Happy Mother's Day 母親節快樂

If there is any fitting time to restart our family journal/website, Mother's Day is surely a good one! It has been quite a few months. We want to wish you Mom a very Happy Mother's Day! Thank you for all you do! Although Virginia was a bit camera shy (is there such a thing???) she wishes you a wonderful Mother's Day too. We hope you have enjoyed your day!

Little known useless fact #2545: The founder of Mother's Day was from West Virginia. See...there is some good that comes from these special neighbors just to the west of us. :) (no offense)

在母親節重新開始我們家庭的紀錄想必是非常適合的時間! 我們在此要祝我們的母親們母親節快樂! 謝謝你們為我們所作的一切! 雖然藹伶有點排斥鏡頭,但她亦祝您們母親節快樂。 希望你們有個快樂的一天。我們愛您!

30 + Thanksgiving 三十+感恩節

2008年11月27日滿三十了! 坦白說,心理是很惶恐的, 畢竟三字頭的年歲曾經對我而言是如此的遙遠,如今卻也進身其中。今年生日適逢感恩節, 剛好提醒我要用感恩的心來度過三十歲的生日,或也可讓我有藉口在那天只慶祝感恩節而遺忘自己不太想承認的事實。

最後我選擇用感恩的心情來歡渡, 當天我跟媽咪說:「恭喜妳啊!女兒順利成長到三十歲了!」也謝謝她含辛茹苦地拉拔我長大。突然,也好想看到藹伶三十歲的模樣喔.....找到永恆伴旅了吧? 過著幸福平安的生活吧? 作媽媽了吧? 嗯,那鏡中的我不就是57歲半的外婆了嗎? 那還是別了,我可以再等個27年半。 :p

27日的前一晚,一行人在Amei和Shawn家吃感恩節火雞大餐, 也意外地吃到了生日蛋糕。 我和Monica都在11/27出生,但一個過三十歲生日, 一個卻是過二十三歲生日. :x 我好像又被開了另一個玩笑.......嗯,要感恩,要感恩! :$

在當天吃到了生平吃過的最好吃的火雞,感謝Shawn大師的手藝,也吃到了生平吃過的最貴的生日蛋糕, 要感謝慕義的荷包。

生日當天因為是感恩節,所以很多店都在凌晨開張,推出大特價活動, 我是愛逛街的人,所以慕義便投其所好,帶我去outlet逛街採購,作為我今年的生日禮物,這挺符合我實際的個性。當晚,十一點左右我們便軀車前往, 一路上沒什麼車子,我還心裡暗自竊喜想說我們一定可以成為拿到10塊美金禮卷的前一百名到場的民眾,沒想到,就在看到Outlet的同時,也看到一條綿長的車陣, 這下子,不要說拿到禮卷了,就連擠進店可能都成問題了! :@ 不過可以親身體驗一下感恩節後的黑色星期五的購物傳統,也挺有趣的! 也很感謝慕義, 一個人在車上照顧著藹伶讓我安心去逛。

今年生日沒特別許下什麼心願,只期許自己能夠在往後的日子更加地成熟, 更愛神及愛我的家人朋友。今年年底也有一番學習及領會。 每個人的考驗及在意的事雖都不盡相同,但我們都有許多大大小小足以影響我們情緒的波瀾,在遇到這些波瀾時,若我們都想想什麼是最生命中最重要的: 神和家人,那麼很多波瀾便無法傷害到我們,我們也可以活得更自在更自信。我真的真的好感謝能夠知道神,認識福音。感恩節前一晚,用餐前,我們一行人圍成一圈,Shawn邀請我們每個人輪流講自己所感謝的事,不能重複。我感謝福音,因為福音帶給了我所擁有的一切,幫助我加以了解並珍惜 ,我也感謝現代科技,能夠讓我與分隔兩地的家人保持緊密的連繫; 慕義感謝我倆的父母所為我們設立下認真勤奮工作的好榜樣,也提到他感謝安全帽,因為安全帽幾次救了他免於嚴重的傷害,也分享作好安全措施的重要; Shawn提到他感謝坦誠,並分享坦享的價值; Ryan提到他感謝枕頭談話(pillow talk), 每晚就寢前能和Monica一起談心讓他很感謝。

大衛‧貝納長老08年十月的教友大會上說道:「請容我建議你我定期地獻上一個祈禱，在那祈禱當中完全只表達感謝。不要祈求任何事情；單單讓我們的靈魂感到歡欣，並且用全部的心力表達感謝。」,在這邀請之前,他分享了他個人對此的經驗,學習及見證 (閱讀此文) ,我非常地感動,也期許,不只在感恩節時要表達感謝,更要每天計算恩典,並在祈禱中向愛我們的天父表達由衷的感謝，讓生活充滿感謝,讓每天都是感恩節。

Amei, Monica, me and Yuhsuan


本來對火雞沒什麼興趣的我,吃了Shawn的火雞,真的是對火雞完全感觀

Water makes it fun! 洗碗樂

One day, a few months ago, I randomly asked Virginia what I was doing. To my surprise, she quickly replied "xi wan"(washing the dishes in Mandarin). I really couldn't recall when I taught her how to say that. Since she's turned one, she has been surprising us with new words each day. I don't remember when was the first time she expressed her interest to join me washing the dishes for the first time. I am glad I didn't reject her that time and instead, took the opportunity to teach her some more kitchen words and how to wash the dishes. Now I pretty much expect her to come to help whenever I begin washing the dishes. It actually was a little annoying sometimes but I tried to calm down and enjoy the moment. I know the main reason she loves to wash the dishes is not just because she loves to help, but because she loves to play with water, and so this to her is something fun to do. That's it! If the kids can find joy out of housework without feeling such a burden, then we can have more peace and laughter at home instead of nagging and commanding. But, here also comes a problem which is that she wants to wash the dishes forever and it definitely tests my patience. I guess I just need to come up with some creative ways to stop her from putting all the just-washed-dishes back to wash again. It's better to test my wisdom than to test my patience after all.

前幾個月前的某天,正在洗碗的我隨口問藹伶說:「媽咪在做什麼啊?」當時並沒有預期會獲得回應的我,竟然聽到藹伶熟練地說:「洗碗啊!」,好像她常說此話,但那可是我第一次聽到她這樣說啊 :D 。自從藹伶滿周歲後,幾乎每天她的口裡都會冒出新的詞語,在在讓我們驚奇。
　　
已不記得何時藹伶第一次表示她想加入我洗碗的行列，但我很高興當時的我沒有拒絕她，並趁機教她洗碗、教她幾個廚房用詞，像是”菜瓜布”、”洗碗精”等，如今，差不多每次洗碗都可以料想藹伶小小的身驅推動著大大的餐桌椅（影片中則例外的是她的小凳子）來加入洗碗的工作，坦白說，有時確實覺得很煩，拖累我的效率，但每每總試著平靜下來好好享受當下。
　　
藹伶之所以愛洗碗，主因當然不是因為她喜歡幫忙囉，而是有機會可以玩水，所以這檔差事對她而言便成為樂事一椿。而這亦是關鍵所在吧！若孩子們能從繁瑣的家事中找到樂趣，不視其為重擔，那麼家中便可少些吼叫、命令，多些和平及歡笑吧。希望孩子將來真的能夠願意分擔家事並能負責好份內之事。
　　
然而伴隨而來的問題便是藹伶想要一直洗一直洗，這就真的是考驗我的耐性了!!我想我得多花點心思來幫助她停止將剛洗好的碗再放回碗槽中重洗,畢竟考驗我的智慧總比考驗我的耐心要來得好囉!

Going snow sledding on the grass 在草上滑雪

Last month when it began to snow, after class, Charles took Virginia to go sledding for the first time. At that time I was not able to overcome my fear and hatred of being in the cold, so I ended up missing Virginia's first sledding experience. Two days later, it was a sunny and bright day, I thought it was the perfect time to go sledding and playing in the snow for Virginia... or for me to be part of this kind of activity :) . So we went to Sugar House Park and thank goodness, there was a little bit snow left. I can say that we had so much fun that day regardless of people who couldn't help to look at us sledding in the grass... We were really impressed with Virginia that she could enjoy that so much without any fear. I tried once sledding for the first time, even though that I went down really slow, but it still scared me to death because the sled was so out of control.

上個月某天降了大雪,慕義抓住機會下了課便帶藹伶去坐滑雪板滑雪,而這是藹伶生平的第一次。那天我實在難以克服我對寒冷的恐懼及厭惡,只好硬生生地錯過藹伶第一次玩雪的經驗。過了兩天,是個美麗晴朗的日子,我心想這真是個出遊玩雪的好日子啊! 真感謝慕義的仁慈,同意了我的提議。我們去附近的Sugar House公園裡熱門的滑雪小丘,既然是熱門的玩雪場景,在一個冬陽高掛,冰雪盡融的近午時分,自然沒什麼人,而我們竟是唯三在小丘上的人,不過還好地上還有些殘雪,勉強還可以玩,我們玩得很開心,也顧不得旁人側目的眼光了 :) 。我們也很訝異藹伶玩得這麼開心,一點都不畏懼,我試了一次,雖然速度不快,但整個滑雪板完全失控,真是把我嚇得半死啊......。

Virginia's 1st snapshot 藹伶拍照初體驗

I found a few pictures in my camera the other day. They were obviously not taken by me or Charles. Who else could it be? Virginia, It's you, right? Too bad, I can't use our only camera to take a picture of Virginia when she uses that camera to take pictures. :D

在相機裡發現了幾張照片,顯然不是我和慕義照的!那是誰哩? 藹伶,是妳對吧! 可惜不能用我家唯一的相機把藹伶使用該相機的模樣拍下來! :(

"Daddy, are you encouraging Virginia to use my camera??"
爹地,你是藹伶的共犯嗎?你在鼓勵她擅用我的相機嗎?