New Eats

One of my favorite foods is Korean food. I love the tofu pots and all the little side dishes they have that come with all their entrees. I especially like the little fishes, seaweed and anything pickled. No kim chee though... too spicy for me.

We noticed a new Korean restaurant that recently opened in our little city and decided to check it out.

Korean restaurants are known for their spicy tofu pots.

The redder the spicier.. but our kids don't like spice so we chose mild for them. But their mild still looked spicy.

Korean restaurants are known for their little side dishes:

An of course the kalbi spare ribs:

Lastly we ordered an appetizer, beef bulgogi with rice cake. It was as large as an entree. We thought the kids might like this but unfortunately it too was a little bit spicy.

Overall, this was an okay place. Nothing special about it and the big downer was that they don't serve  chicken. No chicken on the menu anywhere. No grilled chicken which is one of Emily's favorites. So don't think we'll be returning anytime soon. Bummer since it's so close to our house.

New Sunday

We have been attending FCC for over 12 years. It is the church that both Emily and Hannah were born, dedicated and raised in. Through the 12 years, it has gone through many many changes. (For those of you who used to attend FCC awhile ago, you might appreciate seeing these new changes.)

First significant change is our Atrium. A year ago it was just a large corridor where people come and go as they walk to and from the Pavilion (aka our sanctuary/school gym/meeting hall). Now it is has become a meeting place, an area to gather, chat, drink coffee/tea and/or just hang out.

 We have a place for little ones to read and hang out comfortably.

 We have a spot honoring our founding pastor, his wife and their family. (And if you were wondering, yes they are still at FCC.)

We have a place to display our talented congregation members works of art...

We have a place outside of the Pavilion for you to sit and enjoy the service via TV monitor. The Digital Arts Studio is a place where our KHA students work on their video assignments.

 Not only did we change the physical appearance of the Atrium, but we also combined all of our services (we used to have three: two different services on Sunday mornings and one Saturday evening) to now just one service at 10am. We combined the styles of structured-contemporary and relaxed-contemporary to hopefully one that met everyone's needs. 

The stage was changed to accommodate more people and the feel of being closer to the attendees. We added a vocal team along with two worship leaders (instead of just one). The choir still sings twice a month on stage. The youth (high school +) have a small portion of the stage every Sunday.

Matthew played on this Sunday in the band.

We have three main preachers (our lead pastor, our women's minister and a licensed minister) along with  our other pastors (we have five more) who take to the pulpit.

We have an extended time of Ministry of Prayer where anyone can come up and receive prayer or an anointing with oil for healing at the end of the sermon. The pastors, elders and leaders of the church are available all around the sanctuary to be prayed with. I personally feel that this is our strength. Every Sunday many come up for prayer. It is because of this great need that the service changed to a 'soft' ending where you can leave whenever you feel like after the sermon. You can stay for prayer or participate in the extended worship time or exit your corporate time of worship time with God that morning. Before we had a 'hard' ending or 'official closing' benediction and exiting song.

Overall, I'm liking the new service and all the newness it brings. I don't like change but the one thing that hasn't changed at all is our love for Christ, focus on God's Word and that from His Word we are challenged to be better Christians in a world that so needs His salvation and love.

Up, Up, They Go

I am scared of heights. Whenever I look down even if I'm standing on a ladder, table or even a chair I get weak and wobbly in the knees. That's just me.

My girls, on the other hand, are not afraid of heights.

They went rock climbing for the first time at a friend's birthday party.

Emily was hesitant but tried it since all her friends were doing it.

First time she went up she stopped half way. Got nervous she said.

The next time she did it she got to the top... 35 feet high... that's 3 stories high!

Here Emily in action:

After seeing her big sister climb the wall, Hannah decided to try too.

She got to the top on her first try. And she climbed it like she was Spider-Girl.

Here is Hannah in action:

Their father didn't want to be out-shined (unlike their mama who doesn't mind being out-shined... (Shine-away.. go ahead I say!) so he went up for a try. It wasn't as easy as it looked, he said.

Definitely a heightened awareness of how little we are on the earth!

Opening

We ventured after school to a new place. Can you guess where we went?

How about this clue?

Or these?

This was their 'soft' opening. The big 'grand' opening wasn't until the weekend so the shelves and aisles were clean and everything was nicely organized and well-stocked. The store even smelled new and clean, if you can imagine. And there weren't many customers in sight. We saw more employees then customers.

Yes, living in the suburb is not quite as exciting as in the city, but we cherish these little great things!

Competition

We woke up early Saturday morning and headed out at 8am to Milpitas Christian School for the annual ACSI Math Olympics. Six schools were represented in this competition along with KHA: Los Altos Christian, Hillside Christian, Alpha Beacon, Valley Christian, and Milpitas Christian. Over 150 students competed.

Emily was a participant and so were many of her schoolmates from KHA. A total of 35 students from KHA participated representing 3rd through 8th grades. Five students represented our school for the 5th grade.

Our great 5th grade mathematicians: Mihir, Charles, Adrianne, Shawna and Emily

Emily competed in the Math-Reasoning portion (which are word problems). There is a Computation portion and Reasoning portion. The kids are assigned to only one portion. They each take 4 tests, 11 minutes for each test.

While Emily was test taking, we went to have a nice breakfast with some of our favorite family members, my cousin, cousin-in-law and their children (our godchildren). Our Munchkin (junior in high school) and Big Fella (freshman in high school) have grown quite a bit haven't they? We are very very proud of them! They'll both be going to Costa Rica on a Missions trip this summer!

It's been a long time that we all got together. Far too long... and never enough time to catch up!

After breakfast, we went back to the school to hear the results.

Emily placed 2nd in 5th grade Reasoning. Boy, was she so happy!

I was a little bit worried that she would expect a ribbon since the first time she competed was in 3rd grade and she didn't get a ribbon (she cried). Of course she also did the computation portion.

Last year in 4th grade she did the reasoning portion and ribboned in 5th place. I wasn't sure if she would get one this year and told her to be prepared to just do her best and not expect a ribbon. The competition is tough. We usually see the same kids there every year especially the ones that get a ribbon. There is one 5th grader from another school (that's also named Emily) whose parents are good friends of my sister and brother-in-law.  She usually gets a ribbon every year. Like I said, tough competition. This year she wasn't competing in the same portion as Emily. Whew.. one less competitor to worry about.

It's tough for the parents too, you know. Now I kind of know how you parents are when your kid is competing in a sport. It can be very nerve-wracking!

So Emily won a ribbon and we are extremely proud of her. She probably got her math smarts from her Daddy since math is my weakness especially word problems.

Her Daddy wants to reward her with a prize. She said she wants a new backyard so she can make it more bird friendly (apparently our current backyard is not bird friendly enough!) So I guess we have to look for a new house with a big bird-friendly backyard... so NOT! She'll have to settle for a bag of bird seed.

CAS

The fifth grade finally went on a field trip. Their first for the school year. They went to the California Academy of Sciences. It was a beautiful clear day in the City.

This is Emily's class (minus two absent students). 21 students total.

Fifth grade at KHA is a part of the Middle School. She has four teachers which she rotates through throughout the day. One teacher for English and History; one for Science and Math; one for Bible and one for P.E. Most of these students she has been with since Kindergarten. The majority of these students were my kids whom I taught in 3rd grade. They all have a very special place in my heart.

So whenever there is a time where I can spend with them, like a field trip, I do.

The rainforest had birds.. of course,. that is Emily's obsession.

Blue -Necked Tanager

Neon colored fish

A gorgeous nautilus

Up on the garden rooftop, we saw huge red-tailed hawks..

Emily has some great friends!

Are They Lying?

I'm a pretty empathetic person and try to be aware of how others are feeling by their actions and words. But knowing they are lying? Hmmm.. not sure since I'm pretty gullible sometimes.

I came across this article on how to become a human lie detector. You look for suspicious behaviors. By themselves they might be signs of stress or a person's natural mannerism but when two or more are coupled together you might want to be hesitant on what s(he) is saying to you.

Top 8 Suspicious Behaviors

1. A change in the voice's pitch.
2. A change on the rate of speech.
3. A sudden increase in the number of "ums" and "ahs".
4. A change in eye contact. Normally one makes eye contact 1/4 of the time. If suddenly, at the convenient moment to lie, they are staring at you or looking away.
5. Turning their body away from you, even if it's just slightly.
6. Suddenly being able to see the white on the top and bottom of a person's eyes, not just the sides.
7. A hand reaching, even if it's briefly, to cover part of the face especially the mouth.
8. Nervous movement of feet or legs.

But in order to notice a change, you need to be familiar with this person enough to know their natural mannerisms.

Look for mixed signs. When someone is telling the truth, their words, face and body language all go together. If someone says she likes you, her face is usually relaxed, has a genuine smile, warm eyes, body is calm and open. But when she's lying, something will be inconsistent. She may have a smile but her eyes aren't smiling. Look for mismatches between words and body language.

Now how about some tips for raising kids that won't lie to you.

1. Watch how you respond to your kids when they misbehave or make a poor choice. 
Be honest; adults lie to protect themselves from punishment or an unpleasant outcome when they do something wrong. Why do we expect anything different from our kids? Try using a calm voice to address their 'bad' behavior and avoid punishment and lectures so your child will feel safe telling the truth.

2. Shift to Solutions
Focus on ways to fix the situation or misbehavior. Reword your accusations. Instead of demanding, "Who tracked mud all over the floor?" which alludes to a lie, say, "What can we do to clean this up?" This allows the child to save face and you can bet that after wiping up the muddy floor, he'll take off his muddy shoes next time.

3. Ask Instead of Accuse
If you catch your child in a lie, work on figuring out why she felt like she couldn't tell you the truth. You can gently say, "That sounds a bit unbelievable. You must be worried about telling me what really happened. Let's talk about it." By starting the conversation this way, you might be able to get the real story and real information that can clue you in on how to teach your child to be honest next time.

A Time to Rest

I love to sleep... but to rest... not really my style. Too many things to do: ministry events to plan for; emails to read; emails to respond to; bible study to prep for; albums to scrap; finances to prep for (just refinanced and changed banks); plus the day to day outdoor chores: grocery shopping (to three different stores), 'errands' drop off and pick up; and indoor chores: cooking, cleaning, organizing and of course: raising children: homework, projects and cleaning up after them. As you can see, 'rest' is really not in my calendared schedule.

Until recently, when I was literally bedridden with illness:

My meal of the day: every 4-6 hrs for the five days.

I shouldn't be too surprised since Hannah came down with a cough and fever, then my husband (he was so sick that he had to stay home from work one day... he hasn't done that since Hannah was born 8 years ago).

So I guess it was my turn. (Thankfully Emily is and was healthy as a horse!). The worst part was the head and sinus congestion that literally gave me a humongous headache. The cough made my chest hurt and my body was achy all over. I had a low grade fever that just would not go away... always lingering on 99.5-100.5 degrees. Had the fever for three straight days. It wasn't until my fourth day of being sick that my head kind of cleared up and I was able to at least sit up and walk around without discomfort.

Since I wasn't in the mood to do my 'regular' stuff around the house, I had to still be productive (being the Type A person that I am) so while I was bedridden for the first three days, I slept, and when I wasn't sleepy but was physically tired, I prayed. I prayed for myself to get better, of course (it's so debilitating being forced to not do anything and stay in bed) and for everyone that I know and love, and for anyone that I didn't know. Just talking to God. It was a really good time.

God says in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." I believe that our lives have become so busy with everything under the heavens that we don't 'rest'. 'Rest' and 'reflect' on our lives; to be 'thankful' for all things good and not-so-good. God never said that life here on earth would be easy but if we have faith in Him, He will give us the strength to persevere and live our short life here on earth to the fullest for God.

Check out this Francis Chan video: What Are You Living For?



Powerful huh?

Now other than praying, I also read some books. I have not done this for quite awhile. I used to read books like drinking water but since I started writing/blogging, I realized that it takes up most of my free time. Now since I wasn't in the mind set (or alertness) to write. I read.

 

Since  the movie is coming out soon, I started to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I finished it in 5-1/2 hrs. Then I moved onto her second book of the trilogy, Catching Fire and then her third, Mockingjay. In three days, I finished the whole trilogy. It was THAT good! Overall, I enjoyed the first book the best. I have been enthralled with some of the popular Young Adult titles. They are so interesting and very well written.

Being sick gave me the opportunity to rest, pray and read. It was a good thing!

Bird Heaven

Emily's version of heaven will be filled with birds, birds and more birds along with products for birds and of course, bird seed. And lots of it. (God did make all the birds.)

We found a new wild bird store called Birder's Garden. It was a wonderful store filled with lots of great birdie things for Emily to see. She spent over 90 minutes in the store looking at everything! And I mean EVERYTHING!! No browsing for her here!  (Hannah was done in about 20 minutes).

Emily got two huge bags of peanuts (shelled and unshelled) for her birdies.

Huge assortment of seed

They even have stuff for squirrels.

Birdhouses galore

Hummingbird Land

Feeder Frenzy

Nesting supplies; Emily's next project is to help her birds nest. She wants them to nest at our house.. whatever that means.

Emily spent $70 on all her stuff here. She spent most of her Christmas and Chinese New Year money on the above.