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.

Continuing a great Canadian tradition...

When I was a kid, I learned how to skate from a family friend at a local outdoor rink in Quebec. It was a memorable experience: I took for the first time my two skates and slid on the cold ice created by Montreal's famous winter weather.

I followed in the footsteps of so many other Canadians and learned how to skate.

When I was older, I took up skating again mostly as form of exercise. There were times when I would even take a book on figure skating and attempt to "learn" various moves in the rink during public skate. (It was the noon time slot which was usually empty.)

Now as a parent, I am pleased to announce that I am passing on this great Canadian tradition. Vancouver may not have natural outdoor rinks, but we do have some of the best winter sports facilities in the country especially with the Olympics fast approaching.

Erich took his first skating lessons at the local arena. Here he is learning how to "walk on ice".

Easter 2009 Baptisms in the rain

This Easter, we had a string of baptisms at the Bridge. As a baptist church of course, we practice full immersion baptism. Had we observed the practice of "baptism by sprinkling" this would have been just a matter of marching each candidate outside in the pouring rain!

Congratulations to Paola, Jared, Giovanny, and Vickie.

See the full album here.

A grand time in Seattle

Friends David and Laura Shepherd went with us to on an excursion trip to Seattle. We had planned for quite some time that the ladies would have some quality shopping time (and boy can they shop!) while the guys would hang out and do some quality guy stuff... like hang out in flight museums.

We ended up going in late March. It turns out it was a well needed break for all of us, and we had a blast. Whilst in Seattle, we stayed at the beautiful and antique Marqueen Hotel at a great rate thanks to Priceline. (Our stay was very enjoyable and the staff were excellent.)

I don't have too many photos of Karen and Laura's shopping experience (though from what I hear, they did try to outshop each other and they certainly filled up the car), but Davey, Erich and I did get some cool photos in. We decided we would visit not just the Children's Museum and Museum of Flight as Erich and I had done in the past, but also the Boeing Future of Flight museum in Everett. Although the museum itself wasn't as impressive as the Museum of Flight, Erich enjoyed being able to walk right up to certain components of the airplane. He also enjoyed watching the 3D films as evident in this photo.

I also got to experiment with off camera remote lighting....and ended up with this cool looking photo. Only problem was trying to get a rather bulky and odd looking radio triggered flash into the wheel well of an airplane without getting suspicious looks from onlookers.

Erich gets his glasses

Bittersweet day today. Erich got his first pair of glasses. Of course, it's an exciting time for Erich because he now looks "just like mommy and daddy" (plus it's a new, novel thing...). For us, who have been through the hassle of glasses, we remember what it's like when you lose them and are trying to find them half-blind. And then there are names you get called when you're a kid.

Unfortunately, seeing as both Karen and I require them, this was probably inevitable. Because Karen suffers from "lazy eye" syndrome, Karen's doctors had recommended early on that Erich be checked regularly. With early checking also comes early diagnosis, and so early glasses.

Well, at least back in the day "glasses" meant you were smart... :-)

Congratulations Tai and Tanya!

How often do you wish you could relive the best day of your life when you married your spouse? That's exactly what good friends Tai and Tanya Lee did on Valentine's Day. We were privileged to be invited, and I had the honour of photographing their ceremony!

One thing that really struck me about this ceremony was the great sense of community. Weddings are so often centred around the million and a half things that need to be done. Getting the chance to do it again meant Tanya and Tai were able to focus on what really mattered - a renewing of a covenant made before God in front of his people and their community.

Friends, family from past and present showed up to witness this incredible event.

Congratulations Tai and Tanya on your vow renewal!

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Here are a sampling of the photos (and some of my thoughts) that I took during the ceremony:

I really like this photo above. A good photojournalistic photo shows context. As Tanya and Lucas (her son) walk down the aisle, family and friends are delighted to see her evident in the MANY digital cameras pointed at her... including mine! In case you're wondering how I took this photo whilst taking another one, I had a camera with a wide angle lens mounted on a tripod at the back of the sanctuary. It was triggered via PocketWizard from that camera I was holding at the front. I chose a slow shutter speed to show the motion of Tanya.



Loved the BIG open diffused windows in the sanctuary. I had to persuade the ushers to keep these open, but it provided the wonderful contrast you see here.


A shot of Tanya's extended family. This vow renewal ceremony was a reunion of sorts for them.

Old "Treasures" -- Paper

In our quest to purge our house of stuff, we have recently gone through our file cabinet. My wife was quite amazed at the amount of junk err "important" documents that I keep around. You know, things like telephone bills from back when I studied in Ottawa as a first year university student. Hey, you just NEVER know when that might come in handy! I had dutifully filed these bills for years, moved them with me when I got married, and of course never thought to purge them.

Enter in the new rules. Tax related documents, keep for 7 years max. Other important documents - 2 years. All else - 1 year max.

So with that in mind, I went through the laborious task of sorting out all that was older than 7 years, older than 2 years and older than 1 year.... *THAT* was relatively easy. The hard part was shredding the 4 foot pile of paper afterward.

Luckily we still have the half-broken industrial shredder that my employer gave away when they upgraded. After lubricating it full of mineral oil, we went about shredding over the next week. The photo above was the result. Yes, those two garbage bags that are already tied also contain shredded paper.

Of course when I showed up at the recycling depot with all this shredded paper, they must have thought I worked for Enron or something.

Erich's 3rd Birthday Party

Scheduling birthday parties for a child born on or near Christmas is always difficult. For the past two years, we have opted to do Erich's birthday party in mid-January instead of late December so as to avoid conflict with all the Christmas get togethers.

This year, we decided to host the party at our house. I experimented with sewing (by sewing each attendee an personalized apron) while all of Erich's friends from Erich's daycare and also from church came over and learned how to bake sugar cookies. Really yummy for the kids, and really messy for the parents to cleanup afterward.

Anyhow, they had a blast as you can see. Here they are in an attempted group photo. Notice Erich with his own camera too :-)


It's really funny how three year olds don't quite "get" birthdays yet though. Almost as if "bringing out the birthday cake" was synonomous with "blowing out the candles", one of Erich's friends tried to "blow the candles" when the cake came out instead of Erich! :-)

Old Treasures -- Roses

Roses are red, Violets are blue, these roses remind me of you!

Up first in our "old treasures series" is this wonderful vase of dried roses. They were given to my wife by yours truly, and she has been keeping all of them in this vase ever since she and I were dating. (That's a lot of roses!) They remind us of our courtship together, but lately they have also been accumulating a lot dust and perpetuating our allergies, so unfortunately they have to go.

Two interesting memories come to mind when I think of these roses:

The first was my practice to give her thirteen roses instead of the traditional dozen. Having started dating on Friday, October the 13th, thirteen was our "lucky" number.

The second is the most memorable time I have ever given roses to my wife: It was the day I proposed to her (May 30, 2001). On that day, I arranged for a scavenger hunt throughout the city. Along with several strategically placed friends, I handed her various clues and momentos as she criss-crossed across the city. I had the privilege of handing her a dozen roses at the site of our first date (GM Place). At that point in the scavenger hunt, there were still many places to go, but how exciting it was to hand her thirteen roses knowing that in a couple of hours I would be atop Burnaby Mountain asking for her hand in marriage!

Christmas Thoughts

I had the privilege of telling my son the full story of the birth of Christ for the first time this Christmas. At three years old, he's beginning to understand a bit more about Christmas and what it is about. How encouraging it is to hear "Christmas is Jesus' birthday" when asked the question "What's Christmas about?". (Of course he still wonders where the birthday cake is...)

I had been reading to him from the gospel of Luke this past Christmas. I like this particular account of the gospel because Luke provides a very colourful narrative of the nativity events - it is a storytelling gospel.

I am never ceased to be amazed how I manage to pick up something new every time I reread an account of the gospel. This particular time, I was really struck by the character of Simeon in Luke 2:25-35. It says:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Can you imagine this old fellow waiting all of his life for the yet unseen Messiah... and then suddenly meeting him? Wouldn't that be an enormously moving moment? Simeon knew that the Lord was God and what God said would come to pass was truth - and that it would happen in his lifetime. That is faith. Then I think of how so often I, (or we collectively!) are so caught up with our lives that we miss out on times when God might be telling us what He is going to do. We miss out on experiencing God. What's even more - we have the benefit of hindsight and knowing the Messiah (Jesus!) and yet we still so often choose to ignore Him.

I want a faith like Simeon's. I want to know Jesus not only in my mind, but also in my heart. I want to recognize who He is, and I want to worship Him. He is, afterall, the long awaited Messiah. He is Emmanuel; He is God with us.

New Year, Old Treasures

I've been reading a book lately (part of the advantage of working right above a Chapters bookstore) called "It's all too much" by Peter Walsh. It is a book about decluttering your home, but also a bit about decluttering your life. I've been reading the book because over the years my house has been slowly accumulating clutter - so much so that just the weekly maintenance of my home is becoming stressful. I've found the book fascinating because it doesn't talk about the latest organizational fad, but rather attacks the root causes of why we end with the clutter we have.

Call it a New Years resolution, or just frustrated - I've been on a decluttering mission over the past few weeks, and will be continuing throughout this coming year. As I've slowly begun this process, I've noticed that one of the hardest types of things to get rid of (I have found) is stuff with sentimental value (but are otherwise junk). To this, author Peter offers a suggestion in his book: photograph the item, have a ceremony (paying tribute), then get rid of it. So, over the next year, I will be starting a series of posts. Each will be on an item of sentimental value. I will pay tribute to it here on the blog, then it will be on its way to the recyclers, the Salvation Army, or the rubbish bin.

Erich is 3 years old!

Erich turned the big three years old today. Of course, he's thought of himself as a "big boy" for a long time already. Ask him whether he thinks he's a baby anymore, and he'll be the first to tell you that "no, he's a big boy now".

Just the other day, we were helping Opa with moving some appliances. (We brought Erich along just for fun.) As we were heading out the door, a very masculine sounding, puffed up chest and all Erich said "yeah, we're gonna go load up the fridge and the stove on the dolly and we're gonna go push'em." I didn't know quite what to say, but I did think it was the funniest thing I heard!

So, Happy Birthday to my big boy Erich!

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By the way, turning three of course means that I sat him down for our traditional bi-annual photo session (read: daddy gets to play with camera equipment!). It was a blast doing this little cross lit composition.

Whiter than snow: Congratulations Ron Larsen!

King David once asked God to cleanse him and make him "whiter than snow" (c.f. Psalm 51:7) after the prophet Nathan confronted him with his own sin namely adultery with Bathsheba, and subsequent cover-up by murder.

Followers of Jesus ask of God the same thing when we make personal confessions of faith. We believe that Jesus Christ (the reason for Christmas) came and shed his blood to atone for our sin so that we might be declared "whiter than snow" because of what He did on the cross.

Christians (particularly baptists and other evangelicals) around the world make public declarations of this faith in Jesus through adult, full immersion water baptism. Though not a requirement for salvation, baptism publically symbolizes our personal faith in Jesus Christ. Symbolically, as we enter the water, we identify with Christ's death; we identify with His resurrection when we arise, and most importantly we identify with what Christ's shed blood means to us - the water symbolizes the cleansing of our sin through His blood.

Ron Larsen, a friend and member of the Bridge Church recently decided to do this. As is custom in our church, baptism is done at the beach next to the Vancouver Museum. But what you cannot tell from this picture is that Vancouver had recently had a bout of winter weather. Not only was there snow, but it was about -3C outside! Nevertheless, our pastor (Jerry Conner), Jim, and Ron braved the ice cold waters to declare that indeed Jesus does make us whiter than snow.

Congratulations Ron, and welcome to the family!