Jake

As promised, I'm going to write something to Jake this time.  Not sure if this guy will have a chance to read this some time in the future.  Regardless, God knows everything and He should always be our only audience in our lives, not to anyone else.  So, here you go Jake.  You are still three when Daddy is writing this - well, you'll turn four next month, hehe.  Time really flies but my love for you will never die, hahaha (Stop laughing, I didn't do it on purpose, haha).  Not sure how old you are when you are really reading this, but please give us some feedback.  Come talk to Mom and Dad more often as both of us love to spend time with you since Day 1!  Love you to death!

TEXTBOOK BABY

Jake, you were born in April 26, 2009.  You are our first son and first baby in both Daddy and Mommy's families.  That's one of the reasons why your name has a "one" (進一).  The other reason was that in Chaozhou's (潮州) dialect, "one" sounds exactly like "Jake".  Oh yea, your Dad is a Chaozhou Lo (潮州佬), and which means you are also one of us (please watch your temper k).  Mah Mah and Yeh Yeh helped us a lot on naming your Chinese name.  You are very "text book" starting even from conceiving, haha.  You were born on the exact due date and like when to start teething, when to start turning to when to start crawling and walking, etc.  One thing that you didn't really follow the books was your talking.  Yes, probably cuz' I also love talking.  You started talking when you were around nine months old.  There's one morning that I heard, "cheese pweessee" and I saw you pointing at the cheese on our breakfast table at the same time.  My jaw was totally on the floor looking at your Mom for her confirmation.  Of course, it wasn't clear at the beginning but from then on, we knew you were trying to communicate with us with your tongue.  Our time spent on learning sign language for babies was just a waste, hahaha.  Since then, our house became even more noisy, hehe.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

It took Mom 14-15 hours before you wanted to come out, haha.  Daddy was the first one who saw your dark, swollen, bloody face and "David Siu" (that's right, Gung Gung) is who you reminded me of at my first sight, haha, especially your big nose.  You still reminds me of Gung Gung sometimes.  Go back to your baby pictures and tell me if you agree, hehe.

POSITIVES
Fun and silly can summarize your early childhood.  Creative with good memory are something Dad needs to mention.  You also love to be outdoor, beaches, water, snow, woods, you name it.  You are very sensitive to music and love to move along (dance, hehehe).  Other than that you are a very sweet kid, especially when Mah Mah was very sick.  

You always try to be silly and make fun of everything until you laugh like a machine gun, hahaha.  And the ways how you try to be silly are always creative.  I have to admit that your machine gun laughs are very contagious, haha.  You are super ticklish which means you'll say whatever I make you to say including, "Daddy is the best looking" when my fingers are deep inside your armpits, hahaha.  Not sure when we are gonna stop playing that - see if you remember.  You are still kissing my lips when typing this to you today, hehe.  Mom wasn't a big fan seeing us kiss but I really want to find out when will we stop.  Please come kiss me again and again and again.  Daddy will never push you away, I promise, even though it's kinda gross if you are already a teenager or older, hahaha.  Miss your chubby face always, hehehe.

Speaking about creative, you just love to play like a MacGyver (a TV Series that Dad used to love, hehe).  You can make a racing track with your hot wheel cards.  You can use my winter boots to be your fire fighter boots.  You can use your toll truck to toll everything else, including my nose.  You can create something out of anything just to let your monster truck to crash.  You can use the tissue paper to be your superhero mask.  Since you are super active, Mom and Dad love to see you play at the same spot for anything more than five minutes, hahaha.  Lately, you started to love reading and it's heart melting seeing your read somehow.  Even your way of strapping your shoes are different.  

I don't see that you are a rule follower, instead a artsy creator/designer.  You show lots of interest in music, instruments and dancing.  We'll for sure pay more attention to it and let's see what plan God has for you buddy.
 

You are very observant and has good memories.  You engraves everything you see and hear in your head forever, even very little things.  Honestly, Daddy's memory is not bad, especially on memorizing dates and some academic theories.  The first memory I have can go back all the way when I was a few months old.  The scenes are still in my mind now.  However, it looks like yours maybe even better, haha.  You have no problem with everyone's name, numbers and letters.  For examples, like the Ninja Turtle's names, all the bad monsters of Spiderman's, and even instruments, haha.  You also remember who gave you which toy very well, like when I was expecting you to say "HK", you would tell me "Sogo", haha.  It was quite shocking, haha.  Similar to your McQueen umbrella, you actually said, "Kaden" when I asked you about it.  Yes, you are pretty good associating things to everything about that thing.  To you, everything has a story behind it.  Your teachers asked your Mom and Dad where you knew about Abby Road when they were teaching you the Beatles.  We really have no clue cuz' we are no Beatles fans at all.  Until a few months later, Dad remembers that you have watched this TV show (Are we there yet?) with me for once about London.   The most interesting thing was "I'm wide awake" by Kate Perry.  Go listen to that song now and see if you still remember what gives you in your head, hahaha.  It'll be very interesting if you still remember, hahaha cuz' it costs Mom and Dad a good number of hair before able to figure out the puzzle, haha.

NOT-SO-POSITIVES

Baby you are very sensitive emotionally.  I love this word a lot cuz' it made you so much more angelic, hahaha.  That's right, you would be laughing til I am laughing with you but in the next second you can burst out tears and crying out loud that makes me lose all my patience (over something do not make sense to us at all, haha).  Accepting the fact that you are sensitive helped Mommy and Daddy a lot at least, thanks to Roselba (your Acorn Principal, haha).  Telling you to claim down while walking away from the scene works best for me, hahaha (assuming that Mommy is around).  Most of the time your emotions are just so much faster than your mouth.  Work hard on telling us your feeling before you show us your emotions if you can k.  We still love you no matter what, just keep learning.  I know one day, you will be able to master that and will be much better than your Dad, hehe.  Ever since you became a big brother, I have seen big time improvements.  You handle things much more mature and are willing take responsibilities.  You like to play the big brother, protective role.  You are always Mommy and Daddy's best little helper, like setting up the table, cleaning up the mess, booming the floor, shoveling the snow and even mowing the lawn, hahaha.  Dad is so glad to have two boys now having a bad back, hahaha.

CONFESS

Daddy needs to confess a little that being a parent, I can't help but to have this proud feelings for your kids, haha, like about how quick witted you are, how soon you started talking, etc.  I can't help but to smile when other people are praising you.  I guess it's normal but pray that God will keep Mommy and I  humble.  If people know me, my tongue sometimes can be much faster than my brain and things may not present exactly the same as what I really meant to, hehehe.  Deep down, I know everything is a blessing and everything is from Him.  Parents are taking no credits but we can be thankful always.  Just do not boost I guess, hehe (Facebook can teach us a lot sometimes, haha).  We'll just need to keep learning.  And to you Jake, I know Daddy is not perfect and I'm sorry if I have lost my temper and if I have ran out of patience on you.  Please forgive me as I'm still learning how to be a good father of yours, just for you (and your brother of course).  If I have done anything that makes you sad, unhappy, etc., please tell me as soon as you can.  I may not be able to understand you completely and my way of dealing things with you may not be the best to you, my bottomline is still the same - I still want you to smile and be happy in the righteous way.  And if you can, love Mom and me back just a little.  I promise you to keep learning how to let go of you.  Wait until you have your own kid, you will then find out how hard and challenging it is, hehehe.   

FAVOURITES

Your favorite is definitely "electronic displays", from TV, iPhone, iPad, and anything that moves with sound that has back lights, hahaha.  Whenever you are upset/grumpy or when you are tired and when I need to keep you up, just one TV show or one iPhone game will "reset" you easy, haha.  Your favorite color is blue.  There's only one colour in all your drawings - blue.  Even if you didn't write down your name, it's easy to figure out which one is Jake Law's from school or church, haha.  Mushroom is another thing can make you crazy, haha.  Gu gu mein mein is always your answer if we ask you what you wanna eat, haha.  Lately, you are more into Siu Nown Bau.  Something interesting about you is that you didn't like anything sweet until maybe around 3, haha.  Yeh Yeh was kinda disappointed that he couldn't bribe you with his favourite ice cream, haha.  You also love cars and anything that moves.  Monster truck show is something I am looking at now and see if I can surprise you with that.  Superheros are the hottest ever since you turned three, but this time you didn't drop the cars at all, haha.  You just added more items on your favorite list, haha.  

OTHER

You love spicy food, just like Mom and I but you are allergic to a few things with eczema.  You are very good on long haul flights.  You actually have fun flying to LA, Hawaii, HK, no problem.  With your super outgoing character and adventurous attitude, you are not the easiest baby I have to say.  Even sleeping is a big challenge when you were young.  It's so hard to put you to sleep (even Mom lost her patience a few times, haha) .  Any little noise can wake you up and there goes the rest of your day (cuz' you became a cranky monster after, haha).  The best way to put you to sleep is Mommy's breast, hahaha.  We had to put a big blanket underneath you when nursing so we can just wrap you around and put you down back in your crib without waking you.  You made both of us super nervous even when we were still in the hospital because the longest nap you had was 20 min for the first few days, hahaha.  Man, you are tough buddy.  Even though Daddy's back is kinda weak, I enjoys holding you to sleep though.  I still remember how we shop at TST with your tummy sticking right on my chest.  I'll never forget your sleepy piggy face, hehehe.  One good thing about having you with me, Mom will also treat me like a king feeding not only you but me too, hahaha.

JONAH
I know you love your brother.  Mom and I are very pleased seeing how sweet and close you two are.  It's really a wonderful feeling that I don't know how to describe.  God sent us two greatest presents - you and Jonah.  I have the faith that you two will count on each other while growing more maturer.  Keep it up big brother.  Your little brother looks up to you always.  I pray that I can hear a best man speech like the one from Johnny to Chung when one of you are getting married, hehehe.  

Keep having fun baby, keep being yourself.  You will keep letting God enter your heart right - that's what you said.  Mom and I will work hard on preparing a path for you to walk on before we totally let you go to the Holy Spirit.  LAW CHUN YAT, WE LOVE YOU.

I wish Mah Mah had done something like this to me and that's why I'm doing this for you, just in case.  (Mom, no worries, everything is still in my heart and my mind.  I'll try to pass your teachings along to your grandkids.  Love you and miss you always.)  A few more pictures of you, Jake.  They are all my favorites.  And this is just the beginning of your life.  May God be with you always, and He will bless you with happiness and good health so that He can use you always. 

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"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."  (Ephesians 6:4)

"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." (Proverbs 22:6)

Links

I don't normally look at the statistics Blogger gives me but it's funny to see how many view I have on each post, hahaha - from low at 117 (last week) to the highest at 758 (when Mom passed away).  It reflects the true "urgency" of Mom's battle period.  Should I feel disappointed seeing the number of views drops?  Yea, maybe just for one second, hahaha but the purpose of this blog was for Mom and her friends.  Now that she's gone, the original purpose of this blog has already gone.  Sometimes I really don't know if I should keep writing but I guess the purpose is now changed.  Most importantly, I want to make prayer requests through this blog and selfishly, I guess this is my way to express my feelings on how much I miss Mom.  So, if you are still reading, THANK YOU!!!

There is a lot of things about Mom I can share.  In fact, everything I do now can relate back to her somehow.  From the mouth washing mug that I have just broken to the V-neck undershirt that I'm still wearing, they are all related to her.  Having interactions with Jake and Jonah while enjoying my parenting lessons and when seeing them with Gloria, can always click me back to the relationship of Mom and I.  Jake, as mentioned, would mention Mah Mah once in a while.  And when we asked why he misses her, he would say, "I want her to come over for dinner so I can show her all my toys.".  Sorry Jakey, that won't happen unless God plans to take you away soon.  I used to be in tears sooner when hearing things like that but lately, I'm more calm I think.  Maybe I'm getting used to it or maybe I'm recovering stronger or I'm too busy...I don't know.  But regardless, I won't stop counting our blessings and try to treasure everything at present, not our past and not our future.  

Jonah is getting more and more troublesome these days but he's still very cute even when he's so MF (ma fan).  I sometimes wish the boys would stop growing and stay as cute as they are now, hehehe.  I know the biggest lesson to learn as parents is to know how to let go.  But I won't just let them go to the world full of temptations.  I will let them go to experience God on their own.  Pray that Gloria and I are well equipped for this life time challenge so that J1 and J2 can rely on the Holy Spirit when they are on their own.  

After finish planning our trip to Hong Kong, we now are busy planning what Jake should do in the summer, like enrolling him to swimming class again is probably a must.  What other summer camps, full time, part time, which weeks, etc. are all questions we need to answer.  Being parents are not easy but yet it's all fun.  It's quality time between Gloria and I going through different camps and activity booklets from the Town/City, church, Chinese School, etc. (while busy crushing candies, hahaha).  But summer is just a one time thing, September will be a brand new chapter for this guy and to us cuz' he'll be starting JK in September which means we'll need to decide where to send him, public school, Acorn, private Christian school or home school.  I'm just joking about home schooling, haha.  We are definitely not the home schooling type of parents, hahaha.  If financially manageable, we probably want to send him to a Christian school (yes, not just Jake, we need to include Jonah in the equation, haha).  We prayed about it for the longest time and we'll see if our plan is His.  We visited a couple of them and it's now down to the final two.  We will keep asking for advises from parents, friends, etc.  And of course, we'll continue to pray and seek for His direction. 

Speaking about the boys, maybe it's a good idea to write about them or actually, something to them so that in the future, they will have more to read when I'm gone.  They will have a more understand of this Dad of theirs and how he things and feels about them.  Hopefully, they will understand how much Gloria and I love them and how hard we are trying to prepare a righteous path for them.  I'll leave it for next time as it'll probably take more time.  

March break is here in no time and so far, we went to the maple syrup farm on Saturday.  It was quite boring to the adults but the kids had fun (they love anything sweet I guess, haha).  To me, the most interesting was the guide tour but our double stroller and the big crowd was keeping me away from the tour guide, so I only heard about 30% of what he said, hahaha.  The pony ride and the wagon ride was great for them.  

Thank God for the warm weather though.  It reminds me about His great creations.  I know I will miss the snow.  God let me find this woman who also loves snow as much as I do, hahaha.  Well, I know it can be messy, dangerous, not comfortable and it'll give you headaches and back pain but somehow, Gloria and I just love it so much.  We always get super excited whenever we see white stuff coming down from above!  No matter if it's flurries that falls slowly or snow storms that comes from the side; we just love it so much, hahaha.  

Sunday, we went to see Safari Jeff again.  Jonah was too young last year and he showed great interest to all these reptiles, hahaha.  We'll have more activities for the boys this week, like nothing on Monday and more animal/zoo free shows on Tuesday.  That's right FREE is very important, especially when Gloria is working hard preparing for her tax thing, hahaha.  No matter if it's winter or spring, maple syrup trip with admission fee or free animal shows, we'll continue to give thanks and enjoy each moments from God.  Pray hard and stay close with Him!!!

^"3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." (2 Peter 1:3-4)