Precious Moments ~ Playdate with Guh Guh!

A couple days ago on a lazy afternoon, I was sick and just let the kids do whatever....so they did what they usually do....FIGHT! Strangely, after 30 minutes, while I was showering, Abbie came and took all her bath toys from my bathroom to Caleb's bathroom. I asked her what she was up to. She said, "I'm bathing with guh guh today!" They'd become best friends in just a few minutes!

Then they proceeded to play for 40 minutes in the bath. Occasionally I'll hear them sing and bicker. During soapdown, I even heard guh guh say, "Mei, I wipe you ok?" And mei responds, "Guh, I like you too!!" Then I hear guh guh ask, "Mei, did you pee pee at me?" The other then responded, "Yeah." It was hilarious to hear their cute conversation, and they had a blast without my helicoptering too! ^_^ Then as I continued to 'pass out' on my LaZBoy recliner, I heard them putting on their play clothes and skip downstairs together.

Then cabinet doors opened and closed, the freezer purrred, and clinking of spoons and bowls signal that an ice cream date has taken place. "Guh guh, be careful! Good job, guh! Give me five!" "Mei, your ice cream is ready." "Thanks guh! Good job!" Finally, I stumbled downstairs after 2 hours of their special sibling playdate. Of course, the two left ice cream bowls and half-eaten apple pies on the floor for me to put away. But I didn't mind. It was a precious moment indeed, and I will always treasure this day in my heart.

These are the moments when you feel so thankful to be blessed by two precious munchkins ~ who look out for, and love, each other! ^_^

Ok, I'm trying out different templates but they're all making me dizzy. I'll stick to this one.

Happy Halloween everyone! We'll go to Mission Viejo mall for trick-or-treating AND voting, 2 birds with one stone! Can't believe this month is coming to an end! We're gonna head for Mission Possible in Taiwan in another 5.5 weeks! Wow! ^_^

Halloween is coming!

Unexpected Words from Abbie this week:

• As daddy was pulling away from the curb to go to work, Abbie yelled out from the upstairs window, "Byeeeeeeee baba!! See you next WEEK!!!"



• Sitting by a little boy at the park, I asked Abbie (catching a teachable moment), "Abbie, the boy next to you is 2, you are 3 yr old, so who here is the oldest?" She paused and then yelled excitedly, "MOMMY!!!!"



• Daddy and I were fighting over who cutie Abbie takes after, as we each persisted we contributed to her 'cuteness'. We asked Abbie, "Abbie, do you look like mommy or daddy?" Abbie paused and said, "Like Guh Guh!" (big brother) Very diplomatic child indeed.

Today Abbie will go to ballet class....in her Butterfly Halloween outfit! It will be interesting! There is no school tomorrow or Friday, so we will definately be keeping busy! ^_^

My Side Job ~

Ok, I've been MIA for the past few days...I got the flu shot, but still the flu/cold caught me. I started to lose my voice a few days ago and was horizonal by Sat, when hubby went hiking somewhere in Big Bear. But I did manage to keep the kids and myself alive until he returned later that night. This year the flu season pounced on us with full force, even though all of us got the flu shot. By yesterday, the kids and I talked like emphysema patients. Aye....oh, and today....I worked! For pay too!

This morning I got a call at 8am from Caleb's school administrator. I was called in to be a substitute student supervisor. That just means you're a 'playground teacher' and watch the kids play (and fight, and tattle-tale on each other). ^_^ This is not a great week to start your first day of new job, because the schedule is all messed up. There are teacher/parent conferences all week, no school Thurs/Fri, and no one knows what the bell schedule's supposed to be today. Everyone in the office ran around, confused but happy, and no one noticed my prompt arrival. ^_^ I reported at 10:30am sharp and proceeded to watch the kids eat lunch, clean up their litter, raise their hands with "peace-sign" signaling they're ready to play, and dismissed them. Then they played in the blazing 90 degree sun until the bell rang and another group of kids (different grade level) came out and I repeated the 'supervising' process all over again.

It's so interesting to learn on-the-job, as kids came up to me with different requests, like "please remove him from the tetherball court! He doesn't know how to play!", or tattle-taling on friends writing on bathroom floors. One child showed me her foot and then proceeded to ask me to tie her shoelaces. I didn't know playground supervisors did all these things! I opened up soy sauce packets for one child eating gourmet california rolls too! I had to break up a little fight between 4 boys and threaten them that they'll be 'timed-out' if they don't play gently. My 6 yr old later reminded me that 'time out' is for toddlers, I should've said, "You're gonna be Benched at the cafeteria!" if they were misbehaving. "That works better," he said. I even got my own 'whistle' to blow (since sharing would be unhygenic, said the office manager)! Next time I'll use it on Caleb and Abbie when they fight in the house! ^_^

Other than being a good listener on the playground, I had to treat a head banged by a tetherball and clean up a bruised knee (caused by the child stepping on himself with his other foot and falling down). I was wearing my Angels jersey and must have looked like a groundhog, standing on my toes looking to and fro. By 11:30am it was getting really, really hot, and I needed to go to the bathroom badly. But kids of different grade level kept coming, and leaving, and more came and went. By 12:30 noon, I was glad everyone made it back to their classroom safely, and I signed-out and brought Caleb to Swirlz frozen yogurt to reward ourselves for a job well done today. The parent-teacher conference went really well too! Yoohoo!

Why did God create Rude people??

Yesterday I fasted... not for a time of undistracted prayer, but because I had a blood test at Mission plaza and needed to skip breakfast (^_^). So I took Abbie at 8:30am and Crown Valley was jam packed like a parking lot! I hope the street widening project won't end up going 'till 2010! So I was frantically looking for the LabCorp bldg among the hundreds of medical structures that somehow popped out in recent months. A guy rolled down his window, drove next to me and pointed at me, "Hey you!! You should walk instead!!!!" and zoomed away.
I was so !#@*#@$!!#$ that someone would be so rude! Obviously no one was going anywhere in that street condition, and I was looking around for the bldg. number, so what's his problem?
After I parked, I strolled with Abbie toward Labcorp, still fuming at the unfriendly stranger. I wanted to curse the living daylights out of him, as I recollected the look in his face. Then I was convicted by the holy spirit (aka: the angel on your right shoulder....) who reminded me that instead of retaliating at his rude remarks, pray buckets of blessings on this guy and drench him!
Why? This guy doesn't deserve it!
But I felt the Lord saying, "Obviously, this guy is angry and anxious, and his health is probably compromised because of it. And his frustration easily spills over to his family, friends and coworkers, so pray for his wife & kids, who suffer more than a stranger like you would. He's probably late to work, and if he's part of the unfortunate 7.5%, he probably doesn't have a job to go to. And the best thing is, YOU were not the one who shot angry words at him!"
So after that, I realized that there is much to be thankful for, and that those who are mean have struggles that we do not know. I learned to 'not show my annoyance at once, but to overlook an offense' (proverbs something...). It's so hard, as anyone can easily explode over a small trigger, thus road rage, domestic, workplace and school violence are all too common. There was an interesting formula I saw back in 2004 that goes like this:

Trigger (hurt, rejection, unpleasant event) + Anger X Self-pity =
Aggression (towards others) or Depression (inwards)

Plug in any event triggering strong negative emotion or hurt (i.e. unmet expectations, rejection, unpleasant words, etc.), add Anger and multiply by Self-pity, and you're pretty much headed towards Depression! Amazing! The human emotion is so complex, isn't it?
[Note: This is different,however, from Grief, which is the natural process in which people adjust to the loss of loved ones over time].

So God didn't create rude people after all! ^_^ They just chose to act (and react) that way !

Hm...I guess we're all guilty

I was thinking about Prop.8 and how heated it has become, esp. reading that the "Yes (and No) on 8" lawn signs were graffittied or stolen throughout the past few days across the country. It's so easy to see the 'speck' in other people's eye and forget to notice the huge piece of wood in my own eye (Luke 6:41). When it comes to sexual immorality, we are all guilty before the Lord, in one form or another. What the children of God (or those professing to be followers of Jesus Christ) need to do is to become examples of purity, in their own homes, workplace, and community. This is not only outwardly but in our own thought life as well. When no one is looking and when it's late at night, what do we do? We may not be able to change others' sexual behavior, but what we can do is to admit that we too, fall short of the holiness of the Lord and we (yours truly included, as I am constantly guilty of the same) need to come clean with the Lord daily about our own S.O.S. (sins of sexuality). We are all weak in many ways, and the true need of all of us (sinners) is to come to a personal relationship with the Lord. Once we taste the great living water (or fine wine, as Jesus turns tap water into the best wine out there ^_^), we will not crave the old stuff, which are likened to old stale treats long after Halloween has passed. It's the heart of those lost and alone that should burden our hearts and bring us to our knees in love and concern for the lost, rather than being fixated on the outward actions. What comes out in action was once formed as seedlings in the heart and the mind, and this is where we pray that God's grace would touch. True that our bodies are the temple of God and we should not defile it, as a man who sins sexually sins against his/her own body while other sins are outside of the body. But the biggest culprit is that this is not only limited to homosexuality or fornification, but also abberant thoughts about the other gender and internet peek-a-booing as well. Before God, all sins are the same and thus as the body of Christ, we need to be the first ones to confess that we struggle and need God to help us in this area as well.... ~(*_*)~

No More Doc Appointments ~ Please

Hi dears!

Yesterday we went to the pediatrician at 10am, but the doctor was NOT IN! Arughhh! They mis-scheduled Abbie's appointment to Tuesday instead, and the doc was at a conference in the A.M.. So we ended up rescheduling to 1:30pm. We still had ~3+ hours to kill so I went to my Well Woman exam upstairs, then to the Shops at Mission Viejo ~(^_^)~ And boy, did I shop!

I had my very un-fun, spread-eagle exam, witnessed in full view by my 3 yr. old who sat right behind the doctor. Afterwards, she looked petrified, backed off towards the door and screamed, "MAMA! I don't want to check my Wee wee....pleeease!" I told her she doesn't need to, and she still looked at me suspiciously. "Please, ma, no check wee wee....". I laughed hysterically. I explained that Dr. Jaucian is mommy's doctor, not hers!

While paying my co-pay, the receptionist mentioned, "Your sister in law just called in for an appointment too! This week!" ^_^ I'm not sure why but I immediately dialed her home with my cell phone and announced, "This is Dr. Jaucian's Office! I'm calling you back because...." She interrupted me and proceeded to confess some personal health issues of hers (omitted for privacy) and after 3 minutes of 'chatting', I blurted out laughing, "It's ME, sis! Can't you tell it's my voice?!" I guess I was in prankster mode yesterday...bad bad! I hope she'll talk to me next time I see her!

OH, here's another guilt "trip" I made along the way....
We were at MV mall waiting for Abbie's McNuggets and I (guilty!) looked at the Monopoly game rule brochure for a tad too long. I turned around and Abbie was gone! After 4 minutes I started to try to recall what she was wearing, 'cuz I may need to officially tell the mall security I screwed up and lost my 3 yr old (again....). I decided to try the other side of the food court loop and spotted a little girl, holding her bottle and staring at the Lemon and Corndog cartoon on the colorful Muscle Beach wall. Like a loving mother, I then dogged her for 15 minutes about how she shouldn't disappear on mommy, even if mommy isn't paying attention.

She finally did get her flu and DTP shots in the afternoon, but funny, she didn't cry when the needle went in. She just blurted, "OWWW" and gave the nurse an evil eye afterwards. Doctor Kim waltzed in joyfully and said, "Hi my dear Abbie! How are you?" And when she obliged to his examination requests, he continued, "What a Good boy you are! Good Boy!" I couldn't hold back any longer but blurted, "Dr. Kim! We are a "GIRL", not a boy!" And uncertain if he understood me, he said, "Oh sure, good boy! Uh, Good girl!" I can't reckon how one can mistaken the gender of a little one in a bright pink shirt, pink striped legging and a high-pitched giggle?!%$%$
But we LOOOVE Dr. Kim and had him watch over our precious angels for 6+ years so we'll forgive him... again. (^_^) Health is the most important thing, I've come to realize. I sent some friends a weblink about Pastor Rick Warren (Saddleback Church pastor) whose daughter-in-law had discovered she had brain tumor last week. This diagnosis is just 2 months after she delivered her first baby. It's so hard for a young family to go through this...and she is only 25 years old! *_*

Will keep their family in prayer...I guess Pastor Greg Laurie and Pastor Rick has been going through a lot of challenges lately. May the Lord give them strength as they continue to share God's love with the world....

Back to my 20 loads of laundry....

Luv y'all,
Soph

Hi My Dear Web Kins!

WHOA.... I thought it would take me days to find a blog site, set up a blog, and actually write an article in one! I can't believe that I did it all in 12 minutes. And why did I take forever to create one? ^_^ I'm so glad that this happened, finally.... What's the date today? (looking at calendar above my head...) Monday, October 20, 2008.

This is the first day of my blog ^_^ I am inspired to blog because my friends (whom I flood weekly email blog articles with) urged me to set one up (so I don't max out their email inbox quota, haha) and also this will keep all the entries in one place. I'm so thankful for your inputs, sweeties. Thanks for your patience, support, and friendship! Enjoy the blog ~(^_^)~
You can put it on your yahoo bookmark "Favorites" tab (or more likely the "Will Read When Bored" tab, hehe.....)

Gonna take Abbie for her flu shot and immunization shots now....and my dreaded "well woman" (unhappy and uncomfortable woman, is more like it *_*) exam. The two offices are one floor away so we'll do it back to back, then treat ourselves with McDonald's nuggets!

Soph

p.s. Below are pictures of the kids on the first plane trip of their lives! This was in August, when we went to Utah! They has so much fun watching TV, eating chips, and even waiting for luggage!