Moments to Treasure: June 2006

Friday class as usual.

We went to Chinatown to teach English as usual. There was no Sisters' Fellowship this week, so we did not have to rush to church after class. Instead, we went to Orion, so Daniel could sign checks for the Parkgreen Apartments.

Classroom where Daniel and I teach the new immigrants on Studies for Citizenship. See my new hair-do?

Daniel going for his colonoscopy

Poor Daddy had to starve all day yesterday in preparation for his colonoscopy. Besides taking a clear liquid diet, he also had to dulcolax tablets and 3 oz of Fleets Phospho Soda. He did not complain much.

We got to the hospital half hour before the schedule time. It did not take too long before they called Daniel to go inside. I waited outside reading my magazines. Then I went to the Opthalmalogy Department trying to make an appontment for myself to see Dr. Lemos. I was told to call the office for an appointment. By the time I got back to waiting area, they were calling for me already. I went inside to meet with Daniel's Doctor. She showed me on the computer the pictures she took and pointed out to me the one small polyp she took out. That wasn't too bad according to her. Daniel was still pretty drowsy. They sent him to the recovery room and told me to wait again for another half hour. When I was asked to get him home, he was still very groggy. I signed the papers and helped him to get dressed. An assistant came to wheel him down and she helped to get him into the car. He told me to turn to the left in order to get on the freeway. I told him I want to take the local route. He said, " It is OK, I will drive." Oh no way Jose, I could tell he was hardly awake. So I kept on driving towards Chinatown and told him we were going to have lunch first. We went to a place where we could have wonton noodles. Slowly he ate his lunch. That was very unusual because he always eats very fast. Obviously, he was still under the influence of the anesthesia.

There was a Beauty Solon right by the restaurant. I thought it might be a good idea to make him sit and rest there while I could have my perm. Hopefully, by the time my hair was done he would be fully awaken. There were quite a few customers waiting in line. I had to wait a long, long time before it was my turn. Luckily, Daniel was able to sleep soundly sitting in the solon. I was real happy I finally got a perm for my ugly hair. Amy thought my new hair-do looks quite awkful though.

Apartment Ministry

Class started at 8:30 am. We were told to concentrate on teaching the students answereing questions and writing out simple sentences. I found out most of them understand the questions and they can also answer them. Writing the sentence down is another story. Spelling is very hard for them. Unfortunately, the immigration officer always ask the applicant to write one sentence in English. So I urge them to work on spelling. At the end of the class, I gave them each a small piece of paper. I asked them to write down the word "restaurant" and just study this one word for this week, hoping that word by word they will learn some simple English.

After class, we wanted to put in new batteries for two of our watches, but the shop was not opened yet. So we went shopping for Chinese grocery first.

A busy Sunday.

This morning I had to pick up Elder Chan and his wife to go to church besides Kung Kung and Po Po. They insisted that they would like to treat me to lunch. I thanked them and tried to turn them down by giving them all the excuses I could think of. However, they wouldn't take no for an answer. KennethWoo's Mom ended up coming along. That gave me a reason to drag Amy to join us since we needed her to drive Mrs. Woo. The restaurant wasn't as crowded as last week, so we had a good relaxed lunch together.

Tonight, we were invited out to dinner at Kenneth's home. He was entertaining the guest speaker Rev. Yu from Hong Kong. They prepared many delicious dishes - baked shrimp wrapped with bacon, barbarcue spareribs, baked salmon, noodles and soup. For dessert we had fresh fruit, egg tarts, coconut tarts and bean curd puddings. What a meal! Conversation during dinner centered on the work of the China Seminary in Hong Kong and especially in Mainland China.

Luncheon in celebration for Father's Day.

Today, a luncheon was held in Jade Garden by the Sr. Fellowship in celebration for Fathers' Day. The food was really good. We all enjoyed it very much. I even packed a box of leftover Peking duck and vegetables for Amy.

I could not work in the yard and get all dirty today, because we still had to attend the pot luck dinner and the cell group meeting tonight. So I busied myself in cleaning out my own closets. It was so full of everything that I couldn't even unpack my luggage or wash the laundries, since I had no idea where to put what. I threw out a lot of old, ugly, useless things. I packed away one sack of medium size t shirts for Kung Kung and another bag of large size clothes which I think might fit our friend Ben. I was far from finishing my project when I had to stop in order to start cooking for my pot-luck dish (chicken with mixed vegetables), nothing fancy at all. We were about the last ones to arrive at the meeting place. We chat while we ate. Cell group was conducted by Howard. Tonight's topic was on Jesus as our friend. After the meeting, I got back to cleaning out my closet. It was rather late when finally I got this one job done. It made me feel much better now.

Cell Group meeting on Saturday.

Lunch with the Senior Fellowship in celebration for Fathers' Day.

A full day of activities

No sooner I agreed to join the apartment ministry in teaching English, we were told to start today, twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. I taught the lower class while Daniel taught the more advanced class. There were eight students in my class. Thank God they all speak Cantonese. We are helping them on studies for citizenship. Progress is painfully slow but they are eager to learn.

Classes ended at 9:30, Daniel rushed me to the church so I could attend the Sister Fellowship which also starts at 9:30 am. I will be late from now on. Meeting was followed by a simple lunch prepared by sister Nancy. Then we had our committee meeting to discuss whether our sister fellowship should join the Women ministry of our church. It was passed 3:30 pm when I finally got home.

Kung Kung and Po Po wanted to treat me to dinner for my birthday. We had to postponed it many times, first time because Amy want it to be on Friday rather than Thursday night. We put it off again when we learn we had to go to the Senior's Fellowship on Friday. Saturday was also out because of the wedding banquet that I had to attend. So we finally decided we would do this Friday. We always knew Kung Kung, Po Po prefers Chinese food to American food, unfortunately Daddy doesn't seem to keep that in mind. He insisted that we would try American food at Ryan Buffet Restaurant tonight, since we would have a Chinese luncheon tommorow. No one dared to say no. I ventured to ask if we go for buffet why don't we go to China Bear? The answer was we do not want Chinese food tongiht. So that was where we had our dinner. We were all so stuffed we almost felt sick.

Lunch break during Sisters' Fellowship.

Kung Kung, Po Po treating us to a buffet dinner at Ryan's Restaurant for my birthday.

Daniel is home !

Monday and Tuesday went by fast. I worked mostly on the flower beds in the front. Daniel got home from LA around 3:00 pm. He was all full of energy. Immediately he started to unpacked. He pulled out everything from his suitcases, trying to show me what new things he bought home - a lot of DVDs of course, two T shirts for me and one for Amy. He also got a whole bunch of Chinese snacks and dried food for making soups. He hardly noticed all my hard house-cleaning work for the last few days.

After dinner, we went out for our Wednesday prayer meeting as usual.

Fathers' Day lunch and dinner.

After church, we went to lunch with some close friends at a dim sum restaurant. The place was crowded, but luckily we got our table without waiting for too long. When we finished I asked if Y.Y. could take Kung Kung, Po Po home. Amy wanted to work at the office and I had never visited her office, so I wanted to go with her to take a look around.

The office building was quiet and empty. Being Sunday, the air condition was off. Amy's room is quite comfortable in size and I especially like its big window and the view outside. However. it was really hot without the air condition. I sat there sweating and reading my Chinese newspaper as patient as I could.

We left the office around 5:00pm and went directly to get Kung Kung and Po Po for dinner. I enjoyed the food, but Kung Kung thought it wasn't that great.

A wonderful treat- breakfast at IHOP

The rain was pouring when we tried to go out for breakfast at IHOP. We found parking right in front of the restaurant, but we still got a little wet. With the air condition blasting inside the restaurant, I was getting cold. Mnn, the coffee was especially soothing, I ordered French toast with banana. It was really delicious. Yum, Yum, Yum.

After breakfast we went shopping for Fathers' Day gift for Kung Kung. Amy suggested they needed a vertical fan. So we bought that. I knew he was looking for a small bucket, so we got a lovely one for him. Then we went around looking for picture frames so we could put in the nice family pictures that we took at the studio in LA. We bought two 8" x 10", unfortunately after we got home we found out they were not the right size. We had no choice but headed back outside for other stores after our simple lunch. We finally found them in Aarons.

I had to attend a wedding banquet tonight. Everyone was happy to see me back in Houston. When I returned home, I was disappointed that Amy still hadn't figure out which picture should go in which frame. By the time I arranged everything and gift wrapped Kung Kung's present, it was really late.

A whole day of hard work

I spent the whole morning cleaning the inside of the house. I brushed the toilets, dust the coffee and end tablets, wiped the mirrors, vacuumed and washed the floors. After a short lunch break, I went outside to finish working on the plants in the patio. Before I knew it, it was time to cook for dinner. I barely had enough time to shower and eat, then I had to rush off to pick up Elder and Mrs. Chan, Mom and Ba Ba to go to church for our Friday night fellowship.

Lunch with Kung Kung and Po Po

Yesterday I told my parents that I would take them out to lunch, so in spite a lot of work to be done, I had lunch with them at the Ming Garden. After lunch, we went grocery shopping at HEB and Viet Hoa Supermarket.

After I got home I began my clean-up job on all the patio plants. First I had to move the barbarcue grill into the garage to get it out of my way. Then I trashed out all the dead plants. The next steps to remove each live plant's dead leaves. The cut-up tree trunks that we used as flower pot stands were rotting terribly. Getting rid of them wasn't easy since they were quite heavy. I got big scratches on both legs. It was real tiring. I only got half done, but I had to quit in order to get dinner ready before Amy came home. She came home kind of late - passed 7:00 pm, looking not too happy. I left her alone for I was too tired myself. I spent the night resting and reading Chinese newspaper.

Home coming.

The last few days in La flew by. Soon it was time for me to leave on 6/14 Wednesday. Stephen had gone to TX for a business deal. Sue had an mammogram appointment. Having no other choice becky had to take me to the airport herself. I suggested her to ask someone to come and watch the children. She insisted that Nicole had to go to the airport with us, so she could say good-bye to Po Po and understand that Po Po has gone back home to Houston. Both Peggy and Rachel agreed to come to keep an eye on Jason. So we left the house on time. Traffic was not too bad, as we were driving on HOV lane. Check-in was quite smooth too. The flight was OK even though due to some mechanical problem, they could not show us the announced movie.
Amy arrived outside as I was waiting for my luggage. We chat cheerfully as we drove home.

It was passed 11:00 pm when we finnally got home. I took a quick look at the front lawn. Mnn, not too bad. The little yard outside the back yard was a big, big mess though. Quite a few plants lying dead and decayed leaves were all over the floor. Standing right in the way was the barbarcue grill that we borrowed from our friends long, long time ago. Next to it was a bucket of water Daniel removed from the fish tank. I thought I better hurried inside before I looked any further.

The air was stuffy inside because Amy did not turned on the air condition. All kinds of things lying over the kitchen counter top and table. Before I had time to check on my plants, Amy declared that she got a big job for me to handle. She pointed to the fish tank. The feet-long fish floating stone cold atop of the water. Oh, no! How am I going to fetch it out and dispose it? I tried first using the fish net. Well, no use at all, it was way too small to hold this gigantic dead fish. I ended up putting on the rubber glove and picking the fish up by its tail and then dumping it right into the open bag Amy was reluctantly holding for me. Then I dashed out of the door and threw the dead fish into the garbabge can. Ah, what a relief!

Since Amy had to go to work the next day, I sent her to bed and promised her that I would retire as soon as I could. I left my luggage untouched. First thing I did was to go to the bathroom to bursh my teeth. Again I found all kinds of things were piled on top of the bathroom counter. I did not think I could stand it till the next day, so I started working on cleaning up the counter, the two sinks and the big mirror. After that, I took out my cup and thought I better wash it before using it. The kitchen counter besides being messy, it was awefully sticky, so without hessitation, I started dumping out useless things and cleanint up the kitchen as well as the pantry as there wasn't any room left on the floor for walking though. It was passed 3:00 am when I was done.

Upon returning to the my room, I couldn't go to bed yet, for I worried that the beddings were too dirty. So I changed the bedsheets before I finally lied myself down to rest.

Peggy's Baby Shower

This was the fruit basket Becky especially made for Peggy's baby shower. Not bad, right?

For decoration they had this Hawaiian theme and little duckings that Peggy loves. The center pieces were really beautiful.

Nicole playing with Auntie Peggy at the party.

Alone with Baby Jason while Becky and Nicole were at Peggy's baby shower

Baby Jason looking pretty cool in his new swing, eh?

Po Po, what is that in your hand making all that noises ?

A hot day at the office.

On Monday, the air condition was out the entire day at Chris' office. It was so hot Chris was perspiring all the time while working with the patients. He even went out to get ice cream bar for his co-workers. With the fan blowing and turning his sweat cold, he came home feeling sick.

The next morning he woke up with a sore throat. He was having fever and chills. He suffered through the day working at the office, but decided to cancel his patients so he could take a day off to rest. He could hardly swallow anything but soup, then headed straight to bed.

On Wednesday, Chris sore throat getting worse, Becky made a doctor's appointment for him. However, Chris refused to go to the doctor's office. Instead, he called his dentist friend and got himself a prescription for antibiotic. Becky's old work place Perez had a special function at Noon, she wanted to bring both kids to show them off to her friends there. I was relieved that Chris decided to go with her. They came home before 2:00. Nicole fell asleep in the car and Jason was hungry because it was time for his feeding. Chris went to lie down. He slept for hours.

Thursday, even though his throat still hurts a lot Chris had to return to work. He got some Vicodan from his brother. He took one hoping it would help to relieve the pain, but the pill made him groggy all day. I made congee for him, but he still found it hard to swallow. Sue bought him a few lozenges for his throat and told him to drink plenty of fluid.

Friday, it was my birthday, though I did not want anybody to know. I guessed Amy called to remind Becky so Becky surprised me with a large beautiful fruit tart. Of course, I love it for I always any kind of desserts. Chris' sore throat was a tiny bit bettertoday, but he ate only a little congee for supper, and then went to bed. Becky decided she would go the Couples Fellowship, so I did not have to cook dinner. Baby Jason slept a little and then woke up. He kept doing this again and again, so I could not find time to wash dishes and his bottles. Around 10:00 pm I finally laid him down, but before I could get a few bites of leftover he woke up again. Tomorrow would be Peggy's baby shower. Becky was responsible for getting the food. So after the meeting she had to drop off the drinks and utensils at Peggy's place. It was rather late when she finally got back home.

Becky surprised me with this beautiful fruit tart for my birthday.

Busy weekend.

After Sunday service, Nicole went with Mah Mah as usual. Chris took the time to paint all the doors. On the weekends a lot of people called to look at the vacant units. Since all the units were leased out about the same time last year, now it was time for their yearly renewal. So far, Unit 101 decided to stay, Unit102 moved out, Roomate in UNit103 moved out, 104 is Stephen's unit, 105 is moving out, 106 not sure if they are going or staying, so they are on month to month, 107 moved out, 108 is Becky's unit, 109 will stay and 110 is leaving. All these means a lot of work for Becky and Chris. Becky does all the corresponding, advertising, showing and leasing, Chris works on making the units ready. I am so glad I could stay a little longer at this busy period helping them at least with housework and taking care of the baby.

Baby Jason all dressed up getting ready for Church.

Relaxing on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Mnn, I love to have something to munch on.

It is getting to be so boring after a while.

Baby Jason enjoys watching the movement of the mobile above his crib.

Auntie Amy, I just love the new sheet with the right color you bought for my crib. Thank you very much indeed.

Lunch engagement for Chris and Becky

Today at Noon Chris and Becky were invited to the one-month lunch celebration for Eric's second son - our friend Julie's grandson. Luckily Mah Mah did not have to work this morning, so she took Nicole. I was happy to be with Jason alone.
Lately, Nicole did not have much appetite for her dinner. I am at a loss as to what to cook for her. Since Becky had so much to do at the same time, so sometimes she left Nicole to feed herself. Usually she picked at what she liked to eat like corn or egg and left the rice or noodle in the bowl. The other day I was abhorred and totally shocked to see not only she did not eat her dinner, she had noodles all over herself, on her face as well as her hair. Noodles were lying all around her on the floor. Boy, it was enough to drive anyone crazy.