Year 2007 is now history, but exactly what has happened in the past 365 days was a BLUR when I started writing this letter. Photos taken throughout the year have revealed that year 2007 is yet another year filled with blessings.
We were blessed with opportunities to see friends and relatives from afar, many of whom we have not met for years. The children really enjoy meeting our relatives and friends; they hold special places in our children’s hearts. It’s not unusual to hear our little ones asking questions such as, “Where is Uncle Francis?” “Where is Auntie Doris?” “When I turn 7, will I see Auntie Carol if I go to Calgary with mommy?”
Stubbornness or perseverance? It is up to your interpretation. Joshua insists on many things. With a serious face, he would tell us that only Mandarin is Chinese. Huh?
He likes to call people and has already memorized a couple of phone numbers including Po Po's (Po Po means maternal grandma in Cantonese). Joshua loves to swim, sing, read, plays with leap frog, puzzles and video games. He enjoys playing Dora saves the mermaid Nintendo DS game, WaWaYaYa (a Mandarin game) and Bisou (a French game). Even though Karen is against children playing video games, she could not help but laughed when Joshua repeatedly said “Garbage! Garbage!” while playing Dora saves the mermaid game this afternoon.
Forget about Teacher’s College! Karen is no longer considering a teaching career. Thanks to a project manager who actually mentors his staff, she is now planning to follow his footsteps in project management.
A heart-attack-like symptom in January and an acute back pain in June are in fact wonderful gifts from God, according to Karen. These warning signs together with a very diligent exercise buddy, Karen has been exercising almost 3 times a week.
Karen is really glad to reconnect with many of her Japan-related and Hong Kong friends; she even received a phone call from her ex-colleague from Mitsubishi Chemical.
Leona’s hair is short now! Karen cut almost 9 inches of Leona’s hair out of frustration during a lice crisis. Leona is very optimistic; there were no tears and she told us that her hair would grow back very soon.
Leona can now read simple picture books by herself and has just fallen in love with a series of chapter books about rainbow magic fairies. We have finished reading 3 of those books to her during this Christmas holidays and she is looking forward to borrowing more from the library.
Leona loves her dolls, enjoys dancing as well as doing mini art projects. Her newfound hobby is quite unusual for our girly Leona. She loves watching Pokemon and often pretend to be a Pokemon trainer while playing with her brothers.
Michael is still working at Genesis. Outside of work, our lives have been spiced up with various gatherings and outings with his co-workers – skiing at Blue Mountain, visting Quebec City, seeing the Light Festival, and BBQ-ing etc.
Playing video games is quite a bonding opportunity for Michael and the children these days. Early in the year, Michael bought a Nintendo Wii. Together with the Nintendo DS he bought a year ago, the Ding’s children enjoy playing video games with daddy.
** Mean mommy Karen insists on a 20-minute maximum per person per day.
Nicholas celebrated his First Communion and Reconciliation in spring 2007! We were very lucky to have friends and family celebrating this very important event with us.
Nicholas’ soccer team won a trophy! He played soccer with the Hakka United Sports Club in the summer. Nicholas’ team was in the under 8 group, played 3 matches and beat other Asian soccer teams! Nicholas had the honor to keep the trophy for 2 weeks in September.
Nicholas loves sports, challenges, science experiments and reading. He also enjoys playing video games and connecting with a few of Karen’s friends via e-mail. He likes lunch dates with mommy whenever Karen is off work on weekdays. The lunch menu he created helped Karen immensely when preparing lunch for the Ding’s children during the summer.
I would be lying to claim that everything went really well this year. There have been difficult times, but Our Lord continues to shower His blessings onto us! Friends and family have provided us with endless support and we are very grateful!
There is a Chinese saying, “Behind every successful man is a very supportive woman.” Karen thinks that the reverse is true as well. Karen wants to thank Michael for taking over the responsibilities on nights when she had to work overtime – from picking up children to sending them to bed. Thanks Michael!
We would also like to give special thanks to Po Po. She has been very important in our busy lives. She rarely says “No” even to the most unexpected babysitting request – from panicky phone call in the morning asking her to look after a sick grandchild to a grandchild preferring not to tag along to Nicholas’ basketball practice on Friday nights. Without her, we would be dreaming to have a green vegetable dish for dinner on weeknights.
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