Sparksyue

Prepare a space for her to come

2011-05-17T16:27:00.000+08:00

I spent $25 on this second hand glider. And thought about I could make the glider more comfortable for myself. I asked one of my church friends, Amy, taught me how to make the glider pad cases and cushion cases. It was so fun to sew with her and talked about so many different sewing projects that she wanted to do during this year while her husband is gone for deployment. I learned so much.

I went to thrift store bought the fabrics for all the projects and I was lucky to find two different cute patterns and only spent $3. I was just happy that I could find something in pink.

The second project is making a pink "outfit" for this baby playpen.

My mom also sew a diapers stacker which I handed on the playpen edge. It lookes very cute.

comfy and cute!

My mom called it "big watermelon"

2011-05-01T14:49:00.001+08:00

A friend who recently started her photography business asked me to be her model.

From these pictures, I looked like I am holding a big wartermelon. Haha!

It will be nice if David is here and take these pictures with me.

I like this picture. Solomon looks so handsome.

Blogging from my iphone

2011-02-21T15:34:00.001+08:00

This is my first post using an iPhone. We will see if I keep it up.

The Student of the Month

2010-10-01T14:39:00.001+08:00

Faith has been chosen as the Student of the Month for her classroom for the month of September 2010. She was selected for this award based on her effort to achieve her school six General Learner Outcomes and by practicing the four Tribes agreements as follows:

General Learner Otcomes- the student is:
1. a self-directed learner
2. a community contributor
3. a complex thinker
4. a quality producer
5. an effective communicator
6. an effective and ethical user of technology

Tribes Agreements- the student:
1.shows mutual respect
2. is an attentive listener
3. shares appreciations not put downs
4. appropriately practices the right to pass and the right to participate

Good job, Faith. Keep up the good works!!

The first day of school

2010-08-11T04:26:00.002+08:00

She is waiting for this day for so long. She is excited and ready to learn with her teacher and the classmates. Her goal for this year is whatever she learns she is going to teach Solomon. So he can be ready for school when he is 5 years old.

I am so excited for her to learn how to be a great example to her classmates and be a peace maker and a good learner. I am also looking forward to learning with her side by side in this following year. At the mean time, I get to spend one on one time with Solomon. It will be good for him, too. This morning when I went through some of the important things about school with Faith, Solomon was already like a student and raised his hand and called me "Teacher"!!

Using the talent I have been given to serve His children

2010-08-10T08:34:00.005+08:00

I put a lot effort on making this project for my visiting teachee, Rachael. She and her husband were ten-year inactive member of the church. After several times of visiting with my companion and giving her this simple gift with full of my love. She was able to open her heart little by little and thinking about buying a Sunday dress and become active agin. It happened just right before we moved to Hawaii.

I was inspired to use the quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland which is "Good Things to Come" as picture theme and came out this idea and completed the drawing.

This is the final project.

There is the note book which I pasted the 14 quotes from conference talk in each back of the page. It can be using as a journal for inspiriations or a daily reminder for someone who needs to be nurturing in one's soul like Rachael.

While I was doing this I felt that God was with me and I want to use my talent which is given from God and draw a lot more to share God's love with those who need it.

Going to the Waikiki Beach

2010-08-10T05:25:00.001+08:00

The trees here are enormous and green. I love it!!

The wall painting is amazing.

Here we are at the Waikiki beach

It's time to go home!!

The first two weeks in Hawaii

2010-08-09T20:38:00.002+08:00

We Walked all the way home from school. They had so much fun on the way.

They were collecting the seeds and exploring the nature

With help of lifesavers, they were swimming without fears.

The story time was only half hour, but they got to listend two stories,

and to dance around,

and to make some beautiful pictures. How fun!!

He is so sweet

2009-11-21T20:59:00.002+08:00

There were couple mornings, Solomon came and helped without asking.

He was getting oatmeal ready for us.

He was washing dishes after breakfast.

Cartoon drawing

2009-10-29T21:37:00.005+08:00

I checked out a cartoon drawing teaching book from library a while ago. I drew shapes for Faith and she tried to follow the steps from book and discovered her ability of drawing cartoon. I think she did a very good job for the fist time drawing cartoon animals. I liked the monkey the most. This is how she tried and tried and finally she did it (I drew an ear for her to follow and she did rest of them). It is so cute to me.

After many weeks, Solomon finally caught up with his sister. He has been trying to draw dogs for couple weeks. This past Sunday morning before church, he came to me and surprised us with this picture. He really amazed me. haha! He did not want to show his face during picture taking. I thought that he was being humble.

He introduced happily to us that his "Birthday Dog" has a birthday crown on his head. And everybody sing him "happy birthday"song. The three heart shapes are balloons as birthday present for him.

( I think the dog he draw is a lot like the dog we met at hiking not long ago. You can look at the post below "A fun hiking experience for kids")

Right after his introduction, he drew a birthday cake for his birthday dog. And he is enjoy his cake now. :9

We all thought that he was so cute and creative. I was curious that can he draw exactly the same look of dog again. Haha!! The answer is "nope!", but he keeps drawing everyday. Eventhough it does not look like one, he still calls it dog. : ) I love his never-give-up attitude and rich imagination.

A fun hiking experience for kids

2009-10-22T21:55:00.005+08:00

We went hiking last Saturday with church friends. It was a small mountain and it took us 3 hours to walk through it. Solomon and Faith and another boy walked, talked, played, laughed, sang, observed, learned and make friends on the way. We had so much fun. Half way through, Faith started to walk with her barefoot, because of her shoes made her feet hurt. But three of them walked the whole way without help. Later that night Solomon had a high fever. I guess his little body could not handle this long hours hiking.

This mountain has built a comfortable trail for people hiking.

Solomon made a dog friend. It reminds him Grandpa Bill's dog Honey Bear.

On the way, we observed caterpillar, huge and scary spiders, and beautiful butterflies everywhere in the mountain. We also learned how to tell how many typhoon visited this mountain from leaves.

Have you ever seen this kind of fruit. It's original from Southeast Asia. Solomon said, "Ball" when he first saw it. I had only tasted it once at the church's garden where I grew up with. I could not remember whether I like the taste or not, but the texture is a lot like sweetpotato, soft and try.

I like the loud noise from cicadas, clean and fresh air in the mountain, and friendly people we met there. Kids and I also enjoy in accompany with Kao family.

look at her. She was scratching her leg. she looks funny. She is a two months "Pet" and is already huge. But she is just like a dog to her owner. Her owner descibed that when someone calls her name "A-Mei" she will respond with noise and look at the person who calls her. She likes to run too. Of course, she does not run so fast with her short legs, but looks funny to her owner family.

Bro. Kao is a elementary school's teacher. That is how he disciplines children and even when they are playing.

Puppet show

2009-10-10T20:52:00.006+08:00

Yesterday was 10/10, Taiwan's National Day. This month is also Tainan city arts festival. As uaual, there are many indoor shows, exhibitions and free outdoor shows to enjoy with friends and families.
In the morning, we went to church watching General Conference talk. Afternoon I took kids to cultural center outdoor stage area watching puppet show. I remember vividly, when I was little, my brothers and I liked to bring out some chairs and to sit with our neighbor friends and enjoy outdoor puppet show together in front of Buddhist temple. When the show was over, usually many coins and candies would be tossed as pulling rain out from the stage. And then, there was chaos in front of the stage. Haha. fun memory. Every child included me not only enjoy the show but also had fun during catching and finding coins and candies.

These people came from every walk of life. Some of them are a dentist, a teacher, a school principal, and a sculptor... . They have passion and love for Taiwanese traditional puppet show. For this simple purpose they started a puppet club and through the club they also share the joy and introduce the beauty of taiwanese puppet show to the new generation.

Yesterday they gave each little audience a puppet and show them how to decorat with their own puppets. After the puppet show was over, these men gave a brief introduction of how to manage a puppet, ex. how to move it like walking, to wave for goodbye or hi, how to move puppet's bady for introducing itself...

Also, every child who was brave enough was welcome to come to the little stage and show what they just learned from the introduction and to make their own little puppet show.
Haha, Faith was so excited and wanted me to take her to the stage and play with the puppet in front of people. She was not shy at all. Solomon got a little bit stage fright.

The quality of my camera isn't good enough to show a clear image. At least, you can see what was going on there.

Oops, it was out of battery at that special moment. So I recorded it for couple times.

A cultural night

2009-10-05T22:34:00.004+08:00

The play is about a group of farm animals want to catch a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. The whole play they are looking for this run-away turkey. After all the chasing, they still can not catch it. At final, they eat big yellow duck instead.

9/28 was Confucius birthday. Confucius was a great teacher from the ancient China and had great influence upon Chinese moral thinking. Every year around his birthday, a series of culture activities were held at Confucius Temple. This year we stayed up a little bit late watching this children story play. It was a great educational play for children. We ran into our neighbor friend who has a almost 4 year-old girl like to play with Faith and Solomon. They got so excited when they saw each other. So we stood next to them and got lucky to find some chairs for children to stand a little bit taller to see the show.

This story is about a baby bear asks mommy bear, "Is Spring coming yet?". Mommy bear answers, "When the flower blossoms, and butterflies, bees, and birds are flying all over the fields. It means Spring is here."

Please note that how these little audiences respond to the show.

Moon Festival

2009-10-03T22:47:00.004+08:00

According to the lunar calender, 8/15 is Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival. It is Taiwan national holiday and is a lot like Thanksgiving to Taiwanese. It is David's and my favorite holiday in Taiwan. But this year seemed too quiet for our little family. We watched movies, went to church for watching the General Relief Society conference, visited my grandparents, and played with firecrackers. Usually we would have BBQ at church every year for Moon Festival, but this year. It was because of the General Conference.

Little Red Riding Hood

2009-09-22T23:02:00.032+08:00

Couple weeks ago I read the first time to my kids this famous fairy tale. They learned a lesson which is do not tell a stranger where they head to or any tetails about themself, but the gospel and introduce their mother to the person. People here like to ask them many questions and even touch their faces. It is because they look so different from others. As well, they are too cute. So I thought it is important to teach them to be aware of strangers. But it is also important to be friendly and kind to others when I am arround them.
Today, we were going to read the fifth time of this story. Faith suggested to role play instead of reading. So we did it with simple costumes we had.

Faith acted as: Little Red Riding Hood,
the grandmother (before she is swallowed), and the hunter
Solomon acted as: the mother of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf , and the grandmonther (at the end)
I was the narrator and the photographer, and I am a faithful audience of their play.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Little Red Riding Hood, after the red hooded cape she wears.

One day, her mother ask her to deliver food to her sick grandma. Also, she was remainded not to linger in the woods, but go directly to her grandma's home.

As the girl walks in the woods, a wolf sees her and wants to eat her but is afraid to do so in public. He approaches the girl, she naively tells him where she is going.

He suggests the girl pick some flowers, which she does.

In the meantime, he goes to the grandmother's house and gains entry by pretending to be the girl.

He swaollows the grandmother whole, and waits for the girl, disguised as the grandmother.

When the girl arrives, she notices he looks very strange to be her grandma.

In most retelling, this eventually culminates with Little Red Riding Hood saying, " My, what big teeth you have!"

To which the wolf replies, "The better to eat you with."

The girl tries to flee for her life. Unfortunately, the wolf swallows her whole, too.

A hunter, however comes to the rescue,

cuts the wolf open. Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother emerge unharmed.

He fills the wolf's body with heavy stones, (haha, Faith forgot to put a ball underneath Solomon's cloth before she sewed on his tummy.)

which drown him when he falls into a well. (sorry, Solomon did not understand "drown" when I read this part. So he did not fall into the well which is the chairs to the left without the cushions on top of them)

Finally, the girl gives food to her sick grandma and enjoy the food together before she gose home.

The end.

Thank you for watching!!

A difficult project for children

2009-09-16T20:31:00.016+08:00

Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman, and printmaker. He is not the only artist in the family. His father was post-impressionism painter and his brother was also a sculptor.

He observed people busy walking on streets and attempted to creat renditions of his models the way he saw them, and the way he thought they ought to be seen. He once said that he was sculpting not the human figure, but "the shadow that is cast".

A period of time his sculptures were just like the picture above. They were about 20cm tall. Later, he made a big change on his works. He remained the style but the sizes were a lot taller.

Cat

This project was too difficult for them to finish. Faith was only able to learned and to do part of the first part. Then, I finished rest of it for her. It was fun for me. Solomon just played whatever he liked with wire and also played with the project dog which I made.

The first part of project: making a shape with wire. This is a ballerina.

The first part: a dog

The second part of project: wraping it with aluminum foil.

I made a cat, a dog, and a ballerina.

This is Faith's unfinished project. I finished for her.

Pointed & Printed painting

2009-09-14T22:26:00.010+08:00

Georges Pierre Seurat was a Frech painter. He was pointillsiom painter. His most famous painting was " A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte"(The picture below).

His painting filled with tons of tiny and detached strokes of pure color. This time we were trying to creat a picture with lots of dots.

With this project, we used cotton as paint brush.

She was imitating the fish from the book.

A red fish

We picked couple different shapes of leaves from my mom's little garden. We painted with colors on leaves. And then, printed on paper.

Solomon also had fun with coloring on leaves. He liked hands printing the most.

This is Faith's try out. She was very patient on this project.

I have also done one for Faith. I called it "Ballerina Faith".

Faith and Solomon liked my work so much.

After admiring my work, Faith got so excited and also did another picture just like mine.

Faith is older enough now to understand, to imitate, and later to make her own picture. She is learning and growing so much.

I really enjoy teaching children at home. It makes me happy.

Experience different painting style

2009-09-05T23:38:00.015+08:00

I have found couple art teaching books. We have been learning how to appreciate fine arts and to imitate the way artist draws.

This is Jackson Pollock. He was born in Wyoming and grew up in Arizona and California. When he was young he found his interests in art. He went to New York for advanced training and became famous for painting in the abstract expressionist style. His nickname was " Jack the Dripper". His style was very new for the time. Later of his life, he simply numbered his painting without giving them the specific names. He thought that the viewers should be the one decide what the picture is according to their feelings. His paintings are still popular in museums all over the world.

Actually, I still do not know how to appreciate his painting, but feel its energy.

Later you can look at Faith and Solomon's painting from imitating Jackson's style. I have no idea how to appreciate my kids' painting either, but felt their passion for learning and exploring for new things.

This is Faith's work. It looks like dancing in the Spring to me.

She finished the first painting quickly. She contiuned to paint another style of painting. The next painting was painted by an ancient Chinese artist. He used Chinese Calligraphy as paint brush. So I gave Faith my father's chinese calligraohy to paint this cat and tree. Faith really exprienced the differences between modern western painting and ancient chinese painting.

Solomon had spent a lot of time on his work. It is pretty manly looking compare to Faith's.

He drew his own way. This is his first painting and is very powerful to me. He was also very bold on colors.

I have learned so much from these experiments with children. I love art and have never learned how to draw. It is so wonderful to learn art with children from the books. We all love it.

Book Club

2009-09-03T22:44:00.008+08:00

I joined a book club which is formed by a group of stay-home mothers who believe in education starting from home. The children are under age of 6. These mothers share their talents and take turns to teach children. Children learn English, Chinese, play games, craft, Taiwanese, and story time. It is just once a week. Each meeting is two hours. Kids like it so much.

I just realized that Faith is very organized on things she dose. Good for her.

Musical instrument

2009-09-03T21:19:00.005+08:00

After watching "Tarzan" so many times, we took out the things at home that we can use as musical intrument. Here is their little concert. They loved it so much. The other side of living room was full of shredded paper.

Haha, let's try some more. They had so much fun.

The Princess and the Pea

2009-09-02T23:43:00.011+08:00

I have been doing homeschool for kids since I decided not sanding Faith to school here. The school here is all day long for the young little kids. I don't feel it is a good idea letting Faith to be at school that long. After this diction, I felt that I needed to be more serious about Faith's learning. So far, we have been doing so much fun things both indoor and outdoor. They have learned so much and enjoy doing whatever I guided. I think I like to be a homeschool mother.

These couple days we have been reading "The Princess and the pea" over and over. Faith likes it so much just because it is a story of a princess. So today, I thought it would be more fun to have them act out the story. I was a narrator and a photographer. Faith was the prince in the first half of the play. Later, she acted as the princess. Solomon was the king and later acted as the prince. You will tell their role by the customs they wear. To my surprise, they were so good at acting. Without my direction they did every action and arranged background. They even suggested to one another the role they wanted to act. Haha, it was so fun to see them do all of this.

A prince who lives in a beatiful castle with king and queen. He wants to marry a princess, but is having difficulty finding a sutable partner. He is sad and wonders where he can meet a real princess who he likes.

Therefore, he decides to leave the castle and to look for "her".

Unfortunately, something is always wrong with those he meets. He can not be certain they are real princesses. He returns home with depression. The king and the queen are even more worried about their beloved son.

One storming noght, the king hears someone is knocking on the door.

He answers the door. To his surprise, a young woman drenched with rain seeks shelter in the prince's castle.

She claims to be a princess.

Something from she attracts king. So, the king welcomes her to the castle.

The queen decides to test their unexpected guest by placing a pea in the bed she is offered for the night, covered by 20 mattresses and 20 featherbeds.

In the morning, the guest tells her hosts that she endured a sleepless night.

She kept awake by something hard in the bed which she is certain has bruised her.

The prince rejoices. Only a real pincess would have the sensitivity to feel a pea through such a quantity of bedding.

They are married and the pea is placed in the Royal Museum.

The End

Thanks for watching the play.

A school of fish

2009-08-30T23:11:00.006+08:00

Hey! Have you ever seen a school of hungry fish? Check it out!!!

I took children to feed fish today. A school of fish just came all together and fought for couple pieces of cereal. They almost jumped on the cement. It was kind of scary.

Look at them~

They look like starving for a long long time.

The cereal we brought was totally gone. They were still waiting for more food pouring steadily down from heaven. We wished that we had brought some more with us.

They were following us for more food. Haha, It was interseting for us.

Phone call from Daddy

2009-08-30T21:54:00.010+08:00

It is a blessing that we can receive phone call from David. I thought that he is not allowed to call us for this 5 months. When we surprisingly got his phone call on Monday very early morning we were so very happy. There was no any word that I could describe how much gratitude I had for God. I am so grateful for God giving us a greatest comfort through David at the time that we need help the most. Children have had so much to say to David, especially Solomon. Solomon has not able to adjusted himself to this new environment yet, but after received Daddy's call he has been doing so much better than before. He just wanted to make sure that Daddy still loves him and thinks of him and wants to come back to him. After that day, Solomon has been saying lots of meaningful prayers for his Daddy.
Faith said that she almost forgot how to speak English to Daddy. Her Chinese is getting better, but English is getting worse.

From now on, we are going to receive David's phone call every Monday at 4:oo am. (Taiwan time). It is also the best day of a week for us.

David/Daddy, we love you and miss you tons.

Early birds

2009-08-29T20:54:00.011+08:00

Kids like to go with A-ma(Grandma) to work. Couple weeks ago we went almost everyday and help my mom with her work. Kids and I climbed the stairs to each floor and kids like to take turns to turn off the lights. Every morning we climbed 6 floors and there are three buildings. We really got some good exercise in those weeks. Last week was the first time kids got to help with watering plants. It was new and fun for them.

I like to see kids working hard and to see them enjoy working. Working in a very early morning was a blessing for us. Air was clean and fresh. Streets have not gotten too busy yet. Kids and I took a stroll to the buildings and enjoy the morning breeze. Whenever we climbed to the top of the building, we stopped and looked down from above. The city was still slow and quiet. We could even hear the birds chirping. It was a meaningful exprence for all of us.

Happiness

2009-08-29T20:43:00.002+08:00

I like these two pictures. Kids love their A-ma (Grandma) so much.

A place where we go everyday

2009-08-29T19:46:00.003+08:00

This is a elementary school next to our home. Kids ride bikes and I walk with them to school almost every morning. I like to sit under the trees and enjoy the cool wind in the early morning. It is also one of good places where I dare to take a deep breath in a city.

To be a model once more

2009-08-28T21:30:00.009+08:00

Let's make this long story short. It was a serious typhoon visited Taiwan as usual. But this time, my home town had no water for almost 5 days. Kids and I went to a noodle shop for dinner where had stored RO water for it's business. Coincidently, I ran into a woman who is the manager of a kidsware company. She recognized that Faith modeled for her company two years ago. So, she invited Faith to be a model once again.

I took some pictures while photographer was taking pictures for these cute little models. My camara qulity isn't good enough to take good pictures. Plus it was kind of dark at that spot. So, I can only show you this much for you to imagine what was going on there.

Summer fun- water fight

2009-08-26T21:11:00.004+08:00

The Girl who is behind Faith is also 4 years old. She lives next door. She likes to call Faith "American", too. Faith likes her bike so much. Just because it is pink. My children like to play with her so much. She came to our home quite often before her preschool started. Now she goes to school everyday and stays at school all day long. It is from 8:00am-4:30pm.

They had a water fight. Two girls fought off Solomon. They loved it.

Once there was a snowman

2009-08-25T20:16:00.003+08:00

Look at their snowman. They are so colorful.

While they were making these snowmen, they mentioned vividly that last year at Grandpa Bill's home they made a snowman and snow balls..., that was a colorful winter and a wonderful memory for them. They both wished to go to Grandpa Bill's home this winter and play with snow again.

What does a leaf hat remind you of?

2009-08-23T22:42:00.013+08:00

A leaf hat reminds me of a farmer working hard in the sun at the field. But that day when I was looking at my mom's "old treasure" at the closet for fun, I found a leaf hat. I took it out and just wanted to show children my mom's hat. Before the introduction, Faith already reacted to that hat. She pointed to the hat and shouted "Kung Fu Panda". Hahaha, I thought that was funny. It reminded children of the famous movie "Kung Fu Panda" which they had seen long time ago. So they all wanted to try on and to take pictures.

Faith waited patiently. Finally it was her turn.

A Trip to Kaohsiung

2009-08-22T23:09:00.015+08:00

Do you know where we were?

Haha!! we were at Kaohsiung city where 2009 World Game was held. We were at the subway station and were waiting the subway to take us to see the stadium of 2009 World Game.

She is church member, Sister Wong, went with us. We chated all the way to the stadium. We had a lot of old time memories together since 1997 her little family first joined the church.

It was the second time children got on the subway. But they were still so excited and curious about everything both inside and outside of subway.

After got off the subway, we took about 10 minutes walk to the stadium. It was a beautiful sunny day. Each of Solomon and Faith got an umbrella from sister Wong for blocking the sun. They had so much fun on that stroll playing and walking with an umbrella in a sunny day.

Every 5 trees we could see a chair which made by grindstone rest on the rodeside for people to take a break and to enjoy the beautiful mountain view and the confortable summer wind blowing on face.

The weather was perfect that day. Plus sitting on that grindstone chair was really nice and cool. Faith almost fell asleep on it.

After that, got some more walk. This time Faith fell in love with that ladylike umbrella so much. she insisted on walking with Solomon. So that, she got to hold it and enjoy being a lady.

Finally we were there. (It is just part of stadium.) On the square, there was a fountain. It looked weird to us that there was no child play with water. As Solomon saw that fountain, he ran quickly to it without hesitation. There were many children next to me and were staring at him and were admiring. They seemed to join him if they were allowed.

There were many stores at the outside of the stadium. This store was selling Banana. Banana is one of the major plants to Taiwan agriculture. Taiwan Banana is actually very sweet and inexpesive. There was a pile of banana sovenirs on the shelf waving to us and seemed to tell us, "Buy me, Buy me."

So Sister Wong got children one.

There were another family joined us. They are also faithful members of the church.

On the stadium square, there was another fun place for children to visit. Every kid couldn't wait to play with drums.

On the way home, we took another 10 minutes walk again to the subway station. Kids set on every grindstone chair once more before we returned home.

Waiting to get on the subway and go back home.

Solomon already felt tired and fell asleep,

but Faith.

On the way home we transfered to the train from subway to go back to Tainan. We were lucky enough to sit next to the engine driver and got to see how he drove the train. Faith was curious and asked, "Why there is no wheel?" haha!! When I was little, I asked my mom exactly the some question, too. Do you know the answer?

The First Best Friend in Taiwan

2009-08-22T22:09:00.004+08:00

The girl who is behind Faith is teacher's daughter. After the first visit, she became Faith's first best freind here in Taiwan. It is so funny that even though she knows Faith's Chinese name, she still calls her "American" for a few times.

Children all palyed together before the class started.

It is so much fun to see them play so well together without language barrier. They are children of God and are so pure and beautiful. I think love is the major language in children's world, isn't it?

The First Day of the Dancing Lesson

2009-08-21T22:22:00.008+08:00

As we went to the dancing studio where I used to learn dance when I was teenager to sign up the ballet class for Faith, I met my old friend who now owns a dancing studio which is very close to our home. I was so happy to see her and learned that she is going to have second baby in three months. She invited me to go her home. So we went the next two days. She has a 4 year-old daughter and she really loves to play with Faith and Solomon. We had a wonderful time together and chated for almost 4 hours. Kids also played very well together at the toy room. Because of our close friendship since I was 20, I then without a second thought signed up the class for Faith at my friend's dancing studio.

My friend naturally is also her teacher. She was so generous to give Faith two sets of cute practicing outfit and a pair of red shoes. She was so excited to put them on immediately. All of the sudden, I realized that my little girl is growing up and is capable of carring out teacher's instruction and is able to learn a skill from the perfetional. She really looks cute in that outtfit.

Before the class, she showed off once more to her teacher that how much she loves dancing and even practices at home.

Before the class was dismissed, every one lined up to get a earing stickers for being a good student. :)

Faith also got a pair.

I took this photo yesterday. She has been improving so much since the first day of the lesson. She is so graceful now.

Chopsticks 101

2009-08-19T23:13:00.008+08:00

Dear family and friends I finally set up the Internet at my mom's home. I am excited to update regularly our life and adventure here in Taiwan on this blog. By the way, thanks to the birthday wishes that all of you sent and emailed to Faith. She misses and wants to say thank you to all her family members in America. She described to my mom about how big her Grandma Marilyn 's library is and it has lots of books she can read. She also shared happilywith her dancing teacher about Grandpa Bill and Grandma Diane sent her a birthday card. Couple times she mentioned all her cousins' name and wished to play with them. Solomon seemed too young to remember anything, but Gabby. We miss you all and think of wonderful examples you have shown to us. We love you all.

Chopsticks is major utensils to Chinese food. Faith is excited to learn from my mom how to hold and use two slippery sticks to eat Chinese food. You may wonder have I ever taught my kids to use chopsticks. To be honest, I like chopsticks but a fork is more convenient to use sometimes. It is just like the combination of chopsticks and a spoon. I remembered so clearly that after the fist time I used fork I started to carry my very own first fork to wherever I moved during my mission . Therefore, it is a pity I have never spend a moment to teach my children how to use Chinese utensil. I am glad that they are welling to live in Taiwan and do what Taiwanese do. Even though they try so hard to eat with chopsticks, they took so long only bring one bite to their mouth. For most of time they still use spoon, it all depends on how hungry they are.

She was so proud of herself for the first time learning how to hold chopsticks

She did a pretty good job for the first try.
I still use chopsticks when there is no fork. I like chopsticks still. It's an art and the simple beauty of Chinese culture.

美國獨立日【珍貴的家庭照】

2009-07-05T10:08:00.011+08:00

載著和煦的陽光，在尉藍的天空裡，象徵自由和平的國旗迎風飄揚。難得全家衣著嶄新整齊，靠的緊緊得照張相。心裡滿懷感激，能站在這自由的國土上、站在這美麗莊嚴的聖殿廣場上，擁有和理解福音的永恆真理，及家人將永恆在一起。感謝過去的國家烈士，奮勇為自由國土而戰，準備了福音的復興。感謝先驅者的犧牲奉獻，承傳了信心的榜樣。感謝神預備這一切，使我們今日擁有永恆的祝福。
我和David將暫別短時期，他加入美軍接受訓練，我和孩子們返回台灣和媽媽同住。無論如何，我們皆是穿戴神之軍裝的戰士，緊握真理的盾牌無懼的往前行，在屬靈和屬世的戰場上，我們都站在神這一邊，一切將好，一切好。
能回台灣是神的祝福，從沒想過能這麼快回台灣探親，也沒法想像如何這般快速的存這筆機票錢。媽媽能再含貽弄孫，孩子能更接近和認識外婆和祖父母及家人，一定是媽媽十分用力祈禱和渴望擁有這祝福，於是，這正是時候，她的祈禱被答覆了，機票錢神也預備了。我們這就要來了，星期三見！

謝謝婆婆借我們數位照相機，畫面十分清晰。人美，景美‧‧‧更重要得是我們的心最美，與神緊緊依附在一起，構出美麗的全家福。

生日派對

2009-06-23T23:17:00.008+08:00

姪子Kendall的生日派對剛好在星期一，所以他們安排了這個派對有一點點不同。首先是由姪女Kandy主持家人家庭晚會揭開序幕，然後‧‧‧，最後‧‧‧。

開會詩歌時，Raylin 竟聞歌起舞來，超可愛。

Kandy 在家人家庭晚會中，分享了一個故事有關美德。她還巧心準備故事道具，並且說故事中她的小仰慕者們都環繞著她，她依然能使每個人都感覺她的愛，並且把故事完整的演、說完。很欣賞她所受的教養。我其實沒認真聽故事，因我很仔細觀察她的應對能力。我想我的妯娌所授予他孩子的領袖教育真的把孩子教的非常有領袖能力和風範。

壽星吹臘燭，共十一根

大家團團圍繞，看著壽星拆禮物

他的禮物真的很多，數十分鐘後‧‧‧

圍觀的孩子們漸漸散去‧‧‧

因為有好吃的蛋糕和冰淇淋，怎容錯過

婆婆笑的很甜

最後當然一定是‧‧‧游泳

很抱歉，我家的相機畫質很差，就只能讓大家看看輪廓

謝謝所有認真的父親

2009-06-20T13:31:00.002+08:00

過夜派對

2009-06-20T12:45:00.002+08:00

我和老公終於找到機會去約會了。老公的弟弟一家人當孩子們的褓母，看他們和堂姐弟妹齊聚一堂，早已樂不思"父母"了。真要謝謝他們的幫忙。

我們家的孩子通常都八點就睡，那天他們大家玩到十一點才陸續一個個睡著，佳心還真能撐，David的弟弟還笑著說，佳心竟然在睡覺前還想秀一下她的舞姿，她是最後一個睡著的。照片裡，大夥兒還定睛看著電影時，誠誠似乎已眼皮三斤重，快要夢周公去了。

不會"撞衫"的部落格背景

2009-06-14T15:44:00.005+08:00

我在http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/學到如何將自製得部落格背景上傳到自己的部落格。請按左欄位的Free Blogging Secrets後，按How to Make Your Own Background，就是這了。不難歐，只要會使用Photoshop，那其餘的就只要照它建議的步驟，就能時常創意屬於自我風格的背景了。但其建議的版面尺度我覺得太大，所以我是用"寬13 inches ,高6inches "來製作。妳也能參照它的建議尺度，若不合用便可參照我的建議試試看。

這是我為老公的從軍日誌部落格所製作的標題

和從軍日誌的背景
他在7/7入伍後，將陸續每天寫日記，敬請期待。
http://armystrongandmighty.blogspot.com/
，或請按此部落格右欄位的連結"David's Army Blog"

我向來很喜歡芭蕾的力與美，便在這裡插了兩張美美的姿勢(這些是沒有版權的照片，我才使用)。還不算完全製作完畢，但就醬了。改天做個標題補強。對創意製作有興趣的親朋好友，你也動手試試吧！

快樂小訪客Raylin

2009-06-14T14:23:00.011+08:00

今天小姑和姑丈去聖殿，我們當保姆。Raylin是個快樂小訪客。

很難得和Raylin照張像，一回頭‧‧‧

她已囫圇吞棗，吃光光了。

胃口真好

吃飽後，佳心唸故事書給Raylin 聽。她則迫不急待要翻下一頁

故事聽完了，誠誠向她介紹他和姊姊的房間

孩子們無論到哪，都能玩的渾然忘我

大家都睡不著，那就繼續玩吧！難得有他們最愛的小訪客。

Raylin, you are welcome to come more often. We were all having a fun time with you. We love you!!

We hope that you will have a good night sleep. ; )

Night Night!!!

Sunday Station

2009-06-07T04:51:00.016+08:00

David從"朋友"雜誌文章中得到一些啟示有關安息日小孩的活動站，稱為"Sunday Station"。於是我們在上個安息日下午午睡後，設了幾個活動站讓孩子分別參予所設計的活動，分別有：email站、電話拜訪站、蓋聖殿站，和主題經文著色站。這星期日得"Sunday Station"則是：唱兒童會詩歌站、故事站、積木站、和動物模仿站。其實安息日和平時從事的活動大同小異，最大的不同就是星期日沒有電影或電視活動，而是以家庭為中心的福音活動。

這是佳心蓋的鹽湖城聖殿

誠誠得主題經文著色

他沒蓋成聖殿卻蓋了一座台北101大樓

佳心專心的為主題經文圖著色

蓋的好高，電風扇在一旁吹著左右搖晃，但還站的穩撐挺久的。我應該更清楚向孩子表明，剛剛蓋在地毯上，三兩下就倒了，後來有一本精裝版的書在底下，書皮厚厚硬硬才能讓堆高的積木建築物站立的穩固。如同聰明者將信心建立在基督的盤石上不怕考驗侵襲。下次一定會更仔細觀察如何藉機教育。寫部落格也是一個反省回顧的好機會。更重要的是天天寫日記。

常在教訓孩子時把當日早上和他們一起讀的經文搬出來提醒他們。希望藉著經文的力量能溫馴他們的心。這是我時常的祈求，能時刻感受祂的力量，和運用信心之眼看見祂的手全能無限的安撫我們奔濤駒放不安的靈魂。

今年回顧去年

2009-06-06T14:20:00.011+08:00

Memorial Day(美國的陣亡將士紀念日)當天參加了兩場派對，先是去了老公的大哥家游泳烤肉，接近傍晚去參加老公的小弟之大學畢業派對。

去年，我在公寓的游泳池裡很用心的教孩子們踢水。那天是今年夏天以來孩子們第一次下水，誠誠非常大膽的撲通一跳，便游了起來。我和老公既驚又喜。去年，佳心比弟弟還瘋狂，今年她反倒陌生了起來。她的表哥很賣力鼓舞她下水游泳。

姪女Kandy耍特技，注意看水裡的粉紅色游泳圈，她要跳進那小游泳圈裡。高招！可見她今年還是和去年一樣苗條。

我老公的弟弟Robert並不知道他老婆為他辦了這麼個溫馨的畢業派對。所以當他看到我們大伙都出現在鄰居家的游泳池時有點小驚訝。過去幾年要唸書還要持家，壓力很大。現在畢業了，感覺很好。真要恭喜他了。他的老婆在不久前生了孩子後不幸中風，感謝神的眷顧，現在她已經完全康復，也開刀補了心臟破洞，解決中風的導因。

這游泳池是奧運標準長度，Robert 在第一回合自由式中遙遙領先。弟二回合是全程的仰式+蝶式，他在前半程得仰式中居先，到了後半程的蝶式就大大落後。蝶式真的難多了。

我老公的妹婿都是像這樣的和他女兒互動的。第一次看他和他的寶貝女兒這般的玩時，我和我老公說台灣得長者要是看到肯定喊心臟病。他的女兒倒很喜歡她爸爸這樣和她玩。他和孩子在一起很有一套可說是大頑童，是個很樂天派的爸爸，所以他的女兒也都笑口常開的，還沒見她哭過呢。我們家孩子也都很喜歡他。

佳心現在竟也練出膽量來了，去年一被丟高便嚎濤大哭。

游泳後，派對主角Robert烤肉請大家吃。他的岳父大人炒了一大盤炒飯，還問我他炒的如何。我真要誇獎他了，還真不賴呢！我在家炒飯都是隨便炒的，每次味道都不一樣，我老公很好養的原因。所以吃到美國人的炒飯都覺得比我的強。我和老公都還連吃了兩盤呢！很好笑吧！順道一提，我婆婆得炒飯也非常好吃。台灣的朋友們，你們定會懷疑他們真有炒的比台灣道地炒飯好吃嗎？其實我在這只要吃到不會太油太甜太鹹的，都大母哥舉的高高的還拍案叫好。還有那串串烤肉也非常好吃，只可惜只吃到一串。

愛國情操，媽媽姊姊笑翻天

2009-06-06T13:49:00.006+08:00

那天下午，我要帶孩子去超市買菜前，誠誠靈光乍現，便揹起老公的陸軍背包要跟我去買菜，我差點沒笑翻，看他背那個大背袋真是太可愛了。我便請他轉一圈讓我照張相。佳心早已在一旁笑到不行了。

迷你高爾夫

2009-05-24T11:43:00.014+08:00

本來計畫昨天和老公去約會，後來又變成了家庭約會。但我們都非常感謝神，這些天的天氣都十分涼爽，是亞利桑那州不可多得的好天氣。加上連續假日，迷你高爾夫球場裡更是人滿為患。這是我第二次玩迷你高爾夫，此次是來雪前恥。上次來時，佳心才六個月大，我根本只有揮球棍的份。我老公球類樣樣行，要和他比高下，就得靠運氣加自信了。天氣特佳，便玩了兩局分別在不同的球區。而結局都可算是平分秋色，我想連續玩了兩局的確有玩出些心得來！孩子們也玩的很開心。佳心還打的挺好的，連她自己都這麼覺得。出來了一整個下午，回家時，大家心裡都很滿足。

我很喜歡這種感覺。有爸爸真好。

看她的姿勢多優雅。

誠誠很堅持自己來，在試了好幾次都揮棒落空後，終於虛心求教。

這斜坡對他們來說有一種似曾相似的感覺。貳話不說，便球棍一扔，一呼嚕兒就爬上去了

當溜滑梯玩‧‧‧

佳心非常開心自己打的球進洞了。

可別以為我在撲蝴蝶ㄡ，我是激動得翹腳。所施的力道正恰到好處，能不激動嗎！

誠誠的動作真可愛。

佳心是爸爸的忠實球迷。 (仔細看她的動作)

過於自信的我，凸槌了。

快四歲的她，能做的事越來越多了，也常使我驚訝。這一棒可揮的真好。

他，是我們的開心果

佳心的獨特想法

2009-05-22T09:21:00.007+08:00

佳心＂最＂喜歡的顏色是粉紅色，但奇怪地是，不知從何時起，每次用色鉛筆著色時她只選黃、黑兩色。在多次引導之下，她最近才開始用很各種顏色來配色著色。其實她用黃黑色著色，我倒覺得有趣，我嘗試著用藝術的眼光欣賞和了解她所展現出屬於自己的風格。她運用力道得輕重，巧妙有變化地將兩種顏色發揮的生動有趣。我便引用她的灰色調再加上其他顏色以便向她介紹其他色彩得變化。這是她在色鉛筆上的獨特風格。若是用水彩她倒是沒這個獨特偏好。所以你說有趣不有趣。

＂椅腳＂雙槓體操是佳心最近的新發明。誠誠愛的很，即使玩很久都不喊累，這也讓他消耗了許多精力。我和誠誠都很感謝佳心的這項發明。

她的舞步也是想法得延伸。透過自由式的舞步，她表達和詮釋了自己的對所聽到的兒歌的想像。我覺得她跳的很有感覺。

溫馨的生日派對

2009-05-22T08:23:00.007+08:00

這是小姑的女兒Raylin，她的一歲生日派對

她是我見過最快樂的寶寶，隨時都是笑咪咪的。她一旦聽到音樂，小小的身體便搖擺起來。她真的是超可愛。

有趣的是，那天她真的看來像一歲的孩子。小女士般的自己拆禮物，還給自己拍手鼓掌呢！

她的爸爸，打從她出生的那天起就把她當體操選手般訓練，所以你能想像她的骨頭和肌肉都十分強壯有力。

家庭團聚聊天，孩子們玩成一團，公婆含愚弄孫。這是一個很溫馨的生日派對。十分感謝小姑和小姑丈的用心準備。我們都沾了Raylin的歡喜。

孝順的他

2009-05-11T07:06:00.016+08:00

今天母親節，誠誠似乎非常了解這個節日是特別給媽媽的。於是出門去教堂之前，他非常執意且誠心誠意要幫我穿絲襪，我甚情難卻，即使快遲到了還是讓他有機會孝順一下，感覺真好。在聖餐聚會時，他表現格外的虔敬，讓我和老公都能專心虔敬的聆聽演講。再次謝謝他的體貼。平時誠誠的一些小舉動，都在在顯出他是位貼心的小紳士。在我還是單身時，總覺得只有女兒是最貼心的。現在身為人母的新領悟是，孩子們是時常不住的觀察和吸收父母如何的彼此相愛，以及父母如何的善待和教養他們，他們就如何的回饋父母。至少對我是如此。

晚上小姑邀請大家去她家為婆婆慶祝母親節，婆婆卻一點都不知情。我們抵達時，她十分驚訝和快樂。(婆婆有五個孩子和四個媳婦和一個女婿，有一個兒子在中國教英文。她目前有九個孫子女。)在談笑間，我注意到婆婆手裡懷抱著最小的孫子，安靜的凝視著一屋子的兒女和孫子女，眼神流露出滿足和安慰。我也在想，當初她要是沒有接受福音的教導和選擇洗禮，或許她現在也看不到她所有的孩子都各有一個正義的家庭和穩固的福音基礎。她這一生中的確作了一個影響世代的重要決定，即是歸向基督並努力的正義生活。我要感謝因為她，今天我才得有一個正義的老公和我一同組織家庭，並希望一直繁榮下去。

我的母親這一生中秉持著謙卑求神的心，堅定不移的作了無數個影響世代的重要決定，並全心全意的將自己的生命奉獻給神。因為是她，我在神的教養中成長茁壯，並繼續跟隨神的腳蹤和尋求祂的智慧，依循祂的樣式組織了一個與神同行的家庭。我確知神的祝福會無限的傾注於她。我知道我和我的家庭將永永遠遠是她的眾多祝福中之ㄧ。

翻滾吧！體操男孩

2009-05-06T05:51:00.010+08:00

David的大哥一家人過去這星期都在搬家，搬到我們家附近。安息日聚會後就等不及去拜訪他們，看看他們的新家。他們家真的非常大，就連游泳池都很大。大家席地而坐，大人聊聊天，小孩玩玩球，耍耍雜技。

誠誠是我家的體操男孩，他是天生翻滾好手。也不知道他是模仿誰，只是在家練著練著，就滾了起來。這一滾，可要重複滾上十來分鐘才罷休。

這是姪子Kendall。

這是姪女Kandy。

Kandy在5/15, 16將演出莎士比亞的其中一部戲劇，哈！我已不記得劇名了。平時她說話十分輕聲細語，個性也挺文靜的，那天的小小一秀，真是讓我們大開眼界了。她演的真棒。

孩子玩耍的地方

2009-05-01T23:10:00.005+08:00

這裡是公寓左手邊車庫前，是孩子們玩賽車的好地方。

一出家門向右邊十來步，就是一個舒適的小公園，在這我也能有個人時間。他們可以盡情玩他們的遊戲，我在一旁看我的書。

孩子每天都在過生日，常常角色扮演裡都有製作蛋糕，祝福某人生日快樂。他們所演的內容常和最近他們所看所聽的事相連結。前天，我們站在這觀察鳥的舉動時，誠誠發現旁邊涼亭的屋頂上一隻不會動的小鳥。他觀察力可真好。所以我們爬到很高的地方，想確定那隻鳥是否還活著。觀察了很久，牠果然是不動了。佳心說一定是小貓跳上去攻擊牠‧‧‧。所以，這些天她都會把小鳥加入某些情境中。

他們是神的孩子

2009-05-01T13:05:00.004+08:00

信條第一條

為了不讓他們忘記中文，每天早上經文研讀之前孩子們就跟著我大聲朗讀信條並以簡單的方式解釋信條的意思，現在他們比較懂我們所信的有誰，和自己犯錯受罰不能責怪他人，等等等。出乎意料的，他們竟然三兩天就背起信條來了，真是一鳴驚人，這是我期望之外的。在我的驚訝驅使之下，佳心更希望能重複唸好幾次並背起來。誠誠看姊姊會背了也躍躍欲試。

信條第二條

這些是三天前的影片。佳心今天已經會背信條第三條了。孩子的吸收能力真強。今天午餐，誠誠做禱告時，突然背起了完整的信條第一條。在內心，我覺得他好可愛且正直。感謝神賜我兩個美好的孩子，使我能時常記起祂完美的愛。

今天是老公的生日，也是他最忙的一天，一大早六點出門去教課，接著去幫忙他哥哥搬家，下午又接著去教畫畫，回來吃了晚餐就又出門去幫忙搬家，到現在十點了還在幫忙。他今年的生日過的很充實有意義。孩子們各畫了一張"五層"的草莓蛋糕，和插滿蠟燭的生日蛋糕，送給他們最親愛的Daddy。I love you, David. Happy Birthday to you!

九個月習琴的成果展

2009-04-28T13:34:00.019+08:00

在我身旁的這位姐妹是我的小提琴老師Sarah Hecht，(她的先生是德國人)。在一次星期日聚會之後我們聊起有關樂器，在她知道我自學小提琴又好學之後，於是收我作為她的學生，並且不收我學費。(我是她結婚後的第一位學生)。我真的很感激她，更感謝是神的緣故，祂安排我這樣的機會讓我好好的學會一項樂器，來讚美祂，並祝福家人。

我的小提琴是我的二哥東元在小提琴工廠買的，是最便宜的練習琴。以前都是他在拉，他也是自學來的，當然都只是娛樂自己，而我常對他的學習精神和對音樂的喜愛十分佩服。他回天家後，這把琴便很自然的傳到我手中。於是，我也開始自己摸索了起來，關起門窗，拉出腦海裡的旋律，很陶醉在自己拉出來的旋律中，這叫孤芳自賞是吧！(哈！我大哥很老實的說從前我在家拉小提琴像是在"殺雞")

能向Sarah討教琴藝，真的很幸福。如今和她學琴有九個月的時間，仍然很吃力的持續在改正以往錯誤的握琴姿勢。我老公說我真的大有進步。向她學琴的這段日子，我自己的孩子也受益良多，他們也和我ㄧ起翱翔在音樂的世界裡。佳心常提醒我，有一天她也要學小提琴。我每週要去上課當天，他們都會表現的特別乖，以便贏得我帶他們一起去上課的機會。在音樂的薰陶中，誠誠偶爾會在一旁筆劃起拉小提琴的動作，眼裡流露出對音樂的情感和讚嘆。我縱然不是拉的最美，但音樂的本身就足以使人感受到聖靈的滋潤，並且音樂也是每個孩子能理解的語言。"如果你們快樂，就用歌唱、音樂、舞蹈以及讚美與感恩的禱告來讚美主。" 教約136:28

我和Sarah之間有幾點共通之處：我們都曾在同一個傳道部服務過，所以她知道幾位來自台灣的姐妹，其中一位是台南的王珠瓶姐妹。她也因結婚的緣故故居他鄉十年之久。熱愛音樂，尤其是小提琴。我們最共通的文化是神的文化。她是我在這裡很親近的好朋友之ㄧ。我很愛她，及她的家庭。

這些都是她的小提琴學生。

在照片裡，左邊身著藍色上衣的是他女兒，她是德、美混血兒。Sarah 還有兩個小兒子。

照片最右邊的那位女青年，也自學了幾年，今年是她正式拜師學琴的第三年。她的琴藝很棒，表演的經驗也很豐富，是位十分有自信的女青年。

前面兩位小朋友，和我一樣都是初學者。他們都很勇敢和努力。我很喜歡站在我前方的那位小朋友。她時常在禁食見證聚會時，分享她的見證並表明她對家人的愛和對神的信心。

這是我和小朋友們第一次合奏的經驗。

我還恍了神，慢了幾拍才開始呢！嘻嘻嘻！

中國傳統曲調的二人重奏，The Spirited Girl。

我快了拍子，走了調，還出小狀況恍了神，沒跟上合奏的拍子。這也是新的經驗。練習時還拉的好一些，出場了就出了亂子。目前我只喜歡練習的過程。功力還沒好到小秀一場。但大家都說，多一些這樣的經驗就不緊張了。

小提琴獨奏鋼琴伴奏，教會詩歌"Where Can I Turn for Peace"

是最後一首，較不亂緊張了，但還是走了調，搶了拍子。彈鋼琴的是Sarah 的媽媽。很感謝她的幫忙。演奏時，我也同時感覺到詩歌所傳達的平安。我極喜歡這首詩歌傳達的那番如海上的風浪都順服了的感覺。在神的教導中我找到這樣的平安。

獨奏，The Emperor Waltz。我很喜歡它的旋律，甚至深入學習有關作者Johann Strauss 的生平和他所出生於的音樂世家。這首是我練習最勤的其中一首，練習時，家人和老師都很滿意。但是，一緊張，就忘了旋律也走了好幾個音。輕重緩急也消失無蹤了。在最後，我的兩光小提琴肩墊還突然鬆落了，於是小提琴失去平衡，我便拉了幾個怪怪的音。小提琴難學的部份是，只要手指些微的滑動了，就差了半音。緊張的情況如果像我如此嚴重就更不用說了。

看到影片裡的自己拉琴時，左右搖晃的如此頻繁，看的我都快暈船了，在練習時我則一點都不自覺，真陶醉！看這些影片也能明顯看到自己的老習慣還沒完全改掉，才更感覺Sarah 對我非常有耐心。

儘管如此，這九個月學琴的路程過的非常愉快，我很感激Sarah花很多心思和時間幫助我，讓我和家人一起分享音樂所能帶給我們的祝福。最感謝的是，從一開始的自學階段到今天，聖靈一直是我很親近的家教老師。即使如今和Sarah學琴，我還是時常有聖靈的一臂之力，得到事半功倍的成效。當媽的我，要能每天練琴一小時實在不是一件容易的事。都是向孩子偷時間，趕緊的練習。有時正練的有心得，而孩子們也唱唱跳跳時，就會突然出個小狀況，練習時間就如此被中斷了。但是，每次練習時，我都能清楚地感覺到聖靈的幫助，並很有效率的練習。

我就要搬家了，這將是我在Gilbert Arizona最美的回憶。

領袖養成教育課程的成果展

2009-04-25T00:40:00.005+08:00

這是我的姪女，她跳了一支傳統的夏威夷草裙舞，每一個手勢皆有一個信息和意義。後來還出現了兩三個小伴舞(一個是誠誠，一個是妯娌的女兒，都是我姪女的仰慕者)。她跳的非常優美，自然，感覺自身在夏威夷，很心曠神怡，悠游自然。這成果展是由一群 Homeschool 的孩子們發表一項自己最不擅長的才能，以及應用"領袖養成教育"課程所教導的原則，來展現領袖般的風範和自信。我個人很佩服他們對於自己不擅長的事所展現的自信，創意，和勇氣。

附註：Homeschool 的教育方式乃是由母親全權負責督導，教育，和引導自己孩子的學校的基本教育。一旦家長決定實施Homeschool，孩子基本上就不去政府所提供的教育機構就學，大多時候就會在家就學，以及有時由一群同樣Homeschool的家庭為特定的主題或科目來開班授課。這類的教育方式最大的優點是，孩子們被引導自發性的學習，和學習能安排自己的時間做最有效的學習。母親的全時間引導，和設立自發學習的模範來引響孩子的主動，是這類教育的另一優點。第三優點是，有完全的家庭時間，孩子的生活標準便能有一個穩固的根基。因此，母親是這教育中的靈魂人物。

這位大提琴手並不真的會拉大提琴，她在上台前的準備時還搞不清楚大提琴的脖子要放在自己的左肩或右肩，我坐在她旁邊她說這是她父親的琴，她在當天下午5:45的時候決定要表演這一項樂器，是距離演出時間1.5小時之前。上台時，她在階梯上跌了一跤，卻大笑自己一番，索性的把高跟鞋丟一旁，一點也沒有引響她自己的演出，表現十分落落大方。她的表演十分有創意，俏皮，和自信。其實她真的拉的不差。你覺得呢？

勇敢的孩子

2009-04-24T23:48:00.005+08:00

誠誠第一次看牙醫，一點都沒有害怕，表現的落落大方。

有了佳心第一次看牙醫哭哭的情形，這次我們為孩子做了很徹底的心理建設。每天一定至少刷牙兩次和牙線剔牙，到圖書館借了一本有關看牙醫的圖繪本，隨時複習和熟悉。當媽媽真不容易，絕不能有一刻想偷懶的念頭。孩子都看在眼裡。我覺得別人養孩子之前已經練了一身好功夫才來養孩子。對我來說，我養孩子的過程是在訓練自己。想到小時候，都沒有這樣的習慣養成，更不知道牙線這回事，最後換來一口爛牙。所以現在我是家裡最勤勞刷牙的人，希望至少不需要去上牙醫館，在美國看牙醫是最昂貴的消費。

佳心這次也很勇敢，即使牙醫助理為她照牙齒的X光片，光是要塞那張小底片到嘴裡就至少嘔吐四、五次，最後還把午餐吐出來，她依然很勇敢沒有哭哭。她的勇敢讓我很欣慰。孩子們真的長大了。能理解很多事了。

踏青記

2009-04-14T06:54:00.003+08:00

來美國一年多了這是第三次外出踏青，好興奮呢！星期五是復活節前兩天也是假日，我們決定一大早去爬山。孩子們一開始很快樂，一路上跑跑跳跳，這段崎嶇不平的山路上有許多大小石塊散佈在步道上。他們跌跌撞撞，依然笑咪咪。直到佳心重重的跌在一塊有菱有角的石頭上，哇的一聲，嚎啕大哭了起來。她的手掌一刀傷痕，我們是很沒有準備的父母，緊急醫藥物品從來不在我們的外出清單上，這下只能用清水洗淨並把髒血擠出來。我們才走了二十分鐘，這下只好打道回府了，佳心早已痛的連她最愛的蘋果都無法使她忘記疼痛感。回程一路上我和老公一人抱一個，我則感覺像在扛米袋，路程並不長，我已走的喘呼呼。是我缺乏運動?或是孩子重? 還是我老了?

Arm wrestling

2009-04-05T23:01:00.004+08:00

星期六下午五點 David去教堂參加聖職領導人大會，支會裡有位姐妹邀請我們加入她家的 "Girl night out" 派對。我喜歡留在家等待老公帶回滿滿的學習和我們分享。我十分感激聖職領導人大會的演講，每次David在那樣的晚會之後都在他的品德上更接神，更加分的是他更改善自己成為更完美的老公(如，幫忙家事和孩子的事，尤其是半夜，那真是幫了大忙。誠誠至今半夜至少要醒來一次，走到我們的房門敲門，要求我或老公陪他走回房間睡覺。和他抗戰好些個月了，從醒來四次進步到一次。我依循著David所提供的方法：讓他在門外哭到他自己走回房，才有今天的進步。但很累人的，所以老公願意和我輪流，百般感激)。

在等待David回來之虞，我們希望準備好己聽Daddy回家分享他的學習。於是我們吃了晚餐洗了碗並洗了澡。之後，孩子們建議玩Arm werstling(不記得中文怎麼稱，但我記得台語：按手把)，我想那不致於會趕走聖靈。他們比了好幾回合直到David回到家。

我要感謝David願意與神和諧，更要讚美的是神的僕人所帶來的訊息值得我們渴望參予，聆聽，和去做。這些教導使我們大人小孩成為更美好的人。感謝神活著，即使我們常常被提醒這些美好且重要的事，祂依然繼續吩咐祂的使徒先知循循善誘，因為我們是如此健忘或還做的不好。如同我在教導孩子的事也總是千篇一律，有時真希望他們看懂文字自己複習所有的規局和神的教導，和提醒個人的行為言語。但每每想到天父對我的耐心，和想到我被賦予這神聖的責任，希望有耐心的力量就被充滿，以使我能繼續的提醒，教導，和培養他們永恆的習慣。我知道並相信他們會漸漸的學習因愛神而更愛自己和愛他人。在教育孩子的過程中，我能明顯看到自己無限的缺點，為要成為孩子們的榜樣，自己也更自律，更悔改謙卑，更希望接近神。這是婚姻中有神的話為中心所帶給我的祝福和力量。

紅蘿蔔童年

2009-04-03T23:58:00.009+08:00

小時的記憶裡，媽媽常隨手遞給我們很大支的紅蘿蔔啃著當零嘴吃，我極喜歡紅蘿蔔所蘊含的自然清甜味，和口口的青脆。在美國的超市見到這種迷你型紅蘿蔔的我，覺得很神奇，竟有如此小品種的紅蘿蔔，真可愛。當然二話不說要買大包的，讓孩子們也擁有和我一樣的紅蘿蔔童年。

吃健康的食物會讓我頭好壯壯，活力充沛。
(誠誠後來發現我在拍照，便開始大秀一番)

當天的晚餐時間，我們聊到了三個月的食物儲藏和種植食用植物的主題時，David 問孩子們想種什麼，佳心眼睛一亮，興奮的回答道：「我想種草莓。」她回憶起在聖殿廣場吃園丁種的聖殿草莓的快樂時光，誠誠在一旁深有同感的附和著，我和David也都喜歡她的主意。緊接著，她又似乎想到了什麼似的，繼續回答道：「我還想種 "優格"(Yogurt)！！」正在進餐的我們差點兒沒笑到噴飯。最近他們瘋狂的愛上優格，尤其是誠誠。所以那是為什麼佳心如此主意著。他們真是天真可愛。

春天之喜

2009-04-01T22:33:00.006+08:00

公公和婆婆黛安這次進城來探望Holly外，也藉機登門拜訪我們。一如前一個Post我所形容的"春天的感恩節"般，三天後，我們又過了一個"春天的聖誕節"，他們這次難得的拜訪除了帶來了關心還帶來了禮物。

誠誠得到了一個海灘球。在老公充氣球的同時‧‧‧

他十分極度非常有耐心的，安靜的，虔敬的等待著。

真乖！

而佳心得到了四支不同顏色的髮箍。她早已迫不及待的 "全部"戴在頭上。

也趁此機會再次請教婆婆黛安教我如何讀衣服的圖板。簡單的衣服圖板對我這門外漢來說，就有如紅樓夢裡的劉姥姥進大觀園般看的眼花撩亂。早在新年時婆婆就給了我圖板，因其上有許多條線和數字，很難看懂其作用，遲遲不知從何著手。

考驗中的祝福

2009-04-01T06:47:00.007+08:00

這是有關Holly的故事，她是我的妯娌，(是照片中坐的很高，在我左手邊的那位)。一個月前，她順利的生下老三Nathan。在兩星期後的星期六早晨，她突然中風送進了醫院急救。那天中午消息在家族中傳開來，所有愛她的人為她的病情不斷的做禱告。我的孩子們在了解Aunty Holly生病後，早晚和每一餐前的祈禱都互相提醒要為Aunty Holly禱告。大家聚集信心的禱告祈求神的憐憫和奇蹟。三天後，她的中風狀況神速的康復，醫生也非常驚訝她的進步。現在她的說話方面還是很慢，在細部動作上還需要很多練習，走路方面非常不錯，只需要協步器的一些幫助以防暈倒。除此這些細部方面還有待練習外，左右手腳和臉的協調上都康復至正常的狀況。後來的進一步檢查發現造成中風的原因是，她的心臟有一個洞，而開刀的危險性很小。現在，家族的成員都願意輪流照顧他們一家大小在這段非常時期。
幸好他的兒子Nathan提早兩星期出生，因Holly正好在Nathan的預產期當天中風。感謝神的眷顧，Holly和Nathan都在祂的祝福中平安的生活著。我要讚美神的大能，在這期間，我感覺到這家族的每一個成員都與神緊緊靠在一起。這種愛的感覺很神聖和永恆。

這些照片是大家聚集在Holly的婆家，討論和安排如何幫忙Holly和孩子們。那天的天空一望無際，"春"高氣爽，家族成員團團圍坐，有說有笑，感覺就像春天的"感恩節"。

公公抱Nathan餵奶

婆婆黛安拍Nathan打嗝

我哄Nathan睡覺

這就是帥哥Nathan ，我們都愛他。

第一支舞

2009-03-29T06:46:00.003+08:00

午餐後，我埋頭洗碗，口裡耳提面命的請他們去睡午覺，哈，沒想到他們卻婆娑起舞。哇！覺得他們很天才‧‧‧

Dora在我家

2009-03-25T04:10:00.002+08:00

這是第二次我幫她剪頭髮，這次她可很有主見，這是她指定的髮型。

她管稱：Dora髮型

二月生活雜記：冬去春來

2009-03-25T02:51:00.010+08:00

今年奶奶送誠誠的生日禮物:小巫婆萬聖裝? 你一定覺得奇怪‧‧‧

因為‧‧‧聖誕節奶奶送他小蜜蜂裝，為了使佳心也有一件萬聖裝，便在誠誠的生日送給 "她"。Well，孩子們年紀小我們不覺得需要為生日大費周章。因此，對孩子們來說，不管是誰生日都是屬於自己的特別日，都是快樂的時刻。幫助孩子們瞭解天父的計畫，並每天都過的快樂對我來說是更重要的。無論如何，當親戚送孩子們許多禮物，也同時是我教育他們感恩的時刻。"‧‧‧希望你們因祂所賜的豐富慈愛與祝福而每天生活在感恩中。"(阿爾瑪書34:38) 並且我也要感謝所有愛我們的人。

誠誠二歲了，表達方面越來越進步，為家庭帶來許多驚心和驚喜，以及哭笑不得的時刻。對於戶外的探險精神，隨著他對事物的是非是懂和好奇心而提升。有時當我在屋內找不著孩子，便驚覺他‧‧‧又探險去了。他也經常表現貼心的一面，是我們的開心果。更是我們家的體操男孩。他喜歡的事是物件分類，和整齊排列。

佳心三歲半了。她的口頭禪是：＂媽媽，我能幫忙嗎？＂為要鼓勵她的主動，我時常要找事情讓她做。我和大多數的媽媽一樣，怕孩子越幫越忙。為此，我安排屬於她的家事分擔了我的責任，同時讓她學習當媽媽，和經驗長大的感覺。

老公借了一台腳踏車，想訓練自己的體能，參加鐵人三項。（游泳，馬拉松和越野車三項連賽）

雪人

2009-01-09T13:23:00.002+08:00

公婆注的地方下雪，孩子們可樂了，丟雪球，堆雪人。這是他們的作品：有ㄧ對耳朵的雪人　。

佳心的芭雷舞衣

2009-01-09T11:51:00.001+08:00

新年去了婆婆家，向她討教縫紉技藝，於是我的第一件作品是佳心的芭雷舞衣。她很興奮要試穿。

穿在他身上挺可愛的，而我也很有成就感。回家前，婆婆就將那台舊的縫紉機送我，我期待再繼續做其他的衣服。學縫紉很有趣，特別是婆婆很有耐心教我，和鼓勵我。

她終於達成心願，有屬於自己的芭雷舞衣。

即使天氣很冷都渴望要穿著它跳舞。

於是我教了他一些芭蕾的基本舞位和舞步，還在圖書館借關於基礎芭蕾舞的DVD回來在家練習。

音樂一響起，她便婆裟起舞，還挺有模樣的，真可愛。

弟弟一點也不忌妒，因為婆婆也爲他做一件紅色披風，

所以他可以當姐姐的護花使者，或芭雷王子，或超人。

聖誕禮物DIY

2009-01-04T08:30:00.007+08:00

這是我做的家人家庭晚會板。幾個月前我就做了一個(和這樣子大同小異)，發現很實用，對於持守家人家庭晚會很有幫助，而且很吸引孩子的興趣參予晚會。於是我便做這個作為聖誕禮物送人。

聖誕驚喜

2009-01-04T08:14:00.003+08:00

哇，我們今年有很多神秘的聖誕老人們

ㄧ大早，大家披頭散髮接受這一大驚喜

哇！

禮物真的很豐富。

之後，我們全家圍一個圓跪下來禱告感謝神藉由許多愛我們的人傳遞這一卡車的禮物。

聖誕家庭聚餐

2009-01-04T08:06:00.001+08:00

聖誕快樂

冬天，戲水？瘋狂也。

2009-01-04T07:47:00.008+08:00

下雨過後，屋外積了一攤水，我ㄧ不留神，他們就跑來這兒戲水

天氣冷了幾天，今天出了一點太陽暖和了些，但也不至於熱到想玩水解暑吧？

孩子們喜歡玩的事物，是不分天氣好壞的

我這當媽媽的叫了半天叫不動他們，拍完照片，我就走人了。

當然，他們最後還是尾隨而來了。有時，那很管用。

美輪美煥的聖殿廣場

2009-01-04T07:29:00.003+08:00

這是梅沙聖殿廣場上的布置，晚上燈ㄧ點上非常美麗

小王子得意的ㄧ天

2009-01-04T07:13:00.004+08:00

誠誠自己做了一個皇冠，很得意

小公主和小王子合照

晚上秀給爸爸看後，爸爸便自願當御馬讓小王子和小公主環遊家裡ㄧ周

感恩節的家庭小聚

2009-01-04T06:48:00.004+08:00

誠誠終於找到了他的"球友"

看他們ㄧ副俏模樣

表兄弟姐妹合聚一堂 : Gabby, Carter, Raylin, Faith, and Solomon

真可愛

園遊會

2009-01-04T06:37:00.003+08:00

佳心公主釣魚?

願者上鉤‧‧‧ㄧ顆糖

2009-01-04T06:31:00.001+08:00

十一月：萬聖節

2009-01-03T10:30:00.002+08:00

出門前，兩袖輕風

敲了六扇門，便滿載而歸

但媽媽說：只能ㄧ人ㄧ枝糖‧‧‧掃興

十月：動物園一遊

2009-01-03T10:04:00.006+08:00

2009-01-03T09:27:00.005+08:00

看牙醫記

2009-01-03T07:15:00.005+08:00

佳心本來很開心還唱著歌來看牙醫，

直到牙醫助理把電動牙刷啟動‧‧‧

2008-09-29T08:17:00.002+08:00

我們和理查爺爺的全家人一起去露營。那是他們每年一次的家庭團聚活動。對孩子們來說是有趣的經驗。第一次的野外露營，第一次的營火晚會，第一次的野外伙食，第一次和Daddy一起騎scooter。那四天的活動裡，孩子們有許多第一次。結論是，我們希望每半年能帶孩子一起去野外露營。孩子們更學習了與大自然共處。

2008-09-22T10:06:00.001+08:00

這是我第一次嘗試幫佳心剪頭髮，我就是模仿幫我理髮的人的剪髮幫佳心剪。她很喜歡。短短的很舒服。

2008-09-22T09:43:00.002+08:00

這是黛安黛安奶奶幫佳心做的星期日洋裝，他好開心。她一收到包裹就一直對著包裹說謝謝，即使她還不知道裡頭是什麼。佳心是一位知感恩的神的女兒。謝謝黛安奶奶。

不同的生活

2008-07-29T09:44:00.005+08:00

這是我們的新家(今年租賃此處)，很像台灣常見的公寓社區。惟獨不同的是我們放眼能見美麗的山景和花園。這裡設有健身房(使用率非常高的地方。所以我和孩子都選在很早的早上去健身房運動)、游泳池(夏天24小時開放，我和孩子每兩天就去游泳，現在他們已不怕水了，於是我開始教他們打水和水裡吹泡泡)、訪客室(有時下午我們就來這看卡通，和享受免費的冷氣)、電腦網路室(我家沒有設網路線，這是我們唯一的資源。我常覺得不方便來這上網 up-date我們的部落閣，於是我便決定開始用Photoshop做 Scrapbook(相片剪貼簿)，但很耗時，不常做。我現在更珍惜晚上時間讀經文，在經文中我找到更多喜樂。你們所看到的這些都還不是真正的Scrapbook，以前作電腦美工的工作時常用，現在忘了很多。但Photoshop本身功能很強，已取代許多以往所學技巧所需的步驟。我想我會越做越有創意。拭目以待。

搬來這，不再能天天逛聖殿廣場。於是，我安排孩子很多室內學習的課程。天氣不太熱時，我們會到室外玩。這裡有很多大自然的朋友，於是孩子們便常常低著頭走路，尋找昆蟲，玩昆蟲，追昆蟲。看他們可愛的模樣，爲他們高興，這是他們的童年。

亞利桑那州不常下雨，但在六、七月是下雨的季節，我們都很懷念下雨的日子。於是我和孩子把握下雨天出去外頭玩的機會，感覺很舒服。這裡全年天氣十分乾燥，這時下點雨，空氣裡便散佈著溼氣。在這時刻，感覺真像在台灣。

想念聖殿訪客中心

2008-07-29T09:15:00.002+08:00

自從搬家後，距離聖殿有半小時車程。就不再能"走路"去聖殿，享受聖殿訪客中心的冷氣，百看不厭的錄影帶介紹關於家庭和教會組織，基督生平。我們喜歡聖靈的感覺，每天我和孩子都浸濡在這美好的學習環境中。我們變的更愛神，更珍惜所擁有的真理，更樂意服務，更加愛人。
佳心在此學了一句很受用的話(來自教會的廣告) "分享就像蛋糕上的糖霜"，現在當她和弟弟分享玩具或食物他就會說這句話。

佳心每次離開訪客中心之前，一定要來基督的雕像前，聽一段節選於經文的關於基督曾說的真理。

Let's eat healthy

2008-07-04T03:14:00.002+08:00

Sorry, we have not been doing good with our blog lately. We just moved, and we are getting adjusted to things. There is no Internet connection in our home, but there is in our apartment complex. So, Mandy has to do everything at home and then I can post it on the blog. She is starting to get into digital scrap booking. She has fun and I think it is cute. I love her so much. She really helps out with our family a lot. This is a page from a relief society enrichment night. Mandy does very well at getting our family to eat healthy.

We love to see the temple

2008-07-04T01:24:00.000+08:00

I like this page a lot. I think Mandy is going to start a scrapbook for all the pictures they took at the temple. This was the last day they spent at the temple before we moved. I went to the temple today, but we sure are going to miss being so close to it. Mandy and the kids loved going there almost everyday. It has been a great blessing to our family. "We love to see the temple."

Summer Fun

2008-06-16T11:49:00.001+08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

寶貴的一課

2008-06-12T15:29:00.003+08:00

今天我為我的選正義班學生畫了一張尋寶圖，在說明尋找的物件後，他們個個興奮的開始這趟僅限時五分鐘的尋寶之旅。

有五個孩子"很團結的"往反方向跑去找寶藏，只有Brady一人在正確位置上。他可是很用力的呼叫他們回來。他是唯一握有尋寶圖的，並且輕易的找到我藏的寶藏盒。像不像很多時候因我們的小信而不聽先知的話，而得不到神預備給我們的祝福，或延遲去做先知邀請我們去做的事。

雖然他們都很後悔沒有跟著 Brady和看清楚尋寶圖所指示的範圍，還是很開心的讓我為他們照張像。除了Brady之外，看的出其他五位找的超賣力，跑的雙頰紅撲撲的。從左至右為：Nicole, Olivia, Hunter, Ryan, Mac, Brady。

虔敬的回到教室後，Brady為我們唸出在寶藏盒裡的字條說明何為真正的寶藏。字條：最寶貴的寶藏乃是耶穌基督的教訓。

2008-06-12T14:41:00.004+08:00

看他們專注聆聽時的神態，你能感覺我當時感受的感動嗎？他們都虔敬的回應了那句話，更分享他們如何遵行基督的教導生活。那真叫我感動。還有他們並都以為寶藏盒裡就只有這張字條。只有Brady知道還有圖片在盒子裡。

於是我邀請Brady在他那之後，讓每人都擁有一張基督教導有關八福的圖片。看他們專注，期待的神情，我當時的感動是對於一些孩子在他們小小的心靈中似乎剛播下對基督之信心的小種子，而對另一些孩子，那心中的信心小種子更萌生幾多嫩葉來。
那堂課結束後他們蜂擁而上，給了我一個大擁抱和說"I Love You, Sis. Sparks."。我知道他們愛我，我更知道他們都有一趟特別的靈性之旅。我也是。

分享時間

2008-06-12T14:25:00.003+08:00

我來到美國的第一個召喚是選正義班6歲的教師，這支會聚會人數龐大，由此可想見，兒童會人數也不少。於是分享時間分為兩階段，第一階段為開會祈禱(包含兒童演講，經文領讀，spotlight是翻譯為焦點兒童嗎？！anyway，就是每星期兒童會會長團會提出一位小朋友選擇正義的好行為，並為他唱一首選正義歌以之鼓舞。)第二階段為分班時間，分六歲以下和七歲以上的分享時間。這張照片是孩子們上前比劃出我們所唱的歌，每位小朋友都負責一個單字，以幫助記得所練習的歌詞。孩子們天生喜愛音樂，這是他們最天真可愛的時刻。左方二位小朋友是Olivia和Nicole，他們是我在選正義班的學生。

我從來記不得很多教友的名字，無論如何，這姐妹是負責分享時間的音樂，每星期我都很期待她所帶領的音樂時間。孩子們愛的很，我也和他們一起唱的不亦樂呼。

這星期我們唱"我喜歡看到聖殿'。每個小朋友都持有一張聖殿，哇，我們真是幸福，在世界各地的許多地方，都蓋有聖殿，以使許多教友們能享有聖殿的祝福。在唱這首歌的當下，我想起了已過世的前任總會會長哥登興格萊，我的內心萬般感動。記得我在西元2000年初去傳教時為要介紹聖殿才注意到在當時世界各地還不即100座聖殿，經過前任哥登興格萊會長努力使更多地方開始蓋有聖殿，目前2008年聖殿已約有125座，還有更多正在興建中。就光是來到美國這四個月裡，教會已正式公佈在亞利桑那州將再蓋三座聖殿。目前偌大的亞利桑那州才只有二座聖殿。所以這項喜訊的公佈帶來了更多聖徒的無限感恩。Mesa聖殿每半小時會有一場教儀。教友們都十分把握機會和時間來參加教儀，於是每場都有許多人參與。我感謝聖殿帶來的祝福，每次去聖殿我的心就與神更加接近，我得到生活的啟示和教育孩子的方法。在無法參加聖殿教儀時，就光是在訪客中心裡，我都能深刻感受到聖靈的安慰和教導。我的孩子們喜愛到聖殿除了採草莓之外，他們都迫不及待早上9:00訪客中心的開放時間。佳心喜歡傳教士姐妹，喜歡基督的生平介紹，喜歡不斷重複看教會的廣告和基本教義的導覽。我喜愛去聖殿，更希望當我無法時常去聖殿時，能不斷保持思想和心靈的潔淨，和保有去聖殿的資格。這也是哥登興格萊會長對於那些因距離的問題而無法常去聖殿的教友的鼓舞。希望台灣很快會有第二座聖殿。能常去聖殿是我們今生最寶貴的祝福。

這些是我的其中四位選正義班的孩子。我喜歡他們參與時的神情，充滿興奮，期待，和極度渴望認識更多的精神。我真的打從心底愛他們。他們是我的好朋友，更是我的靈性教師。

聖殿，教堂，Daddy，和我

2008-06-08T04:45:00.001+08:00

我們走在教堂外的步道上，遠處的對面是Mesa聖殿。這是多麼幸福，聖殿和教堂都是步行能即之處。我們實為珍惜親愛的天父，經由近代先知斯密約瑟復興了真理，聖職，和聖殿。

孩子們出生在這豐滿福音的世代，是幸福。我們能擁有真理並運用真理教育孩子，是責任，是神聖且高貴的責任。

熱帶雨林?

2008-06-08T02:47:00.010+08:00

高大聳立的喬木，攀緣樹幹的藤本植物，一片綠意盎然。感覺像是來到了熱帶雨林。雖然這裡降雨量不高。但是，雙腳踏在剛撒水後的草地上，歇息在樹蔭下，輕風拂面、微風徐徐吹來的感覺，呼！你可暫時忘卻亞利桑那州的炙熱艷陽。

這是Amanda的家後院。這房子可是很有歷史的。她的老公從他的爺爺手中買了下來。屋外看來很寫意，其實屋內需要整修之處還有許多。無論如何，住在這優點超多：位於市中心，聖殿就在隔壁，教堂就在聖殿左方，教友多住附近，是個優良社區。大賣場附近好幾家(當然是開車的距離)。我想這是很棒的投資。

後院範圍實在大，割草時就得用這輛大型割草機來幫忙。

單指神功

2008-06-06T14:35:00.003+08:00

堂哥kandle請你幫娃娃繫上安全帶，謝謝。
上路了，帶娃娃去哪裡好呢？
娃娃一定喜歡聽音樂，
那我來秀一段用單指神功演奏"土耳其進行曲"。

Baby佳心，Daddy誠誠

2008-06-06T14:04:00.000+08:00

換我當daddy，向各位介紹我的baby佳心。(是我食指指的這位喔！)
有時我可能會偷捏她，哈哈哈！！！
但我還是會親親她的。