Another year has gone by without any new posts.. I guess it's ok since Facebook takes care of most of our everyday senseless activities.

Snapshot of the year
- Eliana is now potty trained
- Joshua can ride a bike
- Joshua is close to swimming on his own
- Eliana is completely left-handed
- Eliana loves to sing & dance (but too shy to do it in front of others) 
- We are in the process of selling our 1st home ( so sad, many many great memories here)
- Had lots of family dinners throughout the year
- Went to San Antonio & comfort for vacation
- Paid off the minivan (yes!)
- Chong has finished a whole year of nursing school
- We inherited a Triumph Spitfire


A few posts of some funny moments just to catch you up


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Y6An657TQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytkBCOJ7I5o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVRVkiSgou8



The most important, we give God thanks for all the great & difficult times we've had.

The last few months have flew by... Joshua's birthday party / Halloween bash was a blast! Everyone dressed up in their costumes, painted and decorated pumpkins and lots of food to name a few great things we did.

With Thanksgiving past and Christmas approaching, Chong & I are getting excited to closing off this year with good tidings and cheer. With the end of Chong's 1st semester in nursing school, and Helen's new job beginning in the new year, there's a lot of things to be thankful for! Mostly, seeing my brother Daniel who visited for 14-days in November. As a sister, I do confess that although every year it was sad seeing him leave for China, this year left a particular pain in my heart than I can't quite explain. His presence this Thanksgiving really reminded me of God's goodness and provision that we often fail to recognize day to day. I have seen a man devote himself to the calling of God's love, a love that sacrifices self for a love of others. Daniel was the greatest gift I needed this season and I miss him everyday.

This year is a little more challenging than last when the children didn't interact with each other as much as they do now. Last year, Eliana just starting walking and Joshua didn't pay much attention to her. Now with their blasts of laughter together, also come the blasts of tears (mainly from Eliana b/c Joshua is too rough)... this has been the most trying time for us as growing parents. We've embraced every challenge with the help from God who empowers us to teach, direct and guide their growing hearts. It's seems that selfishness and impatience (along with maturity) is the main issue at times. We have seen God working in their hearts each day as they come to realize the need to love each other. The lesson of the need to love others has been a reflection in my own heart this year as how I should demonstrate that myself. It has been a joy serving our children and our Great God, even in the little screams of "Mine" fights.

With each echo of hearing Eliana's high pitched, mouse like voice call "mommy", & little wet kisses first thing in the morning, & her little fingers against mine pulling me to the play room.... these memories bring inexpressible joy. What a privilege to this life, despite the challenges, failures and disappointments.... because Life is Still Good.... because our God is Still Good....

Christmas is Coming!!! And the children went to "Jesus Birthday Celebration" today at Aunt Vicki's church.... Last week we went to our church's "Journey to Bethlehem" where they got to pet a real camel, 2 donkeys, sheep and dog. The kids experienced a true journey through Bethlehem as they saw Roman soldiers on horses. Eliana even got to touch the horse! She loved that part the best!

We hope to capture more moments of Christmas day on video this year. It will be a great one!

Chong's 40th Birthday

Wow! How time flies....!!!! Chong & I have only known each other for 10 years now (I met him when he had just turned 30)... and the past 10years have been very life changing for him, i'm sure. To get married, buy a house, get a dog, have 2 children....

Since we didn't have much time or the dinero to go extravagant on his 40th, Esther & I decided to take him to Fogo de Chao' (thanks Esther for the gift!) we stuffed ourselves full of delicious meat!

Just to say some things about my husband....
- He's the best cook, bbq baby!
- He gives me massages =)
- He is so patient and kind with me & the children, he always has a heart to teach, to love
- He helps others and sacrifices so much of his own pleasure to help someone else
- Has a heart for people
- Multi-tasks things around the house, cooks/cleans and fixes almost everything we break
- Great marksman
- Video/photo guru


The list goes on... and for his birthday, the kids & i made a personal, hand-made scrapbook of "40 reasons why we love you". The kids & I worked on it for over a week! Chong was absolutely thrilled! It was hard getting him something without putting a big dent in our wallet, so we thought this would be better and more meaningful than a tie (it worked!)

Chong has made so many changes in his life the last 10 yrs I've known him.... he is truly a man of God, and a man to be admired. Praise God, and to Him be the glory forever.

FALL IS HERE!

Fall is here! Joshua is now going to pre-pre-k 4 day/wk and Eliana goes 2/wk (thank God for mother's day out programs!). The children love it so much and they are learning, exploring and catching on so quick! Just last week, Joshua's teacher, Ms. Cathy pulled me aside & quietly said, "Joshua is the smartest kid in class,... he is so much more advanced than all the other children! Are you working with him at home?" I was so happy to hear that, and to much praise given to God & Chong's hard work... the summer teaching Chong did paid off! Now if we can only get him to sit still for storytime!!! Eliana is hilarious also. The last 2 weeks, they've been learning the color red, and since she still babbles sounds much of the time, we've noticed a lot of what she says sounds like "red". Everything is red right now! LOL!

Since the weather was so great on Friday, I took the kids to the Houston Zoo (alone) which was quite frightening at first, but after we got there,... they were the perfect kids! We laughed, played and looked at all the wonderful animals. Joshua even noticed the "Mom!, Look, poo-poo!" from the Indonesian, hairless pig.



Chong started his 1st semester in nursing school! So far, all he does is sleep, eat, & study. Not much time for anything else, but we still cherish the moments we have with each other & the children. Please continue to pray for his school, schedule and spiritual walk.

Things to come:

Oct 15 : Airplane Show for Joshua's birthday
Nov 13: Camping trip with the Hung's

Advertures of our Summer 2011

We took our 1st YuShee family road trip to celebrate San Anotonio's version of their "Mardi-Gras" in May. The weather was still cool and got to stroll along the Riverwalk, but quickly realized there were no safety rails to the water so we had to walk up the stairs a little to be on the next level where there were hand rails. Stayed at the Hilton Riverwalk Hotel for 2 nights and got to participate in their nighttime street parade.

Eliana and Joshua had so much fun looking at all the cool hot rod and antique cars driving by, loud tejano music and corner after corner of bbq'd sausage, tacos, tamales and all the other delicious spanish delights! We did stop at McDonalds once for some icecream and french fries, but besides that we were immersing ourselves with the spanish festival and spirits.

Lookin cool in her 1st pair of sunglasses