May-July Updates

I've been bad at updating our blog. SIGH...

Here's a summary of the last few months.

JUNE Highlights

We visited my brother's first art exhibition. So proud of you, Uncle Pat PaT (Myla likes to stress that final "t" when saying his name.) These pics do not due justice. Here are a few:

this rabbit and carrot story is so fun. can you tell who won?

this one took him a while to create. it's an intimidating piece. love it. :)

green horned monster

jelly fish??

patrick's favorite sea creature: the octopus

this is was a whole wall full of his intricate sketches along

with creatures he drew straight onto the wall

self portrait from a few years back

In June, we also celebrated Myla's SECOND birthday!

We had a simple celebration with the grandparents.

Myla picked out her own birthday cake.

But she got scared when it came time to sing her all time favorite song.

Maybe it was the candle that threw her off.

A-Ma and A-Gong

Nana and Yeh Yeh

Recent Pics

It's been a while since I posted photos. We've been in our new old house for like a month now and we're enjoying the extra space...although it also means there's more to clean now. :)

Wish we could post pics of the house, but we can't seem to find our camera.

It's gotta be in one of the boxes still waiting to be unpacked.

For now...here are some recent photos from Faith's First Bday:

Happy Birthday Faith!

Myla is scared to touch Trinity even though she seems fascinated with her. But on this day, she wanted to hold Trinity's leash...maybe she feels safer having more control. But Trinity ended up leading her instead.

Mariella, Faith, & Myla celebrating

Playdate with Austin Di Di: This is Myla running away from Austin. He kept trying to put his sunglasses on her, but she kept dissing him. Poor Austin...

Lucy Moose & other sites that make me stay up late

This is such a fun idea!

http://www.lucymoose.com/homepage.htm

This mom finds the coolest stuff!

http://lilmagoolie.wordpress.com

This blog is simply scrumptious!

http://www.ohdeedoh.com

This lady makes me want to sew!

http://www.purlbee.com

Family Update

So just a quick update on what's been going on here in the Land O Leung...

APARTMENT LIFE:
We wrapped everything up for Apartment Life at the end of January. It was bittersweet. The most encouraging thing was receiving emails of THANKS from some residents. We were really affirmed and blessed by their words. We hope to take all the lessons we've learned here into our new community.

NEW HOME:
It's official now. We are new homeowners! :) We're very grateful for this home and for the many ways God has blessed us in the last few months.

MYLA!
Can you believe she's turning TWO in less than four months? Here are some Myla facts at 20 months:

• Myla has more molars now => more new foods to eat!
• Her favorite words/expressions are... go-go (dog), mao mao (cat), nai-nai (milk), buh (bird), wow... ("that looks yummy" or "that looks cool"), mmm...("that looks yummy" or "this tastes good"), uh oh, and the ever popular MORE? (always in question form)
• She LOVES to dance esp. for her go-go. She'll grab him, set him down, and just wiggle and twirl around him. It's so fun to watch.
• Myla's transitioning into one nap during the day. We're having a tough time with this one. Poor girl went from sleeping a collective 2.5-3 hrs. on two naps to 45 mins - 1 hr. with one nap...plus waking up screaming and crying. Maybe she's not ready yet...
  
• Chicky is a MEAT LOVER! YES! She esp. loves to munch on chicken drumsticks. She must have been going through a growth spurt the other night. She ate a piece of thigh and drumstick all by herself...in addition to a string cheese, some pasta, and a bit of veggies. Amazing... She loved that drumstick so much that she started eating the soft parts of the bone when all the meat was gone! I had to take it away from her.

MYLA TUBES:

It's so fun to explore different things with her these days. At first, I tried to have her finger paint, but she surprisingly didn't want to touch the paint. So I dabbed different colors on the paper and just had her paint with a brush.

Myla is in love with dogs...any kind of dogs. If it's furry and it barks, she loves. She was sick and stuck at home that day, so I made a texture tub for her and hid stuff inside the rice. She had a lot of fun with it, and when we found that dog, she was elated. :)

This was fun. :)

STILL TASTY!

I just love this website:

http://stilltasty.com

I look back at how many times I've thrown away food bc it was past the expiration date. It's a lot of wasted food. But there are tons of things in our pantry/fridge that can last well past their expiration. It just depends on the food and how it's stored.

Today I baked a cake using three eggs that were bought right before Christmas. They're still good! I did the the "submerging an egg in water test," and the eggs sunk to the bottom like they should. And to think I almost threw half a dozen eggs out this morning...They're STILL TASTY!

I LOVE This Kind of Stuff!

Missed Connections is the title of the blog of Sophie Blackall, an illustrator in NY. She looks through classified ads on sites like Craigslist and Village Voice where people post listings to find others they have missed a connection with. She pulls from those sites and illustrates them. The ads themselves are interesting and her art is just so charming and fun.

missedconnectionsny.blogspot.com

A Film About Sophie's Blog

Sean Bono created this awesome idea of having Art Battles as a way to "correct a system he saw flawed." What started out as simple painting battles in his canvas-lined apartment has grown into large live art events with Art Battles now offering competitors a unique and powerful way to showcase their work & win residences at galleries.

Live Art Battles

Myla Hugs

Myla has been going through this phase where she likes to HUG, usually people she likes. Sometimes the hugs are successful and sometimes they're not. :)

An Unsuccessful Hug (Beautiful Malak is one of our residents' daughter.)

A Successful Hug (It helps that cousin Faith has great temperament.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

God is Truly SO GOOD to Us...

He has carried us safely through this year and His love for us is evident in the people in our lives. We are so thankful for our friends and family. We couldn't have gone through this year without you all. Many of you guys were our prayer partners for Apartment Life, and we just appreciate you so much.

PARTING from APARTMENT LIFE...

As we complete our final month here as a CARES Team, we remember all the people we have met through this ministry. It has been a blessing and honor to be a part of this community. Many people have opened their lives to us, and shared their joys and pains with us. We have both celebrated and cried with them. Some we've even been able to share Christ with. Apartment Life has truly been such an awesome experience. It has been part of our daily living for the last year, and even though we look forward to taking a much needed break, we are going to miss living and serving here a lot.

Words that come to mind when I think of our experience as a CARES Team...

unique, humbling, amazing, fun, worship, prayer, community, care, service, relationships, food...lots of food :)

Things we "Leunged"in 2009...

• Worship through obedience
• Serving through simply being available
• Hospitality
• Cooking food for tons of people
• Sharing food = sharing life
• Saying "hello" to neighbors, esp. the ones we don't know
• Appreciating those who work behind the scenes (ie: our maintenance crew at the apt.)
• Our parents and siblings are so loving and awesome
• Myla is most likely a lefty
• Myla has rhythm
• Dunkin' Donuts Coffee is still our favorite
• Having our cup of coffee in the morning is as important as brushing our teeth
• Sleep is precious
• You don't always get what you want, but God will always give you what you need
• Listening to good music in the morning is good for the soul

HAPPY 2010 EVERYONE!