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.

耶穌與肥皂

網路上流傳的一個小故事：有兩個人一起散步，其中一個是傳教士，另一個是肥皂製造商。肥皂製造商滔滔不絕地說話，而傳教士則一直在聽。
肥皂製造商對傳教士說：「請告訴我，教會有什麼好？你的講道有什麼好？聖經有什麼好？人活在世上全是麻煩，有人偷竊、有人相互殘殺、有人彼此怨恨。教會至今已設立2千多年，講道、閱讀聖經也2千多年，但卻沒有使一切更美好。人，還是一樣，他們仍然在爭奪、偷竊、殺害、仇恨。」
傳教士沒說什麼，他只是聆聽，過了一會兒，他們路過一個地方，有好多小朋友在泥漿中玩耍。
傳教士就和肥皂製造商說：「你說肥皂可使人乾淨？我不相信。你看看這些小朋友，他們多髒啊！肥皂有什麼好？肥皂已經存在幾千年了，可是，即使世上到處都有肥皂，這些小朋友卻還是被泥漿所弄髒？」那位肥皂製造商就說：「傳教士呀！除非人把肥皂拿來使用，否則肥皂發揮不了功用。」
「完全正確！」傳教士說：「肥皂本身無法使人乾淨，除非人拿來使用才行。這個道理和耶穌的道理是相同的，耶穌的道理沒辦法改變人，除非人們把祂所說的道理實行出來。」好東西也要用了才能發揮效果。更新日期:2008/10/22 04:09
●林曉雲

100 kids

On Sat. night, for some reason, we talked about having babies. I said that I'm too old to have another baby because when I am getting older, I will get bigger chance to give birth to unhealthy babies, so if Hee wants another baby at home, he may need to ask his 老婆 to do it because I don't want to take the risk to get an unhealthy baby.

Then, I asked Ha how many kids he wants in the future. He said 2 or 3. Pretty reasonable. Then, Hee said that he wants to have 100 kids. I told him that he can only have a 3 or 4 or 5 room house, so where can the kids sleep? He said that he will buy some airbeds, but...his kids will sleep in the bedroom, the living room, the hallway, the kitchen and the bathroom. I told him if that's the case, the grandma ( I am the grandma) won't go to visit their house because there's no place for me to sleep. He changed his mind quickly and said that he only wanted 4 to 5 kids. I asked him if his wife only wants 3, how will he do? He said that he only wants 3, too. If his wife only wants 1, what will he do? He only wants 1, too. Mmm..he's such a gentleman, a nice husband. Then, if his wife doesn't want to have any kid, what will he do? This time, he said that he will change a wife and marry somebody who wants kids. I aksed him if I (the grandma) don't want him to have kids, what will he do? Will he change me, too? It's not easy for him to answer that question. He thought for a while and said: 可是我還是要找一個有戴眼鏡的。 （what kind of criteria is that?) I told him that it's easy to find because 50% of women wear glasses. So he gave me another answer:我要換一個跟妳一樣的。Hahaha, I am the unique person that God made, and there's only one of me in the whole wide world, so I guess that I am the only Mom that he wants. Nice to know that.

Open Air Rally

This afternoon, we went to Memorial Park to join the Open Air Rally. In Memorial Park, we had prayers, singspiration and listened to the message, and then, we marched along the Stevens Creek Blvd.

Since I needed to go back to our church at 4:30pm to prepare for the singspiration for the 3rd service at 5pm, we only marched for a short distance to the lot that we parked our car; however, it will be a good lesson for our kids that we support the marriage between 1 man and 1 woman. Ha was very into this "yes on 8", and when he got home, he even made some "yes on 8" signs and will post it on our car and other places.

For more photos, see slideshow on the side.

Here are links on the 10/19 rally news clips

Channel 5 - http://www.truveo. com/Prop- 8-Supporters- Rally-At- Cupertino- Park/id/25913099 04
Mercury News - http://www.mercuryn ews.com/news/ ci_10763893

Video related to the following entry---Please read the following entry before you watch this video clip.

Here is the clip for the following entry-vinegar and pennies: PLEASE READ THE NEXT ENTRY BEFORE YOU WATCH THIS CLIP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vinegar and Pennies

On Sat., Ha mentioned to me that his teacher put pennies in the vinegar in order to clean up the pennies, but she hasn't done it successfully. Therefore, I asked Ha if he wanted to do it at home, too. He agreed, so I started collecting "dirty pennies" for our experiment. Here is one of the video clips of the penny cleaning experiment:

Since I was not majored in science, and I was in 社會組 when I was in high school, I interviewed a 路人甲 whose major is EEC"S", at least 和 science 沾上一點邊。Here is what he said:

Well, he mentioned that his interview shouldn't be on my blog, why is it still here? 原來是輿論的壓力：

For some reason, I couldn't upload this video clip, so I posted it on the new entry. Now, you can go to the previous entry to watch the video clip.

I searched on the website for this experiment, and I found this one. http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/copper_caper.html It offered a good explanations about our experiment, and I guessed that our 路人甲 was right. It's just that he didn't know how to explain in order for people to understand what he meant because when I asked him what is "copper atoms" what is "copper oxide" , or other things on that webpage.., he all knew.

Prop.8---From a kid's eyes

Last night, when we were on our way to the church, Hee asked : "What are we going to do When we wake up after we sleep tonight( In his words, he said: 我們再睡一個覺起來要去哪裡？）? " He meant "what classes am I going tomorrow"? He asks the same question every day, and I have the same answer to him every day: YMCA, Mrs. Lee (his preschool), YMCA, Mrs. Lee, YMCA & AWANA, no class, Sunday School (Jojo 的媽媽）； however, last night, I added something new: "we are going to go for a rally before we go to the church on Sunday".

"Rally? What is it? What is it for?" I explained to them that it's a meeting and parade in Memorial Park this Sunday from 3-5pm to support Prop.8 and to support the marriage between one man and one woman. I then asked Ha: "What do you think about marriage? Do you like the idea that 2 men or 2 women get married?" He said no right away because "it's strange", he said. Then, I asked him how he thinks that God prefers, and he told me that God should prefer a man and a woman to get married, too.

Before this conversation, I never told them anything about same sex marriage, so the above conversation was coming from his own judgement. He didn't think about Christianity, what the Bible says, or equal rights that the same sex marriage supporters claim, but he just chose the family structure that is most comfortable to him, and I believe that it's the most comfortable family structure to most kids, too.

When we were in the church, he saw a board writing "Yes on Prop.8". He couldn't read "Prop.", so he said "what is yes on 8?" I told him that it asked us to vote Yes on Prop.8 which supports the marriage between a man and a woman. Then, he urged me to vote Yes on it, and I told him that I have already voted by mail. Have you voted?????

New Friend

Today, when Ha was in the kitchen eating his favorite bread, he told me that he has a new friend whose name is Ben. He told me that they play together during recess time on the playing structure and sometimes, they sit together during the lunch hour. Besides that, he said that he knew 3 people who are not in his class , and they played on the playing structure together.

Ha is a shy boy, and the interpersonal skill is his weakest point, but I'm glad that he starts to open up himself a little bit at school. ( At home, he's very talkative, it's almost impossible to have him stop talking especially during the dinner time and breakfast time, so he eats super slow). His teacher does a good job to help him feel secure and happy at school, and he never complains about school. I went to teacher/parent conference last week, and I could tell that his teacher observed the kids very well. When I mentioned to her that I was not sure how to bring up Ha's interest in reading: He didn't want to read the easy book because it was boring, but he doesn't have the ability to read the hard book, either. His teacher asked me to bring home a book that his neighbor was reading during the quiet time, and she said that Ha seemed to peek on the book when that kid was reading. When I brought home the book, Ha recognized immediately that it was the book that his neighbor was reading, and he read about 70% of that book all by himself. Therefore, I went to the library to borrow a few books in the same series, and Ha seemed to like them, too. There are about 20 kids in a class, and I was grateful that Ha has such a caring teacher who pays attention to details of the kids.

Hee told me that he played with friends in YMCA and preschool, too, but he didn't know their names. Hee is more outgoing than Ha, so I am not really worried about his interpersonal skills.

Restore Marriage, Protect Children----OPEN AIR RALLY 10/19/08

Stand for Marriage Open Air Rally--Restore Marriage, Protect Children

Time: 10/19/08 3-5pm
Location: Veterans Memorial Park in Cupertino (21267 Stevens Creek Blvd... across the street from De Anza College)
Sponsored by: Chinese Church Alliance

See poster at http://www.valuesadvocacycouncil.org/Poster.html


(基督日報)【本報專訊】11月4日大選之日逼在眉捷，決定加州家庭及下一代未來的「8號提案」亦將決定勝負。「8號提案」一旦通過，將使一男一女結合的婚姻納入憲法，並將令今年年中加州通過的同性婚姻合法化得以取消。VOTE YES on Prop.8!!!!! YES<>

為了動員及捍衞統家庭，華人教會將於本周日下午3時半結集教會信徒於灣區Cupertino Memorial Park，舉行「全灣區維護傳統家庭大會」，作為支持8號提案最後一擊。早前灣區華人教會在上月底在可容納上千人的酒店舉行了聯合禱告大會，來自菲印等族裔信徒亦挺身參與。此外上周在三藩巿華埠花園角的集會亦吸引數百名信徒參與聲援。這數次的集會得到華人教會的重視。不少教會早已張貼了有關海報，並在崇拜程序表及教會告示處放置了宣傳單張，呼籲信徒關注。集會由多個支持傳統家庭的組織主辦，包括美國回歸真神禱告運動、大使命中心、專業人士福音協會及傳統家庭促進會。此外三藩巿灣華人同工聯禱會及三藩巿華人基督教會聯會亦出力協辦。此次集會或相似於2004年4月25日於三藩巿Larsen Park舉行的維護傳統婚姻露天大會，當日約7千名基督徒參加，他們持中、英文「婚姻 = 一男 + 一女」標語，表達支持一男一女婚姻的訴求。集會原因是三藩巿巿長違法發出4千多份同性結婚證書，引來保守人士公憤。同年8月加州高等法院判決該等結婚證書無效，足證各地傳統婚運動取得空前成功。

Lincoln Logs

We got a huge box of lincoln logs for $2 from a garage sale, and it became Ha and Hee's favorite toys these days. They built houses, zoos and many other structures through it, and I really liked the way that they played together. They looked like twins in the picture, didn't they?

See the slide show on the side bar for more Lincoln Logs photos.

First Grade Fieldtrip

Please read the following letter. It was forwarded to me through an email:

Dear Friend,

You're not going to believe this.

In the same week that the No.8 campaign launched an ad that labeled as
"lies" claims that same-sex marriage would be taught in schools to young
children, a first grade class took a school-sponsored trip to a gay
wedding. Eighteen first graders traveled to San Francisco City Hall on
Friday for the wedding of their teacher and her lesbian partner, The San
Francisco Chronicle reported. The school sponsored the trip for the
students, ages 5 and 6, taking them away from their studies for the
same-sex wedding.

The wedding was officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who
arrogantly welcomed the arrival of same-sex marriage by saying "The
door's wide open now. It's gonna happen, whether you like it or not."

It's no wonder that the No on 8 campaign is fighting tooth and nail to
get our ads pulled off the air. It's because they're true. Not only will
school children be taught about same-sex marriage if Prop 8 fails, it's
already happening.

To make sure Californians know the truth, we need you to do three things
right now:

1. Forward this email to your friends and family right now, and ask
them to forward it to their friends. Every California voter needs to
know about this.
2. Watch the ad "the No on 8 campaign doesn't want you to see", and
donate to keep it on the air.
3. Please volunteer today, and we'll put you out in the field talking
to voters directly -- as thousands are already doing this weekend.

Thank you for all that you do. Please spread the word and make sure your
neighbors know the truth before they vote!

Sincerely,

Chip White
Secretary
ProtectMarriage. com - Yes on 8

Hide and Seek - Dark version

Last night, Ha, Hee and Stephen played hide and seek, and this time, they turned off the light. It's a good way to save some energy. If they play it every night, our PG&E bill should look nicer.

What Hee Said

Sometimes, I found it's cute for a kid to talk like an adult (but I don't like it when they talk like adults all the time.)

This afternoon, after Hee's sports class, we went to search for the kids' slippers that they can wear at home because the weather is getting cold, and our wooden floor is cold in the morning, too. Few days ago, I tried Marina Market, but I didn't find good slippers, so today, I tried Ranch 99 near Hee's sports class. They don't sell slippers, either, so I asked Hee if he wanted to go to Milpitas because I remembered seeing the slippers in the Ranch 99 there. He agreed, so I drove to Milpitas.

The parking lot was full, so I told him: "好難找 parking space (it's hard to find a parking space)". He told me: “這裡不貴（it's inexpensive here)" At first, I didn't understand what he meant, so I asked him to explain. He said that things may be sold cheaper here, so many people come. It's a very good observation and logical thinking, big hands for Hee!

When we were home in garage, Hee told me that he almost slept in the car because it took too long to drive from Milpitas to our house, so he 受不了了。It's so cute to hear him saying "受不了".

By the way, we didn't find slippers in Ranch 99 in Milpitas, either, but I found slippers for each one of us in M.V. Trading Company in Milpitas Square.

On the picture, Hee didn't want to be the first one to be cut the hair, so he's pretty upset. At the end, Ha went first.

YES ON Prop 8 (支持第八號提案）

I have voted YES on Prop. 8, have you?

2008 年11月4日加州大選10月20日選民註冊截止。請支持一男一女傳統婚姻，保護孩子的婚姻觀念不被誤導。鼓勵你的親朋好友、鄰居和同事投票支持。

Watch a short video clip to see what will happen if you don't vote yes on Prop.8:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1815820715?bctid=1822459319


The following is a summary of why we need to vote yes on Prop.8: (http://www.protectmarriage.com/about/why)

The Issue
California voters passed Proposition 22 in 2000 by more than 61%, saying that a marriage in California is between a man and a woman. Earlier this year, four activist judges based in San Francisco wrongly overturned the people's vote, legalizing same-sex marriage.

The Consequences
The Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage did not just overturn the will of California voters; it also redefined marriage for the rest of society, without ever asking the people themselves to accept this decision. This decision has far-reaching consequences. For example, because public schools are already required to teach the role of marriage in society as part of the curriculum, schools will now be required to teach students that gay marriage is the same as traditional marriage, starting with kindergarteners. By saying that a marriage is between “any two persons” rather than between a man and a woman, the Court decision has opened the door to any kind of “marriage.” This undermines the value of marriage altogether at a time when we should be restoring marriage, not undermining it.

The Solution
Vote YES on Proposition 8 to overturn the outrageous Supreme Court decision and restore the definition of marriage that was approved by over 61% of voters. Proposition 8 is NOT an attack on gay couples and does not take away the rights that same-sex couples already have under California’s domestic partner law. California law already grants domestic partners all the rights that a state can grant to a married couple. Gays have a right to their private lives, but not to change the definition of marriage for everyone else.

Passing Proposition 8 protects our children and places into the Constitution the simple definition that a marriage is between a man and a woman.

Now, let's see how our presidential candidates look at Prop. 8: (World Journal)

【美聯社舊金山一日電】民主黨的總統候選人歐巴瑪已經宣布，他反對加州的「第八號提案」，這項選民提案將於今年11月交給選民票決，內容則是禁止同性結婚。歐巴瑪這一表態，將使同性結婚成為11月大選的焦點議題，因為向來反對同性結婚的共和黨總統候選人馬侃，已於上周表示，支持第八號提案。
歐巴瑪是在寫給舊金山一個同性戀團體民主黨俱樂部的信函中表示他支持有關提案。他在信中表示，他反對修改加州憲法的行為，因為修憲把結婚限在一男一女的範圍內，具有歧視性質。他又說，他也反對其他州把限制民眾的結婚自由。

至於馬侃，則於上周已表示支持加州第八號提案。第八號提案是由加州的反同性結婚聯盟「保衛婚姻制度」 (ProtectMarriage)所提出，這個聯盟蒐集了110萬名加州選民的簽名，讓這項提案得以放在11月的選票上。

在此之前，歐巴瑪一再重申，結婚是一男一女的結婚，而不是同性結婚；在今年5月加州最高法院裁定同性結婚合法後，歐巴瑪發表謹慎的聲明說，尊重法院的裁決，又說各州對於是否接受同性結婚應有自主權，當時他仍然沒有說支持同性結婚，直到現在才表明支持同性結婚。

對同性結婚選擇立場將會使歐巴瑪和馬侃冒上政治風險，因為11月的選舉中，加州、亞利桑那和佛羅里達三個州都有同性結婚的選民提案要進行票決，加州被視為歐巴瑪的囊中物，而亞利桑那則是馬侃穩勝的州，但關鍵的佛羅里達，則可能因為同性結婚的議題而影響投票。

Do you still support Obama??????

印度基督徒 被迫改信印度教

Let's pray for the Indian Christian.

From World Journal 10/14/08
【編譯王麗娟綜合13日電】在鄰居脅迫下，狄加爾一家人到村中的廣場集合。接著鄰居要求他們對一個印度教士的肖像下跪，交出聖經、讚美詩、基督畫像，然後，從小即是基督徒的狄加爾，眼看著鄰居一把火燒掉這些物件。
鄰居還威脅他，不改信印度教，即會毀他的家，殺光他的家人，或者將他們趕出村子。

紐約時報報導，印度雖為政教分離國家，但許多印度教徒違反基本自由，明目張膽侵擾其他宗教信徒。

狄加爾居住的奧立沙省，6周來宗教衝突不斷，而類似狄加爾的基督教家庭說，他們被迫改信印度教，以換取安全。

全印度目前至少有6個省的基督徒飽受性命威脅，宗教衝突在原本寧靜的城鎮中引起恐慌。狄加爾居住所在暴力最嚴重的坎達瑪地區，已有逾30人死亡，3000個房舍付之一炬，130間以上的教堂被毀，包括狄加爾家人去的浸信會教會。

印度教徒與基督教徒的衝突，在印度時有所聞，但最近幾周，為數年來最嚴重的一次。起因為印度教士史瓦米於8月23日被殺。40年來，史瓦米一直在該區鼓吹村民信奉印度教。官方認為殺害史瓦米的是毛派游擊隊，但印度教激進分子認為基督徒必需為他的死亡負責。

Haircut

How much is for boys' haircut? $10?$12?$15? As long as you have tools at home, it's totally free, and it can be done in 5 minutes, no kidding.

Stephen has done the haircut for Ha and Hee for few years, and he now is an expert of that. I have never tried it. I videotaped the process of the haircut and maybe next time, I can do it, too. ( Stephen said that if I can do a good job at cutting boys' hair, I will be allowed to cut his, too. hahaha.....let's wait and see!)

Here it goes:

and a little clip of Hee:

The video clip was in Chinese, but the main point was that the first tool was #3, and the second one (for top of the head) was #5.

Ha: before and after

Hee: before and after

Fall Garden

It's fall, the harvest season, let's see what our backyard has:

1. tomatoes and raspberries:

this year, we don't have the small or colorful tomatoes but only have this kind of middle size tomatoes. We planted the raspberry tree in Feb., and we can get about 10 raspberries every 2 or 3 days. Moreover, it grows 3 more small raspberry plants itself.

2. Swiss Chard: Look at them! Huge! We only eat the leaves because the stem is too thick.

3. Yam leaves: We haven't eaten them yet. Maybe we can start trying them in few weeks.

4. 小菜秧： Fay's mom gave us the seed, and we have eaten this for about 5 times so far. The only problem was that there are many little bugs eating them, too, so we have to be fast!

5. Green onion: This one is not eatable because it's too big, almost as tall as Hee. There are som

e smaller ones and smaller garlic leaves that we can eat.

Preschool Homework

From last week, Hee's preschool started having homework, too. He usually got homework on Thurs. and needs to turn it in on Tuesday. At the beginning, I thought that he may not enjoy his whole weekend because he needs to do the homework; however, after these two weeks, I think that I'm worrying too much because he usually finishes everything before dinner time on Thursday.

He loves to do his homework and started doing it when he was still in the car. I asked him not to, but he just couldn't wait. When we came back from school, I usually cook our lunch first, and he went to my room and continued to work on his homework. (he likes to write his work on the floor. I asked him to use the table, but he didn't want to.) The problem was that without adults' supervision, he couldn't understand the instruction on the paper, and sometimes, he might do it wrong and need to erase and write again.

He always said that he knew how to do it, and he didn't need my help, but in fact, he's not always right. It reminded me what the Bible says: “驕傲在敗壞以先；狂心在跌倒之前”， “尊榮以先，必有謙卑。” However, other than that, I really like his attitude toward the homework because I don't need to push him all the time.

Comparing to Hee, Ha is more conservative. He needs to know the instruction clearly before he starts, and he's slower than Hee. He usually finishes his weekly homework in 2 days.

Pumpkin Carving

On Wed., Ha told me that his teacher said that there's a pumpkin carving contest at the end of October, so he wanted to carve a pumpkin, too. He asked me not to buy a huge pumpkin; otherwise, it will be too heavy for him to carry to school; therefore, I chose a middle size pumpkin for him, and he was happy about my choice.

He did most of the carving by himself, and I just helped him to scoop out the inside seeds and helped him to make sure that 2 eyes were the same size. I was afraid that he might hurt his fingers, so I gave him a glove, but he didn't use it. Actually, he was pretty careful at carving, and he did a better job than I expected.



On Wed., he told me that he's going to put the solar light on top, so I thought that he's going to do so. When he carried the pumpkin to his room, I didn't go & check it; however, when he came out of his room, it added a light with a switch and a battery. It was nice, and again, "high tech!" I told him not to use the tape because it looked "unprofessional", so later, he used the nails and the glue to put the switch on.

A short clip of video:

One problem is that the contest will be on 10/24, and I really doubt that the pumpkin can last that long. If not, Ha said that we can do another one the day before the contest. Oh, well.

Good Advice

I'm ok in terms of driving, but I'm not very sure about my parking skill especially on parallel parkings.

The day before yesterday, Hee and I went to YMCA, but the parking lot was all full, so I had to park parallel on street. I told Hee that I was afraid to park parallel because I didn't know how. Hee told me: KEEP TRYING, NO CRYING!!!!! ( This was what his sports coach told them when they tried to make the basket while playing basketball. Some of the kids started to cry when they couldn't make the basket.)

This was a good advice, and I did park my car well after few tries. If he didn't say that to me, I might just give up and find an easier parking spot far away, but I may never learn the parallel parking.

Ready to Move

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

I think that our new home is ready to move in. Therefore, from now on, I'll use "blogspot" instead of "Yahoo 360" to write my blog entries. I'll still keep Yahoo 360, but I won't add any more new entries there.

Thanks Yahoo for giving me a space in the past few years to record the big things and small things happened to my family, and these will be my treasure forever.

Our new address here is http://happyfamilyhuang.blogspot.com/ . Please continue to allow me share our lives with you, and please leave a comment to share your lives with us. Let's keep in touch!

這是我的新部落格，歡迎常來逛逛！

Exercise

Let's see if we can upload the videos here:

These are the exercise videos that couldn't be shown on my Yahoo Blog.

Nice, let's see if I can post a photo here:









Ok, it works, too!

Thinking about Moving

Lately, we had a lot of problem with Yahoo 360 in terms of posting entries and comments, so I set up a Google Blog account to see how it works.