from my mind to yours: July 2026

Friday, July 31, 2026

January 2026 (Covid, shoulder injury, Lucas sports class, Art of Manga, Smallwood Memorial, Isaac's eating)

What? We're actually in the same year now? Hopefully I can do better with catching up again. I've had less free time than expected this summer with different happenings and projects that I can hopefully write about soon.

The beginning of the year was a Covid recovery blur. After the body aches wore off, I noticed my shoulder was still hurting. That turned out to be a rotator cuff injury for which I'm still doing physical therapy. My cough and fatigue continued for some time, but I was well enough to take Isaac to and from school and take Naomi back to school. Manny and I took her out for hotpot before she returned to school. She had an interview for a job while recovering herself.

Thankfully once we were back to Lucas's homeschool sports class mid-January, I was well enough to go. We hired a professional coach and trainer (also a homeschooler) to conduct PE exercises and games for the group as a whole. Generally our attendance is now during the winter season, and we also have to switch to a different park because the field at our usual park is off limits. So, we go to an open public track in a different city and use the track and surrounding areas for activities.

There ended up being two weeks the coach could not come because he had gone on vacation (planned) but was in Mexico and stuck in a cartel firestorm down there (unplanned). Thank God they were able to fly home safely. Another family and I were able to conduct kickball and a race. I brought snacks and drinks and chocolates as prizes for the winners. It was kind of different to me this year that other parents didn't volunteer to bring anything even when the suggestion was thrown out. In general, the dynamics of the homeschool groups seem to have changed over the years in terms of the sharing of meals and lives. I feel that there is a less of a sense of community, but I hope to cultivate that a bit more this coming year, my last, with the group.

Naomi the extrovert was happy to get back to socializing and going out with her friends and classmates. I the introvert went to a Japanese manga museum exhibit at de Young Museum by myself and watched Rev. Richard Smallwood's funeral service online. Smallwood's gospel music has had a huge impact on me over the years.

Lastly, in January we started with a new treatment program to help Isaac with his eating issues. This was pretty disruptive to his school schedule, but it has been a good program, and he's worked hard for it. At one point I was attending five or six appointments a week for it, including parent-only meetings, but it eased up over time. Isaac was diagnosed last year with a food avoidance disorder, and it's been quite a journey. Every meal, even every snack, is a challenge. I think he'd be happy to never have to eat again, but that is part of what the program addresses. I'm very thankful that we found something that works. He's had so many ailments and maladies, my hope is that addressing this will help him with a health turnaround overall.

Shuffle warmup at the track

Coach sleeping on Pluto

Double the cute

Making my October tart in January instead per request

At Naomi's favorite hotpot place

We opted for the barbecue, too

Manny talked to Naomi about her life

Gachapons (like toy dispenser machines) outside the exhibit

My favorite manga artist is Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha)

The exhibit was impressive, spanning centuries of early manga style scrolls to present day

Manga printing exhibit

Coach J with the kids about to do some cross-training

Total Praise and Center of My Joy are two of my favorite songs of all time.

Sunday, July 19, 2026

December 2025 part 2 (Christmas With Friends and Family, Good Food, Covid)

We opened our presents on Christmas morning at Grandma's as we have for 27 years. Nowadays I truly appreciate wishlists. We sometimes will add a gift that's not on the list for some element of surprise. Manny has been coming up with a lot of those lately. He leans practical, which is great. I will usually add a personalized gift if I can't figure out a practical one. We had a photo ornament made for Grandma. We got my father-in-law Grandpa printed t-shirts, a chef one and a veteran one. The tees have become a tradition, too, though the ideas and selection are becoming more limited with time. I won't go through all the gifts here, just mentioning the general process lol. The grandparents are always super thoughtful and generous. Even the cats got presents!

Naomi started not feeling well the day after Christmas. We figured it was the flu since those were her symptoms. So she tried her best to get dressed to see my parents and brother, but she was just too sick, and we made the call to let her rest at Manny's sister's. My dad continues to have health struggles, so he can't really go in long car rides anymore. So it was just Manny, my mom, me, and the boys visiting my brother and taking him out to eat. We went to a dim sum restaurant. My friend came out to visit with his family and had to meet us outside the restaurant. I feel bad that we have to meet up in passing like this these days. I'd love to figure out another way. Similarly, when we went to Costco to pick up some things for my brother, and my friend and her family drove out for an hour to meet up with us there. It was an odd day, but I truly appreciate their kindness and effort to visit with me since I was limited with getting around.

I also appreciate how every year Manny has to drive us around for 6-8 hours so we can visit my mom and brother and get things they need. I wish there was more for the kids to do sometimes. Asian family reunions usually just mean gathering to eat. Naomi often feels too sick from all the driving to eat well. Isaac has never really been able to eat much of the food. Lucas doesn't eat as much of what is common to celebratory meals, such as the seafood. And then there is having to be around their uncle (my older brother) which can feel uncomfortable and honestly a little heartbreaking, all while having to listen to my side of the family speak in a language they don't really understand for much of the day. But they're troopers and polite to my mom and never complain out loud. Puo-Puo (their grandmother, my mom) also whipped up a wonderful dinner for us. I packed some to take back to Naomi.

Grandpa made some fantastic tamales from scratch and sent them home with us, even cheese tamales for Isaac. He also made cinnamon rolls. You can always taste the love in his cooking. The drive home was fine, but Naomi was pale and sickly. I can't remember if she had to wear a mask, too, but it was hard for her. Thank God despite being in the car without ventilation for so long, Manny and the boys were spared.

I started not feeling too well the day after, when I went to pick up the cats from the boarding place. My shoulder had been hurting since bowling, but now both arms started hurting while I was driving, and I started having a headache. I also had to drive Isaac to pick up his tennis racket we just had restrung. And I was complaining and in a rush to get home because I was now in a lot of pain and fatigued.

I started feeling sweaty and it worsened as the evening progressed. Naomi and I had sat close together for a while watching a movie at my in-laws'. So I went to get a Covid test, and sure enough, it was positive. I'd never had Covid before, at least not as far as I know. Even when I got back from Disneyland years ago and Manny was coughing all night (we didn't know he had Covid yet), I did not get it. We didn't catch it the second time he had it, either. Naomi also tested positive. So our guess was we caught it at the party. Later on, Grandma and Grandpa tested positive, as did others. We were in close quarters and talking a lot during the party, so that was a good setup to get it. Thankfully Manny and the boys didn't get it or at least never showed any symptoms.

I have asthma, and whatever strain of Covid this was, it hit me hard. The doctor put me on Paxlovid which is supposed to make you feel better faster, and after five days I did feel somewhat better, but once the Paxlovid was done, it felt like a second wave hit me. My in-laws seemed to fare better with it. I couldn't really breathe well and coughed up a lung. I could barely move. It kind of threw a wrench in Manny's plans perhaps, because he still had a few days off work, but now we couldn't go out anywhere as a family. He helped me out the first day or two, got my medication, and cleaned and organized a ton, and I'm thankful for that. I still had to take care of Naomi a little, which was rough. Moms still have to mom even when we're not well, or at least I do. My friend from church dropped off some bone broth which was so helpful. I wore gloves and masks all day and night for 10 days or so and continuously disinfected around me and kept everyone distanced from me as much as possible. Manny told me to go ahead and order food which helped me out a lot as well. I didn't want to contaminate anyone's food.

After a couple of days back, Manny wanted to make some of the tamales, and he asked me how. I had made them in our pressure cooker before and thought that would be faster. Boy, was I wrong. It ended up making them too wet, and it took really long to get them to cook through. Manny was pretty hangry. He hadn't eaten all day (fasting) and had been cleaning and organizing. I had a massive headache, pretty sure the worst headache I have had in my life, and his being upset like that made me feel sorry for myself. But I prayed and regrouped, put on the gloves and fixed it. It's a blur now what I did--I think I continued steaming them without the lid on in the pressure cooker and then moved them and baked them for a little bit. I had a mask on but held my breath as much as I could to keep from coughing. Thankfully the tamales turned out fine. We made half the batch and then the rest at a later date.

Manny went out with his coworker the next day and a couple of days later. I was glad he could at least do something with his time off. I was able to manage and take care of myself and the kids, but also they are older now, so that made it a lot easier since they could do more themselves. Also, the worst of it happened while my kids were out of school, so I didn't have to drive Isaac to and from school, for example, until the next week, so the timing was very good for me to get some rest. I did a lot of laptop work like budgeting stuff, watched a lot of the Korean drama Bon Appetit Your Majesty, and started a chronological Bible plan with a friend. Beyond that I'm not quite sure what was going on day to day. A lot of coughing and headaches. I did lose some weight (which all came back when I got better) and also had more time to pray for people, so that was kind of nice.

Photo booth. Who gave Isaac a Corona? lol

Grandpa's cinnamon rolls

Dinner at Puo-Puo's. We took photos with Gong-Gong (my dad), but I don't have them on my phone.

At the Chinese herbal store with my mom. The tariffs sent the prices sky high, so we didn't get a lot.

Dim sum lunch with Puo-Puo and Jiou-Jiou

With T. and family outside the restaurant

With L. and family outside Costco

Grandpa's prime rib for Christmas dinner

Grandma got a red purse from Santa.

Chef Grandpa on one shirt, and the other one says, "I'm a Grandpa and a veteran. Nothing scares me"

Huggy sloth for calming the senses

I don't remember what this is, but he looks happy.

Naomi has been wanting this purse. She uses it daily.

Isaac got his computer case! He's also wearing a shirt Aunt Dolly got him previously.

Christmas breakfast

Coach excited to see us. Pluto (the heap in the back) was fine with staying.

After all these years, I finally got it.

Thursday, July 16, 2026

December 2025 part 1 (Bowling Memories, Old Spaghetti Factory, Miniature Golfing with Grandparents, Christmas Eve Party, Turning the Other Cheek)

Christmas 2025 started with events at church and at Isaac's school. We had our annual children's program at church, which my kids have aged out of, and Isaac's school had an international-themed Christmas luncheon for the staff. I just bought and fried some lumpia for the luncheon since it was easy. The children at church did a fun Christmas musical show with foam light formations. My boys have not joined the youth group. It's been kind of hard for them to connect with other teens at church, to be frank. We had a Christmas dinner after the service and program.

I also coached basketball for a couple of weeks in December before our break. I'm so thankful the numbers and courts always worked out. I also had a break for the next two months from coaching. It's fun, but I'm so thankful I didn't have to coach because I ended up with Covid and injuries.

We were greeted at Grandma's house with Grandpa's delicious tacos. My sister-in-law also got Peanuts donuts. So thoughtful! I had eyed those donuts but decided not to buy them and then got them anyway. Naomi also wanted to stop by Dutch Bros since there's one by Grandma's.

We went to visit my friend C and her family the next day. She came up with a great idea of going bowling together at the bowling alley we used to go to as teens. That really brought back memories. Has it really been about 35 years?! When my family moved out of my hometown, the bowling alley was a place I vividly remember saying goodbye to in my mind. C's dad still lives in our hometown, which is why we ended up there. C's husband had to work at the start, and Manny went out with Chris, so it was mostly us with our kids playing. C's husband then joined us after a couple of rounds. I bought some pizza and drinks, mainly to celebrate C's birthday. Then when C and her family went home, Chris joined us for dinner nearby. My shoulder was really bothering me. I had injured it in December trying to play tennis with Isaac. Eight months later, I'm still doing physical therapy for it.

Every year we go to Old Spaghetti Factory with my in-laws. It is our tradition, and I'm thankful the restaurant is still around. This year they had hidden elves for guests to spot. Afterward, Manny found a glow-in-the-dark miniature golf place to go to with the grandparents. Naomi is not the biggest fan of mini-golf, but she was a good sport. I thought it was pretty fun. Manny and I got holes-in-one. I think Grandpa won overall. Grandma did really well, too.

The next day we went to the annual family Christmas Eve party at the community center. We had a flood warning in the area, so some could not make it, and others hit traffic. But we were going ahead with the party, rain or shine. It was a festive party, with good food as always from Manny's cousin's taco cart. Isaac by this time was diagnosed with eating issues and had started an outpatient program, but thankfully there was still food he could eat there.

Naomi helped decorate and set up the room. Lucas was there but missing from some photos because of something that happened at the party several years ago. An older boy, whom I told wasn't a member of the family, hit Lucas during a game, and no one really did anything about it. I just told him to forgive and move on. I regret that I didn't tell him that what the boy did was wrong, and I didn't feel I had any authority to tell the boy to apologize, which would have been enough for Lucas, or at least one adult acknowledging something, but none of us did. I think Lucas felt that the family didn't really care about him, because the boy was allowed to continue the game even though he cheated and hurt Lucas. I don't think everyone was aware of what had happened. Being on the spectrum, it also make Lucas more sensitive to certain things others may not see at first. Either way, though Lucas tries, it hasn't been the same level of safety and belonging. It's one of those times in childhood you lose a bit of innocence. I've always taught my kids to turn the other cheek, but I wish I hadn't taught them the way I did, to basically be pushovers. They also felt I would always seem to take the other child's side, because I did do that a lot. I've since talked to my kids and admitted that mistake.

Manny and I really, really wanted Isaac to participate in the talent contest, but he didn't want to do it. They give out generous prizes, but that didn't motivate him. And forcing him would just defeat the purpose. I had told him to do it for his dad if nothing else, but nope. So, sadly there would be no prizes for my kids. However, there were plenty of family who did participate, and it was fun to watch them put on a good show.