Christmas break and our guest from China

Initially I planned for a two-week Christmas break for our homeschool (one week before and one week after Christmas), but life happened and the break stretched to three weeks. The reason: a guest from China stayed with us for two weeks.

Michael is son of Guibo's third or fourth cousin, a recent college graduate who is going to UC Berkeley for graduate study. His staying with us was sort of unplanned because he supposedly secured a room to rent when he was in China, but that place was way too far from campus. We were glad to host him, and the boys had a good time playing with a big brother, wrestling, roughhousing, and playing basketball and soccer.  Oh, how Daniel loved to play with big brother's i-Phone. The obsessive playing  became out of control sometimes. Talking about kids quickly adapting to technology (or being quickly attached to electronic toys), even James was saying "When I grew up, I want i-Phone 4S."

A few places that we took our guest to visit: old town Sacramento, State Capitol, Effie Yeaw Nature Center, and Consumes River Nature Preserve.

Old town Sacramento

Great Egret, as still as a statue, picture taken by Daniel

Consumes River wet land

Old town Sacramento, in front of a river-front restaurant.

Christmas Play

Ms. Bee, one of the lead teachers at our church's Children's Sunday School Kindergarten class, spent hours put together a very lovely Christmas play, with five scenes, with dances and songs and finger play, and with lines for almost every role. Several teachers and parents were helping with all the rehearsals and the final production. I was in charging of Mary (Olivia) and Joseph (James), and the four girl inn keepers who also acted as shepherds. Although I had 6 kids to supervise, but my job seemed easier than that of my co-worker Stanley, who got a all-boy band (the angle and three wise men). Working with the children during the four to six rehearsals, I can really tell gender difference in behavior between boys and girls. Acting up is often contagious, but especially among boys.

Anyway, all the children did so well at the final production on Christmas Day. You see innocence, sweetness, talent, and of course, a little naughtiness. Only two years ago, James' stage fright was so big that he refused to try for rehearsal. There he was, not a little bit shy in front the audience. Instead he was making goofy faces on stage.

Four girl inn keepers and shepherds too

The six kids that I was watching

Mary was sitting on Joseph's lap

See James' goofy face and folded arms? No wonder Mary (Olivia) was concerned.

I have Joy Joy Joy Down in My Heart

The all-boy band. Aren't they cute?

2011, what a blessed year!

Highlights and reflections for year 2011, a year with significant changes in our family life, and a very blessed year indeed.

1. Am I hearing you right, God? January to March. After many months of researching and praying, it became clearer and clearer that God was calling me to homeschool our two children, which meant that I needed to quit my job and became a full-time mother/teacher/homemaker. Rather terrified by all the what-if's following this drastic life style change,  I even did partial fasting (for one meal a day) for some days. God was so gracious to me that He comforted me with His word. "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasure at your right hand." -- Psalm 16:11  "Be strong and courageous." -- Joshua 1:6 (also Joshua 1:7 and 1:9)
2. A pleasant surprise from the other side of the globe. May. I told my dad and step-mom who live in China about our homeschooling decision. Albeit being concerned about our finances and the challenge of doing something new, they both were quite understanding and supportive. 
3. Farewell, my cubicle. May. I notified my supervisor about my resignation. I had been at that job for almost 10 years (only two months shy). I actually liked my job, esp. the friendly co-workers and the supportive bosses. And I was pretty good at what I had been doing. So it was not easy to leave everything that had become so comfortably familiar. 
4.  Family's trip to China. August. Our family went on a trip to China visiting family and friends. Last time the whole family went back was 3 years ago. We cannot afford to go every year, so trip to China is always very special. We stayed at three different places, visiting grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins,  and some old friends, and going to a few tourist attractions. The boys bonded with grandparents, esp. with my dad quite quickly. Another great joy was knowing that a couple of our relatives (my cousin and her husband, Guibo's oldest brother's family) were coming to and growing strong in the Lord. Yet another unexpected joy was that the documentary series 彼岸/(Beyond) we gave as gifts to some of our relatives and friends turned out to be a big blessing. Because the producer forwent the documentary series' copyright in China, my step-mom was able to make quite a few copies to give away to her friends.  
5. Our homeschool starts! September. Barely recovered from fatigue and jet-lag after returning from our trip to China, I was far from ready to begin the very first year of our homeschool, but somehow it did get start right after Labor Day. Three days into the first week, I already knew that something would NOT work --the two cute record-keeping books I bought at a homeschool conference. I hated to see money wasted but guessed that it was only a small part of what I have to pay for "on the job training". We finished our first term one week before Christmas. I was pretty satisfied with what  Daniel had learned and retained. Well, James was another story. It seemed that he was not ready for Kindergarten, so I had to adjust my plan and expectation. Although homeschooling is very challenging, I remain convicted that it  is well worth the efforts and the sacrifices. Frankly, I don't consider them sacrifices, well, most of the time :). One day, Daniel said to me, "Mom, when I have kids, I will homeschool them." Could I count this as an affirmation? Coming from my boy who often unknowingly forces me to realize how incapable I am, it really encouraged me. 
6. Laundry room flood. Thanksgiving Day. Out of curiosity, Daniel stuffed a piece of paper towel into the water outlet in our washer, causing water overflowing from the washer and flooding the laundry room and adjunct rooms (with carpet!), causing dad missing the Thanksgiving hot pot lunch, causing malfunction of the dryer, and causing dad and mom hours of labor to deal with the aftermath. But something good came out of it, namely Daniel's honesty of telling the truth. The whole thing was recounted in detail in this post. 
7. Starting a new tradition for Christmas. For the first time, we celebrated Advent by using a Jesse Tree, from December 1 all the way to December 25, Christmas Day. It was fun and meaningful. I have to admit though, that during the Christmas season the boys' main attention was still on stuff--what kind of stuff they wanted and what they would get. Something to keep working on...