In-laws

For married couples, dealing with in-laws can be very challenging: some couples always have quarrels about in-laws, some in-laws can never get together, some couples avoid contacting their in-laws... When I think of my in-laws, I feel so blessed! My mother-in-law is a very handy woman. She is good at cooking, sewing, planting, shopping, traveling... if I have any problem about it, she can fix it for me. She has a lot of friends and even 'trouble makers', she can get along with them well. She buys me clothes, accessories whenever she comes to Vancouver. She is willing to help me taking care of Elisha when I have to work or go out. She really treats me like her daughter and I learn a lot from her.
My brother-in-law is a gentleman. He never say no when I ask for his help. When we were still living together, he took care of me when I was sick (Denis was in business trip), he chatted to me even he was busy in managing his business (maybe he knew I was bored being with Denis, haa!). He didn't mind to cook dinner almost every night when I was busy in taking care of Elisha.
My sister-in-law is a caring woman. She would bring me flowers or cards to encourage me when I was so stressed or down. She would call me for having lunch or shopping as she knew I really need a companion while staying home with Elisha. When she went to grocery shopping, she would ask me if she could buy something for me. Although she had a busy schedule, she would spare her free time to be my subject for my learning purpose. She would save some homemade dessert for me and Denis (I am sure she and her husband have no problem to finish all! haa!). She would have lunch with me when I called her for it.
WhatI have just mentioned is just part of my in-laws' kindness to me. To me, they are not only my in-laws, but my mother, my little brother, and my little sister!
Thanks God for giving me such wonderful in-laws! Oh, I have to say thank you to my lovely husband too, if he didn't marry me, I couldn't have them to be my in-laws! :)

Timing

Few days ago, I told Denis that we should teach Elisha to crawl up stairs and he answered that she knew it. I did not believe it because I've never seen her did it and nobody has taught her about it. However, 2 days ago, Denis told me she crawled up stairs while I was having a nap. Then at that night, she crawled up stairs at a friend's house. I saw it and I was surprised that she did it very fast without clumsiness. At that moment, I realized that everything has it's timing. No need to hurry and no need to worry. When the time is right, things will be done. What I can do is get ready for it! Trust the Lord as He is the one who knows the time is right.

Christmas Decoration II

I seldom did Christmas decoration, it just happened that I came across nice Chirstmas decors and I thought it would be nice to decorate for surprising Denis and making Elisha excited. However, after I finishing the decoration, a thought came to my mind, that was, you would be willing to spend time, money and mind to celebrate Elisha's birthday, why won't you do it forJesus Christ? Oh yes, the decoration shouldn't be used to make home look beautiful or to create superficial Christmas atmosphere, but should be used to remember the love of God and the born of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I told myself I will do Christmas decoration in the future for celebrating the born of Jesus Christ and the love of Him!

Exhaustion

I was so exhausted in the last few weeks, and I could bearly open my eyes in the mornings. I could feel the tireness coming out from my whole body, and I've never felt that tired in my entire life! In the mist of my physically lowest point, God showed me his grace.He gave me opportunities to serve Him and different brothers and sisters to work with. He gave me time to shop and friends to get along. He gave me family to love and relationships to care. All these things require 'energy', so He gave me wisdom to prioritize my works, and strength to work on them. Among all these things, the most important thing was that He gave me enjoyable and thankful heart when I was doing all of them!

Christmas Decoration

Thanks God for giving me time to shop today! I didn't plan for doing Christmas decoration, but I happened to see cutie Christmas decor in a good deal, so I bought some. As Denis' aunt gave us her Christmas tree and Christmas ornaments, I mixed the Christams ornaments with the decor I bought. Well, I didn't do the lights and Christmas tree, as I'm afraid that Elisha will play with the tree and destroy it! haa! I am not good at electricity, so let's leave it to Denis if he has time to do it. Denis did not know about the decoration, and hopefully I will give him and Elisha a nice surprise!!

Grow up

Elisha has been in a daycare for 2 weeks and I found that she becomes easily to get along with people. She used to not allow 'stranger' to hold her or she would cry. Now, she needs less warm up with them and get along quite well with them. She is also more responsive and has more actions. Seeing her changes and grow up progress make me realize that she has her time of development and I don't need to worry too much! What I need to do is following her pace and celebrating every one of her milestone!

Girly

Most people think Elisha is a boy when they first look at her even she is wearing pink clothes or even a dress. Well, maybe she took it from my genes as people thought I was a boy when I was young (till 7 years old!) . I don't really dress her up girly or cutie because I think her natural look is cutie enough and I don't need to prove her is a girl to anybody! Only when her hair bang gets longer, I will put a hair clip on her head. Just one hair clip, people would say that she looks much girly!! Oh yes because she is a girl!

Snowing

The day I was sent to hospital to give birth of Elisha, it was snowing. The day before Elisha's 1 year old birthday party, it was also snowing! The day of Elisha's 1 year old, it was snowing too! The reason I wrote this blog is because I want to show you the first picture I took with Elisha when it was snowing! :)

Interest and Career

I will be quite busy in the following months: working, tutoring, and drama practicing. In the past, I can handle them easily but now my schedule has to fit Elisha's schedule, so it makes things harder. I understand taking care of her is the prority of me, but I still want to have my own interest and career. However, when I pursuit them, I feel burden. I can't freely do them. I am bounded and limited. I'd love to have family time, but I want people to understand if sometimes I have to sacrify the family time to fulfill my interest, please let me and support me. Otherwise, I would feel that I lost myself as I can do nothing except staying at home and taking care of Elisha.

Daycare

Yesterday was the 1st day of Elisha went to the daycare! I was surprised that she adapted the environment quickly. Auntie said that she behaved well and did not cry! She let a teacher pick her up and hold her through the circle time! She also finished the whole bowl of congee! Today, she did not cry when Denis left her to the daycare. Auntie said that she played well and ate well. She had about an hour nap, and then I pick her up to my parents' home. She let auntie hold her while I packed her belongings. She does not get close to a stranger easily, and she need quite a period of time to warm up. So I was happy and surprised that she got close to auntie in such a short period of time!
Thanks God that he let us find such a good daycare for Elisha, and she can well adapt to the centre!

Friends

It's December and about 3 weeks later, a new year comes! I know something will be changed by next year, and 1 of them is some of my friends will leave! H&J will go to a new church and J&N will move to HK. Denis had asked me if I felt sad about their left, and I didn't feel much of H&J as the circumstance they told me didn't make me think about it seriously. But now, I know they are sure that they are called by God and go to plant a new church. As a good friend of them, I'm glad that God choose them to be his tools. I see how God prepare them and use them in different ways in order to work for His kingdom and glorify His name. By next year, we will not be in the same fellowship, so we will not see each other once a week! I feel a bit sad! I miss them now! They share my happiness and sadness, they support me when I fall down, they encourage me when I am disappointed, they help me when I am in need!
For J&N, I just know their decision a week ago, and I really can't let them go in this moment! Perhaps I can't accept 4 closed friends 'leave me' at the same time! As their good friend, I will support their decision and wish them all the best!! I miss N shares her feelings and minds with me, and her trust to me; I miss J's funny says and thoughts and his beautiful singing! Also his creative play play with Elisha! I am happy that I can participate to their wedding and be part of their life's milestone.
I know we will physically apart, but I sincerely hope that our relationship will not be deteriorated by the distance! They'll always be my best buddies and they'll always in my prayer!

Adding Photos

I have added some photos to my blog. I've done it by myself!! I am not smart in working with computer, as matter of fact, I have problems to memorize the steps related to computer program operation. Although I have a genius computer-engineer husband, I don't get 0.1% of computer mind from him. Therefore, I avoid changing the setting, doing editing....as I don't know what will happen if I press a wrong key! So, I need to give myself a credit of adding photos to my blog by myself!haa!

Photo

Since Elisha was born, I discovered that almost all the photos in the album are her alone or with her. I didn't question about it until one day I asked Denis if he had developed a photo taken in HK with my relatives and he said no. I asked him why not, and he said because there was no Elisha. I was a bit disappointed and frustrated as I believe a photo without Elisha could be still valuable to make a hard copy. Just before typing this blog, I found that he didn't develop a lot of my own photos!!! Why?! I didn't ask him, but if he read this blog, he'd better give me a good execuse! hmm!

1 Year Old

Elisha is 1 year old now!! I can't believe time flies so fast, as I still remember my pregnancy, labouring, and the 1st look at her! I've been gone through very much in this year as a newly mom, and I believe she's been gone through a lot too! It's not easy to be a parent, especially a good parent, as I am always think I am not good enough.
I've never been thought of being a mom until 2 years ago, and honestly I was not ready to be a mom when I gave birth to Elisha. Even now, sometimes I doubt if I am fully ready to be a mom, especially when I under stress or come across any transition period because of her. However, I am certain that I won't give her up or let her down (although I have a second thought about it when I am so frustrated :P) as she is the most precious gift God ever given to me! He's chosen me to be a mom and He leads me to walk through the parenthood. He protects Elisha from getting sick (she's been sick once in 11 months!), from getting hurt (physically and psychologically, especially from me, haa!). He loves Elisha very much and she can see his love through the love of parents, grandparents, relatives, and aunties and uncles (sometimes I want to be her! haa!!). He makes her grow and develop normally (we can't take it for granted!)
As a mom, I want to see her grow but I also miss her as a baby! I love to pick her up and hold her in my arms (pray that I will have good strength to do it as she is heavier and heavier!), I love to kiss her whenever I want (when she gets older, she will not allow me to do it whenever I like! so sad!) I love to tug her in the bed, as we are so close and so sweet! (I believe she enjoys it too! :) ) I love to play with her and see her enjoying it! (She will prefer to play with her friends when she grows up) So I will treasure the moments and grab all the opportunities to do all the above things as much as possible before I no longer can do it.
I am thankful that my parents and mother-in-law help me a lot in taking care of Elisha when Denis and I are busy or need some free time for ourselves. I can't miss to thank Denis to be such a great father to Elisha (well, sometimes I am jealous his love to Elisha! haa!). His enjoyment to be a father gives Elisha a lot of love and laugh! His understanding and love to me give me strength and support to be a caring and loving mom (I wish he also enjoys to be my husband even under some kind of stress from me :P)
Now Elisha is 1 year old, and I agree with Denis that we need to teach her lessons and knowledge and I pray that God gives us wisdom to teach her. The most important thing is that we need to teach her to know the love of God and she will follow the path of God!