Introducting Anneliese Grace

Karen and I are proud to announce the birth of our long awaited little one!

Anneliese Grace 言恩 Ng was born by Cesarian Section on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 @ 08:35am at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, BC. She weighed 8 lb, 5.5 oz at birth.

Both Karen and baby are doing well, and are now resting at home.

Planning for birth...

Having a planned C-Section birth (recommended by Karen's OBGYN due to her first C-section) is a so very different experience than a natural "wait until it comes" birth. On the one hand, you know when the baby is coming, so you can prepare. On the other hand, because you know the precise moment when baby is coming, you prepare almost too much.

August 12th had finally arrived. We had "everything" ready to go - the luggage packed for the hospital, the morning taxi pre-scheduled, the house clean, the alarm set for 6:00am when the taxi would arrive to take us to the hospital, and the soon to be older brother safely at Grandma and Grandpa's. Things seemed to be in order except that we had forgotten how tired and exhausted we were.

We slept right through all three alarms. Yes, I know - bad.... The curious thing was that the whole time leading up to this day, we had never missed a beat. Perhaps it was the problem with "over" preparing. Anyhow, we didn't wake up until the taxi driver called us. Apparently he had been outside waiting already for 10 minutes, and finally decided it might be a good idea to call us. A rather embarrassed me (still in my PJs) apologized profusely to the taxi driver - told him to please wait, while we hurriedly got changed.

When I told the poor taxi driver that we were going to the hospital, he must put two and two together having seen Karen's huge tummy. Well, he just shook his head, and drove us as fast as he could to the hospital where we had a scheduled C-section for 8:30am. (Needless to say, we tipped him well....)

We got to the hospital in time for surgery preparations. At least we'll have a good story to tell the grandkids...

Room to do new things

The Ngs had a pretty busy summer as we hosted a number of out of town relatives and friends then prepared for the arrival of our new one. This latter task was probably the most time consuming - expanding it from a two bedroom to a quasi three bedroom apartment.

Essentially this involved moving out of our master bedroom, into Erich's room, renovating the master bedroom, the moving Erich back into part of the master bedroom. It wasn't an easy task considering Erich is still very young and Karen pregnant, but after many late nights and packed weekends, it was done.

A special thanks to Laura (who inspired us with her incredible decorating ideas), Floyd of The Colony, Texas who helped with priming, and Dave who helped paint.

Hans' Birthday

My father-in-law's birthday this year was extra special with the inclusion of some very special guests. All of his grandchildren were in town along with his brother and sister in law from Germany!

We had a great time, and as you can see, the kids had a great time hanging out with their Opa.

Farewell to the Bartletts

The Bridge said goodbye to the Bartlett Family this weekend as they prepared to move back to Kansas. They moved here seven years ago as missionaries to help launch the ministry of the Bridge. Rodney served as associate pastor and together with his wife Tiffany, worked to establish and sustain some of the key ministries of the Bridge - the Sports Camp, the worship team, Kids Bible Camp, children worship and nursery just to name a few.

We got to know their wonderful three children as well as Rodney's passion for volleyball as seen in this photo.

We will miss you Rodney, Tiffany, Caleb, Jesse and Emily! Wishing you all of God's blessings as you move on to new endeavors in Kansas!

Yes, we are expecting!

For those that haven't seen us of late, yes Karen is expecting... in fact she is 7 months pregnant! All of us are extremely excited. Erich now gives two hugs and kisses at night before he goes to bed - one for mommy, and one for baby! :-)

Congratulations Queenie!

Karen and I first met Queenie when she was in grade 6 as part of the initial group of youth that formed Joy Fellowship. Now, that fellowship has grown into a vibrant English speaking congregation at Coquitlam Christ Church of China.

It was an honour to be able to attend and witness her university graduation (my time flies!).

Congratulations Queenie on a job well done! We are so proud of you!

Bridge Church helping out at the Vancouver Marathon

As Christians, we are grateful for the redemptive grace provided through Jesus Christ. Our faith hinges on this one tenant - that God, not us, provided the means to salvation by first loving us.

Telling the good news of Jesus Christ to our community involves more than just words. Jesus calls us to demonstrate the gospel - to exemplify and dispense grace.

One of the ways we can do this is to serve our community in a way that demonstrates God's love for us. Every year, the Bridge Church (of which we are members) moves Sunday worship service to Alma & Point Grey road where about 70 volunteers hand out water, gatorade and sponges to the runners of the Vancouver Marathon. Our worship band provided hours of music to encourage the runners to 'keep pressing on'. It was a great time of mixing worship to God and service to our community.