"I had a pony!" (ride)

I couldn't help but think of that hilarious episode of Seinfeld when Erich had his first pony ride this past weekend. May 30th was Healthy Kids Day at the Langara (formerly South Slope) YMCA, where they had lots of fun games, free food and best of all free pony rides for all attendees. OK, so Erich didn't have a pony, but he sure got to ride one!

Erich also got to visit the fire engine and enjoy free tricycle rides around the parking lot. Very cool, very fun, and very jam-packed - so much so that the local radio stations were broadcasting traffic alerts in the area!

Like a kid in a toy store...

Wait, it is a kid in a toy store. While visiting Panorama Park at Deep Cove, we visited an ecclectic store which had a toy section. Erich was elated (and fast!). Well truth be told, they did have these really neat model cars and trucks where the doors would open and you could look inside for a scale model of the real thing. :-)

Tourists in our own city - the grand tour

In an effort to make our newly emigrated friends David and Laura feel more welcome in their new home, we took them on a grand tour of Metro Vancouver. David and Laura are from Delaware.

We started early with Karen's famous french toast for breakfast. After packing in the hearty breakfast, we headed out. We visited many places starting in Queen Elizabeth park. Oddly enough, our friends found the Nat Bailey Stadium (adjacent to the park) to be quite the thrill. They vowed they would revisit it to see an actual baseball game. We then drove through Cambie line RAV construction to make it to Richmond via the Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Once in Richmond, I brought them to the little community of Steveston where some of the first Japanese and marine settlers came. I recounted to them how my family had started our B.C. life in Steveston, and how we used to buy fish every Saturday morning by the docks. We had a tour of those docks, and topped off our experience there with a visit to the famous Dave's fish and chips restaurant.

From historic Steveston, we took them back through the city of Vancouver to a relatively modern import - a bubble tea cafe (Dragon Ball) where they enjoyed some of the latest taiwanese/HK imported mixed fruit drinks.

After we got our drinks, we zipped across town to "Little Italy" near Commercial and Broadway. One cannot truly appreciate the diversity of Vancouver until one has visited Commercial Drive and it's various shops including the famous Santa Barbara market.

We proceeded along Hastings Street through to Simon Fraser University where David was finally able to see his current employer's rival school. (David is currently a post-doctorate fellow and lecturer at UBC.) Much to the bemusement of us SFU alumnus, they actually enjoyed the Arthur Erickson architecture of SFU.

Next up was a breathtaking view of the city atop Burnaby Mountain (where I had proposed to Karen). We stopped here briefly before heading on a longer drive straight across the North Shore to Horseshoe Bay where we explored one of my favourite parks - Whytecliff Park.

It was here that I learned something new about Laura and her incredible climbing abilities even whilst wearing a pair of (stylish) sandals! (see David's commentary on his blog...)

We ended our day with a quick tour of the downtown eastside (hey, we got to show the good, bad and the ugly right?) and finally dinner at a Vancouver classic - the old Spaghetti Factory.

As evidenced in the picture above, Erich had loads of fun too. It was great getting to know our friends more, all the while showing off this great city to them.

Planespotting in Vancouver

As a treat, Karen and I brought Erich to the Vancouver International Airport to do some plane spotting. When I told him we would see airplanes, he was excited! After searching some hobby sites, we whisked down to North Templeton Road on Sea Island right under the landing path of airplanes and watched as plane after plane came in for a landing.

Some were small ones and some were "really really big airplanes" (as Erich would say). I must say that it is quite incredible to only be a couple hundred feet below a passing 747. In case you didn't catch the full impact of this from the picture above, this is what it looked like from my camera!


We had a great time, and this is a great way to bond with the kids. As planes flew by, eventually we sat in the car, trunk open and ate our lunches. Who says entertainment has to be expensive? :-)

Christmas 2007

Rib-eye Roast Beef with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Yummy.

Family dinner. Three generations here.

Lots of presents. Small living room.

Erich's got appetite!

What 20 month old you know does this?! Erich asked for corn. When Karen gave him some by picking off the kernels and putting them in the bowl, he said "no" and instead insisted he be able to eat it "on the cob" like the rest of us. (Afterall, he's a big boy now!)

By the time we had finished ours, he had polished off his as well!

This past weekend, we also had a surprise visit from Karen's cousin Keane from Seattle, WA. As part of the "get to know Vancouver" tour, we took him to have bubble tea at Dragon Tea House (King Edward and Oak St.) Erich, of course was all excited because he overheard that we were getting some sort of mango drink. When the drinks finally arrived, he grabbed it before anyone could stop him and gulped down a few sips. The other patrons at the tea house could not stop laughing! After that, it was game over - he insisted on sharing that drink with mommy. (See photo.) The funniest part was that we had actually gotten one more drink than there were adults because we thought we'd bring one back for Katherine. When asked whose drink that was, Erich gladly pointed out that it was "Ewich's drink" implying he was going to drink it later. Sorry Kat!

So much for baby food! Our little boy has become well versed in indigenous Canadian food as well as Hong Kong/Taiwanese cuisine.

Editor's Note: for all those parents reading this - not to worry... Karen always orders bubble tea with no added sugar and no tea, so nothing but mangoes, ice, milk and okay maybe a bit of sugar in the bubbles.

Anniversary Dinner at the Watermark, Kits Beach

Karen and I finally had a chance to go out for dinner this past Sunday to celebrate five years of marriage. It was good to be able to have some time to celebrate, reminisce and reflect on our marriage journey thus far. And being able to do this in a romantic setting sitting on a patio overlooking the sunset on Burrard Inlet was an added bonus.

Although our marriage does have its ups and downs (anyone whose marriage is perfect, please raise their hands...?) one thing I really appreciate about my marriage is that we are able to communicate with each other about the things that matter. With the day to day duties of taking care of Erich and running a household, Karen and I had not had as much opportunity of late to do this, so this was a refreshing moment to encourage one another.

Aunt Joycelin came over to look after Erich for a few hours while we took a nice stroll down to the beach front restaurant (The Watermark) two blocks away. This year, our dinner was made all the more special because a friend of ours, Eddie Wong, works at the restaurant in the pastry department. In addition to arranging our reservation and ensuring we had a great table and server, he also baked us some fresh bread, and made us a beautiful dessert platter to compliment our already delicious meal. Thanks Eddie for helping to make our day so special. (The creme brulee was exceptional by the way!)

Cousin!

I told Erich yesterday that tomorrow he was going to get a new cousin. To that he replied "Baby!" and made a cradling motion with his arms. I then asked "Whose baby is it?". And to that he replied, to our great astonishment, "Katherine!". I have no idea how he has managed to put all the facts together (we have never told him explicitly any of the above facts) but I guess he has managed nevertheless to figure them out.

Well, Katherine and John did have a beautiful healthy baby boy today. Born by Ceserian Section, Isaak Hans Ching Yin* Tso came into this world 8:56am at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. He weighed 7lb, 13oz, measures just over 20 inches (53 cm) in length and is cute as a bunny. Both Kat and John are doing well.

(* Thanks to Claudia and Queenie Tsang for the chinese name! ;))

We went over briefly tonight to visit the newborn baby. As irony would have it, no sooner had we parked did the big red fire engines pull up to the hospital (see photo). Apparently, there had been yet another false alarm. We couldn't help but chuckle.

Big Adventure Day

We went vacationing in our own city this past weekend going on a tour of some of the Lower Mainland's lesser known parks. It was very refreshing and a fitting end to what was otherwise a rather gruelling and stress-laden week.

Horseshoe Bay and Whycliffe Park

After enjoying some tasty fish and chips at Horseshoe Bay, we drove to Whycliffe Park and let Erich play at for about an hour. Erich was so excited after playing in the playground, he kept wondering what it was that was going to be even more exciting. (We kept telling him we were going somewhere even better next...)

Lighthouse Park and Point Atkinson

Well the real treat came when we took him to Lighthouse Park where we all 'hiked' down the trail from the parking lot to the lighthouse and rock beach (about a 10 minute steep hill well-marked trail through the woods). Although Erich rode most of the way in our second-hand "SUV" jogger stroller*, there was a part of the trail leading from some of the cabins to the beach that was impassable with the stroller. So, we ditched the stroller temporarily and Erich hiked alongside with us. He really enjoyed that! Here's a video of him coming back up the hill with us on that part of the trail.

(* Thanks Joe and Sheryl for the stroller!)



Clam up on seashells

Down at the beach, we all enjoyed the beautiful pristine scenery as Erich played with the rocks and shells on the beach. Erich had a lot of fun doing this. Just before leaving the beach, Erich decided he wanted to keep one of the seashells. He carefully held onto it as he hiked up the hill. Even as we put him back in the stroller and pushed him back up the trail, he held onto it as if it were some souvenir for the day. We thought it was so cute we were even contemplating putting it in his momento box at home. But Erich had other plans...

At the top of the hill, there was a nice big old growth tree where I decided I'd take a quick photo of Karen. That's when we both heard a big "crunch!". The next thing we knew, Erich had the entire shell in his mouth! By the time we managed to pry open his mouth, the shell was in pieces.
Gross! I thought of course. There it was, a half-eaten clam shell. So funny what kids decide to put in their mouths!

Park Royal

In the end though, Erich did get to satisfy his hunger. We ended the day at Park Royal where we sipped Orange Julius and had a fantastic meal at Steamworks. Karen and I did some shopping while Erich slept in his stroller. He slept for a good 2.5 hours. He must have been exhausted from the hike because he almost never takes naps that long!

Erich @ 18 months

Those of you who have seen Erich lately will know how much he has grown both physically and cognitively.  It amazes me everyday how fast he picks up new words and phrases.  He now readily recognizes things - not just specific things, but can classify them even if they look similar.  For example, when I was setting up the tripod for this shot, he pointed at the tripod and said "camera" because he knew that it was associated with the camera.

Recently I was thinking of how best to capture Erich's growth.  I've been meaning to start a family tradition - you know how some families pass down a patch quilt or blanket.  Well, I'm not much of a sewer, so a patch blanket is really out of the question.  But I am a photographer and what better way to express it than through portraits!  But how do I encapsulate all the years so that Erich only ever has to look at one portrait at a time to see how much he's grown?  Well, turns out I'm also a programmer and in programming there's this little thing called recursion.

I don't know if you remember, but a few years back HP had these commercials where someone would take a photo holding another photo.  That gave me an idea to start a new tradition:

Every six months, I will do a portrait of Erich of him holding his portrait - hopefully set with some of his favorite things at the time.

Here's the first one.  I've kept it minimalist on purpose.  Since this is the first, I had him hold the montage of his picture at ~7/8 months and a picture of the day he was born.

Hans' Birthday

For Hans' Birthday this year (my father in law), we took him out to Kalamata Greek Restaurant (yes, greek again!) for dinner. The kids were of course very happy to see their Opa again, so they were a little hyper. We managed to get them calm enough for a photo or two though (below).

After dinner, we went back to our place where we enjoyed the delicious German chocolate cake that Eddie Wong baked for us! He even went to the trouble of writing Happy Birthday in German. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag indeed!

Here are some additional photos we took:

Here's the obligatory family photo. We took this using our Canon Powershot G2 camera with a remote. Not the greatest shot but what is interesting is to see is Erich's instant reaction to the camera. He knew we were taking a shot so he turned and smiled. :)

Here is Hans posing with the kids:

Father's Day at Lonsdale Quay

For Father's Day, we all went out to Lonsdale Quay and had a great time eating Greek takeout and playing in the kids area. As Erich went about the play area, we noticed that he was making funny scrunchy smiley faces. (This usually means that he is going poopoo.) Karen and I looked at each other with the "aw man, now?" look because of course, Karen had just changed his diaper moments ago. Well, Erich continued on for a few minutes, and when he finished, he looked at us with a big smile and said "(sigh) Better!". Karen and I could not contain our laughter. :)

Healthy Kids Day - YMCA

We had a fun time at the very busy Healthy Kids Day at Vancouver's South slope YMCA. There were giant playgrounds held up by air compressors - but much to Erich's chagrin, he was still too young for many of them. The only one he was eligible for, he was not too impressed!

So, we took him to the other part of the event. The Vancouver Fire department had a truck there for people to see. Erich really enjoyed seeing the truck. He examined that truck from top to bottom. He got to sit in the driver's seat, as well as look at all of the hoses and valves.

Fun at Brentwood Mall!

Isn't this just the cutest picture? We brought Erich to one of his favorite indoor playgrounds today at Brentwood Mall in Burnaby. After returning the rented truck (to move all of the baby stuff), we took our Mazda5 in for its one-year servicing. It was close to Brentwood, so the Karen, Erich and I got a chance to hang out at the mall playground. Erich loves this playground - there are so many interesting shapes to play with! Mommy and Daddy love it too because it is very soft, so no bumps on the head to contend with.

On a slightly different note, I was less than impressed with the car servicing. Because we knew that we were going to need to be in Burnaby today, instead of going to our normal dealership (Morrey Mazda of Vancouver), we had arranged to have our vehicle serviced at a sister dealership (Morrey Nissan of Burnaby). We were told they would be just as capable of servicing our vehicle for the minor tuneup we required.

As part of the so-called VIP package that we purchased along with the vehicle, we get "free" lifetime oil changes and car washes so long as we own the vehicle. Therefore, we requested that the car be washed with the servicing. We were horribly disappointed with the lack luster (pun intended) job that was done. As you can see in the picture (taken shortly after the service when the vehicle had enough time to dry off), there are huge spots of dirt still present on the vehicle. Furthermore, brush marks can be seen in the dirt where they had superficially attempted to clean.

Such inattention to detail makes one question whether they put the same amount of effort into actually servicing the engine of your car. I can understand if they don't have time to do it, but then why bother even trying to do it? I'd much rather they told me that I'd have to bring it back in order to get it done well rather than a very poor job done indeed.

Back when I owned my Acura, customers were never treated this poorly. Whenever I brought the car in for servicing, the car was serviced, washed, AND vacuumed, as part of their standard service - and I wasn't even the original owner! No "VIP" package necessary - and they always did it with the utmost quality.

Needless to say, Morrey Nissan's servicing department falls short, and will likely be receiving a letter to that effect from yours truly.

Stanley Park Train!

Erich got to ride on the Stanley Park Train twice on Sunday. We went with the Bartletts (associate pastor at the Bridge, and parents of three kids Caleb, Jesse and Emily). Lots of fun riding the train and at the park afterwards. Check out the slideshow video I made.

Happy Birthday Jonathan!

Another year wiser.

We had a few friends and family over for potluck dinner on Saturday to celebrate my (Jonathan's) 31st birthday. Thanks to all who came, and all who made this day so special. I appreciate you all! Your company was the best gift of all. It was great catching up with all of you - particularly all those parents to be. :-)

Of particular note was Karen's contribution. She went to great effort to make me a homemade raspberry cheesecake. It was yummy! Eddie Wong, a friend from the Bridge and IT professional turned pastry chef helped to come up with the recipe. He also made an entire centerpiece out of sugar to help decorate the table. Check out the photo. Thanks Eddie!

26 incredible qualities I appreciate about my wife

These past few weeks have been quite interesting. First, I have been following with great anticipation the ongoing adventure between Jen Abbas (author of Generation Ex) and her now fiance Niels. They both took a trip to Holland (Niels birthplace) to meet her dad, and his parents. After having obtained permission from her dad for her hand in marriage, he proposed to her in Paris right in front of the Eiffel Tower. Even I, a 'grown man' (sic :)) thought it was so incredibly romantic and a fitting postscript to her testimony. God is indeed amazing.

Karen and I also made the mistake of renting the film "Break Up" (Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston). What had possessed me to rent this film is beyond me. We had been wanting to rent a movie for a while; I thought this was a romantic comedy (it isn't). With Erich running around so much these days, it is hard to watch an entire feature length movie without stopping, so we tend to watch movies piecemeal. Note to all new parents out there - this is NOT a good film to rent and watch piece meal. We watched half of it the first night stopping right at the climax where the argument was at its most heated moment. We didn't go to bed particularly happy with each other that night. The following night, we finished watching the movie. The lousy ending just made matters worse.

So, to make up for the bad movie and partly to redeem myself for having been negligent in the romance area lately, I have spent the last couple of nights coming up with an A-Z list of qualities I most appreciate about my wife. Married people - you should try this sometime - it isn't that easy to come up with one for each letter! :)

Able - By this I mean that she sure has physical strength for a petite person! I still remember the look on my mum's face when Karen was helping us move into our family home a few years ago. Karen wheeled two very heavy suitcases from the moving truck to the back door, proceeded to lift them, one in each hand into the house and carried them to their final destination. Nowadays, I see her strength displayed in her creative ways to somehow carry six bags of groceries, the diaper bag, her purse, the stroller and Erich in one go!

Beautiful - Karen is beautiful. She is my beautiful wife. Although I still admire her youthful looks, she is also incredibly beautiful inside. She has a very giving heart that is evident in almost every aspect of her life.

Caring - Karen used to have the nick name - "kare bear". The rest is self explanatory. :)

Determined - When Karen sets her heart on doing something, she sees it through to the end. (See entry for 'organized'...)

Encouraging - As you probably know from some of my other posts, there are things in my life that I still have to deal with and digest. Sometimes, she'll write me an email just to say that she has prayed for my day. It always makes my day.

Forgiving - This is one that I appreciate every time I act foolishly. Even when she is mad at me, she always finds it in her heart to forgive me and because of this I can appreciate the fact she doesn't hold grudges against me. :)

Genuine - One of the many qualities I admire about Karen is that she does not hide the truth. She tells you how she really feels at that moment so you are never left second guessing intended meanings.

Heart - Karen has a real heart for others and shows it in some of the most unorthodox of ways. Sometimes she can be so generous about it that people are often taken aback by it. Other times she can be so subtle that often times people don't appreciate her enough.

Invests in my spiritual growth - Every Monday night, Karen tirelessly looks after Erich while she lets me attend an evening men's Bible study (BSF). Every time I attend a BSF class and learn something significant, I am reminded of the sacrifice Karen makes each week in order that I might experience spiritual growth. God has been doing amazing things this year because of it and I am grateful both to God and to her.

Jesus loves her! ...this I know, for the Bible tells me so!

Keen - see wise.

Laundry! OK, this started as a joke, but then as I thought about it some more, I decided to leave it in. She does laundry for me more often than I do laundry for her, and she puts up with the fact that I, on occasion, leave a sock or two lying around on the floor... :-) Now that is love!

Mother, Nurturing: This is a quality that is a relatively new discovery (since Erich was born...) I really appreciate the way she takes care of Erich and particularly when Erich looks up at Karen with a look of absolute admiration.

Organized, Practical, Quick (or efficient), Reliable - When Karen puts her heart into something, she can be very efficient at getting things done. For instance, she recently walked a friend of ours (who was getting married) into a bridal shop to find her a wedding dress. It wasn't long before she came back out wedding dress in hand!

Smiles Contagiously - One of the often heard comments I hear about Karen is that she never stops smiling. Well, this is *almost* always true. Even when she doesn't smile though or isn't around to smile, a quick glance at her photograph always makes me smile. :-)

Turophile - Great word isn't it? It means "lover of cheese" (turos + phileo). One of Karen's great food passions. Cheddar, Brie, Havarti, Edam, Mozzarella, Blue, ...you name it, she probably likes it!

Unselfish - A day in the life of Karen generally involves getting up, getting Erich ready to go to Grandma's, putting Erich in auntie's car, getting ready for work, work, meet Jonathan at my work, go to grandma's, pick up Erich, cook dinner, get Erich's bath ready, bathe Erich, feed Erich, then finally some time to herself. But usually she's too tired. Of course I help too (or try to anyway) but I still admire her unequivocal dedication and wonder in amazement how she still manages to do all that and do things for others.

Veracious - Karen is not one to hide her feelings. She will generally make them known - and the benefit of this is that you never have to second guess how she feels about something. She is known to speak the truth anything - positive or negative.

Wise - There's a reason why I will, whenever possible, bounce ideas off Karen. She has a keen mind and an incredible knack of seeing things from a different perspective and giving me ideas and angles I have not thought about yet.

Xenial - Romans 12:13 gives us some pretty practical tips about practicing God's love through hospitality. Karen most certainly takes this to heart!

Young-at-heart - when she isn't preoccupied with chasing Erich down (although that in itself could be a definition of young at heart!) Just the other day, she brought home a chocolate easter bunny. (Yes, you know the type that is 80% sugar, 15% other junk, and 5% chocolate; the type one would give to your 10 year old kid to make him smile at "Easter"...) I was just about to say that I think it's a bit early to be giving Erich chocolate, when I realized she had already bitten off the bunny's head. It wasn't for Erich, it was for a still young-at-heart Karen. :)

Zeal - Otherwise known as passion, and Karen has lots of it. When she sets her mind to something (such as helping someone plan their wedding!), she is full of zeal!

Eager to go sliding!

We took Erich and Elias to the park on Saturday and watched them play in the playground. Erich really enjoyed the slide. His grandparents have a play slide in their living room that they have set up for the boys and I guess Erich has been practicing. He was only too happy to see a real one on a real playground, 3 times as big! He must have gone down the slide a good two dozen times.

Seriously, I have no idea where he gets his sense of adventure. As I recall, I was dreadfully afraid of the slide when I was that young. Elias' reaction to the slide (shown in the picture) is a little more at par with what I thought of the slide!

More pictures of "Fun in the park" here.

Jonathan's Personal Reflection for the New Year

Shortly before I went on my work trip to the Prairies, I tuned into FamilyLife's daily Radio broadcast and stumbled upon an interview with author Jen Abbas. She was talking about her experience as a child of divorce. It was part of a week long series on the effects of divorce in adult children of divorce. Because I too am a child of divorce, this definitely caught my attention! I made a point of listening to the entire week's broadcast. After the broadcasts, I asked Karen whether she could look into buying the audio version of the book for me as I felt I could benefit from reading the book. I felt God had some more things he wanted to work on my life through this. I also knew that in my upcoming trip there would have many hours of driving where I would be able to spend one on one time with my Father in heaven.

Well God certainly did not disappoint. Karen obtained the materials for me (thank you Karen!) and I brought them with me on my trip. Upon listening to the book, I felt an overwhelming sense of encouragement: I was not alone in my struggle to reconcile our culture's often "brave faced" approach to the effects of divorce with the reality that I face every day. Listening to her story and her research on the topic confirmed my deepest yet often cleverly masked feelings of inadequacy and ill-preparedness as I enter into new roles in my life as a husband and father. Children of divorce experience, as she describes, a "sleeper effect" where the effects of one's parents' divorce does not fully exhibit themselves until the child is involved in a relationship himself. Children of divorce also experience an interesting identity struggle as much of what defines who they are becomes tied to the experience of their parents divorcing.

Her articulation of this effect not only brought confirmation but caused me to acknowledge that I too was affected. This acknowledgment brought acceptance; it caused me to wake up. For the first time in a long time, I allowed God to begin healing me in this area.

Part of me is trembling for fear I have awoken a giant. Do I really want God to work on this part of my life? For one thing I am not on speaking terms with my own father, and all truth being told, I feel my relationship with my mother is strained. Working on either or both of these will just aggravate already tense emotions. Yet another part of me feels an overwhelming need to deal with this particularly as I grow to become a better father myself. After all, if all of us children of divorce really experience this sleeper effect what good then would it be if we were to remain asleep for the rest of our lives?

I did some thinking about this over my trip. Early on in my marriage, although I would have never recognized it before reading this book, I had really only one goal in mind for my marriage: I had resolved to make my marriage work, and do everything in my power to stay clear away from divorce. I probably would have never articulated it quite like that, but deep down, divorce and its effects was my greatest fear. I knew the dangers and set my "marriage" compass to steer as far away from it as possible.

Upon listening to the book, I realize that this unspoken goal, although stunning in today's culture is really far from noble. To simply marry and not be divorced isn't fulfilling! So, one of the things God taught me was that I ought to think about what I really desire my marriage to be about. Here are some of the things I came up with:

• I desire for my marriage and family to be one. I desire not only that we not separate but that we purpose to be one, to be whole, to be together.
  
• I desire for my marriage and family to be godly witnesses in our community just by virtue of who we are. I believe that if we allow it, God can work through us to have an impact on others just by virtue of living open, and transparent lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.
  
• I desire to leave a legacy for my children such that they will develop a personal relationship with Jesus and that they will have a heart after God's heart.

There you have it - my 2007 new year's reflection. As you can see, I believe God has been doing some pretty significant things in my life, and I believe He has some challenging goals for me for the New Year. As with many New Years resolutions, things often fall by the wayside when life gets busy or we otherwise get discouraged. Perhaps you can help me increase my chances: If you are a Christian and you are reading this entry, would you please pray through some of the items I have listed below, and leave a comment telling me you have done so? It would be a great encouragement. If you feel comfortable sharing, I'd also love to read your story of how God has healed you in the past too.

• Perseverance: Pray that I will continue to allow God to heal me in this area. Much of this healing involves dealing with issues that bring about emotional pain. Reconciling with people that have hurt you so deeply is a bit like taking the scab off a freshly sealed wound. I imagine that many issues may surface, some of which I may have consciously or subconsciously buried.
• Joy: Pray that I would experience joy as I discover each new thing and I offer the burden up to God. (Matt 11:30)
  
• Renewal: Pray that as God begins to heal me that he would strengthen my marriage through the experience.

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2006 was a relatively uneventful year. As usual, on Christmas Eve, the Ngs invited our extended family (both Grandmas, Grandpa Hans, the Tso family and Aunt Joycelin) over to our place for a giant roast. We had not noticed that our dining area was so small until we discovered that we were actually accommodating two additional people at dinner this year! It took some creative thinking to crowd 9 people around a table designed for maximum 6. This is of course not Erich and Elias' first Christmas - that was held last year at St. Paul's Hospital. However, this is the first year they have joined family dinner.

Photo (above): The family gets together for a family photo. Left to right: John, Erich, Grandma Lam, Aunt Joycelin, Karen, Katherine, Grandma Stein, Elias, Grandpa Stein. Photo (below): Karen browns the roast in preparation for dinner.

For the roast, we purchased a giant uncut 12 lb rib roast from Costco. It tasted wonderful after we had carefully cooked it to just the right internal temperature. We'd just never cooked anything quite so big before in our oven!

The boys were well behaved for the most part. It appears they particularly enjoyed the carol singing which we did this year without the aid of a piano - just a few guitar chords to keep us in tune. We cannot wait until they can sing along with us!

Christmas Day was spent mostly delivering Christmas presents to those whom we had not managed to see prior. After seeing the Erich's grandparents again, we dropped off a small token of appreciation (for helping with Erich during Jonathan's business trip) at Nick and Rebekah Bansback's place and was subsequently drafted into their annual Christmas quiz. It was great meeting Nick's parents, albeit "online" via web cam, and we enjoyed being part of their Christmas tradition.

Photo (above): The Ngs join the Bansbacks and their Chilean friends on their yearly Christmas quiz.

After the Bansback's place, we headed off to Uncle Preston's to drop off another few gifts before doubling back to meet up with Katrina. We wanted to express our gratitude to her as well for helping us out with Erich. It was also great to see Katrina's mom.

We spent the evening just the three of us. Thanks to Joe, I was able to show Erich the Dr. Seuss film "How the Grinch stole Christmas" for the very first time. I wanted to treat him to a cartoon I thought he might enjoy, and he obliged. In fact, he loved it except for the exclusive shots of "Mr. Grinch". He didn't take too kindly to his character.