Photos: Amgen Picnic, Petting Zoo

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Lydia pointing at the bunny

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Lydia looking at the duck, which is in the cage to the right.

(The middle cage has two chickens, and the cage to the left has one rabbit.)


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Lydia gazing at two lambs


Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures on August 18, 2007 in the 12 foot x 12 foot petting zoo during the Amgen company picnic at Remlinger Farm in Carnation, WA.

A Former Chinese Orphan's Generosity

August 25, 2007


A Former Chinese Orphan’s Generosity

2 Corinthians 9:7 reads, “God loves a cheerful giver.”

Earlier this week, a friend emailed a touching story about the generosity of Nia Chan, a girl who was adopted from China through Children’s Hope International, a Christian adoption agency which has been working in China since the 1980s. Andrea Chan, Nia’s mother, wrote an article called “A Return Visit to My Daughter’s Orphanage and Founding Place” in the agency’s August 2007 newsletter. Below are some highlights:

“We adopted my daughter, Nia, when she was 10-months-old from the Chenzhou SWI [SWI is an acronym for Social Welfare Institute] in Hunan, China. In November 2007, when she was 5-years-old, we made a return visit with Nia to her orphanage. . .

For her fifth birthday, my daughter collected donations to buy items for the orphanage as her birthday gifts. When we arrived in China, we first joined our tour in Beijing. My daughter loved touring with the other kids in our group, even the long bus trips became play dates. . .

After Beijing, we flew to Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, to meet up with our local Hunan guide for the four hour road trip to Chenzhou. When we arrived in Chenzhou, the Vice Director of the Chenzhou SWI took us to the local market (where she said our money would go the furthest) to buy baby clothes, shoes and rolls of diaper cloth. The next morning when we arrived at the SWI, the purchased items were piled high in the conference room, and Nia wore a huge smile when the directors presented her with a certificate of appreciation. Nia had been going to Chinese language immersion school since 3 years of age, so she made herself at home with the SWI staff, and the next thing we heard was that she had gone to another floor by herself to demonstrate to the SWI staff what she had learned at her martial arts classes.”


Advice for Parents

“To talk seriously about generosity we have to start with money and property because generosity gets immediately practical at that point. Jesus said, ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ (Matthew 6:21). When you learn to be generous with your stuff – with your car keys, your bank account, your precious power tools – you break the back of the miser in his heart. Generosity is more than a benevolent feeling. Generosity is action.

Yet generosity must also involve the spirit. You can tithe your income. . .write large checks, taking care that your money gets used well by various charities. . .Planned giving is well and good, but generosity goes beyond calculation. Generosity takes risks. Generosity doesn’t throw money away, but it throws it around. . .

Generosity cannot be commanded. You can’t make enough rules and guidelines to create a generous spirit. . .Does a parent teach a child to be generous by setting down strict rules for sharing her toys? No, generosity must be self-motivated, unforced, spontaneous. . .
It can be inspired. . .If you get near it, you feel drawn into it. So most people catch generosity from a family member or a friend. . .

Do you want to raise generous kids? Then you have to create a family culture of generosity. You have to be generous yourself, in such a way that the whole family shares in that spirit.”

(Source: Tim Stafford. Never Mind The Joneses. IVP: 2004. pages 121-123.)

Photos: Amgen Picnic, Kids 2

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Sabrine Hossaine (35 months old) and Lydia (19 months old)

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Tariq carrying Sabrine and Lydia in his arms while Sabrine and Lydia play with an inflatable ball

(left to right): Sabrine Hossaine, Tariq Hossaine (Sabrine's dad), and Lydia

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One is good, two is better, but three is best.

Tariq Hossaine carrying (from left to right): Sabrine Hossaine (35 months old), Nassar Coulibaly (24 months old), and Lydia

Note: All pictures were taken during the Amgen company picnic at Remlinger Farm in Carnation, WA.

Zoo, Pool, and School

August 25, 2007


Zoo, Pool, and School


Zoo

Experiencing the zoo with an infant, toddler, or preschool child means making multiple visits to the zoo because the attention span and endurance of these youngsters are limited. On Thursday, August 23rd, SiowFong brought Lydia back to the Woodland Park Zoo to visit some new habitats. SiowFong and Lydia began at the Tropical Rain Forest, where they saw a jaguar and several gorillas. Traveling northward, they entered Australasia, where Lydia saw many colorful parakeets and cockatiels living in a large aviary called Willawong Station. The final destination of their ninety minute zoo outing was the Northern Trail, where Lydia saw some sleeping brown bears.


Pool

It is hard to believe that Lydia disliked water and was afraid of taking a bath seven months ago after witnessing how confident she was in the pool on the afternoon of Friday, August 24th. On her prior trips to the Mountlake Terrace aquatic center, she stayed close to me or SiowFong, but today she occasionally paddled her blue raft away from her mother who was in the pool with her.


School

The fourth time may be the charm. Minutes after Silvia arrived today (August 25th) around 10:20 AM for her Spanish play and learn session with Lydia, Lydia handed Silvia a book and then sat in Silvia’s lap while Silvia read to her. In addition, Lydia was comfortable enough with Silvia so that she was not calling out “mama” or “dada” when neither one of us was with her in the living room.

Photos: Amgen Picnic, Kids 1

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Damien Smith (13 months old) and Lydia (19 months old)

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Lydia and Sonya Morris (7 years old)

Sonya was also adopted from China six years ago when she was one year old.



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Lydia, JoAnn Vining, and Theo Vining (20 months old)




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Lydia and Amanda Han (14 months old)

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Lydia and Jessica Han (? around 4 years old)

Note: All these pictures were taken on August 18, 2007 at the Amgen company picnic that was held at Remlinger Farm in Carnation, WA.

First Train Ride

August 22, 2007


First Train Ride

The main event today occurred around midday when SiowFong and Lydia met Mary Dietsch, a woman who been a faithful friend to SiowFong since 1991, for lunch. Before Lydia came into our lives, Mary and SiowFong would meet three to six times a year to share life together, and since Lydia’s arrival, they have continued to see each other periodically. This lunch, for example, was the third time this year that they had seen each other.

Generosity and thoughtfulness are two of Mary’s attributes. Months before we traveled to China to pick up Lydia, Mary had given to us several articles of clothing and a pink lamb for Lydia (one of Lydia’s favorite stuffed animals that stays in her crib). When she saw SiowFong and Lydia today, she once again brought gifts for Lydia, including three casual outfits, a V-Tech Discovery Nursery Farm, and a Tigger the tiger stuffed animal. Since Lydia knows that one of her nicknames is “si lofu”, which means “little tiger” in Chinese, and since she has seen pictures of tigers in different books, she immediately embraced Tigger and rubbed her nose against Tigger’s nose.

Following lunch, SiowFong, Lydia, and Mary took a 9-minute train ride at the Country Village in Bothell. The train, which runs year-round, does not operate on a track and has rubber wheels for moving around on an asphalt surface. Seated next to Mary and opposite her mom, Lydia observed the scenery, and SiowFong reported that Lydia thoroughly enjoyed her first experience on a train. Later this year we hope to return there as a family to ride the train again.

Photos: Amgen Picnic Inflatables

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Dad holding Lydia on his right shoulder while both are standing in front of a inflatable showing a monstrous octopus that is attacking a pirate ship.

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Dad holding Lydia

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Dad struggling to ascend the steps to the slide while carrying Lydia

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Dad bringing Lydia back to the entrance after failing to climb the steps to the slide

Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures on August 18, 2007 during the Amgen company picnic at Remlinger Farms, which is located in Carnation, WA.

Communication: A Vital Sign for Friendship

August 21, 2007


Communication: A Vital Sign for Friendship

We said goodbye to the Seucs this morning at 6:30 AM. Lydia had said her farewells to them the previous night before she went to bed. We had a great three plus days with Luis, Patsy, and Carissa, and we look forward to seeing them again in a few months when we travel to see my family.

Years ago I read a book about friendship in which the author organized friends into the following three categories: friends for a reason, friends for a season, and friends for a lifetime. Luis, Patsy, and Carissa definitely fall into that last category.

One important characteristic of a robust, ongoing friendship is frequency of communication, which is even more vital for friends who live hundreds or even thousands of miles away from each other.

Although their lives are busy, they set aside time to communicate with each other, their family, and their friends. Since I left Virginia nearly five years ago, Luis and Patsy have been the best at maintaining regular communication among all of my friends living in that state through their phone calls, emails, letters, and cards. We have had the privilege of doing the same with them.

As a result, even though we had not seen them since December 2005, we knew what had been happening in their lives during that time span and vice versa. Instead of spending a lot of our time “catching up” on each others’ lives during their visit with us, we focused most of our attention on the present and the future.


Implications for Lydia

Here is how one writer describes an all too familiar dilemma:

“Increasingly, time pressures crowd out the leisurely pace [of life]. . .Communication with other people keeps getting shorter and more cryptic: text messages, email, instant messaging. We have less and less time for conversation, let alone contemplation. We have the constant sensation of not enough: not enough time, not enough rest, not enough exercise, not enough leisure.” (Source: Philip Yancey. Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference. Zondervan: 2006. page 15.)

As Lydia grows up, we hope that she will cherish and nurture ongoing, vibrant relationships with family and friends in a culture that values production at the expense of nearly everything else in life.

Photos: Ranch 99

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(left to right): Dad, Lydia (who is squatting in the grocery cart), mom, Patsy, and Carissa in the meat section of the supermarket

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Lydia being carried by her daddy


Note: Luis Seuc took these pictures on August 20, 2007 at the Ranch 99 Market in Edmonds, WA.

Luis used his Nikon D80 digital SLR camera with a Nikon 18-135 mm lens and the on-camera flash. The image labeled DSC_0146_large is the 1583rd picture snapped on that camera according to Flickr.

Photo note: Most of life consists of ordinary routines like going to the grocery store, and we are glad that Luis brought along his camera to document this experience and this place that we visit every week.

Remember the adage, "Practice makes perfect." This also applies to photography. Taking pictures during the many mundane moments of life helps one to learn how to use a camera properly, so that when those much rarer, but much bigger moments of life arrive, one is prepared to photograph them skillfully.

T & T and Ranch 99

August 20, 2007


T & T

Saturday and Sunday had gone by so fast. Monday was fast disappearing as it was now Monday evening and time for our last meal with the Seucs before they left the next morning. We decided to take Luis, Patsy, and Carissa out to T & T, one of our favorite Chinese restaurants in the area because of their authentic Chinese entrees and reasonable prices.

Born in China, lived in China, and ate in China are three phrases that accurately describe Lydia, and when it comes to Chinese food, she loves it, so she sampled every dish that was ordered, and she ate plenty of each one.


Ranch 99

An Asian grocery store would not normally rank among the top tourist destination for most visitors. For our family and friends who are visiting us from out of state or out of country, however, Ranch 99 merits at least one visit during their stay with us. Tony and Janice, for example, wanted to see this place, and Luis and Patsy made a similar request, so we went there after dinner tonight. The reason for their interest derives from the fact that SiowFong and I have often written about the store and talked about it since we go there at least weekly for groceries, particularly when we have guests over for a meal at our home (which generally happens about twice a month).

As part of a large supermarket chain that originated in California, Ranch 99 bought a local defunct Kmart store a few years ago and remodeled it before opening for business. Featuring a large produce section filled with a diversity of green, leafy vegetables and an assortment of fruits as well as an entire refrigeration section devoted to tofu, the store has attracted a loyal following from local Asian residents as well as a number of Caucasians and Hispanics. The crown jewel of the store is arguably its extensive seafood section. In addition to a variety of frozen offerings, this part of the store has live fish and shellfish (including sturgeon, tilapia, carp, Dungeness crabs, lobsters, blue crabs, oysters, geoduck, clams, and shrimp). The staff will even deep fry fish for customers who request this service without any additional fee.

The store also has a bakery stocked with Chinese baked goods, including popular Chinese buns that are produced fresh each day. In addition, its kitchen has a special oven that can roast 20 ducks simultaneously, a process which takes about an hour and a half, as well as another unique oven that can roast a pig in two hours. The deli, which sells the freshly roasted duck, roasted pig, and Chinese barbecued pork, sees a lot of traffic, especially on the weekends. On any given Saturday or Sunday, the store sells about 100 roast ducks and 3 to 4 roast pigs.

Finally for those who want to eat freshly prepared Chinese food, the store’s small cafeteria offers about twenty different dishes, and a customer can fill a Styrofoam food container with any number of these entrees at a cost of about $ 7.00.

Photos: Pike Place Market

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Carissa, Lydia, and Patsy standing beside the bronze pig sculpture at the entrance to Pike Place Market

Photographer: Luis Seuc

Equipment: Luis' Nikon D80 digital SLR camera with his attached Nikon 18-135 mm lens (f/3.5 to 5.6)

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Patsy is pushing Lydia's stroller while SiowFong, who is following them, is using the camcorder to record the events of the day.

Photographer: Luis Seuc





Lydia touching some cut flowers in the foreground while Carissa is looking at other cut flowers

Photographer: SiowFong Wee


Note: All pictures were taken on August 20, 2007 at Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA.

Pike Place Market

August 20, 2007


Pike Place Market

According to Wikipedia, “Pike Place is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington. . .The Market, which opened August 17, 1907, is the oldest continually-operated public farmer’s market in the country. It is a place for business for many small farmers, craftspeople and merchants. It is also Seattle’s most popular tourist destination. Located in downtown, it occupies over 9 acres. . .It is named after its central street, Pike Place, which runs northwest from Pike Street to Virginia Street.

The Market is built on the edge of a steep hill. It has several lower levels below the main level, featuring a variety of unique shops. Antique dealers, comic book sellers, and small family-owned restaurants are joined by one of the few remaining head shops in Seattle. The upper street level features fishmonders, fresh produce stands, and craft stalls operating in the covered arcades. Local farmers sell year-round in the arcades from tables they rent from the Market on a daily basis, in accordance with the Market’s mission and founding goal: allowing customers to ‘Meet the Producer.’”

For the Market, this year is its centennial birthday, which occurred just three days ago. SiowFong, Lydia, Luis, Patsy, and Carissa reached the Market a few minutes before 11:00 AM today, an overcast, rainy day. (I could not go with them as I was working this Monday.)

Because of the precipitation, however, both locals and tourists who would otherwise be walking around the streets of downtown Seattle area and visiting other sites crowded into the Market this Monday morning, and by the time SiowFong and the others reached the Market, it was crowded as it would be on a typical weekend morning. Once there, Lydia’s favorite experiences were looking at and touching the freshly cut flowers arranged and sold by the Hmong farmers who grow them. Because of the number of visitors who were standing around her, Lydia rarely saw much else from her stroller, which Carissa or Patsy pushed, while SiowFong was videotaping the experience and while Luis was photographing it. During their one hour at the Market, SiowFong and the Seucs witnessed the fish tossing for which Pike Place is renowned.

Photos: Science Museum

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Lydia standing on an exercise device that has a platform that tilts slightly depending on the person's position on the platform

Area of the museum showing hands on exhibits

Photographer: Luis Seuc

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Lydia playing with the water that is drizzling from the whale fountain outside the museum's entrance



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Lydia and her mom are gazing at a humongous skeleton of a dinosaur that is located behind the camera. The museum's main exhibition about dinosaurs is aptly titled "Colossal Fossils", which is available for public viewing until January 6, 2008.

Photo note: Some museums allow tripods; others do not. Fortunately the Pacific Science Center falls into the first category. This picture, which was taken with the camera on a tripod, was made only with the dim, incandescent light available inside the main exhibit hall (i.e. no flash was used), and it required about a half a second to expose properly. Handholding a camera, even a compact point and shoot camera, absolutely still for that long would have been impossible, therefore resulting in a blurred picture.



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Lydia inside a gargantuan guitar

SiowFong (who is not pictured) is holding Lydia for the photo.


Note: All pictures were taken on August 19, 2007 at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA.

Space Needle and Pacific Science Center

August 19, 2007


Space Needle


After church, we traveled to downtown Seattle to visit the Space Needle, one of the two icons of the city (the other icon is Pike Place Market). According to Wikipedia, the Space Needle was constructed for the 1962 World’s Fair. Rising 605 feet into the sky, this easily recognizable structure can handle winds up to 200 miles per hour and survive an earthquake measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale.

We did not go up to the apex of the Space Needle, but via its elevator, we ascended first to 500 feet above sea level to Sky City, the Space Needle’s revolving restaurant with a 360-degree view of Seattle, the Puget Sound area, and other vistas in northwest Washington, such as Mount Rainier, the Olympic Mountains, and Mount Baker. For family and friends who are visiting us from faraway places (e.g. those who live out-of-state or out-of-country), we try to arrange a time to treat them to lunch at Sky City to give them a unique dining experience and a good introduction to the area.

Tasty American-style entrees dominate the lunch menu at the Sky City restaurant, and everyone enjoyed their meals. Because she prefers Asian food, however, Lydia only ate a modest midday meal, which consisted of a few spoonfuls of clam chowder, a few spoons of mashed potatoes, some vegetables (broccoli and carrots), and some fruit (blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and strawberries).

After lunch, we boarded the elevator to go to the observation deck, which is located 20 feet above the restaurant, for more views. Although the day began as an overcast one with clouds shrouding the sun, by the early afternoon, many of the clouds had moved, and the skies had cleared.


Pacific Science Center

After our time at the Space Needle, we walked a few blocks to the Pacific Science Center, the region’s premier science museum. As a favorite place for parents to bring their children, this place attracts many visitors, especially during summer weekends.

After standing in line for about twenty minutes with dozens of other visitors, Luis and Patsy generously purchased our family’s tickets along with theirs. After walking across the plaza and seeing the large white arches of the center, we entered the main exhibition hall to see the current attraction, “Colossal Fossils: Dinosaurs Around the World”. Bathed in incandescent light were monstrous dinosaur skeletons along with fossils, eggs, and other artifacts of that age. After strolling through this part of the museum, we went to another building with hands-on science exhibits that featured exercise equipment and musical instruments and ended our day with a trip to the tropical butterfly house. Lydia’s favorites were the exercise equipment and the butterflies.

Photos: Space Needle

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(left to right): mom, dad, and Lydia

Sky City restaurant

Photographer: Luis Seuc

Equipment: Luis' Nikon D80 digital SLR camera, his 18-135 mm Nikon lens, and an off-camera Nikon SB-800 flash placed to the right of the camera that was bounced off the ceiling

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(left to right): Luis, Carissa, Patsy, Lydia, SiowFong, and Tom

We are standing outside the Space Needle's front entrance in front of the Pike Place Market pig, one of 100 on display throughout the city



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Lydia (wearing her brown bear, Victoria, Canada backpack, a present from the Seucs), dad, and mom

Observation deck on the side that faces Elliott Bay

Photographer: Luis Seuc



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Group picture in front of the entire structure

(left to right): (first row): SiowFong, Lydia (in her stroller)
(second row): Tom, Carissa, Patsy, and Luis


Note: All pictures were taken on August 19, 2007 between 12:24 PM and 2:52 PM at the Space Needle in Seattle, WA.

Why Church

August 19, 2007


Why Church

During my growing up years, my family did not attend church, and I do not recall entering a church until I was in my early teenage years when a neighbor brought my sisters and I to Vacation Bible School one summer. In Malaysia, SiowFong had a similar experience. For both of us, regular church attendance first became a part of our lives during our undergraduate years in college. For Lydia, however, SiowFong and I want church to be a part of her life beginning with her formative years.

Since millions of Christians in America are not involved regularly with any local church, why is this important to us as Lydia’s parents? Tim Stafford, a father of three children and the author of a parenting book called Never Mind The Joneses, explained the reasons in his article entitled, “Church – Why Bother?” that appeared in the January 2005 issue of Christianity Today.

He wrote as follows:


“Wounded by the Church

I don't want to be hard on Bono [the leader of the rock group, U2] and other unchurched Christians.

Churches are not always nice places. Some of the church fathers used "No salvation outside the church" to stifle dissent and maintain a monopoly on power. Even today a demand for church commitment can be the basis for abusing people, using fear and conformity to rule.

A significant minority of Christians feel wounded by the church, perhaps by abuse that anyone would recognize, perhaps by abuse so subtle others can't see it. . .Some find any institution difficult—they're habitual loners. . .

We do not need to condemn those alienated from the institutional church, but to help them reconsider. By keeping away from church commitments, they miss out on life essential.


What's missing

The hard questions come next: Just what do they miss?

They need not lack the Word of God. The Bible is available through Barnes & Noble, and will undoubtedly continue to be published at a profit even if all the Christians get raptured away. Radio and TV offer excellent Bible teaching. So do books and magazines.

Fellowship? The internet offers chat rooms and Bible study groups. Friends have told me their internet prayer support group reaches more depth and is more dependable than anything they encounter in the flesh.

Worship? Some people find that music CDs provide what they need. Others find great inspiration watching Robert Schuller's Hour of Power. Anyway, if you need a worship fix you can slip into any big church and leave without bothering a soul.

Granted, you need a church to get baptized and to receive Communion. Let's admit, though, that in many churches the sacraments are a devalued commodity. The same for church discipline, only more so. If you expect church to provide the bracing rule that purifies souls, forget it in most places.

All that admitted, there still remain overwhelmingly strong reasons for believing that committed participation in a local congregation is essential to becoming what God wants us to be.

The sacraments or ordinances are not optional. They may not make sense to 21st-century sensibilities—but so much the more reason to pay attention to them. The sacraments are not a human tradition. They began with Jesus himself. He himself was baptized, saying it was proper "to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15). Offering bread and wine, he told his disciples, "Take and eat; this is my body" (26:26). Churches may have devalued the sacraments, but they still offer them. Nobody else does. How can you follow Jesus and then … not follow him?

We need the regular rhythm of public worship, which began with the disciples' gathering on the first day of the week. D.G. Hart, referring to the Reformed liturgical tradition, says, "Being reassured weekly that your sins are forgiven is a great comfort." He suggests that anything less is too trivial to sustain us through the great crises of life.

Business has found that the teleconference is no substitute for the face-to-face meeting. Neither does singing along to a CD replace singing in a choir of fellow worshipers. Whether we listen or pray or sing, nothing substitutes for human presence in the public performance of worship. The lively, physical reality of others touches our nature as body-persons. The author of Hebrews had something like this in mind when he wrote, "And let us consider how we may spur one another one toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together are some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another" (Heb. 10:24-25). Encouragement needs a face; it needs a body.

The church is the body of Christ, the tangible representation of Jesus' life on earth. As the apostle Paul wrote to the quarreling Corinthians (1 Cor. 12:21), "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you!'" You could sum up his message this way: "If you miss connecting to the body of Christ, you miss Christ."

Paul allows no vague representation of the church as the sum of all Christians. The body analogy expresses Paul's belief that Christ is available on earth in tangible form. These various gifts come in human packages. To be "in Christ" we cannot stand off distant from this body. We absolutely must serve other Christians—parts of his body—in a continuous relationship. A body part detached from other parts is clearly useless, and soon dead. It cannot experience Christ, the head of the body.

We offer perilous advice when we urge people to "find Christ" anywhere but in a local congregation. Can you imagine Paul arriving in a city, finding the local congregation not to his taste and simply staying away? For Paul, a Christian without his church is as unthinkable as a human being with no relatives. A person may quarrel with his kin, but he cannot leave them—they are his own flesh and blood. So it is with the church. And furthermore, they are Jesus' flesh and blood.

People need people. God's people need God's people in order to know God. Life in Christ is a corporate affair. All God's promises were made to God's people—plural. All the New Testament epistles address Christians in churches. The Bible simply does not know of the existence of an individual, isolated Christian.


Disappointment with Church

Yet it often happens that people go to church and get disappointed. Sometimes the crisis seems petty—"The people weren't friendly"—and sometimes horrific—"The pastor was sleeping with the organist." Failing to find happiness, they move on, sometimes to another church and sometimes to no church. Looking to find Christ, they meet disappointment. The effort looks like a complete failure.

But this is a perspective Paul strongly contradicts in 2 Corinthians. He had been through a horrific, unnamed experience in Asia—one bad enough to take him to the edge of death. Meanwhile he is almost equally distressed by turmoil in the Corinth church. Everything seems to go wrong. Yet Paul urgently explains that the resurrection power of Jesus is experienced only in "death"—little deaths and big deaths.

In our troubles, we experience God actually comforting us (1:4). When we are weak and broken, the treasure we carry grows more apparent (4:7). "For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body" (4:11).

Furthermore, sorrow brings repentance. The Corinthians felt sorrow because of friction with Paul. Yet Paul sees it producing much good in their lives. "See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done" (7:11).

2 Corinthians completely repudiates the American doctrine of the pursuit of happiness. Instead Paul teaches as Jesus did: The way to find your life is to lose it. The way to experience the life of Jesus is to experience human weakness. You can, of course, experience human weakness anywhere. When you experience it in church, however, you are close to Christ himself—his resurrection power showing in his own body. . .


What We Must Preach

The church is the body of Christ, and it carries his wounds. To know Christ is to share in the fellowship of his sufferings—even if the suffering comes at the hands of the sinners who sit in the pews or preach from the pulpit.

How can we communicate this to unchurched Christians? The only way I know is to preach it. We need to tell them, even if it goes against the grain of our culture. We need to tell them, even if talking so frankly goes against our philosophy of outreach.

If people commit themselves to the church, they will undoubtedly suffer. The church will fail them and frustrate them, because it is a human institution. Yet it will also bless them, even as it fails. A living, breathing congregation is the only place to live in a healthy relationship to God. That is because it is the only place on earth where Jesus has chosen to dwell. How can you enjoy the benefits of Christ if you detach yourself from the living Christ?”

The following article is located at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/january/26.42.html

Photos: Lydia and the Seucs

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Lydia sitting in Uncle Luis' lap while Auntie Patsy observes

Living room of our home

August 18, 2007

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Lydia sitting on her scooter while Uncle Luis tries to get Lydia's attention by placing her white bear on the pink stuffed dog

Living room of our home

August 18, 2007



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Auntie Patsy reading The Jungle Pop Up book to Lydia while Lydia is turning the pages

Photo tip: Most of our photos of Lydia are taken at her eye level because that creates the most intimate pictures. We try to avoid taking too many pictures where we are way above her eye level and looking down at her. Positioning the camera a few inches one way or another can sometimes create a much different image. This one is taken from a vantage point that is below her eye level.



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Carissa (whom we asked Lydia to call "je je" [which means big sister in Mandarin and Cantonese]) holding Lydia as Lydia sits atop a large gray concrete sphere.

During the Seucs' visit with us, Carissa generously gave a lot of her time to Lydia, so she was a wonderful "je je" to Lydia.

August 19, 2007

Just outside the front entrance to the Space Needle in Seattle, WA

This Morning at Shoreline

August 19, 2007


This Morning at Shoreline

SiowFong has been regularly attending Sunday services at Shoreline Community Church since 1992. When she was single, SiowFong enjoyed some extra sleep on Sunday mornings and went to the second service, which began around 11:00 AM. Since we have been married, we have been going to the 9:00 AM service. Luis, Patsy, and Carissa, who consistently attend and faithfully serve at the First Chinese Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, were looking forward to this occasion and joined us as we attended the 9:00 AM worship service together.

For the first fifteen minutes of the church service, Lydia was playing quietly with the weekly bulletin, examining the prayer cards and donation envelopes located on the backs of selected chairs, and playing with the Fisher-Price magnet doodle toy. SiowFong and I noticed that a number of adults sitting around us glanced and smiled at Lydia during that time.

When Pastor Bob began his sermon, Lydia became restless, and she began to repeat “mama” with increasing loudness; as a result, SiowFong and Lydia went to the cry room, a soundproof room for parents with young children that is located on the same floor as the sanctuary. With a large window that has a full view of the sanctuary and speakers that faithfully transmit music and voice from the sanctuary, the cry room provides a good worship experience for families with infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children.

Photos: Swim 2

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Lydia sitting in her red raft that is specifically designed for infants and toddlers.

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Lydia is playing with a yellow rubber shark while her mom is holding onto the red raft.




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SiowFong and Lydia in the open waters of the Leisure Pool, the shallow section of the pool (0.5 feet to 1.5 feet in depth) which is dedicated to infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their parents.


Photo note: One nice, but rare feature of a camcorder is the capability of taking decent still pictures, and when we purchased the Sony HDR-SR1 camcorder last November, that was one characteristic that appealed to us. Although we rarely used that feature until the last two months, it has really helped. SiowFong appreciates the device's portability and versality. When SiowFong is taking care of Lydia in my absence and they are visiting a place, SiowFong can easily carry the camcorder in Lydia's diaper bag and use it to take video (which is stored on the hard drive) and photos (which are stored on a memory card).

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Lydia taking a rest near one edge of the Leisure Pool with both of her hands clutching rubber sharks. This facility has a variety of pool toys for children and adults, such as inflatable balls, foam tubes, and rubber sharks.

Note: All pictures were taken on August 2, 2007 at Mountlake Terrace Pool in Mountlake Terrace, WA.

Luis, Patsy, Carissa, and Lydia

August 18, 2007


Luis, Patsy, Carissa, and Lydia

Luis, Patsy, and Carissa had been looking forward to meeting Lydia after reading about Lydia and seeing her photos on her blog, and their smiles at and words of affirmation for Lydia quickly put her at ease.

Lydia was especially comfortable around Carissa, who is ten years. After the Seucs’ baggage was unloaded from their rental car, Lydia spent quite a bit of time with Carissa in the nursery, Carissa’s bedroom. SiowFong and I guess that one reason for this is that Lydia recognized that Carissa is someone who is closer to her age than we adults. Later Luis and Patsy presented Lydia with a number of gifts, including books (Pop Up Jungle and You Can Change the World: Help Children Pray for the World), a stuffed black bear from Vancouver, Canada (which Lydia immediately held, hugged, and kissed), and a brown bear backpack from Victoria, Canada.

After dinner, both Luis and Patsy took turns reading to Lydia, and both played with her. Carissa entertained Lydia by drawing pictures for Lydia on the magnet doodle toy and encouraging Lydia to draw. Lydia smiled, laughed, and remained active throughout the entire evening, and when she went to bed, she swiftly fell asleep.

Photos: Matthews Beach Park

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SiowFong and Lydia on a swinging tire

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Mother and daughter on the main playground apparatus



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Lydia holding a blue steering wheel while standing on the main playground apparatus



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Another boy and Lydia playing on the whale ride.




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SiowFong and Lydia on the merry go round.


Note: All pictures were taken on August 4, 2007 at Matthews Beach Park in Seattle, WA.

The Seucs' Visit

August 18, 2007


The Seucs' Visit


Another factor that made today a special day was that the Seucs, our good friends who live out of state, were visiting us and staying with us for the next three days. Thirty minutes after we returned home from the company picnic, the Seucs drove up to our driveway in their rental car.

SiowFong and I have known Luis, Patsy, and Carissa Seuc for many years. SiowFong first met Patsy in the late 1980s while she was attending graduate school. At that time, Patsy was still single. I later encountered Luis and Patsy as a married couple when I was attending a Chinese church in the late 1990s where they were – and still are -- active, serving members. In 1999, through Bethany Christian Services, their adoption agency, Luis and Patsy traveled to Guangdong Province, China to finalize the adoption of their daughter, Carissa, who was three and a half years of age then. (Carissa is eleven and a half years of age now, and her name means grace, which is simply God’s love for the undeserving.)

Luis and Patsy also hold a dear place in our hearts because God used them to connect us to each other. Here’s a brief excerpt of how SiowFong and I met from our engagement letter dated September 22, 2007 that we mailed to family and friends about a year before our wedding date:

“In April 2000, Patsy, Luis, and were visiting with a mutual friend of SiowFong’s, Ruth Shu, a Navy pediatric dentist who was then stationed in Charleston, South Carolina. As they were reminiscing about their former experiences, Ruth updated Patsy and Luis about SiowFong’s life, casually mentioning SiowFong’s interest in missions. Patsy and Luis also described their involvement on a short-term missions trip two years prior with Thomas, a friend from their Chinese church. Ruth, Patsy, and Luis mused that it might be a good idea for SiowFong to meet Thomas some day.

Following their vacation, Luis and Patsy privately deliberated about the possibility of approaching SiowFong with this idea. Even more importantly, they prayed about this issue for weeks, awaiting God’s approval or disapproval concerning this matter. Finally, after sensing God’s direction for them to ask SiowFong about this, they emailed and phoned SiowFong about her potential interest in writing to Thomas.

Upon learning of Patsy’s and Luis’ proposal, SiowFong resisted the idea initially. Nevertheless, she reconsidered after she told God that she would be open to the idea since she did not want to live the rest of her life wondering, “What if ?” (i.e. I should give myself a chance.) After receiving SiowFong’s consent, Patsy and Luis introduced the arrangement in late June 2000 to Thomas, who was pleasantly surprised, somewhat intrigued, and cautiously receptive. In mid to late July, after giving the thought some attention and prayer, Thomas started composing his first letter to SiowFong, mailing it to her a few weeks later in early August.”

Over the years as we have thought about those events in the spring and summer of 2000, SiowFong and I have appreciated Luis and Patsy for their implicit and explicit trust in God, their service to others (including acquaintances and even strangers), and their willingness to take risks when it comes to other people, particularly their family and friends. We treasure our friendship with them, and we are privileged and proud to be Carissa’s godparents.

Photos: Cool Girl in Overalls

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Lydia dressed in her blue jean overalls, the first time she had worn this outfit.

Neither SiowFong nor I taught her to place her hands in her pockets, but that is what she did once she donned the overalls.

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Doesn't she look like a farmer girl ?

She is ready for her first trip to Remlinger Farms to attend the annual summer company picnic for her mother's workplace.

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Lydia looking left (after looking right and looking straight ahead) and looking relaxed

Note: All of these pictures were taken on at 11:20 AM on August 18, 2007 in the upper landing area of our home.

Photo note: Both SiowFong and I enjoy taking photo sequences of Lydia since as a toddler, her expression, interests, and actions can change so quickly.

Remlinger Farms

August 18, 2007


Remlinger Farms

What do food, inflatables focusing on a pirate theme, pony rides, a petting zoo, a play area for infants and toddlers, hay rides, face painting, and a handler of reptiles have in common? The answer is Remlinger Farms where SiowFong, Lydia, and I experienced some of those things today from noon until 3:30 PM at SiowFong’s workplace’s annual summer picnic.

Attending a company picnic means having the opportunity to meet with coworkers’ spouses and children, and we spent the first two hours of the event eating, conversing with a number of SiowFong’s coworkers and their families, and photographing their child(ren) with Lydia.

When we first arrived at Remlinger Farms, Lydia saw the ponies, and she waved her arms up and down to simulate the rider of a horse who is using the reins to direct and guide the horse. After lunch, we stood in a queue for ten to fifteen minutes waiting for Lydia’s turn at the pony ride. Lydia had never experienced this popular activity, and SiowFong thought that this might be the highlight event of the day for Lydia. When we reached the front of the line, we were disappointed. A worker at the pony ride inquired about Lydia’s age, and after we responded that Lydia was 19 months old, she informed us that Lydia could not participate because she was not yet two years of age.

Fortunately, the petting zoo with two lambs (one large black one and one small gray one), two chickens, a duck, and a rabbit was located just next to the pony rides, so we brought Lydia there. Lydia spent fifteen minutes looking and touching all of these animals. When the large black sheep bellowed, “Baaaaaah”, Lydia was startled.

With about ten humongous inflatables to choose from, we chose to bring Lydia to one with a large slide that was at the end of a circular loop. With mom watching and photographing us, we walked and crept to the base of the ladder, but because of the narrow width and the small size of the footholds, I tried but could not ascend the ladder with Lydia in my arms, so I reversed direction and came back out the front entrance.

All three of us had a good time at the picnic, and we look forward to attending the one next year.

Photos: Lydia and Playgroup

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Lydia playing "Peek A Boo" with a purple scarf while looking at her mom (who is not in the picture)

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Lydia trying to use the scarf as a skirt

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Lydia and another girl playing with scarves

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Iwen Chiu (the playgroup coordinator and teacher), Lydia, and mom

Note: All of these pictures were made on August 17, 2007 at the Friday playgroup, which takes place at the Chinese Information Service Center in Seattle, WA.

A Broader, Compassionate Perspective

August 17, 2007


A Broader, Compassionate Perspective

Having overseas missionaries as longtime friends like the Hursts (Congo) and the Armisteads (Pakistan) means hearing and reading about their life stories as well as the life stories of the people they serve in foreign lands. This not only broadens one’s perspective about life but also sensitizes one to the needs of the poor.

In the mid to late 1990s, I had two opportunities to serve abroad on one-week trips to Cite Soleil, the poorest slum in the Western Hemisphere which is located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with Haiti Outreach Ministries based in Richmond, Virginia. I still vividly remember the images, the smells, and the sounds from those experiences, but I just as easily recall the joy and warmth of the residents. SiowFong and I have discussed working abroad after we retire, and I hope that when Lydia is a teenager, our family can serve together on a short-term overseas trip.


“More Important Than Life Itself”

I recently reread the following story that speaks to this issue:

“Possessions and status have so little to do with human worth that a lifetime of poverty cannot expunge our innate sense of dignity. Many of the most impressive people I’ve met live in abject poverty.

A few years ago, I realized that I had failed to give my own children an adequate education about life. Oh, I had taken them on trips, but we always stayed in good hotels. They had been to some of the most important places in the world, including the White House and Buckingham Palace. But it struck me that while they had seen how the privileged few live, they were totally unaware of how much of the world struggles in poverty.

So I invited them to accompany me on a trip to Lima, Peru, where Prison Fellowship has an active ministry in some of the toughest prisons in the world and where my colleague Mike Timmis runs microenterprise projects for the poorest of the poor.

My three children did not know what to expect. Wendell and Chris were fairly relaxed, but Emily packed a clean pillowcase – not knowing where she would lay her head at night – and brought with her dozens of medications to protect her from the various bacteria that roam through the Third World.

It turned out to be one of the best weekends I’ve ever spent with my children. We visited four prisons, where I spoke and where Emily, Wendell, and Chris found themselves embraced by strangers who were clapping their hands and waving Bibles. Even in some of the institutions where putrid odors poisoned the air, my grown-up kids seemed to catch the people’s spiritual enthusiasm. Fear of the unknown was soon replaced by genuine joy.

But the most memorable experience was our visit to one of the loan-credit projects. . .

My children and I drove through miles of dirt roads with these homemade structures [cinder block homes] piled like little blocks on both sides of the road. Mike took us to one community literally built on the top of a garbage dump – an area that had been filled in and that squatters immediately began to occupy.

We spent time with a family that had received a hundred-dollar loan from the project’s bank, and with it the father started a thriving recycling business. The man spent most of the day walking the streets of the barrio, collecting stray bottles and scraps of metal and paper, bringing it all back to his yard, where he separated it into piles. He then bundled it and once a week sold it for salvage. With that business, he was able to make a decent living, feed and clothe his family, and see that his children got to school.

Pulling up to his house, we had to make our way past mounds and mounds of garbage and trash he was in the process of separating. The father greeted us, grabbing a rag to wipe his hands, but when he realized that he couldn’t get them clean, he offered us his elbow, which we gladly shook.

We were also struck by the warmth with which we were received. Inside, the house was primitive – a dirt floor, no running water, simply a hole in the ground for a toilet. This small room was home not only for the man and his wife but also for his daughters and their husbands and children. They were certainly cramped, yet they were joyous, excited to have us visit them. Emily had a camera with her and started to take a picture of the family’s adorable little girls. As Emily squinted through the lens, the mother stepped in between Emily and the children, put one finger up to signal that we should wait, and then took both the little girls to the cistern. She grabbed a ladle of precious water and washed both of their faces so they would be prepared for the picture. This small gesture was an unforgettable manifestation of her rightful pride in her daughters – a sign of their infinite value.

That day we did not see a slum. We didn’t see a struggling, poverty-stricken Peruvians of Indian ancestry. We saw a family that had a desire to present themselves well. They exhibited a sense of dignity and order even as they were living in circumstances most of us couldn’t imagine. They were proud of their home, proud of their job, proud of their self-sufficiency, proud of their family. It was a striking lesson for the Colson clan.”

(Charles Colson. The Good Life: Seeking Purpose, Meaning, and Truth in Your Life. Tyndale: 2005, pages 76-78.)

Photos: Edmonds Summer Market

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Lydia loves to touch flowers -- here she is doing it with her right hand.

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Lydia standing beside bunches of colorful cut flowers



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Left-hand flower touching




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Lydia standing beside crates of fruit




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Lydia standing in front of a toy fire truck, which was the grand prize of a raffle


Note: SiowFong took these five pictures on August 4, 2007 at the Saturday Summer Market in Edmonds, WA.