Christ-mas Day (day 5):

Merry Christmas! (Sounds so last year, doesn't it?) Christmas morning, we set out for my mom's house. My dad came by for his annual five minutes of family picture time. The house is so full of misery and angst...but I have to remember that we can overcome it with love and joy, rather than run away or ignore it, as I sometimes want to. We do want to balance that with wisdom, however, because we have to protect Naomi as well. The photos below remind me that God has sent people like Manny and Cecille and Tedd into my life to help my family heal and perhaps someday know the hope of Christ.

My mom made an awesome lunch for us, including fish, dumplings, noodles, spare ribs, tofu, soup, and sticky rice zhong-zi. Naomi ate way too many egg rolls. Good thing my mom makes them fairly healthful. Naomi mastered the Mandarin word "jiou-jiou" (mother's older brother) and can still identify him in photos. :) I miss Cecille very much. Thank God for free mobile-to-mobile calls!

We went to Ten Ten in Artesia (new location) with Tedd and his wife Monica. More presents! People have always said that Tedd and I look very much alike, even more so than me and my own brother. I truly treasure the fact that we can remain friends despite the distance. I'm sorry we didn't have more time to visit with more SoCal friends!


Wow! A feast awaiting us at Wai-Puo's (Grandma's) house with Naomi's favorites!


With Auntie Cecille. You gotta love her "Cheeeese!"


More presents! Thank you, Auntie!


With Amy's family and Cecille (who is pretty much family). Elmo's cameo was unintentional, but funny.


With Uncle John, Tedd, and Monica at Ten Ten Seafood Restaurant.

presents and dinner, still day 4:

It's so fun now that Naomi can open presents on her own. And she sure had a lot to open! Grandma had a great idea to open presents on Christmas Eve so that we could leave earlier the next morning to see Naomi's other Grandma (Wai-Puo). It was a big gift-fest like last year with 9 people plus 2 dogs. We haven't decided yet what we'll get for Naomi. She certainly has enough toys, books, and videos!

I bought this James Brown singing and dancing doll for Manny's aunt . Who knew he'd pass away Christmas morning? Kind of eerie. Now that I am trying to budget more wisely for presents, I find that the gifts become more thoughtful. One year we got Manny's parents this pricey juicemaker, and I don't think they ever used it. This year, we made a gift set and gift basket ourselves, and I felt more satisfied with that. "It's the thought that counts" often has a negative connotation, but now I see just how positive it can be.

I know Christmas isn't about the gifts, especially since my own family didn't exchange gifts, but like decorating Christmas trees, it is a fun part of it and we should the make the most of it. Over the years, Naomi probably won't remember all the things she received, but she will remember the love, tradition, and good news of Christ that we hope to instill. And I hope we will offer those all year. Toys were such a luxury when we were young, huh? Now kids are getting iPods and game consoles and the works! I remember begging my parents for a Potato Head and never being able to afford one (they're "only" $5-6 now). Now I find myself playing with Naomi's more than she does. :)

After opening the presents, we went to Manny's dad's brother's (Uncle David's) house for dinner. More presents for Naomi! David's tamales are some of the best I've ever had. Naomi got her fill of beans and rice. We got packed to go to my mom's house the next day.


Yay! Elmo Toolbench! And Elmo Tool Belt! Lots of loud music and sounds! No volume control! haha.


Grandma and Grandpa opening gifts.


Dinner at Uncle David's (David, Big Manny, and me not pictured)


Naomi with Grandpa by Uncle David's tree.

christmas eve party, day 4:

This was my eighth Christmas Eve party with Manny's mom's side of the family. A lot has changed over the years, but it's still the same festive atmosphere with the best homemade food. Because I only see some of the family at this time of year, it just feels strange as family members age and pass away. Life here on earth is so brief...and a joyful eternity is awaiting us!

This year they held it at a new venue: Party at cousin A.J.'s! I'm quoting here: "Only Mexicans would have a Spongebob jumper at a Christmas party." It was actually tiring for me to even keep my balance in there ("hey, who's that 30-year-old in the jumper?")--Naomi jumped more than I did! I love how "jump" is one of her favorite words. Surprisingly, this is the first year they had a piñata. (If you're wondering about the ASCII code for ñ, you hold down Alt and type 164). Actually, they had two. Naomi fell asleep right when Santa showed up. And woke up in time to start dancing and playing in the dirt. Isn't that a cute dress she's wearing? Great-Aunt Dian picked it out and we've been waiting 2 years to put it on her. The hard part about clothing gifts is that everyone would love to see your child in the outfit they've picked, and you have to figure out which one wins out or if there's an "everybody wins" situation.


All dressed for the party.


With Auntie Dolly at the party.


Spongebob jumphouse!


Fell asleep right when Santa got there.


Does she look ready for the ice cream or what?


"jumpuh, jumpuh, jumpuh!" with cousins Larissa, Brittany, Johnny, and Tiffany (and Dominic and Michael).

You know, we'll be hard-pressed to find a name for the next child that someone in the family doesn't already have. But we have a couple in mind. :) (p.s., no not expecting yet)

dec 23, day 3:

On Saturday, Manny's aunt and her family arrived. Naomi welcomed them with warm hugs and kisses. I called my bff Cecille to wish her a happy birthday and to try to coordinate a couple hours together (Christmas would be her only full day back here). Naomi also had a great time with Auntie Dolly, wearing her out, and she fell while trying to save Naomi. :/


I missed you, Francesca!


With her favorite auntie Dolly (and another lollipop).


As her great-aunt said, "Poor little Mexican girl has to play with the wastebasket because she has no toys!"

dec 22, day 2:

Friday, we left at 5 a.m. for SoCal, hoping Naomi would sleep for a couple hours, but she woke right up. She threw up again during the drive down. She didn't really eat much at the stops; I think she was carsick. But when we got to Grandma's, she went right to work, wanting to help sweep and cook with Grandpa. And she also made herself right at home and plopped in front of their new TV. And then she got a lollipop. Well, I guess we're on vacation, so it's okay. ;)


With Grandpa and Chuy.


The little helper got all the brooms out.


Helping Grandpa in the kitchen.


Ooooh, LCD!


Found the Christmas presents...I wonder if anyone's looking?

dec 21, day 1:

Catching up, starting with last Thursday:

Last Thursday night, we had a time of fellowship and singing with our community group. I made bruschetta and white chocolate fudge. Afterwards we got together with my aunts and cousins from Taiwan. Naomi has so much stuff I'm starting to lose track. I actually used to keep inventory lists, but right now we're just trying to figure out where to put everything. Good thing Manny's good at that. We lived in a 590 sq ft apartment for so many years, and Manny managed to keep it all organized.


Bruschetta with artichoke, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil.


White chocolate fudge with dried cranberries and orange peel.


Naomi with her yi-puo and ah-yi.

brunch casserole/strata recipe:

I incorporated a couple things from The New Best Recipe recipe for Breakfast Strata with one from Country Charm B&B:

1 pound cooked and drained sausage (I used breakfast sausage, but any kind of maple sausage is good)
12 eggs
3 cups milk
1 tsp salt
6 slices French bread, cut into 1 inch pieces (I bought it fresh one day before, cut it, and let it dry out for a day)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (I used a shredded cheese mix with cheddar, jack, and asadero)
1/2 cup diced onions
optional: 1/4 cup green peppers (I left this out, not a huge fan, although I guess if you put in red and green peppers, it would be more festive)

Beat milk and eggs, then add salt, bread and sausage. Stir in onions and green pepper. Pour into 9"x13" pan. Sprinkle with cheese. Refrigerate overnight.

Bake at 350° for one hour. (I used foil for a half hour, then removed the foil for the last half hour because I have an annoying electric oven). Can be served with salsa.

the gift of gifts:

We're leaving for SoCal tomorrow, and tonight's a busy night, so I leave you now with this excerpt from The Valley of Vision (and the post below it). Merry Christmas!

The Gift of Gifts

O Source of all Good,
What shall I render to Thee for the gift of gifts,
Thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,
my Redeemer, Proxy, Surety, Substitute,
His self-emptying incomprehensible,
His infinity of love beyond the heart's grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:
He came below to raise me above,
He was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
He united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,
and enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tidings of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father,
place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,
to look with them upon my Redeemer's face,
and in Him account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born Child to my heart,
embrace Him with undying faith,
exulting that He is mine and I am His.

In Him Thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

Arthur Bennett, ed. Valley of Vision (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), 16.

mongolian bbq:

On Monday, we went out for Mongolian BBQ (Manny's favorite). Everything is so clean and organized at this Korean-owned place. They even put a mat out under Naomi's highchair (smart). Naomi supposedly won a box of fortune cookies, but I think they were just being nice to her. :)

don't do it!

I saw this picture in MSN today, for a link to "gifts for pets." Yeah, it sure looks happy.

On another note, Go, Yul! Even though we gave up on watching 'Survivor,' we saw the finale. I also read recaps on occasion. I would've been ok with Ozzy winning it, too. Becky, not so much.

naomi, 20 months old:

I'm amazed sometimes by the level of understanding in a baby or toddler. At this age, Naomi says "please" and "thank you" (the latter in sign language) on her own, as well as about 60 other words, which I might list out in a link in a later post. At 19 months, her spoken vocabulary seemed to increase exponentially.

Her favorite things to do are to climb and to draw. She also likes to dance like John Travolta with her fingers pointing and arms pumping when she's on Manny's shoulders. She can't seem to handle red lights too well--she starts yelling and pointing for until the light turns green and we're driving again. Must be leftover from the colic.

She seems to be easily embarrassed. She's been going into the other room or a corner to "use the bathroom" since she was several months old, but now she leaves to a corner to try something new or to cry. I kind of remember being like that at about 4 or 5, but I didn't know that stuff happened to a 1-year-old. She's also short-tempered like me, but hasn't learned to control it, of course. She throws these high-pitched screaming tantrums and bangs her head on the ground. You just have to ignore it, but it still makes you shudder. Terrible twos are here...

This story pretty much sums up her personality: Naomi was running around today and suddenly came up and threw a heavy metallic DVD case at me, probably with all her might. It struck me in the knee, sending me to the floor grabbing my leg, with tears welling up. I said, "owww" and looked up to find that Naomi had run away. I called her, and she peered with her head tilted from behind the couch, blinking a lot and breathing heavily with her lower lip sticking out. I said (very gently), "Oh, that's okay, but you shouldn't throw the case at Mama. It hurt my knee" and she ran away again. I could hear sobbing in the distance, so I called her again and she came running at me with her arms outstretched and hugged me and sobbed quietly, not letting me go for a good 15 minutes. She doesn't like me to see her cry, for some reason, and she cries sympathetically quite often.

I wasn't planning on starting potty training until later, but she started telling me she needed to go. She wouldn't sit on the little potty, so we got her a toilet cushion cover. She doesn't fully comprehend that you're supposed to go in the toilet and not next to it. As a matter of fact, I saw she had done that and asked her if she had peed. She covered the spot with her feet and said, "no." Her official first lie. :( I'm not that consistent about enforcing it because she doesn't consistently go at the same time and I really think it's going to take a long time to master. Enough about that.


I love her smile.


Always trying to help.


I heard the water turn on and came in and found her trying to give her baby a bath.

Oh, we love her so much.

entertaining strangers:

"Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." --Hebrews 13:1-2

'Tis the season to be...busy! But also to do it all with joy! We were very thankful to have a packed weekend. Last year, we were feeling like we'd become "unplugged." On a side note, I'm purposely omitting more names from the entries these days.

Saturday morning, our community group hosted a Get-to-Know-Your-Neighbor brunch for the neighbors of one of the families in the group. I'm guilty of often disappearing into our garage without a word to our neighbors. It is really different from when I was younger. Maybe it's safety or maybe it's individualism or just the fast-paced world of today. So we wanted to "entertain strangers" and that we did. It was a great time, even though I missed Manny and Naomi for those few hours. They had to stay behind. I made one of those brunch striatas/casseroles, and it was a hit.


My egg and sausage striata.


Everything was tasty. We had six dozen eggs. That was just a tad too many. One person hosted a Belgian waffle stand--awesome!


Great turnout--about 15 neighbors came.

Saturday afternoon, we went to our friends' Holiday Open House. Naomi was just giving random and repeated hugs and air kisses to people, mostly strangers. That we'll have to sort out when she's older, but for now, it's such a wonderful part of her personality. I guess we also want to teach her to go beyond just politeness and self-control. We want her to be loving and affectionate. I made scalloped potatoes, but was a bit overzealous on the amount of potatoes (there were 50 people there) and it wasn't cooked as thoroughly as I would have like. People still ate it, but it was a miss with me.


A veritable smorgasbord!


One of her random hugs.

Sunday morning, I taught the toddlers (on Luke 2, perfect timing) while Manny watched Naomi. Sometimes I wonder how much the toddlers can actually remember, but just giving them some structure and exposure to Christ is good. Sometimes they surprise us by saying something special. It's strange how the most seemingly distracted or rebellious kid can answer the most questions correctly. :)

Sunday afternoon, we went to our friends' daughter's 100-day birthday and holiday party. Their daughter is half-Chinese and half-Swiss, and just a real cutie. I loved how their Christmas tree is lit with real candles. They were smart not to light them yet while the toddlers were around, though. It's kind of funny that the guests without kids took off first. It was a probably bit crazy for them! Naomi was sweet with the babies this time, rough with a fellow actiive toddler, and a bully to the smaller toddlers. :(


With the birthday girl and her dad.


More delectable food!

Sunday night was Manny's uncle's birthday party at a pizzeria that he and his wife used to frequent when they were dating. I was the only non-Mexican that I saw inthe whole place! Guess I'm still not 100% used to that. :)


When we go out, she doesn't like to eat with her hands or let us feed her, so pizza can be a bit tricky.


Naomi snatched the cap we got him and put it on herself (bill to the back, of course).


The birthday "boy" and his family.

password protection?:

I've been debating whether I should password-protect my site. Feel free to leave comments on the pros and cons.

And heading in the other direction, I have a Myspace now (link is on the right sidebar). I'm on that site more often now because I help a friend with her artist page(s) all the time. Feel free to add me asa friend if you have one, too. No funny business, though, or else I won't recognize you and might deny the friend request. :) P.S.: Is there anyone who is not in your extended network on that site?

garbage pail kids:

Monday I went to Josiah's mom's house to help put together and distribute invitations for our brunch on Saturday. This video shows how the kids kept themselves amused, when they weren't fighting over something. They must've done this fifty times. Naomi would offer her head, Josiah would put the (never-used) pail on it, she'd shake it off, and they'd bust up laughing. All these mom friends I hang out with live half an hour or more away, but it's worth the (noisy) drive to give Naomi some fun social interaction.



P.S.: I know the Garbage Pail Kids' Acne Amy. Really sucked for me back then. lol

more weekend pics:

On Saturday before we went to Shan's, Manny attended a Peacemaker Ministries seminar our church hosted. The ministry strives to help Christians resolve conflict biblically. It's sometimes disappointing that one of us has to miss something to look after Naomi, but we know it won't always be like this. And we do it for each other gladly.

On Sunday, however, we were actually able to attend a ministry meeting and lunch at our pastor's house together...and pay attention. Naomi settled right in with one of his daughters. They have a nice backyard with a swing and slide (yay!)--the hard part is just getting around the slide carrying a toddler, but she did it. It was the most relaxed and focused two hours Manny and I have had in ages. Even though we kept looking out the window because we missed her. When she came in, she hugged me for a second and then reached for the pastor's daughter again. :)


Naomi running up to the door. She was motioning for us to hurry up and let her in. Still no sign of stranger anxiety.


Naomi loves to sprawl out and draw or read.


Running up and jumping into Ana's arms.

weekend pics:

Lots to say, not much time, but here are some photos from Saturday's dinner with Manny's old coworkers:


At Ron and Shan's home for a European dinner (including paella--one of my favorites!).


View of the food.


Lauren was sort of scared by Naomi's aggressiveness at times, but overall they played well together. Naomi kept pulling her by the hand and saying, "please!"


I loved the red, silver and blue theme of the Christmas decorations and the dinner. Wish I had more to show, but can't take as many photos these days with the active toddler around. :)