Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Keira is One!!!

Keira had a 104 degree fever the morning of her birthday.We later decided it was probably the worst day of her life, but we had fun in the midst of the sickness.
We went to Corner Bakery for breakfast. The kids love playing by the fountain afterwards.

We had beef stew for dinner, which is one of Keira's favorites.
That afternoon, Keira opened up her presents.
She really likes to play pretend, especially when it involves eating, so her and Andrew have already had hours of fun with the tea set she got.
Andrew helped her open most of the gifts and was a really good sport.
This was the gift that Gabe and I got her. She seemed to really like it!

Her party was the next day. I hope to post that soon. It was a much better day since Keira's fever was down. She screamed half the night (the part that Gabe and I usually sleep during) so Gabe and I were exhausted, but the party was such a blessing... I'll post soon!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

An Interview with Andrew

1. What is something mommy always says to you?
let's stay together

2. What makes mommy happy?
maybe something that is funny

3. What makes mommy sad?
something that is not funny

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
hahahahahahahahaha

5. What was your mom like as a child?
not me

6. How old is your mom?
maybe this big

7. How tall is your mom?
this (arm up- not outstretched- above his head)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
play

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
stay with me

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
playing with me

11. What is your mom really good at?
i don't know that question

12. What is your mom not very good at?
maybe not laughing

13. What does your mom do for her job?
you have to go to sleep (yup. that's what i do all day.)

14. What's your mom's favorite food?
some apples

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
playing

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
it should be one of these things (pointing to The Lion King video box)
which one?
one of these becuz these say "roar" all the time (pointing to the lions)
which lion?
the baboon

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Pastor Gabe

On Sunday, January 11th, Gabe got ordained! He is now (officially) Reverend Gabe Barber. (Although he's still called Pastor Gabe.) The ceremony was AWESOME! We couldn't have asked for anything more. The chairman of our elder board and his wife put together a beautiful ceremony and a fun reception afterwards.The whole day made us even more thankful for our congregation and made us realize again how blessed we are to be right here right now
There were, more or less, three parts to the ordination process during the ceremony. First, after a wonderful sermon by Pastor Chen (our previous senior pastor), he asked us several questions, such as our beliefs and commitment to the ministry, etc. Then, he asked the congregation several questions, such as if they would support us as their pastor, etc. After we all agreed to everything, we moved on... (I hate to brush over this part so quickly. This was actually a very meaningful part to me.)
All of the ordained pastors in the room came forward to lay hands on us and pray for us and our ministry. It was a really special time, especially now that Gabe has grown much closer to the other English pastors. I was also very blessed to have been included in all of this. Our ministry has always been together even if I'm not physically there with Gabe. I'm very happy to know our church recognizes that even though they don't see me much.
The final part was Gabe's "robing". This was the frosting on the cake.
There were so many special things done by people at our church. It seemed like everyone used their special gifts and talents to bless us that day. This is the Mandarin worship team. They sang a special song for us during the ceremony. It was so beautiful. It seemed like there were WAY more than just 6 voices.The reception was great! I love seeing our worlds collide. We had family, local friends, out of town friends, and of course our church there all at once. It was fun to watch them all interact.
Andrew loved Gabe's new garb. (Shout out to Tai-Wai!)

One of the women at church made beautiful floral arrangements for us all over the reception hall. She even made us a bouquet!

Cutie!
One of the men at church is a baker and is famous for his cakes. (Can you see why?) It tasted good too!
Congratulations, Pastor Gabe! You ROCK!!!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Nonnie and Poppa's House

December 26th, the 2 kids and I flew up to visit Gabe's parents. Gabe took off for Winter Retreat in the mountains and then drove up to Nevada City to meet up with us for a couple more days.

I got a new camera for Christmas so hopefully the posts from here out will be that much better! :) Enjoy the pics. This is a looooooooooooooooooooong post...
Train museum in Nevada City. Andrew was in heaven!
Feeding the horse snow.

I think this was Andrew's favorite Christmas present: an entire fireman outfit complete with hose, hatchet, walkie-talkie, and fire extinguisher from Auntie Mady.
Once again, Keira was proven to be a grandpa-lover! She spent most of her time with Michael on the visit.
Here are the famous pair sledding. (I have a bunch of videos. We'll see if I get around to posting them.)
Andrew got so good at sledding, he got to go by himself for the second half of our time there.
Just like Michael and Keira were a great pair, Leila and Andrew were inseparable for most of the visit.
Gabe drove 9 hours to meet us up there. What a husband!!!




Aren't they all cute?! (It's worth blowing up this pic to see Keira's expression. HA!)




All bundled up for our walk.

The adventures of Yellow Bear (formerly known as Daisy): As shown here, Y.B. was getting a little low on stuffing. (She was also wearing Keira's socks that day.) Andrew is seen here with her "food".
It is a very delicate issue to rip open one's favorite possesion and must be handled delicately. I remembered my dad doing open-bottom surgery on Drowsy (my baby doll) on the dining room table, trying to fix her voice. I remember it fondly so I tried to replicate that for Andrew with this surgery. He actually had a good time. Daisy got to hit the buffet table and eat as much as she wanted.
Boy did she! Honestly, she now looks like she is on steroids. We were all laughing so hard when she was finished. She's actually quite firm now.
It actually wasn't steroids, though. It was stuffing mixed with Christmas cookies that ended her thinnner years. hehehe...
Leila played so many cool games with Andrew. They made clay animals and told stories with them for hours.

The kids were quite happy to have Gabe back around.
The two happy couples.

Meanwhile...
Gabe only had a couple pics from his trip. I thought this one was gorgeous. I wish he had the good camera for it.
The snow level was low and he had to use chains for the first time ever.
The rest of his pics were like this! Crazy Gabe!... lots of snow, though, huh?