Photos: Peek A Boo, Wall

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Lydia slowly edging her face out from behind the wall to see SiowFong.

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After SiowFong says, "Peek A Boo", Lydia breaks into wide grin.

Whenever Lydia has a big smile, her eyes close almost completely.

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Lydia laughing and smiling at her mom.

Note: Lydia is standing in the upper landing area, and SiowFong is standing in the kitchen.

All pictures were taken on May 30, 2007 within a 2 minute time span from 8:59 PM until 9:01 PM.

China: A Profile

June 2, 2007


Overseas Mission Fellowship, whose acronym is OMF, was founded by James Hudson Taylor in 1865, to work in China. (SiowFong and I have been donating annually to OMF for the last five years, and we know two families who are working for OMF who live abroad in East Asia.)


China: A Profile

Below is OMF’s current overview of China, Lydia’s birthplace and home for the first year of her life:

“The People’s Republic of China is the world’s largest country by population and is the third largest country by area. China’s recent rapid development has made the country a major force in world affairs.


Population

Population: 1,313,973,713 [UK: 60,609,153]
Density: 141 per sq km [UK: 250 per sq km]
92% ethnic Han Chinese
55 ethnic minorities
[Statistics: CIA World Factbook]

Most of the population live in the east, so density is greater than statistics suggest. Population growth has been controlled by the government promoting late marriages and requiring parents to have only one child. Abortion is legal. Shanghai has a population of 13.5 million and Beijing, the capital, 14.5 million. China is 60 per cent rural with an increasing migration of workers to urban areas.


Religions

Non-religious 49.58%
Chinese religions 28.5%
Buddhist 8.38%
Christian 7.25%
Traditional ethnic 4.29%
Muslim 2%
[Statistics: Operation World]

The Communist party in the 1960s attempted to eliminate organised religion. Previously the dominant religion systems in China had been Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Muslim minority peoples such as the Uyghur, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz number 20 million and now practise their religion openly. It is illegal to spread the gospel to anyone under 18.


Language

The Chinese have had a written language for more than 3000 years. The Chinese language has more than a dozen major spoken dialects, some of which are mutually unintelligible. Mandarin [Putonghua] was declared the official language in 1955. It is taught in schools and knowledge of Mandarin is required throughout China. Government policies to target literacy have resulted in literacy levels increasing from 20 per cent to over 80 per cent in the last 45 years. Minority peoples also have their own languages.


Geography

China covers 9,573,000 square kilometres. Little of this is suitable for agriculture and nearly 50 per cent is mountainous. The country is losing arable land because of soil erosion and economic development.


Climate

Temperate climates prevail in much of the country, but there are also extremes. The north averages minus 18°C in January; the south-east averages 26°C over the year.


History

China gave birth to one of the world’s earliest civilisations and has a recorded history that dates from some 3500 years ago. Zhong guo, the Chinese name for the country, means ‘middle kingdom’, a reference to the Chinese belief that their country was the geographical centre of the earth and the only true civilisation. By the 19th century China had become a politically and economically weak nation, dominated by foreign powers.

China underwent many changes in the first half of the 20th century. The imperial government was overthrown and in the chaotic years that followed, two groups, the Nationalists and the Communists, struggled for control of the country.

In 1949 the Communists won control of China. The Nationalists fled to Taiwan and there set up a government, which they called the Republic of China. The accession of the Communist government in 1949 is one of the most important events in China’s history. In a remarkably short period, radical changes were effected in the economy and throughout society.

The Cultural Revolution [1966-1976], a time of political and social turmoil, impoverished the country significantly. Everyone was pulled down to the same standard in economics, intellect and social standing.

Since the late 1970s China has cast off its self-imposed isolation from the international community and modernised its industrial and economic structures. Deng Xiaoping, paramount leader between 1978 and 1997, successfully transformed China into a major player in world affairs.

After political changes in 1978, China’s GDP has quadrupled. Annual economic growth has been running at eight per cent or more for over a decade. In 2003, China was the world’s second-largest economy after the US [on a purchasing power parity basis]. However, in per capita terms, China is still poor.

There were an estimated 68 million internet users in China in 2003, mostly in urban areas. There is some control over internet use.

In 1997 Britain handed back the sovereignty of Hong Kong to China and in 1999 Macau was returned to China by the Portuguese. Taiwan and the Mainland continue sensitive negotiations about unification.


Christianity in China

Nestorian Christians first entered China in 635AD along the Silk Route via North-West China. The church they established was largely among foreign groups, not the Chinese.

Thereafter Christian influence fluctuated, often absent for centuries. The Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci obtained permission to live in China in 1583 and established Roman Catholic missions.
Protestant missions were latecomers to China, travelling on the same boats that brought Western trade and imperialism. Missions established themselves along the east coast in the mid-19th century. James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission [CIM, now OMF International] in 1865, saw the needs of the inland provinces and he and others moved away from the coast, establishing churches and hospitals. Work among minority peoples in western China, such as the Lisu, also began. A significant number of the CIM missionaries were women.

By 1949 there were about 6000 missionaries in China and 20,000 Protestant churches with over a million members. Christianity was established, though not accepted as an indigenous faith.

During the next 30 years the Chinese Church was isolated and forced underground as the missionaries left, church buildings were closed and pastors and congregations were imprisoned and persecuted. To the outside world it was difficult to imagine how the Church would survive.

As China emerged after Mao’s death, evidence of a thriving church was revealed, sustained by God’s grace through the faithfulness of the Chinese Christians, the prayers of Christians abroad and radio broadcasts.

In 1979 Deng Xiaoping allowed churches to reopen under the control of the Three Self Patriotic Movement. The Church then had about one million members.

The TSPM has seen a growth in membership across China through the last 20 years. Official reports admit to over 10 million Christians in China. Over 20 million copies of the Bible have been printed in China.

Many Chinese Christians will not align themselves with the official church, seeing it as too much under the authority of the Communist government, serving the Party first and God second. These believers meet in house churches; some isolated, others part of well-organised groups numbering hundreds of thousands.

Although figures vary, a realistic estimate for the total number of Protestant Christians in China would be 50 million.

The house-church movement is at present under great pressure to register with government authorities. Reports over the last five years reveal that incidents of persecution are common. Pastors are imprisoned, materials are confiscated and meetings closed.”

Photos: Foot Exam

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Lydia grasping her left leg with both hands while looking at her mom SiowFong (who is to the right of the picture and not in the picture)

Lydia enjoys playing with her mommy in her mom's bed, something that SiowFong regularly does with Lydia on weekend mornings and once in a while at night before Lydia goes to sleep.

One reason why Lydia enjoyes these times is that mom's bed has so much more room compared to Lydia's crib. (One of Lydia's favorite stuffed animals is the small pink lamb in the background that was given to her by Mary Dietsch.)

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Lydia looking and touching her right foot




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Lydia still showing continued interest in her right foot.



Note: Date and time of pictures: May 29, 2007 (around 10:00 PM)
Place: Mom's and Dad's bedroom

Pitter Patter of Little Feet

June 2, 2007


Pitter Patter of Little Feet

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a well-known American poet who lived in the 1800s, once wrote a poem entitled “The Children’s Hour”. Among the words of that poem are the following, which he used to describe three of his daughters:

“I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.”

Those words could also easily apply to Lydia, who began walking when she was just over a year old this January. In the few weeks following that milestone, Lydia walked slowly, tentatively, and at times a little awkwardly. Within the last two months, the speed and stability of her gait has steadily increased, but it still remained silent. During the last two weeks, however, SiowFong has noticed the pitter patter of Lydia’s feet on the birch floors of the upper landing, kitchen, and dining room when Lydia is walking in these areas. Although Lydia is not yet running, she is clearly walking fast now.

Photos: Bolsters

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Lydia hugging her two bolsters.

A bolster is hot-dog or sausage-shaped pillow commonly used by Chinese infants, toddlers, and children in Malaysia and Singapore. We purchased these two from Fajar, a department store in Ma Wee's home town of Batu Pahat, Malaysia last year. Lydia uses one in her crib, and she also has one in the car.

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Lydia carrying her bolsters. She is walking towards mommy, who took this photo, and she is gazing at daddy, who is in the kitchen.

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Lydia's alternate bolster carrying technique




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Ooops! Lydia dropped her bolsters.




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"Look mom, how do you like my new way of carrying the bolsters?"



Notes: SiowFong took all of these pictures on May 16, 2007 in a two-minute span between 8:52 PM and 8:54 PM in the upper floor landing (foyer) area of our home, which is 11 feet long.

For these pictures, I positioned Lydia near the bathroom door and gave her the bolsters while SiowFong operated her camera with an on-camera flash pointed towards the cream-colored ceiling of the landing area while in a kneeling position in the living room, a room adjacent to this landing area. Then I dashed into the kitchen (a room that is not shown in the photos but is located on the left side of these images), and SiowFong began taking a series of pictures. Because of her quickness and experience in using her camera, SiowFong usually managed to shoot three or four images of Lydia before we repeated this process to acquire a variety of images showing Lydia's reactions and interactions with the bolsters.

Ma Wee's Last Social

June 1, 2007


Ma Wee’s Last Social

Tonight was Ma Wee’s last social event before she begins her journey back to Malaysia next Tuesday as we met our friends, Steven Chew, Tammy Yap, and their son, Nicholas Chew, at an Azteca restaurant for dinner.

One of SiowFong’s objectives during Ma Wee’s first visit to America was to expose her mother to a variety of new experiences, most of which are nonexistent in Malaysia. On that list was dining at a Mexican restaurant; as a result, tonight’s meal occurred at Azteca .


Lydia

At home, except for Cheerios and fruit, which Lydia eats with her own hands, we are still directly feeding her. Ma Wee does the morning and the early afternoon formula feeds, and SiowFong does the one in the evening. With respect to rice porridge and table food, Ma Wee manages that task at lunch time, and SiowFong and I do it at dinner time. The main reason why we have not encouraged Lydia to feed herself is the fear that she will make a big mess.

We know that once Lydia goes to day care in September, she will have to be able to feed herself, so we are beginning to change our feeding strategies. At Azteca, for example, SiowFong filled a small plate for Lydia and allowed Lydia to use her hands to feed herself. Utilizing mainly her left hand, Lydia ate two grilled chicken strips, a number of beans, some rice, a little cheese, and some other vegetables, and she accomplished this without being messy. (Before she receives her bottle of water after a meal and before leaves her highchair, Lydia knows that one of us will wipe her face and hands with a clean, damp washcloth; as a result, she has a heightened awareness of cleanliness.)


Ma Wee’s Travel Preparations

When it comes to international travel, Ma Wee prepares way in advance of any trip. In 2006, several months before we received Lydia’s referral, Ma Wee had packed her check-in luggage for her upcoming trips to China and America. In addition, she monitored her health vigilantly in the weeks leading up to those trips.

In the last two weeks as she has been preparing to return to her homeland, Ma Wee has been making similar preparations. She has been packing, checking, and repacking this same piece of luggage, and she wanted this Saturday and Sunday free of social activities to rest before she went home.

Photos: Teeth and Gum Care

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Lydia using the special toothbrush - gum stimulator for infants and toddlers

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SiowFong flossing Lydia's teeth



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Lydia tasting the Glide floss container in her mouth


Note: All pictures were taken on May 11, 2007 in our upper floor bathroom.

Good Oral Health for Children

May 31, 2007

Good oral care begins early in life. Dr. Siew and Dr. Kim, our family dentists, recommend that Lydia begin seeing them for care once she reaches two years of age. Pediatric dentists even advocate that one year of age is a good time for children to begin regular appointments.
Much can – and should – be done way before the child ever makes his or her first visit to dentist.

Diet is the starting point for healthy gums and teeth. For example, Drs. Siew and Kim, who have two sons, never allowed their children to drink fruit juice during their early childhood years; instead, they fed their kids fresh fruit. My sister, Virginia, and my brother-in-law, Johnny, both of whom are general dentists and have a son who is almost 2-years old, Fei-Hung, also are anti-fruit juice. Why? Because fruit juices contain high concentrations of a sugar called fructose, they predispose children to developing cavities, and because they are relatively high calorie, they can contribute to the problem of childhood obesity if consumed to excess. In addition, because fruit juices are sweet, they appeal to most children, who may then drink much less milk, which is much more nutritious for children.

With respect to Lydia, we have not given her fruit juice. We know that she loves fresh fruits, so we provide plenty of that in her daily diet. In addition, after a meal or a rare snack, Lydia drinks water, which rinses her mouth of any residual food. Finally, we have been brushing her teeth with a special toothbrush for infants and toddlers that fits on our index fingers, and SiowFong has also been flossing Lydia’s teeth.

Photos: Golden Garden Park

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Lydia sitting in her bucket seat on the swing set

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Lydia glancing at her mother (who is not in the picture but is just about a foot away on the right) while trying to climb up the twisting yellow slide.




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Lydia looking at her mom SiowFong (who is not in the picture but is just a foot to the right of the picture) for reassurance that ascending the slide is a safe thing to do.




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Lydia gazing at another child standing on the upper level of the tube slide apparatus (who is not in the picture). (Acting as a spotter to monitor Lydia's safety, Tom, who is not in the picture, is standing two feet away from the slide on the left.)

Photo by: SiowFong



Note: All pictures were taken in the sandy playground area that is shaded by trees at Golden Gardens Park on May 31, 2007 between 7:08 PM and 7:23 PM. (Sunset time is 9:00 PM.)

In every one of these pictures, the flash was not sitting on the camera. Instead, the flash that produced the fill-in light was mounted on top of a two-foot long monopod, which was held up to the left side of the camera and angled about 45 degrees down towards Lydia.

Golden Gardens Park

May 31, 2007


Golden Gardens Park


During the first four years when SiowFong and I were married but did not yet have any children, we hardly visited our local parks. Instead we traveled to seventeen different US national parks. Now as parents, we find ourselves making more and more trips to parks within our city, and we have not yet gone to a US national park.

Tonight was our third visit to a municipal park, a new one for us called Golden Gardens. Of the three that we have seen this year, this one ranks as the one with the most scenic potential; however, with respect to infants, toddlers, and other preschoolers, this one ranks last in terms of amenities for children in these age groups. The playground for young children only featured two apparatuses, a swing set with flat seats and bucket seats and a set of tube slides. While SiowFong and I monitored Lydia closely at the play area, Ma Wee watched and rested at a bench on a nearby a picnic table.

Once again when SiowFong was pushing Lydia while she was seated in her bucket seat on the swing set, Lydia sat quietly while her head turned slowly from side to side as her eyes carefully recorded the scene around her.

Lydia’s next activity was time spent at the tube slides. As this was Lydia’s first exposure to the tube slides, SiowFong did not want to scare her by letting her go down the slides by herself. To allow Lydia to play on the slide, SiowFong placed Lydia near the bottom of the three slides and then stood at the foot of the slide to watch Lydia and to ensure Lydia’s safety. Lydia periodically gazed at her mother or me in a quizzical manner while trying slowly to ascend the slides. Because of the slipperiness and slope of the slides, Lydia advanced only about a foot or two before edging back down the slide.

Photos: Carkeek Park

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Lydia looking at another visitor to the park while sitting in her bucket swing



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On the left of the seesaw are SiowFong and Lydia (who is sitting on her mommy's lap) with a spiral play apparatus in the background



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(left to right): Lydia Abigail (3 year old girl whose last name is unknown to us), mommy, and Lydia on mommy's lap


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(left to right): daddy, Lydia, Ma Wee ("pour pour")

Photo by: SiowFong

Notes: All photos were taken between 7:15 PM and 8:00 PM on May 30, 2007 at Carkeek Park.

Carkeek Park

May 30, 2007


Carkeek Park

Yesterday was Lydia’s second trip to a municipal park. Two factors have accounted for this relatively rare event in Lydia’s life. The first has been the fact that I (Tom) usually return from work around 6:15 PM to 6:45 PM; as a result, by the time we finish supper, it is about 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM. (SiowFong’s return time averages around 5:15 PM.) The second has been the weather since Ma Wee fears Lydia being chilled by any temperature below the 70s. Yesterday, however, both of those requirements were met as I came back home at 5:45 PM and as the ambient temperature was in the mid-80s.

During our 45-minute visit to Carkeek Park from 7:15 PM to 8:00 PM, Lydia experienced three things, the bucket swing, the seesaw, and walking around the park.

SiowFong noticed that compared to Lydia’s first city park experience at Green Lake about two months ago, she was much more comfortable with her surroundings. For example, when SiowFong placed her in the bucket swing, Lydia raised her arms to grasp the chains that suspended the swing above the ground before SiowFong began swinging her. In addition, while in the swing, Lydia spent most of her time observing the other visitors to the park instead of focusing most of her attention on the swing.

When Lydia sat on SiowFong’s lap at the seesaw, the first time she had ever done this, Lydia kept gazing at her surroundings, seemingly oblivious to the motion of the seesaw. Finally, SiowFong, who held Lydia’s hand(s) as Lydia walked, noted that Lydia’s gait was steadier, even over some uneven terrain.


Nearing the Golden Hour

In emergency medicine, the golden hour for a patient afflicted with major trauma occurs within the first hour after a severe injury. If such a patient can be transported to a large medical center that has the resources to render definitive care and receives that care within the hour, the patient stands a very good chance of surviving the injury. In photography, the golden hour for landscape pictures (with or without people in them) generally occurs within the time frame that begins thirty minutes before and ends thirty minutes after either sunrise or sunset.

We did not stay at the park long enough yesterday to get within that golden hour of sunset as sunset was officially 8:57 PM, but the sun was relatively low on the horizon, which produced relatively even and warm light, which was decent for people pictures at the park.

Utah Educational Savings Plan

May 28, 2007


Our College Savings Strategy

Saving for college is challenging. The number of ways to save are many, including 529 plans [with two types: prepaid tuition and college savings plans], Coverdell educational savings accounts, US savings bonds, Uniform Gift / Transfer to Minor Act [UGMA and UTMA], and mutual funds, and the investment options for each of those are different and diverse.

For Lydia, we have selected two 529 plans for Lydia; one is a prepaid tuition plan through our state of residence, and the other is a college savings plan through the state of Utah. Why two? The reason is that the prepaid tuition plan only covers tuition and fees, which comprise half of the overall expense of college; as a result, the college savings plan will cover the other fifty percent of the fees, which is mainly room and board.


Utah Educational Savings Plan

The headline on the April 2007 edition of Utah Educational Savings Plan newsletter read as follows: “UESP Rated as One of the Top Five College Savings Plans in the Nation”. The article continued as follows:

“Morningstar, Inc., an independent investment research firm, recently rated UESP as one of the top five college savings plans in the nation. This marks the fourth consecutive year that UESP has been rated by Morningstar as one of the best direct-sold 529 college savings plans in the country.

In the article, Morningstar states: ‘The Utah Educational Savings Plan Trust remains among our favorites for its low costs, sound age-based options, and tried and true index and international offerings from Vanguard. . .we think Utah continues to provide the best combination of cost and flexibility for investors.’”

Lunch with the Poons

May 28, 2007 (Memorial Day)


Lunch with the Poons

For the third consecutive day on this Memorial Day weekend, we were treated to some great company and a meal. This time it occurred at a local Chinese restaurant, where the Poons generously invited us for lunch.

Frank Poon and Wee Kao are good friends of ours. As an overseas-born Chinese couple whom we met two years ago at the summer picnic sponsored by New Hope, they have two children who are adopted in different years from the same orphanage in Kunming, China. Vaughn is their six-year old son who was adopted at 17 months of age, and Eden is their 21 month old daughter who was adopted at 9.5 months of age. Pa Kao, Wee’s 92-year old father who lives with them, also came with them.

The two and a half hours passed quickly. Because of their years of being adoptive parents, the Poons have shared their experiences with us over these last two years. Frank and Wee, a stay-at-home mom, communicate with their children in Mandarin, and Wee has begun formally teaching Vaughn how to read and write in Chinese. With respect to their daughter, they noted to us that parenting Eden, a very strong-willed child who has seemingly boundless energy, has challenged them. As experienced parents, Frank and Wee balance love and limits in parenting both of their children.

During lunch in between mouthfuls of food, Lydia scrutinized Eden, who was sitting in a highchair across from her. With respect to the meal, Lydia enjoyed rice, bok choy, broccoli, scallions, lobster, and rice noodles. (Ma Wee also had a great time because she could communicate readily with the Poons in Mandarin.)

After lunch, Vaughn held Eden’s hand with his left hand, and he held Lydia’s hand with his right hand as the three of them ran between our circular table and two nearby unoccupied circular tables. Since this was one of the few times that Lydia has engaged in unstructured play with other children, she grinned from ear to ear during this entire time.

After we left the restaurant, the Poons as they handed to us a box filled with about twenty pieces of clothing, two pairs of shoes, and a toy for Lydia. Since Eden is about four months older than Lydia, Frank and Wee save for Lydia the very lightly used or new apparel that no longer fits Eden. Several of the articles of clothing were in mint condition since the store tags were still attached to them.

Like us, the Poons will be attending the summer New Hope picnic on July 21, and we will be looking forward to spending more time with them at that event.

Photos: Crib

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What a smile!

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Lydia using SiowFong's hair brush to comb the hair of one of her favorite teddy bears, a white one from the Pottery Barn entitled "My first bear", a gift from one of SiowFong's colleagues, Amy Guo.

(Note: Winnie the Pooh bolster [a hot dog or sausage shaped pillow that we purchased in Malaysia a year or two ago] in the background; this type of pillow is commonly used by Chinese children who live in Malaysia and Singapore)

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Lydia wielding her mother's hairbrush

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Lydia wringing her hands

Notes: All pictures were taken on May 26, 2007 in the bedroom that Lydia and Ma Wee share.

Photos: Ma Wee and Lydia, Nursery Photos

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Lydia is standing in her crib with Ma Wee standing between the crib and her twin bed

After Lydia awakens each morning, she usually lays in the crib and plays with her stuffed animals, bolster (sausage-shaped pillow), and / or her pillow for about fifteen to thirty minutes before she says "Ah.....Ah" and stands up in the crib, awaiting someone to pick her up

Lydia's bedroom (the nursery) and Ma Wee's bedroom

May 26, 2007


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Lydia and Ma Wee both smiling

When Lydia occasionally awakens during the night, she glances at Ma Wee's twin bed, which is perpendicular to the crib, to make sure that Ma Wee is still there. When she sees Ma Wee in the twin bed, she immediately falls back asleep.

Lydia's bedroom (the nursery) and Ma Wee's bedroom

May 26, 2007

Dinner at the Hursts

May 27, 2007


Dinner at the Hursts


Length of friendship usually correlates directly with strength of friendship. Such is the case with respect to SiowFong and Pat and Suzanne Hurst as they have known each other for 24 years, the beginnings of which go back to their college days.

The Hursts, long-term missionaries to Africa with the Assemblies of God denomination since 1992, have been back in the states for almost a year for their furlough which occurs once every four years. With his ministry of divinity degree, Pat trains students at Bible schools to become pastors, and Suzanne, a registered nurse, works with patients infected with the HIV virus and does health education about HIV and AIDS. In the early 1990s, they labored in central Africa in Congo (Zaire) until dramatically unstable political conditions forced them to evacuate from that country. Then they served for a number of years in Togo, a country in West Africa. When they return to Africa later this summer in August, they will return to Congo.

Pat’s and Suzanne’s hospitality was wonderful. We enjoyed their company as well as the company of their three children, Ben (16 years old), Abby (14 years old), and Emmy (12 years old). Children are a good reflection of their parents, and despite the language and cultural barriers, Ben, Abby, and Emmy quickly helped to make Ma Wee and Lydia feel at home.

Knowing that Ma Wee prefers Asian food, Suzanne made a special effort to prepare dishes from that region of the world; as a result, dinner consisted of Chinese cabbage salad, rice, beef curry (Thai style), and pancit (a stir-fried Filipino noodle entree with shrimp, pork, and assorted vegetables). Ma Wee really enjoyed the meal, and she complimented Suzanne for her skill in making the pancit because she liked the texture and taste of the dish. (Lydia also ate a good bit of pancit tonight.)


Lydia

In the last few months, Lydia has met dozens of people that are not family members, including friends, coworkers, acquaintances, and strangers. Of these individuals, Lydia has permitted only a few to approach her, to touch her, to pick her up, and / or to carry her. In addition, because Lydia has not spent much time with people of Caucasian descent, she is occasionally scared of them, particularly if they have white hair.

Tonight Lydia surprised us. First, she took the initiative to walk near Suzanne and Emmy. She was particularly interested in Suzanne’s jade bracelet, which she examined and touched. Later she even allowed Suzanne and Emmy to touch her and to pick her up.

Nobody knows exactly why Lydia reacted differently tonight. Suzanne speculated that the reason might be that Lydia senses that they are different from most other Caucasians in America because they have lived abroad for so long and have interacted with many people from a foreign culture.

Tribute to Ma Wee

May 27, 2007


Tribute to Ma Wee

Ma Wee quietly noted to us yesterday that she only had ten days left in the states. It’s hard to believe that nearly five months have elapsed since Ma Wee and Lydia arrived in America.

SiowFong and I have thoroughly enjoyed being with Ma Wee since January, and my parents relished their time with her during their two two-week visits to our home in late January and late April. Through her daily example of caring for Lydia, Ma Wee has demonstrated to us the virtues of any good parent or grandparent, specifically diligence, kindness, love, patience, and selflessness.

As the principal beneficiary of Ma Wee’s love, Lydia has formed a very intimate bond with her “Pour Pour” (the Chinese term for maternal grandmother). In short, Ma Wee is the person who has been most responsible for Lydia developing into a well-adjusted toddler.

In the last week, SiowFong has been announcing to Lydia each day that Ma Wee is returning home to Malaysia. Lydia’s response to SiowFong’s words has been swift, and she has been closely shadowing Ma Wee ever since. Ma Wee has noticed Lydia’s change in behavior, and Ma Wee remarked to SiowFong, “Please stop telling Lydia that I am leaving soon since she’s clinging to me all the time now.”

Ma Wee has clearly enriched all of our lives during these months, and we shall miss her dearly when she goes back to Malaysia, her homeland.

Photos: Tulips

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(left to right): Tom, Ma Wee, Lydia, and SiowFong in front of one of the tulip fields

Photographer: Tripod-mounted camera that was activated with the camera's self-timer

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Lydia raising her hands in front of the tulips in the show garden

Photographer: SiowFong

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Lydia in her umbrella stroller in front of the tulips at one of the tulip fields

Photographer: Tom

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Lydia sticking her hand inside a tulip at the show garden

Photographer: SiowFong

Note: All pictures were taken on April 8, 2007 at Roozengaarde, which is well known for its tulip fields and tulip show garden.

No More Potatoes and Porridge

May 27, 2007


Ma Wee and Chinese Newspapers

Nearly every week, after we complete our grocery shopping at a large local Chinese supermarket called Ranch 99, Ma Wee gathers the free current issues of several Chinese newspapers in the store’s foyer that she reads throughout the week when Lydia is napping.

Ma Wee’s only complaint about these newspapers is that the news focuses mainly on events occurring in America with some articles about China and Taiwan. Precious little coverage is given to things happening in her homeland, Malaysia.


No More Potatoes and Porridge

International coverage, including news about China, is similarly lacking in our daily American newspaper, and with the notable exception of The New York Times, few other American dailies have large sections reporting news from abroad.

Lydia has been eating porridge at least three times a week since she arrived in America in January. During those days when she has refused to eat porridge, we have given her other nutritious alternatives.

Such options, which most Americans take for granted, are often nonexistent in much of the rest of the world. Earlier this week I read an article about China that reminded me of this reality. Written by Wang Yujie, the article entitled “No More Potatoes and Porridge” that appeared on page 3 of the Summer 2007 edition of World Vision News described an event in China that never made major headlines in America.

“When 8-year old Yan Qin arrived home after school to help her grandmother with housework, she was surprised to see her neighbors flocked together. They were on their way to a World Vision food distribution.

High temperatures and low rainfall last year brought drought to large parts of China. Nationwide, 15 provinces suffered the effects. This unprecedented drought created food shortages in Sichuan, where Yang Qin lives.

Crop failures forced the girl’s parents to leave their farmland and look for other job opportunities. The burden of taking care of Yang Qin and her baby brother fell to their 72-year old grandmother.

Seeing the World Vision relief team handing out rice, Yan Qing’s grandmother said, ‘Thank you so much for coming to see us. My son and daughter-in-law can hardly earn a penny for the family. But now we have 45 kilograms [nearly 100 pounds] of rice – and that’s enough for a month.’

Yang Qin smiled and jumped with excitement, saying, ‘We don’t have to eat potatoes or thin rice porridge anymore!’”

Photos: High Chair

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Lydia is using her high chair to play "Peek A Boo".

April 21, 2007

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For about the last month, Lydia has been crawling in between the legs of the high chair, thus using her high chair as a little tunnel or a little house.

April 21, 2007

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Lydia testing if her Yeh Yeh (paternal grandfather in Chinese; e.g. Pa Chin) can see her.

April 27, 2007

Shaped for Significance and Security

May 27, 2007

Shaped for Significance and Security

“The most important thing you [as a parent] can do to help your children reach their potential is to meet their two primary emotional needs: significance and security. In other words, your kids need to know that they matter, and they need to know that they’re safe.

You may not be aware of it, but your children – whether they’re two years old or twenty – are constantly asking if you love them. It’s not that they walk up to you and verbalize that question. But much of their behavior, both positive and negative, is designed to elicit a response out of you that communicates, I love you and you matter. You’re valuable and significant.

Your children are always asking another nonverbal question: Where are my boundaries? They find security in the limits you place on them, and they are constantly testing those limits to see where they are. Wherever you draw the boundaries, they will spend some time every day pushing to see how solid those boundaries are…

Learn to see those two issues as guardrails. Determine to pour love into your kids in abundance even as you make it clear that as long as they’re under your roof, they will have to live in a way that honors God, parents, and siblings.

We see God as the very first parent doing the same thing. In Genesis 1 [the first chapter of the first book of the Bible], following every stage of Creation, He kept saying how good and beautiful it was. Then He created male and female in His own image, the crown of Creation, and said that they were very good. He pointed out all the things He had made for them, all the land and fruitfulness He had given them, and treated it all as an expression of His love. He walked with them in the cool of the evening. He talked with them, He built intimacy with them, and He bestowed on them incredible significance and value.

But God also let Adam and Eve know He was in charge. He set up a boundary, making it clear that eating from a certain tree was forbidden. He literally gave them the world and then told them how far they could go with that gift. His love, for them and for us, produces significance, and His boundaries produce security.

He’s still doing that, isn’t He? Over and over again in Scripture, He says, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’ But He also never compromises His standards. He has a clear vision of what’s best for us, and He insists on our conforming to that vision – not because He likes to dampen our spirits, but because He delights in setting us up for His best…

Your children are going to have a hard time hearing that message from an invisible Father if they don’t hear it from you first. Answer their questions early and often. Remember in the back of your mind that every moment of every day, whether your children are two, ten, or eighteen, in one way or another they are asking you if you really love them, and they are asking you how far they can go.’”

(Source: Chip Ingram. Effective Parenting in a Defective World. Tyndale House Publishers: 2006. pages 47-48.)

(Note: Chip, the father of four grown children: Eric, Jason, Ryan, and Annie, is the president of Walk Thru the Bible based in Atlanta, Georgia and works as the teaching pastor of the nationally syndicated Living on the Edge radio program.)

Imago Dei

May 27, 2007

Miss Precious

One of the nicknames I have for Lydia is “Yao Bo Siu Je”, which means Miss Precious in Cantonese, and SiowFong calls Lydia Mommy’s “Bao Bai”, which is translated “Precious” in Mandarin. Whenever SiowFong asks Lydia, “Who is Mommy’s ‘Bao Bai’?” Lydia smiles and slaps her chest a few times with her right hand to answer her mom’s question.

Imago Dei

Related to this issue is an insightful article that I read yesterday afternoon authored by T. M. Moore called “Desperate for Significance: The Message of ‘American Idol’”. Below is a brief excerpt from that column.

“’When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?’ (Psalm 8:3,4)

Scripture reminds us that every human being is made in the image of God. Intuitively, we know we’re different from the animals, plants, rocks, oceans, and sky. We can think. We love. We laugh and enjoy beauty. We imagine wonderful scenarios and happy futures. We make plans, reason our way through problems, engage in the mysteries of relationships, practice conversation, savor good food and nice clothes, and take all this together to mean that, somehow, I matter. I count. This is usually followed by the strong sense that there’s more to life than I’m currently experiencing. I matter. I’m significant…

Think of how Jesus communicated significance to the people of His day: touching a leper, engaging in conversation with an outcast, interrupting His busy schedule to heal a sufferer or bless a child or tell the oppressed a joke about their foreign oppressors, giving private audience to serious seekers and answering their deepest questions with firm grace and truth.

Francis Schaeffer once wrote a book entitled No Little People, which, from its title, reminds us that people do matter, and that part of our job as those who understand this is to help people discover their real significance in life. They can only truly know this as they come to know Jesus, whom to know is to find full and abundant life and the key to all truth and meaning (John 14:6).
People matter because God made them to matter. They are significant because He says so. He alone. . .determines the terms of that significance.

He has made known this important information to those He has redeemed. We who have come to know Him understand that people are His image-bearers, that they have immortal souls and the ability to know God, enjoy and serve Him, and live forever glorifying Him in a state of full and abundant life.”

(Source: Second Sight, February 8, 2007, www.breakpoint.com)

(Note: T. M. Moore is dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of seventeen books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics, (Waxed Tablet). He and his wife and editor, Susie, make their home in Concord, Tenn.)