Photos: Samaritan

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This is the line of a dozen empty shoe boxes that are ready to be packed with gifts for Operation Christmas Child in the living room.

In the background, Lydia is playing with some of the presents in the upper landing area.

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Lydia has just given SiowFong an empty shoebox that her mom will open and then place in the shoebox queue in the living room

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The variety of items for the shoeboxes in the upper landing area

Lydia is playing with the combs.


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In the upper landing area, dad and Lydia are gathering the crayons in preparation for distributing them in the shoeboxes.

Note: All these images were taken on Sunday, November 4, 2007 in our home.

Operation Christmas Child, Part 2

November 4, 2007


Operation Christmas Child, Part 2


Lydia helped mom and dad pack a dozen shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child tonight from 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM. With the twelve boxes lined up in the living room and the items sorted in the upper landing area, Lydia followed mom and dad as everyone placed toothbrushes, toothpaste, crayons, teddy bears, Matchbox cars, erasers, and an assortment of other things inside the boxes. Although the task required twice as much time as in prior years, the entire process was even more enjoyable for SiowFong and me since Lydia was actively involved in it.

“Presents can open the door to teaching about the real meaning of the [Christmas] holidays. Christ was a king who came not to take, but to give. His gift was the ultimate sacrifice and therefore brings each Christmas gift into focus.” (Ace Collins. Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan: 2003. page 101.)


Franklin Graham’s Comments

“Sometimes people ask me how much difference can a shoe box [of gifts] make in the life of a child who is poor, sick, hungry, or traumatized by war. I tell them that the gifts are only the beginning. Church partners who hand out the boxes on our behalf also reach out to the children and their families, sharing the hope of the Gospel. . .

Let me give you an example. In 1993 in snowy Bosnia, an 11-year old girl named Lejla received one of our very first shoe box gifts. ‘That’s when I knew God loved me,’ she said. Raised in a non-Christian home, she didn’t know who Jesus was. When one of our team shared the Gospel with her, Lejla prayed to accept Christ as her Lord and Savior. Today, living in Pennsylvania after marrying a soldier who was in Bosnia on a peacekeeping mission, Lejla Allison is packing boxes for over 50 children. . .” (“Bringing Joy and Hope to the ‘Least of These’, October 2007 newsletter. Samaritan’s Purse, page 2.)

Photos: Church Nursery 1

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Lydia is sitting in the plastic swing set, one of her favorite toys in the toddler nursery.

(left to right): Monica, Lydia, Elizabeth

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Lydia riding a toy horse

(lef to right): Elizabeth and Lydia

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The slide is Lydia's other favorite toy. She just slid down, and she will be walking back towards the ladder to slide down again.

(left to right): Stefan, Lydia (foreground), Elizabeth (background)

Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures on September 16, 2007 at the toddler nursery of Shoreline Community Church.

Dinner with the Seidlers

November 3, 2007


Dinner with the Seidlers

Susan Caughman, the editor in chief for Adoptive Families magazine, commented in the September-October 2007 issue that “one of the great joys [that adoptive families experience] is the connections to our community. . .where we learn from one another and reflect on our experiences building our families and raising our children.”

About a month ago near the end of a ten minute break at a staff meeting, Tina Shereen informed me that she and her husband, Jerry, were working with WACAP (World Association for Children and Parents), their adoption agency, to adopt a waiting child from China. She then briefly asked me about our adoption experience. We later arranged a time for Tina and Jerry to come to our home for dinner tonight, an event that made me think again about Ms. Caughman’s comments.

During the course of our dinner conversation, Tina and Jerry disclosed that they anticipate traveling by late February 2008 to China to pick up Ida, their daughter who just turned one year of age on October 31, 2007. They also asked a number of questions concerning the trip to China, day care, and other parenting concerns. SiowFong, Tina, Jerry, and I are looking forward to next year when Lydia and Ida can meet to play with each other.

Photos: Spanish Teacher Silvia

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Lydia, Tigger the Tiger, and Silvia Navas (Lydia's "maestra" [Spanish word for female teacher])

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Look at those smiles !

Note: All pictures were taken on November 3, 2007 in the upper landing area of our home.

Dim Sum with the Chews

November 3, 2007


Dim Sum with the Chews

A few weeks ago Steven, Tammy, and Nicholas Chew invited us to join them at a local restaurant called Zen Garden in Mill Creek for a dim sum lunch. One legitimate criticism of many Chinese restaurants is the lack of décor. Zen Garden stands in direct contradistinction to that trend because both the restaurant’s interior and exterior look good. (Even a casual observer can tell that the owners are proud of the restaurant’s appearance since the establishment’s business cards are printed on glossy photo-quality postcard stock. On the back of a business card is an evening image of the restaurant’s exterior with its garden and pond in the foreground.)

The restaurant’s exterior, in particular, is beautiful because the eatery overlooks a large garden with a pond, a red Japanese-styled bridge, a paved, asphalt walkway, and a number of shrubs and trees. Words like pacific and picturesque would be appropriate to describe the scenery. After a hearty lunch, we exited the restaurant’s back door and briefly strolled through the garden. The deciduous trees, such as the Japanese maple, had already shed many of their leaves, and the leaves that remained on their limbs were reddish brown and dry.

We will be returning to this eatery not only for its food but also for its ambience, and we should try to make a visit here in mid-October of next year to try to see the peak autumn colors.

Photos: Spanish Playgroup 1

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At the Spanish playgroup, Lydia enjoys riding around or being pushed around in the plastic vehicles, including the scooters and large plastic cars.

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Despite its four wheels, this replica of a school bus is a stationary toy.

Lydia is playing with some wooden cars that can be moved along a set of tracks.

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The big plastic cars are Lydia's favorite toys, and she occasionally competes with other children to play with one of these two vehicles.


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Lydia is observing the other playgroup attendees, many of whom are engaged in an arts and crafts activity. Notice the size of this room, which used to serve as a school auditorium.


Note: All these pictures were taken on October 24, 2007 at the Northshore Family Center in Bothell, WA.

Portraits with Silvia

November 3, 2007


Portraits with Silvia

About a half hour before Silvia came to our home earlier this morning, I had taken some pictures of Lydia with her pink knit cap covering her head in the upper landing area.

Although we had taken action shots of Silvia playing and reading to Lydia a few months ago, we did not have any teacher-student portraits, so I asked Silvia if I could photograph her with Lydia. Silvia agreed, and for the last ten minutes of her visit, she sat with Lydia on an ivory colored Queen Anne bench. During this time, SiowFong was kneeling near the bench to help Lydia focus her attention on the camera.

After the first few minutes, Lydia became distracted and created her own routine, which consisted of the following action sequence: climb onto the bench from the rear, sit on its seat or its arms for a few seconds, slide off the bench from the front, walk around it, and restart the same cycle. Silvia adapted to Lydia’s restlessness by kneeling on the floor so that she was ready for a picture when Lydia came back around the bench and was facing the camera. These ten minutes resulted in 43 images.

Photos: Autumn Colors, Lydia

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Attired in her matching pink mittens and hat as well as her pink winter jacket, Lydia, who just awoke from a late morning nap, is rested, warm, and happy.

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Lydia is standing on a gently sloping grassy embankment that is way in front of a stand of hardwood trees that are showcasing their fiery autumn glory

Photographer: SiowFong




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Lydia is playing with the tripod in the midst of a carpet of crimson leaves


Note: All these pictures were taken on October 28, 2007 at the Canyon Park Business Park in Bothell, WA.

Silvia Time

November 3, 2007


Silvia Time

Over the last four months, Silvia has come to our home a number of times on Saturday mornings to play and read to Lydia in Spanish. Lydia has become very accustomed to interacting with Silvia and rarely requires our presence.

Silvia arrived at 9:40 AM, and for the next hour and twenty minutes, she and Lydia had a great time together during play time and reading time. Their normal routine goes something like this: Lydia periodically brings to Silvia a toy or a book in which Lydia is interested, and that object is the focus of their mutual attention for the next ten to fifteen minutes. Meanwhile Silvia is exclusively speaking Spanish to Lydia, some of which Lydia seems to comprehend.

None of us knows exactly how much Spanish Lydia will eventually learn and retain. Nevertheless, SiowFong and I really appreciate Silvia’s ongoing gifts of attention, language, and time that she is investing in Lydia.