Thanksgiving Update

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed ours. Dad came down from Tulsa. Amy, Kendall, Chloe and Sophia came up from Austin. Our house suddenly was full of life! Emily fixed her eyes on Presley all the time. She wished she could bind Presley on her waist! Chloe was so excited to have a playmate to play with. Sophia was such an independant player that she could play for a long time with her toys on the floor. All the adults were busy with taking care of the kids or playing with them.

We had the Mexican dinner at home on Wednesday. Then we started cooking until late night. For Thanksgiving lunch, we invited some of David's FriendSpeak readers to join us. It was the first time for them to go to someone's house for a Thanksgiving meal. They really loved it. Our lunch lasted from noon to 3:30pm. By the end of the lunch, David asked us to come to the living room - Emily walked independantly for the first time! She walked back and forth for a few laps. We all cheered and applauded for her. She was so proud of herself!

The rest of the holiday weekend just flew by without any trail left. The only things I remember were eating with family, playing with the kids, and relaxing. That's what I love about Thanksgiving. The kids are still too little this year to start the family traditions. I look forward to starting the holiday traditions next year.

Here are a few pictures that reflect the good time we had during the holiday:

(Group picture for the kids)(Emily played with Grandpa)

(Emily played with Daddy)

(FriendSpeak readers looked at the China albums)

(Thanksgiving lunch)

(Chloe loved holding Emily's hand to walk)

(Emily loved the birthday gift from Amy and Kendall; Chloe showed Emily how to play)

(Emily loved the new toy from Sandy and Hongyu)

(Emily leaned on Mommy's arm for the picture at Cheesecake Factory)

(Emily and Auntie Amy)

(Video of Emily's very first steps on Thanksgiving Day)

(Video of Emily practicing walking the day after Thanksgiving)

Happy Thanksgiving

We had some good visits with friends recently. Nathan and Amy came over to visit us about 10 days ago. We had great evening catching up with each other. The next day, Ray and Olivia came over with their 6 months old son Steven. Emily didn't feel well after the vaccination shots. So she really didn't play with Steven before she went to bed. The next Monday, Jerry's parents invited us to their house for dinner. We had a feast again! Emily enjoyed eating with us and playing with Jerry's dad afterwards. Their new apartment looked great after the reconstruction because of the fire back in April. They still need a few furniture items to fill up each room. Friday night we met with Darren and Leslie for dinner. We haven't seen Darren ever since David and I got married. Although we talked regularly over the phone, nothing can beat the joy of seeing an old friend face to face! Leslie brought us some China pictures that were lost in our SD card. It was nice to spend some time with both of them. We wish we could see them more often and we could visit longer. We left our camera at home. Luckily Leslie brought his, so we may get the group picture from him later. Sunday we met with Mary and Ted for lunch after church service. They updated us on the ministry that they are involved in recently. We told them about the China trip in return.

Saturday we had the 4th annual International (FriendSpeak) Thanksgiving dinner at church. We made a big pan of corn casserole. David helped with the setup in the afternoon. Emily and I went there right on time for the dinner. David and I dressed up in the Pilgrim's costumes. It was a lot of fun! Emily was the one that had the most fun: she was passed from people to people except the movie time when she sat down to enjoy the Thanksgiving food. She also got to run around in the big room with Ray and play with Steven on the table. We were surprised that she was still awake after we got home! Around 165 people attended the dinner this year. All of David's readers came. They sat with us at a big round table. Here are a couple of pictures we took:

Emily makes us laugh all the time. She knows to put smaller bucket inside the bigger one so that she can carry both with one hand - she loves the challenge of grabbing two favorite items with one small hand. She is very persistent and cautious. She learned how to drink out of the glass or a straw. Darren asked Friday night how Emily changed my relationship with God. That was such a thought-provoking question. I can tell you so many things that I learned from her. But the things that are on top of my mind are these: One: Emily brought so much pure joy and amazement to my life everyday and I'm so delighted in it. Thinking that I am God's daughter. ain't I supposed to bring joy to God each day like Emily did; Two: Emily has total trust in me. She is so dependent on me (even my little finger). She looks to me for reassurance all the time when she is in doubt about something or some situation. If I say "No" and give her a serious face, she will stop what she does right away. When she falls, if I was nervous, she would cry. But if I pretended it was not a big deal, she would usually brush it off too. I know I'm not perfect or powerful at all. If Emily has that attitude toward me and trusts that I will behave in her best interest, how much shall I trust and depend on our Almighty Heavenly Father? Three: No matter how much I love other people's kids, I just can't love them as much as I love my own child. It takes time to deepen that relationship. It helped me to understand God's feeling toward His own children and the importance of spending time with Him. "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3) There are certainly a lot lessons that we can learn from Emily (Want more evidence that children are better than adults? Here is a most recent one Adults Fooled by Visual Illusions, but Not Kids). Below is a picture of Emily with Joey on a purple day:


Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming around the corner. As we plan for our time with family and friends, it is also a time to plan for our giving. Giving thanks to God; giving time and love to family and friends and others; giving financial gifts to the less previleged ... Yesterday we saw the 2 year old girl in front of us giving her 25 cents contribution during the church communion. We told her parents that we couldn't wait for Emily to be old enough to do that!

If we don't have chance to see or talk to you before the holiday, here's our wish for you: A Very Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

David's China Trip

This post is a make-up for David's China trip. Many friends wanted to know more about the trip but haven't had chance to talk to us. Below is from his report to our church elders:

"Jonny Hoagland, Leslie Fry (North Davis COC) and I just returned home from Beijing, China where we were blessed to have worked with the Jinsong Church and the local missionaries Andrew and Jaime Hill for two weeks. God brought us 33 readers and we spent a total of 115 hours reading with them during those two weeks. Most of our readers were reading the stories of Jesus for the first time. They were so eager to learn more about the Bible that many nights we had to read with two readers at a time.

During the two weeks we were there, we deeply felt the need for more workers. We were also very encouraged by the work the local missionaries are doing. The conversations with our readers were always enlightening. Many of their questions revealed that they were trying to reconcile Jesus’ teachings with the lessons that they have heard from the world. One reader said, “I don’t have much faith, but I think it is a good thing, how can I get it?” After we read the parable of the soil, another student said, “I am not a good soil yet, but I want to be.” One student asked, “Can you teach me how to pray?” Another said, “What does the Bible say about disciplining your child?”

After we came back to the States, one reader emailed us “Thank you very much for your Bible teaching. Although only two-week reading with you, it is a real improvement for me in both knowledge, learning and communication. And one of my colleagues, who previously attended many ceremonies of Christianity in Canada, is also interested in Bible reading and I am now trying to introduce her to Jaime and Andrew.”

One highlight of the trip was a party we hosted so that our readers could meet and connect with the local church members. Eight of our readers attended the party! On our two days off we took some time to visit with Gary and Danita Jackson and we visited The Great Wall, The Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, The Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square.

Two weeks is a short time. But we praise God for a truly memorable and productive time of working in his service..."


The first day when they got there, they registered 15 readers. The next day after the English corner, 8 more signed up. Of course, more readers joined later. One of them was a hotel employee. David just read with him at the hotel lounge area. When they did the registration, a policeman came to ask people what they were doing. The readers told the policeman something that David didn't understand. Afterwards the policeman gave them two thumbs up and a big smile before he walked away. David had such a busy schedule that he normally didn't go back to the hotel until 10:30pm. But he totally enjoyed every minute of it.

Here are a few pictures of David with his readers. David can tell you good stories of each of them:









This is the party they had with some of the readers. Johnny was explaining the rules for a game they played.

This is the Sunday service that the local new church had at a restaurant:

In this picture, a crippled girl was writing her experience on the street so that she could get some donation from the people walking by. She then wiped out clean after she finished writing and moved on ...


David, Leslie and Johnny at the Summer Palace
At the Great Wall

David is Home & Emily's 1st Birthday

David was back home on Halloween. He was a little disappointed that it took a few seconds for Emily to recognize him. But after that Emily warmed up quickly. You can tell from this picture how happy she was:

"Welcome Back"

Halloween night we had about 30 kids coming by, not as many as we expected. Emily and David had a wonderful time handing out the candies. We still have lots of leftovers after the Trick or Treat.

Last Sunday our little Princess Emily turned one! Happy Birthday Sweetie!!! I took Friday off so that we could take Emily to the Dallas Arboretum since Emily loves flowers, plants and leaves. The weather was so beautiful. Emily had great time patting the pumpkins, picking up the leaves, pointing to the flowers, and walking on the wet grass! Here are a few pictures we took that day:

Sunday after church we had a birthday lunch at home. Fang and Fred, Gayla and David, with their kids came over. I made Emily a sugar free banana cake with sugar free frosting because she hasn't really been exposed to too much sugar yet. David made the chocolate cake for everyone else. We had lunch first; then we played a Chinese game called "Zhua Zhou" (which means "pick at one year old"; people play it when the baby turns one year old). Basically we put all the props of different professions around Emily and let her to pick one to predict her future profession: stethescope for doctor; measuring tape for seamstress/tailor; mini soccer ball for athlete; calculator and mouse for engineer; cash for banker; crayon for artist; mini piano model for musician; microphone for entertainer/singer; pen for journalist; spatula for chef; etc. Emily looked around and went for the soccer ball at the first shot! Then she went for the mini piano. But the soccer ball was absolutely her favorite since she held it for a long time. Ha! We'll see whether she'll keep her interest in soccer ...

After the game, Emily opened the gifts and read the cards. She loved every single gift she received. After opening the gifts, she thanked everyone by her smiles to all:

Openning the gifts

Reading the cards

Thanking everyone for the gifts

Cake time was absolutely the highlight of the lunch! Here are some pictures of her:






We were so glad that Emily had a wonderful birthday and enjoyed everything. She is looking forward to having a birthday follow-up with grandpa, auntie and uncle, Chloe and Sophia during Thanksgiving!

Monday Emily got A+ from her doctor again. She weighed 20lb (50%); her height is still off the chart 32 in. We were so proud of her that she really hasn't had any sickness during her first year. God definitely blessed her with an excellent immune system. We pray for His continued protection over her. Emily's new development includes pointing at things and sharing her food with David and me. She has eight teeth now so she's more efficient at chewing different food. Her vocabulary expanded to some Chinese words like "Ah Ya" "Nai nai", etc. But she really hasn't purposefully repeated what we say yet. Her favorite song right now is "I've got Joy Down in My Heart"; her favorite toys are ball, block, and stuffed animals; her favorite bedtime book is "Runaway Bunny"; her favorite snack is yogurt nipplet; her favorite words are "Dada Dada"; her favorite activity is walking; her favorite decoration is flower or plant or jewelry ... she is a typical girl!

Emily's birthday put new meaning on my understanding of my birthday. Starting last week, when I planned for Emily's birthday, I began to think "last year at this time I went to the hospital" "last year at this time we cried when the doctor told us we were having the baby today" "last year at this time we saw our princess face to face the first time" ... Birthday is not just about party, cake, gifts, friends any more. It's about the creation of our God, about our mothers who suffered for us, about the rush of love that the parents and the children have toward each other ... Emily's birth changed our life forever and we are so thankful that God blessed us with such a precious child. Thank you Emily for bringing joy to your mommy and daddy each day! We love you more than you ever know!

Here is a video of Emily sharing/feeding David her food (before I grabbed the camera, she's already fed David several puffs, grapes, etc. Sometimes she fed us with both hands):

Here is a video of Emily's favorite song "I've Got Joy Joy Joy Joy":

Enjoy the cake!