STORY BOOK: FROM EPHESIANS 4:26

This is my second story book which is created based on a true story.  Something that Marcel and I encountered and learned from last night.  I thought of capturing the moment through this story book for Marcel and I to look back and smile at.  And also for our future child(ren) to read and learn in the future.


By the way, happy early anniversary to us, Hubby Marcel!

[Click to enlarge]

May this be a blessing!

FINALLY ... THEY ARE REUNITED!

A month ago, I shared a blog entry about a great news pertaining my dear friend Evelyn and her family.  Today, I received an email from her letting me know that her 2 babies and herself are starting to settle down in China.  They are finally reunited as a complete family.  :-)  What a joy!!!

And here are some pictures of the babies in their new apartment in China.  What a fancy modern-looking apartment they live in!!!  And look at those cute outfits!!!  I miss my Wei Wei and Xuan Xuan.  When do I get to see them again?  I hope not too long from now.

Wei has Daddy's face but Mommy's cute legs and toes.

When I showed this photo to my sister, she responded, "Oh my gosh, Xuan is all hair!  So cute!  Like a mini Evelyn!"

Awwwww ... brotherly love!

May these cute photos brighten up your Monday!

MARRIAGE COUNSELING BY MY CIGAL

My older sister has been in town since last week.  Yesterday, as we were hiking, she said, "De, your anniversary is coming up huh?  Can't believe it's almost 3 years!"

And then she went on, "You know what?  A husband's greatest test is when he's at the highest of his career.  A wife's greatest test is when her husband's at the lowest of his career.  Think about it.  Do you agree?"

Hearing these words of wisdom coming from my sister who is not yet married is very pleasing to my ears and heart.  And yes, I agree.  A good reminder.  So I thought I would share it with you guys as well.

May this be a blessing!

SUBJECTIVE WORLD BUT THAT'S OK

Do you think we live in a subjective world?  I think our world is somewhat subjective.  And here my 2 examples why.


If I drop off the car for a regular service, the service rep. would take the car, give me the service order, and call me when it's done.  If Marcel drops the car, the service rep. would greet him nicely, "Hey Marcel, I saw you and your wife last time at P.F. Chang, Man!  What can I do for you?"  Yeah, he knows Marcel by name.  He recognizes my face too and knows the car belong to Marcel.  But he never refers to me as Mrs. P.  HA HA.  He would greet Marcel before the car pulls completely in.  He would call Marcel during the day to give the status.  He would give Marcel a free battery change for the remote.  He would get Marcel a paid-for rental (if the service needs to be overnighted).  AND, yes, you have to read this part .. AND, he would give Geeky (our car) a free quick exterior wash.  I mean, when I found out that's how they operate and the perks we're getting, I just let Marcel do all of our regular services.  I truly don't mind.  It makes me wonder, is the car a guy thing that's why the service rep. acts all the way out to please my guy?  I don't know.


Another example was very recent.  Marcel went to drop off his suit at a Chinese-owned GO GREEN dry cleaner.  The lady owner took the suit, asked where Marcel worked, and charged him $17.55.  Two days ago I went to get the same suit dry-cleaned at the same place.  The lady owner took my name and mumbled to herself, "很奇怪!"  So I asked, "什么很奇怪, 阿姨?"  From there, we carried on a conversation in Chinese.  Of course with me doing a lot of hmm hmm hmm.  LOL.  But she's so patient with my broken Chinese and didn't switch to English right away.  She ended up calling her husband to tend to another 3 guests that came after me so that she could talk to me HAHA.  And finally, when I got the bill, she only charged me $12.55.  That's like $5 off from what she charged Marcel the other day.  SOOOOOO FUNNY!  All because of my broken Chinese.  I'm sure Marcel also doesn't mind for me to take his suit for dry cleaning.  And I don't mind either cause I get to see my new 阿姨.  :-)


So yeah, in our experiences, the world is quite subjective.  But that's OK.  We can get by in most of the cases.  Do you have interesting experiences to share where you'd go, "Why did he do that to her but not me?"  I'd love to hear 'em.

MY WAVE MAN

Oh my pow wow!!!  Look what I found!  Yayyy.  A video of Marcel's presentation at 2010 Google I/O.  I've been wanting to see his presentation for awhile.  FINALLY!


To prepare for this presentation, Marcel had to spend many long hours for months.  Often he worked for 2 time zones (California's and Sydney's).  Poor baby.  Plus, he's not a presentation kind of person.  So the whole experience has stretched him right, left, up, and down.  I was praying for each presentation that Marcel did that he would do well; and that God would give him the extra strength and endurance to prepare and deliver each presentation.


So, Google Wave was officially released to general public as of May 19, 2010.  You are more than welcome to check out the video below.  I don't promise you'll understand the presentation though.  But for me, I can't wait to see Marcel tonight!  He deserves lots of hugs and kisses for the hard work.  Thank you, God, for Your faithful guidance throughout the past few months.  And thank you, Hubby, for being my Geeky Hubby!!!  I am sooooo proud of you.

[Marcel's parts are at: 15:09 - 34:45 and 51:48 - end]

WHICH SCENARIO ARE YOU?

You were in a train.  Since all seats were full, you had to stand.  Without you realizing it, you dropped your cell phone.


Scenario 1
Someone saw you dropped your cell phone and immediately gave it back to you.  How would you respond to that?  Most likely you'd thank him and walk away.


Scenario 2
Someone saw the phone but didn't immediately return it to you.  By the time you were to get off the train, you realized your phone's gone.  At that time, he returned the phone to you.  How would you respond to that?  Most likely you'd thank him with a greater appreciation than Scenario 1.  And then you'd get off the train.


Scenario 3
You didn't realize you had dropped your phone until you got off the train.  You called your number hoping someone nice would pick up the phone and return it to you.  Someone did and agreed to meet you at the next station.  How would you respond?  You'd be thankful for sure and probably give a little appreciation gift to this person.


Scenario 4
After you got off the train, you realized the phone's gone.  You tried to call the number; but no one picked it up.  You sent text messages but had to wait several days before someone finally replied and agreed to meet with you.  How would you respond?  You'd be forever grateful and perhaps give a bigger appreciation gift to this person.


Moral of the story: 
In all the 4 scenarios, you lost the phone; and someone found it for you.  However, out of the 4 scenarios, who is "supposedly" the best person?  The one in Scenario 1 for sure because he immediately returned the phone to you.  Unfortunately, this is the person who received the least reward.  Why?  Because in each scenario, your feeling of losing something increased.  The greater the feeling, the greater your appreciation (towards the person and your possession - the phone).


Today, is there anything you need to be grateful for?  Don't wait till you lose them to start feeling grateful.  Be grateful for what you have including your life while you still have it.  Don't wait till it's gone.  Be grateful for what you have.  Life is filled with happiness ... if we see it through God's eyes.


May this be a blessing!

IF YOU NEVER ...

A letter from Jesus with love :-)


Dearest My Children,


If you never felt pain, then how would you know that I am the Healer?
If you never had to pray, how would you know that I am the Deliverer?
If you never had a trial, how could you call yourself an overcomer?
If you never felt sadness, how would you know that I am the Comforter?
If you never made a mistake, how would you know that I am the Forgiver?
If you knew all, how would you know that I will answer your questions?
If you never were in trouble, how would you know that I will come to your rescue?
If you never were broken, then how would you know that I can make you whole?
If you never had a problem, how would you know that I can solve them?
If you never had any suffering, then how would you know what I went through?
If you never went through the fire, then how would you become pure?
If I gave you all things, how would you appreciate them?
If I never corrected you, how would you know that I love you?
If you had all power, then how would you learn to depend on Me?
If your life is perfect, then what would you need Me for?


Love,


Jesus

EYE 101

Two days before my birthday, I got eye stye from the bug that accidentally touched my eye on my bike ride to work.  Long story short, I was then in the search for biking glasses.


One life challenge for me is finding (sun)glasses that fit me.  With my flat nose and chubby cheek, my mom often teases me, "Aww, look at those pair of cheek glasses!!!"  Yep, it's all my cheeks that do all the support - not my nose.  But let me take a step back, "How could you say that so casually, MOM!!!!  :o(" (set it at smallest on purpose for those readers with bad eyes to not be able to read it :o) ).


So I've been postponing on getting the biking glasses for 2 years.  After the stye, I said, "THAT'S IT!  I'm getting a pair."  But first, I need to get my eyes checked cause it's been long overdue.  Finally, this past weekend I went to see an Optometrist.  Oh my pow wow!!  I LOVED my new optometrist.  He's funny.  He didn't dilate my eyes like my old optometrists would.  He didn't puff my eyes.  LOVED him.


After the initial test, he told me that I have eye muscles imbalances or fixation disparities in their lingo.  I have what now, Doctor?  In English, my eye balls are misaligned.  At neutral position (while sleeping), the left one would go left.  The right one would go right.  As a result, it takes at least 3 times muscle work to bring these eye balls to work together -- especially to read.  With the extra work, my eyes get tired more easily too.


All of the sudden, I got a light bulb moment, "No wonder I don't like reading, Doc!!!!"  I would fall asleep when reading.  I prefer to study by listening instead of reading.  Now it all clicked to me.  It only took a funny optometrist to figure that out, I guess.  :-)


So the solution to my eyes is to get prism on my prescription.  The prism bends light which eventually act to "fool" my eyes into thinking that they are working together without strain.  Uhh!!!  I get it now.


Anyway, so they are making my biking glasses now with the prescription and prism in 'em.  I'm super excited about it.  In addition, Marcel's getting the matching one; and that I get the Asian fit model.  So HOPEFULLY, no more cheek glasses for my mom.  :-)


Yayyyyyyyyyy.  I consider the stye as a detour to another blessing!  May this be a blessing!

ELIANNE THE PANCAKE FLIPPER

OK, I have to blog this.  This is too adorable.

So I've been wanting to eat Elianne's green onion pancake since last Summer.  She normally comes over when the weather is nice to swim.  But every time I came to her house or she came over, either we're full or the ingredients were not ready.  Fast forward one year later, my mother in law (Omah Santi as Baby E. calls her) was in town.  When Baby E. found out, she called me, "Hey Cici Yanny.  Can I come to your place on Sunday?  I want to make Omah some pancakes?"

Of course I said yes.  That's also something I've been craving for for the longest time!  Baby E. came very well equipped with her cooking spoon, pan, and ingredients.  I said, "Baby, you can borrow my spoon and pan.  Why did you have to bring them from home?"

Baby E, "Because Daddy let me practice with my spoon and pan."

LOL .. that's so funny!  She's very particular, isn't she?  Anyway, thirty minutes later, we got 5 nice pancakes for dinner.  Thank you, my Dear Baby!!  Not bad for a 5-year old, huh?

Her trick to cook the pancakes was, "OK, Cici Yanny, we have to wiggle wiggle wiggle, and then ... FLIP." 

May this turn your frown upside down!

TIP: SECURING OBJECTS IN CAR

Marcel and I get our drinking water from water vending machine (like Glacier) or water store.  We have two 5-gallon jars that we refill bi-weekly.  

Driving with filled jars is quite tricky.  One time, I turned a little too fast that the jar fell over in the trunk causing a little of flooding to clean.  Another time, I managed to turn slowly without the car behind me honking impatiently.  Unfortunately, I forgot that I had left the jar in the car under a hot summer weather for grocery shopping.  So the bottom of the jar became rounded and wouldn't stand still.  *Baaaammm* the jar fell over again even on a slow turn.  Another time Marcel got his turn to cause the fall.  This time was pretty drastic because we ended up cracking the lever.  As a result, we had to get a new jar which is NOT that cheap.


Tired with all this.  Marcel and I were in search of a way to secure our water jars in the car.  Our solution is to secure the seat belt around the jars.  Yes, it works.  We've done it for almost 2 years now.

Recently we've tried to fill the 5-gallon jar with just 3 gallons of water to make it easier to carry to the 3rd floor

You can also try to secure any large items (laptop bag, watermelon, milk gallon, etc) this way.  That way they can stay where they are and avoid further injury or mess that could have happened when you brake or turn hard.


May you find this useful!

OUR QUALITY TIME GAME

Awhile back, Marcel and I were driving home from San Francisco on the not-so-eventful 101.  To kill time, I initiated a game :-).  It didn't have a name.  However, Marcel and I had a great laugh on most of the answers.  It really fosters giving and processing constructive feedback in a fun and less intimidating setting.  Hey, every now and then, we (couples) need some refreshers too, you know.  We don't always know each other that well. :-)  So I call it "our quality time game."  :-)


The game is easy.  One person throws out a question.  Thirty seconds later, shout out the answers together.  Justify the answer if need be.


Yanny: "What is Marcel's strength?"


Yanny, "His driving skills.  He could park in the most impossible spot." (boring answer)


Marcel, "Whatttt?  Now I feel like a born driver!"


Yanny, "Hahaha.  OKOK.  What's your answer?"


Marcel, "My strength is ... (smirking) ... I'm VERY GOOD in finding reasons how we should spend the money.  HA HA HA."


Yes, yes.  Our different spending habit has caused a lot of frustration at home.  He's a spender.  I'm a saver.  He would rather spend $5 on Peet's coffee every day.  I would rather make the coffee at home and keep the extra money for a nice dinner date.  He would buy any new gadget available in the market.  I would wait till the current one is broken before considering to buy a new one (if we need one).  


From belt without holes to police LED flashlight, Marcel always has an endless idea to, "Yanny, I think we should buy this."  


Over the past 3 years, we've learned to compromise with each other.  He would drink the free coffee at the office on weekdays.  I would surprise him during lunch break with a cup of Peet's every now and then.  He would refrain from buying any new gadgets.  I would take him to geeky stores on weekends for him to satisfy his crave.


So all in all, there is no perfect couple in the world.  There is always something behind a closed door.  But hey, if we're both perfect, we don't need each other right?  I'm grateful neither Marcel nor I are flawless.  :-)


May this be a blessing to you!