February part 2 (Facebook Fiasco, Salt Ponds, J & L's Wedding, Lucas 5K)

On an August morning in 2024, I sent two messages through Messenger, one to my uncle inquiring about my aunt (my dad's older sister) and another to Manny's cousin's wife regarding some puppies going up for adoption in her area. Shortly after sending the second message, I got locked out of Messenger. I tried logging in to my Facebook without success. I went to Instagram; it was also suspended. I had just linked my FB and IG accounts, now with much regret. It said I had 180 days to appeal the decision, and I did that within 20 minutes. I submitted the identity check, where you have to take photos at different angles of your face, and the account login page said to wait and the results of the appeal should come back within 7 days. After six months, I never saw anything about the appeal except that I had submitted it. 

I received an email, though, and it said I had violated the standards for child [omitting the other words] exploitation. I thought, "That's just crazy." I was super careful not to like or comment on anything public or share suspicious links. I thought maybe I was hacked, and I could just report it and be back up in no time. Boy, was I wrong. For the next six months I was trying every method I could find online to get my account back short of going to court (would not have been worth it). I even contacted the state attorney general, the legal department at Meta, looked on Reddit for other solutions, filled out every contact form I could find. 

At stake were eighteen years of posts, photos, videos, and messages. This included all of my Pampered Chef business info and event pages, other info and images I only had on social media, and worst of all, my Messenger messages, which included my last messages with loved ones who'd passed. My mom and I also mainly communicated through Messenger video and audio via her Facebook Portal device. You don't realize--at least I didn't realize--how much you depend on Facebook or technology in general until you lose it. My mom tried to message me through my account and got a notice that said, "Amy Hernandez doesn't follow the rules." 😄 As the months went on, I continued to get notices of the upcoming deadline saying I hadn't filed an appeal, even though on the login page it said I already filed an appeal and couldn't file another one. Eventually I figured I'd have to pay to get Meta Verified in order to get live customer service. I had one hope--an Instagram account that was still active and not linked to the other two accounts--that I could still use to access Meta. Using that account, I paid for the verification. 

I paid for one month, received some optimistic responses from the reps, and just kept trying. It was a convoluted process. When you're chatting with them, if you need to switch to another app to get info or try something, the chat ends. I just kept trying. Three times I was told, "Good news you'll get your account back soon," but then it didn't happen. My friend even asked her husband who used to work at Facebook if there was anything else I could do. In the end, it's a free service, and I had to accept the outcome and lost all of it. I opened new accounts, but a lot of people told me they hadn't been accepting my friend requests because they thought I'd been hacked. Therefore, I lost half of my Facebook friends, too. Even my best friend never added me back on. She's not on Facebook much. Now it'll just look like we're no longer friends.😄 

On another note, I had a nice walk around Oka Ponds with Lucas. He doesn't say much during our walks or hikes, but he seems to like it. It was an usually warm day in February following recent rains. I wanted to take Isaac, my usual hiking buddy, on another day, but he has been less interested in going with me. During the winter we do more relay games, physical training, and mile runs. We did a 5K the previous year where Lucas I think placed third in his age group, and this year we did a mile run. I was helping run it so didn't really get too many photos.

Our pastor's daughter got married in February as well. Manny and I attended, and I think this was our first Korean-American wedding. It may be a stereotype, but that meant there was a lot more dancing than I usually see at Christian weddings. The DJ played quite a few Kpop songs and a variety of songs from different decades. I honestly was shocked to see our assistant pastor and the pastor who officiated the wedding really getting down. Even Manny danced a little. I can't share the video here with all the faces in it, but it was a fun celebration. Naomi stayed with the boys. There was a QR code for uploading photos we'd taken. Really beats the disposable cameras we used all those years ago.

Nice walk around the ponds and wetlands

The ponds are known for being home to several species of ducks.

L&J's wedding

Outside the church

On our way to the reception venue

Beautiful view

Fun night

Sweet, quieter setup outside for the ring bearer

At the reception. I think Manny had the steak and I had the chicken.

Final race for the sports class

February part 1 (Birthday, Super Bowl, Valentine's, 25 Years)

I was on a roll during this summer updating the blog, but my other laptop stopped turning on consistently. I have a new laptop (thank you to Manny) and am back to catching up. 

February is usually a lot squeezed into the shortest month of the year. The Friday evening before my birthday and Super Bowl, Manny called and said let's go out for pizza tonight with the boys. Naomi was home for the weekend, and she was out with friends briefly but came home for dinner. I was cooking some dim sum for her as promised, and but suddenly I had ten minutes to finish that once I heard the plans. I managed to finish and get dressed. Naomi's friends were over, and the timing and circumstances didn't work out for us all to go together. The pizza was good, Chicago style, and the boys liked it. They hadn't been to this place before. I used to frequent this restaurant with my coworkers back in the day. I think it changed management some years ago, so no more breadsticks. They still had the big glass mugs, though. 

On Saturday Lucas had his Magic group, and I dropped him off and treated myself, but I don't remember to what. On Super Bowl Sunday, we made Super Bowl snacks even though we weren't able to watch the game live because our church service is held on Sunday afternoons. I'm really the only one in the family who's into Super Bowl anyway. I like the game, the ads, most of the halftime shows, all of it. Manny made his awesome nachos after he got back from coffee with his coworker, and I made some other small bites. Some friends gave me money to buy a cake and a birthday meal. I got a fantastic guava cake from a home bakery and some scallops for lunch, but I felt like those scallops weren't real, like just cut fish put on scallop shells? I later found out that this happens often, that they use imitation to save money at restaurants. Maybe they were real scallops, just with a different texture. The sauce was good, though. My in-laws also gave me a gift card, which I used to finally get a frame for my photomosaic Snoopy puzzle and a carrying crate for the car.

For Valentine's, Manny got me some pretty tulips. I made some Isaac-friendly treats. I think I've mentioned that with his eating condition, we decided on letting him pick what to eat for Valentine's since most other eating holidays like revolve around foods he can't eat, like Thanksgiving turkey or Easter ham.

February this year also included a major milestone--our silver anniversary! Manny planned the entire day and did amazing. The boys managed on their own, but we weren't ever too far away. We went to a Mediterranean restaurant that was once our fanciest go-to place when he had less. That was nostalgic, but we also have a little more now and could order an appetizer and dessert, too! It was kind of cool that there was a Chinese street festival going on we didn't know about, so we checked that out. We then went to get Thai massages. I don't generally do massages, but it was good to try it. If you haven't seen it, they walk on you, pull you in all sorts of directions, and really dig those fingers and elbows deep. In other words, it hurts. And I got the mild one! But afterwards I felt pretty good. Manny selected the more intense massage. He has been having some muscle pain, so that was good for him. He also booked a special Valentine's show at the local comedy club. The German comedian was pretty funny, but he's not clean. I'd never been in that comedy club, so it was nice to finally go check it out. Manny did an amazing job coming up with everything local and within walking distance of each other so that we didn't have to go too far from the boys. I got Manny a few small anniversary gifts, all with silver. I made a collage of our pictures forming the number 25 as well.

So, what do I have to say after 25 years? At our 15th anniversary, I had all kinds of marriage advice to offer, but just like getting older and realizing how little you know, as I've been married longer, I realize how little I know. I rely on God's grace and truth more and more. I think hope and prayer have come to the forefront now, more than doing whatever I think I should do to make my spouse happy or what I think is right. There's a book called Love & Respect by the Eggerichs that covers a fundamental tenet--that men want to be respected like women want to be loved, and it feeds itself positively or negatively in a loop. And something I've learned personally is that it's actually better to receive than to give. Having people who will pray for your marriage is also crucial. Still, I don't have tremendous wisdom, just continued trial and error, even now. Relationships certainly do sanctify you! And lastly, don't compare. What you see in public is often carefully curated, not a whole picture. As much as I love whole stories and value authenticity, things can be easily misconstrued, and I have others to think about, so at this point I only share the full picture with close friends.

Chicago pizzas

Beautiful tulips

Friends gave me birthday money to buy a meal and a cake. I am not sure if these were really scallops, but the flavor was good.

More of the tasty scallops that I'm not sure were scallops

Fantastic guava cake, very fresh

Manny's yummy nachos

I volunteered at a book fair through our church. Children's literacy--still where my heart is.

Happy Valentine's Day

We can order appetizers and desserts now! Happy 25th anniversary to us!

Happy with my mansaf (lamb and yogurt sauce over rice), one of my favorite dishes.

Cute Corgi at the street festival

Nice walk

Couples' Thai massage. See that picture? No exaggeration.😄

At the comedy club

Free birthday drink. I can't remember what I got but it was really good. Something that had macadamia in it, I think.

With my birthday food money, I got myself imported sardines. Yes, I did. I happen to love sardines. They were my only protein sometimes as a poor kid.

Frame from my in-laws, puzzle from my best friend 

I started an exercise regimen, but it involves a rectangular mat, and rectangles are cat magnets. My cats even love sheets of paper.

January (Food and More Food, Friends, Lunar New Year, and Planetary Alignment)

January seemed like a food tour month! We ate out a lot, sometimes with each other, sometimes with others. I guess it seemed a good time after Christmas to do that. Manny had a very belated birthday lunch with K while I had an early birthday dinner with O. I also went to visit my former coworker whom I haven't seen in 13 or 14 years. She just had twins. Lucas's sports class did physical fitness test training in January. The "Parade of Planets" also happened in January throughout the month where several of the planets appeared to line up across the sky. While there was this appearance of order, I felt my own self starting to shed appearances and coming into an acceptance of the what I'd been observing in the world and people around me. Maybe it was politics, maybe the past colliding with the present, maybe perimenopause.😅 I'm human and draw erroneous conclusions all the time, but I'm in a sort of contemplative and reflective period in my life again. Thank God His Word, and His love, are always the same and true. I've been resting and trusting in that (though I get distracted or self-centered sometimes). I think it's Paul Tripp who says you're a believer all the time but an atheist some of the time. It means once we're children of God we will always be no matter what, but sometimes we forget we're His children and act like we are in control of everything and have everything under control. I've been thinking a lot about the book of James and what it means to have faith and the right worldview. I will say I think that marrying faith and politics is dangerous, whether you're on the left or right. Things start getting murky and priorities flip, or at least that is what I've seen.

Manny out for pizza with K. K. sent me this photo. I don't usually have photos of Manny's outings with other people to post.

Visiting with E. and her twin boy and girl. Also saw her mom, who actually remembered me from 20 years ago.

Fancy tea at Orchard City Kitchen and a crepe cake (in the background)

We came here for my 40th birthday (with our husbands) and now my 49th.

OCK always has new menu items for us to try

I love this Van Gogh umbrella my friend A. got me for Christmas.

Time to train--pushups, curlups, stretch tests, and a mile run

Simple foods for Lunar New Yera, half homemade, half store-bought

Out for Korean tofu with church friends

Manny and I having spicy noodle soup. He spotted Jay and Sharon, famous YouTubers with their kids. (I won't post their pic here, but Sharon is wearing white in the corner in the background).

New Year's gift fromt he neighbor, a jar in the shape of an orange with yummy orange gummy candies

M took me out for a Mediterranean meal. Some stuffed dates and mint tea.

Speaking of stuffed dates, Manny and I took Naomi out for Korean food after helping her move back.

I am trying to post less and less of Naomi on here.

Snoopy!

More food. This was a Taiwanese hot pot and spicy dish place I think called Home Eats.

Japanese AYCE sushi buffet at Sake Bomb. They actually don't do this anymore.

Manny wanted to try sashimi for the first time. Was a big surprise to me, since he never really eats sushi and definitely not the raw stuff. No little bites for him--he wanted the whole experience. We even had raw octopus and fish cheeks. He decided to big or go home, I guess!

Where the planets were on my app

Could sort of see the moon and the planetes, though I couldn't capture it well on my phone.

At Meet Fresh with A. after her volunteer work meeting

Out with Rebeka for lunch at Leichi

Housemade tofu was fantastic