A Lovely Evening

Without going into gory details, evenings such as this have been rare in our household. Everyone in this house has been through so much in a year. Two weeks ago, I decided to make reservations for all of us to spend Valentine's Day evening together at a restaurant we all love. I knew that at any moment those reservations may need to be canceled but I was determined we would at least try. Mom has had a very good couple of days and she was excited for the evening to come. We all enjoyed each other's company very much and the evening went off without any hitches, emergencies, or crisis. When we got home Kelby presented all of "his girls" with gifts. Mom got red tulips and a lovely "mom" card. Meiling and I got stuffed animals, cards, and candy. Sorry to say, all daddy got was dinner and an evening with 3 of his favorite women ( he only has one other favorite woman and that would be his mother) :) He didn't seem to mind. It was a special evening celebrating the different kinds of love in this little family of ours.

Expectations

Mom tells the story of how she forced David, at four years old, to watch the J.F.K. funeral because it was a historical moment. There's a picture somewhere that I would have loved to include, but couldn't find, of Dave sitting on the couch as instructed and seemingly watching intently.
Knowing today to be a very historic day, I too "forced" my six year to watch the proceedings expecting intent focus and interest. We were able to get half way through the speech today when she suddenly said, "Can I go watch something else, I've heard him talk before".
I supposed my expectations were a little high for her but I wanted her to know and experience the significance of the moment. I wanted her to understand that now, more than ever before, her generation will be able to be more "color blind" than ever. That unlike my generation, she will see many color combinations in families and couples and never take a second look or think twice about whether it is unusual or odd. She can be more confident than ever that her family is acceptable, right, and divinely placed together. She knows more than ever now that no matter where you come from or the color of your skin, anything is possible. She did however announce that she could be President someday and I didn't have the heart or words to tell her that constitutionally that would be impossible. I'll leave it to some future history teacher to dash those dreams. Politics aside, it was a significant moment for all of us.
Dave says he doesn't remember watching the J.F.K. funeral and maybe MeiLing won't remember watching this particular inauguration, but we will preserve the memory as mom did over 40 years ago.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2008

And for this we are most grateful... on the mend, recovering, and becoming more independent everyday. Christmas was low key, quiet, and no one is complaining about that. Less is more when it comes to Christmas too. I think I missed my daddy more this Christmas than the previous two, but there was a special grace Christmas Eve and Day to focus on now and the new year and to realize that daddy is complete and whole and I wouldn't wish it otherwise for his sake. We still mourn for us, but that mourning has turned into joy this holiday season.

I think this was the most precious moment for me from our "Shaeffer side" Christmas Eve and requires a little background knowledge. When we were waiting our two years to bring MeiLing home I, like any mother, prayed for the usual things. I prayed for her health, good survival skills, etc. I had a selfish prayer in the midst of all of the usual prayers that went something like this..."Lord Jesus, keep my baby healthy and intact. Help her not to be lonely and let there be someone to hold her in my place until I can get there and bring her home. And by the way Lord, would you see fit to make her a little musical?" When we were in China, we put a set of headphones on her and from then on she was hooked. There is not a moment when she is busy doing the things that little 6 year old girls do that she is not singing something. She's taken to the piano like a duck to water and so it was no surprise that she asked for a guitar for Christmas. Jonathan taught her the names on the open strings and the scale on the E string in 20 minutes. She still was playing what she had learned the next morning. I remembered my prayer from 8 years ago and had much to thank God for. I absolutely love this picture.

I knew I couldn't post this picture without explaining why Kelby is in a knee brace with crutches in the background. After years of "athletic-ness", Kelby's knee is now much older than his actual age. The latest MRI shows, no cartilege, bones fusing together, bone on bone, arthritis, and a cyst of some kind. So he is probably headed for some kind of surgery in the new year. I think the thought of the athletic feats fleeting away is worse than the pain he is enduring on a daily basis.

It was Milgrim Christmas day this year which usually involves Kelby's mom Ruth, his brother Darrin, sister in law Kim, and their two boys Royce and Rylan. We gathered for the the traditional devotional time, dinner, presents, and games. This year we involved the kids in the devotional time by "making them" participate :) Royce acted out a play he had written, Rylan sang "Mary Did You Know", and MeiLing played "Away in a Manger" and "Go Tell it on the Mountain" on the piano. We had a great time together and declared it a great day.

We've had quite a few people ask about the ministry in Ajo. It came about when we found out that the Indian Assembly of God church in Ajo would be closing because of the lack of a pastor. There is another Assembly of God chuch in Ajo but this was the home missions work and historically speaking it was a shame that it would be closing. Kelby found out and offered to take the position with the understand that we could only devote the time to one Sunday morning service. We started going in September of 2007 and have been going out every week since. There were three ladies left in the church that had basically been members since they were teenagers and cried that first service when they found out that their church would not be closing. We are located just across the street from an open mine pit that has been closed to operations since the 1980s. With the close of the mine came the drastic population change in Ajo. There are probably about 3000 left in the town with half being winter visitors that are there about 6 months out of the year. We now have a congregation of about 20 and meet in a tiny sanctuary. This is our little wiseman for this year's live nativity. When I told MeiLing she might have to play Mary if no one showed, she was horrified. She had her heart set on being the wiseman that carried the gold.

No wisecracks please :) This is Jesus the donkey. For those of you who are not used to the Spanish, it's pronounced (hay suess) :) Jesus has been a part of our live nativity for several years now. He's very sweet and gentle.

And here we have the whole crew. My 8 year old Mary, my 5 year old Joseph, one shepherd, one wiseman/woman, and an angel. They did a great job.

By the way, so much for trying a new layout on my previous blog. I'm going back to my boring layout and ways.

Fall in our backyard

THIS POST IS CALLED CATCHING UP THE BLOG BEFORE I POST THE REALLY IMPORTANT CHRISTMAS STUFF.
Okay... this is what happens when I tell MeiLing I can't play right at the moment. She then engages the dog in a lively game. :(


...and the Suns games live on. I have to add here that Tom Chambers was my favorite Sun in the early 90s so I was pretty impressed when Kelby called and said they had met him while catching the end of the Cowboys game at the bar behind the studio and proceeded to hand the phone to him. He said hello and I said something stupid trying not to sound like a stalker and couldn't believe Kelby had done this etc. It was pretty fun though and Li got a couple autographs.

We start with a last practice and little inspiration from papa.

The Yamaha program is a complete program that includes sight singing and ear training. All holiday concerts start with two holiday songs sung by the kids usually in words and in solfege. This year it was Deck the Halls and Jingle Bells.

MeiLing's teacher is Ms. Chung. MeiLing absolutely loves her. She's getting her background music programmed to start.

...And it's a flawless performance of Go Tell it on the Mountain. :)

Notice the dress is long gone. She changed as soon as she hit the car. She asked if she could put her jean legs in her boots and I thought proudly that she was showing a little fashion sense. When I said yes I heard, "oh good, now I'll look like a pirate".

...And we all know it's all about the chocolate chip pancakes afterward. :)

We are truly thankful.

Thanksgiving 08

We were first thankful that Aunt Evelyn took over the food preparations, and we were glad to do what she asked. The turkey and her dressing recipe are fantastic and were definately the best part of the meal.

Gordon and I were trying to decide how long it had been since the Thornes and Shaeffers spent a Thanksgiving together. We decided it was too long to remember when. The only people missing from this photo who appeared at our house for Thanksgiving were Ruth Milgrim (Kelby's mother), Uncle Norm who came for the morning preparation activities, and Brian who spent the day with his uncles.

This blog should be titled the Halloween that should have been, and be filled with our little mummy, MeiLing. It was also 20 year high school reunion time for us, so that is the picture I have posted. The text is in green in honor of the Phoenix Christian High School cougers who won the homecoming game 48-7 rah. This picture is about thirty-five or so of us 20 years later all responsible and talking work and kids. My how time flies.

Now about Halloween... We were all ready to have MeiLing dress up like a mummy and bought the wraps and everything. However, three days before Halloween she got into trouble at school and lied to her parents. We are kind of into shock and awe when it comes to punishment since I really would rather deal with this behavior now and not when she's 14 years old. However, this was really hard because after all, how many Halloweens do we get to do this. So it's no candy for MeiLing this year and hopefully the lying will be curbed for a while anyway.