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.