Nut Tree Theme Park

On 12/26, it's a sunny & warm day, so we went to Nut Tree Theme Park with my parents and JF's family.

It's not a big theme park, but it's very good for little kids. Philip got admission deals online: $30 per family of 4. Also, it was a senior free day, so my parents and Philip's Dad were free.

I was scared of rides, and all I could ride was "Merry go around", "Train" and "碰碰車"。 Hee and I were about the same, so he was with me to ride the "Merry go around" and "碰碰車" many many times. He told me that his favorite ride was "碰碰車"。 The good thing about this theme park was that there were only few visitors in the winter time, so we could ride our rides one after another without waiting in the long lines.

Going to Nut Tree Theme Park was Ha's turning point. He used to scared of rides just like Hee and me, and he even didn't want to go on the "碰碰車". Stephen forced him to go, and he liked it, and after that, he started to try the rides one by one. When we saw the roller coaster, Ha said: "I want to try it!" It was a big shock to me because I never thought that he would have the courage to do that. Roro wanted to ride it, too, so Stephen, Ha, JF, Ro, and my Dad went. When they stepped down from the ride, Ha looked normal, but he told me that he didn't like it. Stephen said that he was ok on the ride except asking "When will it stop?"

After the roller coaster, Ha still tried some more rides, and on Sunday and Monday, when we were in the playground near my parents' house and our house, Ha also tried some play structures that he didn't have the courage to go before. He changed a lot after the roller coaster ride.

阿公家

我們正在看郭爺爺製作的Thanksgiving gathering DVD.

Hee問Ha：“為什麼柔柔可以常常到阿公家，我們不行？”
Ｈａ回答：“可是柔柔只可以去玩，可是我們可以住”（ Good answer! Hee was satisfied with it.)
Hee: "因為我們不能常常到阿公家，所以郭爺爺作電視給我們看！”

Thank you, 郭爺爺!

Christmas Vacation Photos

It's 10:52pm. Too late to write the blog entry, so....., let's take a look at the photos that we took during these 5-day Christmas vacation for now, and I will write more later.

12/24 Elk Grove Jennifer's house: Christmas gathering
12/25 Mom's house and Jennifer's house
12/26 Nut Tree Theme Park
12/27 Cisco Grove Snow Trip/Rosevile Mall
12/28 Playground, going back to Bay Area

Here are the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/happyfamily.huang/ChristmasVacation

Eye Exam

Yesterday, I brought Ha and Hee for their first (actually, it's not the first time for Ha. He had eye allergy when he's 4 years old, and he went to the doctor before) eye exams.

It's not really easy to bring two of them to see the doctor because they started at the same time in different room with different technicians, so I need to run between two rooms whenever the technician needed the help (for example, Hee was too short to be examined, so he needed to sit on my lap; Ha's technician wanted me to be there when she diluted Ha's eyes...).

Anyways, both of them don't need to wear the glasses, but both of them have some minor problems. Ha: minor colorblindness which nobody could do anything to improve it; Hee: few eyelashes grow inwards, so he needs to have lubricant eye drop and ointment daily to protect his eyes. Both of them are not nearsighted, and they are slightly farsighted, but the doctor said that they are possible to change into nearsighted anytime in the future. The doctor gave them small prescription, so they can get sun glasses (transparent, not dark color)covered by the insurance. The main purpose of the glasses is for the protection from the UV (Sun). The doctor recommended that all children should get some protection under the bright Sunlight.

After the eye exam, we went for a short shopping and got ready for the Christmas gathering tomorrow.

周美青猛虧 馬：我娶錯太太

昨天是馬英九總統上任後的第一場總統府音樂會，夫人周美青也出席，總統府敞廳一改平日莊嚴肅穆的氣氛，暫作茶會場地。受邀參加音樂會的貴賓手持茶點，三三兩兩聚在一起聊天，馬周言笑晏晏，穿梭全場，不似總統與第一夫人，倒像「開趴的馬先生與馬太太」。

府方事先規定「輕便服裝」，馬先生與馬太太昨天看來格外輕鬆；一群記者圍著馬夫婦，聊起國慶晚宴馬先生大啖紅豆餅，因為吃相太饞，馬太太忍不住一臉「嫌惡」的經典糗事。

馬太太不斷抱怨自己老公有多貪吃，馬先生急忙辯解，因為平常太忙，一抓到東西，當然要趕快吃；馬太太立刻吐槽，「你們知道他之前（指國慶晚宴那天）已經吃了多少嗎？」她當場扳起手指，記憶清楚地數給記者聽：「他在那之前已經吃了壽司，還吃了生魚片，也該差不多了吧！」
馬先生掩著嘴巴，用氣音小聲笑問記者：「我可以說我娶錯太太了嗎？」

音樂會結束後，演出的台北愛樂室內合唱團等在大禮堂外走廊，要給主人驚喜，馬夫婦走出後，合唱團圍著獻唱「Only you」；馬先生隨著旋律搖擺身體，馬太太彈指伴奏，連戒護的特勤人員，都忍不住腳打拍子。

獻唱完畢後，馬先生還在陶醉，此時馬太太突然發動攻勢：「你們都唱完了，他（馬）是不是也該回唱一曲啊？」
帶頭起鬨的是老婆大人，馬先生只能站在原地，臉紅到耳根子；清了清喉嚨，他唱出的歌竟然是—「妹妹揹著洋娃娃」。

眾人愣了幾秒，爆出一陣大笑，跟著合唱。一曲既畢，馬太太站在老公背後，當著所有隨扈與記者的面前，手指著馬先生後腦勺：「他—歌—唱—得—很—爛！」馬太太超大聲，完全不給老公留面子。（聯合新聞網，更新日期:2008/12/21 07:30 記者 范凌嘉、李光儀）

I really like 馬太太！

Formal Music Recital

Yes, another recital!

It's sponsored by our city's Park and Recreation Department, and it's held in Quinlan Community Center. This time, kids from all the music classes performed together.

Here are some of the video clips:


Interview before the performance:　http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jaf0nuQUt8

Hee's performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltELJPaGmv4 since Hee's teacher wanted me to go up to the stage to help in case of any kids getting out of control, I could only shot the video from the angle behind Hee. (can't see his handsome face)

Ha's Performance: (Ha thought: where can I stand? where can I stand?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR4WRTuooCU Ha was looking around while he was playing, so at first, I was wondering if he's playing? I looked closely, and the answer was "yes"!

2008 Christmas Program Preview: Hee's version

Since I helped to translate the Christmas musical, I had the privilege to get a copy of the CD, and Ha and Hee loved to listen to it. They were pretty familiar to the main characters: Nathan, Mary and Joseph and most of the songs and scenes. While we were waiting for picking up Ha from school, (usually, there's a long line of parents waiting in the car outside of the classrooms. Kids jump into the car when they see their parents.) Hee liked to sing the songs in the car. Here are some of the songs for our Christmas program.....搞笑版。

#1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuFb3rchaZo

#2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSWYdZWGSw4

#3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkxBc_6JPLs

#4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag08--inwNg

#5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPTZ-C218PI

2008 Christmas Program--Happy Family Preview

This year, the Christmas program is :

超越時空的聖誕:"遇見祂的過去, 改變他的未來"

This is a musical based on "Journey to the Manger" by David T. Clydesdale. It will take audience to a journey through different historical eras such as the Depression, the Renaissance, Victorian England, and old Bethlehem, to discover the true meaning of Christmas.邀請您來參加！

Our family will be participating in 2 scenes: Great Depression and old Bethlehem. In the picture, you can see that Stephen is one of the wise men, Ha and I are the shepherds, and Hee is a cute sheep. (Ha didn't want to be a sheep), and there are more shepherds, sheep, and wise men from our fellowship. We rehearsed our scene on the past two Sunday afternoon and Friday after fellowship, and we also rehearsed tonight from 7:30 to 9:30pm, and I knew that many other people even started practicing their scenes in September or October. May God bless their hard work, and may God bless many people's lives through this musical.

Today, we took some pictures of ourselves. If you want to get a preview of the scenes that we participate in, please go to http://picasaweb.google.com/happyfamily.huang/2008ChristmasProgram

第一場：Saturday, December 20 at 7:00pm　　　　　　
第二場：Sunday, December 21 at 5:00pm
基督之家 第五家, Home of Christ Church in Cupertino, 10340 Bubb Road, Cupertino, CA 95014(408)996-8208
http://hoc5.org

Snowing and icing

Yesterday, when I dropped Hee at school and was going home, I saw snow on the mountain, and I was so excited, and I wished that I could somehow get there. Since I needed to prepare lunch for Hee and prepare fruits for Hee's recital, I went home to do these first, and then, off I go to find the snow land.

I tried two different routes, but both of them ended before I saw any white stuff, so I didn't see the snow.

From the news, I heard that overnight, the temp would be very low, so I wished that I would see ice in our backyard. Around 1:30am, I woke up to check on the kids, and I opened the door to the backyard and checked to see if there's any ice formed; however, the answer was still"NO". I tried again this morning, but we still only had water, not ice. I guessed that we are not cold enough, oh well...

Hee's keyboard Recital

Today was Hee's last keyboard class for this term as well, and he had a recital. He's the youngest one in the class, and he's playing the easiest book, but comparing to Ha, he is more interested in playing the piano, and he already told me that he's going to enroll to the next class. Hee was so cute to bow and so cute to play; anyways, he is so cute. His voice is not as good as Ha, and he sometimes 會走音， but he has better eye-hand coordination, so he can draw and write better than Ha. God is fair!

Ha's first keyboard recital

Yesterday was Ha's first keyboard recital in his keyboard class. He goes to the group keyboard class in the community center since September this year, and yesterday was the last day of his class. 8 kids took turns to play 3 songs each, and Ha did a good job. I thought that he would be shy, but he acted fine. He's not very interested in playing the piano, but he didn't hate it, either. He only practiced about 2 to 3 times a week, and I thought that he might be the worst one in the keyboard class; however, fairly speaking, after listening to all 8 kids, I ranked him number 4 out of 8. He hasn't decided whether he wants to take the next level class yet, and I still encourage him to do so because even though he's not very possible to be a great piano player in the future since he doesn't have too much passion on it, I hope that at least, he can read the notes well because it will help him if he wants to join the choir when he grows up. He has beautiful voice, better than mine and Stephen's, and he has good ears and good sense of music. I don't feel that he will be very good at playing the instruments (he didn't have too good eye-hand coordination and concentration), but he may be good at composition or singing. Anyways, we just want to help him to get a closer taste of the music world, and God will have His plan for him.

Here are Ha's recital videoｓ：不管你覺得好不好，就告訴他很不錯，他才會有動力繼續學。

Calendar Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kY3Kkz7Bx4
Row, Row, Row your Boat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKrJK5OhTkQ
Rain, Rain, Go Away http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdgY2pEdnTg

Favorite Gift

Last week, the sharing topic of Ha's class was "my favorite gift". I helped Ha to go through the gifts that he ever received over the years, and he chose this one as his favorite gift. This was his grandpa's handmade "something" . Actually, I had no idea what it is, and I only knew that it's something about "electricity" or "solar power" or "charger".....,but Ha knew very well about how to use it.

Congretulation, Grandpa! You won the first prize!

Bethlehem---We Went!

I was thinking about going to "Bethlehem" show this weekend; however, it was raining on Saturday evening, and I thought that we won't have the opportunity to go this year. Last time when we went two years ago, it was raining, too, and the "Bethlehem street" was all muddy (2000 years ago, they didn't have 柏油路）， so if it's raining, we don't want to go there again (我們是被現代產品寵壞的人）。Last night, our church had a meeting with小敏and 遠志明as speaker. We were late, so we didn't go, but we still wanted to see 小敏's 盧山真面目, so we decided to take turns and went, so kids could stay home (that's a good part of living closer to our church). I went first, and when I open the garage door, I saw a full moon: The rain stopped!!!!! It was almost 8pm, and we still had time to go to Bethlehem. Therefore, we brought thick coats and went immediately (of course, we stopped at our church for 5 minutes to take a look of 小敏).

We were just in time for the 8:30pm show, and we drank Hot Chocolate before we went in (貼心的教會）. I was very excited to be in that "city", but there were too many people there, so it's hard for the kids to see the whole scene, and we needed to hold them, so they could be "taller". It's nice to go through the journey of Jesus' birth again. (per Joshua, he asked me to say that in our church, we also have a show on 12/20 and 12/21/08, and a scene of the show will bring us back to Bethlehem, too). One warning: Soldiers in Bethlehem show will look serious and mean, so be sure that little kids won't get scared. Joshua said that he saw a baby getting scared by a pretend solider. ( In our church, we don't have any soldiers on the show, so you can bring little kids or babies to see the show, Joshua said.)

"Bethlehem" will have 2 more days, Sunday and Monday, and the last show will be on 8:30pm. For more information and video, please see their website: http://www.bethlehemsc.com/

撒嬌

This morning, Hee had a hard time to take off his pants, so he said:＂褲子在撒嬌我。＂

原來他撒嬌的定義就是　“黏住不放”，難怪每天從Ｓｔｅｐｈｅｎ一進門，他就黏著，“爸爸陪我玩這個”，“爸爸陪我玩那個”，一直到睡覺才放手。

Mortgage Rate from the Loan Agent that we know

We just got the email from the loan agent who helped us to loan our current house that the 30 year mortgage rate is going down.

Rate for 30-year fixed conforming (up to $417k) : as of 12/11/08

For primary residence, Loan amount fall within 80% of the property value was at 5.25% for no closing cost refi. This is also required with FICO scores of 720 or better.

For rental properties, you may refinance up to 60% (only) of the property's value.

Sounds good?

我家的有機菜園-轉載

【德芳】先生是眷村長大的孩子，從小到大都居住在寸土寸金的北部，對園藝有濃厚興趣的他，想要擁有一片私人的菜園，可說是一個遙不可及的夢想。居住北美每家都有庭院，自從我們擁有一棟屬於自己的住家，先生欣喜若狂地想著，總算可以大展身手，實現種菜的夢想。

先生於是開始開荒闢土種植蔬菜水果，從原本只是一小塊菜圃，發展到現在十幾塊大小不一的菜園。菜園裡的蔬果琳琅滿目，隨著四季更迭，我們的飯桌從不缺少新鮮的蔬菜，省了不少買菜錢。
每逢蔬果盛產期，還可送去中文學校義賣或饋贈親友，與好朋友分享豐收的成果，廣結善緣。
播種培苗是一個令人愉悅的過程，每日看著整片的園地，一天天抽芽、變綠、茁壯，抽長成莖葉綠蔥的一株株青菜，那分欣喜只能體會，無法言傳。

更令人高興的是自己種的蔬菜，就近摘採，隨即下鍋，吃得安心衛生又新鮮，颱風天也不怕沒菜可買。像上次大颶風侵襲路州，停電了7天，我們全靠自家後院菜園度過非常時期。
其實自己栽種無農藥的蔬果，並沒有想像中的困難，只要肯揮動鋤具、不怕流汗、翻土整地，你也可天天浸潤在菜香果樂之中。

種菜最基本的條件是土壤要鬆、陽光要充足、水份要充沛，植物才可以行光合作用，才有好收成。
首先翻土是一項很吃重的活兒，先生把土壤翻了再翻，經太陽暴曬幾天之後，敲碎結塊狀的泥土，把買來的木屑、沙土跟泥土拌一拌混合。因美國土壤較貧瘠乾硬，不易鬆土，如果省掉了這道過程，只把買來的木屑與沙土直接倒在泥土上，那是無法種出好菜，別指望來年它會準時回報。
一番整地之後，接著就可著手撒種，種子行老闆教我們把要種的種籽先泡上一個晚上，這樣種籽發芽的成功率較高。

種籽接受陽光的照耀和水份的滋潤後，我們就可細細觀賞它的成長，不知不覺中從發芽、生葉片、開出小花，結豆結果，也別有一番情趣。在菜園邊漫步，常常有許多令人驚嘆的發現。
在施肥部分，我們皆利用選剩的果葉、果榖、樹葉枯枝、木屑等做堆肥，適時添加進土壤裡。把草鋪在土壤上，既可防止雜草叢生，兼收堆肥之效，對大地和生態都有益。

在面臨全球金融大風暴，經濟低迷期，市井小民荷包大幅縮水，如果能自己動手開闢一處菜圃，提供了充滿陽光、花香和泥土氣息的休閒活動，和家人一起來耕耘，藉此親近大自然，強化心肺，鍛鍊身體，不僅可以為庭園增添秀色，為餐桌提供新鮮的蔬果，種些東方植物除能解鄉愁外，還有種歸屬感。更可為移民北美老年寂寞的生活，開啟另一扇門，與家人沈浸在有機生活的幸福中，做個健康快樂的「草食族」。http://www.worldjournal.com/wj-books_news.php?nt_seq_id=1816168&ct=88

Before Going to Bed

I hope these clips are not rated R; however, they are so cute, and I really want to put them here so people who love Ha and Hee can see them. Ha and Hee don't need much of our help to take the bath or brush their teeth now, so I want to capture these precious moments before they don't let me come into the bathroom while they are showering. 這是誰家的孩子，怎麼這麼可愛？

Insurance

Yesterday, Stephen went to the optometry for eye exam and to get a new pair of glasses. When he came home at night, he told me that he got the exam but our insurance couldn't cover the glasses, so he had the prescription and will get the glasses from other glasses store.

After Ha and Hee went to bed, I had time to ask him if his eye exam went ok, and he took out his prescription sheet.

S: How can I find a glasses store in the CIGNA network?
Y: CIGNA? That's our health insurance, not vision insurance. Our vision was covered by EYEMED.
S: But I gave optometry the CIGNA card.
Y: No wonder why the glasses are not covered!hahaha....you made my day!!!!!

My husband is a very smart guy, but from time to time, this kind of 烏龍事件 will happen (well, sometimes, I made 烏龍, too, but not as many as he did). It made our daily life more interesting and colorful, so basically, I love it!

New Washer

On Saturday afternoon, our Milpitas tenant called and said that the spin function of the washer was not working, so we went there and checked. It didn't seem to be easy to fix, and the washer was at least 15 years old, so it's easier to replace it with a new one.

We went to Great Mall Sears Outlet and chose one Kenmore Washer. Stephen measured our 4Runner, and it fit ok, so we decided to deliver and install the washer ourselves in order to save few bucks of delivery charges.

When we went to the house, Stephen and I carried the washer in, and it's heavier than holding 2 kids at once, but we managed to get it in place. Stephen is a very handy person, and he unpluged the old washer and pluged the new one. Now, the new machine can spin ok, but the water won't fill. It was late, and we didn't have many tools with us, so we decided to check it again on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning, we checked again and were sure that the washer couldn't work properly, so we carried the washer to the car and returned it. Sears tested it and confirmed that the product was not functioning well, so they replaced it with a better upgrade series ( we bought a 300 series, and they replaced it with a 400 series) to show their apology. This time, Stephen installed it within 5 minutes, and everything worked fine.

2008 Honda Accord 廣告

I'm not Honda's salesperson, and we like Toyota more than Honda; however, I have to post this commercial because the kid (little king) in the commercial looks(or 他的神韻） really like Heehee. We watch the commercial every night when we watch the Chinese news at 10pm, and I always want to take a video clip of that commercial, but I always forget to do so. Finally, I searched the youtube and found it, so here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjOLYdBbr7U

Bethlehem

We went to watch it 2 years ago, and this year, I hope that we will have the chance to watch it again.

December 11 - 15, 2008 (Thursday - Monday)
Open from 6:30PM - 9:00PM, Five 30 minute Performances Nightly
Free Admission & Hot Drinks
Santa Clara First Baptist Church 3111 Benton Street, Santa ClaraPhone: (408) 241-7635

For more information, go to http://www.bethlehemsc.com/

新大廚

Setting: Ha, Hee, and Stephen were eating breakfast in the dinning room.

Ha: "媽媽，妳怎麼還不來吃？”
媽： “我還在切水果讓你們中午帶去吃。”
爸：“媽媽好辛苦每天要弄東西給我們吃。Haha，以後換你煮飯好不好？”
Ha: “那你們需要每天吃 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches,因為我只會煮那個。”

媽心想：那還是我自己煮比較好。。。

Who is He?

When I was reading Weiming's blog, Hee walked by. He saw Weiming's big photo and asked me who he is. I told him that he is 舅舅。 He asked me how to call him in English, and I told him＂uncle". Then, he asked me :＂他的大名是什麼“？It's so funny to hear that words from a kid. He must think that 舅舅 is Weiming's 小名， like "heehee" is his 小名.

I only have 2 sisters, so Hee never knew any 舅舅 in his life. He only went back to Taiwan once when he's 9 months old, so even though he saw my cousins before, he couldn't remember any 舅舅.

Video is Ready!

Finally, the video clips of my parents' baptism are ready!

It's like a dream because few years ago, I never imagined that one day, my parents would accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior, but when I listened to their testimonies and watched their baptism, I knew that God really touched their hearts, and He led them to walk closer to Him through some big or small things in their daily lives. All we did were to pray for them. I got baptised in December 1991, but my mom was not there to witness it because she didn't want us to be baptised, and she was pretty against it. 17 years later, I was so happy to see that both of my parents enjoy the time in the church, and they believe that Jesus is their Lord. Praise the Lord! My dream came true!

I got too many video clips, so I uploaded them to the Youtube. Their testimonies were not 100% complete because I was afraid that I didn't have enough camera battery power, and I was afraid that if the files were too big, I wouldn't be able to upload them. Ok, Here they are:

爸見證4之1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTIvN0Sof2M
爸見證4之2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldteLJwOjF8
爸見證4之3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-svXiLu0AzA
爸見證4之4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhcR5A8IM4Q
媽見證5之1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23fD9CXpsyw
媽見證5之2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm3j5GymdBA
媽見證5之3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuJ1OjDzcpg
媽見證5之4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22E0-xcmDEU
媽見證5之5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zOIbcYmvnw
媽受洗 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJX9GILv4U4
爸受洗 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eL0ygNcfU8
接受祝福 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nREsjzpgIY

Photos for Thanksgiving Holiday in Elk Grove

Ok, I uploaded the photos taken in Elk Grove and downloaded some photos from my sister's site, and they are on http://picasaweb.google.com/happyfamily.huang/2008Thanksgiving#. They will be shown on the slide show section on the side bar later, too.

I'm still trying to upload the video clips, but they take time. Stay tuned...

50年奇景雙星襯眉月 天空彷彿在笑

I couldn't believe that we saw it!!!!!!!
Last night, we rushed back from Sacramento because we were in charge of the dinner cleaning, and it's our turn to make a soup for the 3rd Sunday service. On our way to bay area, when we were in highway 580, we saw the moon and 2 shining stars.

We didn't think that it's something very special until I read the article today and knew that it's something only happening in 50 years. Wow!

When we were working for God, He gave us special reward, too.

(NOWnews 12/2/08) http://www.nownews.com/2008/12/02/327-2373931.htm
1日晚上的天空很不一樣，很多民眾發現怎麼天空竟然出現一個大笑臉，因為金星和木星剛好運行靠近月亮，雙星拱月就成了這樣的天文奇觀。 1日天黑前，西方神話中主管愛情和美麗的維納斯女神－－金星與行星之王－－木星，以及眉月相近在西南方低空的星空出現；漆黑的天空中，出現雙星拱月，看起來就讓人心情很好，左邊亮眼的是金星，右邊的是木星，搭配宛如眉毛的眉月，看起來很像一個大大的笑臉。 北市天文協會理事長陶蕃麟表示，「這種狀況比較難遇到，因為3個天體各自在運動的時候，要達到接近在相同的位置上，而且距離不能太遠，我們才能看到這種現象，那今天看到成為笑臉，是因為月球的相位，剛好也在眉月的狀況之下。」不過，到了2日，由於月亮位置改變，會逐漸挪移到金星和木星的上方，原本大笑臉就成了一張包公臉，看起來會相當有趣。

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/4625875.shtml
「趕快看，夜空在微笑耶！」昨晚全台許多民眾都注意到，清朗的穹蒼有著雙星伴月的「笑臉」，大家互傳手機簡訊或通知好友，一起分享這個讓人看了就有好心情的天文景象。
嘉義市天文協會總幹事黃傅俊、高雄市天文學會理事蔡元生都興奮地說：「這是我第一次看到。」雲林縣斗六國小校長黃昭景、教務主任曾智豐則說，四天前就目睹了。
蔡元生說，昨晚伴月的雙星是金星與木星，與上弦月搭配得天衣無縫。他說，今晚月亮就會跑到這兩顆星的上頭，若拍下照片顛倒看，就像哭臉了。
剛被資遣的南縣永康市民李基全說，這幾年沒日沒夜拚命工作，從未抬頭看星空，沒想到就在心情低落時看到笑臉，平靜許多。
因紅燈停車的保安工業區上班族及嘉南科大學生，看到天空這張「笑臉」，不約而同驚呼，紛紛拿出手機拍照。
「莫非這張笑臉是我們最近就要破案的徵兆？」台南縣歸仁分局偵查隊員莫不希望是吉兆。很多南部人看了都覺得鬱卒的心情變得超好的，「好運來了，可以去買樂透！」
台北市立天文科學教育館館長邱國光表示，昨晚金星與木星正好在同一經度上，加上上弦眉形的月亮，宛如一張高掛夜空的微笑臉，這現象持續了兩個多小時。
邱國光解釋，金星是地球所見最亮的行星，木星則是次亮的行星，昨天上午八點，兩顆行星走到同一經度，但當時是白天，無法目視。傍晚五時太陽下山後，木星與金星在仰角四十度位置，與上弦眉形的月亮，正好像兩個眼睛配上一張微笑的嘴。
他說，這個天文奇觀持續到晚間七點五十分月亮下沉，剩下金星和木星，到八點四分及七分，兩顆行星也陸續消失在天際。
傳「雙星伴月」現象千年難得一見，邱國光說，金星周期不固定，無法推測天空出現這種景象的周期，不過只要出現兩顆行星走到同一經度，碰到月亮成上弦眉形月，就會出現這種景象。不過，若距地球較遠的行星，呈現的就不會像昨晚這麼明顯、漂亮。
【2008/12/02 聯合報】@ http://udn.com/

Thankful Thanksgiving

I haven't had time to upload my photos and many video clips taken during this Thanksgiving yet, so I just post one downloaded from my sister's album.

Thursday night, we were invited to K and N's house and had the most delicious turkey. It was very juicy and flavorful, and we stayed there till 9:30pm. Kids played legos and games together; adults chated and ate around the table. I am thankful to help these friends around.

On Friday, we went to my parents' house for another Thanksgiving Dinner. My little sister, Sophia came from Chicago, too, and we enjoyed our time playing Uno together. I am thankful for my family.

On Saturday, after a good Vietnamese lunch, we went to Jennifer's house. Sophia taught us to make bread ( Actually, she taught me once in Chicago, but I still needed to see it again). Warm out-of-oven bread was so yummy, and I am thankful for the food that God gave us. At night, our old friends, Helen and Simon passed by from their Reno trip, and we were happy to have a small reunion together.

On Sunday, my parents got baptised in the church, and this is the thing that I am most thankful for. I will post a new entry for it including their 見證, when I have time.

Moving Lego Car

Ha's another invention....Lego moving car! Hee was so happy to watch it running around. They were very upset that it was raining outside because they wanted to go to Memorial Park to play, but after Ha got this new invention, they played happily with it.

If you come to our house now, you won't be able to see that Lego car again because Ha took the motor off the car and wanted to make a fan airplane (even though I really don't think that it will work!)

Hee's Thanksgiving Performance

On Tuesday, Hee's school had a Thanksgiving Potluck, so after dropping Hee at school, I rushed home to make a chocolate banana pie and rushed to Ha's school to help out ( I really like to see what kids do at school, so I can talk about what they learn at home) and went home to get the pie and rushed to Hee's school. Luckily, both schools are about 4-5 minutes away from our house, so it's still manageable.

The potluck started at 12pm, but I went there few minutes earlier, and I saw them lined up on the lawn and singing few songs. I didn't know that they were going to sing, but I was glad that I went early, so I didn't miss it. (only 2 songs)

Hee is in Pre-K, so he was in the back, and behind them were the kindergarten kids. I am not tall enough to get the perfect shot, and he's not tall enough to stand out of the crowd, so, try to find him if you can!

Change.Gov

"Change.gov" is the website set up by the Obama new government team in order to hear what we want to say and what suggestions that we want to give to them. Personally, I like the idea that Taiwan government gives out the 消費券 (Shopping coupon) because when President Bush gave out tax rebate, we just put it in the bank, and it couldn't stimulate the economy at all. Instead of putting millions of dollars to support few banks, I felt that shopping coupon can benefit us more.

Stephen also wrote to him the other day to suggest in this difficult time, the government should freeze the property tax for few months after the house purchase in order to encourage home buyers to act immediately. (well, I'm not sure what the exact wordings that he was using.)

If you have any good ideas, don't forget to write to change.gov.

Being Humble

Last night, Hee and Stephen were in the living room, and Ha and I was still finishing up our dinner in the dining room.

(I didn't know what hee and stephen were doing). Stephen: "Hee,你好棒！“
Ｈｅｅ：＂哈哈更棒，他會一些電的東西，我還不會。我比較小，他比較大。”

Stephen came to the dining room to tell Ha what Hee just said about him.

Ha: "他也很棒，每個人都很棒，因為神造每一個人會不同的東西。”

I guess that many adults need to learn from them.

Legos and NASA

These few days, Ha is working on his NASA space shuttle and moon car (I don't know how to call it.) He hasn't finished the project yet, so I will just post a preview:

Thanksgiving Sharing Night

Last night, we went to the Thanksgiving Sharing Night in the church. We've never attended this before in the past few years because every year, we gathered with our families. This year, the family gathering is going to be during the holiday, so we can go to the church meeting.



It was a wonderful meeting, and we heard the different testamonies from many brothers and sisters. 有的是神的意外賞賜，有的是病得醫治，有的是家被燒毀仍然感恩，有的在病中還有喜樂，有的心臟停止卻蒙神保守，有的為生活中的大小事，為活到90歲還能開車感謝神，也有的是為神奇妙的timing或親人得救而做見證。



Hearing of all of these testamonies, I was really touched and joyful and thankful because God never stops Him hands. He did many different things to our beloved brothers and sisters to show us that He IS ALIVE. Even though we don't have that kind of dramatic stories to tell, but I know that God works in our lives, too. He's always with me, and that's one thing that I should give the biggest thanks.



One song was in my heart after last night's meeting:　＜我的救贖者活著＞

讚美之泉：深觸我心專輯



我知道我的救贖者活著，他是永活的主，

當我在深谷迷失時，祂領我走正義路。

我知道我的救贖者活著，他是永活的主，

當我在曠野孤獨時，祂伴我作我的燈。

我知道我的救贖者永遠活著，我必不再憂慮，我要在每一個日夜中，領受祂的豐盛之愛。

我知道我的救贖者永遠活著，我靈不再沉睡，當號角響起的那一天，我將見祂榮光之面，

我的救贖者永遠活著！

新網誌-----Happy Family and Friends' Kitchen

每天做菜，有時會run out of ideas, 所以我決定把每天做的東西post上網，可以recycle 這些ideas once every few months. Since 每一個Blogspot 的網誌可以有100個不同的作者，所以所有有興趣和我們分享菜色的人可以讓我知道，我可以寄email邀請你成為作者之一，你可以自由的在這個網誌post 文章，讓各家的菜能彼此流通。

The address is http://happyfamilyandfriendskitchen.blogspot.com/

A Lesson from Heehee

These are the bottoms from the keyboard, and Hee just taught me what they meant. If you don't know what they mean yet, I'll share the lesson with you: (he used English words, so I'll copy exactly what he said)

From Right to Left:

Envelope, question mark, around, cross.....and the last one...I don't think that you know the correct answer.....don't even think that you know the right answer BECAUSE YOU DON'T.

It's an "a"!!!!!

超越時空的聖誕:"遇見祂的過去, 改變他的未來"

This is a musical based on "Journey to the Manger" by David T. Clydesdale. It will take audience to a journey through different historical eras such as the Depression, the Renaissance, Victorian England, and old Bethlehem, to discover the true meaning of Christmas.
邀請您來參加！

What: Musical Performance
When:　第一場：Saturday, December 20 at 7:00pm　
　　　　　第二場：Sunday, December 21 at 5:00pm
Where: 基督之家 第五家, Home of Christ Church in Cupertino
　　　　　10340 Bubb Road, Cupertino, CA 95014
(408)996-8208 http://hoc5.org

Another Night Activity

Last night, I saw 3 boys having another night activity: take a look for yourself!

野地的花，野地的草

馬太福音6:25
所以我告訴你們、不要為生命憂慮、吃甚麼、喝甚麼．為身體憂慮穿甚麼．生命不勝於飲食麼、身體不勝於衣裳麼。
6:26
你們看那天上的飛鳥、也不種、也不收、也不積蓄在倉裏、你們的天父尚且養活他．你們不比飛鳥貴重得多麼。
6:27
你們那一個能用思慮、使壽數多加一刻呢。〔或作使身量多加一肘呢〕
6:28
何必為衣裳憂慮呢．你想野地裏的百合花、怎麼長起來、他也不勞苦、也不紡線．
6:29
然而我告訴你們、就是所羅門極榮華的時候、他所穿戴的、還不如這花一朵呢。
6:30
你們這小信的人哪、野地裏的草、今天還在、明天就丟在爐裏、　神還給他這樣的妝飾、何況你們呢。
6:31
所以不要憂慮、說、吃甚麼、喝甚麼、穿甚麼。
6:32
這都是外邦人所求的．你們需用的這一切東西、你們的天父是知道的。
6:33
你們要先求他的國、和他的義這些東西都要加給你們了。
6:34
所以不要為明天憂慮．因為明天自有明天的憂慮．一天的難處一天當就夠了。

These few weeks, the weeds in our backyard grow like crazy. We didn't give them any water, and it only rained one day (the day that I had the clothes hanging out), but they are still so alive, so green, and so "fat". I have to agree with what the Bible says: Our Heavenly Father is taking good care of the flowers or the grass in the field! They even grew better than the fruits and vegetables that we tried out best to take care of. We have such an almighty Father in Heaven, 真幸福！（除了要一天到晚拔雜草，很辛苦！）

上面的照片是我今天照的，在我家轉角。神把這七彩的世界賜給我們，我們應當學習感恩，而不是take it for granted.

Personal Emergency Preparedness Workshop

Last night, ha's school sponsored a Personal Emergency Preparedness Workshop, and all 4 of us went.

After the workshop, I thought that there are some things that I need to learn or to prepare which I have not done so:

1. Learn to turn off the gas
2. Change or refill the fire extinguisher (ours are expired long time ago)
3. Post a First-Aid poster on the fridge (in order to learn the first aid and get immediate help
4. Visit the nearest reporting location where has shed for food and water. http://www.cupertino.org/downloads/Pdf/emerg_reporting_location_map.pdf There are 2 locations closed to us, so we can go either way.
5. Remember not to flush the toilet after quake until being told ok to do so.
6. make copies of kids' birth certificate and our citizenship certificate
7. Get a whistle
8. local radio AM 1670 or AM 1590
9. Child-proof the upper cabinates in the kitchen, so items won't fall during the quake.
10. Record the local emergency number to the cell.

There are a lot of material that I haven't had time to read, but I hope that I can read them in the near future.

Another Lincoln Log Night

I think that I wrote about Lincoln Logs before, but last night, when I saw those 3 boys sitting on the floor playing together, I still took some video clips. I like our kitchen because it has a window for me see the living room. I felt so good to wash the dishes while watching them play.

Last Saturday- Santa Clara Day

We had a very busy but joyful day last Saturday, and since all of our activities were in Santa Clara, so I declared 11/15/08 as "Santa Clara Day".

Stephen 's company has a movie day about every 6 months or so, and the winner of the movie day can get up to 4 free movie tickets and $15 AMC snacks gift card. The company selected the movie and day and time, and it usually is the movie that kids love to watch.

Last time, the first 100 employees who replied the movie day invitation were the winners, and Stephen won, too. However, Ha and Hee were too scared to watch the whole movie ( it was their first movie experience, and they were scared of the sound effect and huge screen), so we only watched that movie for 10 minutes, and then, we went out.

This time, the winners were picked up through a lottery, and Stephen won again. This time, the movie was Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and we decided to try again in order to help them to have more courage. As long as we can stay longer than 10 minutes in the theater, we are making the progress. How were we doing? This time, we stayed one hour. Since we had another party to go to , we chose to leave early. However, Hee was still not so interested in watching the movie. His hands covered his ears, and he sat on my lap throughout the movie. When he wanted to eat popcorn or gummy or have a drink, I needed to put them in his mouth because his hand needed to cover his ears. He told us that he wanted to go every 10 minutes, but since he was still calm, we didn't go. Ha was much better this time than last time. He acted normal and ate a lot of popcorn although he told me that he felt a little tired of watching the movie after we went out.

Our second activity was more excited to them because we went to Rebecca's birthday party. There were a lot of yummy food and a yummy cake, and kids enjoyed playing together. They ran up and down the stairs, playing in the bedroom and living room, and by the time that we were about to leave, their hairs were all wet.

We stayed at the friends' house till almost 4pm. We came home, took a little break, ate an easy dinner and then we went to Santa Clara again for the Stream of Praise worship concert. There were a lot of people there. Kids loved to come, too, and Ha asked us to buy a CD before we left. In the car, he told me that Dolphin and he had a great time. We had a great time to worship the Lord through the songs, too.

讚美之泉北加州敬拜讚美巡迴

11.14.08 (星期五)2008 敬拜讚美巡迴 生命河靈糧堂, 加州 聖荷西7:30 PM
11.15.08 (星期六)2008 敬拜讚美巡迴生命河靈糧堂, 加州 聖荷西7:00 PM

http://www.sop.org/Events/docs/NCal.jpg

Baby is growing up

Yes, Hee is sucking his thumb sometimes, but he knew that I don't like him to do that, so he tries to take his thumb out of the mouth immediately when I see him. I took this picture yesterday afternoon. I was washing the dishes after lunch, and he was doing his homework, and then, I heard him saying that he finished the homework, and then, I didn't hear from him for a while, and then, when I went & checked on him, he was sleeping on the bed with his 2 favorite blankets and his thumb.

He's still like a baby, isn't he?

In the afternoon, I got a flyer from the school district mentioning that kindergarten registration will be in Feb, 2009. Hee is going to kindergarten soon. I really can't believe it. He is still like a baby to me. I don't have the same feeling toward Ha because he's more mature, and he always likes to do whatever adults do. Also, when he's 2 years old, he's a elder brother to Hee, and we always expect him to be like an elder brother even though he's a baby at that time, too.

At the beginning, Ha was not a good brother, and he never shared the toys with his brother, and he always tried to push or kick his brother. However, as he grows up, he has more patience, and they have better friendship.

What is Hee's facial expression about? Every afternoon, Ha likes to have some alone time in his room playing his legos, but Hee likes to go to Ha's room to watch him. (Few years ago, Ha didn't allow him to get into his room). Ha is fine when Hee just sits there and watches, but usually, Hee likes to touch this and pull that. Ha will ignore him for about 10 minutes, and then, he may call me to take Hee out if he refuses to go out. Then, Ha will close his door. In this photo, Hee was out of Ha's room, and he covered his ears first before Ha closed the door because he's afraid of hearing the big "Bang!" That was so cute!

Correction

Actually, I think that I need to make a little correction about saying that Ha likes American food. Now, I remember that he likes many Chinese food, too......but he especially likes those unhealthy ones: 湯圓，麻薯，粽子，油飯, 糯米雞，雞皮，蔥油餅。。。。。

Hee also likes 2 American Food: Mac & Cheese and Spinach & Mozzarella Ravioli. I am really surprised that he likes it more than our Chinese 水餃。 He also likes white sauce for pasta (he doesn't like red sauce because he doesn't like tomato. Ha loves tomatoes.), and he likes Ranch Dressing for baby carrots or salad. The other surprise to me is that Ha doesn't like raw vegetables. He likes things to be cooked and soft....I thought that people like American food should like salad, but he doesn't. He doesn't order school hot lunch very often because they always have "garden salad".

Dental Appointment

Today, I went to the dentist again after the deep cleaning few weeks ago, and he confirmed that the pockets in my lower gum needed to be treated, and the cause of the gum problem: my two wisdom teeth underneath the gum will need to be removed as soon as possible.

I called the specialist that my dentist referred me to this afternoon and made an appointment to see him on December 1st, and then, we will talk about removing the two wisdom teeth. I hope that the whole thing can be done sooner, so I can get over with it without going to the dentist and having the consultation every now and then.

可惡啊！

我真的不敢相信我的眼睛，為什麼一早起來地上都是水？不是這禮拜都不下雨嗎？我昨天才曬了一堆衣服在外面啊！本來想濕了不要緊，繼續曬，總有乾的一天，但Stephen提醒我，旁邊的大樹葉子可能不太乾凈，水可能會飄到衣服上。。。。很有道理，所以。。。。我又把所有衣服收下來，重新再洗一次。可惡啊！為什麼氣象沒提醒我？

So different

These 2 kids are so different. Many people knew that Ha likes American food; and Hee preferred Chinese food, but besides that, I still could find many differences between these 2 even in one day.

Yesterday, Ha had no school, so we went to YMCA together. On our way home, we went to Target because they wanted to have the spin tooth brush like what I have.

We went to the tooth brush section, and Hee found what he wanted right away (within 3 minutes), but Ha just couldn't make up his mind. He looked through the kids tooth brush section but couldn't find the one that he liked, so he went to the adult tooth brush section. I told him that his teeth are still small, so the kids size fits him better, but he still walked around between adult and kid section. Finally, he believed me that he should use the kid size, but he still had problems to choose one from the "not-so-many" selections. Hee and I were very hungry and tired, and we just couldn't believe why Ha needed so much time to choose one tooth brush. How long did he spend? At least 20 to 30 minutes.

In Awana, Sparks has store time once or twice per semester so that kids can use the shares that earned to exchange for gifts. Last semester, Ha had a lot of shares, at least 20 to 30, and he could surely exchange for the best or a good gift. However, after the store time, he still got the empty hands. He told me that he couldn't decide which gifts that he really liked, so he didn't choose one. He has a little bit of perfectionism, I think.

Last night, when we had the fruit, Ha loved Bartlett Pear (Luo(4) Li(2), and he ate a big one all by himself. Hee didn't want to eat it at all. Hee ate a lot of Texas oranges, but Ha didn't even have one. This morning, we had the special bread, Hee didn't eat much, but Ha ate a lot with the butter and told me that it's the best bread/breakfast he has ever had. When I cooked the green vegetables, Hee liked the stem part, but Ha liked the leaf portion.

Ha can spend a lot of time building his legos alone in his room, but Hee always wants to be with a person; however, Ha never complains about going to school, but Hee is not happy about going to school. He was very upset that Ha doesn't need to go to school today (Veterans Day), but he needed to.

I believe that I could think of many other examples, but I don't have time to write some more, so, that's it!

Another Birthday Party

Ran, Philil, Me, and Dad's birthdays were few days apart, so we had a combined birthday party on Saturday at my parents' house. This was my 3rd birthday party of the year: The first one was a surprised party at my house; the second one was my real birthday (actually, there's no party on that day. We were still doing our daily work as usual except that Stephen sang happy birthday song every ten to twenty minutes); and this was the 3rd one.

Kids and we had a great time in Elk Grove. We went to the playground, had a good meal (thanks to my mom) and had a great party (thanks to Roro). Haha also got a chance to learn the solar board application from his grandpa. Hee was able to bring the cubbie bear home from AWANA this week, so he brought Cubbie Bear to the party, too. Even though we only stayed one day there, we enjoyed it very much.

I'll upload the photos on the sidebar later.

大同電鍋

大同大同國貨好，大同電視最可靠 大同冰箱 式樣新，電扇電鍋洗衣機 家家歡迎人人愛，品質優秀最老牌 大同大同服務好，大同產品最可靠！

I still remembered this song, and I still remembered 大同寶寶， and I remembered that our TV had a door and a curtain. I searched online and found this old 大同 commercial. Take a look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiA_xeJV0YY

While I was searching for the 大同 commercial, I saw these commercials, too. The first one was 張菲。。。He was so young at that time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ3gtpa1eHo&feature=related

Anyways, the main point of this entry is not to show the commercials but to praise my 大同電鍋!

I really think that 大同電鍋 is my best helper in the kitchen especially when I don't want to cook whole lot of food. Usually, I use 燜燒鍋 to make soup because it saves me time and utility; however, if I only want to cook half pot of food, the 燜燒鍋 is not the best choice.

I like to use 大同電鍋 to steam the eggs, to cook beef or to cook red bean or green bean soup because 我希望煮一餐剛好可以吃完的分量； moreover, 我可以讓電鍋自己煮，自己燜，然後我做自己的事或者出門，太方便了。而且可以放入不同大小的容器，也比電子飯鍋強。

When Ha and Hee were young (one year old +), I used 大同電鍋 to cook their baby food. I used a small bowl, put in rice or noodles, some of our dinner veges or meat and added our dinner soup and steamed. They were eating fresh baby food every day, and actually, I didn't have much extra work.

真的是大同大同國貨好！

動動腦

Tonight, Ha's school had a "math night" for kids from k to 2nd grade. Stephen's math skill is much better than mine ( He won something on the National math competition in Taiwan, but I didn't. I was not good enough to even participate in that competition.), but since he needed to eat dinner, I went to the math night with Ha.

It had many sets of different games and puzzles, and kids could freely choose to play with any games or puzzles. We enjoyed most of the games except for one....because we couldn't get the answer. When I came home and asked Stephen, he got the right answer right away. ( I believed that I heard about this question long time ago, but I just couldn't think of the answer .)

Ok, here is the question:

One person and his 3 pets, a dog, a cat, and a bird are going to cross the river by the boat. The boat can only take that person and one of the pets each time. The cat can not be alone with the dog, and the bird can not be alone with the cat. Can you think of a way for all of them to cross the river?

Our God Reigns 神掌權

I learned a new song two weeks ago because we are going to sing this song on our 3rd Sunday service this week, and this song gave me a lot of encouragement during the past few weeks of the "battle of Prop.8".

It's "沙漠中的讚美" from 讚美之泉

1.神關起 一扇門 祂必開一條新路 不疑惑 不軟弱 我心仍要讚美
2.賞賜的 在於你 收取的你必代替 神旨意 不能攔阻 我心仍要讚美
(pre-Chorus) 凡事信靠主 不失去盼望 因為我的主仍然在掌權
(Chorus) 祂必在沙漠開江河 在曠野開道路 雖四面受敵 卻不被困住 我要在沙漠中讚美 在曠野中宣告 我的主永遠掌權

Last few weeks, I really felt "四面受敵" in terms of Prop.8. I heard many negative advertisement on the radio; our yard signs were pulled out and damaged every single day; the poll showed that "no on 8" was leading; many popular people and company donated to “no on 8".....; however, whenever I felt discouraged, this song would come to me. Yes,"雖四面受敵 卻不被困住" because "我的主永遠掌權"!

Last night, I was taking a shower with this song in my heart, and Stephen came in and said that "there's a good news: 55% for yes on 8, and 45% for no on 8"! Yeah! God did it!

We watched the news until 11:30pm，and this morning, we watched again at 7am to ensure that Yes on 8 is still the majority. It's not an easy battle because our enemies (well, we should not call them enemies. they just have different opinions ) were hiding in the dark and waiting to attack us every single minute, yes, I mean it, every single minute. Yesterday (election day)morning, Stephen went out to put 3 more yard signs on the street before he went to work, and when I went out before 10am, they were gone. Gosh, did they have anything better to do besides puling out the signs? Well, it doesn't matter now."神旨意 不能攔阻"!

This election, most people under age 30 vote no on 8 which is not a good sign. We should be more careful and make more effort to teach our kids the "truth" from the Bible, so they can clearly tell right from wrong, and they won't be one of the people who voted no on 8 in the future.

Vote Yes on 8 TODAY!!!!! 今天去投“贊成”8號提案

今天，對，就是今天，如果你還沒去投票，趕快去，再不去就來不及了。現在 "Yes on 8" 只差一點了，你的票是有決定性的！！！！

我昨天早上在沿路插了7根標語牌，但下午4點左右全被人拔光了，一根也不剩，可見某些支持 "no on 8" 的人連基本的道德和尊重都沒有，如果"Yes on 8"不能通過，他們一定會使出全力把同性婚姻的教導帶到校園，到時候，我們連說 "no" 的權利都沒有了。

同性戀是不是基因問題，我不清楚，但我知道同性結婚不是正常的現象。他們已經享有了異性婚姻者有的社會福利，社會也對他們有了照顧，還有必要在憲法上承認這樣一種不正常的現象嗎？

快去，投 "Yes on 8"！！！！！

VOTE YES ON 8!!!!!!

( if you want to copy this article and pass it to other people, you are welcome to do so. if you want to change the wording or add some more, you are welcome to do so, too.)

Another Unwelcomed New Neighbor

Yes, we got another new neighbor in our backyard, and again, we don't welcome it.

From few weeks ago, we noticed that someone has been digging our lawn, but it didn't look like gopher. We suspected that the squirrels did it, but we doubted that they had such a big power to mess up the lawn like that. Actually, Stephen and I didn't care too much about that, so we didn't have the detailed investigation.

Last night around 11pm, we were ready for bed. I walked to Ha and Hee's room to have a last check, and I found that our sensor light near the compost bin was on. I went to the sliding door in the dining room to check who was there, and I saw " it" standing in the middle of the lawn and doing something. I've never seen "it" in person, not even at zoo. I called Stephen to see it, too, and we decided that it was the one who messed up our lawn. Stephen went out with a wooden stick to chase it away, and it didn't ran fast at all. He chased around, and all the sensor lights were on, so we could see it clearly, but then, it hid under the deck, so Stephen "ran" home. Why ran? Was it dangerous?

Actually, no, but it smelt terribly terrible. It was a skunk!!!!!!

Even though we closed the sliding door, the odor was still occupied our dining room, kitchen and the hallway. It even flew to our bedroom which was far far from the backyard. The odor was so strong that Stephen had to wash all the clothes that he wore and took another bath from head to toe. The odor was not like the bathroom smell but more like the mixture of the restroom and the gas. It didn't smell that bad, but it was definitely very strong.

We couldn't sleep until 12am because we had to open all the windows to let the odor out, and it was not very safe to sleep with all the windows open. Stephen said: "好好的覺不睡，叫我去看那個，弄得有覺也不能睡。” I told him: "這個經驗會讓你永生難忘，一般人想碰也碰不到，有誰知道skunk 是什麼味道？”

隨性的浪漫

Few days ago, I got an ice cream shop gift card from my sister Sophia, and she reminded us to have 隨性的浪漫 once in a while. Ice cream is my favorite food, and Ha, Hee and I eat ice cream almost every day; however, eating ice cream at store should be very good, too.

It was raining hard yesterday afternoon, and we stayed home the whole morning because of the rain. Stephen suggested that we went out in the afternoon, but where to go???? Of course, we chose to go to the mall to have some ice cream.

Ha and Hee each had a "like it" size and Stephen and I shared a "love it" size, and all of us were full and satisfied! Thanks to the Shen family!

Harvest Night

Every year, our church has a harvest night event on 10/31 because we don't encourage kids to go trick or treating.

This year, the program was better than past years. It didn't provide dinner this year, but it had a huge slide and small prizes. Kids could get candies in every booth, and there were yummy cookies decoration activity, and kids could get fresh cotton candies or popcorns after they visited 5 booths. Personally, I thought that it had more fun than trick or treating.

Finally, it's 10/31

Sooooooooo busy for the past few days (weeks) because 10/31 is the deadline for 3 things: My license renewal (needs to finish 80 hours of Contination Education online plus passing the all exams for those CEs online); State and federal payroll taxes and state sales tax returns are due; One of my clients' city license needs to be renewed. Finally, I got everything out this morning! Feeling good!脖子前2天有點扭到，今天差不多快好了。

In the afternoon, Hee and I went to Ha's school. They had a little parade, some crafts and a game. After the game, they had yummy snack (and Hee ate some, too.)

Tonight, we are going to attend the harvest night in the church, and then, I can have a good night sleep and say good-bye to 10/31.

Hee's First Preschool Picture

Today was Hee's school photo day. At first, he was not happy to go to school because in the past 2 days, he was sick and was able to stay home, so even though I knew that he's able to go to school today (yesterday, he was perfectly ok at home playing with R), he still tried to cough loudly to hope that I could change my mind.

I told him that he's perfectly ok, so he should go to school; moreover, if he wanted to have a school photo like Ha's, he needed to go to school today. Since he didn't have any choice, he went to school without crying or arguing.

Tonight, Stephen saw him smiling on the bed, so he asked Hee if he smiled like that when the school photo was taken. Hee said that he didn't remember how he smiled. He said that the photographer made funny faces, did silly trick, but he didn't laugh; at last, "the photographer tickled me! And I laughed!" Hee said. It's not easy to be a photographer!

My opinion has been posted

My letter to Mercury News has been posted:

http://www.mercurynews.com/letters/ci_10838827?nclick_check=1

2 Boys and 1 Girl

These 2 days, our friend P was busy, so her daughter R came to our house from 9 to 6.

Yesterday, Hee had a fever, so he slept for almost the whole day. R is a great helper, and she helped me to hang the clothes, put boxes into the recycle bin, and swept the leaves with Ha ( oops, 被大家發現我使用童工了！）

Today, Hee felt much better, so he and R fixed the tricycles in my garage, and they made the cards for moms (well, I haven't got the card yet???)

Having 3 kids at home is not too much different from having 2 because they can play by themselves. Ha and Hee are good brothers, and they can take care of R pretty much. So, should we have the 3rd one? Of course, NO! If we want to have a girl in our house, we can occasionally borrow R from P&J. She's nice and polite and helpful, and it's great to have her around.

For more photos, please watch the slide show on the side bar later.

Halloween issue followed up -- emails between teacher and mom

This morning, Ha's teacher sent me an email during the recess time ( I believed):

Joshua told us today that he does not celebrate Halloween. Some children were curious about that, but they were satisfied when I told him that not all families celebrate the same days.
I wanted to let you know that Friday afternoon will be very focused on Halloween with a parade and a party. if you want to pick him up at lunch time you could certainly do that. Otherwise perhaps we could chat so that I know if you want him to participate in the parade etc.

I wrote back:

Thanks for asking. He told me that he will wear his regular clothes for parade, and I think that it will be fine for him to join the Halloween class party unless he chooses not to. He wore the costume when he was in kindergarten, but last night, when we were preparing for the sharing, he told me that he doesn't want to celebrate the Halloween because God doesn't like the ghost or evil spirit things. His brother and I will be there with him for the parade and the class party, and we are sure that he will have fun on Friday with other kids.

And she replied:

Thanks for the response. That sounds good.

So, this will be the way that we handle this Halloween issue. Ha's teacher is very caring, and she loves to communicate with parents regarding to big or small things which she thought that parents should know, so we have the peace of mind when we send Ha to school with her.

I'm Soooooooo Proud of Haha

This week, in Ha's class, the sharing topic is "Draw a picture of what you are going to be for Halloween", and there's an option:" For those who do not celebrate Halloween, please draw a very nice picture of things that remind you of fall".

Last year, we bought a bear costume from Craigslist for Ha, so this year, I told him that he can wear that one as well. I also mentioned to him before that Christian do not celebrate Halloween because it's related to ghost or the evil things that God doesn't like, so we don't go to treat or trick but go to the Harvest Night in the church instead. I don't want him to feel leftout at school, so I let him wear the costume to school last year.

However, when I asked him to draw the bear for tomorrow's sharing, he told me that he wanted to draw a leaf because he doesn't celebrate Halloween, so he's going to draw something that reminds him of fall. Then, I asked him if he will wear the regular clothes to school on Friday, and he said yes. I told him that he may look strange when other kids wear their costume and he doesn't. He said that it's ok because when he was in kindergarten, there were some kids not wearing the costume, either.

I was so surprised and yet, so proud of his "guts". Being a Christian for so many years, I don't think that I have the same courage as Ha to live differently from others in order to please God. He made a lot of Yes on 8 signs and wanted to put in our front yard, but I was afraid that those people who support No on 8 will do bad things to us, so I asked Ha not to put them there. I only dared to put the signs on the street where is further away from our house. 如果基督徒都像Ha一樣，福音可能早就到地極了。

Watch It!!!!!!!

Please watch this video and pass it to your friends to watch.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/simulcast.aspx

A Letter to Mercury News

I really can't stand it anymore when we put out the yard signs "yes on 8" on the street, and they were damaged or stolen so many times in the past week, so I wrote a letter to Mercury News, and here it goes:

I believe that few of our neighbors must be strongly against Prop.8 because our yard signs of "Yes on Prop.8 " have been damaged or stolen many times in the past week. We put 2 signs out last Sunday, but they were pulled out many times by someone, and eventually, they disappeared. Then, we put another one out on Thursday, but it's totally gone on Friday as well. I have one question: "If people who support "No on Prop.8" claim that everyone should have the equal right,and if they believe that "no on 8" is going to "end the hate", why can't we have the right to voice our opinions, and how could they damage and steal our property?"

It can only has 125 or less words, and I wrote 123 words. It will be 125 if adding my first, middle and last name.

Yesterday, someone put out 2 more yard signs of "yes on 8", and they were pulled out again today, and I helped them to put them back on. We got 2 signs from the church as well, and when the other 2 signs disappear, we will put out ours, too. There are only one week away from the election day, and May God bless the American, bless the Californian. There's very little that we can do right now, but at least, we did our share.

Better than Top Quality Cocoons

This summer, we had around 1000 silkworms and all of them formed cocoons; however, only 200+ moths emerged from the cocoons (others might die inside the cocoons.) I contacted a silk company and they agreed to purchase the cocoons which the moths had naturally emerged from, and they said that they would pay $0.15 for top quality cocoons and $.075 for lower quality ones. Today, I got the check from the silk company, and guessed what? They paid us $0.20 each (better than top quality cocoons), and even though we only had 200+ cocoons, they paid for 300. So, we got $60 extra income today!

The silk company owner also wrote a card to us: "Thank you for the beautiful cocoons. They are very strong & clean, and clearly, you love your silkworms!"

It's such an encouraging note. Stephen did spend a lot of time feeding the silkworms; I did spend a lot of time cleaning and seperating the cocoons; Ha did love the silkworms and play with them; and Hee did his best to overcome his fear of the silkworms....boxes of the silkworms were besides our dining table, and Hee needed to have the courage to sit on the dining table and eat his meal. Good job, everyone!

A Long Day

Saturday, 10/25 was a long day for us.

Usually, I bake cupcakes on Saturdays as breakfast, and this week, I baked 14 apple&banana cupcakes. After we finished the breakfast, we went to McClellan Ranch Park where is now an 18-acre natural preserve park. It had an annual wildlife education day on Saturday, and I thought that my kids would be interested in it, so we went. Ha and Hee made birdfeeders, planted some small plants, and they touched many live animals. They loved the little chicken the best, and they fed them some food. They played with the animals for a long time, and I walked around to ask the experts some questions about compost, flowers, and how to get the honey from the beehives. I liked to touch the snake. Some girls tied the snake around their nacks, and I really wanted to try it, too, but I thought that I was too old to do this kind of children stuff, so I didn't do it.

We went home for lunch, and kids watched the TV for an hour, and then we set off again to Ha's school for Pumpkin Festival. Ha told me that his teacher's husband needed to attend a class, so she will be at school around 3pm, so he wanted to be at school at 3pm, too. He loved to see his teacher, so I guessed that he's not a trouble student at school because usually, trouble students want to hide away from the teachers as far as possible.

Ha and Hee played a lot of games, had fun and got some prizes. We also saw Ha's carved pumpkin in the library. Then, there's a not-so-funny magic show, so we went home before the show ended.

When we got home, it's around 5pm. I helped Ha to put his prizes in his room, and then, when I went to the kitchen, I saw that Stephen was measuring the rice. It was not a usual thing that he would do, and moreover, he measured cups and cups of rice, so I asked him who would be coming. He said that his brother's family would be here, but they are not big huge people, and I didn't think that they were able to eat so much. Ok, I know, it's a "surprise party"! The question was that we had been out the whole day, what were they going to eat when they came? Stephen went to the market to buy some food, and I cooked 2 easy dishes and cut some fruit. Ha and Hee didn't know that my birthday is coming, so when they found out, Hee went to clean up his room, and Ha started to decorate our house with ribbons, and he took out the candles. He asked for the cake, but we didn't have one, so he decorated the cupcakes that was leftover from the breakfast. At school's pumpkin festival, he could choose a prize because he caught a rubber duck. He chose a big ring for me. Later, when he found that it would be my birthday party, he took the ring back and wrapped it with a wrapping paper and asked me to take it out from the wrapping paper and wear it because it's my birthday gift. Even though Ha usually doesn't talk much or show much emotion, but indeed, he's a romantic guy. The prize box was full of stickers and toys, but he chose a ring for Mama, which was very nice and warm. ( I thought that the he liked the ring and wanted to get it for himself, but it's too big for him, so he gave it to me; however, this morning, when I asked him why he chose the ring, he said that he chose it on purpose. He knew that it was for girl, so he chose it for me. So sweet!) Hee usually is a sweet boy, but he didn't show any special action last night. He had too much fun with his friends.

By the way, my husband was very sweet, too because he invited our friends and family here without letting me know it. He must have been nervous because we were out for the whole day, and he hardly had time to cook or buy food. Even though the surprise party was really a surprise when I found it out, but there's still a big surprise for me and for him: When we started eating, he found that he forgot to press the buttom on the rice cooker, and the rice which made me found out about the party was UNCOOKED!!!!!!!Hahahaha.....

After dinner, when I thought that we were going to share the cupcakes, Stephen took out a beautiful. He hid it in our bedroom, and that was a surprise for me. I had a happy birthday party because I was able to spend time with my lovely friends and family.

This Saturday was a very very long day!

(I'll upload more photos to slide show on the side bar)

I

食神冰箱教做菜

I had the similar idea, too! I told Stephen, but he didn't seem to be very excited about that, so 就沒下文啦！

【World Journal本報訊】桃園縣
中央大學資訊工程系4年級學生甘崇緯、葉宇恬、溫程翔和碩二生葉明儒，設計出「食神冰箱」薄型電腦，會依據冰箱存放的食材、家族病史或個人喜好推薦菜色、提供食譜。
葉明儒指導甘崇緯、葉宇恬、溫程翔進行嵌入式系統專題製作，4人花3個月時間完成食神冰箱，應用RFID（無線射頻識別系統）技術，結合學生自己寫的食譜推薦系統，「食神教你做菜，還幫你搭配菜色。」葉明儒說。
食神冰箱首頁的行事曆記載食材到期日，依據功能列的冰箱食材、食譜總覽、推薦菜色、家庭健康、MEMO選項，用觸控筆在螢幕點選來操作，可確認冰箱有哪些食材，電腦依據現有食材推薦食譜，「偵測快到期的菜先用掉」，也可利用MEMO留言給家人。
甘崇緯說，如果食材有貼RFID標籤，在冰箱的感應器「刷」過就會自動記錄資料，「RFID標籤記錄產地、份量、生產與到期日，美國超市廣泛使用，台灣也在推」，提供的食譜多達300種菜色，包括中西日韓南洋口味。
甘崇緯說，食神冰箱還設計吃完評分、分享私房菜、健康優先功能，內建有肥胖、懷孕、高血壓、高脂血症等飲食影響健康問題，「食神會針對疾病挑選料理」，且摸清楚使用者喜好，3天內吃過的菜單不會重複推薦。
甘崇緯說，食神冰箱可連結網路，可用手機或電腦連線操作，方便使用者在外地確認冰箱食材，事先添購欠缺的食材，且食神冰箱可安裝在任何冰箱上，國外推出的網路冰箱要價數10萬元，食神冰箱才1萬多元。

Yard Sign was Gone AGAIN!!!

This morning, I read the Bible, and it says:
Luke 9:51
耶穌被接上升的日子將到、他就定意向耶路撒冷去、
9:52
便打發使者在他前頭走．他們到了撒瑪利亞的一個村莊、要為他預備。
9:53
那裏的人不接待他、因他面向耶路撒冷去。
9:54
他的門徒、雅各、約翰、看見了、就說、主阿、你要我們吩咐火從天上降下來、燒滅他們、像以利亞所作的麼。〔有古卷無“像以利亞所作的”數字〕
9:55
耶穌轉身責備兩個門徒說、你們的心如何、你們並不知道。
9:56
人子來不是要滅人的性命、〔性命或作靈魂下同〕是要救人的性命．說著就往別的村莊去了。〔有古卷只有五十五節首句五十六節末句〕 ，

So, I guess that we need to respect the people who have different opinion from us instead of wishing them the bad luck like what I did yesterday (read the next blog entry). Therefore, I wrote a note this morning saying: "Please don't pull out this yard sign again. We repect your right to voice your opinion, so please learn to respect ours, too." However, when I went out and tried to attach the note to my sign, I found that it's gone again (along with my wooden ruler!) Last night, Stephen put it back on at 7pm, and this morning, I went out before 8am. Do they sleep at all??????? I can't believe that. Well, I know that if God wishes, He can make Prop.8 pass with our without our yard sign, and since I don't have any yard sign left, I'll take a break and pray for the Prop.8.

有人亂拿我們的sign

Last Sunday, we saw someone put "No on prop.8 and No on Prop.4" signs on the street close to our backyard. I was not super happy, but since it's the public property, I couldn't do anything about it, and after the Rally, we also got 2 yard signs, so we put them there, too. And at the same time, we saw somebody else put another "Yes on Prop.8 " sign there, too.

However, the next day, all of our signs fell. I thought that the sign weight might be too light, so I attached them to our "for sale by owner"signs to make them stronger, but still, they fell again, and we thought that it's done by people rather than by wind. We put them back again, and the next day, all of "yes" signs were gone, and our "for sale by owner" signs were gone as well. This afternoon, I got a "yes on Prop.4" sign, and I attached that to another "yes on prop.8" which we got from our church, and I sticked a wooden ruler inside it to make it even stronger. 我放下淑女形象，拿了大釘錘，用力錘進地裡, but an hour later, when Stephen got home, he told me that it's down again, and he put it up again.

It's so ugly that people ask other people to respect their rights; however, they didn't respect other people's right of expressing the opinions. Ha and Hee were angry, too, but we all believed that God saw it, too, and He will do something about it. (我偷偷希望那人拔標語的時候手被木屑刺到, and I thought that my family should agree with my thought; however, Ha told me that God will not like us to think of this way because God wants us to be kind to others. 噢，是這樣啊，那就算了吧。）

Hee's Sports' Class

Hee only goes to preschool two days a week because I hoped that he could use his free time before kindergarten to do something that he might enjoy besides the academic stuff.

This fall, I registered him to a sports' class. Coach Jerome introduced them T-ball, basketball and soccer. He is such a fun couch to be with, and all the kids love his classes. Kids are laughing and playing during the class, but they also learn the real rules of the balls. It is Hee's most favorite class of all the classes that he has. There are only 5 kids, so they can get enough individual attention and sufficient practice time. Moms sit under the tree and watch them play. It's so enjoyable to see their interaction with the coach and with each other.

Here is a short clip when Hee was playing a defense (防守）:


I'll post more photos on the slides on the side bar.

Volunteer at School

During the teacher/parent conference, I told Ha's teacher that I am available on Tuesdays and Thursdays because Hee goes to preschool in the morning, and if she needs help, I can be a volunteer.

Monday night, his teacher wrote an email to invite me to help her set up the science experiment for Wed., so I went to the school yesterday morning.

The advantage of being a volunteer is that I will have a better understanding of what Ha learns in school, so I can have more discussion with him at home. Also, now, I know the website that his science class uses, so if he has any questions in the future, I will be able to go online and get some understanding of the experiment myself.

When we were on the first grade, we didn't have the science experiment. We only planted some mung beans or had some silkworms. However, Ha's science experiments are more complicated. There's a kit for each experiment---all the materials are prepared, and there's a clear written instruction for the teacher; moreover, there's an online video clip to explain the preparation.

Being a volunteer at school helps me to broaden my view, and actually, Ha loves to see me at school, too.

NASA Exploration Center

Few weeks ago, Ha told me that his music teacher introduced "Mars" to them, and since I'm not very familir (actually, very unfamilir) with Mars or other planets, I borrowed a book about Mars from the library; however, Ha never read it. For some reason, he started reading the book on Sat., and he's very interested in it, so I thought that it may be good if we can go somewhere to get more information about Mars.

I searched online and found NASA Exploration Center. It's free and not far away from 0ur house, so we went there right away.

When we got in, it was just about to start a video about Mars, so we hurried in and watched it. After the video, I had a little more understanding about this red planet.

The Center was not big, but at least, we were able to see some models of space craft and some space mission photos. I will borrow some more books and video tapes from the library to follow up with Ha's new interest. Hee didn't show too much interest in the planets yet. His interest is writing. He wrote whenever he got time. He had paper all over the floor in every room.