In God's "Waiting Room" (Part 2: Journey into Parenthood)

When Jim and I got married nearly 15 years ago, in 1998, we both agreed we wanted four children - two boys and two girls, and in that specific order. I've always wished I'd had an older brother, so I wanted my children to have one...and of course, children must have siblings in the same gender to play with, especially close in age, so our next child must be another boy....also, a family is not complete until you have children in both genders, so next we'll have a girl...and so on went our dream. 

Well, things didn't quite happen as we had wished and hoped for.  In fact, we struggled with a life of infertlity for the first twelve years of our marriage. We struggled together as a couple, then secretly as individuals each going through the emotional and sometimes spiritual ups and downs at different times. Mostly it was a quiet and lonely struggle for us. We confided and found solace and support in friends going through similar pain, but in the end our true comforter and healer was our Father in Heaven. 

Then, as we found ourselves on the journey toward redemption from such pain and struggle, God "mysteriously" - but we believe providentially - gifted us with Eleanor in 2010.  I cannot fully explain what it is like to be given a gift you fully did not expect...it had taken a painstaking 12 years of searching, tweaking, and figuring out our life's purpose as a childless couple, and now we had to "shift gears" and literally figure everything out all over again...it was/is both scary and exciting. It felt  as though suddenly life came in full force and we are extremely grateful to God and we do not take anything for granted. 

In November of last year, 2012, we found ourselves pregnant for the second time! And thus began this season of our lives where we find ourselves, as Jim puts it, in "God's waiting room". 

(To be continued...)

In God's "Waiting Room" (Part 1: Keeping Memories)

It is with a bit of aprehension that I return here to write about life as it unfolds during this season. Some of you who used to (or still do) follow this blog may have received emails from us about the incredibly difficult predicament in which we as a family find ourselves. (More on this later...)

It is a very difficult time for us and most of the time we have no idea how to process things let alone clearly articulate our thoughts and especially our emotions...no one is ever prepared for such circumstances, there's no "dress rehearsal"...Actually, we are quite shocked and surprised at our "composure" and ability to carry on...it is truly only by God's grace and mercy! So each day, we find ourselves sitting in God's "waiting room", clinging onto Him who feeds us each morsel of nourishment we need to survive until His will for our lives is revealed, hourly, daily, monthly...

As much as I'd love to be able to beautifully and eloquently express myself here, I am not a writer. Heck, often times I have a difficult time expressing myself in person! Words always fail me...Also, I still have much to learn when it comes to living a grace-filled, graceful, and a gracious life.

I have come back to blogging to record my thoughts as best I can mainly in order for me to be able to come back and REMEMBER, especially God's daily mercies for us as a family during this time, but also to keep family, friends, and whoever may be interested, informed. So I hope that you read this without any expectations or judgement, but as a means for you to walk and pray with us in heart and spirit.

I'm still unsure whether I will post my blog updates on facebook...this may be the only time. So if you would like to follow and keep reading, please save my link name onto your reading list. Blessings.

To be continued....

I'm ba-ack! And Guess Who's Two?

Recently, on the 20 th of July to be exact, our little Eleanor (aka cheeky-monkey) turned two years of age. It was kinda of a bittersweet event as it meant that she is no longer a "little baby", but at the same time we are overjoyed and thankful to the Lord for His amazing grace upon her (and us) this past year. We were also a bit sad that we weren't going to celebrate Eleanor's birthday with any family or close friends like we did last year when we celebrated her 1st birthday by throwing a big dinner party for family and close friends during our HMA (the party actually served as a great way for us to see and visit with as many people as we could without having to meet with each individually). But we were not going to stop from making it a special day for Eleanor, so we made the most of our circumstances and had a BLAST!

We wanted to make her birthday EXTRA special without having to throw a party. So we started off by purchasing a few presents (toys) with monetary gifts we had received from her grandparents and auntie.

We kept these gifts hidden so as to give them to her on her actual birthday. Then, the night before her birthday, I decorated the living room with a banner and balloons, and placed all her toys in one area for her to discover in the morning. Also, after putting her down for the night, I tied and scattered some balloons around the house to make a trail from her room down to the area in the living room where she'd find the toys. Would have loved to post the video of our set up and the video of her reaction the next morning, but it's been difficult to upload the videos (I gotta figure this out...). Just take my word for it. Eleanor was DELIGHTED! I think she really liked all the presents. Here are the pictures of some of her presents. 

 

Stroller and baby carrier (not shown).

Chalk and whiteboard easel.

Three-wheel scooter and helmet.

Some cool jelly-like toys that you throw on the ground and watch it "splatter" and come back to it's original shape (picked up in Perth, Australia during daddy's trip).

Soon after checking out her "pressies" we had "brekkie"and headed over to Wild Life Sydney in Darling Harbour, in the city. This is a place where tourists come to check out the animals that are only native to Australia.  Even though we've been in Sydney for five years, Jim and I had never been there, and we were so glad because we got to experience the place for the first time with our little princess. :) She is getting to an age where she really appreciates and understands the things we introduce her to. The place was just the right size for a two year old to explore in under two hours. I think her favorite animals were the kangaroos and wallabies! 

At the butterflies sanctuary.

Sleeping wombat.

Big kangaroo.

Baby monkey and daddy gorilla. :)

Sleeping koala (well...they're always sleeping!).

At the end of the fun, enjoying a snack and some sunshine.

After spending the morning at Wild Life Sydney, we swung by our favorite pasta shop in Haberfield (an ethnically Italian neighbourhood) to pick up their yummy lasagna we'd serve for dinner to our church's core members whom we invited to come eat and sing Eleanor Happy Birthday.  Everyone had commitments that evening since it was a Friday night, so we sang Happy Birthday first, and then dug into the lasagna with salad and bread.  Here are pics of her reaction to our singing. 

Check out her reaction to our singing!

Precious...

Love this video!

The food was great and the company even better! All the brothers and sisters at our church love Eleanor to bits! She is the only child at church as all of our members are young adults with none who are married, and she's well accepted and included in all the activities that go on at church.  What a GREAT simple birthday it has been! I think next year we might have to throw a small party with her friends. :)

A typical Saturday for us

Lately our Saturday mornings have been reserved for ministry meetings - church-plant ministry team meetings, PReP meetings (Pre-Relationship Program which is like Pre-Marital Counselling for singles is committed relationships), counselling one-on-one sessions...and so on).  Not long ago, our Saturdays were usually filled with visits to the local outdoor markets or hang outs at the beach with many of our non-Christian friends, and I do miss those times...But I know that this is just a busy season of our church life as the Lord has been adding people to our family little by little.  We just want to be positioned in a good place so as to minister well to all who come into the fold of the family of God.

Since Jim is still quite busy on Saturday afternoons with sermon-prep and what not, our outings usually involve going out to lunch.  Today, for example, we went out for Yum Cha (or Dim Sum as we call it in the U.S.) which I have been craving for a while.  Isn't it nice that the hubs lets me pick what I want to eat? The great thing about Yum Cha is that there are plenty of things that my semi-picky Eleanor can enjoy, like prawns, tofu, rice...

After Yum Cha as we strolled the outdoor plaza where the restaurant was located, we ran into some people we knew from another church who were running a used-goods sale stall.  I love a good bargain so I quickly looked at the toys and children' section and picked up a few goodies with Eleanor, such as...

I love a good bargain!

Happy weekend everyone! :)

Chatter-box in da house!

So it's been a few months since I've been here on my own blog and A LOT has happened since my last post! Too much to even remember! Which brings me to the point that it is for that reason that I should post more often: so I don't forget what memories we have built, especially with Eleanor!

She is a little over 16 months now and - oh boy! - she talks a lot! Here are the words that she uses (at least the ones I can think of right now):

Hi
Bye
Hello
Mommy/mom/mamma/umma
Daddy/pappa/appa
Oppa (big brother in Korean)
Unni (big sister in Korean)
Eemo (aunty in Korean)
Vovo (grandma in Portuguese)
Halmi (grandma in Korean)
Dodoi (doggy)
Eye
Nose
Ear
Head
Hat
Toes
Shoes
Cheese
Apple
Popo (Korean/her version for grapes)
Wawa (water)
Pang (bread in Korean)
Cup
Poon (spoon)
Up
Down
More
Please
Tatoo (thank you)
Open
No
Yup
Uh-huh
God
Bap (rice in Korean)
Bird
Flower
Owl
Towel
Teeth
Diape (diaper)
Signs "I love you" and "thank you" and "more"
Pease (please)
Cap (clap)
Oh no
Nie-nie (night-night)
Come
Ouch/owie/aya (Korean version)
too
One
Two
Tree (three)
Four
Five
Eight
Ni (nine)
Ten
Tree
Ball
Baby
Bee
Bug
Nana (banana)
Cheerio
Boo (books)
I gaw it doo (you got it dude)
Me
Most animal sounds (she refers to animals by the sounds they make, ie: "moo" is cow)
Amen.

That's it for now! :)

Where has the time gone?! And why hasn't there been any more posts?!

I cannot believe my last post was in February!
Well, as one can imagine, a lot has happened since...one of them being the death of my PC (again!) which made it hard for me to write or upload pictures. I could have used the hubs' Mac, but he uses it for work so that was a no-no. I could have used the iPad we got as a gift from our church family, but I am still learning how to use it (ha!).

Anyways, here are some major things that have happened since February:
1) End of March - Came back to the U.S. for our HMA (Home Mission Assignment) "kicking and screaming" (more on that in a future post perhaps). We are based in Irvine, California where my side of the family lives. Jim's side is in L.A. and we visit them as much as we can.
2) April - Spent most of it trying to re-settle into life in America, experiencing some "reverse-culture-shock", and getting Eleanor acquaitend with family and relatives.
3) May - Visiting and spending time with friends.
4) June - Jim's trip out of state, mainly to the GA in VA and a visit to MTW's office to participate as a speaker for their Vision Retreat.
5) July - I spent most of June and July planning for Eleanor's first birthday dinner. It was tough to try to do that on a budget and narrowing down our guest list to only a few families (we wished we could have invited ALL our friends,), but all in all, we were happy with the night and were so blessed by the friends and family who were there to worship and thank God for His blessing over Eleanor's frost year of life.

Now that it's August, we feel like it's crunch time to get our support in shape to be able to return to Australia in October. We need a lot of prayers for guidance from the Lord in that regard.

Well, that's the short version of whats been going on in our "jungle". Thanks for dropping by. Until my next post! :)

Building Memories

January 26th was Australia Day here in Oz.  It's the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet (11 ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts to establish the first European colony in Australia) at Sydney Cove. Obviously it was a national holiday with lots of celebrations throughout the country, and there was a lot going on in and around the great city of Sydney.  In the past, we took part in the celebrations by going to the beach or having a BBQ with friends during the day. This year, however, it was WAY TOO HOT to do anything.  If it hadn't been for our church's community group night, we would have gone to bed without a single "sausage sizzle".

But a week before Australia Day, Eleanor turned six months old!  Now that we're a "new" family I felt like we should start new traditions to build memories for Eleanor to look back on with fondness as she grows up.  So in celebration of her "First Half Birthday", we took her to the zoo.  Yes, we know she's still too young for the zoo.  But last month we came across this great deal for Taronga Zoo's Yearly Pass which was HALF OFF and I couldn't resist. Besides, not too long ago, Eleanor had been noticing Buddy more and more and even showed a great deal of interest in him.  I thought, 'Hey, if she notices Buddy, she might at least look at the animals at the zoo, even if she doesn't understand what they are!'.  So with that incentive, we took her to the zoo sooner than expected.  To be honest, she enjoyed looking at the other children more than looking at the animals, but she DID look at some animals too.  Here are pics of some of the animals Eleanor got to see. 

Check out the view from Taronga Zoo,
set across the harbour from Sydney's CBD.

Incredible view.

 First we saw  the giraffes, 

which have the best panoramic view of the city.

Such beautiful animals!

We put Eleanor on daddy's back so she could see better.

Particularly the koala bears that were so cute.

 Next, we saw the most popular animals at Taronga Zoo.

 The Asian mommy elephant and her female calf named "Tukta" (Doll),
which was the first calf elephant born at Taronga Zoo.

 Then we saw zebras...

 orangutans...

 kangaroos...

kookaburras...

 crocodiles...

 We took breaks in between for lunch and rest.

 We saw a "train" go by...

 and someone got really excited! Guess who?

 We saw a "flower clock".

 Then, daddy pretended to be a park ranger.

 After looking at some more animals,
Eleanor took a much needed nap.

Zzzzzzz...

When she awoke, we took a family shot and left for the day.
"So long Taronga Zoo, see you again soon!" :)