Harmonee Visits

Just a few weeks ago, Harmonee (Grandma) came to visit us.



We went out to eat at a restaurant called "Stir Crazy." It's a cool place. You get to chose your own ingredients and watch them make your dish right in front of you! Mommy & Daddy made a tasty rice noodle dish.




I had fun playing with the crayons...





... and just being with Harmonee that weekend.



I like it when family & friends come visit us.
Our house still isn't fixed up yet, but when it is (soon I hope), I'll let you know... and you'll all come visit us, right???

Crazy NY Weather

We've had some pretty crazy weather here.

SNOW
The winter here wasn't very cold this year (compared to Toronto and Michigan!), but we had this big snow storm once in March. There was so much snow everywhere. Our car couldn't get out of our driveway.



It was so bad that even church had to be cancelled and closed down for that weekend! So we decided to have worship at our house instead. It was funny because we had more people come than usual... even with all the snow! Mommy & Daddy said it was because we prayed.

We had a very nice worship together, and then the youth helped shovel all the snow in our driveway!



SUN
Then a couple of weeks later, it felt like summer outside and that made me happy. 



It was funny to still see snow from the big snowstorm when it was so warm outside.





RAIN
Then in April, we had this big rain storm. It rained so much for 2 days. We tried to go out for some groceries, because we thought that the silly Americans were just making a big deal out of nothing. But we didn't know how bad it really was! We didn't end up going very far because we kept running into flooded streets.



One street looked like a rushing river! It was kinda scary. We had to turn back and go home.

So that's been my crazy adventures with the crazy weather here!

I am Canadian!

Oh! I'm also a Canadian now! YAY! (Remember? I was born in the U.S.!) My new Canadian Citizenship card came in the mail not too long ago. Now I am a Korean-Chinese-Canadian-American!

Growing With My Church Family

Wow. It's been a long time since I last updated! Did you miss me???  I'll try to update more if you leave me comments to let me know that you visited! :)

Well, since I last wrote, I've been doing a lot of things with my church family, like...

...visiting mental health homes & nursing homes...



...launching our high school cell group ministry... and sharing many laughs doing team-building exercises during "boot camp" weekend for our core team...





...playing Monopoly (Daddy's super-modified version) during game nights ...



...celebrating birthdays with surprise parties...



...and just hanging out at our house...



I just love being with my church family!

Home Improvement

A few weeks ago, Mommy & Daddy were fixing up the house.
They started by painting some of our rooms, so I saw a lot of this:





My big brothers and sisters from church even came to help us a few times. I wanted to help too, but they wouldn't let me in the rooms until the paint dried, because they said the paint smells bad.

We also went shopping a lot to fill up and decorate the rooms. I especially liked going to this store, because it's like a big maze inside:



We are still decorating and buying new things for the house, so the rooms are not finished yet. Oh, and we are still waiting for part of the house to get renovated too.

When it is all done, I will show you and give you a tour of our home, OK?

Happy Birthday, Uncle Eli!

Today is my Uncle Eli's birthday. Here I am with Uncle Eli & Auntie Susie during Christmas time:



Uncle Eli is really cool. He has a cool camera -- cooler than Mommy's.
Whenever Mommy & Daddy get together with Auntie Susie & Uncle Eli, they always laugh a lot together. That makes me laugh, too! Too bad they live so far away from me... somewhere called "California".

I wish I could be there to wish you a happy birthday, Uncle Eli. I hope you have lots of fun celebrating today. I love you, and I miss you & Auntie Susie. I hope to see you again soon!

Your nephew,
Ryan

My Favorites List - 02.07

Do you know some of the favorite things I like to do?
Here is My Favorites List. It changes a lot since I'm learning new things all the time, so I'll update it again later. You can share your Favorites List with me, too!

MY FAVORITES LIST

Favorite Word/Saying: "Uh-oh"
Favorite New Skill:  Walking -- just a few steps at a time
Favorite Gesture: Giving kisses while saying "MU-AH!"
Favorite Actions: Clapping to music; Shaking my head
Favorite Toy: Any toy with lights and music 
Favorite Games:  Peek-a-boo; "I Drop & You Pick-up" game (again & again!)
Favorite Foods: Cheerios; Whatever's on Mommy or Daddy's plate
Favorite Hobbies: 
     Playing drums on boxy-things
     Playing with pots & pans in the kitchen cabinets
Favorite Things To Do When Mommy & Daddy Aren't Looking:
     Put things (I'm not supposed to put) in my mouth
     Play with the toilet bowl water 
     Pull out all the tissues from a box

Bye-Bye Curls

My hair started to get curly when I was 1 month old.  People always thought it was funny to see an Asian baby with curly hair. They would look at Mommy... she doesn't have curly hair. Then they would look at Daddy... he doesn't have curly hair either! So where did my curls come from? I don't know either.



Daddy said it made me special. So, he didn't want to cut my hair for a long time, even when my curls started to grow out.  

But last week, the dreaded day finally came: it was time for my first haircut. My hair was getting too long! It was starting to cover my eyes. See? Hehehe.



Daddy wanted to be the one to do the job.
I never had a haircut before, so I was a bit nervous and squirmish. All I heard was <snip>, <snip>, <snip>. Then soon, it was over.



The result:



I think Daddy did a pretty good job. What do you think? At least it's not in my eyes any more.

How do you like my new do?

New Computer Stuff

Daddy bought a lot of computer stuff since we moved here.  I thought we already had enough computer stuff in the house in all those boxes lying around.  Oh well.

Here's a picture of us at his computer.  He put a big fat picture of my face as his wallpaper! Ewww!



I asked Daddy why he uses 4 computer screens, but then he started to use big words like "multi-tasking" and "efficiency".  So I just pretended to know what he was talking about and said OK.

Oh.  Daddy built Mommy a computer too.  Mommy uses 3 screens, but Daddy said that her screens are bigger than his. Here's Mommy and me at her new computer. She has a picture of me on her wallpaper too. Actually, it kinda looks like the wallpaper "me" is patting me on my head.



Mommy and Daddy both have a new see-through, boxy-thing under their desks.  I guess it looks fancier than the old boxy-things that they used to have... but I still like to play drums on the boxy-things when they're not looking.



Actually, the new boxy-things also glow in the dark when you turn off the lights.



I asked Daddy about these new boxy-things but then he started saying all sorts of funny numbers and stuff like Core 2 something and 2 Giga-something and 900 Giga-something.  He also said that it was much cooler than the old boxy-things.  I asked Mommy about it and she just said that Daddy was a geek.

What do you think?

First Steps

Guess what?!  I took my FIRST step a few days ago!  It was kinda scary and exciting at the same time -- you know that feeling?
I wasn't sure how I'd like it again, so I decided to take a rest from walking for the next few days. But I didn't mind practicing while holding onto Mommy or Daddy's hand.



Then yesterday, my Auntie Ok came to visit. As she was leaving, I wanted to give her a good-bye gift. So I walked FIVE steps from Daddy toward her to give her a hug. That might not seem like a lot to you, but it was for me!

Mommy & Daddy were excited and tried to get me to walk again, but I thought that was enough walking for one day. Maybe I'll practice some more tomorrow. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, and it's getting kinda fun!

What about you? When did you first walk?

2006: My First Year!

Happy New Year everyone! How was 2006 for you? Here's what my family & I have been up to in the past year. There's so much to tell, because God has been so good to us!


FIRST HOME @ ANDREWS
2006 was special for me, because it was my first year of life! Here I am with Mommy & Daddy on the day I was born - just a few days before 2006:



I came home from the hospital just in time to celebrate the new year. My first home was at Andrews University, in Michigan.

I loved it when family came to visit me, because they're important in my life.



Daddy & Mommy both had to go to school and take care of me at the same time. But even though they were busy, they always made sure I was happy and had fun!



I had a special time at Andrews with so many aunties & uncles to love me. I especially had fun with our small group every Thursday night.



Daddy & Mommy graduated from the Seminary @ Andrews in May. You see? I was there cheering them on!




WHERE TO NEXT?
We got calls from different churches. But Daddy & Mommy weren't sure where God wanted us to go next. So we kept praying about it.  



After months and months, it became clear that God was leading us to a Korean church in New York: the Northern New York Korean Adventist Church!


ALOHA!
Before starting in New York, Uncle Don James (a cool Seminary professor) invited Daddy to help out in Hawaii with something called an "evangelistic crusade."  Daddy told me that's when the church holds a series of meetings and you invite people to come learn more about Jesus. This one was a 6-week project that involved 6 different churches all at the same time.



So Daddy joined the team to help out with the technical and computer work. Mommy and me, we tagged along to be with Daddy and to support him. Here's the team and their families:



The meetings went very well at all the churches. People were really blessed.
Daddy was very busy there with work, but on his days off we had some family & fun time, too. Oahu is a really beautiful island.



I even swam in the Pacific Ocean! I was really scared at first, but then I realized Mommy & Daddy were right next to me (and I had my floating boat). THEN, I found out how much fun it was to SPLISH and SPLASH in the water!



We had to leave Hawaii a few days early, before the end of the crusade, for my uncle's wedding in Toronto. A few days later, right after the last day of the crusade, there was a big earthquake in Hawaii! But God was watching over everyone, and no one got hurt.


MY UNCLE'S WEDDING
My Uncle Wai-Git got married and now I have a new Auntie Cindy! The wedding was fun! I got to wear a brand new suit. By the end of the night, I was really tired (and a bit cranky). 




NEW HOME: NEW YORK!
We had a lot of trouble moving to New York, but we finally got there and began working at the church. It's a small church, about 1 hour north of Manhattan.

I have about 15-20 new big brothers and sisters in the church. Some are just a few years older than me, but most of them are in high school. Here are some of them on an afternoon nature hike. I couldn't go with them that time, because it was too cold for me.



We've only been here since November, and Daddy & Mommy are very busy with a lot of work. But they seem very excited with BIG PLANS for the ministry here. That makes me excited too!


I'M A BIG BOY NOW
I just turned 1 a couple of weeks ago! It was fun blowing out the candle on my first birthday cake. 



What can I do now that I'm 1? Let's see... I've mastered the art of crawling, and now I can walk while holding onto things. But soon, when I'm ready, I'll walk by myself. 



I have 4 teeth and I love to eat! -- Cheerios are my favorite right now.



I like to talk a lot, too. But people don't seem to understand what I say -- that can get frustrating sometimes.



My curly hair is starting to grow out. I hear Mommy talk about giving me my first hair cut very soon. But Daddy keeps delaying it, because he's afraid that'll be the end of my curls.




THANK YOU!
So you see, I had a fantastic first year because of all the love from God, from Mommy & Daddy, from my family, and from my aunties & uncles all over the U.S. and Canada. There are just too many people to name, who showered me with so much love (and so many gifts, too!).

Thank you, thank you, thank you all! Your love has helped me learn more about God's love. I miss all of you! I hope we'll get to play together more in 2007!

Please leave me some comments and let me know how you're doing. I love hearing from you! Talk to you again soon!

Love,
Ryan