July - December 2017

Lots of things happened during these six months. We got to meet Darren's twins in July: Noble and Jubilee and spent the afternoon with them. We also visited their church when Emily and Andy had ensemble performance in downtown area. They were such easy babies. Darren and Karye were truly blessed.

 Emily and Andy were invited back to the assistant living place to play piano. Emily made some pompom tissue flowers to hand out. The residents there were very appreciative.

After the recital, we visited the piano parade in Allen. Some high school students renovated and painted six pianos to put in the public area for people to play and purchase. Emily and Andy had fun playing the Turkish March duet and the Entertainer. Several people stopped to listen and smiled big for them.

 I bought a mini-rebounder for myself. Emily and Andy had more interest than I had.

 One of our neighbors Cindy just had a baby. We decided to hand her down some beloved baby items that Andy and Emily used. Andy hugs his turtle night light goodbye.

 We spent lots of time reading Bible and other books. Here is a picture of David, Emily and Andy reading our family Bible together.

 Here is a picture of the kids reading to each other. Emily is such a vicious reader. She read all the Ember Fall series by S D Smith; The Amazing Tales of Max and Liz; and The Epic Order of the Seven by Jenny L Cote. She also read her Bible Stories for Children three times.
 

 Andy's favorite book is a chess puzzle book. It is a huge book too :-)

 Emily loves playing thinking games: Rush Hour

 The garden was almost over in August. We had a pretty good harvest all through summer.

 We used fresh tomatoes to make several cauliflower pizzas and salsa. They were yummy!

 David and Andy were getting ready for the fall garden.

 Nobody likes avocado chocolate ice-cream than Emily

 By the end of summer, we bought a huge brand new trampoline for $200 (again from Craigslist). It turned out to be the best investment ever. Emily and Andy have been on it everyday. Our neighbors kids came to play on it almost everyday.

 Emily attended an art camp and Andy attended a chess camp right before school started. They both enjoyed the camps.

Before we knew it, new school year already started. It was a long summer though.

 This school year's focus is GRIT (Growth-mindset; Resilience; Integrity; and Tenacity) at Minshew. All the students worked on it. I think it is a really good exercise for adults too!

 Our schedule for the new school year was full: Emily goes to her art class and AHG on Tuesdays; Andy has chess club on Tuesdays. We have church on Wednesdays and Sundays. Emily and Andy have piano lessons on Thursdays. Friday nights are reserved for family time and chess tournaments. I have ladies fellowship on Monday nights besides cooking three meals a day. Andy has private chess lessons every other Saturdays. But it was fulfilling to see how both kids grow in their interest. Here are a few samples from Emily's art work:

 Andy went to a chess tournament during David's birthday weekend. Andy gave Daddy a sweet surprise birthday gift by winning the 1st place in the 83rd Annual Southwest Open: K-12 U1000 Scholastic Chess Tournament. We are so glad to see that he enjoys playing chess and so thankful for the talent God gives him!

 I accidentally found out the editor of Texas Chess Association was my previous co-worker at CA - Jeff French! He posted a nice picture on the TCA facebook.

 Andy played another tournament on Labor Day (Monday) and he won the first place again. His rating went up for 400 points in two days!

 Andy got to play a chess game against the youngest grandmaster in the world Jeffery Xiong. It was a tough game that lasted a long time. Dozens of people watched them playing at NTCA. People were amazed by Andy's poise and determination.

 He also participated in Dallas Junior Open tournament and got the first place. He got $48 for that tournament. He also won cash from other tournaments, totaling over $200 so far. That pays for his entry fees to the tournaments and chess camps. While he was in the tournament, Emily played in the beautiful park across the street. She fed the ducks and gathered acorns for the quarrels.

 Andy was also the spotlight student at Mrs. Harman's piano studio.

 This year I made the taro moon cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival. They were delicious!!

 We also bought the mooncakes for the Friendspeak readers and workers. Emily helped to make the lantern riddles for everyone. It was a fun evening.

 Emily has been wearing her expanders since last winter. She got them off by November this year. Her teeth look beautiful! I'm amazed at the fact that she never complained anything about it during the whole process. It was an easy sailing for her.

 Our old friend Debra invited us to her house to see David's old friend from Ukraine. It was great to catch up with them. I since fell in love with Russian Borscht soup. We had many Borscht over the winter.

 We met the Canfields who just returned from 13 years of mission work in China. We had them over for dinner along our worship minister's family (also adopted a Chinese girl) and Mona and Richard (who worked in China as missionaries for four years). The kids made quick friends. The Price family couldn't make it because of the sickness. But we had them over for a different day. They just adopted two Chinese kids. We loved hearing their faith-building stories and getting to know more about them.

 Emily's class had a field trip to the orchestra. It was great to hear the narrator explaining each part of the music "Peter and the Wolf". I wish someone will do that for me for every piece of classic music. It sure helps me to understand more about the music.

 One of Emily's badge at AHG is God's Children. It talked about how God loves disabled people too. Emily practiced writing with her mouth; buttoning with mittens; playing piano with her toes ... She understood how hard it is to be a disabled person. It definitely increased her respect for the disabled people.

 See how much the kids practiced on the trampoline:

 Our church has a "Children helping children" section besides the adult contribution. Emily and Andy had helped with that for five years now. They got first hand experience on cheerful giving from all the kids. They also helped the Kidzone for several years. I can't believe I didn't have any picture of them having puppet shows or skits.

 Our missionary friend from Russia Eileen came to visit us. She brought the Russia alphabet and taught the kids to write their names in Russia. She also bought a rollaway keyboard on eBay. But she didn't know how to use it. Andy showed her how to make a music on it.

 Emily continues enjoying her Tinker crate boxes. She is so good at following instructions and building stuff.

In October, we helped our church set up one trunk for "Trunk or Treat". David's Friendspeak reader Brian came to help. We had a great time.

Emily and Andy helped David to dig out the sweet potatoes again this year. Can you tell that Emily is a nature lover? She would look for any opportunity to spend time in nature.

For Emily's birthday, one of her classmates' mom volunteered to help out with the iceskating. It was a huge blessing.

Here are our neighbors who came to play every day.

We had our largest Friendspeak Thanksgiving dinner at HighPointe. Around 100 people attended the dinner.

Many people commended Emily for her smiles and friendly conversations. I'm proud of the young lady she is growing into.

The kids played in the pond area when it dried out during winter months. You won't believe how much life it has once the pond is filled up in spring.

This year Emily and Andy totally took over the Christmas decoration. One day I went to the lady's fellowship. When I came home, our Christmas tree was all set up and decorated!

We went to Tulsa for Thanksgiving. Emily had lots of fun playing with the leaves. Andy enjoyed playing corn holes.

We went with Linda's sons' families to the aquarium.

Buster and Amy had a FriendSpeak Christmas party at their house. We had a great time.

We invited David's Friendspeak reader Bran and his girl friend Eva over for a dinner.

Emily was "Mary"; Andy was a shepherd in our church Christmas program

Emily and Andy played "First Noel" and "Joy to the World" for the assistant living place.

They also handed out the Christmas ornaments and sang Christmas Carols afterwards.

We went to Tulsa for Christmas. The kids were so excited that it snowed!!

We each read a Christmas book to our family every night. That was fun!

Emily's class made the fabric wreath at the party.

Although I should be thankful every day, I feel most thankful during the holiday season. I'm grateful for all the blessings of family and friends that God gives me; I'm thankful for my life, particularly the moments like this one: