Summer Retreat 2006

CCCC's annual Summer Retreat was again held at the old Pioneer Chehalis camp just past Mission. This was the first year of course that Karen and I went with Erich and it was (for the most part) very fun. The camp staff was very accomodating and we appreciated them sparing extra rooms just so that our baby would sleep well at night. It was also the first time we had little to no involvment in the planning of the retreat. But our lack of involvment brought about an unexpected blessing - we saw our youth step up to the plate and began to take ownership of the retreat and its evangelistic focus.

About 90 people attended our camp - many of them non-Christians, as well as some people from Paul Fellowship. We had a chance to spend some time connecting with some of the youth and we were grateful for the chats we had.

For Karen and myself it was a particularly bittersweet experience as it was likely the last camp we would be attending with CCCC. I will not elaborate too much on this as later postings will talk about our departure from CCCC, but we will say that we were greatly encouraged to see our youth grow in Christ and to see their hearts for others. God has indeed been very faithful in our ministry. :-)

More Photos of the retreat can be found here.

Erich starts solids!

Happy 1/2 year birthday to Erich! Yes, that's right - our son turns 6 months today! For his half "birthday" he had the fortune of visiting the doctor to get his sixth month immunization shots -- ouch! Well the good news is that Erich gets to start on solids today. So, for fun, Karen and I brought out the buffet for him to choose. Mmm yummy yummy.

Anybody out there remember (from their own experience) which baby foods taste the best (or worst)?

Review of the Sunshine Coast Resort

While vacationing on the Sunshine Coast, Karen and I stayed at a beautiful resort called the "Sunshine Coast Resort". It was a pleasant oasis away from home. Located in Madeira Park in Pender Habour, it's about an hour's drive north of Gibsons.

We first learned about this resort through its Web site. We were particularly impressed with the ability to browse through floor plans of rooms, and see virtual 360 photos of all the rooms -- yes -- every room, not just their 'best of breed' rooms. Have you ever been attracted by the glossy photo advertising for a hotel just to find out that the photographed room is actually their most expensive executive suite and not the economy class room you booked? Not so with the Sunshine Coast Resort Web site! Every room was available to see. Thus we were able to anticipate what we would see and found our suite to be pretty much exactly as we had seen it when we arrived. Prices were also very reasonable particularly in the shoulder season where we were able to take advantage of their 4 nights for the price of 3 special.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the well mannered front desk person / owner Ralph Linnmann. Ralph was very energetic and was extremely accomodating. He showed us to our room and made sure that we were settled including providing us with a portable playpen for Erich to sleep. Over the course of our stay, Ralph also made sure our every request was met - from setting up a DVD player to providing us with propane for the BBQ to ensuring we knew how to operate the hot tub. His service was second to none.

Photo: (above) night view of our harbour facing balcony. (below) view of the harbour from the marina.

We rented a one bedroom suite with full bathroom, kitchenette, and a dining / living room area. Every room includes a view of the harbour and an outside balcony from which to enjoy it. In addition to the kitchnette, a propane BBQ was provided. Internet access was available via a site wide WIFI connection. We found the accomodation to be spacious and provided ample room for us to feel comfortable relaxing there most of the day. The suite was clean. In fact, some parts were so clean we felt the need to for their sake put a sheet overtop in case Erich should spit up.

A short distance away was their public deck where a hot tub and various lawn chairs sat. Karen particularly enjoyed soaking in the hot tub while Jonathan took advantage of the beautiful scenery to add to his photo collection.

We don't have much in the way of criticism: any negative points were more than made up for by positive ones. We did have one night where housekeeping didn't come due to illnesss: they only had two housekeepers and both were sick. As a result, the poor owner ran around the resort like a madman trying to cover for them but of course ran short of time. Jonathan also found the placement of the microwave in our kitchenette was extremely poor as it was too high for Karen and low enough and protruding enough to be a nuisance when washing dishes. Jonathan managed to bump his head on it several times during the stay.

All in all, we enjoyed our stay and would be happy to recommend it to anyone who wants a good vacation away from it all. We would definitely return if the opportunity arises.

Happy Birthday to a very special person!

A little over 10 years ago, I met my wife through a mutual friend. Soon friendship blossomed into love and just over three and a half years ago, we were married. The day I proposed to her, I knew that I had asked a very special person to become part of my life. Now that we have a son together, we are not only joined as husband and wife, we are joined as parents of Erich.

Karen is unlike any other person I know. She is my best friend and my soulmate. We confide in each other. She's my life partner, my prayer partner, and my ministry partner. She brings joy into my life. She smiles, and makes me smile. She even laughs when I tell jokes I've told a thousand times. She makes me want to cook gourmet meals for her every night. (She lets me cook gourmet meals for her even when she's starving.)

Today is Karen's birthday and her first birthday as Erich's mother. So here's to another year filled with happiness and adventure with me and Erich!

Happy Birthday, my love. :-)

Adventures with raising a five month old Erich

On our recent trip to the Sunshine Coast, we got to spend some quality time with our now five month old son. Among some of the more interesting quirks he likes to do is to play a sort of abridged version of peek-a-boo. He is just fascinated by our smiles: Every time we turn and smile at him, he lets out the most heart warming giggle. If you turn your face away momentarily and turn it back with a fresh smile, he lets out another giggle - and this can go on for minutes on end.

Erich is also getting very good at grabbing at things - anyTHING including daddy's glasses, dishes, wires, and especially kleenex boxes. We always have a box of kleenex handy nearby in case of spit up, and Erich inevitably gets a hold of the kleenex box at some point and begins to empty the box of kleenex, tearing each tissue to pieces in the process!

Another interesting tidbit is that now, thanks to Grandma "Margaret" (poh-poh to Erich in Chinese), Erich is now able to go to potty. Every morning, Erich gets to sit on the potty and without much thought goes about his business...which, had it been left to the diaper, would have been a much longer and messier affair. I guess babies don't really like to poop their pants anymore than adults do! On our trip, we were unable to bring the potty, so Erich got to try out the adult potty! Check out the picture!

The final story involves getting Erich to sleep. Because he has been teething lately, the poor lad has been suffering from some pretty agonizing pain. This can often be soothed by use of teething gel, teething rings, or simply by trying to distract him by feeding him or getting him to play with his toys rather than focus on the pain. However, none of these techniques (with perhaps the exception of the teething gel) helps get Erich to sleep when the pain keeps him up. So, we've often employed the 'age old technique' of taking him for car rides when we've exhausted all other techniques. More often than not, this works wonders, but then you have the big problem of how to transfer him out of his infant car seat into his bed WITHOUT waking him up. It's a bit like diffusing a live bomb. Enter Jonathan's technique:

• Gently take his car seat out of the holder and away from the car. Set the car seat down and close the doors gently so as to not wake the baby.
• Take him into a quiet, darkened room, and slowly undo the restraints; careful not to take the blankets off though. As you undo each restraint, rock the car seat gently.
• Scoop up the entire bundle - diaper cloths, blankets and baby from the car seat and begin gentle rocking motion immediately following.
• Carefully remove each layer of blankets as you continue to rock him in your arms until such point you have removed all removable blankets and cloths.
• Check to see that baby is still sound asleep by doing the limp limb test - move each limb to see if it is limp. If they are, then he is soundly asleep. If not, you need to continue rocking.
• Place baby in crib, while holding your (warm) hand on his stomach.
• Take a deep breath and hope that the baby doesn't wake.
  

Well there you have it, the five month old update on Erich. He is a growing boy, and we're honoured to be his parents.

Vacation on the Sunshine Coast

It's Victoria Day long weekend again, and for the Ng family, this means it is time for our annual vacation! For some well needed R&R, Karen, Erich and I are on the Sunshine Coast for a few days. This year, of course, vacation takes on a new meaning travelling with our five month old: Gone are the days where we can hop from city to city exploring vast geographical areas. Instead, we have taken a much more relaxed approach this year - opting to stay in one place to rest and to do some personal reflection. We booked a one-bedroom suite with kitchenette at a scenic resort called "Sunshine Coast Resort" located in Pender Habour, about a 60 min drive from Gibsons.

Gibsons, BC (Day 1)

After driving to Horseshoe Bay, we boarded the 9:20am ferry to Langdale/Gibsons. Gibsons is the site where the famous Beachcombers television series was filmed. I remember watching the show when I was younger, living in Quebec - so it was quite exciting to see some of the buildings featured on the show in person.

We explored the town and soon discovered the cozy small town atmostphere of Gibsons. Having arrived after the mad tourist rush of Victoria Day long weekend, we experienced a bit of what real town life is like. We walked into this one antique store where we explored the treasures of years past. (We were almost tempted to purchase a tall and narrow antique walnut bookshelf to compliment our hallway!) We walked into another store, an artisan's store, where we found some of the most beautiful and creative creations from local artists such as Zoey Ennenberg. As we were admiring the art, a local boy on his scooter (probably the kid of the Chinese restaurant's owner next door) pops in and just hangs out with the shopkeeper as part of his daily routine. Quite the interesting community dynamic that is often missed in big cities like Vancouver.

We had lunch at Molly's Reach, the former set of the Beachcombers turned restarant/pub. The food there was so yummy that even Erich couldn't resist grabbing some of the fries and salad. We suspect that he might have actually ingested some of it because he had rather interesting poop afterward.

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Photo: Jonathan & Erich at Molly's Reach Restaurant

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This trip also marks the first time Karen has been able to feed Erich outside of the home for any significant length of time. For instance, while mommy and daddy were busy having lunch, Erich was breastfeeding too right in the restaurant.

Pender Harbour (Day 1 Afternoon)

After lunch, we began the second leg of our journey. We had been warned by one of my coworkers that the highway from Gibsons to Pender Harbour had many curves, but were left wondering what he was talking about all the way to Sechelt. But soon after Sechelt, we were probably hit with 15 or 20 turns all in the matter of a few kilometres! A little car sick and a few dozen turns later, we arrived at our destination.

We checked into our very cozy suite, and set up "shop": crib, swing, bedding, food, and of course - wireless internet. Yes, that is correct - the resort provides wireless access and I managed to get hooked up via an OpenWRT router set to Client mode. More on that in a few days on my technical blog.

Purpose Driven Life

The ministry that I am involved in at Coquitlam is starting a campaign of 40 days through a book called the Purpose Driven Life. You may have heard of it. Basically, for the next forty days, we are going to be reading a chapter a day and learning more about what on earth we are here for!

Now admitedly, most of this isn't new material for me and Karen, but we are in a new stage of life. With the new baby comes new challenges, and fresh perspectives. For instance, the whole notion that Paul talks about in his letters about God knowing us even while we were in mummy's tummy is seen in a completely new light having gone through pregnancy (well Karen anyway), birth and now rearing.

Over the next forty days, I will try to post some of my thoughts as I read through the book.

Breastfeeding bonanza!

Among one of the more interesting articles I read recently in the Province was one about an attempt at a world breastfeeding record. Life is already quite interesting at our house with one breastfeeding baby... let's just say that our couch is now the official breastfeeding station, so the rest of the members of the household have been banished to office chairs, dining chairs and armchairs.

We can only imagine what 3738 breastfeeding babies would do to a stadium.

Read all about it.