Surprise! Happy Birthday Donia and Marsha!

This week and next will mark the 30th birthday of two of our university friends. To celebrate, we were privileged to be part of a very elaborate scheme to surprise them. Apparently (and I bet I still don't know the full details of this...) the two ladies were sent to the same place (the party room) under two completely different premises. Very creative Marlene, Michael, Ava, and Stephen!

Photo (above left): a very red faced Marsha is getting fitted with her party hat. She thought this was Marlene's aunt's place. We of course knew better. Photo (below right): a rather surprised Donia walks into the room. She thinks it's Stephen's coworkers place. We know it of course as the party room.

To commemorate the passing of this very mature age, we dressed up like 6 year olds. Of course all our kids got involved in it too! It was great to see everyone again - some we haven't seen since university!


Photo (left): Marsha poses with Elias and Erich. They seem to be oblivious to the commotion, and wondering why they have to wear these funny hats. :-)

Happy 30th Birthday Donia and Marsha! We hope you had fun. Of course now we're going to be suspicious next time you send us to your "aunt's" place or "coworker's" place.

Honouring one another

Tonight for L.I.F.E. group, we went out to the Ninth Avenue grill for dinner. Pastor Jerry had reserved the entire restaurant. The purpose of the night was to honour one another (Romans 12:9-10) - thanking God for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Guidelines were given beforehand, and people were invited to give toasts to one another honouring them for their part in the body of Christ. Specifically, the toast-er was to specify how they have been encouraged personally by the toastee. The guideline was that whatever you said must be honouring and sincere - flattery was not allowed! It was a very touching and moving evening and I believe that it had a tremendous impact on our fellowship.

Photo shown: Mark Graham proposes a toast.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo (left to right): Grandma Nancy, Erich, Auntie Joycelin, Karen, John, Katherine, Jonathan, Grandma Margaret, Elias, Grandpa Hans.

The boys (Erich and Elias) had their first Thanksgiving meal together with Auntie Joycelin, Auntie Katherine, Uncle John, and Grandmas and Grandpa.

Joey graduates and walk down memory lane

Jonathan had the day off from work today. The Ngs took advantage of this extra time by attending the graduation ceremony of Joey Lee. We met Joey through Anna Wong at CCCC. We became friends and had the opportunity to share our faith with her. Through a brief study of the first few chapters of Romans in the fall of 2005, Joey came to experience the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in a fresh new way. We were delighted to be able congratulate her as she graduated.

Karen and I also took time to reminisce. We noticed how much SFU had changed now with the UniverCity project. We were also encouraged by the presence of new ministries on campus such as the Point Church - a ministry similar to the Bridge catering to residents of the new UniverCity.

After the ceremony, we decided to drop in on our favourite off-campus cafe: Cozmos. Irene, the owner/manager there was delighted to see us. It was amazing how she recognized us even after all these years. She, of course was delighted to meet Erich for the first time.

Shown here (right): My attempt at self-portraiture with Erich (using a cell phone camera). Erich evidently is enjoying his time with daddy!


We also took a walk down memory lane to the place where Jonathan proposed to Karen (atop Burnaby Mountain) and took pictures with Erich. At last, a decent photo with my son!

Congratulations Fouad and Isabella!

We attended our first wedding celebration as part of the Bridge family today. It was a joyous occassion and one representing the true ethnic diversity of our church - bringing together a Moroccan, and a Chinese from Hong Kong who met in Turkey officiated by an American and MC'ed by a French Canadian! Pretty cool huh? And yet, we all one in the body of Christ.

The funny thing was that we had thought that the days of us attending a translated wedding were over! Were we proved wrong! (God has a real sense of humour sometimes...) Once again, we were delighted to hear the sounds of alternating English and Cantonese at their wedding.

Fouad and Isabella, thank you for letting us share in your very special day. May God continue to use you two to bless others.

Want some melba toast?

With Erich's almost biweekly teething pain, we've had to adapt our techniques of feeding him. Sometimes because of the pain, he refuses to eat solids from spoon. However, we've discovered that serving up his pureed food on Melba toast works very well! He simply takes the melba toast coated with the tastiest jarred baby food and munches away. On days when he is eating well, we've been using melba toast as a sort of after-dinner treat. He loves the stuff and just half a piece of melba toast can keep him occupied enough for mummy and daddy to finish their dinners.

The other day, while we were giving him one of these pieces of melba, he offered it back to daddy. How sweet! :-)

Koby and Lisa's Wedding: A great reunion

The Ngs attended a wedding this past weekend at Vancouver Christ Church of China. Congratulations to Koby and Lisa - you guys are FINALLY married! We wish you the best as you resettle in Seattle!

The wedding brought together many familiar faces, many of whom we had not seen in quite some time. It was great to reacquaint with old friends.

This was also Erich's first chinese wedding banquet that he attended. Despite the long hours, he was a real trooper and managed to keep himself and many others entertained! The melba toast helped (see next post) but also regular trips to the seafood tanks. Shown below is a photo of some hungry crabs looking at Erich.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Today was Jonathan's Mum's birthday - her first as grandma! We treated her to a very yummy breakfast thanks to La Patisserie LeBeau. (Of course this photo was taken after we had finished!) May her love and her love for God pass down through generations to come.