Advent 2014! Day 23, 24 & 25

Day 23 was another day full of unexpected fun. Chau, Zachary and Max came by to drop off some gifts and hang out and Sebbie came by as well to play and the four boys had so much fun playing together. They made enough noise for an entire rainy day recess bunch and played k'nex, legoes, tag, hide and seek and put all of Henry's play toys to good use. Henry's bed looked like a tornado tore through it afterwards and the kids were sweaty but they had a blast. Henry even said, "It was fun when Sebbie and I were building Legos." Henry went to swim class that evening and gave teacher Roman the reindeer treat and custom made Christmas card.

The evening's devotion was in Isaiah 52:7 & 53:5, which Henry summed up as "Good things always cost something just like Jesus died on the cross."

Day 24 was Christmas eve and the fun wasn't about to let up. Henry worked on some ornaments/ gifts for his grandparents in the morning. Then we went to Auntie Mary's house for Christmas lunch and a white elephant gift exchange. The kids tried their hardest to not run around but couldn't help themselves and the feast that was prepared was delicious! We even had some sticky rice and crab! The white elephant gift exchange is always full of fun, silliness and a bit of strategy. This year's hotly contested item was a bear shooter than everyone wanted. In the end, Juan's strategy netted him the goal so to soothe unhappy children, future play dates at Aidan's house was planned.

Afterwards, we went to Christmas eve service with Gung Gung and Pau Pau, sang more amazing songs and listened to the story, "Drummer Boy" by Loren Long. Following that, we drove an hour up to Pleasanton to see the lights at Widmer World and they did not disappoint. The family transformed their backyard (and front yard) into a walk through Christmas lights and models extravanganza! There were all sorts of characters, moving vehicles and wheels, and lights, lights and more lights! We bought hot chocolate gifted to us by Auntie Georgette and Henry was amazed that the hot chocolate was still hot since we made it earlier in the day! Thinking back on the day, Henry remembered the delicious desserts and said, "I really liked the cake at the party!"

Luke 2:14 was the focus of the Christmas eve devotion and Henry noticed that "When the angels heard that Jesus was going to be born, they were so so full of joy!'

Day 25 is Christmas Day!!! The day we've been waiting for. Henry woke up very excited with Merry Christmases for everybody. We gathered at Gung Gung and Pau Pau's house for Christmas presents, hand-cut noodle lunch and an okonomiyaki dinner. The cousins enjoyed opening gifts, playing with their new toys and reminiscing on their musical performance numbers.

More pictures can be found at:

http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/8Am4yrth/1/6770991

Advent 2014! Day 21 & 22

Day 21 was the last Sunday of advent season and Henry got to come to the big church with us and enjoy some Christmas songs and a message about the joy of Jesus' birth. Later that afternoon, we got to share in more joy with the Gerards as we ventured over to downtown San Jose for outdoor ice skating by Christmas in the Park. Henry started off slow and we were a bit worried since the ice had melted a lot and it looked like some folks were skating on water in certain areas. But surprisingly, after a few laps and encouragement from Mama, Henry felt more confident and was skating on his own by the end. Only 1 or 2 tumbles were had but luckily, it didn't much dissuade his enthusiasm and we had to pull him off the ice. We continued the fun with dinner at the Gerards complete with Sushi Go, Set and Spot It Jr plus some hot chocolate while watching Peanuts on DVD. Henry declared afterwards, "I could skate by myself and it was really fun!"

The devotion for Day 21 focused on Nehemiah 8:10 and Henry said, "After the Israelites did bad, Nehemiah told them to serve food and drinks to other people and themselves and throw big party in honor of God."

Day 22 was Monday and the first day of vacation and we took the day to catch up on some Christmas to-do's and relax as a family. Henry went to Tae Kwon Do class for his yellow belt ceremony and broke a board while he was at it. Afterwards, he said, "I was really proud I got my yellow belt because I practiced!"

For devotion, we read Psalm 85 and Henry said "Since Jesus died on the cross for our sins, God is not angry with us and we have peace."

More pictures can be found at:

http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/04S72F4x/1/6769485

Advent 2014! Day 19 & 20

Day 19 was the last day of school for the year and they celebrated with a Christmas party at noon. The kids listened to an audio version of the Christmas story with special gift boxes revealing different components of the story. The final reveal was a secret (a mirror to show themselves) and the kids were very giddy as they found out one by one. Pizza, grapes and cookies was on the menu and the kids received lots of goodies from school (a bag of little toys from Mrs. Young, a glowing snowman ornament) and had a gift exchange to cap off the party. Henry's remarked "I really like the party when we exchanged gifts. I liked mine because it was legoes!" Later in the day, Henry got a surprise visit from Uncle Johnny who brought the chocolates that Henry loves and stuck around to play a game of Sushi Go!

The devotion of the day was from Hebrews 12:1-2,12 and Henry said, "Jesus had a goal to have all of us in heaven."

Day 20 was the start of last weekend before Christmas and the day started off with Henry making Christmas treats (reindeer candy canes) for his friends and even one for his swim teacher Roman. Then we had a potluck brunch with the He's where Henry got to play with his friends Patrick, Guffy and Christopher at Christopher's house. The big activity for the day was a caroling birthday party for Buster. The kids all crammed in Buster's room to play and then had pizza and salad for dinner. After dinner, the kids went back to Buster's room to practice the carols with kazoos and bells and then we headed out on a walk around the neighborhood for some traditional Christmas caroling (even a spontaneous carol to a couple walking down the street). The kids had a blast singing songs and dancing in the crisp night air. Henry said, "I think that the reindeer looked cute! It was fun caroling because I've never done it before."

Henry's summary of the devotion from Revelation 21:4 on what heaven will be like was "There will be no more sadness because they will be gone!"

Henry decided to add more umph! to his caroling by doing dance breaks! :)

Armed with a brand new instrument, the kids added more music to his caroling routine!

More pictures can be found at:

http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/9m8cbQFb/1/6767120

Advent 2014! Day 17 & 18

Day 17 was a singing day and Henry and his class went on their third trip to the Pacific Gardens senior citizens center to sing Christmas carols and share the Christmas spirit. They sang many of the same songs from the Christmas musical and threw in some more traditional Christmas tunes. Then, in the evening time during our Wednesday Dotahoey get-together, Henry selected to sing some more Christmas carols with everyone there. After dinner, we went to Youtube and found a few Christmas songs with cute animations and lyrics and streamed them onto the TV via Google's chromecast for everyone to sing along. Jensen was so excited to sing and dance to the songs on screen that he kept asking for more. Afterwards, Henry did a reprisal of his performance at the musical the Friday before. Afterwards, Henry said, "I liked singing the song from my play and the computer. There was also a group of songs called "pink fong" that was funny!"

The devotion for the day was from Matthew 11:2-10 and Henry summarized it as "We are dead in our sins but all we have to do is believe!" Henry also decided to add custom doodles for the different words in his devotion flags, something he had started doing recently. The words dead was laid on its side and surrounded by scenes of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and rising.

Day 18 was a rest day as we came back a bit late from Tae Kwon Do class and dinner. But that didn't stop Henry from adding a new activity which he had started the previous day, "Create your own board game!" The previous day, Henry had made a board game, complete with a game board, game pieces, movement selectors, questions on cards and a game box to store it. The next day, Henry adapted one of his current favorite games from school, "war," to domino pieces he got from Mrs. Young as a Christmas gift. Henry remembered that "The games were fun to make and creative."

The verses from Psalm 20 reminds us that "God answers our prayers even if we don't feel like it."

You can view more pictures here:
http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/sh6qgbT5/1/6766287

Advent 2014! Day 15 & 16

Day 15 was the day we set aside to put together Christmas treats for Henry's teachers at school. We settled on a snowman candy bar and Henry was responsible for cutting carrot noses, making fingerprint eyes and buttons and writing a note on the back. The activity flowed into the next day and we took the extra time to catch up on our advent reflections. Henry thought, "The snowmen looked very cute!"

Henry's reflection on Psalm 92 and Luke 2:8-20 was that "The message of Jesus being born was spread around!"

The following evening on Day 16, Henry finished the snowmen and wrote "I think that my teachers will be happy!"

His thoughts on Isaiah 35:1-10 was that "Everything  that is bad will turn into something good!"

Henry was very excited to give the snowmen to his teacher and did a good job remembering all the teachers that he needed to give them to.

More photos can be found at:
http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/x0WOJWNn/1/6765379

Advent 2014! Day 13 & 14

Day 13 was our second advent weekend and we kicked it off with a makeup soccer class (the last class of the quarter). The real fun began in the evening when we all went to Waterworks Aquatics for family swim night. Henry had been asking us to go for a while now and we finally freed up some time to do it. We got to practice different strokes, make silly underwater poses, dive for rings and swing around the pool for fun.

After family swim night, we headed home and began setting up tents for an indoor campout, which was part of the advent activity reflecting on how God is our refuge. We pulled out Auntie Chrissie's tent fabrics and Henry was really enthused to lay out sleeping bags, Christmas books and stuffed animals. He was excited about taking turns reading several of our Christmas books and then we dug into some oven baked s'mores before nodding off for the night in the living room. Henry favorite thing for the day was summed up when he said "I liked swimming and eating the s'mores!"

Our daily devotion was in Romans 5:8. Henry remarked that "When Jesus died, his blood covered our sins."

Day 14's activity was something entirely new. Henry was invited to Zachary's birthday party at Laser Quest! After registering his nickname (Lightning2), we proceeded to enter the darkened maze area with our blasters and vests and score as many points as possible. Henry was a bit scared at first but he quickly warmed up halfway through the first match. The vest and sensors were pretty heavy though so Mama was the designated pack mule for Henry's equipment. After the first round, we shed our jackets because we were sweating buckets and headed back in for round two. Afterwards, pizza and ice cream and fun birthday prizes were shared by all. Henry said "It was fun zapping the other people!"

Reflecting on Romans 8:28-39, Henry realized that "Nothing can separate us from God."

More pictures can be found here:

http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/4Dx0hX26/1/6763365