Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Trip to the Coast

About a month ago my family went to the coast for a day. I finally got around to posting pictures from our trip! It was very fun. We had a great tme at Newport. First we went to the lighthouse
We climbed up a couple hundred stairs, spiraling up to where lighthouse keepers had kept their lights burning.
Right after that we walked down to the tide pools, and spent about a half an hour looking at the sea animals in them.
It was a stormy day, windy and raining hard, but it was amazing to look out at the ocean from our view.
The next day we spent a wonderful morning at the coast, before we had to head home. We flew our kite, laid in the sun and had a picnic.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Pictures from the Wedding!

Well, finally I'm getting around to posting some pictures from our trip in Seattle. These are from Galen and Hannah's wedding.

Below is Emily and Ashley reenacting Galen and Hannah's ceremony.





Sunday, January 8, 2012

Seven in Seatle part 3

Our family left the hotel, and headed downtown, to brave the streets of Seattle, Washington.
I'm sure there were over a million hilarious things that happened during our one mile walk but since I can only remember a few of them this may be short. (And then again, maybe not.)
We toured Pike's Place Market and browsed through a few shops along the way. One store in particular was a Seattle Seahawks equipment store. Now, as you may know we are 49er fans and so Cade was wearing a 49er sweatshirt. The very next day there was going to be a big game between the Niners and the Seahawks. So he went into the equipment store and walked up to the clerk and asked if they had any 49er gear in stock. Now this poor sales clerk kind of looked at him and then muttered, “Um no, but there's probably some down at the stadium.” The rest of us were laughing as well as the other people in the store and the other clerks. And the first guy still didn't really get it.
We left that store pretty quickly.
When we arrived at Pike's Place Market and we looked through the different displays until we stopped at the fish throwing thing. All I'm gonna say is that we got some pretty sweet videos. And then all of a sudden this random fish throwing guy in an apron that looked like it weighed about 50 pounds starts pointing at Cade, “We got a BIG game tomorrow!” And then he got down in a quarterback position and mimed like he was hiking the ball, “Yeah, that's right buddy! You're going down!”
We are definitely not in Albany anymore.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Mission: Possible

My Grandpa works with the Union Gospel Mission in Spokane, Washington. He disciples men, meets for lunch with them, works on the Mission board and goes downtown every week to feed the homeless. He has been writing a lot lately about his experiences, and my dad and I decided he needed some sort of outlet for his writing.

That's how we started Mission:Possible.

Mission Possible is a look at the homeless of Spokane through my Grandpa's eyes.

There is a link to it on the side of my blog, but if that doesn't work here is the web address if you want to visit it.

http://vbmissionpossible.blogspot.com/

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Seven in Seattle part 2

The rehearsal dinner was held in a incredibly fancy room, at the very top of the hotel with an amazing view. Smiling waiters walked around, balancing delicate trays with appetizers on them. Soft music played. It was beautiful. As a waiter walked over near our family, he offered us an appetizer from his tray. There were about six or seven dainty bits of food resting on the tray and when we’d each taken one, it was empty. The waiter took back his tray, smiling awkwardly as he retreated from the room to fill his tray again. Although he might have tried to avoid us there wasn’t much he could do, with five hungry kids who hadn’t eaten since 11:30 (it was close to 7:30) stalking him. I think we kind of forgot the meaning of the word appetizer.
There was a small room, where you could go to get a drink made. While some people were drinking wine, our family opted for soda, (with the promise that we could drink some champagne the next night at the wedding.  Everybody was dressed in fancy dresses, slacks and shirts. They walked around, chatting softly, sipping champagne. Guess where my little sisters had planted themselves? On the floor, doing pushups. “No, honey, we don’t need to be doing pushups at the rehearsal dinner.”
Dinner was delicious…rare steak, light mashed potatoes, and sautéed zucchini. No biscuits n’ gravy there. It was a very nice evening.
The next morning, we had all day before the 6:00 wedding so we decided to sightsee around downtown Seattle. We walked across the street to a small café for breakfast. After ordering, our Chinese waiter began arriving with steaming plates of food. Holding a mug of tea, he angled himself behind Cade, muttering a warning in his accent, “Hot behind!” he said to Cade.
We managed to choke down our laughter until he left…I think my dad milked that one for as long as he could. After breakfast we went back to the hotel to directions to Pike’s Place Market. The concierge unrolled a map.
“It’s a good one mile one way,” he said, “It might be too hard for your little ones to walk, but it’s pretty hard to find parking. I would take you in our car but…” he scanned the seven of us warily, “but our car only seats four.”
“Yeah…” my mom said, “We’ll walk.”
And we did.
Until next time.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Seven in Seattle

Wow! After a busy December things are finally beginning to get back to normal. Where to start? Well, maybe in Seattle. My family drove to Seattle on the Thursday before Christmas so that my dad could do a wedding for some friends of ours. They put us up in a hotel for two nights.

Well, let me just say this...there are seven people in my family. For some reason we tend to be rather loud...messy...expensive...We stick with places like, well Motel 6. The kind of places that have faded signs with peeling paint, hard beds, and one room for the seven of us. Places that feature thick gray slush dumped over biscuit shaped rocks as a delicious choice for our breakfast.

The Hotel Sorrento was not Motel 6. The Hotel Sorrento was a tall building with a waterfall in the front, concierges who parked our car and opened the doors for us. The Hotel Sorrento was a place with tall ceilings, brilliant chandeliers, plush couches and crisp, uniformed receptionists. The Hotel Sorrento was exactly the opposite of most hotels we stay in.

WE got out of the car and dragged our many suitcases into one of the fanciest hotels in Seattle. Two receptionists were involved in a hurried conversation as they exchanged worried glances at our family. Now this is just a guess, but it probably went something like this:

“Oh my gosh, look at the size of that family!”

“Where did you say their room was again?”

“Floor two, but we put them the farthest back so it will decrease our chances of hearing them.”

“I know, but floor two, really, a few more floors up and we'd hardly notice they were there.”

“I doubt anybody could ignore a family that big.”

“And they have two rooms, too. The parents won't be able to control their own kids, look at those little ones, they're crawling around on the floor.”

Well, we finally managed to get to one of our rooms. We opened the door. It was dark for about five seconds and then somebody found a light switch and the whole room was flooded with light. We looked around. Then Claire asked, “Is there a reason why there is a picture of those naked ladies on the wall?”

Now, I know that it's supposed to be a form of art and all and yadayadyada but I still don't see any reason to be walking around the hotel slapping disgusting pictures of naked women on the walls for people to be having nightmares about as they drift off to sleep. Well, my dad walked over and tried to yank one of things of the wall, but what do you know? They were glued on fast. By this time it was getting late, and so, with a promise to track down some tape my parents headed out the door to the wedding rehearsal.

The five of us waited....and waited...and waited. And I began to think that it was not the most brilliant idea when I promised my mom that we could handle everything. Emily and Ashley jumped from bed to bed, then, when they got bored of that they made a pile of loose sheets, blankets and pillows and jumped off the window sill into them. Finally it was 7:00. Claire was looking out the window when she saw Galen and Hannah, (the couple that were getting married), drive up and walk up to the hotel. Well, the five of us started knocking on the window to get his attention. They waved and smiled and we moved away from the window to get ready for dinner. All of a sudden we hear this banging on the window and there is Galen, holding onto the window sill and smiling happily. Well, of course, we did the natural thing, we let him in.

When my parents came back they were thrilled to find us, with the window open, talking to a strange man who had climbed to our room via the fire escape and, oops “catch you guys later” he had to go to his wedding rehearsal dinner.

So that was the first part of our trip to Seattle, and I'm sure you'll enjoy hearing more about it later, when I get around to writing it!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Somehow I don't think it will be long until we adopt again....

That's fine with me.

When love takes you in

All I really want for Christmas

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Love

How do I keep loving, when my friends keep leaving without a single goodbye or apology to me? Why do I keep loving, if my trust just keeps getting dashed to pieces every time someone says one more unkind thing? I guess the question that I'm wrestling with is, how can I afford to keep on loving? It does nothing for me except hurt my heart again and again. And then I turn to His word: "There is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear...whoever fears has not perfected in love." I can't be afraid of what others will do to me, or say to me. I cannot be afraid. If I am a daughter of God I cannot afford that luxury. Later John writes that I can't love God and hate my brother. Love isn't exsclusive. Love isn't only to people I can trust. Love extends to anybody and everybody no matter what their background, position or place in life. And until I realize that I can never truly love God.
Christ first came to love us when we did not know him, did not care about him. Christ loved all, despite the fact that he knew he would be betrayed. As he hung, soaked in blook and crying out in agony on the cross he didn't think about what he "got" for love. Christ's love is total, unconditional.
What about me? In my heart I know there is only one choice. I have to keep loving. I have to open my arms, embrace the world and love without reservations, without a thought of what it owuld do for me. Past hurt, past anger I must love. I must love until I am so hurt and exhausted that at the end of each day I must again, fling myself on Jesus and cry for mercy. I have no choice. Christ expects no less.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Week with the Cousins

On a happier note we had a great time with our family, some of which we have not seen in six years. We took lots of pictures and so everyday I'll post a few pictures to tell you more about the happier moments of our trip. Today there's a lot of pictures because I'm introducing each of my cousins. The only one missing is Jared because we didn't have time to take a picture of him.

Claire...obviously.


Little Ashley.


This is Sabrina, she's the oldest from my dad's sister. She's 14 almost 15. Her younger brother, Jared is 9.



This is Daniel. He's 13, three months younger than me. He's the oldest from my dad's brother.


This is Matthew. He's the youngest from my dad's brother. He's 9.


This is me. :)


Emily...she thinks she's really cool.


Juliana...the middle girl from my dad's brother age 11.


Cade, with his "peace" sign.


So those are my cousins from my dad's family! More pictures to come...

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Memorial Service

Many of you know that my Grandma died a couple weeks ago. My family just got back from California where we were at her memorial service. The oldest grandchild from each family read something they wrote for her at her memorial service and so I decided to post what I read.

Ever since I was little I have always called my Grandma, Lola. That’s what my grandparents requested and so that’s what I have always called her. Somehow that makes her seem more personal, more specific. I mean there are thousands of grandmas in the world, but, at least to me, only one Lola. I hope that today she is honored like she deserves.
The last time I saw Lola was in January. She and my Lolo had just come back from a business trip in Maryland and they stopped at our house in Spokane for a week. That was the most fun time I ever had with them. It started off with me getting lost at the airport and ended with them waking us up at 4 in the morning on their departure date for a little “surprise.” While they were there we went to a movie, went shopping, got manicures and hosted a New Year’s Eve party with Lola’s cooking.
One of the things I loved about my Grandma was her cooking. Every time we visited we would load up the car and head to the local Asian market. Hours later the house would be filled with the smell of delicious Filipino food. Some of my favorites are panset, synagong and champarado. She loved to cook and blessed my whole family with her delicious food.
Another activity I did with Lola was loose teeth. Obviously, I’ve lost all my teeth now but when I was younger we found out a secret. Everybody knows how generous Grandmas are, and mine probably more so, but anyway, we found out that the tooth fairy at Lola’s house was just a little bit more generous than the one in Spokane. Well, we would always try to loose teeth around the time of our visits. It usually took a lot of effort on our part, but if we succeeded in yanking one out we were rewarded by Lola with a 20 dollar bill. Eventually my parents started talking about popping out a few so they could earn a little extra cash.
I really admire my Lola for her generosity. She was always giving, giving, giving. Lola loved to buy clothes for us and give us gifts. In fact, whenever we knew we were going to see her we would make a list of “fun things” to do with them that we wouldn’t normally do. These included bowling, going out to eat or for ice cream, going to the mall, etc.
Another thing I loved about Lola was her spontaneity. If you even hinted at something you wanted to do she would either immediately suggest it or ask you if you wanted to do it. And of course who is going to say no to ice cream!
There are so many things I could tell you about Lola. I could tell you how excited I was when I was finally taller than her. Or how I scared her so bad she screamed and jumped straight into the air. But I hope this has shown you how much I loved Lola and what an amazing woman she was. I’m so sad to loose Lola. Nothing is ever going to change that. But I am so thankful for the time I was able to spend with her, and the things I was able to learn from her. I love you, Lola. I can’t wait to see you again.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Last week my cousins came down from Spokane and we had a great time! Their parents stayed for a couple of days and then Annsley and Seth stayed for a week before flying back to Spokane on Saturday. I have several great post ideas but right now the pictures say it all!! We went to the river behind our house as well as our friends' man made lake! It was a great week with lots of memories!!























Monday, July 4, 2011

"The Samaritan Woman"

Again this is based off of a story from my dad's sermon. This is part one of "The Samaritan Woman." You can read about it in John 4.

Johanna clutched her head covering tighter and walked even faster. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, hot and painful, reminding her that nothing could ever be right for her again. Dust clouds billowed up ahead and Johanna jumped to the side, stumbling and falling. The rider only laughed mockingly and whipped his horse faster. A woman, an outcast, scorned and mocked to tears. Unrespected, unloved, unwanted. What good am I anymore? She walked wearily to her house and hoisted a large clay jug to her shoulder. As the sun slowly appeared behind a curtain of fluffy clouds, Johanna followed a trickle of women leaving their city to fill buckets with cool water for the day ahead. She continued up a hill, averting her eyes from needle sharp stares and biting whispers. Bits and pieces of conversation leaked out from secluded groups of women.
“What does she think she is doing here?”
“…mmm what more can you expect from someone like her?”
“Don’t you know, rumor has it she’s sleeping with Ahmon the butcher, and they're
not even wed,” the woman sighed with mock sympathy.
“Not that it would make much difference if she did,” another woman added. “How many husbands did you say she’s had?”
“Oh at least five. Takes them in for a season and then throws them out like food gone rotten.”
“Or maybe it’s the other way around,” the women tittered.
Johanna cried out like a wounded lamb. She let her jar fall to the ground and listened to it shatter as she ran away from the well. Her heart thudded in her chest like a hammer striking down again and again. She looked back to see pieces of her jug scattered near the well, the broken pieces like her broken heart.


Monday, June 20, 2011

Strawberries!




Today my mom decided it was time to go strawberry picking so we packed up our van with the six of us, containers for strawberries, and a bag of crackers for on the way home.
We drove until we came to a sign that read "Grandpa's U-Pick Strawberries" After weighing our containers we went out to pick our strawberries. Now, just before we went I told my mom that all I remembered about picking strawberries was that it was hot and back-breaking because you have to hunch over the tiny strawberry plants that are about two inches tall. Personally, I thought I spent more time hunched over, making sure my pants don't fall down than actually picking the strawberries. Anyway, we went up and down the rows filling our tupperwares with strawberries. Emily and Ashley's attention span lasted for at least five minutes and then they busied themselves walking up and down the rows eating strawberries. Finally we finished picking 16 pounds of juicy strawberries. We brought them home, ate some lunch and then began cutting each and every strawberry. As you can see we finally finished with this...
...and this too, which didn't make it into the first picture


And then we ended up with several pints of jam.


We have also frozen three quarts. So now we're taking a quick break before we plunge back into it!
Oh, and did I mention that on Thursday we're getting another 30 pounds? Just thought I'd mention it.