December 2001

We celebrated Andrew’s 1^st birthday in January with a couple of friends and a big, free cake from Safeway. As in brother Josiah’s first two years, Andrew is thus far a boy of few words ["Ba" for ball, bug, box, Bob (the Builder)…]. Besides sharing physical characteristics and being construction enthusiasts, the two boys are quite different.

For instance, Andrew is a watcher—of people, videos and television—and a flirt. He also eats a wider variety of foods and enjoys the outdoors more (except for snow) and is more adventuresome than Josiah; we bought a baby harness for Andrew after a few misadventures, including walking into the duck pond and wandering off to the parking lot during a company picnic). Finally, Andrew is no pacifist when it comes to his "memee" (pacifier), and he could watch far more TV if allowed.

Josiah finished a year of preschool in the spring and attended a Montessori school three mornings a week and Preschool Activity Time two mornings a week this summer. Alas, the morning regimen was for naught, for he was assigned to afternoon kindergarten—yes, after all the debating and agonizing, Josiah ended up going to school soon after his 5^th birthday. He "loves it" and enjoys learning new things about owls, spiders and bears. Best of all, he’s making friends his own age. Although the school is only about a mile away, he prefers to take the school bus both ways. He’s doing fine academically but his social skills need refining.

Josiah was tested for food and environmental allergies. Top culprits? House dust mites, cat dander, peanuts, cashews, walnuts, and egg whites. Avoidance and some help from chewable Sudafed and a nasal spray have made Josiah’s breathing a bit easier. Still a mystery, however, is why he cannot pronounce nasal sounds well, even after a summer of speech therapy, an X-ray and a CT scan of his sinus that showed no significant problems. We pray that he will soon outgrow this difficulty. We also have found he has less-than-average eyesight, perhaps not a surprise considering his parents’ nearsightedness.

Gilbert is working for Bechtel again after they took over the design contract. Quite a number of faces he hasn’t seen in years are reappearing as the project increases in size. He continues to play summer softball as well as chess.

Well, it looks like we’ll be in Washington for at least another 3 to 5 years. We bought a house and moved in June 1st. It’s a house with three bedrooms, 1.75 baths, family/living/formal dining rooms, big front and back yards, an attached 1.75-car garage, and a separate "dog run" which we use for storage. Photos and more details available on our website. It’s been fun making this house our home. Please note our new address at the end of the letter (doesn’t it seem to be a different one each year?) We welcome visitors!

After enjoying the changing colors of deciduous trees out front and elsewhere, we took a big trip to mark 8 years of marriage and Andrew’s imminent graduation from lap child status. Not being ones to "go with the flow," news of decline in travel was encouragement to seek more than a Southern California beach-and-LEGOLAND© adventure. So, with Winnie’s brother saying "Hawaii is much better," and with Josiah’s school schedule accommodating, our family visited the 50^th state for the first time.

Winnie loved the sunsets and enjoyed Hawaiian music and dance. Gilbert liked visiting historical places, watching the kids play on the beach and in the water, and listening to birds that could say more words than Andrew. Other kid favorites were the Honolulu Zoo and the Maui Ocean Center. Their last beach day was Thanksgiving Day, when we also enjoyed a luau dinner. (Just six days later, they got their first snow day of the season in Kennewick.).

Winnie’s mother came to visit for all of December. The boys got accustomed to sharing a bedroom. Their parents indulged in more time alone and together while Grandma babysat.

Gilbert’s family had a landmark year. The marriage of his brother Stuart to Donna Lee in Sacramento on May 19 was a good excuse for a family driving trip to California via the southwest coast of Oregon.

Too soon afterwards, Gilbert’s Mom died, on June 24, after losing her third battle against cancer. We shall remember and thank God for her sense of humor and her life of thoughtful-ness and courage.

Subsequently, Gilbert’s Dad sold the Chan family house in San Rafael and moved into an apartment in Albany, California. His adjustment to singleness after 48 years of marriage was eased appropriately on Thanksgiving Day with the birth of his twin granddaughters Lydia and Deborah, to Gilbert’s sister Elaine and brother-in-law David.

The saga of Winnie’s history of motoring mishaps continues. This year’s included: following a line of turning cars after the light turned red; backing into a truck in a parking lot; and drifting into the turn lane and ending up in the turn lane facing her. The Lord protected her and the boys each time; she still prays for safety when driving. AAA emergency road service was employed once when the key was locked in the car, and another time for a flat tire. These incidents illustrate how our spiritual lives can likewise get caught up with wrong ways of the world, and how God gives us numerous warnings that decisive change and immediate action are needed to avoid negative eternal consequences.

As part of the membership process at Bethel Church, Winnie was baptized by immersion on July 29, exactly 28 years after her baptism by sprinkling. She had been feeling as if in a personal spiritual desert, so she especially appreciated the vivid symbolism of dying to self and rising to new life in Christ that the act of baptism by immersion brought.

In October, both Gilbert and Winnie became members of Bethel Church, to grow, to minister within and to reach out beyond that community. Both Josiah and Andrew enjoy the children’s program and big premises at Bethel, which just began phase two of its building expansion. We are part of a small group comprised primarily of families with young children, and studying the New Testament book of Hebrews while learning to care for one another in tangible ways.

"Are you a cutie?" Andrew shakes his head. "Are you a sweetie?" Negative again. "Are you funny?" A nod and a telling smile.

"Tickle me and I fall apart." (Josiah)

"The houses look like Lego®. I would love to play with them." (Josiah flying above Seattle)

"I love this city!" (Josiah at El Cerrito’s Target watching BART trains go by)

"I didn’t come here to eat; I came here to have fun...!" (Josiah at a dinner at Gilbert’s co-worker’s home)

"I love Jesus ten hundred and I love God ten hundred and four." (Josiah)

Winnie rediscovered her need for solitude, which she heard defined as "desired time of being alone; quietness of the spirit." She’s still on the "Bible Bus" (check www.ttb.org for air times of Thru the Bible Radio broadcasts in your area).

As parents, we sometimes feel we’re in over our heads and our sinful tendencies (to be critical, impatient, ungrateful, short-tempered…) start to pop out. Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," but during this holy season of remembering Christ’s first coming, let us also consider the next verse: "and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

We thank God for sending Jesus in the flesh to die for the sins of the world, even those committed against America on September 11 this year. May the evil intended to "bring America to its knees" actually bring us all to our knees in true repentance and with hope before the God who blessed this nation from the beginning.

Gilbert, Winnie, Josiah and Andrew

E-mail: [email protected] • Website: www.geocities.com/g_wchan