Thanksgiving 2002
Last Year End. Since our last annual letter, Winnie’s Mom visited for the holidays. On December 29th,
Gilbert surprised Winnie with a "100th Mooniversary" celebration
to mark 100 moons after their wedding. Some local friends came and others sent sentiments and congratulations.
Trips. Brought Grandpa Chan to beautiful Leavenworth at the end of his two-week stay with us. Had a blast sledding with another family in early February.
During Easter vacation, we had lots of fun at Legoland (see Andrew with R2-D2), Sea World and the San Diego Zoo/
Balboa Park. To top it off, we were also able to visit with friends we seldom see! 
Fourth of July weekend was spent at Mount Ranier (our first family visit though we’ve lived in Washington over three years now). On the way home, we stopped in Hood River for a "Day Out With Thomas" the Tank Engine. The
boys were delightfully surprised.
We drove to the Bay Area in August, stopping at Crater Lake on the way south.
We arrived in Berkeley in time for the end of a memorial service for a dear friend. MaryElyn always knew what little boys like Josiah would enjoy playing. We will miss her bright and thoughtful spirit.
During our Bay Area trip,
Winnie was shocked how much she had missed while living away from family and friends. She put flowers at her grandfather ‘s grave for the first time; he died two years ago. Where did the time go?
At Winnie’s old church in San Francisco, we all helped celebrate a friend’s 80th birthday. He couldn’t be that old already!
Finally got to visit Josiah and Andrew’s twin cousins born last Thanksgiving. Lydia and Deborah are now crawling and vying for attention.
Josiah Updates. He enjoyed his Deep Sea/Deep Space 6th birthday party. Four former classmates came over for food and games. Gilbert arranged to have Rex Walheim talk that day on the speakerphone about his April trip to help work on the International Space Station.
Having had a good summer and such a great kindergarten experi-ence, we were all disappointed how much Josiah disliked 1st Grade. Too long and too much busy work equals "no fun."
"I was made to play Lego and do all kinds of cool stuff." Josiah is also into Star Wars (Mom enjoys reading Jedi Apprentice books to him and wants to see Star Wars Episode II). Josiah enjoys reading and now sometimes even reads to Andrew.Andrew Quips. Exhibiting all the signs of his tender age of 2-1/2, Andrew insists on asserting his independence except in areas most helpful for him to do for himself.
Once there, Andrew enjoys parent-tot music and gym classes. He loves being with other children and is definitely a follower.
Although starting to like story time, Andrew seems to puts up with it so he could enjoy a more favorite activity afterwards: watching a video (pictured below with Davey Dog and Hua-Mei, Winnie’s panda puppet from the San Diego Zoo):
Excelling in speech more and more, Andrew boasts an interesting vocabulary including
"baddo droid" (battle droid from Star Wars), "Dahmas" (for Thomas the Tank Engine), "handy dandy notebook,""
Lo-Beepo" (Little People), "You hurt me!" and " Yes, you did!"Andrew loves firefighting, puz-zles, ladders and trains, as well as pretend-playing "lightsabers" with Josiah. (Gilbert is wary of all this undue interest in Star Wars.)
Best Quotes & Laughs.
Josiah announced one day that, "I have heard of Hitler…the baseball player.""Who is Giambi?"
Josiah asked. Dad said that Giambi used to play for Oakland and now plays for New York. "Like Count Dooku--he went over to the Dark Side," understood Josiah.Mommy and Daddy couldn’t help but laugh at Josiah’s teacher’s note saying he "wasted a lot of time gluing pencils together and karate chopping crayons." Imagine that!
Gilbert & Winnie Notes. Gilbert is still doing 3-D computer
modeling work and has picked up a couple of new programs. He coached and played in a church softball league instead of the city league this year, and also helped organize the church’s Men’s Retreat. Instead of battling ants this year, we had problems with mice.
Winnie continues to ride the Bible Bus (see enclosed "Bus Ticket" or www.ttb.org for details). She’s now the "Boxtops for Education" lady for Josiah’s school. At church, she helps present the Sunday morning lesson to Kindergarten and 1st Grade children using Willow Creek Community Church curriculum.
Winnie tried to surprise Gilbert with a 40th birthday party for him in the Bay Area, but he caught on. Laurie Lee kindly took this family picture that day:
Mid-October, Gilbert came up with "California Day" at our home. Friends who once lived in that state came over for a potluck dinner. Gilbert mowed the back lawn in the shape of California for the event.
Yes, we could imagine living contentedly in the Bay Area again someday. We’re thankful to still have a house in El Cerrito that is being rented out. Meanwhile, we’re enjoying our house here very much.
What else do we do for fun? When it’s too hot or too cold for the kids to play outside, we make regular visits to the playlands at MacDonald’s and Burger King, toy stores, Barnes and Noble, and the public library that opens daily. Of course, ice cream is always fun! When Gilbert’s
brother and sister-in-law visited us on their first wedding anniversary, we gave them the "Lovers’ Suite" (our master bedroom). In September, a
missionary couple we never met before stayed with us one weekend, and a friend eight months pregnant stayed the next.
Ruminations. Parenting has shown us many spiritual truths like
we hear only what we want to hear; receiving with thankfulness pleases the Giver; and God is eager to bless us, if only we’d trust and obey Him.What our pastor said is true, too—that God is in the process of inviting everyone to be re-born into His family, and He’s helping us become more like His Son, Jesus.
All in all, we feel most blessed. God is so good. We thank Him for the many people who enrich our lives—like you!
Thinking of you with love this Thanksgiving and wishing you a Christ-filled Christmas season--