Last dinner for 2007...

We invited a Singaporean family over to our place for dinner on New Year Eve. Apart from enjoying Singapore's counterpart to the American turkey - Singapore style Hainanese chicken - we also recounted some of the blessings we received this year, especially pertaining to our coming over to the States. The children also had a good time playing together.

The chicken story.... To begin, we gave the American-born Hainanese chicken a hot bath.


Next, a cold bath.


To add some authenticity to this dish, we had a half-Hainanese to chop-choppa-chop the American-born Hainanese chicken. (P.S. The next time you order Hainanese chicken rice, make sure you check the authenticity.)

Apparently there are a few perspectives that one can have of an American-born Hainanese chicken.

Memory Verse - 1 Cor 10:31

This is the first verse that we memorized together with Charis, as part of our family devotion time. Since she really likes to eat and drink, we thought this verse is an appropriate first verse for her ;p

It is also an appropriate "resolution" for the new year. Soli Deo Gloria!

Showtime

Here's a little Globetrotters showtime before the game. Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with your eyes... the ball is pretty tiny in the clip. Bring out your magnifying glass...



Go to their website for more stuff...

The Harlem Globetrotters

TK received 2 free tickets to this basketball game from his school a few weeks back... it's the box seat complete with food! But all the time, we wondered what to do with the second ticket. We thought that it would be wonderful if Charis and I could go with him... I've never been to one of these and it would be fun! Besides, it's an entertaining game... the Harlem Globetrotters clown around and perform ball-stunts during the game. But she needs a ticket too since she has passed her second birthday... and we have only 2. TK even thought of bringing her so that I get my free time but we hoped that this could be family time for us.

On the day of the game, he decided to email to the other 4 people who got the free tickets to see if anyone might have an extra to pass to us. To our surprise, a lady replied and was willing to give us her 2 tickets... she cannot go because her partner fell sick. Now each of us have a ticket with an extra to spare! Can't be just a coincidence... it's really God's gift to us this Christmas :)

Yay... I can finally open my present

This gift from TK and me was wrapped and placed under the window for 3 weeks... she finally got to open it on Christmas morning. See the eager smile!

Family Outing

We spent the day out at the Carnegie Science Centre with a friend. It has been some time since we (the old ones) have stepped into a science centre, and the first time for Charis. We also managed to catch an interesting Omnimax show - the Christmas Star - that explores what was the possible star that led the wise men to Bethlehem.


According to Charis,T-Rex is a bad animal because he goes "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

We also managed to explore a retired submarine, USS Requin.

Inside the USS Requin submarine:

Miss Personality...

Following the science centre visit, we went jalan-jalan and managed to bump into a Christmas tree...


It was a wonderful day out as a family. Especially since the last few weeks have been busy with the assignments. The weather has been nice too - still cold, but slightly warmer than what we have experienced over the last couple of weeks.

Fresh from the kitchen...

We have been drinking quite a bit of coffee lately, especially over the last 2 weeks as I worked on my assignments... Now that the papers have been submitted, we realized that we have quite a bit of coffee powder left. Instead of just drinking coffee, we thought why not eat it as well? So Elaine used some of the coffee powder to make espresso cookies.


After having one espresso cookie too many, Elaine was full of energy and decided to make Green tea mochi... I must say it is very good. The green tea taste is just right, and texture is nice, the color is accurately green. Ya, I'm a bad food critic... as in I'm bad at giving food critic, and not that I am a critic of bad food... But really, it is great. The whole family likes it. Check out the recipe if you like to try it out...

Waiting for Christmas to come...

We told Charis that we have to wait for Christmas to come before she can open the presents... so here she is looking out for Christmas. :) But on a serious note, we have been sharing with Charis the story of God's best gift of love for us and the significances behind Christmas. Christmas will be a bit different this year, being away from family and friends in Singapore... yet we still celebrate the same Emmanuel.

Anyway, for the first time ever, we have a 6-storey tall "Live" Christmas tree... hmm.. the one outside the windows. No ornaments though...

Charis' Art Gallery

Here is a small collection of Charis' masterpieces... haha. Enjoy!


- Modern impressionistic paintings-


- Collage: Kitchen untouchables -
For once, she's allowed to play with uncooked rice, beans and kitchen napkins.


- "Picasso-inspired" Elmo (left: Elmo with a smile; right: Elmo in the garden) -
She has very very recently acquired the drawing skill after practicing for a week on the white board. Elmo is her one of her first few attempts :)


- Family portrait -
Btw, the green patch on Daddy Koh's portrait is not his beard.... that's Charis' version of his green shirt. I guess her hands got tired after colouring the green shirt and decided not to embark on colouring Mummy Koh and Baby Koh's shirts.

"Because of Winn-Dixie"

Last week, we received a parcel from Singapore... with Christmas presents and toys for Charis from her gong-gong, po-po, granduncle, grandaunt, uncles and aunties :) One of it is a furry doggie which she has been longing for since she watched this movie - "Because of Winn-Dixie" - which we borrowed from the library. Winn-Dixie is the name of the big, friendly dog in the movie and Charis has named her new doggie after it. She really loved this movie!

In case you're wondering about the strange name... here's a synopsis of this pretty heart-warming movie. It's about a girl who moved to a small town with her father and was lonely in her new home. On a chance occasion, she saw a dog running wild in a supermarket where she was. In order the save the dog from being given to the pound (or SPCA in Singaporean terms), she pretended that the dog belonged to her. She named it Winn-Dixie, after the name of the supermarket where she found it. Of course, they became firm friends... and because of this big, friendly dog, her lonely life was changed...

Aixiang, we finally got down to taking the photos as you requested... and we got some nice shots (well, she was in quite a good mood that day)! This is our favourite!

Piglet and the Princess

Well yes, the smile does look quite reluctant but hey, Mummy didn't force her into the Piglet costume!!! I would like to think that Charis enjoyed every minute at the Center for Creative Play, an indoor "play world" for children that is especially wonderful during winter =)

First snow... the real ones...

Went out of our home the other day and had a problem finding the car. Then we realised that the sky painted part of our car white.

So we had our first experience with snow... actually we didn't get to see much. By the time we went out, most of the snow had melted - of course, except for those on our car.

Anyway, Elaine and Charis had some fun making ice kachang balls with the snow that I scrapped off the car. Next time will bring a can of condensed milk along with us...

Person:Monitor

Number of persons in my household: 3
Number of monitors in my household: 4

If you want to multitask, do it in style...

Thanksgiving

It's a snowy day today, a day after Thanksgiving. Although we don't have a tradition of celebrating this occasion, we've decided to join the Americans in giving thanks to our good Lord. Being at their thanksgiving service on Wed evening and listening to their thanksgiving gave us lots to give thanks for as well.

- For keeping us safe and well in this foreign land
- For giving us one another to share in the new experiences
- For helping us to settle down here and adjust to the cold
- For helping TK with his workload and stress with his studies
- For watching over Charis as she grows each day
- For leading us to a church for worship and fellowship
- For love and prayers from family and friends back home
- Most of all, for His bountiful love, grace and mercy!

There was no turkey or pie, but we had one another and a nice warm meal in our new home. Thank God for that!

"See, my gingerbread man!"

Yesterday, during the preschool class in the library, Charis decorated a gingerbread man!

The theme was FOOD and the children got to dip their little hands into real food... assemble a simple oreo pudding with gummy worms, finger painting with chocolate, and decorating their very own gingerbread man. It's probably a class that Charis enjoyed most... there was food throughout the hour-long lesson... and she ate everything. When we got home, she devoured her gingerbread man too!

FoOd, fOOd!

Not trying to show off my culinary skills here... just wanting to share my little truimph in the kitchen. Came across a blog of a full-time mother of two (a Malaysian living in Colorado) where she posted lots and lots of photos of mouth-watering Asian food she cooked for her family. Inspired by her photos and feeling a little restless that day, I decided to embark on a cooking spree... heh. Made some orange-dark chocolate cookies with Charis (since I've been wanting to use up the one orange in our refrigerator), and chicken curry for dinner, to compliment the prata that I've bought in the Asian supermarket (the same "Chinatown" brand that can be found in NTUC!!). The curry is something I've put off for quite a few weeks although I've bought the dry ingredients after some coaxing from a friend, but had no courage to try. Glad these came up all in one day :)

Well, TK thinks it's a little too coconuty and not spicy enough (so not quite up to standard) but a good first.

Snow flakes falling on my head!

The weather forecast says that it's going to be cold today... with wind chill, it doesn't hit more than 3 deg C throughout the day. But my darling girl wants to go out!!! Since she woke up really early this morning, I know that I cannot keep her entertained if we stayed home all morning so I gave in. As we stepped out, she let out a child-like laughter when the cold wind swept across our faces and I could see from her beaming smile that she really adores the cold. How unlike me... well, but seeing how she enjoyed herself made me feel like I liked it too :)

Being in Walmart was nice and kept us warm for about two hours. Then we had to step into the cold again... argh. This time, it felt colder and my hands felt frozen and numb. After packing our groceries and Charis into the car, I saw some tiny white flakes floating down from the sky. For a moment, they looked like fine dust.... haha... then it dawned upon me that they were snow flakes! It wasn't supposed to snow until 7pm this evening but I guess Pittsburgh can be rather unpredictable when it comes to the weather. That was pretty fun but we didn't stay... I wouldn't want to be caught in the snow with just me, Charis and the car.

Introducing... Dr Charis Koh

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Well, well, Charis exclaims, "I want to be a BIG girl!"

Really, it does not matter to us what career path or job she chooses when she grows up. What is most important is that she lives a life that is pleasing in God's eyes... bringing love, light and joy to people around her.

Anyway, here's a preview of Dr Charis Koh (if she ever chooses this path) :)

"Hypnotized"

Just to share a hilarious incident that happened two days ago.

Though obviously sleepy, Charis twisted and turned in her bed for a long time (possibly almost an hour) during her afternoon nap time, unable to fall asleep. She got really frustrated and asked to get out of bed. It was 3.50pm. However, we told her to stay in bed until the alarm clock rings at 4pm. Still hoping that she would catch her nap, TK suggested to her to keep her eyes on the red second hand that is ticking by while waiting for the ring... well, who knows, she may just get "hypnotized". 5 mins passed and all was quiet. We tiptoed to the bedroom door to peep and found her fast asleep!!! Our best guess was that she really got herself "hypnotized" while watching the second hand ;p

Putting this down in the journal so that we can share this tip with her, in years to come, when she has her own baby... haha.

Fall foliage

Link @ Ohiopyle

Have always wanted to experience the autumn colours... the warm reds, bright oranges and golden yellows... so vibrant and intense! A stranger waiting at the bus-stop with TK told him that he cannot miss going to the Ohiopyle (a State park in Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh) for the fall foliage. So off we went :)

Took a one and a half hour drive on a cold autumn morning, despite the less than optimistic weather forecast. The beautiful fall colours only last for a very short time before the trees become bare so we decided to go in faith that God will hold the rain. It was chilly with the dark clouds hovering above us, threatening to rain every now and then... but thankfully, God granted our prayers. It was really a photo trip and the photos didn't turn out too bad, especially when the precious sun peeked out of the clouds. Charis enjoyed the various stops we made along the way, jumping and running in her boots and big jacket (although she did not "wow" at the colours like we did).

There is actually still quite a bit of green around... we were told that this autumn started late and is not as wet as it should be.... so it explains the lack of intensity of the fall colours. Nevertheless, we were captivated by the beautiful sights.

"Siew Mai" experiment... Hee

Looking as close as it can get in our first home-made attempt ;p My hats off to those dim sum chefs... so carefully crafting each piece with skill, and possibly lots of love! Creating these tiny delicacies is an art!

Recounting God's grace and our prayer requests

It has been almost three months since we arrived in the States. And we truly thank God for how He has been so wonderfully close to us during this time. One concern we had before coming over is how the demands from the studies would affect our family relationship. We are grateful that over the last few months, although the workload is extremely heavy, our relationships with one another and with God have remained strong. We still have time of prayers together; do most of the things together; go on outings together; discuss and make decisions together; eat together.... All these are by His great grace.

Beside the studies, another daily focus in our lives right now is seeing to Charis' growth. We are praying for wisdom, and that we will focus on God and God alone in parenting her in God's way. It is really good to see that she is starting to be more independent (although sometimes she tries to be so independent that it gets to us) and learning more things - both about general stuff and about God. And you know she is growing intellectually when she tries to reason with you like an adult, or asks for things in a more persuasive way. (Just the other day, she successfully persuaded me - her artistically decline oldman - to role-play with her a scene from her donutman DVD... I had to sway and sing and act with her...)

One thing that we are concerned with is the way she interacts with others, especially children of her age or younger. She actually relates quite well with adults whom she is familiar with (thanks to her exposure to all the granparents and uncles and aunties back in Singapore). And she really likes children and babies - she would pray for some of her friends almost every night. However, the way that she shows her affection and friendship is a bit "physical" - she hugs, she sayang, she kisses, etc. We sometimes are afraid that in her love, she would unintentionally hurt and traumatize these children... So we are now going to spend some efforts on her social skills....

Our prayer requests for all season:
1. that we will continuously guard our relationship with one another and with God
2. that we will nurture Charis well

Our prayer requests for this specific season:
1. that we can tahan the winter
2. that we will learn to work the heater in the house correctly
3. that the sweaters and jackets that we have are as good as they proclaimed to be

Autumn Colors @ CMU

Fall is getting wet and cold... but the nice Autumn colors around the campus warm things up a bit.

Close up:

Actually there are much nicer buildings in the campus... will try to get some shots next time.

All about food!

Link @ Cleveland

Drove 2 and a half hours to Cleveland in the State of Ohio last Saturday with some Singaporean friends... and it's all about food! On the itinery - dim sum lunch at 12nn, then off to another restaurant to pack roast duck, then the Chinese bakery to buy bo-luo-bao, shopping at the Chinese supermarket, and dinner at 5.30pm before heading back to PIttsburgh. Can you believe it?!? Thankfully, we had an hour to spare just before dinner and managed to squeeze in a visit to the Great Lake Erie.

It's the tenth largest lake on earth (by surface area) and is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, ranking fourth in terms of surface area. The area actually stretches from Ontario in Canada to Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan in the US. Pretty impressive huh? It would have been such a pity if we missed it. That's our geography lesson over the weekend!

We splurged on it...

... our piano!!! It came this morning after a week of waiting. Although it's a digital piano, we're happy that we have this instrument to keep us company in our new home. TK says it's a Christmas-cum-birthday-cum-wedding anniversary present for me :) Charis was so excited when it came and was the first to make "music" on it.

Can't wait to wear it!

Finally found a pair of winter boots that fits Charis at the second hand children's store. Now her winter collection is complete, with her jacket, gloves, scarf, hat and boots. She's all set for the coming winter. Charis loves her boots and wears it around the house. She kept asking about when winter is coming... she can't wait to wear her new boots out of the door!

For me, I don't really look forward to it. If only it'll last only for a day just for me to see the snow flakes falling on our window and to make a snowman.

A funny looking Charis ;p

It was fun playing with a new feature in our laptop today. This is Charis looking funny in the funny photo. TK and Charis had some bonding time posing for these... now being used as screen savers for the laptop... haha.



But of course, she's still our cheerful and pretty little girl!

It's flowering!

Still remember the Thai Basil that Charis planted?? We see a small flower growing... how exciting!!! Charis and I faithfully water it and make sure that it gets enough sunlight. Now she knows that a plant needs water and sunlight to grow :)

Just relaxing

Felt a gush of wind... I turned, and caught sight of some leaves floating in the wind, having been blown from a tree just outside our window... now the small green grass patch is scattered with tinge of yellows... lovely! Haven't noticed until just now that the tree right outside our window is turning golden yellow and red. I guess soon it will be bare ;p

We had the gift of "extended summer" over the last week, with temperature hitting 31 degrees C although it should have been in the teens. It's really nice after experiencing a few days of cold weather in late September. At least, we could still go out to play and enjoy picnics... one of our fav activities. Thank God!

However, it's back to our daily routine of checking the weather forecast... goodbye summer... and hello autumn :)

Apple pickin'

Link @ Apple Picking

TK joined us for this one! Fall officially started on 23rd Sept... pumpkins and apples are in abundance. We harvested over 50 apples at the Simmons Farm and shared them with another family. I guess, we'll have apple pie, apple soup, apple... ... over the next few weeks ;P

Pouting Charis

Argh... we have no water in our apartment today! Since I cannot prepare dinner and Charis is taking her nap, I went through some photos taken a few weeks back and found this one. Thought that it looks quite funny... Charis showed us her pout when we told her that we are home and it's time to get out of the car. She wanted to sleep instead... haha.

Kohs "ba chor mee"

Hmmm... after the Singapore Food Festival on Fri, our cravings grew! Finally bought ourselves a bottle of chilli paste from the Asian grocery store... to go with yummy dry "ba chor mee"... home-made :) Haha... it has to be yummy because there's no other choice. Charis enjoyed her bowl of noodles too, just without the chilli.

Genuinely happy =)

Looking at the earlier photos taken since we came to Pittsburgh, there is no doubt that Charis had some fun times. She found a few new friends whom she went to parks and outings with. However, about a week ago, tears almost rolled down my face when I told TK about how she would stretch out her arms to touch the faces of people when I showed their photos to her... people whom she loves and who love her... people who are in so far away in Singapore. It suddenly struck us that although she was rather adjusted and contented, she didn't seem as joyful as before. She didn't sing and dance as much as she used to. She didn't enjoy being in photos as much. She must be feeling so much in her little heart and thinking so much in her little mind. Maybe too much...


The life and happiness of this little one was entrusted into our hands by God. TK and I want to do our best for her! So we started a little mission to cheer her up =) Only God knows her heart... but I'm really happy and relieved that her singing and cheerful spirit is beginning to fill our home once again. We pray daily that God will minister to her and that in her own ways, to experience God's joy and peace. The stranger who told me that she looked bored and lonely 3 weeks ago came up to me last week to say that she looks happy now! I'm so GLAD!!! Well, this is cheerful Charis sitting on a tree... genuinely happy!

Chihuly at Phipps

Link @ Phipps Conservatory And Botanical Gardens

Went to the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Been seeing this beautiful glass building that stands out against the greenary around it. Banners say "Chihuly at Phipps"... wondered what it meant until we had the chance to visit last Sat. Enjoyed both the gardens and the glass exhibits by an artist named Dale Chihuly.

Our first roast in Pittsburgh

After waiting for 3 weeks, our oven is finally working! It is actually a new cooker-cum-oven provided by the apartment management but I just couldn't get it heated up. TK thought that it was me who didn't know how to use it... until we got the maintenance guy to come... haha. I was dying to try some baking with Charis!

Immediately after the maintenance guy came to replace the faulty part yesterday, Charis and I headed off to Walmart. Also inspired by the Martha Stewart recipes, I bought a huge chicken to try roasting one... all by myself. Was it a success? Well, got to ask my guinea pigs (i.e. TK and Charis) to rate it.

Anyway, here's the before and after photos of the chicken for you to make your own conclusions... heh.

Dad, I guess you would like to see the results of my experiment after sending me the weblink =)

Storywalk @ Frick Park

The Pittsburgh Children's Library and Citiparks organise this event every year, and we were told that it is good and well attended. Although TK needed to stay home to finish some work, I decided to go ahead with the other families. Booths were scattered all over the park and there were numerous activities for the hundreds of excited children. Face painting, kite drawing, cookie decorating, music and movement, and of course the story-telling booths where the stories came alive. A great way to encourage reading in children!

Charis woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning... grouchy and fussy. Despite of that, she had a nice time there. She didn't want photos taken of her, except with the giraffe, and her new friends joint in =)

Flying high

Charis has fallen in love with the swings at the parks! She has not had a chance to play on an outdoor swing in Singapore... 'cos almost all of them have been taken away in the new playgrounds. Hmm... I wonder why? She didn't like it much on her first attempt, but now, she asks to fly high! Once in a while, TK and I join in the fun... to relive our childhood fun I guess.

After the excitement of Niagara Falls, we're back to the humdrum of everyday life as TK attends school. Just Charis and I. We were bored this morning and decided to take a car ride down hill to explore the area near our apartment. To much joy, we discovered a small park (Bora Park) with a playground just at the bottom of the hill. I didn't expect this find as there are mainly houses down below. A wide smile broke out on her bored face when we caught sight of it =) Of course, she ran right up to the swing and had a time of fun.

Roadtrip #1 - Niagara Fall

(In case the slideshow is going too fast, you can view the static photos at our picasaweb album.)

You want to pray or not?

Every night, after her bedtime stories and before going to bed, Charis will come running to me and ask a very rhetorical question. "Daddy! Come! You want to pray or not?!?" We will always have a time of family prayer.

Recently, she has started to pray for many of her loved ones.... like Asher (to get well soon and play with her), Pastor & Auntie Cecilia, Aunties Rebekah and Angeline (for their babies to be well and be able to play with toys), Uncle Caleb, Auntie Eleanor, Uncle Ben (to be busy(???)), her grandparents, Aunties and Uncles, etc. Although we sometimes don't understand her prayers, we know that God knows.

Link to some photos

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I love my new hair-cut!

TK gave Charis a hair cut when he got back from school. It's the first time we're chopping off her baby hair at the back. She liked her long hair but it was getting tooooo long... almost reaching her waist... so...

Anyway, she liked her new look =) It doesn't look like a lot but it was about 3 inches off!

Dancing in the "rain"

Had an outing with two new friends this morning while TK went to school. First to the library... their collection of children's books is great! Charis loved the story-telling time as well as the books we borrowed. Thereafter, we had a simple picnic lunch (was told to pack peanut-butter jam sandwich, quite an American thing huh) then the children were off to play! It was a rather hot day but they had loads of fun! Don't you wish you could join in the fun...

School Begins!

Today is officially the first day of school for TK. Stress? Anxious? Nervous? Excited? Blur? I would say it's everything, even for me!

A few days back when he went for orientation in school for several hours, Charis and I found ourselves quite alone and not knowing what to do with our time! I kept looking at my clock but time seemed to tick by really slowly. Well, I must say that I'm more prepared today. Both of us went out for a short walk by the pool side before lunch and it was pretty enjoyable. Well, time still passed quite slowly but we were able to relax and take in the cool air and blue sky. We even sat outdoors, under an old oak tree, to read! Something I'll never dream of doing in Singapore... we'll burn. We picked acorns and leaves, beautiful red ones, that have fallen on the ground... signs of the coming autumn.

Just when I began to fret once again about what to do with our time, the telephone rang. Our new friends invited us to join them for a pinic at a park near the university in the evening. I drove! (alone with Charis to fetch TK from school =)) The children had loads of fun eating and playing at the playground after dinner. Although I think TK would have loved to spend the time catching up with his readings, I hope he enjoyed this time too... spending time with us and our friends, enjoying the cool weather and God's wonderful creation! A little time of rest and relaxation would help one journey further and better, wouldn't it? I certainly hope so.

Please pray for added understanding, wisdom, perserverance and joy as he embarks on this journey, of which I can only be a support at the side. As for Charis and myself, pray that we can spend our time fruitfully each and every day.

A home at last!

After all the packing and unsettling over the last few months, we can finally unpack and call a place our home for a while. It's actually quite a comfortable place. It's a 1 bedroom apartment, newly carpetted and re-painted, big enough to fit in a play area with a rather big space for Charis to perform her somersaults! That's a new trick she learnt in Pitts!

Thank God for everything! We know that God has been watching over us and keeping us safe.

1st photo of (some of) us in Pittsburgh

Having lunch at a bagel outlet (Boon Siong said bagels here in Pittsburgh are good - so we must try them out...). Connecting to their free wi-fi and posting the 1st pix of Charis and Elaine.