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June 02 Meaning of Baby Ethan's Chinese Name信立这个名字来自以赛亚书7章9节及启示录6到7章，意思是“靠信心站立的稳”。以赛亚书7章9节在希伯来文原文里意思是“如果你们不靠信心站立，就不可能站立得稳。”(If you do not stand by faith, you will not stand at all.) 在启示录6章15到17节，“地上的君王，臣宰，将军，富户，壮士，和一切为奴的，自主的，都藏在山洞，和岩石穴里。向山和岩石说，倒在我们身上吧，把我们藏起来，躲避坐宝座者的面目，和羔羊的忿怒。因为他们忿怒的大日到了，谁能站得住呢？”之后第七章中，有十四万四千信靠主的人站立在神面前。“此后，我观看，见有许多的人，没有人能数过来，是从各国各族各民各方来的，站在宝座和羔羊面前，身穿白衣，手拿棕树枝。”这里也是回应以赛亚书的信息：只有信靠基督宝血的人才能在神忿怒的日子站立得住。 April 20 Baby Ethan is 1 Month OldJust posted a new album with new photo of baby Ehtan this past month. Lots of blessings from God during this tiring month. We also decided on his Chinese name: 萧信立. I will write another blog entry about that. Enjoy! March 25 Baby Ethan was born Mar 19thDear friends, with joy and excitement, I share with you the good news that Baby Ethan was born on Mar 19th. 6.2lb. Both Carmen and Baby Ethan is healthy. It is really a great blessing from God. Originally, we worried about the baby's weight (expected weight is 5lb) but he gained a lot of weight during the last month. Thanks for all your prayers. On Sunday, Carmen and Ethan came home to our service apartment. February 16 Valentine's Day 2008We had a romantic day (lunch, nap, dinner). Look, Carmen's belly is big now. Baby is eating lots too! A special V-Day card too.
February 08 Happy Chinese New YearI am still in Beijing working for a few more days before heading back to Hong Kong to see Carmen and visit family. I am also heading to Puket (Thailand) for a few days with my Dad. New Year in Beijing is really pretty as I look out my apartment window the night of New Years' Eve, the whole city is filled with beautiful fireworks. It lasted for almost 5 hours. Of course, the downside is that I can hardly get to sleep that night. :) The baby boy is due in early April. We are both excited and a bit stressed out preparing for his arrival. Carmen is still a bit under-weight so please pray for her that she can eat more and absorb more. Lastly, Happy New Year. Wish you all good health. God bless. October 29 2nd Anniversary Great Wall/Ming Tomb HikingLong time no update. It is hard to believe that after working in Beijing for 2 years we still have not been to the Great Wall and Ming Tomb (I have 10 years ago but Carmen has not). So, on our 2nd anniversary, we went on a short hiking trip. Since Carmen is expecting, we only hiking a short way up the wall. A fun and relaxing day!
April 11 河北探访上月底有一天，Carmen跟从了一位香港朋友负责带领的外国学校交流团，免费去了附近的河北省，参观一个由中国社会科学院学习发展的项目：小额信贷扶贫( micro-financing: 去年有关项目的发起人得到诺贝尔和平奖）。
由北京市中心去河北大概一两个小时，可是北京堵车严重，我们用了两三个小时才到达。由于是同一天内往返，所以我们跟农民接触的时间不多。可是很高兴参观了他们借钱建造的温室（他们叫“大棚”），他们更送了一些没农药的西红柿 ( tomatos) 给我们，挺好吃啊！
参观时碰到一些小朋友，他们那天不用上课，竟是因为老师们要开会，奇怪！但他们很可爱，小小事情已逗得他们很开心！他们也很乐意为我们送上歌声呢！ March 22 Love Letter to God
Today is Carmen's 18th "spiritual birthday" ( i.e. 18 years ago, she believed in Christ. Yes, she is quite old :P ) She had some review over the past 1-2 years, and the repeated theme from her past spiritual writings is that : she needs to focus more on the relation-building with God, rather than doing lots of things to seek affirmation from God and other people. It is quite difficult for her as it has become her "living mode" for years, both intentionally and unintentionally. Today she had quite a long quiet time in God: praying, singing and reading the Bible. Finally, she found something from a song which can be her "love letter" ( rather than planning ) to God on this special day. Share it with you all ( verses from Psalm 25 & Psalm 73, the Bible ) To you , O Lord, I life up my soul. O God, in you I trust In you I hope all day long. Your mercy and love are eternal Lead me in your truth and teach me, O Lord. For you are the God of my salvation. Good and upright is the Lord our God. The Lord teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love, mercy , and faithfulness. The Lord turns to me and shows me his mercy. The Lord calms the troubles of my heart. My eyes are turned toward the Lord, for the Lord frees my feet from the snare. You hold me, Lord, by my right hand. Your presence never leaves me, Lord. Who have I in heaven but you? On earth there is nothing I desire more than you. My flesh and heart may fail, but you, my heart's rock, God forever. March 20 再赴香山香山位于北京西郊，是北京市郊很具皇家园林特色的山林公园，最好看的是枫叶。我们的家住在西北边，所以去香山不是太远。
这里的朋友常告诉我们，去香山最好是在深秋，大概是这里的九十月吧！去年天气较暖和，到十月中我带妈妈和舅母去游览时，还没有见到很多枫叶。所以在十一月初，从香港回来后我一人再赴香山，希望看到枫叶的余韵。哈哈，果然是余韵，只见到很少的枫叶，还有天气已经比较冷，下午三点多太阳就已经躲起来呢！
北京的空气质量很差，可能比香港好一点，起码它会刮大风，吹走微尘；周围也没有那么多的石屎森林把风挡着。可是，它还是挺脏！可是香山的空气非常好，因为有很多树林，在那里，我呼吸了过去一年来最清新的空气！感谢神！Carmen March 12 八岁到九十五岁的广东之旅去年十月底，Carmen回港跟十多位亲人一同到了我们在广东/番禺祁福新村的家，一同生活了两三天。那次真是浩浩荡荡，因为当中有小至八岁的侄女，和年龄高至八十多岁的外婆，并很多时要依赖拐杖走路的九十五岁外公，可以想像在庆高彩烈之余，我们要常常给他们特别的照顾和安排！
有一天刚巧哥哥有车，载了我们由番禺到广州来一个半天游。外公在香港一向不喜欢外出，算是典型的电视和电台老人。可是那天，他兴奋到不得了，在车上滔滔不绝，说什么年轻时去过这个地方，中学的时候又到过那个地点等......原来他阔别了这里七八十年了！实在难以想像有一天自己会回到七八十年前成长的地方！不单是不能确定自己有多长寿，更因为能够见证一个地方近百年的变化，委实是难能可贵啊！
突然对外公多了几分敬意！
原来，多年来我是如此不认识他；原来，他的内心还是很有生命力呢！
March 08 Our first anniversary :)How did we celebrate our first anniversary? Your guess? ( Hey, which day? )
On 22/10/06, we were in BJ but my mum and aunt were still here. They are smart people and thus we only needed to accompany them for lunch on that day :). It was Sunday. Originally our ideal plan was to go out for fun. However, after 1 week's intensive trip with them, Carmen had already become exhausted and had some sickness symptoms. As such, our best celebration program on that afternoon was to sleep together. Yes, only sleeping!! After recharging some energy, we went to a western restaurant in front of the East Gate ( 东华门) of 故宫。It is a really nice place with wonderful food and view. It was so interesting to take western food , and to admire the river ( 护城河）& the outer gate of 故宫 at the same time!! In 100 years ago (at the end of the Qing Dynasty), it was totally unimaginable!!! As an inner city, BJ seldom has quality seafood, but we could find good fish and scallop at this restaurant ( it is called CourtYard, 四合轩). We miss it! 2-3 weeks later, we had a chance going back to HK, and we chose another day to "compensate" our celebration. Carmen received a bunch of flowers the day before (it has been the first bunch of flowers since our marriage!!) We went to some tourists places e.g. the Peak & the HK Park (haha, we are HK people but now we have become tourists) for a casual walk. We did enjoy a lot as there were very few people on weekdays! Sometimes when you just stay with the one you love and do some simple things, you are already very satisfied :) March 07 Intensive Tour in BJ! 北京密集之旅Our dear friends/fans,
I am /we are really sorry for my/our long time absence!!!!!!!!
Where were we ? Not 冬眠, just lazy!
Schedule has been relatively packed since last Oct: with the coming of Carmen's mum and 舅母, immediately followed by our going back to HK, and then Carmen was occupied by the preparation of a workshop about Christian dating in the following 2 months.....and lots of excuses!!
Actually, due to the cold weather in BJ since mid-Nov, Carmen has almost stopped taking photos ( you know she is so thin lah!), and only took some when she was in HK, Macau & Guangzhou/PanYu for some short trips. Now she has already sorted out all the outstanding photos, though she still does not have time to learn Photoshop!
Hope you can still find some interesting things in our quite outdated album!! This time is about the trip of my mum & 舅母. We went to lots of places, including 恭王府，四合院，荷花市场（晚间的pubs)，故宫，天坛，首都博物馆和香山公园等。Every night Stephen joined us to eat good food .
Carmen misses the precious time together with her relatives!! November 16 Our Story (我俩的故事)Carmen has written and published our stories:Stephen's Story and Carmen's Story. Take alone and leave feedback. October 10 前海一带Carmen：攝影課程完結後，第一次自己去拍照片，原來還有很多東西不懂拍，比如是水柱，長廊，石頭等，幸好現在是在北京，較容易找到練習的機會，希望可以慢慢有進步！難怪攝影老師說,攝影師是由一堆堆照片堆出來的，我要趁著這段深秋時分多多拍照，因爲冬天對我來說太冷了（平均溫度是零下2-5度），那時唯有在家好好學習Photoshop！ 今天我到了前海一帶的地方，其中包括恭王府，是現时北京保存的最完整的王府。它曾經是中國第一大貪官和坤的住宅，由來清朝又把它賜給恭親王。雖然過了黃金周，一隊一隊的旅行團還是絡繹不絕；由於有太多人，拍照時很不方便；回家後看有關VCD，才知道我最少沒有到過其中三份之一的景點，有点失望，唯有下次再去過！ 後來又到了附近的郭沫若故居，原來他除了是一位文人，還是一個革命烈士，對社會有很强烈的負擔呢！ 最後一站到了較多外國人去的荷花市場。這個名字雖然老土，但它其實是一個露天的酒吧街，很有味道呢！我們到了北京後，由於平常很少接觸外國的東西（比如店鋪，食物），有時非常想到這些有點SOHO味道的地方，可能是有點掛念香港吧！(右面圖片內的星巴克咖啡，是一間設計很獨特的Starbucks！） September 30 摄影课程的照片Carmen： 終於完成一個月的攝影密集課程！幾天前更參加了一個聽起來很厲害的考試：全國中級攝影師！ 十月底就知道結果。筆試絕對沒問題，但拍攝時就有點緊張，希望成績不會太差！這個課程“抵到爛”。我一共上了大概１３０小時 （星期一到星期五，9am 到4pm），只需RMB 1,950！即是每個小時只需約RMB 15.5！老師的教學亦很好，不但用心，也很有水準！總之就是“平，靚，正”！ 我們多在室內拍攝人像，但我更喜歡到室外拍風光或人像，總覺得比較自然！課程中我們到過北海公園，王府井，元大都公園和圓明園。 小妹只是初哥，請多多指教！ August 14 民工学生的营会Carmen joined her first volunteer service in BJ in early July. It was a 6-day daycamp organized by a NGO here. Its target were children of workers who have moved to BJ from other provinces. The edu system in BJ only supports BJ people, and thus these children are actually studying in those unofficial schools here without any gov't subsidy. You can guess its facilities and teachers' qualifications are a lot poorer, but it is better than providing no schooling for children. Originally we had around 1,000 participants, but when parents knew that they needed to pay RMB 10 for 5 lunch meals, 40% of them withdrew!! ( their living standard is very low....)
The camp was quite tough for Carmen as she needed to wake up at around 6:30am every day and worked until 5-6pm, and sometimes needed to prepare for the next day lesson during night time. It was also difficult for her to manage lots of children ( around 20), given her soft voice and inexperience in teaching. Nevertheless, after 1-2 days' adjustment and a bit hardship, she had started to enjoy the time with her students. They will be P5 students in the coming academic year, and it is sad that they generally have a shorter summer vacation than local BJ children as their parents are too busy to take care of them. They will resume school in mid-Aug!
One of the things that impressed Carmen a lot was the result of a game. Students were given lots of things to choose, which aimed at reflecting their value system. In one question, the majority of students chose " having a pure heart", rather than "having success in every thing". Some of them explained that having a pure heart can protect them from going astray ! Carmen was moved! Shanghai TripIn mid-June, Stephen had a training in SH and Carmen joined him for a short trip. Weather was really fine. Though we went there before, it was only until this time that we find SH is quite a small place when comparing with BJ! Thus it is more convenient for us to traval around! Generallly food is better there. To be more specific, Chinese food there suits our taste more while western food is of higher quality ( Western food in BJ is not good lah! ). It may be due to the presence of more foreigners there! Staying for a few days is fine with us, however, we perfer the rich culture and history of BJ to SH! :) 宋庆龄故居Around June we visited 宋庆龄故居 in BJ ( one more is in Shanghai). Originally it was a place of a royal family of Qing Dynasty, and thus it is really nice! 宋庆龄 had followed 孙中山先生 for about 10 years and she continued to actualize their dreams after Sun's death. She was a woman with a wide horizon, strong commitment and kind heart to people. We were deeply impressed by her contributions to the country ! YOu are invited to its official website here :www.sql.org.cn August 05 Summer Vacation - Hokkaido, Japan (北海道)Late June, we went on our annual summer vacation to Hokkaido Japan. We had a fun and relaxing trip. The air is fresh and the vista is beautiful. More photos are in the album. August 02 ChurchCampIt was Carmen's first time to join our church members here for a camp. The committee told us that it was a kind of retreat camp, but it turned out to be a very intensive Bible camp! May be we have different understandings of " retreat" :P ! Stephen could not join it as he needed to go back to HK that weekend. What a pity! In everyday life, we seldom have lots of time and space to hang around with church members. It was so good to live together with them for 3 days! I remembered the heavy rain on the 1st night, the interesting questions raised by b/s during Bible study, & the entertainment programs prepared by each group..... |
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