Photo With Colleagues

All is going well here in Charlottesville and Jonny and Daniel are arriving today -- can't wait, I've missed them so much!

The meeting has been very productive and it's great to get to know my colleagues better -- they are a great bunch of people from different parts of the world. Here is our team's photo taken last night after dinner.

Bye for now!



 

Away On Travel!

Hi Loved Ones!

Yes, I know, my attempt to have a weekly update failed...  I still like the idea so let's see if I can implement it in the near future amidst our busy schedule.

For now, just wanted to say that I'm currently away in Charlottesville, Virginia, for a work conference/meeting and Jonny and Daniel are joining me here on Wednesday -- can't wait! We will then spend a long weekend in Williamsburg for much needed R&R! Jonny is officially done with his first MBA semester and now has 3 weeks off until the summer classes start, so we are taking advantage of this to get away!

Here are some cute photos of Daniel from his last day at his first pre-school a few weeks ago -- he was so happy running in the playground! He continues to do well in his new school and I hope to take some photos of him there soon.

Bye for now!

Didn't get nice photos on Mother's Day but enjoyed cuddling up with my little firefighter -- yes, it's still his obsession!

Week in Review - Last Week of April

Sometimes it's so hard to find time to blog, especially when there is so many things going on and so many pictures to sort through. I just read a blog in which the author posts weekly reviews using short bullets summarizing key events of the past week and only one favorite photo. I think I will give this a try too and see if it helps me be more consistent with blogging, with at least one post per week.

So here we go...

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

• After being sick for more than 2 weeks, I am finally starting to feel better again. I'm still not 100% but am much better, thank God -- it was pretty bad this time around!
• Daniel had his last day at his first pre-school on Tuesday. His teachers were great in preparing him and his friends to say good-bye. I showed up for the afternoon snack, brought a special treat and took lots of photos. His class prepared a "good-bye" book for Daniel with class photos and drawings. It went as well as we could have hoped; we wanted Daniel to be clear that he was leaving and to say good-bye properly but we didn't want him to get sad or scared.
• Wednesday through Friday was Daniel's orientation at his new pre-school which is just around the corner from my new job (as opposed to 40 minutes away -- the commute was just too hard for us to keep Daniel in the previous school long term). I went with Daniel for 1 hour on Wednesday, he went on his own for 2 hours on Thursday and then on Friday, he was there until after nap. The great news is that he did great and really likes his new school! Praise God! He did not cry even once and even told me twice yesterday he wants to go back to school! This is a huge relief for us since we were worried about him having to adjust to a complete new environment again. Jonny said that the highlight of his week was picking up Daniel from school on Friday and seeing him so happy playing with his new friends.
• Daniel had his second soccer practice (Wednesday afternoon) and first soccer game (Saturday morning). He is part of the Mustang soccer team, for 3 and 4 year olds! He didn't want to join the practice at first and preferred to watch from the side but then joined in a little and managed to dribble the ball and score a couple of times -- followed by a very excited dance of celebration! On Saturday, he wasn't interested in the game at all but instead, preferred to play with Jonny on the side, practicing to kick, etc (see photo above). We need to be really patient with him, encourage him in this area, since he is only 3 and is a little overwhelmed by soccer! :-)
• We've had to start treating Daniel's eyes for conjunctivitis again (second time in one month) but thankfully, this time he is tolerating the eye drops so much better (before, he screamed through the whole process, now, he just wiggles around).
• Jonny had his marketing and statistics MBA classes and now only has 2 weeks left until his first break (about 4 weeks) before the summer semester starts. It will be so nice to have him home again more for a whole month.
• Jonny and I got up at 5:30 am on Friday to watch the Royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine. It was just amazing, true fairy tale. Daniel even joined us at 6:30 am (unusual for him to wake up so early) and said "he wanted to go to the wedding too." It was fun!
• We just started a new series at our church and will be going through the book of Hebrews -- Jonny and I are really excited about this!

(Note to self: I still ended up writing quite a bit, but it didn't take much time. This may work, let's see how it goes from now on...)

Reflections On Resurrection Sunday

It is Resurrection Sunday and I'm still sick. Since this has been going on now for 9 days, I went back to the doctor this morning for the second time. I have developed an infection in my sinuses, which explains the constant headache and pain over my face, in particularly in the cheek and upper teeth area. I'm now on antibiotics and am hoping that by tomorrow, I will at least feel some improvement...

Right now, I have the window in my room opened and can hear Daniel over at Enya's house with Jonny having a great time. How I wish I was feeling better to be there too! This weekend really did not turn out how I had hoped it would. I was so looking forward to going to church both on Good Friday and today, but I was just too unwell to do so. I managed to make it to Nena's house today for a very special, delicious lunch, but spent most of the time lying on her bed... Oh, sickness, please go away!

But despite feeling this way, I was able to have great communion with Jesus these last few days. I spent a lot of time meditating on His death on the cross and then His resurrection 3 days later... Though I'm still physically sick, spiritually, I feel closer to the Lord and in greater understanding and awe of his great love for me. Thank you Lord!

"Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him" (Matthew 28: 1 - 7)

 

Today we celebrate Jesus' resurrection and oh, what an important event this was! The fact that Jesus was resurrected confirms that all He said was true. It confirms that He is God and that He conquered death once and for all. It gives me confidence to trust in Him, to follow Him and to know that when I die, I will be united with Him, just as He promised.

It also gives me confidence that my sins are indeed forgiven. God has accepted His sacrifice for my sins and I now have a real relationship with Him. Though I continue to sin, I am no longer in bondage, or dominated by my sin. His resurrection gives me power to become more like Jesus. I am slowly becoming more like Him, through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in me. This truth can be confirmed by any person who knows me well; especially Jonny who "sees it all" on a daily basis. God's spirit in me has helped me develop greater patience, gentleness, self-control, kindness, humility, gratefulness and ability to forgive. I now worry less about what others think of me but more about what God thinks (hence my growing openness in this blog!).  It has allowed me to focus more on worshipping God, rather than myself. 

I still have a long way to go. I am particularly aware of my tendency to make my needs and desires my primary interest, to be self-righteous and judgemental, to harbor bitterness, feel envy and just not love others as He commanded me to. But, because of His resurrection, I have confidence that I will continue to be transformed. This hope is not out of guilt; it is out of love for my Savior and a genuine desire to be holy, to be a light in this dark world, to glorify Him. It is His love that compels me.

"For God so loved the world,  that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3: 16-17)

Happy Easter loved ones! May the grace, peace and salvation of the Lord Jesus be with you!

Reflections On Good Friday

Today is Good Friday and I'm home, still recovering from a terrible cold virus... It's a blessing in disguise to have to stay home (it's not a holiday here); to have the opportunity to stop and reflect on what Good Friday is all about.

Our reflections started last night. Jonny and I read several passages from the book of Matthew and John together, mainly focusing on the events that happened on Thursday, the day before Jesus was crucified.

What struck me in our reading yesterday of John, starting in chapter 13, was all that Jesus did and told his disciples only hours before he was taken away. Instead of focusing or preparing for what was going to happen to him, Jesus focused on loving the disciples. Here is a summary of some of the things he did or said:

• He washed their feet as an example of what he wanted them to do for others
• He warned them about what was about to happen, including Judas' betrayal, so they would believe in him
• He told them to love one another, just as he loved them
• He told them not to let their hearts be troubled, but to believe in God and in him
• He told them that he was going away to prepare a place for them and that he would come back and take them away with him
• He told them that he was the way, the truth, and the life; that no one comes to the Father except through him, and that if you know him, you also know the Father.
• He told them he would ask his Father to give them the Holy Spirit, a Helper, who would be with them forever and would dwell in them.
• He said he would not leave them as orphans.
• He told them to abide in Him, and he would abide in them, and they would bear much fruit. 
• He told them as the Father had loved him, he had loved them
• He said that they were his friends, because he had made known to them what he heard from the Father
• He told them to remember that if the world hated them, it had hated him before. The world would love them if they were of the world, but they were not
• He even told them that some would be killed because of believing in him
• He said it was to their advantage that he go away, so that the Helper would come
• He told them that in a little while they would see him no longer but again in a little while, they would see him. He said that their sorrow would turn into joy
• He also prayed for them and all the future believers in Him...

And then, this morning, I listened to the crucifixion narrative; a very moving 23 minutes which I highly recommend -- here is the PDF. Again, the love that Jesus demonstrated for others during his final hours of life touched me immensely. Most of his last few words on the cross, in agony, focused on others, including:

• "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"
• He told the thief on his right that believed in him: "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise"
• He told Mary, his mother, that she would not be left alone; that John, would be her son.   

But then, I was reminded again in a powerful way, what we so often forget about the crucifixion. Yes, Jesus suffered immense physical pain; he was slapped, whipped, outfitted with a crown of thorns, laid on the ground where cold spikes were driven into his wrist and feet, hung on a cross...

But the worse of it all, was the spiritual pain he experienced. He was, for the first time in his life, separated from his Father.  Though sinless, he took on all the sin of mankind, and experienced his Father's complete hatred and wrath towards sin. Did he deserve it? No! But he still chose to experience this so that he could reconcile human beings, including me, back to his Father. It was the only sacrifice that would count, once and for all.

In the crucifixion narrative I listened to, God tells Jesus exactly why he is being punished, by specifying all the sin He hates. And I couldn't stop myself from crying. You know why? Because I saw myself in that description so many times and I knew that Jesus was innocent! I felt like screaming, "No! Stop! He is not to blame, I am!" So many of the words used describe me, at different moments of my life:

"You are self-sufficient and self-righteous—consumed with yourself and puffed up and selfishly ambitious. You rob me of my glory and worship what's inside of you instead of looking out to the One who created you. You are a greedy, lazy, gluttonous slanderer and gossip. You are a lying, conceited, ungrateful... You exchange my truth for a lie and worship the creature instead of the Creator...You hate your brother and murder him with the bullets of anger fired from your own heart... ignore the needy. You love money and prestige and honor. You put on a cloak of outward piety, but inside you are filled with dead men's bones—you hypocrite! You are lukewarm and easily enticed by the world. You covet... You are filled with envy and rage and bitterness and unforgiveness. You blame others for your sin and are too proud to even call it sin.... you have a razor tongue that lashes and cuts with its criticism and sinful judgment. Your words do not impart grace. Instead your mouth is a fountain of condemnation and guilt and obscene talk.  You mock your parents. You have no self-control. You're an anxious coward. You do not trust me. You blaspheme against me."

That describes me. According to God, there is no denying that I'm a sinner. And because I am, I have no right to be in a relationship with a Holy God who hates sin. Instead, I deserve eternal separation from Him.

BUT, the good news is that on Good Friday, Jesus drank the Father's cup. He bore the separation that I deserve.

On the cross, the Father could no longer look at his beloved Son, the mirror-image of himself. He looked away and Jesus exclaimed: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”And then Jesus cried: "It is finished."

And it is indeed  finished. Every sin of every child of God, including my sin, has been laid on  Jesus. Jesus accomplished His mission. The ultimate sacrifice was accepted.

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24-25)

I will never fully comprehend, until Heaven, the significance of what Jesus did on Good Friday. But I know enough to be moved to tears for I am reconciled with God; I have a relationship with Him; the Holy Spirit lives inside of me, and one day, I will be reunited with Him again. I know enough to believe and worship Him! I know enough to love Him! I know enough to experience his peace that surpasses all understanding, even amidst the most difficult of trials. Even when my newborn son was dying in my arms...

Oh, my heart overflows with gratitude!

Thank you Jesus. Thank you Abba Father. Good Friday is indeed, very good.  

"Picnic" Time!

Tonight was such a warm evening and Daniel and I got to eat dinner outside on our deck (Jonny was at night school)! We had such a nice time together! Daniel appreciated being outside and said we were having a "picnic." We talked a lot, mostly about putting out fires on tall buildings, but it really felt like I had a friend with me, and not my 3-year old son. What a blessing he is!

I got a cute video of Daniel for you to see -- HD I might add! Though he was being quite silly and even naughty as the video progressed, I think he coped quite well with the "interview." Note that he pretended for most of the evening today that I was his friend Owen -- one of his best friends at school. Daniel lives in an imaginary world, it's incredible and so much fun to be part of. Enjoy watching this sweet boy!

Spring Is Here!

Spring is finally here. There has been lots of rain and some beautiful warmer days which has made us very excited that soon, it will be summer. We just can't wait for all the fun things we can enjoy outside. This year's winter was very long and harsh. Though we didn't get much snow, it was bitterly cold for weeks.

And we have all been sick a lot these past few months. I would say that on average, Daniel has had something, either a runny nose or a high fever (most recently conjunctivitis), every 2 to 3 weeks. It's his first winter in pre-school and many people, including his doctor, say that it is normal for children to get sick often when they first go to school and that it will get better -- his immune system is getting stronger as a result. I do hope so! It's been hard at times for us because Jonny has had to take a lot of time off from work to take care of Daniel when he has been sick (because my job is new, I'm still accumulating sick leave). And we have been sick a lot too. Jonny was quite ill last weekend and I have spent most of this weekend in bed with a sore throat, body pain and weakness. Thankfully, one of us is usually well to take care of Daniel when the other is sick. 

Anyway, yesterday morning I took Daniel to an Easter Bunny Party in our neighborhood. The highlight was seeing the Easter Bunny; Daniel was not scared of him and hugged his legs. He also enjoyed having Enya there too. See photos below:

 

Have a great week loved ones!

Daniel's Age 3 Check-Up

Daniel had his 3 year old check-up yesterday and it went well. He hasn't gained much weight since he was 2 -- now weighing 34 1/2 pounds (15.7 kg) compared to his age 2 check-up when he was weighing about 33.  He is not underweight though, at 75th percentile, he was just quite chubby before. He is 39 1/2 inches long (3.3 feet or 100.3 cm), still on the tall side for his age, at 88th percentile. I need to check how tall he was last year... cannot remember exactly right now. The doctor was amazed by how strong his thigh muscles are and asked if he jumped a lot. He doesn't, he's just always had big thigh muscles -- will he be the future "Roberto Carlos" (Brazilian football player)? :-)

I was particularly worried about him getting a vaccine since he is so much more aware now of everything, but I was reading him a book when the nurse gave him a shot on his left arm and he didn't even notice it. He loved the bandaid he got though and played around with it later, pretending he was a doctor.

I took some pictures with my phone at the check-up -  look how cute he looked in his Elmo's underwear (I didn't get a chance to blog about this before, but Daniel has been wearing underwear during the day now consistently since Christmas -- a couple of months before his 3rd birthday).

We had to wait an hour to see the doctor and Daniel kept himself entertained in many different ways...

Having his blood pressure taken for the first time (it was pretty low, something like 82/64...)

First time measuring his height standing up -- you can really see his thigh muscles in this picture.





Photos Highlighting Special Moments Of The Past Month

To start, some cute photos of the boy wonder...

And of Buffy too!

 Every couple of weeks or so Nena has us over for lunch and spoils us with her love and food...

When tia Fafa visited us for Daniel's 3rd birthday, she got to enjoy tia Nena too...

And Daniel as always...



Then vozinha and vozinho arrived and pampered us for 3 weeks. Lots of wonderful moments together...



 

Let's just say Daniel enjoyed being the "baby" of the family again!

And what a special present Daniel got: Vovo Stephen wrote a book for him called "Daniel the Fire Chief and Fergus the Fire Dog", which included some illustrations from Uncle Thomas, Stephen's son. It's one of Daniel's favorite books now! The other main character is Enya, the Fire Woman!

We spent several hours in DC one day with old friends and Daniel had so much fun playing with Alex, Helen's son, who will soon be 11 (he was only a few months old when he came to our wedding!).

We had Dim-Sum for lunch at a fantastic Chinese Restaurant. It was Daniel's first time and he loved it -- must be the Chinese genes!



As always, tea was a favorite -- Chinese green tea!



With special friends from our time in Sri-Lanka and Holland...



Tired boys after lots of playing...Alex was just great with Daniel!



Jonny and I went away on a "24 hour honeymoon"(first time we got away together alone since Daniel was born) and my mother and Stephen took care of Daniel for us and visited with family in town...

As a special thank you, we took vozinha and vozinho out to a Japanese restaurant and it was fun to dress Daniel and papai in a "doctor shirt" (as Daniel likes to call white collared shirts)!

And then it was time to say good-bye, once again, at the airport...

We miss having them around so much... but we are focusing on being grateful for the special time we had together, first with my sister, and then with vozinha and vozinho. Thanks again for coming tia Fafa, vozinha and vozinho! We love and miss you!