simply to Thy cross I cling
Naked come to Thee for dress
Helpless, look to Thee for dress
Foul I to the founain fly
Cleanse me Saviour, or I die

While I take this fleeting breath
When mine eyes shall close in death
When I soar to worlds unknown
See Thee on Thy judgment throne
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

Father's Day and more fun with hipstamatic

I was in Los Angeles on Father's Day, and so I could not blog about it in real time. But I will make up for lost time now :-).


I am so thankful for my own father - who loves me and raised me. . . For all the swim meets he attended, all the show choir concerts he faithfully came to, all the help with math homework, being so persistent about teaching us Chinese, taking my sisters and me to the library in the evenings, playing all sorts of raquet sports with us, and sharing stories about his own father. He still shows he cares for me in many ways. Even though I am 36, he still brings back a little something for me when he goes on trips; he never fails to send us a postcard from whichever locale he might be passing through; he helps to carry my bags and anything else when I leave home to walk to the car; he brings fruit from whatever is the current harvest in his garden or orchard.

And I am so thankful for *this* man here, too.


He is my better half.

And I have grown to love and appreciate him even more seeing him grow as the father of our children.

He rough houses with them, making them all shriek with delight every night when they play "Tickle Monster."

He tells them goofy stories that I could NEVER make up. Norman the Lint Ball, and SpiderPig are some of the boys' favorite tales from Dave's repertoire. I have to deliberately tell Dave not to make the story too exciting, for fear that it will get them giggling and too excited to fall asleep.


He tenderly holds them when they are hurt or sick.

He has carefully sewn up Nathan's chin when he split it falling in the bathtub.




He is a doctor, but did you know he can also do face (and arm) painting, too?


He has gently removed countless splinters, given so many rides on his shoulders, and has spent many nights sleeping at least part of the night on a mat on the floor or squeezed in a twin bed alongside one of our sleepless or scared children company until they fall asleep.



Happy Father's Day, Dave! We all love you!

Some Fun With the IPhone

Those of you who know me know that I am NOT a cell phone person. I have been known to lose my phone, let it run out of batteries for days at a time, never even set up my voice mail much less check it.

All of this changed when I got my iPhone! Man, I love this little gadget! It is amazing! And I am NOT a techie AT ALL. Mine is even an old one, a 2G, purchased from Craigslist. I DON'T have internet on it, and I *still* love it!

iPhone, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. . .
1) I have the entire Bible on there, which I can read in the dark with a toddler snuggled up next to me fast asleep. I don't need to turn on any lights or fumble with pages which may wake up little Aar Bear. The iPhone is backlit - so I can read it perfectly in the dark :-).
2) I have discovered the value of texting - mainly because the iPhone keeps the texts so organized. . . by contact, and it shows up as little bubbles as if you are having a conversation with each other (which you are).
3) I LOVE being able to put my contacts in there and be able to take a picture of the said contacts. I know that other phones probably have this, too, but the iPhone, again, keeps it all very organized.
4) It takes decent pictures. Not in any way comparable to my Canon, but pretty darn good. The quality is higher than the photos we took with our digital point and shoot when Matthew and Nathan were babies (yes, yes, I know that this was a long time ago, and that a year in tech years is like dog years, but still!)
5) All the cool games you can download for a buck or two. It's great! I personally love Scramble and Doodlejump. I am sure there are other wonderful apps out there and I haven't even gone beyond the tip of the iceberg. I don't have a lot of time to play games. . . so I am happy with the couple that I have.
6) I can listen to MLB.com on there - which means I can listen to every Dodger game and hear Vin Scully - Yeah! This is a BIG DEAL since I am not in Los Angeles anymore.
6) I don't let it run out of batteries or lose it because as I have listed above - it is SO much more than a phone!

Hmmm. . .this is probably a REALLy boring post to those who don't know what I am talking about. How about some pictures? We recently downloaded an app called Hipstamatic - it takes photos and makes them look like you took them with an old time camera. These are some photos I took at a wedding we went to on Saturday. Whatcha think?





And YES - that is boba milk tea you see behind the flowers. The bride and groom had all you could drink boba available for everyone. How cool to have boba at a wedding reception!



And possibly even cooler - cotton candy! Yes, cotton candy for all the kids at the reception! As you can see, Nene and cousin Jay Jay were soooo happy (and sticky)!



Sarah and Daniel were the bride and groom. Sarah is Dave's second cousin. It was a beautiful wedding and fun reception. The best part was that we all rejoiced with them knowing that the Lord brought them together. They are both God-fearing, Jesus-loving people - and it was so wonderful to see them become a new family in Christ.