A blessed July!

It's been over half a year since our last post on our blog and we thought what better time than now to update you on how God has blessed us in our lives. While this month has been incredibly busy, it has truly been a blessed time as well. We have so much to thank the Lord for and we hope that our blog update would be an encouragement and blessing to you.

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays...

All the girls' birthdays are in the month of July. On July 7, Naomi celebrated her 2nd birthday. Her special day was a low key affair but we celebrated in the evening with a special meal, candle blowing and delicious brownies.

Naomi has grown so much in the past few months and every day is a special adventure with her. She has blossomed into quite the boisterous, fun-loving, and excitable little girl. She loves dancing to music, trying on shoes at the mall, jumping on the bed, drawing on the walls and just being silly.

In the past month, she has learned how to combine words together to create sentences and it is so neat to see her transition from a baby into a toddler. Her sentences are sometimes even 4 words long and we are so proud of her. Also, she has been learning how to use the potty and she loves earning yummy treats after her success! She has quite the sweet tooth now; I think she
gets it from her Mom!

On July 11, Taylor Faye Goh was born. One of our friends asked us if she came out craving slurpees since she was born on 7-11! She is named after Hudson Taylor, one of the key missionaries to bring the gospel of Jesus to China in the 1800s. Her middle name, which coincidentally means "faith" in Spanish, comes directly from her grandma, Nana Mortenson. Taylor is a beautiful girl with features more similar to her Mom's. She definitely looks less Asian than when Naomi was born! She was 8.1 lbs when she came out and she has already started to gain weight. She seems to have a gentle disposition thus far and seems very content just cuddling with Mommy and Daddy.

On July 20, we will be celebrating Anna's birthday. There is much to celebrate for Anna this past year; in particular, she successfully completed her part-time contract at Norwegian International School. The past year has truly been a professionally challenging one for her at this school and she has gained a new perspective on her teaching experiences.

Also, another obvious reason to celebrate is giving birth to baby Taylor. It was a physically demanding 9 months for Anna with numerous difficulties and complications. It started with terrible morning sickness and a threatened miscarriage in the first trimester and ended with an epic 39-hour labour and delivery. Through all these trials and ordeals, Anna has and continues to be the pillar of strength in our family and she truly is my hero.


As for me...

Well, as for me, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing nothing for my summer holiday. Like Anna, it was also a very challenging teaching year for me with lots of negative drama. But, as always, the end of another school year brings about a huge sigh of relief and a true sense of thanksgiving. As I have now completed 13 years in teaching, I am more and more convinced that I am entering the twilight of my career. God has taught me that my identity is not to be found in my professional career; instead, God has shown me that I am first His child, second, Anna's husband, third, Naomi and Taylor's father and lastly, a struggling golfer. So, as result, my priorities this summer have been to rest in God's peace, support and love Anna, spend lots and lots of time with my two beautiful daughters and play as much golf as I can afford!


Come visit us...

Anyway, there is our bi-annual update. We are sorry that we can't be home this summer to visit you all. We miss you all dearly and still are terribly homesick. But, graciously, God has allowed us to have his peace and contentment as we spend our second-ever summer here in Hong Kong. We hope to visit Malaysia and Singapore in December and then be back home in the summer of 2010. For our friends back home in North America, please come visit and stay with us. We are only planning on being here for two more years before returing home. For our friends in Hong Kong, come by and visit us in remote Tai Wo. We can BBQ on our rooftop as we admire the beautiful mountins that define Lam Tsuen Valley. I might even offer to drive you home!