Videos From the Birthday Party At School

Here are two videos from Daniel's party at his pre-school, it was so much fun!

1. Singing Happy Birthday!



2. Dancing!!!




We are so thankful to God that Daniel had such a wonderful time celebrating his 3rd birthday!  What joy it all was!

Boy Wonder is THREE!!! Videos From The Fire Station

Hi Loved Ones!

Daniel is now 3!!! Last week we had two parties to celebrate: one at his school with his class friends and one at the fire station in our town with friends from our church, neighborhood and some family members (my sister came from London to represent our extended families!).

We have lots of photos to sort through but I wanted to share some videos from the fire station party this past Saturday. It was just SO much fun, just wonderful!  Here are 3 videos highlighting some moments:


1. Daniel and his friends running around at the beginning of the party as we waited for Fireman Todd to start the tour of the station:




2. Jonny dressed up as a fireman! This was a complete surprise and it was so special!


3. Singing Happy Birthday!

Update and Valentine's Day At Preschool

Hi Loved Ones!

Life is busy for us; it's been hard to find time and/or energy to blog. I'm now coming to the end of my second month at my new job and though I continue to love it, it's really demanding and challenging (in a good way). I'm having to really be careful with how I use my free time and not go to bed too late. Overall, we have been able to balance things quite well and make sure we are getting lots of quality time together as a family and with other loved ones around, but this has meant that certain things, such as this blog, have received less attention...

Anyway, we are thankful to God that we are adjusting well to all the changes. Jonny is really enjoying his MBA courses and has already had assignments to give in, a presentation and a test this past Thursday. He is really enjoying the accounting course; what a change from his usual basic molecular biology research!

Daniel is doing great, getting really excited about his upcoming birthday -- in just under 2 weeks! I can't believe my baby boy is going to be 3 soon!!! He is such a sweet boy; I hope to write a blog about him at the end of age 2 just before his birthday...

For now, I wanted to share with you some photos of the Valentine's Day party that he had at his preschool. It was really cute and fun! I didn't realize that Valentine's Day was such a big deal here, but there was a special celebration including goodie bags for the children, who all exchanged cards and small gifts.

When I arrived at the school, the children were dancing and playing...

Then the kids took turns "making" cakes for their parents (mostly mothers came)

The kids then enjoyed a special snack

Here are the goodie-bags the kids prepared earlier in the day...

I caught this cute hug between Daniel and his friend Michael P - they all hug each other often, it's so cute...

Then it was time to open the goodie-bag!

Daniel thanked Ms. Ritchie for his gift from her

And then he thanked his friend Spencer...

He absolutely LOVED the glasses he found in his bag...

And then the kids played and played...



These are Daniel's 3 teachers in the Busy Bees classroom, for ages 2 1/2 to 3 (from left to right): Ms. Michelle, Ms. Kim and Ms. Ritchie

It's always wonderful to see Daniel having fun at school. He still frequently cries when we drop him off in the morning and so we always worry if he is not happy there. But recently, he has started to cry when I pick him up because he says he "wants to play more and doesn't want to go home." Oh well, at least it shows us he does like being at school, even though he has a hard time saying goodbye to us in the mornings.

Till next time loved ones!

Lots Of Fun In The Snow!

We've had a lot less snow this winter compared to last year, but last week we got enough to play in and oh boy, that's exactly what Daniel did!  He had a blast and stayed outside with Jonny for about 3 hours in a row! We were so happy to see him enjoying the snow because he didn't really enjoy it that much the previous two winters (he was just too small to enjoy it for long) and he had been waiting expectantly to play outside in the snow this year.  

Here are some photos of all the fun:

Confidently walking on the snow on his own... 

Sledding with papai!

Sledding alone!

Building a "snow house" with Takumi...

Sledding with Enya...

Sledding with snowball!

Loved being pulled by papai and looking up at the moving clouds -- that's exactly what he told me!

Back at home in his snow suit and hungry, ready for lunch!

Our First Baby's 4th Birthday...

Exactly 4 years ago today, at 9:01 pm, our first son, Jonathan David, was born. Less than two hours later, he left us and went to be with Jesus...

It's hard to believe it's already been 4 years. We wanted to remember him in a special way today and in particular, share more about him with Daniel. I was hoping that today would be more of a day to celebrate his life and that it wouldn't be too sad... However, it was... I spent a lot of the day in grief...missing him terribly. This surprised me; I didn't expect the grief to be so strong after 4 years. But I received an e-mail today from Pastor Dan, the Pastor who faithfully stood by us during my pregnancy, birth and first months after he passed, saying:

"Just wanted you to know that I am praying for you today on this anniversary date. Much has happened since then, but I am sure the mother's pain will never completely disappear." 

Yes, Pastor Dan, you are absolutely right. Today was confirmation that a mother's pain will never completely disappear. I hope to remember this for the years to come, so that I won't be so surprised by the sadness that took over me today... 

Despite it all, we still managed to bake a birthday cake for Jonathan David with Daniel. And we talked a lot about him. Daniel still doesn't fully understand, but at least now he knows he has a brother, his name is Jonathan David and that he lives in Heaven with Jesus. It was very special to hear him articulate this...

Here is a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Jonathan David together and some photos. Daniel was so excited about the cake!

To our first born, Jonathan David:

We miss you so much... We still grieve your loss. However, in our grief, we still have hope! Hope that because of our Lord Jesus, we will be with you again one day, and it will be forever.

We love you!

Papai and Mamae

Psalm 139: 13-16

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

Special Wednesdays Continued...

In the last 2 months or so, Daniel's love for books has gone to a different level. Now he wants us to read him stories, books with a plot and several words. The old word books are no longer as fun. He listens very carefully and often remembers and recites words of the books we have read a few times. We are loving this new phase!

So a trip to the library every other Wednesday or so, has become a very special thing to do on our "date day." Last Wednesday we chose about 12 books and we actually sat on the sofa in the library for about an hour and read through several of them. What a wonderful way to spend quality time together! And then in the evening, when papai got home, Daniel enjoyed going through all the books again, as you can see in the photos below:



Yesterday's "date day" we couldn't go out because it was snowing, so we decided to make cookies. Daniel now enjoys this, helping mamae put the ingredients in the bowl and mixing them together. At times it is challenging because he wants to do things "his way", like put the flour in the butter before we have mixed the sugar in first, but he is learning to follow directions. :-) He particularly loves placing the cookie balls on the baking sheet and pounding them down before baking! I didn't get any photos of the cooking session (I will next time!), but I got him enjoying the final product and a cup of milk (which he now likes!):

General Update And Our Special Wednesdays

Hi loved ones! Since we're snowed in tonight (I was supposed to go out), I have time to blog! Praise God, we are all doing as well as we could have hoped, despite the frequent exhaustion at the end of each day...

Key highlights regarding the big changes we are experiencing:

1. I'm loving my new job! It is a perfect fit for me. The work is very interesting, my colleagues are great, the commute is so easy, and the 4 day schedule is working out perfectly for our family. My main work right now is very similar to what I used to do, providing technical assistance in Research and Evaluation for a Behaviour Change Communication Public Health Program in Zambia. I have never worked for Zambia before and it's been very interesting to learn about that country in Southern Africa.

2. Daniel is doing well at school, though he was very sick the previous week with a high fever that lasted 5 days. So going back to school after all those days at home took some adjustments but now he is doing better (he is still shy when we drop him off in the mornings but is always reluctant to go home in the afternoons!). Also, many of his "older" friends - those who are already 3 - moved to a different classroom and Daniel was sad to see them go... But he is now happy with those friends that stayed and is getting to know the new ones.

3. Jonny had his first MBA class last night! He is taking two classes the next 8 weeks: "Business Communications" and "Accounting and Financial Reporting." He already has assignments due each week, so the workload is large. He has 6 hours of class per week (currently Tuesday and Thursday nights), which means that he should expect to study 12 to 18 hours per week at home (2 - 3 hours per hour of class). What this means is that he will have to study most evenings and on Saturdays. We decided that Sundays will be our family day off -- to go to church and enjoy being together. It's a big change but we will be taking one day at a time and are trusting God to guide us on how to fit everything in and continue connected as a couple and family.

Special Wednesdays: My "date day" with Daniel

I was so happy that my new supervisor agreed with my proposed schedule to be off on Wednesdays. It works perfectly because after just 2 days, I get lots of quality time with Daniel, before working another 2 days and then there is the weekend. It is a good break for us both from work and school.

I have been very intentional to make our Wednesdays together special and so I have been planning different activities for us to do together. I have been calling it our "date day" so that Daniel also knows it's a special day with his "mamae." We are likely to be going to the Gymnastics Open Gym session we used to go to last year, as Daniel loves it and they only have it during the week.

Here are some photos of Daniel the last time we went. To my surprise, he spent most of the time there jumping into the "foam pit" over and over again! He barely spent time on the trampoline this time. The foam pit is great but it's hard work to get out of  (last time we went, around May of last year, he couldn't get out of the pit alone) but Daniel just kept jumping and climbing out for about 40 minutes. I thought he was so brave to jump from so high too, but he wasn't afraid at all and just loved it! Before each time he jumped, he wanted me to say "One, two, three, go!" or "Ready, set, go!"

(Sorry most of the photos are not correctly oriented -- I can't get them to turn around.)

Better get to bed now! Tomorrow we are likely to be snowed in, so we hope to play outside! This will be the first proper snow fall that we had all winter, so we are excited about it - and hope to post photos soon too!

Good night loved ones!