New Zealand

Andrew is ready for our big trip... Although we probably won't pack him away in a suitcase... Well, we'll see if he's been misbehaving or not. Anyway, the "big trip" is our mission's trip to New Zealand. Gabe, Andrew, and I along with 15 others from our church will be going down to NZ for 15 days to encourage the 5 churches of our denomination in Auckland and to lead a youth retreat for them in Rotorua. After the first 11 days, the three of us will go visit the Cliffords (friends from SLO) who planted a Calvary Chapel in Rotorua for the remaining 4 days. Needless to say, we are VERY excited and can't wait to be there. I'm especially excited about a 2-part workshop that Gabe and I are co-teaching at the retreat on dating. Whoo-whoo!

We're hoping to communicate our NZ story with all of you during our trip via this blog. We should also be able to check our email, if you'd like to contact us.
I thought I would leave the rest of this post for updates on how things have been going apart from NZ. This is Andrew loving his new toy.... I mean our new mopping bucket. :) Clothed now.
Andrew just learned how to feed himself with a fork and spoon. He's actually quite good at it, but a little messy. He's much happier doing it on his own. He can eat whatever is on his plate in whichever order and as fast as he wants. He's a happy man with his new-found skill.

He also loves this tunnel. This is the way he hugs his stuffed animals, by the way.
Here are Andrew and I running in Newport Beach. (I must confess, though. This is actually a picture after our official run.) A side note: I just ran 20 miles last Saturday and found out what runners are talking about when they "hit the wall". Oops. Not enough input energy while I was running. I'm going to start trying out all of those power gels, etc. That was an experience I'd rather not have again.
Andrew walked all the way back to our car, holding his lunch box, by himself after our Newport run. It was quite cute. He waved at everyone else on the boardwalk too.

"I Get a Runner's High, Which is Why Now I Swim"

Angela, The Office (deleted scene from "Drug Testing")

About two weeks ago, I had a friend tell me that if she were going to run a long-distance race, she'd run a half-marathon, not a full one because a full marathon is just crazy. I brushed off her comment and responded with, "C'mon. If you're going to run 13 miles, why not just keep going?"

That was the day before my 13-mile run. Dude. 13 miles is far. I just found out last week that 15 miles is even further. I have a feeling that 17 miles tomorrow is going to be even longer. You've gotta' be a little off your rocker to run this far. Lucky for me, my rocker was never quite right anyway. I agree with my friend that running this far is a little nutty, but it is AWESOME!

I seriously do get a "runner's high" after several miles. It's sweet! I just feel like I could run forever and never get tired. It's such an amazing feeling! I'm on a "everyone-should-run-a-marathon" kick right now. Sure, I haven't run one yet, but the training is great. I'm in shape physically and I'm really challenging myself mentally. It's been surprising for me how much mental strength I've lost over the past 10 years. Honestly, my head is usually the body part that gets tired first. I'm working really hard on it though and hopefully I'll overcome this weakness before June because I've heard that 26 miles is even further than 17!

Please Leave Your Dynamite at Home

While viewing TSA's website about what you can and cannot bring on a flight, I learned some interesting facts that I thought would be nice to share...

Things you may not bring:
1. Dynamite
2. Hand Grenades
3. Tear Gas
4. More than 3 oz. of pudding (carry on)

Things you may bring:
1. Firearms
2. Cattle Prods
3. Nunchakus
4. Spear Gun
5. Swords
6. Sabers

Flosh Static Bea

Josh, Flo, and family stayed at our house last weekend for a big trip to... Disneyland!!! To see how their trip went, click here. It was so fun watching Sera and Andrew play together. Sera would run over to Andrew and say, "C'mon! Let's go play!" Most times, I don't think she really knew what she wanted to play, but Andrew would run after her, chasing her down the hallway and they would go play together. We had never really seen this side of Andrew before since most kids he plays with are his own age and not very interactive yet. It was such a blessing that I told Gabe we should have another kid right away, but we should have a 3-year-old for Andrew to play with. :)

Amelie is such a little sweetie. Although, I must say, she liked Gabe more than me. This is the only look she gave me, but Gabe got smiles and all sorts of other cute faces. Not a good start to a mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship!
It's never too early for a lesson in static electricity. While folding the laundry, I realized that I must have forgotten the fabric softener... oops...Check out his hair! His face makes it look like he's getting shocked or at least frazzled by the static electricity.
Another great shot. This just goes to prove that frizzy hair is good for something!

Last week, we got to go up to Nevada City and stay with Gabe's parents. Although the trip was for his Grandma Bea's memorial service, we had a wonderful time with family, celebrating her life.
As soon as we got there, my bro-in-law, Jesse, and Andrew and I went on a hike. All of these shots are from right behind their house. It's so beautiful!!!

Andrew seemed to really enjoy the scenery and the dog that came with us. It was a well-deserved time out of the car seat!

What's up bro?
I don't know where Alice was when this picture was taken, but the three girls on the right are Ynez, Nora, and Simone. Those four girls entertain me to no end every time I see them. Tami (another cousin) got the world's longest hug from Andrew. They hadn't spent any time together and suddenly Andrew walked over to her, she bent down, and Andrew wrapped his arms around her shoulders for literally about a minute and a half! Then he wouldn't even go back to me. He only wanted Tami! It was so cute!

The Elephant

Ha ha ha! (This is SO my sense of humor!) By the way, teacher, this is when you get to dish out creativity points! How do you think I made it through college? :)

Did I beat her?! Gabe and Allie just sent this to me and I forwarded it to my sis, Sara. She replied and said she might put it on her blog... So, did I beat her to it?

Good Sir Knight

Doesn't little Sir Andrew look like he's ready to go out and conquer the world?... Or maybe he looks a little more ready for a nap. It's hard to say.

The Barber home (yet again) has been under attack by the stomach flu! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

This time, only Andrew and I got it, though. It's a really weird bug. It's not that bad (compared to the Nov./Dec. variety), but it's lasted for three days so far. Ugh! Not to worry my dearest Flo and sister Sara (both of whom we'll be seeing in a few days), we will be healthy with a cleaned house by then! (Please pray!)

This, of course, means I didn't get to run my 13 miles on Saturday. :( I was SO pumped for my run too! I was going to run to the home of the Shultzi and back. It's a big bummer, but hopefully I'll get my strength back soon.

Children For Sale in Orange County

I just wanted to give all of you a lesson in grammar. Please don't accidentally sell your kids on Craig's List. Click here if you're interested in purchasing a child.

Disneyland, Shredding, and More!

Another gift that Gabe surprised me with on my birthday was passes to Disneyland!!! Whoo-hoo! It's so much fun (and a totally different experience) going with a little one. We have a lot of fun with him there, but Gabe and I still love the "big kid" rides so we let each other go on the fun ones while the other one of us watches the little man. On my birthday, I got to go on my favorite ride which I don't know the name of. It's the crazy water ride at CA Adventure. The ironic thing (as you can see in the photo) is that the raft I was put on was all Chinese people and myself... I felt right at home! I wished I could speak Mandarin because I'm almost sure that was the language they were speaking. Either way, I had a blast! Man, I love that ride!!!
We also went last Monday and you can see Gabe towards the back of CA Screamin' here. Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
This is another one Gabe wanted to ride where they shoot you up REALLY fast and then you kind-of bungee back down... They have plastic shields in front of each seat. I think it's to catch the barf so it doesn't land on everyone below.
So here's my little paper shredder helper. Sure it may have been a little messy, but I got a lot of shredding done!

And he helped clean up! He really did! He can understand me now and sometimes does what I ask him to do. He carried this trash to the kitchen and then carried two bags outside to the big trash cans! Go Andrew!!!

Here's Andrew in his pj's and hiking boots. He insisted that I put the boots on him last night... I guess he had some exterminating to do.
A boy in his daddy's hat.

Marathon Training

It's time for a marathon training update. It's been a while now since I told you about how running is going. I am LOVING it!!! I'm in shape finally so I can enjoy the workouts more and really challenge myself. I'm on week #4 (of 17) in my training. Here's the schedule:

M: jog 40 minutes (11:00 minute pace)

T: cross train 30 minutes

W: 12 x 400m repeats (1:55-2:00 pace)

R: jog 40 minutes (11:00 minute pace)

F: cross train 30 minutes

Sa: 13 miles (9:45 pace)

Su: REST!!!

Ironically, my favorite days are W's and Sa's. I love the challenge that these runs give me. The other days are cool too (esp. R since Gabe and Andrew join me), but I look at them as filler days for the rest of the week. :)

Gabe gave me the pink watch for my birthday and I have enjoyed it so much. It helps me keep my pace just right and it looks cute too! :)

Cute Kid

Andrew is just starting to understand pictures now and loves them. He especially likes Gabe in pictures. He'll carry around a picture (this one is his fav) and say, "daddy? daddy?" while walking all around the house.

Like father, like son. (This is the sports section... Front page Lakers.)What?!
If that's not a mischevious look, I don't know what is.

What a cute kid.

Nonnie and Poppy Visit

Andrew got to see 2 sets of grandparents within one week!... Come to think of it, maybe that's why he's been so fussy since Gabe's parents left. He got used to being spoiled! :)
We had a great visit even in the rain. We all went for a walk on my favorite trails and we played numerous games of Apples to Apples. (Even Gabe and his dad enjoyed it!) Also, Gabe and I got to go on TWO dates in one day! I guess we were spoiled too!
How cute is this little guy with his Nonnie?

Happy New Year!!!

Happy (Chinese) New Year everyone! Gong She!!! Last night was the big party at church. New Year's for the Chinese is comparable to Christmas for Americans. There are always family gatherings, parties, traditions, gifts, and (of course!) lots of food. One of Andrew's aunties from church got Andrew the most adorable outfit for the big nite. She also got me the shirt you'll see me wearing as well.

I think he knew he was modeling here. :)

Check out the braided hair. Isn't that hilarious?!

The talent show was AWESOME! The youth did a couple of skits that turned out great. They wrote and acted them out all on their own. They are very talented and funny!
We only got pics from one of the skits though... how sad!

I don't even know how to explain this. Two brothers (Wesley and Allan) did this crazy yoyo fly through the air and land back on the string and go around their body thing. I think that's a fairly good explanation. It was pretty crazy looking.

Dr. Ho did a puppet show... sounds boring, right? It was a traditional Taiwanese puppet show though. He made the puppets do some amazing things. The pupets could move their fingers and tilt their heads! They were balancing dishes on long metal poles and beating each other up. It was really funny and a very cute, well written play as well. He had the adults and the little kids laughing so hard. I can't even understand Taiwanese and I was laughing too!

Dr. Tien, the chairman of our elder board, challenged Gabe and I this time. He asked Gabe to write out a few sentences of our feelings for everyone at church. We gave that to him and he exchanged it for a Taiwanese-translated copy for Gabe and a Mandarin-translated copy for me. It was SO hard, but we got up in front of everyone and recited (although not completely memorized) our message to the church. One of the high schoolers (Joseph) volunteered to translate for us (into English!) and did a great job. I'm sure that couldn't have been an easy task! I'm going to try to put a sound clip on of Gabe and I saying our messages.

I also did a short act with Alice... a follow-up from the Thanksgiving celebration. she's such a funny woman and comes up with some great ideas. The jacket I'm wearing is her's from her honeymoon! Isn't it beautiful?! I wish I had a pic of it closer up.
Andrew is at the age now that he can run around with the other kids and get away with getting into things that he's not supposed to. It's really cute!
He was so close to climbing up on stage so many times.
Happy New Year, Noah!!!

Andrew liked the feeling of his new clothes.
Andrew with his little buddy, Jonathan and hid mom, Irene.

Paso Robles Trip

Happy Happy Andrew (taken 2 hours ago) We went up to visit my mom and ELM (her husband) on the central coast this weekend. Sorry to my friends up there, but it was a family-only visit this time. :) Here's Andrew in Morro Bay. (Gabe's and my old stompin' grounds.)
My mom and Andrew had a great visit. Andrew warmed right up to her and ELM. It was such a blessing!
Andrew learned how to drive while we were there.

I know this is not a good pic of my mom or I, but it shows us having a good time together and I figured that was worth a bad shot. :)