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!!!