Good or Bad News? Hubby Flies North for the Winter!! ~(^_^)~

      ~Hubby napped with Mocha after sending out 45 resumes last week ~

Wow, life truly is like a box of chocolates (from See's candies)....you never know what you're gonna get! I always liked dark chocolate covered almonds from Mission Viejo mall....but very soon....I think our family will be trying a brand new flavor ~ Philly's dark chocolate covered pretzels!

On 9/22, Autumn appeared at our church lobby, ragged and hungry. She became our newest family member!

Life was not easy the past 6 weeks, as hubby searched high and low for job opportunities. These days, it is almost impossible to get a face-to-face interview. Hubby only had 1 face to face since July! Being home in the last 2.5 months, however, we treasured precious moments spent together cooking, walking, chatting, and hanging out together. Since we were married 15+ years ago, he's never had this long of a break! Waiting is the biggest challenge for him, he said. But I know that this is a defining and refining stage for us all, and we are learning to stick together and lean on God, knowing from experience that He gives us the best, always! Patience is so hard (esp. when hubby's previous company insurance ran out last week), but I look back and see how God carried us in his arms as we crossed this uncertain terrain!

When mocha turned 6 mos 1 day (9/29) Sunday, she laid a GREEN egg!!

 

Abbie baked daddy's surprise 44th bday cake with mocha's egg on 10/2!

The following Sunday, hubby sunny-sided-up Mocha's egg! Orange yolk!

Friends and family blessed us tremendously as we shared our (lack of) job situation. Everyone prayed for us and encouraged us with their own tales of job-hunting and lay-off horror stories. The good news is that eventually, if we keep on with persistence, we WILL find a job! Hang on, and let God take the steering wheel!

~ ~ Would our family go from this "BEFORE" Picture ~ ~

..............to THIS picture?............

~ ~ AFTER ~ ~ Let it Snow... PENNSYLVANIA !! ~ ~

After more than a dozen phone interviews (which ended....right there), hubby got called to go to Johnson and Johnson for a face-to-face, 6 hour interview in Pennsylvania! He was very nervous and excited, all rolled into one, because the project is a revolutionary cord blood stem-cell delivery system with hopes to bring vision back to people with macular degeneration.

George took hubby to tour China town!

 

So hubby jumped on the plane on the plane and off to Philly he went. On his birthday eve, he faced a large panel (of genetic scientists, HR, hiring manager) for 6 hours. Our buddy George took him around Philly and the boys had a wonderful 44th bday dinner for dear hubby!

Yummy Cantonese Restaurant in Philly Chinatown

 

To make a long story short, 3 weeks after his interview, we get a phone call. Coincidentally, the donation truck was coming today so I was cleaning out tons of toys and puzzles from Abbie's toy bins and bookshelves upstairs.

Hubby sounded super excited and gave me a thumbs-up gesture as he happily talked with the man who is to be his future boss. They had given him a verbal offer!! YEAY!  We both had mixed feelings for the rest of the day, as we cleaned out clothes from our closet for donation. Part of us were excited about embarking on a new adventure on the East Coast, where we have never lived before! But the other part already started to miss our loved ones!

Happy July Family Reunion and Welcome Baby Christopher!

We also had a back up plan.... See, hubby had interviewed with Medtronics (a heart valve company he worked for in 1995) yesterday, so we had hoped that maybe this local company would offer him the job.



Ok, kids are hungry after 5 hr basketball championship. Happy Bday Grandpa!



 

It was only 2 miles from our church, and he could join us for lunch after our mom's fellowships on Thursdays! Unfortunately, we got a call this afternoon that this position has been filled by another candidate.

The 3 amigos shower together ~ for the 1st time! (Wake up, Autumn!)

But God is good, as we had prayed for a clear direction, not too many options that we didn't know our way. And it looks like Johnson and Johnson is front and center, and it is where God would take us for the next few years!?

Surprisingly, today the orchid which lives in my front porch....blossomed! I know they live indoors usually, but hubby/Caleb are allergic to plants so it thrived the last 6 months outside! I guess the flower is telling me that it can brave cold outdoor temp. and hot sun/wind, so I will definately be able to do the same....in snowy cold Pennsylvania!




My orchid lived in the outdoors since March....and now she's re-blossoming again!

Our plan would be this: Hubby would go first (maybe early November!), and the kids and I would stay until school ends next June. I'm sure that this big change will be challenging at first, but with God and loved ones who pray for us and encourage us....nothing is too difficult! (^_^)

Thank you ALL for your love and faithful prayers the last 3 months! We are determined to move forward with joy, flexibility and faith. I think I need to get myself a BIG Snowsuit and rightfully a nice pair of UGG boots, as I will be shoveling snow probably during this time next year! I feel "Brrrr...." just thinking about it! The weather today is super sunny and 82 degrees!
 


p.s. I remembered how God told Abraham to trust and obey, though the future ahead is unknown. And He would lead His people to the land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:3).....  This time I really know how Abraham feels, going places simply by faith! I have never been to the East Coast (more than 1 week in my life, see NY pix below!) but I am at peace knowing that God is taking me to the Promised Land....filled with... Cheese and Steak (Philly-style)?!?! HUGS....and like a good soap (Soph) opera, this story WILL be continued, I promise!

4 years ago this weekend, we went to visit our buddies Julie & George in New York!

 

 

Who would've known, this year, hubby will be going to their neighborhood very soon!

 

Life is like a House with runaway hamsters! (^_*)

I read that yummy nutty scent lures hamsters & squirrels out, so I
put out a jar of Roasted Skippy peanut butter on my living room floor....

This morning I woke up, anticipating my special "Ham, Cheddar and Me" Time alone

when I discovered......*gasp* that..... Hammie is GONE! She's not in her cage.....and both

of the cage doors were not secured! It must be Abbie last night.... The cage is very clean, no poopy....so she must have escaped early in the night!

A VERY tired and raggedy Fugitive ~ Hammy ~
 is FOUND in the noisy laundry room!!

I looked everywhere, upstairs and down......'while Abbie slept (good thing hubby had

left for work).....and after 1 hour...started feeling dizzy (I walked in the A.M. and

worked in the garden before discovering someone escaped...)...

I told Abbie that Hammy excaped, and she looked around with me for another hour....
To our surprise....we saw a little ball behind the dryer when I was putting clothes into
it! I can't believe hammy slept like a baby when it's SUPER noisy in the laundry room!

Super Sleepy... Zzzz.....After a night partying (somewhere in our house)!!

I guess life is like a house with kids & hamsters ~ You never know what you'll get (^_^)!
But it's very memorable when I look back and realize how fun every is....for without
them....Life would be BORING! But I also learned to stay calm....and whenever we run
into unexpected disasters like this.................PRAY!!!!

Happy Summer!

Lessons from my Super Duper Sunflower! (^_^)

This summer I didn't pay much attention to my sunflowers because we had an enormous vacation planned...3500 drive from here ending at Vancouver/Victoria Canada and back! Unbeknownst to us, our sunflowers grew gigantic without any human help! They grew true to their name, "Giant Mammoth"!

I remember the one in the yard came from a tiny seed smaller than the size of my pinky fingernail....and when we left for our trip, she was just 2 feet tall. When we returned, she was up to my shoulders! Now she's 1.5 story tall!

Soon (3 days later), her head got so big that she was leaning forward with her head bowed! This struck me as God's way of reminding me that, "When you start to have a big head, you must learn to be humble!"

And it never ceases to amaze me that....Sunflower seeds...DO come from Sunflowers! I just never knew where they were, exactly! Abbie and I noticed that when you 'de-face' the sunflower head by removing little yellow follicles, inside you get a huge geometrically symmetrical sunflower seeds placed in perfect rows! It showed me how thoughtful God was in giving us delicious foods after we get to enjoy the flowers from which they come from! So we tried them! Abbie LOVED eating them, and she closed her big eyes as she enjoyed the crisy yummy Organic sunflower seeds!

This summer roller-coastered between heat wave and cool windy days, much like the stock market fluctuations we've recently experienced. But between all these uncertainties, I've begun to look for the ups amidst off the the downs. Without the scorching heat, we would not have the gigantic, breathtaking Sunflowers, nor scrumptious sunflower seeds to nibble on today. Nor would the beautiful yellow finches and fat (scary) juicy flourescent-green catepillars come and visit (devour) our delicious, super sweet red tomatoes)!

Our yucky visitor

Sweet Healthy Snacks

Super sweet tiny tomatoes

Grape tomatoes

Yummy strawberries

Do You know that You Are Super Special?

So TOO, you and I may feel insignificant, trotting along in our  mundane daily routines. We may think that nobody sees and nobody cares about what we go through, but everything that happens to us is in fact preparing us to do more for our Heavenly Father ~ In His time! In the past months, I overlooked any signs of seed growth in my pretty flowers, but the truth is that it is patiently and slowly growing just as our Maker designed it to do! So we too, will sprout and bless others with our daily seeds of love and encouragements! 



Withered sunflower stem & leaves



Yesterday it finally cooled down a tiny bit..... And I went to the front yard to find my last 3 sunflowers kissing the lawn. As it turned out, the heat wave caused them to wither away. So I pulled them from the ground and looked at their faces. I've always known sunflower seeds come from sunflowers, but I didn't know where the seeds were.

I picked through the sunflowers' faces and lo and behold, there were tows of black 'things' in there! I was amazed to find perfectly beautiful rows of seeds, bottoms up, facing me! 



Beautifully aligned seeds inside sunflower's face!



Abbie helped me pick out the seeds one by one so we could store them and plant them next Spring. I was amazed that one tiny seed, which the plant came from, produced a beautiful sunflower, leaves, several golden-yellow petals, and 70-80 more beautifully aligned seeds! Truly, when one seed falls to the ground and dies, it truly begins to live and produces unexpectedly and abundantly more than it (or we) can imagine!

So TOO, you and I may feel insignificant, trotting along in our  mundane daily routines. We may think that nobody sees and nobody cares about what we go through, but everything that happens to us is in fact preparing us to do more for our Heavenly Father ~ In His time! In the past months, I overlooked any signs of seed growth in my pretty flowers, but the truth is that it is patiently and slowly growing just as our Maker designed it to do! So we too, will sprout and bless others with our daily seeds of love and encouragements! 

You are special, and don't forget it! Behold these seeds, and know how much your unique talents mean to me, your loved ones, and God! 

Record Breaking Heat Wave of the century ~ (^_^)

This past week was an extraordinary week.... the heat soared and seared our bodies....It was as if we lived in Death Valley! The thermometer broke (in L.A. weather tracking facility) once it hit 113F, deciding that he has done his work and was calling it quits! So we all hid in our homes, taking out loans if necessary....to keep our A/C on!

Abbie and I were so amazed that our poor birdies, Amazon Jubee and Senegal Kobee, were panting with beaks wide open when temp was 105F! We've had them since babies (10.5 years!) and never seen them open-beaked like this before! We quickly sprayed them down with water bottle and gave them extra water! Abbie's AYSO soccer practice was cancelled and Ladera's Mercantile West plaza became a ghost town (usually it was packed with customers relaxing and enjoying lunch in the patio area of Cinnamon Productions). The power grid in L.A. was so overloaded that electricity was out in many cities for a couple of days. People of all ages were admitted to the ER for heat-related illnesses.



This made me realize how fragile we are as human (and animal) beings! We can be all powerful in many areas, but if the temperature fluctuates 20 degrees in either extreme, we are incapacitated. It is humbing to know that we live and thrive in the merciful hands of God, and if we start strutting with pride at our accomplishments, a few degrees change is sufficient to keep our hot heads in check! (^_^)

Thankfully, the heat wave only lasts a few days. If it continues, we will all cease our daily activities! This made me thankful for the mild/boring temperatures we usually have (and take for granted)! Stay cool everyone, and hang in there!

(Three days later on this hubby's birthday)....I noticed a big proliferation of ripened cherry and tiny tim tomatoes growing in my back yard! It turned out that the massive heat helped ripen the otherwise slow-as-snail ripening of tomatoes! So I guess there's always a silver lining (and something to be thankful for) in every crisis!

Thank you Lord! VERY VERY sweet! Even Abbie ate it (and normally she would spit it out and I'd have to clean up the icky mess.....)!

Barack Obama & Bed Time Stories ?

At first glance, it seems like the title "Barack Obama" and "Bedtime Stories" have nothing in common. The comparison will be explained as we enjoy today, Inauguration Day, means to us, or at least to me.

I remember the day I found out I was expecting! I walked with a skip because I have a new role in life, and I just know I'll do it perfectly! In the 9 months leading up to my 'new arrival', I remember reading everything I could get my hands on about motherhood. I vowed to be the best and most patient mom in the world and never make mistakes other parents made. Well, since I came home from the hospital, I realized how naive I had been & how difficult this "job" turned out to be.

Today is an exciting day. I believe that Barack also has the same optimism and excitement about the 'baby' who is awaiting him in the White House. The truth is, this is not going to be a stroller walk in the park. By this time tomorrow, our new president will have a messy "bundle of joy" crying "Change me! Change me!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I pray wholeheartedly for him, for he is given the toughest job in the country. I experimented last night with his "Change Will Come" motto on Abbie. After 3+ years, instead of me reading her the bedtime stories (for the hundredth time!) and leading her bedtime prayers, asked her to do both for herself!



I was quite amazed that she actually tried it herself! She was so proud of her accomplishment too! She had gotten so used to me doing everything for her, so it's great to see her do things for herself too! I believe that it will take probably 3 years too, for Barack and all of us citizens, to relearn or develop healthy habits, like responsible spending, saving, and living-within-our-means financial management skills. But if little children can do it, so can we!

It may give him heartache & headache when he discovers that a president can't make many decisions, let alone keep all his campaign promises. He is merely human. It takes everyone ~ President, Congress, people, you, and me ~ to make things happen! Most importantly, it takes God's mercy for this country to stay afloat. This morning I heard a Bible verse on KWave that highlights this Historical Inauguration Day:


"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." So unless the Lord saves our country, the president stimulates the economy in vain!

Happy 2009 Year of the Ox, and may the Lord give you strength to endure and shine in this constantly changing time!