Legacy

I suppose it is kind of morbid to talk about death, but this post isn't really about that.  It's a reflection on a sermon series from Alistair Begg, "What Is Your Legacy".  Uncle Ali preached from 2 Timothy 4:1-8 and reflected on the people in his life that have left godly legacies.  This got me thinking.

What will my legacy be?

Will I be missed when I'm not around anymore?

Will people say that I did the best I possibly could for my family?  My friends?

Will former students say that I left deep impacts on their lives and careers?

Most importantly, will anyone say that they saw Christ in action because of something I said or did?

John and I recently had to write an one-page testimony, in part, to officially join the membership of our church.  It forced me to think about the people who had impacted my decision to trust Jesus.

Almost 25 years ago, a young woman fittingly named Liberty was the youth group leader at the church we were attending.  She was soft-spoken and epitomized gentleness.  At least, this is what I remembered most about her.  One week before my mom, sister, and I were to be baptized, she sat me down and asked me what "grace" meant to me.  I told her that it reminded me of ballerinas because they were GRACEful.  I can only now imagine what Liberty thought when I told her this.  She patiently explained that it's like someone coming to me if I were in jail and told me that he would set me free and take my prison sentence instead.  Indeed, this is exactly what Christ did on the cross to free me from the penalties of sin.  I think that's when the heart knowledge of God really began to take root in me.  Liberty's legacy is one seed sown in this heart.

There must have been countless souls who prayed for me and my family over the years.  I may never remember or even know who they were.  Yet, their prayer lives are the legacy that they will leave behind.

What will my legacy be?  I now ask myself.  I hope I will seize every opportunity to leave a good one.

I hope some day, I will see Liberty again and thank her for her faithfulness.

One Year

Over the weekend, Bun Bun and I were watching TV and the Purina Incredible Dog Agility Challenge came on.  I suddenly remembered watching this with Bun Bun exactly one year ago and teaching her the sign for "doggie".  That was her first sign!  Since then, she has picked up dozens and dozens more.  I have to do another assessment soon and see how many she has now.  Still hoping for her to talk soon though.  She has been trying to say "bubble".  It comes out as a quiet whisper.  But, it's a good start.

Last week, we were at the doctors.  Bun Bun weighed in at 10.955kg or 24.15lb.  She feels so heavy and is getting taller.  I will have to measure her this week for her growth chart.

Everyone has been under the weather though.  Bun Bun was diagnosed with left ear infection.  Both her daddy and I were down with some strange bug making us feel fatigues and achy.  Fortunately, my symptoms lasted for just a day.  Daddy is still on the mend.  Bun Bun is on antibiotics and making a good recovery.  She has school tomorrow.

We've been plummeted by snow this winter.  Yesterday, we got another 4 inches which we weren't able to clear off from been sick.  Our wonderful neighbor helped us out!  It's so great to have wonderful neighbors.  We are expecting freezing rain tonight and another storm this Sunday.  This has disrupted school.  One of my classes has only met twice; two classes have been canceled.  The students are happy, but professors are falling behind and stressing out.

Snow and a flat tire

14.3 inches.

This was how much snow that came down in 12 hours on Tuesday!

I made it to work before it all started.  By 10am, things outside looked white.  My class ended at 11, and the university had already decided to cancel all classes for the rest of the day.  I was going to head home.

No problems?

The drive home was treacherous, but not terrible.  Everyone was driving slow and being very cautious.  Half way home, my car sent me a message: "Very low tire pressure."  Oh no!  I still had about 5 miles to go, on the highway.

God must have been watching over me.  I slowly drove to the Sears Auto Center near home and got my tire replaced.  There were two nails!  One bent over like a hook and pierced through to the side.  There were 3 large holes!

By the time I finally got home, about 2.5 hours since leaving work, there was about 5 inches of snow on the ground.

Phew...

We got another snow day on Wednesday.  I missed one lecture for a class that still hasn't met yet.  So much for the first week of the semester.

Here are some cute pictures of Bun Bun.  I think we had just finished eating breakfast.  She was waiting for play time.

 

Happy New Year!

A belated happy new year, blog readers!

Yesterday, Baby Bunny turned exactly 30 months old, or two and a half! 

It was a "Polar Vortex" day when the thermometers read 6 degrees fahrenheit, but the nasty winds made it feel like 20-some degrees below zero.  It was chilly!  Effects of global climate change - a topic for another day...

We all ventured out anyway with fuzzy hats and layers of clothing.  We went to check out a pre-school program for Bun Bun.  Yes, we have enrolled her in a Mom-Morning-Out program once a week, for now.  Today was officially Bun Bun's first day of school.  I think she had a blast.  The teachers all thought she did great.  She didn't cry when we left her there.  In fact, she got right down to work on a puzzle.  When we went to pick her up, we found her letting out shrills of laughter; she was having a ball (literally and figuratively) in a moon bounce.  This will be a great start for her daily pre-school program and some academic routine when she turns 3 this summer.  We hope in the coming weeks, there will be room for her to attend on Fridays.  The program likes to keep the ratio of students per teacher low.  Right now, they only have spaces available on Wednesday.

Here are some pictures from today and from over my vacation.

Moon bounce at school today!

First day at preschool

Baby Bunny tackling one good book.  I suppose she'll want to watch the trilogy afterwards.

I think she's more fascinated with flipping the pages in books.  She's got in her hand the Anne of Green Gables series, her name sake and my favorite books.

Stacking with Daddy!

Holly Jolly Christmas!

Baby Bunny sez, "Merry Christmas, Everyone!"

This is serious computer work, Daddy!

With Thanksgiving later this year, the time between that and Christmas is also shorter.  Christmas kinda sneaked up on all of us.  Christmas cards will finally go out in the mail tomorrow.  Thank God we are not so much into the commercialization of Christmas that we must buy gifts for everyone.  Baby Bunny still hasn't a clue who Santa Claus is or about getting presents.  We've been out and about and have seen lots of pretty lights.  She doesn't seem as excited about them this year as last.

Nonetheless, I am now on a little break from work.  I still have lots to finish before the spring semester starts.  But, for now, I'm taking a few days off to play with Bun Bun and to get more stuff unpacked.  Phew...  It has been crazy busy, indeed.

Baby Bunny singing vocabulary list continues to grow.  This little girl is amazing!  She is up to about 60 signs.

38.  Please
39.  Music
40.  Day
41.  Cloud
42.  Sun
43.  Outside
44.  Grass
45.  Blanket
46.  Play
47.  Cry
48.  Dirty
49.  Frog
50.  Peach
51.  Boat
52.  Baby Signing Time
53.  I don't know
54.  No
55.  Snow
56.  Telephone
57.  Bear
58.  Hot
59.  Thank you
60.  Bike
61.  Hi/Bye

Thankfulness

So thankful for this little person!

On Thursday this week, we celebrate Thanksgiving in America.  Why does it take a national holiday to be reminded of giving thanks?  Why can't we give thanks everyday?  Why shouldn't we give thanks everyday?

Yesterday at church, the sermon was about finding joy in scarcity.  The pastor wrapped up a 4-week series from the book of Habakuk.  Chuck Swindoll on "Insight for Living" has been preaching from Job, "What if you suddenly lose everything".  Alistair Begg on "Truth for Life" has been rerunning a series on "Lessons from the Dungeon" from the life of Joseph.  God has been so good in reminding me to be thankful in feast and famine, in plenty and scarcity, in the good times and bad.

So, I am thankful today and everyday!

Home Sweet Home

It has been a whirlwind!  On October 23rd, we officially took ownership of our new home.  The following Tuesday, big truck came to the apartment with big burly men carrying all of our things plus everything in the storage units to the house.  Two days later, I was on my way to an education conference in San Diego.  Phew!

Boxes and boxes...

We've been slowing unpacking.  It's been a long process because of Bun Bun.  Our new house has a total of 4 flights of stairs ranging from 4 steps to 9.  So, someone has to follow Bun Bun around during her waking hours.  With her curiosity, Bun Bun has been exploring all over the house, climbing up and down the steps, opening every door, going into every room, and examining all the details.  Because of that, only one person can really do much work at a time. 

What to do with empty boxes?  Some of them have been turned into Bun Bun's toys.  Daddy created a tunnel for her to creep through.  Into one, we plop her and give her a pen to draw up the inside.  Both of these activities actually help her build up some core strength.  At least for the box, Bun Bun is content and contained, for a little while.

Baby Bunny in a box!  Her hair is now long enough for pig tails, when she lets me fuss with it.

Look at that three-point pen grip!

Box tunnel in the living room

Daddy's work allowed kids in for two hours of trick-or-treating for Halloween.  Baby Bunny dressed up as a monkey.  The hood of the suit has the monkey face, but she doesn't like hoodies or hats very much.

We got to meet with other kids.

While flying out to San Diego, this was what I saw looking out my window.  The dark triangular dot in the middle is some sort of rock formation.  I think we were somewhere over the Southwest at this point.

At some point, some landscapes looked like the Grand Canyons.  They don't look as grand from 30,000 feet above earth.  It was still a spectacular sight!

Another Southwestern canyon shot, with a landscape looking a lot like a giraffe.

More October Musings

More sign acquisitions by Baby Bunny:

32.  Train

33.  Wind

34.  Rain

35.  Stars

36.  Water

37.  Juice

She still hasn't said a word.  She is babbling a lot more, moving her tongue around, and making noises.  It almost sounds like she's singing.  What's kind of amazing is that she's been trying to whistle.

Baby Bunny's art work, ca 2013.  It looks like a face to me!

We went to a fall carnival with a few more kiddie rides.  Bun Bun wasn't too thrilled on the merry-go-round.  Throughout the ride of about 5 minutes, she fought hard to get off.  She didn't cry, but wasn't giggling with joy either. 

Who needs a toy when you've got a laundry basket?  Daddy sez that there not enough pictures of him with Baby Bunny.  But then, most of the pictures I take of them usually come out blurry.

Within a 5 minute walk of our apartment is a small park/playground.  This is about the only thing I will miss about living in the apartment.  The plan is to move into the new house over the next  week!  Stay tuned!

Art

Bun Bun has been busy.  She has been busy with pens and crayons.  Her OT has been working on her hand-writing skills - vertical lines, horizontal lines, and circles - and how she holds writing tool in her hand.  This helps her with not just writing later but with staying at attention to a task.  When she draws on a vertical or slanted surface, she is actually building up her core trunk strength as she crosses mid-line stretches her right arm pass her left arm.  So, she has been busy with a ball-point pen.  She's been drawing on paper, walls, and her shoes.

Her artwork on paper has been pretty impressive - nice firm strokes.  Her work on the wall was strongly discouraged early on.  (Thankfully, it's kind of behind some curtains and hard to see anyway.  And, no, we didn't beat her to stop her from drawing on walls.)  On her shoes, that's a very different story.  Over the summer, I had bought her a pair of cute purple booties.  I waited all summer for the weather to cool down and her feet to get bigger so she can wear them.  Last week, she took a red pen and drew all over them (pictures to come later).

We hit another milestone last night when Daddy and Mama went to the movies and left Baby Bunny home with a babysitter.  Daddy and Mama went to see "Gravity" (best movie I've seen in a long, long time).  Baby Bunny stayed home with Diana, a church friend (note: not a family member!).  She did OK.  According to Diana, Bun Bun cried for just a little bit.  After they read "Goodnight Moon" about 10 times, Bun Bun went to bed.  She was asleep when we got home.

More signs:

30.  Horse
31.  Bus

Cutie!  You can see her art work on her shoes, although not very clear.

Indian Summer (80's this week)

Curious Bun Bun trying to get at something in the bin.  There's not much in there, just diapers, small packs of tissues, some pens, and joke mustache glasses.  She has fallen in once and thought it was hilarious.  We keep a lot of boxes around the house.  To Bun Bun, they are a lot more fun than the actual contents.

No, Bun Bun doesn't wear glasses.  We were having fun with an app on the iPad.