Photos: Birthday, Horizontal Beam

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Lydia is slowly scooting herself along the balance beam while Vivian Foley, who is quickly walking across it, catches up with Lydia.

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Mom is encouraging Lydia to walk down the balance beam.


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Mom is waiting for Lydia as Lydia is nearing the end of the balance beam.

(Vivian Foley is at the other end of the beam, ready to begin her journey across it while her parents, Todd and Carolyn, are nearby to ensure her safety.)


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Lydia is sitting on the balance beam as she is taking a brief rest from all of these fun activities.


Note: All these photos were taken on Sunday, January 6, 2008 at the Little Gym in Kenmore, Washington.

Operation Christmas Child Update

January 14, 2008


Operation Christmas Child Update

Because our family was away from our home for this past Christmas holiday season and because of the increased volume of mail that we received in December, we are behind in reading some of our mail.

One letter that caught my attention this evening was the December 2007 newsletter of Samaritan’s Purse that was written by Franklin Graham, the organization’s president. Do you remember the twelve shoeboxes of gifts that Lydia helped to prepare two months ago? According to the newsletter, 8 million children (in third and fourth world countries) received a shoebox that was filled with presents this past Christmas.

Some other highlights of the newsletter included the following:

“our disaster relief teams have responded in Christ’s Name to an earthquake in Peru, a volcano in Ecuador, drought in Niger, flooding in Nepal, hurricanes in the Caribbean, wildfires in California, a tornado in Kansas, and many more calamities.

When North Korea suffered massive flooding this summer, the Lord opened doors for Samaritan’s Purse to airlift $ 8 million of medicine and relief supplies. Our chartered 747 cargo jet was the first commercial flight directly from the United States to Pyongyang since the Korean War.

With God’s help, Samaritan’s Purse has been able to feed hundreds of thousands of hungry people in Africa and Latin America in 2007. Thousands of families are drinking clean water from filters that we provided. Close to a million youth in countries ravaged by HIV / AIDS are involved in Bible-based prevention programs developed by our staff. More than 60 children [from third and fourth world countries] received life-giving heart surgery this year [in the United States] through our Children’s Heart Project. . .

God has truly blessed our work in Sudan this year. Our teams have nearly a hundred churches under construction. . .At the same time, food and medical aid are being provided to thousands of people in the war-torn Darfur region.”


Personal Comment

I am adding this update to Lydia’s blog to underscore the fact that every one of us can do something to improve the life of a child, and donating funds and / or volunteer time to an organization like Samaritan’s Purse is one way to help a needy child.

Photos: Birthday, Group Eating

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Lunch time

(left side of table; front to back): Vaughn Poon, Lydia, Samuel Chen, Evelyn Chen, Mayfanna Li

(right side of table; front to back): Wee Kao, Eden Poon, Vivian Foley, Todd Foley, Matt Kaing

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Another view of the table

(Lydia's mom is eating too, but she's standing to the left of the camera
[please see SiowFong's reflection in the mirror])



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Lydia is selecting some food from her plate.

(front to back): Samuel Chen, Lydia, and Vaughn Poon


Note: All pictures were taken on January 6, 2008 in the lunch room at the Little Gym in Kenmore, Washington.

A Waddler Graduate

January 14, 2008


A Waddler Graduate

In early December 2007, Abida, Lydia’s day care teacher, informed SiowFong that Lydia would be promoted to the toddler class in January 2008 after spending four months in the waddler class. The reasons for this change were twofold. First, Lydia would be ready to enter the toddler class, which is comprised of 2-year old children, and second, the day care would be enrolling new children into the waddler class.

To ease Lydia’s transition into her new class, Abida coordinated with Rajni, the teacher of the toddler group, so that Lydia spent some time each day with the toddlers beginning in December. At first, Lydia spent only an hour or two there, but by the first week of January, she was spending several hours with the toddlers, returning to the waddler group mainly for lunch and nap time.

For the most part, Lydia has been comfortable with this arrangement. Rajni, Lydia’s new teacher of East Indian descent, commented to SiowFong last week that of all the children in her toddler class, Lydia is the most well-behaved child since she listens well and responds quickly to Rajni’s instructions. Last Tuesday, however, Lydia wanted to return to the waddler class. She made her intentions known by banging on the wooden and glass door that separates the two groups and by shouting, “I want to see my Abida!”

Another change occurred last week that indicated Lydia’s new status as a member of the toddler class, namely the new location of her coat rack and cubicle. I discovered this fact when I brought Lydia to the day care this morning. After removing Lydia’s coat, I walked to the waddler area to hang it on the coat rung and noticed that the label bearing her name had been removed. Abida then showed me Lydia’s new cubicle and coat rack in the toddler classroom.

Today marked another milestone as Lydia contentedly spent the entire day with the toddler group.

Photos: Birthday, Girl Reflecting

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Lydia is pondering something during her birthday lunch.

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"I wonder what I will eat for my birthday lunch."



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Lydia is thinking seriously about something as she is holding a pink stuffed animal, one of the presents she received.

Photographer: James Chen

Note: All these pictures were taken on Sunday, January 6, 2008 at the Little Gym in Kenmore, Washington.

Dinner with Poying

January 13, 2008


Dinner with Poying

Poying Chan, SiowFong’s friend and former colleague, was the first dinner guest at our home for 2008. SiowFong has known Poying since 1991. After learning late last year that Poying was returning to this area after a sixteen year absence, SiowFong invited Poying to our home tonight.

To prepare Lydia for Poying, both SiowFong and I informed Lydia this weekend that mommy’s friend, aunty Poying, would be coming to our home. Yesterday, when we asked Lydia to repeat Poying’s name, Lydia softly said, “aunty Poying”. Shortly after Poying’s arrival tonight, Lydia said “aunty Poying” again although Lydia was reluctant to make eye contact with Poying initially. Within a half hour, Lydia’s shyness disappeared, and as the evening progressed, she became very comfortable with Poying. After dinner, Lydia shuffled closer and closer to Poying while staring at Poying. Later she allowed Poying to pick her up and to hug her, which prompted Lydia to smile and to laugh.

What about Poying did Lydia like? Was it Poying’s curly black hair, which is unique among people of Chinese ancestry? Was it Poying’s voice? (Poying was born in Hong Kong, and she emigrated to Canada when she was in her college years; as a result, she still has some accent in her voice.) Was it something else? Why are kids attracted to some adults and not others? Neither SiowFong nor I have the answers, but it is interesting seeing Lydia’s various reactions to different adults.

Photos: Birthday, Bubbles Time

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Lydia is looking at one of the instructors.

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The kids are gathered around one of the instructors who has just blown some bubbles.

(the children from left to right): Eden Poon, Samuel Chen, Vaughn Poon, Lydia, and Vivian Foley


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Another view of the children who are assembled near the teachers as they await another round of bubble blowing


Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures during Lydia's birthday party on Sunday, January 6, 2008 at the Little Gym in Kenmore, Washington.

"I Want"

January 9, 2008


“I Want”

Lydia’s method of communicating her preferences has changed over the last year. In the beginning, she frequently pointed to an object to inform us of her choice. A few months later, she began turning her head back and forth to indicate that she did not want something. Then she started to say the word “yeah”. About six weeks ago, she learned how to utter the word “no”, and finally, over the last two to three weeks, Lydia has been using the phrase “I want” to communicate her preferences.

Although today is one of my two regular days off from work, I had to attend an early afternoon meeting that lasted from 1:00 PM until 2:00 PM. After the meeting concluded, Lydia began repeating the sentence, “I want to go home” with increasing urgency as she tugged on my hand while leaning forward towards the door. Silvia, Danyeal, Laura, and Mayfanna, four coworkers, smiled when they heard Lydia’s announcement. After waving goodbye to some of my colleagues, Lydia said, “See you tomorrow”, which elicited more smiles and laughs from my coworkers.

One benefit of Lydia’s day care attendance is that Lydia is learning English at an exponential rate. Both SiowFong and I are surprised by how fast she is acquiring her language skills. Just six weeks ago, she was just saying a single English word. Within the last three weeks, she was uttering a few phrases, and now she is able to build simple sentences using the words “I want”.