Thank you for a wonderful Birthday

about this photo

If you notice the video in the last post, Eden was wearing these pajamas, I decided to try them on... the sad thing is not that I am wearing an adult onesie PJ complete with footies, it is the fact that I can wear Eden's clothes because she is as tall as me...

I had a wonderful time bringing in my 27th birthday. It started out on Oct. 17 with a birthday day date with my husband. He took me to the Washington Square mall and enjoyed a yummy lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, one of my Fav places to eat! Thank you to Mama, Papa, Inay, and Yori for my gift card! He also took me to HMart for some korean grocery shopping and then off to Bridgeport for window shopping and a small dinner at Sinju. All in all that day was filled with yummy food, cool sites, and great company.


On Sunday, my Mom made a delicious lasagna and invited my Gma Belle over for a family bday party. I got to chow down on some more good food and pumpkin pie. I got 2 cute shirts from my Grandma plus a gift card to BR and my parents got me a cute jacket, a dress, and gift cards! I am one lucky daughter(grand).


On Oct.21st I woke up to my kids saying Happy Birthday and a present from my husband. He got me the Amy Butler book I wanted. My sis got me a funny card and BR gift card and Inay sent me a funny card with a starbucks gift card. I was so thrilled! Went to work and my co workers wished me Happy Birthday and gave me cards and gifts. I also received many FB birthday wishes from my friends and family. Albert and I also went and grabbed some thai food at Red Ginger that evening. This was a great birthday! I am so lucky to be surrounded with loved ones! Thank you all for making this a wonderful birthday for me.





Kids Update:


CUPCAKE

Cupcake episode #1

Emma has been fascinated with cupcakes. My mom received a Pottery Barn catalog and as Emma and I looked at all the pictures, she saw a cupcake tower! Her eyes got big, she said, "MmMmMm, want this! Please! Please!" I told her that this was a picture and lets pretend to eat the cupcakes... She wasn't buying it. She kept putting her hand out, pleading Please, Please! I was a little shocked by how persistent she was. I kept trying to explain that we did not have any cupcakes and tried turning the page. She grabbed the catalog away and squeezed out 1 tear. What was I to do?

I called Grandma and Grandpa and told them what happened and asked if they could stop and grab a cupcake on the way home. I explained that the cupcakes in the photo were white with a cherry on top. Well, my parents came home with a cupcake and guess what my dad picked it out. It was a chocolate cupcake with a big green frog on the top with 2 HUGE eyes! Emma looked at it and screamed, "EYES! EYES! EWWWW!" She was scared and wouldn't go near the cupcake. Hahaha.... Thanks Paw!

Cupcake episode #2

Knowing how much Emma like cupcakes, I bought her these cute pajamas that says I love cupcakes with cute pictures of cupcakes on them. I went to put it on her and she just cried because she wanted to eat cupcakes not wear them. I am such a mean Mommy!

Cupcake episode #3

Yesterday, it was time to seriously start potty training Emma. I went to the store, got cupcake mix, cherries, frosting, and sprinkles. I thought mini cupcakes will be a great reward for her if she goes potty! I made the cupcakes and tested my theory. I placed Emma on the toilet, placed the cupcake on the sink, explained to her about how she would get it if she went potty. After 10 minutes (felt like 1 hour) of sitting there she went! There was a big celebration and she devoured her cupcake. After that, she was wired on sugar till bedtime. Maybe next time we will give her just half a cupcake...





School and Birthday Party


Eden has been excelling in school. She received her first progress report and she is an A/B student with a GPA of 3.58! All of her comments from her teachers have been positive and she received an O for outstanding! Way to Go! She got to participate in the schools honor party(which was extra recess time). She is going to be attending her first class dance on Oct. 24th in costume. She is very excited but nervous since Albert and I have been teasing her that we are going to chaperone. Hahaha.


Eden was invited to her friend's halloween themed birthday party on Saturday. We did not find out about this party till Friday and so rushed to the mall to get her friend a gift. Eden picks out a spa making kit for girls. She got one and enjoyed playing with the kit during baths. She wrapped it up herself and I was proud she picked this gift out without my help. Albert dropped her off at the party in her Sakura costume and she had a blast. I asked her later that evening about the party and what the birthday girl got as her gifts. She said, oh she got candy, and a notebook. I was like oh, well did she like your gift, thinking it was the best. She said yeah but she doesn't have a bathtub. Whomp! Oh well. Its not the gifts but the fun you have with your friends and family.

Thanks for reading. Also if you have any potty training advice, it would be greatly appreciated. It has been awhile since I have potty trained Eden and even that was a bit of a challenge. ^_^

Happy Birthday Joy!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear wonderful loving kind caring beautiful super fantastical awesome Joy!! Happy Birthday to you!

I thank God for you everyday, that you were born on this day. You deserve so much more than you have babes, and I know that you will receive everything you earn up in Heaven. Thank you for always being a wonderful wife, and a loving mother to our beautiful kids. Today is your day so live it up! So far it's looking good with McDonalds for breakfast! WOOHOO! :P

Last Saturday Eden's friend Aubrey came over for a sleepover, and this was the result. They were listening to a CD in the living room when Emma came along and wanted to dance with them. Note what Eden's wearing... LOL...

Emma is also talking a lot more, even though we still can't understand what she's saying. She is able to communicate through a charade type of acting. Last Sunday we went to Costco, and they had this robotic triceratops there. She looked at it and went ROAR!! That's the sound dinosaurs make. Anyways, I put my hand in it's mouth, and it started to chomp on it. She got really scared and gave us this surprised look. Well now she tells everyone the story by starting it with ROAR!! It's really cute. We're trying to get a video of it so we can post it.

So that's pretty much it for now. Things have been heating up for me and my business, so thank you for your prayers! We also found the house that we would LOVE to move into, and it's affordable! Thanks again for reading!

Update: The house on my previous post goes for $540K. Flippin' unbelievable... A house like that would easily coast up past $1M in the bay...

Some of the "better" things of living in Oregon...

Good afternoon everyone! For everyone who hasn't been counting, Joy, Eden, Emma and I have been in Oregon for 80 days. That's how long it took Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days to travel around the world. I've taken Joy to and from work almost everyday. I only missed a couple days while i was in 'Bama. During this time of transition that we've been here, I've noticed a couple of things that have helped me become more comfortable in living here in Oregon.

At first I was afraid, I was petrified... Actually, not really. I was pretty excited to start a new chapter of my family's life. I've told many of my family and friends this story, but to the rest of you out there, if you haven't heard, let me tell it again. For my family to move up here, it took a huge leap of faith. Everything that we're doing here is by the Grace of God (Elohim, I'll get to that later). It took many months of prayer from Joy and me to figure out if moving up here would actually be feasible and worthwhile. We weighed out our options. We thought about the future of our kids, and the best place to raise them. Ultimately, we wanted to go where God was calling us to go. We felt that He was calling us up to Oregon, and so far we know He's been right. Here are some of the reasons why, in no particular order, just whatever came to me at the time:

1. NO TAX! Automatically, we're saving 8.75% (Sales tax in Alameda County) on all of our purchases. Yes, all of them like eating out at restaurants, buying clothes and even buying cars or electronics. All of it has no sales tax! Just imagine going to a store and seeing a nice sweater or purse that you might like and seeing that it's 35% off. With no tax, it's actually 35% OFF! Which brings me to the next reason...


2. Shopping! Starting about 45 minutes to an hour drive North is Portland. Portland is basically like San Francisco, but more spread out. They have several districts, like the City, but the main one for us is the Pearl District. They have this huge bookstore called Powell's Books (http://www.powells.com/), which is an entire city block, with several levels of books. This thing is huge! So driving from Portland back down South to Salem, about 10 minutes from Portland is Tigard. This is a suburb of Portland, and it has two of the greatest shopping venues that I've ever been to. The first one is Washington Square Mall (http://www.shopwashingtonsquare.com/). Think of it like Valley Fair in San Jose on crack... With places like the Cheesecake Factory, Teavana, Nordstrom, the Apple Store, and Metropark, it almost mirrors Valley Fair in the stores, but it's much more than just that. The other one is Bridgeport Village (http://www.bridgeport-village.com/). This place is Santana Row times a billion! So far, the best Japanese food is there at Bridgeport at a place called Sinju (http://sinjurestaurant.com/). Now for a real treat, here's number 3.


3. Woodburn (http://www.shop-woodburn.com/). Technically this should be in with the other shopping, but this place is special. This is an outlet shopping mall about halfway from Tigard and Salem. With stores like Banana Republic, Gap, the Nike Store, and many more coming (like J. Crew), this place has ALL the deals. It's the number one tourist attraction of Oregon, with people coming, literally, by the bus load from Canada to shop here. With no tax, I don't seen why not! It's also the only place where you can get U-DONG!


4. Cost of living is cheaper than in California. This isn't because of the "no tax" stuff, but it really is though. Gas is cheaper here than in California. As of today, gas at Costco is at $2.84/gallon for regular. At the nearest Chevron, it's $3.05/gallon for regular. AND THEY PUMP THE GAS FOR YOU! You can't even do it if you wanted to, it's a state law!


5. Housing. While we haven't gotten our own house yet, we've been looking. Here's a picture of one that's for sale. It's 4200 square feet, with 4 bedrooms on the main floor, 2 bedrooms on the second floor, and the Master bedroom is the third floor. Not to mention that on the far right of that picture is a water feature that is beautifully landscaped into the lawn. Also, that's a four car garage, with a driveway that probably holds another 12 cars. Note the deck in the front, but there's ALSO a bigger one in the backyard. Guess how much? Go ahead... Leave a comment and I'll answer in my next blog.


6. Church. While we miss Hillcrest and TCCBC, God has definitely lead us to some pretty great churches up here. We've settled into a CMA (Christian Missionary Alliance) church, but we haven't become members yet. The congregation is enormous. We've always been in more intimate smaller sermon worships at Hillcrest and TCCBC, but this was just so eye-opening to see how many people worshipped God. Not only that, but the middle school and high school kids have their own worship services... in a separate building! Eden has adjusted well to it, and she's loving the fact that she can worship God with people her age. Emma is still getting used to the transition though. She likes the nursery, but it's not Grandma Doris! Today the Pastors are starting a new section of sermons that are about the many names of God. Today the Pastor talked about Elohim. Everytime you see the name "God" in the Bible, substitute it with this word, Elohim. El is the root of this word, which means God. Elohim is actually plural for El, meaning Gods, or more than one God, or for Christians, the Trinity. The root of El is also very popular in many names, like Israel, which means "wrestles with God". And people thought I never paid attention to the sermons!


7. HMart (http://www.hmart.com/). I don't even know where to begin. This place destroys all the other international grocery stores I've ever been to. 99Ranch has NOTHING on this place. Let me tell you with some pictures that I took. I took several pictures, but here are some classic moments.

This is the row of Kimchis. You take a toothpick and you can sample all these different types of pickled kimchis. It's ridiculous. At the very end of this row of tables is a lady who is making FRESH kimchi. Probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, is watching someone make a batch of kimchi like that. It was so cool!

BALUUUUT!! BALLLLLUUUUUUTTT!! At $.78 each, I don't know if that's cheap...

Yes, that's a Karaoke station inside of the store. They're actually having a contest this month, and first place wins an LG Refrigerator. This fridge is specifically designed to hold Kimchi containers for storage! Pretty cool huh?

The fish section... Normally you would smell that smelly fishy smell that fish would normally give off. But not here! This place is very well ventilated, and everything is FRESH! I was very impressed with it. They have fresh abalone for $6 a piece! Not to mention they have fresh crabs and all the other types of sea critters one would find in a Spongebob episode.

Who would've thought there were this many kinds of Pocky? It's just crazy the type of selection they have here! Not only do they have a fantastic aisle of snacks, but they also have a home furnishings area where they sell Korean blankets, appliances, pots and pans and electronics. This place has everything! There's even this place that I call "Food Row" where they have little restaurants where they make jajamang and kalbi to eat! YUM!

And that's pretty much it. I could have gone into more detail about everything else, but I think you see the point. Granted, there are a lot of things to see and do in Oregon (we haven't even gone to the coast yet), there are still things we miss in California of course. Family and friends foremost, and little things like some of our favorite restaurants and hangouts. But still little by little, we're adjusting. There is one last thing that I've noticed that they don't really have in California. Seasons... Oregon has four seasons, while California really only has two, hot and dry or cold and wet. I've been watching the trees turn from green to a soft red/yellow. It's beautiful. Sometimes we don't notice these things when we're rushing around trying to do stuff. Thankfully God has given me some time to really appreciate the hard work He puts into this Earth. It truly is something special to see trees turn to their fall colors. Thank you all for reading! Joy will write about our girls soon. Until then, take care and God Bless!

Weekend Update!

It's been a long and hectic week! Updates to my new online business are steadily growing and getting better. Emma is just as crazy as she's always been.

Eden is doing really great in school. We're not sure if we've said this before, but she's already a step up on her fellow sixth graders! She started just like every sixth grader, in Math I. When we met with her math teacher during Back to School Night, even he agreed that she's TOO advanced for Math I and suggested putting her in Math II. The next week, she's in Math II and STILL kicking butt! She recently just took a standardized test to see where her math skills are, and she's halfway between Math II and Math III (which is seventh grade math). Her math teacher is going to give her a higher level book than her other Math II classmates! WAY TO GO EDEN! Here's a shot of her at Willamette University. She's currently doing a Math/Science class on Saturdays. She's looking older and becoming more mature every day!

Joy's been working up a storm lately as well. They had a board of trustees meeting yesterday that still runs through today. She's managed to still wow everyone even while she's pregnant!

Lara recently visited us last weekend (the 4th). Here's how we treated her.

God has definitely been working in our lives to keep us motivated in our day to day activities. We look forward to the coming months and seeing our baby growing inside Joy. One day soon we'll be able to meet him/her!

Thank you all for reading!

10 fingers, 10 toes, and 1 beautiful baby!

Being pregnant is a wonderful, mysterious, miraculous, and constraining time. The first few months are plagued with sickness, bodily change, and emotional highs and lows but it all seems worth it when you get the first glimpses of what is being formed inside. This is not my first time going through this process but knowing that this will be my last (by choice) makes you savor each and every moment. I told Albert early on that this one is going to be different. We aren't going to find out the sex, or announce baby names. Wether it is a girl or a boy we are excited about this new life being formed and will soon join our family.
The ultrasound technician showed us far more then we have seen before. He showed us shots of the umbilical cord entering the baby's belly, we saw the baby's blood being pumped through out it's body, we saw the tiny organs working, and it's beating heart. Watching the baby so peaceful tucked away inside of me reminded me of Psalms 139:13-17. Our God has created this life and this child is more precious to Him then it could ever be to us. I am in awe that God created each of us like this.

Baby: Know that you are loved not only by your parents and family but by our awesome Creator! He knew you before this process ever began and set your life in motion. We are honored to be your parents and I am honored to be carrying you into this world! We can't wait to see you!

Psalms 139
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Home Sweet Home

This is what I come home to. :) Also, a BIG thanks to Pia for giving her this toy for her first birthday.. LOL

I love our girls. You can't see in the video, but Eden is on the side making Emma go even more crazy. After not being able to sleep since last Saturday, I think I made up enough last night. I'm still a bit tired, and I think I may be coming down with something. The guy behind me in the plane from Houston to Portland was REALLY sick...

So now it's back to work, and back to our girls!

Here's Emma watching a little TV. It gets pretty cold in the mornings here, so I always make sure to bundle her up. :)


She's learning her alphabet little by little. She can say A, E, T... She can even combine them to say one of her new words... EAT!





Here's a shot of Eden at her friend Aubrey's birthday party. Aubrey's parents live near this little reservoir. It's owned by the residents who live around it. There are hiking and biking trails that go all over the place too.

She had a great time out there, and we're all very happy that she's adjusting well out here.




Emma feeling the baby! She will point at anyone who has a "belly" and go, "BABY!" It's cute... really!

I think this puts us up to speed. It's been a crazy couple of days with me away from the family, but I'm glad that everything worked out well while I was away. Thank you to everyone who have us in their prayers. Without them, I wouldn't want to know what our family would be like. Thank you again!

Also, just a quick comment. Last week we asked for suggestions on baby names, and while we got a lot of suggestions, they don't necessarily have to be names that start with the letter E. LOL. Thanks to the ones who did suggest though. If you have any suggestions, drop us a comment! We'd love to hear from you!

Lastly, today is our first ultrasound appointment! Since moving up here to Oregon, it's been really hectic trying to get things into some sort of order. We're finally going to get to "see" the baby today (or babies... as I like to tease Joy). I'll post the ultrasound pictures when I receive them. Thanks for reading!